Let's Be Real: Mama Journeys

Sally Raymond, from Santa Barbara, California, living near the ocean AND the mountains and at the age of 82, and believing that aging is a choice, she stays present.  She was married at the age of 19 and had two kids as a young mom. She realized that children are here to teach us. Her first born, at the age of 2, read the sign outside the car, Texaco! She realized he was a genius and she was NOT p...

Bill Williams is a dad of two after having many different jobs including photography, managed a TV network, and a TV station in Bowling Green Ohio (thinking there were mountains there).  He decided to set up his own communication consultant business but since everything went digital he decided to change his whole life and became a dad! And then became a financial advisor. He has been doing that fo...

Meredith Cole is the owner of the Denver Village, an inclusive environment near the Stanley Marketplace where they bring together many different practitioners to support people, but especially moms. She and her husband have two sons and had the second during the pandemic. She says things seem really hard at the time but memories seem to fade a little and each new stage is a new shift and that's re...

Hollie Wildehorn is from Australia and had her first baby at the age of 21! She was a very young mom and the town she was in was a very business oriented city (Cambria) and she was really mostly on her own. She was part of the alternative industry and she was part of a great community of moms and now with a 18 and 21 year old, she has a great relationships with her kids. Her biggest challenge was...

Sharon Harmon, from Nashville, Tennessee who works with highly sensitive people using frequencies to help people figure out what's going on with them. As a New York native, she met her husband in NYC.  She had her son at the age of 42 and they weren't preventing pregnancy but also weren't planning on it. As the eldest of five kids, she was the only girl and the "second mom" so that was like being...

Katie Fenske is a mom of 3 with three boys at home! She is enjoying having all three in school, but also it's hard to let go sometimes. She was 33 when she had her first kiddo and THOUGHT she knew what she was doing and then she had kids. The biggest challenge she experienced was self judgement.  She didn't think others were judging her but SHE was worried what others would think. She sees a mom s...

Alessia Lloyd is the mom of three amazing kids who are everything she ever dreamed them to be. She started when she was 22 with her first son and although he wasn't planned, he has always been loved and wanted. She was not in a healthy relationship when she had Alexander but after finally getting the strength to get out of the relationship.  She is in a much better place now with two other childre...

Samantha Foote is a mom of three, all with neurodivergent conditions and is near Boise, Idaho. All three of her kiddos have autism and ADHD combined. She was 28 when she started having kiddos and they are 10. 8 and 5.  Her SEVERE Postpartum Depression (PPD) was her biggest challenge.  No one listened to her or took her seriously and she struggled a lot. It took way too long for her to get help. Th...

Karen Peterson is a grateful mama and is a co-founder of a nonprofit called Couve Collective, community centers for people in recovery.  Her and her husband are excited to be grandparents very soon!  She worked for Boeing for years but decided she needed to give back to families who experience addiction and the effects that has on their family. She lives in Vancouver, Washington and is grateful fo...

Jason Gibler is a psychotherapist who works with moms, dads and getting people to tap into a deeper healing. He works often with perinatal families, including before, during and after having kids. Even dads get Postpartum depression and many people don't know that. Depression and anxiety are linked and many times that affects dads because we have more conscious fathering. The old paradigm of succe...

Keri Henson is a 6th generation Texan and a mom of SIX kiddos!  She has a brand called the "Mom'sDay Prepper."  These are moments that happen when you don't see them coming!  Managing relationships within all of the motherhood journey needs are instrumental in motherhood! She became a mama at the age of 24 and has had six kiddos from ages 21-7  with one of them who was diagnosed with cancer and an...

Dr. Tamara Beckford is an ED doctor with her own weight loss business in Houston. She helps women get rid of emotional and physical weight. It's 100% online and has been an entrepreneur for years. As a mom at 36 and 38 (considered old in the birthing world) she felt the itch at 2 years and understands why so many people are 2 years apart!  She started having babies later in life because she went t...

