The Startup Pregnant Podcast: Recent Episodes
Sarah Peck
The Startup Pregnant Podcast features interviews with pioneering women entrepreneurs, exceptional leaders, and new parents as they navigate what it takes to grow families and build companies. We ask deep human questions around what it means to become a parent, grow a business, deal with success, and learn from failure. Motherhood, fatherhood, parenting, startups, and entrepreneurship are similar in so many ways. This show gives us a chance to learn from these profound life-transforming journeys. Startup Pregnant isn’t strictly about startups and pregnancy; it’s about the deep-rooted power that growing businesses and babies taps into, and how we change as a result. Throughout both “Startup” and “Pregnant” viewpoints, we look at what it means to undergo these profound internal transformations that come with creating new things from scratch. By telling both personal narratives and stories, we guide a larger conversation about femininity, energy, creativity, and leadership. Transformation isn’t easy, in fact, it’s often painful, but it’s one of the most beautiful parts of being a human.
184 — Vanessa Van Edwards learned right away that being an expert in behavioral science did not translate into innate parenting know-how.
An author, speaker, and lead investigator with Science of People, Vanessa first appeared on Episode #96 of Startup Parent. She returned for Episode #104, in which she busted some myths about the first weeks of parenthood.
Now, she’s opening up about the first year, explaining that while some phases do indeed “go by so fast,” others can feel like a slog, but telling parents that it goes by so fast is not, well, helpful. We dig into the nitty-gritty of the first year of parenting, what surprised us, what we wish we’d known, and the milestones most parenting books miss.
We also talk about miscarriage, and Vanessa also speaks honestly about the experience of having a miscarriage at eight weeks, and the physicality of it—many people talk about the emotional experience, but she wasn’t prepared for how long it would take, and what her body would go through in the experience.
Tune in to this episode to hear Vanessa’s take on what the first year of parenting was like for her, how it affected her perspective on work and friendships, and also how the pandemic (and parenting) might also be an opportunity for a fresh start.
Episodes mentioned:
Episode #96, our first interview with Vanessa on Startup Parent.
Episode #104, in which she busted some myths about the first weeks of parenthood.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupparent/message
184 — Growing up, James Breakwell never had to think about what jobs he wasn’t allowed to pursue. That changed when he had kids.
As the father of four girls — one of whom recently said she wants to be a construction worker, and another who asked if she could be the Pope — he’s had to put himself in the shoes of the females surrounding him at home.
As an author and internet personality behind the popular Twitter account @XplodingUnicorn, James is best known for his viral tweets depicting hilarious snippets of conversations with his daughters.
In this interview with our first startup dad, he gets real about how he navigates building a public persona based on his family life — including how much to share and what to withhold.
Full show notes at startupparent.com/184
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupparent/message
180 — We are not the same as before. What we went through last year, and what we are still going through, is beyond comprehension and imagination. Many are still trying to survive, out of work, and picking up the pieces from last year. Many are grieving deeply and some of us don't have a clear roadmap for grief or recovery.
It's been so long since I've been able to sit down and put together a real podcast that I almost feel like I've forgotten how to do it. I invited Cary Fortin to join me as we talk about what the last year has been like and how we're finding our footing again. Cary was my guest co-host from the original Friendship Series (Episodes 81 through 86 for longtime listeners), is a dear friend, and has been my go-to pandemic buddy as we talk (and rage, and vent) about the events of the last year. She joined today to help me talk through some of what we've been through in the last year.
Browse all episodes at startupparent.com/podcast or check out the complete show notes at startupparent.com/180
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupparent/message
179 — When 2020 kicked off, we had big plans. One of those plans was growing Startup Pregnant and shifting our focus—and name—to cover what we were already focused on: parents. Today, I'm excited to tell you about the new name, and introduce you to Startup Parent. Here's the backstory of why we changed our name, what it took, and a sneak peek into what we're building next. Also, there are a lot of background noises in this episode, because children and vacuums aren't quiet. At all. But, like the name change, we managed to figure out how to make it work despite all the hurdles. This episode was recorded in October 2020, again in December 2020, and edited and published in March 2021.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startupparent/message
178 — We are two weeks away from kicking off our fourth class of The Wise Women's Council, and we have an extraordinary group of people joining us for the year ahead. WWC is our year-long leadership incubator for women business leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators who are also navigating pregnancy, parenthood, and motherhood. We go deep together for the better part of a year and support women at their growth edge who want to continue to level up in their life and career.
