That's Total Mom Sense

Celebrity Doula, Maternal Wellness Expert, Bestselling Author and Founder of Mama Glow, a global maternal health and education platform and Mama Glow Foundation, a non-profit serving birthing people along the childbearing continuum.

Named one of Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul 100, Latham is the founder of Mama Glow, a global maternal health and education company serving birthing people along the childbearing continuum. Mama Glow supports birthing families during the fertility period, pregnancy, birth as well as during postpartum offering hand-holding through their bespoke doula services. Their doula education platform empowers birth workers around the world. Latham is a fierce advocate for birth equity and works to bridge policy gaps in maternal health. She’s co-founder of The Continuum Conference, a gathering centering on the experience of fertility, pregnancy, and new motherhood. And the Mama Glow Foundation, advancing reproductive justice through education, advocacy, and the arts.

Cultivating her wellness practice over nearly a decade she has served as a doula and lifestyle guru for celebrity clients including Alicia Keys, Anne Hathaway, Ashley Graham, DJ Khaled, Rebecca Minkoff, Doutzen Kroes, Tamera Mowry, Gabrielle Union, and more. She has been featured in the New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Vogue, The Breakfast Club, Fast Company, Wall Street Journal Magazine, FORBES, SELF, Essence, and more. She is the proud mother of 18-year-old DJ prodigy, producer and entrepreneur, DJ Fulano. Latham is a graduate of Columbia University and author of two best-selling books;Own Your Glow: A Soulful Guide to Luminous Living And Crowning The Queen Within and Mama Glow: A Hip Guide to Your Fabulous Abundant Pregnancy.

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Today we are unearthing all the things related to pregnancy that aren’t so peachy from infertility to postpartum depression to misscarriage and stillbirth. These are the gut wrenching experiences many have to face and may not know where or how to seek help.

Here are some stats.

Today, I’m joined by Nneka Symister who is a psychotherapist and licensed social worker.

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If you hope to be pregnant some day, we understand your anticipation and anxiety. If you’re pregnant right now, we get that you’re nervous, excited, and just want to feel prepared. If you’ve lost your little one, we feel your pain which never goes away and want to help heal your broken heart, and if you were neglected, we want to take up for your cause. This is “The Birthing Series” on That’s Total Mom Sense where I’ll be speaking with experts on labor and delivery, loss, and advocacy.

Today’s guest is Sara Lyon.

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We all know and love M. Night Shyamalan as a world renowned director, producer and actor who was labeled “the next Spielberg” by Newsweek in 2002. His films have grossed over $3 billion globally with cult classics like The Sixth Sense which received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, Signs, The Last Airbender, and The Unbreakable Series.

We may also be fans of Saleka, his daughter who is a singer songwriter and wrote an original song for his recent release, Old, with a voice smooth as silk reminiscent of old school R&B.

But today, I’m honored to interview M. Night’s wife, Bhavna Vaswani Shyamalan, who is the silent strength of the family and is the glue who is keeping it all together.

For more than 15 years, Bhavna Shyamalan, PhD, has served in her role as co-founder and vice-president of the M. Night Shyamalan Foundation. The foundation focuses on discovering and supporting grassroots leaders around the world who are moving depressed communities out of poverty and oppression. These global leaders are empowering their communities by supporting social justice, equality, and access to basic needs such as food, water, and education.

A deep belief in human-dignity and freedom as a birthright, as well as in our joint responsibility to become participants in the fight for social equity and justice, have been Dr. Shyamalan’s driving force in creating and steering the efforts of the foundation. With an international upbringing and global perspective, Dr. Shyamalan has developed a keen awareness of the power of poverty to determine the life course of individuals, families, and communities by severely limiting opportunity and choice. The foundation leaders work to eliminate those barriers. More recently, Dr. Shyamalan has focused her foundation on helping the most disenfranchised communities; the forgotten and “disposable’ people entrapped and exploited by modern day slavery and human trafficking.

Although born in India, Bhavna was raised in Hong Kong before her family moved to the U.S. An immigrant herself, Dr. Shyamalan is keenly aware of the challenges posed to immigrants in any new country. Having travelled widely, however, her exposure to different people and cultures has not only reinforced her belief in the gift diversity brings, but also deepened her commitment to valuing each individual life.

Dr. Shyamalan oversees the foundation’s international grants, the implementation of its vision and mission, strategic growth, fundraising, and overall operations. Additionally, DR. B (as she is known in the fitness world) is co-owner at Vibe Vault Fit, a boutique fitness & wellness studio in PA, and has been teaching Dance Fitness classes since 2011.

