Mamafuel: The Podcast

Before I tell you anything, let me say this: today's conversation with Christa Couture will move you. Take time. Listen closely. Of the nearly 70 episodes in MamaFuel, all of which I've loved, THIS is the one. THIS is the conversation I'd urge you to listen to again and again. Not only because it's not every day you can listen to a cancer survivor cyborg amputee chanteuse mama of three (as she says "two have died and one is here") mixed indigenous Cree Scandinavian queer radio host non-fiction author and singer-songwriter. Not only that. But also because Christa is a sensitive, generous, warm, kind and thoughtful woman whose intelligence and talent seep through everything she creates, including this conversation.  Given the name "Singing Woman" as a child, Christa weaves and shares stories about grief, loss and life as she processes how life is unfolding. I loved hearing how, at time of recording, Christa was reworking her narrative around Christmas, making space for both grief for her absent sons and de

"We have this extra time as a family right now. How can we make it meaningful?"  Samaria Williams, this week's guest, couldn't have been more timely with her question. The world is slowing down right now, providing us all with the opportunity to look at the families and relationships we've created. That might be uncomfortable, delightful or any combination of both.  Samaria's wisdom is perfectly timed for us all as we enter this unchartered territory of COVID-19 closures. In this episode, we talk about how important it was for her and her partner to take a frank look at themselves and the stories they had around what was possible in life and in parenting. After separating early in their daughter's life, they decided to reconcile and consciously build their family around their values and their sweet daughter.  They chose the road less travelled and faced resistance from the people who loved them the most. "You CAN'T get back together." "You SHOULDN'T give it another chance." "You SHOULD just do it on your o

Ever felt conflicted about wanting recognition, fulfilment and challenge outside your family context? Get ready to feel a warm wash over your heart and a burst of inspiration as you get to know my guest this week on the MamaFuel podcast.  Valerie Knopik has navigated the guilt-ridden conflictual waters of maternal love and personal aspiration and, with her husband and children, has forged a life she and her family love. I love hearing how her she and her post-doctorate thesis advisor got creative to cobble together a maternity leave for her. I love how she and her husband waded through all the ICK they faced individually and as a team to land here, twenty years into their marriage, in a solid, mutually-supportive place. I love how Valerie, her dreams, her talent and her career get to fully breathe, expand and flourish in the container of her family. A container where everyone’s dreams have a place and enough space to grow. If all of that wasn’t enough, those of you who are curious about how and why our br

Lindsay Bong hurtled head-first into marriage, motherhood and all that comes with both of those big life changes. Now that the dust has settled, she reflects on her early years as a mama living in a new state with a new husband and a new life... while grappling with her identity, her role as a mama and the challenges of creating a vibrant community around her. I loved our conversation about learning to ask for what you need, and how as you get more comfortable asking for help (and surviving if the answer is no) you get clearer on what you need and how to get those needs met.  In addition to being a very funny human, a loving mama and an adventurous being, Lindsay is a therapist whose compassion for her patients took some finessing before she could offer it to herself.  Lindsay now keeps a list of what makes her most herself, and consults it often when she's feeling funky. I'm going to do the same, and wonder if you might join us? If you liked this conversation and would like to connect with Lindsay, click

This week I’m celebrating a big milestone: 60 episodes of this podcast, celebrating mamas around the world doing big and small things! To mark the occasion, I want to talk about something that breaks my heart: women who are disappearing under their SuperMama capes. So many of us do our VERY BEST for our children. We want to give them what we didn’t have, prevent their suffering and plan for every eventuality. It’s not realistic, but we torture our schedules, our bodies and our minds to try and make it possible. We take up less and less space, in hopes of finally satisfying our little humans or giving them THE BEST of us and the world, all the time.  The problem is, in addition to this not being fun, it's also entirely unsustainable. And it's hurting our mental health, our physical health, our careers and our relationships. It's an epidemic, especially amongst international mamas: we expect high levels of functioning from ourselves, with little or no support, and when something's got to give it usually ends

