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Show Summary:
In this episode of the Mom &… Podcast, hosts Susanne Kerns and Missy Stevens welcome Jess Galica, an executive and career coach, speaker, and author. Jess shares her journey of transitioning from corporate roles to becoming a career coach, particularly focusing on the intertwining of motherhood and career aspirations. The discussion delves into the impact of COVID-19 on work-life paradigms, common career challenges faced by moms, and strategies for re-entering the workforce. They also emphasize the importance of support systems like coaches and community networks while touching on Jess’ book LEAP: WHY IT’S TIME TO LET GO TO GET AHEAD IN YOUR CAREER.
Topics From This Episode:
00:00 Introduction to the Podcast and Hosts
01:17 Guest Introduction: Jess Galica
01:56 Jess’s Career Journey and Motherhood
03:41 Impact of COVID on Career and Motherhood
05:35 Navigating Career Transitions
09:11 The Role of Coaching and Support
11:56 Storytelling and Overcoming Negative Self-Talk
18:14 Networking Strategies for Moms
24:21 Maintaining a LinkedIn Profile
26:53 Strategic Activities During Career Breaks
28:37 Exploring Core Values and Interests
30:12 Introduction to Jess’s Book
30:45 Navigating Career Shifts as a New Mom
32:39 Finding Comfort in Shared Experiences
34:11 Promoting the Book and Connecting with the Author
Jessica Galica has worked in almost every kind of corporate environment, from Fortune 100 titans to startups to management consulting at prestigious Bain & Company. Today she splits her career between her role as a Director at Siemens and her work executive coaching and writing on how high-performing women can reclaim control, fulfillment, and greater success within their careers.
Jess has researched women and career throughout her education. Her undergraduate thesis at Georgetown University examined depictions of working moms across media. And at MIT Sloan School of Management, where Jess earned her MBA, she pioneered the first research study to compare rates of students’ class participation by gender—proving her hypothesis that men were more likely than women to speak up in quantitative courses.
Jess wants to redefine for high-performing women what a successful career looks like. Reclaim Your Career began as a personal project to redirect Jess’ career, but quickly became something much bigger. Jess discovered that her story—building a career, doing everything “right,” but waking up lost—is not unique. She had struck a larger chord. A personal project turned into dozens of in-depth interviews and valuable research on “the why and how” of reinventing your career. Now Jess is on a mission to share these insights so that all women have the inspiration and tools to build a purposeful, intentional career.
Jess is a present mom to her two kids and lives in Boston’s Charlestown neighborhood with her husband Matt and dog Riley.
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Transcript is auto-generated by a robot. Apologies in advance for misspellings or errors.
[00:00:04] Susanne: Welcome to the mom and dot, dot, dot podcast, the podcast that helps you make your ellipses count, you know, all the dot, dot, dots that come after I’m a mom and I’m Susanne Kerns, mom and dot, dot, dot writer, LGBTQ and sex ed advocate. And today, Prepping to jump from the frying pan into the fire, at least temperature wise, as we are heading to Arizona to celebrate my mother in law’s birthday.
I mean, it’s been in the high nineties here in Texas, but it’s going to be 104 there, so.
[00:00:35] Missy: but it’s a dry heat.
[00:00:37] Susanne: It’s a dry heat, yes, that’s true. Look at you looking on
[00:00:40] Missy: what they always say. I did think when we were there for a conference last year, I did think like it is different.
[00:00:47] Susanne: is. Anything’s better than Texas, really, for many reasons.
[00:00:52] Missy: Right. Agreed. Well, I’m Missy Stevens, mom and dot, dot, dot writer, foster care advocate. And today parent of a kid with a fresh new learner’s permit. We have another learning driver on the road
[00:01:04] Susanne: Ooh,
[00:01:04] Missy: and he drove himself to swim practice this morning.
Very exciting.
[00:01:07] Susanne: that is a big deal.
[00:01:09] Missy: He keeps asking me if I need to go anywhere today and if he can take me and I’m like, Nope. Don’t have anywhere to go today.
[00:01:16] Susanne: Can he come take Zoe to the store because she doesn’t want to drive?
[00:01:19] Missy: He’d be happy to.
[00:01:20] Susanne: Thank you. And today we are so excited to be welcoming Jess Gallagher to the podcast. Jess is a mom and executive and career coach, sought after speaker on topics around women’s leadership and motherhood, host of the Reclaim Your Career podcast and author of the book Leap, Why It’s Time to Let Go.
Go and get ahead in your career. Jess holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, and a BA from Georgetown University. Welcome, Jess. We are so excited to have you here.
[00:01:56] Jess: Hey, both. It is great to be here. Excited to chat today.
[00:02:00] Missy: Awesome. Well, we want to dive into everything you do, but we thought we’d start with a just one on one and give us like a little snapshot if you can of where you started and what got you to where you are now.
[00:02:12] Jess: sure. Yeah. So like you mentioned, I’m a mom. I have two kids, a daughter who is three and a half years old and a one year old son. So I am in the thick of it in those early years of motherhood, um, which is both wonderful and of course a challenge too. but my story is really about the intersection of my role as a mom also with my career ambition.
And I spent the first 15 years of my career in pretty traditional corporate business roles. I worked in management consulting. I worked in tech leading global sales teams. And then my career really shifted in the beginning of 2020 before the pandemic broke out. I felt really unfulfilled at work despite working at all of these amazing companies and organizations.
I just felt like I hadn’t found my place when it came to my career. And then of course I was stepping into motherhood for the first time. So I was pregnant with my now three and a half year old and that stepping into motherhood transformed really everything when it came to my career. But I had this deep desire to pursue work that felt more fulfilling.
And I also had this desire to show up as a mom and invest more time with my kids that evolved starting as I became a mom and then has evolved in the years since. So that led me to write the book that you see behind me, which helps women who are kind of grappling with this question of how do I redefine my career and my career ambition, particularly after motherhood, um, and has led me to all of the work that I do today that I know we’ll dive a lot more into.
[00:03:45] Susanne: Oh, it’s interesting, especially after that period of COVID that you’re, I mean, you had so many big life changes happening. Along with this global phenomenon, not in a good way, um, of COVID. So, I’m, I’m guessing that that greatly influenced the, the themes that you are hearing from some of your coaching clients.
So, are, what, what is that looking like post COVID? those continuing themes, uh, that you see with moms.
[00:04:19] Jess: I think there are some big themes, but I think the biggest one is just that COVID for so many people, whether a parent or a caregiver or not, It really challenged these fundamental truths and assumptions that we thought were unmovable about work and our lives, right? it really upended it, like the idea that, oh, maybe we can work remotely, maybe we can move somewhere else.
this, um, you know, period where people started to, uh, COVID was such a challenging time for many, but it also was a time when a lot of people got to tap into other really rich, rewarding, fulfilling parts of their lives in a way that they hadn’t before. So I think it completely shifted, so many people that were really exclusively focused on career to really think less about just optimizing for career and more about optimizing for their life.
So for me, when I think about COVID, that is the most fundamental shift is this opening, this invitation, this possibility that work and life could look different. and opening that door a little bit, uh, allows a lot of people to make big reflections, decisions, and transitions when it comes to how they want to live their life.
[00:05:30] Susanne: Yeah. Were you seeing that a lot of those transitions were intentional or forced? I know that a lot of stay at home moms suddenly had to go back to work because the partner was laid off or maybe they were laid off and it made them have to face a transition. I’m just really curious how people approach those next steps differently when it’s something that they’re excited about and, you know, is proactive versus something that was forced upon them by an outside force.
[00:06:00] Jess: Yeah, absolutely. And sometimes it’s really clear, right? Sometimes it is choice, and sometimes it’s, um, by circumstance, and it’s very clear. And then I think there’s this kind of middle group, too, right? That it’s, well, is it choice, or is it circumstance, right? Maybe it’s not a complete choice, maybe it’s not a complete layoff scenario where it’s the only option, but it’s a pressure cooker environment of, gosh, I’m trying to juggle the cost of childcare and a dual income household or whatever it may be, but there’s so much pressure and force that whether it is choice or circumstance, but I think you’re totally right that it’s not only, you know, people and women in particular who are reimagining by choice, but there are also these really difficult circumstances with covid and then also with just generally motherhood and childcare, that force women into, you know, thinking about these situations in a new way.
[00:06:51] Susanne: Yeah,
[00:06:51] Missy: it comes to that re imagination, and this is, I may be putting my stuff into this question, but, uh, whether it’s something you want to do, cause it’s definitely a thing that I have a lot of energy around doing, but whether you want to do it or you’re being forced to do it, it’s kind of hard to know what that, how to start.
How do we even start envisioning this new thing? How do we take what we have done before and Where we are now and combine that and create next
[00:07:22] Susanne: your
[00:07:23] Missy: Where do you, yeah, where do you start with that?
[00:07:26] Jess: Yeah, I think the most helpful thing to get clear on is what’s the purpose here, right? What’s the value that you’re getting out of this? What is the why? and that can look really different, right? For people who are in a full time career wanting to switch to a full time career, that purpose might look like they want more flexibility, they want more fulfillment, they want a new different challenge.
for a stay at home parent who is, I don’t know, maybe trying to launch a small sort of side business or do something different, right? What they want out of it probably looks really different. It might be, you know, oh, I want, you know, intellectual engagement. I want a small stream of revenue. I want, you know, something to keep my foot sort of in the water because long term I may want to transition back.
but what I find is that the most important thing is not focusing on the execution, like how do I, you know, do X, Y, and Z. It’s really about getting super clear on what’s the purpose behind this, because the clearer and more confident you are on what you’re trying to get out of it, the more likely you will be to Stay committed and to execute and have that, um, just have that conviction that this is something you want to do.
And then I say all the time, once you know you want to do it, people are phenomenal, especially women and moms. They are phenomenal executors. So really investing that time to, to know your why is I think the most important first step.
[00:08:57] Susanne: And I think for probably a lot of us, that’s where a good coach comes in, because I think doing it by yourself can feel. Really overwhelming because you barely are able to find the what, let alone the why behind it. Missy and I liked to joke that after so many years of being stay at home moms, like, we didn’t even know what we liked anymore.
We didn’t know what our interests were. We didn’t know if we had any hobbies or anything that we even liked. We just did kind of whatever the schedule for our kids told us to do in a given day. And I’m guessing you’ve encountered clients who are doing the same thing.
[00:09:35] Jess: Yeah, absolutely. It’s funny, right? The, um, the biggest thing that our most common thing that I hear from clients, or if I’m doing a speaking engagement is. Well, he want, you know, I sense that I want to do something different or want to do something more, but I just, I don’t know what. And I think the most important thing that a coach can do, the coach isn’t going to give you the answers, right?
Um, that’s, you’re with the wrong coach if they’re giving you the answers. But what a coach can do is really help you to unlock that voice that you have inside of yourself, that so many women and so many moms in particular have deprioritized and silenced and kind of, you know, all of the other things have gotten stacked on top of it.
It’s really that work that a coach can help with to start to unearth, okay, what is that voice? And what are those things that I know about myself, that I want to uncover and, you know, shed some light on?
[00:10:28] Missy: I think as moms, like, my brain is going a million miles
[00:10:33] Susanne: I know. I’m
[00:10:34] Missy: This is something really top of mind for me, but, um, you know, if we made the choice to have this extensive career pause, which Suzanne did, I did. I’m not going to lie, like lately more than ever, I am regretting it because it feels insurmountable to come back from this pause.
And so what is that process like if someone like myself, for example, has been home for a long time and I’ve dabbled and I’ve done contract work and I’ve done some things, but, What does that look like when someone is trying to reinvent themselves and figure out what to do with that huge gap? How do you, how do you present it and move forward?
[00:11:13] Jess: Mm. Yeah. I think, you know, I would talk about kind of three pillars. And this is for someone who’s already been out and, You can’t change how you spent that time or you know, so we’re talking you’re already there. I think that there’s three things that we see come up a lot. And the first is that storytelling.
What is the story that you’re telling yourself and also you’re using externally to pitch and present and share who you are out with the market. So I think there is a storytelling piece that’s really, really important. And that’s a place where getting some outside help, whether a coach, right, or a peer or a friend or a mentor can be really valuable because it sounds like, well, I should just know my story.
It is so much easier for someone with a little space to help you craft that story. So that’s the first piece, this storytelling. I think the second is a really pragmatic toolkit, right? Which is, okay, how do I, gosh, pick up and dust off my resume? How do I get comfortable? You know, informational interviewing like there are these skills and tools that you need to kind of get in tip top shape again to start the process.
Um, and then the third is a good networking strategy. And of course you need one and two to support you for three, right? You need to know that story, you need to have some of the tools. But then what is your strategy to use that networking based approach? Because for, uh, you know, someone returning to work, You’ve become, in some ways, right, a non traditional candidate, and I’m using the air quotes here.
So oftentimes, using that network based approach is the most effective way to get you back into a role in, in some capacity. So I really encourage women to be thinking about those three pillars and coming up with a, a plan for each of those.
[00:13:06] Missy: That’s genius.
[00:13:07] Susanne: Okay, I’m writing down
[00:13:09] Missy: and I’m watching you write it down.
[00:13:11] Susanne: I know. Do you see what I’m writing in my notes? Okay, so around the storytelling, One of the things we talk about a lot on the podcast is our negative inner voice. And I think that maybe having a coach is what’s necessary to keep you from um, Letting that voice take over your storytelling, because I know when you’re talking about it, you’re like, no, this is the story that you’re telling about yourself to project to the world to, like, get you to that next step.
But if you have this negative inner voice, that is the story you’re listening to, like, you’re not ready to tell that story yet. So, like, how do you get from the step of, like, probably what a lot of, especially if they’ve had extensive career breaks, or if they’ve been through a layoff and are feeling the sting of that still.
Yeah. To get over the internal negative dialogue storytelling that maybe they’re hearing inside their own heads to get to the place where you’re able to tell this forward thinking story about your, your relaunch or your new career.
[00:14:12] Jess: Yeah, Suzanne, I think your instinct is right, that this is where the power of a coach can come in. But I want to be more inclusive than that. Because not everyone has access to a one on one dedicated coach. So I want to use the term broadly, but this is where a helper, let’s call it right. A helper or a cheerleader can come in.
And I think if you can find someone too, who you really know can champion you and maybe even does have, you know, their foot back in the world that you’re trying to get into, whether it’s the corporate world or whatever, right. You want that person just to really be that, um, that mirror. Who can reflect back on you in that really positive way, you know, no, no, no, no, no, Suzanne.
I know, you know, let’s tease out of you this really confident, really positive story. That’s we’re not making it up, right. It’s, it’s real, but it’s, it’s, um, you know, it’s just that confident story that is, showing you in your best light. And I see right when you’re maybe in that moment of a little bit lower confidence or insecurity or uncertainty, it is really, really hard to craft that story in that positive, confident way.
So finding someone who can kind of, you know, pull you along for that journey, right? Take the backpack if it’s heavy. is the most important thing. that the confidence piece is number one. We can get the story down on paper. You just need someone who can help, you know, hold your hand and, and, and get it out.
[00:15:35] Susanne: Wouldn’t that be the funnest girls night out, like, just to have all of you, like, partner up and find some things? Because everybody has a little bit of a different perspective. But I always love that exercise that coaches have, where they ask you to ask, like, five of your friends, what, what traits would they use to describe you or those types of things.
And I bet that would be so fun. And you could really help encourage each other and lift each other up and get a night out.
[00:16:02] Jess: Yeah.
[00:16:03] Missy: you just came up with a business idea.
[00:16:05] Susanne: Oh, okay, good. I’m gonna ignore that and let someone else monetize that and make a million dollars.
[00:16:11] Jess: Yeah. I, I love that though, because right. It’s like, you know, we, as women, we are the best type women to use. I love, I don’t know if either of you follow this Um, activist thought leader, Aaron Gallagher, who is pushing this hype women, movement, right? But we are so great at hyping and getting behind and championing the other women in our life, right?
The data shows that women are the best negotiators when they’re negotiating on behalf of someone else. And so I love that idea of
bringing that community together, right? Of like, wait, let’s all hype. Let’s all negotiate. The woman sitting next to us, because, you know, that feeling, that hype is so genuine, but it’s really hard to bring that energy for yourself.
[00:16:52] Missy: It’s so true. Like I, in my career that I’ve done a lot of contract work and I’ve worked for myself for many years and I have the hardest time selling me, you know, I could tell anybody why they should hire Suzanne to do a job. But with me, I’m like, Oh man, I can do this for you and it’s fine, you can pay me whatever, you know, like it’s just kind of this, I don’t know, like I cannot hype myself.
I do think women are great at hyping each other. And so I love the idea of if you don’t have access to a coach, because that is a privileged place to be. And maybe you don’t, whether it’s financial or time wise or whatever it is, hopefully there is at least one person in your life that you can sit down and say, help me build this story.
I think that’s pretty incredible. I love this idea.
[00:17:36] Susanne: Okay, I’m going to the third pillar now. That was my question on the storytelling. And I’m sure we, oh my gosh, we could have like 10 whole shows on the pragmatic toolkit part, but the networking strategy, I know that a lot of stay at home moms or moms, you know, who are taking a pause, feel like their network is gone.
They think a network or just the people who are your coworkers that we’re all getting paid by the same company where Missy and I kick ourselves and try to tell any listener who will listen. The people in the school pickup line are the most fascinating, interesting, talented people you will ever meet and like, ask them, ask them what they do or what they’re interested in or what they used to do or what connections they might have.
It’s shocking. The, the wealth of knowledge and networks that are available there. But do you have any other recommendations for You know, people who don’t necessarily think that they have a quote unquote network, how they can take that first step in actually using the people who are around, not using the people who are around them, but connecting and building those relationships with the people who are around them.
[00:18:47] Jess: I’ll reinforce what you said, which is start where you are, right? And for moms, right? You know, the listeners, like you said, right? That might be school drop off line. And what’s really interesting too is there’s a whole community of moms who are, are working, right? And like, let’s, let’s connect these communities.
There’s so much that. You know, moms who are working full time as stay at home parents can offer to moms who are in the paid workforce outside of the home and vice versa, and so I see that as a wonderful first place to start. And then the only separate thing that I’ll add is that Oftentimes it is not the tactical question of like, oh, well, who is out there?
Oftentimes the battle that I see women facing is this confidence thing of feeling, you know, sheepish or insecure or whatever it is. And what I’d say there is go back to number one and number two. If you feel really good and confident with your story, it becomes a whole lot easier to approach that person at school pickup line.
Um, so they all work hand in hand, right? But I think once you get that story down, it really does open up this, okay, I feel good about going and bringing this to someone and having a conversation.
[00:19:56] Missy: So, so true.
[00:19:58] Susanne: you’re right, that number two could be very helpful, and I’m sure they kind of ping back and forth and
[00:20:03] Missy: Mm
[00:20:04] Susanne: go to each of the pillars, because doing that resume, even if you don’t feel like you are going to be going out on a job search right away, is a nice reminder of the skills and talents and abilities that you have, and that you could bring to the table.
So is that something that you do recommend as an exercise for people, even if they aren’t? Doing a job search. I do recommend having a resume ready to go, because you never know when that, that conversation in the school pickup line could become something,
[00:20:35] Jess: Yeah,
[00:20:35] Susanne: you
[00:20:35] Jess: I do. I mean, you don’t have to update your resume every month, right? But having a generally fresh resume, I think is a great thing to have in your toolkit. And we can play out the scenario of this one, two, three that we’re describing, right? Of maybe, gosh, if you start to say, Oh, I kind of know my story, right?
I spent, you know, a decade in the media world. And then I took time off to be a parent and launched a podcast. And now I’m looking for opportunities, right? Okay. If we’ve got the bare bones of our story, then who knows if we run into, you know, so and so at the school drop off line, we can start to have a conversation of, Oh, interesting.
I didn’t know that you work, you know, in a creative role for this company. And, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Here’s my story. Right. Tell the story. And then they might say, Oh, interesting. You know, send me your resume. So I know more about your background can keep my eyes and ears open. So you see how they all
[00:21:27] Susanne: Mm hmm.
[00:21:29] Jess: important to have that. It will also just build your confidence and your, your sense of readiness too.
[00:21:34] Susanne: Yes. Practicing and refining that story, I’m sure, is an art form, and not something that happens perfectly the first time it rolls off your tongue.
[00:21:43] Missy: Yeah. Making it feel like, again, like you said, we’re not making it up, but making it sort of second nature to be able to tell it and make yourself remember that you’re not making it up and this is your story and that, yeah, that is something that might take some practice. Yes. But talking about all of this is making me think.
Suzanne and I have a lot of similar issues and we’re probably not alone in this. Do you see common themes with your coaching clients as they’re embarking on this new journey and trying to reinvent or reimagine their careers? Is there something that comes up over and over again?
[00:22:19] Jess: yeah. I mean, everyone’s story is unique, but absolutely there are common themes. I think two things stand out. One is that, and I’ve hinted at this in some of the questions you’ve asked, but One is that the thing holding women back from making a transition rather that regardless of, you know, if it’s to one industry to another or it’s downshifting their career or returning to a career after a period of, staying at home.
The most common theme is that people think what’s holding them back is the tactical things, the, the toolkit, so to speak, right? And I know I mentioned you need that across the board. The biggest thing that is holding women back is not that they don’t know how to update the resume or they don’t know how to do a networking call.
It’s actually these emotional barriers and these emotional challenges that are the hardest to surmount. So that fear, that lack of confidence, that guilt, maybe. Um, so I always see that as one of the most common threads, regardless of women’s story, really the biggest battle that they’re fighting is not against the resume and LinkedIn.
It’s against whatever is that emotion that’s really holding them back from that next step.
[00:23:30] Susanne: Oh, that’s funny you brought up LinkedIn because I just literally wrote that down because I wanted to ask about, coaches that we have interviewed for the show have. Different opinions. Most of them, it sounds like they pretty much recommend someone having a LinkedIn, even if they are a stay at home mom who is not actively looking for a career to maintain some connections that from their past job and just to, just to be Know what the technology is for when they are going in to update it.
Do you have any recommendations? I know they even have one of those like you can select the career as stay at home mom. Do you recommend people use that not use that? Address their career gap on LinkedIn. Like what are your your best recommend or What?
[00:24:14] Jess: There
[00:24:15] Susanne: at a loss for words today, but best, best practices.
Yeah. What are your best
[00:24:19] Jess: to me that feel universal. I can give you the answer and other things that I, um, you know, I feel that it’s a, it’s a matter of style. So where I feel absolutely adamant is that, yes, take the time to create a LinkedIn profile and update it.
Um, you don’t have to be on it every day, but there’s really no downside here. It allows you, like you said, to maintain those connections. Add new connections, right? If you did meet someone interesting in the makeup line, add them on LinkedIn, right? And send a note that gives you that jogs your memory too on, ooh, what was the sort of context here?
So there’s really no downside to having it, and there are downsides to not investing that time. So You know, absolutely. I encourage all women and all moms, even if they’re not in the paid workforce outside of the home right now to still maintain a LinkedIn account. Where I think it’s more a matter of style is how you want to communicate this role in this time that you’re spending as a full time caregiver.
And I think that there are, I don’t feel strongly about this. I think that if you want to communicate that, that’s great. If you don’t, that’s great too. Um, I also think if there are other, uh, activities that you can bring in, for example, if you are a board member of a school or a PTO or you are doing volunteer work, those are fantastic ways to kind of maintain that sense of relevancy and, and activity.
without necessarily having to center it on your role as a caregiver. So those are my, you know, two tips. Absolutely have the account when it comes to that stay at home mom. I think it’s a personal kind of style decision, but also it’s not limited to that. Think about the activities that you’re playing in your community and beyond and how those can be part of your story too.
[00:26:07] Susanne: And how can we like to encourage, especially stay at home moms to use their time at home to get really strategic about making decisions about those activities that they choose to do during that time? Do you have any thoughts around that? Or is it very much interest led or, you know, should that time be a big part of it?
period of introspection versus doing like, how, how do you help and guide moms to approach that?
[00:26:34] Jess: yeah. I think two different strategies depending on what the long term goal is for the mom, right? So I think if you’re a mom who’s planning to take a career break, but you’ve got a vision that, Hey, I want to return, and I want to return in this way. I want to return back to my industry, or I want to, you know, return to X.
Then, I think you should use the activities that you’re, you know, doing during your time off strategically. Map them to what you want, right? So if you want to return to your industry, gosh, is there any way to stay involved, right? Can you do volunteer work that’s in the same industry? Can you maybe write an article?
Could you, I mean, you, podcasting is a ton of work, right? But, um, but, uh, you know, something that’s relevant to that. So I think if you know where you want to go, it’s a no brainer, try to map some of your activities so that you maintain that kind of foot in the water. I think if you’re someone who is more open ended, you’re taking the time off, you’re not sure, then I would recommend be interest led, right?
Because there’s not really that, that other guidepost that you can use. And so allow your own interest, your own skills, your values, be the thing that starts to, to shift you towards the, the work and activities that you, you choose.
[00:27:49] Susanne: you have any favorite exercises that you recommend? I know it always seems like everything comes back to figuring out your core values before you jump too far into that. Do you adhere to that as well or do you have some other recommendations to get that ball rolling?
[00:28:06] Jess: And this would be for moms or women who are, um, don’t have that long term vision in place and they’re trying to figure out where to start. Yeah, yeah. Um, I’d like values. I think sometimes though that can feel a little bit, it can almost stump people like, well, huh, what, how do I figure out my values? and so, you know, another way to think about it is to think about the work experience that you have, whether that’s your, you know, professional paid work experience in the paid workforce or even the work that you’re doing in your, you know, life as a caregiver or in your community and start to just think about, okay, what do I really like?
Right? What are the activities that are energizers for me? And what are the activities that are drainers, right? That, oh, I dread this, or I really always hated this about work. That can be a little bit more of an accessible way to start to get at, okay, what are my values and my interests? If you’re someone who immediately taps into that, that’s great.
But if you’re someone thinking, well, I don’t know. I don’t really know what my values are. I like to offer that as an alternative too. Just really simple. What do you enjoy doing? What gives you energy? And what do you not? What’s the opposite?
[00:29:19] Missy: I think that’s great advice. I want to think this is a good moment to go into the book. I want to make sure we spend a few minutes talking about the book. And you mentioned at the top of talking that it came out of this like life COVID pivot that you were going through. But talk to us a little bit more about where the book came from and what your goal was when writing it.
[00:29:41] Jess: I really wrote the book that I wanted and needed for myself. So, at the outset of 2020, like I mentioned pre pandemic, I felt really lost in my career in terms of fulfillment. And I was also stepping into motherhood for the first time. so I knew my hypothesis was, Okay, I know that I’m on the precipice of a big shift, a big transition when it comes to work.
And I know that there’s something really important to not just about a career pivot, but about being a woman doing this and being a mom doing this. And there were a lot of books and resources out there about making a career change, but very, very few that rooted it in the context specifically for women and working moms.
And so that’s the book that I wanted. Like, how do you figure this out? If you wake up after a career and you’re feeling unfulfilled and you’re knowing that as a mom, a lot in your career is about to shift. How do you navigate with all of the emotions that come with that? And how do you execute? Where do you go from here?
And so really, the inspiration was kind of my own personal career crisis. And I was able to learn from, interviews and studying the trajectories of over 150 women who made these types of transitions. And started to see these bits of wisdom and these learnings for, okay, these are, here are some models or some, All right.
You know, helpful information to navigate this period that feels so, so messy and confusing.
[00:31:08] Missy: It’s so overwhelming, I feel like, to, I mean, you say you woke up one day, or you suddenly realized that you were unfulfilled, and you pour yourself into work, and to realize you’re unfulfilled, and then think also, well, my whole life is changing at the same time. I’m also now a parent, or whatever, like, It’s hugely overwhelming, and I love that you took it and wrote a book out of it instead of just curling up in the corner and rocking slowly back and forth as some of us might have done.
