The MomForce Podcast Hosted by Chatbooks

The sisters are back! Chatbooks co-founder Vanessa Quigley is joined by her 4 sisters for a special holiday episode. They dig into dozens of questions from our MomForce community about the holidays and how to navigate tricky family situations. They cover everything from healthy boundaries, relationships with inlaws, and how to make kids feel special. Listen in to be inspired to choose your own way...

Joy Cho is the founder of the Oh Joy! design studio and lifestyle brand. She launched the studio in 2005 and has since designed hundreds of products and collections with brands like Target and Keds. Joy recently wrote a book about kids and confidence. The book details her struggle to fit in and find confidence as a kid. Joy chats with Vanessa about the book and why she wrote it for parents and kid...

Tiny but mighty, toddlers can be a rollercoaster of emotions! Ali Maffucci of @inspiralized shares her tips and tricks for creating teachable moments instead of tantrums in everyday life. She answers questions from our MomForce community on everything from how to enjoy mealtime with little ones to outsourcing the household chores you dislike. Ali just released her fourth cookbook, which quickly be...

Myriam Sandler discovered the power of sensory play when, at the age of 1, her oldest daughter would not eat any solid foods. As an in-tune first-time mom, she guessed that there might be a sensory issue and made taste-safe play dough, kinetic sand, and sensory rice bins. Myriam began working with her baby in this sensory-friendly way and witnessed her daughter start to eat all of the solids that...

Motherhood is a rollercoaster, some days you see incredible moments, and other days you can't wait for bedtime! Vanessa Quigley, co-founder of Chatbooks, invited some of her favorite women to share how they break free from the monotony of everyday life and see the magic. Come laugh and cry as you find strength in the experiences of these incredible women!  In this episode you will hear from: Si Fo...

Ginny Yurich, a mom of 5 in Michigan, is the creator of a global movement known as 1,000 Hours Outside. The goal is to balance the average 1,000+ hours a child spends in front of a screen per year with 1,000 hours of unstructured outdoor play. After a tricky start to motherhood, Ginny decided she wanted to try something new with her young kids. A friend invited her to take part in "nature days". A...

LaNesha Tabb is the founder of @apron_education and author of Unpack Your Impact. She has more than 16 years of teaching experience and is trailblazing a new curriculum for teachers, parents, and students to learn about diversity and inclusion. She shares with Vanessa the responsibility parents have to "disrupt the default" and consciously teach their children how to be anti-racist. In LaNesha's w...

Vanessa is joined by her sisters for this special throwback episode. We take a walk down memory lane and share the best tips and tricks from Season 1 with the sisters. Between the 5 of them, they have 31 children! Each sister brings a different parenting style to the table and shares what has worked best for them. In this episode, they cover family campouts, allowance, kid's birthday parties, baby...

Lisa is the mother of 5 and a talented actress, radio and podcast host, author, and comedian and I'm so grateful that we've become good friends over the years because she can always make me laugh. But I've also learned so many important life lessons from her. In this episode we chat about lots of good stuff including the important role humor has played in her family especially as they faced diffic...

Since recording this episode with Jessica Gee in November of 2019 a lot has changed for The Bucket List Family – and the world. As professional travelers things slowed down in a major way when the coronavirus restrictions were put in place. The Gee family settled into their family home in Hawaii and have since developed The Bucket List Family Cartoon and a line of merch - debuting their famous bac...

Venus Morris Griffin bravely shares her harrowing life story and experiences for this last episode of season 3 of the podcast. I want to offer a trigger warning for all listeners – we will be discussing the abuse that Venus endured throughout her 20-year marriage to her first husband. Today she is the mother of 7 and a very successful realtor in Georgia. While facing betrayal, abuse, infertility,...

Psychologist and New York Times bestselling author Dr. Lisa Damour is joining Vanessa and her sister Shelly on The MomForce Podcast to talk about stress and anxiety. To begin the episode she outlines when anxiety is at normal levels in our kids and when it is time to step in and get help. Dr. Damour gives practical tips and tricks on how we can help our kids and ourselves cope with strong feelings...

