Shine Mama!

Today I’m bringing you a story of positivity and gratitude that will leave you feeling really inspired. My guest is Rashmi Sanjay, Talk Show Host, Motivational Speaker and Thriver who says that Her positive attitude and approach to life define her.

Rashmi and her family’s life changed forever a few years ago when she received a devastating medical diagnosis. In this episode you’ll hear how she navigated this terrifying ordeal and how her outlook on life drastically changed as a result. Rashmi is also a fellow podcaster and hosts the show In Conversation with Rashmi, which she started in 2019 and has already interviewed over 175 guests across the globe.

We talk about so much in this episode:

• Her show, how it started and the power of storytelling and connecting people within the community.

• Her own riveting story about how her life changed in an instant with a shocking medical diagnosis

• The differences between the Rashmi pre-diagnosis and the Rashmi post-diagnosis.

• What and more importantly who she let go of as a result.

• How she is able to be so positive and grateful despite the challenges she still deals with and the story of how one very special person really changed her outlook on life.

If you are feeling burdened and overwhelmed by the busyness of life, this is the episode for you. Your outlook on life will never be the same, and like me, you’ll feel lucky to have gained this wisdom without the accompanying life-changing event.

Todays’ guest is Victoria Cornell, the author and voice behind Motherhood Life Balance, a blog and IG account that helps women turn their mindset into their superpower. Victoria is also a mom of 3, navigating this pandemic like the rest of us, so it was nice to sit down and chat mom-to-mom with someone I’ve followed online for a while yet never chatted in real life.

In this episode, Victoria talks about:

• How she’s managing during the pandemic, and how she’s using mindset work to help cope.

• Exactly what mindset work is, how she got into teaching it

• Advice for those people who are just starting out in their self-development journey.

• How her Beautiful Mind Journal came to be and why writing things down can be so powerful.

• The biz side of things - how she became a content creator and her advice for people who are interested in creating their own blog or IG following.

• Her parenting journey and finding balance through it all,

One of my favourite things about this podcast is meeting local moms who are doing interesting things, so it was so fun to chat with Victoria and hear about her business. I’ve been using her Beautiful Mind journal daily and I can attest to the power of rewiring your brain through mindset work and writing, so I hope this episode inspires you to start a mindset practice of your own.

Welcome to this week’s episode of the podcast everyone. You may or may not know today’s guest by name but if you are a mother in the Waterloo Region, chances are their work will influence your children’s education. I’m talking to Teneile Warren an Intersectional Equity Educator and Consultant. Teneile is a Nonbinary, Queer Black-identifying immigrant settler to Turtle Island. They are the Equity and Inclusion Office for the WRDSB and is also co-founder of insideWaterloo, a founding member of ReallocateWR, and a steering committee member of the African, Caribbean and Black Network of Waterloo Region. Teneile is partner to Rebecca and parent to their son Kelso, & their furbabies (Goop, Oopy and Rae).

This episode is really powerful as we not only talk about how to cultivate safe and inclusive schools, something Teneile is very passionate about, but Teneile also emphasizes the importance of creating safe and inclusive spaces for ourselves as individuals, in order to feel supported in becoming the most aligned version of ourselves. A

Teneile and I talk about:

• Their role with the school board, including what they want to achieve in their time there.

• What parents can do to support the work their team is doing within the school board.

• The impact of becoming a parent on day 3 (!) of the pandemic

• Their gender identification journey - what it means to be non-binary, why they felt it was important to come out as their most authentic self, and how as parents we can support our children in doing just that.

Enjoy the episode!

This week I have another double interview with lovely duo Jinny Song and Katrina Tioco of Gayuma Catering.

I was immediately drawn to the love and energy that Jinny and Kat exude on social media, and then I signed up to be part of their secret menu club, which you’ll learn more about in the episode, and have had the opportunity to enjoy their amazing and unique take out food.

Right from the beginning of our interview, I felt like I was chatting with old friends. Jinny and Kat are as down-to-earth and kind-hearted as they come and we had such a great conversation.

We talked about:

• How the two of them met

• How the business started

• Where the name Gayuma came from (which is such a heartwarming story)

• How they developed their unique business model

• The impact the pandemic had on them personally and professionally…and how those difficult months helped them morph into the business they are today

• How the power of community helped them succeed

• The struggles and heartbreak Kat has dealt with during her motherhood journey, including being so far away from her son for many years

• Jinny’s challenges of balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship

This episode is full of lots of laughs and the joy and love that Jinny and Kat bring to their food and their business shine through so brightly. I encourage you to sign up for their secret menu club so that you have the opportunity to taste exactly what this joy and love has created.

This week's episode deals with a topic that is very near and dear to my heart and my brain, which is the intersection of sleep and mental health. More specifically, how a child’s sleep habits, particularly in the early days, have an impact on a mother’s mental health and her ability to cope.    To help explore this topic, I’m talking to Kayla Ginsler, a Child Sleep Consultant with Goodnight Sleep Site, who also happens to have her Masters in Social Work. Kayla is passionate about empowering families to feel confident in helping their baby or child achieve better sleep, and is well-versed in how mental health issues can play a role in this process.   In this episode, Kayla and I discuss:   - The link between lack of sleep and mental health, and why a lot of moms enter motherhood thinking that their sleep isn’t important - The long term effects she sees when families are dealing with sleep issues - Why mental health issues can make it even more difficult for moms to hold boundaries around sleep - Why sleep training is such a hot button topic for moms - Why so many mothers feel guilty about sleep training and also what the latest research is actually saying about it    I think this is such an important topic and we only scratched the surface. Whether you’re a new mom, or your children are older, I think you’ll find the discussion really interesting and if you are past the no sleep stage, I really hope you’ll forward this on to any new moms or pregnant friends so that they can get a head start on supporting their mental health during the early days of motherhood.   Enjoy!

