Startup Parent

#170 — We're back from "sabbatical" and heading into September after a big move. All of the things happening right now—a pandemic, job stress, health worries, lack of childcare, natural disasters, uncertainty about the future, an election year—can conspire to take a toll on our mental health.  Here's what's happening in my brain and mind, and how I'm seeing the effects of all of these stressors pl...

#169 — In some mythical fantasy, we tell women that they can have it all and be it all if only they just work hard enough. Yes, you too can be a perfect mother, a lovely wife, and have a full-time career if only you just have the right productivity strategies, tools, and mindsets. Don't forget about self-care! Tiffany Dufu is here to burst the bubble of stressed-out mothers everywhere to talk abou...

#168 — 40% of American households believe that it is bad for society if mothers work. That mothers should not work. This is wild. Sexism is a global phenomenon, but in America, we have a unique maternal bias against women in the workforce, and as we watch the pandemic unfold, women are losing jobs at extraordinary rates. In 2017, we had Sarah Lacy, founder of Chairman Mom, previously the founder o...

#167 — The advice around pregnancy and food is intense. Suddenly there are so many things to do and so much you need to pay attention to. Luckily we have Lily Nichols, prenatal nutritionist, registered dietician, and bestselling author of Real Food For Pregnancy to talk to us about what matters, and how to eat as healthy as possible for you and your kiddo. In this episode, she goes over how backwa...

#166 — If you can be a parent, you can be an entrepreneur. We're back with our 2020 podcast tour looking at some of our all-time favorite episodes. If you missed it, this interview with Nicole Walters digs into all things money, growth, celebration, and entrepreneurship. She shares her overnight parenting journey (she adopted three kids all at once), her entrepreneurship path, and her secrets for...

#164 — It is hot, humid, and sticky here in New York City, and we're still dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.  Every year I take a short sabbatical in August, and this year we're going to try to do a version of this, except we don't have childcare and there is so much uncertainty.  This year, the sabbatical looks like a brief break from the podcast, a short hiatus from the newsletters, and a f...

#165 — Parenting is a 24/7 job, but we've found most employers treat it more like an extracurricular activity.  For the first episode of our best-of series, we're revisiting our podcast's very first interview (#002). This conversation about flexibility in the workplace, though, takes on new meaning right now. As we continue to blend work and motherhood amid this pandemic, the reality that today's...

#163 — What do you wish someone had told you about motherhood and being a CEO? Shama Hyder is a digital strategist, speaker, and bestselling author. She is the CEO of Zen Media, a global marketing and digital PR firm. She also has a 1-year old at home. She gives us an honest accounting of how much work motherhood takes, and how many people it takes to run her business and her team while at the hel...

#162 — When coronavirus first happened, many of us were adjusting to figuring out the shut down. How long would it last? Would this just be a week or two? What were the next steps? Then a month passed, then another month, and we realized we might be settling in for the long haul here. For some people, that meant adjusting to work-from home; for others, they were essential workers very much in the...

#161 — A few weeks ago, Tara McMullin invited me onto her podcast to talk at length about mastermind programs—how we run them, how the pricing breaks down for each tier, how they're organized, how many people are in them, and more. This episode is a very detailed, behind-the-scenes look at both of our online programs and how we've designed our mastermind communities. Tara McMullin runs What Works,...

#160 — A Day In The Life with Kelsey Kerslake of Pinegate Road You all have been asking to hear how other moms and small business owners are navigating the pandemic right now. I’ve been interviewing working parents about how they’ve been affected by the pandemic. Today we take a look at Kelsey Kerslake, the founder of Pinegate Road. She runs a design agency as well as a coaching business, and has...

#159 — Think of a difficult conversation that you are in the middle of, or one that you’ve recently had. Maybe it’s onboarding a new team member, or working with a client. Maybe it’s with your partner or your spouse, and you're trying to negotiate all those logistics of parenting. Maybe it’s with the grandparents, your kids, your boss, a colleague—whoever it is, I am sure that you have had the exp...

