Let's Be Real: Mama Journeys: Recent Episodes
Nikki Brooker
Motherhood is hard. We don't allow moms to be real about their feelings, frustrations and needs. You can read about child psychology and human development but the REAL stuff comes when you live it. The mamas you will hear from in this podcast are real. They have struggled, had their share of hard times but also amazing mama moments. These interviews are meant to inspire, educate and entertain while giving you the opportunity to hear things that will make you think, “I get it.”
Welcome to our 5th year of Podcast interviews! 209 weeks of insight, laughter, tears, and lived experience. We are beyond thankful for everyone who has been a part of this!
On this episode of Let's Be Real Mama Journeys, Nikki sits down with Lisa Skinner for a powerful and deeply personal conversation about dementia, caregiving, and the emotional impact memory loss has on entire families. Drawing from more than 30 years of professional experience in senior care, as well as her own personal experiences caring for loved ones with dementia, Lisa offers honest insight into the challenges caregivers face behind closed doors.
Together, they talk about the grief that can begin long before a loved one passes, the exhaustion and isolation many caregivers experience, and the importance of compassion, patience, and support throughout the journey. Lisa also shares practical tools families can use to better understand behaviors associated with dementia and how to create moments of connection even in the midst of loss and confusion.
This episode is filled with empathy, education, and real conversation for anyone navigating caregiving, supporting aging parents, or trying to understand the realities of Alzheimer's and dementia. Whether you are currently in the thick of caregiving or simply want to be better prepared for the future, this conversation will leave you feeling seen, informed, and less alone.
On this episode of Let's Be Real Mama Journeys, Nikki sits down with psychologist, author, and motherhood researcher Dr. Erika Horwitz for a heartfelt conversation about the beauty, complexity, and lifelong impact of motherhood. Drawing from decades of clinical experience, her doctoral research, and her own journey as a mother, Dr. Horwitz shares powerful insights into what it truly means to support moms through every season of parenting.
Together, Nikki and Dr. Horwitz discuss the realities of raising children through both joyful and incredibly difficult seasons, including parenting a child with severe anxiety and depression, navigating the uncertainty of mental health diagnoses, and finding the strength to keep showing up even when the path feels overwhelming. They explore the importance of treating children with respect, creating relationships built on trust instead of judgment, and how those intentional choices can shape family connections for a lifetime.
The conversation also celebrates the often unseen work of motherhood, the power of peer support, and why mothers deserve more recognition, compassion, and community than society often provides. Whether you're parenting little ones, raising teenagers, supporting adult children, or simply reflecting on your own relationship with your mom, this episode is filled with wisdom, hope, and heartfelt reminders that motherhood isn't about perfection. It's about love, resilience, and continuing to show up for the people who matter most.
On this episode of Let's Be Real Mama Journeys, Nikki sits down with JoAnne Chitwood for an honest and heartfelt conversation about motherhood, caregiving, and the lessons that come from walking alongside families during life's hardest moments. With more than 40 years of experience as a hospice nurse, JoAnne brings a unique perspective on love, resilience, grief, and what truly matters in life.
JoAnne shares her journey of becoming a mom at just 19 years old, raising three children through the many beautiful and challenging stages of parenthood, and navigating what she lovingly calls those "face down in the carpet" motherhood moments. Together, Nikki and JoAnne talk about the realities of raising children before you feel fully prepared, the evolving relationship between mothers and their adult children, and how every season of motherhood brings both struggle and joy.
This episode is full of wisdom, warmth, and reassurance for moms in every stage of the journey. Whether you are deep in the trenches of parenting little ones, raising teenagers, or watching your children become adults themselves, this conversation is a reminder that motherhood is never about perfection. It is about showing up, loving deeply, and learning as you go.
On this episode of Let's Be Real Mama Journeys, Nikki sits down with Paola Brown for an honest conversation about motherhood, chronic illness, and the journey toward finding true health for both herself and her family. Living in rural Idaho with her husband and three children, Paola shares how her experiences with autoimmune struggles and severe food intolerances while raising young children completely changed the way she approached health, healing, and motherhood.
Together, Nikki and Paola talk about the reality of parenting while battling illness, the emotional and physical exhaustion that can come from trying to care for everyone else while feeling unwell yourself, and the pressure many moms feel to "push through" even when their bodies are struggling. Paola opens up about the desperation she felt during some of her hardest seasons and how those experiences ultimately led her to pursue a more intentional, holistic lifestyle focused on wellness, nourishment, and sustainable family health.
This episode is full of vulnerability, encouragement, and practical insight for moms navigating health challenges of their own while raising children. Whether you are dealing with chronic illness, burnout, or simply trying to create a healthier life for your family, this conversation is a reminder that healing is not always linear and that you are not alone in the process.
On this episode of Let's Be Real Mama Journeys, Nikki sits down with Kristen Jenson for a courageous and incredibly important conversation about protecting children in today's digital world. As the author of the internationally recognized book Good Pictures Bad Pictures, Kristen has spent years helping parents navigate conversations around pornography exposure, internet safety, and raising kids with confidence and resilience in a technology driven culture.
Together, Nikki and Kristen talk openly about the reality that many children are exposed to explicit content far earlier than most parents expect and how silence and shame often make these conversations even harder. Kristen shares practical tools parents can use to begin age appropriate conversations with their children, create safer digital environments, and build trust so kids feel comfortable asking questions and seeking support.
This episode is not about fear. It is about empowerment. Nikki and Kristen discuss the importance of proactive parenting, emotional connection, and helping children develop healthy coping skills and critical thinking in a world where online exposure is almost impossible to avoid completely.
Whether you are parenting toddlers, tweens, or teenagers, this conversation offers insight, reassurance, and practical guidance to help families navigate one of the most challenging topics facing parents today.
On this episode of Let's Be Real Mama Journeys, Nikki sits down with Shauna Hull for a deeply honest conversation about motherhood, identity, and navigating life through unexpected challenges and transitions. Shauna opens up about the realities of balancing family, personal growth, and the emotional weight that so many mothers quietly carry while trying to show up for everyone around them.
Together, Nikki and Shauna talk about resilience, mental health, and the importance of authentic connection in a world where many moms feel pressure to hold everything together perfectly. Shauna shares personal stories about overcoming difficult seasons, learning to ask for support, and discovering strength in vulnerability instead of hiding behind perfection.
This episode explores the beauty and complexity of motherhood through real conversation, laughter, reflection, and truth. Nikki and Shauna discuss how healing often begins when women feel safe enough to share their stories openly and how community can make all the difference during life's hardest moments.
Whether you are walking through a season of transition, burnout, grief, or simply trying to rediscover yourself beyond motherhood, this conversation will remind you that you are not alone and that there is strength in being real about the journey.
Anette DeMattio
In this episode of Let's Be Real Mama Journeys, Nikki sits down with Anette DeMattio for a deeply moving conversation about motherhood, trauma, resilience, and the hidden emotional cost of always being "the strong one." A six time cancer survivor, wellness coach, and author of Too Strong for Your Own Good, Anette shares how surviving childhood cancer shaped her life, identity, relationships, and journey into motherhood.
Together, Nikki and Anette talk about the pressure so many women feel to constantly give, carry, achieve, and care for everyone else while quietly neglecting themselves in the process. Anette opens up about surviving repeated cancer diagnoses, pregnancy loss, infertility struggles, and the emotional toll of living in survival mode for years. She shares how motherhood ultimately became one of the experiences that helped her reconnect with herself and begin healing emotionally, not just physically.
This episode is a powerful reminder that strength is not about carrying everything alone. Nikki and Anette explore the importance of slowing down, listening to your body, processing trauma, and allowing yourself to receive support instead of always being the supporter.
Whether you are navigating motherhood, burnout, chronic stress, grief, or your own healing journey, this conversation offers honesty, hope, and encouragement for anyone who feels exhausted from trying to hold it all together.
Brian Dixon, a Colorado-based adventurer, author, and speaker, joined us to talk about something many women feel but can't always name: when something is "off" with the man they love.
For 20 years, Dixon lived a successful life on paper, but underneath, he had drifted out of alignment. After a painful divorce and a life-changing wake-up call, he faced a truth many men avoid: he hadn't failed, he had drifted.
At 50, he chose a different path. He reconnected with himself, chased a dream, and flew a paraglider solo off Lookout Mountain at 52, proving the fire wasn't gone, just buried.
Today, Dixon speaks openly about what happens when men realign: more presence, more honesty, and deeper connection.
His message is simple: Wake up. Realign. Move forward. You can find him at GoWithDixon.com.
In this episode of Let's Be Real: Mama Journeys, Nikki sits down with Marybeth Brush for a raw and relatable conversation about motherhood later in life, the pressure to "do it all," and the reality of building a career while raising a toddler.
Marybeth shares her journey to becoming a mom at 42, including pregnancy after loss, navigating motherhood as an entrepreneur, and the constant balancing act between business, family, and self. From returning to work just weeks after a C-section to the ongoing challenges of daycare, patience, and letting go of control, this episode is filled with honesty, humor, and moment.ts every mom will recognize.
Together, Nikki and Marybeth dive into the guilt, the expectations, and the truth that none of us really know what we're doing and that's okay. This conversation is a powerful reminder that motherhood isn't about perfection, it's about connection, support, and learning as you go. You can find her at marybethbrush.exprealty.com
If you've ever questioned whether you're doing it "right," this episode is for you.
In this unique and thought-provoking episode of Let's Be Real Mama Journeys, Nikki sits down with Taj Simrit, joining from Greece, to bring a rare and powerful perspective on parenthood, personal growth, and healing.
Taj shares his deeply personal journey from corporate life and fatherhood to divorce, loss, and ultimately, transformation. Through years of travel, self-reflection, and spiritual practice, he opens up about the mistakes he made as a partner and parent, and the intentional work it took to rebuild himself from the inside out.
This conversation explores themes of forgiveness, accountability, and the long road to self-awareness. Taj speaks candidly about repairing his relationship with his son, learning to let go of ego, and the importance of taking responsibility for your life, no matter your past.
While this episode steps outside the traditional motherhood lens, it offers something incredibly valuable: a reminder that growth is always possible, healing takes time, and it is never too late to become a better version of yourself.
This is a conversation about perspective, redemption, and the power of doing the inner work.
Come ready to reflect, rethink, and see parenting and life through a different lens. You can find his book and more information about his travels at tajsimrit.com
In this honest and empowering episode of Let's Be Real Mama Journeys, Nikki sits down with Susan McKeown, a pediatric nurse practitioner of over 40 years, author, and mom, for a conversation that every parent needs to hear.
From the raw and chaotic reality of early motherhood to the pressure moms place on themselves to "get it right," Susan brings both professional insight and lived experience to the table. She reminds us that there is no perfect way to parent, only doing the best we can with what we have.
Together, Nikki and Susan dive into the importance of self care, setting boundaries in the postpartum period, and building a strong support system across every area of life. They tackle the truth about mom guilt, the unrealistic expectations fueled by social media, and the power of flexibility in navigating the ever changing seasons of parenting.
Susan also shares deeply personal moments, including the heartbreak of loss and the challenges of supporting children through life's hardest realities, offering wisdom on how to show up with love, honesty, and without regret.
This episode is a powerful reminder that motherhood is messy, beautiful, exhausting, and worth it and that you don't have to do it alone.
You will feel seen, supported, and reminded to give yourself the same grace you give everyone else. You can find her at beyondthefirstdance.com
In this deeply moving episode of Let's Be Real Mama Journeys, Nikki sits down with Cindy Eich, a mom of four, grandmother, and author of Love Goes Further, to share a story that will stay with you long after the episode ends.
Cindy opens up about her journey through motherhood, from becoming a young mom and navigating life without a built-in village, to experiencing the joy of raising a busy, sports-filled family. But her story takes a profound turn as she shares the unimaginable moment her daughter Kendall was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.
What follows is a powerful testament to resilience, love, and living with intention. Cindy shares how Kendall chose to focus on life, setting a goal to visit all 50 states, and how that purpose transformed not only her journey, but the entire family's perspective. Through humor, connection, and unwavering determination, Kendall showed what it truly means to create a meaningful life, even in the face of the unimaginable.
This episode is about grief, but more importantly, it is about love that endures, perspective that shifts everything, and the reminder that even when life doesn't go as planned, it can still be deeply beautiful.
You will laugh, cry, and walk away seeing motherhood, and life, through a more meaningful lens. You can find her at lovegoesfurther.org
In this heartfelt and unexpectedly joyful episode of Let's Be Real Mama Journeys, Nikki sits down with artist and former nurse practitioner Edi Matsumoto, creator of Otter Therapy, a whimsical art collection transforming iconic figures into playful sea otters. But this conversation goes far beyond art.
Edi shares her journey from nearly 30 years in healthcare to finding healing and purpose through creativity, and how her work is rooted in bringing comfort, laughter, and connection to others. Together, Nikki and Edi dive into the fascinating world of sea otter moms—some of the hardest-working mothers in the animal kingdom—and uncover powerful parallels to human motherhood, especially for single moms.
From the relentless balance of self-care and caregiving to the importance of community and support, this episode is a beautiful reminder that motherhood, while often overwhelming, is also deeply resilient, connected, and full of meaning.
You will laugh, learn, and walk away with a new appreciation for both mama otters and mamas everywhere. You can find her art and learn more about her at edimatsumoto.com
In this episode of Let's Be Real: Mama Journeys, Nikki sits down with Lori Taggart, a longtime banker, Harley rider, mom of four, and proud "Gigi" to nine grandchildren, for a conversation that feels like sitting down with someone who just gets it.
From raising kids far from home as a military spouse to navigating motherhood without a built in support system, Lori shares what it really looked like behind the scenes. The loneliness, the pressure, the moments of wondering if she was doing it right, and the beautiful, unexpected ways community showed up when she needed it most.
This episode is a powerful reminder that motherhood was never meant to be done alone. Lori talks about finding support in unlikely places, learning how to accept help, and even creating systems of support for other moms when she saw a need.
You'll also hear honest reflections on parenting through every stage, from raising little ones while feeling completely overwhelmed, to letting go as your kids become adults and realizing you can't fix everything for them anymore.
And maybe most importantly, this conversation gently reminds us that no mom has it all figured out. There is no perfect way to do this. There is only your way, your kids, and the willingness to keep showing up and learning along the way.
If you've ever questioned yourself as a mom, felt alone in the process, or needed permission to let go of perfection, this episode is for you.
What happens when motherhood doesn't look anything like you expected?
In this episode of Let's Be Real: Mama Journeys, Nikki sits down with Shannon Harrell, a mom of four, including triplets born prematurely, to talk about the reality behind the highlight reel. From navigating infertility and IVF, to the emotional rollercoaster of the NICU, to going from one child to four overnight, Shannon shares a story that is raw, honest, and deeply relatable.
This conversation dives into the parts of motherhood we don't talk about enough. The grief that can exist alongside joy. The identity shift that happens when you don't feel like a "mom" yet. The moments of complete depletion when you have nothing left to give. And the powerful reminder that even the most experienced caregivers don't have it all figured out.
You'll also hear about the importance of community, what it really means to accept help, and why creating safe spaces for moms to show up exactly as they are is life changing.
If you've ever felt like you're supposed to have it all together but don't, this episode is for you.
Because the truth is, none of us really know what we're doing… and that's exactly why we need each other.
In this inspiring episode of Let's Be Real Mama Journeys, Nikki sits down with Beth Leeds, an 84-year-young author, activist, and mama whose life is a testament to the power of positivity, purpose, and taking action.
From advocating for change as a child to building businesses as a single mom and influencing real policy, Beth shares how "inspired action" has shaped every chapter of her life. Her journey is filled with creativity, resilience, and a deep belief that ordinary people, including our children, can do extraordinary things.
Beth brings a refreshing perspective to motherhood, reminding us that our kids can be our greatest supporters, that intuition is one of our most powerful tools, and that living with joy and intention can truly change the world.
This episode will leave you feeling energized, empowered, and maybe even ready to take your own inspired action. Because sometimes the biggest impact starts with the smallest step.
In this powerful episode of Let's Be Real Mama Journeys, host Nikki Brooker sits down with Rachell Walk to unpack a motherhood journey tht is as raw as it is resilient. From the emotional toll of infertility and societal pressure to a traumatic birth that led to years of painful complications. Rachell shares what so many women experiences but few talk about. Her story dives into medical dismissal, postpartum trauma, and the physical and emotional challenges that followed, including multle surgeries and a long road to hearling. Through it all, Rachell opens up about the strength it took to advocate for herself, lean on her support system, and redefine what being a "good mom" looks like. This episode is a reminder that motherhood isn't always picture perfect, but it is deeply human. Honest, unfiltered, and incredibly moving. Rachell's story will leave you feeling seen, supported and less alone.
In this episode of Let's Be Real Mama Journeys, Nikki Brooker chats with longtime teacher and mom-of-two Chandra Thomas. They dive into the highs and lows of motherhood — raising kids without nearby family, teaching through isolation, navigating a child's ADD diagnosis, and breaking generational patterns of addiction and mental illness. Chandra shares candid reflections on pressure to be a "perfect" mom, the importance of asking for help, giving yourself grace, and the joy of seeing grown kids find their passion. Honest, warm, and relatable — a must-listen for anyone muddling through parenthood.
David Hampson is a multi company business owner and author of a book called Rainbow Gold. He advises people on how to run a business. He believes that enjoying the journey is the most important part of owning a business but that doesn't always happen. This happens because of the grind and the need to financially be considered successful. He says that anyone can build a business and that doesn't always mean going to business school. You need to be open to mentorship, having a passion and empowering people. Developing leaders is about listening and mentoring them to find their inner strength. Women are outstanding leaders and often they make better decisions and are open to discussions and mentorship. Men often have an ego issue that gets in the way to actually hear other inputs and take them in. Women don't sleep as well and are always "on." For a leadership position, the balance and the taking in many different inputs is really important. The disproportionate amount of things going on in a female's world is really unfair but somehow they overcome it. For male business leaders, flexibility is such an important part of managing your employees. If you can get the job done, let people enjoy their lives. He wishes he would have done differently is "is the business I am buying something I am passionate about?" Passion can make or break you in what you do with your life. You can find him at www.myrainbowgold.com and his book is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. You can email him at david@planeinsurance.com
Dr. Marina is an OBGYN in Ottawa Canada in practice for over 35 years and about 3 years ago her daughter graduated from medical school. She was asked by her daughter to pay to freeze her eggs. What a request! In this episode of Let's Be Real Mama Journeys, Nikki Brooker sits down with Dr. Marina, an Ottawa-based OBGYN of 35+ years and author of Optimize Your Fertility Naturally. They discuss real-world fertility solutions beyond IVF—how lifestyle (nutrition, movement, sleep, stress) and reducing exposure to toxic chemicals can improve egg and sperm health, the surprising impact of environmental contaminants, and practical tools like the EWG Healthy Living app, air/water filters, and the Dirty Dozen/Clean 15 lists. Dr. Marina also shares personal stories about egg-freezing timing, transgenerational effects, genetics, and why a root-cause (functional medicine) approach matters. Learn more and grab her e-book (prelaunch on Amazon; full release June 20) or sign up for her free report at DrMarinaOBGYN.com. You can vote for her here: https://entrepreneurofimpact.org/2026/dr-marina-straszak-suri
Tara Turnure is a mama of twins as well as a singleton who created a beauty wellness brand called Beauty Drip. She was a model and FOX sportscaster on the sidelines! She is an influencer and has created her own brand so that all women can feel her best. As a FOX News sportscaster, she has worked with men who didn't want her there. She learned a lot and feels like the experience she had there prepared her for just about any other job on the planet. When you are second guessed as much as a woman in a man's world, you are constantly in "prove myself" mode. Her first born is her wild child and when she got pregnant with twins, she cried because she couldn't imagine taking care of 2! She ended up with a girl and boy and she says sometimes you have to dig deep because not every day is a picnic. Finding what brings your joy is the biggest benefit from motherhood because you get to make those decisions. Her best mama moment is when all three of her kids are getting along and playing well together because of the age difference, sometimes that's a challenge. Her worst mama moment is being sick kids who you can't help and make it better. Sleep training with her twins was also one of her biggest challenges and she is so glad that part is over. The real raw truth of motherhood is that all the beautiful and amazing moments AND all the really hard and super challenging moments, none of it lasts forever…so just hold on mama! She wishes she would have known that when she became a mom. Her round 2 (times 2) was a bit simpler because she knew a lot of it was coming but also knew it was a phase that would end and not last forever. You can find Tara on her personal instagram @taraturnure. Beauty drip is found at beautydrip.co and the website is themodelmama.com They want people to look and feel the best they can from the inside out!
Laurie Jacobson is in a small town in Virginia and is a step mom who is semi-retired and a certified health coach. She has done a lot about nutrition, chef work, yoga and has written a book called Unexpected Awakening about her time at a Buddhist Monastery. Laurie did not have kids of her own but is a step mom to 2 kiddos. When she came into the picture they were a little older so she didn't experience being a step mom of little kiddos but building a relationship with older "children" is also a challenge. She worried about stepping on toes and overstepping her boundaries but now that she's a grandma, she feels good about her relationships with her step kiddos. Her book, about the 22 days she spent at a Buddhist Monastery, came from her personal experience. She was in a dark place in a very abusive marriage and when she talks to other women, she has found that 9/10 of the women she talks to have experienced an abusive relationship. She had an opportunity to go to a silent retreat in West Virginia and she thought she had nothing to lose. She had tried everything else! The emotional bubble up that happens when you are in silence for a long time can truly change your whole life. It gave her the clarity and courage to find herself again and walk away from the abusive relationship. She came to the realization that everyone has struggles and most everyone just wants happiness and contentment. It also taught her to SLOW DOWN. You pay attention more and ground yourself in the present moment. Her website is www.lauriesjacobson.com where you can find links to her Amazon page and her book. She also offers a free 24 page digital guidebook called Building Your House of Health if you prescribe to the newsletter on her website.
