Ever wonder about the working dad's perspective on how to make life work in a modern dual income family?

In this episode, Matthew Sharp is sharing his story about how he makes things work in his household. Matthew is a husband and dad to two (soon to be 3!). He's also been a champion for working parents by being involved in a parental leave initiative at his company. Matthew talks about why he became involved and why it didn't deter him that the initiative was an offshoot of a women's group at his company.

There are a lot of negative stories of partnerships when we talk about working moms so I hope this starts to change the narrative and highlight the cases where a partnership is working well. I hope you consider sharing this episode with your partner!

Highlights:

• Matthew's career background and family life
• Matthew's schedule and how he and his wife make things work day to day
• Variable vs. predictable work schedules and how that impacts how they handle things like sick days for their kids
• His thoughts on the most stressful part of being a working dad
• The parental leave policy initiative Matthew was involved in at his company
• Getting involved in women's initiatives as a man and speaking up for people who don't have as much power
• Tips for other parents in making things work as a dual income family

Today’s Guest:

Matthew Sharp recently transitioned to a new role at Facebook in the Marketing Science group. Most recently, Matthew Sharp lead the Customer Knowledge team at Novantas, a financial services advisory and technology solutions firm. Matthew's team lead all primary customer research efforts at the firm.

Additionally, in his time at Novantas, Matthew championed policies that benefit women at Novantas (more specifically, working mothers) by building business cases and successfully advocating for a new parental leave policy. He also led a group that founded and launched the company's corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, NovaGIVES.

Matthew is a husband of a working mother and spends most of his time outside of work with her and their two sons. They are expecting their third child (a little girl) in July 2019.

Resources:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewasharp/

Do you wonder if it's too late to get back in the exercise game after having your kids?

In this episode, I'm talking with fitness expert Erica Ziel about exercise and taking care of your body after having kids. We talk about postpartum challenges and preventative measures women need to take to feel good now and later in life. We also laugh as we chat about the "mom butt" or still looking pregnant even after you're years postpartum. If you have struggled to get back in the exercise game after having your kids - no matter how long ago that was - this is the episode for you!

Highlights:

• How Erica got into fitness and wellness
• Common complaints and challenges for women after having kids
• Why your pelvic floor is important, how to strengthen it, and why it's never too late
• How to get started in exercising even if you haven't done it since before having your kids
• Why working out harder and longer can actually make it more difficult to lose weight
• Balancing out your body from things like holding your kids
• "Mom butt" and how to change your posture to find your booty again
• Why you may look pregnant long after you are
• What you can do if you're sitting most of the day

Today’s Guest:

Published author, founder of Core Athletica® Inc., Knocked-Up Fitness®, creator of the Core Rehab Program, expert on Fascial Training, Core and Pre/Postnatal Exercise Specialist. Bachelor’s Degree in Health & Human Performance from Iowa State University, a Certified Personal Trainer, Pilates Instructor, Nutrition Coach and Mama of 3. 

Erica has been featured in and contributed to many publications including; The Strength and Conditioning Journal, People.com, Oxygen Magazine, Fit Pregnancy, Pilates Style Magazine, Pregnancy and Newborn Magazine + LiveStrong.com. 

Growing up on a family farm in the Midwest, she worked alongside her family on the farm - this environment instilled a strong family focus and an incredible work ethic she has carried with her, and is reflected today in her dedication to her family and her successful business.

Erica’s Functional Fascial Core method has proven to generate quicker and better results for her clients! She has been in the wellness space now for over 15 years.

Resources:

www.EricaZiel.com www.Knocked-UpFitness.com Erica's membership  Core Connections Podcast Erica Ziel on Instagram

Do you feel stretched too thin?

In this podcast episode, I'm talking to Jessica Turner, the author of Stretched Too Thin and The Fringe Hours. She juggles a full-time job while also being a blogger and author and she shares how she things about what she does and doesn't do to keep her household running.