#158 — You all have been asking to hear how other moms and small business owners are navigating the pandemic right now. I've been interviewing working parents about how they've been affected by the pandemic. Today we take a look at Caitlin Boland Aarab: she and her husband are both attorneys, and they own their own law firm in Great Falls, Montana. They have two kids at home and she's pregnant wit...

#157 — My friend has an almost-two-year old and she asked me "So when do I need to think about potty training?" Yeah, as though you needed anything else to consider in the pandemic. Well, I took a few minutes to brain dump everything I remembered about potty training in a quick dash Voxer message to her, all while doing dishes and cleaning up the boys' room in our house. We both thought that these...

#156 — How do you push the reset button—that ability to feel like you've had a fresh cup of coffee, a good night of sleep, and you're ready to go at work? While we're all clawing at sanity and sobbing quietly into our fourteenth cup of coffee, it's really hard to find the capacity to work and keep your head above water right now. Today's episode is for anyone trying to find a semblance of sanity a...

#153 — "Wake up everyone, it's a brand new day!" Today my children join me on this episode of the podcast to give you a snapshot of life in New York City quarantine with two working parents. Want to know how we're breaking down our workdays and figuring out our schedules? I break down the exact schedules I'm using with my partner, who works when (and why), and how much work we're really able to ge...

#152 — I don't know about you, but I'm finding it mighty hard to even get started in the morning. I know these last episodes have all been about finding patterns and rituals amidst the madness, and it's for a reason—finding my new normal (or a sense of it) is all I feel like I can do right now. Lately the strangest thing has been happening: I'm finding myself drawn towards social media, and wantin...

#151 — Making sense of days that make no sense requires new patterns, habits, and routines. For me, trying to muddle through the cacophony of work and children and non-stop days at home is very, very challenging to my brain. So, to help, I’ve been building small rituals into the day to start to cue myself that yes, work is happening now, and yes, it’s a new day. Some of my favorite “cues” are thin...

#150 — Every morning lately, I've been posting a selfie to my Facebook page and my Instagram page. Right now it feels like going to the coffee shop—I get to pop in, say good morning to people all around the world, check-in with my neighbors and parents and friends, and then start the day. In any other moment of my life, I would not have said that going on social media first thing would help me be...

#149 — As we all adjust to the uncertainty and sudden shifts of what’s happening around the world with the global COVID-19 pandemic, I wanted to share a few small rituals that we’ve used in our household to find a moment of normalcy in our lives. Yes, most of our life is chaos, and much of it is very different than it was a few weeks ago. Also, one of the hardest parts of all of this is the not kn...

#148 — During times of stress, everyone responds differently. Some of us laugh, some of us go into denial, some of us get agitated, some of us panic, some of us get to work. If you’re feeling a bit all over the place, I want to talk about how stress affects each of us differently and why these reactions are coming up. As you start to see how we each respond to stress, you can also start to see how...

#147 — Don't forget to exhale through all of this. If you're tired, scared, stressed, overworked, or feeling all the feelings, this episode is for every one of us. It's a short method to help catch your breath, tap into your body, and exhale away some of the tension. This episode was recorded on Saturday, March 21st 2020 in New York City in the midst of the coronavirus and COVID-19 pandemic happen...

#146 — The next few days, weeks, and months are going to challenge us—a lot. Actually, the next twelve to eighteen months are going to be quite the ride, but let's just start here with where we are, today. Having everything suddenly shift and having our lives disrupted this much is a huge deal. How can we process and deal with it? In this episode I go over seven things to keep your mental sanity a...

#145 — Hey everyone, my family is staying home now for a while, and that means we are working from home with two kids and two parents no longer in school or at work. We're preparing for the coming weeks and the disruptions that are already happening in light of the spread of Coronavirus. In this episode, I'll share what we're doing to prepare for Coronavirus, what social distancing is and why it's...

#144 — Should You Take That Online Course? How To Get Your Money’s Worth When Doing Virtual Courses You see a shiny new course offering on the Internet and then you visit the checkout page and you’re like, “Oh! This looks so good. I think I need this. I don’t know. Do I need this? Oh, my goodness! How do I decide whether or not to buy this? I just don't know. What should I learn next? I want to le...