My First Year: The Anthology

Hosts Sophia and Casey interview Katie Shepherd, a Brooklyn-based writer and podcast producer originally from North Carolina, about her first year of motherhood with her son, Dean. Katie describes always assuming she’d have kids, getting pregnant quickly at 36, pushing back on the “geriatric pregnancy” label, and needing a doctor with a more humane communication style.  She shares how her overachi...

In this episode of My First Year, hosts Sophia and Shareen interview Washington native MacKenzie Kermoade, an international environmental governance professional and musician (Mack Marcel) living in Copenhagen.  MacKenzie traces her path from a nature-centered childhood near Seattle to studying environmental policy and global climate law, ultimately leading to her role as coordinating officer at t...

🎙️ A Special Encore Episode — And We Need Your Vote! We’re revisiting one of the most moving conversations from My First Year as a Father . SOPHIA and A.C. Valdez sit down with acclaimed novelist and essayist Thomas Greene for an intimate conversation about fatherhood and unimaginable loss. Thomas reflects on becoming a father to his daughters, Sarah and Jane, how caring for Sarah and creating bed...

In today’s episode, co-hosts Sophia and Rosabelle speak with Kayla, a 2026 graduate of Cooper Union School of Engineering in New York City. Kayla describes growing up in a competitive, tight-knit town with strict parents, a childhood centered on swimming and academics, and early pressure—starting in kindergarten—to get good grades and attend a top college. At Cooper Union in Manhattan, she experie...

In today’s episode, we speak with Aaron, a sophomore at the University of Florida. Born in Lima, Peru and raised in Miami, Aaron describes growing up in a largely Hispanic community, learning English quickly after moving to the U.S. with his mother, and enduring intense academic pressure that led to burnout and heated conflicts about leaving home. Unable to afford out-of-state options and facing g...

For all the students arriving at college for the first time this week, hear from Shreya , a University of Georgia student, writer, poet, and founder of the autism advocacy nonprofit Color Me Blue. Shreya reflects on leaving behind the familiarity of home, adjusting to college as an introvert, and finding a group of friends who made her feel truly seen. She shares how poetry helped her process the...

Nikki lost her husband Rob to cancer when she was only 46. She talks about leaving her first marriage where she was a self-described tradwife and young mom of three, meeting Rob with whom she had a profoundly close bond and a beautiful marriage, losing Rob to colon cancer, working through grief and anger, and continuing embracing love and life following Rob's passing. Nikki met Rob when they...

What does it feel like to leave behind everything you've ever known—and begin again? My First Year in America is a new podcast from Sophia Media exploring the deeply personal stories of immigrants and the first year that changed their lives. Through intimate conversations, our guests revisit the excitement, uncertainty, fear, discovery, and transformation of starting over in the United States...

What happens when you bring a dog into your life? From Sophia Media comes a new podcast exploring the profound transformation that begins when a dog enters your universe. Whether it is your first dog or your tenth, that first year reshapes far more than just your daily routine—it changes who you are. In this trailer, hear from dog parents Brian, Jennifer, and Beth as they share the exact moments t...

How is Gen Z really experiencing college? In Season 1 of My First Year in College, hosts Sophia and Rosabelle talk with college students and recent grads about the dreams and expectations they arrived with-and the anxiety, loneliness, joy, discovery and triumphs they encountered along the way.  Going beyond the polished version of college life we see on social media, My First Year in College explo...

Tulsa resident Eric Heimdale became a full-time caregiver for his wife Patty, who showed early dementia signs around 2014–15. Eric recounts meeting Patty in 1991, blending their families, and a serendipitous earlier connection through a shared home address.  After Patty failed a cognitive test and was prescribed memantine and Lexapro, Eric says the drugs led to violence, hallucinations, and a sudd...

Send us Fan Mail My First Year as a Father is an interview-style podcast that centers on the often unheard stories of fatherhood, especially during that pivotal first year. By listening to these men speak openly and honestly about their own journeys – the doubts, the fears, the transformations – the listener experiences something that rarely exists elsewhere: real talk about what it actually feels...

What really happens when a woman becomes a mother? Beyond sleepless nights and diapers, motherhood transforms every part of life—our identity, relationships, careers, priorities, and understanding of love. In My First Year as a Mother , women share honest stories about what no one prepared them for: 😬 The anxiety of bringing home a newborn. 💙 The isolation of postpartum. ✨ The unexpected moment...

Hosts Sophia and Adoley interview Twiggy Damy, a care manager in the Bay Area, about her immigration journey from Acapulco, Mexico to California in 1991.  Twiggy recounts losing her father at age five, being raised largely by her paternal grandmother, and her mother’s repeated moves to the U.S. that left Twiggy longing for reunification and struggling with suppressed grief. A full year after she h...

In this episode of “My First Year With My Dog,” Sophia and Samira i nterview Brian Berger, who shares his story of adopting a rescue dog with his wife, Amy, after years of wanting a dog. They initially sought a small dog but connected with a quiet blonde pit bull (later named Christie “Brinkley”) at a Brooklyn rescue. Brian describes bringing Brinkley home and early adjustments in a Brooklyn apart...

In today’s episode, co-hosts Sophia and Rosabelle speak with Dagny, a Los Angeles–based singer-songwriter and NYU Gallatin graduate who created her own college major (“Language Curation and Ethics”). Dagny recounts growing up homeschooled in Connecticut, adjusting to public high school, and graduating in 2020 as COVID ended senior milestones. She chose NYU largely for the excitement of New York du...

Musician and Chinese medicine teacher Andrew Sterman recounts how he decided to have children with his wife Anne, an acupuncturist, marked by a ceremony inviting “universal creative forces.” He describes two successful home births in 2004 and 2007 with midwife and doula, using acupuncture during labor, and the mystical intensity of birth. Sterman emphasizes dads focusing on postpartum recovery, be...

Sophia introduces “My First Year: The Anthology” and kicks off with an episode from the upcoming podcast “My First Year as a Mother.” The series is co-hosted by Sophia and new mom, Casey Georgi. For this episode, we learn more about Casey’s story. Casey describes pursuing IVF to avoid passing on her husband’s rare genetic brittle bone disease, osteogenesis imperfecta. She shares reluctance about i...

From Sophia Media comes a new podcast series exploring the moments that shape us.  My First Year is a collection of deeply personal conversations with people from all walks of life, reflecting on the experiences that transformed them—moments of courage, uncertainty, loss, love, reinvention, and discovery. Our guests revisit some of the most meaningful chapters of their lives and explore questions...