Amanda Chantal Bacon founded Moon Juice in 2011. Now, fifteen years and a Target launch later, she's in what might be her most interesting chapter: handing over the operational reins so she can get back to dreaming and spending more time with her kids. In this conversation, we talk about growing up in downtown NYC with a famously cool and unconventional mom, finding her footing in fine dining kitchens, opening Moon Juice and literally birthing a human at the same time, doing early motherhood and early entrepreneurship simultaneously as a single mom, her two very different birth experiences, the BioCharger, the placenta smoothie, and the realization that the peaceful "we made it" feeling she's been chasing isn't coming, so we better enjoy the chaos.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life

Produced by: Mutha Life, Music by: Ronen Landa 

This MUTHA's Day episode explores the complexity and contradictions of motherhood across different life stages. Kari returned from a week in London with a major realization about the finite window of motherhood and the gap between what mothers 'should' want and what they actually want. Through listener voices and personal reflection, this episode examines the tension between needing space and knowing that time with your kids is fleeting. The centerpiece is a meditation on a Banksy statue about how convictions can block your vision. It's a metaphor for the principles of motherhood that keep mothers marching forward, even when they can't see where they're going.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life

Produced by: Mutha Life, Music by: Ronen Landa 

Undies, bidets, diapers, oh my! Let's hang with Miki Agrawal. She is a serial entrepreneur - founding companies like THINX, period underwear, Tushy, the seemingly now ubiquitous Bidet company, and most recently Hiro Technolgoies - a disposable diaper revolutionizing the market with a fast-decomposing product that promises to reduce landfill waste caused by traditional diapers dramatically. We talk about growing up in Canada to immigrant parents, being an identical twin (but identifying as a youngest), finding an approach to co-parenting with her ex-husband, founding a range of companies that tackle how we take care of our bodies in a way that's good for us and the planet, and so much more. It's woo-woo meets the marketplace. It's conscious capitalism, babyyyy.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life

Produced by: Mutha Life, Music by: Ronen Landa 

We are continuing our look back into the archive with an episode from a year ago with the inimitable Lisa Weinbaum. A discussion that started on the pod - reconnecting with someone I always looked up to as a kid - and hasn't stopped yet. Since recording that original episode, Lisa and I have volunteered at her beloved Baby2Baby together. We have hung out by the beach forging a new connection in adulthood, and have not stopped texting - the true love language of our time. This curated re-release is a bit more produced than the last one - I've broken it into themes: the job description of stay at home parent, the emotional and financial dynamics involved in partnership where one person works in the home and one outside, how to streamline the goals of parenting, parenting while grieving, and drilling down into the importance of sleep away summer camp. Let me know what you think in the comments or on IG.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life

Produced by: Mutha Life, Music by: Ronen Landa 

This week's guest is Lillian Tung, co-founder of FUR. If you haven't already heard of the viral company, Fur is a beauty and hair care brand for the whole body - first grabbing headlines with their FUR OIL - specifically designed for pubic hair and skin. From the brains of childhood best friends to the shelves of Ulta, to talking about PUBIC HAIR on Shark Tank, this brand has taken the beauty world by storm - creating a new market segment, becoming an instant fan favorite of aestheticians the world over.

This conversation covered so much that I think about regularly - how to get siblings to like each other. How the idea of friendship and how we form friendships is as unique as people are. How every great enterprise needs different kinds of people to succeed in the long run. How doing something polarizing is good.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life

Produced by: Mutha Life, Music by: Ronen Landa 

Trigger warning: Grief, loss, death of a parent

In this week's solo pod, Kari gives an update on the unexpected turn life took in the days leading up to her 40th birthday. This isn't a funny one, or a silly one, or a general episode. It's a deeply personal slice of life at a horrible moment in life. The Mutha Life community has become one of support, comfort, encouragement and above all, love, and so with this ep, we are going out on a vulnerable limb. Be kind to each other. Tell people you love them.

Instagram: @mutha.life
Show notes: muthalife.substack.com 
Produced by: Mutha Life 
Music by: Ronen Landa, https://ronenlanda.com/ 

Come revisit this beautiful episode from the archive with me. In this episode, we talk to Emmy-nominated documentary producer, Tracy Aftergood. Tracy talks candidly about her career trajectory, the tragic loss of her best friend, her mom, at an early age, and the work she does to show up for herself, so she can show up for her kids and her relationship.

