It's a Lot

In this deeply silly but informative conversation with Matt DeTurck and Dan Howell from the Anomaly Film Festival, we learn all about what goes on behind the scenes to run a film festival. We discuss what brought each of them to genre movies in the first place, the joy of revisiting old Disney movies, how often it's appropriate to rewatch The Shining, and much more. In the second half of the episo...

Physical therapist, mom, avid reader, and bookstagrammer Sarah McGrath of Sarah Reads in Roc joins host Emily Hessney Lynch for a deep dive book chat on all things Shirley Jackson! We read her gothic horror masterpiece We Have Always Lived in the Castle and her first memoir Life Among the Savages to get to know both sides of Jackson and her work. In the first half of our book chat, we get into som...

After cleaning headstones in cemeteries for fun for a few years, Katie DeRaddo started A Grave Attraction to share the stories of the dead through social media, honoring their lives and ensuring they are not forgotten. In this conversation with host Emily Hessney Lynch, we discuss proper techniques and ethics for cleaning headstones, some of Katie's favorite cemeteries in Rochester, Buffalo, and b...

Content warning: This episode contains brief mentions of suicidal ideation; they are not discussed at length or in detail. Please take care while listening. Artist, imagination doula, and mom Molly Darling joins host Emily Hessney Lynch for a wide-ranging conversation about evolving identity and how to take the leap and cross the threshold into something new. In the first half of the episode, we d...

Champagne Manley, a mom and the owner of Cakedd by Champ, joins host Emily Hessney Lynch for a fun and thoughtful conversation about feeling lost, figuring out her path, the realities of alcoholism, getting sober, motherhood, and more. In the first half of the show, Champagne shares what it was like to go from a sheltered upbringing in a very religious family to attending community college and par...

Content warning: This episode contains mentions of sexual abuse and providing therapy to sex offenders. The discussion is high level and not graphic; it takes place during the first half of the show. Ashley Charbonneau, a licensed clinical social worker, podcaster, author, and obsessive reader, joins host Emily Hessney Lynch for a wide-ranging conversation about the many different things we're tol...

Content warning: This episode contains discussion of infant loss and grief. The first half of our conversation shares details about childbirth, Mai's daughter's brain injury, and her baby's death. There are references to infant loss and discussions of grief in the second half. Please take care while listening. Author and mom Mai Nguyen joins host Emily Hessney Lynch for an in-depth conversation ab...

Teacher, artist, and queer badass Lanni Maszerowski (they/them) joins host Emily Hessney Lynch for a fun book chat about Baby Blue by Bim Eriksson. Baby Blue is a queer, dystopian graphic novel about a fascist state that polices negative emotions and one twenty-something girls' journey to find her people and a place to belong. We found the novel surprisingly campy (the Peacekeepers are basically a...

Robin Wilt, a mom who is running for Congress, joins host Emily Hessney Lynch for a thoughtful, honest conversation about how her experiences as a mom have shaped her political views. We talk about her adult children and how proud she is of them, the painful years-long legal battle her family endured in an effort to hold her son's school accountable for their poor handling of racist harassment and...

May 27th is the one year anniversary of It's a Lot ! Thank you so much for our support throughout our first year. It means the world to us. Check out Emily's Instagram this week for celebrations, reflections, and a fun giveaway! You can always support the show by leaving a review on your favorite podcast app or sending a one-time or recurring tip . Author Kristina Ten joins host Emily Hessney Lync...

Are we doomed to traumatize our kids? Host Emily Hessney Lynch sits down with Dr. Kenya Malcolm, PhD, a clinical psychologist and the Director of Infant and Early Childhood Initiatives at the University of Rochester Medical Center's Department of Psychiatry, for a conversation about exactly that. We explore how our trauma shows up as parents and how our anxieties can impact the environment our kid...

Content warning: This episode contains discussion of losing a loved one to suicide. There are no graphic details, but we do talk about grief at length in the second half of the show. Please take care while listening. Content creator, librarian, comedian, and mom Hayley DeRoche (they/she), the creator of the viral 'Sad Beige' phenomenon, joins host Emily Hessney Lynch for a conversation about algor...

