In Part 2 of my conversation with time management expert Laura Vanderkam, we pick up right where we left off: why we so consistently underestimate our own free time. Laura explains the psychology behind it — we overestimate how long the things we don't want to do take, and underestimate how fast time flies when we're enjoying ourselves — and why that gap gets especially wide in the early years of motherhood, before easing as kids grow.

The fix starts with a simple trade-off: each parent claims one protected night (or weekend block) that's theirs. We close with Laura's weekly planning ritual, a reframe of "work-life balance", and her favorite mental shift for feeling like you have enough time for what matters.

What We Cover:

• Why we overestimate how long tasks we dread will take, and underestimate how fast time flies when we're enjoying ourselves
• Why moms of kids under two really do have significantly less leisure time — and why that changes as your kids grow
• How mental overload closes us off to serendipity — the coffee dates, introductions, and stray ideas that can lead somewhere
• Why building unscheduled space into your week (like a no-meeting Friday) creates room for things to go right, not just a buffer for when they go wrong
• Laura's three-part weekly planning ritual: career, relationships, and self
• The real math behind work-life balance — you're awake and not working almost twice as many hours as you work
• Why zooming out from a day to a year changes what feels possible, even a weekly hobby is just 1% of your year

About the Guest:

Laura Vanderkam is a time management expert and bestselling author of several books on productivity and time, including 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think, I Know How She Does It, Off the Clock, Tranquility by Tuesday, and her newest, Big Time: A Simple Path to Time Abundance. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Fast Company, and her TED talk on controlling your free time has more than 16 million views. She hosts the podcast Before Breakfast and co-hosts Best of Both Worlds, and lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and five children.

Links + Resources:

• Connect or learn more about Laura Vanderkam: lauravanderkam.com
• Follow Laura on Instagram: instagram.com/lvanderkam
• Get Laura's time-tracking spreadsheet: available on her website
• Follow ThatMom: Instagram
• Join the ThatMom Community: EMAIL
• Maria saves time and always has something to wear with her monthly clothing subscription from Rent the Runway. Try it here with 50% off (referral link from which I may receive a benefit)

If this episode resonated, share it with a mom who feels like she doesn't have enough time.

And if you're enjoying these conversations, follow That Mom for more thoughtful discussions about motherhood, identity, ambition, happiness, emotional well-being, and building a life that feels aligned with what matters most.

In Part 1 of my conversation with time management expert and bestselling author Laura Vanderkam, we dig into her new book, Big Time: A Simple Path to Time Abundance, and what it actually means to fall in love with your schedule. Laura explains why she doesn't want people to just pack more into their days — she wants us to feel like we have enough time for work we care about, people we love, and things that light us up.

Laura shares why tracking your time for just one week can change the story you tell yourself about how busy you are, and why zooming out to look at a whole week — instead of judging any single day — is the key to feeling like you have more time than you think. We close Part 1 with a preview of what's next: the free time most of us don't realize we have.

What We Cover:

• What Laura means by a "good life," and why time abundance — not just packing more in — is the real goal
• Why putting hobbies and social time on the calendar protects them from everyone else's requests
• Why "self-care" like bubble baths keeps getting bumped, and what to do instead
• How to turn a work break into a real mini-vacation instead of doom-scrolling
• Why tracking your time for even one week changes how much time abundance you feel
• How to use weekday evenings more intentionally, even with young kids at home
• Why high-achieving moms should judge their time by the week, not the day

About the Guest:

Laura Vanderkam is a time management expert and bestselling author of several books on productivity and time, including 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think, I Know How She Does It, Off the Clock, Tranquility by Tuesday, and her newest, Big Time: A Simple Path to Time Abundance. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Fast Company, and her TED talk on controlling your free time has more than 16 million views. She hosts the podcast Before Breakfast and co-hosts Best of Both Worlds, and lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and five children.

Links + Resources:

• Connect or learn more about Laura Vanderkam
• Follow Laura on Instagram
• Get Laura's time-tracking spreadsheet
• Buy Laura's book Big Time
• Follow ThatMom: Instagram
• Join the ThatMom Community: EMAIL
• Maria saves time and always has something to wear with her monthly clothing subscription from Rent the Runway. Try it here with 50% off (referral link from which I may receive a benefit)

If this episode resonated, share it with a mom who feels like she doesn't have enough time.

