Let's Be Real: Mama Journeys

Trista is a coach of women and focuses on empowering women. She gave birth in Costa Rica at home as a single mom. She lived in Costa Rica for seven years to learn a new culture, Spanish and more about sustainability. She is one of six kids and always wanted to give birth at home. One of her biggest challenges was going from having the baby in her belly to always having him on her boob.  The demand...

Melissa is a wife and mom of 2 teen girls. Holistic health and life coach helping girls and women break free issues with food. Being a mom is so hard because you watch yourself walk outside of your body with NO control.  Being a mom is a 24/7 job because someone always needs something.  Her kids are 27 months apart and that seemed to work well for them.  Overwhelming at first but as they grew, it...

Jenn is a life coach and helps people to be proactive in their resilience. She helps people prepare and practice for the curve balls that are thrown at us. She is an adoptive mom of a 15 year old girl who brought her daughter home at 5 weeks old. She is a 2-time kidney transplant recipient so couldn't carry children so decided to be an adoptive mom. Her story is quite unique and full of hope, love...

A native California girl challenged with not being able to surf every day. Her and her family are about to retire from the military after 20 years of service. With baby number one, she almost lost her life in childbirth. As a family, they have moved 8 times in 13 years!  As a military family, this was their "normal" but watching their kids struggle with those moves was gut wrenching. She wants oth...

As a new author of a book about postpartum stuff that helps moms with the 4th trimester, her honest, raw thoughts and experiences are helping moms everywhere. She is a young, intelligent mom with so much to share. She learned early to set boundaries and let her friends and family know what they have for expectations and highly suggests that for all moms. There are two goals after having a baby…one...

Married at 19 and baby number one at 20, Melinda flew across the world to Ethiopia, Africa to be with her husband who was stationed in the Navy there.  She had to birth on her own, mother for the first three weeks on her own and then be a mom in Africa!  It was quite a challenge but in her words, "you just did it, you had no other choice." After returning to Michigan, they had baby number two and...

Jenny Robbins is a mental health counselor at South Platte Counseling. She is a mom of 2 boys with only one on this earth. She was first a young mom at the age of 20 and a college student and also an older mom at the age of 37!  She was part of a network of moms with her second son and without that group, she couldn't have been strong enough to get through the death of her first son 11 years ago....

Jazmin Slaughter is a publicist and mother of one who gave birth during a global pandemic. She was so focused on building her career and education that she wasn't sure she was wanting to be a mom at the age of 25. But when she got pregnant, that changed everything, She has a Bachelor's degree and is working on her Master's degree.  She wishes she would have known that the sacrifice of time would b...

Dru Ahlborg was an older mama at the ages of 37 and 40.  She could not believe they let her drive away from the hospital with a newborn all by herself! Who said she was ready for this?  Her oldest son had to go through many feed therapists and had a lot of her first years as a new mom were exploring foods and getting him to get through his food issues, which centered around textures. It was a big...

We spoke to Angela exactly a year ago (Check out the episode back on November 29, 2022)  This is her one year update!   Angela Fuller is a mother, a dedicated fitness instructor, a competitive gymnast, an inspirational speaker, and even an American Ninja Warrior, as featured on NBC's latest season of ANW this summer. Angela's journey is a testament to her resilience, having overcome a broken back...

Randi Bevington is such a joy to call my friend. We have been friends for over 20 years and from day one, I have thought she was a badass. As a mama of two littles, she has proven that she truly is. Her quote, "we are always managing relationships" really hit me hard because that's exactly what we do as moms. We are always managing relationships and those relationships are constantly changing. WOW...

Cheryl Schuberth- Cheryl was a corporate mama trying to do all the things when she realized that she wasn't giving her best self to her family so she stopped running the rat race and changed gears.  Now a mama of 2 boys ages 20 and 18, she took her worst mama moment and turned it into a positive by helping other parents of teenagers. Celebrate the wins, acknowledge all the things you are doing wel...

