Mothering Heights

This week, it's a true delight and honor to welcome writer, therapist, and host of the Everything's Relative podcast, Eve Sturges, to Mothering Heights! Eve's writing has been called "incisive, funny, and deeply sensitive" by no less than the great Jill Filopovic, and her podcast explores what happens after the discovery of surprising DNA results. She also discusses her own experience of a surpris...

This week, we are thrilled to welcome filmmaker Marta Cunningham to Mothering Heights! Nominated for two News and Documentary Emmy Awards, Marta Cunningham is a queer filmmaker of color. A native of Northern California, she was so moved by the story of Lawrence King's tragic murder in 2008 that she embedded herself in the beachside city of Oxnard, CA, and soon began filming those whose lives were...

We are so lucky and so thrilled to welcome Alison Bennett to Mothering Heights! Alison is a writer and producer and has written on shows like (Leonora's fave) You're the Worst and the Emmy-nominated Doogie Kamealoha, MD. We dive into the real nitty gritty of launching a successful writing career here, as well as how to navigate ooky situations with friends, how we raise siblings  - one of us is an...

What a genuine thrill to welcome dancer, choreographer, filmmaker, and educator Nicole Riviere to Mothering Heights! Nicole has danced on shows like America's Got Talent and for artists such as Death Cab for Cutie, Peaches, and Elvis Costello. She has a combined 30 years of experience teaching yoga and dance, and she is a filmmaker who directs music videos and her own piece - Woman, Mother, Sister...

What an absolute thrill to welcome actress, writer, ceramicist, and podcast queen Busy Philipps to Mothering Heights! Busy and Leonora are old old friends (youthful YOUTHFUL old friends) and we are so happy to be celebrating Busy's many wins this springtime. We talk about this season of Girls 5Eva dropping on Netflix, the re-boot of her wonderful late night talk show (with producer and episode 57...

This week, we are so grateful to welcome actor, writer, director, filmmaker, and Fitzmaurice Voicework professor, Emily Alpren to Mothering Heights! Emily is a super-smarty-pants and creator, and we discuss experimental theater, remaining creative when motherhood is overwhelming, and how her work as a voice professor at USC informs her work as a director. Incredible stuff.  Please read more about...

This week, we are thrilled to welcome actress, writer, improviser, and all-around hilarious and silly person Anne Gregory to the podcast! Anne has had a really interesting career, from her and Rebekka Johnson's triumphant run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, to owning the Lyric Hyperion Theater, doing about a thousand commercials, being a cast member of Punk'd (!!) and even teaching host Leonora...

This week, we thrillingly welcome big shot movie producer Beatriz Sequeira to Mothering Heights! Calling in from the pre-production set of her next film with Blumhouse Productions, Wolfman, Bea gives us the skinny on producing films like Get Out, Us, Five Nights at Freddy's, and The Invisible Man, how she and her DP husband, Lyn Moncrief, balance their careers with parenthood, and why women and es...

This week we are honored and excited to welcome actress and writer and educator Terryn Westbrook to Mothering Heights! Terryn has been working in the biz for twenty-five years, and in our conversation we discuss what it was like to work with David Lynch (again and again) and how she got the gig (great story), what it was like to work with Christopher Guest (again and again), and I bet you can't ev...

What a true treat and honor to have the hilarious actor, improvisor, director, and writer Rebekka Johnson on Mothering Heights! On this episode, we talk about how she came to direct her first feature, Step Aside, starring Arden Myrin and Tara Copeland, her brilliant new podcast with the equally funny and warm Anne Gregory, Non Drinking Buddies, her important and long-standing collaborative friends...

This week, Leonora hosts herself for a quick discussion on small joys and systems that make life a little easier. Thank you for tuning in and sharing and leaving a review: you're doing a great job.

In our first ever return-engagement, we welcome Kate Anthony back to Mothering Heights. Kate is celebrating the release of her highly anticipated book, The D Word: Making the Ultimate Decision About Your Marriage. Kate is so many things to so many people: a divorce coach, a community builder and leader, an advocate, a sage. We dive right into the hard and fun and complicated world of marriage and...

This week we are so thrilled and honor to welcome the Executive Producer and Chief Creative Officer of the Try Guys and 2nd Try Productions, Rachel Cole, to Mothering Heights! Rachel is a true example of a powerhouse creative, and is a real survivor to boot. In this episode we discuss her pageant life (Miss Vermont!!), her journey through a difficult cancer diagnosis in her 20s to being a mother o...

