Ruchika Tulshyan is the author of Inclusion on Purpose: An Intersectional Approach to Creating a Culture of Belonging at Work (MIT Press). She’s also the founder of Candour, an inclusion strategy practice. A former international business journalist, Ruchika is a regular contributor to The New York Times and Harvard Business Review.I first heard Ruchika speak on Brene Brown’s podcast, Unlocking Us. I became immediately obsessed with her work. I had the honor of hearing her speak at her book launch party here in Seattle and I’ve been fangirling over her ever since. The work she’s doing is so critically important and the way she does the work is so thoughtful and deeply impactful. I was so excited and so honored when she said YES to coming on the show. Listen in to hear Ruchika share: How being an immigrant and woman of color has impacted and challenged her as a mother The social construct of imposter syndrome for women and how it parallels the social construct of mom guilt Her challenges around being a working mom who travels for work and how she is treated differently than men in the same boat The difference between diversity and inclusion and how current systems undermine inclusion, even if promoting diversity Her BRIDGE framework for allies, advocates, and those wishing to lead in more inclusive and equitable ways across social systems Links mentioned: Join my 5th annual Plan & Prep Pajama Party on January 23rd: shamelessmom.com/pajamaparty Connect with Ruchika and get Inclusion on Purpose: inclusiononpurpose.co Ruchika on Twitter Ruchika on Instagram Ruchika on LinkedIn Sponsor info and promo codes: Please find our sponsor information here: shamelessmom.com/sponsor/ Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As you come to the close of another year, I am inviting you to pause for a moment to own and honor 2022. I know pausing and taking a moment to yourself in this busy season might sound like a ridiculous suggestion. WHO HAS TIME TO PAUSE?!  Perhaps you pause as you sip your coffee today. Perhaps you pause while taking a shower. Perhaps you pause as you walk the dog. Perhaps you pause for a few minutes before you go to bed.  Whenever & however you choose to pause, I want you to think through the following questions: What am I most proud of from 2022? When did I show up as the person I most want to become in 2022? What did I learn about myself in 2022? In this episode, I walk you through these questions and how you can frame them in order to get the most out of them. I share my personal answers with you so you can see the value in looking back before you move forward.  Link mentioned:Join my 5th annual Plan & Prep Pajama Party on January 23rd: shamelessmom.com/pajamaparty Sponsor info and promo codes: Please find our sponsor information here: shamelessmom.com/sponsor/ Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sarah Stevens is a former healthcare executive turned writer, speaker, and entrepreneur. After leaving her career in corporate healthcare in 2016, she founded The Beautifull Project - a storytelling collective that has reached tens of thousands of women across the globe with its powerful message about learning to take up space. Today, Sarah helps other people tell their stories through Branded, by Sarah Stevens, a small business offering a full suite of marketing services. She also serves as the Community Impact Officer at The Project of The Quad Cities, a nonprofit that serves people living with HIV and the LGBTQ+ community. Sarah is a gifted storyteller with a skill for using her own story as a woman navigating the world in a fat body to invite her audience to encounter the parts of themselves they hide away from the world, the parts they believe to be “too much.” Addressing everything from “too-big” bodies to a fear of failure that cripples confidence, Sarah amplifies a message that moves beyond a body-positive sentiment and creates a movement that makes room for everybody to tell their truth and take up space. She draws out confidence and courage. She believes in being free and full. And she will make a believer out of you, too.This is Sarah’s third time on the show. I invited her back after finding myself in a parenting conversation around body image that I was worried I totally screwed up. I reached out to Sarah and asked if she would be interested in hashing this topic out on the show and she immediately said yes. This is a really important conversation, as the pervasiveness of diet culture continues to be so insidious, oppressive, and ultimately deadly, in our culture. Listen in to hear Sarah and I discuss: How my child casually throwing around words like “fat” and “chubby” threw me into a parenting tailspin How to check your own body image trauma when talking to your kids The importance of entering conversations with curiosity & compassion (vs lecturing and shaming) The truth about the insidiousness of current diet culture in