#107 — April Preview: Amy Schumer, Women and Doctors, and Being the Expert of Your Body This week Sarah and guest Cary Fortin break down some of the most powerful takeaways from recent podcast guests and what we’re looking forward to in April. We cover what makes us laugh, cry, and get fired up in a brand-new segment called “In The News.” IN THIS EPISODE WE TALK ABOUT: Episode # 106 with Iman Gatti and how difficult and important it is to be your own advocate in the birthing process and with your health. What it means to internalize that while doctors have extensive and important bodies of knowledge relating to medicine, WE are the experts of our own bodies.   Building resilient businesses and what to do when your employees start to get bored, and what we learned from Whitney Johnson in Episode #105. Why planning and designing maternity leave as an entrepreneur is crucial, even if those plans all fall apart, and why businesses and babies are so unpredictable. How raw and honest Vanessa Van Edwards was in Episode #104 and how helpful it was hearing her real-life maternity leave challenges. Why Amy Schumer’s challenging pregnancy is a gift to the world, and which portions of her most recent special “Growing” Cary just couldn’t stop laughing about. How women have been left out of conversations and decisions around designing everyday and life-saving objects and just how harmful it is to all of us. Why we are so grateful, regardless of politics, for all of the incredible women in power around the world. They are giving us all a more diverse, empathetic, powerful set of examples of what leadership can look like. Join us as we talk about what’s impacting us most, on the podcast and in the news, this month. FULL SHOW NOTES Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at http://www.startuppregnant.com/107. LEARN MORE ABOUT CARY FORTIN Writer, author, storyteller, and co-founder of New Minimalism. http://www.newminimalism.com/ The New Minimalism Book RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Amy Schumer “Growing” on Netflix The Guardian article from Invisible Women auther Caroline Criado-Perez  “The deadly truth about a world built for men – from stab vests

#106 — Healing from Trauma and Grief: One Woman’s Journey and Story At six years old, Iman Gatti witnessed her father brutally murder her mother. Her father was sentenced to 25 years in prison and Iman, now parentless, spent the next twelve years in foster care. Fast forward to today: Iman is a published memoirist, grief recovery specialist, certified coach, a wife, and a mother to a beautiful baby girl. How did she get here? How did she process and heal all the trauma she experienced over those formative years? And how has she been able to turn her own journey of healing into one of empowering other women to heal themselves? On today’s episode, we get to hear from Iman Gatti about her courageous journey of healing of herself after unimaginable pain. We learn how she spent a decade in therapy and other recovery and healing modalities, how she ended up starting a business, and how her business now supports women in their own journeys to healing, forgiveness, and self-love. Through her work in healing her own trauma, she found a path to becoming a courageous living coach and certified grief specialist. In this episode, we also get to listen in and hear how Iman shares how motherhood changed her and impacted the way that she works. While she found raising a baby to be demanding, she also found the logistics of it straightforward. What she wasn’t necessarily expecting was how much the soul work of becoming a mother would rock her to her core. Join us as we talk about what it looked like for her to heal from trauma: her journey and deep work around forgiveness, self-love, and the surprising ways that pregnancy and birth were a portal to deeper healing. IN THIS EPISODE WE TALK ABOUT: Iman’s profound story of trauma––witnessing her father brutally murder her mother just before her seventh birthday and spending the following 12 years in foster care––and her decades long commitment to healing herself. How the work of healing her own trauma led her to become a courageous living coach and certified grief specialist who helps others heal their own trauma and grief. The surprising role of forgiveness as a cornerstone of healing trauma. How becoming a mother herself reignited Iman’s grief over losing her own mother at seven, but also strengthened her feeling of connection. The vulnerability of writing her memoir and allowing herself to be fully seen. How she found raising a baby to be demanding but straightforward, while the soul work of becoming a mother rocked her to her core. FULL SHOW NOTES Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at http://www.startuppregnant.com/106. LEARN MORE ABOUT IMAN GATTI Iman Gatti, author of Cracked Open – Never Broken, is an empowerment coach, transformational speaker, and Certified Grief Recovery Specialist™. Through her work, she helps people overcome self-limiting beliefs, heal past wounds, and step fully into their limitless potential. Cracked Open – Never Broken: A Memoir EPISODE SPONSOR & SPECIAL OFFER We have a series of mini-books we wrote just for Startup Pregnant listeners: from Pregnancy Affirmations to the Pregnancy Reading List and the Parenting Reading

