Jenny Rossman, a distinguished attorney for victims of sexual abuse, joins the podcast this week to explain to all of us how she does this work while raising two young kids. Jenny is currently the lead trial attorney at Herman Law, but was previously the Bureau Chief of the Sex Crimes & Child Abuse Unit of the State Attorney’s Office for Florida’s 9th Judicial Circuit (Orlando) and served as an Assistant State Attorney in the Sexual Battery Unit of the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office. In her tenure as a sex crimes prosecutor, she received a guilty verdict in every one of her trials, and all of those convictions were upheld on appeal. Incredible!

In this episode is hard-hitting life advice from Jenny’s perfectly sarcastic father, as well as:

⚽ Jenny’s journey from soccer to painting houses to finding her calling as an attorney

🧠 How she compartmentalizes her work on child abuse cases from life at home

👶 What protecting kids in court has taught her about raising her own

🙅‍♀️ Ending “mom guilt”

🤰 The benefits of litigating while pregnant

—

This episode is supported by Little Saints. More than a non-alcoholic beverage, it’s a mushroom-infused cocktail that elevates the soul. Get 20% off when you use code THEMOTHERS20 at littlesaints.com. 

*Subscribe & review THE MOTHERS on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts

*Follow us on Instagram ⁠@themotherspod⁠

*Learn more at themothersmedia.co

*THE MOTHERS is a production of Backline Media.

Katherine Jetter is a gemologist, jewelry designer, and the founder of The Vault Nantucket — a curated boutique spotlighting designers from around the globe. She’s known for reintroducing opals to the luxury market, blending bold design with deep expertise, and building a brand that’s as innovative as it is elegant.

She’s also the mother of one daughter and three stepdaughters — and the kind of woman who brings her newborn to a gem show, mentors her nanny into a Chief Strategy Officer, and isn’t afraid to ask for help when it matters most.

In this episode, Katherine joins Sara & Vee to talk about:

💎 Starting her business at 26 to design a life with room for motherhood

🍼 Bringing her newborn to a gem show (and being turned away)

👯‍♀️ Mentoring her nanny into her Chief Strategy Officer

🔁 Why pivoting and asking for help are key to entrepreneurship & parenting

🛡️ And that one time her dad was her bodyguard in the Australian opal mines

*

Also mentioned in this episode: 

The Vault Nantucket is welcoming Melissa Kaye and Sorellina for a trunk show featuring their new couture collections, with personal appearances from both designers. Join them July 31-Aug 2 at The Vault Nantucket!

*

This episode is supported by Little Saints. More than a non-alcoholic beverage, it’s a mushroom-infused cocktail that elevates the soul. Get 20% off when you use code THEMOTHERS20 at littlesaints.com. 

*

Please subscribe & review on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on Instagram ⁠@themotherspod⁠

*

The Mothers is a production of Backline Media.

Rebecca Love of Rebecca Love Photography is a portrait and wedding photographer on Nantucket and Mother of three. She and her husband Jonathan also produce ACK & Beyond. Rebecca’s work has been featured in Town & Country, The Wall Street Journal, Boston Magazine and Forbes Travel Guide, but the journey behind it is just as striking.

In this conversation, Rebecca talks:

🍼 Launching what became “the family business” shortly after welcoming her first child

😅Managing the stress of weddings (there are no do-overs!)

🧘🏼‍♀️Finding her version of balance (six months on, six months off)

💕Recognized her own strength through loss, IVF, and her community (both online & on-island)

🧑🏼‍💻The role of “big tech” in building her skillset and her support system 

🎧 Listen now on THE MOTHERS wherever you get your podcasts.

*Learn more about Rebecca at rebeccalovephotography.net

*Subscribe & review THE MOTHERS on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts

*Follow us on Instagram ⁠@themotherspod⁠

*Learn more at themothersmedia.co

*THE MOTHERS is a production of Backline Media.

Nicky Bandera built a mission-driven brand out of her kitchen in the middle of a pandemic to set an example for her young daughter and hasn’t stopped opening doors since. In this episode, the founder of Project Paulie gets real about invisible labor, pandemic pivots, and the myth of doing it all – and shares how motherhood turned her passion into a purpose-driven movement.