We also talked about how you can go from surviving to thriving as a working mom, the role of partners in making things work, and how you might make time for friends even during a busy season.

Highlights:

• Jessica's background and what lead to writing the Fringe Hours and Stretched Too Thin
• The areas that Jessica has chosen to outsource during this season of her life
• The things that she also automates to save time
• How to think about it when considering outsourcing or automating
• What the fringe hours are and how you can use them to your advantage
• Jessica's thoughts on how working moms can go from surviving to thriving
• The role of partners in making things work
• How to make time for friends and the importance of community

Today’s Guest:

Jessica N. Turner is the author of Stretched Too Thin and The Fringe Hours. She is also an award-winning marketing executive and the founder of the popular lifestyle blog The Mom Creative (www.themomcreative.com). Additionally, she is a writer for the Today Parenting Team and DaySpring's (in)courage, an advocate for World Vision, a regular speaker at events nationwide. She and her husband, Matthew live with their three children in Nashville, Tennessee.

Resources:

Themomcreative.com instagram.com/jessicanturner instagram.com/booksnobbery Facebook.com/themomcreative The Fringe Hours: Making Time for You Stretched Too Thin: How Working Moms Can Lose the Guilt, Work Smarter, and Thrive

According to Lauren Smith Brody, the "fifth trimester" is where a working mom is born. In this episode, Lauren shares what lead to writing The Fifth Trimester, how you can be a voice to push forward your own workplace, and what working parents really need.

We also talk about the role of partners in this conversation and what makes being a working mom a strength that helps with the bottom line at companies. For fun, we also chat about the recent viral photo of Lauren registering for after school care while sitting on a panel at a conference!

Highlights:

• Lauren's background and what lead to writing The Fifth Trimester
• What she means by the fifth trimester and why it's important
• How being transparent in the workplace will change things in the future
• How you can be a voice to push forward in your own workplace
• What makes being a working mom a strength in the workplace and why this helps in profit for companies
• The story behind the viral photo of Lauren registering for after school care while on a conference panel
• The role of fathers and partners in support of working mothers
• What to do if things feel unbalanced with your partner
• How companies can better support parents

Today’s Guest:

Lauren Smith Brody is the founder of The Fifth Trimester movement and consulting, which helps parents and businesses collaborate to retain women and foster family-friendly workplace culture. Her book, The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom’s Guide to Style, Sanity, and Success After Baby (Doubleday/Anchor), was a simultaneous best-seller in the Amazon categories of motherhood, women and business, and cultural anthropology. The Fifth Trimester has been featured in The New York Times, on Good Morning America, CNN.com, and dozens more outlets, and Brody has been a featured speaker at companies and organizations including Facebook, Fried Frank, The New York Times, Google, American Express, The Wing, GLG, Rackspace, Liberty Mutual, PwC, The Wharton Women’s Summit and more. As an entrepreneur who can’t quit journalism, Brody writes regularly about the intersection of business and motherhood for, among others, The New York Times, Slate, Bloomberg Businessweek, and Elle. 

Current ongoing engagements include: a new monthly motherhood column for Harper’s Bazaar, launching spring 2019; a six-city pilot work/balance coaching program at a top law firm in the healthcare space; the launch of #FAM x Condé Nast, an experiential-first content brand for Millennial parents raising culturally inclusive kids, for which Lauren is the editor-in-chief. 

A longtime leader in the women’s magazine industry, Lauren was previously the executive editor of Glamour magazine, where she ran the editorial staff and produced the magazine’s annual Women of the Year awards, honoring luminaries like Dr. Maya Angelou and Hillary Clinton. Raised in Ohio, Texas, and Georgia, she now lives in New York City with her husband and two young sons.

Resources:

www.thefifthtrimester.com Instagram: @thefifthtrimester Twitter: @laurensbrody Facebook: /thefifthtrimester The Fifth Trimester book

Have you ever had to go on a business trip while you were still breastfeeding?