This week, we are deeply honored to chat with dancer, dance teacher, choreographer, and artist, Jasmine Albuquerque. Jasmine has worked with towering figures such as Joey Solloway, Ryan Heffington, Mike Mills, and Beck, and in spaces like the Hammer, the MOCA, and the LACMA. In 2022, Jasmine and her mother, the legendary and iconic artist Lita Albuquerque, exhibited their collaborative film, Liqui...

This week, we are truly honored to be joined by Yoga Nidra guide and healer, Sydney Cutler Abich! Sydney and Leonora have been in mom-community for eons, and we are so grateful she's here to share her deep and hard-won wisdom. Sydney has a masters degree in social work and worked for years as a medical social worker. After her own health took a turn, she discovered the layered and deep benefits of...

It's a real honor to welcome writer, novelist, memoirist, and the host of the Forever 35 podcast, Kate Spencer to Mothering Heights! Kate and Leonora discuss being ADHD moms, what it's like raising teenagers and being the elder stateswomen/crones/RBGs of their mom community, Leonora tells a WILD story of going to the opening of Kate's husband's Broadway show Gutenberg, grief, and of course: SKINCA...

What a true honor to have writer, comedy legend, and the co-host of the Busy Philipps is Doing Her Best Podcast, Caissie St. Onge, to the show! Leonora followed Caissie for years online, learning how to be funny and compassionate all at once, and it still feels amazing that they've become IRL friends. In this episode, we get the dirt on how Caissie and her husband managed to raise two truly except...

This week, Leonora is thrilled to welcome writer-director-creative Terrie Samundra to Mothering Heights! Terrie's debut feature, Kaali Khuhi, a Netflix Orginal Film, premiered in 2020, and she has participated in just about every Sundance Lab that's out there. In this episode, we discuss how she's paying forward all her experiences in the various filmmaking labs, her daily creative routine, how Ge...

Finally, after about two dozen loving mentions on this podcast, we are joined by actress, storyteller, and MFT Jennifer Seifert! Jen has weathered chronic illness and pain and come out the other side, and now utilizes her own healing experiences with creativity as a licensed marriage and family therapist. We discuss her and my different grad school experiences, how we've both benefited from her wo...

This week, we are revisiting a classic episode with author and coach Samara Bay. Samara's book, Permission to Speak, has been redefining what power sounds like since its release in February 2023. This conversation with Samara sparked so many messages of WOW when we first aired it, and I'm excited for you all to listen again - or for the first time - now that Samara has been featured on NBC News, C...

This week, Leonora is honored to host educator, sexual health and wellness expert, somatic bodyworker, healer, and coach Pamela Clare Wylie Samuelson (she/they) to Mothering Heights. Pamela found her way into this incredibly rich and rewarding career space through her earlier life as a dancer and aerialist, through injury, into healing. She now brings her deep and intuitive understanding of physio...

This week we are thrilled to welcome actor, voice artist, and host of the Making it After 40 podcast, Lisa Rodriguez! The two of us reference each other's podcast all the time, so it only makes sense that we'd share this great interview, which we did for Lisa's one year anniversary. In this inspiring episode, we talk about how to trust that you are enough, trusting our intuition, navigating and he...

This week, what a treat to have actress, writer, filmmaker, all around creative Lauren Aboulafia to Mothering Heights! Lauren and Leonora discuss meeting and creating in an Artist's Way workshop years ago, transcending the natural tendency toward guilt in motherhood, maternal mental health, and how to turn trauma into art (CW brief mention of traumatic birth). Lauren is so smart, and so inspiring....

Thank you for your patience as we took a little summer hiatus! This week, Leonora is thrilled to welcome Emily from the Residuals Podcast to Mothering Heights. Emily is a producer, a mama, an advocate, and a lover of all things spooky. Our conversation is wide-ranging, compassionate, inspiring, and really, really fun. Be sure to listen to Emily and Joy's spoooooky podcast The Residuals (look for L...

This week, Leonora is thrilled to welcome Kate (the Great) Anthony to the podcast. Kate is the host of the wildly popular The Divorce Survival Guide podcast, and has carved out a thriving career as a coach, podcaster, and the leader of a thriving online community of women. In this conversation, we talk about her extraordinary upbringing in NYC in the 1970's (SHE WAS ON SESAME STREET YOU GUYS), bei...