Instagram: @mutha.life
Show notes: muthalife.substack.com 
Produced by: Mutha Life 
Music by: Ronen Landa, https://ronenlanda.com/ 

SCALPEL! Dr. Ira Savetsky, New York based celeb plastic surgeon, is on the pod today. We cover a lot of ground - from growing up in a very religious Jewish community in Long Island and not being super enthused by school to taking an insanely arduous and rigorous path to being one of the rising stars in his field in the US today. We talk about how to figure out if plastic surgery is right for you, how he and his wife Lizzy run their busy lives and talk to their kids about all that's messy and complicated, and we answer some listener questions.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life

Produced by: Mutha Life, Music by: Ronen Landa 

Let's hang out with certified funny person, Aisha (EYE-SHUH, get it right!) Alfa. She is an actor and a comedian, and has lived a shocking number of lives. While you may have missed her on the men's soccer circuit in Korea, or planning all out wedding ragers, you may recognize her from her role on Degrassi, The Beaverton, Sorry for Your Loss, and so many more. Talking to Aisha was a wonderful reminder that - de facto - we can love our kids AND ALSO laugh about how hard/chaotic/absurd raising them in today's world is. We cover so much here - talking to kids about bodies and gender identity, how hard it can be to shake the patterns we watched modeled for us as kids, what bed rest can actually look like in practice when pregnant, and... how important Winnipeg is for finding love for apparently a lot of people? 

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life

Produced by: Mutha Life, Music by: Ronen Landa 

Let's hang DOWN UNDER today. Yen Trinh is co-owner of Pipit Restaurant in Pottsville in New South Wales, Australia. Pipit has received stellar reviews, including retaining two hats from the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Food Guide, it was a finalist for Time Out Food & Drink Awards' Best Destination Venue category, and their head chef, Yen's husband and co-owner, NOMA alum Ben Devlin has earned a Global Knife for excellence on the Global Best Chef List. In addition to her work on Pipit, Yen is the creator of Chef Widow Club, a project that is equal parts, blog, illustration and book on what it's like to date and maintain relationships with people working in hospitality. She's an illustrator, a designer, and a strategist…and she pulls no punches talking about the navigating parenthood and family life while also running a family-owned business.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life

Produced by: Mutha Life, Music by: Ronen Landa 

Let's hang with someone I've known for 20 years, but who I only actually got to know by doing this interview. Kelsy Parkhouse is the owner and founder of CARLEEN, a clothing brand steeped in nostalgia and a celebration of American textiles. Her one of a kind pieces have been gracing runways, editorial shoots for Vogue (peep a baby Kendall Jenner in Carleen, in the show notes), and the streets of big cities around the world since its debut in 2012. Her story, to me, feels like true LORE, a slow and deliberate movement toward making and being who she was always meant to be - both in her parenting and her career.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @Carleen_US

Produced by: Mutha Life, Music by: Ronen Landa 

Come hang in the closet for a special New Year's Eve episode. We go into the highlights of 2025, featuring reflections on the challenging yet transformative Year of the Wood Snake. We are going to march through some takeaways from 2025's 46 guests. We also look ahead to the Year of the Fire Horse and take a moment to remember NYE through the eyes of when Harry Met Sally, reimagining love for kids - and remembering Rob Reiner.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life 

Produced by: Mutha Life, Music by: Ronen Landa 

We're going back into the archive for this one: and the timing feels right. When I sat down with Chris Gayomali - when the pod was a baby, EPISODE 4 - in the fall of 2024, he was freelancing, deep in his Muay Thai era, and raising a toddler in New York City who was already turning his nose up at cruise ship pizza. He was also building serious momentum with Heavies, his much loved Substack about the practical and occasionally bizarre sides of health and wellness.

Since then: he's become Head of Editorial at SSENSE (elite cool kid status), a Strategist at Office of Applied Strategy (the in-the-know cool kids tap these cool kids), and has a limited series podcast dropping with Kaleidoscope in May. 

In this conversation we get into his completely accidental journalism career - from editing insurance reports in Irvine to nine years at GQ via a bowl of rice posted on Instagram - what it actually looks like to be a present, involved millennial dad when there's no real template for it, the myth of 50/50 in parenting labor, a near-miss health scare that rewired his entire relationship to his body, and the particular absurdity of raising a kid in New York City.