In this episode, I'm talking with Kate Torgersen, Founder of Milk Stork all about how to make business travel while breastfeeding and pumping easier. We talk about what lead to Kate founding her company to better support working moms as well as what companies can do to better support parents and caretakers.

Finally, if you're interested in talking to your company about benefits like Milk Stork, Kate provides some guidance on the best way to do so.

Highlights:

• Kate's background and the event that lead to her founding Milk Stork
• How she came up with Milk Stork and how it works
• Tips for smoother travel while pumping
• How we can normalize breastfeeding and the need to pump at work
• Why it's important for companies to support breastfeeding moms
• Other ways companies could better support parents or caretakers of all kinds
• Kate's thoughts about what she'd like the future to look like for working moms and parents
• The best way to approach your company to provide benefits like Milk Stork

Today’s Guest:

Kate Torgersen is founder and CEO of Milk Stork®, the first breast milk shipping service for business traveling, breastfeeding moms. Launched in August 2015, Milk Stork provides working moms with everything they need to ship or tote their “liquid gold” home to their babies. For progressive, family-friendly companies, Milk Stork provides an in-demand employee benefit that helps attract, retain and supports working mothers.

As a full time, working mom of three kids, Kate was committed to breastfeeding all of her children for the recommended 12 months despite the many challenges of pumping at work. In 2014, when faced with a four-day business trip, she struggled to get her breast milk home to her eight month-old twins. After returning from her trip with two gallons of breast milk and eight pounds of melting ice, she was determined to create a solution. Within a year, she launched Milk Stork, effectively lightening the load—both physically and emotionally—for countless hardworking, business traveling, breastfeeding moms across the U.S. Fueled by grassroots word-of-mouth among moms, Milk Stork quickly became in-demand, employee benefit with many of the country’s leading companies and firms.

Kate’s mom-led innovation and entrepreneurship have been chronicled in publications such as the Harvard Business Review, New York Magazine, Lifehacker, Fortune and Travel + Leisure. In 2016, Kate was named one of Red Tricycle’s “Power Moms of the Food World” and, in 2015, Business Insider named Milk Stork, one of the “19 Coolest Companies in San Francisco”. 

While launching Milk Stork, Kate was senior executive communications manager at Clif Bar & Company. From 2000 to 2007, she served as the company’s national field marketing manager. Prior to joining Clif Bar, Kate chased her wanderlust to the Sierra Nevada Mountains where she worked as an archaeologist and wild land firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service. In the winter, she was a professional ski instructor at Squaw Valley–Alpine Meadows ski resort.  

Kate holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley and she earned her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. When she isn’t working, playing with her kids or picking up Hotwheels, she is running or pursuing her quest for eight hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Resources:

She Reaches Mastermind www.milkstork.com Milk Stork on Facebook Milk Stork on Instagram Milk Stork on Twitter Milk Stork on LinkedinWhitepaper for businesses

In today's bonus episode, I'm sharing all about a brand new program designed to support working moms - the She Reaches Mastermind!

I've been working behind the scenes for months on this and the doors are now open for this mastermind which runs from April through June 2019. In this episode, I share why the mastermind can help to support moms after talking to my clients and listeners about what working moms really need.

We all deserve a group of women behind the scenes cheering us on and supporting us so we can actually DO all the things we want to do - without going completely insane doing it.

P.S. The She Reaches Mastermind begins the week of April 8th and you can find more information to join us here.

How do you live a life on purpose and what does that even mean?

In this episode with Erica Layne from the Life on Purpose Movement, we talk about where to get started in being more intentional with your life if you're feeling overwhelmed. Erica gives realistic tips on how to determine what to say no to and how to actually do it when you're nervous about others' feelings about it. 

Erica gives her own definition of minimalism and how we can apply those concepts beyond just what we own. Finally, we also discuss how being an introvert can affect how you parent and how you might take that into consideration to maintain your energy in your everyday life. 