Melissa Durrell is the President and Chief Communications Strategist of Durrell Communications, founder of Roseview Global Incubator former City Counsellor, a fierce community activist with involvement in everything from Women’s March Global, the Uptown BIA and Waterloo Park boards among others, a women’s rights advocate and a mom of 2. In fact, her resume is so impressive that I encourage you to check out her LinkedIn profile for a full bio.    Melissa is taking this community by storm and  I am so impressed with her passion for the Waterloo Region and her drive to make a change and we cover so much in this interview, including:  

• Why she decided to run for city council, despite having really young kids
• The challenges of working as a politician, especially as a woman
• Her new company Roseview Global Incubator and how it is helping to grow the tech sector in our community
• What balance looks like for her and what she needs in order to shine her brightest
• ...and of course her motherhood journey!

She also explains why she doesn’t think about Christmas until Christmas Eve (which blows my mind) and she even spills the beans about whether or not running for mayor is in her future, 

This is an awesome conversation with a very inspiring woman. Melissa is full of energy and passion, yet very down to earth. She is very encouraging and supportive of women change-makers and I know you will walk away from this conversation feeling motivated to make a difference in this community.

Crystalle and Chloe Kruis, are the mother-daughter team behind Ekko reuse - a Waterloo-region based organization focused on creating a more sustainable take-out experience. I think it’s fascinating to think about the possibility of starting a business with one of my kids one day, so I really wanted to pick Crystalle and Chloe's brains on how their relationship developed from mother-child into business partners.   Both Crystalle and Chloe are just lovely and we had a great conversation. We talked about:   - their relationship - what it was like when Chloe was little and what it’s like now - the one thing that made a big difference in maintaining a close relationship over the years - how Chloe's co-op term in entrepreneurship eventually led to starting Ekko and how Crystalle ended up being involved in the business.  - the role that the pandemic has played in the starting and growth of their business - how Ekko works and why you really should consider using it if you care about the environment (Hint: Not as much of those takeout containers as you think get recycled or composted) - Crystalle also shares the ups and downs of making a major career change later in life, and why it was harder than she thought it would be.   If you’ve never heard of Ekko, I have a feeling that after this episode you’ll want to check it out and support a mother/daughter-run small business in our community, not to mention trying some of the amazing partner restaurants that you may not know about.    Enjoy the episode!

Sheena Bounsanga is a mindfulness coach, literacy educator and dyslexia specialist. She wears a lot of hats, but today’s episode is focused on her work with kids and mindfulness. Sheena runs mindfulness workshops in schools, classes from her home and she even runs a mindfulness summer camp each year.   We had a lovely conversation — my first in-person one in quite a while — and I love how Sheena was able to break down exactly what mindfulness is, why it’s so important for kids and most importantly how to get kids on board with it. She really stresses the importance of making mindfulness your own and finding what works best for each individual child…so if you think that mindfulness won’t work for your child, I encourage you to listen to this episode for a few different examples of how it can be applied to real life.    Not surprisingly, this is also a conversation about motherhood. Sheena is very honest about some of the struggles her family has gone through and her approach to parenting is so inspiring. She talks about the importance of making the right choice for her family, even when it goes against the norm, and why she places her family’s happiness as a priority above all else.   I didn’t know Sheena personally before we met, but I had heard so many great things about her from other people that I knew I would love her. And I did! She has such a genuinely caring and compassionate presence and a true love for children, and her passion for helping kids shine their brightest is so inspiring.    Here’s the episode

Today I’m interviewing Ivonne Hammoud, mother of 2 and owner of New Moon Counselling. Ivonne is a Registered Social Worker and holds a Masters of Social Work from Wilfrid Laurier University; and specializes in anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship conflicts, and life changes/stressors. She has definitely seen an increase in couples coming to see her throughout the pandemic and she has some great insight into what’s happening in marriages, why it’s happening and what couples can do about it.

In this episode we talk about:

• How the pandemic has been really hard on some marriages but strengthened others

• The two major relationship struggles she is seeing in her practice right now

• Why it’s so important to work on YOURSELF in order to improve your relationship

• The benefits of working with a therapist when you’re having relationship struggles

• Why conflict is NOT a negative thing (and how it can actually help your relationship)

• The one thing that couples can do to help their marriage during the next few months

I also share my own story of where my marriage has struggled during the pandemic and our experience with couples therapy in the past and how it’s helped in our communication as a couple.

My goal with this episode is to help normalize therapy and just talking about this subject in general, so people know that these are tough times…and that it’s totally normal to feel like your relationship is a little stagnant right now. And to provide some strategies to help relight that fire.

This week’s episode is a solo episode and I’m talking all about mom guilt. More specifically, the guilt that moms feel when they take time for themselves (and away from their children). This is something I used to deal with, but over time I’ve realized that taking time away from my kids is so important in order for me to show up as the best parent possible. So I don’t feel guilty anymore!    So let’s talk about mom guilt, shall we? In this episode, I discuss why it’s so important for moms to take time for themselves, why we feel guilty about it, and some strategies for conquering mom guilt (or at least looking at it from a different perspective).    Enjoy!