[00:31:35] Susanne: Yeah, I think this is the book we needed too, Missy, approximately 18 years
[00:31:40] Missy: years ago.
Yeah. Yeah.
[00:31:42] Susanne: time
[00:31:43] Jess: that was one of the other motivators too, is I felt initially really alone in this. I’m like, what is wrong with me that I can’t figure this out? I’ve had these wonderful jobs and these wonderful opportunities and it still doesn’t feel right. I really was coming from this place of, okay, I feel like I’ve got a defect.
Something is wrong with me here. And what really motivated me is that as I started to have conversations, I realized, oh, wow, almost, it feels like almost every woman in my peer set and, you know, a half step ahead and a half step behind is grappling with these same exact questions. And so that became really comforting for me.
And of course, made me super interested in the topic to realize that, oh, this isn’t a me problem. And This is actually a much bigger, women, cultural, huge problem.
[00:32:28] Susanne: Yeah. I think that’s one of the main things we have learned from the podcast too. I mean, we started it to answer these questions that we thought it was just unique to you, me and Missy. And yeah. Like, you know, maybe some other people could potentially get, you know, some interest out of it. And I feel like our lives just revolve, everybody’s lives revolve around the same five problems.
And, you know, we get stuck in them because we think we’re the only one. And it’s very embarrassing to admit that we’re not doing everything perfectly. When if we could just let that guard down and share that with people, we would realize that, oh no, everybody is feeling the same way. No one is alone in this.
Yes. All
[00:33:08] Missy: Well, before we, it’s almost time to jump into our Look, Listen, Learns. I want to be careful with our time today, but, um, before that, let’s tell people where to find the book because I think that most of our listeners, if not all of them, would really benefit from reading it and where to connect with you.
[00:33:24] Jess: Sure. Well, the book is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, wherever you buy your books. Um, it is called Leap, Why It’s Time to Let Go to Get Ahead in Your Career. And then you can follow me on LinkedIn, Jess Gallica, or head to the website, jessicagallica. com.
[00:33:41] Missy: All right. We’ll put that all in the show notes too. well, I think we’re going to go into our look, listen, learns. And if you have not been here before, we’re so glad that you are listening today. And look, listen, learn is something we do at the end of every show. Just for fun. We talk about what we’ve been reading or watching, listening to new products we may have found.
Sometimes it’s ridiculous and sometimes it’s really serious and we don’t like our guests to have to go first. So Suzanne, you are up first today. What are you look, listening, learning?
[00:34:10] Susanne: Oh my gosh. I am looking at new printers. I,
[00:34:16] Missy: funny, as Jess had a printer problem today. I thought that was great timing.
[00:34:20] Jess: tip.
[00:34:20] Susanne: oh my goodness. Well, I had done like a little post on Instagram or whatever at like 11 o’clock at night, the night before the last day of school, because I usually print out these cute little cards for the teachers or whatever to put the gift card and stuff in there.
And so I thought, okay, yeah, it’s 11, but I felt like I was ready to go because I was like. They’re already formatted. I got the paper. Let’s go. But I sent my husband on an emergency ink run to Walmart to go get some printer ink because, of course, that’s the time when you get the printer ink error. Shove all the ink into the printer, and then it gives me this new error that I had never heard of before.
And I Google it, and there’s just a bunch of This random guy, I’ll have to share the link to this video. It’s so funny. The guy is like, Well, this error usually means it’s a goner, but let’s give it a try. And he’s like,
I don’t think it’s gonna work, but let’s try it. And so I did what he said to do, and then it went to a new error, and then everything just went dark.
But the, oh my god, we were laughing so hard, because the final error I got before it went dark. was to unplug the printer. And I took that as originally like, Oh, you know, that’s how you solve problems with electronics. You unplug them and you plug them back in. But I think it may mean like, you do not want what is happening in this computer to be Connected to an electronic source right
now. So it is unplugged. It is just sitting there. I’m very sad because we’ve had a long history of really crappy printers. And this one, even like on our little wifi or whatever, password is like world’s best printer, like it really has done well by us over the past several years. So even though I want to go, what’s that movie where they smash the printer in the field office space?
[00:36:11] Missy: Oh, yeah, if it’s facing
[00:36:12] Susanne: Yeah, I kind of want to do that, but I also just kind of want to thank it for its service because It’s been a good printer up until now. Oh, but I hate shopping for printers, but that is what I’m doing
[00:36:23] Missy: fun thing to have to buy.
[00:36:24] Susanne: Yes, um, let’s see. I’m listening. I just finished listening for my fancy schmancy book club mother of strangers And I’m not gonna pronounce the name right, but I think it’s Suad Amri and it was very timely in the world today.
It takes place, between 1947, 1951 in Jaffa, right after the 1948 Palestine war. As the population was fleeing or being expelled and the establishment of the state of Israel. So definitely a topic that is current. Now the book is a few years old, but it just for someone who really has found myself in needing to get a lot of information and educate myself in something I probably should have been more educated about for a long, long time.
Um, it’s just a, I mean, it’s a novel. It’s not a, you know. It’s not a documentary or anything. It’s not nonfiction. Um, actually, it is somewhat nonfiction. I wish she would have told me this at the beginning of the book, but in the end of the book, they say how it actually is based on someone’s story. It’s very loosely based on someone’s story.
so it was just, it was very interesting to see like how it could have been on the ground during this time period and what that, what that felt like in everybody’s day to day lives.
[00:37:49] Missy: Yeah.
[00:37:50] Susanne: And it kind of reminded me of how people Because we were into, you know, we were like, Oh my gosh, there’s all this stuff going around and this guy’s really worried about his suit.
Like how this new suit he got, and he’s just super preoccupied with that. But it was just kind of funny because I’m like, just look at all of us. There’s just such craziness in the world right now going on. And we’re like, okay, what, what do you put in your smoothie, Missy? Like what? I mean, just like, The most nonsensical things that we find to be important in our day to day life when everything else is so, it’s almost like everything’s so important that we have to be unimportant just to keep ourselves sane,
[00:38:28] Missy: Right. Our brains do funny things to keep us from
[00:38:31] Susanne: to protect us from the trauma of it all.
When not everybody has the luxury of being able to just tune out. Um, so it was, it was, it was good for me to tune in a little bit, even if it was in this fictionalized book. Um, and then learning, I am learning that the initial process of learning how to put in contact lenses is a metaphor for everything.
In the world, my son had a two hour appointment yesterday to learn how to put in his contact lenses, and we’re going back for round two in a couple of days because we were not complete. But I told him, I was like, do not feel bad. Like, I remember getting mine at pretty much his exact same age, and they just shut down the mall around me at this place and basically just sent me home.
They gave up. But it made me think that I’m like. I’m trying to explain to him, you are not doing anything wrong. Your body is just doing everything right. In
[00:39:33] Missy: supposed to touch your eyeball.
[00:39:35] Susanne: your eye is doing exactly what it is built to do. You have millennia of, you know, genetics that are telling your eye, no, no, don’t put that in there.
But it just, it reminds me of all the things that we hear about, like taking chances or jumping, or, you know, something that feels very unnatural to every safety mechanism in our body that is like there to protect us from doing things that feel scary or that, you know, back in caveman days could have killed us.
But it just, I was like, you just got to keep poking yourself in the eye until your eye learns that this is okay. And so it’s almost like this exposure therapy for his eyeball, but it just, it seemed like such a metaphor for everything that’s not truly dangerous, but our body wants us to think is dangerous.
And what a weird conflict that is to try to get through in life. So I’m learning that and trying to give myself grace, trying to teach him to give himself some grace in that you’re not doing anything wrong. Your body’s doing everything it’s supposed to do. You just got to come to an agreement here. So,
[00:40:45] Missy: I think that’s a really great, great thing to say to him. And please tell him that as a 50 year old, I reentered the world of contacts after trying them many years ago and deciding it wasn’t for me. And so I, I mean, it took me, I don’t know how long it took me, but I had to relearn as well and would plan extra time to get ready every day because I knew that it was going to take me a few minutes.
And still to this day, my right eye is like, no, I don’t want that. Like it takes a minute every day. Um, I’m much better at it
[00:41:14] Susanne: a woman I work with sent me a video, and we’ll link it in the show notes, that is supposedly, of course, we got it like a minute before he was getting kicked out of the optical shop, but it’s a way where you put the contact lens here on your finger
[00:41:28] Missy: Oh,
[00:41:29] Susanne: instead of on your fingertip, and instead of lifting your eyelid, you Look down and just shove.
So we’ll see if that works, but she said it worked for her son and for a nephew or someone who could not get a contact lens in. And this one method worked, so. We’re going to try that tomorrow, but today we’re giving his little eyeballs and his sanity a break.
[00:41:52] Missy: Yeah. Sometimes you just got to take a break and try again.
[00:41:54] Susanne: Yes. What about you, Jessica? You look less, or Jess, what do you look less than learning?
[00:42:00] Jess: I love this question. Well, I’ve got a lot of content racks and Missy, you’re inspiring my look one because I was looking at your bookshelf behind you and the book
cast. And remembering that I just watched, uh, the movie Origin, which is kind of the movie representation of the book cast. The movie’s done, um, produced by Ava DuVernay, and, um, yeah, so, and it was wonderful.
Highly, highly recommend, so. That’s what I looked at the bookshelf and then I was watching the the TV recently and watching that movie. So that’s a great one that I recommend for for look. And then what’s next? Listen?
[00:42:40] Missy: Lesson.
[00:42:41] Jess: Yeah, you know, I think one, gosh, one woman who I’m listening to and who is really resonating with me and I think will super resonate with your audience is Neha Roosh, who is the founder of the platform Mother Untitled.
[00:42:55] Susanne: Yes,
[00:42:56] Jess: Yeah. All right. I was gonna say you must follow Neha or some of her content. But for anyone who’s listening and doesn’t, right, um, her whole goal with the platform is really to redefine stay at home motherhood and make space for it as a time of still retaining ambition and creativity and purpose. And I just love the way that she is really celebrating this gray area between traditional work and motherhood and, you know, the diversity of women who show up in that space and kind of breaking down these rigid boundaries between the two.
Um, so she does weekly, uh, pep talks, she calls them, where she features, you know, a thinker or just anyone who’s kind of in this gray space between work and motherhood. So highly recommend listening to one of those pep talks or following her, her platform in whatever way.
[00:43:45] Missy: Yeah. She’s really great. And that’s it. We should have her on
[00:43:48] Susanne: I know. I know. We totally should. We had someone, we had another guest who mentioned her before and it’s just one of those things that I’m so grateful for the guests that we have on and that’s why I love this segment so much is because it just seems like obviously our paths should have crossed like a hundred times that we have these interests and we had never heard of her until then.
So we’re so
[00:44:08] Jess: totally. Yes, yes. We’ll definitely reach out to her and, you know, tell her I sent you, among others.
[00:44:14] Susanne: Oh yay.
[00:44:15] Jess: to feature.
[00:44:16] Susanne: Oh, awesome. Thank
[00:44:17] Jess: So look and listen and Learning. Ooh, yeah, what am I learning? This is a great one. You know, I’ve been, I’m inspired to learn more about what, um, Melinda French Gates is doing with her philanthropy.
I’m sure you saw this major announcement, right, a day or two ago that, um, Um, she left the Gates Foundation, is now dedicating a billion dollars to organizations that are supporting women and families. And I am really drawn to just the way she’s framing this as such a critical moment. And she had this one line in, in kind of her announcement about how it’s, it’s hard to believe, but her granddaughter, her one year old granddaughter may grow up with less rights than she had.
And, um, yeah, so I’m just feeling inspired to learn more about the work that she’s doing and the moment that is inspiring that work.
[00:45:13] Missy: Oh, I kind of gave me a flutter. It’s so, it’s so true. We have such an obligation to young women because as it stands. They’re, they’re in a world of hurt with what’s going on and it’s up to us to fix this.
[00:45:26] Susanne: Yes. What about you, Missy? You look less than learning?
[00:45:32] Missy: yeah, nothing as, um, important as what you guys are look, listening, learning.
[00:45:37] Susanne: We don’t judge here.
[00:45:39] Missy: yeah, right. Uh, I am reading this. I just have the dust jacket in here, but lay your body down. If you have some religious trauma, I don’t know if it’s the one for you. It’s fiction. and it’s suspenseful. It’s kind of got a mystery to it.
Um, Um, is really good so far, um, but definitely brings up some of that old church crap that is lingering. but yeah, it’s a good read. So I recommend that one. Um, and on my listen, I want to give another shout out to sociopath. We talked about it in our episode with Jennifer King Lindley, Suzanne’s read it or listen to it.
I believe I’m listening to it. Um, and I take little breaks in my listens, um, but it’s so interesting. So just another shout out. It’s fascinating. Look at. Someone who understands they are a sociopath. It’s really amazing. Um, but one of the other things I’m listening to is I’ve been listening just to my favorites playlist, um, that Apple will just make you, you know, a playlist of everything you’ve ever favorited.
And I am learning that like every other song is a Taylor Swift song. No shade. Love T Swift, clearly. But so my goal this summer is maybe branch out and find some new music, but it’ll be very funny because it’ll be like, song, Taylor Swift. Song by someone else, Taylor Swift. Song by Taylor Swift. She’s just constant and my favorite.
Um, if you have new ideas for me, send them to me. I am looking for some new music, a little branch out. Um, and my learn is I’ve been learning not to do, but Graston technique. Which is described as instrument assisted massage and soft tissue
[00:47:13] Susanne: we’re not X rated, Missy.
[00:47:16] Missy: I know it sounds gross. Um, but I, my shoulder or my posture has been really terrible since I had surgery last year.
And ever since then, my posture has just been crap. I had a, a bilateral mastectomy for those who don’t know. And so it just changed the way I hold myself and I fold up a little bit, I guess. And so my, And I’m sure, yes, there’s like pulling and it impacts everything, like it pulls my ribs and so it has really caused some back and shoulder like scapular pain, um, that I was trying to manage myself for the longest time thinking, I have the tools, I know what I’m doing, I can stretch and roll and do all of this.
Well, I could not. I got to the point where I was in constant pain. Um, But the short version of Graston is I have a bruise on my back right now that is like prohibiting the wearing of most tank tops. And when I’m like, people who have seen it are like, Oh my God, what happened to you? Um,
[00:48:10] Susanne: Is it like one of those cupping bruises?
[00:48:12] Missy: No, like I, I’ve had the cupping bruises before and those don’t really hurt. You know, they just look funny. This, like, it’s a metal tool that she like slathers cocoa butter on me and then takes this tool and gets into the tissue. And. She said she was like, like it, you know, your, the blood comes to the surface kind of like, you know, you can see your skin turning red and she was like this side like the blood really came to the surface and she’s like, You may have some bruising.
She was not kidding. I feel so much better. I can move my like my scapulas are moving and I feel a ton better and I’m loosening up but this bruises. Not cute. So I don’t want to scare people from trying it because my son had it done on his leg. That’s why I ended up making an appointment with her, but he had it done, just for like a nagging, some nagging leg pain and no bruising at all for him.
And, but it, It was almost automatic relief, like it really breaks up all that stuff that just locks up in there. so
[00:49:10] Jess: Missy, and I can’t help but think because of the Taylor Swift reference, right, and this, you know, posture, have you tried the viral posture sports bra?
[00:49:20] Missy: I have not, it was so funny because just Monday I was hanging out with friends. It was Memorial Day and so we were in swimsuits and they were like, Uh huh, what is going on with your back? And, um, So we were talking about it and somebody said, you need Taylor’s bra and I’m like, I need Taylor’s bra
[00:49:37] Susanne: has a bra?
[00:49:38] Missy: or well, they advertise it like all the, it pops up in the social media will be somebody saying, I tried Taylor Swift’s, you know, bra, whatever it’s, it is supposed to help you pull your shoulders back
[00:49:49] Susanne: As I’m like, what?
[00:49:50] Jess: Yeah, I know.
You’re, but yeah, it’s like a posture correcting bra that I think she was, pictures were taken of her in it or whatever. So people now know she wore it. So it’s gotten very popular.
[00:50:01] Missy: Yeah, because I guess she had gotten kind of rounded and so she used it to straighten up. But yeah, I need to order it because I think it might be the ticket. But yeah, I catch myself all day, every day. I’m like, oh, I’m folded up again in this little,
[00:50:14] Susanne: Oh, it’s so easy to do. It is
[00:50:17] Missy: It
[00:50:17] Susanne: easy to do.
[00:50:18] Missy: Well, we’ve talked about so many times on the show, we’ve talked about how as women, as girls, we kind of fold in when we start to develop breasts, like you’re, you kind of hide them.
And I, it’s counterintuitive to me now that I don’t have them that I wouldn’t just stand up straight. Like I’m not trying to, I don’t know,
[00:50:36] Susanne: popping the girls out?
[00:50:37] Missy: Yeah. Like I don’t know. It’s weird. You would think it would not be hard to stand up straight. You would think it would make it easier, but I think it just messed with all the muscles and some of that, just the connection, like nerve connections and stuff.
Like everything’s just
[00:50:50] Susanne: Yeah, you can’t just get rid of almost 50 years of mental training to do that. And then also, yeah, your body is, your body is fighting against you. So I’m so glad that you have found this technique that’s helping. And maybe the Taylor
[00:51:03] Missy: my arsenal. Yeah, the tailor bra just might be it. Might be the final piece of the puzzle.
[00:51:09] Susanne: It all comes back to Taylor Swift, I
[00:51:11] Missy: It does. It does. She rules the world.
[00:51:15] Susanne: Oh, if, does she have a song called Leap, then we could really tie it
[00:51:18] Missy: Oh, I don’t think
[00:51:20] Jess: don’t think so.
[00:51:21] Susanne: Dang it. Okay, maybe that’s the next album. It should be out in probably three weeks, the way, the
[00:51:25] Missy: Right.
[00:51:25] Susanne: she goes.
[00:51:27] Missy: I know. That she has written while also doing a world tour and, you know.
[00:51:30] Susanne: Yeah, exactly. Oh, well, it was such a pleasure meeting you and so excited that this book is out now, even though it was not out for us 18 years ago when we need it, but it’s never too late.
So we’re grateful for everybody who can use it now and for your podcast and all the other gifts that you’re giving to the world.
Thank you. You’re just every, every person that we can, every mom that we can help. Move to that next step and enjoy her life a little bit more is all the better for her family, her kids, everybody around her. It’s an inspiration to everyone. So we are grateful for everything that you do.
[00:52:09] Jess: Thank you. And likewise.
[00:52:10] Missy: thank you for being here, and have a great afternoon.
[00:52:13] Susanne: Have a great day.
[00:52:15] Jess: both. Great to be here.
[00:52:16] Susanne: Okay. Bye
[00:52:17] Missy: Bye.
Thank you so much for joining us for the mom and dot, dot, dot podcast. We hope you enjoyed today’s show. And if you know someone else who could benefit from the episode, please be sure and share it with them. And while we’re begging, please subscribe and rate us wherever it is you listen to podcasts. You can find links to all the things we discussed today in our show notes or over at our website, momandpodcast.
com with the A N D spelled out in between shows, find us over at the socials, including our private mom and community Facebook group, the links to that group. And all of our socials can be found at momandpodcast. com. Thank you so much for your support. We appreciate you more than, you know, now go out there and make your ellipses count.
New Season: Helping Moms Trump-Proof Our Families & Communities
Nov 19, 2024
November 14, 2024 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 143 / No Guest
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Show Summary:
In this episode of the Mom &… Podcast, hosts Missy Stevens and Susanne Kerns reflect on the current socio-political climate following the U.S. Presidential election. Both Missy, a foster care advocate, and Susanne, an LGBTQ and sex education advocate, share their personal stages of grief and anger. The hosts discuss their upcoming season’s shift from career-driven conversations to topics affecting midlife moms, particularly in areas like political advocacy and social justice. They stress the importance of becoming ‘accomplices’ rather than mere ‘allies’ in fighting for equity, emphasizing issues like mass deportations, education funding, and LGBTQ rights. The episode also thoughtfully addresses the critical role of financial planning, research, and staying informed through reliable news sources.
Topics From This Episode:
00:00 Introduction to the Podcast
00:14 Current Emotional States
01:02 Impact of the Election
02:37 New Season Focus
04:42 Call for Guests and Topics
05:13 Discussion on Key Issues
11:52 School Funding Concerns
16:37 Grieving and Anger
18:27 Actionable Steps and Resources
26:09 Closing Remarks
29:38 Final Thoughts and Farewell
Connect With the Mom &… Podcast
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Our delightfully happy intro and outro theme music, “We Will Get Through This” is performed by Young Presidents, and used under license from Shutterstock.
Transcript is auto-generated by a robot. Apologies in advance for misspellings or errors.
[00:00:08] Missy: Welcome to the mom and dot, dot, dot podcast, the podcast that helps you make your ellipses count. You know, all the dot, dot, dots that come after I am a mom and I’m Missy Stevens, mom and dot, dot, dot writer, foster care advocate. And today just a sad, angry, not quite in my right mind lady.
[00:00:28] Susanne: Agreed. And I am Susanne Kerns, mom and dot dot dot writer, LGBTQ and sex ed advocate. And today, I think in the second stage of grief, I think that’s anger. I’m also, I jump sometimes to like the fifth, which I think is depression. And then a little bit of denial. I’m not taking a straight line, basically, through this, the stages.
I’m
[00:00:53] Missy: well, and I think, uh, that we won’t do a five stages of grief podcast, but I don’t even think those are really like true grief. That’s not accurate. Like it does, doesn’t go linearly and it’s a lot, there’s a lot of stuff to it.
[00:01:05] Susanne: Yes, it’s complicated.
[00:01:07] Missy: It’s complicated as is everything right now. And so last week, We sat down and we recorded this episode all about our upcoming new season and how we were going to be shifting our conversations more from career to what impacts moms in midlife, especially some of the menopause stuff we’re both dealing with.
[00:01:27] Susanne: And then, and then the election happened. And we said, Oh, well, that was a fun recording. Let’s just throw that in the garbage. Because a lot has changed. Um. A lot has changed and probably more in a lot of your lives than are impacting Missy and I and our places of privilege lives. And we acknowledge that.
but I mean, there’s a lot of stuff in our little lives that are being impacted, too. so. We’re hearing it from all of our friends. They want to know like what’s next, what’s now. And honestly, as welcoming as we like to be, there’s probably gonna be a lot of listeners that maybe I can’t imagine you’ve gotten this far in listening to us and not knowing where we stand politically and values wise, especially since I start every episode by saying that I am an LGBTQ and sex ed advocate.
Um, but we want this to be a safe place for people. Like us, we want this to be a place for people who share the values of kindness and love and dignity and respect for all and anti racism and not just being allies, but being
[00:02:38] Missy: Accomplices. That’s my favorite thing I’ve heard lately is it’s too late to be an ally. Now you have to be an accomplice,
[00:02:46] Susanne: Yes, so this is our motivation session for our new series, our new season. It’s not just going to be moms in midlife and menopause, it’s going to be moms in midlife, any kind of moms who want to become accomplices for all of the things that are likely going to be impacted by a Trump presidency. So if there are those of you who voted for Trump, this may not be the place for you. Sorry.
[00:03:15] Missy: around and learn some things and listen, I mean, we’re happy to have you, uh, but we’re not going to argue with you and, or engage if things get ugly. And this really may not be the place if. That’s where you want to spend your time.
[00:03:31] Susanne: Yes, things are gonna be getting real here For the next the next season of the mom and dot dot dot podcast In fact, we’re trying to figure out if it needs to be called mom and dot dot dot resistance mom and dot dot dot
[00:03:45] Missy: What the fuck? Can we call it that? Mom and da da da. What the
[00:03:48] Susanne: patriarchy, whatever it needs to be.
[00:03:51] Missy: yeah.
[00:03:52] Susanne: So, yeah, we’re sifting through our topics right now. Um, making sure that we are focusing on ways that you as a mom, especially stay at home moms who have the privilege of, I don’t want to say extra time because that is by far, Not true. Um,
[00:04:09] Missy: Flexibility though,
[00:04:10] Susanne: bit of time flexibility in the sense of if there is a call to go do something during what would be typically a nine to five workday, you may have an ability to do that easier than someone who has to actually take off time or request that PTO from a job, whereas you might be able to shove a kid into a stroller or do something during a weekday that others are not able to do.
So. We want to make sure we’re fighting for your rights, for your family’s rights, your kids rights, especially those daughters rights, as the case may be. Um, so let’s talk about some of the topics that we’re thinking of moving forward. And, um, we’re lining up guests for these right now. We will probably be.
Finishing up with a couple of episodes that we have in the queue that we’ve already recorded for the next couple of weeks and then starting fresh. I’m guessing it will be early in December. So there’s time for you to raise your hand if you think that you would be an amazing guest, or if you know someone who would be an amazing guest, or if there’s a topic that you are interested in that you want to make sure that we are looking for experts to come talk about those.
[00:05:20] Missy: Yeah. So I think some of the things we’re thinking about. talking about, um, include the mass deportations. What does that mean? What does that look like? How will that impact the foster community and other communities? and how it will directly impact all of our lives, even if we think it will not.
so we’re definitely looking for experts in that, that area. And that’s another thing I don’t want to like mess up our flow here, but, um, I think a lot of what we’re looking to have happen is have people come on and we’ll facilitate. somewhat of an interview, but we’re really prepared to just be listening.
We will be much like the rest of our audience, letting people tell us their story and what they’re doing, and then how we can support them, whether it’s through money or actions or all of the above. so we are looking for those people who want to come on and tell their story and let us, and you listen,
[00:06:12] Susanne: Yes, and we’re balancing that with the idea that there’s going to be a lot of people who rightfully so are like, no, white ladies, y’all go do your own work and research. I don’t want to come there and have to tell you what to do. We understand that is a very valid, understandable place to be for many people.
But I think there are a lot of people who are like, they’re at the stage where They haven’t been fully burned, I guess, yet, and they still are willing to come and share. And we’re going to be doing that work ourselves, but for the people who are still in a place where they’re willing to come and tell us their stories, tell us how we can all help.
We welcome them and their voices.
[00:06:52] Missy: Yeah. So if you know someone doing the work in any of these areas we mentioned, if there’s somebody you follow that you really trust, please introduce us to them, we’d love to invite them to come on.
[00:07:03] Susanne: Yes. And obviously a subject near and dear to my heart, LGBTQ rights. I’m disgusted by the hundreds of millions of dollars that were spent specifically on anti trans ads in this campaign. It’s. It’s heartbreaking. Um, in Texas, we feel it very deeply because we are already, I just saw a map the other day, we’ll have to share it, of like the most dangerous states for trans and LGBTQ people.
gay, queer communities. And Florida had been the only one that was like this deep maroon, like it wasn’t even red anymore. It was like
[00:07:42] Missy: Mm hmm.
[00:07:43] Susanne: blood red. and now Texas has become a don’t even travel there state for trans communities, which is just It’s heartbreaking, especially because I know that there are welcoming spaces, obviously, within Austin, within other areas of Texas, but in order to get to those safe spaces, you got to go through an awful lot of not safe.
Um, I feel that’s very, very much how people are feeling about Texas and, heck, a lot of the country right now. So anyway, I want to talk about that, how that impacts, um, equity policies.
We’re going to talk a little bit about school too as well, but there’s protections that are in place in cities and in schools where, you know, no place for hate, which,
[00:08:30] Missy: Mm hmm.
[00:08:31] Susanne: Especially if they get funding from the federal side could be going away and how can we help back those up in our, in our own way? Um, and then there’s women’s rights, women’s reproductive rights.
Should we be stockpiling birth control? Should we be stockpiling Plan B? What,
[00:08:50] Missy: And the little that I have learned so far tells me, yeah, you should absolutely, I think Plan B has a four month, no, four year, four, not four months, four year shelf life.