Fernanda Shoup, originally from Argentina and turning 40 with two toddlers at home!  She married her wife during Covid outside at a barn in Parker but was supposed to be in Argentina!  Talk about a different environment.  When she connected with her wife, she wasn't sure she wanted to be a mom but when she realized that she would parent with HER and that was what changed the whole thought about mo...

Emily Hill is a hospice chaplain and licensed social worker. She developed a love for hospice when she was 7 years old because of her grandfather.  She was so blown away by how hospice people change the world of the family of the person passing on. She earned a Master's of divinity and connects with death doulas and how to make people comfortable.  Regardless where you fall in the spiritual spectr...

Deborah Mallow never thought she wanted kids but after spending time with her friends and their kids, she fell in love with the idea of being a mom.  She is one of the positive, happiest people you have ever met!  In fact, she has written a book called 6 Steps to Fewer Days That Suck.  What a great title! She was 38 when she had her son and now he's in his 20's, living in Minnesota.  She struggled...

Dr. Jann Blackstone is a Jan of all trades as a behavioral scientist because she studies people's behaviors. She likes to call it mediation to bring people together. She predominantly works with co-parents to get families to be able to parent in a cohesive way for everyone in the family.  A bonus family is basically a step-family but she didn't like the word "step."  That word was just too negativ...

Angela Tipton runs a website called fireyourcareer.  She believes in empowering other women to live their truths.  She became a mom at the age of 30 because she focused on creating her career. She had a tough time balancing her career and personal ambitions with being a mom. She didn't want to set aside her career but finding the time to be 100% at both. Her husband has been her biggest supporter...

Riana Milne is a coach and psychotherapist for parents. She specializes in childhood and relationship trauma. 100% of us have childhood trauma because sometimes it comes from 3 generations. She is a mama of two very empowered ladies as a single mom. She uses the theory of mindset for success, she created a modeling agency. She has written 13 books and has a podcast all about relationships. She bel...

Kim Keane is a mom of two daughters and lives in Pennsylvania who also helps women through their healing journey through sound healing and reiki. Using vibrational frequency helps healing through tuning into your chakras. She was 27 when she became a mom and her biggest challenge has been letting go of perfectionism. This was a huge issue because both girls are strong willed and arguing with "your...

Aureen Monteiro is an author of a book called Rise Higher, to manage stress for women in higher profile positions.  She became a mom at 27 with her one and only baby girl. She is a teenager now and it's been a roller coaster as a mama of a teenager!  The spectrum of emotions is something she didn't see coming. She was worried she would lose her connection with her preteen but she learned that she...

Jalisa Hardy joined us from Maryland, where she is a publisher, author and all around amazing single mama. She got pregnant with her second only 6 weeks after giving birth to her first at 30 weeks! She struggled with landing in her body again. The biggest challenge she faced was the person she chose to have her kids with. She wanted her kids to grow up in a non-broken home so she and her parents m...

Shakila Marando Is the owner of Doulas by the Bay in San Francisco, CA.  She had a tough time with breastfeeding and realized that other moms needed that help too.  She started working as a nanny and then accidentally started working with a family who taught her about what a doula is and what they do. She love it and that started her journey to help other moms.  She puts herself in the shoes of th...

Sara Nudd is a mama of 4 with a heart bigger than you can imagine. Her birth story with her first, at the age of 21 was traumatic and heart wrenching, on top of having no support or knowledge of what being a mom would be like. She struggled and struggled but after 3 more kiddos, she realized that she was suffering with PPD.  Her life now is super full and her favorite mama moments are when all 6 o...

Julie Morey is a school social worker who does a lot for single moms because she chose to become a single mom by a donor with an unconventional motherhood journey. Her goal is to do a TEDx.  She empowers women to write their own story and make decisions for themselves instead of waiting around for Prince Charming. She thought things were going to be more difficult than they were but she created a...

Savannah Becerril is the Assistant Program Director of the Strong Mamas, Thriving Babies program for our nonprofit, YANA.  She has done a lot in the marketing world before coming to YANA including social media, websites and small business expansion.  She was a teen mom at the age of 18, is currently a foster mom to a 16 year old, a mom to a 13 year old and a 6 year old. She has so many different a...