Carol Moss is an empty nester and loves it. She is the co-owner of One Flesh Ministries working with her husband to help couples in marriage coaching and relationship building. She was 21 when she had her first baby and he passed away at the age of 34. He was a child of special needs but with her blended family of 4 adult kids spread all around the country. Her first born, with special needs as a single parent and she didn't realize he had needs until he was around 2 because he couldn't hit the milestones that most children did at that age. She had no support when she had her first kiddo and her biggest challenge was going through a divorce and becoming a single mom of three. She worked for the government after going to college and her co-workers were her support system. She fought for people to get the benefits they deserved. She worked for the Social Security administration for 32 years and retired. Her lived experience helped so many other families who were experiencing the same challenges. Her best mama moment was when she realized that she didn't have to walk around with sadness of having a disabled child. When she realized he was a blessing and focused on the things he COULD do, not what he COULDN'T do. When we focus on perfection, we will always fail. Her worst mama moment was when she had to go through the divorce and overcoming humility and forgiveness. Trying to co-parent without hatred is hard after a divorce. She wishes she would have known the difference between males and females (in parenting!). There are so many differences that we need to address this in parenting AND our relationships. Pride often gets in the way of relationship building. Be open to learning and changing. You can find her at onefleshministries.org or google Terry & Carol Moss and find all of their offerings.
Jean Doolittle is the owner of Southglenn Montessori Preschool in Littleton, Colorado. Her preschool is a mixed grade preschool of ages 3-6 year olds. She is also starting a new program for adults called Womens Roots (stay tuned)! She started young and had her first at the age of 19. She didn't have a community with her first but worked really hard to get connected as she had more kiddos. She has children she has parented and one she "ushered into the world" but then gave the opportunity for another family to parent. This was an unexpected blessing that she was able to pass onto another family. Her biggest challenge (especially with her first) was extreme isolation. She saw our YANA nonprofit flyer at the OBGYN and said "I thought of that nonprofit 22 years ago!!!" She has connected with some amazing women during her mamahood journey who are now her lifelong friends and she was open to the "yes." Her best mama moment was being present with her kiddos. She didn't have a cell phone for most of the parenting time with her little ones. That was a blessing! Her first relationship ended in divorce and telling her 8 year old daughter and her emotional processing of all of that was her worst mama moment. Watching your baby sad is the hardest part of being a mom. Being a first time mom at the age of 19, she wishes she would have known that accepting help (and even asking for it) is your POWER. YOU are powerful. There are no limits to your journey. Growing into yourself and finding your authentic self is part of being a mom. You can find more about her school at www.southglennmontessoripreschool.com or https://www.womensroots.com/
You can find our Podcast on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gTKJ9WwE Apple: https://lnkd.in/gfcrreYg Or on our website: https://lnkd.in/gy5hf6hz
Dr. Gertrude Lyons is a life coach focusing on families couples and the transformational journey of mothering. She leads retreats, is a speaker and an author. Her book, Rewrite the Mother Code. Her book was born out of lived experience as a lifelong learner and student along with her personal journey of being a mom to two daughters. She has two daughters out in the world and is grateful for that they have taught each other. As someone who believes in the preparation and the education side of knowing how to do something, she thought she had done the work to know how to parent. But she found that losing herself a little when having kids allowed her to grow more than she thought would happen. Being challenged and shutting down sometimes is when things set in that growth can happen. The pain and struggle of parenthood is necessary but also beautiful. Having that metamorphosis is essential to the growth and a portal to the cosmos if you let it be. Her best mama moments came when her first daughter was born and she felt like a goddess. Creating life is truly a gift that every mom should be proud of that accomplishment. Her worst mama moment came when she lost a child in the streets of downtown Chicago and she didn't have the immediate response to scream her name in order not to "look crazy." You can find Dr. Lyons on her website Drgertrudelyons.com. Her TedX talk is found HERE.
Dr. Dean Rudoy is a clinical psychologist, author and educator. He is an advocate for lived experience and how we can share stories to help others in learning from other people's experiences and also the lessons we have learned. Children are all created with a gift. Unfortunately, oftentimes those gifts aren't always expressed and that's because their wings were folded in due to the expectations around them (sometimes that's intentional and sometimes it's not). Gender roles determine what they are "allowed" to do, say and how they act. For example, boys at the age of 4 boys are told that they need to "man up" and "big boys don't cry." So to please the big people in their lives, whom they love, they will usually comply and suppress their feelings. Girls are told that "girls don't climb trees." Compliance is often the barrier to true growth. A Star Wars quote says "Your focus determines your reality." Dr. Dean says that couldn' t be more true. He often tells families that being outside is the best way to ground yourself. Everything in nature is exactly what it's meant to be with no need to be anything else. Dr. Dean believes that not only does it take a village to rise a child but it takes a child to raise a village. Giving children attention, affection and admiration and acceptance (as is), as well as listening to them are the best parenting advice he can give. Good enough parenting is a concept that's also important. Dr. Dean believes you should give yourself a break and know that parenting is a constant changing adventure that you will never perfect. Adults need to pause and listen to children because they are truly here to help us remember our beginning. Being listened to and remembered is what we all truly want in life. Before we speak or act, think, "what will this further." You can find Dr. Dean and his infinite wisdom at Deanrudoy.com and you can find his book and other information. He also has a youtube channel found at (9) Dean Rudoy - YouTube
Allison Bray is the founder of My Motherhood Agenda, a line of planners designed for all things included in motherhood. The foundation of their business is that self care is important and essential to be integrated into the lives of moms. Reminding them to take care of themselves is really important. When she realized she wasn't taking care of herself, she realized that so many other moms weren't either so she created one place for all the things. Self care doesn't always have to be massages and facials but it can be a 10 minute call with a friend. As a first time mom, at the age of 28 she had her first. He is 2 ½ now and it has been everything she wanted it to be even though it's been really hard. She says it is the greatest thing she has ever done but also the hardest. Her biggest challenge has been sleep deprivation. That change in her life really rocked her world. When you aren't sleeping, everything is heightened to a place that can send someone over the edge. Her biggest supporter is her best friend who lives right next door! What a dream come true! Her best mama moment is watching her little guy learn something new that she taught him. Her proudest moment is watching her son understand emotional regulation that she modeled. Her worst mama moment has been when her full-on meltdown interrupts the flow of a day and doesn't feel good. Grace is important in these moments and happens to everyone but knowing she doesn't want to dwell on them or repeat them. She wishes she would have known that asking for help is a necessity of motherhood. Asking for help is not a weakness, it is a strength. You can find Allison Bray at her website at https://mymotherhoodagenda.com. Check out her publications, My Motherhood Agenda HERE. @mymotherhoodagenda on Instagram and other social medias.
Stella Falkner is a 2-time founder who believes in maternal mental health and the wellness that support can change and save lives. Her experience of being a first time mom compounded with experiencing trauma, she experienced mental health challenges that made her determined to help other moms. She was fortunate to be able to attend a mental health program for moms that changed the course of her recovery journey. She credits the program and the moms who were there with saving her life. Most motherhood support programs only support the first 12 months of postpartum but we know that mothers need support before and well beyond that timeline. She believes (as do we) that expecting moms to find the help they need on their own is unrealistic and without someone who noticed something wasn't right (through texts) she wouldn't have gotten the help she needed. Her biggest challenge changes from year to year but in the beginning it was figuring out how to work full-time without missing any of the special moments. Being present is a challenge for working moms (as well as SAHM's) and sometimes that challenge is overwhelming. Her biggest supporter is her husband and although it wasn't always perfect, it has been a working relationship and has improved throughout the last four years. His emotional support has been life changing for her. Dads go through PPD as well and not talked about. Her favorite mama moments are when her 4 year old is a special gentleman who wants mama to "sparkle." Her worst mama moment was when her 1 and ½ year old was dabbing the tears away trying to make her feel better. That moment made her think that she may have "ruined" him but to flip that script and realize that she was raising a very empathetic child who wanted to make his mama feel better. She wishes she would have been more aware of the toxicity of social media and motherhood. Her amazing app is called DOWA and can be found on the app store. GREAT resource for mamas! Check it out.
Abbey Stone is a mama in Colorado and Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner and a mama of 2 ages 4 and 6. She moved to Colorado in 2011 as a travel nurse (from Tennessee). Her mama journey was a little different than she thought it would be because she was induced with her first. She had her second in a birthing center (which she wanted with her first but it didn't happen). She struggled with perinatal mood disorders and her mom told her that she actually felt "normal" when she was pregnant. So hormonal imbalances can change your whole personality and how you go through the world. Her two pregnancies were very different and her second was more familiar so that was easier. Her biggest challenge was sleep deprivation. Taking care of herself was also a huge struggle with a newborn and the lack of rest multiplied the effects. Her biggest supporter has been her husband and he only got one week of leave so her mom and mother-in-law really stepped up. Her best mama moments are when she explores the world with them. Taking them camping and learning to ride a bicycle as well as learning new things and watching them exploring the world around them. Her worst mama moment has been parenting a challenging kiddo who has deep, big feelings. His feelings become bigger and bigger and holding space for him and yet having the patience to handle it all. She wishes she would have known that most of the things that are going on internally are NORMAL. We don't talk about our mental health in a really good way and we need to do more. Anxiety, intrusive thoughts and worrying can look different for every human being!
Terry Iverson is a dad of 3 who has worked in the manufacturing sector for over 45 years. His career has focused on mentoring younger people. In 2012 he started a new organization called ChampionNow. This organization is meant to teach kids and parents that the perception of manufacturing in our country has become very skewed and is very important in our country. Going into student debt can really derail and delay success for a young person. He believes that moms have a phenomenal influence on their children and knowing the other options that are out there, can help steer their children in different ways. In 1980, when Terry started, computers were just starting to change the way that things are done. As a bored student, he attended college and after 6 years he quit because theory wasn't what interested him. He believes in skills, education and degrees but they don't always fit every person. Thinking outside the box is important because we still need a hands-on workforce and that could be YOUR kiddo! Keep options open because every child has a different set of skills and goals. There are so many people who earn a degree and never use it in their profession. What is the return on education? Keep that in mind when directing or encouraging your kids. You can find his books, Finding America's Greatest Champion, and Inspiring Champions in Advanced Manufacturing. You can find them on Amazon and his website championnow.org
Diane Cherico is in Midland Park, New Jersey and a therapeutic massage therapist and mother of 2. She started the journey of massage when she had to leave her abusive husband (and father of her kids). She wanted to be a registered nurse but didn't have the money or time to go to school for it. Her kiddos are 40 and 35 and she has always been shocked by how fast it all goes. Her biggest challenge has always been keeping herself healthy. Being a mom means you put yourself on the backburner all the time. When you do good things for yourself, you aren't pampering yourself, you are helping yourself. She takes care of herself by strengthening her core, a daily walk, eating healthy and drinking plenty of water. Her mama and her sister were her biggest supporters and her mom says that because of Diane, she is walking better. Watching her daughter say the words now that she is an adult makes her so proud and is her best mama moment. Her son married someone who doesn't love her light and it's not going well. That's hard on a mama heart. She wishes she would have known that sweating the small stuff isn't going to change it. Breathing deeply and taking care of YOU is so important. Taking the time to breathe and think of all of the blessings in your life. She has written a book called Stretch Your Pain Away in Just 10 Minutes a Day. You can find her on Amazon and her website at gettheknotsout.com
Chris Livezey is an author, speaker and mindset coach. He is also a real estate investor. He was born and raised in the Philadelphia area but now lives in Florida. Back in 1999 he set the goal to be a motivational speaker and took the path to be an investor so he can go out and change lives. His dream to be a motivational speaker started all because he was pigeonholed into a place where his teachers saw him as a behavior issue. He was diagnosed with a lot of different things that removed him from the regular classroom and this made him a victim of other people's beliefs. This led him to getting into trouble at an early age. In 9th grade he read See You At the Top by Zig Ziggler. This changed his whole life. Being told over and over that he "couldn't" do things programmed him to not be able to do things. Our environment programs into our subconscious mind and can reject others ideas. There are many instances where people were told they will never walk and 6 months later they walk out of the hospital. Your mind works in mysterious ways and we have the ability to accept or deny what we want or don't want for our own lives. People become a victim of their environmental heredity. As a mom, help your kids find their interests, talents and encourage them that they can overcome their weaknesses. Whatever you are looking at and listening to seeps into your unconscious mind and through our conscious mind we can realign. As soon as you tie emotions to what's going on around you, that's when it creates a vibrational state. His book is called The Shortcut to Magnificent. You can find his book on Amazon and on his website at chrislivezey.com
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Melissa Rod is a budding author, a nanny who married her last employer who had a little boy. Her book is about a man she thought was her dad but wasn't. Her mom doubled down and said she was switched at birth! This caused her to write a book about her experience. When she started nannying for her current husband, his baby was 13 months old. She has six children now from ages 33-19. Her biggest mamahood challenge was adopting two children because although one was placed in her arms at 1 minute old, the others were 7 and 9 and their experiences were complicated and difficult so parenting them was more challenging. She thought love would fix it all and make it all go away. Her own mom was her biggest supporter from the time she met her husband and they started their family. Her best mama moments were when they were all little and hug on her and tell her that they love her but watching them all start their own families and be parents is life changing. Her worst mama moments came when her youngest was 2 years old and spent 1 week at Texas Children's Hospital. They thought he had Leukemia. As it turned out, he didn't have cancer and he went home with all symptoms gone! It was a crazy 5 days. She wishes she would have known not to take the little things so seriously. In the long run they aren't that big of a deal! You can find her book on Amazon or Barnes and Noble online or on her website at melissajeanrod.com.
Toni King is a Texan mom who has a goal to help the world navigate medicare. She has experienced being a part of the "sandwich generation" where we are caring for our kids and also our parents. She was talking to a gentleman who was confused about his benefits and his experience made her realize she needed to help more people with Medicare. She wrote a book called Medicare Survival Guide and you can find it at tonisays.com. If your parents or grandparents are going on Medicare, you can help them navigate it through Toni's information! Check it out! Did you know that if you are on social security disability, in 2 years you automatically get medicare services (no matter what your age). You can reach her through her website or at her office at info@tonisays.com, 832-519-8664.
Stacy Price is a Colorado native and the mother of two angel babies. She splits her time between Colorado and Virginia, working as an accountant and volunteering with several nonprofits, including serving as a Director on YANA's Board. Stacy experienced her first pregnancy loss at 22 and, due to age and circumstance, grieved quietly and without support. After years of difficulty conceiving, she became pregnant again in June 2024, only to experience a second, more traumatic loss that required additional medical intervention. For a long time, Stacy struggled to identify as a mother, but she now embraces that she is a mom to heavenly children. She has found healing through sharing her story and honoring her daughters, Naomi and Kanis. She donated her wedding dress to the Angel Gown Project in honor of her first daughter, and after her second loss, the same organization gifted her a gown for her daughter. Stacy hopes that by sharing her journey, she can help normalize conversations around pregnancy loss and bring visibility, compassion, and hope to others navigating similar paths.
Caroline Kalicki's focus is making moms to be the best human they can be (not just mom). "Where are YOU on that list of things you are doing." If you don't take care of YOU first, there is no room to take care of others. Her wife and her took 5 years just to have her first. It was a long, heartbreaking journey and had miscarriage and 17 IUI's, they were finally successful through IVF. These 5 years made them THINK they were prepared for all of it but postpartum hit them like a bus. Not only was it hard on her and her wife but the way that society treats postpartum moms really rocked her world. The anxiety she experienced over the "silly little things" were such a shock to her that she realized that taking care of herself was truly the biggest need she had. "Bouncing back" is not the norm and more moms need to realize that there are moms in your corner. NO ONE knows what they are doing and that's OK! Her wife was her biggest supporter but because she hadn't been through it herself, she struggled with how to support her. She did also tell her to trust her gut and look inward to see what she needed. Finding other moms who had been through it was her saving grace. Her best mama moments are when her 5 year old says "I love you" and when her daughter sees how she is coaching and supporting moms. She now coaches her babydolls the way she sees her coach other moms. Those words mean the world to her. Her worst mama moments come when she feels like she can't help her 5 year old manage her emotions. These are things as a mom, we are working out on a daily basis for the rest of our lives…it's exhausting! She wishes she would have known that postpartum isn't a phase but a transformation. You can find Caroline at motherhencoaching.com and she works with mamas all over the country. Her instagram is @motherhencoaching
Katie Dwyer is a mom of a very big spirited 8 year old named Hazel Rose. She lives in NYC and today released her third album! She runs participation classes for babies and mamas. She is working on building confidence in children through music. She writes all of her own music that she sings. She grew up singing in youth choir and really enjoyed music but reading music wasn't her thing because she performs by ear. She has many connections to Broadway and the world of the arts in NYC but being a mom was her number one focus so she worked out her career to land right where she is meant to be. She had a baby through IVF to ensure that her daughter didn't have the gene to have Cystic Fibrosis (that her husband has and she carries the gene for). Her biggest challenge was the isolation aspect of being a new mom. Her whole family is from Arkansas so she didn't have the physical support she needed. She got herself out of the house and walked about the Natural History museum just to get out of the house. Her biggest supporter was her husband and had lots of friends and family but he was her gentle soul who never "made me feel as crazy as I felt." Her favorite mama moments are seeing her be a good human. When someone addresses her and tells her that her daughter made someone else feel good, that makes her mama heart happy. Her worst mama moments are when she feels the pressure to ensure her child is kind, loving and empathetic and her child doesn't act that way. The "what are people thinking about me" issue she had made her realize it isn't about HER. She wishes she would have not been able to sneeze the same ever again (but she can with pelvic floor PT!!!). She wishes she would have known how much she would love and worry about this child she gave birth to. You can find her amazing album called Warm Fuzzies @https://www.katiedwyermusic.com An album about feelings and being kind.
Yara N. Ortiz is the owner and CEO of Bookkeeping Consulting Services and founder of Money Moves with Yara, and is a mama. She is a financial consultant working with small businesses and nonprofits to get their books in order. She's also a master personal financial coach who works with single moms to help them manage their finances to fit their lifestyles. She believes in experience over education even though she absolutely believes in higher education. She had her only son at the age of 30 and her pregnancy was a dream. She worked until the last minute and everything was beautiful until birth. She was in labor for 33 hours! YIKES! She was in labor for so many hours that they ultimately ended with a c-section. Her biggest challenge was the fear of being a mom. She was fearful of dropping him, who was going to care for him when she had to go back to work and because she was a single mom with family in Puerto Rico and no one near her, she was struggling to figure out childcare. As it turned out, she found someone the night before she had to go back to work! It was so meant to be! Her parents were her biggest supporters and even though her mom was so far away, she supplied a lot of support to her. Her dad was a big supporter and filled in as a father figure for her son and a huge support for her. Her Christian upbringing and beliefs have been her driving force. Her best mama moment was seeing her son walk across the stage at his High School graduation. After everything they went through together, watching him accomplish this was everything she worked towards. Her worst mama moments were when she was in a toxic relationship and couldn't shield him completely from those situations. Telling him that his father has passed away was also gut wrenching. She wishes she would have known that you don't have to have it all together all of the time. Supermom doesn't exist. It's ok to cry, ask for help, be tired. Don't try to do it all on your own! It goes SO fast! You can find her at yara@moneymovescoaching.com or bookkeepingcs.com or Yaranortiz on Facebook.
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Sabrina Wright-Hobart is an advocate for women in crisis through the Crisis Center and also a breast cancer survivor. She was diagnosed at 37 years old and has been a huge advocate for care for women experiencing that diagnosis. She has always dedicated her life to nonprofit support with mamas and women in need of domestic violence resources. All of her programs are evidence based and anonymous. Domestic violence is the number one crime in counties all over the world because it is 100% about control and that doesn't have to be physical. It can be emotional, financial or sexual and getting rid of the shame around it is step one. The first thing you can do is believe people who report they are being abused. Shelters will take a victim no matter where they live (if there is a bed available). At 28 she gave birth to her first child but she was paralyzed and couldn't do any of the pushing they wanted her to do! She had a traumatic experience at the hospital and had chosen and wished she would have thought to file a complaint. With two kiddos with their own challenges, the biggest challenge came with her Breast Cancer diagnosis. She connected herself and her kiddos to support through that diagnosis and realized that asking for help is not a sign of weakness. Her son spent some time at a mental hospital and was sent home and Sabrina's number one job as a mom was to keep him alive and learn how to handle a child who didn't want to be on this earth even though she sure did. "We can't fix things for other people but sometimes people knowing someone cares is all the help they need." When you share your story, you help others to not feel alone. Share your story and know that you are probably helping someone out there! She wishes she would have known it is ok to not to be ok.