[00:09:00] Susanne: Okay, now I heard two years, so we’re going to double check that
[00:09:03] Missy: yeah, so we do need to check that. There’s a couple different pills, um, and medicines, and one does have a shorter shelf life and one has Quite a long one.
Um, so we’ll, we can post that in show
[00:09:17] Susanne: when we get to that episode. We will give you all the information.
[00:09:20] Missy: but yeah, I need to, I have heard you need to get it now. You need to go get vaccines. If you’re on the fence about some of them, go find out more and then go get it because you really might not be able to get it.
[00:09:34] Susanne: My husband’s doing the shingles today. I’m like, you better hurry because you have
[00:09:37] Missy: I know I just scheduled my second one.
Yeah, I scheduled my second one and I, just FYI, next week I might not feel great one day. Um, you know, these are things that we need to look into and understand what we need to do. And it sounds very, I have a lot of people in my life who don’t like the prep and planning talk. Um, it makes them really nervous and it makes them sad and, um, they want to just focus on being light and love.
You and I are both Enneagram nines, so we definitely already operate in this place of being both. We can be that light and love and we can be the realistic prepper planners and we can see both sides of that. And, um, I just think it’s so important to have all of this information and to sit with it and think about the uncomfortable stuff.
And Stock up on your birth control and get your shots and do these things that sounds very gloom and doom. But should we reach a point where we can’t access this stuff anymore, it’s good to have a plan.
[00:10:37] Susanne: And best case scenario, I really hope we’re overreacting and you know, and, and that we’re in our own little echo chambers of hearing all these things and getting swept up in it. I would be so thrilled that in, you know, a year from now that I can come back and be like, Oh, I was being so silly. It’s like when I was washing all my groceries during COVID with the bleach wipes.
So,
[00:11:01] Missy: I really do hope, and I have told this to a couple of people in my life, I hope that I am wrong. I hope that Some of you who have always laughed at me when I try to be serious in any way, I hope that you can laugh at me again and say you took it too far. Once again, you overreacted. That’s what I hope.
That is the best case scenario in all of this. But I have a lot of evidence to the contrary and I think we’d be fools not to look at what could happen. I mean already this week some things have been put in place that are terrifying. So.
[00:11:33] Susanne: yes. So we’ll have some people come on and tell the, get down to the nitty gritty and the truth of what you should be worrying about, what you shouldn’t be worrying about, what are some things that you can do.
[00:11:43] Missy: like to talk about where can you donate money that makes sense and where can you get involved and what does that look like and yeah, how do you, how do you do things if you are at home with a bunch of little kids? It’s really hard to get out sometimes. So what can you do from home? We’re going to find those kinds of things out too.
Oh
[00:12:01] Susanne: And then there’s school funding. And in fact, I ran into this this morning because, I am the co chair of our school health advisory council, um, which we make decisions about things around kids health in our school district and policies, and we make recommendations to the school board about those.
And, you know, that’s everything from sex ed to, you know, Getting breast exams for teachers to, you know, setting up vaccine clinics for kids to the lunches. And one of my favorite presentations every year, we are so. I’m fortunate in Austin ISD to have the most amazing culinary program. I mean, they have gardens on site.
They do a lot of fresh food, literally, from their own gardens of the schools. They source a lot of local stuff. They source a lot of organic stuff. and we have that presentation coming up this month. And I’m like, do we need to ask them about what happens when we lose federal funding? Um, if and when we lose federal funding for, there’s a lot of schools that the, all the meals are paid for through federal dollars, um, for schools that kids do not have the money for those meals.
I mean, we do breakfast, lunch, and even like a, they call it like a supper or an after school snack or whatever, so to get these kids through the day. There’s a certain portion of even the meals that are paid for that on top of that, like, I think that I can’t remember exactly how much we paid, like, if we pay a buck 50 or whatever, the other dollar, whatever is paid through federal funds.
So even kids who are paying, quote, unquote, paying for their lunches, I think a portion of that is also funded federally. So that has a lot of implications as, you know, People are talking about defunding the Department of Education, federal funding for different schools. It may not be all schools, but you know what?
Texas likes to pick on Austin, so I’m pretty sure Trump would like to pick on Austin and blue cities as well. So that’s, that’s a real potential issue. Again, I, people that I was like, Oh, should we be talking about this in the next meeting? They’re like, okay, we don’t want to get everybody freaked out.
We just want to talk about the amazing stuff this school program’s doing now. We can worry about that later. And it probably is. We can worry about it later, but like, are there any protections that we need to put in place? I know. So anyway, um, so yeah, there’s a lot of things around school funding that you may not even know that your school is receiving a lot of federal funding.
[00:14:36] Missy: Yeah. And a lot of people are really worked up about, um, boys and girls sports.
[00:14:40] Susanne: Mm hmm.
[00:14:42] Missy: I think what you need to be thinking about is how do we ensure that there continues to even be girls sports? If there’s no funding and there’s no title nine, there are no girls sports.
Um, you know, there’s, this is all very nuanced and, um, I would say the majority of people who voted for Trump don’t do nuance, but it’s time to like really dig in. It is multi layered. And once, once the Department of Education has gone, a lot of other stuff has gone with it.
[00:15:11] Susanne: Mm hmm.
[00:15:12] Missy: we have to think about it. I don’t like to think about it, but we have to.
[00:15:15] Susanne: yep, yep, yep. And one thing I also want to bring up there for a lot of the funding, I believe one of our friends in our text list was even saying, Oh, I wanted to see like what portion of my school’s budget is federal funding and what that covers. And a lot of it is for special education, kids with special needs, kids who need additional access to schools.
so those are the programs also. that are going to be hit considerably and are going to need, some safety nets around that.
[00:15:46] Missy: As with any authoritarian regime, the first to go, the first to be attacked are always those who are the most at risk. And the most marginalized. So those, anybody who needs extra help or funding for any reason is going to find that lacking.
[00:16:04] Susanne: yeah, especially things that he’s already said publicly, acted out and mimed publicly. You know where his feelings lie there. I will have you Google the quote that I believe it was his Brother, a quote that Trump said about his own nephew who has special needs and how he felt that Financially, it just wasn’t even worth helping with those anymore.
Why bother? So if he’s saying that about his own his own family
[00:16:36] Missy: Right.
[00:16:37] Susanne: Don’t think that he’s going to be caring about school funding to make sure that kids have equal access to education. So Yeah, we are. What stage, what stage of the grieving process did that just take us all
[00:16:51] Missy: I mean, I’m just telling you, I think I’m going to spend, uh, the majority of my time in anger. I have met a lot of resistance from a lot of people in my life in regards to that anger. Um, I know that everyone operates differently. I know that anger can be very depleting for some, and I know that anger, can really, um, It can really get in and start to break you down.
I feel like I have a really healthy relationship with my anger. Um, and I think that, I think that even those who are afraid of their anger maybe need to spend some time with it and sit in it. Because if you’re feeling it, it’s valid. and I’d, yeah, I have, I have lots of strong feelings. But the strongest one at the moment is anger.
[00:17:35] Susanne: Isn’t that the Enneagram trait too? It was the anger?
[00:17:39] Missy: yeah, yeah, that’s like the, that’s like our, That opposite side, we don’t really like it. Like we don’t like conflict. Like conflict is not our thing. And I, I still,
[00:17:49] Susanne: for for this next season where we’re gonna just,
[00:17:52] Missy: And I think that’s the other thing. Cause we are, but definitely social justice means a lot to us. And, um, you know, so I think I’m going to lean into that anger.
The thing I keep saying is we can be kind without being nice. And we can help others and focus on what are the kind things to do out in the world, but we can also have that anger because It serves us, it’s going to keep motivating us. And that’s why we have to keep paying attention to what’s happening, even when we want to put our heads in the sand, because if we don’t know how bad it is, or how real it could get, then well, we’re not going to be able to help appropriately.
[00:18:32] Susanne: Yes. All right. Well, okay. So that, that lets you all know what we’re going to be focusing on here in our next season. Um, so hopefully you are here to join us and to gain some information. We’re going to try to make it real simple. It’s going to be serious, but with us, hopefully it’ll still also be fun and loving and,
[00:18:57] Missy: It’ll be
[00:18:57] Susanne: and love.
It’ll be kind. Maybe not
[00:19:00] Missy: always be nice.
[00:19:02] Susanne: but, um, we usually end all of our episodes with the look, listen, learns. But I think both of us are look, listening and learning that we as white women and as a country have once again, really let down Black women. And. I, I am encouraging, we’re encouraging ourselves, and we are encouraging you all to go do some work in training your algorithms to follow some Black women and women of color so you are hearing their voices, again, not because they are here to teach you, it is not their job to teach you, but you learn some lessons from you, Just immersing yourself in their words and hearing what is important to them, what their lives are like, how things are impacting them.
[00:19:56] Missy: like really past time, obviously, but it’s time to get comfortable with that uncomfortableness. Like when you hear someone say, We don’t trust white women. You have failed us. Your gut reaction probably is not, you are correct. That is what we did. And I’m so sorry. Your gut reaction is probably like, Ooh, either not me, not me.
That wasn’t me. Or what are you talking about? That’s not real. I’ve seen a lot of white women going, that’s not a thing. That’s not real. Is it? So it’s time to get comfortable with the uncomfortable and just listen, because there’s a lot for us all to unlearn and think about how we go forward.
[00:20:32] Susanne: And there are a lot of amazing voices, organization, people who run organizations, content creators. All kinds of people out there. your algorithm will do the work once you follow a couple or follow someone that you really like and see who they follow and follow them. Um, one I, I think is like the most basic white lady follow, I think is lovey, I think a lot of people are already familiar with her, but I think that that’s just like a place to start that you are probably already following, but maybe you zip by her sometimes. Don’t scroll past. Do some listening.
[00:21:10] Missy: and I trust if she is talking about someone that she has vetted that she’s not giving us, you know, half baked information. and she’s livid, rightfully so, so there is a lot to learn there and um, there is a ton of content that is recent within the past six days.
New content, with new information, or, or telling us the same fucking thing she’s been telling us for years.
[00:21:37] Susanne: Yeah,
[00:21:38] Missy: Um, you know, there’s a lot there. She has a great place to start and it can help you figure out where to go from there. And I also think we want to talk about where we’re getting our news. social media has its place and it’s also an echo chamber in a lot of ways.
And also there will possibly come a time when it doesn’t exist in the form that we’re used to it existing now. all of our news is at risk. All of our media is at risk. it’s very likely going to become something like state run media. Um, there’s already, I mean, you saw it the day of the election. You saw large media sources.
And large companies signaling their allegiance to this administration because they are afraid. They are afraid if they don’t support it, they will not have money. And money is what makes this all go around. And we will not be able to trust those media sources. So we will be looking at where trustworthy news sources are.
It has been recommended to me by someone closely related to this field that we look at news out of Europe. And out of Singapore, and we’ll have to figure out how we continue to get that information when it might be harder to access it via the internet. but for now,
[00:22:44] Susanne: channels. I mean, he’s already talked about trying to revoke licenses,
[00:22:48] Missy: right. Right.
[00:22:50] Susanne: from TV networks.
[00:22:52] Missy: tricky.
So we’re going to be relying on people. One of those people who I know we’ve talked about women of color, but a really wise white woman that we follow that I think a lot of you may already be following is Heather Cox Richardson. She puts out a newsletter, every day. She writes something, she has, you can find her on YouTube, you can find her on the socials, um, but she provides historical background information, she really just lays out facts and helps you understand the patterns at play here and, um, what has happened before and what we’re seeing, the similarities we’re seeing and what could happen now.
Um, she’s, she’s a very calming presence, even though I couldn’t read her for the first few days after the election. I just needed, I needed to like need to hibernate and just not for that. Um, as soon as I was ready, I went right back to her because, um, in spite of the fact that often what she’s telling you is kind of scary, she’s this calming presence.
So I think she’s a great place for now while we can still access her.
[00:23:51] Susanne: And on the mom front, there are some great groups that, you should be paying attention to, especially, um, there’s one called Black Mamas Matter Alliance, black maternal health is a huge issue, and it is going to be even more so as women’s health care. gets into an even darker place than it is now.
So, uh, would encourage you to follow that group. Uh, another interesting podcast is, um, Know Better, Do Better. By Marie Beecham and so that’s another one so just just a few things and of course all the political figures that we know and love Stacey Abrams, um, why am I blanking on her name?
[00:24:32] Missy: Alexandria
[00:24:33] Susanne: Thank you, Alexandra Ocasio Cortez.
[00:24:36] Missy: doing some really interesting work right now. Because she’s not coming on and saying, here’s what you need to be doing. She’s, she’s also just talking about how did we, how did we get here? What in our history led to here? What are the facts at play now? and doing just sort of some comforting, I guess.
but in this shape of like, yes, I will, here’s how you find comfort. And now, and then here’s how you you’re, cause you’re sustaining yourself. So you can go do the work that
[00:25:03] Susanne: Yes.
[00:25:04] Missy: she’s been encouraging to listen to.
[00:25:08] Susanne: There’s so many. And so, yeah, we’ll put some in the show notes to make it really easy for you. Just click over, follow, like, let your algorithm do the work or even better than letting the algorithm do the work. Go in and see who the people who you respect follow and follow some of them. and share with us some of the voices that you like to hear.
We want to make sure we’re amplifying those as well.
[00:25:30] Missy: Yeah. And if you are closely connected to anyone doing work in any of these arenas, please, please introduce us to them and we hope to have them on. I
[00:25:39] Susanne: All right.
[00:25:41] Missy: think
[00:25:41] Susanne: think that that’s it. We’re just major downers today. But
[00:25:47] Missy: I felt like that a lot or like, let me just be the biggest Debbie Downer of the Debbie Downers. I guess that’s the role I’m going to play right now in my world is realist
[00:25:56] Susanne: yeah, I was gonna say you’re the Debbie realist. We’ve, we’ve been here before, but the guardrails are gone this time. So we just need to make sure that we’re being smart. We’re protecting ourselves. We’re protecting our people. We’re protecting communities that are not our people. But that still need to be protected.
So,
[00:26:14] Missy: it can’t protect themselves or speak up for themselves. I
[00:26:18] Susanne: here we go. For the next few weeks, like we said, we’re going to be running, um, some of our episodes that are in the queue already, that are more career focused.
Um, but, um,
[00:26:28] Missy: originals.
[00:26:30] Susanne: and then we’ll probably be starting in December to give us some nice runway up until the inauguration. So if you need to start doing some stuff ahead of time, we’ll have those things in your inbox.
[00:26:42] Missy: Yeah, and maybe we’ll have some fun stuff to like where to shop for the holidays, because I guess we’re having the holidays no matter what, like, I don’t feel like having the holidays at this moment, but I guess it’s happening. but, you know, There’s a lot of great black and women owned businesses, um, where you can do your shopping and put your money into the economy that way.
so maybe we’ll do some fun episode, like a fun episode about shopping and,
[00:27:07] Susanne: Yes. And there’s also a lot of words out there now about the stores. We do not want to be shopping out, um, as far as if you want your money to be going towards organizations and companies that.
[00:27:19] Missy: It aren’t fascists.
[00:27:22] Susanne: That you use their money in a way that supports your values. Yeah, which is painful because, God, I love Amazon Prime.
Oh,
[00:27:35] Missy: got us all by the Ovaries. And enough. Enough. Like, I just, we have to plan better and know that we might have to wait a day or two for our item, which not gonna, I just had a thought and I’m not going to say it out loud.
[00:27:51] Susanne: no, I’ll edit
[00:27:53] Missy: say it to you later. say it to you later.
I don’t know. It just was gloom and doom. I’ve been gloomy and doomy enough.
[00:28:01] Susanne: Okay, we’ll take it offline
[00:28:03] Missy: saying things to Mark’s like, Okay. Oh my God, our neighbor, one of our neighbors, like minded neighbor, totally like was at their house commiserating. Um, but I said a very not nice thing and he was like, Oh, that wasn’t very nice. And I was like, that gloves are off friend. Like, I am tired of being nice.
And I don’t know, I’ve said this on social media and I’ve said it to you and I’ve said it to several people, but I just really feel like This concept of the high road was something developed to oppress marginalized communities, and I understand why many years ago Michelle Obama stood up and said, when they go low, we go high.
I know why she said that. I understand what she was accomplishing with that and why that needed to be said by her in that moment, but I’ve just been thinking a ton about the high road, and I don’t feel like that is necessarily the place we need to be dwelling, back to being kind without being nice.
[00:28:57] Susanne: hmm. Mm hmm. It’s not our job to make people who make decisions that are counter to the goodness of the country feel comfortable with that.
[00:29:06] Missy: Exactly. And I am a firstborn child, people pleaser, raised in the church. I was raised to be a good girl. I still have a lot of people in my life who are astounded when I am not. Saying the nicey nice, making the nice things. And we just can’t anymore. We tried it, we operated that way a long time, and look where it got us.
So, uh, yeah. So I’m gonna try not to say horrible, mean, ugly things out loud, but I don’t promise not to thank them, and I also don’t promise not to lean into that anger and
[00:29:39] Susanne: We’re no longer here to make you feel comfortable with your decisions.
[00:29:43] Missy: Your comfort is your business, not mine.
[00:29:45] Susanne: And on that note.
[00:29:47] Missy: Have a great day, y’all. Bye.
[00:29:52] Susanne: Oh, I love it. All right. So go look at the show notes, y’all. We’re going to have some great
[00:29:58] Missy: are going to be crazy. How am I even going to write show notes for this?
[00:30:02] Susanne: It’s just going to be an angry picture of Missy.
[00:30:07] Missy: Yeah, I don’t know. The show notes might make sense. I don’t make any promises on that front either.
[00:30:12] Susanne: Oh, my goodness. No. Well. We’re in this together, y’all. If you’re feeling alone, you are not.
[00:30:18] Missy: No. And we appreciate you.
[00:30:20] Susanne: Yes. All right, have as good a week as you can
[00:30:27] Susanne: music plays us out. Do do do do. Do we need to change our theme music?
[00:30:36] Missy: Maybe. Yeah.
[00:30:38] Susanne: just slow it down.
[00:30:40] Missy: No, it is the most cheerful bop like just
[00:30:46] Susanne: Yeah. I’m going to see if we can slow it down.
[00:30:48] Missy: Maybe. Oh God. All
[00:30:52] Susanne: stopping the record.
Thank you so much for joining us for the mom and dot, dot, dot podcast. We hope you enjoyed today’s show. And if you know someone else who could benefit from the episode, please be sure and share it with them. And while we’re begging, please subscribe and rate us wherever it is you listen to podcasts. You can find links to all the things we discussed today in our show notes or over at our website, momandpodcast.
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Show Summary:
In this episode of the Mom &… Podcast, hosts Missy Stevens and Susanne Kerns welcome guest Erin Diehl, founder of Improve It and author of I SEE YOU: A LEADER’S GUIDE TO ENERGIZING YOUR TEAM THROUGH RADICAL EMPATHY. They discuss the transformative power of play and improv in the workplace, including how it can lead to higher engagement and a positive shift in team dynamics. Erin shares her journey of starting Improve It through a series of dares, and her passion for bringing joy and empathy to corporate environments. Additionally, they touch on Erin’s personal experiences as a mom, her struggles, and her learnings, offering valuable insights for both working professionals and stay-at-home parents. The conversation also includes a deep dive into the concept of radical empathy and practical exercises to foster genuine connections and understanding.
Topics From This Episode:
00:00 Introduction to the Podcast and Hosts
00:58 Welcoming Erin Diehl: Business Improv Expert
02:23 Erin’s Journey: From Childhood to Improv Comedy
03:52 Balancing Motherhood and Career
07:04 The Importance of Play in the Workplace
11:50 Implementing Improv in Corporate Training
18:05 The Power of Radical Empathy
29:26 Transformational Leadership Workshops
30:53 The Importance of Leader Participation
32:06 Introducing the Book: A Leader’s Guide
32:27 Applying Leadership Lessons at Home
33:49 Self-Love and Healing Journey
36:10 Big Wick Energy: Maintaining Self-Care
37:39 Connecting with Erin Diehl
39:04 Look, Listen, Learn: Recommendations and Reflections
Erin “Big” Diehl is a Business Improv Edutainer, Failfluencer, and Professional Zoombie. Through a series of unrelated dares, Erin created improve it!, a unique professional development company rooted in improv comedy, that pushes leaders and teams to laugh, learn, play, and grow.
She is the proud host of The improve it! Podcast, a Top 1% Global Podcast, which helps develop leaders and teams through play, improv and experiential learning, and first time author of the Amazon Best Seller & Top New Release: I See You! A Leader’s Guide to Energizing Your Team Through Radical Empathy.
Among her many accolades, Erin is most proud of successfully coercing over 39,000 professionals to chicken dance.
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Our delightfully happy intro and outro theme music, “We Will Get Through This” is performed by Young Presidents, and used under license from Shutterstock.
Transcript is auto-generated by a robot. Apologies in advance for misspellings or errors.
[00:00:25] Missy: Welcome to the mom and dot, dot, dot podcast, the podcast that helps you make your ellipses count. You know, all those dot, dot, dots that come after I’m a mom and I’m Missy Stevens, mom and dot, dot, dot writer, foster care advocate, and today the parent of a high school graduate. We’re all done. It’s very exciting.
[00:00:45] Susanne: One down, One to go.
[00:00:47] Missy: It’s right.
[00:00:48] Susanne: Well, and I’m Suzanne Kearns, momanddotdotdotwriter, LGBTQ, and sex ed advocate, and today, the parent of a high school student! Well, the eighth grade graduation is coming up. Complete. And I gotta tell you, the first kid did not have the eighth grade graduation. His school made it like a whole thing.
They walked across the thing and everything. Impressive.
[00:01:10] Missy: Pretty cute. Yeah, we didn’t get to do that with, uh, my oldest either. We didn’t really get to do eighth grade graduation.
[00:01:16] Susanne: I guess each principal gets to decide how fun they want to be.
[00:01:20] Missy: Yeah. Yeah. Well, we are really excited today to welcome Erin Deal to the podcast. Erin is a mom and dot, dot, dot business improv edutainer. Fail fluencer and professional zombie. Through a series of unrelated dares, which I want to talk about later, Erin created Improve It, a unique professional development company rooted in improv comedy that pushes leaders and teams to laugh, learn, play, and grow.
She is the proud host of the Improve It podcast, a top 1 percent global podcast, which helps develop leaders and teams through play, improv, and experiential learning. And a first time author of the American bestseller and top new release, I see you a leader’s guide to energizing your team through radical empathy.
Among her many accolades, Erin is most proud of successfully coercing over 36, 000 professionals to chicken dance. Welcome.
[00:02:12] Susanne: I
[00:02:12] Erin: Thank you. Thank you. I am a very proud chicken dance enthusiast. Um, and I’m excited to be here. I love the mom and that is, that is the best. That is the best ellipses I’ve ever, I’ve ever heard. And we’re, we’re all those things. And, and, and I’m here to talk about it.
[00:02:32] Susanne: Oh, well, we are so excited. I was just telling you as we were getting started that sometimes the world just brings us the right guest at the right time. And I feel like I am super in need of everything that you have to teach us today. But before we get into that, can you give our listeners a little Erin 101, kind of a snapshot of your career and your life leading up to where you are now?
[00:02:57] Erin: Yes, I’ll do a 101. I’m going to do cliff’s nose version. Okay. Childhood moved around a lot. Okay, but always in acting and a love of comedy, a love of home videos and being putting on a wig was like my favorite thing to do. And, uh, then college went to Clemson University, wanted to be a talk show host post college moved to Chicago to pursue Chicago to become Oprah Winfrey.
That did not happen, uh, but I found improv comedy and improv comedy became my passion and it became the thing that made me feel the most alive and the thing that when I watched other people do it, I saw sparks and I had what I call an aha, haha moment, which is. When the light bulb goes off and you’re laughing at the time.
And I said, I’m going to create a company that brings improv into corporate America and businesses and teams and helps them learn to be the highest versions of themselves through play. Improve. It’s been around for 10 years. We have a team of 22 amazing improv professionals, an internal team of six, and, uh, we are all over the U S.
Just wrote a book, as you mentioned, I See You, and that has been a wild journey. Through that all, my personal life, I’m a mom. I have a miracle baby boy. When I say miracle, like, lots of science, science backed baby boy, okay? And, uh, he is a five year old. We had some genetic disorders on top of the science, and proud to say he is extremely healthy.
Hearing, because our genetic disorder was hearing loss and deafness. Five year old, almost five year old, right now he’s a fournado, a four year old
[00:04:45] Susanne: Oh, boy. Yes.
[00:04:47] Erin: turns five in about five weeks. And, uh, yeah, it’s been a journey, all of it, but I would say, I would say out of all those creations, he’s my greatest one.
[00:04:58] Susanne: Oh, I love that. And the fournadoes. Oh, my gosh. I think both Missy and I, every time we hit these milestones, like they’re graduating the eighth grade, graduating the high school, it always ends up seeming to go back, like, into the photo albums, because usually the teachers are like, oh, for the slideshow, for this graduation, we need their baby picture, whatever.
And you can’t just look at a baby picture. You got to look at the twos and the threes and the fournadoes and the videos. And yeah, it’s UV.
[00:05:27] Missy: pictures now. Because I spent weeks making a graduation slideshow because. You go down the rabbit hole. You can’t just be like, well, that’s a cute picture. I’ll put it in. You have to look at every picture and you had, then you’re caught up in that moment again, and you’re reliving it all. And my mom said, you’ve been doing this slideshow for weeks.
And I’m like, because it takes like. A day to go through a year of pictures, at least because I just can’t so start a little file, set them aside and move over a little slideshow picture every so often so that it may be won’t take you weeks and weeks, but you’re still going to go down memory lane
[00:06:01] Susanne: oh, it’s so fun. But yes, you just have so, you have so many fun things and milestones ahead of you. I’m kind of jealous and excited for you.
[00:06:09] Erin: yes. He just graduated 4k last week, so he will be in kindergarten next year, which I am. I have already had tears about, um, but it’s okay. It’s supposed to happen. I know. And I’m like, okay, I can, you know, this is, this is going to be a big change for him and us. And, um, when I go back and like you said, I look at some of his videos and I just remember being in that moment and thinking, Oh my gosh, is this ever going to end?
Cause it was so hard. And now I go back and I’m like, I miss those moments. Why wasn’t I more grateful for those moments?
[00:06:51] Susanne: Yes.
[00:06:52] Missy: just being human. I think, yeah, you’re caught in the moment. It’s like, it’s, it is hard. And sometimes it’s not just that it’s hard. Like it’s highly unpleasant. Not all the moments are great.
[00:07:02] Susanne: Or boring.
[00:07:03] Missy: Yeah, then you can’t, you’re not supposed to appreciate all of it. I don’t think. Some of it’s really awful, but yeah, then all of a sudden it’s over and you think, where’s that little person?
[00:07:12] Erin: I know
[00:07:13] Susanne: Oh, my gosh. Look at us, Missy. We’re not, we’re not allowed to record the week after any important events that are.
[00:07:19] Missy: No. Yeah. I should not be recording anything today. I’m still in the emotional fog of it, all of it. So let’s pivot from our sweet babies and talk about your other child and prove it.
[00:07:32] Erin: Yes.
[00:07:33] Missy: One of our favorite quotes, and it is Brian Sutton Smith, but we heard it via Brené Brown years ago and she’s talked about it for years, is that the opposite of play is not work, it’s depression. And you teach leaders how to bring that play to work so they can avoid depression and burnout. We don’t even really know where to start with diving into all of this. It’s overwhelming, I think, to talk to people about embracing play in our culture that is so product driven. So where do you even start?
How do you find your clients and get them on board?