Dr.B’s believes working out can be inspired, and should address health and fitness in all aspects, including body, mind, spirit. In addition to teaching dance fitness classes, Dr. B also manages the “mind” and “spirit” side of Vibe Vault Fit, running workshops, and talking about how to uplift our lives through the Vibe Vault Fit podcasts and blogs. Her vision for Vibe Vault Fit is to promote a warm community, that will walk together toward a healthier, more fulfilling, and extraordinary life. Dr. B sees wellness, like happiness, as a mindset. Her goal is to help you make your own wellness a priority and claim the life that is waiting for you.

Earlier in her career, Dr. Shyamalan worked as a therapist in the counseling centers of Swarthmore College and St. Joseph’s University. She earned her doctorate in Clinical Developmental Psychology from Bryn Mawr College and her B.A. in psychology from New York University.

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Martial arts is a metaphor for life. Did you ever think about that? It requires a fine balance of the body, mind, and spirit - a keen understanding of people and their intentions, skill, flexibility, wisdom, focus, anticipation, practice, and after you are hit to the ground with this challenge or that level of adversity, you muster up the courage and willpower to stand up and fight again. That is what living is all about.

Today, I am joined by a woman who lives by this philosophy more than anyone I know. She is Shannon Emery Lee.

She’s famously known as Bruce Lee’s daughter but she is SO much more than that and is carving her path and place in this world in such an authentic way. Across the globe, billions revere her father who made his mark as an incredibly talented martial artist, filmmaker, actor, and philosopher. But to her, he was simply Dad. To say she had big shoes to fill is an understatement, and to think her father’s shoes were never worn again when he died at the age of 32 and little Shannon was just 4 years old.

Shannon has been a keen martial artist throughout life in her own way. She’s also an American singer, actress, producer and entrepreneur. After her father’s death, her mother Linda Lee Cadwell left Hong Kong and raised her in California along with her brother Brandon Lee, who also died far too young during an accident while shooting for a film.

People tried to tell her that acting was not good for the family but Shannon decided to maintain the legacy of her father and learned martial arts from his students. She then made her debut into film and TV with movies like Enter the Eagles and Martial Law. She endeavours to preserve and promote her father’s legacy as the president of the Bruce Lee Foundation and Bruce Lee Enterprises.

Her book Be Water, My Friend pays homage to her father’s life and teachings, and her most important role is being a dedicated mother to her daughter Wren.

Welcome to the show, Shannon!

Let’s bow in ceremoniously to this interview so that we are both aware and present.

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As you all know, I am an organization aficionado. I am a minimalist and believe in buying things of good quality and store them in a way that’s functional and aesthetic.

That’s why I am LOVING the brand Hudson+Bleecker. They provide storage solutions for your daily needs from cosmetic bags to suitcase storage to garment bags. I became fast friends with the founder Eram Siddiqui and am excited to have her on this IG PODCAST LIVE today.

Eram Siddiqui brings over 10 years of entrepreneurial experience as Founder and CEO of Hudson+Bleecker, the premier travel and lifestyle accessories brand focused on thoughtfully designed and functional accessories for women on-the-go. Launched in 2011, Hudson+Bleecker is one of the fastest growing travel accessories brands for women in the country, with over 500 global retailers including Nordstrom and REVOLVE. Hudson+Bleecker has also been featured on QVC, Forbes, Fast Company, The New York Times, The Today Show, Newsweek and has a following of notable beauty, travel and style influencers. Eram started her career in Public Policy advising two female United States Senators on banking, finance and international trade and then moved on to providing legislative guidance to financial institutions. She loves to travel, hike, cook and spend time with her family as well as support not-for-profit and philanthropic causes. Eram is a Board Member of the Sundara Fund, is Founding Member of Imapct100NYC and supports The Floating Hospital with annual donations of hygiene kits to survivors of domestic violence and women living in NYC shelters. Eram received her B.A. at the University of California, Irvine in Political Science and International Studies. She lives in NYC with her husband, Anees (pronounced Uh-nees), her son Raif (pronounced Rayf) and daughter, Inara (In-ara)

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Avani Patel is the Chief Operating Officer at ESSENCE. In this role, she leads the Technology, Finance, and Human Resources functions. A veteran of the technology & business consulting industry, her career spans product launch, management/operations and consulting across Fortune 500 companies and start-ups. She intends on fulfilling ESSENCE’s mission of serving Black Women deeply by a continued focus on the company’s digital landscape and business growth. Patel previously led technology at Sundial Brands/Unilever, as well as professional services at Verizon/Totality Corp.

Avani is also a PMP (Project Management Professional) and Six Sigma Black Belt. She recently completed the Women in Leadership Program at Oxford University. A true Jersey Girl by heart, Avani was born and raised in Sayreville, NJ and went on to attend Rutgers University.