You’ll hear:

🤯 Why she went back to work nights just 3 weeks postpartum

👀 The invisible labor we carry (and sometimes don’t even see ourselves)

💥 The problem with pretending we did it all alone

🔥 Why she fights gatekeeping — and trusts the pull of a big idea

🧡 What it really means to feed each other

*This episode is supported by Little Saints. More than a non-alcoholic beverage, it’s a mushroom-infused cocktail that elevates the soul. Get 20% off when you use code THEMOTHERS20 at littlesaints.com. 

*Follow/subscribe & review THE MOTHERS on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on Instagram ⁠@themotherspod⁠

*Learn more at themothersmedia.co

*The Mothers is a production of Backline Media.

The unstoppable and ever-joyful Meghan Joyce joins Sara & Vee on the pod this week! Meghan is the Co-Founder and CEO of Duckbill, pioneering a hybrid AI-human personal assistant model. Previously, she was COO at Oscar Health and held key leadership roles at Uber. Meghan serves on the boards of The Boston Beer Company and Guardant Health. She is also a Henry Crown Fellow and member of the Aspen Institute's Global Leadership Network. 

AND she is a Mother of THREE (including a 6 month old). How is she doing this!?

This conversation is full of the reality of “balancing” career & family and advice for making it work, starting with deciding what you want your “one wild and precious life” to look like, and then making choices to create it one crazy moment at a time. Enjoy!

*And check out Duckbill – a shortcut to more joy! Use code THEMOTHERS for 50% off 3 months.

------

*Please review & subscribe to THE MOTHERS on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on Instagram ⁠@themotherspod⁠

*THE MOTHERS is a production of Backline Media.

Jessica Gelman is a trailblazer in sports, data, and leadership — and one of a few women at the helm of the business side of professional sports.

As CEO & co-founder of Kraft Analytics Group (KAGR), co-founder & co-chair of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, and investor in women's sports, Jessica has spent her career changing how the sports industry thinks about fans, data, and leadership.

In this episode, Jessica talks about being “the only, the first, or taking the path less traveled,” building a business idea uncovered on maternity leave, learning “parenting at work” lessons from Robert & Jonathan Kraft, and why she believes “it’s okay for your kids to know you love your job.”

She also shares how parenting changed her view on ambition, why youth sports still move her to tears, and what it really means to create space for joy — on and off the field.

Also mentioned in this episode:

*Grab tickets to The Mothers LIVE on Nantucket with Elin Hilderbrand, Bess Clarke CEO of Nantucket Looms and Wendy Rouillard Owner of Barnaby’s! July 22 at Sister Ship; doors open at 2:30. Tickets available here: https://themothersliveonack.eventbrite.com

*This episode is supported by Little Saints. More than a non-alcoholic beverage, it’s a mushroom-infused cocktail that elevates the soul. Get 20% off when you use code THEMOTHERS20 at littlesaints.com. 

*Please review & subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on Instagram ⁠@themotherspod⁠

*The Mothers is a production of Backline Media.

Tufts University Field Hockey Head Coach Tina McDavitt Mattera joins the pod to share her unfiltered experience building one of the most dominant programs in the country AND raising kids – and finding time to hang with her husband and friends at the beach. Tina is entering her 21st year with Tufts. Under her leadership, they won the NCAA championship in 2012 – the first NCAA title won by a women’s team at Tufts, earning them a spot in the Tufts Athletics Hall of Fame – made the NCAA tournament 11 times, and appeared in the Final Four five times. Tina herself is a two-time NESCAC coach of the year and a National Field Hockey Coaches Association National Coach of the Year. 

Tina is also a celebrated field hockey player, having been a member of USA Field Hockey's national indoor team and won a silver medal at the Pan Am Games. She was also recently selected by USA Field Hockey to the Masters Indoor World Cup Team. 

In this conversation:

- How Tina built a powerhouse at Tufts

- Leaning into her own definition of success and opting out of Div 1 (for now)

- Coaching in labor and returning to the field days later (“tweet… tweet”)

- The profound impact of finally having help she didn’t need to “check on”

- Thinking critically about the day-to-day life she wants and the professional choices to support it

- What it looks like to have “enough”

Looking for camps for your teenager this summer? Sign them up for a clinic with Tina at mcdavittsports.com

*

This episode is supported by Little Saints. More than a non-alcoholic beverage, it’s a mushroom-infused cocktail that elevates the soul. Get 20% off when you use code THEMOTHERS20 at littlesaints.com. 

