Becoming Parents - Birth Stories and Birthwork Wisdom

My 21-year-old daughter, Alana and I co-host once a month, while we strip it down and bare it all discussing topics from traditions to sex, divorce to depression, abuse to drug use and everything in between. With the perspective of the parent AND the child, both perspectives can be brought to the table simultaneously. Today we discuss healthy sexual relationships, dysfunctional sex, rape, being ti...

Belinda opens up about growing up with a Mom who was raised strict Catholic and a Dad who was a Holocaust survivor. It was an unhappy environment focused on pain, struggle, and conflict. We discuss her parents getting divorced, her father's terminal lung cancer, college and embracing the entirety of her life: choices, thoughts, traumas, and upbringing. This embrace, not the embrace of a lover...

Helen and I connected and it was so amazing. Taking writing and attaching the experience to a horse is so appealing to me as a writer, I longed to go visit her, let a horse "choose" me and write book #2. With such an amazing background, she allowed her experiences with the horses to shape how she designed her business. The work she's doing is so fantastic and I love her story.  FACEBOOK: hele...

Savanna and I discussed crippling anxiety, doing amazing things but feeling overwhelmed and not present in the moment to the point that she had debilitating psychogenic pain. She learned how to change that, turn it around and not only move through her own anxiety but to become a Life and Confidence Coach. Through it all, she remained with the love of her life - which is amazing. She learned to let...

Karen and I met again for an update of information.  As I know Karen personally, I get to see the impact she has made and is still making in the lives of prisoners - including having a former prisoner as a roommate in her house. Her focus is on using the prison system to rehabilitate people and send them into the world not only better than they came in but as contributing, adjusted people. Sh...

Sonya and I talk about how she wanted to be a lawyer at 13, became one at 25, her first job as a lawyer at the video game company, SEGA! Dream job, crazy boss... and the years ensuing that would teach her what she's great at. Burn out, stress with finances, pregnancy, being a Mom, getting divorced and how to embrace who you are. In this case, it's using her undergrad in philosophy, her love of mus...

When I read a bit about Olivia's story, I was ecstatic about our interview. SO common and not discussed enough. Feeling lost and that your value comes from other people, escaping with alcohol, partying too hard, using sex to feel loved. When Olivia realized she had alienated the people she loved most, when her boyfriend died at 29, when she felt the most alone - she hit the reset button and fell i...

My 21-year-old daughter, Alana and I co-host once a month, while we strip it down and bare it all discussing topics from traditions to sex, divorce to depression, abuse to drug use and everything in between. With the perspective of the parent AND the child, both perspectives can be brought to the table simultaneously. Jump on board and join us for mother/daughter conversations that are raw, genuin...

Mica's story will touch your heart. Growing up in poverty, loving theater, feeling like she didn't have a place, bouncing around and listless. Mica built baggage on her journey. She was the first in my family to graduate from high school. The first to go to college. She was also the first to drop out of college. One day she snapped with her boyfriend and said how she felt. "I hate my life!"....

Pam and I go deep on culture shock, music, speaking, trying out every type of high school, not fitting in anywhere, getting her GED on her 17th birthday, date rape, a Second Chance program that didn't work out, getting pregnant as someone who didn't want kids, burying two children, raising two others, leaving an abusive relationship and fulfilling her dreams (with more than one Masters) to help ot...

Lyn was such a blast, discussing how she completed college even though she had a horrible reading comprehension issue (spelling was tough too!). We discuss ending her relationship with a strict religion, ending her marriage, obsessing over her weight, going corporate over teaching because it paid well, how exercise marketing is bullshit, building self-esteem, and having second chances. Lyn calls 3...

Today Alana and I discuss parenting teens. As a parent, I was not permissive but not restrictive. I trusted my kids even when I knew they were lying. They knew they could always come to me, although I wasn't always the first choice. They really relied on each other - which I love. Not all of them choose to communicate with each other or me, which is really hard to watch and feel.  We talked about...