Smart, funny, and genuinely one of my favorites.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life

Produced by: Mutha Life, Music by: Ronen Landa 

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house…muthas were getting ready. Welcome to this year's Christmas episode! Come hang in the closet for a solo episode where I cover a lot of ground - we go from a re-imagining of St. Nick and his role in the family to broken fingers, chronic illness, love of diet coke and solo travel…and feeling all of the feelings that come with the holidays. I also cover gift giving, being chief magic maker and so much more. Come cozy down while you tick some shit off your to do list on the night before Christmas.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life 

Produced by: Mutha Life, Music by: Ronen Landa 

Let's hang with Dr. Jessica Combs. She's the Co-Founder and CEO of Dr. Diamond's Metacine - a medically inspired skincare line that is taking the skincare world by storm. And YES, it IS that Dr. Diamond. The one from Dr. 90210 and Celebrity Plastic Surgeons. He's also known as her husband and their love story rivals a plot line from Gray's Anatomy. Together the couple have built empires and legacies - a world renowned facial plastic surgery practice, an institute and a skincare line that's changing the game - all while raising their two boys in LA. Today we peek behind the curtain at the big brain running the show.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @drdiamondsmetacine @jjcombs

Produced by: Mutha Life, Music by: Ronen Landa 

Come hang with a true leader today. Julia Boorstin is CNBC's Senior Media & Tech Correspondent and author of acclaimed book on leadership, When Women Lead. She's been called 'A pioneer in tech and media reporting.' In 2013, Boorstin created and launched CNBC's Disruptor 50, an annual list she oversees, highlighting the private companies transforming and disrupting the economy. She also recently launched a podcast inspired by her book, CNBC's Changemakers and Power Players. Navigating professional and personal identity alongside parenthood is at the core of what this podcast has always been about and Julia's journey resonated with me in a way that was deep, thought provoking, and a very good time.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @juliaboorstin

Produced by: Mutha Life, Music by: Ronen Landa 

Natasha Oiye is a multi-hyphenate who has lived so many chapters in her life. She's a newborn care specialist that has helped so many families navigate the early days of sleepless newborn nights - coming into the home as a sleep doula fairy god mother. She's also the founder of motherland stuff, which brings stunning handmade jewelry and accessories from Kenya to the US, paying artisans fair wages along the way and celebrating their craft. In addition to those two jobs - literally a day job and a night job - she's raising her three kids on fufu, love, and healthy boundaries.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @tishnatasha @motherlandstuff

Produced by: Mutha Life, Music by: Ronen Landa 

Let's hang with my former SUMMER CAMP CAMPER and now full fledged adult and mutha, Diana Sokal. She's the Director of Communications for Apa Aesthetic - THE destination for A listers wanting to give their smiles an upgrade. I promise you - I have never seen dentistry looks this sexy, luxury or elite in my life. Before joining Apa's army transforming the field of dentistry, Diana worked in PR and celebrity dressing at Harry Winston dressing our favorite celebs in the world's most precious jewels for the biggest red carpets. Diana and I cover a lot - from what it feels like to be a fish out of water in youth, what ROM-COM marriage actually looks like after the credits roll, and what happens to that high energy front row student when they're in the real world with energy to burn?

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @direneerose

Produced by: Mutha Life, Music by: Ronen Landa 

Mica Keeney is on the pod this week and she had me thinking about the poignance and occasional annoyance of TIMING. She's the founder of Keeney & Co. a brand marketing consultancy and she's worked with the brands we all know and love - from CARE BEARS to Tiffany and Netflix - Mica's work has been recognized by her peers, winning a Cannes Young Lions award among a laundry list of other accolades. Outside of her day job, Mica writes about motherhood, in all its complexity, both on her own Substack Motherhood Muses and for outlets like Spread the Jelly.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @micakeeney

Produced by: Mutha Life, Music by: Ronen Landa 

Come hang with professionally funny person, Laura Krafft. Laura is a comedic writer, actress and dedicated aunt to her 22 nieces and nephews. Her work comes to us by way of a storied era of improv in Chicago - coming up with comedians like Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, Adam McKay, Horatio Sanz, and so many more. When she landed in LA, her work moved from the stage to the screen and she's been a writer for some of our favorite shows for more than 20 years, including well over 300 episodes of the beloved Colbert Report. Enjoy this hang and remember that good improv, and good living, both depend on hyping up and showing up for the people around us.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @prettylaurasayhey

