#198 — Lily Nichols is a Registered Dietician and Nutritionist, a Certified Diabetes Educator, and the author of two best-selling books on pregnancy nutrition. Her first bestseller, Real Food for Gestational Diabetes, has helped tens of thousands of women manage the condition, and went on to influence nutrition policies internationally. Lily’s next book, Real Food for Pregnancy, became #1 in the Pregnancy and Childbirth category on Amazon. The problem with conventional policy and food guidelines...
Oct 19, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep 198•Transcript available on Metacast #197 — Never drink coffee! Don’t have sushi! And cats are dangerous! Getting pregnant means entering into a world of advice and fear about all the things that could potentially go wrong. But what does the data say? Are these “pregnancy rules” based on truth or myth? When economist Emily Oster got pregnant, she also got curious about the advice she was getting. Some recommendations were based on her age alone, and sometimes she found it difficult to get any answers at all. So, she started digging...
Oct 05, 2022•53 min•Ep 197•Transcript available on Metacast #196 — What do you really know about your menstrual cycle—and where did that information come from? Young girls and women are often taught about menstrual cycles in relationship to two things: periods and pregnancy. That is, don't get pregnant! And also, periods are gross. This is such limited and almost useless information that doesn't support overall health and wellbeing. Plus, pills are often prescribed as a blanket solution to fix irregular cycles, alter heavy periods, or manage symptoms. Th...
Sep 21, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep 196•Transcript available on Metacast #195 — The Wise Women's Council is back this October 2022 and now accepting enrollments for our Fall Cohort. This is our first-ever winter cohort! Applications close October 12, 2022 this year. Apply at startupparent.com/wwc. Over the past five years, we’ve built a leadership incubator for women navigating both business and parenting. What started as a small group circle has blossomed into an incredible program for mid-career and executive women navigating the next moves in their lives. “This is...
Sep 14, 2022•10 min•Ep 195•Transcript available on Metacast #186 — The Wise Women's Council is back and accepting enrollments for our Class of 2022. We only open once per year for enrollment, so whether you've been a longtime listener or a brand-new listener, check out our leadership incubator and community for executive, entrepreneurial moms navigating both life and business at the same time. Applications close March 1, 2022 this year. Apply at startupparent.com/wwc Last year's Wise Women's Council was amazing. Full stop. Here's what some of our alumni ...
Feb 18, 2022•17 min•Ep 186•Transcript available on Metacast #185 — Vanessa Van Edwards learned right away that being an expert in behavioral science did not translate into innate parenting know-how. An author, speaker, and lead investigator with Science of People, Vanessa first appeared on Episode #96 of Startup Parent. She returned for Episode #104, in which she busted some myths about the first weeks of parenthood. Now, she’s opening up about the first year, explaining that while some phases do indeed “go by so fast,” others can feel like a slog, but t...
Sep 20, 2021•1 hr 22 min•Ep 185•Transcript available on Metacast #184 — Growing up, James Breakwell never had to think about what jobs he wasn’t allowed to pursue. That changed when he had kids. As the father of four girls — one of whom recently said she wants to be a construction worker, and another who asked if she could be the Pope — he’s had to put himself in the shoes of the females surrounding him at home. As an author and internet personality behind the popular Twitter account @XplodingUnicorn, James is best known for his viral tweets depicting hilario...
Jun 24, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep 184•Transcript available on Metacast #183 — Creative dynamo Amber Anderson is the founder of Tote & Pears, a branding and marketing agency with a female focus. For her, becoming an entrepreneur was about more than the business. It was about creating possibilities for her family, establishing a set of core values for her family, and aligning her business values and family needs holistically. We first interviewed Amber on Episode #029 all about the birth of her son and her business. We invite her back to talk about what marketing to ...
May 10, 2021•56 min•Ep 183•Transcript available on Metacast #182 — How badly is this year, this pandemic, messing up our kids and us, as parents? Dr Courtney Bolton has a PhD in counseling clinical and school psychology, and she is a parenting coach focused on evidence-based strategies for the development of kids. She's a mom of four and she helps parents make contextual, intentional parenting decisions that work for them and their families. I asked her to join me to talk about parenting, stress, and the pandemic. In this episode, we talk about: How to h...
Apr 26, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep 182•Transcript available on Metacast #181 - Welcome back to co-host Cary Fortin! We're back for another friendship episode, where Sarah and Cary talk about business design, parenting stress, and dealing with the pandemic. In this episode, we take you behind the scenes of The Wise Women's Council and the Class of 2021, and the ways that we think about community design and creating strong containers for personal growth. If you haven't heard the story of how the Wise Women's Council started, listen in as Sarah describes what it took t...
Apr 12, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Transcript available on Metacast #180 — We are not the same as before. What we went through last year, and what we are still going through, is beyond comprehension and imagination. Many are still trying to survive, out of work, and picking up the pieces from last year. Many are grieving deeply and some of us don't have a clear roadmap for grief or recovery. It's been so long since I've been able to sit down and put together a real podcast that I almost feel like I've forgotten how to do it. I invited Cary Fortin to join me as w...
Mar 29, 2021•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast #179 — When 2020 kicked off, we had big plans. One of those plans was growing Startup Pregnant and shifting our focus—and name—to cover what we were already focused on: parents. Today, I'm excited to tell you about the new name, and introduce you to Startup Parent. Here's the backstory of why we changed our name, what it took, and a sneak peek into what we're building next. Also, there are a lot of background noises in this episode, because children and vacuums aren't quiet. At all. But, like th...