Julie Vera is a mom of two and the host of the Mom Walk Collective, a free space for mamas to walk, get to know each other and walk together. She has started a consulting business where she helps moms who need some operational efficiencies in their own businesses. She wants moms to set up a path for success by helping people on the operational backend. The Mom Walk Collective was created in California and now in 400 cities globally!! Julie became a mom right before turning 30 and pretty much knew she always wanted 2 kiddos and now her family is complete with one girl and one boy. After 8 miscarriages, she finally had 2 healthy pregnancies. WIth many complications, she is happy to say her family is complete. She advocates for mamas with pregnancy complications because she has been there. She believes in giving women a sounding board about their feelings, especially on grief after a loss. DO NOT say, "well, at least you can get pregnant" after a loss. Her biggest challenge has been the pressure we put on ourselves as moms. The comparison we put on ourselves is ridiculous. Having a supportive husband has been the best partnership she could imagine. She is blessed to compliment her husband's parenting style with hers. The times are when she sees her kiddos happy. Seeing their joy makes for a great mama! Her struggle is being hard on herself and the expectations she has on herself. She wishes she would have known that it's ok to take care of herself and prioritize her own self care. Having a brand new human who needs you 24/7, you feel terrible leaving them BUT your soul needs that. Feed your soul in whatever way that looks. You can find Julie on instagram @JulieRVera or on her website at rootedconsultingllc.com or the mom walk collective on Instagram @themomwalkco.littleton
Mackenzie Kryzer has a 9 month old daughter and is adjusting to working full time for AllHealth Network working in the substance use/mental health world. She is in Colorado but moved from Minnesota and wasn't really sure she wanted to be a mom all of her life. She was born with a 10% chance of survival. She was in the hospital for 3 weeks after birth because she was born with diaphragmatic hernia or other. Many of the people in her sphere had very traumatic birthing situations so she was not sure she wasn't sure. As a baby she had to have surgery and a breathing tube so she was very worried about the somatic issues that could have all caused. Pregnancy scared her, parenting scared her, being tied down scared her but ultimately she decided she did want to try it and low and behold she found out she was pregnant 7 months into trying. The invisible labor of managing all of the emotions in a household is one of the hardest parts of being a mama. She didn't bond immediately with her baby but that has come and having her baby on Christmas Eve made it even more amazing with family around for the birth but then everyone left. To be on your own with a new baby and having very little family who live locally is tough but her and her little family is working for them. She loves bedtime with her baby for all of the reasons and she has her brother and her mom Facetime once a week and read a story to her daughter at bedtime. She had a pretty traumatic situation on her first solo trip with her daughter but they made it home for a visit and all was well. She wishes she would have known that the emotional work is hard but sometimes it doesn't always feel right. That's ok.
Mehri Relin has had a fitness company, operating out of NYC and Denver. She works with women throughout their pregnancy, postpartum journey and beyond. The idea is to address how your body changes throughout all of those times through the life of a mama. She runs that program still but is also a therapist working with many different populations. She started working with children and worked on how their brains developed. She likes helping women weave their opportunities as a mom into their lives they had previously. Her training to start working with pregnant clients as a dance teacher was a joke and knew she needed to do better for pregnant women and their wellness. She saw a big need for better care for pregnant women so she built it around her. She helps women through pregnancy in fitness by using more of a Physical Therapy strategy with pelvic floor health, core strength and the changes their body goes through throughout the entire 40 weeks of pregnancy. She also works with mamas through their postpartum journey through their unique body and needs including their posture, core and functional movement, not size or aesthetics. She is more focused on functionality and moving your body in a healthy way. As a therapist she works with women about how their experiences may make them feel alone and how to navigate that. Sometimes we need to find a meaning to the reason and the season of the people in our life. Her advice is to build your village and working things through to plan for your postpartum people before you get there. You can find her online at empoweredlivingcollective.com and at psychologytoday.com. @bodyconceptions on instagram is where you can find her in the fitness world. bodyconceptions.com is her fitness website.
Emily Redondo is an author, a stay at home mom with four kids who are teenagers and young adults. She worked as a nanny, care salesperson but since she was married she really wrapped her identity around being a mom. She became a mom when she was 23 and the last when she was 34. With her first, she was a single mom and moved back home for help but with the other three she had a different support system. In the beginning she had this perfect picture of what motherhood was going to be like but then had to wing it (as a single mom), and she struggled attending school, commuting and working and kept a journal about being in love with her baby. She found out she was pregnant with her fourth when she was admitted into a detox center for alcoholism. She was working really hard at having the "picture perfect life" while drinking in the closet and hiding it from everyone. After going to treatment 7 times, she is finally healthy and sober. It took a long time to get to this point but she is now a good mom and is proud of that. When she sees her kids doing something that they love, and watching them shine is her favorite part of motherhood. Being an alcoholic while raising children causes many bad mama moments, so much so that she wrote a book! "At some point, I became their trauma." This led to her writing the book, Wife, Mother Drunk (coming out November 4). She wishes she would have known how her mom felt when she was a young mother. It wasn't until a few years ago that she started to hear more of her own mom's story. Her grandmother didn't say"I love you" until she was 50 years old. That upbringing shaped her mom into who she was and therefore that's how she thought being a wife looked like. She also wishes she would have realized earlier that motherhood is not a competition! You can find her at emilyredondoauthor.com and slightly on Instagram @emilyredondoauthor. Her book can be found at https://www.simonandschuster.com
Luba Patlakh Kaplun is a mom of three, speech language pathologist and a small business owner called Kidology. She is also an advocate for parents with children with IEP's. She became a mom at the age of 28 and she has three under the age of 10, the loves of her life. She was born in Ukraine but immigrated to the US when she was 2. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is her hometown and where she currently resides. Her biggest challenge of mamahood was raising her business while raising her kids. The juggle is real and balancing the three kiddos and making sure all three of them are cared for in the same ways. Her mama was her biggest supporter and she lost her three years ago to pancreatic cancer. She lost her biggest supporter and has been parenting for three years without her, and that's tough. Her best mama moment was when she earned her Master's Degree and was able to share that with her first born! She also loves the fact that her children speak with such pride at school about their family and home. That feels like a "win" in her mama pride book. Her worst mama moments come when her reactions to the situation are not putting her best foot forward. She wishes she would have known that nothing that happens with your kiddos lasts forever so embracing those moments. She started the advocacy for parents with kids with IEP because of her lived experience in her speech/language pathology world. Her website is theconfidentiepparent.com to help train parents on how to handle their IEP journey.
Dana Dose, THE Family Nutritionist Pro sees patients nationwide where she works with them online to reduce the stress of making meals and being nourished. She has two kids and became a mama at the age of 33. Her biggest challenge of becoming a mom was figuring out her new place in the world and doing it without any sleep. She lost her lifelong best friend 2 months after the birth of her first baby and that rocked her world. Her biggest supporter was her husband (even though there were days that weren’t all that wonderful), her family who were all 2,000 miles away but her sister was a huge support for breast feeding. As a clinical person, she thought she had it all figured out but then when reality hit, things changed and after finding good moms groups, that changed her motherhood journey. Finding good mama moments come when her kids are laughing and enjoying each other. Watching them love one another in their own way is so important. The worst mama moments are when her kids experience any kind of medical issues that she can’t solve for them (like surgeries and illnesses). She wishes she would have known that finding your place in the world is a REAL struggle and going back to your pre-pregnancy self isn’t a thing. You have become a new person, have a completely different list of new responsibilities and emotions. You will never be that person again. You are a new you and that’s ok. She wishes parenting was a judgement free zone. Can’t we all support one another and stop judging one another. There is not one way to do things and that’s the best thing to realize so you don’t beat yourself up! Her instagram is @thefamilynutritionpro The website can be found at thefamilynutritionpro.com. Check her out!
Alison Beder Solway is an Canadian mom of 4, a fitness professional with an online fitness platform called www.absfitness.ca. Her new book is called The Miles we Run and can be found HERE. She had a long infertility story and wrote a book about it to help explain the obstacles and hurdles that she overcame with that journey. With fertility, anything can be “normal” because every body is different and every journey is also different. Starting at the age of 27, she birthed baby number one after no fertility issues at all but the pregnancy was very challenging and being the first in her friend group to be pregnant, she had no frame of reference. She experienced congestive heart failure throughout her pregnancy but finally at eight months, she finally listened to her body (and against her OBGYN) and took herself into the hospital. Being your own best advocate can truly sometimes be life or death. We all need to remember that doctors can sometimes gaslight their patients because they don’t always want to be proven wrong but we are the experts of our own bodies and that needs to be respected. The relationship between you and your doctor needs to be a partnership and shouldn’t be a dictatorship. She talks about the isolation she felt in her fertility journey because our bodies are “meant to do this.” Her biggest challenge of being a mom was her first birth was like an episode of ER or Grays Anatomy. It was like not knowing if the final episode was going to work out or if everyone wouldn’t live. She spent a lot of time in the ICU after birth and was in shock when she got home that she was now in charge of another human life. She and her husband decided to take the surrogacy route in Canada but ended up finding success in the United States. Pennsylvania was the state that was the most surrogacy-friendly state and they had great success with 2 pregnancies and 3 kiddos! She wishes she would have had a grasp on the worry factor that happens when you become a mother!. Find her at www.absfitness.ca and see what her program is all about!
Jean Alfieri is an author, speaker and a dog fan. She is in Colorado Springs and works with Pikes Peak Animal. She is a step-mom of a little boy and he was the “best part of th deal” when she married her husband. She learns so much from her adult step-son and believes that we can learn so much from our kiddos if we are open to hearing it. She wrote a book about how to handle the loss of a pet. She was visiting a 2nd grade class and a little boy asked if she ever had a dog that died. That started the 2nd grade therapy group and the idea of writing her book about the loss of a pet. Her book is an idea and project guide with examples of how to process grief in a healthy way that are available for all ages on how to process the loss of a pet. When your family pet dies, sometimes you just don’t know how to process that because pets are animals but still a part of the family. Her book is an adult guide to help themselves and children process the experience. Jean and her husband like to adopt senior dogs who are harder to place because they aren’t going to be around much longer and they deserve a second chance. While writing her book, she became a grief coach specifically for pet loss and she loves helping people explore how they can heal. She has some great tips and tricks in her book. https://www.amazon.com/Ways-Weather-Loss-Your-Pet/dp/B0F3N9TMVX, Say the things to people who have lost a pet…it’s healing to say, “I’m sorry for your loss.”
Jamie McClung is focused on making mamas a priority in their own life. Her number one focus is self care because that was the game changer for her own life. “Beauty and health from the inside out” as a mom of 2 boys 17 years apart is a huge part of what she talks about with her clients. The excuses people, especially mamas, make about how they cannot do self care for whatever reason is something we need to talk about. Jamie became a mama when she was 19 and had him at the age of 20 and although she had a water birth with her midwife at the hospital! She was one of the last birthing people to experience that. Living with her parents, and having a baby at the age of 20, she had great support but she also knew what she wanted from day one. A natural childbirth was in the cards and it was a beautiful experience. Her eldest son is her best friend and since they grew up together, they have always had an amazing bond. She had her second baby 17 years later! Her biggest challenge of being a mama has been mostly being a single mom. Being a single mom of boys can be challenging. Patience is key! She couldn’t have been a mom without her mom and when she needed something, the answer was always yes but ultimately her biggest supporter has been herself (and this totally made my day). She took her 11 year old son to his first concert last night and creating memories has been her best mama moments! It’s not our job to take away our kids’ lessons. We have to let them struggle in order to be able to fly. To teach your kids how to take good care of themselves, you have to take care of YOU. She wishes she would have known that worrying about all of the things, especially how other people “see you”, aren’t important. Take the time to take care of yourself, however that looks for you. You can find her at cleanbodycleanlife.com
Emily Markley is a Clinical Psychologist, a nonprofit Executive Director and a mama of 3. Her nonprofit, Ardent Grove is a partner of YANA’s and is doing amazing work in our community. As a mama of three littles, she started having her babies at the age of 32 after struggling with fertility for 2 years. She always knew she wanted to be a mom and the rest of her goals and path came after that as secondary priorities. Being a mom was always her first priority. Her second and third pregnancies didn’t need fertility intervention. The day of our podcast was her oldest son’s first day of Kindergarten! This milestone was a huge step for her. One of her biggest challenges as a mama was the fantasy that when she became a mom that everything else would be on hold but as the world continues to spin, nothing stops. All of the drains of mind, body and the inability to be present with any one thing is really hard. Being a parent exposes so many things in a positive way but also fills old wounds with salt. The heartbreak of not feeling “enough” is probably the hardest part of motherhood. Her biggest supporter has always been her partner. He is her rock and a phenomenal human. Her best mama moments with happy chaos in her home and can look at her husband and smile and say, “how’s that working for you?” Worst mama moments come when she gets in her own head and her feelings of ineffectiveness get in her way. When she feels like she isn’t “enough” she gets in a repetitive, negative space is the hardest part of being a mama. Being a clinical psychologist at Ardent Grove has been a huge blessing to help other people hold space for what they are going through.
Gerard Wouters, a therapist in Holland who specializes in all things therapy. 98% of his clients are women. He is a dad of a little girl and his therapy was covered by their insurance in Holland but as of 2010 it is not. He developed a kind of therapy that is based on the Taoist religion. This monk took one look at him and knew everything Gerard needed and invited him to stay for five weeks. After about seven years of learning from the Taoist way, he created a treatment for outside the monastery. His experience with young moms and children starts with ancient manual therapy because when you are closed physically, you are closed mentally. He starts by opening up the body to get more into the whole mind of the client. He then goes into EMDR with the tone of his voice, not electronics like is done today. He works through making life simple again by helping people unlearn things. So many people believe they are “not good enough” which causes people to try to become “good enough.” But this causes burnout. He also believes that fear is always in our faces and when you fear, you give the control and power of your life to someone or something else. When you fear, you lose control. The thing that creates fear is overthinking. Fear is often projected onto us by others and that’s what makes people believe they aren’t enough. Every one of us has value. His clients come to him with grief, wrong partners, children who don’t listen, fear, addiction and he works through helping them unlearn fear, you see what is behind all of the noise out there. When you fear something, you will attract it to you. When you stop fearing, you will really see what is happening around you. You can learn more from his book, “How to Make Life Simple, Happy and Successful the Taoist Way” on Amazon.
Kimberly J. Ward has been many things but being a mom has been her favorite title! She has written a book, lived on a boat for 2 years and became a mom at the age of 35. She was a late bloomer and had her first baby late in life but now is loving watching her daughter become an adult (she is turning 21 this year). She says the best things she has given her daughter are roots and wings and Nikki will be using that! She wasn’t a fan of the newborn stage because the baby had colic and she really struggled with the fact that even if babies had everything they needed, they shouldn’t be unhappy. She was so wrong and struggled with self doubt and frustration. Knowing that all babies cry is so important and thank goodness she had her husband who was the best support for her and their daughter. Watching her daughter bloom as a young adult has been her best mama moment even from across the world. Her worst mama moment was when her daughter had a mental health crisis during her senior year of high school. Thank goodness her daughter was 17 and she still had some control of her mental health care. Covid was very difficult on her daughter and it spilled into the whole family. They all learned a lot from the situation and how to support one another in the best way for each of them. She wrote a book called Crew of Three, a story about their three years on a boat and it can be found on her website HERE,
Kathy Allen is a mom of a 56 and 55 year old as well as her first great granddaughter! She is a nurse and has started a group called the gutsy nurses. She was the second oldest of nine kids so she was very well prepared to be a mom! Her mom ran a daycare so she was very ready to be a mom! She thought having only 2 and a step son so three in her home and her challenge was to not be so responsible and play more. She was the team mom, the classroom mom and was very involved with them and her biggest supporter was her mother-in-law because she was so thrilled her son was so happy. Her own mom was working so hard, she couldn't really be her biggest supporter so they lived in San Diego near her husband’s family to raise their kids. She has really enjoyed watching her kids become amazing adults. Her first birth was only 4 hours long and she was thrilled how he came into this world. She had a stepson who came to live with them when he was 9 years old and when he became an adult, he was diagnosed with cancer and passed away as a young man and watching that happen was the worst mama moment. She also had to learn that he was going to go through his own process and she wasn’t in control. As a nurse, she worked as a nurse on and off throughout her whole life. She worked in almost every department in a hospital as well as mental health locations. She is now working with nurses who are on the verge of burnout. Her program is called gutsy nurses to help nurses understand what is actually going on with them. The extra added stress of having a patient of theirs who could die at any time. They are experiencing a different kind of exhaustion called traumatic exhaustion. Parenting with this burnout is a huge issue. She is writing a book to help nurses with this burnout and exhaustion and how to handle it. You can find her at gutsynurses.com
Barb Stone is all about creating things from life stories to be able to help people on their journey. She left her career 6 years ago to become a leadership development coach to help teams on their path. She has found that we all need some guidance and she loves to do that with a vast amount of people. She has published a book called “Lessons to Drool About.” Sometimes we get into a victim mindset where we think there is nothing we can do about that. BUT she says that life can happen FOR you, not TO you. The good can find the story and the resilience from the story to create wisdom for yourself and the people around you. If you can focus on what you WANT, that’s where the energy will come from and you will walk that path instead of seeing all the obstacles in the way. Sometimes baby steps are the best way to get started with one step at a time. BUT don’t go it alone. You should always be looking for people to join you on the journey. Having other perspectives around you because they will see things you don’t see. We have to go through the hard stuff to get to the good stuff. We should live more like our pets, especially dogs because they wake up every day and are happy to be alive…EVERY SINGLE DAY. Don’t do it alone! They feel the moment RIGHT NOW. We need to feel what we are feeling right now. They ask for what they want WHEN they want it. You can find her book that will help you find inspiration to be grateful, mindful and inspirational. Find it HERE
Jeni Golomb is a mom of 2 boys ages 19 and 16, a wife of 25 years and a Harvard MBA with a new adventure in a marketing start up nonprofit. She was 28 and 31 when she had her kids because those were the same ages her mom was when she had kids. She thinks that putting your children’s needs ahead of your own is how you create amazing humans and if you are too young and don’t have a completed frontal lobe, you can’t necessarily handle that. She thought that being 28 as a new mom was the best age BUT the pivot of losing her independence and freedom was truly a slap in the face. She sobbed in her brand new nursery because she realized that she will FOREVER have to check in with that child…for the REST of her life. That was a really hard realization. You can LOVE someone so much it hurts but then also be overwhelmed by it. Her biggest supporter was her mom who came and stayed for 2 months. She woke up every night and sat with her daughter while she breastfed at night. She was there to help with her own baby and her baby’s baby. Showing up with consistency means being the witness to her children’s life. We are not here to paint the picture of our children’s lives but hand them the paintbrush and let them paint. Her teenagers are very communicative and she credits that with having a close relationship throughout their lives. She calls herself the GPS mom…her kids are in the driver’s seat of their own lives and as their GPS, she helps direct them to get there. Her worst mama moments come when she loses her temper because we ALL KNOW those kids of ours always know how to push our buttons! Jeni can be found at www.glassbrkr.com
Beatty Carmichael is a dad of three adult children, missing littles running around and married to his wife for 32 years. He and his wife have never had a large argument! He comes from a family of doctors and decided he wanted to pivot into helping people have blessed lives. As a business owner, you don’t always know what you are doing so it’s a learning process every day so he looked at parenthood like that too. He gives a lot of the credit to his wife who read all the books on parenthood and he took what she learned from those books and provided the guidance and discipline to the kids. He leaned on her and asked, “how can I help?” His expertise is helping people get set free from all kinds of issues including unforgiveness. Unforgiveness is the source of many issues people have. Over 700 people, he has worked with where unforgiveness is the block that many people face. Along the way, someone may have hurt us deeply and we haven’t let that go. Resentment is often the reason there is a block in relationships. Learning to forgive is a HUGE part of having a positive relationship with many people in your life. This can include parents, children, spouses/partners, friends, neighbors, etc. In early motherhood, it is important to be careful not to bring in past hurts that we haven’t let go of. Forgiveness starts way back in childhood because we are just our younger selves in a bigger body. Forgiving someone doesn’t mean excusing their behavior but instead understanding them that causes us to do things that aren’t meant to hurt us. He believes you need to separate the person from their actions. It may not be easy to do but the benefits outweigh the consequences of holding onto those feelings. You can find his book called The Prayer of Freedom at theprayeroffreedombook.com
Sally Raymond, from Santa Barbara, California, living near the ocean AND the mountains and at the age of 82, and believing that aging is a choice, she stays present. She was married at the age of 19 and had two kids as a young mom. She realized that children are here to teach us. Her first born, at the age of 2, read the sign outside the car, Texaco! She realized he was a genius and she was NOT prepared for a genius son. With 45 minute debates at the age of 4 about why he didn’t need to make his bed. She went back to school to keep up with his intelligence and became a psychologist. She was just becoming a therapist when her genius son took his life. He was in calculus at the age of 14 and at the age of 15 was teaching calculus. Unfortunately she didn’t have the tools to see anything but a high achieving student. He graduated at 21 with his bachelors and masters degree from Carnegie Mellon but took his life right after. She was lost and had no idea how she got to that point. She wrote a book as a roadmap of motherhood. She wishes she would have had this when she was a young mom. Suicide is the top cause of death for people ages 11-34. We need to do better. Her book took 28 years to write but doesn’t want anyone else to go through what she has. She realized, after he died, that we aren’t teaching our children social/emotional skills in school or at home. We aren’t teaching them to empathize, how to use their own emotions and how to be in tune with their own emotional needs. Being a mom is the biggest education she has ever had. She wishes she would have been more of a supporter than a mom. You can find her book and more information about parenthood at https://sallyaraymond.com/. Her book is called The Son I Knew Too Late and you can find it on Amazon.
Bill Williams is a dad of two after having many different jobs including photography, managed a TV network, and a TV station in Bowling Green Ohio (thinking there were mountains there). He decided to set up his own communication consultant business but since everything went digital he decided to change his whole life and became a dad! And then became a financial advisor. He has been doing that for years but also found publishing and started sending out a thought for the day in email and 30 years later he has readers all over the world! He decided people need to laugh more! He has published his first book, 20 Years of Internet Humor. His two daughters are in their 30’s and active in theater. He loves telling jokes about mamahood and wants to make mamas laugh! Laughter and telling jokes are a great way to break the ice but also a great way to lower tension when things get tight. He wrote for a few comedians for a while and was never a performer but he thinks laughter is the way to go through life. Keeping laughter in parenthood can help break tension and think about finding the bright side of life. He sends his a thought for the day overnight so you wake up to a thought for the day. You can find him at internet-humor.com and sign up for a thought for the day.