*

Please review & subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on Instagram ⁠@themotherspod⁠

*

The Mothers is a production of Backline Media.

Drumroll for greatness – Lexi Reese joins the pod this week! Lexi is the co-founder and CEO of Lanai, an AI Empowerment Platform that helps enterprises transform AI experiments into systematic success. Before Lanai, she led the Global Programmatic Ad Business at Google and then jumped to be the COO of Gusto (a unicorn, but don’t call it a unicorn as you’ll hear Lexi explain in our interview). Always one to look for ways to do more to help others thrive, after Gusto and before Lanai, , she launched a campaign for California's U.S. Senate seat.

We’re tired just thinking about all this because in addition to occupying big seats at big tables (and beautifully trying to make more seats for others) – Lexi is the mother of two girls. And for her, motherhood has been a superpower. Helping her become an even better leader (and she’s already one of the best!). As she says in this interview: “I think of motherhood as a leadership laboratory because a great leader makes people better first in their presence, but then it lasts in their absence. It stays with you. And that is what motherhood is.”

In our convo we discuss:

- Going from film-making and finance to the tech c-suite + a run at politics

- Motherhood as a leadership laboratory

- Why America sees Mothers as a bug in the system

- How kids clarified her mission to leave the world better than she found it 

- How to operate at 75% when your norm is 125%

- The role her mother and her immigrant background played in shaping how she wanted to operate in the world

*

This episode is supported by Little Saints. More than a non-alcoholic beverage, it’s a mushroom-infused cocktail that elevates the soul. Get 20% off when you use code THEMOTHERS20 at littlesaints.com. 

*

Please review & subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on Instagram ⁠@themotherspod⁠

*

The Mothers is a production of Backline Media.

Get ready to fill up your cup! Tracy Skelly, founder of Little Cocoa Bean Co., joins Sara & Vee on the pod this week. Tracy is a Boston-based entrepreneur, educator, and advocate for health equity & food access. Forever committed to service, Tracy started her career in education with Teach for America before getting her Masters in Education at Harvard and jumping into the private sector with Ellevation Education. After helping them get acquired, she joined Amazon as an “intrapraneur,” expanding online grocery shopping access to low-income communities. 

But once she became a Mother, Tracy – whose parents are from Panama by way of the West Indies by way of Africa – realized that the ready-made food options for her child did not include the bold flavors and diverse ingredients of her own heritage. She started experimenting with recipes and engaging with community members about the importance of nutrition, and soon Little Cocoa Bean Co. was born, on a mission to provide families with access to vital information, supplies, and services during their child’s first 1,000 days of life. Currently in Jamaica Plain, they are opening a new prominent location in the Boston Children’s Museum! 

Tracy is an absolute gift to the Boston community and we’re so grateful she joined us to share her experience navigating career, purpose, and a devotion to service alongside building a business and a family.  

Donate: Make Meals Free for Kids at Little Cocoa Bean Co! https://givebutter.com/Hx9bZ8

This episode is sponsored by Little Saints. More than a non-alcoholic beverage, it’s a mushroom-infused cocktail that elevates the soul. Get 20% off when you use code THEMOTHERS20 at littlesaints.com. 

*

Please review & subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on Instagram ⁠@themotherspod⁠

*

The Mothers is a production of Backline Media.

Laura Green, perhaps better known as @lauramcgreen, joins Sara & Vee this week. And honestly thank goodness because it’s been a cold & dark few days in New England and we need some sunshine and levity!

Laura is a comedic content creator in the run space, producing reels that make fun of herself as a lifelong runner and all the quirks that come with that. She loves writing and producing short skits, hosting events, and hanging out with her husband and 3 kids. Oh, and running. She runs a lot. 

In this conversation, we talk about:

- going from a physical therapy career to content creation

- how she was absolutely rocked mentally and physically by the arrival of her first kid

- why she’ll never put her kids in her content (mostly)

- the importance of finding opportunities to take RISKS as we get older

- where she gets the “confidence of a white man” (Kelly, this one’s for you)

This episode is sponsored by Little Saints, more than a non-alcoholic beverage, it’s a mushroom-infused cocktail that elevates the soul. Get 20% off when you use code THEMOTHERS20 at littlesaints.com. 

*

Please review & subscribe on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on Instagram ⁠@themotherspod⁠

*

The Mothers is a production of Backline Media.