[00:08:04] Erin: Oh my gosh. Well, such a great quote, number one. Number two, the word play, I always have an intentional word for every year. So I always have a one word intention. And my word for 2024 is play. And I, and I’ll say why in just a moment, but I have a vision board specifically behind my little podcast studio I have right here.
It’s a closet. Okay. I’ve, I made a closet into a studio. Um,
[00:08:31] Susanne: true.
[00:08:32] Erin: Okay. Okay. I say studio to glam it up. I’m giving you behind the scenes, real deal. So, but behind me is a vision board, and I have the words PLAY just in giant letters. So I love that you started with this because it is literally top of mind for me.
Because I was, if you ever heard you’re the teacher who doesn’t do whatever you’re teaching, I was the teacher who wasn’t playing. I’m the improv expert who wasn’t playing. And I will say this, having my son, watching him engrossed in play every single day. Losing any judgment of what other people think, engaging with the people around him in pure joy is one of the greatest things to watch because what happens, and I know this won’t be forever when he gets older and when society takes hold and they say, Oh, drop the imagination, focus on real life, focus on the real world.
There’s going to be a mask that he puts on to hide. That beautiful mind that is there right now. And so what happens when we engage in play as adults is we’re actually activating to get a little psychological, our childhood selves. And we are letting go of the judgment of ourself, and we’re letting go of the judgment of others.
And so using improv as a teaching tool is, in my opinion, the greatest teaching tool because it allows us to drop that mask that society has placed on us to be a professional. To be show up in a certain way and it allows us to fully be engaged and be in the moment. I actually have a bracelet. I had to take it off because it dangles, but it says be here now.
And when you are focused in play, you were in that moment. And what’s so joyful about that moment is that’s what we’re here to do. Be present to our lives, to be in this body and to give to those around us moment to moment, but we don’t allow ourselves to do that. So full play allows you to be present and it allows you to drop that inhibition and that mask and our clients find us because the people, what is so wonderful is our actual clients, the people who booked this for their teams. Are the greatest people because they understand this concept and I created so many friendships out of our clients because they’re just great humans. They see how this could work. There’s not really a lot of convincing when you, when you put those vibes out and you attract them back. And, um, it’s my greatest, it has been the greatest joy of my career too. Watch the case studies unfold and watch the teams go into a room and watch them go in, let’s say it’s a group of 20. They walk in 20 individuals and they walk out this cohesive ensemble of human beings who have interacted together in a way that they never would have if play was not involved.
[00:11:48] Missy: Yeah.
[00:11:50] Susanne: Okay. So if we have any business managers out there listening, just thinking of the, they want to do this for their team. Like, what does that look like? Is it a whole day thing? Is it an hour? Is it a couple hours? Like, what should they be thinking? Thinking about what types of teams can benefit the most from this.
[00:12:05] Erin: So many. I know this is good. Okay, so here’s how we figure out because we have 10 different offerings. And each one is a different soft skill that we can help develop your team on. And each, each different soft skill has its own pre work. And the pre work is actually a comedic video that myself and team put together that is the opposite of what we’re going to teach you.
So the comedy comes in is this is how not to do.
[00:12:32] Missy: I
[00:12:33] Erin: is how not to communicate. This is how not to present. And then we show them through laughter. What that looks like, what the negative of that looks like, then we have a, uh, a survey, for lack of a better word, that we send to participants to understand what they want to achieve and what their challenges are with that particular soft skill.
Then we do something called a laugh break. Before we come in, which is short form improv over zoom. So we get them together for 20 minutes over zoom and we show them what improv looks like. And then we either do it in person or virtually. It’s a two hour session or it’s an hour and a half over zoom. If we’re in person, it’s two hours over zoom, an hour and a half. People are on their feet if we’re live in person. There’s no technology except for the screen behind us, which has a few words on it to guide the workshop and play is the forefront of everything we do. We use play to get to the thesis statement, to get to the objectives that we’re hoping to teach them on.
And it’s through that play that we show them what that active learning feels like, and then we debrief it. And that’s where the learning happens and the aha moments take place. And then we have an e learning course built in conjunction with every workshop to, to reinforce all the things we taught in the live session and help them add a few additional skills.
And that happens for three weeks post the live session. So we get really clear with the leader on what are their objectives? What do they want people to walk away with? What are their challenges? And most of the time we have a soft skill training workshop that can meet those. And we, we marry those together and the magic happens.
[00:14:15] Missy: think it’s incredible that you have created this business. And so I want to backtrack for a minute and talk about the series of dares. That got you here because I think it’s pretty fascinating that it came out of a series of unrelated dares, you say, because it’s so much more than simple improv.
Like you really have gone in and figured out how to teach people things to make their work better. It’s not just a game. So tell us about the dares that got you here.
[00:14:43] Erin: That’s so funny. I know I loved what you’ve called that out of the bio. That was so great. Nobody really asked me about that. So this is fun. So I will tell you, I started this idea when I was working at a recruiting firm in Chicago and I was doing business development. Now, first of all, I’d never done business development a day in my life.
Okay. I got this job. Um, and I wanted to be a dare because I wanted to be a talk show host. Oprah Winfrey at the time I had left her Oprah Winfrey show and was starting her own network, the Oprah Winfrey network own. And she had this reality show competition called your own show, where you could apply to be a talk show host.
And then the public would vote and they would say who they want to see as the top 10 people competing. So my friend dared me to enter this competition and I was like, duh, done. And we, we made a video, this is back, like Instagram wasn’t around. This was like probably 2008, 2009 era. Okay. Facebook was around, so I was getting everyone and their brother to get on Facebook and vote, vote, vote.
And I did make it into the second round, but I didn’t make it into the final. To get on the show. So I was dare number one. Then I decided at the job at the time I was working at Was not recruiting. I was working at a marketing firm and I was just tired of the rigmarole I was very burned out which I is I talk about this in the book itself.
I was extremely burned out and so I I did that. I was going to look for a new role. And at this time, another friend of mine was like, well, why don’t you just send your resume around and you know, we’ll figure out somebody to help you when you start sending your resume, send your Oprah video was the dare.
Okay. So this was how this went down. So I sent my resume with my Oprah video to a recruiting firm that I had worked at as an, as a temp. I was a temp at a temp agency. And my former boss. Now, former boss, I’m telling this story very, very not chronologically. The woman who hired me never actually interviewed me in person.
I had two phone calls and she loved my Oprah video and was like, I’m going to hire you immediately, which led me to a Full time job that was nine to five and I was able to do improv comedy six to midnight every day of the week I wasn’t traveling which is what was the majority of my life in this marketing firm So dare what number one was get on the oprah show dare number two Was send your oprah video along with your resume to get this job I got this job which led me back to improv which led me to improve it which Led me to this former boss jen d’angelo who is literally a chapter in my book I see you because she is the case Study for selfless leadership.
So that was a really great question, Missy. I need to get, I need the chronological order better, but that’s, those are the dares.
[00:17:47] Missy: pretty amazing. And I like that you can look at your life and go, this, this led to this, and this led to this. And we talk about all the time that there’s no wasted opportunity. There’s, there’s no. Um, nothing you’ve done, even if it didn’t feel like the right thing, nothing is a waste because it all leads to the next thing somehow.
[00:18:05] Susanne: Yes. And now I’m pivoting a little bit but in your book and on your website and things, one of the topics you talk about is radical empathy. And so I just, I’d never heard that phrase before. I was really intrigued by it.
So what does, what does that mean and how do we weave that into our everyday lives?
[00:18:27] Erin: Okay, I’m so excited you asked this question because it’s, it is the topic of my book, right? But it’s also something that I am so inspired by in everyday life. So, to me, empathy isn’t just putting on a pair of your shoes. Like, for example, I love Nike Dunks. Maybe, Suzanne, you like Nike Dunks. It’s not putting on a pair of your Nike Dunks and walking around with them.
It’s putting on a pair of your Nike Dunks, walking around in them, getting the blister, telling you what that felt like from my experience, and then understanding you on a deeper level. And there’s an activity in the book, because I use improv at the end of every chapter to teach every lesson. And it’s called empathy.
So if y’all are open to it, I would love to share this activity with you because it’s super, super easy and you can do it anytime, anywhere. Would you, would you humor me in playing along? It’s not hard. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, um, all right, Missy, can you tell Suzanne, a challenge that you have currently going on in your life.
In just a moment, Suzanne, your objective is to listen intently and then repeat back in the first person as if you are Missy, what her challenge is. So keep it just like one or two sentences. And then Suzanne, you repeat it back those one or two sentences in the first person.
[00:19:58] Susanne: Okay.
[00:19:59] Erin: Okay. Missy, here we go.
[00:20:02] Missy: All right. So summer just started and I am really struggling with having everybody in the house while I’m trying to get work done because it is noisy and I feel like I am not a very good mom in these moments because I am cranky with everybody for making noise while they’re just having their summer.
[00:20:20] Erin: Good. Okay. Suzanne, repeat that back in the first person.
[00:20:25] Susanne: I am struggling being able to get things done during the summer while there’s a lot of activity going around me from various family members.
[00:20:36] Erin: Yes. Okay. So, Missy, let me ask you this. How did it feel to hear Suzanne repeat back your challenge?
[00:20:46] Missy: Uh, Transcribed It’s really validating actually. Like I, I know that she was just repeating me. Like, I understand we were doing an exercise, but like, Oh, I’m not alone.
[00:20:56] Erin: Yeah.
Yeah.
[00:20:58] Missy: me. You also can say you are struggling.
[00:21:01] Susanne: Yes.
And it
is also very true.
[00:21:04] Erin: Yeah,
[00:21:06] Missy: That might help.
[00:21:08] Erin: but Suze, what was it like repeating it back? Missy’s challenge in the first person?
[00:21:14] Susanne: Oh, well, because I like to overthink things. I just wanted to make sure I really captured the hardship that Missy’s going through accurately. But I also, like I said, I have an office that is right next to the kitchen, which I always joke, the dogs will walk through. Two times out of their way to come through my office to get from the living room to the kitchen instead of just going directly through.
And now I’ve got my daughter home from college, and I’ve got my son off of school, and my husband works from home, and he comes and gets lunch in the kitchen. So yes, I was feeling her on a very cellular level.
[00:21:49] Erin: Yes.
[00:21:50] Susanne: Because I want to, I love being surrounded by all my people and having them like within arm’s reach, but I also need to be able to prep for a client call.
So yes, I obviously I, I took this to a very deep level in that
[00:22:03] Erin: No, this
[00:22:04] Susanne: I,
[00:22:04] Erin: great. This is great. But that’s that was empathy like that. So anytime you have a challenge or let’s say your your child or your teammate or your client has the challenge. This exercise is so easy. You can just filter it through your own lens and saying it will filter their challenge through your own lens by saying it in the first person.
And it allows you to connect on a deeper level and understand something that you might not have understood before. Because a lot of times we hear things transactionally, and this allows us to think about the human being, not just the human doing.
[00:22:44] Missy: I love that. And that’s what I love about improv. And I’ve dabbled in it a tiny bit. I took a class and I really loved how much I was able to take the yes and concept into my life because it is helpful in parenting. It’s helpful in relationships. But I wonder, so we were not prepared for that exercise, but we were prepared to talk to you.
We knew what we were doing today. We were excited about it. We’re all in. But if you came to work and told me unexpectedly, Hey, we’re going to go into this workshop and you and your colleagues are going to do some improv based learning, I think I would sweat a little bit, even, even though I’m an advocate for it. What’s it like to face a room full of people who maybe not are all in on this? Like how do you win them over?
[00:23:29] Erin: Oh my gosh, such a good question. Okay, so we’ve been doing, and trust me, you’re not alone in that feeling. And this is why our pre work exists. So we want them to get to know us. Sometimes the people in the video aren’t the facilitators, but they at least get to know who we are. And then they also see from the survey that we care about their growth and we care about their challenges and their objectives.
Then we also love to have that laugh break ahead of time. Virtually. Laugh breaks are only virtual. And even if everybody is in the same office, we say, Hey, get on your own zoom. So everybody has their own little box and that way they can see we try to make sure the same facilitator for the laugh break is the same as it is for the workshop.
So they get to know us another level and we say we’re not going to do this exactly in your live session, but you get to see how improv works. And so they’ve got two warmups to it. And then by the time we get in the door, there probably are, I would say, 50 percent of the people have some trepidation. So we spend the first 20 minutes of every workshop, warming them up, creating a safe space, letting them know the chicken dance is something we do in every workshop, by the way.
So we chicken dance collectively, not one person, everyone is chicken dancing. And we crown an improv chicken champion at the End of every workshop because this person is the most enthusiastic and committed chicken dancer. Um, because every time we say the word improv, we chicken dance and that just sets the tone right there.
We’re going to break, break it down. We’re going to kind of go from a low risk activity to a high risk, but the first 20 minutes is always warming them up, creating the safe space, letting them feel the positive vibes, letting them know we have their back and letting them know that we have, they have each other’s back.
This isn’t just us facilitating. They’re actually more of the workshop than we are, because we’re just facilitating the energy, right? They’re doing it. And so it, it is transformational. I have had hundreds of thousands, maybe thousands at this point of workshops. There was one time that there was one person who was so uncomfortable.
I mean, she was so uncomfortable and she left and that’s okay. And that is real. That’s real. And that’s, and I realized in those moments too, this has nothing to do with what we’re teaching. There’s, there’s so much beyond that. So I, you know, went out, made sure she was okay, gave her a hug and she had to leave and go on.
That is a one time instance in 10 years. Everybody
[00:26:03] Missy: good record.
[00:26:04] Erin: Yeah. I mean, it just, it’s, and I’ve had so many clients who have trepidation. One of my clients one time was like, he was the head of this consulting firm and they had all 100 consultants in Chicago at the same time. He’s like, Aaron, I’m going to lose my job next week when you come in.
He was like this, and then at the end, he’s hugging me, everybody’s high fiving, everyone is in the best energy, and he was like, what, what do you need? I’ll give you a testimonial. Give, I’ll do any client, you know, referral you need. What do you need? So it, it, it does take that opportunity to break down walls for yourself.
in order to make it work, but we guide you through that.
[00:26:45] Susanne: I mean, you must see some incredible aha moments within these companies. And so I’m curious. What they’re bringing you in there for may not be the thing that you discover in the end as the thing that they really needed you for, but like, what are some of the main common threads that you’re seeing within company cultures that is causing people to think they need you and then also what you realize in the end, what they really needed you for.
[00:27:14] Erin: Totally. Well, I want to, I’m going to address that first part and then I want to talk about what you realize at the end because I have so many thoughts on that too. But what people usually reach out to us the most for? Interpersonal communication in a hybrid work environment. That is like the number one.
How do we communicate? So we have an effective communication workshop. How do I create culture in a hybrid work environment? Team building is a workshop we offer. We have a lot of sales teams, too, that we work with. So we offer things like networking and presentation skills. They want to improve their executive presence or their presentational presence.
We work with a lot of emerging leader groups, and so we have a leadership workshop. So how do we get this group of high potential leaders to see big picture is another big challenge. We also have. So we have companies that might have gone through a merger or an acquisition and people are hearing, well, this is the way we always do it and they’re resistant to change.
So we have a Taking Initiative and Creative Risks workshop. We work with a lot of intern groups and it’s those interns. Groups are really like a sell for the company. So they want to do something outside of the box to retain and attract the talent. So we have an intern workshop. Um, it we also have a vision setting workshop that’s really popular at the beginning and end of the year that helps teams get aligned and prioritize and cast goals in a different creative way.
So I could keep going, but those are, I would say the high level. And then the ah, okay, the aha moments at the end of a workshop are wild. So what is so cool is we always tell leaders, you have to be a part of this. You can observe, like, if you’re going to lead this, you can’t sit on the sidelines and just, you know, take notes.
That’s not how this works because people feel judged. So they have to be a part of it. And what happens Is that these participants, teammates start speaking up. They start saying things that you wouldn’t hear. And I’m not talking about bad things there. You’re, we use positive reinforcement as the end result, as the goal to drive every communication forward.
But what a leader hears in these two hours is more than they would hear in a one on one like it. Truly people are so guided and pushed to think good. Higher higher picture higher. They’re just pushed to a higher consciousness is how I like to say it They’re thinking with love versus fear. That’s the goal.
And so what? leaders walk away with with participating in a workshop with our teams is transformational information that can activate and cultivate and attract and retain talent and maintain or Enhance their culture. So You can have a CEO and an intern in the same room, and that CEO is going to walk away with more value than that intern because they’re listening actively to what the participants say.
[00:30:25] Missy: kind of got chills when you talked about it because how often in a work environment are you able to do something like that where everyone is together and you’re not feeling judged and you’re not feeling like, well, the boss is over here being the boss and now I’m doing the chicken dance, you know, like you’re doing the chicken dance with your boss and that has bound to open something up pretty amazing.
[00:30:49] Erin: Thank you. Yeah. And it, it, you know, okay, I’m going to call out my dad for a minute. My dad, love you, dad. My dad ran a business for a long time. It was a home repair business. And this was early days of improve it. And it was just me. And normally we have a lead facilitator and a co facilitator, but I just did this for my dad and his, um, his group of technicians.
My dad was on his phone. The entire time he was like talking to people whispering, and I had to go up to my dad and say, this isn’t working because you’re not doing the work. And he finally got involved and off his phone and in and people bought in then, but the leader has to buy in, it has to come from the top and the ones that don’t, it doesn’t work as well.
And we’ve had to kind of guide that conversation before a workshop happens to make sure leaders know, like you’re not just sitting on your phone. You are here. You’re doing it.
[00:31:54] Susanne: So important.
[00:31:56] Missy: So important. Yeah. We want to.
[00:31:59] Susanne: we only have a couple minutes left. So I want to make sure we talk a bit about your book,
[00:32:04] Missy: Yes. We’ve got to get
[00:32:05] Susanne: which we’ve kind of touched on with some of our topics. But I see you. It’s a leader’s guide to energizing your team, which sounds career specific. And I know we’ve been talking about a lot of in office stuff.
But we also have a lot of stay at home moms who listen to the podcast. And I do think that what are stay at home moms other than leaders of a home team? I mean, so, uh, so how can, or how would you recommend, you know, these stressed out stay at home moms use lessons from the book? In their day to day lives, even if they’re not technically managing an in office team, it’s their in home team.
[00:32:46] Erin: Oh, okay. This is the most full time job of all full time jobs. Okay. And I have so many friends who are stay at home moms. And we always talk, the grass is not greener on this side and their grass is not greener. We always go back and forth because there’s some days I want to burn it all down and be a stay at home mom.
Let me tell you
[00:33:07] Missy: Yeah.
[00:33:08] Erin: that. But I also love what I do. And I also know how hard it is. Um, you know, how hard it is to be a parent and how much energy that you are giving to these people who need, like, they don’t just want you, they, they need you. Yeah. And it can be the most energetically draining job to do this all day long with little to no breaks, praying for a naptime.
I mean, the days that I’m home full time with my son, I know how hard it is. And so. This book is actually written, and I preface this in the preface of the book, a leader is a leader of a home, a leader of an organization, a leader of a community, a leader of a team. And when you don’t give to the most important person in your life, you first, you’re doing a disservice not only to yourself, but to the people that, that need you, your family.
And I Talk about the very beginning of the book and the reason just to give you full picture why the book is written. I went through a really big self healing journey myself. I was going through a period of time I called the three P’s, which was I was pivoting my business. I was people pleasing, which is a lifelong pattern that I was trying to destroy but reared its ugly head.
And I was in pain and I wasn’t talking about like Out I stumped my toe pain. It was chronic pain in my back and my shoulders that I later found was because I had these unprocessed emotions from my years of infertility, the pandemic that took away my business, my new identity as a mother, my new identity as this Giver to this important life that I just conceived but also to my friends my family my team my clients And I didn’t know how to stop.
I just gave and gave and gave until there was nothing left and the very first part of the book is all about self love part one is called self love because You have to give to yourself in order to be The best version of yourself for everybody else and there’s all those cliches saying you can’t pour in others cups if your kettle is dry Put your own oxygen mask on first, but they’re so true and I was living breathing proof of this And so once I started to process all of these things My physical pain did go away in the very beginning of the book part one is giving you six chapters With tangible activities at the end of every one to help you give more to yourself understand what it is you want out of your life and Keep the candle flame high So you don’t burn out.
I call it having big wick energy. Okay. I said wick and
[00:36:06] Missy: I like that.
I’m stealing that.
[00:36:08] Erin: yes,
I better. That should be a book title. Big wick energy.
[00:36:13] Missy: And you need to trademark it right now. Like when you’re done
[00:36:16] Erin: Okay. Okay. That might be the next book. I don’t know. But, um, Yeah, that is. And so stay at home. Mom’s listening. I just want to give you the most love because you have such a full time job that never gets an off switch and you deserve to give to yourself.
It is not selfish to give to yourself. It’s actually a need. It’s a need. It’s a necessity. And so. I am just for, for your audience listening, just pouring this love into you. And I hope that today you listen and you give to yourself at some point today, whether it’s a walk, a 15 minute nap, or a journaling moment in your day.
There’s so many different ways to give to yourself, but you have to slow down and listen to even understand what that is and what you need. Yes. Yes. Yes.
[00:37:09] Missy: Right. And the fact that it can manifest itself in chronic physical pain. I think there’s a lot of people walking around carrying stuff like that and we do, we deserve to feel better.
Oh, amazing. Okay. Well, we could talk for hours because there’s still so much more I want to talk about, but I want to respect our time.
And so before we jump into look, listen, learns, tell our listeners the best place to find you and especially if they want to connect with you to hire you.
[00:37:38] Erin: Oh, that’s so sweet. Well, you could go. I think the best place is my website. It’s Erin Diehl. It’s D I E H L dot com. It’s Erin Diehl dot com. And the book links will be there. You’ll get links to my show, the Improve It podcast, and all my Instagram. I like to have a lot of fun on the grammy gram and that’s at it’s Erin Diehl.
So that’s where I hang out the most. So please come over and say hi and, um, just know to, I, anyone listening, I would love to, to make sure that they know where to get the book. And we also have a book club freebie that we’re giving away. If you want to start a book club, we have a checklist that they can go through on how to start your own book club for friends, family, but this is an awesome way to give to yourself by putting this timeline together.
Getting a book club together. It doesn’t have to be ICU, but any book, because that’s an awesome way to give to yourself and to allow yourself some time for you.
[00:38:39] Susanne: Oh, and what a great one to do a club with.
[00:38:42] Erin: Yeah.
[00:38:43] Missy: It would be a great one. And now’s like a nice time for people. Like maybe you have a little window of time in the summer, like start a book club.
[00:38:50] Erin: Yes. Yes.
[00:38:52] Susanne: Love it. Okay, so it is time for our look, listen, learn. This went too fast y’all. Oh,
[00:38:57] Missy: Way too fast.
[00:38:58] Erin: So fun.
[00:38:59] Susanne: But these are always a fun thing to wrap up the show with each week We share something that we have been either watching, reading, listening, or all the above And so that maybe if you’re looking at something to add into your own entertainment list for the summer, uh, you can pull from there.
And we do not like to put our guests in the hot seat. So Missy, you want to go first with your look, listen, learns?
[00:39:24] Missy: All right. I meant to bring a book in here. I did not. But I’ll. We’ll throw a picture of it in the show notes or the, the links will be there, but I just finished reading Harlan Coben’s newest. I love Harlan Coben, um, and his newest is a new one in his Myron Boletar series. And Myron is one of my favorite characters of all time.
Uh, so that was fun. I read it in like two sittings and just hung out with Myron and his crazy crew of people that he works with. Um, so the book was called Think Twice. I don’t think I said it. Um, So just finished reading that, and I am also listening to a book. My listen is Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez, who’s, this is my first of Abby’s books to listen to.
I’m not very far into it, but it is so delightful. So I highly recommend it. It’s a great summer read, um, or listen. I’m really enjoying listening to it. Um, And I already kind of talked about my learn. My learn is that I’m once again, learning how to do summer. I forget every year how to do summer and I’m always really excited, but then it catches me by surprise that it’s chaos here.
And there’s people in and out of the house who don’t live here. I woke up this morning and there was someone who doesn’t live here on my sofa and it’s. I am happy they’re here. I’m
[00:40:34] Susanne: hope someone knows who they are.
[00:40:37] Missy: yeah, several. I mean, I know them actually, but they don’t live here. And, um, you know, they’re just around.
And so my learn. Is that, um, it’s noise cancelling headphone season. I can put those on. I can still hear enough. If there’s an emergency, I can hear it. But I can actually focus because I have the same office situation you do, Suzanne. It’s near the kitchen. It is a pass through and no one thinks twice about passing through and talking to me.
No matter what it looks like I’m doing, I can look very busy and very serious. And I’m like, what’s for dinner or, you know, or can you wash this? It’s dirty. You wash it. You fix dinner. Like I
[00:41:20] Susanne: same life. No wonder I empathize so much for your repeat
[00:41:25] Missy: made it very easy for you.
[00:41:27] Susanne: Oh my
[00:41:27] Missy: yeah, I highly recommend the noise canceling headphones.
[00:41:29] Susanne: I need to get this. I’ve
[00:41:31] Missy: those are an outward symbol that like, Hey, she might be working, like, They don’t really care. They will still stand in front of me and be like, Hey, but it stops them a little bit.
[00:41:40] Susanne: They just yell louder.
[00:41:42] Missy: Yeah. Yeah. Like, I can’t hear you.
I can’t hear you.
[00:41:44] Susanne: I’ve got the ones that are like supposed to be for jackhammering, and they still don’t work. But they, I need to get some that are
[00:41:52] Missy: Yeah. I get like the, you know, the bows or whatever.
[00:41:55] Susanne: But if nothing else, they are that outward symbol of just like, I’m trying to have it quiet even if these aren’t cutting it. This is
[00:42:03] Missy: think they think I’m just listening to music or something. I’m like, I’m working.
[00:42:08] Susanne: should just mark them up with, like,
[00:42:12] Missy: Flags that say like, I am busy.
[00:42:15] Susanne: Oh my goodness. And then I really don’t know how to let the dogs know, but that’ll be phase two. Phase two. Oh, what about
[00:42:24] Missy: to. What about you, Aaron?
[00:42:26] Erin: Oh, I love this so much. My cheeks are like really raw right now. Cause I was just smiling so hard. You definitely need to get those headphones and I need, we need to make signs. Okay. There needs to be signs. Okay. I love this because, okay. What I’m reading first, right? What I’m reading. Look, look, is
[00:42:41] Susanne: what, it could be, if you’re
[00:42:43] Missy: it can be
[00:42:43] Susanne: at a piece of art on the wall, it could be whatever you’re looking at.
[00:42:46] Erin: Well, I just, this is timely. I just finished an amazing book called Change Your Schedule, Change Your Life, and the subtitle is How to Harness the Power of Clock Genes to Lose Weight, Optimize Your Workout, and Finally Get a Good Night’s Sleep. And I think we were talking about this earlier, about the perimenopause.
It’s real. Um, and I, I have read this book, and I’m trying this new schedule. And. It’s actually been working. I’m on day two. So I’ll report back after after 60 days, but I just finished it. So that’s awesome Listen, I also listen to audible. I love listening to books and I finished Jamie Kern Lima’s book worthy
[00:43:27] Susanne: Hmm.
[00:43:28] Erin: Okay, it is a long one.
It’s about it’s about a night listen not gonna lie However, I have I have sent physical copies of this book to so many girlfriends It is a book for women about worthiness, and she says that 80 percent of the women in today’s world do not feel worthy, and she sort of changed that. By the way, she is donating every proceed of the book to charity.
So,
[00:43:53] Missy: Well, I’m going to buy a copy for myself and everyone I know.
[00:43:56] Susanne: That’s amazing. I just wrote it down.
[00:43:59] Erin: So good. And what am I learning? This one is a little tough, but I, I’m actually taking a digital course right now. Um, I’m all about women supporting women. And my dear friend, Judy Holler is a keynote speaker as I am too. And she created this digital course called speaker school that I’ve been taking.