#105—Disruption: Managing Your Career Whenever I feel stuck or I’m looking for a mentor, career-wise, one of my favorite things to do is to identify people whose careers I really admire, and watch them from afar. I study how they work, what they’ve done and what changes for them over time. I learned about Whitney Johnson after I read her first book, Dare, Dream, Do. It’s about building dreams for your life, and it has so many useful applications for that time period of transition in your career after becoming a parent when you can dream up what your future life can look like. So, when I reached out and asked her to be on the show, I was floored when she said yes. It’s always a particular joy when you get to connect with someone you’ve watched and learned from for a long time. Innovation, disruption, and management theory Whitney is an innovation and disruption theorist, and an executive and performance. She was formerly a Wall Street analyst who also started an investment firm with Harvard’s Clayton Christensen. She’s also a bestselling author of three books, her most recent the book all about building great teams and using the ideas of disruption (both of yourself as well as your process) in Build an A-Team: Play to Their Strengths and Lead Them Up The Learning Curve. IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT: What the term “disruption” means and why it’s more than a buzzword. How pregnancy and parenting are both “disruptive forces” and how that makes them really powerful potential forces for good. How pregnancy gives women the opportunity to think strategically Her parenting journey—when and how she decided she wanted to be a mother. Managing work travel and an intense work schedule with parenting. How to hire great people and how to build great teams. What to do when you have underperformers on your team, or people who have outgrown a role. FULL SHOW NOTES Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at http://www.startuppregnant.com/105. LEARN MORE ABOUT WHITNEY JOHNSON Whitney Johnson, is an innovation and disruption theorist, executive and performance coach, ​and ​one ​of the world's leading management thinkers, according to Thinkers50​. More about Whitney

#104 — The First Weeks of Parenting: What Nobody Tells You Why is it that so many parenting books begin with some version of this little, deceptive, awful phrase? They all say this one dang thing: After the first few weeks... But what about THE FIRST FEW WEEKS? The first weeks are some of the longest and most challenging of a new mother’s life, from healing physically and emotionally processing the birth experience, to being up all night with feeding and sleeping, to raw nipples (if you’re breastfeeding), to trying to understand why obnoxiously loud shushing works for some babies to sleep, to feeling like basic things you assumed you could do are completely beyond you. For many, many new parents, the surprise of not being even able to feed oneself or eat enough food while having a baby around—a baby that sleeps, a lot!—is a shock to the system, and is really hard to figure out. And no one told you. Why? Why does our culture and our experts seem to gloss over this pivotal time? Today, we get to check in with Vanessa Van Edwards, who was seven months pregnant when we last spoke and is now mother to a vibrant seven month old daughter. Vanessa gives us a rare, genuine, unfiltered look at what it felt like to be unprepared for parenting a newborn, despite all her hours of reading and research. We learn about her plans and preparations for maternity leave as the founder of her business, Science of People, and how the leave she’d prepared for was upended by a customer service crisis at just 12 days postpartum. Vanessa is a researcher, business owner, work-from-home mom, and author of Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People. Her comments –– “I was way over prepared for the birth and way underprepared for parenting” –– fundamentally altered how I view the newborn period and how I speak to other mothers preparing this journey. IN THIS EPISODE WE TALK ABOUT: Why there are dozens of books and classes on the birth experience and so little attention paid to the first weeks of life with a newborn. What happens when you feel like you’re out of options as a new parent in light of Vanessa’s experience with an infant who would only sleep while being held. Do you sleep with your baby even though doctors tell you not to, or do you not sleep so your baby can? And why don’t we tell stories like these to help future parents prepare for the unpredictable first weeks? The gratitude and anger Vanessa feels toward her business. One on hand, it sustains her family financially and fulfills her. On the other, it’s unpredictable needs forced her back to work less than two weeks after having her daughter when she’d planned to take at least two months at home. Why running her business from home leaves her partner feeling like he’s crushing work and fatherhood while it leaves her feeling like she’s constantly making the impossible choice of being with her daughter or being a great worker. Join us as we talk about the first few weeks: an unpredictable, challenging, rarely spoken of period that deserves much more attention. FULL SHOW NOTES Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at http://www.startuppregnant.com/104. LEARN MORE ABOUT VANESSA VAN EDWARDS Vanessa Van Edwards is lead investigator at Science of People, a human behavior research lab. She is also the national best selling author of Captivate -- a science based guide for awkward people to level up their social success and banish awkward silences forever. It was chosen by Apple as one of the most anticipated books of the year and has already been translated into 16 l