spite of the fact that so many of us think we know better than to fall victim to it How to talk to your kids about fat without causing them to have an anti-fat bias (or “fatphobia”) The systemic oppression that is very present and real for people living in fat bodies How pushing kids to “make healthy choices” can be rooted in diet culture if we aren’t careful The importance of teaching kids to learn to trust their bodies - and how difficult this is if you don’t trust your own Links mentioned: Join me for my 2023 Plan & Prep Pajama Party and save $50 with Early Bird Registration: shamelessmom.com/pajamaparty Connect with Sarah: thebeautifullproject.com Past SMA Interview with Sarah - Episode 571: How to Take Up Space and Love Yourself in the Process Past SMA Interview with Sarah - Episode 366: The Beautifull Project: The Truth About Fatness and Thin Allies Sarah on Facebook Sarah on Instagram: @thebeautifullproject and @seeing_sarah  Sarah’s TED Talk: Stripped: The Art of Being Seen Sarah’s Podcast: Beauti: The Interviews Sponsor info and promo codes: Please find our sponsor information here: shamelessmom.com/sponsor/ Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vulnerable episode alert.  2022 was a year of a messy mindset for me. I made the choice to go after a lot of big things this year and many of them did not pan out for me. I think it’s great to reach for the stars. But sometimes when you only aim really high, you have a lot of misses. This is 100% OK! But, it can be tricky to internalize.  In this episode, I talk about how my mindset got messy this year and how I clawed my way through my own headspace over and over again. I dig into my history of PTSD and how my mindset can be prone to messiness as a result. I share with you the tools that have worked for me this year - because I’m guessing you might have had some messy mindset moments this year too. Or maybe you're stuck in a messy mindset moment right now?? If that’s the case, I got you.  Listen in to hear 5 ways I worked on managing my mindset when I felt like crawling under my desk and crying (which I sometimes did!)  It’s ok to be messy, friend. You are not alone. Link mentioned:Join me for my 2023 Plan & Prep Pajama Party and save $50 with Early Bird Registration: shamelessmom.com/pajamaparty Sponsor info and promo codes: Please find our sponsor information here: shamelessmom.com/sponsor/ Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yoky Matsuoka is the Founder & CEO of Yohana, an independently-led subsidiary of Panasonic, focused on building consumer technology products and services to help people live healthier and happier lives. As an accomplished executive and technologist, Yoky brings more than two decades of leadership experience to her role where she also leads global innovation and serves as the Managing Executive Officer of Panasonic Corporation.Prior to Yohana, Yoky was a VP at Google, a CTO at Nest, a senior executive at Apple, and CEO of Quanttus, a health tech startup. She has also spent time as an endowed professor at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Washington. She is the recipient of the MacArthur Genius Award for her work in robotics and neuroscience and the founder of YokyWorks Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping children with physical and learning challenges, focused on removing reading barriers to unlock the potential of every child.She is also a Shameless Mom of four children, a dog, and a pet pig. Listen in to hear Yoky share: How she intentionally set goals and went after dreams based on what her mom regretted Her choice to leave big tech and build Yohana right before the pandemic How her mentality around “The best way to do it to do it myself” led her to build an innovative company that supports moms Why embracing her attitude around “I’m different and different is good” has served her well her entire life How the pandemic highlighted the need for the services she knew she wanted to create as she started to build her company How to get out of your own way to quit tasks that don’t allow you to reach your bigger goals  Her powerful two-part mindset reset to release mom guilt Links mentioned: Get the SMA Newsletter to learn about our January 2023 events: shamelessmom.com/newsletter Connect with Yoky: https://www.yokymatsuoka.com/ Learn more about Yohana: yohana.com Yohana End of Year Promo: get a free trial and save 40% a month on your membership (or gift Yohana to someone!) at yohana.com with promo code ENDOFYEAR Yohana on IG Yoky on IG Yoky on Twitter Yoky on LinkedIn Sponsor info and promo codes: Please find our sponsor information here: shamelessmom.com/sponsor/ Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As moms, we naturally center our children (and often our partners and extended families) repeatedly over the course of the holiday season. As caretakers and givers (mayyyybe over givers?) we love to make all the