And if you're enjoying these conversations, follow That Mom for more thoughtful discussions about motherhood, identity, ambition, happiness, emotional well-being, and building a life that feels aligned with what matters most.

In Part 2 of my conversation with stylist Amanda Vargus, we get tactical: why a closet can be "full" and still feel useless, how to edit it down, and the outfit formulas that make getting dressed effortless. Amanda breaks down the real reasons behind "nothing to wear" — styling gaps, too-bland basics, or too many statement pieces with nothing to ground them — and shares her closet-edit process for fixing it.

We also get into why she calls outsourcing styling help a "power move" for busy moms, her go-to sneaker and shoe rotation, and how to mix prints, colors, and unexpected combos without it looking like a mistake. She closes with the real payoff of this work: it's never just about the clothes.

What We Cover:

• The three real reasons your closet feels "full" but unwearable
• What "styling" actually means — pairing, layering, and building a full look, not just picking a top
• Finding the right ratio of basics to statement pieces (hint: it depends on how loud you like to dress)
• The handful of items Amanda says almost everyone needs: a strong blazer, a good coat, a clean lifestyle sneaker, a great white tee
• Making athleisure and drop-off outfits feel intentional
• Her current shoe rotation: retro sneakers, chunky New Balances, sambas, and the "sneakerina" trend
• Building a shoe capsule: a few flats, a couple of heels, an elevated sandal, a go-to sneaker
• Why she calls hiring a stylist a "power move" — and what her closet-edit process actually looks like
• Rules of thumb for mixing prints, colors, and unexpected style combos
• Why having a personal "outfit formula" makes getting dressed so much easier
• The real payoff of this work — it's rarely just about the clothes

About the Guest:

Amanda Vargus is the CEO and founder of Wave and Woven, a personal styling company based in Boston. Before styling, she built a career in luxury sales and advertising, working for iHeartRadio and Pandora. She's been featured in USA Today and Glam Weekly, and specializes in transformational styling for women navigating changing bodies, careers, and life stages.

Links + Resources:

• Follow Wave & Woven
• Learn more about Amanda and her Process
• Maria feels confident with monthly outfits from Rent the Runway. Try it here with 50% off (referral link from which I may receive a benefit)
• Follow ThatMom: Instagram
• Join the ThatMom Community: EMAIL

If this episode resonated, share it with a mom who has been carrying too much for too long.

And if you're enjoying these conversations, follow That Mom for more thoughtful discussions about motherhood, identity, ambition, happiness, emotional well-being, and building a life that feels aligned with what matters most.

Ever feel like your closet is full but you have nothing to wear? In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, I sit down with Amanda Vargus — luxury sales pro turned personal stylist and founder of Wave and Woven — to unpack what's really going on.

Amanda made the leap from a corporate sales career at iHeartRadio and Pandora into styling during the pandemic, all while navigating a divorce and raising a young son. Now she helps women, especially moms, rebuild their style from the inside out.

We break down the three things every wardrobe needs to work — aesthetic, lifestyle, and body type — plus Amanda's honest take on why confidence isn't something a stylist can promise, how to actually explore your personal style without falling down a Pinterest rabbit hole, why she has clients try (not buy) with rental services, and her real talk on jeans and bathing suits.

What We Cover:

• Amanda's career pivot from luxury sales to personal styling, and the pandemic "shit moment" that sparked it
• Why confidence isn't the goal a stylist promises, but the byproduct
• The three pillars of a working wardrobe: aesthetic, lifestyle, and body type
• How to find your personal style without over-shopping or falling into the Pinterest rabbit hole
• Why renting is a smart, low-risk way to test new styles and trends
• Body type basics: working with your proportions instead of fighting them
• Amanda's real talk on jeans (yes, you may need to try on 20 pairs) and bathing suits

About the Guest:

Amanda Vargus is the CEO and founder of Wave and Woven, a personal styling company based in Boston. Before styling, she built a career in luxury sales and advertising, working for iHeartRadio and Pandora. She's been featured in USA Today and Glam Weekly, and specializes in transformational styling for women navigating changing bodies, careers, and life stages.

Links + Resources:

• Follow Wave & Woven
• Learn more about Amanda and her Process
• Maria feels confident with monthly outfits from Rent the Runway. Try it here with 50% off (referral link from which I may receive a benefit)
• Follow ThatMom: Instagram
• Join the ThatMom Community: EMAIL

If this episode resonated, share it with a mom who has been carrying too much for too long.