Today’s guest is a talented artist, a deeply reflective woman and a conscious mama whose decision to mindfully shepherd her young son through the world has broken many moulds. Before I’d ever spoken a word to Shermain Philip, I was captivated by her art. Her bold strokes and the way she uses light infuse life into the people she’s painting. When I learned some of the stories behind her work, I was hooked. Shermain uses her paintings as doorways into conversation with her son; conversations about the American Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panthers, the Windrush Generation in the UK and so much more. By sharing her art with her son, Shermain gently invites him to be curious. Their conversations have covered complex topics like racism, civil rights, naturalisation, inequality and so much more.  Hearing Shermain talk about the different treatment her son receives in school relative to his white school mates was essential -- those of us who don't have to tell our children that people may assume they're naug

What a pleasure it was to have and listen to this week’s conversation again. My guest Lizzy Russinko is a dear soul, a wildly talented artist, a loving and conscious mama of two, and a wise woman whose friendship I cherish in my heart. If you’ve been listening to the podcast in the past few months you’ll have heard me reference this conversation over and over – so I’m doubly thrilled to share it! Lizzy and I talk about the importance of community, especially when you’re in the thick of the newborn phase. I love her idea of treating everyone she meets as if they’re new… so she never feels isolated because she’s always welcoming everyone else, including in places she’s never been. It’s such an effective way of including yourself and others. I can’t wait to use it! What most impacted me, though, was when Lizzy illuminated a simple but often-forgotten fact: any time we meet someone, we are only seeing and getting to know them as they are in THAT moment. We have no idea who or how they’ve been in the past, nor

Get ready for a blast of delight in the form of this week’s guest, Emma Stroud. Em is serious about having fun. So much so that she’s made it (part of) her business to teach adults how to laugh and think in ways many of us have forgotten. She also occasionally gets told off by her son for being too silly. That’s a win in my book! Emma never wanted to be a mum -- until she did. Her journey to holding baby William in her arms was as refreshingly creative as she is. I loved hearing how Emma and her friend and business partner Deon consciously created a family that worked for them. For a while it included two loving couples living in "one big gay house” and sharing coparenting equally. I was fascinated and a little envious of the set-up Emma had then and still has now. It’s every parent’s dream: having someone else fully share the coparenting and having an entire tribe to raise her son. It's meant that when she's mum, she's mum. And the rest of the time, she's Em. Period. I’d definitely be up for that! I love

Rebecca Ching didn’t think she wanted children, until she realised she could build a different kind of family than the one she’d known when she was little. But creating a family came at a cost: Rebecca’s body told her in no uncertain terms that her previously work-focused life had to change dramatically for her to be the business owner, partner and mother she wanted to be.  A few years into parenting and after the birth of their son, Rebecca and her husband learned that their daughter was on the autism spectrum. In that moment, everything shifted again towards finding the best support for their sweet girl and for themselves. It was a bumpy road of shifting relationships, grieving lost friendships and reassessing of every aspect of their lives. But it was made smoother by their absolute conviction that they, and no one else, knew best what their daughter needed.  They became super intentional about the way they were spending their time, with whom and how they were going to lead their family. There were years

So many of us feel like we’re drowning in stuff, in expectations, in all the “shoulds” that can weigh upon mothers. Marieke Staub was no exception. While Marieke’s pregnancy and her daughter’s birth were idyllic, she was crippled by post-natal depression for months afterward. Marieke was able to find her way to a healthier way of being thanks to her family, friends, therapy and lots of support. Even though she was feeling better, something still wasn’t right: her overcrowded apartment, filled with all the objects we’re told we need to be “good” mothers, was a source of frustration. When her sister gave her The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Marieke got to work and changed her whole life. She now lives in a space that supports her in all ways: in living her best life, in a close and happy relationship with her daughter, running a business she adores. She curated her belongings to create the life she wanted, and she couldn’t be happier. Marieke and I talk about the pressure mothers feel to have all the t