Produced by: Mutha Life - Music by: Ronen Landa 

Today we are traveling from Canada to Jamaica, from New York to LA, with Nicole Lyn (aka Ms. Nix). She is an actor, a DJ, and a creative. She started in the acting and modeling world YOUNG and by 12 was working regularly on a range of popular Canadian TV shows - from Ramona and Eric's World to later on Student Bodies with appearances on a range of shows we all know and love - Are You Afraid of the Dark, The Kids in the Hall, West Wing, and so many more. As creative second act, Nicole's DJ career has been in some ways a return to the power of music that she was exposed to and loved in childhood. Her story is one of finding the beauty in her childhood, distilling her passions and pouring it all into her craft and her family.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @ms_nix

Produced by: Mutha Life - Music by: Ronen Landa 

Let's go SKIN DEEP…maybe even deeper with Dr. Aegean Chan today. Dr. Chan is a badass double board certified dermatologist and dermapathologist. She's a mom of three. She runs her successful Santa Barbara practice alongside her husband. She's educating the masses through her engaging and EVIDENCED take on her instagram account…and she's been featured in The New York Times, Allure, Vogue, Prevention, and Well+Good for her efforts…and there's some more exciting stuff to come from her in the pipeline. Dr. Chan was just who we needed answering listener questions and my own questions and I feel newly invigorated to keep my skincare routine boring in the best way possible…and to not sweat the little tradeoffs we make for the big picture.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @aegeanchan

Produced by: Mutha Life - Music by: Ronen Landa 

From Slovakia to Canada to your living room, come snuggle down with Barbora Samieian. She's one of the co-founders of the fan favorite Sundays Furniture, the newly launched furniture brand Hetta, and Vancouver's fave lunch spot, Field and Social. Her story as a founder and as a parent to her 4 kids is integrally linked to her own brand of warmth, cultivated over borders, across cultures, and now into our homes.

In this chat, Barbora and I cover everything from what it was like growing up in Czechoslovakia turned Slovakia, emigrating to Canada as a pre-teen, leaving behind a prestigious career in international relations to pursue passion projects, founding companies with her friends and family, making time for herself and her kids, and how hard the post-partum period can be - even when you've got support.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @sundaysfurniture @hettahome @bsamieian

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

Lee Shaner, aka Intuition, is a rapper and podcaster who has been making music for over two decades. His album Leave a Mark went viral earlier this year when a song he made for his son hit over a million views - a song he almost didn't post because he thought he looked fat in the video.

This one goes deep. We talk about growing up in North Pole, Alaska, watching his dad develop early onset Alzheimer's at 55, 10 years of sobriety, SSRIs, male friendship after 40, and what it means to be the more paternal parent in your house.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life

Produced by: Mutha Life, Music by: Ronen Landa 

Welcome to our second ever SOLO POD for the big episode 6-0. We cover a wide sprawl of topics that span my brain and yours - I answer some listener questions and dive into what's been going on around here lately. Specifically, we talk about making 'mom friends' - and where I think we are getting that one a bit wrong in how we think about it. We talk about how a new school transition can take just a big a toll on us as it does our kids (if not more?), recent birthday party wins, why cliches are so annoyingly true, Justin Beiber superfandom and more. Come hang!

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

Evan Lovett REPS HARD FOR LA. He's LA's biggest cheerleader and is the creator of LA IN A MINUTE - the viral social media sensation sharing snapshots of different LA neighborhoods and points of interest in a way that is truly celebrating the city where he was born and raised - and where he's now raising his son. With his successful pod, IN A MINUTE WITH EVAN LOVETT, Evan has managed to wrangle the most prominent politicians in LA, as well as athletes and artists and everyone in between to both hold those in power accountable for continuing to make LA great, while spotlighting the people who have, in some way or another, put their own brick in the wall of LA's legacy.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @lainaminute

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

Today we are hanging out in the closet with Whitney Wagner Hartley of HELLOWHITNEY fame. She is a retired model, a wellness and beauty influencer and….has become a vocal critic of the MAGA and MAHA agendas. Her videos have amassed millions of views where she crushes a skincare or makeup routine WHILE ALSO explaining in very accessible terms how our consumer dollars - and how we decide to use them - can be an act of resistance. This episode has it all. From near run-ins with Joshua Jackson, commentary on Pedro Pascal as our north star for advocacy, armchair psych diagnoses of celebrities, fermented foods and farts and so much more. Come get involved on this first friend date. I think we're going places, people.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @hellowhitney