magic happen for everyone. But what about making magic for yourself?? Over the course of the holidays, it’s easy to completely neglect yourself and sometimes even compromise your core values in the process. Every year around this time, I record a holiday episode as an invitation to center YOU over the holidays. An invitation to:Prioritize your joy over other people’s expectationsDo things differentlyDo less and breathe moreReconsider what brings you joyIn addition to this invitation, I’m offering you 4 strategies to get what you want out of the holidays. My hope for you is that you get to the end of this month (and the end of 2022) feeling like you created all the joy you wanted for your family and yourself without overgiving, overdoing, over proving yourself in every moment of this season. Listen in to get ideas on how to make all the magic without all the hustle this holiday season.Link mentioned:Get the SMA Newsletter to learn about our January 2023 events: shamelessmom.com/newsletterSponsor info and promo codes:Please find our sponsor information here: shamelessmom.com/sponsor/Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vanessa Quigley is a renowned memory expert and mother of seven. In 2014, she co-founded Chatbooks to help families organize and enjoy their family stories. Vanessa's aha moment came when she found her youngest son clutching his most prized possession: a photo album his preschool teacher made for him. Once an avid scrapbooker, Vanessa knew there needed to be a better solution for her photos stuck on her phone. Now millions of parents have printed their family memories with the Chatbooks app.Vanessa was named Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017, authored DIY advice book Real Moms, Real Hacks, and hosts The MomForce Podcast. In 2021, Chatbooks was named the #1 place to work for women in the United States, by Fortune magazine.And… fun fact: Vanessa is Miss Utah 1994 and a professionally trained opera singer. In her downtime, you can find her in the mountains with her family, seeing the everyday magic.Listen in to hear Vanessa share: Her road to becoming a tech founder as a mom of 7 How her company Chatbooks was inspired by her experience in motherhood How women differ from men in leadership and why it’s so critical for more of us to hold positions in leadership How can we make more space for women and moms in tech The massive struggle for childcare across our nation The importance of flexible work schedules for everyone What she wants the future of work to look like for moms How she has intentionally created a culture at Chatbooks and the importance of actual integration of values Her advice to moms who don’t feel seen/heard in the workplace Links mentioned: Get the SMA Newsletter to learn about our January 2023 events: shamelessmom.com/newsletter Check out Chatbooks: Chatbooks.com Podcast: The Mom Force Podcast Vanessa on IG: @vanessaquigley Chatbooks on IG: @chatbooks Sponsor info and promo codes: Please find our sponsor information here: shamelessmom.com/sponsor/ Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last Monday, on my 47th birthday, I sat down at my desk and decided it would be a good day to integrate some new software into my business.  Look, it’s never a good day to integrate new software, but it’s an especially rotten decision on your birthday.  Shortly after that awful life choice (and 13,000 messages on chat support with said software company), I accidentally deleted 84,628 emails. That is not an exaggerated number I made up. That is the literal amount of emails that I watched disappear from my inbox.  84,628.  Most of them were from the last 18 months. Many of them were filled with things like contracts and critical client information. Needless to say, I spent a decent chunk of my birthday having VERY BIG feelings. The kind your 3-year-old has when you give them the orange cup instead of the green cup.  VERY BIG.  I yelled. I cried. I definitely dropped a few (like, 347) F-bombs.  I tried to remind myself of what my therapist recently shared with me. Based on research from brain scientist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, she told me that feelings are waves that rise and recede all day long. These waves last only 90 seconds. After that, we're simply re-stimulating our internal circuitry. In other words, if we stay stuck in horrible feelings for longer than 90 seconds it’s because we have created our own feedback loop keeping us there. This is great news because it tells us we have the power to move through feelings very quickly if we have the right skills in place.  