Highlights:

• Erica's background and the journey that lead to the Life in Purpose Movement
• How to get over guilt in saying no to things that don't fit your priorities or strengths
• Tips for responding to requests that aren't sure you want to say yes to
• Applying minimalism beyond your home and the concepts in her book The Minimalist Way
• Minimalism at home when you have kids
• How you might handle motherhood differently if you're an introvert
• Structuring your day to optimize your energy as a introvert
• How to figure out if you're an introvert or extrovert

Today’s Guest:

Erica Layne is a sunset chaser, mom of three, author of The Minimalist Way, and founder of The Life On Purpose Movement. Her goal is to help women trade overwhelm and fatigue for focus and peace.

Resources:

The Life On Purpose Movement site The Life On Purpose Movement on Facebook The Life On Purpose Movement on Instagram The Minimalist Way: Declutter Your Life and Make Room for Joy

Do you feel like you’re constantly not measuring up when it comes to taking care of your own health & wellness?

In this episode with Robyn Conley Downs of Real Food Whole Life, we’re talking all about gentle wellness and how it can help you to be more successful in your health goals. She gives sustainable strategies for eating healthy and movement that you can fit into even the busiest schedule. We talk about the three traps that we get stuck in with wellness and what we can do instead. Finally, we also talk about the tension between accepting your post baby body and using your feelings to make some changes to take care of yourself.

Highlights:

• Robyn’s health journey and how it led to Real Food Whole Life
• What the gentle wellness revolution is and how it can help you take care of yourself
• The three traps that we get stuck in with wellness
• How our all or nothing approach to diet specifically leads to weight gain and why you’re better off doing nothing than a diet
• Tactical tips for eating healthier without feeling overwhelmed
• How to fit in movement now that your life looks different after having kids
• Redefining what you think “counts” for exercise
• Pockets of time where you might be able to fit in movement
• Ways to think about it if you don’t love your post-baby body
• How paring can help you be successful in your wellness goals

Today’s Guest:

Robyn Conley Downs is founder of the mission-driven media and education brand, Real Food Whole Life, and producer-host of the Apple top-rated Feel Good Effect podcast. Holding a Master’s degree in education with an emphasis in behavior change, and 4 years of public policy & health change at the doctoral level, her work taps into cutting edge science around how people create and sustain lasting wellness. She combines this professional research background with work as a certified yoga teacher, specializing in mindfulness and self-compassion, to share science-based, life-tested, radically simple solutions for wellness.

Robyn is a wife and working mama with a mission to embody and amplify the gentle approach to wellness, and lives by her motto, #gentleisthenewperfect. Her writing and speaking resonate with tens of thousands of readers and listeners each week via her robust following. As host of the Feel Good Effect podcast, she has attracted an engaged and loyal listener base, hosting top wellness innovators and thought-leaders such as Gretchen Rubin, Dr. Kristin Neff, Laila Ali, Jonathan Fields, Kathryn Budig, Dr. Rick Hanson, Kelly LeVeque, and Kate Fagan. Downs’s work has been featured in Huffpost, Buzzfeed, Shape.com, among others, and she is a frequent guest on podcasts and wellness websites. Robyn lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and research partner, Andrew, and their daughter Elle.

Resources:

Beat the Sunday Blues newsletter realfoodwholelife.com @realfoodwholelifeon Instagram Real Food Whole Life Community Facebook Group John Acuff Episode on Feel Good Effect

Do you try new things when it comes to your career?

My guest on the podcast, Kerri Koen, licensed attorney who works in the financial services industry as a business strategist, used opportunities both inside and outside the office to find out what career path felt fulfilling for her. We talk about how she ended up in financial services, her participation in a company program that changed the course of her career, and the projects outside of the office that she pursued on the side. This episode challenges the thought that one job has to fulfill all of your needs.

