Big Little Choices

Meet Alyssa. Early childhood educator, founder of Seed and Sew and host of Voices of Your Village podcast. She’s passionate about building emotional intelligence as young as infancy, and her ‘show up as you are’ approach welcomes people into her village to get support at all ages and stages. Hear more for her expert advice on helping our tiny humans (children!) build their own emotional toolkit.

Meet Neva. Business owner, accountant and mom to 4 adopted, multi-racial children. Neva shares an inspiring story of her son, Alex, who is a trans-youth.

Meet Melissa - Mom to seven and a LGBTQ activist. Melissa talks about being a mother to a transgender youth, their journey through the transition, adjusting to a new identity and the importance of supporting our kids through these life changing choices.

Meet Haley. A military spouse, mom to two and postpartum doula. She talks about how she got diagnosed with bipolar manic and how that has affected the choices she’s had to make personally and professionally.

Meet Joey and Jesse. They share their story of being a gay couple, choosing to have a baby via a surrogate, the hesitations that came with it, and what life is like in this unconventional setup, for their son Sebastian.

Meet Mercedes. TV personality, real estate professional, and mother to Shams Francis. Mercedes talks about being a mother in the public eye and how that affects the choices she makes for herself and her family.

Meet Laura. Senior tech strategist, fertility advocate and mom to Owen. She shares her story on going through 11 rounds of IVF and 33 embryo transfers in order to have her son. It's a story of perseverance, resilience and determination to make a choice that is physically and emotionally demanding.

Meet Marianna. Mother, cancer survivor and founder of a sustainable children’s clothing brand. She shares her inspiring story of overcoming an unusual type of cancer, and then making an unconventional choice to move abroad when she was 7 months pregnant. Change can be terrifying but Marianna shares how she never lets fear prevent her from making significant changes in her life.

Meet Sophie. Mom to two girls, wine entrepreneur and owner of a spectacular vineyard estate at very the top of Sonoma Mountain. In our conversation, I talk to Sophie about her journey to starting Sophie James Wine, balancing entrepreneurship with motherhood and the beauty of following your passion.

Meet Sarah: Author, musician, and mom to two. Sarah talks about her decision to have both her children via a home birth, a choice made by less than 1% of pregnant women in the United States. She talks about why she thought it was right for her and how childbirth changed her perspective on her own capabilities.

Meet Julie: Humanitarian worker, mom to one and stepmom to two kids. Julie talks about her journey from the Scottish countryside, to war zones and finally San Francisco to be with the love of her life. She shares what it’s like to have an unconventional path to becoming a mother and how she’s made it work.

Meet Sarah A. Development advisor, equality advocate and mom to two. We talk about her choice to breastfeed her daughter till she was over 5 years and also to co-sleep with both her kids. Sarah offers a great perspective on extended breastfeeding and why it’s best to make choices that are right for your family.

Meet Rachel. Writer, Journalist and storyteller. She shares her story on why she chose to exclusively breastfeed her son starting from the day he was born. Rachel talks about the importance of having clarity around the kind of parents we want to be and the pitfalls of making choices just to please others.

Meet Monica. Mom to three biological children and foster parent to five. Monica shares her story of living a life of intentionality and purpose. One where she and her husband deeply care about giving vulnerable children a home and their family.

Meet Emma. Mom to her two sons and gestational surrogate to two other children. Emma talks about why she chose to become a surrogate, what makes the process challenging and why it matters to her, especially as she thinks about the values she is modeling for her own children.

Meet Astaire. Mom to six kids. From being a teen mom to twins, a single mom with four kids, and now married with six kids, we talk about her journey as a mother. Astaire talks about the deliberate choices she has had to make given her large family and how that affects her life.

Meet Anjali (again!). She was the first guest on our podcast and talked about her choice to travel the world for 7 months with her husband and two toddlers. Many adventures and explorations later, Anjali is back to talk about how her choice played out.

Meet Elena. Mother to Wynter and Nova. Winter has Down’s Syndrome and in our conversation we talked about the choices Elena and her family has had to make to have a child with special needs.

Meet Melisa. An adventure seeker, a business owner and a mom. She shares her birth story and why she was unable to stick to her choice of how she wanted to deliver her baby. We talked about the choices we are told to make, the ones we want to make and ultimately the choices we have to make.

Meet Jaime. She had to make an incredibly difficult decision to amputate her daughter’s leg when she was 18 months old. Jaime talks about how nothing prepares you for choices like this, the importance of perspective and how her family stays positive even on rough days.

Meet Ishani. Raised in New York but raising her son in India. She talks about why it was important for her to move to India to start a family and the deliberate choices she has to make as a mother.

Meet Meighan. She tells her story of a whirlwind international romance, an unhappy marriage and her choice to leave and become a solo parent to her two kids.

Meet Karen. She talks about her infertility diagnosis, the decision to adopt and the realities of having a mixed race family. She tells an inspiring and vulnerable story of how you can make unconventional choices and yet find a happy ending.

Meet Joyce. From a career in tech to starting an upscale Asian bakery called La Chinoiserie, she’s had to make many choices to follow her passion for food. She tells her story of leaving a financially stable and prestigious job to pursue her dream, her work at a 3 Michelin star restaurant and the importance of asking for help.

Meet Mari. An activist and feminist, she marches to the beat of her own drum. All her choices speak to her intention of ‘my body my choice’. We talk about her choosing to be a single mother by choice, having a home birth, not defining her child by a gender and to breastfeed for as long as she chooses.

Meet Sharon. Raised with a Jewish and American identity; she talks about her inspiring choices to marry an Indian, raise a child in a culturally mixed home, and the challenges of adapting to a life that has unfamiliar traditions, food and language.

Meet Neha. Mother to 3 kids, doctor and an unconventional educator. She didn’t want to conform to societal norms of where and when her kids went to school and instead found an alternative path to educating them.

Meet Rhea. Funny, genuine and smart. She talks about the choices she had to make when she had her son, Kai. And how prioritizing her child's needs over her own health was the only choice she thought had in that moment.

Meet Lauren. She grew up with lofty goals and a desire to pursue a career that gave her status and a sense of achievement. A career in finance gave her all that until she realized that she didn't want to chase the lifestyle and instead do what more was meaningful to her.

Meet Sheila. Political activist, brand strategist, animal lover and more. She talks about how she is redefining what family means to her and choosing a life that's exactly the way she wants to live it.

Meet Shilpa. An author, financial analyst, mother and homemaker. Choosing to raise her child on her own terms; with 100% of her attention and yet never feeling like she is compromising on time for herself.

Meet Sirisha. A working woman from a conservative Indian family. She pushed boundaries in order to pursue her life goals - to be able to work, create an identity for herself and and be a role model for the women in her family.

Meet Madhavi. Designer, entrepreneur, mom and more. We talked about her journey with infertility, postpartum health and her choice to focus on rebuilding her identify.

Meet Inna. A mom who is passionate and giving. A mom who made a choice to drop out of a prestigious law program in order to give her full attention to her children. Being a stay at home mom is hard work, there are no promotions and endless work to get done. Inna shares her story on why she made this choice and if it was the right one.

Meet Anna. An adventure seeker from an early age, Anna rejected the conventional choice of going to college when she was 18, to pursue a life that felt right for her. Many years, continents, states and jobs later, Anna will tell you that that the world has good people everywhere and being open minded and letting go of fear for change, is what you need to live a full life.

Meet Anjali. She made the bold choice of leaving her reputable job in order to travel the world with her two toddlers and favorite travel companion, her husband. She made this decision as it allows her to spend time with her kids and aging parents - listen to learn more about her philosophy towards life and how she owns her choices.