This just made me madder, if I’m being honest. I knew that I was gonna need more than 90 freaking seconds. And how dare these doctors and therapists try to put limits on my ability to hold rage!I had to dig deep into my coaching toolbox to coach myself on my birthday. While I definitely felt the universe was conspiring against me, I was determined to move through my big feelings in order to still find a way to find joy in my day.In this episode, I talk you through how to use unconventional gratitude practices to get over yourself and get through sticky emotions - whether you deleted 84,628 emails or someone gave you the orange cup instead of the green one. Link mentioned:Get the SMA Newsletter to learn about our January 2023 events: shamelessmom.com/newsletter Sponsor info and promo codes: Please find our sponsor information here: shamelessmom.com/sponsor/ Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mia Hemstad is a mom, speaker, self-care coach, and the founder of No Longer Last, which is a movement that helps women prioritize their health, happiness, and well-being. Mia is an abuse survivor, and she lives with diagnosed PTSD and depression. She shares her healing journey online to fight mental health stigma and to help other people heal too. Mia's work has been featured in major media outlets such as Parents.com and Romper. Mia continues to write and teach from Portugal, where she recently moved with her husband and two kids.Mia is a past guest of the SMA, as well as a Shameless Mom Con Speaker. She’s well-known and well-loved in our community. I’ve been watching her as she’s ventured across the globe to move her family to a safer country and I’ve been in awe of her entire experience. I asked her if she would be open to coming back on the show to talk us through what motivated their family’s move and what it’s been like as they’ve gotten settled in a new country. I’m so grateful she said yes. Listen in to hear Mia share: What inspired her family's move to Portugal - specifically around gun violence and lethal racism in her community, as well as across the US The role of her mental health on her decision to move How living in a safer place has changed her life Her shift from being a self-sacrificial mom to giving herself permission to make such a different and bold move How to discern resentment vs taking responsibility for your life in hard times  Links mentioned: Connect with Mia: miahemstad.com Mia's Free Portugal Visa Guide:.miahemstad.com/d7visa Mia’s Podcast: The No Longer Last Journey: anchor.fm/mia-hemstad Mia on IG Mia on Youtube Sponsor info and promo codes: Please find our sponsor information here: shamelessmom.com/sponsor/ Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some of you know I’ve been car hunting for a few months now. It’s the worst time to buy a car. Like, the worst. But it’s been the worst time to buy a car for a couple of years now and will likely still be the worst time to buy a car for a couple more years. And, mama’s 2009 Nissan Murano might not have that many trips to the mountains left in her.  The time had come….As I went through this whole car-buying journey, Vinnie saw me searching day in/day out on various online platforms. He had a lot of opinions and requests - most (ok, all) of which I could not honor.  “No, V, we’re not getting a Tesla. Or a Porsche. Or a Lambo.”We are not fancy car people. We are very practical car people. Buy something that is a few years old and drive it for 10-12 years. I mean, we could not be more boring car people. After months of searching, I found a fantastic Toyota Highlander Hybrid option down in Texas. We had it shipped up here via CarMax (CarMax is not a sponsor of this show, but they definitely should be. I am a huge fan.)When the car arrived, we all went to see it and test drive it. It was the perfect car for us. We decided to move forward with the purchase. My husband sat in on the initial sales process to ask a couple of questions, but then headed home. Vinnie and I stayed at the dealer and completed the process. I didn’t plan for V to watch me buy a car, but I’m so glad he did.  He saw a woman make a major household decision and purchase. He saw me fill out the paperwork, manage the financing, ask questions, request clarity, negotiate terms, and CLOSE THE DEAL.Why does this matter?  It matters that our kids see us as powerful as possible. It matters that they see us manage the money, negotiate the terms, and sign the papers. It matters that they see us ask questions and require answers. It matters that they see us wield as much power as our partners.  This breaks down gender barriers and models equity in power and decision-making.  While I did not expect this car-buying experience to be a huge lesson in gender roles, it definitely turned into that. And I’m so grateful.  Where in your life are you actively breaking down gender stereotypes? Listen in to hear me break down different areas where we all might have some growth in this.Sponsor info and promo codes: Please find our sponsor information here: shamelessmom.com/sponsor/ Interested in becoming a sponsor of the Shameless Mom Academy? Email our sales team at sales@adalystmedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices