The Uncommons

This episode started as a conversation about overprotective fathers and ended somewhere much more honest. We got into the specific fear each of us is carrying into raising our daughter — he wants to protect her from men, and I want to protect her from the fear of them. I share the story of growing up in Iran where my femininity was never fully mine, the thirty years it took to start reclaiming it,...

Are we accidentally raising entitled kids? In this episode, we get honest about one of the hardest questions in parenting: where is the line between raising children who feel abundant and raising children who think the world owes them everything? We both grew up with scarcity and rebuilt our relationship with money as adults. Now we're trying to give our kids something neither of us had without ov...

Most people have a list. The problem is that the list is usually made of what we think we want—not what we actually need. In this episode, we reflect on how our views of relationships evolved over time and the qualities we've come to value most in a long-term partner. We share the lessons that came from past relationships, the assumptions we got wrong, and the characteristics that ultimately matte...

Can an interfaith marriage really work? As a Muslim woman and a Jewish man, we've heard that question countless times throughout our relationship. While many people focus on religious differences, we've found that shared values often have a much greater impact on the success of a marriage than shared labels. In this episode, we explore what it's like building a life together while coming from diff...

For most of our relationship, commitment wasn't something we viewed the same way. One of us believed marriage was a natural next step when building a life together. The other spent 50 years avoiding it. In this episode, we explore one of the biggest questions in relationships: What actually makes someone commit? We talk about: Fear of commitment vs. fear of losing freedom How childhood experiences...

Co-Parenting, Blended Families & Learning Compassionate Boundaries This episode of The Uncommons is one of our most personal yet. It's the story of how we built a blended family through circumstances neither of us fully understood when we stepped into them, and what it actually took emotionally to survive and grow through it. We explore: ✔ How our relationship began and what we walked into bef...

Why We Chose Homeschooling: Intentional Parenting, Emotional Development & Raising Kids in the AI Era This episode of The Uncommons isn't a debate about homeschooling versus traditional school. It's a deeper conversation about the environment children are actually developing inside, and whether that environment aligns with the values you want to raise them with. We explore: ✔ Why we chose home...

Traditional vs. Modern Roles in Marriage: What Nobody Talks About After Having Kids Are traditional gender roles in marriage making a quiet comeback, even for couples who never expected them? In this episode of The Uncommons, we share how our relationship roles shifted dramatically after becoming parents and why we stopped fighting it. We explore: ✔ How unspoken expectations quietly create resentm...

We talk about the differences between men and women in relationships, the double standards that come up, and how understanding those differences can change the way we see each other. In a light and funny way.

We talk about our son’s horrific ski accident: how we navigate fear, uncertainty, and the emotions that came with it, in real time. This is one of those challenges that could break us apart but we share how we actively choose to stay courageous and face it all together.

We talk about the internal tension between pursuing ambition and wanting to be present for a young family: wanting to achieve more while also being present and attentive to the needs of people who matter most, and how we navigate and struggle with that balance.

We talk about marriage and romance challenges while caring for small kids: The Challenges of prioritizing your marriage when life gets overwhelming. From kids to business to exhaustion and what it takes to choose each other even when resentment builds.

In our first episode, we share who we are, why we started this podcast, and the real-life challenges that shaped us. From navigating hard seasons to growing through them, this is an honest conversation about what it takes to build a strong relationship and family when life isn’t easy.

We talk about the identity shifts that happen in marriage and while growing a family: from independence to partnership, control to letting go, and how both of us have changed along the way.

We talk about perfectionism: how it can help set high standards and push you forward, but also create pressure in your life, relationships, and family, and how we’re learning to find the balance.