Mom and former nurse Carolyn Chen explains how her faith deepened due to a complication she never expected - giving birth to a child born with a physical anomaly. We discuss her motherhood journey and how she maintains her Christianity in the wilds of Los Angeles. The episode ends with the live recording of Carolyn's story.

Carolyn's bio: After years of working as a community health nurse, Carolyn is embracing this season of getting to be at home with her kids. She remains passionate about encouraging and walking with others through their hard seasons as both a friend and a writer, believing that words have incredible power to speak life and hope. In her free time, she loves singing, supporting women in her faith community, and exploring all the best Asian food LA has to offer.

TW: birth complications, physical birth anomalies

Opening music by TV Girl: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/TV_Girl/Our_First_2_EPs/TV_Girl_-_Our_First_2_EPs_-_06_Lizzy_Come_Back_to_Life/

This week, we hear from Natalie Bosmans. Natalie is a Los Angeles-based line producer who knows how to keep a set running smoothly—and a household of wild toddler boys even smoother (most days). With a background in film and television, she brings calm, creativity, and a deep love for collaboration to every project. When she’s not wrangling talent or or crew, she’s wrangling her two energetic sons, Miles (5) and Miro(4)-often with cars, magnet tiles, or snacks in hand. Natalie attributes the vibrant energy of their life and home to her husband Bennett Miller’s calm demeanor, generous heart, and exceptional taste in music.

Natalie speaks candidly on infertility, IVF, fostering, and adoption. We also make time to discuss back-saving, muscle-relaxing mats and share a few laughs in between the tears. Enjoy!

Opening music by TV Girl: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/TV_Girl/Our_First_2_EPs/TV_Girl_-_Our_First_2_EPs_-_06_Lizzy_Come_Back_to_Life/

Our first ever podcast! Baila and Tamar talk about Baila's story that she wrote for our Mothers Unleashed event where she wrote an incredible letter to her estranged son. The conversation moves into confronting and accepting our own impostor syndrome ("Hello old friend!"), building resilient children by working inside out on ourselves as parents, and of course we get into the toxicity of social media.

Baila's bio:

Born eighth into a family of 14, Baila started her own at 18. Twenty years later, she is mother to two strong-willed young men and stepmother to three pretty strong-willed little kids. Baila is an innovator with a million big ideas and a crippling procrastination problem who has somehow become an educator and therapist. For more than two decades she has been helping people heal and thrive and studying why and how they do. Most recently, she launched the Loving Leadership Academy for parents and is writing two books. For more information: www.lovingleadershipacademy.com

Opening music by TV Girl: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/TV_Girl/Our_First_2_EPs/TV_Girl_-_Our_First_2_EPs_-_06_Lizzy_Come_Back_to_Life/