In this episode, Mandy shares why she pivoted The New School of Motherhood to focus more explicitly on motherhood and business.

She explores the difference between staying committed to your mission and staying loyal to a business model, offer or direction that no longer works.

What’s inside this episode

• Why persistence is not always the right business strategy
• How to identify the real bottleneck in your business
• The fears that make pivoting feel so difficult
• Why a pivot does not mean starting over
• How to test a new direction before making a major change
• Building a more sustainable business around motherhood and family life

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We often think the mental load is determined by what needs to be done or how supportive our partners are. But it is also shaped by what we automatically take responsibility for.

In this episode, Mandy explores discernment as a motherhood and business skill. She looks at how fear, habit, control and expectation influence what we carry, and how seeing these patterns gives us the freedom to choose differently.

In this episode, Mandy explores:

• How old patterns shape the mental load
• The difference between responsibility and expectation
• Why asking for help can feel difficult
• How discernment changes the way we lead
• A three-day practice to pause, separate and choose

If you’re building a business centred around motherhood, you can follow how Mandy applies these ideas inside her private Substack community.⁠⁠​

About your host

Mandy Cai is the founder of The New School of Motherhood, a business philosophy platform for mothers who are ready to stop trading family life with work.

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Many women are waiting for the world to recognise their value while quietly discounting it themselves.

We minimise what it took to become mothers. We overlook the intelligence inside the mental load. We overgive, undercharge and assume someone else’s experience, audience or success makes our contribution less meaningful.

In this episode, Mandy explores how these patterns often begin long before motherhood. When we learn that love, attention or safety must be earned, we can carry that conditioning into our homes, relationships and businesses.

This conversation is not about denying the structural ways women are undervalued. It is about recognising the internal patterns we have the power to change now.

Mandy shares:

• Why external recognition cannot replace believing in your own value
• What birth and the mental load reveal about women’s strength and intelligence
• How women and men often approach pricing, support and capacity differently
• Why you are not separate from your offer or the reason people choose it
• How comparison can become an invitation to recognise what only you can bring

The problem was never that we lacked value. It is that we have been taught not to recognise it within ourselves.

If you are building a business centred around motherhood, or creating work that respects your life as a present mother, you are invited to join Mandy inside Building a Mother-Centric Business, her private Substack community.

Join as a paid member.

Many of us want a business that can hold our ambition and our motherhood. And yet we keep building as if those two parts of us have to stay separate.

In this episode, I talk about what a mother-centric business actually is. Not a smaller business. Not a child-centric one. A way of building where who we are as mothers sits at the centre of our decisions.

I share what happened when I didn’t build this way. In my agency years, and in the early days of this platform. The health cost. The holiday I couldn’t enjoy. The friction of jumping between work and my kids. And what changed when I started using motherhood as the anchor, instead of treating it as a conflict.

We talk about:

• what mother-centric actually means, and what it doesn’t
• why separating work and motherhood always bleeds out
• how everyday desires, like being done by school pickup, become real boundaries
• why hustle advice often fails mothers
• why we minimise what we’re building
• and what happens when we stop

If you’re navigating this too, you’re invited into my private community, Building a Mother-Centric Business, on Substack.

Each week I share what I’m actually working on, the decisions I’m making, and the realities of building The New School of Motherhood in real time, as a mother.

Join here: https://thenewschoolofmotherhood.substack.com/subscribe

About your host:

Mandy Cai is the founder of The New School of Motherhood. She helps women build mother-centric businesses, and expands what’s possible for mothers who want to prioritise nurture.She spent a decade in branding and marketing.

Now she brings that work together with what she’s learned in her own transformation as a mother.

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We are often told that mothers cannot have it all.

But maybe the real question is whether the version of “all” we are chasing actually belongs to us.

In this episode, Mandy explores what it means to redefine having it all through motherhood, nurture, ambition, and family life. She reflects on why her relationships with her children and husband have become the anchor for her decisions, and why this does not mean giving up on her dreams.

This is a conversation about inherited ideas of success, the pressure to measure our lives through tangible goals, and the difference between proving we can do everything and creating a life that feels aligned with what matters most.

In this episode, Mandy explores:

• Why having it all does not have to mean everything, all at once
• How motherhood can clarify what matters most
• Why some versions of success were not built around caregiving
• The difference between achievement and the feeling underneath it
• How to build a life that can hold your children and your dreams

If this conversation brings something up for you, The Mother They Remember is a place to sit with these questions more deeply. It is a guided reflection for women in pregnancy, postpartum, and the early years of motherhood who want to become more intentional about the kind of mother, woman, and family culture they are creating.

About your host:

Mandy Cai is the founder of The New School of Motherhood, a philosophy platform expanding the definition of what’s possible for mothers prioritising nurture.

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What if your child doesn't need fixing, only understanding?

As parents, it's easy to find ourselves asking, "How do I get my child to behave?" But what if the better question is, "What is my child trying to show me?"