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

Come hang with Billy Mann immediately. Billy is a Grammy Nominated multi-platinum multi-hyphenate. He's a songwriter, producer, artist, executive, podcaster, entrepreneur, philanthropist, Philadelphia-loving husband and father of 4 (Go Birds?). From his longstanding collaboration with PINK to his work with Sting, Celine Dion, Cher, Backstreet Boys, David Guetta, Robyn, Carole King, Hall & Oates, and SO MANY MORE, Billy has been an integral part of shaping so many moments of our lives with his music. His most recent collaborator is Episode 54's Shawn Stockman with their Chosen Family project. Between Chosen Family and his podcast Yeah, I Fucked That Up, we get the best of what Billy has learned over a storied career and parenting journey - from where it all started in Philly, to living in his car while he pursued his dreams, to almost filing for bankruptcy only to find he had a hit on his hands…to losing a great love, to finding love again, raising four children, becoming a needle-moving autism advocate. and more. It just has to be heard to be believed. Enjoy and share. There is so much in this episode that celebrates failure in way that we all need to hear.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @billymann

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

Come hang in the closet with celeb makeup powerhouse, Jamie Greenberg of Jamie Makeup. She's the go-to artist for so many of Hollywood's funniest and most talented women - Rashida Jones, Kaley Cuoco, Chelsea Handler, the list goes on and on…but today we get down to the FOUNDATION of the person behind the brush. We focus on taking off the CONCEALER and getting the BAREFACED story of what kind of childhood and life story has given us this wonderful new pal (see what I did there? Moms can make puns too, pffff). A first for the pod, I believe, we've got a Maryland girl with New Jersey roots and a love of Zoloft and laughter like nobody's business.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @jamiemakeup

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

Today we get to hang in the closet with Victoria de la Fuente. She's a brand strategist. A tech entrepreneur. A fashion girly. And an absurdly successful substacker with her stack Zillion Trillion. We start with what it was like growing up in Peru, what happens when your mom becomes one of the most famous women in Latin America in your teenage years, navigating the international fashion scene, and how starting a family might be her biggest creative and important venture yet.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @victoriadela_fuente

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

I HOPE YOU ARE SITTING DOWN. Today on the pod we have Shawn Stockman - a 4-time Grammy award winner and a member of the most commercially successful R&B group of all time, BoyzIIMen. We start with Shawn's childhood in southwest Philadelphia - we go from singing in THE Boys Choir at age 8 to attending the prestigious Creative and Performing Arts High School. Then we talk about growing up and into adulthood under the watchful eye of the whole world - Shawn covers so much in a new light. From his partnership with his wife to what it's like to parent a child on the spectrum, and what lessons he took from his own childhood into his approach to parenting, there is so much to dig into here. We answer some listener questions, talk about his new music collab with fellow CAPA alum Billy Mann - Chosen Family - I get a lesson on water ice, and we talk about the fine line between giving your kids what you didn't have while also figuring out how to keep them grounded. 

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @shawnstockmanofficial

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

Let's go hang with Chana Karna Blugrind - she has been an early childhood educator for 25 years and is the Director of a pre-school in Los Angeles. She's also a mom to four kids and step mom to two more. She's an ultramarathoner. A doctoral candidate. A Danish woman living in America….A woman with many layers, all of which are tied together with her faith. And tattoos. Lots of tattoos.

We follow Chana from growing up in Denmark - a kid with undiagnosed ADHD whose parents never made her feel like an inconvenience. We follow her through her (double) conversion to Judaism, her time spent as a member of an ultra-orthodox community, escaping an abusive relationship and finding new purpose through running. We cover a lot in this episode - from how different it feels to parent when society is set up for families to succeed. How hard it can be to leave a community - even a bad one - if you don't have a community to help you overcome the transition. And how focusing on joy, despite being dealt repeated shitty hands, can make every day worth living.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life 

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY FAM! They say for a first anniversary you should get your beloved paper, but I think substack and a podcast is the modern day equivalent, right?

This episode is the product of your requests to get MY story. I couldn't think of anything more cringe than talking about myself at length, but our repeat guest and friend of the pod SOSUPERSAM wasn't going to let me off the hook.