Meredith Cole is the owner of the Denver Village, an inclusive environment near the Stanley Marketplace where they bring together many different practitioners to support people, but especially moms. She and her husband have two sons and had the second during the pandemic. She says things seem really hard at the time but memories seem to fade a little and each new stage is a new shift and that’s really hard. Having the support of her husband has been amazing but her mama friends and “village” is also one of the most important parts of motherhood. Watching her kids be kind to others with empathy is so prideful for her. When her kids show the glimpses of who they are becoming, she realizes that she is doing the best she can. Finding the moments that are going well and emphasizing them is so important. Nobody is perfect and neither are our kids so take everything as a learning experience. She had a rough mama moment back when her little one got “lost” at an Easter celebratory event in a bouncy house. That moment truly made her realize what’s important! She wishes she would have known that when people give you advice, you truly just need to trust your gut. You are doing the best you can and nobody knows your baby like you do. Trust yourself. The amount of unsolicited advice is ridiculous. Trust your gut. You can find out more about the Denver Village by following them @thdenvervillage or www.thedenvervillage.com
Hollie Wildehorn is from Australia and had her first baby at the age of 21! She was a very young mom and the town she was in was a very business oriented city (Cambria) and she was really mostly on her own. She was part of the alternative industry and she was part of a great community of moms and now with a 18 and 21 year old, she has a great relationships with her kids. Her biggest challenge was the fact that she didn’t know what the heck she was doing and you don’t know what you don’t know! How do you be a mom when you don’t have someone to help you with it? She was very prepared for the birthing process but after giving birth she wasn’t as prepared for when the baby came home. She turned to books and literature but turned away from mainstream books. In Australia she had a midwife who followed throughout her whole journey. She thought she would have a home birth but after looking at the mess she was worried about who would clean it up so she went to the birthing center. She homeschooled on and off throughout their educational career and that was her best mama moment. She struggles with with mama fears even to this day. She wishes she would have known that leaning into community and having supports that could have taught her so much. Why not lean on those who have come before us? She wants moms to know that you know better than anyone else. MOMS know and she tells their partners to LISTEN to them. Moms need people behind them cheering them on. Instituteforselfcrafting.com
Sharon Harmon, from Nashville, Tennessee who works with highly sensitive people using frequencies to help people figure out what’s going on with them. As a New York native, she met her husband in NYC. She had her son at the age of 42 and they weren’t preventing pregnancy but also weren’t planning on it. As the eldest of five kids, she was the only girl and the “second mom” so that was like being a mom! She had a home birth and did everything holistically and didn’t plan for after the pregnancy. The paradigm shift was a huge change in her life and one of the hardest parts of motherhood. She also had a huge health issue with Lyme Disease that resurfaced. The exhaustion was so unreal that she couldn’t even climb a flight of stairs! She also couldn’t breastfeed because of Lyme's disease. Her husband has been her best support and she had her parents both there as well for a few weeks. Her husband and her figured out how to parent mostly on their own until they found some of their people. Their son went to a Waldorf preschool/daycare and it was the perfect place for their son because they focused on allowing them to use their imagination and be kids. She decided that 2nd grade was the perfect time for her to homeschool until 8th grade. Her worst mama moment was when her son was in middle school because they started to butt heads a little more than they should have. She wishes she would have stopped homeschooling sooner. She wishes she would have had a better plan after giving birth. It’s messy and unknown and scary. She has a blog on end of life planning because she struggled with that when her parents passed away. She works with highly sensitive people. These are people who are more sensitive to the energy around them whether that is human energy or electronic energy. She works with her clients both in-person and virtually. She works with moms more than children to set the environment for their child. You can find her at sharonharmon.com and on Instagram @sharonharmonphd
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Katie Fenske is a mom of 3 with three boys at home! She is enjoying having all three in school, but also it’s hard to let go sometimes. She was 33 when she had her first kiddo and THOUGHT she knew what she was doing and then she had kids. The biggest challenge she experienced was self judgement. She didn’t think others were judging her but SHE was worried what others would think. She sees a mom struggling and doesn’t think at all about that mom being a bad mom…so why are we so hard on ourselves? The things we say to and about ourselves we would almost NEVER say to anyone else so why is it ok for us to do to ourselves? Her biggest supporter was her own mom as an amazing example with so much fun and tons of support but she lived an hour and a half away. She found her people at a yoga class and joined a mom group even though it was tough to walk in that first day but she is so glad she did. Pivoting the groups of moms throughout motherhood is not always easy but it’s necessary. Her best mama moments are when she gets her cuddles from her three boys. She didn’t think she would love watching her kids play sports but she lives for Saturday’s and her time watching her kids but also creating her community with the other parents. She didn’t think she would be a big yeller but yelling comes natural as the kids get older. She wishes she would have known she didn’t have to be perfect and that it’s ok to not know what she was doing. She realized she didn’t have to be perfect the first time for everything because “everyone burns their first pancake.” She has a podcast called Burnt Pancakes with Katie where she talks about all the motherhood stuff! You can find her on her website at burntpancakes.com and on instagram @burntpancakeswithkatie
Alessia Lloyd is the mom of three amazing kids who are everything she ever dreamed them to be. She started when she was 22 with her first son and although he wasn’t planned, he has always been loved and wanted. She was not in a healthy relationship when she had Alexander but after finally getting the strength to get out of the relationship. She is in a much better place now with two other children with her husband outside of Cleveland, Ohio. She works for a nonprofit helping the unhoused and the housebound in the greater Cleveland area. She also opened her own art studio a year ago and is enjoying creating with kids again. She believes in supporting and loving the people in her life and is very good at it. As one of Nikki’s very best friends, they have been through many years of friendship through the good times and the hard. Her mamahood journey was very different with her first born and then her second and third but she wouldn’t trade any of it for the world.
Samantha Foote is a mom of three, all with neurodivergent conditions and is near Boise, Idaho. All three of her kiddos have autism and ADHD combined. She was 28 when she started having kiddos and they are 10. 8 and 5. Her SEVERE Postpartum Depression (PPD) was her biggest challenge. No one listened to her or took her seriously and she struggled a lot. It took way too long for her to get help. The “baby blues” was all doctors kept telling them. She was diagnosed with OCD after having her first baby. She listened to a podcast that literally described her whole life and it made her realize how she had been misunderstood her whole life. The intrusive thoughts were every hour and not just occasional. She was so ashamed about having intrusive thoughts that she didn’t talk to anyone about it. After talking to someone about these thoughts, that person told her that “everyone” has those thoughts (when in fact that person also had OCD) she figured she was “normal” for going through all of these things. Her biggest challenge as a mom has been managing the appointments of three neurodivergent people with their appointments. Not just the management of all of it but also the fear of hearing something else is wrong with her babies. She also struggled with the realization that her kids weren’t interested in the same things she was as a kid. Her husband is her biggest supporter, especially when she had babies and had PPD. As a music therapist she struggled that her son hated music but when he turned 4, he turned a corner and enjoyed music and she could share it with him and that was one of her best mama moments. Her worst mama moment was when her son was 3 and she put him in time out (even though she didn’t believe in time out!). She forgot him in time out! She wishes she didn’t take things so seriously! Everything will work out and the judgements of others don’t matter. You can find her at https://www.boisemusictherapycompany.com and https://www.boisemusictherapycompany.com/podcast.
Karen Peterson is a grateful mama and is a co-founder of a nonprofit called Couve Collective, community centers for people in recovery. Her and her husband are excited to be grandparents very soon! She worked for Boeing for years but decided she needed to give back to families who experience addiction and the effects that has on their family. She lives in Vancouver, Washington and is grateful for the sunshine when it happens! She had her son in her late 20’s but she wasn’t as thrilled to be a parent as her husband was and then had him 7 weeks premature. Her son tied a knot in his umbilical cord so it was good that he decided to be born early. Her daughter was born 5 years later and is now going to be a mama! Her biggest challenge was understanding the weight and responsibility of being a mom and wanting to “get it all right.” Her biggest supporter was her own mom. She could count on her no matter what and literally knocked on the door and handed her son to her and said, “I need a break.” Her husband has also been such a huge support and help. Watching her kids be happy has been such a joy for her. Her son has been through a lot throughout his life, leading him to be addicted to Oxycontin. She watched him become homeless because of his addiction. Her dream from that was to build a community center for people experiencing addiction and the aftereffects of it. Her daughter is an internal medicine doctor and is a huge success as well. To see them happy, healthy and as close as they are is her best mama moment. They realized that his love language wasn’t being met and he “found” that when he discovered opioids. She says she wouldn’t have wanted to know any of what she knows now as a new mom. The surprise is pretty important to experience as a mom! You face each step as it comes to you and as a mom, you figure it out. You can find them at https://couvecollective.org. This is a community they have created for people to be a helpful and healthy member of their community.
Jason Gibler is a psychotherapist who works with moms, dads and getting people to tap into a deeper healing. He works often with perinatal families, including before, during and after having kids. Even dads get Postpartum depression and many people don’t know that. Depression and anxiety are linked and many times that affects dads because we have more conscious fathering. The old paradigm of success vs. failure also is pulling at them. The paradigm is that dads aren’t always “good” at being a dad and that causes a deep anxiety and over time, that morphs into depression because they feel alone. There are many different modalities to help couples and many people don’t know how to communicate properly. Historically men have been taught how to distance themselves from their own feelings. If you aren’t in tune with your own emotional reality, you can’t be in tune with someone else's emotional reality. Men have been taught to be disconnected with their feelings and emotions. A crying baby brings out feelings of failure and they need to stop and recognize their own emotions, be honest and be authentic. To get a dad into therapy, ask them why therapy feels “bad” and where did you learn that seeking help makes you weak? Call it “coaching” instead of therapy. Vulnerability is strength because it takes strength to admit you need help. As a partner/wife, giving that positive praise is essential to giving dads that ego boost. The Way of the Jaguar is a novel Jason is writing based around the science of human bonding, the book will be out later this summer. You can find it on Amazon Kindle. You can also find a free download for dads on his websites at aiyanacounseling.com or Jasongibler.com
Keri Henson is a 6th generation Texan and a mom of SIX kiddos! She has a brand called the “Mom’sDay Prepper.” These are moments that happen when you don't see them coming! Managing relationships within all of the motherhood journey needs are instrumental in motherhood! She became a mama at the age of 24 and has had six kiddos from ages 21-7 with one of them who was diagnosed with cancer and another hit by a 1 ton truck! Her biggest challenge has been being married to an addict (and this was harder than having a child with cancer or having a child hit by a truck!). WIthout spousal support, it was like being a single parent but she was married! Motherhood is a challenge ALL the time. Most days don’t look like it does on TV or in the movies! Her parents have always been a solid support from day one. With her grit as a Texan, and a very strong Christian, nothing could take away her faith as it created a strong base to build off of. We have been conditioned to let community go but we can’t do motherhood without it! Her best mama moment came after a horrible diagnosis of cancer before her baby’s first birthday with him making milestones that the doctors said he would never do! This kiddo will be 11 soon and has overcome all of it! We have to surrender our children to THEIR purpose and THEIR life. We cannot pave the road. We are here to teach, coach and help but we need THEM to direct their path. DO NOT pave the path for them as they NEED to struggle because that’s part of life. You are here to give them the tools, the awareness and the ability to overcome these struggles. She wishes she would have listened to her mommy feelers because they are gifts that we need to listen to above and beyond everyone else's opinions and thoughts! You can find her at momsdayprepper.com!
Dr. Tamara Beckford is an ED doctor with her own weight loss business in Houston. She helps women get rid of emotional and physical weight. It’s 100% online and has been an entrepreneur for years. As a mom at 36 and 38 (considered old in the birthing world) she felt the itch at 2 years and understands why so many people are 2 years apart! She started having babies later in life because she went to school “forever and ever amen.” Motherhood came to her like flipping a switch and she was ready however her body didn’t see it that way. It took longer than she thought it would to conceive and she also struggled that no one talked about it but once she found her “person” who was frustrated as well, they had babies 5 days apart! Another testament to having a community to support you can change your life. Her biggest challenges were that her son was a preemie and she had the NICU challenge. Two things that helped her get through was the doctor telling her to take her doctor hat off and put on her mom hat. Maternal instincts are a REAL thing. Her mother in law was a huge support while she was on bedrest for 6+ weeks before having an emergency c-section and her parents were amazing emotional supporters. She also had amazing friends who helped too. Being a NICU mom has its own set of challenges because you leave the hospital without your child. It’s so hard to emotionally handle not bringing your baby home day after day. She wishes she would have known that it’s all going to work out, no matter what. It may not work out the way that you THOUGHT it would but it will work out. You can find her at trulybalancedwc.com or www.urcaringdocs.com and on LinkedIn
Fernanda Shoup, originally from Argentina and turning 40 with two toddlers at home! She married her wife during Covid outside at a barn in Parker but was supposed to be in Argentina! Talk about a different environment. When she connected with her wife, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be a mom but when she realized that she would parent with HER and that was what changed the whole thought about motherhood! When you have a wife, everything changes. Her wife didn’t want to be pregnant and Fernanda said she was 100% on board with carrying a child but unfortunately it took 2 ½ years of all kinds of infertility issues! Her pregnancy was a breeze and it was glorious. In the 3rd trimester her legs went numb and she was in a ton of pain. She tried many different remedies but it was demoralizing because no one would listen to her. After her wife had to FORCE the hospital to listen, they did scans and found a herniated disc and kept her overnight and had to do survey for her disc issue while 36 weeks pregnant. She had immediate pain relief as soon as she woke up from surgery! Her OB wasn’t the best and didn’t listen so they switched offices (always advocate for YOU) and she had a c-section at 39 weeks. Her c-section was quite the experience too! She struggled with so much postpartum depression and the “I’m not worthy” feelings. Her midwife told her “is the fact that your child wasn’t breastfed going to show up on their application for medical school?” Her feelings of inadequacy lasted months! Even her mom said she was a shell of herself. Her sweet life and her decided that they wanted more kiddos and her wife decided she would carry baby number 2. She got pregnant on the FIRST try! So when they came home with a newborn, they were pregnant with their second! Her wife is a firefighter and hated being pregnant and was on bedrest at 20 weeks!
Emily Hill is a hospice chaplain and licensed social worker. She developed a love for hospice when she was 7 years old because of her grandfather. She was so blown away by how hospice people change the world of the family of the person passing on. She earned a Master’s of divinity and connects with death doulas and how to make people comfortable. Regardless where you fall in the spiritual spectrum, death is a kind of rebirth into the next steps. She has two children and grew up as a pastor's kid but in her head she had everything planned out with the “normal” progression of get married, have babies, move on. She has a group of college girlfriends that she can’t do life without! She was the first one of the friends to have a baby and they showed up with a party size pizza because they were 24 and didn’t know any better! They are her people! Her best mama moment came recently when she was asked to chaperone a field trip and when she was worried what her 10 year old would say about her going. But low and beyond, her daughter was excited to have her, it made her heart so happy! Her worst mama moment was when she had a miscarriage. It rocked her world after having a 3, and 5 year old she had a miscarriage and she was devastated. It also could have ended their marriage because of how they experienced this loss. Humans often experience experiences so differently and they can sometimes make or break a marriage. She wishes she would have known that everyday is a fresh start. We build on things day after day but really every single day can be a do-over! Emily says, “give yourself grace!” You are never going to be perfect so give yourself grace!
Deborah Mallow never thought she wanted kids but after spending time with her friends and their kids, she fell in love with the idea of being a mom. She is one of the positive, happiest people you have ever met! In fact, she has written a book called 6 Steps to Fewer Days That Suck. What a great title! She was 38 when she had her son and now he’s in his 20’s, living in Minnesota. She struggled with balancing it all. She was exhausted through motherhood because she was so stressed about making sure everything was “good.” She wishes she would have taken more time to “chill.” She says living in the moment is important. Her husband was her biggest supporter and is still the doting father. He was always a very active dad and he used to have their son strapped to him. He has always LOVED being a dad. Her best mama moment was when her son went to college! As a helicopter mom, she was so proud! She encourages you to understand that if people are not kind to you, it’s not something YOU need to worry about. Disengage from toxic people. Confidence, resilience and positivity are the three life skills you need for this life. Find the things in life that are positive because all things are contagious and if you go down the negative road, that’s what you will attract. You can find her at thedailydecisions.com.
Dr. Jann Blackstone is a Jan of all trades as a behavioral scientist because she studies people's behaviors. She likes to call it mediation to bring people together. She predominantly works with co-parents to get families to be able to parent in a cohesive way for everyone in the family. A bonus family is basically a step-family but she didn’t like the word “step.” That word was just too negative. THe biggest need of a bonus family is acceptance. All of the people in the family need to feel nurtured and accepted and that all starts with acceptance. The logistics of a bonus family are really important to make everyone feel comfortable and “at home.” She coined the phrase “bonus” as how the family can all work together. Bonus means a reward for a job well done. Once you feel like you are part of the family, then you want to be involved and you will respect your bonus parents. She says there can’t be too many people who love your child. Everyone is different and that’s what the acceptance thing is all about. Comparing is when things go badly. You need to reach out for help to have a relationship because putting the kids first should be your priority. Using the children as the criteria for all decisions. Modeling apologies for your kids is really important. She isn’t saying you can’t fight in front of your kids. BUT what you can do, is disagree but then when things are calmed down, model the “I’m sorry.” Using the words that you want your children to learn, and model in the real world. When you tell your kiddo NOT to do something, you need do tell them what TO do. Also, when parents are splitting up, try to talk to them together and what those kids really want to know is how this is going to affect THEIR life. Kids are egocentric and that’s their job. As children get older, you are going to have to repeat yourself many times. As they grow, their cognitive ability has changed and they need reassurance. Adding children to a bonus family all comes down to communication and respect so that the unknown isn’t feared. You can find Dr. Jann Blackstone at https://bonusfamilies.com/ She wrote a book called The Bonus Family Handbook and is found on Amazon and all places where books are sold!
Angela Tipton runs a website called fireyourcareer. She believes in empowering other women to live their truths. She became a mom at the age of 30 because she focused on creating her career. She had a tough time balancing her career and personal ambitions with being a mom. She didn’t want to set aside her career but finding the time to be 100% at both. Her husband has been her biggest supporter and was truly her 50% parenting partner. She also has some family around her in Oregon. Her mother- in-law and aunt were two of her biggest supporters and she doesn’t know how she would have done it all without them. Choosing her best mama moment was tough because she has so many great memories and times with her two boys. She took her eldest skiing for the first time and was so impressed with his tenacity and the chance to watch him enjoy a sport that she loved was a highlight in her mamahood journey. Her worst mama moment came during Covid when childcare wasn’t available and figuring out all of the dynamics behind all of that was really tough. She wishes she would have known that parenting was harder than she ever thought it would be. But she also learned that she is getting through it and you can work things out. Preparenting she had lots of opinions but they didn’t turn out to be very realistic. Going with the flow is so important in parenting. At Fire Your Career is all about living life on YOUR terms. The pursuit of what makes you happy is so important, especially financial freedom. She has a free ebook on her website. Check it out!
Riana Milne is a coach and psychotherapist for parents. She specializes in childhood and relationship trauma. 100% of us have childhood trauma because sometimes it comes from 3 generations. She is a mama of two very empowered ladies as a single mom. She uses the theory of mindset for success, she created a modeling agency. She has written 13 books and has a podcast all about relationships. She believes in empowering women to be healed in order to be the best mom they can be. When you know what childhood trauma is, you can change how you parent and how your kiddos grow. She teaches people about the top 10 childhood traumas: Alcohol or addiction issues, verbal messaging, emotional abuse or neglect, physical abuse, abandonment, foster care or adoption, personal trauma, sibling trauma, community and family trauma, mental health issues with mom or dad are the top 10 traumas that absolutely touch 100% of people. Understanding what traumas are in your past can help you understand your own behaviors and how you parent. The first step to healing is identifying your traumas and then working through those traumas. Parents have a direct impact on who their kids become and watching what you say and how you encourage or don’t encourage makes a huge difference. Plant the positives. Riana works 100% virtually and can help any parent to help them become the best parent and human that they can be. Rianamilne.com is where you can find her. She has free book downloads and tests and quizzes. Her podcast is called Lessons in Life and Love. Check her out because her expertise can really help you.
Kim Keane is a mom of two daughters and lives in Pennsylvania who also helps women through their healing journey through sound healing and reiki. Using vibrational frequency helps healing through tuning into your chakras. She was 27 when she became a mom and her biggest challenge has been letting go of perfectionism. This was a huge issue because both girls are strong willed and arguing with “yourself” is really hard. Motherhood hasn’t always been a fun journey until she healed her own trauma and could see that she couldn’t expect perfectionism from them or herself. She felt she was on her own since her husband worked a ton and often struggled with frustrations of teaching Kindergarten and having kids who didn’t listen at work and at home. Her husband is her biggest supporter now and all of the things that we are responsible for and transport kids where they need to be. Her mom has always been the pitch hitter in the family when she needed her. Her best mama moment is watching the sisterhood relationship that has developed with her daughters. Having them spill the tea with her makes her realize that she has done a good job to cultivate the trust. Her worst mama moments came with her lack of patience. Again, it came back to her own need to control the situation. She wishes she would have known she didn’t need other people’s validation or opinions. You are setting yourself up for disappointment because other people’s opinions don’t matter in the long run. She wants moms to know that it’s ok to ask for help and it’s ok to care for yourself (whatever that looks like for you). Kim wants to help moms and you can find her at kimkeane.com
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Aureen Monteiro is an author of a book called Rise Higher, to manage stress for women in higher profile positions. She became a mom at 27 with her one and only baby girl. She is a teenager now and it’s been a roller coaster as a mama of a teenager! The spectrum of emotions is something she didn’t see coming. She was worried she would lose her connection with her preteen but she learned that she needed to listen more and talk less. Evolving as a mom as our kids evolve is so important. Tweaking your communication methods is essential in order to continue the relationship in a positive way. Her biggest challenge as a new mom was the unintended c-section and breastfeeding. It truly takes a village to raise a child. She had a village and sometimes that wasn’t enough. There are nights when you just sit and cry right alongside your kiddos. Her daughter made her proud when she was in 5th grade when she wrote her own book. She had her own book published about being bullied and how to get through that. They are both writing books simultaneously and it’s a really wonderful way to connect with each other. Her least favorite mama moment was when she realized she had an identity crisis. She went from being Aureen to only being her daughter’s mom. Losing your own identity is hard. Be open to listening to what your kids share without judgement. Their way of communicating might be different than the ways you expect but give them the time and space. Be willing to pivot your communication ways! She used to wish she would have had a manual but learning alongside her daughter has been an amazing 14 years. Her website is risefromtheash.com where you can learn more about her journey and how to manage stress.
