That Mom

In Part 2 of my conversation with career coach Rebecca Olson, we get practical. We start with how to actually live by your priorities day to day — and why constantly second-guessing yourself is a red flag that they aren't clear yet. Rebecca shares the story of a client who kept waking up earlier and earlier to "get ahead," until she was regularly up at 3:30 AM, before finally realizing the toxic "...

In Part 1 of my conversation with career coach Rebecca Olson, we get into the two things she hears most from the career-focused, ambitious moms she works with: the "can I have it all" work-life balance question, and what she calls the motherhood identity crisis — that jarring loss of self that hits high-achieving women when the drive and momentum of pre-kid life collides with the slow, rhythmic, a...

In Part 1, Heather Laing shared what led to her son's crisis and the week she had to lay off 20 people the same night he was involuntarily committed. In Part 2, she shows us where that experience led her: building Complex Caregiver Solutions, a business created to close the exact gap in corporate support she couldn't find for herself. She built a calculator that shows employers what this gap is ac...

In Part 1 of my conversation with Heather Laing, we get into the story behind the business she just launched — starting with her younger son's autism and ADHD diagnosis at age three, and how far things escalated before she found real support. Heather spent 20 years in HR and talent leadership, most recently as Head of People at a sales tech startup, while her son's needs kept intensifying: hours-l...

In Part 2 of my conversation with Tia Graham, we get into meditation — how she went from "I don't have time for this" to making it non-negotiable once she understood the neuroscience, and what worked for her. Then we get into how she actually built Arrive at Happy: giving her corporate job intentionally less than 100%, studying from her car after work, coaching clients on Saturday mornings, and ev...

Welcome to Week 2 of our two-week happiness series. Last week I sat down with Pam Garramone on the simple, science-backed habits that build a happier baseline. This week I'm talking with Tia Graham — like Pam, she studied under Harvard's Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar — about the deeper, more personal work of getting there. In Part 1 of my conversation with happiness researcher and Arrive at Happy founder Tia...

In Part 2 of my conversation with happiness researcher Pam Garramone, we get into the small rituals that build connection at home: whether your face actually lights up when your child or partner walks into the room, and how repeating a simple moment of joy — a hug, a greeting — turns it into a ritual that defines "who we are" as a family. Pam also shares the "I am" technique, a way of noticing and...

This week kicks off a two-week series on the science of happiness. First up: my conversation with Pam Garramone, who spent nearly a year studying under one of Harvard's most popular professors. Next week, I'll bring you a different take on the same question from happiness researcher Tia Graham. In Part 1 of my conversation with happiness researcher Pam Garramone, we get into the habits she picked...

In Part 2 of my conversation with time management expert Laura Vanderkam, we pick up right where we left off: why we so consistently underestimate our own free time. Laura explains the psychology behind it — we overestimate how long the things we don't want to do take, and underestimate how fast time flies when we're enjoying ourselves — and why that gap gets especially wide in the early years of...

In Part 1 of my conversation with time management expert and bestselling author Laura Vanderkam, we dig into her new book, Big Time: A Simple Path to Time Abundance , and what it actually means to fall in love with your schedule. Laura explains why she doesn't want people to just pack more into their days — she wants us to feel like we have enough time for work we care about, people we love, and t...

In Part 2 of my conversation with stylist Amanda Vargus, we get tactical: why a closet can be "full" and still feel useless, how to edit it down, and the outfit formulas that make getting dressed effortless. Amanda breaks down the real reasons behind "nothing to wear" — styling gaps, too-bland basics, or too many statement pieces with nothing to ground them — and shares her closet-edit process for...

Ever feel like your closet is full but you have nothing to wear? In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, I sit down with Amanda Vargus — luxury sales pro turned personal stylist and founder of Wave and Woven — to unpack what's really going on. Amanda made the leap from a corporate sales career at iHeartRadio and Pandora into styling during the pandemic, all while navigating a divorce and raising...

There was a half day at school and I didn't realize it. The office called, my son was waiting, and my husband joked later: "How could you forget the half day?" It got me thinking — why does it always land on mom to remember, even when both parents are home? Psychologist and executive coach Dr. Anne Welsh returns to unpack the data behind that gap: why women are held to a stricter standard than men...

