Thank You, Mama

Project Associate at UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) and co-founder of Diaspora Creatives, Audrey Kodjo tells us about her mom Lucy, who, in spite of having the status of a queen in Benin, had to master many obstacles both in her childhood and adulthood – from being a foster child to facing marital challenges. We learn about Benin, and what it means to be a queen there,...

Psychodynamic psychotherapist, Alejandra Wild Proano, talks about her Ecuadorian mom Desiree, and shares her inspiring story. Desiree went from the first female guide through the Amazon to finding herself widowed, with two small children, a foreigner in the US. Not giving up, she took classes and became a licensed psychotherapist. We learn many wonderful lessons from Desiree: to follow your path a...

Dr. Briana Chen is a postdoctoral neuroscientist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center , where s he researches sex difference s in stress resistance and psychiatric disorders . Briana is particularly interested in developing sex-specific treatments for depression, anxiety, and PTSD. She won numerous awards for her scientific work and was included in Forbes 2023 list of 30 under 30. Briana s...

Career and leadership coach based in Paris but originally from New York, Zeva Bellel, talks about her mom Karen, an artist from Brooklyn. Karen teaches us about becoming interesting people by following our curiosity; not getting hooked on a specific goal because it seemed right and good to others but thinking about choices that would expand our perspective and personality; building a healthy relat...

Founder of "Carrie's Touch", a non-profit supporting Black women during their breast cancer battles, Tammie Denyse, talks about her mom Carrie, whom she lost at the tender age of 11 to domestic violence. Tammie shares Carrie's lessons on unconditional love, faith, and the power to say no, and to leave painful relationships. Tammie also talks about her own experiences which turned her into a surviv...

G rief specialist and psychotherapist with multiple degrees in psychology, psychotherapy, and international healthcare, public policy, and economics , Adina Belloli is also the founder of the international charity "In-Visible" (which served 1.7 mio meals to children in the Philippines), founder of the "Motherless Mothers" community, and host of "Motherhood Beyond Books" podcast. Adina tells us the...

R einvention coach, author of "Uncaged" and "A Great Move", speaker, and meditation teacher , Katia Vlachos was - before her own reinvention - a security and defense analyst . Katia talks about exiting the "good girl" mode, which often functions as a cage, about reinventing ourselves, especially if we feel stuck, and about self-mothering. She shares her Greek mother Natasha's lessons on nurturing...

New York Times and USA Today-bestselling and award-winning children's writer, Jennifer L. Holm, is known for "Our Only May Amelia" (a book inspired by her a great aunt's diary), "Penny From Heaven", and "Turtle in Paradise". Jennifer collaborates with her brother, Matthew Holm, on several graphic novel series including the "Babymouse" series, which has sold over 3.2 million copies and won the Eisn...

In this Christmas special, you host Ana Tajder talks with her son Kai about Christmas and lessons he learned from her. To his mom's surprise, Kai (10) talks about some deep lessons that are actually good to remember around this festive time of the year: to be grateful for basic things in life such as health, home, warmth and food; to not wish time away expecting something better to come your way;...

Visual artist and choreographer from Croatia, Nina Kurtela, talks about working in Ana's mom Jagoda Kaloper's art studio, researching her creative legacy, and learning from her. As Jagoda's lessons, Nina shared being diversified and not defining yourself as just one thing/profession/position; surrounding yourself with people and bringing them together; and being persistent and not giving up on you...

I'm respoting this episode form 2021 becuase it inspires us to stay positive and happy despite challenging times - a message we need right now. Munira Premji, HR Expert and author of "Choosing Hope: One Woman. Three Cancers" is one of the happiest and most inspiring people I have ever met. Allow her to shine some joy at you while she talks about her beautiful Tanzanian mom Zerakhanu. Munira shares...

Psychiatrist, coach working with immigrant women, and the Executive Director at Minnesota Department of Human Services, Dr. Soniya Hirachan, talks about her Nepalese mother Asha (meaning "hope" in Nepalese) who grew up in a remote village in the mountains of the Himalayas. Every summer, mama Asha walked for a whole week to reach the nearest city where she helped her father sell the produce from th...