Jalisa Hardy joined us from Maryland, where she is a publisher, author and all around amazing single mama. She got pregnant with her second only 6 weeks after giving birth to her first at 30 weeks! She struggled with landing in her body again. The biggest challenge she faced was the person she chose to have her kids with. She wanted her kids to grow up in a non-broken home so she and her parents moved in together and they are neighbors with her sister and her kids. Intergenerational living is amazing! Her co-parent chose to walk away from her and his three kids so she pulled herself up and did the bravest thing she could do. Her mom has always been her biggest supporter and she was right there with her through all of it. She even thought at one point that her kids would be better off without her but thanks to her mom and her therapist, she realized that wasn’t true and kept putting one foot in front of the other. Monster mom comes out sometimes but she does the best she can to prove to her kids that no matter how broken you are, you keep picking yourself up and learn from it to move on. Giving yourself grace is so important and our kids give it to us so we need to give it to ourselves. These moments teach our kids that no one has to be perfect. The best apology is changed behavior. She wishes she would have known what a roller coaster mamahood can be. Embrace the moments of the ups and downs! Some days all you can feel is “I kept the little people alive,” and that’s more than enough! jalisahardy.com is where you can find her. She has a blog, books, webinars, and her youtube channel! Check her out! @jalisathegoldenchild
Shakila Marando Is the owner of Doulas by the Bay in San Francisco, CA. She had a tough time with breastfeeding and realized that other moms needed that help too. She started working as a nanny and then accidentally started working with a family who taught her about what a doula is and what they do. She love it and that started her journey to help other moms. She puts herself in the shoes of the other moms so she can touch the families and make a difference in their worlds. Lived experience speaks volumes as a doula and she loves to normalize the struggles of motherhood. She trains her other doulas that normalizing them and their experiences. Moms deserve support and should be the priority after birth and her organization starts with moms and also supports babies and partners. Her best mama moment is right now with grown children who are good humans who truly love one another. Her worst mama moment happened recently while the California’s 2025 fires and being separated from her family on opposite sides of the state. She wishes she would have known that parenting is harder than she thought and having support is essential. She also wants moms to understand that mama guilt is normal but when you don’t fill your own cup, you can’t fill others. Sometimes prioritizing YOURSELF is really important.
Sara Nudd is a mama of 4 with a heart bigger than you can imagine. Her birth story with her first, at the age of 21 was traumatic and heart wrenching, on top of having no support or knowledge of what being a mom would be like. She struggled and struggled but after 3 more kiddos, she realized that she was suffering with PPD. Her life now is super full and her favorite mama moments are when all 6 of her family are together (including the senior Golden Doodle who is her soulmate!). She is almost finished with her Nurse Practitioner Degree and will specialize in Maternal Mental health. She has been a pediatric nurse for years and owns her own business called The Mama Co-op (find her here:themamacoop.com). She understands the need for good sleep and how that can completely derail your life. Her practice focuses on ensuring families have the resources they need to thrive and not just survive. You have not met a more genuine, lovely human as Sara Nudd. We are honored to have her as a YANA Board of Directors!
Julie Morey is a school social worker who does a lot for single moms because she chose to become a single mom by a donor with an unconventional motherhood journey. Her goal is to do a TEDx. She empowers women to write their own story and make decisions for themselves instead of waiting around for Prince Charming. She thought things were going to be more difficult than they were but she created a situation that worked. She believed in having a village and lived in an area that was walkable because it was important to her to have the availability of getting out of the house when she needed it. Being a 40 year old first time mom was a great choice for her because she was older, wiser and didn’t sweat the small things. She had some great help along the way and was open to accepting it (which is such a great trait!). Her best friends were her biggest supporters and created an open experience for her birthing experience and allowed many friends and families to experience it with her. Her little girl is her travel buddy and they have been to numerous countries together. She also has a fear in the back of her mind that she could lose her and that causes some mama anxiety. Julie was well prepared to be a mom (at the age of 40) but things she wished she would have known was that you need to stop sweating the small stuff. You can make mistakes and your child will survive! She was rigid at the beginning but now she has learned that she has to let go of some of the things that she thought were so important. You can find her at juliemorey.substack.com or on instagram at the.unconventional.mom.
Savannah Becerril is the Assistant Program Director of the Strong Mamas, Thriving Babies program for our nonprofit, YANA. She has done a lot in the marketing world before coming to YANA including social media, websites and small business expansion. She was a teen mom at the age of 18, is currently a foster mom to a 16 year old, a mom to a 13 year old and a 6 year old. She has so many different ages and personalities in her house that her life is chaotic on a daily basis! Her biggest challenge of being a teen mom was building a mama village. Her village has come but it took some time. Being a single, teen mom was so difficult but didn’t think she needed the help. As she grew in her motherhood journey, she was really lucky to marry into a family who truly stepped up and became an amazing mother-in-law, giving her the support she didn’t even know she needed. She has been a mom for 18 years and finding the joy in motherhood isn’t always easy to find but all the small moments of being a present parent. Her worst mama moment was when her youngest son, who was 11 months old was in the school when an active shooter was shooting up the school. Her son is the youngest child on record of being in a school shooting. This is NOT something you want to be known as and the unknown time when she didn’t know where her son was or if he was safe, was the worst day of her life. She wishes she would have known that teenagers are really tough and maybe been a little more prepared even if she doesn’t know what that means. Parenting in 2024 is not for the weak at heart.
Kalissa Braga is the Regional Program Coordinator for the Strong Mamas, Thriving Babies program through our nonprofit, YANA. She has quite a birthing story with her 3 babies. She was diagnosed with PCOS as a teenager so she knew getting pregnant was going to be a struggle so they started with Clomid to get the process started and sure enough, she was able to get pregnant after the second round! She struggled with breastfeeding and had no support nor did she know what she was doing. She thought pumping and feeding would be such a great way to feed her new baby but boy did she realize that wasn’t easier! She found out she was spontaneously pregnant 18 months later but lost that baby. After lots of fertility treatments and IUI’s and after 9 rounds of IUI’s, she finally found out she was pregnant, right before they were going to start IVF! They moved from Iowa to Colorado with her mom and dad, having family close by for the first time in her life! She was so excited to have a 2 ½ year old and about to give birth to number 2, was helping her mom start a business, moved to another state and her water broke! The birthing center she was supposed to deliver at didn’t have the capabilities she needed so off to the hospital they went (NOT the plan!). Incompetent medical providers made it quite the story but she eventually had her second baby but she wasn’t crying and it was a traumatic situation from start to finish. They started the fertility process again quickly, including IUI’s and Progesterone shots. After 5 IUI’s and were about to start IVF treatments when she finally got pregnant…AGAIN on the last IUI! She was almost rushed into emergency surgery to stop the hemorrhaging that happened because of a “piece of placenta that was left.” She is blessed to have her 3 but was told she had to stop having babies because of her inability to stop bleeding. This was heartbreaking and sad for her but at the age of 32 she had to have a hysterectomy. Her story hopefully will encourage you that it CAN happen for you, even when you think you might not.
Jessica Jamison is a therapist and personal trainer in the eating disorder and body image space. She found herself there because of her own journey. When she couldn’t get pregnant, she needed to find ways to do things differently. She specializes in women who need help finding themselves. When she finally decided to have kids, it took her over 2 years to get pregnant with her first but it took years for her to slow down and take care of herself with love and respect for her own body. The pressure of new moms to “bounce back” and get back to their pre pregnancy weight is unrealistic and ridiculous. She feels like she adjusted to her first baby really well. It took over 2 years so she seemed to “have it together” but after the second baby, she realized she was NOT ready for that. Her kiddos didn’t get along from the beginning and that was hard on her mama heart. She had to be physically in between the 2 kids because she was concerned for the safety of the baby because her son was NOT happy about having another child in the mix. Sibling rivalry is a REAL thing and can derail a whole family and the dynamics in the household. She has had a lot of support from her parents as a mama and has childcare by her parents! She is super lucky to have them available to her. Her worst mama moment came with her first and only panic attack due to an irrational fear of something happening to her daughter. She had a miscarriage before giving birth to her daughter and she believes the fact that she didn’t truly process the grief of her loss was a catalyst to her panic attack. She wishes she would have known how much she would change. Her beliefs, values, and priorities have all shifted. You genuinely change when you become a mom. That’s NORMAL and ok. You can find Jessica at Revolutionhc.com Her Facebook group is called dumbbells and donuts and is specifically for women struggling with food, fitness and body image. Check it out.
Nicole Majik was a chemist over 16 years but almost died of mercury poisoning. She has had a business for almost 17 years to help people overcome their limiteding beliefs and step into their authentic selves. She has a genetic mutation (that she didn’t know she had) that doesn't allow her body to metabolise heavy metals and the exposure to them in her job created a catastrophic situation where she couldn’t even speak! She was in chronic pain and it took 18 months to get the metals out of her body and cost thousands of dollars! She had to diagnose herself and figure it out for herself. She is now healthy, happy and doing well but it was something she doesn’t wish on her worst enemy. She is a mom of 4 and started having kiddos at 24. She is a mom to a 25, 22, 19 and 15 year old. She was pregnant with her first baby and the doctors told her that the baby was not “well” but they couldn’t ever figure out why. She decided at that time that she couldn’t control what that outcome was going to be so she was going to let it be what it was and accept it. As a parent, we have to learn that we can’t control what paths our kids take and sometimes we have to just sit back and watch, hoping that what we taught our kids is enough to keep them safe, happy and healthy (however that looks for them). She believes we are all meant to follow our own divine alignment. Nicole is the Empowerment Alchemist and you can find her on all social medias with Nicole Majik or nicolemajik.com
Whitney Frost is not only the Founder and CEO of The Riley Center for Hope and Healing as well as a Board member for YANA! Her center takes all insurances including Medicaid and are on a sliding scale! Her journey has been a rough one. She had 5 losses between the 2 earth-side girls and her two pregnancies were very high risk! She has two sassy girls, who obviously get their sassiness from their dad! She is working hard at leaving her work at work and needing to be PRESENT for her girls. Being a working mom is close to impossible and we are often so overwhelmed by things like packing lunches! The jobs that moms are expected to fit into our days are never ending! Her hubby is her biggest cheerleader and biggest support but also part of the challenge (like most spouses). With postpartum OCD, she has struggled with moments of needing to be perfect even today. Traveling is the time when it tends to come out more. She wishes there would have been a handbook of things to understand. Her baby had 2 heart defects and postpartum depression is really hard. She wishes there was a playbook for motherhood. But the surprises just keep coming. You can find her at theryliecenter.com
Christi Gmyr is a mental health counselor in upstate New York who virtually specializes in helping moms with managing and understanding all of the things it takes to be a mom. She had her own Covid baby but then had a 4 year old at home with her too during the pandemic. Mothering the 2 at a time was really challenging when she expected to have her 4 year old in preschool and having one-on-one time with the new baby. She had an idea of what it would look like but life changes and is different than we think it is going to be. The unknown is one of the hardest parts of parenting because when we become moms, we realize so much about it outside of our control. Many moms have expectations of themselves even though they have never been in this place before. Moms are always expected to be supportive of others. Judgements are just opinions and the nature of opinions is that everyone has a different one. We get to decide who we get to listen to and whose opinion we want to listen to. We have expectations of ourselves AND of others. The messages we get from others can really derail us as moms. Moms struggle with losing friendships but good friends will be flexible and honor the fact that having a baby changes your availability. Life changes, people change and we need to be flexible about our relationships too. Watching her children show kindness are her best mama moments and her worst mama moments were during the pandemic when she lost her “cool.” We ALL have those moments and beating ourselves up doesn’t serve anyone! She is a coach of stressed out mamas who have demanding careers, helping them overcome burnout, resentment and guilt Check her out at ChristiGmyrcoaching.com
Sarah Boes is a multifaceted mama who started her own business during covid but sold it and moved into advocacy. She found out that her daughter had congenital heart disease and has 4 heart conditions! With numerous ultrasounds, she thought she was going to have a healthy, happy baby. She also found out that she had OCD and her baby became her obsession. Her daughter will have to have numerous heart surgeries as she grows. Her spouse was her biggest supporter but she also had a postpartum doula who changed her whole motherhood journey. Her daughter has had a lot of medical issues throughout the last two and a half years but she is healthy, happy and doing amazing but it has been quite the journey. She was frustrated with how the after birth process worked and the lack of support she had in the NICU. She advocates for Congenital Health Disease awareness on Capitol Hill! She has been unseen and unheard and diagnosed in her 30’s with OCD after years of therapy. One in 100 babies will be born with a heart defect! She is out in the world, making sure people know about it! Find her at SarahMichelleBoes.com
Dr. Bragg is a doctor in Norfolk, Virginia who treats people with non-surgical solutions for orthopedic and spinal problems. She is a pain management physician who does comprehensive pain management with as little pain meds as possible. She isn’t completely against opioids but has treated over 20,000 people. She has been working with pain management since 1995! She wrote a book after taking care of her mom and it sparked her need to help others with their pain. Women are more apt to have back pain because of their daily routines. Moms can do small things to alleviate back pain and injury. The routine changes can make or break you (and your back!). Exercise during pregnancy is really important if approved by your doctor as well and after birth you will benefit from those efforts. Her YouTube channel is called Dr. Winifred Bragg and you can hear some of her tips and tricks! You can find her website at www.knockoutpain.com and can download a chapter of her book there.
Margot Bisnow spent 20 years working for the government and then her oldest son started a company and she decided she wanted to get involved! She joined his young entrepreneurs and most of them had people who believed in them. Most of the time, that person was their mom. Her book is called Raising an Entrepreneur and she interviewed 70 entrepreneurs and their moms to learn about how the support of a mom helped shape who they became. She has learned a lot from these interviews and what parents seem to want for their kids. She is a mom to kiddos in their thirties where she travels to visit them now. She was ambivalent about being a mom and she loved her life. She didn’t feel a gap and since she had done the big career thing first, she felt secure and took 6 weeks off with her first. With her second child, 20 months apart from her first son, she wanted to have them close enough in age so they could be friends. She had a nanny to help with the kids and felt great about that relationship. She tells moms that they have three choices…they can not work and feel guilty, they can work full time and feel guilty or they can work part time and STILL feel guilty! For her book, she interviewed 70 entrepreneurs and learned so much and really enjoyed learning what she could about the different family dynamics and the fact that they were all basically raised the same. ALL of them had an interest outside of school and their parents supported them in it. Supporting your kiddos looks different for each parent and however you are supporting your kiddos is best for you and them. Be proud of who you are and how you are parenting!
Susan Caso is a mom of 3 and a therapist who works with teens and adults for many years. She lives in Boulder, Colorado and is also an author of a book called the The Parent-Teen Connection. She gave birth in Denver but had such an interesting experience where the nurses took her baby to the nursery anytime she fell asleep. She wanted that baby near her! Her biggest challenge was having her third child at the age of 43! That rocked her world. To have a child later in life, you have so many different things with the older kiddos but then you have the newborn to feed during the night. Advanced Maternal Age is a horrible way to say it to a mom who may already be fragile. She has a sister who was a huge support and lots of friends but her husband is an incredible support for her. Having a spouse who understands you and is a team with you. Empathy plays such a huge role in marriage and life! Susan’s mama moments are when they are all in the same house together. Thanksgiving is one of her favorite times to all be under the same roof. Her worst mama moments were when she didn’t handle things better when her kids were younger. She wishes she could go back and change how she reacted to the bickering. Dropping her kids off at college was also one of the hardest part of motherhood. She wishes she would have known she didn’t have to be a perfect parent. As an anxious mom, she worried too much about being perfect. Let it go mama!
Cheryl Chiasson is a mom of 3 boys with quite the story. They took in a young man who had a TON of trauma and took him in. With her first two babies, she said she struggled with PPD and intrusive thoughts. She struggled and had no idea what she was struggling with because no one talked about it. Her biggest supporters were both men. First, her husband and second, her father in law (crazy that it was two men!!!). She had the support but didn’t ask for help and didn’t accept the help because she thought she had to do it all herself. Her best mama moments come when she is now watching her boys be kind to other people and serve others as well as watching her son find happiness, love and when she danced with him at his wedding. How they treat others and go out into the world is both through nature and nurture and being proud of the job you have done as a mom is an important aspect of motherhood. Her biggest regret is raising her voice but because of her childhood and living in a domestic violence situation as a child, she never wanted to have this situation in her own home. When she did raise her voice, she was hard on herself because of the trauma she anticipated she extended to her boys. She wishes she would have known that perfection should not be a goal, that it’s ok not to be ok, to ask for help and accept it when offered. Take the time to be with others besides your kids. You have to be a full person without them too. It’s ok for their dad to be with them without you and it’s ok to take some time for yourself.
Kimberly Vines lives in North Carolina with her three littles (just moved there 2 weeks ago) and is excited to start their new adventure on the east coast. She and her husband lived in an RV for a few years to climb rocks and travel around Colorado. She loves trying new recipes and exploring the outdoors. She was 30 with her first baby and although they were living it up and rock climbing and being nomads, they decided it was time to get serious about starting a family. She was doing the best she could holding onto a full time job while parenting a new baby full time and things worked out during COVID to regroup and started to find herself again. She found mom friends and then realized she wasn’t living her “truth.” She is doing what she can to extend herself to others and make sure she is connecting with other moms. Parenting is like doing improv every single day. WIth three kids you have to let go of the structure 100% of the time because helicopter parenting is not the answer either. As a first time mom, her sister-in-law was three months ahead of her in pregnancy and she was her biggest supporter. Peer moms are so important to the mamahood journey. Watching her baby wake up smiling from ear to ear makes her day every morning and the pride she has in her oldest daughter and her drive to be who she is makes her proud. Her worst mama moment came when she left her 3 year old son at the park when he wandered off. Who hasn’t had that fear in the pit of their stomach? The identity switch you go through is a huge part of being a mom and she wishes she would have known that reaching out to other mamas is essential to your mental health. Take care of each other.
Kristin Goodwin is an amazing badass! She was a pilot as a Brigadier General and served over 30 years in the Air Force. As a woman, graduating from the Air Force Academy and doing flight school at 21, she decided she needed to think ahead to the family she wanted to have. At the age of 25, she wasn't living her authentic life and came to terms with being gay and what that meant to be in the military under Don't Ask Don't Tell (DADT). She put her dreams of having a family on hold for 13 years until DADT was repealed. She was so excited to start a family, she rushed into a relationship to have all the things she wanted…being a mom! She had a lot of struggles as a new mom, working for a 4 star general as a new mom being one of them! The pressures were HUGE, the postpartum was rough and she struggled with the emotions of motherhood, unsupportive spouse AND the 12-14 hour days at work. She wanted to be true to herself but couldn’t really do that with her job and SHOULD have taken the help but didn’t feel like she could (for many reasons). As a new mom, her biggest supporters were her mom and step-dad who ended up staying through the COVID pandemic to help and that was a Godsend. Her best mama moments come so often but finding out she was pregnant with her second daughter was so special since she had to use IVF for that pregnancy. Her worst mama moment was in the delivery of her first baby girl. She counted 16 people in the room and realized she might lose her daughter and that was life changing. She LOVED being pregnant and was glowing and after doing an Iron Man triathlon, and being in amazing shape (and still is!), she thought she could do a natural labor and she labored for over 13 hours because her daughter got stuck. She actually had her second daughter 2 years and 1 day later and she came out in minutes! She actually had 2 babies who were exactly the same weight and length! She said she was pretty naive and thought labor was going to be a bit painful but HOLY MOLY it’s way harder than she thought it would be. She also wishes she would have realized that her body would never be the same. Like EVER. She wants moms to know that they are not alone! Kristin and her wife, Dr. Traci have a coaching business called Delta-V. They can be found at thedelta-v.com where they help with one-on-one coaching, executive team building and leadership development. Check them out, because they are truly two of the most amazing badass women you will ever meet.
In this episode of HRtbeat, the Highlands Ranch podcast, Jake Freedle welcomes back Nikki Brooker, founder of the nonprofit YANA, (You Are Not Alone), for an inspiring update on her organization’s work in providing vital support to new moms. YANA’s program, Strong Mamas, Thriving Babies, now operates in three hospitals, offering comprehensive, year-long support to mothers, including personal outreach, community gatherings and digital resources. Nikki shares the tremendous impact of their 96% acceptance rate, emphasizing how this unique program fills a gap in maternal care, especially during the challenging first year. She discusses the importance of community and mental health support, touching on YANA’s funding journey, including grants from Douglas County and encouraging donations for the upcoming Colorado Gives Day. To get involved or support their mission, visit yanamom.com and tune in to hear more about the organization’s next steps and heartwarming stories. We talked about: * Journey of expanding YANA’s hospital partnerships, now reaching three hospitals.
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How Strong Mamas, Thriving Babies connects moms with weekly gatherings, an app and direct support.