And she’s, Even though I’m a seasoned keynote speaker, I’m learning some new things. I’m making some adjustments. It’s so great. And Judy’s energy is so good. So I would highly recommend that for anybody who’s listening who might think about public speaking or dabbling into that. But I love digital courses.
I’m kind of like, that might be my toxic trait. I’m always taking a digital course.
[00:44:44] Missy: I love them too. I love them. I don’t necessarily always do the thing that I learn. Like I might learn it and then move on, but I like to learn new things.
[00:44:51] Susanne: It, it went somewhere into your brain and I think it impacts you even if you don’t think it does.
So
yeah,
[00:44:57] Missy: Like eventually it might come to fruition somehow.
[00:45:01] Susanne: love
it.
Okay. I wrote all those down.
[00:45:04] Missy: Yes. Yeah. I want to share that course with everybody.
[00:45:07] Susanne: Yes.
[00:45:08] Missy: All right. Well, what about you, Suzanne?
[00:45:10] Susanne: Okay. My look, I’m going to have to send you a really funny picture because my look is I am obsessively looking at my bird feeder. I’m like, I’ve gone full.
[00:45:24] Missy: age,
[00:45:24] Susanne: Yes, we are bird feeder age, and I just saw a funny meme about that too, but was I, when I was looking up, because in addition to my bird feeders, now I want to get a bird bath, which is a whole thing in Texas, because it can dry up in about two seconds, because it’s so hot, and also can become a big deal.
mosquito breeding ground. So now I’m looking at mosquito proof birdbath fountains and the whole thing. But one of the images on Amazon, I mean, it was just, It’s, I guess, AI created, I don’t know, it’s just a bunch of random like parrots and robins and whatever. And she’s just like, ah, looks like maybe she might be going to like catch one of the parrots.
I don’t know. But it brings me so much joy, this silly picture. So I’m going to have to share that with you makes me giggle all the time. But yes, I’m looking at my bird feeders, and I’m just so pleased that there are actually birds at them. And let’s see, I am listening to a new song. station, you know, how your Apple music and stuff can create stations based on a song.
Uh, when we were coming home from our bat tour, another fun thing to do in the Austin area, uh, during the summer, my brother and his wife and their two daughters were in town this weekend. And so my little niece was like, we need to Just like my daughter took my phone is like, you know, searching up her own music to play on the ride home.
And it is a song called Treehouse by Alex G, which I’d never heard of. And, but I just went ahead and built a station on it. And then when we got home, we put it on the Sonos. We did a station with it too. And my daughter came down for breakfast the next day. I was like, why are we listening to good music now?
So, apparently, my music before was not good, and, uh, this one is good if you have some multi age. I mean, so we’re talking like from the tweens to the teens and above into college age, seems to be. And I really enjoyed it, too. So, Good People Pleaser Treehouse by Alex G. basis station on it and you get some good stuff.
And what am I learning? Oh, I’ve learned, I mentioned that we were driving home from the bat tour. Um, so you get on the boat when it’s 100 degrees and then you sit on the boat and you just kind of putter around Lady Bird Lake until the bats are supposedly supposed to come out. And I’ve been there before when the bats do come out, lots and lots of them.
Um, apparently it is not in May that they do that because we sat there and sat there and you know you’d see a few come out and they’re like oh those are the scout bats. I think it might have been too windy.
[00:48:08] Missy: Oh, maybe.
[00:48:09] Susanne: They said that
[00:48:10] Missy: The weekend was really windy.
[00:48:12] Susanne: once they get started it’s like a nine hour or something non stop. Stop loop of flying.
So like they need to make it worth their while to actually go out. And so, and I also learned from this tour that in August is when they have babies. All the bats in the Congress Bridge are pregnant, pregnant ladies. They go to Mexico
[00:48:35] Missy: they don’t want to go and fly because it’s hot and they’re pregnant. They’re miserable.
[00:48:40] Susanne: it. Oh my God. Okay.
I learned so much. And I, my son gave me a great demo of this with some Wendy’s chicken nuggets yesterday because I also learned that the bats are the size, they’re the Mexican something,
[00:48:54] Missy: Mexican free tail.
[00:48:55] Susanne: Thank you, free tail bats. Um, they’re the size of a chicken nugget. Their bodies are, but their babies that come out are one third the size of a chicken nugget.
[00:49:05] Missy: One third of their body is
[00:49:06] Susanne: One third of their body comes out and then they’re, They are umbilical tied for the next month, while the baby nurses I know!
[00:49:18] Erin: This is what, this is bad news.
[00:49:20] Susanne: I know. This is I learned a lot.
[00:49:22] Missy: This is Batty.
[00:49:23] Susanne: This is Patty. I learned a lot. And the reason I learned a lot, and we did not see a lot, and we had two very disappointed nieces, um, but our tour guide, uh, it was Christy Vera.
In front of the Lone Star Bat Cruises, and I don’t know if y’all watch Parks and Rec, but she’s officially the April Ludgate of tour guides,
[00:49:45] Erin: yes. Yes.
[00:49:46] Susanne: was epic. I don’t know if it was an act or if this is her, but it was worth every penny, even if we never saw a bat. She’d just be like, So you guys in the hotel lounges?
Like, hotel has a good one. And she’s
[00:50:06] Erin: Oh
[00:50:07] Susanne: just, oh my god. She looked like her. She talked like her.
[00:50:11] Missy: Oh, I want to book her.
[00:50:12] Susanne: And she is a comedian too, I guess, and model. And she’s, uh, Got like, we looked her up on Instagram with us. That’s when, you know, you got a good tour guide when you come home and you look them up on Instagram and find their life story.
Um, I don’t know how you guarantee that you are on a Christy Vera boat, but look up her Instagram and then look for her and then get on her boat. Um, but oh my God, she just made it priceless and obviously conveyed a lot of amazing information about bats, even though we did not see hardly any. But
[00:50:43] Missy: Aww.
[00:50:44] Susanne: worth the tour, even if you don’t see them.
[00:50:47] Missy: Yeah. Well, now you know where to look for them. Like, I see them all the time now because you’re kind of aware. Like, we did a bat unit in the first grade with my now sophomore, but I still remember a lot of that and I know where to look for them and
[00:50:59] Susanne: Yeah. And you can hear them. You could hear them and you could smell them. You just, they didn’t want to come out. It’s too windy. I said, I’m
[00:51:06] Missy: Don’t
[00:51:06] Susanne: with you, mama. Don’t come out here. It’s windy. Exactly. All right. Well, that is all our Look, Listen, Learns. And oh my gosh.
[00:51:15] Missy: so good. Thank you, Erin.
[00:51:18] Erin: Thank you both. This was so fun. I love your energy. I feel honored to be here. Thank you for having me. This was so fun.
[00:51:26] Susanne: Thank you. I, I needed this today.
[00:51:30] Missy: when it, when it’s going to be out. I don’t know our schedule, but we’ll let you know when it’s going to be out. We can’t wait to share this with the world.
[00:51:36] Susanne: Yes. Oh,
[00:51:39] Erin: Everyone should leave you a five star review right now. I’m going to do it right
[00:51:42] Susanne: you know, we’re
[00:51:43] Missy: Erin’s lips to the reviewers ears.
[00:51:45] Susanne: Exactly. I mean, it’s the easiest thing to do and we forget to do it for some of our favorite podcasters, too.
[00:51:52] Erin: Right?
[00:51:53] Susanne: you’ve inspired me to go do a couple for some of my faves,
[00:51:56] Missy: Yeah. Every once in a while I have like a review afternoon where I sit and I send out some reviews cause it is easy to share and puts out some good juju in the
[00:52:05] Susanne: we’ll do a little review for the book, too.
[00:52:08] Erin: Thank you. Y’all are the best. Thank you. This was so fun.
[00:52:12] Susanne: well, thank you. And everybody, I mean, talk about look, listen, learn. We got some serious learns from you today, so I really, really appreciate your time. This is fantastic. All right.
[00:52:23] Missy: afternoon.
[00:52:24] Susanne: Have a great one, everybody. Bye bye.
Thank you so much for joining us for the mom and dot, dot, dot podcast. We hope you enjoyed today’s show. And if you know someone else who could benefit from the episode, please be sure and share it with them. And while we’re begging, please subscribe and rate us wherever it is you listen to podcasts. You can find links to all the things we discussed today in our show notes or over at our website, momandpodcast.
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Show Summary:
Join hosts Susanne Kerns and Missy Stevens on the Mom &… Podcast as they talk with Dallas Woodburn. Dallas is an award-winning author, book coach, and podcast host who helps women around the world write and publish their heartfelt stories. In this episode, they explore practical tips for finding time to write amidst busy lives, the importance of small kindnesses, and how community and support can aid in the creative process. Dallas also dives into her various book projects and how she balances her professional and personal life.
Dallas Woodburn is an award-winning author of fiction, nonfiction, and plays; an in-demand book coach; and host of the Thriving Authors Podcast. She has helped dozens of women around the world write and publish the books inside their hearts to grow their businesses, grow their impact, and grow their legacies.
Dallas’s debut YA novel, The Best Week That Never Happened, was a #1 New Release on Amazon, a Featured Bestseller on Apple Books, and the Grand Prize Winner of the Dante Rossetti Book Award for Young Adult Fiction. She is also the author of the motivational writing handbook Your Book Matters: 52 love notes from my creative heart to yours; the YA novel Thanks, Carissa, For Ruining My Life; and the short story collections Woman, Running Late, in a Dress and How to Make Paper When the World is Ending. Her novel Before & After You & Me and nonfiction book 1,001 Ways to be Kind are both forthcoming in 2024.
A former John Steinbeck Fellow in Creative Writing, Dallas has received the Cypress & Pine Short Fiction Award, the international Glass Woman Prize, and four Pushcart Prize nominations. Her short stories have appeared in ZYZZYVA, The Nashville Review, Louisiana Literature, North Dakota Quarterly, and many other journals, and her nonfiction has been published in Family Circle, Writer’s Digest, The Writer, The Los Angeles Times, Modern Loss, and more than two dozen Chicken Soup for the Soul series books. Her plays have been produced in New York City, Los Angeles, South Lake Tahoe, and Maryland. Dallas lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay Area in a comfortably messy house with overflowing bookshelves.
Connect with Dallas:
Thriving Authors Virtual Summit: Coming up! August 12-16 (follow her on social media for details & updates)
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Transcript is auto-generated by a robot. Apologies in advance for misspellings or errors.
Learning from Our Emotions with Jennifer King Lindley
Jul 18, 2024
July 11, 2024 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 140 / Guest: Jennifer King Lindley
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Show Summary:
In this episode of the Mom &… Podcast, hosts Missy Stevens and Susanne Kerns welcome back Jennifer King Lindley to discuss her new book EMBRACE YOUR EMOTIONS. The conversation explores the significance of understanding a broad range of emotions, and how that contributes to overall well-being. Jennifer shares insights from her research, the benefits of journaling, and practical tips to identify and navigate through various emotions. The episode also delves into personal anecdotes, the challenges of school graduations, and the societal pressure of constant positivity. The hosts and their guest conclude with recommendations on books, music, and personal experiences, providing listeners with an enriching dialogue on emotional awareness and mental health.
Topics From This Episode:
00:42 Introducing the Hosts and Their End-of-School-Year Chaos
01:34 Special Guest Jennifer King Lindley: Exploring Emotions and Her New Book
03:02 Embrace Your Emotions 101: Understanding the Spectrum
20:19 The Power of Journaling and Emotional Exploration
30:37 Practical Tips for Emotional Awareness and Management
36:30 Embracing Emotional Complexity
36:46 Favorite Writing Prompts and Emotional Exploration
38:02 Childhood Emotions and Learning to Express Needs
40:42 Harnessing Positive Emotions and Playfulness
42:18 Facing Uncomfortable Emotions for Growth
43:26 No Excuses: Embracing Both Dreams and Fears
44:19 Finding the Book and Embracing New Chapters in Life
47:37 Look, Listen, Learn: Sharing Personal Discoveries
Jennifer King Lindley is an award-winning health and wellness writer and editor. She’s been providing content for national magazines and digital publications for more than 25 years. Her writing has been published in Real Simple, O, the Oprah Magazine, Parents, Martha Stewart Living,Good Housekeeping, Health, Family Circle, DailyOm, and many other print and digital publications. Jennifer has written about everything from rent-a-chickens to fear of clowns, but specializes in service pieces on topics such as relationships, psychology, and health. She won a National Magazine Award in the “personal service” category. For more than a decade, Jennifer was a staff editor at the late-lamented New Age Journal, later reincarnated as Martha Stewart’s Whole Living. (She still doesn’t know what color her aura is…) She also served as executive editor of Dr. Andrew Weil’s Self Healing, a national health newsletter covering integrative medicine. Jennifer graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in English and has an MA in English Literature from Boston College.
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Our delightfully happy intro and outro theme music, “We Will Get Through This” is performed by Young Presidents, and used under license from Shutterstock.
Transcript is auto-generated by a robot. Apologies in advance for misspellings or errors.
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Show Summary:
Navigating LGBTQ+ Parenting and Advocacy with Heather Hester
In this episode of the Mom &… Podcast hosts Susanne Kerns and Missy Stevens talk about parenting with a focus on LGBTQ+ advocacy. They welcome Heather Hester, founder of Chrysalis Mama, and author of PARENTING WITH PRIDE, to discuss her journey, her book, and her podcast, Breathe: Parenting Your LGBTQ+ Teen. The conversation explores essential parenting techniques, such as listening actively and validating children’s feelings, as well as practical advice for creating a supportive environment for LGBTQ+ teens. The episode also provides vital tips on what to say and not say when someone comes out to you, and the importance of unbiased allyship.
Topics From This Episode with Heather Hester:
00:00 Introduction to the Podcast
01:03 Meet Heather Hester: Advocate and Author
02:30 The Shingles Vaccine Tangent << most accurate AI generated description ever.
04:35 Heather’s Journey: Supporting an LGBTQ+ Child
07:28 Creating a Safe Space for LGBTQ+ Kids
13:08 The Four Pillars of Parenting with Pride
31:13 Empowering LGBTQ+ Youth
36:34 Challenges in LGBTQ Advocacy
38:07 How Allies Can Support
40:33 Connecting with Heather
41:07 Look, Listen, Learn Segment
58:48 Concluding Thoughts and Farewell
Look, Listen, Learn
Susanne:
Susanne’s middle-of-the-night intruder (shout out to Ring video doorbells and cameras)
Don’t go outside when you hear search helicopters – listen to find out why!
If you’re looking for Heather’s podcast episode about how to be a good ally, click here – it’s episode 125.
Connect With the Mom &… Podcast
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Our delightfully happy intro and outro theme music, “We Will Get Through This” is performed by Young Presidents, and used under license from Shutterstock.
Transcript is auto-generated by a robot. Apologies in advance for misspellings or errors.
Subscribe and Review wherever you listen to podcasts!
Show Summary:
In this episode of the Mom &… Podcast, hosts Susanne Kerns and Missy Stevens introduce guest Brendan Hansen, a six-time Olympic medalist and renowned swimmer. They discuss Hansen’s illustrious swimming career and accomplishments, including his role as team captain of multiple U.S. Olympic teams. Hansen shares his journey from childhood swimming in Pennsylvania to becoming a leading figure in the sport. The hosts and Hansen delve into parenting insights, emphasizing the importance of water safety, fostering resilience in children, and the significance of maintaining a growth mindset. Hansen also discusses his current role as the Director of Team Services at USA Swimming, and his experiences raising three daughters while advocating for their empowerment and participation in youth sports. The episode wraps up with the hosts and Hansen exchanging personal recommendations in their ‘Look, Listen, Learn’ segment.
00:00 Introduction to the Podcast
01:04 Meet Brendan Hansen: Olympic Swimmer
02:44 Brendan’s Early Swimming Journey
05:47 The Importance of Being Coachable
13:18 Growth Mindset and Perseverance
22:47 Challenges in Youth Sports
30:26 Raising Strong-Willed Daughters
32:05 The Rise of Women’s Sports
32:39 Instilling Confidence and Resilience
34:30 Behind the Scenes: Olympic Stories
34:45 The Power of Belief: Katie Ledecky’s Journey
38:28 Engaging Corporate Speeches and Leadership
39:23 Look, Listen, Learn: Personal Insights
45:46 Fun and Educational Family Activities
50:27 Concluding Thoughts and Farewell
Connect With the Mom &… Podcast
Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts! If you’re so inclined to give us a 5-star rating, we’ll love you forever. Who couldn’t use a little extra love?
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Voting Rights: Why You Need to Know Crystal Mason’s Story
Apr 26, 2024
April 26, 2024 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 95 / Guests: Shellie Hayes-McMahon and Crystal Mason
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Show Summary
This episode originally ran on March 25, 2022. Last month, Crystal was finally acquitted. In the words of her attorney:
“Crystal and her family have suffered for over six years as the target of a vanity project by Texas political leaders. We’re happy that the court saw this for the perversion of justice that it is, but the harm that this political prosecution has done to shake Americans’ confidence in their own franchise is incalculable.”
Defense Attorney, Alison Grinter Allen
It’s election year y’all. Know your rights, and remember what a privilege it is to vote.
Shellie Hayes-McMahon and Crystal Mason joined us this week to talk about advocacy and education around voter’s rights and voter suppression. On the Mom &… Podcast we frequently talk about how much influence moms have, and this week’s guests are two incredible examples of this influence.
We talked about convoluted laws and complicated processes that make it difficult – and often impossible – for all people to vote. Crystal shared her story of being arrested and jailed for casting a provisional ballot. Shellie encouraged us to get involved at a local level, to learn the laws and rules, and listen to women of color. She implored us to educate ourselves and then speak out. We talked about ways to get involved – starting with voting – and eliminate voter suppression and voter intimidation.
This episode left us reeling, and more than a little angry. And yet, we are encouraged by advocates and champions like Shellie and Crystal. Change is not going to come easily, but if enough of us speak up (and… vote!), change can happen.
Shellie is a fierce advocate for women from all walks of life stepping into roles of power. Currently Executive Director – Finance and Operations at Planned Parenthood Texas Votes. Shellie was Director of Operations for Annie’s List, is Co- President for Political Action of Black Austin Democrats, Senior Advisor and Treasurer for the Williamson County Democratic Party and a Williamson County Precinct Chair. Shellie sits on the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters Central Texas and the Barbara Jordan Leadership Institute. She is a 2020 Leadership Austin Graduate, 2020-21 NLC Mentor, and an Ordained Minister. Shellie is a frequent political contributor for Pink Granite and The Rabble. Before joining Planned Parenthood Texas Votes Shellie spent 30 years in Management, as well as running for office in 2018. Her belief is that the most vulnerable in our society must be protected and the best way to do that is by electing more pro-choice, progressive women to office.
More About Crystal
Crystal Mason is the founder of “Crystal Mason The Fight” foundation. The foundation is dedicated to fighting against voter suppression. She has a personal story of trials, tribulation and triumph, and through that story, she has become the face of Voter’s Suppression. In
2016, Crystal did what any noble American would do: she cast her vote at the ballot box hoping to be the change that she wants to see. Instead, she was given a five-year prison sentence after casting a provisional ballot that was ultimately rejected. Crystal is adored by her family, friends and colleagues. She is a mother, grandmother, and successful business owner. If asked who she is, Crystal will tell you, “I am a rehabilitated felon that believes
Crystal’s foundation is dedicated to helping felons who are transitioning back into the world. Specifically, Crystal’s goal is to offer education and guidance as it relates to voting rights. Crystal wants to ensure that all people know when they can vote, why they need to vote, and the importance of voting. Crystal helps teach people the importance of understanding who they are voting for, and having a good grasp on policy interpretation. Crystal’s motto in this fight is: “You are not defined by the word felon. You have a voice and with Crystal Mason the Fight your voice will be heard.”
Connect With the Mom &… Podcast
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Our delightfully happy intro and outro theme music, “We Will Get Through This” is performed by Young Presidents, and used under license from Shutterstock.
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Show Summary:
In this episode of the Mom &… Podcast, hosts Missy Stevens and Susanne Kerns dive into a comprehensive discussion about wellness practices, with a special focus on acupuncture and Eastern medicine. Their guest, Charleen Whipple, a native of Colorado with an extensive background in sports medicine, nutrition, and Chinese medicine, shares her journey from being a competitive dancer to founding The Point Wellness in Round Rock, Texas. Charleen educates on the benefits of acupuncture, debunking myths around the practice and explaining how it can aid in treating various health concerns including anxiety, inflammation, and pain. The discussion also covers managing a brick-and-mortar health business, the synergy between different wellness practices, and the accessibility of alternative medicine through health insurance. Furthermore, the hosts and Charleen explore topics like the impact of ‘tech neck’ on children, managing staff in a wellness setting, and the personal touches that make wellness treatments more approachable, such as the use of panic buttons during acupuncture sessions. The episode also touches on personal and professional development through courses, the importance of supportive communities in business, and the broad application of wellness practices for both physical and mental health improvements.
Topics From This Episode:
00:15 Spring Break Adventures and Changes
01:07 Introducing Charlene Whipple: A Journey into Acupuncture
03:06 Demystifying Acupuncture: Does It Hurt?
06:26 Acupuncture for Everyone: Beyond Pain Relief
18:34 The Business of Wellness: Starting and Running a Clinic
21:26 Navigating the Challenges of Small Business Ownership
26:34 Managing a Team: Lessons Learned the Hard Way
28:35 Spring Promotions and Cryotherapy Treatments
29:24 Personal Experiences with Cryotherapy
30:28 Finding a Trusted Practitioner
31:30 Acupuncture and Wellness Journeys
33:34 Look, Listen, Learn Segment: What We’re Into This Week
Huberman Podcast (Host notes: since recording this episode, Andrew Huberman has been the subject of an article in New York Magazine, claiming he has some credibility issues.)
Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, Charleen emerged from a tight-knit Italian family, where communal bonds were as strong as the Rocky Mountain air. Beginning her journey in competitive dance at 5, she continued this passion through college, pursuing dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Sports Medicine and Nutrition at Colorado State University, while also dancing with the Colorado Eagles along the way. Following graduation, Charleen followed her calling into holistic healing, earning a degree in Chinese medicine from Colorado Chinese Medicine University in 2012. Launching her entrepreneurial path in Denver, she later resettled in Austin, Texas, where she honed her practice within a chiropractic clinic, amidst milestones like marriage and motherhood. In 2021, Charleen’s dream clinic became a reality, marking the culmination of years of dedication, and today, she remains poised for the future with gratitude and anticipation.
Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts! If you’re so inclined to give us a 5-star rating, we’ll love you forever. Who couldn’t use a little extra love?
Leave us a message – via voicemail or use our form – with your questions for experts, or suggestions for future episodes.
Check out our website, where you can find links to all the things!
Our delightfully happy intro and outro theme music, “We Will Get Through This” is performed by Young Presidents, and used under license from Shutterstock.
Transcript is auto-generated by a robot. Apologies in advance for misspellings or errors.
[00:00:00] Missy: Welcome to the mom and dot, dot, dot podcast. The podcast that helps you make your ellipses count. You know, all those dot, dot, dots that come after I’m a mom. And I’m Missy Stevens, mom and dot, dot, dot writer, foster child advocate, and this week’s spring break prepper.
It’s our last spring break with two kiddos living at home. Crazy,
[00:00:29] Susanne: And it’s our first spring break with just the one kiddo. And
[00:00:36] Missy: And now we’re sad.
[00:00:38] Susanne: I’m Suzanne Kearns, mom and dot, dot, dot, writer, LGBTQ and sex ed advocate. And this week I’ve been so busy with work that I forgot that it is spring break next week. And we are doing. Just the one kiddo dragging him along because we spent all of our spring break budget on sending Zoe to L.
A. with her roommate For an awesome week, so the rest of us are going to Marfa. We’re going to Marfa and Big
[00:01:06] Missy: One of my favorite trips ever was Big Bend. Yeah, I will have to talk when we aren’t on the clock and I loved it so much.
[00:01:13] Susanne: Okay, I’m gonna get notes
[00:01:15] Missy: Yeah, I’m so, so excited this week to talk to our guest and full disclosure, I talk to Charlene all the time because her therapist and Charlene have been instrumental in getting me back into fighting shape.
so I get to see her at least once a week, but now we all get to talk to her today. And I’m so thrilled for her to share her knowledge with all of us. Charlene Whipple is a native of Colorado and she attended Colorado State University and studied sports medicine and nutrition. And then she later went on to go to the Colorado Chinese Medicine University, where she graduated in 2012.
And now for the last three years, we’ve gotten to have her here in Round Rock, where she owns the Point Wellness. And we will talk all about that as we go on today. Welcome.
[00:01:58] Susanne: Welcome you. Excited to be here. Oh, well, so excited. And I, I, this is my first time meeting you. I don’t get to see you every week. So I definitely need, and our audience needs, a Charlene 101. So can you tell us a little bit about your career path and how you got to where you are today?
[00:02:16] Charleen: Yes. So I actually always have been in the sports world. I was a competitive dancer growing up, grew up in a family of all boys, with cousins and all of that. So sports has always been my passion. And so when I graduated from Colorado State with sports medicine, I ventured into, do I want to go into PT, OT, chiropractic, and nothing really held my interest until I talked with my current acupuncturist that I was seeing at the time and just fell in love with Chinese medicine and the fact that I can treat the entire body, not just the physical ailments that were going on.
It’s a mind, body, spirit. and started acupuncture school, which was actually a lot more difficult than I ever imagined. so did that and started in Denver. And then my husband and I moved down here in 2013. So I’ve been practicing. I did a solo practice for about seven years. And then in 21, my husband pushed me to open my dream clinic.
And we have been open here for about three years now.
[00:03:14] Susanne: Very cool.
[00:03:15] Missy: So you mentioned that you had an acupuncturist who piqued your interest in all of this and the word acupuncture, I think freaks people out. So I wanted to talk a little bit about what it is. Why it works and does it hurt? Because I do it every week. I know the answers to a lot of these questions because I do it every week or every other week.
but when I tell people I do it, they’re like, Oh my God, that sounds so painful. So I want to talk a little bit about the why behind it and what it is, if you can share that with us.
[00:03:45] Charleen: Absolutely. And I’ll share a little bit on the eastern side and the western side because sometimes when people hear the eastern side of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, it gets a little woo woo for them, a little out there, but there is a good
science behind it that people can actually understand. And it’s a little bit tangible.
So the theory and the basis behind Chinese medicine is that the body can heal itself. We have everything that we need to, to heal ourself. We just have obstruction. Those obstructions can be physical, they can be mental, they can be emotional. So our job is to identify those obstructions and break them free.
Let the body do what it needs to do. And we do that with a number of things, whether it’s cupping for muscle stuff or acupuncture for the internal. We also work with Chinese medicine and herbs. So there’s a whole array of things that we can do. So a typical session is usually when an acupuncturist or Chinese medical doctor will identify what’s going on based off of your symptoms and all of that.
And we usually start out with some muscle work, some palpation, all of that to see where everything is stuck. And then we use acupuncture needles. So I always like to tell people, I actually did this experiment in school because I didn’t believe them, but you can fit 30 acupuncture needles in one hyperdermic needle that a doctor would use.
So that kind of gives you a gauge on
how big the needles are.
[00:05:03] Susanne: heh.
[00:05:04] Missy: tiny.
[00:05:05] Charleen: so they’re super teeny tiny. You can actually bend the needles. They’re not stiff enough or thick enough that they’re, you know, you can’t bend them. They are pliable. So they are super tiny. And most of the time when we do a traditional treatment with acupuncture, you might feel a tiny pinch when the needle goes in, but after that you shouldn’t feel anything.
