What happens when becoming an egg donor changes the entire trajectory of your life?

This week on Infertile AF, Ali is joined by Katy Encalade, President and CEO of Egg Donor & Surrogate Solutions, who has spent nearly 20 years helping more than 2,000 intended parents grow their families through egg donation and surrogacy. But Katy's connection to this work is deeply personal. Before she ever had children of her own, she became an egg donor, an experience that would ultimately shape her career and her entire life. She later became a mom of three and a surrogate. Katy shares why she would have been a surrogate five more times if she could have, how her personal experiences have influenced her professional mission, and why she's so passionate about raising ethical standards in the fertility industry. She also talks about FAQs when it comes to egg donation and surrogacy, and why asking the hard questions matters now more than ever.

For more, go to https://createahappyfamily.com/

IG: @createahappyfamily

EPISODE SPONSORS: 

THE WORK OF ART BOOK SERIES

Ali's Children's Book Series about IVF, IUI and Family Building Through Assisted Reproductive Technology 

https://www.infertileafgroup.com/books

The latest book in the Work of ART series, “Petri Dish Princess," tells the incredibly cool origin story of Elizabeth Carr, the first IVF baby in the United States.

EXTEND FERTILITY

Extend Fertility is a leading fertility clinic helping people take control of their reproductive futures through egg freezing, embryo freezing, IVF, and more. With a focus on making fertility care more accessible, empowering, and personalized, Extend combines cutting-edge science with compassionate care to help patients understand their options and make informed decisions about if, when, and how they want to build a family.

For more, go to extendfertility.com

PHERDAL

IG: @pherdal_science

PherDal is the world’s first and only FDA-cleared, sterile, at-home insemination kit designed to help people build their families in the comfort of home. Created by parents who’ve been there, PherDal is safe, simple, and affordable—putting more options in your hands as you grow your family. Explore at PherDal.com.

Go to PherDal.com today and use code INFERTILEAF for $10 off.

This week on Infertile AF, Ali sits down with Jarret Zafran, Founder and Executive Director of Brownstone Surrogacy, whose path into the surrogacy world started not as an agency owner, but as an intended parent himself.

Jarret shares his personal journey to fatherhood through surrogacy and how experiencing the process firsthand ultimately inspired him to create Brownstone Surrogacy. He talks about meeting his husband, what it feels like to be an intended parent, the highs, the uncertainty and the enormous amount of trust involved, and how those experiences shaped the kind of agency he wanted to build.

Ali and Jarret get into what intended parents should know before pursuing surrogacy, how the donor and surrogacy process really works, the importance of the relationship between intended parents and surrogates, and why having been on the other side of the process influences the way Jarret approaches his work today.

For more, go to www.brownstonesurrogacy.com

EPISODE SPONSORS: 

THE WORK OF ART BOOK SERIES

Ali's Children's Book Series about IVF, IUI and Family Building Through Assisted Reproductive Technology 

https://www.infertileafgroup.com/books

The latest book in the Work of ART series, “You Are a Work of ART," is for every kiddo born through ART -- and the people who love them.

Stay tuned for Petri Dish Princess, book #4, coming this fall!

EXTEND FERTILITY

Extend Fertility is a leading fertility clinic helping people take control of their reproductive futures through egg freezing, embryo freezing, IVF, and more. With a focus on making fertility care more accessible, empowering, and personalized, Extend combines cutting-edge science with compassionate care to help patients understand their options and make informed decisions about if, when, and how they want to build a family.

For more, go to extendfertility.com

PHERDAL

IG: @pherdal_science

PherDal is the world’s first and only FDA-cleared, sterile, at-home insemination kit designed to help people build their families in the comfort of home. Created by parents who’ve been there, PherDal is safe, simple, and affordable—putting more options in your hands as you grow your family. Explore at PherDal.com.

Go to PherDal.com today and use code INFERTILEAF for $10 off.

In this special Listen Again episode of Infertile AF, Ali revisits her conversation with Savannah Bisby, the voice behind @infertilityfriends, whose journey to motherhood has included endometriosis, five IUIs, pregnancy loss, and years of navigating infertility.

When Savannah first joined Ali, she was still very much in the middle of her story, sharing openly about the physical and emotional toll of infertility, loss, treatment, and the uncertainty of not knowing how—or when—her family-building journey would end.

Now, there’s an incredible update: Savannah is pregnant.

With that joyful news finally out in the world, Ali is bringing back their original conversation as a reminder of everything Savannah endured to get here—and of just how much can happen between one chapter of an infertility story and the next.