In part 2 of my conversation with Human Design Variables teacher Vaness Henry, we explore how children naturally process food, emotions, environments, and experiences differently—and what changes when we stop expecting one approach to work for every child.

What begins as a conversation about Human Design quickly becomes something much deeper. We explore what it means to listen to our children without trying to change them, how our children's behaviours often reveal where we are disconnected from ourselves, and why the way we care for our own nervous system shapes the way we parent.

If you've ever wondered whether your child is "too sensitive," "too stubborn," or simply hard to understand, this episode offers a different perspective. Not one that asks you to fix their behaviour, but one that helps you understand what might be underneath it.

Key Insights:

• Why there is no one-size-fits-all approach to parenting
• How Human Design Variables can help you understand your child's natural needs
• The difference between correcting behaviour and responding to what's actually happening beneath it
• What our children's emotions can reveal about our own patterns
• Why caring for yourself isn't separate from caring for your child

My hope is that you'll leave this conversation feeling less pressure to get parenting "right," and more confidence in your ability to understand yourself, understand your child, and trust what you're already noticing.

If this episode moved you, begin here. ⁠⁠⁠The Mother They Remember⁠⁠⁠ is a guided reflection for women who are ready to meet the mother they are becoming, not just survive the one they've been handed.⁠⁠⁠

About our guest:

Vaness Henry is a journalist, shamanic practitioner, and Human Design Variables guide who helps people listen to their bodies and understand the patterns shaping their health and lives. A cancer survivor, her work is rooted in lived experience and a grounded, intuitive approach to healing and transformation.

Youtube

Vanesshenry.com

thehumandesignvariables.com

About your host:

⁠⁠Mandy Cai⁠⁠⁠ is the founder of The New School of Motherhood, a philosophy platform built on a single conviction: motherhood isn't where you lose yourself. It's where you find the truest, most powerful version of her.

⁠⁠⁠Begin the guided reflection⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to her newsletter⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠Connect on Instagram⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠Follow on Rednote / 小红书⁠

So much of motherhood asks us to make decisions for another person. But how do we know when we’re responding to our child—and when we’re reacting from our own fear, conditioning, or past?

In this episode, I’m joined by Vaness Henry, a Human Design guide and mother, to explore what it means to listen more closely to ourselves and our children.

We talk about Human Design as a tool for understanding difference: why the way you use energy, respond to your environment, or care for your body may not be the way your child does. Vaness also shares how childhood cancer shaped her relationship with health and taught her to pay attention when something in her body changes.

For me, this conversation brought up something very practical about motherhood: how easily we can mistake our own experience for our child’s.

My daughter has always run much hotter than I do. When she was younger, I would insist she wear another layer because I felt cold—and because I was afraid she would get sick. I believed I was protecting her. But I was also asking her to ignore what her own body was telling her so that I could feel less anxious. That distinction matters.

Key insights

• Self-trust begins with noticing how your body communicates with you
• Your child may experience energy, comfort, and environment very differently from you
• Family patterns can be passed down through behaviour and beliefs, not only biology
• Parenting with awareness means separating your child’s experience from your own fear

If you often find yourself looking outside yourself for the right way to mother, this conversation offers another place to begin: recognizing what belongs to you, questioning your automatic reactions, and giving your child more room to stay connected to what they know about themselves.

If this episode moved you, begin here. ⁠⁠The Mother They Remember⁠⁠ is a guided reflection for women who are ready to meet the mother they are becoming, not just survive the one they've been handed.

About our guest:

Vaness Henry is a journalist, shamanic practitioner, and Human Design Variables guide who helps people listen to their bodies and understand the patterns shaping their health and lives. A cancer survivor, her work is rooted in lived experience and a grounded, intuitive approach to healing and transformation.

About your host:

Mandy Cai⁠⁠ is the founder of The New School of Motherhood, a philosophy platform built on a single conviction: motherhood isn't where you lose yourself. It's where you find the truest, most powerful version of her.

⁠Begin the guided reflection⁠

⁠Subscribe to her newsletter⁠

⁠Connect on Instagram⁠

⁠Follow on Rednote / 小红书

Breastfeeding is often treated as something that starts when your baby arrives. But what happens in birth, the support you receive afterward, and the beliefs you carry into motherhood all shape how that relationship begins.

In this episode, I’m joined by midwife and lactation consultant Katie James to explore the connection between birth, breastfeeding, and the transition into motherhood. We talk about how interventions, separation after birth, skin-to-skin contact, and postpartum care can influence feeding in the early days. Katie shares why breastfeeding is more than nutrition. It is a relationship between mother and baby, built through responsiveness and connection.

We also look at how formula marketing, social media, and pressure to recover quickly can leave women doubting themselves when feeding doesn’t unfold as expected. Birth, breastfeeding, and postpartum are deeply interconnected. When we miss that, many women blame their bodies. Often what was missing was support, information, and the conditions needed for breastfeeding to establish.