And most of our patients, Missy, if you can attest to this, most of our patients fall asleep on the table. So. Yeah, it’s very relaxing. It’s a very like it works with the energy. So when we talk the eastern, it helps with the energy blockages, helps open everything up, allow the body to heal and do what it needs to.
From a western side that people can attribute a little bit more knowledge, some tangible too, is when you puncture the skin with a needle, you are actually creating what we call a micro injury. So you are injuring the body. That puts the body into a healing process. So you’re creating a micro injury. It actually takes your body out of fight or flight.
shuts off that sympathetic nervous system and puts it into parasympathetic so that the body can heal. Now that is one of the hardest things for people to do nowadays just with our society with everything go go go is a lot of people can’t shut off that fight or flight system and acupuncture actually forces the body to do that.
So that’s one of the ways that it helps the healing process is it actually forces the body to shut off fight or flight because you’ve now created an injury. So now it’s going to go into the restaurant store to help that body.
[00:06:33] Susanne: Oh, interesting. Okay. So I usually typically think of acupuncture of like, okay, I have something that hurts here, or it’s something that you’re trying to heal or recovery. But say you’re just one of those people where everything feels pretty good, but
[00:06:48] Charleen: Does that person exist?
[00:06:50] Susanne: yeah, exactly. But like aches and pains wise, you’re in good shape, but maybe anxiety or just like you said, they’re just a person who lives in the world and, you know, has that fight or flight.
So that is something that you don’t necessarily have to have, like an acute pain or something specific, an injury that you’re treating.
[00:07:12] Charleen: Absolutely. And those are some of my favorite treatments or what we call maintenance treatments. You’re coming in just to keep everything nice and open and relax and take your mind off of stuff for an hour. And yeah, so definitely for stress and anxiety. I’ve been diagnosed with high functioning anxiety since I was 18, and it’s something that I can tell like when my body gets to that point, like I just need to shut off that nervous system so that my body can do what it needs to do and bring everything out of fight or flight.
[00:07:39] Susanne: Ooh, can you acupuncture yourself?
[00:07:41] Charleen: You can. you can. And I do regularly. I have two acupuncturists that work with me, but there are times that I just need to do. And one of the good systems for people who are anxious about acupuncture is called a regular acupuncture. So it’s actually all done in the ear. So you don’t have to lay down.
You don’t have to be still. Cause some people are like, I can’t lay there for an hour, but you can actually do a full acupuncture treatment with just the ear,
[00:08:06] Susanne: Okay, now that might sound even scarier to people. Are you, like, putting the needles in the, like, where, where
[00:08:10] Charleen: just like on the side, like right in here, it just goes on
the outside. So not in the ear.
But where you would get piercings, I’m sorry, where you would get piercings, you can actually do acupuncture.
[00:08:20] Susanne: Okay, I just wanted to clarify that for anybody who’s like, and what you can do is you can put them in your eyeball. Oh, that’s very interesting. Okay, because yeah, that might be for some people who are a little hesitant. Yeah, that laying down is kind of a submissive position. If you’re like, no, I still kind of feel in control. If you’re seated and kind of do that baby step.
[00:08:42] Missy: And Charlene gives you a panic button when you’re lying down. So, like, before she leaves the room, she tucks this little button under my hand, and I’m always afraid I’m accidentally going to do it, because I have never once panicked. I mean, I check completely out, it’s an out of body experience. I am not in the room with myself when it’s going on, but I’m always afraid I’m going to accidentally, like, fall asleep and twitch and hit that button.
But you do have a panic button if you are worried about lying there with needles in you.
[00:09:08] Susanne: No, any treatment that involves lying down, I’m all for.
[00:09:12] Charleen: Yes.
[00:09:13] Susanne: I might just book an appointment just to come take a nap on your table. That would be
[00:09:17] Charleen: Just a nap pod.
[00:09:19] Missy: I’ve been begging for the treatment plus nap package so that when my treatment is over, then I can just sleep for like 20 or 30 minutes because it’s so relaxing.
[00:09:28] Susanne: Oh, I’m going to have to try it. And I definitely, yeah. I’m curious, well we’ll probably have to talk afterwards, my mom’s been having a lot of trouble with sciatica and she’s tried just about everything else and I feel like, let’s try one more thing.
[00:09:43] Charleen: Absolutely.
[00:09:44] Susanne: so aside from the acupuncture, you’ve got the massage services also?
And what, what else could, what else could we take advantage of there? Are those the primary buckets?
[00:09:55] Charleen: we actually have, so we have acupuncture and massage. We have manual stretching. Then we have a cranial sacral and Reiki therapist. We have an infrared sauna and we have a cold plunge.
[00:10:08] Susanne: Oh my gosh, cool.
[00:10:10] Charleen: And then we do have another company that works with us that does all the vitamin injections, vitamin IVs, Botox fillers, the whole shebang.
So they’re a little bit separate, but they’re out of our clinic.
[00:10:21] Susanne: So how does that work then if someone is just like, something’s not right, I don’t even know what it is. Do you do an initial evaluation, decide what’s, what mix of all those things they need?
[00:10:32] Charleen: yeah, people can come in and just schedule an initial consult. I’ve done them over the phone, I’ve done them via email. And they’re like, you know, I have this problem going on. Can you tell me the best route? And those usually go through me just because I know everybody’s specialty, all of that, and then I kind of help them decide.
And sometimes it’s a combination of, you know, start here, let’s see how you respond to that treatment, and then we’ll move to X, Y, Z.
[00:10:57] Susanne: you’ve got two of us, we, we only fit one demographic of the 50 ish year old women, the menopause ladies, uh, we’ve got all different ages that listen, but I’m curious if you at this day and age what common things are you seeing in patients or do you call them patients clients? What, how do you refer to them. Okay.
[00:11:19] Charleen: don’t have a specific term. So we do work. A lot of our patients are injury related or pain. crossfitters are a big part of our clientele, people that work out anything weightlifting. we do get a lot of post surgery patients. To help with swelling, lymphedema, we take care of all of that.
sadly we have a lot of kiddos that are now starting to come in with neck and shoulder pain. Just the phones, the computers, all of this is
[00:11:48] Susanne: Oh my goodness.
[00:11:51] Charleen: we have coined a new term called Tech Neck. It’s that, you know, everything being forward, the kids are starting to get a little bit more of that hump earlier and earlier.
so we have started working with kids earlier and earlier on, neck and shoulder pain and also anxiety. Anxiety has been a huge KickUp, I would say over the last like five to six years.
[00:12:11] Missy: I bet.
[00:12:12] Susanne: Probably, yeah, probably for all age groups.
[00:12:15] Missy: Yeah. I feel like some of us are starting to feel it creep back up again, right about now. Oh,
[00:12:20] Susanne: as I’m like, Oh, does my kid have a tech neck?
[00:12:24] Charleen: It’s, you know, but it’s everybody. Now, you know, when you say you don’t have pain, I guarantee you everybody has some type of neck and shoulder tightness just because everything we do is forward.
The computers, the phones, even when we sit, a lot of times if you’re stressed in tension, your shoulders naturally come forward.
[00:12:42] Susanne: Yep.
[00:12:42] Missy: this and I feel myself like trying to
[00:12:44] Susanne: I know. I’m like, Oh,
[00:12:46] Missy: I’m like, cause I’m sitting here kind of hunched over.
[00:12:48] Susanne: know, I was just talking to some friends about this. And I think, I don’t know if it’s a woman thing, or if it’s a women with double D cup thing. But, I mean, I think I’ve also done that besides the tech, besides the stress, because it feels really weird as a woman to be like, here they are, here they are, world, and I, I don’t know. It’s, it’s just a weird thing to stand with correct posture. You feel like you’re posing, but I did just go and, uh, one of my friends was going back to work after maternity leave. So we celebrated with a little spa day and I got a massage. And that lady was, she probably needed a massage after my massage.
She literally, it was the first time someone ever got up on the table. And like, she was like kneeling on my butt and doing stuff. Uh, I needed to recover from it the next day, but she was saying that very much. She’s like, I can tell you are
[00:13:46] Charleen: forward.
[00:13:47] Susanne: doing this. And granted, there’s probably, I could list 20 things that do that, but mostly as I’m walking throughout the day, it is just because I don’t know, growing up, we were.
Not necessarily taught to just be like, yeah, throw those shoulders back and get the girls out kind of thing. So, I don’t know, I guess put them
[00:14:07] Missy: know. I think women, a lot of times we make ourselves small
[00:14:11] Susanne: Mm hmm.
[00:14:12] Missy: for whatever reason. That’s probably different reasons for all of us, but something about us doesn’t want to take up space and it’s just something we have to unlearn. Like take up the space and if you got double D’s, let them have their space. I want to talk a little bit about this. I mentioned this to you, Charlene. We can’t talk about services like this without talking about the great privilege it is to be able to get them.
Like, I feel very fortunate that I have access to this. you take insurance. which is amazing. So my insurance covers some of it. I have this crazy high deductible plan, so it covers less of it at the moment. But last year, when I had a major surgery, my treatments at the point were free for a while to me.
so that is a privilege. I have that insurance. I’m able to utilize it. I’m able to pay the copay that I need to pay right now. Are you seeing trends where Western medicine is starting to embrace these kinds of treatments and more people will have access through insurance? are there ways out there for someone who maybe doesn’t have the greatest insurance to find some sort of care like this?
[00:15:21] Charleen: So unfortunately, it is a slow go with insurance companies covering it, but they are even in the 10 years that I’ve been in practice more and more insurance companies are covering it and one of the big forefront leaders is Medicare and a lot of insurance companies go off of Medicare guidelines.
Now, Medicare does cover acupuncture now, but here’s the kicker.
They don’t cover it if it’s done by an acupuncturist. So there’s, we have lobbyists that are working, to overcome that, but Medicare is now covering acupuncture, which means everything else will start to fall in line. and become more available. The VA now has acupuncturists on staff, and we all know the VA is horrible about timely manner and getting people the care that they need.
So the VA is now starting to contract out to other acupuncturists that can take TriWest and TriCare. So although it is a slow process, we are making a lot of headway for that to become available to more people. And if they can’t afford a our treatments or more one hour treatments with an individual so they are on the pricier end, there are a lot of acupuncturists and we’re going to incorporate this into our clinic hopefully by the summer where you can find community acupuncture places.
So these are places where it’s not as You can’t do all the cupping and all the other stuff that we do in a one on one treatment, but you would walk into a setting where there’s like anywhere from five to six chairs set up and all the acupuncture is done elbows down and knees down and we can do the acupuncture in a group setting.
So then you’re not charged as much because the acupuncturist can make up that revenue because they’re treating six people at once.
So a lot of those are done on a sliding scale.
[00:17:09] Susanne: So it’s almost more like a mani pedi setup where you’re all in this communal area. Interesting.
[00:17:16] Charleen: So there are
clinics like that, um, where you can make it more affordable, but we are making headway. It’s just really slow.
[00:17:24] Missy: Yeah. Yeah. So I want to go back to this just briefly because this is not a podcast about insurance, but insurance drives me bananas. Um, if Medicare is not covering acupuncture done by an acupuncturist, where are they, what do they want people to do? What, what are they
[00:17:40] Charleen: are there are chiropractors that are trained in acupuncture.
And there are MDs that are trained in acupuncture, so they are actually Medicare providers, so they can bill.
[00:17:50] Missy: Oh,
[00:17:52] Charleen: the thing is, I actually cannot, like, to bill Medicare, not to get too detailed, but you actually have to have, like, a certain ID number.
I can’t even apply for an ID number, because acupuncturists can’t be providers through Medicare.
[00:18:04] Susanne: Got it.
[00:18:05] Charleen: So, it’s a whole, a whole thing. And it breaks my heart, because those are some of the people that need acupuncture the
most.
[00:18:11] Susanne: Yes.
[00:18:12] Missy: And I’ve just learned how much Medicare is driving other, like I had to get compression garments and it was all messed up. I don’t have Medicare, but Medicare changed something and all the other companies are following suit and everything’s a disaster. And anyway, it’s someone I’m sure has a podcast about health insurance and we need to go listen to it because it’s freaking mess.
Oh,
[00:18:39] Susanne: get me started. I’m very interested about this.
I was going to ask just about starting a business, like a brick and mortar business, because I’d still want to talk about that. But as someone who has a daughter who’s very interested in maybe pursuing physical therapy or this round and very interested in health and all these health and wellness, very curious how one becomes an acupuncturist or anything around Eastern medicine.
[00:19:06] Charleen: absolutely. So there are Austin actually has a school down in north Austin for acupuncture. But it is like I said, it was a lot more intense than I actually planned on going back to school for. But our curriculum that I went through in Colorado is a three year, 3. 5 year program all year round. So it is nine trimesters.
And with that, you learn all the acupuncture points, all the Chinese massage, all the herbs, treatment protocols, diagnosis. We actually have to learn, um, pharmacology also to make sure none of our herbs interact with medications that people are taking
and the counteractions of all of those. But yeah, it is an intense school.
It’s a university. So it’s not a bachelor’s degree, but you have to have certain prereqs done. In order to go and then it is full on three and a half years and that includes your clinicals though. So we did do clinical rotations and so that does include your clinicals.
[00:20:05] Missy: It’s amazing when you go in and say, so this hurts and also Charlene’s amazingly patient because I never walk in and say, well, it’s my shoulder. It’s tight right here. I’m always like, well, my shoulder’s tight right here and I’m not sleeping and I have a lot of anxiety and I’m also a little constipated and I feel sort of tight, you know, like I list a thousand things and she’s like, we got it.
[00:20:23] Susanne: And she probably touches a part of your elbow and is like, it’s all right there.
[00:20:28] Missy: Right. And she will put a needle somewhere. And I, I have at times felt something somewhere else in my body at that moment, but more often than not, I leave there and I’m like, Oh, Oh, like this place that was tight is loosened up and there wasn’t necessarily a needle there. So it’s really fascinating at what understanding of how things are all connected.
[00:20:49] Susanne: is all connected. Okay. So that, okay. So that’s how you start to. pursue a career, but, it’s one thing to have the degree or to have the certification and then to actually start a business. So, I mean, especially this is not something you can do virtually. You can’t do tele, I mean, you can do the consultation like you said, but this is definitely hands on.
AI is not going to be taking your job anytime soon. Um, so. What is that process like? That’s so intimidating to me. Anytime we talked in the last episode about signing a lease for my daughter’s apartment next year, and even that I got a little tense about. So what is it? What does that look like when you’re starting a brick and mortar business?
[00:21:35] Charleen: So starting that is, I would say the first thing you have to do is always have your support system and that’s not necessarily a business support system. It’s everything on the personal side because it is more work than you could ever imagine. And it takes a lot of energy. And if you don’t have that support system, I can tell you right now in the three years that we’ve been open here, I’ve wanted at least shut down two or three times.
[00:21:58] Susanne: Yeah.
[00:21:59] Charleen: And so it’s a lot. So that support system is the biggest piece for me, having that, but really looking for the demographic that you want to work with, where they are situated and then especially this clinic that I opened. So when I was at the chiropractic office, it was just me. I rented one room. I didn’t have any crazy overhead and it helps that I was able to build the business like that.
And then when I opened this clinic, my clientele literally just followed me down the road. but, you know, like you said, with the apartment lease, I was locked into a three year lease here.
And, you know, I’m downtown Round Rock. My rent for my building is three times the amount of my mortgage.
[00:22:44] Susanne: Yeah.
[00:22:45] Missy: Yeah.
[00:22:45] Charleen: is terrifying.
[00:22:46] Missy: It’s terrifying.
[00:22:48] Charleen: it is terrifying, but really looking for, you know, to get started is where do you want to be? What’s the clientele you want to work with? And then really finding out the logistic of like, how much room do you actually need? Because you can start too small and outgrow the space too quickly, or you can start too big and then, you know, have to pay for overhead that you’re not using.
So that’s really fine tuning, working with someone who’s done a brick and mortar business before in that industry or in a similar industry to help you get a grasp on. all of that, but it’s terrifying and find a coach, find a coach, find a coach, find a coach.
[00:23:28] Missy: Yes. We want to talk about that. How did you find a coach?
What did you look for?
[00:23:32] Charleen: one of the big things for me was, you know, I needed a coach that didn’t necessarily have the skills that I did. I don’t need somebody to tell me how to do acupuncture. I needed somebody to help me structure my business, what type of clinic I was looking for.
And then also somewhere that I still fail. And I’m working on is the social media. I am not good at social media. I am not consistent with it. I am not knowledgeable about it. And so that’s kind of where that came into play. And also somebody that’s
[00:24:03] Missy: I don’t relate to that at all.
[00:24:05] Charleen: yeah,
[00:24:07] Missy: at the social media.
[00:24:08] Susanne: I did a pose today, Missy. It looks like someone’s grandma did it. Anyway,
we
[00:24:15] Charleen: so really just finding somebody or a coach that excels somewhere where you’re like. so for me, that was Shailene and Brock’s Marketing Impact Academy, talking about finding your niche, honing in on that, looking for your ideal clientele and expanding from there. Because like I said, I didn’t need the acupuncture help.
I needed the building, the clientele, and the practice, and the social media help.
[00:24:40] Susanne: So what does that coaching, the cadence of that look like? Is it really heavy up front? And then you have like a maintenance that you meet with them on a regular basis, or are they a regular part of your life? How does that work?
[00:24:53] Charleen: So, regular part of my life, but a lot of their academy and their clinics are all done virtually at your own pace. So there are times when I have downtime that I’ll go through several classes and courses and then I do like that I can go back and revisit when I need to, but then definitely the weekly check ins, the monthly check ins, you know, all of that that can be tailored to what I’m working on at the time.
[00:25:18] Missy: And they help with things like the financial side of it. I can’t just, just this idea of having to bill and get people to pay you and deal with insurance and plan that out so that you have the money you need to pay your rent on this three year lease. Like, did someone walk you through all of that?
[00:25:35] Charleen: So not necessarily the business coach and that, and I hate to say it, but a lot of that’s been trial and error, and I’ve learned the hard way over the last 10 years. Um, my brother and my mom were both accountants. So I had some guidance on that, but I learned the old school way by trial and error, and I still to this day, I’m like, why, why am I doing this on my own?
Who’s letting me do this on my own? So,
[00:26:02] Susanne: That reminds me, our taxes are due this week, Missy. I need to do that. So, who was it that we just had on? Well, we didn’t just have on. We just released the episode for recently that was talking about fractional CE, no, fractional CFOs. Um, so that’s probably similarly. I mean, you have the business coach for certain things, but then have this more of the accounting support.
So it takes a village. It takes a village of professionals. Oh, so I was curious it sounds like it’s been. it’s been a real roller coaster. what are some lessons that like looking back, you wish you had known or that you had done differently?
[00:26:42] Charleen: one of the big things that I still struggle with to this day is when I did my own thing, it was just me for seven years. That was my business. I had no knowledge or preparedness for managing a team. And that is probably what I still struggle with to this day. So depending on what your business is going to look like, taking those steps to learn, I did not do enough education.
I did not do enough prep on what it would take to actually manage a team. I thought everybody would come in and do their job. No big deal, you know, and that is not the case whatsoever. So
that I wish I had more. Forewarning of,
[00:27:27] Susanne: Yeah, I don’t think you’re alone. Love, I think it was Lovey A. J. Is that, what’s her name? You know, Lovey
[00:27:33] Missy: Lovey,
[00:27:34] Susanne: So I think it was Lovey that I saw a post from yesterday that it was, I’ll have to share it.
It was basically she said, sometime I’m going to write a book that captures. Over the years, the tens of thousands of dollars that I have lost from employees that did not, you know, they didn’t sign the thing right, or they didn’t check the box, or they didn’t do this, or they left some client engagements, you know, in a bad situation that ended up harming the business.
And just people who don’t care for your business as much as you do, which I mean, I guess is natural. It’s your baby. But, you’re not alone and she’s like smarty pants, knows everything, millions of followers, writes all these books and you know, it still happens to her. So yeah, I can imagine for any small business owner, managing a team like that can be a real challenge.
[00:28:28] Charleen: Absolutely.
[00:28:29] Susanne: Oh my goodness.
[00:28:30] Missy: but we do want for, I know that some people are listening and they are too far away to take advantage of this. So we recommend finding someone in your community that has these services, but for people who can.
Absolutely. Get to Round Rock or live in Round Rock. Do you have any promotions or events that are coming up that you want to share with our audience?
[00:28:48] Charleen: we do. So right now, for the start of spring, we are running a promotion that is $60 for any 60 minute treatment at our office. So for a one hour treatment, we’re doing it at $60. And then we just launched a huge campaign last week that we are bringing in an amazing therapist that is going to work on cryotherapy toning.
So it is a permanent fat loss using cryotherapy. So there’s no downtime, there’s no surgery, anything like that. Just helping people if they want to lose a couple inches before summer. Um, and it’s a pretty cool treatment and it also helps with body inflammation and all of that good stuff. So we are launching that.
And we have some specials going on with that as well.
[00:29:33] Missy: Yeah. And if it sounds like voodoo magic, I did it. I took advantage of a entry price and did a session and I lost two inches around my waist. Two. Yes,
[00:29:45] Susanne: Where does this stuff go?
[00:29:47] Missy: I don’t know. You pee it out, basically, right, Charlene? Basically, you’re just The fat cells, you flush them out.
[00:29:53] Charleen: Yeah. So you actually, when you freeze them, you create damage to the fat cells and then it creates what I call fat trash. And then your body with a lymphatic drainage with leaves and infrared sauna, a vibration plate that your lymphatic system helps to flush all those out.
[00:30:10] Susanne: Oh, I want to
[00:30:11] Missy: crazy, so I’m saving up my dollars so I can do the whole, like, the whole, it’s multiple treatments. But yeah, I did an intro thing and thought It was amazing and it’s short, it takes no time and it sounds like it would be really cold and it’s not, it’s not not cold, uh, but it doesn’t last very long.
So it’s not miserable. You’re not uncomfortable during it before you know it, it’s over.
[00:30:35] Susanne: Oh my gosh. Okay. So now I have, I have another question for people who are outside of our area. what should people be looking for when they are looking for a practitioner? to make sure, I mean, is there some seal of approval or accreditation or certification that they should be making sure people have?
Okay.
[00:30:55] Charleen: Absolutely. So, um, besides three states, Texas being one of them because Texas likes to be an oddball, most
states require that the acupuncturist is nationally certified. So, we usually have a national certification and then usually have a state or local certification. So, definitely making sure that your acupuncturist is nationally certified and all that you can look up online.
You know, you can go to the National Acupuncture Association and search for a practitioner and make sure that their license is valid.
[00:31:26] Susanne: Great.
[00:31:27] Missy: very good advice. You don’t want to go to a quack. I mean, even though the needles are tiny, you still don’t want somebody who doesn’t know what they’re doing, just randomly sticking them.
[00:31:37] Susanne: Oh my gosh. Well, this, okay. I think I might be being converted. I’m kind of, I’m not necessarily afraid of needles, but I’m just afraid of, I’m afraid of the unknown.
[00:31:47] Missy: Right.
[00:31:47] Susanne: Yes. So this is, this has calmed a lot of fears. I think I’m ready to give it a try. And I don’t even necessarily have anything that hurts except for my crippling anxiety and just like, and dealing with life.
But other than that, um,
[00:32:03] Missy: it’s been instrumental in my sleep improving,
[00:32:05] Susanne: Oh, Ooh.
[00:32:07] Missy: my sleep improvement has been a slow and steady process, but I think this has really been part of it. And I, for the longest time, I wasn’t having trouble falling asleep, but I was having trouble staying asleep.
And. Yes, I still wake up, but I wake up and just sort of assess that like, it’s still nighttime. I’ve got to go back to sleep and I’m back to sleep, which is amazing. Amazing. And I think this is part of it. Like, so it can do, you don’t have to be hurting to go in. Like there’s a lot of your body systems that need a little tweaking now and then,
[00:32:36] Susanne: Mm hmm.
[00:32:37] Missy: acupuncture is a great way to do it.
And then of course, at the point you can also follow that up with, I sit in the sauna sometimes, which feels amazing. I fell asleep in there yesterday as a matter of fact. I
[00:32:49] Susanne: I’m sensing a theme.
[00:32:51] Missy: know, I mean, it’s awfully hot to fall asleep, but I had, it’s Bluetooth connected. And so I put on the book I’m listening to and, yeah, I woke up and thought, wait, how did he get there?
What happened? What, what’s
[00:33:02] Susanne: my gosh. That’s me. That’s like when I was reading over a story and I was like, how did anybody, everybody end up in the top of a tree? I don’t know.
[00:33:09] Missy: I was really like, wait, we’re driving where now to do what? I don’t know. I’ve got to go back and figure out how that happened. Um, but yeah, there’s all these other things going on at the point that, Um, kind of the work together and the massage is really wonderful. So I highly recommend finding somewhere in your community that can offer this to you.
[00:33:25] Susanne: Awesome. Well, and since we have our, a lot of people listening in our community, uh, before we go to the Look, Listen, Learns, can you share like your website or where people can find you really easily?
[00:33:36] Charleen: So on any social, it’s just at the point Wellness. And then our website is the point wellness.com
[00:33:42] Susanne: All right. So with that, let’s jump into some Look, Listen, Learns and for new listeners. What’d you do?
[00:33:49] Missy: We did really well on
[00:33:50] Susanne: I know. We’re amazing. And we also, we also wasted a lot of time. So we’re doing extra good. We’re still getting back into the group. We’ve had a
[00:34:01] Missy: really are.
[00:34:03] Susanne: Oh, okay. Now I got to stop laughing. Almost. Okay. So it is time for our Look, Listen, Learns. Listeners, welcome and thank you for being here. At the end of each show, we spend a couple minutes with our Look, Listen, Learn segment where we share all the things that we’re either reading or watching or learning about. And we do not like to put our guests in the hot seat first.
So Missy, what are you look, listen, learning this week?
[00:34:30] Missy: Okay. Well, I was going to talk about a book that I’m reading, but I’m not finished with it yet. So I’m, I’m shelving that. We’re going to talk about that when I’ve finished it. I can’t wait to talk about it. so instead I am looking at, um, the new season of Somebody Feed Phil.
[00:34:42] Susanne: Oh, that’s right.
[00:34:44] Missy: I love somebody feed Phil to either.
You don’t watch it. Do
[00:34:47] Susanne: No, but you’ve
mentioned it, before. I’m
[00:34:49] Charleen: No.
[00:34:50] Susanne: it down.
[00:34:51] Missy: So great. It’s on Netflix and, uh, Bill Rosenthal is a TV producer. He’s, I think, done some acting. he was involved in Everybody Loves Raymond. Like, it was loosely based on his life. and so, but now he has this show. He travels the world and he talks to people about the food where they are.
And every show It has a tearjerker moment. It’s also really funny. And, um, he has a charitable component as well, but it’s fascinating to watch where he goes. And it makes me of course, want to get on an airplane. Pretty much every episode makes me want to get on an airplane. but there’s a new season, super fun.
So we’ve been watching a show or two every night. and it’s not a very long season, so we’re almost done, which makes me sad.
[00:35:32] Susanne: How many seasons are there?
[00:35:34] Missy: I think this is the 7th?
[00:35:36] Susanne: Okay. So,
[00:35:37] Missy: I think so. And early on, his parents play a big role, and it’s adorable. Like, he calls them from wherever he is, so there’s a video chat, and it’s really, really adorable.
so it’s great. Just like one of those shows that makes your heart happy. And also makes you really hungry and could be expensive if you buy a plane ticket to everywhere he goes. so I’m watching that. And then I’ve been watching this show that I’m a little bit embarrassed to admit that I’m watching, that I’ve been watching, um, Resident Alien.
Anyone even heard of it? Okay. Netflix was like, you might like, I don’t know why Netflix thought I might like it.
[00:36:13] Susanne: they know you.