Mar 21, 2021•14 min•Ep 179•Transcript available on Metacast #178 — We are two weeks away from kicking off our fourth class of The Wise Women's Council, and we have an extraordinary group of people joining us for the year ahead. WWC is our year-long leadership incubator for women business leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators who are also navigating pregnancy, parenthood, and motherhood. We go deep together for the better part of a year and support women at their growth edge who want to continue to level up in their life and career. In this episode, I'm ...
Feb 16, 2021•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast #177 — Dr Shani Cooper is a Naval Veteran, Licensed Acupuncturist and Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, who began studying the human body in 2010. She is also the parent to Sage, an eight-month old who arrived in the world bright and early, two months before his estimated arrival window! Shani joined us last year in The Wise Women's Council when she was pregnant with her little one, who you will hear and enjoy in the background of this recording. I asked her if she'd join us to talk ab...
Jan 30, 2021•30 min•Ep 177•Transcript available on Metacast #176 — What's it like to run a team of 40 people, in a pandemic, with a 1-year-old, and get pregnant with your second kid? Jess Kamada, VP of Client Services at Bamboo, a top growth marketing firm based in Seattle, joined me for a special episode to talk about how she managed the pandemic and the last year. Jess joined us in the 2020 Wise Women's Council, and I asked her if she would be open to sharing her story and experience on the podcast, and share some insights into what it's like to be in ...
Jan 23, 2021•35 min•Ep 176•Transcript available on Metacast #175 — Welcome to 2021, a year that clearly isn't going to erase all of last year's frustrations, angers, or woes. This episode is an overview of some of the highlights from Startup Parent over 2020. Seven months without childcare is not easy, that's for sure, and while we didn't hit many of our goals, we had surprising revenue outcomes and we managed to hire more people than I'd planned on! In this episode, I talk about the Wise Women's Council, about our growth as a team, key metrics and reven...
Jan 10, 2021•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast #174 — The other day, I was reading an article on Time Magazine that I couldn't stop reading. Dr. Kyl Myers, an author, had written a long-form piece about gender, sex and parenting. Dr. Kyl Myers holds a PhD in sociology and studies and speaks about gender. They are an award-winning educator and a globally recognized advocate for gender creative parenting. Since 2016, Kyl has been speaking and writing about gender creative parenting and using their own parenting story to help the world learn ab...
Oct 01, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Transcript available on Metacast #173 — Why is default motherhood so white in our cultural storytelling? In America, the word "mother" is nearly always describing white motherhood. That's what Nefertiti Austin, a single African American woman, discovered when she decided she wanted to adopt a Black baby boy out of the foster care system. Eager to finally join the motherhood ranks, Nefertiti was shocked when people started asking her why she wanted to adopt a "crack baby" or told her that she would never be able to raise a Black...
Sep 28, 2020•56 min•Ep 173•Transcript available on Metacast #172 — There's a coaching tool that I really love, that is an important concept to know and practice throughout your work and life. It's called "areas of control," and I'll share how to think about it in your life, relationships, and with regards to real-world events. From there, I want to give you one of my favorite practices—something to look forward to. Full show notes will be available at startupparent.com/172
Sep 21, 2020•16 min•Ep 172•Transcript available on Metacast #171 — Lions + Tigers Panel Replay. School is back in session, and parents everywhere are fatigued, overwhelmed, and still in the lurch. Workplaces are less and less forgiving, and yet the problems created by the pandemic are still here. What's a working parent to do? Last week, Lions + Tigers, spearheaded by Brea Starmer, gathered a panel to talk about specific steps parents can take to strategically plan ahead for the last quarter of the year, what to do to advocate for yourself as a working p...
Sep 14, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast #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 play out in my own life. (Hint: it took me an extra six takes to record this episode.) If you're feelin...
Sep 07, 2020•32 min•Ep 170•Transcript available on Metacast #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 about the reality of being a working parent. The author of "Drop The Ball," Tiffany's life and work is f...
Aug 31, 2020•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast #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 of Pando Daily and a journalist in tech, talk about her journey from thinking sexism was not really a...
Aug 24, 2020•1 hr•Ep 168•Transcript available on Metacast #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 backward most prenatal nutrition advice really is (did you know that most dietary recommendations for fema...
Aug 17, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Ep 167•Transcript available on Metacast #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 getting rich and making your coin. This episode is brought to you by Nanit, the only baby monitor yo...
Aug 10, 2020•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast #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 few more slow-downs while we try to regroup as a family. Also, I'll update you on our move (we're movin...
Aug 03, 2020•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast #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 workplace fails women and families on a regular basis grows ever more glaring. In this episode, we he...
Aug 03, 2020•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast #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 helm of a 30-person award-winning digital strategy organization while also having a one-year old at hom...
Jul 27, 2020•43 min•Ep 163•Transcript available on Metacast #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 day-to-day work of fighting the virus. For many of you reading this blog and listening to the podcas...
Jul 20, 2020•2 hr 31 min•Ep 162•Transcript available on Metacast #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, a podcast, community, and network for small business owners. She has three different levels of her ...
Jul 06, 2020•2 hr 34 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