Avani is an award-winning Indian folk-dance choreographer and former television host for a South Asian network. Coming from a large family, Patel learned to be organized and vocal from a young age; these are the skills that became the greatest asset to the launch of her career. She continues to lean on the skills and values inherited from her Gujarati family to help guide her, both personally and professionally. When not strategizing for ESSENCE, Avani travels the world with her children, Lucas, 15 & Lara, 14 with the hope that they will, one day, become model global citizens.

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• MANLUU: Luxurious, unexpected interpretations of Creole culture

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Isn’t it ironic and kind of sad that having kids can wreak havoc on a marriage and your sex life? Today, get ready to get your mojo back and rekindle the spark with your spouse thanks to renowned licensed psychotherapist and nationally recognized sex counselor Ian Kerner.

Ian Kerner, who is a PhD and LMFT specializes in sex therapy, couples therapy and working with individuals on a range of relational issues that often lead to distress.

Ian is regularly quoted as an expert in across all media outlets. He’s a regular on the Today Show and in CNN HealthThe Atlantic, The New York Times, The Economist and NPR. He gives lectures on sex and relationships, with recent presentations at NYU, Yale, Princeton, the Ackerman Institute and TED 2021. Ian is the New York Times best-selling author of She Comes First (Harper Collins) which has been translated into over a dozen languages.

His new book, So Tell Me About the Last Time You Had Sex was recently published by Hachette. Ian lives in New York with his wife, two sons and two dogs. He maintains a private practice in NYC dedicated to honoring the centrality of sexuality in his patients’ lives.

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Today’s show delves deep into motherhood, how it’s intergenerational and we are birthed from the mothers before us. Their love, their thoughts, their dreams live on in us. I am thrilled to have Nandana Dev Sen on my show.

Nandana Dev Sen is an award-winning actor, writer, and child-rights activist. Daughter of the world renowned economist and philosopher Amartya Sen and the famous Indian poet, author, and academic Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Nandana was destined to pursue a career in the arts. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University (where she won the John Harvard Scholarship and Elizabeth Agassiz Prize each year) and studying filmmaking at the USC School of Cinema-Television, she worked as a book editor, a screenwriter, a script doctor, a poetry translator, a short film maker, and just for fun, as Princess Jasmine in Disneyland. Nandana grew up in India, England, and America, and has acted in over 20 feature films from all three continents (and in multiple languages). She is the Ambassador for Child Protection for Save the Children India. Nandana has worked closely with children and grown-ups at UNICEF, RAHI (India's first organization for survivors of child sexual abuse), Apne Aap (ends sex-trafficking by providing education and preventing intergenerational prostitution), and Operation Smile (transforms lives of children with cranio-facial deformities), as an Ambassador and advocate for child protection. In 2019, Nandana was awarded the Last Girl Champion Award for her campaign against human trafficking and child abuse, and her tireless fight to empower marginalized girl children.

Nandana is the author of six children's books, In My Heart (Penguin Random House, 2019), The Monkey Who Wanted to Fly (Italian: La scimmietta che voleva volare, Fetrinelli Kids, 2018), Talky Tumble of Jumble Farm (Penguin Random House, 2017), Not Yet! (Tulika Books, 2017), Kangaroo Kisses (Otter-Barry Books, 2016), and Mambi and the Forest Fire (Puffin, 2016), as well as Youthquake, a fiction series for young adults (published in The Wire, The Telegraph, and Youth Ki Awaaz). Nandana‘s first book Kangaroo Kisses was selected by 320+ UK nurseries as a “Book of Excellence”, and her interactive workshops have been loved by more than 30,000 young people, in person, across the world. She frequently writes for newspapers and journals, and has edited and co-authored a bilingual book of her translations of her mother Nabaneeta Dev Sen's Bengali poetry, Make Up Your Mind. Her latest book, Acrobat, is a collection of her mother’s poems translated from Bengali by Nandana and is published by Archipelago Books.

Nandana lives with her husband John Makinson and daughter Meghla with homes in New York, London, and Kolkata. She loves to eat, bike, rhyme, dance, and argue.

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Kanika: In our final “At Home with HOMER'' episode, I want to focus on something we’ve strived to incorporate into every one of our conversations -- How can we simplify information for families with easy, quick, applicable, tips for parents that help instead of overwhelm. In the spirit of that, I would love to hear in a more general sense about what you think parents truly need to focus on and more importantly, what parents can confidently forget about!

Stephanie: Yes, I love this question, because this is truly my goal. Simplify, streamline, cut out the noise and find the 80/20 approach to parenting.

Stephanie’s Tips:

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