In this episode, I'm diving into the nuances of the program: how I've designed it, what parts of past mastermind programs I've used, why I changed the structure to better fit the lives of working parents, and the research behind why I've made the program the way it is. Over the last few weeks I have been interviewing, talking, laughing, and even crying with so many of you during our interviews and gathering calls, and I'm looking forward to spending the year ahead with so many of you. If you've been thinking about applying to join us, if you've never heard of the program before, or you're watching along, listening and learning (I see you! I do this, too), this episode is about what the program is for, how I've designed it, and the program goals we have for the women & womxn who join us.
Apply to join us in the year ahead: www.startupparent.com/wwc
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startuppregnant/message
177 — Dr Shani Cooper is a Naval Veteran, Licensed Acupuncturist and Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, who began studying the human body in 2010. She is also the parent to Sage, an eight-month old who arrived in the world bright and early, two months before his estimated arrival window!
Shani joined us last year in The Wise Women's Council when she was pregnant with her little one, who you will hear and enjoy in the background of this recording. I asked her if she'd join us to talk about what WWC was like for her navigating pregnancy, childbirth, and growing in-person business practice, and a pandemic.
For all of you curious or thinking about the Wise Women's Council i'm doing a short series here on the podcast with folks who went through the program last year (look for Episodes #176 through #181). If you're interested in joining us in 2021, head to startupparent.com/wwc to find out more about the program and submit an application to join us. Leadership doesn't have to look like what we see around us. Leadership can be messy and it's our job, as women, as people carving out a new future, to chart a new path of leadership that might not look like the masculine models we've been steeped in so far.
Show notes: startupparent.com/177
The Wise Women's Council: startupparent.com/wwc
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startuppregnant/message
176 — What's it like to run a team of 40 people, in a pandemic, with a 1-year-old, and get pregnant with your second kid? Jess Kamada, VP of Client Services at Bamboo, a top growth marketing firm based in Seattle, joined me for a special episode to talk about how she managed the pandemic and the last year.
Jess joined us in the 2020 Wise Women's Council, and I asked her if she would be open to sharing her story and experience on the podcast, and share some insights into what it's like to be in the Wise Women's Council, why she chose the Group Coaching level, and what she got out of the experience.
If you're thinking about applying to join us in the Class of 2021, submit your application at startupparent.com/wwc. Applications are open until February 15, 2021, and we start together in March.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startuppregnant/message
175 — Welcome to 2021, a year that clearly isn't going to erase all of last year's frustrations, angers, or woes. This episode is an overview of some of the highlights from Startup Parent over 2020. Seven months without childcare is not easy, that's for sure, and while we didn't hit many of our goals, we had surprising revenue outcomes and we managed to hire more people than I'd planned on! In this episode, I talk about the Wise Women's Council, about our growth as a team, key metrics and revenue goals from the last year, and the painful work of doing half as much as you hope to do.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startuppregnant/message
The other day, I was reading an article on Time Magazine that I couldn't stop reading. Dr. Kyl Myers, an author, had written a long-form piece about gender, sex and parenting. Dr. Kyl Myers holds a PhD in sociology and studies and speaks about gender. They are an award-winning educator and a globally recognized advocate for gender creative parenting. Since 2016, Kyl has been speaking and writing about gender creative parenting and using their own parenting story to help the world learn about and embrace a new type of childhood. Kyl Myers goes by "she" and "her" pronouns, as well as "they" and "them." Dr. Myers is the author of Raising Them: Our Adventure In Gender Creative Parenting.
If you'd like to hear a fascinating conversation about parenting, gender, and what we can do as parents to help reduce gender violence, oppression against women and men, and create a more playful world, come join us on this episode of the podcast.
Full show notes, references, quotes, and sponsor details are available at startupparent.com/174
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startuppregnant/message