If you read and loved the Dear America books as a tween in the late 90s/early 2000s, then this episode is for you! Author Ella Dawson joins host Emily Hessney Lynch for a fun conversation about everyone's favorite Dear America book, Voyage on the Great Titanic: The Diary of Margaret Ann Brady , by Ellen Emerson White, which came out in 1998. We discuss what held up well in our reread, whether or n...

Journalist and toddler mom Fortesa Latifi joins host Emily Hessney Lynch for a conversation about why we need more nuance in our conversations about mom influencers. In the first half of the show, we discuss how influential influencers truly are (and how much money is involved in the industry), how many mom influencers come from vulnerable backgrounds, and where Fortesa personally draws the line w...

Content warning: This episode contains a mention of miscarriage that is described in some detail. Please take care when listening; if you'd like to avoid that part, it starts around 41:15 and ends by 42:10. When Rachel Kramer Bussel took a break from law school, she started trying different things. She worked as an admin assistant, wrote erotica on the side, and started a cupcake blog that landed...

Content warning: This episode contains a brief mention of suicidal ideation (it is not discussed in detail). Please take care while listening. In this special crossover episode, Magnus Champlin of the Mind of Magnus podcast joins host Emily Hessney Lynch for a fun, collaborative interview with photographer Adam Eaton! We discuss the healing power of creativity, Adam's gift for seeing the beauty in...

Tyler Lima-Roope, a content creator and advocate from LA, joins host Emily Hessney Lynch for the second episode in our Rare Disease Month mini series. In this conversation, we talk about what it's like living with a disability, when Tyler first knew he was different from other kids, meeting his wife online thanks to going live on TikTok, health anxiety, what he's lost as his SMA progresses, and th...

The first in our two-part series for Rare Disease Month, child neurologist Sam Mackenzie, M.D., Ph. D. joins host Emily Hessney Lynch for a conversation about his career path, research interests, spinal muscular atrophy, gene therapy, and his hopes for a better healthcare system. In the second half of the show, Sam shares his experiences as the dad of three kids, how he feels like a 75-year-old at...

In today's mini episode, host Emily Hessney Lynch is joined by her producer, Chris Lindstrom, who is also the host of Food About Town and co-founder of Lunchador, for a casual chat about how things are going with the podcast, our favorite episodes so far, the 2016 trend and how different things were back then, and how we've become more ourselves over the past 10 years. We also discuss how we've en...

Content warning: This episode contains mentions of suicide attempts (they are not discussed in a detailed or graphic way, but they are mentioned briefly). Please take care while listening. Author, educator, mental health advocate, and mom Leanne Toshiko Simpson joins host Emily Hessney Lynch for a thoughtful and funny conversation about her chaos whirlwind life. Leanne talks about living with bipo...

Content warning: this episode contains discussions of depression and suicidal ideation. Please take care when listening. The Trans Lifeline and 988 Lifeline are available if you need someone to talk to. Chloe Corcoran joins host Emily Hessney Lynch to talk about the it's a lot-ness (and the hope and joy!) that's part of coming out, transitioning, and navigating daily life as a trans woman. We talk...

Toddlers love snacks. Adults love snacks. But do grownups love toddler snacks? We taste test 24 different snacks for little ones and share our analysis and hot takes! Host Emily Hessney Lynch is joined by Chris Lindstrom, producer of It's a Lot, host of Food About Town, and co-founder of the Lunchador Podcast Network, as well as her husband, Tim Lynch, owner of Tenderchomps Art. In the first half,...

In this follow-up episode, business owner and mom Kat Eddy returns to chat with host Emily Hessney Lynch about the reality of life with two under two. We play back some clips from our first interview about her expectations for two under two throughout this conversation; it's definitely worth listening to part 1 if you haven't yet, but you can totally listen to part 2 as a standalone episode! We di...

Content warning: this episode contains discussion of infertility, miscarriage, and IVF. If those are sensitive topics for you, please take care while listening. If you'd like to skip that part, I recommend only listening to the first half of the episode, which ends around the 26 minute mark. Eboni Jones Stewart, a librarian, professor, and bonus mom, joins host Emily Hessney Lynch for a conversati...

Author, podcaster, and sex & culture critic Ella Dawson joins host Emily Hessney Lynch for a conversation about all the highs and lows of publishing your debut novel, the mental health impact of the post-publication adrenaline crash, and doing the work to process all those big feelings and keep moving forward. We also chat about Ella's podcast, Rebel Ever After, and the fun and fulfillment she...