This episode is for anyone who has ever felt stuck in the middle, wondered how much longer they could keep going, or needed a reminder that while no one can predict how an infertility journey will unfold, there can still be hope ahead.

EPISODE SPONSORS: 

THE WORK OF ART BOOK SERIES

Ali's Children's Book Series about IVF, IUI and Family Building Through Assisted Reproductive Technology 

https://www.infertileafgroup.com/books

The latest book in the Work of ART series, “You Are a Work of ART," is for every kiddo born through ART -- and the people who love them.

Stay tuned for Petri Dish Princess, book #4, coming this fall!

EXTEND FERTILITY

Extend Fertility is a leading fertility clinic helping people take control of their reproductive futures through egg freezing, embryo freezing, IVF, and more. With a focus on making fertility care more accessible, empowering, and personalized, Extend combines cutting-edge science with compassionate care to help patients understand their options and make informed decisions about if, when, and how they want to build a family.

For more, go to extendfertility.com

PHERDAL

IG: @pherdal_science

PherDal is the world’s first and only FDA-cleared, sterile, at-home insemination kit designed to help people build their families in the comfort of home. Created by parents who’ve been there, PherDal is safe, simple, and affordable—putting more options in your hands as you grow your family. Explore at PherDal.com.

Go to PherDal.com today and use code INFERTILEAF for $10 off.

Today’s episode is a really special one because we’re taking you behind the scenes of Petri Dish Princess—the newest book in Ali's Work of ART children’s book series—and Ali is joined by the actual Petri Dish Princess herself, Elizabeth Carr.

Elizabeth was the first baby born through IVF in the United States, and for more than four decades, her story has been told in headlines, history books and news clips. But we wanted to tell it in a completely different way: for kids.

In this episode, Elizabeth and Ali talk about how this book came to be, what it was like turning her very real—and very historic—story into a children’s book, some of the behind-the-scenes moments that made them laugh, and why they both believe so strongly that IVF kids deserve to see stories like theirs celebrated on the page.

They also talk about what we hope Petri Dish Princess can do beyond the bookshelf—start conversations, educate families, celebrate science, and remind kids everywhere that there are so many incredible ways to make a family.

And before we get into it, we want to thank the amazing sponsors who believed in this project and helped us bring Petri Dish Princess into the world: Brownstone Surrogacy, Donor Solution, 3 Sisters Surrogacy, IVF Babble, Generations CryoVault, Paladien, Egg Donor and Surrogate Solutions, Fertile Feet, Rooted Fertility Co., and A Perfect Match.

We are so grateful to every one of you for believing in this book and in our mission.

To get your personalized, signed (by Ali and Elizabeth) and numbered copy of Petri Dish Princess, go to www.infertileafgroup.com

EPISODE SPONSORS: 

THE WORK OF ART BOOK SERIES

Ali's Children's Book Series about IVF, IUI and Family Building Through Assisted Reproductive Technology 

https://www.infertileafgroup.com/books

The latest book in the Work of ART series, “You Are a Work of ART," is for every kiddo born through ART -- and the people who love them.

Stay tuned for Petri Dish Princess, book #4, coming this fall!

EXTEND FERTILITY

Extend Fertility is a leading fertility clinic helping people take control of their reproductive futures through egg freezing, embryo freezing, IVF, and more. With a focus on making fertility care more accessible, empowering, and personalized, Extend combines cutting-edge science with compassionate care to help patients understand their options and make informed decisions about if, when, and how they want to build a family.

For more, go to extendfertility.com

PHERDAL

IG: @pherdal_science

PherDal is the world’s first and only FDA-cleared, sterile, at-home insemination kit designed to help people build their families in the comfort of home. Created by parents who’ve been there, PherDal is safe, simple, and affordable—putting more options in your hands as you grow your family. Explore at PherDal.com.

Go to PherDal.com today and use code INFERTILEAF for $10 off.

Today’s episode features the women behind SHOW ME THE LINE, a new documentary following the lives of four women in the aftermath of the 2024 Alabama Supreme Court decision granting personhood status to embryos. When the Alabama ruling disrupts access to IVF, acclaimed journalist and visual artist Abbey Crain has already been in fertility treatment for over 5 years. Overnight, her dreams of motherhood
— and her embryos— are out of reach. But Crain refuses to surrender her creative power. With a pen and paintbrush, she embarks on a journey to honor fellow patients. Driven to celebrate portraits of everyday people and amplify their unheard stories of joy, anguish, beauty, and determination - Crain connects with a group of remarkable women. Together, they cultivate hope from the unsettled landscape that overlooked them. On today’s episode, Crain is joined by Director Kelsey Ianuzzi and Producer Stacey Davis.

