Moms Who Inspire Us: Recent Episodes
Sara Smith
Each episode I chat with a mom that has overcome or accomplished something big or small during motherhood. My goal is to provide you with a small dose of inspiration & encouragement.
In this episode I Chat with Emily Sewell from Intentionally Well https://intentionallywell.org and she shares how one of the hardest seasons of her life taught her that it's ok to not love every season you're in. That if you are struggling it doesn't make you any less of a wife, mom or friend. We chat about her move across the country with three young kids, how hard it can be to make new friends, and sometimes there is a physiological reason for how you're feeling.
Emily also has a wonderful instagram account @intentionally_well_blog.
In this episode I share how I went through a difficult time and became a very negative and unhappy person. I chat about what I did to change my brain to make my first reaction a more positive one.
In this episode I chat with Natasha Tucker, owner of Happy Hippie Gardening, about creating her niche landscape company after her husband lost his job. We chat about:
- How her business started from just helping friends
- The satisfaction of taking something from being ugly to being beautiful with your hands
- Really listening to clients and making them happy
- Good customer service and being willing to change things up
- How it's been fun building her customer base
- Struggles she's faced being a wife and mom
- How mom guilt is bad but business guilt can be even worse
- Starting with zero money and how that has made growth slow
- How she makes her big decisions
- The struggle and pressure of handling it all
- Advice for other moms that want to start a business
- How God has guided her in this business
- Her husband's role in her company
Website: https://www.happyhippiegardening.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/happyhippiegardening
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happyhippiegardening/
In this week's episode Rachel Martin continues her story about her life and being divorced and then widowed at 36 with two children and then finding love again. We discussed:
- The story of meeting her new husband and how he has embraced his role and is wonderful with her children
- What she's learned from her first two marriages and applied to her third
- Dealing with the constant fear and worrying that comes after such a loss
- The pregnancy of her daughter and what role Rachel plans to play
- How her precious dog Trooper dealt with Chris's death & how he helped Rachel through her grieving
- Rachel's advice to women that find themselves as widows
- How her best friend helped her through the hard times
- Advice for people on the outside of the situation of things they could do that would be helpful
- How widows reached out to her to help her through and how she helps new widows now
- The complicated emotions that come with dealing with loss & grief
Moms Who Inspire Us podcast welcomes your feedback. We can be reached at momswhoinspireus@gmail.com, Facebook: Moms Who Inspire Us & Instagram @momswhoinspireus
In this week's episode I chat with Rachel Martin about her life and being divorced and then widowed at 36 with two children. We discussed:
- Her career as the Executive Director for the Chilton County Chamber of Commerce
- Marrying her high school sweet heart and being together for 12 years
- How her life was wrapped up in him and it was hard for her to leave him even after he got into drugs and cheated
- The strength she finally found to leave because of their daughter and how hard it was to figure out how to be on her own
- Help from family and her very strong support system that helped her through
- Watching her ex-husband not have a relationship with their daughter and how heartbreaking it was to witness
- After being single for two years falling in love again and adding a son to their family
- How they did not have perfect marriage because they both carried baggage from their first marriages but they tried really hard
- Having a bible study group changed her life and helped to prepare her for what was to come
- The unexpected death of her second husband, the anguish and having to tell her son
- The love and support she received from her family, friends and church
- Learning to live and handle every day life without her husband
- Making herself so busy so she didn't have time to stop and process what happened
- How she had to learn to be still to feel and heal
- Realizing she had to figure out who she was after being a wife all these years
- Learning to appreciate the small things and to stop keeping score
In this episode I chat with Trenekia about her life as a wife, mom and Chief Master Sergeant in the Air Force. We discuss:
- Why she joined the Air Force
- Her current rank and the hard work it took to get there
- Dealing with mom guilt and how to mesh together work and life
- The trials they went through with their second son
- How understanding leadership helped her stay on her career path
- The simple things she did for her career to take off