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Role of Douglas County’s grant and other funding to help sustain YANA’s free services for moms.
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The $60 per mom cost for providing year-long, wraparound support, showcasing YANA’s efficiency.
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YANA’s goal, to combat isolation in motherhood and to build a supportive “village” for maternal mental health.
Learn more about Nikki Brooker: * Visit her website https://yanamom.com/
Get to know her new program https://yanamom.com/strong-mamas-program/ Show your support https://www.coloradogives.org/donate/yanam2m
Listen to her podcast https://yanamom.com/lets-be-real-podcast/
Find her on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/yanam2m/
Connect with her on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/yanam2m
Follow her on Tiktok https://www.tiktok.com/@yanam2m
Bracha Goetz is an author of 42 children's books that help children's souls to shine as well as a memoir called Nourish the Soul. She has 6 grown kids and 36 grandchildren with two more on the way. Bracha was 24 when she started having kids and he’s now 44 years old! She went to Harvard and medical school but went to Israel for the summer and didn’t come back to medical school. She met her husband and lived there for 10 years. She came back to America to take care of her parents. She has been in the states for 30 years but they are making their way back to Israel. They had 5 kiddos in Israel and one in Baltimore. Raising 5 kids in Israel was really hard without family around but she moved to a small settlement with a great network of friends who were all settlers and pioneers of this settlement. Her best mama moment is seeing the amazing grandchildren her kids are raising. She devoted her energy, her time and her talents in her kids and now sees all of those fruits of her labor in her grandkids. She spends her time ensuring people know that you can be extremely intelligent and choose to put your time and effort into being the best mom and homemaker you can be. Her worst mama moment was way back when she dropped her first baby as an infant. She was terrified that she hurt her own baby. She had no experience as a caretaker so she was a fish out of water. Until she connected with other mothers, she was lonely and had no idea that the difficult times aren’t going to last forever. Now looking back, everything was a blur and it’s hard to remember all of the rough days. Take a deep breath and know that this too shall pass. She also wants you to value the little things with your kids. Cuddling and reading books were her bonding time and that lead to what she’s doing now. She thinks one of the most important things to instill in kids is gratitude. This creates happiness for life. Bracha is the grateful granny! You can find her at www.growingimpactpublications.com
As a mama of 4 and grandma of 8, Susan May has been in the “mothering business” for quite awhile. She was a substitute teacher for over 20 years and she is also a writer and has published many novels including harlequin novels and a nonfiction about her son and his heart transplant. Her author name is Susan Carlisle. Her oldest just turned 40 and they share a birthday! She has been married for 42 years after attending Auburn University. She had 4 (almost) under 4 and had a busy house but didn’t think that through when it came to paying for college! Empty nesting together wasn’t hard on her because she was so excited to watch them fly! Her youngest son was born with a heart condition and needed surgery and possibly a transplant. He is one of the oldest people on record who is living with a heart transplant. Her biggest supporter during early motherhood was her mom, who stepped in with the other three while she spent a lot of time in the hospital with her youngest who needed the heart transplant. Her best mama moment is when the entire family is sitting at one big long table. NO kids table. EVERYONE at one table is her favorite part of being a mama and grandma. She wants mamas to know that things are survivable. Being proactive for your kids because there is no alternative. Fight for what you know they need. She wishes she would have known that being a mom is a lot of work! She did things in the “acceptable” order with school, marriage and kids but that doesn’t work for everyone. She has learned how unbelievably strong you can love another human being. She also believes that everyone is going to get their season. Each kiddo will need you at different times. You can find Susan at susanCarlisle.com or susancmay.com.
Meera Ishaya is an Ishaya monk and a mom! After becoming extremely depressed, leaving her the feeling that she didn’t want to be alive anymore, and that turned into a whole new world for her. She thinks that trying to prove that she was a good mom, the most depressed she became. Being a monk has opened up a whole new world. She has published numerous books but her first is about coming back to being who you are. Being authentically YOU is essential. Being a monk is about learning that we are all one. It takes away the mind chatter and grounds you. She came to this world after thinking, “there has to be more to life than this.” And she found it by being an Ishaya monk. Her two kiddos have helped to keep her grounded. Aftering having her kiddos, she struggled with massive pain along with mental health issues. She had Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction which was excruciating and she was struggling to stay alive. She was on crutches and couldn’t walk but then had to get back to “normal” through excruciating pain and physical therapy including having someone dress her! She was pushed to another place where she found 100% peace. When you open yourself up to the possibilities of what’s out there, things come to you. Her biggest supporter was her husband and when she finally found her “people” in Spain at this retreat where she felt 100% supported. Her best mama moment was when her daughter said, “I couldn’t have gotten through this without you, I love you.” It feels good when you are appreciated and supported by the people you love the most. She wishes she would have known how to mediate and to not punish. Less is more and through meditation she has let go of a lot of the stress she was experiencing. You can find her at her youtube channel and website boundless-meditation.co.uk
Check out her episode at https://yanamom.com/lets-be-real-podcast/
Erin Barry is a divorced mom of three adult kiddos with a combined family and now a mom of 6 with a new baby granddaughter. She is a life coach working to help people find their real, authentic selves. She lives in Minnesota and is a soccer referee and enjoys doing that with her daughter. She was 27 when she had her first and has enjoyed watching them all become adults. Her biggest challenge as a mom has been mental health and chronic hives with one of her kiddos. Trying to manage those issues and having NO control of the issues is so hard as a mom. As moms, we are supposed to be the ones who “fix” things and sometimes we just can’t. She had a lot of great support through her family when she was having her babies because she lived close enough to them. With a mom who was a daycare provider, she was blessed to have her as the caretaker of her kids. It was always important to her that her kids have good relationships with each other and listening to them empower each other is part of her favorite parts of being a mama. She wishes she would have known about time adjustments needed to be made when you have children. You might think you are busy now but just wait! Breastfeeding isn’t natural for everyone and sometimes outside pressures made her feel like she didn’t have a choice and it was terrible. She wants moms to know that creating traditions is important and those are some of her best memories. Create your own traditions and cherish them. Also, have grace with yourself, especially with life balance. You need to foster relationships, especially with yourself. You can find Erin at liveyourtruthjouney.com
Juliana Mackin is a mom of three working in PR firms and managing technology groups but has decided to open her own businesses. Her mama journey started later in life because her husband is 5 years younger but the positives of being an older mom is that she has more financial stability to work in a career first. She feels like she knows more about herself as well and that has been a huge positive. The mom guilt never goes away but has learned to accept that. Her biggest challenge has been the struggles of taking on too much and moved to the states from the UK and when she was overwhelmed with all of the mamahood challenges and hormonal changes she says that was really hard but since that was her first baby, she then knew that it was normal to feel that way with babies number 2 and 3. She didn’t bond at first with baby number 3 and she realized how normal that was too. Her best mama moments are when her kids progress and are growing and showing pride in themselves. Her 5 year old got up in front of a crowd of people and played his ukulele and her daughter sang and to watch them be proud of themselves was a great feeling. Her worst mama moments are when she is frustrated with them and sometimes shows those frustrations and expresses her stress. She wishes she would have known what it truly is like to be a mom because with number three, she seems to have it more “together.” But don’t we learn that as we go and our kids' personalities could also be more nurture than nature. She wants you to know that anything you are feeling guilty about is probably normal and other moms are feeling the same way. Don’t beat yourself up!
Suzanne Jamieson lives in Santa Monica, California and is a mom of a 9 and 12 year old. She went to school to be a performer and after being a mom, decided that chasing the audition wasn’t in the cards. She couldn’t find a lullaby album for her baby so she created her own! Her new album is called Love Is and is available wherever you stream music. The idea behind this album was the silo-ing of our country and the division and hate. The album explores what love is, different kinds of love and how to actionably show love to every part of our lives. Funneling the great ideas for kids into music, why not use music as a positive vehicle for it. She’s a DOer and she figured out what she needed and created it. She found mama circles in LA and that changed her mama journey in so many ways because she realized how important your community is for your own mental health and parenting. Her best mama moments are all the little things like having a teacher say that her child is empathetic or other fleeting moments that she savors. Her worst mama moment is something she can laugh about now but back then it was a huge issue that made her question her own mental health at the time. She wishes she would have known that this is the LOOOOONG game…in 20 years will THIS matter? Are you teaching them your values? Are you teaching them the good? Look at parenting from a broader perspective and not just should they eat that bag of chips? Showing your kids that you care about your own life too and your passions mean something too. If you stop loving yourself and pursuing the things you care about, you take away the pot of love and show your kids that you don’t matter. Self awareness is really important too. You can join her monthly newsletter by signing up through her website at suzannejamiesonsings.com
Vanessa lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina as a single mom of a 9 year old. She was a therapist who decided to add spiritualism into that realm. Her website is thepsychgym.com. She is a believer of spiritual grounding in therapy and transformed her practice into intuitive counseling. She experienced unexplained fertility issues and had to learn how to NOT expect a typical mama journey. She unexpectedly got pregnant, which was an ectopic pregnancy which caused more grief but then one month later, she got pregnant again!! That’s when you know you are MEANT to be a mom! She was under the impression that she needed to make this a family and although she tried her hardest, it wasn’t meant to be. Single parenting for the past 5 years has been its own journey and the struggle created a deep connection and love for her daughter, knowing she is doing the best she can for her and her daughter. She has had many different supports through her mama journey and she says they all helped (and continue to help) raise her as a mom. Validation from others really made a difference in her mama journey because she needed the feeling that she wasn’t alone and she felt held. Fixing things as moms isn’t always the best path. Letting our kids struggle a bit won’t hurt. Empowerment comes from doing things so we have to let them do it and feel brave. She wishes she would have known that she truly needed her community around her who are in the same places in her life. She kept all the old friends (hockey players) and she wishes she would have had someone to help her create the communities of people she needed as a mom and not a hockey player. She can be found on Instagram sea.stars.psych and Facebook under Vanessa Perry - Intuitive Counselor.
Check out her podcast at https://yanamom.com/lets-be-real-podcast/
Kyle is a strong willed parenting coach. He works with families with strong willed kids because he was a parent of SIX of those kinds of kids. He was co-parenting with his wife of 30 years but she died unexpectedly in 2021 and then he was left to parent alone. For their 30th wedding anniversary, they took a trip and that was when they decided as a couple that they needed to do more. They needed to support parents who were struggling with their own strong willed kids. Strong willed kids can be described as kids who frustrate, discourage or create worry for their future and these situations cause relationship issues and family dynamics that can make or break you. One thing they really learned was that you can’t parent them all the same because they are so different. Kyle grew up with the threat of violence, so Kyle’s wife decided they needed to have a better plan for their family dynamic. If they didn’t have that plan, Kyle says they were either going to implode or thrive. They decided they wanted it to thrive. Kyle’s wife believed in parenting through love and Kyle was a disciplinarian but after a rather frustrating situation with their non-verbal son, and praying about what he should do, he chose not to give up on his family but his wife lost faith in him as a partner and a father. After reading the Cat and the Hat, they realized they needed to have a strategy and a plan. They needed to not be focused on “winning” the argument but instead getting to a common goal together. Parenting is tough but it doesn’t have to be as tough as we make it. Make a plan, make it easier on everyone in the home! Check Kyle out at kylejetsel.com for more information about his parenting help and strategies.
Give a listen at https://yanamom.com/lets-be-real-podcast/
She lives in northern Virginia as a poetry and creative writing coach, writer and teacher. She turned her cathartic activity (writing) into her purpose. She has a non-traditional motherhood journey. In 2019 her father was diagnosed with terminal cancer and knowing she was going to lose one of the most important people in her life, she realized that we may or may not have “all the time in the world.” During her acute grief and a global pandemic her relationship didn’t make it through and she realized she had a huge need to be a mom. At the age of 20, she was diagnosed with a bicornuate uterus which changed everything and she didn’t think she could carry a baby and also didn’t have a partner she wanted to parent with but then found out she was misdiagnosed and didn’t have a deformed uterus. She chose to consciously co-parent with a man who she didn’t think she would fall in love with but was just going to parent together but low and behold, love did happen and they live in Virginia together and found the perfect situation for them with their 5 month old little boy. She wishes she would have known how hard breastfeeding was going to be. Her second book of poetry, Mother,(v), is all about her desire to become a mom as well as other women’s stories about their journeys. You can find her at annemariewellswriter.com.
Kimberly Grustas is the inventor and owner of a skin care line that focuses on all natural skin care for all females but mostly girls to ensure they have all natural skin care, especially through puberty. Her business is called Good For You Girls. She has been creating these products since 2008 to make sure things are made and are GOOD for the consumer. Her brand is very specific in their ingredients and purposes. She started in the fitness industry (male dominated) and was envious of men for being fearless. So she embraced her tenacity and created products to help girls through puberty. Her mama journey started after being married for 10 years and after getting nervous, she got pregnant four months after starting her own advertising business. She was afraid to give up her independence and type “a” way of doing things after having babies and has always been a working mom even though she didn’t utilize day care and worked from home and is self made. She admits that not asking for help is a weakness she struggles with and gets overwhelmed but is “obnoxiously happy” in the mornings, knowing that happiness is important to her. After a stressful childhood as the youngest of 5 and an identical twin. After losing her brother, her entire family changed and her parents never found their way out of that grief. With her own babies, she never hid the hard stuff. She would have them right alongside her building her business. She does regret not giving herself more time for HER. She didn’t know her limits and gave and gave. She’s struggling as an empty nester and although she enjoys the young adult conversations and she is always “the call” they make but not being there is hard on a mama heart. She wishes she would have made time to create her tribe! She wishes she would have known how important that tribe is to the empty nesting too. You can find all of her products at goodforyougirls.com and you can use the coupon code:YANA20 for 20% off!
Jessica has quite an amazing mama journey with the release of her new book called Breath Taking, A Memoir of Families, Dreams and Broken Genes. She left the corporate world to write her story and tell her family’s story. Her journey to motherhood was long and twisty and not at all what she thought it would be. After dating her husband for 10 years, they were finally married and thought they would be pregnant right away but five years later, they were still trying. After 25 procedures, and five years they decided they needed to pivot and fell in love with the idea of adoption. They adopted through Guatemala and adopted three amazing children. They thought their struggles had hit the apex but boy were they wrong! She suspected that her middle child had health issues and she was 100% right. She had her checked by Early Interventions and they and the doctors all said she was just a “little behind, give her time.” But this mama had an intuition that there was something else going on and low and below she was diagnosed with a mild to moderate hearing loss. At the age of 5 she was given genetic testing (because she was adopted) and that proved she had MERRF syndrome (a mitochondrial degenerative disease). This ultra rare disease was life changing for their entire family. Rare diseases are a challenge in every way for an entire family. When Dalia turned 9, they all went on a family vacation and a cold turned into respiratory failure with a tracheotomy and a ventilator. Dalia had to have eyes on her 24/7 and this continued for EIGHT years! Dalia lost her battle right around her 17th birthday and it changed Jessica in a beautiful and horrific way all at the same time. She wishes she would have known that all emotions are possible to be felt AT THE SAME TIME! Her journey is not like most but she has quite the story to tell and we implore you to check out her book, Breath Taking, found on her website https://www.jessicafeinstories.com
Give a listen here: yanamom.com/lets-be-real-podcast/
As a single mama of 4 kids, 2 girls and 2 boys and is the reigning Ms. Colorado Americana. She also is a Geotechnical Engineer! She is also training to be in the WINTER OLYMPICS!!! She is a Skeleton athlete (head-first flying down the ice). She had to really train hard and the email to welcome her to the olympic team, WENT TO HER SPAM account!!!! Here is your lesson for the day…check your spam! As a mama of 4, she struggled with postpartum depression and frustration as well as trying to get your body back after giving birth FOUR times! She is an olympic athlete, she really struggled with getting her body back. She decided on the second go-around of having kids (she has an age gap between the two sets of kids) that she would give her more grace because there is no trophy for bouncing back the “fastest.” Her mama was her biggest supporter and continues to be. Since kids are sponges and repeat it all, when they repeat what she says she has to take a long look at what she says to ensure she isn’t putting things out there that she doesn’t want them to repeat. She wishes she would have known about YANA when she was a new mama. She wishes she had her community of people who “got” her that could have been there for her. She didn’t look for the help and support and wishes she would have.
Karen owns Organize It, a professional organizing and move management company. Her goal is to get new moms getting their nurseries in order. Her passion is helping mamas be more organized and ready for baby. She has 2 grown children, a husband and has lived in Colorado for almost 50 years. Her biggest challenge as a mama was the depression she struggled with. She had a wise friend who said, “have a plan with your husband so that if you are not able to communicate what’s going on, you make it obvious to him that you need help.” The shame of asking for help needs to end and in 2024, we are at the point where you CAN say I need help. Just because you can’t see it, it doesn’t invalidate it. With her husband as her biggest supporter, her faith and her boys, she has thrived and is such a good person. Her best mama moment came when she asked her adult daughter what she thought her best mama moment was and her answer thrilled her because it made her realize that her “normal” meant she was being an amazing mama. Her worst mama moment was when her mental health wasn’t being addressed properly. Now that she is properly medicated AND diagnosed properly, she can regulate and emplores you to go get more answers because not all doctors have the correct answers. Keep asking, keep seeking and don’t give up until someone gives you the answers you deserve.
Becoming a mama in her 30s and quarantined during pregnancy was strange and difficult in so many ways. Baby number two came after the pandemic and she found out what a regular pregnancy was. She is a “famous” online personality called Law Mother with over 2 million followers! She educates people about protecting the things that are the most important to them. She had to get her husband onboard as he waffled on the idea but eventually they made it happen. With her first baby, she struggled with postpartum and wasn’t prepared for that. She also was a new business owner with her first baby as well as being the breadwinner for the whole family. She really didn’t get a postpartum break but with her second, she knew she had to do it differently. With her second baby, she took four months off and knew that was exactly what she needed. She hired a postpartum doula to help out but then decided to split the shift with her going to bed at 7pm and sleeping until 3am and then her husband would go to bed at 3am. This really worked for them. She had a mindset coach she worked with and they helped her with the mom guilt and prioritize her time so she could break down her day and how she spent her time to help her feel more connected since she worked outside the house.Her best mama moments are the simple ones. When her kids are expressing themselves and becoming who they will be. She wishes she would have known how much support she needed for the postpartum period and had it set up. Take her advice and GET IT!
You can find her at lawmother.com.
Listen to our 2 year anniversary episode here https://yanamom.com/lets-be-real-podcast/
Pouneh is a Board of Director advisor for YANA and we are blessed to have her on our team. As a stepmom, she has lots of experience in mamahood but when she had her own boys, everything changed. Originally from New Jersey, she says, “You can take the girl out of Jersey but you can’t take Jersey out of the girl.” As a Board Certified OBGYN, Pouneh has worked for years being the person who helps bring babies into the world but her entire care of mamas has changed now that she is a mom. Being pregnant and giving birth during her residency was close to impossible but she somehow made it through and all while her dad was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She looks back on that time in awe that her and her husband made it through. Because of her need to be more present, she reconfigured her entire work structure and became a traveling OBGYN where she travels for a week and gives rural OBGYN’s a break and then is home for three weeks where she can give her kids her undivided attention (thus her best mama moments when she watches her kids experience the world). Her worst mama moment was when her little guy was so hurt that he threw away his painting and broke his little heart (who else can identify with that!). She is always honest with her patients and tells them that parenthood is literally “on the job learning.” She also feels strongly about mamas finding and building their community. Motherhood needs to be a team activity!
Lauren is an entrepreneur and teaches nutrition and health and wellness is her world. She loves helping people. She is a bonus mom of two older kiddos but always wanted to be a mama on her own. After IVF with Conceptions, she succeeded in her goal to be a mama and had her baby right after she turned 40. She is an older mom and had it “all together.” But boy did having a mama change everything. She really struggled with how to manage all the feelings she was having. How do you go from being a boss mama to covered in spit up? She experienced some jealousy with her husband who got a promotion and was doing things in his career that she wished she was doing, even though she always wanted to be a mom, this was more than she bargained for. Her biggest support came from her spouse, all the grandmas in her life and even the Facebook groups she joined. Her stories of her best and worst mama moments will blow you away and explain why I think she is such an amazing badass! Her experience has been beautiful, ugly, hard, amazing, unbelievable and down right way more than she anticipated. Her mama journey is less than a year old but she has learned more in those 10 months than she ever thought possible. She even wrote an article for the Daily Camera about her experience. You can read it HERE: https://www.dailycamera.com/2023/09/07/guest-opinion-lauren-friarson-a-holistic-practitioners-tribute-to-allopathic-medicine/
Follow her on Instagram at @lifewithlaurendanielle
Dawn has been a lifelong teacher and is taking on a new role as an Assistant Director of a school. She started her mama journey with a step child at the age of 3 (who is now 18) and now has a 6 year old. Being a stepmom has been quite a journey and being a new mom as a stepmom has been a journey she never thought she would be on. Undiagnosed for most of her life, her stepdaughter just was diagnosed with autism so that’s a new challenge. She struggled being a new mom because her own mom passed away 6 months before she gave birth. Her rock was gone and she had to parent an infant all on her own. Her baby also had colic for the first year of her life. Her husband was her biggest supporter because her mom wasn’t there for her and she knows how lucky she is to have her. Her best mama moment has been watching both girls grow up and become who they are. When you see yourself in your kids, it’s the best part of being a mom. Being an introvert and having an extrovert child is no joke! Knowing she should have slept for years before her daughter was born!!! SO TIRED! She knows now that she needs her own unwind time before she can be a good mama. TAKE THE TIME for yourself and then you can be all the things to everyone but take care of YOU!
Our 100th episode was an in-person party with two amazing mamas as well as our Strong Mamas, Thriving Babies Program Assistant Director! It was such a great way to celebrate our 100th episode!