We all carry stories that shape our lives. When those stories are deeply rooted in childhood, the scars can last forever. My guest in this episode is a woman whose mission it is to help all women rewrite those trauma-based stories and thrive.  Natasha Bray is a solo mama of one little man, a hugely successful entrepreneur and a source of relief and healing for women around the world. In this episode Natasha tells us about her early struggles with exercise addiction, bulimia, infertility and eventually a traumatic and disempowering birth experience.  Signed off her work as a social worker because of stress and depression, Natasha decided to bet on herself: she trained as a Rapid Transformation Therapy practitioner, thinking it would help her nutrition clients. What she wasn't expecting was that it would completely change her personal world.  Natasha explains how RTT shifted her inner dialogue about her worth and lovability (in all good ways) and why she's now so passionate about doing the same for other wom

Today’s guest is a mama who’s learned through searing personal experience that despite what we might expect, it IS possible to be happier than our unhappiest child. Barb Klein is a mama to two young men, an entrepreneur and a happily married woman whose family life took a huge turn a decade ago when addiction altered their realities forever. Each member of the family has since been learning how to navigate the waters of addiction and the destruction it causes. Over that decade, Barb has found ways to love herself no matter what, and she credits her own journey to self-care and self-love as being the reason she stands so strong today. In this week’s episode Barb shares candidly about releasing her expectations around what it means to be “a good mother,” finding her way back to joy despite the hell her son is still living, and how making space and time for her marriage has kept her partnership solid through it all. Barb’s reflection that we must respect each soul’s journey through good and bad is an invitat

Rachel Flower doesn’t shy away from challenging conversations. In fact, she encourages all those around her to engage in such conversations as often as possible. That’s because she knows first-hand the value of truth-telling and the strong bonds that can be created (or repaired) through open, loving and curious conversation. In this week's episode, Rachel and I talk about her deep experience of grief – first losing her parents and her brother at a very young age and later supporting her youngest daughter through her successful fight with leukaemia. Rachel knows that relationships, communication and support matter more than anything else. I was touched hearing Rachel explain how, in times of crisis, many people fell away and others stepped up to offer support in ways she’d never expected. Her story of building a community around her family and later supporting others in establishing powerful tribes is still reverberating through my heart. Rachel is definitely my people: anyone who dispenses with small-talk

Buckle up, you’re about to meet a mindful, conscious force of nature who’s carved her own non-traditional path and is ROCKING being a mama to six high-energy kids, running two businesses and enjoying a happy, thriving marriage. I first met Jamie Swanson a year ago, and her brightly-coloured unicorn hair and sparkling eyes had me at hello. I’m thrilled to share this conversation with you this week following a little summer break. Jamie humourously describes her life as “loud” and “like living with six blenders without lids,” which feels like an apt description of homeschooling six vibrant children while running multiple businesses and offering rest and refuge to community leaders in need. She and her husband have made sometimes unexpected decisions that have made it all work, and they’re happier than ever. Those decisions have always been inspired by Spirit and supported by their faith, but they haven’t always been easily accepted within their families or community as they switched traditional roles and o

This week's edition of MamaFuel: The Podcast is chock full of firsts. I realised recently that the conversations on the podcast weren't fully representative of all mamas, so I'm trying to do better by consciously broadening the scope of people I'm talking to. I asked this week's guests to be on the podcast a long time ago, and I'm delighted that our conversation is the first in what I hope will be a much more diverse series of conversations. I'm thrilled to introduce you to Nick and Katherine North, a queer couple with a breathtaking love story, a transgender dad and a whole house full of kids (plus a very naughty puppy). Nick and Katherine are the first couple I've had on the show and Nick's the first dad I've welcomed. I couldn't think of better guests to have as my "firsts" in so many ways. In this week's conversation Nick and Katherine tell us about their introductions into motherhood via abortion (Katherine's first mothering decision), traumatic birth, separation, post-natal depression and so much more