Highlights:

• Kerri's career journey after law school
• How a rotational program changed the course of her career
• Juggling her career, experimenting with side projects, and spending time with her kids & partner
• The conference she attended that shifted her thinking
• How having a side project has enhanced her day to day
• Her thoughts on MLMs, where they can go wrong and the benefits when it's done right

Today’s Guest:

Kerri is a mom of one, stepmom to two, and wife of a fireman. She is a licensed attorney who works in the financial services industry as a business strategist, and she also runs New England Essentials, a brand focused on supporting wellness and empowering women to be leaders. Kerri is passionate about creating opportunities for women to advance, and her article on how passion projects and side-hustles can help advance your career was recently published on Forbes.com.

Resources:

Working Mom Audit

Kerri on Instagram

Do you make time for creative ideas you have outside of your "day job"?

In this episode, I'm talking to Emily Cretella who not only runs her own copywriting and content marketing firm (her "day job"), but also created an online publication called MotherHustle to share what she's learning as a mom and business owner and provide a place for others to share their stories too. As if that isn't enough, Emily recently made space for another creative pursuit - writing a novel! While Emily doesn't know where these creative projects will lead, she makes time for the things she's interested in. We talk all about how these passion projects came about and the mindset she has behind fitting them in.

Highlights:

• How motherhood changed the course of her career
• The weekly newsletter she started to share what she was learning with other working moms
• Creating a community to share experiences with MotherHustle
• Letting a passion project be personal exploration instead of making it a business or a job
• Allowing creative pursuits to organically lead to your next career step
• The dream Emily decided to go after instead of letting it happen "someday"

Today’s Guest:

Emily Cretella is the founder of MotherHustle.com, an online publication + community featuring unpolished personal essays, inspiration-fueling advice and no-nonsense resources for creative mompreneurs, from creative mompreneurs. When she's not helping other moms find + follow their fulfillment, she runs the copywriting and content marketing firm CursiveContent.com, where she helps clients create + share stories their audiences love. She adores being mom to her two little ladies and drinking obscene amounts of coffee from mugs with pithy sayings.

Resources: instagram.com/motherhustle facebook.com/motherhustle twitter.com/motherhustle pinterest.com/motherhustle instagram.com/emilycretella facebook.com/emilycretella linkedin.com/in/emilycretella twitter.com/emilycretella motherhustle.com cursivecontent.com

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Way too much on your plate? Download the 5 Minute Prioritization Drill to crush stress:

http://shereaches.com/5minutedrill/

Learn More About Tiffany’s Work

http://shereaches.com/working-mom-strategy/

What if you could handle your finances in 10-15 minutes during your lunch break? In this episode, Erica Gellerman discusses some financial hacks and shortcuts that you can fit into your busy schedule. She talks about how to be mindful about your money - including spending on the things that make you happy. Her “lunch break list” will allow you to make progress even with the smallest amount of time.

Highlights:

• Why you should consider having financial goals for fun and dream vacations
• Setting up your savings accounts
• How to automate your savings
• Spending on the things that make you the happiest
• Using a “lunch break list” to tackle your financial to do’s in 10-15 minutes
• Handling variable income
• How you can be influenced by the spending habits of those around you

Today’s Guest:

Erica Gellerman is a CPA, MBA, personal finance writer, and founder of The Worth Project: a weekly money newsletter you actually want to read. Her work has been featured on Forbes, Money, Business Insider, The Everygirl, The Everymom, and Lifehacker. Originally from California, she’s spent the last 4 years living in London and exploring Europe with her husband and now with her new son, Henry.

Resources:

theworthproject.co

Instagram: @theworthproject.co

Twitter: @ericagellerman

Fun, Cheap Date Ideas

The Fringe Hours book

Simplify Money Guide

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Way too much on your plate? Download the 5 Minute Prioritization Drill to crush stress:

http://shereaches.com/5minutedrill/

Learn More About Tiffany’s Work

http://shereaches.com/working-mom-strategy/