And if you're enjoying these conversations, follow That Mom for more thoughtful discussions about motherhood, identity, ambition, happiness, emotional well-being, and building a life that feels aligned with what matters most.

There was a half day at school and I didn't realize it. The office called, my son was waiting, and my husband joked later: "How could you forget the half day?" It got me thinking — why does it always land on mom to remember, even when both parents are home? Psychologist and executive coach Dr. Anne Welsh returns to unpack the data behind that gap: why women are held to a stricter standard than men, both at work and at home, and why the mental load defaults to us so often it barely registers as a choice.

We get into the research — women promoted for proven performance while men get promoted on potential, the "mom gets the call" pattern even when dad's the listed emergency contact, and the same messy room rated dirtier when it's labeled a woman's. Anne explains why closing that gap isn't about lowering your standards, and how redefining what "good enough" looks like can protect your time and health.

She also breaks down Fair Play, the system she's certified to teach, which makes invisible labor visible enough to divide fairly. We close with her own scripts for bringing this up with a partner — without anger, without a list of grievances, and without a fight.

What We Cover:

• Why women are punished more than men for the same mistakes
• The workplace promotion gap: men on potential, women on proven performance
• Why "mom gets the call" even when dad's the listed emergency contact
• The Tim's-room-vs-Amy's-room study on gendered double standards
• Fair Play's two premises: invisible labor is real, and everyone's time is valuable
• The four-hours-a-week leisure gap between moms and their partners
• Scripts for dividing labor without triggering defensiveness

About the Guest:

Dr. Anne Welsh is a licensed clinical psychologist and certified executive coach based in Cambridge, MA. Previously at Harvard University, she now runs her own practice supporting ambitious women navigating career and motherhood at the same time. She is a Certified Fair Play Facilitator through the Fair Play Institute, with additional certifications in perinatal mental health and parental leave coaching. Her book, Ambitious Mother: From Surviving to Thriving in Your Career and at Home, is out August 2026.

Links + Resources:

• Dr. Anne Welsh's Book: Ambitious Mother: From Surviving to Thriving in your Career and at Home
• Learn More or work with Dr. Anne Welsh: https://www.drannewelsh.com/
• Follow ThatMom: Instagram
• Join the ThatMom Community: EMAIL

Maria's Style Pick:

One thing helping me simplify life as a working mom? Renting instead of buying.

This episode's outfit is from Rent the Runway.

Try it here with 50% off

If this episode resonated, share it with a mom who has been carrying too much for too long.

And if you're enjoying these conversations, follow That Mom for more thoughtful discussions about motherhood, identity, ambition, happiness, emotional well-being, and building a life that feels aligned with what matters most.

In Part 1 of my conversation with clinical psychologist and motherhood researcher Dr. Ann Welsh, we dig into what she calls the ambition paradox: the impossible bind where showing up fully at work gets you criticized as a mother, and showing up fully as a mother means you're not "performing" at work. Ann shares her own journey from a high-achievement household, through leaving a dream job at Harvard, to grappling with how much of her self-worth was tied to titles and accomplishments.

We talk about why achievement-oriented moms in particular struggle with the unpredictability of motherhood, why society sets an unachievable standard for both "good mother" and "good employee," and Ann's practical "closet clean-out" exercise for sorting through which expectations are actually yours to keep.

What We Cover:

• Ann's path from clinical psychology researcher to motherhood coach, and why her own research didn't prepare her for becoming a mom
• Why achievement-oriented women in particular struggle with the unsolvable problems of parenting
• Ann's story leaving her dream job at Harvard, and the identity crisis that followed
• The ambition paradox: why you can't be the "perfect mother" and the "perfect employee" at the same time
• The impossible-test analogy: why failing an unpassable test isn't a personal failure
• Grief and identity loss that comes with letting go of "doing it all"
• The "closet clean-out" exercise for sorting which expectations to keep, and which to release
• A preview of Part 2: the fair play framework for dividing invisible labor at home

About the Guest:

Dr. Ann Welsh is a clinical psychologist, motherhood researcher, and executive coach. She holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, is certified in perinatal mental health, and runs a clinical practice focused on perinatal mental health alongside an executive coaching practice for working mothers. She also consults with companies on supporting parents in the workplace. Her book, Ambitious Mother, is out this August.