I knew going into this podcast that we'd be laughing a lot and we won't disappoint. In the laughter, we discuss some tough topics. How a car accident altered Dom's life, how being a caretaker for his Dad who suffered from Alzheimer's was incredibly tough - especially his "stained glass eyes". We talk reading, work ethics, being in John Maxwell's leadership program, leading a toastmasters group at...

Sydney and I get real, deep and personal about bullying, body image, growing up living in the movie Mean Girls, having an eating disorder, being suicidal and afraid to go to school. What helped? Journaling, gratitude, motivational videos and podcasts all learned at the treatment facility she checked herself into.  What started as wanting to help others who were bullied, everything Sydney does help...

Joanne and I chat about the Sanity Project Podcast A LOT about persistence, life experience, showing up and learning from every job you're exposed to. You will learn how the song Is that all there is By Peggy Lee impacted Joanne. We discuss abuse, escaping, moving cross country, starting over (many times!) and finding a passion that has spanned about 30 years. Find Joanne here: https://askjoannevi...

My 21-year-old daughter, Alana and I co-host once a month, while we strip it down and bare it all discussing topics from traditions to sex, divorce to depression, abuse to drug use and everything in between. With the perspective of the parent AND the child, both perspectives can be brought to the table simultaneously. Jump on board and join us for mother/daughter conversations that are raw, genuin...

Angela's laid back nature and mellow attitude about her struggles are phenomenal. We talked about choice, her journey with being in multiple countries, traveling, getting her Masters of Social Work, getting married and navigating the world, getting pregnant, IVF, depression, and anxiety and losing 4 people in a span of 13 months. Despite all that, she takes responsibility for herself, turns things...

Natalie and I discuss the challenges we all face being a "worker bee" and not fit into the corporate world. We talk about working with good bosses versus shitty, emotional abuse at work and wanting to get out but not knowing how or what to do. She shares her story and why she took that struggle to other women who also feel like they don't fit in. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spo...

Jamie and I go deep on the points in life that change you, how being raised Mormon impacted her, getting pregnant at 15 by a 35 year old man (that is a story in itself) being married young to a man who she wasn't attracted to, raising kids, being molested as a child, dealing with her child's suicide attempts and understanding because she herself was also contemplating it. Therapy was the turning p...

I found it refreshing to chat with Martha. From chatting about her job at 3M as a Free Trade Agreement Analyst, to how her podcast was inadvertently launched, to her innate love of entrepreneurship. We discussed anxiety, moving out on your own, therapy and mental health, gaining confidence, studying abroad and being a TedX speaker. Her website: Shit You Need To Know is a comprehensive look at ever...

Patricia was gracious enough to admit how she felt when we were interviewing. HSP - Highly Sensitive People is who she realized she was. We chatted about her eating disorder and admitting herself into a 9 1/2 month clinic at 30 years old. Learning feelings were new but having a strong desire to connect was not. Raised by a single mom who was anxious and whose rules had rules, with no self-soothing...

My first interview during a tornado warning (sirens and all), Mary was upfront about health, business, being the 2nd oldest to 6 kids born in 10 years and how heavy she felt the responsibility to take care of her parents and siblings. We discussed family relationships, being a "good kid", becoming a lawyer and hating it. Then realizing it was the conduit to fund and support her passion-turned-busi...

Maria and I discuss girls making a difference, creating disruption to make change, what IS the empowered girl experience and how are Moms involved. Maria tells us her story of school to paramedic, to the injury that made her not able to return to that field and how that launched her into finding her true purpose. She describes what it's like having two girls of her own, how they push her to be bet...

Jess and I have a fantastic conversation about building Instagram and how it's the new business card, Brene Brown, haters, building your personal why your soul why and the impact on the world. Her struggle from great grades and feeling accomplished and grateful but still unhappy to where she's at now - a yogi who teaches marketing. jesspenesso.com --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.sp...

Taking a tough upbringing peppered with abuse, launching herself into relationships that aren't healthy but knowing she wanted to help others - literally from the age of 5 - Lisa is honest about the continuation of getting and being healthy, what gets her through tough moments that arise now and how she finds her happiness. You will relate to her story because it's honest, raw and up front. --- Se...