BEAM Stories

For kids, summer is a time of popsicles, swimming and sprinklers, summer camp and late nights. For parents, summer is the ultimate logistics puzzle of caregiving while continuing work and life responsibilities with a shifting, unpredictable schedule.    In true "summer" fashion, Amy's summer went haywire. She's coming back after a short break with this episode to explain more about what to expect...

We say "it takes a village" to be a caregiver, but we often don't give the praise to who  actually makes up that group. As a mom, building a community that sees you in your many roles and helps lift the burdens is life-giving.  Aunties - friends, blood relatives, it doesn't matter - are often the unsung heroes of making motherhood work. In this episode, Claire Gould -  founder of GetClarified and...

Where do we get the language for our goals and what we value? For most of us, defining our values was often billed as a team-building exercise, stuck in the middle of a corporate retreat. Today's guest argues that we need to have those leadership development conversations sooner, that they can be woven in the fabric of our discussions at home and in elementary school.  As a certified master coach,...

When we hear the word “stress” as caregivers, our minds can go in a million directions. The American Psychological Association reports that 34% of adults report that stress completely overwhelms them on most days. And yet, if we can’t measure it  and give ourselves the language to talk about its impacts, we can’t make a different in our world and society. In this episode, Dr. Molly Dickens, a stre...

Are you healing or are you coping? Of those who responded to our initial BEAM Survey, 76% of mothers and caregivers wanted to access mental health support and only about 45% sought some form of treatment. There's still a stigma around mental health treatment and barriers to access approachable, inclusive care.  In this solo episode, Amy Kugler opens up about her history of counseling and therapy -...

Dr. Michelle Stephens is a force of nature in her own right as a mom, entrepreneur, nurse practitioner, advocate, and more. We caught up with her in the middle of a big transition - closing one business and exploring what's next - to see what she was learning in the messy middle.   Some people crave stillness in the transitions. Michelle can keep pace with the spinning world while noting the glimm...

Leah Burns and Natalie Swanson would tell you that every flipped bowl of cereal is an opportunity to connect, even when it feels the opposite. But that's the beauty of more than 3 decades as speech language pathologists, focusing on early intervention, Autism Spectrum Disorder and more. These two moms have been around a while and have seen how connection builds confidence - both in our kids and ou...

Storyteller and news media veteran Jenna Hanchard is no stranger to advocating for herself - she's had to all her life. After giving birth to her first child in the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic, Jenna learned what building a birth and postpartum support system truly meant. She advocated for connecting and resourcing Black mothers and Black doulas. She understood that, by the time her second chi...

Paid Leave for All's Founding Director Dawn Huckelbridge is many things - mom, partner, and friend being chief among those. We want to add two more titles: magic maker and advocate extraordinaire. In this episode, Dawn breaks down the drive and data behind a national paid leave policy. She shares her own mission of breaking down the political divide to get a policy passed, and how the Paid Leave f...

Consultant and podcaster Stacy Heller is entering a new phase in life. With four kids in their twenties and a partner of more than 30 years, her role as a mom has shifted so much that she easily has the language of how to pivot and how to guide her family through the process. In this episode, Stacy's honesty and candor exudes joy with raw vulnerability about how she's navigating unforeseen pivots...

What does a snapshot of your life look like in this exact moment? When we look at the slices of American motherhood, it can feel fragmented and disconnected in many ways. Spurring from a conversation about how different an experience it is to raise a family now than in the 1980s (gasp!), BEAM Stories host Amy Kugler kicks off a new series for the show that highlights conversations within the "Venn...

Bringing back this episode from Season 1 because The Setback Cycle is officially here! Order it here. Wouldn’t it be nice if everything in life were a straight line, up and to the left? Always moving forward, always finding success. If only that were true. Author and Forbes contributor Amy Shoenthal has dedicated her professional and personal life to exploring the trajectory of our life and trying...