#103 — How To Hire A Nanny Why is childcare so overwhelming? Childcare can be so hard! When I started looking for a nanny after my second son was born, I didn’t know how to begin thinking about the search. I reached out to a friend—who is also an amazing business mama—and asked for help with the process of hiring a nanny. Enter Anna Frandsen! Anna is a business coach and a mentor, and she’s the founder and CEO of The Heart Centered Entrepreneur. She works with people on building great systems, getting visibility for their work, and attracting clients. She is a systems pro and today we talk all about the workflows, strategies, and processes of how to hire a nanny. How to hire a nanny First, know that the process doesn’t have to be overwhelming, and we’re here to talk you through it. This podcast episode is a one-hour blueprint for how to do the search, what to think about when you hire a nanny, and the steps we took to onboard and enroll our nannies in payment portals, tax systems, and more. We share how we set up the contracts, established the routines and expectations, and figured out payroll taxes. When you hire a nanny, it’s just like hiring an employee—you need to think about how you communicate best, what your work environment is like, how you’ll deliver feedback, when they’ll get paid, how you talk about your goals for your family, and more. In this episode, Anna and I talk through our exact workflow strategies, including how we decided to go with a nanny, what steps we took to do a streamlined, easy search process, and even my “pink nanny binder,” which has my family philosophy, rules and guidelines, and the contract itself. IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT: How to decide and ask for the childcare you need. Why it can be really hard as a working mom to figure out your “working” and your “mom” identities, and how to think about it. Why it’s okay to ask for help, and to ask for the help you need. Why getting clear on what you need is as important as the next steps. The exact hiring process Anna uses to research, find, and interview candidates to find the right nanny for her family. The on-boarding workflow we put together to help bring someone onto your team, and why it matters. How to think about having conversations and giving feedback with someone who is in your home, and also an employee. Why the nanny payroll taxes seem so complicated at first, and how to break it down so it’s easier to understand. DOWNLOAD THE FREE GUIDE Want to use the worksheet we’ve built to go along with this episode? Go to www.startuppregnant.com/nanny-checklist to get the checklist and get on your way to hiring a nanny. It includes best-of quotes from this episode and things to consider while you’re hiring a nanny of your own. FULL SHOW NOTES Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at http://www.startuppregnant.com/103. LEARN MORE ABOUT ANNA FRANDSEN Anna Frandsen is a business coach and mentor, a radical optimist, a green tea drinker + mama to two. She left a career in higher education to build an online business from scratch and live her messy, imperfect, version of success. To her, the life of her dreams looks like being an ultra-present mama, serving incredible clients world-wide with her God-given gifts and giving women the freedom to build a business that changes lives. www.annafrandsen.com

#102 — It’s not you, it’s February. My husband and I have a joke every year that it’s not you—it’s February. February can be rough, especially for people in the Northern Hemisphere when winter, doldrums, lack of sunlight, and all-around slushiness sets in. In our household, we make an agreement to let ourselves snack a little more, pour the wine liberally if needed, and basically catch up on any shows we want to watch whenever we have a spare moment (you know, if both kids are napping AT THE SAME TIME)—because it is February. When it rains, it pours This month we’ve been stretching and growing a ton here at Startup Pregnant, and we’re rolling out the next phase of our community mastermind, The Wise Women’s Council. We’re also running a 5-day Instagram Challenge, a scholarship competition for people who want to join The Wise Women’s Council, and building out our course roster for the 2019 year ahead. It’s been full, it’s been growth, and it’s been a lot. This is the life of working parents. Work all by itself can be a lot. But what about when daycare starts, your nanny plans change, you’re just coming back from maternity leave, your kiddos get sick, you get sick, or someone gets injured? Or—your laptop breaks or your car gives you trouble. It’s enough to make anyone scream. Parents, I salute all of you, because we’re all doing this together. Listen in as we take a brief pause and share some behind-the-scenes of the life of a working parent entrepreneur. Maybe you can relate? Because this—it’s February. But it’s also life.     FULL SHOW NOTES Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at http://www.startuppregnant.com/102. EPISODE SPONSOR & SPECIAL OFFER This episode is sponsored by Splendid Spoon, a meal delivery service that creates whole, healthy, plant-based soups and smoothies that can be a great fit for busy parents and new moms. Get $50 off your first order with the link splendid.to/startuppregnant THE STARTUP PREGNANT PODCAST & HOST Startup Pregnant Startup Pregnant Newsletter Email hello@startuppregnant.com Startup Pregnant on Facebook Startup Pregnant on Instag