Heather started her journey without a lot of background knowledge about babies or being a mom.  Followed her gut most of the time but when she was 9 months old she was diagnosed with cancer! The moment that happened changed everything. Motherhood is not about martyrdom.  You can find her at heather@heatherreedcoaching.com   or https://heatherreedcoaching.com/  

Dr. Sonal Patel is a trained pediatrician and NICU doctor as well as a parent of 4 boys!  She is married to her college sweetheart and after living through Hurricane Katrina, she was 6 months pregnant and activated in a horrible hurricane. She hates the phrase, "bounce back" because you aren't bouncing back to anything. You are a totally different person now, you are a mom and we need to allow our...

Tess is a single mom who divorced when her son was five because there was a substance abuse issue that created a need for her to leave.  After many years of trying to work things out, she made the decision to leave when it was the right time.  She says the time in the car with your kiddo can be the most amazing conversations you can have.  Take the time.  You don't have to be perfect, you can just...

A producer in LA who wants mamas to know "You can only do what you can do."  It's that simple.  The word "perfect" should be taken out our vocabulary because there is no such thing and we try too hard to emulate it and often its at our deficit.  Quality is more important that quantity when it comes to time with your kids.  Make sure they know that you are there so that relationship will always hav...

Mary Lanni was a delightful mama to chat with and her advice is to place a mask on yourself before assisting others. Also you may have to advocate for your parenting choices and your kids as motherhood goes on because everyone has an opinion and will question all that you do (especially when you are doing things differently than they did). Advocating for your choices isn't selfish, it's necessary...

Jen is an amazing mama who has been through a lot in the past few years as she manages some very tricky rare medical diagnosis'.  Her advice and mama journey lead her share that it's ok to screw up and not have all the answers.  As a mama who struggled with a partner who had a mental condition that changed who he was as a human being and created a need for her to leave with her son for safety reas...

We tell our kids to push themselves outside their comfort zone and sometimes we need to do the same. Moms are constanly pushing themselves outside their comfort zones and we should be proud of where we are going and what we can do. When we have those proud mama moments, it makes the hard times just a little bit easier. Vita teaches us that sometimes when our lives don't work out the way that we TH...

Rebekah is not only a mama of 3 but a DOCTOR of Physical Therapy and one hell of a badass black belt in Taekwondo!! She truly is one of a kind who always adds humor to every situation and is a delight to hang out with!  As a family of five black belts, they are a strong, loving family who live life to it's fullest.   Rebekah's experiences and words of wisdom will give you some interesting things t...

"Allow yourself your wins."  What words of wisdom from Emily Sutherland, a beautiful soul, entrepreneur, mama, friend, mama champion and so much more.  Her business, Next Level Nutritian, found at nextlevelnutritionist.com helps people understand how nutritian is and will determine your health goals and create a reasonable plan to achieve them, bringing balance between Mind, Body, Spirit and Home....

Danielle is a powerhouse badass who has been through a lot to get to where she is today.  She wears many hats as a business woner, advocate for change, mom, wife, etc. She never thought she wanted to be a mom!  She became one, went through a lot of struggles but in the long run is thoroughly blown away by the best adventure of her life.  She is part owner of Break Up with Cake, an all-natural glut...

"You were made to be YOUR kids' mom.  They need YOU."  What a profound statement from our guest on this week's podcast.  She is so right.  SO many moms are too hard on themselves and think that other moms are doing a better job or would be a better mom for their kids when in fact, your kids are meant to be YOUR kids and you are doing a great job.  When we are doing the absolutey best we can do, th...

Have you ever sat across from someone and were in total awe of their beauty and grace and then they opened their mouth and you were astounded by their life story, their kindness and their talent?  Well that happened to me with Mrs. Colorado, Natalie Oliver Atherton!  She is a beautiful soul with so much love to give.  She is starting a nonprofit, she sings and performs, she is a coach and a mom of...

GO BLUE!  Jenny and her husband, Tom are fello Michiganders who live in Colorado and have two great kiddos.  Her story shows that even though our kids don't always follow the path that we think they should, they can make great choices and do wonderful things with their lives.  Her mamahood journey shows that you can still do the things you love and negotiations with your kiddos can help make memor...