Now What? Podcast

Meghan McTavish is a writer, mum and founder of The Plotline Journal, who’s been called a “divorce influencer” for her honest, often hilarious take on life after marriage. Having rebuilt her own life after divorce, she talks openly about losing herself in a relationship, dating again, and learning to stop shaping herself around what someone else wants. In this episode, we get int...

This episode talks about domestic and family violence, including sexual violence, as well as grief and loss. Please look after yourself while listening. Zoe Marshall was barely an adult when two things happened at once. Her mum, a solo mum and her whole world, was dying of cancer, and she'd just met the man who would go on to abuse her. This week I sat down with Zoe, author, speaker, podcast host...

Lauren Hunter is the founder of Cinqe Matchmaking Australia, and after years of sitting across from single men and women, she's seen exactly what's going wrong in dating, and what actually makes it work. Lauren is also a mum of two who went through her own divorce and had to learn to date again after marriage and motherhood. In this episode, we get into the real stuff: what dating looks like after...

In this episode, I sit down with Amy Appleton, the founder of Steps of Style, who built a fashion and styling career out of the hardest chapter of her life. What started as a blog during infertility and IVF became a full creative business, and eventually her exit plan from a nineteen year marriage. We talk about what it really looks like to leave a long marriage without framing it as a failure, wh...

This episode dives into one of the messiest and most misunderstood dynamics in modern parenting, the relationship between a mum and the woman who steps into her kids' life. Step parent coach Kris joins the conversation to unpack the assumptions that get made on both sides before anyone's even met, the moments that quietly break trust, and the role dads and partners actually play in how these relat...

Today's guest is Megan Dalla-Camina, author, women's leadership expert and PhD researcher, whose work explores what happens when women start questioning the lives they've built and begin reconnecting with themselves. Her latest book, She Who Remembers , makes the case that so many women aren't actually lost, they've just become disconnected from who they are beneath years of expectations, achievem...

Child support. Say those two words and most people think it's simple, one parent transfers money to the other, end of story. But if you've been through it, you know that's not even close to the truth. In this episode I sit down with Terese Edwards, CEO of Single Mother Families Australia, who has spent over 15 years fighting for single parents at the highest levels of government. We talk about how...

This week I'm joined by Leah Aguirre, licensed therapist, relationship expert and author of Is This Really Love. Leah has built a huge following talking honestly about emotional abuse and boundaries, and what makes her work land is that she's not just speaking from the clinical side, she's lived it too. We get into so much in this one. The way our bodies often know something is wrong long before o...

What do you do when life doesn't turn out the way you imagined? In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Sarah Jane, creator of Spinal Energetics and author of the new book  Your Spine Holds the Answer . This conversation is about so much more than healing. It's about navigating the gap between the life you thought you'd have and the life you're actually living. We talk about divorce, recurrent pre...

When she became a single mum, Jen made a promise to herself: she was not going to live a smaller, harder life just because a relationship had ended. Years later, that promise turned into a "mommune" — a shared home in New York City with her best friend Annabelle, also a single mum, where they split rent, share dinners, divide the mental load of parenting, and raise their kids as one family unit. N...

Jemima found out she was pregnant at 39. The father made it clear from the beginning — if she continued, she was on her own. She continued. This conversation covers what nobody prepares you for when you're doing it completely alone from the start — the shame of a pregnancy you're hiding in plain sight, the identity shift that hits harder when there's no one to hand the baby to, the sleep deprivati...

Four months out of a relationship breakdown, Rachel finds herself saying something she never thought she'd say: I'm never doing this again. She gets it now. The bitterness. The wall. The absolute certainty that closing off is safer than trying again. But she also knows there's a question worth sitting with — one that's harder than it sounds: is this protection, or is this avoidance? Because they f...

Tara Pavlovic is a Gold Coast-based content creator and mum of two who recently announced her separation — and the response from women everywhere made it clear this conversation needed to happen. Rachel and Tara get into what the lead-up to leaving actually looks like from the inside. The years of therapy. The panic attacks. The couples counselling that didn't save the marriage but mattered anyway...