[00:36:14] Missy: Um, I guess. It’s kind of creepy. but it’s based, I guess, on a comic book, and I’m not a comic book person, so I don’t know. But it’s about an alien who ends up on Earth and, gets really involved in this little town.
He’s able to look like a person. Um, but gets really involved in everything that’s going on in this little town, and it’s It’s very funny, but it’s also kind of creepy at times and also a little sad at times and, uh, like I’m hooked.
[00:36:40] Susanne: Is it a new show?
[00:36:42] Missy: in its third season now, so like I am caught up and I’m now watching week by week as it comes out.
In season three and I can’t believe no one in my family can believe I’m watching it. No one wants to watch it with me. And I’m like, y’all, it’s really funny. Like the alien is really funny. So I don’t know if you just need something a little different than what you’ve probably been watching. Check out Resident Alien on.
I want to say I started it on Netflix, but now I’m having to finish it on maybe Peacock. Like the Netflix doesn’t have the current season. So I’ll find it and put it in the show notes where I’m watching the current season, but I had to flip over to another. And I liked it that much that I was like, I’m out of seasons.
I have to, where do I get the next one? I
[00:37:21] Susanne: my goodness. Okay, well you know what? Chris is out of town, so maybe I’ll try it. So it’s not, because I can’t watch any of our shows that we watch
[00:37:29] Missy: Right. Then you’ll get in trouble. That’s kind of how I started this one. Like there was something Mark and I were wanting to watch and I had a day where I just was chilling. I needed something on in the background. I’m like, I’ll try this alien. Why not? So that and then I’m listening to Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby
[00:37:46] Susanne: Oh, I love that one.
[00:37:48] Missy: so good. And I I’m listening to it. I have not read it, but I’m I still, without having compared the two, I would say, listen, because there’s an, yes, there is an octopus who talks and, um, yeah, it’s so great to hear it in his voice. so I highly recommend listening to that. And ironically, there was briefly a talking octopus in Resident Alien.
So I talking octopi are part of my world right now.
[00:38:15] Susanne: Maybe that’s how you got Algorithmed.
[00:38:18] Missy: Maybe. I don’t know what the universe is sending me, but the universe is sending me. Octopi. Um, I don’t know why. We’ll figure it out. If I find out, I’ll let you know. So anyway, that’s what I’m doing. What about you, Charlene?
[00:38:31] Charleen: So my look is the hubby and I try to have a show that we watch together and we are definitely behind, but we are trying to finish up succession.
[00:38:40] Susanne: love.
[00:38:42] Charleen: So that is what we are doing. And then one of my other favorite looks right now is my little one is six. And this is the first time she’s really trying something that she’s passionate about as far
as a class or activity goes.
And she just started cheerleading and it
just melts my heart that she is so passionate about it. So that is my other look. Like I just love watching her get excited and really find passion in something that she wanted rather than something mommy and daddy put her in.
[00:39:12] Missy: yeah. It’s pretty great.
[00:39:14] Charleen: that, um, my listen is I am really trying to experiment right now with biannual beats.
And, you know, alpha waves versus beta waves versus all of that and how my brain responds to them because everybody responds differently. So that’s really been what I’ve been playing with
recently. And it’s
[00:39:34] Missy: have to give us some links that we can put in show notes for like where you found good ones.
[00:39:39] Susanne: Yeah, because I have a mix of them that I listen to, but I think, is this, it’s weird that I actually start to recognize the patterns now, so I need, I need some
[00:39:48] Charleen: New ones.
[00:39:48] Susanne: fresh, beats.
[00:39:51] Charleen: And then my learn is I am a big fan of the Huberman podcast.
[00:39:56] Susanne: Me
[00:39:57] Charleen: So, I listen to it twice, but his podcasts are always so long, I have to take them in chunks.
But, we recently put a cold plunge on our patio here at The Point, and I’ve been doing it for about six and a half months now, so I’m going through a lot of his research on cold plunging and cold and heat exposure.
[00:40:16] Susanne: Interesting.
[00:40:17] Missy: the next thing I’m trying at the point is the cold plunge.
[00:40:20] Susanne: I’ve got a friend
[00:40:21] Charleen: I’ll hold you to
[00:40:21] Susanne: Portland that’s been doing that just in her pool because it, it works there. And she’ll do a picture every morning and every once in a while she’ll have a bunch of friends in the background that she drug along with her. And I’m just like, Oh. I love heat so much, but I guess you can follow it by heat, right?
Can you warm back up afterwards?
[00:40:41] Charleen: Yep, so we do the, we do the cold plunge followed by the infrared sauna,
[00:40:45] Susanne: Okay. So you get to warm back up. Okay. I’ll, I’ll, you sell me on that. That’s that I’ll do.
[00:40:52] Missy: Yeah. Cause there’s a lot of, we didn’t get into it and we don’t have time to get into it, but there’s a lot of interesting science behind what that does to your body. And it’s really supposed to be great for aging and bone loss and all kinds of crazy things. Yeah. Yeah. It’s so interesting.
[00:41:10] Susanne: Oh my gosh.
[00:41:11] Missy: well, what about you, Suzanne?
What do you look, listening, learning?
[00:41:14] Susanne: Well, I’m going to keep going on this, this health thing we’re talking about, because I’ve been looking at this book, um, I think it’s called Adrenal Transformation Protocol. I don’t, I did not bring it up here. But, um, I have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. I had a very exciting adventure in college where my Thyroid nerve, my body decided to attack my thyroid.
and so I just have been chugging along for the past, what, 40 years? No, no, I’m
[00:41:43] Missy: No, not, not that many yet.
[00:41:44] Susanne: Um, but you know, all my thyroid supplements and all those things, but I’ve. just especially with menopause and changing body, just realizing that there’s probably more to be doing to address this than just, you know, taking the thyroid supplements.
So trying to get smarter about the things that I’m eating, not aggravating it. so according to this book, a lot of things that I eat, not even just junk food, but like, it’s like, Oh, you should try eliminating oatmeal. I’m like, no, that’s my magic food that I do forever. Um, and my yogurt that I like to mix with my oatmeal, but I don’t think it means you can’t have it forever, but it kind of starts with this elimination diet type of thing to try to figure out what your issues are.
But one of the other things that came out of it is even if you’re going to just keep eating whatever you want, to start using some supplements like ginseng and the, uh, you’re going to have to help me pronounce this one, uh, the ashwagandha.
[00:42:39] Charleen: ashwagandha,
[00:42:40] Susanne: Ashwagandha and maca and some other things. so now I’ve been researching that, that opens up a whole nother can of worms.
Like we were saying, like, how do you find a trusted acupuncturist? I feel like, how do you find trusted, you know, suppliers of all these different supplements to make sure that they’re not makes another weird stuff in there. so yeah, if you have any tips along those lines, I’m, I’m open because I think that, I mean, We’ve talked about when I was having a bunch of aches and pains, and I had a doctor who recommended just taking. What was it? Cumin? Does that sound right?
[00:43:15] Missy: No, it was,
um,
[00:43:17] Susanne: Uh, yeah, it was cumin. Yeah. And how shocking it was that that just cured me. I’m like, really? I could have just had a bunch of curry? And like, this is
[00:43:28] Missy: Delicious and I don’t hurt anymore.
[00:43:30] Susanne: So I’m very curious to see what, like, these things can do. But I’m also curious from a health expert’s point of view, would you recommend then, like, Trying one.
I, I’m, I’m afraid that if like something works, I’m not going to know what works. So like, do you usually recommend being like, okay, I’m going to try the ginseng. And then if that’s good, I’ll work something else in. Or I know that you were saying that there’s, uh, some things that mix them all together for you just for convenience sake.
So what do you recommend?
[00:44:00] Charleen: So usually when you’re looking at something, um, when you’re looking at thyroid, inflammation, anything like that, sometimes you do have to take a combo because they’re synergistic. So they all work together and they work on different things. I wouldn’t be as worried if you were taking three supplements that are supposed to do the exact same thing, then that’s a problem.
But, you know, like usually with thyroid, we have one for inflammation. We have one for the actual thyroid gland. We have one for the. The libido, and we have one for the energy, and those can all work synergistically. So as long as there’s improvement, we don’t worry too much about which one is it. But if you were doing three for inflammation or three for something, then you only do one at a time to see what’s actually working.
Mm-Hmm.
[00:44:45] Susanne: Oh, okay. Oh, I’m glad I had this
[00:44:48] Missy: to what they’re supposed to be doing for you. That’s good advice.
[00:44:52] Susanne: Okay. I’m hitting you up after this.
[00:44:54] Missy: Uh huh.
[00:44:55] Susanne: Get some information. Let’s see. What am I listening? I am listening to way too many news podcasts and I am not going to survive this election cycle. So I just need to stop. I need to stop. Someone come take my phone away from me.
And.
[00:45:12] Missy: the, uh, no more, no more news phase because it’s just, I mean, like my stomach is just knotted up.
[00:45:19] Susanne: I feel like there’s a duty to become, like to be an informed citizen, but I also like I need to know what that line is between being informed and just being a nervous wreck about the state of the world. So
[00:45:34] Missy: Right.
[00:45:35] Susanne: I don’t know. I do need a little bit of numbing, I think, especially now that I’m not drinking. I’m like, ah.
[00:45:43] Missy: I have no vices left, and the news is really horrible.
[00:45:47] Susanne: can only walk so much. And when I walk, I listen to podcasts, so maybe I’ll just listen to binaural beats while I walk.
[00:45:57] Missy: Or some music. Find some good
[00:45:59] Susanne: I’ll find some new music. Um, let’s see, learning. Oh, I just had a fascinating month at work because I think I’ve. I don’t know if I’ve complained about this before, but, since I bill based on my time, since I’m a contractor, it can be really tricky to be super accurate or maybe as accurate as I want to be with the time that I’m billing my clients for.
And so one of the features on Paymo, which is what I use for my invoicing and time tracking is an actual like timer. Which at first I was like, Oh, that’s going to make me a nervous wreck. Like it almost feels like you’re going against, you know, you flipped over the hourglass and now you’re trying to, but I’ve actually found it to be really grounding and like also make my time more intentional.
So because part of the reason I had to use it is because usually I do my time in 15 minute blocks and I can do. A hundred things in a 15 minute block and I was recognizing that and so now if I’m switching between tasks, I need to like recognize that I’m doing that and like, okay, and it makes me take a little pause because I have to go back to my timer and like turn off the last task I was doing and then go back to it and set it for whatever the next task is going to be.
And some of the tasks, I mean, it’s ridiculous. My time, my invoice for the past month was like 10 pages because some of them are like Two minutes, three minutes, four minutes, but you know, over the course of the month, they add up to be normal chunks of time, but it made me feel so much better that the accuracy was there.
And also it probably saved me. At least 15 to 20 percent of my time a day, because I caught myself at the end of the day and I wasn’t doing this on the books, I wasn’t getting paid for this part where I would be going back and being like, Okay, I know I was sitting at my desk from one to two, what was I working on?
And I would have to go look through our project management thing to be like, Okay, what did I submit during that time? I was even going back into my like, internet browser history to be like, what website was I on during that point? Yeah. Yeah. To see like what I was working on. And now at the end of the day, I hit stop at that last task I was working on and it’s done.
And it was such a beautiful thing. I did it for the whole month. Cause I was like, surely I’m going to get tired of this, but it’s still, I think the number one benefit though, is just, it’s helping me be much more aware of all that. task switching and to thinking about ways that I can batch tasks together so there isn’t so much switching and just be more conscious of the way that I’m using my time.
And also just a way smarter use of my time to not be spending another hour after the workday unpaid, um, trying to figure out what I was doing all day.
[00:48:55] Missy: Oh, it’s my least favorite part of being a contract employee is tracking that. It’s stressful to me, and I want to get it right, and you don’t want to be overcharging your client or undercharging. Like, you don’t want to not get paid for what you’re doing. but yeah, it’s hard, so I
[00:49:11] Susanne: No, to the minute, I haven’t, and it makes me, and again, since I am so conscious of like making sure that I’m being super accurate, because there were times when I’d have a block of time where I knew, I mean, I knew I had not gotten up for a chunk of time. I knew I was working and couldn’t figure out, and I just wouldn’t bill for it because I was like, well, I’m not just going to.
Make it up. So, um, so no, it’s good for me. It’s good for the clients. It’s good for everything. So yay, Paymo. I keep on saying Paymo is like our new Canva and just keep on, keep on talking
[00:49:43] Missy: Brought to you by Paymo and Canva.
[00:49:46] Susanne: I’m a big fan and yeah, super, super helpful. So that has been my learn, that I can make it a whole month using this.
And I have now, I have set myself up as a client so that when I’m not at work, I’m also tracking my own time on there. So I have it broken down into like Caring Hope podcast. So I’m doing my own time tracking as I’m doing my other tracking, so.
[00:50:09] Missy: You’re so fancy. I
[00:50:10] Susanne: I am so fancy. I know, back, remember when we were doing all the Laura Vanderkam time tracking stuff?
I was like, that’s ridiculous. There’s, no one could possibly do that for their whole life, but, it turns out it actually, I mean, I wouldn’t do it if I was just like still doing stay at home ing stuff, um, if I had to run back to my computer every time that I was, I’m going to do, you know, change a diaper now, I’m going to do this now, or I’m going to go run to this meeting or whatever, but since I’m literally just sitting there anyway, um, in front of the computer, that’s been really helpful, so.
That’s me.
[00:50:44] Missy: All right. Well, we’re about two minutes away from our
[00:50:46] Susanne: No, I didn’t start till like 2. 05, so
[00:50:49] Missy: Okay. Oh, good. Good.
[00:50:51] Susanne: but we can say our goodbyes anyway.
[00:50:53] Missy: Yes. Thank you for being here. I know you’re really busy, Charlene, and you’re probably running to go put needles in somebody the minute we’re done, but I really appreciate you taking an hour out of your day for us.
[00:51:03] Charleen: thank you guys so much for having me.
[00:51:06] Susanne: such a pleasure to meet you, and I think I’ll be meeting you in person very soon.
[00:51:10] Charleen: Absolutely.
[00:51:11] Missy: You can come have a whole field trip to this part of the world, Suzanne, and you
can, we can hang out and you can go get a treatment and
[00:51:18] Susanne: Oh, we totally should do that. We can do it.
[00:51:20] Charleen: the street and get some coffee.
[00:51:22] Susanne: Yeah, we can bring back the tipsy ellipses for an episode. can.
Uh, well, thank you again. This has been really great. And I am going to be hitting you up for my, supplement information, get my inflammation down and figure out my junk, but
[00:51:37] Missy: awesome.
[00:51:38] Susanne: thank you so
[00:51:38] Charleen: Alright, thank you guys.
[00:51:40] Missy: Have a great rest of your day. Bye.
[00:51:42] Susanne: bye.
Thank you so much for joining us for the mom and dot, dot, dot podcast. We hope you enjoyed today’s show. And if you know someone else who could benefit from the episode, please be sure and share it with them. And while we’re begging, please subscribe and rate us wherever it is you listen to podcasts. You can find links to all the things we discussed today in our show notes or over at our website, momandpodcast.
com with the A N D spelled out in between shows, find us over at the socials, including our private mom and community Facebook group, the links to that group. And all of our socials can be found at mom and podcast. com. Thank you so much for your support. We appreciate you more than, you know, now go out there and make your ellipses count.
Subscribe and Review wherever you listen to podcasts!
Show Summary:
This episode of the Mom &… Podcast features a vibrant conversation with special guest Allie Perez, an advocate for women in trades and a successful CMO and COO of George Plumbing Company. The hosts, Susanne Kerns and Missy Stevens, delve into Allie’s journey from an NYU drama graduate to a trailblazer in the male-dominated plumbing industry. Allie shares her experiences of founding the organization Texas Women in Trades to address the lack of female representation and mentorship in the field. She also highlights the importance of setting personal boundaries and prioritizing self-care, and discusses the challenges and solutions related to being a working mom in the trades. Additionally, the episode touches on topics like manual lymph drainage, the benefits of compression wear, and personal updates from the hosts.
Allie Perez is the CMO/COO of George Plumbing Company, Founder of Texas Women in Trades Texas Women Work. She serves on the City of San Antonio Small Business Advisory Committee as the Mayor’s Appointee. She also serves on the City of San Antonio – Workforce Development “Ready to Work” Board. She works with tradeswomen advocacy across the nation. She was recently named one of San Antonio Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 2024. She is a graduate of New York University. Also, a proud mother of a 9-year old firecracker daughter.
Connect with Allie Perez and Texas Women in Trades:
Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts! If you’re so inclined to give us a 5-star rating, we’ll love you forever. Who couldn’t use a little extra love?
Leave us a message – via voicemail or use our form – with your questions for experts, or suggestions for future episodes.
Check out our website, where you can find links to all the things!
Our delightfully happy intro and outro theme music, “We Will Get Through This” is performed by Young Presidents, and used under license from Shutterstock.
Transcript is auto-generated by a robot. Apologies in advance for misspellings or errors.
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Learn How to Plan Your Own Mini-Retreat with Guest Jenny Remington
Oct 13, 2022
October 13, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 92 / Guest: Jenny Remington Subscribe & Review Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary: Life Coach Jenny Remington is back! She’s now in the lead for most guest appearances on the Mom &… Podcast. At 3.5 episodes, she is well on her way to the Five-Timers...
Pivoting to Blend Creativity into a Professional Career with Guest Amanda Hill
Oct 07, 2022
October 6, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 91 / Guest: Amanda Hill Subscribe or Review Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Direct Link to Episode on Apple Podcasts Direct Link to Episode on Spotify Show Summary: What ISN’T Amanda Hill? She embodies the idea of making our ellipses count. It was so fun to welcome...
Creating a Flexible Career You Love with Guest Kristin Shaw
Sep 30, 2022
September 30, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 90 / Guest: Kristin Shaw Subscribe & Review Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary: More About Kristin Shaw: Kristin Shaw grew up attending classic car shows with her parents, and she has a soft spot in her heart for a 1957 Chevy Bel Air, preferably in...
You Deserve Guilt-Free Self Care, with Guest Tami Hackbarth
Sep 22, 2022
September 22, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 89 / Guest: Tami Hackbarth Subscribe & Review Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary: Do you feel like you’re out of bandwidth? Like you want to make change in your life, in the world around you, but how and when and with what energy? Tami Hackbarth...
From Data Analyst to Consciousness Coach: Career & Life Transformation, with Guest Dmitria Burby
Sep 16, 2022
September 15, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 88 / Guest: Dmitria Burby Subscribe & Review Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary: Y’all. If you read the words Transformational Yoga and Consciousness Coach and were concerned Susanne might be a woo-woo party pooper, rest assured, Dmitria blends just the right amount of data and...
Are you a Hummingbird or a Jackhammer? With Guest Natalia Tamburini
Sep 08, 2022
September 8, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 87 / Guest: Natalia Tamburini Subscribe & Review Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary: After achieving success in several fields, Natalia Tamburini pursued a new path in coaching. She now thrives on helping people learn to enjoy and find fulfillment in their work, without putting pressure...
Enneagram Refresher with Guest Steph Barron Hall
Sep 02, 2022
September 1, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 86 / Guest: Steph Barron Hall Subscribe & Review wherever you listen to podcasts Content Warning: We use a word that rhymes with textual in this episode. It’s not used in a graphic context at all, but within the discussion about the Enneagram. If you know about...
Get Your Sh*t Together With New (School) Year’s Resolutions!
Aug 26, 2022
August 26, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 85 / New School Year Resolutions Subscribe and Review Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary: We don’t know about you, but even before we were parents back-to-school time was our true New Year, not January. With the exception of the years between graduating from college and...
Building a Life Beyond Labels with Mabel’s Labels Co-Founder, Julie Cole
Aug 18, 2022
August 18, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 84 / Guest: Julie Cole Subscribe and Review Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary: This week’s guest, Julie Cole, was a successful lawyer who left the law behind to start a business. A lot of people in her life thought she was crazy, but she and...
Decluttering Our Closets While Unpacking Some Issues with Guest Judith Gaton
Aug 11, 2022
August 11, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 83 / Guest: Judith Gaton Subscribe & Review Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary: Loving what you wear, and knowing why you wear it, starts with your mindset. Our guest this week is Judith Gaton. She helps women become confident in their clothing choices, and with...
Be a Mom Who Dares – with Jodi Silverman
Aug 04, 2022
August 4, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 82 / Guest: Jodi Silverman Subscribe & Review Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary: This week’s guest was on the cusp of an empty nest, and while she had a thriving business and a family she loved, Jodi Silverman wasn’t fulfilled. She asked herself, “Is this...
Make a Difference Through Simple Acts – with Natalie Silverstein
Jul 29, 2022
July 29, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 81 / Guest: Natalie Silverstein Subscribe & Review Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary: An episode topic close to our hearts this week: advocacy. Not only advocacy, but a discussion about getting the whole family involved. Our guest, Natalie Silverstein, has made giving back a way...
Get Control of Your Family’s Phone Use – With Guest Catherine Pearlman
Jul 21, 2022
July 21, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 80 / Guest: Catherine Pearlman Subscribe & Review Wherever You Listen To Podcasts Show Summary: Our guest this week is Dr. Catherine Pearlman, The Family Coach. We are lucky enough to know Catherine in real life, and want all of our listeners to know her, too. We...
Kick-Start Your Midlife with EvolveMe
Jul 15, 2022
July 14, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 79 / Kick-Start Your Midlife with Guests: Founders of EvolveMe, Linda Lautenberg and Judy Schoenberg Subscribe and Rate Our Show Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary: Welcome to Week 4 of Summer Camp for Moms! We are currently running a month of re-plays focused on helping...
Slay Self Doubt with Katherine Wintsch
Jul 07, 2022
July 7, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 78 / Slay Self Doubt with Guest: Katherine Wintsch Subscribe and Review Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary: Welcome to Week 3 of Summer Camp for Moms! We are currently running a month of re-plays focused on helping moms discover and develop their passions while their...
Prepare for Relaunch with Carol Fishman Cohen
Jun 30, 2022
June 30, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 77 / Summer Camp for Moms with Guest: Carol Fishman Cohen Subscribe and Review Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary: Welcome to the second week of Summer Camp for Moms! We are currently running a month of re-plays focused on helping moms discover and develop their...
Julie Lythcott-Haims: Get Out of Neutral Today
Jun 23, 2022
June 23, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 76 / Summer Camp for Moms with Guest: Julie Lythcott-Haims Subscribe & Review Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary: Welcome to the first week of Summer Camp for Moms! We are currently running a month of re-plays focused on helping moms discover and develop their passions...
How to Create Your Own “Mom Summer Camp”
Jun 16, 2022
Episode 75: Summer Camp for Moms Subscribe & Rate Us Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Today’s mini-episode is a bit of a summer camp for moms. You know how we start planning our kids’ summer camps sometime around Thanksgiving, perfectly curating opportunities that fit our kids’ interests and talents or areas they’re curious about while...
Celebrate Being YOU, From Middle School to Middle Age
Jun 09, 2022
June 9, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 74 / Guest: Wendi Aarons Subscribe & Review Wherever You Listen to Podcasts (Search “Mom and Podcast with Susanne and Missy”) June 9, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 74 / Guest: Wendi Aarons Show Summary: This week we talk with our friend and fellow Austinite, Wendi...
Embrace The Work, Love Your Career with guest Fran Hauser
Jun 02, 2022
Subscribe and Review Wherever You Listen to Podcasts June 2, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 73 / Guest: Fran Hauser Show Summary: As two Obligers and Enneagram Nines, we are so happy to know Fran Hauser. In this episode we talk through why it’s good to be nice at work, but also how to...
Gun Violence: Taking Action & Making Change
May 25, 2022
May 26, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 72/ Gun Violence Subscribe & Review Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Your favorite not listed? Search for: “Mom and Podcast with Susanne and Missy” We rescheduled today’s planned episode, because honestly, we didn’t feel like we were in the right mental space to honor a guest’s message....
What Fresh Hell: Parenting, Pivots & Pandemics
May 19, 2022
May 19, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 71 / Guests: Margaret Ables & Amy Wilson, Hosts of What Fresh Hell Podcast Subscribe & Review Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary – “What Fresh Hell“ It’s as hard as you think it is. –Amy and Margaret, talking about parenting. We think it’s the perfect...
Lessons from Recovery: Reframe the Next Chapter of Your Life
May 12, 2022
May 12, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 70 / Guest: Maria Leonard Olsen Show Summary – A Midlife Mom’s Lessons from Recovery TW: This show includes discussion around substance abuse and recovery. If you or someone you love needs more information, please visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration site. We had...
Teacher Appreciation Week: Learn From Two of the Best!
May 05, 2022
Subscribe & Rate wherever you listen to podcasts May 5, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast: Episode 69, Tipsy Ellipses / Guests: Jewellyn Forrest and Jen Mangels Show Summary Tipsy Ellipses is recorded monthly via Facebook Live. This month’s live recording took place on Tuesday, May 3, and featured guests, Jewellyn Forrest and Jen Mangels, both...
On a Career Pause? Get Strategic About it!
Apr 29, 2022
Subscribe to Mom & … Podcast Wherever You Listen to Podcasts April 29, 2022 / Episode 68 – Get Strategic About Your Career Pause with Guest: Emily Stark, Marketable Mama Show Summary This week’s episode is all about helping moms get jobs. Emily Stark’s clients are women coming off of a career pause, or looking...
April 21, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 67 / Guest: Dr. Kim Hires Subscribe & Rate Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary / TW: Suicide TW // Suicide from minute 3:45-4:08 of podcast and in first paragraph of show notes If you’re thinking about suicide, are worried about a friend or loved one, or...
Find Your Joy with Guest Jennifer King Lindley
Apr 14, 2022
April 14, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 66 / Guest: Jennifer King Lindley Subscribe & Review Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary Jennifer King Lindley writes about positive psychology. Regular listeners may remember that we learned about positive psychology in episode 38 with guest, Ann Imig, who is a positive psychology coach. Jennifer...
Tipsy Ellipses with Guest Sarah Maizes
Apr 08, 2022
April 8, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast: Tipsy Ellipses Episode / Guest: Sarah Maizes Subscribe & Review wherever you listen to podcasts Show Summary Tipsy Ellipses is a monthly bonus episode that we record via Facebook Live. This month’s live recording took place on Tuesday, April 5, and featured guest, Sarah Maizes. Sarah is an...
April 7, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 65 / Guest: Pat Duckworth Subscribe & Review Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary “We could talk about this all day!” –Missy and Susanne to Pat Duckworth What is this? It’s menopause, baby. This is an episode for everyone. Really, everyone. You’re either going to experience...
Zibby Owens – The Woman Behind the Books
Mar 31, 2022
March 31, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 64 / Guest: Zibby Owens Subscribe & Review wherever you listen to podcasts Show Summary Even though Zibby Owens told us that her career never really made sense to her until very recently, there has been one common thread: After a tragedy, Zibby decided that whatever she...
How You Can Advocate for Voting Rights
Mar 28, 2022
March 25, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 63 / Guests: Shellie Hayes-McMahon and Crystal Mason Listen & Review wherever you listen to podcasts Show Summary Shellie Hayes-McMahon and Crystal Mason joined us this week to talk about advocacy and education around voter’s rights and voter suppression. On the Mom &… Podcast we frequently talk...
The Parental Leave Playbook: Your Guide to Managing Career & Parenthood
Mar 17, 2022
March 17, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 62 / Guests: Amy Beacom & Sue Campbell Listen and Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts Show Summary Amy Beacom and Sue Campbell were, like so many of us, completely taken aback by the enormity of transitioning from career to career-plus-parenthood. They met when their children were...
LGBTQIA+ Ally 101: What Parents of Trans Kids Need You to Know
Mar 11, 2022
March 12, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast BONUS Episode / Guest: Amber Leventry Listen & Subscribe Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary It’s bonus day! We have nothing to add to your paycheck, but we do have something valuable. In this episode, we got to talk with our friend, Amber Leventry, about how to...