In a world of polished images and perfected poses, photographer, author, and mom Kate T. Parker embraces the messy, wild, unpredictable, and real. In this wide-ranging conversation, Kate shares more about her journey to capture the authentic, raw everyday moments so that women and girls can see their power and be inspired by their courage.  Kate's newest book - FORCE OF NATURE - is out now. Not on...

A new look, a new name...same profoundly impactful stories. BEAM Stories continues the mission that  And More with Amy Kugler started, which is to amplify the intersectional stories of motherhood and caregiving so that we can find a way forward that lifts us all. With this evolution, we'll dare to ask some big questions about ambition, equity, mental health, maternal health, and how we can truly c...

With so much joy and heartbreak going on in the world, how do we summon the courage to share our experiences? In this personal episode, Amy shares how we need to have the brain space and bandwidth to explore the deeper conversations about how we walk about our world. She explains some of the challenges she's faced over the past few months and how she's moving forward. CW: postpartum depression and...

Baily is back and on a mission to break down any stigma or barrier that prevents us to connecting with ourselves and others. In the second part of Amy's conversation with Baily, they cover how community, connection and collaboration overlap, and how we can approach life from a new perspective to find some key solutions. "Everything is done with the support of others" is just the starting point of...

"Find your people" or "build your village." The many phrases that encourage us to find our community are inspiring, but how do we  actually go about connecting with others when we're in the thick of so many life changes as parents? Motherhood can be isolating and it requires bravery to reach outside of our comfort zone - all of that can stop us in our tracks. This conversation with community archi...

Sleepless nights are part of the caregiving package, but what happens when it veers into a whole new category of "something isn't right?" Even if we're caring for others while working in high-pressure positions, we cannot neglect our sleep health for too long. Speaker and strategist Lindsay Scola spent 19 years advocating for her own sleep health, ultimately being diagnosed with narcolepsy at the...

Parenthood brings up a myriad of emotions, many of which were buried deep down until a comment or an eye-roll bubbles the feelings to the surface. If you're a highly sensitive person and empath like Amy, then you know how quickly moms can go from calm to She-Hulk. (Amy's current PR: 2.5 seconds.) Rage and anger are often branded as an unspeakable topic. In this first show of a new And More series,...

What could be possible if we could build a professional life that allowed us to be ambitious and pursue dreams and also prioritize our caregiving responsibilities? What if we could find alignment within the ebbs and flows of each stage of our life, knowing that we’re living in our values and meeting our own needs so that we can show up fully and not feel depleted or burnt out? As business coach an...

We've heard time and time again how raising kids doesn't have to derail your ambitions, but it's easier said than done. It takes grit, tenacity, some luck and a lot of clear-headed thinking to build a full life that includes both kids and your business dreams. In this episode, we'll hear how Laura Sullivan, co-founder of Sullivan and Sullivan Studios and Moveable Feast Retreats, approaches raising...

Each new year presents a semi-blank slate and some flexibility to dream and rediscover new possibilities. We often feel the need to label our intentions for the upcoming 365 days and set goals. (Can we just agree that resolutions are so   2019?)  For moms and caregivers, this sentiment can either inspire hope or add yet another item on the top of a heaping to-do list. In this episode, Amy presents...

For the last new And More episode of 2023, we brought back certified mental health coach  & Daring Way Facilitator (and speed-dial friend) Mandy Jankus. In this conversation, Mandy talks about the new podcast she's started, why it's so important to talk about the "both/and" of our many emotions, and what she's learning by sharing her story. Listen to her new podcast - The Kindred & Brave Project -...

We talk  a lot about self-compassion and grief. We even have cute sayings like "put your oxygen mask on first," as a way to stave off burnout and fatigue. What happens when you've been in seasons of deep heartbreak, loss, and joy? How do you incorporate grief as a part of the normal ebb and flow of life? Grief advocate, entrepreneur, and best-selling author Marisa Renee Lee answers this question h...

It's December, which means we hear a common refrain in personal and professional circles. How are you going to "end the year well?" In a society obsessed with optimizing productivity and making every minute count, there's an endless litany of End of Year challenges and strategy sessions to ensuring that you're off to the races once the calendar year turns. None of this takes into account that this...