So here we are. A long ass episode where Sam gets in the interview chair while I sit down in the hot seat and we chop it up - all of the standard Mutha Life topics are on the table. From Tampa, Florida to my closet in Los Angeles and the more than fifty countries in between, let's figure out why I am so obsessed with bodily fluids, parenthood and other people's life shit.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @sosupersam

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

Is it just me or is the dream to flip the script on your doctor and ask THEM the personal questions? Well, cha ching. Today's the day for me. Not too long ago I started with a new doctor to work out the latest challenges and question marks around my Crohn's disease. She came highly recommended by my doc as THE woman to talk to about BEING a woman with Crohn's, especially around the hormonal roller coaster of having kids and post partum. But it wasn't until almost 17 million views of a procedure I did for this new doc, a capsule endoscopy, went viral that I really took the plunge and asked my doc out on a POD DATE. Dr. Puja Khanna is the Clinical Director of Women's Health of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at Cedars-Sinai. She's a research powerhouse who specializes in women with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases. AND she's got three kids of her own. The first half of the ep is the classic MUTHA LIFE fare you've come to know and love - then we get into all of the listener questions around gut health. Come hang. Let's talk about poop and butts.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @poojakhannamd

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

A solo catch-up that covers a lot of ground - and somehow ties it all together. Kari comes back to the mic after a few weeks of life coming at her fast: grief, strep throat, solo-parenting, a teacher strike scare, and a spring break in the wilds of North Tampa. This one's for the OGs.

Along the way: traveling with kids when one of them wakes up covered in vomit the morning of your flight, why letting your partner skip a trip might be the best thing for your marriage, the unexpected physical toll of a full-on kids' vacation, and what happens when you give a five-year-old just enough independence to surprise you.

Then things get cosmic. Artemis 2 launches and Kari goes full NASA fangirl - and makes a genuinely moving case for why the mission inspired adults as much as it did kids. Plus: the great kindergarten homework debate (spoiler: aftercare might be the answer), why Mahjong has become her secret weapon for connection, and a summer camp update for everyone who was worried.

Moon joy found. Earth joy incoming.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life

Produced by: Mutha Life, Music by: Ronen Landa 

Today we are hanging out in the closet with Bennett Kaspar-Williams, the multi-threat. Lawyer, activist, writer, creative…and seahorse dad. If you don't know what a seahorse is, you're in the right place today to learn from source. Bennett is trans and was the gestational carrier for his son (get it? male seahorses are famously the gestational carriers). In talking to Bennett about his life - from Texas to Seattle to New York and LA, each chapter has provided stones for his life's foundation. We are going to cover so much ground in this one - from why our almost five year old boys are psychos right now (it's the LIMBIC LEAP PEOPLE), to why Labubus are actually a valuable contribution to society, to reframing what partnership in the parent era looks like (she whispers: just unload the dishwasher, people). Ultimately, this is a conversation about what happens when we keep interrogating and asking ourselves what we need to feel complete and happy.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @bennettonpurpose

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

This week we have Emily Tucker in the virtual closet all the way in beautiful Boulder, Colorado. Emily is the founder and face of Emily Tucker Design - an insanely talented firm building projects that would be right up my alley if my house wasn't a toy vomit factory. On this episode, I use Emily as my personal guru for all things - from understanding how interior designers actually work with clients to what she does in her own home to make her kids get along. We talked about what it means to be inspired by your parents' work and finding your own place in the world while taking that inspiration with you. We talked about division of labor, what she and her husband argue about, and how hard it can be when your kids are all....shocker, different people.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @emilytuckerdesign

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

This week in the closet we have celebrity trainer/founder of Bad Badger Treats, Charlie Curtis. You may know him as 'Perfect 10 Charlie' of Armchair Expert fame. Or maybe as the founder of Indoorphins, the online high intensity workout community. Orrrrr that guy who seems to live at the little league field. Maybe you don't know him at all and you're here because you just want to hear how someone who is actively involved in raising his two boys also manages to juggle his own fitness and professional goals. This is a sprawling chat - from being raised by a single mom in San Diego, to playing college football, to building a durable relationship with his wife based on shared history, respect and understanding - it's all here. AND we managed to answer a few listener questions that were submitted ahead of time. Let's goooooo.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @badbadgertreats @charcurtis

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

This week we get down and dischargey with the founder of Auggie, the parent platform so many of us want and need. Lily Walla's childhood story is one of contrasts - bouncing between her parents' apartments, sleeping on pull out beds and sharing tight spaces - all while going to one of the country's most elite private schools and running around with classmates with literal mansions to call home. Today, we find Lily the fully actualized person, in Brooklyn with her family. She's a million weeks pregnant and about to pop…all while at the helm of her second entrepreneurial venture.