Jeanie has two small kiddos and lived in Florida at that time but moved a lot and she had a lot of challenges because she didn't have support. She is now in Colorado and building her own support system. Meagan is also a mama of two littles (her homies) living in Colorado. They both felt the massive change they went through after having babies. The new "normal" is no longer like what you thought it would be. The lack of sleep is absolutely life changing. Family and support being nearby is HUGE and finding the people who support you and creating your own "framily" is so important. Sheesh, where have we heard THAT before? , Jeanie shared one of her best mama moments was recently watching her son thrive in an educational setting that changed everything. Meagan is finally feeling pride in her mothering and how she is creating memories for her kids as a good mama. They both think that surrounding yourself with people who nourish you is essential! So reach out to YANA if you want to be matched with another mama! Worse mama moments come as well and Meagan is working to get her daughter tested after she noticed some concerning behaviors and has struggled feeling like she is winning. Looking back, she sees the positives of her motherhood journey but it took awhile to see them Jeanie's worst mama moments is that she is truly her biggest critic and has had to learn to give herself grace. Doing it on her own is hard but she also knows there is always room for repair. As their own biggest supporters, they realized they needed to be there for themselves. There is NOTHING wrong with being your own best "person."
Kandra is a sleep expert who helps people with their sleeping journey with their children. At the age of 27, she started her mama journey after going through infertility for years. Shaping her journey as a wife and mother, infertility needs to be understood on another level. She had really hard pregnancies and was in and out of the hospitals and threw up every day all day long. Being on the other end of that journey feels really good because it was really difficult. “Being a mom is a growing journey learning who you are.” Having a great childhood doesn’t always mean you don’t have triggers that can really throw you for a loop. She realized through her kids Occupational therapies that she couldn’t regulate her needs to escape the over stimulation. She never realized she had anger issues until it happened but growing and learning as a mom is so important. As a mom, you become a different version of who you have always been. Her village was amazing and so supportive during her start of mamahood. She has 6 grandparents for her boys and has never had to pay for daycare! Her best mama moment happened this last Christmas when she planned, and completed the best movie night with her three boys and how special that was to all of them. She wishes she knew that some kids don’t sleep during the day! She felt she was the only person on the planet with a newborn who struggled to sleep during the day. That’s SO normal but she didn’t know that. You can find her at: rockymountainsleepingbaby.com
Dina was a corporate America person but now holds space for women who are going through transitions. Her one kiddo will be 19 soon and she believes her soul was matched with the two souls who left before she could be their mother on earth. Her wisdom councils and circles change lives and give moms the permission to honor their mama journey’s. Giving up some of the plan you have in mind in motherhood, both birth and motherhood is essential. Don’t grip so hard! The control isn’t always in your hands. Loneliness is oftentimes really difficult, especially when they can’t talk and interact. She struggled with that. The empty nest issue happens when kiddo goes off to school full time and that was rough on her. The friendships that come and go can also be really challenging. She is really involved in intergenerational conversations and getting the older generation supporting the younger and vice versa. When you honor even the dark places you flow through, you can find the blessings they bring to your life. There are always opportunities in all things that happen in your life. She wants people to remember that you are the author of only YOUR story. You are not the author of your kids, your husband or anyone else. We are ushering our kids through their journey as a guide. Walk beside them. mavenandsageconsulting.com
As a mama who had her first baby at the age of 35, she wasn’t sure she wanted kids. She was very driven in her career and wasn’t certain kids were in her future. But when she got married at the age of 34, 2 months into the marriage, they were pregnant! She is not a huge fan of kids, except her own! She joined some mom groups through a nonprofit that turned into a store and found her people. With her second baby, she was involved in her church and all the moms were amazing supports. In Canada you get 12-18 months of leave and get partial pay. Getting help doesn't mean you failed!!!! That is what she wishes she would have known as a new mom. She thinks her inability to accept help came from being the youngest or the societal pressure to NOT get help with things. When she was becoming a mom, she thought she had to do it ALL. But in the long run, she didn’t. Give yourself grace and redefine what doing it all looks like. Growth is good for us. Don’t be afraid of growth and change.
Kelly has lived in Colorado since she was 8 and lives in Centennial. She works for a payroll company called PNIHCM and is passionate about her community. The job of being a mama and wife is a 24/7 job. She met her husband way back when she was 19 and got lots of stuff “out of the way” before she had her son. She had her son at the age of 35 and what an adjustment it was! Her pregnancy was a complete surprise because she was on birth control and didn’t expect to get pregnant! At 16 weeks pregnant she had a grapefruit sized cyst removed, which was very stressful and then 5 weeks later she had another cyst appear. Her pregnancy was not what she had in mind but it resulted in a healthy, happy baby boy. With her situation and experience, her body decided that they were one and done. She wishes she could go back in time and tell her younger self that she needs to be kinder to herself and stop looking at the “imperfections.” One of the biggest challenges she had was wanting her body back. She was “touched out!” Can you relate? Her one is done is the light of her life and her need to be herself and understand that it’s OK to not be or do all the things everyone else THINKS you should! She’s an amazing mama and friend!
Brenna is a single mom of 2 and closing in on 40 and so excited about the possibilities of the “rock star decade!” She is a police dispatcher for the Colorado State Patrol and her hours are nuts! She also put her application in to be a State Trooper and is starting that process! She became a mama at the age of 22 and her kiddos have different dads. Not knowing what a healthy relationship looked like, she struggled to find true love. Having two kids on her own, her mom homeschooled her and her siblings and that struggle was rough for Brenna while trying to raise her kids the way she wanted to. She was raised Southern Baptist and after graduating high school she walked away from that church. She ended up finding her OWN community through a totally different church setting. Parenting teens has been tough but she understands they are in their own developmental stages but it’s no joke. In 2021 her whole life came crashing down when her child told her that her ex husband had sexually abused them. With her ex in prison for his abuse, she is doing her best to heal all of the broken parts that her and her kids have experienced. Her advice is to NOT be a helicopter parent but just be in tune with what’s going on with their lives. Let go of the control and choose your battles.
Michelle is a mom of 2 living in Arvada, Colorado and works with companies to help them with their expansion plans. She is a member of YANA’s Board of Directors and has been an amazing asset to our program. She started her parenting journey later in life and had her son at the age of 40. She was a corporate climber so starting at the age of 40 was a little rough. She had 2 small kiddos for the global pandemic! She made some changes to her career in that time and switched lanes in her work/life balance. After leaving a work trip early because her first born was sick, she learned really quickly that her kids always come first. The pivotal moments in motherhood really makes you stop and think about how you will continue the life and career she built. With no family in Colorado, her support came from her mom who lives in Michigan but she came and spent 2 weeks/month in the first year! Both kids were 3 weeks early into the world, so her c-sections were a bit scary and it was both her best and worst mama moments. As a career focused mom, she wishes she would have known that chaos is normal. Trying to control it all is impossible and she has learned patience and how to roll with it and GIVE YOURSELF GRACE! It’s ok to not be ok. We do our best and that’s what our kiddos will remember!
Susanna Peace Lovell is a mama and a life coach and advocate for families with kiddos with disabilities. She has a daughter with many extreme needs and it led her to this work. Her daughter is about to turn 18, living in LA and her and her ex-husband raise her collectively. She had ALL the motherhood answers before she became a mom (like a lot of us do) and then reality hit! Her daughter was diagnosed with a plethora of medical conditions and her mamahood journey was NOTHING like she was prepared for. She, and her daughter cried for the first 18 months of her life and she wondered if she would ever find a “normal” that wasn’t hard. She has had a rough mamahood journey of almost 18 years but she knows that without the support of her mom, and even her mother-in-law, she wouldn’t be the mama she is now. Her mission to help other parents of kiddos with disabilities keeps her grounded and inspired. You can find her at https://www.susannapeacelovell.com and her book at https://a.co/d/hty6wFX
Dianna is a classical homeopath in Littleton who wrote a book about newborn death. She does a lot of grief work with mamas who have experienced a loss. After four pregnancies, she has one living child and her unique experience is what helps her share with other mamas. There are over one million babies who die before their first birthday EVERY YEAR! Grieving is something we don’t talk about in this country. She is a member of the Colorado End of Life Collaboration and it is an organization she is very proud of. She is a death expert who says “be there, support them, let them know you care.” She was an older mama and no one talks about menopause and raising small children. There are so many different “shades” to motherhood and we need to experience all of them! She is mothering a boy and without having boys in her life before he was born, it’s not always easy but she is learning as she goes. She wishes she would have had some awareness of the challenges and differences in parenting later in life. Some days motherhood is disappointing and it’s ok! Let’s be real!!! Find her at frontrangehomeopathy.com
She and her husband are high school sweethearts and she was married at 20! She wasn’t sure she wanted kiddos but after 10 years of marriage, they decided they did! She was in the hospitality industry during the pandemic but that wasn’t ideal as a new mom. Hotels are open 365 days a year and 24 hours a day! That wasn’t working for her and her family so she decided it was time to realign her priorities and change her career on top of a pandemic and being a new mama! Her biggest realization was that relationships change when you have kiddos and that’s hard and sometimes heartbreaking. She has made some amazing friends and has a huge village and is very thankful for her support. Her mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer when baby number one was 6 weeks old. It was heartbreaking and sad for her to watch and not be able to turn to her and ask for advice. Her friends helped her work through all of that along with the loss of her mom. During that time, she also experienced miscarriages so her village carried her through it. When she was pregnant with number 2, who was a boy, she was a little worried about parenting a boy. She was a bundle of nerves about it all (and if she had enough love to give to both). The terrible 2’s got her and her worst mama moment came the day of family pictures! She wants mamas to know that you can’t control or know everything that is going to happen. Just take it for what it is. You got this mama!
Kelli is a badass CEO of a Colorado nonprofit called BCC Evolution (now Make Mental Health Matter), a mental health and suicide awareness nonprofit. They focus on the education aspect after her sister took her life. Kelli was a teen mom at the age of 16 as a junior in high school. She put her daughter up for adoption because she watched her sister go through it as a teen mom and didn’t want that for her life. So she asked for an open adoption and is in contact with the family with lots of adoption in her family. She had her second child much later in life and then was a single mom. NOT the experience she wanted. With family support and really great sisters, she felt she had some pretty decent help with the birth of her son. Her son had seizures at a young kiddo and that was one of the hardest things she ever had to go through because the unknown was rough but he is healthy now and doing great. She wants moms to know that there is no cookie cutter way to raise kids. Every parent is different, every child is different and there is no guide book! Roll with the punches and it’s never going to be perfect. Lean on other moms and ask the questions just know that their answers may not pertain to you but other opinions can’t hurt. You can find them at their website at makementalhealthmatter.org.
Lindsey is a mom of 2 girls and the program director of the Backcountry Wilderness nonprofit for our Community Association. She is passionate about protecting our wildlife in Colorado. She was in a hurry to be a mom and had baby number one at the age of 26 right after her husband graduated from PT school. She is a Colorado native who returned in her adult years because she LOVED the mountains and Colorado as a whole. Her biggest challenge as a mom has been doing parenthood the way that SHE wanted and not necessarily how others thought she should. She feels her husband was one of her best supporters and her parents were available and amazing people who showed up when she needed it but gave the space when she needed it. She wishes she would have trusted her mama gut when it came to knowing what was going on with her daughter, who has dyslexia. She learned from that experience and now is her girls’ biggest champion.
Marta is a mom of 3 and a full time student pursuing her graduate degree in Social work. As an intern for YANA, she has contributed a TON of knowledge to our organization and she is a huge asset to us! They live the farm life and are encouraging her three kids to find happiness in whatever that is, even if it isn’t higher education. Healthy relationships have healthy conversations and discussions that show conflict resolutions that show them what the real world looks like (as unfortunate as that is sometimes). Her first child was a NICU experience and it was quite traumatic. She thought her birthing plan was a binding contract but God had other plans! She labored for over 30 hours and her son came out blue and not crying. As a healthy, happy kiddo now, it all worked out but it really made her realize that challenges at birth aren’t always the plan but they are God’s plan. With baby number three, she experienced Postpartum Depression and Anxiety. She really struggled and she didn’t know why. She can look back now and see what it was but she couldn’t admit it then (like so many moms). “I’ve done this twice before so I got this.” But she didn’t and her dark time really taught her to get the support when needed and don’t be afraid to ask for it. Grieving her circle of friends was hard but the new circle came into place and made it ok. She wishes she would have known it was ok to reach out for help. BRAVERY OVER SHAME! There should be no shame in asking for help! It truly takes a village to take care of mama!
She is a stay at home mom but was a theater actress and CEO of a Yoga studio for years. Her journey started at an advanced maternal age. Her home birth was magical and was exactly what she wanted it to be. She had 2 midwives, a doula, a birth photographer and her husband for her birth and LOVED it. She was radically supported and was only in labor for 5 hours as opposed to the 40 hours of the first birth! Her birth stories are unique and different but also HERS and she takes pride in that. Her first baby was born during a global pandemic and she struggled with Postpartum Depression and with shame and guilt about “letting her husband down” even though her husband would have never had those thoughts about her but she put those expectations on herself. Her second mama journey experience was so different than her first because with baby number two she wanted to prove to everyone she could be the best mama ever! And that wore her out and made her exhausted in a different way. She and her husband are Colorado natives (which is really rare) and they have a TON of support with lots of family around but her husband was her biggest supporter. Her mom and her mother in law have been amazing supporters and adore their grandchildren. She LOVES breastfeeding and is very proud of the two years she breastfed her first. After experiencing a miscarriage between her two kiddos, it really impacted her third pregnancy (second birth) and her anxiety throughout that time. This is normal and she wants other mamas to know that all of the things you go through in the postpartum timeline is NORMAL and it’s ok to ask for help and advice. You are not alone!
Lainne had a natural home birth with her son at the age of 36. She has had a lot of chaos in her mama journey and didn’t know the father well and she does not have a relationship with him so being a single mom was quite the challenge. She was shocked at her numbness during pregnancy and because of her traumatic childhood, she was not as prepared to be a mom as she wishes she would be. She didn’t recognize herself when she became a mom and realized her ancestral karma was holding her back. Epigenetics is the study of which genes are expressed and when and why. In our DNA there are traits that are passed down and we don’t always have control of those things and how we react to them. With a waterfall of challenges when she had her son, the biggest was battling with the father, her son was an American and she wasn’t (she’s from Canada) and was in fear of losing her child, along with being a single parent. Lainne has a wealth of knowledge about being a mom of a neurodivergent child and you can find her at her website at lainne.com. Lainne Love on social media too!
As a mama of one and a son who joined the military, that fear was encompassing because she had no idea how to handle that. When she was a new mom, she was on her own as a single mom. She had support from her parents when her son grew but lost both of her parents to cancer. She feels that she has grown closer to her mom since she passed because she learned about her moms past and her life trauma and how that made her who she was. Blessed with the most amazing son and having such amazing memories of his childhood made her tear up because she loved being his mama and could NOT be more proud of him. As the first Doctor in the family, he called and was worried about being the first to graduate (before her) and upsetting her. She wrote a children’s book about her dad called Papa’s Scooter, a Legacy of Love. Check it out on Amazon! Lori is a beautiful mama with a lot of love for her amazing son and she wants you to know that you are doing a great job!
Candace has been a working mom for many years and owns Holistically Well (insert tag here). Even though she wasn’t always 100% sure she wanted to be a mom. She envisioned herself as the professional woman in New York City, living the dream of being a working woman who blew your socks off. After five years of trying, she finally got pregnant and were now a military family. The military doesn’t really support infertility and the struggle of it. After a miscarriage on her own, in her own home all alone she finally felt the need to be a mom. This was the first time she had that motherly feeling the need to have a family. Her mama journey was full circle because the day her daughter should have been born, she found out she was pregnant with her son. She did not enjoy pregnancy and her birth story was quite a traumatic experience. Her dyslexic son is an amazing kiddo but her need to be a mama bear sometimes can be the catalyst to reeling it back to allow him to be his own advocate. Finding a balance of how to handle discipline with each age is tough but if you tap into yourself and allow yourself to see your own truth.
You can find her at holisticallywellut.com
As a lifelong educator, she has dedicated her life to the education of children. She started her mama journey just before turning 30. With grown kids, she remembers having very little support throughout having little ones. She moved to Colorado with no family there and struggled with the lack of help. Even though she was in education and taught while having kids, she didn’t ever teach her own children. Her neighbors were her biggest supporters and they created her own village. As she grew as a mom, and now a grandmother, she did some remembering back to the days of reading stories and singing songs to put them to bed. When your kids become parents and acknowledge how hard it is to be a mom, that’s a good feeling. She wishes she would have let her kids struggle more. The need to rescue him was so powerful that she always jumped in to help, creating a less persistent adult. She wants you to think about letting them struggle more. When you are in the thick of it and you feel like it’s never going to end, cherish what you can because it goes by sooooo fast! Check out her work at https://ecclacolorado.org/counties/douglas-county-early-childhood-council-dcecc/
Samantha and I have a long history and it was such a joy to chat with her. She was a flower girl in our wedding way back in 1995! Samantha was 26 when she had number one and after having number one, number two was a whole different story and it was hard letting go of not having control over the unknown. The mom guilt for number one was really hard to navigate as well. Her biggest supporter was her mama (who happens to be my BFF!). She loved hearing from her that she is doing a good job! As a mama of a 7 and 4 year old, her favorite part of being a mom is when they want HER to put them to bed and spend time with them. To feel loved and accepted by your kids is really the best part of being a mom. She wishes she would have started a journal of the things her kids have said. She wishes she would have known that pretty much everything you hear about being a mom like “it gets easier” is all a bunch of bullshit. Absorb where you are right now and live in the moment as much as possible. Everything is going to change, for the good or the bad within probably minutes so just go with it.
Marissa is running for MAYOR of Lone Tree, Colorado and is kicking off her journey into the crazy world of politics! She is a mom of 2 girls and is passionate about leaning into her community. As a mom of one, her biggest challenge with having her second child was the unknown of how to handle things when your baby isn’t meeting the same milestones as your first. Where do you turn? Who do you tell? As the mom, we are supposed to “know” and it wasn’t until someone in her hairstyle chair said to her, “Developmental Pathways is amazing” that she finally allowed herself to be open to the possibility that they needed help. After her daughter was given the support she needed, she has thrived. It hasn’t come without many heartaches but it has gotten MUCH better and Marissa has learned to open herself up to what is out there that can help you along the way. She wants other mamas to know that it’s ok not to know, it’s ok to ask for help and you need to find your village. Her biggest supporter, to this day, is her husband and she is so excited about this next adventure. MARISSA FOR LONE TREE!
https://www.marissaforlonetree.com/, https://www.rootsandmaneco.com/
Trista is a coach of women and focuses on empowering women. She gave birth in Costa Rica at home as a single mom. She lived in Costa Rica for seven years to learn a new culture, Spanish and more about sustainability. She is one of six kids and always wanted to give birth at home. One of her biggest challenges was going from having the baby in her belly to always having him on her boob. The demands are huge to moms and never ending. When her son started to mirror her yoga practice, she saw the fruits of her labors. She felt she truly sees her positive energy coming through her four year old. Her worst mama moment came when she saw the fear in her son’s eyes when she yelled at him. THIS is what it means to be a good mom (recognizing that we don’t always have our s*#! together!). She fell in love with the idea of having a child and a family but didn’t really have the systems in place to support that. She wishes she would have had more in place. She has great resources so check out her linktree at https://linktr.ee/tristagoforth.
Melissa is a wife and mom of 2 teen girls. Holistic health and life coach helping girls and women break free issues with food. Being a mom is so hard because you watch yourself walk outside of your body with NO control. Being a mom is a 24/7 job because someone always needs something. Her kids are 27 months apart and that seemed to work well for them. Overwhelming at first but as they grew, it was better. Her best mama moment is right now! She is loving how much they need her in a totally different way and with their brains more developed, it’s been fun with them. When she was overwhelmed and the kids were so young, it was hard on her. She wishes she would have known that it is not going to always stay this way. It changes so quickly but she couldn’t see past it at the time. Moms, you matter and it is ok to take care of yourself. YOU need to do what YOU need to do to be the best version of you! You can find Melissa at free2Bcoaching.com
Jenn is a life coach and helps people to be proactive in their resilience. She helps people prepare and practice for the curve balls that are thrown at us. She is an adoptive mom of a 15 year old girl who brought her daughter home at 5 weeks old. She is a 2-time kidney transplant recipient so couldn’t carry children so decided to be an adoptive mom. Her story is quite unique and full of hope, love and big things. Her daughter has a life threatening disease that she has learned how to manage and support while navigating motherhood, running a business and “being where her feet are.” She wishes she would have known that she was not put on the planet to make her child behave or obey but to help shape the person they will become.
You can reach her at jenn@prosiliencecoach.com for more information about proactive resilience!
A native California girl challenged with not being able to surf every day. Her and her family are about to retire from the military after 20 years of service. With baby number one, she almost lost her life in childbirth. As a family, they have moved 8 times in 13 years! As a military family, this was their “normal” but watching their kids struggle with those moves was gut wrenching. She wants other moms to know that you are doing better than you think you are. You CAN do hard things and you should never stop playing with your kids! Experiences over stuff, every time.