#101 — Wait, Motherhood Makes You Better at Work? How will motherhood change me? Will I be different? Will I end up on the “mommy track” and never want to work again? These are questions that people ask themselves when they start thinking about getting pregnant and parenthood. Expectant parents and people considering having kids know that parenthood will change them, but they don’t how. Today we are going to take a look at the story that gets shoved at pregnant women (and really, at all women). The story goes that when you’re just waiting to become a mom, and once you do become a mom, you won’t be interested in working outside the home anymore. The prevailing story is that motherhood will change you, and not in a good way. The ambitions and dreams you cherished pre-kids become uninteresting to you. Because you become uninteresting. This post-motherhood story isn’t just a myth, sadly: it’s a belief that lots of people hold, and it affects how women are treated in the workplace, and it especially affects how mothers are treated in the workplace. A study from sociology researcher Shelley Correll found that mothers in the workforce are seen as less competent and less intelligent than women without children (here’s a link to the study). In fact, Correll found that “mothers in the workforce are rated as significantly less competent, less intelligent, and less committed than women without children; and a mother is 79% less likely to be hired, and half as likely to get promoted, when compared to an equally qualified woman without a child,” writes Amy Henderson, our guest on today’s episode. What people aren’t saying: motherhood makes you better at work But there’s a great twist, here, and I’m excited to talk to Amy about it. While the prevailing beliefs and perceptions around mothers are terrible—they aren’t actually based in truth. That is, while we have terrible social and cultural attitudes around mothers and work, working mothers are actually discovering how much motherhood makes you better at work, and how motherhood can strengthen your resilience, ability, and leadership skills. We previously touched on this phenomenon in our episode with Sarah Lacy, and today we get to dig in even deeper. Today I talk with Amy Henderson, CEO and Co-founder of Tendlab, all about this phenomenon and what leaders are sharing about the reality of working motherhood, and how it’s far different than the stories we scare people with. Tendlab’s mission is to help companies unlock the power and potential of parenthood in the workplace in a way that benefits every employee and maximizes productivity. IN TODAY’S EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT How parenthood has the potential to transform mothers and fathers for the better in all aspects of our lives, but particularly in our careers. It’s not just mothers, but—yes, fathers!—that receive a positive impact on career performance IF, and only IF they actually spend a significant amount of time care-taking. We are entering an era where the skills developed while parenting are not only relevant, but necessary, for success in the workplace. We also talk about what working moms should know, and wh

#100 — What I've Learned From Recording 100 Episodes of the Podcast It surprised me that we’re here at the hundredth episode. I couldn’t have told you back in the early summer of 2017, when I began to brainstorm the idea for a podcast, that this show would still be here today, week after week. I knew that I wanted to start a conversation around women, motherhood, parenting, and entrepreneurship, and I was slowly learning that I needed to be in conversation with other women. It happened almost by accident. I thought I was writing a book. I’d sent a book proposal to an agent in New York City, and she was intrigued. “Tell me more,” she said, “I think this concept is really interesting.” I dug in and wrote (and wrote and wrote) but never quite got the book to come together the way I wanted to. “You know what’s missing,” she said. “We need other women’s voices in the room.” That was it. That was the missing piece. The conversation around motherhood and parenting and business? It’s not a single-person conversation. Keyword: conversation. So we started a podcast. A show where we interviewed women who were navigating the double arcs of parenting and business building at the same time. Of course, these lenses are huge, because we interview professionals across so many walks of life (just like you!), and we look at all of the many stories around pregnancy and parenting, from what it looks like to decide whether or not to have children, to struggles with infertility, to the challenges and joys of pregnancy, and so much more. Today we hit the 100th episode of the podcast and I want to take a few moments to reflect on all that I’ve learned in this journey so far. In this episode we talk about: How to get started in podcast production, and the many pieces required in audio editing, production, and set-up—and my favorite course instructor if you want to start a podcast as well. The art of asking great questions, and what I do to prepare for each interview, plus my three favorite questions to ask when I want to hear great stories from people. How much time it really takes to produce a show, and how much of my time every week is dedicated to the podcast. How we’ve increased our systems and efficiency over time, making it easier to produce through things like batching, systematizing, and creating operations workflows. What I’ve learned from interviewing so many leading thinkers, and how it’s changed the way I think and show up as a result. How much longer we’re going to have this show on the air, and when I estimate we’ll stop producing the podcast and show (and why). Join me in this celebration episode, and, if you’re a fan of the show, we’d love it if you dropped us some love on social media. FULL SHOW NOTES Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at <