Rachel sits down with Kylie to talk about the parts of single motherhood and dating again that don't get said out loud enough — the fallout when a significant relationship ends and your kids are caught in it, the survival mode that masquerades as a personality, and the stories women tell themselves to excuse behaviour they should be walking away from. Kylie is five years out from her separation, h...

Catie Gett is a Melbourne-based naturopath, founder of The Staple Store, and single mum to her daughter Scout. She has spent her career making food and health accessible to people who can't afford a 20-step morning routine — and this conversation goes places neither of them expected. Rachel and Catie get into what survival mode actually costs you. Why the wellness industry has made health aspirati...

In this episode, Rachel sits down with Stephanie, the creator of The Divorce Diaries, who began documenting her divorce and court experience in real time from the US. Together they unpack what it’s really like to navigate a legal system when money, representation, and support feel out of reach, and the financial whiplash of going from being a stay-at-home mum to having to provide again almost over...

Amy didn’t set out to become a voice for single mums online. She started by sharing her running. Then she posted one honest video about single motherhood and it blew up, not because it was dramatic, but because it told the truth: stop feeling sorry for her. Her life is good. And 18 months ago, she was in the hardest place of her life. In this episode, Amy speaks candidly about the slow heartbreak...

**Melbourne IVF fertility specialist Dr Daniel Lantsberg has offered the Now What community an exclusive discount for anyone in Melbourne considering becoming a solo mum by choice. They are offering  half-price off the initial consultation  — usually $400, reduced to $200 — for those who register via the link below. The initial consult is the most important first step, even if you’re onl...

The holiday season can be beautiful — and brutal — especially when you’re a single parent. In this end-of-year episode of  Now What , Rachel speaks directly to the quiet, complicated realities that so many single mums carry through the festive period. The grief of waking up without your children on Christmas morning. The sting of moments you assumed were guaranteed. The comparison traps — to...

If you’ve ever had the quiet thought —  “Could I become a solo mum by choice?”  — this episode is a must-listen. In this powerful and deeply informative conversation, I sit down with  Dr Daniel Lansberg , Fertility Specialist at  Melbourne IVF  and one of the leading experts in fertility care (and known from the TV series  Big Miracles ). Together, we walk through the...

In this episode I’m joined by Fiona, the founder of Mama Matters, for a deeply grounding conversation about what it really means to be a good enough parent . We unpack the origins of the term, why it’s become such an important reframe for modern parents, and how releasing the pressure to be “perfect” can radically transform the way we show up for our kids — especially when we’re parenting on our o...

In this short introductory episode, Rachel shares the story behind the evolution from Mothering On My Own to Now What? . This podcast has always held space for the realities of single motherhood - the heartbreak, the rebuilding, the identity shifts, the co-parenting dynamics, the dating again, the courage it takes to start over. But as every single mother knows, the journey doesn’t really end once...

In this episode of Mothering On My Own , Rachel is joined by financial advisor and coach Rebecca Pritchard for a real and relatable chat about money—because let’s be honest, it can feel super overwhelming, especially when you’re doing life solo. Rebecca breaks down some of the biggest fears and myths around personal finance, particularly for single or separated women, and shares how shifting your...

In this episode, Rachel sit down with Julia Allen—one of Australia’s leading sexologists—for a real, down-to-earth chat about all things intimacy, relationships, and sex. Julia opens up about her own journey and shares loads of wisdom from her work helping people reconnect with themselves and each other. We talk about how easy it is to lose that spark in the thick of parenting, the biggest mistake...

In this episode, I chat with Hannah Keys about her journey from fashion creator and thrifter to navigating life as a single mum. We dive deep into co-parenting—Hannah shares how she’s learned to be okay with time away from her kids and how she’s reframed that space as something she honours, so her children get to see a thriving, happy mum. We also talk about the emotional rollercoaster of separati...