Show Me The Line will screen as part of the Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday, August 29 at 5pm and 7pm. Show Me The Line will also screen at the 37th Annual New Orleans Film Festival in October. More information on all screenings can be found at showmetheline.com

If you are interested in bringing a screening to your community, please contact Stacey Davis ([email protected])

Follow: www.showmetheline.com

IG: @showmethelinefilm

EPISODE SPONSORS:

EPISODE SPONSORS: 

THE WORK OF ART BOOK SERIES

Ali's Children's Book Series about IVF, IUI and Family Building Through Assisted Reproductive Technology 

https://www.infertileafgroup.com/books

The latest book in the Work of ART series, “You Are a Work of ART," is for every kiddo born through ART -- and the people who love them.

Stay tuned for Petri Dish Princess, book #4, coming this fall!

EXTEND FERTILITY

Extend Fertility is a leading fertility clinic helping people take control of their reproductive futures through egg freezing, embryo freezing, IVF, and more. With a focus on making fertility care more accessible, empowering, and personalized, Extend combines cutting-edge science with compassionate care to help patients understand their options and make informed decisions about if, when, and how they want to build a family.

For more, go to extendfertility.com

PHERDAL

IG: @pherdal_science

PherDal is the world’s first and only FDA-cleared, sterile, at-home insemination kit designed to help people build their families in the comfort of home. Created by parents who’ve been there, PherDal is safe, simple, and affordable—putting more options in your hands as you grow your family. Explore at PherDal.com.

Go to PherDal.com today and use code INFERTILEAF for $10 off.

Today’s guest is Yesenia Lemus, a three-time surrogate and the Director of Surrogate Services at Brownstone Surrogacy. Yesenia’s surrogacy story actually started on the sidelines of her kid’s swim team, when she met another mom who was pregnant as a surrogate and thought, Wait—I could do that. Her first journey happened during COVID, when she carried twins for intended parents in California. She talks about the bond she formed with them, how she explained surrogacy to her own kids, and why she sees it as such a powerful act of generosity. She and Ali also get into the highs and lows of her journeys—including an embryo that didn’t survive the thaw—and why the entire experience has been so empowering for her. Yesenia also shares why she found the entire process so empowering—and how she went from surrogate to making this work her career.

For more, go to www.brownstonesurrogacy.com

IG: @brownstonesurrogacy

EPISODE SPONSORS: 

THE WORK OF ART BOOK SERIES

Ali's Children's Book Series about IVF, IUI and Family Building Through Assisted Reproductive Technology 

https://www.infertileafgroup.com/books

The latest book in the Work of ART series, “You Are a Work of ART," is for every kiddo born through ART -- and the people who love them.

Stay tuned for Petri Dish Princess, book #4, coming this fall!

EXTEND FERTILITY

Extend Fertility is a leading fertility clinic helping people take control of their reproductive futures through egg freezing, embryo freezing, IVF, and more. With a focus on making fertility care more accessible, empowering, and personalized, Extend combines cutting-edge science with compassionate care to help patients understand their options and make informed decisions about if, when, and how they want to build a family.

For more, go to extendfertility.com

PHERDAL

IG: @pherdal_science

PherDal is the world’s first and only FDA-cleared, sterile, at-home insemination kit designed to help people build their families in the comfort of home. Created by parents who’ve been there, PherDal is safe, simple, and affordable—putting more options in your hands as you grow your family. Explore at PherDal.com.

Go to PherDal.com today and use code INFERTILEAF for $10 off.

Today's episode is a Listen Again favorite, and we couldn't think of a better one to bring back because Keri Croft is an absolute badass. Keri is an infertility, pregnancy loss, and surrogacy advocate whose path to parenthood spanned an incredible 16 years. Her story includes multiple miscarriages, IVF, a balanced translocation diagnosis, the heartbreaking decision to undergo a termination for medical reasons after learning her daughter Angel was missing part of her cerebellum, and the devastating losses of two more daughters, Hope and Jade. Keri shares how infertility tested every part of her life and marriage, what ultimately led her and her husband to pursue surrogacy, and why she chose to navigate the process independently. That experience inspired her to create Find Your Dream Surrogate, a workshop designed to give intended parents the roadmap she wishes she'd had.

Follow: www.kericroft.com

IG: @thekericroftshow

EPISODE SPONSORS: 

THE WORK OF ART BOOK SERIES

Ali's Children's Book Series about IVF, IUI and Family Building Through Assisted Reproductive Technology 

https://www.infertileafgroup.com/books

The latest book in the Work of ART series, “You Are a Work of ART," is for every kiddo born through ART -- and the people who love them.