Key insights

• Birth and breastfeeding are linked physically, hormonally, and emotionally
• Skin-to-skin and postpartum support shape early feeding
• Breastfeeding is a relationship, not just milk
• Challenges are often circumstantial, not personal failure
• Partners matter because feeding is part of becoming a family

Let this episode offer perspective rather than pressure. Whatever your feeding journey has looked like, you deserve compassion, not self-blame.

If this episode moved you, begin here. ⁠The Mother They Remember⁠ is a guided reflection for women who are ready to meet the mother they are becoming, not just survive the one they've been handed.

About our guest:

Katie James is a midwife and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, andcreator of The Midwives’ Cauldron and The Latch Revolution podcasts. With 25years’ clinical experience, she is known for her warm, evidence-based approach tobreastfeeding and early feeding education.

Join her breastfeeding online course: https://www.katiejames.site/

Follow her on Instagram @katiejameslactation

Listen to The Latch Revolution Podcast: https://www.thelatchrevolution.com/

About your host:

Mandy Cai⁠ is the founder of The New School of Motherhood, a philosophy platform built on a single conviction: motherhood isn't where you lose yourself. It's where you find the truest, most powerful version of her.

⁠Begin the guided reflection⁠

⁠Subscribe to her newsletter⁠

⁠Connect on Instagram⁠

⁠Follow on Rednote / 小红书

What does it actually take to become a great mother, not in performance, but in presence?

In this episode, I share a personal story of early separation, and why so many of us enter motherhood led by fear and “trying not to get it wrong”. We explore what changes when you get clear on who you want to become, and you start making choices from trust instead.

We talk about:

• my experience of being sent to a boarding preschool from age 2.5 to 7, and the imprint of separation
• why knowing what you do not want is not the same as knowing what you want
• how fear-based clarity creates pressure, and trust-based clarity creates choice
• the real legacy your children remember: how they felt around you, not what you bought or achieved
• why becoming a great mother requires honesty, tradeoffs, and inner growth (not perfection)

⁠⁠⁠If this episode moved you, begin here. ⁠⁠The Mother They Remember⁠⁠ is a guided reflection for women who are ready to meet the mother they are becoming, not just survive the one they've been handed.⁠

About your host:

⁠Mandy Cai⁠⁠ is the founder of The New School of Motherhood, a philosophy platform built on a single conviction: motherhood isn't where you lose yourself. It's where you find the truest, most powerful version of her.

⁠⁠Begin the guided reflection⁠⁠

⁠⁠Subscribe to her newsletter⁠⁠

⁠⁠Connect on Instagram⁠⁠

⁠⁠Follow on Rednote / 小红书

So much of early motherhood can feel like second-guessing yourself. Am I responding the right way? Am I being too soft? Too harsh? Am I creating the kind of relationship I want with my child?But beneath all of those questions is something deeper; learning how to become a safe place for your children while still staying connected to yourself.

In this episode, I’m joined by Orna Sharon, a mother of three adult children, to talk about what motherhood looks like over the long term. We explore how trust is built slowly through everyday interactions, why honesty matters in parent-child relationships, and what it actually means to be emotionally safe for your children without abandoning boundaries or authority.

Orna speaks candidly about raising children through different stages of life, navigating divorce, balancing work and motherhood in ways that felt right for her, and learning over time, when her children needed guidance and when they simply needed her to listen.

One topic we return to throughout this conversation is how much the small moments matter. How you respond when your child spills something or makes a mistake. Whether they feel safe telling you the truth. Whether repair is possible after conflict. Whether your love still feels available when boundaries are necessary. These moments shape the relationship your child learns they can have with you. Not only when life feels easy, but when they are struggling, ashamed, overwhelmed, or unsure.

Key insights

• Your child does not need perfection to feel secure
• Emotional safety and boundaries can exist together
• Honesty builds trust over time
• Motherhood changes as your children grow, but your presence still matters
• There is no single right way to navigate work, family, and selfhood

This conversation reminds you that motherhood is built in repetition, not perfection. In the way you respond. In the way you repair. And in the way your child learns they can keep coming back to you.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠If this episode moved you, begin here. ⁠⁠⁠The Mother They Remember⁠⁠⁠ is a guided reflection for women who are ready to meet the mother they are becoming, not just survive the one they've been handed.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

About our guest:

Orna Sharon is the mother of three adult children (ages 21–30), to whom she devoted most of her time as a caregiver. Currently based in New York City, she previously worked as a growth consultant and angel investor, with a background in international business and finance.

Follow her on Linkedin

About your host:

⁠About your host: ⁠⁠Mandy Cai⁠⁠⁠ is the founder of The New School of Motherhood, a philosophy platform built on a single conviction: motherhood isn't where you lose yourself. It's where you find the truest, most powerful version of her. ⁠⁠⁠

Begin the guided reflection⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠

Subscribe to her newsletter⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠

Connect on Instagram⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠

Follow on Rednote / 小红书⁠

This episode was produced by ⁠⁠⁠⁠Six-Two Studio