Motherhood isn't about getting it right all the time.

In this conversation with perinatal and infant mental health therapist Jen Burke, we unpack why so many moms live under the weight of guilt and why that guilt is often keeping us from being present.

We talk about:

• The difference between guilt that helps us grow and guilt that turns into shame
• Why repair matters more than perfection
• How social media fuels unrealistic expectations of motherhood
• The identity shifts that happen after becoming a mom
• Why learning to care for yourself is one of the greatest gifts you can give your children

If you've ever wondered whether you're doing enough, this episode is your reminder that you were never meant to be perfect, you were meant to be human

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ABOUT JEN

Jen Burke, JD, LMSW, IMH-E® (she/her) is a therapist, educator, entrepreneur, and advocate for maternal mental health. She is the co-founder and co-director of Rise Wellness Collaborative, a Michigan-based therapy practice specializing in perinatal mental health, infant and early childhood mental health, and the parent-child relationship. She is also the co-founder of Bloom & Rise, a therapist-created company designing meaningful products that support mothers' mental health and early parent-child connection.

Jen holds a law degree from Columbia Law School and a Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan, where she earned a Child Welfare Certificate. She is endorsed as an Infant Mental Health Specialist through the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health and teaches in the University of Michigan School of Social Work as a lecturer.

Drawing from both her professional expertise and her own experience of infertility, pregnancy loss, and motherhood, Jen is passionate about making evidence-based mental health information practical, accessible, and compassionate. Whether she's working with families in the therapy room, teaching future clinicians, or creating resources for parents, her work centers on strengthening relationships and helping caregivers feel supported, understood, and empowered.

risewellnesscollaborative.com (@risewellnesscollaborative on instagram)

bloom-and-rise.com (@bloom.and.rise on instagram)

You work hard. You show up for everyone around you. You give your time, your energy, your care, and your expertise without hesitation.

But when someone offers you help...

When you receive a compliment...

When success finally arrives...

Why does it feel so uncomfortable?

In this episode of Live Lighter, Jessica explores one of the most overlooked patterns among high-achieving women: our difficulty receiving. From childhood conditioning to nervous system responses, she unpacks why receiving often feels vulnerable, even when it's exactly what we need.

You'll learn:

• Why so many women are exceptional at giving but struggle to receive
• How childhood conditioning shapes our relationship with worthiness
• Where this pattern quietly shows up in work, money, relationships, and rest
• Why receiving isn't selfish, it's a skill
• Five simple practices to begin expanding your capacity to receive

Because living lighter isn't about doing more.

Sometimes it's about allowing yourself to receive what's already trying to find you.

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Work with Jessica:

→ Golden Era Mentorship: My signature 1:1 mentorship for the woman ready to do the deep work.

→ Join my Weekly Newsletter

Follow along:
→ LinkedIn | Instagram

Women are leaving corporate in record numbers.

And they're not leaving to slow down. They're leaving to build something on their own terms.

I spent 18 years in corporate, the last 8 at Adobe, before I walked away from a tech salary to build something of my own. And I see this same story play out with the women I work with every single week.

Women are starting businesses at unprecedented rates, burnout among women leaders continues to rise, and more women than ever are questioning whether the traditional corporate path is still worth the cost.

In this episode I go past the surface-level conversation about burnout and flexibility and into the real root: the system itself. What it was built on. What it's become. And what it's quietly costing everyone, including the companies losing these women every single day.

Here's what we get into:

• The numbers behind the mass exodus of women from corporate
• Why this isn't a women's problem, it's a systems problem
• How the corporate structure was built by men, for men, and what that still costs us
• The way technology and modern pace have amplified all of it to unsustainable levels, for men too
• What it's costing corporate America in real dollars
• The honest tension I hold: wanting more women in leadership and refusing to tell women to stay in a system that's breaking them

This isn't about choosing a side. It's about knowing your worth and refusing to spend it somewhere that doesn't honor it.

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Work with Jessica:

→ Take the Survival Pattern Quiz to find out which pattern is yours.

→ Golden Era Mentorship: My signature 1:1 mentorship for the woman ready to do the deep work.

→ Join my Weekly Newsletter

Follow along:
→ LinkedIn | Instagram