Stay tuned for Petri Dish Princess, book #4, coming this fall!

EXTEND FERTILITY

Extend Fertility is a leading fertility clinic helping people take control of their reproductive futures through egg freezing, embryo freezing, IVF, and more. With a focus on making fertility care more accessible, empowering, and personalized, Extend combines cutting-edge science with compassionate care to help patients understand their options and make informed decisions about if, when, and how they want to build a family.

For more, go to extendfertility.com

PHERDAL

IG: @pherdal_science

PherDal is the world’s first and only FDA-cleared, sterile, at-home insemination kit designed to help people build their families in the comfort of home. Created by parents who’ve been there, PherDal is safe, simple, and affordable—putting more options in your hands as you grow your family. Explore at PherDal.com.

Go to PherDal.com today and use code INFERTILEAF for $10 off.

Ali's guest today is Jess Mayhugh, a writer and editor who spent nearly a decade trying to have a baby before the arrival of her son, Cole. Jess's journey includes multiple miscarriages, rounds of IVF, several reproductive surgeries, and the unimaginable heartbreak of losing her newborn daughter, Lucy. On this episode, Jess opens up about navigating it all. It's a story of profound loss, incredible resilience, and massive love.

Jess co-founded a newsletter called Folly, which includes personal essays, expert interviews, and service journalism around family building.

IG: @jessmayhugh @followfolly

EPISODE SPONSORS: 

THE WORK OF ART BOOK SERIES

Ali's Children's Book Series about IVF, IUI and Family Building Through Assisted Reproductive Technology 

https://www.infertileafgroup.com/books

The latest book in the Work of ART series, “You Are a Work of ART," is for every kiddo born through ART -- and the people who love them.

Stay tuned for Petri Dish Princess, book #4, coming this fall!

EXTEND FERTILITY

Extend Fertility is a leading fertility clinic helping people take control of their reproductive futures through egg freezing, embryo freezing, IVF, and more. With a focus on making fertility care more accessible, empowering, and personalized, Extend combines cutting-edge science with compassionate care to help patients understand their options and make informed decisions about if, when, and how they want to build a family.

For more, go to extendfertility.com

PHERDAL

IG: @pherdal_science

PherDal is the world’s first and only FDA-cleared, sterile, at-home insemination kit designed to help people build their families in the comfort of home. Created by parents who’ve been there, PherDal is safe, simple, and affordable—putting more options in your hands as you grow your family. Explore at PherDal.com.

Go to PherDal.com today and use code INFERTILEAF for $10 off.

You might know today’s guest, Alease the Embryologist, from social media, where she somehow manages to educate, empower and entertain while breaking down what’s actually happening behind those mysterious IVF lab doors. Alease is incredibly smart and refreshingly real, and today, Ali and Alease get into ALL of it—including her own decision to freeze her eggs while happily married, because she’s still on the fence about building a family, and why she chose to freeze eggs instead of embryos with her husband. Alease also takes us behind the scenes of the embryology lab, sharing a day in the life, and also what it was like to perform egg retrievals on patients and then become the last retrieval of the day herself. She also answers some of her patients—and your—most burning questions: What exactly is a mosaic embryo? What happens in the lab that we never get to see? And should you actually be genetically testing your embryos?

IG: alease_the_embryologist

EPISODE SPONSORS: 

THE WORK OF ART BOOK SERIES

Ali's Children's Book Series about IVF, IUI and Family Building Through Assisted Reproductive Technology 

https://www.infertileafgroup.com/books

The latest book in the Work of ART series, “You Are a Work of ART," is for every kiddo born through ART -- and the people who love them.

Stay tuned for Petri Dish Princess, book #4, coming this fall!

EXTEND FERTILITY

Extend Fertility is a leading fertility clinic helping people take control of their reproductive futures through egg freezing, embryo freezing, IVF, and more. With a focus on making fertility care more accessible, empowering, and personalized, Extend combines cutting-edge science with compassionate care to help patients understand their options and make informed decisions about if, when, and how they want to build a family.

For more, go to extendfertility.com

PHERDAL

IG: @pherdal_science

PherDal is the world’s first and only FDA-cleared, sterile, at-home insemination kit designed to help people build their families in the comfort of home. Created by parents who’ve been there, PherDal is safe, simple, and affordable—putting more options in your hands as you grow your family. Explore at PherDal.com.

Go to PherDal.com today and use code INFERTILEAF for $10 off.