Since recording this episode for Season 1 of The MomForce Podcast, Ralphie Jacobs of Simply on Purpose has grown her following to more than 400k on Instagram and continues to teach live workshops and courses for parents. In today's episode, Ralphie and Vanessa tackle tough parenting questions about disciplining toddlers (and teenagers) and how modeling good behavior for our children helps them bet...

Since the original release of this episode in 2020, Shea McGee has released her second book, had her design series on Netflix renewed for a third season, and had a sweet baby girl join the McGee family. So how did a girl who went to school in Public Relations end up creating Studio McGee? Shea joins Vanessa Quigley to talk about how she built her brand, alongside her husband Syd, while trying to b...

Camila McConaughey is an entrepreneur, model, designer, and philanthropist. She came to the United States from Brazil at 15-years-old and found work as a house cleaner and waitress. Years later she was able to break into the modeling industry. Today she is married to Matthew McConaughey and living in Austin, Texas where they are raising their three children. In this episode of The MomForce Podcast...

Sharon McMahon of the @sharonsaysso Instagram account is a former high school government and law teacher that has been called "America's Government Teacher". She began building her "Governerds" community while sharing bipartisan facts about how the U.S. government works in preparation for the 2020 presidential election. In this episode of The MomForce Podcast, Sharon and Vanessa Quigley talk about...

Experts at creating order out of chaos, Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin of The Home Edit have shot to stardom thanks to their trademark rainbow organization, successful Netflix series, and powerhouse roster of Hollywood clients. The business partners and best friends have authored two books together that detail their process for organizing homes and from there, they have built out teams across the...

Karalynne Call of @just.ingredients and mom of 6 kids, teaches us why we must nourish our minds and bodies. 15 years ago Karalynne found herself in the depths of severe depression. After attempting suicide she knew she needed to find help. Karalynne began her journey of healing through trial and error and plenty of research. Today, as a certified nutritionist, she has helped thousands of families...

Design icon Julia Marcum of Chris Loves Julia shares some incredible words of wisdom with Vanessa Quigley on how to make your home a place you love. For the past 12+ years, Julia and her husband Chris have been renovating homes and sharing their process with the world on their blog and Instagram accounts. During the conversation, Julia gets real about the things you don't see on Instagram. You'll...

Actress and singer Lea Michele made her first appearance on Broadway before she had even completed elementary school. From there she starred in countless musicals and landed her most well-known role as Rachel Berry on the hit show Glee. This past year Lea's life changed completely when she gave birth to her baby boy Ever. Her road to motherhood was filled with heartache and setbacks. During her co...

Lexie Kite Ph. D. of Beauty Redefined joins Vanessa for an empowering conversation about body image resilience. Lexie, and her twin sister Lindsay, co-wrote More Than a Body and co-founded the nonprofit organization Beauty Redefined. In this episode, Vanessa talks candidly about her own body image setbacks and how to build body image resilience on a daily basis. Lexie shares tips on raising daught...

The D'Amelio family experienced overnight stardom thanks to dance videos on TikTok. Charli D'Amelio began posting dance routines to the app when she was just 15-years-old in 2019, she quickly became the most followed account on the social media platform. Soon her older sister Dixie joined in on the fun, and now the D'Amelio family has a combined following of more than 200 million. As the mom of Di...

No one has all of the answers when it comes to parenting, but we have had some incredible aha moments during Season 2 of The MomForce podcast. From design questions with Shea McGee, to life on the big screen with Melissa Joan Hart. We are excited to share some of our favorite words of wisdom from our guests this past season.  Kendra Adachi @thelazygenius  "Our culture is obsessed with being real,...

How did Jamie Kern Lima go from waiting tables at Denny's to selling her cosmetics company for more than a billion dollars? Driven by the desire to create makeup products that would help with rosacea — a lifelong skin condition she was frustrated by — Jamie knew she had to make her products stand out. After appearing on national television without any makeup, along with real women as models, Jamie...

Cherish every single day. That is what Dallas based photographer and blogger Jennifer Borget strives to do as a homeschooling mom of 3. In this episode Jennifer opens up about race and diversity and her journey as a Black woman married to a White police officer raising a multiracial family.  She shares great resources and insights for all of us to learn from.    We are so happy you are here! Make...