#099 — From Music and Brain Scientist to Brand New Career with Christine Koh Christine Koh has a fascinating backstory: previously, she was a music and brain scientist who was on track to become a professor after a long career in science. Then, she left that career to become a self-described “internet unicorn.” This was no small leap: she had been awarded prestigious fellowships and one of the highest postdoctoral assignments: a joint appointment at both Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Instead, however, she “hung up her academic spurs” and decided for a brand new career and a path with more creativity, flexibility, and independence. In today’s episode, we dig into this decision she made (more than a decade ago), and how her work has grown and evolved since. Today, Christine holds a number of positions and runs several platforms, hence the nickname, ‘Internet Unicorn.’ She is the founder and editor of Boston Mamas, a pioneering hyperlocal lifestyle blog; she’s the creative director at Women Online, a communications firm that specializes in using social media for good; and she is the co-owner/designer at Brave New World Designs, an advocacy-oriented design collection. The heart of today’s episode? We talk about how you can be a multifaceted business owner while still living a streamlined life that you enjoy. One of her projects is a book called Minimalist Parenting, and she also has a podcast called The Edit Your Life Show (link down below). It’s a call to enjoy family life more by doing less: to stop overbooking, to cut through the clutter, and say “no” more so you can make room for spontaneity and joy in your family life. When I found out about this book, I immediately was drawn to the themes and the advice. In the book, she writes about making room in your life for the remarkable, and finding your family’s true north, not everyone else’s. Asha Dornfest and Christine Koh came together to write this book, and I knew I wanted to interview them both. We got to interview Asha previously in Episode #076: Hacking Parenting, and today, we get to dig into the work, the life, and the parenting journey of Christine Koh. In this episode we talk about: Leaving a high power, high profile job and career. How having her first child jump started the change. How she met and became “internet friends” with her co-author and co-host. What that looks like to be involved in lots of different types of projects. Why “white space” in your calendar is an absolute must. Her carpool strategy for getting her kids to their activities without losing her sanity. Why w

#098 — Entrepreneurship, motherhood, and figuring it all out What does it take to be a parent and an entrepreneur in today’s work world? It takes a lot—and it takes a village. Today I talk about the Wise Women’s Council, our nine-month mastermind program for women who are navigating business and parenting. Applications are now open, and they’ll be open until February 25th. But don’t wait until the last minute—there is an incentive for all the people who apply early with a fairly significant early-bird discount. Find out all the details about the program and how to apply at www.startuppregnant.com/wwc In today’s episode, I share all about the Wise Women’s Council, including: The story behind why the program started, and why it’s so important to be in community with other women. What we built with the program, and why community gatherings are so important for our lives and careers. Specific program elements, like our monthly happy-hour hang, the monthly coaching live call, and our private slack channel. Why we changed the name of the program from “Mastermind” to “Wise Women’s Council.” The book club (one per month!) and who we get to have in our minds alongside us in the journey. The monthly themes and how they will inspire each of us to go deeper as a starting point for our own personal journeys and inquiries. FULL SHOW NOTES Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at http://www.startuppregnant.com/098. RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE www.startuppregnant.com/wwc www.startuppregnant.com/mastermind EPISODE SPONSOR & SPECIAL OFFER This episode is sponsored by Splendid Spoon, a meal delivery service that creates whole, healthy, plant-based soups and smoothies that can be a great fit for busy parents and new moms. Get $50 off your first order with the link splendid.to/startuppregnant.  THE STARTUP PREGNANT PODCAST & HOST Startup Pregnant