This conversation covers so much both in parenting and in career - how confusingly devastating it can feel in the lead up to welcoming a new baby. The way taking on investors is both a blessing and a stressor when you're in the early stages of building. The importance of being able to be honest with yourself when the thoughts get a little too dark and working toward getting yourself help.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @joinauggie 

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

Today we are hanging out with a movement guru of the highest order and getting extremely vulnerable about the road to healing and building resilience in the body and the mind. Come meet THE Jill Miller. We start in New Orleans and land here in LA. We cover experiencing her parents' divorce as a child and being uprooted more times than she can count on two hands…and the underlying impact all of that can have on the body and mind.

Jill is a pioneer in her field - taking all of the pieces of fitness, yoga, athletics, massage and pain management and putting them together to create an approach to movement that is both focused on healing and resilience. She is the author of best-selling books, has created multiple fitness formats that are taught worldwide, and has been featured everywhere from the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal, to Women's Health, GMA and Self Magazine. She's also a mom of two kids and was crazy enough to go into business with her husband.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life 

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

This week we are celebrating the 4th of July by spending time highlighting parenting while building a career in the military. The department of defense is the LARGEST employer in the United States which means millions of people and families are working through the unique experiences associated with this career path. Overseas deployments. Being separated from loved ones. Moving cities and countries often. Constantly being worried about the safety and well-being of those you love the most. To cover all of this and more we are hanging out in the virtual closet with retired Colonel Jeff McCausland. We follow Jeff from his childhood in West Central Illinois, working jobs after school and listening to the war stories of the grown men around him, to - instead of waiting for the draft to find him - going to West Point, where he would launch a 30 year career in the Army. From leading 750 soldiers in battle to being the Dean of the US Army War College - Jeff's is a story centered on service…all while working with his wife to make sure his kids were given the opportunity to have more/do better than he did.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life 

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

This week we are hanging out with E! The Rundown's Erin Lim Rhodes. In this episode we cover what happens when a focused and extremely driven person in a highly competitive field takes on parenthood. And, if that's not enough of a hook for you, we cover what it's like when parents separate later in life, the power of the placenta, finding her faith and her husband in a new church, how hobbies helped her through post partum depression, and the subtle joys of becoming a Disney adult.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @erinlimrhodes

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

Today we've got serial entrepeneur and sports obsessed former D1 Soccer Star, Stacy Bernstein, on the pod. She is the Co-Founder of All Better Company, a company re-imagining first aid in a way that's showing up for you and your kids AND doing it in a way that's also good for the planet. We follow Stacy from childhood in THE VALLEY, to her life as a D1 athlete, to working for the NHL, coaching, and starting out on her own. It's an episode that covers so many things I care deeply about - from how we talk to our kids about sex, to THE ART OF NOTICING. ENJOY! Share! Talk about it! TW: Child Sexual Abuse.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @getallbetter

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

Whitney Port has been in the public eye for 20 years and she's cultivated an ability to both be vulnerable and share her life without it feeling exploitative. From her time on the Hills and the City, to her following years building her own mini media empire with her successful podcast and Youtube channel, watching Whitney grow and cultivate relationships has been a mainstay for so many people who grew up watching her. Today she's in the closet and we cover such a wide range of topics - from finding meaningful connection and friendship in new stages of life, figuring out the balance between what's best for YOU and what's best for everyone else around you. Her very public experience with infertility and the decision to try and expand her family via surrogacy, what it's like to be a member of the 'sandwich generation' and so much more. This is also a podcast first - we've had Whitney's sister, Paige, on the pod (Episode 12) and so that makes Whitney's episode our first-ever sibling episode…because you know what they say, no two people get the same two parents.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @whitneyeveport

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

This week in the closet we have Senior Director of Community and Partnerships Tubby Todd. To most, however, she's likely better known as the grand master of all things hobby...or just having a good time. Erika's path to corporate girly has been paved with stardust, dreams, and...community. From singing for Disney in Japan to being the front woman of an all-Filipino hip hop group to cross-fit gym co-owner and Lululemon MAVEN, I don't think little Erika growing up in the Mormon church could've guessed much of the turns her life would take, but I imagine she'd find it immensely entertaining, along with the rest of us. 