Links + Resources:

• Dr. Anne Welsh's Book: Ambitious Mother: From Surviving to Thriving in your Career and at Home
• Learn More or work with Dr. Anne Welsh: https://www.drannewelsh.com/
• Follow ThatMom: Instagram
• Join the ThatMom Community: EMAIL

Maria's Style Pick:

One thing helping me simplify life as a working mom? Renting instead of buying.

This episode's outfit is from Rent the Runway.

Try it here with 50% off

If this episode resonated, share it with a mom who has been carrying too much for too long.

And if you're enjoying these conversations, follow That Mom for more thoughtful discussions about motherhood, identity, ambition, happiness, emotional well-being, and building a life that feels aligned with what matters most.

What We Cover:

• How WWII-era nurseries proved government-funded childcare could work — and why it disappeared after the war
• The Red Scare backlash that rebranded daycare as dangerous and un-American
• The bipartisan childcare bill that reached Nixon's desk in 1971 — and why he vetoed it
• Why America still has no federally funded, licensed daycare system today
• The 1980s McMartin daycare scandal, media sensationalism, and how manufactured fear reshaped parenting for good
• Why kids had far more freedom in the '50s and '60s despite a more dangerous world
• The new, harder-to-solve version of that fear: phones, social media, and online safety
• Susan's grounding advice for perfectionism: "Cut yourself a break"
• Susan's newest book, In Our Prime, on older women rewriting the rules of aging — and why building bridges across generations matters

About the Guest:
Susan J. Douglas is the Catherine Neafie Kellogg Professor and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Communication and Media at the University of Michigan. She's the co-author (with Meredith Michaels) of The Mommy Myth: The Idealization of Motherhood and How It Has Undermined All Women, and author of In Our Prime: How Older Women Are Reinventing the Road Ahead, Enlightened Sexism, and several other books on media and culture. Her writing has appeared in The Nation, Ms., and The Washington Post, and she's been featured on The Today Show, NPR's Fresh Air, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Links + Resources:

• The Mommy Myth by Susan Douglas & Meredith Michaels
• Follow ThatMom: Instagram
• Join the ThatMom Community: EMAIL

Maria's Style Pick:

One thing helping me simplify life as a working mom? Renting instead of buying.

This episode's outfit is from Rent the Runway.

Try it here with 50% off

If this episode resonated, share it with a mom who has been carrying too much for too long.

And if you're enjoying these conversations, follow That Mom for more thoughtful discussions about motherhood, identity, ambition, happiness, emotional well-being, and building a life that feels aligned with what matters most.

What if the mom guilt you carry every day isn't a personal failing — it's a cultural script you were handed decades ago? In this episode, I sit down with Susan Douglas, co-author of The Mommy Myth, to pull apart the impossible standard of "intensive mothering" — and why even the smartest, most self-aware women can't fully out-think it.

Susan explains how magazines, social media, and decades of "expert" advice have quietly sold moms a fantasy of perfection, why seeing through the myth doesn't stop it from getting under your skin, and how the mommy wars, COVID, and the pressure to be five different people before breakfast all trace back to the same broken standard.

What We Cover:

• What "the new momism" is, and why intensive mothering became the cultural default
• Seeing through the myth doesn't stop it from working on you
• The "fragmented subjectivity" of motherhood: why you feel like five different people in one day, and why that's normal
• The real story behind the "mommy wars" — working moms vs. stay-at-home moms — and who benefits from that framing
• How COVID intensified the pressure on working mothers specifically
• Why letting your partner do things "his way" is a practice in letting go, not losing control
• A preview of Part 2: how "Mother Knows Best" became government policy

About the Guest:
Susan J. Douglas is the Catherine Neafie Kellogg Professor and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Communication and Media at the University of Michigan. She's the co-author (with Meredith Michaels) of The Mommy Myth: The Idealization of Motherhood and How It Has Undermined All Women, along with several other books on media and culture, including Enlightened Sexism and In Our Prime. Her writing has appeared in outlets like The Nation, Ms., and The Washington Post, and she has been featured on The Today Show, NPR's Fresh Air, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Links + Resources:

• The Mommy Myth by Susan Douglas & Meredith Michaels
• Follow ThatMom: Instagram
• Join the ThatMom Community: EMAIL

Maria's Style Pick:

One thing helping me simplify life as a working mom? Renting instead of buying.