In Part 1 of my conversation with clinical psychologist and motherhood researcher Dr. Ann Welsh, we dig into what she calls the ambition paradox: the impossible bind where showing up fully at work gets you criticized as a mother, and showing up fully as a mother means you're not "performing" at work. Ann shares her own journey from a high-achievement household, through leaving a dream job at Harva...

What We Cover: How WWII-era nurseries proved government-funded childcare could work — and why it disappeared after the war The Red Scare backlash that rebranded daycare as dangerous and un-American The bipartisan childcare bill that reached Nixon's desk in 1971 — and why he vetoed it Why America still has no federally funded, licensed daycare system today The 1980s McMartin daycare scandal, media...

What if the mom guilt you carry every day isn't a personal failing — it's a cultural script you were handed decades ago? In this episode, I sit down with Susan Douglas, co-author of The Mommy Myth , to pull apart the impossible standard of "intensive mothering" — and why even the smartest, most self-aware women can't fully out-think it. Susan explains how magazines, social media, and decades of "e...

Part two with employment attorneys Jen and Meg of Scully & O'Leary. We dig into the messy middle ground between "doing nothing" and "suing your employer" — how to advocate for yourself at work, when something doesn't feel right. What We Cover Why "gray area" workplace conflicts are more common than clear-cut legal violations, and how Jen and Meg's consulting practice helps people navigate that...

Working moms can feel like they need a law degree just to understand your own maternity leave rights. In this episode, I sit down with employment attorneys — and childhood best friends — Meg O'Leary and Jen Scully of Scully & O'Leary to untangle the confusing, often stressful puzzle of maternity leave benefits. Even as trained lawyers, Meg and Jen found themselves overwhelmed navigating their...

In Part 2 of my conversation with researcher and author Leslie Ford, we dig into why so much mainstream health and longevity advice — cold plunges, 5 a.m. willpower routines, biohacking — is built by and for men, and why it often just doesn't work for mothers. Leslie explains why moms are overloaded by design, not by failure, and walks through the practical levers — prioritization, partner dynamic...

In Part 1 of my conversation with researcher, entrepreneur, and creator of Mom's Hierarchy of Needs, Leslie Ford, we go back to where it all started: the burnout she hit returning to work after her second child, running two teams on 90-minute stretches of sleep, and feeling like she'd missed an important memo about what motherhood would actually demand of her. That struggle became years of researc...

In Part 2 of my conversation with parenting and executive function coach Nicole Gambino, we get practical. Nicole walks through real, age-specific summer routines she's built with families — down to the exact tasks kids as young as five and as old as middle schoolers can own on their own, no reminders required. We talk about the difference between "motoring" your kids through their responsibilitie...

Nicole Gambino is back — and if her last episode on raising responsible kids resonated, this one's the summer-specific follow-through. The problem isn't your kid. It's that executive functioning (initiating, following through, self-regulating) is treated as something kids should already have, instead of a skill that has to be explicitly taught. Nicole walks through the system: realistic expectatio...

What does it actually look like to follow your instincts in motherhood — even when experts, teachers, and society tell you otherwise? In this episode, Maria sits down with Colleen Esposito, daughter of Boston radio icon Candy O'Terry, to talk about the courage it takes to live life on your own terms. Colleen left a high-powered advertising career after her first daughter was born — not because she...

The Myths of Motherhood: Why "Good Mother" Has Never Meant One Thing ft. Dr. Shari Thurer What if everything you think you know about what makes a "good mother" isn't instinct, isn't biology — it's just the story our culture happens to be telling right now? In this episode of That Mom , I talk with Dr. Shari Thurer, a psychoanalytically trained psychologist and author of The Myths of Motherhood: H...

Anxiety, Identity, and Becoming Who You Actually Want to Be (Part 2) ft. Dr. Risa Weisberg In Part 2 of my conversation with behavioral scientist Dr. Risa Weisberg, we shift from goals and motivation into something almost every mom feels but rarely understands: anxiety. Risa breaks down why anxiety isn't a flaw to eliminate but an alarm system that's actually doing its job — and why motherhood its...