- How she discovered joy and victory in the middle of adversity
- The challenges of being a woman and mom at such a high rank
- Life in the Air Force before and after kids
- Advice for moms that want to be in a leadership role
In this episode I chat with Christy McDougal about how running changed her life. We discussed:
- Why it's important to remember why you started your journey
- How she struggled in her 20s and 30s with debilitating IBS
- Described how a doctor's visit made her realize she needed to change her diet and exercise
- Honestly shared about how hard it was when she first started running
- How running, pushing herself and accomplishing her goals felt amazing and she gained not only physical benefits but mental health benefits as well
- Realized 3 months in to running the debilitating IBS was not a part of her life anymore
- How running evolved into something fun with signing up for races, meeting people and joining a running group
- Growth her community had during the pandemic and friendships got even stronger
- How running and her community have helped her through a really hard time this past year
- Gained another identity with running that was important to have in addition to mom after her kids grew up and moved out
- How running gave her the confidence to start her etsy shop
Be sure to follow Christy on Instagram at @withallmysole Shop her beautiful bracelets on Etsy at WithAllMySole
In this episode I chat with Hannah about her seven years spent in east Asia as a missionary, wife and mom. We discuss:
- The story of how her and her husband felt called to the mission field
- How they landed in east Asia
- The cultural differences in parenting
- The support system they formed
- Lots of talk about food
- How this experience changed her
- Adjusting back to life in the US
You can get in touch with Hannah on Instagram @dailyessentiallife
I'd love to hear from you! Please give me your feedback about this podcast and any topic you would like covered on Facebook Moms Who Inspire Us or Instagram @momswhoinspireus or at momswhoinspireus@gmail.com
In this episode I chat with my friend Tracey Kennedy, creator of California Country Organics body care company. We discuss:
- How she is now defining her life on her own terms
- The beginnings of her company and her first products
- Where she is now and all that she has accomplished
- Her incredible plan for where she is taking the company in the future
- 100% raw, organic & unrefined products designed for the whole family
- How her food philosophy as a chef helped created her body product philosophy
- The success of her business and how it affected her marriage
- How support from friends and family keep her going
Shop Tracey's products at www.calibamaorganics.com and use the code MWIU for 15% off!
Follow Tracey on Facebook and Instagram
In today’s episode I chat with my friend, Tonya MacNicol, about being a wife and mom while having the autoimmune disease lupus. She shares:
- Her symptoms, many doctors’ visits, and finally a diagnosis and treatment
- How meeting with the top lupus doctor in the country taught her how nutrition was important
- How focusing on nutrition and health she was able to decrease her lupus flares from two flares every year lasting between 6 weeks and 3 months to only having one flare every 18-24 months
- What a lupus flare is like and how she was able to take care of her children
- How her faith carried her through the really tough days
- Tips for other moms going through a chronic illness
- Challenges she’s faced living with lupus
- How her husband has been her rock through the hurdles she’s faced
Get in touch with Tonya:
@macnicolmania
Supplements that have helped Tonya:
Plexus
In this episode I chat with my mom, Marty, about her experience as a woman and a mom in the insurance industry from the early 1970s until the 2000s. She discusses:
- The roles women were in during the 70s and how she helped change that
- Being one of the first female outside claims adjusters and the challenges she faced
- Being denied paid time off and losing seniority in 1977 after she had her first child
- Harassment by a male coworker after a promotion
- How she handled work stress while being a wife and mom
- How all her hard work paid off with multiple promotions
- The support she received to make all of this possible
In this episode Stacie and I chat about:
- The process of being diagnosed with breast cancer
- How she dealt with the diagnosis
- Deciding holistic vs mainstream treatment
- What treatment she chose and looking back things she would change
- How she handled her treatment and side effects and what she did to make it easier
- The emotional toll and vulnerability that cancer brought into her life
- The advice a friend gave her that changed her mindset & got her through treatments
- Not fitting the mold of a typical cancer patient
- The long term changes she has made in her life
- What she learned on this journey
Stacie can be contacted at stacsmq@yahoo.com
Quick introduction of the podcast host, Sara Smith, what this podcast is about and why it's important to her and what to expect in the following episodes.