This episode's outfit is from Rent the Runway.

Try it here with 50% off

If this episode resonated, share it with a mom who has been carrying too much for too long.

And if you're enjoying these conversations, follow That Mom for more thoughtful discussions about motherhood, identity, ambition, happiness, emotional well-being, and building a life that feels aligned with what matters most.

Part two with employment attorneys Jen and Meg of Scully & O'Leary. We dig into the messy middle ground between "doing nothing" and "suing your employer" — how to advocate for yourself at work, when something doesn't feel right.

What We Cover

• Why "gray area" workplace conflicts are more common than clear-cut legal violations, and how Jen and Meg's consulting practice helps people navigate that space
• How to identify your goals before raising an issue at work: resolution, prevention for others, or protection from retaliation
• Why messaging and tone matter as much as the legal facts when talking to HR or a manager
• The difference between something being illegal and something just not feeling right — and why both deserve attention
• Practical scripts and frameworks for having a hard conversation with a manager or HR

About Our Guests
Jen and Meg are childhood friends, attorneys and co-founders of Scully & O'Leary, where they now spend about half their practice consulting with individuals and business owners on workplace issues — helping people understand their rights and figure out the right next step, whether that's a conversation, a formal claim, or simply moving on.

Links + Resources:

• Learn more or work with Meg & Jen: https://www.scullyoleary.com
• Follow ThatMom: Instagram
• Join the ThatMom inner circle: EMAIL

Maria's Style Pick:

One thing helping me simplify life as a working mom? Renting instead of buying.

This episode's outfit is from Rent the Runway.

Try it here with 50% off

If this episode resonated, share it with a mom who has been carrying too much for too long.

And if you're enjoying these conversations, follow That Mom for more thoughtful discussions about motherhood, identity, ambition, happiness, emotional well-being, and building a life that feels aligned with what matters most.

Working moms can feel like they need a law degree just to understand your own maternity leave rights. In this episode, I sit down with employment attorneys — and childhood best friends — Meg O'Leary and Jen Scully of Scully & O'Leary to untangle the confusing, often stressful puzzle of maternity leave benefits. Even as trained lawyers, Meg and Jen found themselves overwhelmed navigating their own leaves, and they're on a mission to make sure no mom has to guess her way through it again.

Meg and Jen explain why so many moms leave benefits on the table simply because no one clearly explained what they were entitled to, and why that confusion isn't a reflection of your intelligence or your preparedness. It's a broken system, not a personal failure.

What We Cover:

• How to navigate maternity leave and figuring out what benefits you're entitled to
• The four "buckets" of leave benefits: state paid leave, short-term disability, long-term disability, and employer-specific policies
• How the Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program works, and how to find out if your state has something similar
• Why weekly benefit caps and pay percentages matter when you're planning your leave
• The case for short-term disability insurance, and why you need to buy it before you're pregnant
• Why teachers and municipal employees often need a different leave strategy
• How to fact-check a third-party benefits administrator against your actual state leave rights
• The hidden cost of rushing back to work early to "prove" you're still committed

About the Guests:

Meg O'Leary and Jen Scully are employment attorneys, childhood best friends, and co-founders of Scully & O'Leary, a law and consulting practice that helps parents navigate maternity leave, workplace benefits, and self-advocacy at work. After facing their own confusing and unexpected leave and health journeys as new moms, despite their legal training, they built their firm to help other parents understand and access every benefit they're entitled to.

Links + Resources:

• Learn more or work with Meg & Jen: https://www.scullyoleary.com
• Free Massachusetts PFML one-pager and benefits checklist: available on the Scully & O'Leary website
• Massachusetts Department of Family and Medical Leave: mass.gov/dfml
• Follow ThatMom: Instagram
• Join the ThatMom inner circle: EMAIL

Maria's Style Pick:

One thing helping me simplify life as a working mom? Renting instead of buying.

This episode's outfit is from Rent the Runway.

Try it here with 50% off

If this episode resonated, share it with a mom who has been carrying too much for too long.

And if you're enjoying these conversations, follow That Mom for more thoughtful discussions about motherhood, identity, ambition, happiness, emotional well-being, and building a life that feels aligned with what matters most.