How to Have a Kid and a Life: A Survival Guide with Ericka Sóuter
Mar 10, 2022
March 10, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 61 / Guest: Ericka Sóuter Listen & Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts Show Summary Ericka Sóuter started out writing celebrity news, but becoming a mother changed her, and ultimately, changed her career. She wrote How to Have a Kid and a Life: A Survival Guide, a...
Tipsy Ellipses Bonus Episode with Amy Impellizzeri
Mar 04, 2022
March 4, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast: Tipsy Ellipses Episode / Guest: Amy Impellizzeri Download and Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts Show Summary Tipsy Ellipses is a monthly bonus episode that we record via Facebook Live. This month’s live recording took place on Tuesday, March 1, and featured guest Amy Impellizzeri. Amy is a...
Quit Your Day Job (or Come Live Vicariously Through the 40 Year Old Intern)
Mar 03, 2022
March 3, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 60 / Guest: Alisha Fernandez Miranda Subscribe & Rate Us Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary Alisha Fernandez Miranda has had a lot of brilliant ideas and great jobs. One of her most creative ideas was to intern at some of the jobs she considered dream...
The Sandwich Generation – Practicing Self-Care While Caring for Everyone Around You
Feb 24, 2022
February 24, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 59 / Guest: Kay Newton, The Midlife Strategist Subscribe, Rate & Review Wherever You Listen To Podcasts Show Summary Kay Newton is The Midlife Strategist, focusing on simplicity and support to help women find their spark in this new phase. She shared her story, including how she...
Get Strong – Mentally and Physically (and at Your Own Pace)
Feb 17, 2022
February 17, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 58 / Guests: Ashlee Brandt, Robin Winkles of STRONG by Ash B Download and Subscribe Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Show Summary This week we’re veering ever so slightly out of our usual career-focused lane, but trust us when we tell you there is a reason. One...
Career Sequel – Identify & Develop Your Strengths During a Career Break
Feb 10, 2022
Career Sequel: Identify & Develop Strengths During Career Breaks February 10, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 57 / Guest: Lee Koles, PhD, CareerSequel Listen to this episode wherever you listen to podcasts using the links below Show Summary Lee started the show by comparing us to Oprah. So that’s it. We have to retire...
Tipsy Ellipses – with Guest Abby Mathews
Feb 04, 2022
February 4, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast: Tipsy Ellipses Episode / Guest: Abby Mathews Listen & Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts using the links below Show Summary Tipsy Ellipses is a (usually) monthly bonus episode that we record via Facebook Live. This month’s live recording took place on Monday, January 31 and featured friend...
Restart: Designing a Healthy Post Pandemic Life
Feb 03, 2022
February 3, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 56 / Guest: Doreen Dodgen-Magee Subscribe and Download Wherever You Listen to Podcasts Using the Links Below Show Summary This episode is packed – and we mean PACKED – with wisdom. Some of our favorite quotes include: “It’s easier to establish healthy norms than it is to...
The 15 Minute Formula for Productivity & Goal Setting with Cara Harvey
Jan 27, 2022
January 27, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 55 / Guest: Cara Harvey, Author of The 15 Minute Formula Listen & Subscribe Using the Links Below Show Summary Cara Harvey returns to the Mom &… Podcast to talk about her new book, The 15 Minute Formula: How Busy Moms Can Ditch the Guilt, Say Yes...
Jill Smokler: The Mother of Reinvention – From Scary Mommy to She’s Got Issues
Jan 20, 2022
January 19, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 54 / Guest: Jill Smokler, Creator of Scary Mommy, and the She’s Got Issues podcast Click below to listen and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts! Show Summary Jill Smokler joined us this week to talk about the journey from building the wildly successful website, Scary Mommy,...
Midlife Bites: Is Anyone Else Falling Apart or is it Just Me? With Guest, Jen Mann
Jan 13, 2022
January 13, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 53 / Guest: Jen Mann, Author, Midlife Bites Use the links below to download and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Show Summary Jen Mann is on her way to the Mom &… Podcast guest Hall of Fame. She’s back for her second visit, this time to...
Make the Most of an Extended Leave or Career Pause
Jan 06, 2022
January 6, 2022 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 52 / Guest: Linda Gardner of Your Next Career with Linda Show Summary This episode covers finding career purpose, making a pivot, and maternity leave policies. We talk with Linda about what it was like to make a bit change in her own career, and how she...
Four Steps to a Great New Year (No Resolutions Required) – Part 2
Dec 30, 2021
December 30, 2021 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 51 / Featuring Susanne & Missy Show Summary Part two of a two-part series featuring hosts, Susanne Kerns and Missy Stevens, talking about self-love, self-compassion, and incorporating those concepts into planning for 2022. This week the focus is deciding on a Word of the Year and using...
Four Steps to a Great New Year (No Resolutions Required!) – Part 1
Dec 23, 2021
December 23, 2021 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 50 / Featuring Susanne & Missy Use the buttons below to listen or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts Part one of a two-part series featuring hosts, Susanne Kerns and Missy Stevens, talking about self-love, self-compassion, and incorporating those concepts into planning for 2022. This time of...
Illuminate Your Purpose, Prioritize Yourself, and Make Intentional Decisions
Dec 16, 2021
December 15, 2021 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 49 / Guest: Nicole Wood of Ama La Vida Show Summary Nicole Wood started Ama La Vida Coaching in an effort to make coaching affordable and approachable for everyone. We talk with her about the benefits of coaching, and how the process works. If you’re reticent about...
You Can Give Back (No Matter How Little Time You Have!)
Dec 09, 2021
December 9, 2021 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 48 / Guests: Ellen Evans from Foster Village, Inc. and Kristin Finan from Carrying Hope Show Summary Note: Originally scheduled to be the December Tipsy Ellipses episode, this recording became a numbered show. Tipsy Technical Troubles Took Toll. (Sorry, we had to.) If you are looking for...
Tame Your Inner Critic & Define Your Core Values for a Great New Year!
Dec 02, 2021
December 2, 2021 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 47 / Guest: Amy Wolfgang of CoachWolfgang Show Summary Amy Wolfgang’s early career pivots help give her a unique insight into the challenges her clients face finding careers that match up with their core values and their unique talents. In today’s episode she answers our questions about how...
Bonus: Why You Need to Spend December with Us
Nov 30, 2021
TLDR: Spend December with us over in our private Facebook Mom & … Community group where we’ll be spending the month discussing our favorite exercises and top learnings from Megan Logan’s Self Love Workbook for Women. You need this & you DESERVE this! —- We were supposed to be recording an episode with Cara Harvey...
The Thank You Project – A Thanksgiving Gratitude Re-Release
Nov 25, 2021
November 25, 2021 Mom &… Podcast Re-Release of Episode 10 Guest: Nancy Davis Kho, Midlife Mixtape and The Thank You Project In this season of gratitude, we are re-releasing an episode with one of our gratitude heroes, Nancy Davis Kho. Even if you’ve heard the episode, we think it’s worth another listen! Nancy Davis Kho...
5 Steps to Streamlining Your Workload
Nov 18, 2021
November 18, 2021 / Mom &… Podcast Episode 45 / Guest: Whitnee Hawthorne, The Savvy Working Mom Show Summary When Whitnee’s first child was born, she went back to work and almost immediately realized that what worked before didn’t come close to working anymore. Even with a supportive husband, she found that doing it all...
Slay Your Inner Critic & Live the Life You Want
Nov 11, 2021
November 11, 2021 / Mom & … Podcast Episode 44 / Guest: Katherine Wintsch of Slay Like a Mother Show Summary Early in this episode, Katherine Wintsch says that she had the trappings of success on the outside, but felt hollow inside. If you, like we did, felt that punch directly in your gut, give...
Tipsy Ellipses FB Live with Cindy Whitesides
Nov 05, 2021
November 5, 2021 Mom &… Podcast: Tipsy Ellipses Episode Guest: Cindy Whitesides, Life Coach Show Summary Tipsy Ellipses is a monthly bonus episode that we record via Facebook Live. This month’s live recording took place on Tuesday, November 2 and featured friend and guest, Cindy Whitesides. Cindy is trained as a Wayfinder Life Coach with...
Self-Love: Release Self-Doubt & Build Self-Compassion
Nov 04, 2021
Watch This Episode On Our YouTube Channel November 4, 2021 Mom &… Podcast Guest: Megan Logan, MSW, LCSW, Author of SELF-LOVE WORKBOOK FOR WOMEN Show Summary Megan Logan is a licensed therapist and author of the SELF-LOVE WORKBOOK FOR WOMEN. In this episode we talk about Megan’s experience writing the workbook, and veer off into...
Imposter Syndrome, The Murky Middle, and How to Get Past Them
Oct 28, 2021
Watch this Episode On Our YouTube Channel October 28, 2021 Mom &… Podcast Episode 42 Guest: Christina Joy Whittaker Show Summary When it comes to showing women and professionals of color how to pivot and advance in the workplace, no one does it better than Christina Joy Whittaker, founder and CEO of Pivot Brand Group...
Build “Super” Skills, Habits and Confidence
Oct 21, 2021
Watch this Episode On Our YouTube Channel October 21, 2021 Mom &… Podcast Episode 41 Guest: Lori Oberbroeckling, Secrets of Supermom Show Summary Lori Oberbroeckling is the author of Secrets of Supermom: How Extraordinary Moms Succeed at Work and Home and How You Can Too! She is a wife and mom to four tiny humans,...
Top Lessons from 40 Weeks of Coaches & Inspiring Moms
Oct 14, 2021
Watch this Episode on Our YouTube Channel October 14, 2021 Mom &… Podcast Episode 40: What We’ve Learned in 40 Weeks of Podcasting Show Summary Hosts Susanne Kerns and Missy Stevens talk about what they’ve learned in 40 weeks of interviewing life coaches, career coaches, and women who are embracing life in their ellipses. After...
Tipsy Ellipses – Fitness in Menopause Facebook Live
Oct 08, 2021
Watch This Episode On Our YouTube Channel Tipsy Ellipses: October 2021, featuring Maria Luque, PhD If you’ve followed us for any time, and have ever joined us for a Tipsy Ellipses episode, you know that usually, we sit – cocktail in hand – and talk with our guests. Not this month! For October’s Tipsy episode,...
How to Pause for Parenthood Without Killing Your Career
Oct 07, 2021
Watch This Episode On Our YouTube Channel Episode 39: Lisen Stromberg Becoming a mother was the defining moment for Lisen Stromberg. If you’re thinking, “well, duh” we implore you to listen to her story, and how Lisen’s entire perspective on work, ambition, and purpose changed when she looked at the situation with her children –...
Watch This Episode On Our YouTube Channel Episode 38: Ann Imig A decade ago, we met Ann Imig through LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER, a stage production of live readings, all centered around motherhood. We say this in the episode, but we can’t say it enough: being part of the LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER movement changed...
Goal Setting with More Intention & Less Perfection
Sep 23, 2021
Watch This Episode on Our YouTube Channel Episode 37: Cara Harvey “It’s not about perfection, it’s about intention.” -Cara Harvey This… well, this is tough for ambitious people-pleasers. Throw in some Enneagram 9-ness, and the Mom &… Podcast hosts have a lot to learn about intentionality in our work. Our guest this week, Cara Harvey,...
Navigate Your Mid-Life Career Transition With EvolveMe
Sep 16, 2021
Watch This Episode On Our YouTube Channel Episode 36: EvolveMe Our guests this week are Judy Schoenberg & Linda Lautenberg, founders of EvolveMe, a network developed specifically for mid-life women facing a pivot or relaunch. People who need to drop everything and listen right now (we mean it, now!) include, but are not limited to:...
Watch This Episode At Our YouTube Channel September Tipsy Ellipses This month, we invited our group text to get Tipsy and talk ellipses with us. None of us can remember exactly when we started texting every day – and we mean EVERY DAY – because we can’t scroll back far enough. In fact, so many...
How a “Family Business Plan” Can Help You Achieve Your Personal Goals
Sep 09, 2021
Watch This Episode On Our YouTube Channel Episode 35: Danielle Bettmann Our guest this week is an early childhood specialist. Wait! We know you’re here for mom-related content, and we guarantee this episode brings it. Danielle Bettmann puts her whole heart into her work. Her company is even named Wholeheartedly. She wants families to have...
Give Yourself Permission to Take That Next Step
Sep 02, 2021
Watch This Episode On Our YouTube Channel Episode 34: Carolyn Turkington / MomBabes Carolyn Turkington is one half of The MomBabes. She and her sister, Christina, launched this project after experiencing the ups-and-downs of motherhood during the early days, while simultaneously grieving the loss of their father. Carolyn says they are living out their dad’s...
Rediscover What Floats Your Boat with Stacy Kim’s “Lighthouse Method”
Aug 26, 2021
Watch This Episode On Our YouTube Channel Episode 33: Stacy Kim Have you ever thought, I’m smart, I’m talented, I’m motivated, but I have no idea how to mobilize and figure out my life?* US, TOO. You need to meet Dr. Stacy Kim, and learn about the Lighthouse Method for finding your way. The huge...
Stop Doubting & Start Doing – with guest Raquel Kelley of Momgul
Aug 19, 2021
Watch this Episode on Our YouTube Channel Episode 32: Raquel Kelley, MOMGUL * * * In this episode we discuss postpartum depression. If you, or someone you know, is struggling, talk to a trusted healthcare professional, friend, family member, or reach out directly to one of these resources: Postpartum Support International – 1-800-944-4773 Substance Abuse...
A Sleep Away Camp Just for Moms? Yes, Please!
Aug 12, 2021
Watch Episode at our YouTube Channel Episode 31: Gillian Behnke, Mom Camp Gillian Behnke is passionate about helping moms create lives they don’t want to run away from. If you’re sitting in a pile of unfolded laundry, or at a desk piled with the endless to-dos of your job, balancing all the things at home...
It’s “Your Turn” to Decide What You Want, with Julie Lythcott-Haims
Aug 05, 2021
Watch This Episode on Our YouTube Channel Episode 30: Julie Lythcott-Haims Julie’s new book, Your Turn: How to Be an Adult, was written with the 18-34 set in mind. It’s a book about adulting, and sure, young people need to learn a lot about being adults. It turns out, however, that we, um, slightly older...
Tipsy Ellipses: Mary Katherine Backstrom & Holy Hot Mess
Aug 03, 2021
Watch This Episode on Facebook Watch This Episode on Our YouTube Channel MK & Susanne causing trouble, per usual. Welcome to the Mom & dot dot dot podcast Tipsy Ellipses edition – Once a month, we do a Facebook Live taping of the podcast – It’s a much different format than our usual “numbered” episodes...
How to Quit What’s Not Working & Build an Intentional, Fulfilling Life
Jul 29, 2021
Watch This Episode on Our YouTube Channel Episode 29: Goli Kalkhoran We talk a lot about relaunching, but today we’re going to talk about… quitting. Our guest, Goli Kalkhoran, is a professional quitter. Wait, that doesn’t sound quite right. But here’s the deal: Goli found herself in a place many of us have been in,...
Advice from The Original Relauncher & #ReturnToWork Pioneer: Carol Fishman Cohen
Jul 22, 2021
Subscribe Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify SoundCloud Stitcher RSS PocketCasts YouTube Watch this Episode On Our YouTube Channel Episode 28: Carol Fishman Cohen So, you’ve been home for a while, and out of the workforce. Maybe you’re raising children, or perhaps you’re caring for elderly or ill family members. It’s time, though. You’re ready to...
Prowess Project: Helping Moms Get Career Clarity & Get Hired
Jul 15, 2021
Watch This Episode at Our YouTube Channel Episode 27: Ashley Connell, Prowess Project Our guest this week saw a problem, and she decided to do something about it. That’s our kind of woman! Ashley had a career she was passionate about, but there was an undercurrent of worry. She knew that it was going to...
Dog Fans Bonus Mini-sode with Mecca Brown & … PUPPIES!
Jul 08, 2021
Watch This Minisode Over at Our YouTube Channel Bonus Episode: Mecca Brown As so often happens, we start talking with our amazing guests and WE CANNOT STOP TALKING! Mecca Brown, (featured in Episode #26) is now breeding goldendoodle and poodle puppies, and has a litter at her house. We got carried away talking about all...
Tipsy Ellipses – with Simone de Muñoz
Jul 08, 2021
Watch this Episode on Our YouTube Channel Tipsy Ellipses: July 2021, featuring Simone de Muñoz Most of the time we interview career & life coaches, or authors who have written books specifically about expanding the possibilities outside of “mom” life. But there are SO MANY AMAZING MOMS out there who aren’t necessarily coaches, yet are...
You Need These Resume & LinkedIn Tips (Even if you’re not looking for a job!)
Jul 01, 2021
Watch This Episode on Our YouTube Channel Episode 26: Mecca Brown At 18, Mecca Brown got pregnant. She went from high school graduate, on track to attend one of the top universities in California, to facing a host of obstacles: she was (in her words) an African-American, plus-sized, college dropout, teen mom, working and raising...
Developing Value-Based Habits During Transitional Periods
Jun 24, 2021
Watch the Video of This Episode at Our YouTube Channel Episode 25: Jenny Remington Returns to Talk About Habits We have our first return guest this week! We love talking to Jenny Remington, and hope she’ll continue to join us frequently (Hey Jenny, will you be a regular contributor, please?). If you haven’t listened to...
June Tipsy Ellipses “Father’s Day Edition” with Our Brothers
Jun 17, 2021
Watch this Episode at Our YouTube Channel Tipsy Ellipses: June 2021, featuring Matt Evans and Michael Lewis For our June Facebook Live, aka Tipsy Ellipses, we welcomed our brothers to talk all things Dad &…. Matt Evans (Missy’s brother) is a dad and dot, dot, dot equine veterinarian, artist, and stand up comedian. He is...
Shannon Rafalowski – Preventing & Recovering from Body Image & Eating Disorders
Jun 17, 2021
Watch this Episode on Our YouTube Channel Episode 24: Shannon Rafalowski (Trigger warning: eating disorder thoughts and behaviors and self-harm/cutting) Today’s episode is Part 2 of our discussion with Shannon Rafalowski (from Episode 22, when Shannon joined us to talk about defining our values and mind-body connection.) Our conversation went beyond those topics to include...
Reclaim Your Confidence by Identifying Your Superhero Skill Set
Jun 10, 2021
Watch the Video of This Episode at Our YouTube Channel Episode 23: Morgan Seaman, This Empowered Mom Morgan Seaman loved her job, and loved being a working mom. After eight years of balancing work and parenthood, though, she felt like there could be a better way to approach things. Morgan sought coaching and counseling for...
Defining Your Values & Understanding Mind-Body Connection with Shannon Rafalowski
Jun 03, 2021
Watch This Episode On Our YouTube Channel Episode 22: Shannon Rafalowski Almost every week on The Mom &… Podcast, the concept of values comes up. Understanding your personal values allows you to focus on what matters in your life. Every week when this comes up we think, we really should learn more about how to...
Redefining Maternity Leave – Why Most Moms Need 6 Months, Not 12 Weeks
May 27, 2021
Watch the Video of this Episode on our YouTube Channel Episode 21: Lauren Smith Brody As a new mom, Lauren Smith Brody started having candid conversations with her co-workers at Glamour Magazine about how hard it was to parent an infant and succeed at work. Her book, The Fifth Trimester, was born out of these...
How to Remove the “Crisis” from Midlife
May 20, 2021
Watch This Episode on our YouTube Channel Episode 20: Lisa Levine Lisa Levine had a non-crisis midlife crisis (if you’re going to have one, that sounds like the way to do it). She found herself sitting in meetings, thinking,”This is not what I want to talk about.” A longtime fan of Martha Beck, Oprah’s life...
Defining and Creating Work / Life Balance, with Suzanne Brown
May 13, 2021
Watch The Episode at our YouTube Channel Episode 19: Suzanne Brown When her son was born 10 weeks premature, Suzanne Brown was still working a full-time corporate job. The plan was to continue in that role, but she quickly realized that things needed to change. After negotiating her role down to part-time, Suzanne started getting...
How to Set (and Enforce) Boundaries with Family, Friends & Co-workers
May 06, 2021
Watch This Episode on our YouTube Channel Episode 18: Justine Sones Boundaries. Got any? We don’t. Well, sometimes we have boundaries, and sometimes we feel bad about enforcing them. We’re learning. Enter: Justine Sones. If you have the time, we recommend pausing after everything Justine says, and just letting it… Simmer. Soak. Absorb into your...
Tipsy Ellipses – with Special Guest Kate Strzinek of DomestiKateThis
May 03, 2021
Watch Full Video (with bonus photos!) on YouTube Now! Welcome to our May Tipsy Ellipses episode. On the first of every month, we (Susanne & Missy) do a Facebook Live bonus episode. The show is (mostly) unedited and non-bleeped, so keep those earbuds in if you’re around the littles. To watch the live version, be...
Balancing Mental and Physical Health While Pursuing Your Passion with Michelle Garrett
Apr 29, 2021
Episode 17: Michelle Garrett Please Note: This episode contains a discussion around depression, with a reference to self-harm and suicide which may be difficult for some listeners. If you need resources for yourself or someone you love, please visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org or call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-8255. We are honored, and so grateful,...
Master Your Money & Career Break Challenges
Apr 22, 2021
This week we are un-taboo-ing (that’s a thing, right?) an often taboo subject: money. Our guest is Janice Scholl, the host of The Money, Career & Motherhood Podcast. Choose from the icons above to listen and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. If you would like to watch the video version of this episode, it...
Surviving Midlife Indignities & Career Changes with Kristin van Ogtrop
Apr 15, 2021
Episode 15: Kristin van Ogtrop Thinking about making a big career change? Considering a huge shift, whether from home-to-work or work-to-home or something in between? This is the episode for you! And if you happen to be in mid-life, you’re in for a great time. You can watch a video version of this episode over...
Even Pros Can Benefit from Coaching – How a Coach Can Help with Career Pivots
Apr 08, 2021
Episode 13: KJ Dell’Antonia This week, our guest is KJ Dell’Antonia, the author of the viral New York Times essay Why I Didn’t Answer Your Email, the former editor of the Times’ Motherlode blog, and the author of the book How to Be a Happier Parent. Her debut novel, The Chicken Sisters, is a timely,...
Welcome to our April Tipsy Ellipses episode. On the first of every month, we (Susanne & Missy) do a Facebook Live where we recap our top learnings from the previous month’s episodes and give a sneak peak at what’s coming up in the month ahead. The show is unedited and non-bleeped, so keep those earbuds...
Career Solutions for People Dealing with Chronic Health & Life Issues
Apr 01, 2021
Episode 13: Alison Tedford Alison Tedford is a mom & … writer, marketer, indigenous (Kwakiutl First Nation) activist based in Abbotsford, British Columbia, and author of the soon to be released, Chronic Profit – Building My Business While Managing Persistent Pain, which is filled with career solutions for people dealing with chronic health & life...
Moms as Leaders & Creating a Flexible Schedule Through Multiple Revenue Streams
Mar 25, 2021
Episode 12: Kelly Rippon, Mom &… Leading by Example Kelly Rippon, started her consulting company, Authentic Change, in 2006, with the mission of changing the world one conversation at a time. Those conversations, combined with her work as a college instructor, corporate trainer, and single mother of six incredible children, including her oldest son, Olympic...
One Year of Covid: Thanking Our Local Heroes and Helpers
Mar 18, 2021
It’s Spring Break here in Austin so today’s episode was taped during a Facebook Live on our Mom & … Facebook Page last week. You can watch the full video at our Facebook Page or over at our YouTube Channel. This week marks a full year of Covid lock down for the Stevens and Kerns...
Mom & … Gratitude – with Nancy Davis Kho
Mar 11, 2021
Episode 10: Nancy Davis Kho Nancy Davis Kho is a speaker, author, and podcaster whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and NPR affiliate KQED. Nancy’s book THE THANK-YOU PROJECT: Cultivating Happiness One Letter of Gratitude at a Time was published by Running Press in December 2019. Nancy covers “the years...
Mom & … Habits – with Jenny Remington
Mar 04, 2021
Episode 1.9: Jenny Remington, Habits This week is the second part of our conversation with Jenny Remington. Basically, we had a blast talking to her about StrengthsFinder and got carried away. The next thing we knew, we were talking about habits and realized we had a second episode on our hands. The topic of habits...
Hello – Welcome to the Mom & … Podcast Tipsy Ellipses episode with Susanne & Missy. If this is your first time joining us, the Tipsy Ellipses episodes are different than our regular numbered episodes. On the first of each month, we do a Facebook Live on our Mom &… Podcast Page where we recap...
Mom & … StrengthsFinder with Jenny Remington
Feb 25, 2021
Subscribe Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify SoundCloud Stitcher RSS Episode 1.8: Jenny Remington, Strengths Finder This week, we are talking with Jenny Remington, a professionally trained and certified coach with the International Coach Federation. She has empowered hundreds of professionals, entrepreneurs, and parents to reignite their career, discover their path, or realign their life. Jenny...
Austin / Texas Freeze Update and How to Help
Feb 18, 2021
Download wherever you listen to podcasts The show starts at 2:38, but we didn’t want to use up extra electricity doing edits, so you can just FFWD a bit or listen to us chit chat before we jump in. Today we had a fabulous Strengths Finder Episode with Jenny Remmington scheduled to air but since...
Mom & … Steph Barron Hall of Ask An Enneagram Coach
Feb 11, 2021
Listen & subscribe wherever you get your podcasts! FYI: We use the word ‘sexual’ a couple times near the end of the episode. It’s not used in a graphic context at all, but within the discussion about the Enneagram. Just a warning, though, if you don’t want that word flying around the inside of your...
Friends, you showed up and we loved it! Thanks for hanging out with us, and if you weren’t able to make it to our first Tipsy Ellipses Facebook live, we got you covered. We’ve uploaded an unedited re-play of the Facebook live event. This makes for a slightly longer episode than usual, and of course,...
Mom & . . . Niksen – Embracing the Dutch Art of Doing Nothing with Olga Mecking
Jan 28, 2021
Episode 1.6: Mom And… Niksen: Embracing the Dutch Art of Doing Nothing, with Olga Mecking Episode summary: In this episode, author Olga Mecking joins us to talk about the concept of Niksen. Olga Mecking is a journalist, writer and translator. Originally from Poland, she lives with her German husband and three children in the Netherlands....
Subscribe Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify SoundCloud Stitcher RSS Episode summary: In this episode, we talk to enneagram enthusiast, Jill Johnson, about how to zero-in on our Enneagram numbers, and then how to put that information to work on our quest for self-knowledge and growth. Some of the Topics we covered this week: Enneagram Institute...
Jen Mann: Mom & . . . Author, Blogger, Throat-Puncher
Jan 15, 2021
Episode 1.4: Jen Mann Episode summary: This week we talk with the author, Jen Mann, about work-life balance, raising teenagers, knowing who we are, traveling mishaps, and more. We also do the second installment of Look, Listen, Learn, in which we decide the name is sticking. Some of the Topics we covered this week: Set...
Episode 1.3: Backfilling the Busy Video available here. Episode summary: In this week’s episode, Susanne and Missy talk about the unnecessary chores and extra volunteer work they’ve used as avoidance tactics, rather than tackling work they’re truly passionate about. They also talk about what’s coming up in the next couple months, and introduce a new,...
The Goal of the Mom & . . . Podcast is to share information that truly helps moms, no matter which phase of parenting/professional grownup conundrum you’re in. We know what our questions are, but we want to know what’s on your minds so that we can tailor episodes to you, so what’s your question?...
Welcome to the Mom & . . . podcast. We’re Missy & Susanne, two moms trying to figure out what comes after “mom”. Whether you’re a stay at home mom of a newborn or a a mom who is already an empty-nester, our podcast will feature interviews with career and life coaches helping moms answer...
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