CARAWAY

Caraway cookware is beautiful, first of all — like, actually gorgeous sitting on your stove — but it also makes cooking feel easier and less stressful.

Visit carawayhome.com to take an additional 10% off your next purchase using code INFERTILEAF at checkout.

Today, Ali sits down with Kate Ryan, founder of Story of Us, for a heartfelt conversation about infertility, resilience, and redefining what family can look like.

Kate shares her deeply personal path to parenthood, beginning with IUI, moving through IVF, and ultimately building her family through donor conception. She opens up about the emotional highs and lows of treatment, the unexpected twists along the way, and what it took to embrace a future that looked different than the one she originally imagined.

Kate also talks about why she founded The Story of Us, a platform dedicated to helping families navigate conversations around donor conception with honesty, openness, and love. Together, she and Ali discuss the power of storytelling, the importance of representation, and why sharing our experiences can make others feel less alone.

For more, go to www.storyofus.love

IG: @thestoryofkateryan

EPISODE SPONSORS: 

THE WORK OF ART BOOK SERIES

Ali's Children's Book Series about IVF, IUI and Family Building Through Assisted Reproductive Technology 

https://www.infertileafgroup.com/books

The 3-book bundle is now just $49 (normally $79)!

The latest book in the Work of ART series, “You Are a Work of ART," is for every kiddo born through ART -- and the people who love them. Stay tuned for book #4, Petri Dish Princess, coming this fall!

EXTEND FERTILITY

Extend Fertility is a leading fertility clinic helping people take control of their reproductive futures through egg freezing, embryo freezing, IVF, and more. With a focus on making fertility care more accessible, empowering, and personalized, Extend combines cutting-edge science with compassionate care to help patients understand their options and make informed decisions about if, when, and how they want to build a family.

For more, go to extendfertility.com

PHERDAL

IG: @pherdal_science

PherDal is the world’s first and only FDA-cleared, sterile, at-home insemination kit designed to help people build their families in the comfort of home. Created by parents who’ve been there, PherDal is safe, simple, and affordable—putting more options in your hands as you grow your family. Explore at PherDal.com.

Go to PherDal.com today and use code INFERTILEAF for $10 off.

CARAWAY

Caraway cookware is beautiful, first of all — like, actually gorgeous sitting on your stove — but it also makes cooking feel easier and less stressful.

Visit carawayhome.com to take an additional 10% off your next purchase using code INFERTILEAF at checkout.

With soccer on everyone’s mind right now, this felt like the perfect time to bring back one of our most unforgettable episodes.

This week on Infertile AF, we’re re-sharing Ali’s powerful conversation with soccer legend Carli Lloyd. Carli is a former pro soccer star, two-time World Cup champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and one of the fiercest competitors to ever play the game. And in this episode — which originally aired two years ago — she opens up about something far more personal: her long and difficult infertility journey.

Carli shares what happened when she and her husband, Brian — her high school sweetheart — started trying to grow their family after her retirement and quickly realized it wasn’t going to be simple. She talks about spending years focused on her career, why she didn’t want to have kids while she was still playing professionally, and what it was like to learn, at 39, that getting pregnant was going to be much harder than she expected.

Ali and Carli get into the IVF process, from being told IVF was their best option to going through egg retrievals, a failed first transfer, the emotional toll of it all, and the mental break they needed before trying again. Carli also shares what it felt like to finally get the news she was pregnant — and why this experience challenged her in ways even elite sports never had.

If you missed this one the first time around — or if you’re ready for a listen again — it’s a good one.

EPISODE SPONSORS: 

THE WORK OF ART BOOK SERIES

Ali's Children's Book Series about IVF, IUI and Family Building Through Assisted Reproductive Technology 

https://www.infertileafgroup.com/books

The 3-book bundle is now just $49 (normally $79)!

The latest book in the Work of ART series, “You Are a Work of ART," is for every kiddo born through ART -- and the people who love them.

PHERDAL

IG: @pherdal_science

PherDal is the world’s first and only FDA-cleared, sterile, at-home insemination kit designed to help people build their families in the comfort of home. Created by parents who’ve been there, PherDal is safe, simple, and affordable—putting more options in your hands as you grow your family. Explore at PherDal.com.

Go to PherDal.com today and use code INFERTILEAF for $10 off.

CARAWAY

Caraway cookware is beautiful, first of all — like, actually gorgeous sitting on your stove — but it also makes cooking feel easier and less stressful.

Visit carawayhome.com to take an additional 10% off your next purchase using code INFERTILEAF at checkout.