As a new author of a book about postpartum stuff that helps moms with the 4th trimester, her honest, raw thoughts and experiences are helping moms everywhere. She is a young, intelligent mom with so much to share. She learned early to set boundaries and let her friends and family know what they have for expectations and highly suggests that for all moms. There are two goals after having a baby…one is to keep that baby alive and thriving and also for YOU to heal and thrive too. Mom’s health and wellbeing needs to be a bigger priority. Her first few weeks after birth were really hard on her and she uses her experience to help other mamas. Insta: https://www.instagram.com/postpartum_mom_guide/ FB: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550836755889
Married at 19 and baby number one at 20, Melinda flew across the world to Ethiopia, Africa to be with her husband who was stationed in the Navy there. She had to birth on her own, mother for the first three weeks on her own and then be a mom in Africa! It was quite a challenge but in her words, “you just did it, you had no other choice.” After returning to Michigan, they had baby number two and then she had the support of her family but in only two short years, her entire world was turned upside down when her husband was killed in a car accident. He was active military when it happened and she was left to figure out how to parent on her own without her spouse and rock. To add insult to injury, her father died two years later from a heart attack and she was left again to pick up the pieces. Listen to her story of resilience, love, dedication and one hell of a badass who just so happens to be my mother-in-law! As a family, we are blessed to have her as our matriarch and Nana who gives of her heart and soul to those she loves.
Jenny Robbins is a mental health counselor at South Platte Counseling. She is a mom of 2 boys with only one on this earth. She was first a young mom at the age of 20 and a college student and also an older mom at the age of 37! She was part of a network of moms with her second son and without that group, she couldn’t have been strong enough to get through the death of her first son 11 years ago. As a therapist who specializes in grief and trauma, she helps people move forward after a deep loss. She wishes she would have realized how fast it all goes and to enjoy every moment and be “in” it. She wishes she would have known this more as a younger mom but she knows it now!
Jazmin Slaughter is a publicist and mother of one who gave birth during a global pandemic. She was so focused on building her career and education that she wasn’t sure she was wanting to be a mom at the age of 25. But when she got pregnant, that changed everything, She has a Bachelor’s degree and is working on her Master’s degree. She wishes she would have known that the sacrifice of time would be the hardest part of motherhood. She didn’t value her “me” time. She wants moms to keep trying your best even when you don’t have your best to give. Give yourself grace. She is someone who is your partner for innovative and impactful public relations campaigns. You can find A Hint of Jazz Management at www.hintofjazz.com
Dru Ahlborg was an older mama at the ages of 37 and 40. She could not believe they let her drive away from the hospital with a newborn all by herself! Who said she was ready for this? Her oldest son had to go through many feed therapists and had a lot of her first years as a new mom were exploring foods and getting him to get through his food issues, which centered around textures. It was a big challenge as a new mom. As her kids grow she is learning that moms and daughters can have some challenges that can make or break you. As a mom, sometimes we say the things that don’t serve our kids and we need to listen and support them. She runs the Bullying Recovery Resource Center to give parents support when they need help with bullying of their kids. Their mission is to defend bullied kids and help them rebuild their lives. They teach and coach parents in advocacy for their kids' mental health. They do a lot of education and partner with mental health agencies as well as neurodiverse groups. Check them out at https://bullyingrecoveryresourcecenter.org.
We spoke to Angela exactly a year ago (Check out the episode back on November 29, 2022) This is her one year update! Angela Fuller is a mother, a dedicated fitness instructor, a competitive gymnast, an inspirational speaker, and even an American Ninja Warrior, as featured on NBC's latest season of ANW this summer. Angela's journey is a testament to her resilience, having overcome a broken back and battled through postpartum depression by choosing faith over fear. Today, at the age of 43, she defies expectations, flipping and soaring through the air. Angela's true passion lies in motivating mothers to rediscover their love for movement and self-care after having children, emphasizing that self-care is indeed self-love, an essential part of nurturing both yourself and your kids. Her mission is to inspire mothers, demonstrating that it's never too late to pursue your dreams.
Randi Bevington is such a joy to call my friend. We have been friends for over 20 years and from day one, I have thought she was a badass. As a mama of two littles, she has proven that she truly is. Her quote, “we are always managing relationships” really hit me hard because that’s exactly what we do as moms. We are always managing relationships and those relationships are constantly changing. WOW. That’s exhausting and frustrating because just when you think you have things figured out, the world, you or the other person in the relationship changes. Her advice to find your tribe and ACCEPTING the help (and even ask for it when you need it) is SMART! Give a listen to help you feel that you are not alone in this motherhood journey!
Cheryl Schuberth- Cheryl was a corporate mama trying to do all the things when she realized that she wasn’t giving her best self to her family so she stopped running the rat race and changed gears. Now a mama of 2 boys ages 20 and 18, she took her worst mama moment and turned it into a positive by helping other parents of teenagers. Celebrate the wins, acknowledge all the things you are doing well and stop beating yourself up! Peacing it Together is her company connecting parents everywhere. Check out her website peacingittogether.com
Heather started her journey without a lot of background knowledge about babies or being a mom. Followed her gut most of the time but when she was 9 months old she was diagnosed with cancer! The moment that happened changed everything. Motherhood is not about martyrdom. You can find her at heather@heatherreedcoaching.com or https://heatherreedcoaching.com/
Dr. Sonal Patel is a trained pediatrician and NICU doctor as well as a parent of 4 boys! She is married to her college sweetheart and after living through Hurricane Katrina, she was 6 months pregnant and activated in a horrible hurricane. She hates the phrase, “bounce back” because you aren’t bouncing back to anything. You are a totally different person now, you are a mom and we need to allow ourselves to be that new person. As a south Asian mama, she believes in a community of moms from generations and that made all the difference. You can find her at NAYACARE.org.
Tess is a single mom who divorced when her son was five because there was a substance abuse issue that created a need for her to leave. After many years of trying to work things out, she made the decision to leave when it was the right time. She says the time in the car with your kiddo can be the most amazing conversations you can have. Take the time. You don’t have to be perfect, you can just be yourself. Reach out to her at mindfulkidsandfamilies.com or therese@mindfulkidsandfamilies.com.
A producer in LA who wants mamas to know “You can only do what you can do.” It’s that simple. The word “perfect” should be taken out our vocabulary because there is no such thing and we try too hard to emulate it and often its at our deficit. Quality is more important that quantity when it comes to time with your kids. Make sure they know that you are there so that relationship will always have an open door. Don’t love your kids in spite of who they are but BECAUSE of who they are.
Mary Lanni was a delightful mama to chat with and her advice is to place a mask on yourself before assisting others. Also you may have to advocate for your parenting choices and your kids as motherhood goes on because everyone has an opinion and will question all that you do (especially when you are doing things differently than they did). Advocating for your choices isn't selfish, it's necessary for your own mental health.
Jen is an amazing mama who has been through a lot in the past few years as she manages some very tricky rare medical diagnosis'. Her advice and mama journey lead her share that it’s ok to screw up and not have all the answers. As a mama who struggled with a partner who had a mental condition that changed who he was as a human being and created a need for her to leave with her son for safety reasons, she has done everything in her power to create a stable, loving home for her and her son.
We tell our kids to push themselves outside their comfort zone and sometimes we need to do the same. Moms are constanly pushing themselves outside their comfort zones and we should be proud of where we are going and what we can do. When we have those proud mama moments, it makes the hard times just a little bit easier. Vita teaches us that sometimes when our lives don't work out the way that we THOUGHT it should, it can be even better than we imagined (but it isn't always easy to see the other side of the tunnel). As a coach and badass mama, Vita has some great REAL experiences that could help you!
Rebekah is not only a mama of 3 but a DOCTOR of Physical Therapy and one hell of a badass black belt in Taekwondo!! She truly is one of a kind who always adds humor to every situation and is a delight to hang out with! As a family of five black belts, they are a strong, loving family who live life to it’s fullest. Rebekah’s experiences and words of wisdom will give you some interesting things to think about and experience all the feels.
"Allow yourself your wins." What words of wisdom from Emily Sutherland, a beautiful soul, entrepreneur, mama, friend, mama champion and so much more. Her business, Next Level Nutritian, found at nextlevelnutritionist.com helps people understand how nutritian is and will determine your health goals and create a reasonable plan to achieve them, bringing balance between Mind, Body, Spirit and Home. She wants every mama to be proud of herself and what a miracle she truly is and that begins with what we put in our bodies. Give a listen to see if you can learn from Emily.
Danielle is a powerhouse badass who has been through a lot to get to where she is today. She wears many hats as a business woner, advocate for change, mom, wife, etc. She never thought she wanted to be a mom! She became one, went through a lot of struggles but in the long run is thoroughly blown away by the best adventure of her life. She is part owner of Break Up with Cake, an all-natural gluten-free and vegan, handmade, fresh and ultra premium snack. Check out their website at breakupwithcake.com.
"You were made to be YOUR kids' mom. They need YOU." What a profound statement from our guest on this week's podcast. She is so right. SO many moms are too hard on themselves and think that other moms are doing a better job or would be a better mom for their kids when in fact, your kids are meant to be YOUR kids and you are doing a great job. When we are doing the absolutey best we can do, that's enough! Give a listen to Chrissy and her wisdom and beautiful story.
Have you ever sat across from someone and were in total awe of their beauty and grace and then they opened their mouth and you were astounded by their life story, their kindness and their talent? Well that happened to me with Mrs. Colorado, Natalie Oliver Atherton! She is a beautiful soul with so much love to give. She is starting a nonprofit, she sings and performs, she is a coach and a mom of grown, beautiful humans. She has done it all and she has some great tidbits to share.
GO BLUE! Jenny and her husband, Tom are fello Michiganders who live in Colorado and have two great kiddos. Her story shows that even though our kids don't always follow the path that we think they should, they can make great choices and do wonderful things with their lives. Her mamahood journey shows that you can still do the things you love and negotiations with your kiddos can help make memories you will cherish forever.
Cyndi and I met years ago when she was a neighbor of mine. We watched our kids grow up together, we were in the same babysitting co-op and we became lifelong friends. She has been through a lot in the past few years but has come out the other side in a magical way. I am so proud to call her my friend and listening to her story made me realize what an amazing human being she is and just how much I adore her!
WOW. What an amazing human Julie is and you will learn SO much! She, and her daughters created a "method" to treat generational trauma and how it holds you and your body back from healing and moving forward. Our interview really opened my eyes to what trauma really is and how it can greatly affect your wellbeing in so many ways. Give a listen and think about how different your life could be if you address the trauma that may be holding you back!
As a young mom, Jasleen has felt reverse ageism where people don't take her seriously because she is young but her ability to see motherhood as an honor and the love she has for her daughter is inspiring and well beyond her years. She works hard every day to be the best mom she can be and build a life for her daughter and husband. Her ability to understand that it's ok not to love being a mom every moment of every day but still love the child you created with all of your heart is another reason she was such a joy to interview. This episode celebrates a full year of episodes of Let's Be Real! We are so excited to keep talking to all the mamas!
Melanie is one amazing mama, doing it all on her own with three kids, all with a diagnosis of autisim. She juggles school, a full time job, three kiddos, a house and ALL of the things. She knows that positive mental health is essential for a productive home and future. With three kiddos who have special needs and have waivers with the state, she is constantly fighting for what they need. Her number one supporter has always been her three kids and she is one hell of a good mom! Learn from her, hear her story and understand that YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
Stephanie is a badass business owner of Fit4mom, a mama connection exercising program for all mamas with or without a stroller (used to be called Stroller Strides). She is the mama of daughters agest 6 and 8 and her number one piece of advice is to find your village! Connecting with moms, building community and creating lifelong bonds is essential for moms to feel accepted and part of a team. Fit4moms can totally help you create those! Hear Stephanie's mama journey now!
As a homeschooling mama, Monika has a unique perspective of motherhood AND educator. Her adventures and dedication to her family are truly inspiring. Her advice is to take a deep breath and know that it will all be ok...don't sweat the small stuff and enjoy the ride. Even when the ride is bumpy, it will lead you to the next adventure.
WOW! Kelly is one amazing human being who is earning kudos and honors from international organizations for her work as an advocate against human trafficking. Her generational trauma has created her focus in helping other humans heal and discontinue the havoc it causes. Trauma changes how you parent, live and create relationships and she wants everyone to know that healing and understanding how it can affect your world is very important. Kelly's accolades are too many to list but she is doing HUGE things internationally and is a wealth of knowledge about human trafficking and so many other subjects. Give a listen!
Emily is a badass single mom who wants all moms to know that they are enough just as they are. Even when your momma journey isn't going the way that you envisioned it to go, you are doing everything right for you and your kids. Emily's momma story will inspire you and prove that the best mommas are the ones that give a 100%.
Lea and I had a great conversation about all kinds of different parenting struggles and how finding a passion your kids and you can connect with is sometimes the best parts of mamahood. Her advice is to learn early on that you have to let go of any thoughts of control of your kids' path. You can guide them but in the long run, they will be the deciders of their own destiny.
Siobhan (pronounced Sha-von) and I sat down to discuss motherhood from a gay mom's perspective with a son whom she adores more than life itself. As a lifetime Montessori teacher and badass early childhood educator, her perspective on things comes from a lens of always wanting what's best for him. Her advise for moms is to lilghten up and enjoy the ride. Parenthood is an adventure and if you take everything so seriously, you will miss the fun!
Sarah's new mama journey is heartwarming and so special. She struggled with infertility and after a very scary, taumatic pregnancy, she gave birth to an amazing baby boy. Her advice for moms is to be real, be honest and stop the fluff! Talk about the real stuff and you will find the support you need (but don't always know that you need).
Marta is originally from Brazil and is a badass entrepreneur boosting other business people's confidence and helping them to grow their businesses. Her biggest success is birthing triplets and being one amazing mama! She believes heavily in empowering others and building them up to be the best business owners that they can be. Give a listen to how amazing she is as a mama, business powerhouse and person!
Jan has an unique perspective on being a mama. She is a step-mama and an "adopted mama" to 10 different humans. She is a grandma to many and takes her jobs very seriously. She never planned NOT to have kids of her own but instead took on the role of step-mom to her husband's kiddos and has loved it from the beginning. Her story is unique and you should really hear all about how more positive influences on kids is a good thing when everyone involved is loving and works together for the betterment of everyone involved!
My conversation with Odelia will leave you with such an inspiring journey. As an immigrant to the US, she has been through quite an adventure and truly is an inspiration to all women trying to make a difference in this world. Her advise is to let kids be who they are as they are perfect just as they are! Give a listen and feel inspired!
Sara and I had a great conversation about motherhood and how her experience with being a school psychologist working mostly with low income kiddos helped steer her motherhood journey. Every mom has a story and Sara has a lot to offer our listeners.
Tune in to hear a dad's point of view with our first dad interview! Gary joined me for a fun convo from a dad who says we all need to ASK FOR HELP and ask often and fast. Admitting you can't do it all yourself and that you need help is a super power and we need to normalize it.
Carly has a special story with trama transformed into a beautiful spirit who only wants to make the world a better place! She works every day with Revival Society with a proprietary Moment-to-Moment Method is a deep process designed to help facilitate growth and change. We had a great conversation full of laughs and some great content! Give a listen!
Cathy and I had a great conversation about motherhood and trusting your gut. As a mama, you know what is the right decision most of the time and if you just trust it, you will be amazed at how well that will work for you. Cathy also gave a big shout out to her FRAMILY...her neighborhood. She said look at those around you for a community, and sometimes neighbors are the right connection!
Michelle is a mom of 4, works full time and is beyond exhausted! Her biggest piece of advice is that YOU matter and YOU need to take care of YOU because frankly, no one else is going to do it! She says that mom's post-baby health is often overlooked and we need to do a better job of advocating for ourselves.
Brooke is a powerhouse mama who truly knows how to speak to your heart. Her advise is that it is NEVER EVER too late! Brooke became a mom at the age of 45 and although struggled with being the "older mama" she wouldn't trade it for the world. Give a listen and see what she has to say!
SJ is an integrated Nurse Practitioner with lots of letters behind her name who specializes in hormone, thyroid and nutrient optimization as well as women's reproductive health. Her vast experience and education are an impressive and her down-to-earth, honest interview was an honor to be a part of. You do not have to suffer in silence and SJ wants you to know you can use your voice or find someone who can do it for you. There are so many allies out there. Give a listen and share it with someone you love.
Roseanne and Nikki talk about mamahood, how motherhood changes as you grow and how special your relationship can be with your adult children. Roseanne is a delight to listen to and learn from and we hope you enjoy this episode of Let's Be Real - Mama Journeys!
Sometimes our past can really affect our future. Vikki has done everything in her power to fight for her freedom, her kids and her sanity. Listen to her story about an abusive ex-husband who did a lot to create havoc and disarray in her life. Vikki is another badass mama who creates positive paths for people with her business, The Mindset Team.
Karyn is a badass mama who has done lots of different things but the most important is being a mom to her 2 kiddos. She wrote a book with her daughter about the struggles with Anorexia and how that mental health struggle can rock your world. She is a beautiful mama, inside and out and her story will give you hope that through love, hard work and dedication, you can overcome anything.
Author, Real Estate Agent, twin mom, real estate investment expert and all around badass, Brooke Hengst was in studio sharing her mama journey and inspiring me to live my best life by always doing what makes my heart happy. Give a listen to Brooke's wisdom, love for her daughters and her success as a real estate agent in a thriving office.
Karleen's mama journey is not only heartwarming but she also gives us something to think about. When we look back at our past, it can only help us in our future. Our past is the window to our future and we can shape where we go by keeping the past in our rearview mirror.
Phyllis Marlene is an entrepreneur and ingenious mama who sought something other than a 9-5 job that sucked the life out of her! Hear what she has to say about living your best life and figuring out what is best for YOU!
Jaquetta is an ambitious mama with many balls in the air! Something she said resonated with me on a deep level. See if you can identify a fantastic quote by Jaquetta! It may make you stop and think about how you treat YOURSELF.
She is kind, she is beautiful and she is a badass! Give a listen!
Just when you think you might be out of the game, YOU CAN GET BACK IN! Angela is one badass mama who realized her dreams weren't done yet. She teaches us to DREAM BIG and realize that we can do ANYTHING we put her mind to. Give a listen and feel inspired!
Are you a mom of boys? Do you wonder how you will get through some of your crazy days? Do you believe in being absolutely and completely HONEST and REAL about motherhood? Liz is a breath of fresh air with her candid take on motherhood! Give a listen!
Dani has a unique story with some twists and turns. Give a listen to how we explored our motherhood stories!
When I first met Bri, I knew we would be fast friends. Her sense of humor and ability to make people feel heard and seen makes for a phenominal human being. Her 2 babies are lucky to have her and YANAM2M is lucky to have her as a Board member. Have a listen to her mama journey and how she is a badass!
Prison...that's where Sondia had to parent from for many years. She was trying to create a life for her kids that their peers had and got caught up in it. Listen to her story and learn from her mistakes! You never know if you could be in her shoes!
WOW! Trista has such a powerful message! You will be blown away by her strength and ability to move past the mama heartbreak she endured with her daughter. Give a listen to her conversation with Nikki about persevering as a mama.
Take a listen to Nikki and Christine's discussion about how a severe hearing loss can change your path. How mothering is hard and also how mental health challenges can make or break you!
Laura, a mom of 2, shares her motherhood journey and how teenagers can make or break you! Take a listen to Nikki and Laura's exploration of motherhood.
As a busy business owner with two teenage daughters, Amanda talks about her journey as a mom and how it has shaped her and the girls she is raising. Enjoy Nikki and Amanda's exploration of mamahood and how difficult it can be!
Stef and Nikki have been friends since 1997! Hear about their mama journey's and Stef's experience with the foster to adopt system in Colorado. TWINS and a great story for you to connect with and giggle with us!
Give a listen to Laurian and Nikki as they talk about their mama journeys! Laurian is a single mom, creating her own path and making a difference in the world. We hope you enjoy our talk!
Do you know anyone who has had 8 children????? I do! Sheria is one amazing mama who started her mama journey at the age of 14! This woman is amazing! You will not be disappointed.
Heather and Nikki discuss their mamahood journeys, watching their kiddos grow and moving onto their own lives. Give a listen, giggle with us and maybe feel connected to our stories!
You won't want to miss this interview with Krista! Nikki and Krista explore the complexities of motherhood, the ups, the downs, the heartaches and the celebrations. Check her out!
What a hoot Gina is! Wait until you hear about her mamahood journey and all the things she has learned along the way. She is a mom of adult children and doing amazing things in her own right.
WOW! This woman has 2...count them 2 sets of twins!!! You have to hear her story and learn how motherhood can be so very exciting but also daunting. Nikki and Dana talk about their motherhood stories and share stories that make them the moms they are today.
Join Nikki and Janell and explore motherhood through their experiences. Divorce, life, teenagers, parenting in 2022...what a challenge but also what a great ride!
Join Gina and Nikki as they chat about mamahood, their experiences and how to be a Super Mom! Giggle with them, learn something and enjoy 30 minutes of feeling as though you are sitting in the room with them!
Discover Gina and Nikki's mama journeys and maybe learn a little about trama and how it affects motherhood. Not everyone's story is the same and learning from each other is so important.
Abbey and Nikki discuss motherhood, how twins change everything and how watching your eldest move on to adulthood can rip your heart out! Come along with us on our journey of mamahood and maybe giggle a little, learn something and have 30 minutes of YOU time!
Nikki and Connie explore their mama journeys and learn from each other along the way. Motherhood is a journey and without other mamas, it's close to impossible. Learn how Connie and Nikki credit other mamas for helping them be better mamas.
Join Julie and Nikki as they expore their mama journeys and how number 2 can be SO different than number 1!
Join Deborah and Nikki as they explore their mama journeys and find out that sometimes pregnancy happens when you least expect it!
Meet Nikki Brooker, the Founder and CEO of YANAM2M (You Are Not Alone - Mom 2 Mom), a 501c3 nonprofit in Colorado to support moms. She has a loving husband, 3 fabulous kiddos and a thriving photography business. She has been an educator for over 25 years and is passionate about the mental health of our moms.
Taylor and Nikki talk about their mama journey's, and how being "real" changes motherhood. Learning from each other's jouneys can create a sense of belonging and acceptance that we don't have to do it alone!