Raising Humans (Not Robots)

The 9:47 AM Slack message. The mandatory all-hands meeting. The LinkedIn posts with #OpenToWork banners multiplying by the day. If you're a working parent right now, you know this fear intimately. In this episode, I'm talking about something nobody wants to say out loud: How do we raise confident, secure children when we're one algorithm away from unemployment? How do we teach them abo...

Choosing an afterschool can feel like choosing your child’s future—and getting it wrong feels unbearable. In this episode, I talk about the afterschool dilemma: academic rigor vs. joy, cultural preservation vs. childhood, and the constant fear that you’re either pushing too hard or not doing enough. My kids attend a Chinese immersion public school, and because we don’t speak Mandarin at home, afte...

In this episode, I talk about the quiet erosion that happens when you’re repeatedly unseen at work. The meeting where your idea is ignored—until someone else says the exact same thing. The slow shift from engaged and outspoken to silent and exhausted. The way work dissatisfaction and depression feed each other until you can’t tell where one ends and the other begins. This isn’t a story about “lean...

Being a working mom feels impossible—and it’s not because you’re failing. In this episode, I talk about: • Why work-life balance doesn’t actually exist • The guilt of being split between work and kids • Why “having it all” is a lie • How to choose what matters without hating yourself If you’re a working mother who feels exhausted, guilty, or behind in everything—this episode is for you.

There’s always that parent who looks like they’re doing everything right. And then there’s the rest of us. In this episode, I talk about parenting comparison, Instagram vs real life, and the quiet shame of feeling like you’re failing—until you realize no one is actually doing this perfectly. If you need a reminder that good-enough parenting is enough, this one’s for you.

What happens when your kids see you cry—and you tell them you’re “fine”? In this episode, I talk about the quiet ways my depression showed up in front of my children, and what I didn’t realize I was teaching them by hiding it. How my daughter learned to become the caretaker. How my son tried to fix my sadness with spare change. And how my own fear of being honest about my feelings shaped their und...

I didn’t realize how quiet my daughter had become until I watched her stand in front of her class, barely able to make herself heard. At home, she’s confident, opinionated, and full of stories. But around other people, her voice disappears. In this episode, I talk about what it’s like to realize your child isn’t just shy—but afraid. We explore the quiet fears kids carry, the pressure to be “confid...

When your child gets hit at school, the advice comes fast—and it’s wildly contradictory. Teach them to fight back. Don’t ever fight back. Tell the teacher. Don’t tattle. Role-play responses. Don’t script anything. In this episode, I share what it actually felt like navigating that confusion after my six-year-old was hit at school—and how lost I felt trying to find the “right” response. This isn’t...

The school calendar is a minefield of breaks—February, April, summer, Thanksgiving, Christmas, plus random minimum days. Everyone seems to be skiing or going to Disneyland or jetting off somewhere Instagram-worthy. We can't afford to compete, but the guilt is crushing. Last February we stayed home and I felt like I was failing my children. Then I asked Liam his favorite memory from last year....

Liam thinks "finders keepers" applies to every dollar in the house. Ria wants a trip to Japan because her classmate went, but gave up saving for it in three weeks. And me? I cope with anxiety by online shopping, then drag my kids to Target to return everything, teaching them exactly the wrong lesson. We're trying the shoebox method, opening investment accounts, figuring out financial...

My son got punched at school. My daughter is afraid to speak in class. My son wants to spend all his money on LEGOs we don't need. And I'm sitting in my too-quiet house on bereavement leave, realizing I have no idea how to help them with any of it. I'm a working mom with depression, a job I hate but can't leave, and a life that looks perfect from the outside but feels like drowning...