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @erikajaye

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

Today we are hanging out in the closet with Irene Lovett, an interior designer based in the San Fernando Valley and a first-generation Mexican-American who has built a career turning other people's spaces into a true reflection of who they are.

We follow Irene from a 997-square-foot childhood home in Sylmar - the daughter of immigrant parents, a restaurant worker dad and a housekeeper mom - all the way to running her own interior design business with her work being featured on Netflix's hit show, Nobody Wants This, HGTV, Good Housekeeping, the Wall Street Journal and more.

In this episode we get into it: the design trends people are actually asking for right now, the forever-charged debate of dog parenthood vs. human parenthood, and the very intentional decision to be a family of three while keeping the big family feeling. We also cover what it looks like to grow into your extroversion, with husband and creator of LA IN A MINUTE EVAN LOVETT by your side, how we could all benefit from making eye contact and smiling more on neighborhood walks, and…how maybe we all just need a pot of beans on the stove at all times.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life

Produced by: Mutha Life, Music by: Ronen Landa 

For an entire generation of girls wanting to be journalists, work in magazines and/or fashion, Atoosa Rubenstein was the pinnacle we looked to. She was living out loud and doing it YOUNG. Not waiting for any traditional hierarchies to retire. But what we didn't see is how much was weighing those designer shoulders down at the same time. The unanswered questions. The lack of connection. The missing warmth and safety of a loving childhood home. This expansive hang in the virtual closet has us starting in Iran, growing up in a challenging home dynamic, skyrocketing to notoriety at a young age, and then finding new purpose in motherhood - leaving the photoshoots, Met Balls, and bougie Hamptons parties behind to just be. With her kids. And ZERO LAUNDRY.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @atoosarubenstein

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

It can feel like nothing is more precious and elusive to parents of young kids, as sleep. Today in the closet we've got Brittany Sheehan, certified kid's sleep guru and Internet funny girl, according to me. In this hang we cover everything from the impact of limited sex ed as kids, losing a parent too soon, finding new super powers with parenthood, division of labor at home...and we also answer some listener questions on sleep. We even cover why a quick trip to California grocery store staple, Gelson's, is a slippery slope and why pre-teens make the best babysitters.

Full show notes with alll the links INCLUDING A SPECIAL DISCOUNT CODE FOR BRITTANY SHEEHAN SLEEP: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @brittanysheehansleep

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

Come hang in the closet with the renegade girl scout, Puno. She's the founder of iLoveCreatives and the Executive Creative Director of iLoveCreatives Studio - the woman is bursting with...creativ(ity). This sprawling chat covers so much: from growing up in Texas in what sounds like a movie marriage of LadyBird and Dazed & Confused, to thriving and diving deep in the early days of the internet, to the challenges of running a business and a family with a partner, there's so much here. If that's not enough to entice - there's a cat with main character energy and you can even find out how Puno thinks she might die, assuming the robots don't save her first. And Puno's mom, if you're listening, she still has some questions for you and we all want the answers.

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @punodostres @ilovecreatives @muaddibthecat

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa 

May is National Foster Care Awareness Month and we are taking the opportunity to raise awareness by hanging with Tige Charity, CEO of Kids in the Spotlight (KITS). KITS is a non profit organization focused on providing children in foster care with the tools and skills to take control of their own narrative and tell their own story, primarily through filmmaking. Tige's story starts in a little town and Louisiana and brings her to today - her life in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter. Tige's approach to life, career and parenting are deeply rooted in the values of her own youth in a religious household with a clear framework for how to live, while also putting her own stamp on how to do things - leaving behind the things that no longer serve her while celebrating the parts of her own childhood that have led her where she is today. This episode is all about gratitude and service. Knowing when you've got a good thing going and figuring out how to bring others along with you. Don't forget to like/leave a review if this speaks to you!

Full show notes with alll the links: muthalife.substack.com 

Instagram: @mutha.life @kidsinthespotlight @leadersinthespotlight

Produced by: Mutha Life

Music by: Ronen Landa