A little over a year ago the MamaFuel podcast was just a dream. Today I'm celebrating publishing 50 amazing episodes by turning the tables and having a dear friend interview me, asking the questions I usually ask my guests. Things get pretty personal, so if you've been tuning in for a while and you'd like to get to know the person behind the questions, this is your chance. Huge thanks to Noomi Natan for stepping into the interviewer role and having fun with it all! If anything strikes you in this episode, tell me about it in our free Facebook group where the conversation is always ongoing. Click here to join the conversation in our free Facebook group!

Have you ever had a moment where the way you see the world shifts? Like a giant kaleidoscope unexpectedly moves and the clarity you took for granted is gone forever, as a new vision takes shape? That's what happened to this week's guest, the lovely Claire Farrington. Her first son, Theo, was born very prematurely. As she and her partner adjusted to the realities of life in the NICU, they received another unexpected piece of news: Theo had Down's Syndrome. In this touching conversation, Claire openly shares how little she knew about Down's Syndrome and how sad she feels now that her initial reaction to the news of Theo's extra chromosome was so frightened and negative. In the three years since Theo was born, Claire has become a campaigner for families with Down's Syndrome, sharing her story and educating people across the UK and beyond.  Through her blog, Claire candidly shares all the stages of adjusting to life with Down's Syndrome. I'm still struck, weeks after recording, by Claire's deep wish that prosp

Annika Suoma Frey is an ultra sensitive healer, seeker and guide for women who are ready to live their soul’s calling. She is wise beyond her years, funny, vulnerable, open and one of the bravest people I’ve ever met. She’s also a mama to three little beings under the age of six, in an ever-evolving conscious partnership with her husband, and a person whose willingness to have B-I-G conversations and take scary decisions regularly takes my breath away. In this week’s conversation, Annika and I talk about her difficult youth and the winding road to recognising that she is a divine channel, how life is so much easier and richer (in all ways) since she decided to tune into that channel, and how being fiercely brave led her to the place she is now. Annika shares incredible wisdom about how she prioritises her connection to Spirit, her wellbeing and her marriage above all else, and recounts how intentional separation and conscious decisions have expanded her relationships beyond anything she could have imagi

We all know that taking care of ourselves first is important. The whole oxygen mask in the airplane explanation. Thing is, we hear it so much that some of us may feel it's over-stated and exaggerated; that we can keep pushing ourselves to the bottom of a to-do list when something feels a bit off. This week's guest on MamaFuel is living proof that putting yourself last can have grave consequences for you and your family. Hannah Corne is an accomplished marathon runner and triathlete, the founder of the UK's branch of the Mini Mermaid Running Club, a mum of two and so much more. Earlier this year she started to notice her eyesight changing, and when she eventually went to have it checked, was told she had cancer in her eye. Within three weeks her eye (and the cancer) had been removed. Our conversation was moving, raw and so beautiful. I admire Hannah for her courage facing into the terrifying prospect of cancer, learning to live without her left eye and for her willingness to share her story so soon after liv

Alissa Daire Nelson is a modern-day superwoman, but not in the way that term is usually used. She is bold and courageous, she takes space when she needs it and models for her girls what it looks like when a woman – who happens to be a mother – follows her dreams and asks for support from her family to get there. I loved learning about Alissa’s early lesson that as parents, we often resort to using our anger and our power (vocal, physical or otherwise) to control situations with our kids that trigger us, and what she chose to do instead. Alissa decided years ago to draw on this quote from Scream-Free Parenting as her guide: “we are not responsible FOR our children, we are responsible TO them.” That sentence has shaped how she, her ex-husband and her current (and last!) husband parent their two girls. Taking radical responsibility for and to herself has meant many conversations and reckonings when things have gone sideways, which in turn has given Alissa’s teen girls permission to mess up and make up, knowin