Rhiana Spring is an award-winning international human rights expert and entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Spring ACT, which launched "Sophia" - the world's first chatbot empowering survivors of domestic violence. She tells us about her work using modern technology to support human rights across the globe. Rhiana also talks about her Welsh mother Lorraine, a nurse and acupuncturist, who left home at...

Singer, musician and writer, Orenda Fink is famous for being one half of the duo "Azure Ray". Orenda just published her beautiful first memoir "The Witch's Daughter: My Mother, Her Magic, and the Madness That Bound Us", about her relationship with her mother suffering from borderline narcissistic personality, which made her fight with everyone, including her three daughters. Orenda tells us about...

Author of her family memoir "Once Our Lives", Qin Sun Stubis, shares lessons she learned from her Chinese mom Yan. Yan was given away by her mother as a baby, and struggled keeping her four daughters from starvation while her husband was a political prisoner for 14 years. We learn about the history of China, and about the Chinese historical bias against female children (the worst version being fem...

American activist, organizer, writer, TV producer, feminist, president of Soapbox, Inc., and a long-time consultant to the American feminist icon Gloria Steinem, Amy Richards, shares lessons she learned both from her mom, and from over 30 years of working closely with Gloria. Amy also gives us a brief history of feminism and explains why it's just as important now as it ever was, and talks about t...

As the thrid Replay episode of Summer 2024, here's episode 86 with b est-selling author, book critic and journalist, Meredith Maran, who shares a deeply inspiring story about how, after a lifetime of aversions and conflict, she and her mom Rita became friends when Meredith was 69 and Rita 93. This story is a great reminder of how a crisis (in this case COVID) forces us to re-evaluate things and fo...

The second episode in our Summer of 2024 Replay is episode 17 with the Molecular Biologist Dr. Özlem Yüce Petronczki. This is one of the very early interviews, but one that stayed deeply anchored in my heart for a few reasons: we learn how incredibly strong women are and how are able to beat all odds. We also learn how powerful gentle and loving support is in helping our children to achieve great...

As the first epiosde for our summer 2024 replay, I'd like to share with you episode 17, in which I shared the most important lessons I learned from my mama Jagoda Kaloper. As I just turned 50 and shared with you 50 lessons I've learned in 50 years, I thought it might be interesting to hear which of these I've learned from my own mother.  My incredible  mama Jagoda ("strawberry" in Croatian - thus...

In this special episode, Ana celebrates her 50th birthady with you! As this podcast is all about life-lessons, she recorded this episode in which she shares 50 lessons she has learned in 50 years. Learn about gratitude, mindfulness, meditation, courage, self-protection, burnout, self-care, ageing, breathing, evolving, celebrating, and so much more. If you'd like to find a transcript of the episode...

Family Medicine doctor and author of "Medicine and Miracles" and "From Mountains to Medicine", Dr. Erica Elliott, shares the story of her breakdown in her early 20s which, under the guidance of a skilled psychotherapist, lead to finding her true self at this early age. This lead to another breakthrough: Erica found love and forgiveness for her Swiss mom who was a very harsh mother. This changed no...

Account Manager at a leading pharmaceutical company and owner of a boutique, Valarie Tutuh shares her incredible professional journey which involved counseling and owning an executive protection agency – all while raising two children by herself. Watching her mom's life of service and care for others, Valarie decided to do things differently and follow a professional path. What she wished she knew...

A mom of four, life coach and host of "Mom on Purpose" podcast, Lara Johnson, talks about the non-profit she co-founded to help young terminally ill parents, and about her work with coaching mothers in which she teaches the most important lesson: to avoid the state of not-enoughness by celebrating your daily small achievements. She tells us about her mom Valerie who had five children but managed t...

High-profile entertainment publicist turned tarot card reader to Hollywood stars, Angie Banicki,  talks about her professional transition, about her experiences with reading cards, and about  her new tarot deck "Explorer of the Soul". Angie tells us about her mom Andrea who at first was uncomfortable about Angie's new career but with time learned to embrace it. From Andrea and Angie, we learn to u...

Telecom engineer Adela Mehić-Džanić talks about her Bosnian mom Fadila who passed away during the Bosnian war in 1993. In spite of losing her at only seven years old, Adela learned many important lessons from her mother: how vitally important it is for women to be financially independent; that a marriage should be a partnership; that we must act against domestic violence; that women need support t...