Let's Be Real: Mama Journeys

Deborah Mallow never thought she wanted kids but after spending time with her friends and their kids, she fell in love with the idea of being a mom.  She is one of the positive, happiest people you have ever met!  In fact, she has written a book called 6 Steps to Fewer Days That Suck.  What a great title! She was 38 when she had her son and now he’s in his 20’s, living in Minnesota.  She struggled with balancing it all...

Dr. Jann Blackstone is a Jan of all trades as a behavioral scientist because she studies people's behaviors. She likes to call it mediation to bring people together. She predominantly works with co-parents to get families to be able to parent in a cohesive way for everyone in the family.  A bonus family is basically a step-family but she didn’t like the word “step.”  That word was just too negative.  THe biggest need o...

Angela Tipton runs a website called fireyourcareer.  She believes in empowering other women to live their truths.  She became a mom at the age of 30 because she focused on creating her career. She had a tough time balancing her career and personal ambitions with being a mom. She didn’t want to set aside her career but finding the time to be 100% at both. Her husband has been her biggest supporter and was truly her 50% ...

Riana Milne is a coach and psychotherapist for parents. She specializes in childhood and
relationship trauma. 100% of us have childhood trauma because sometimes it comes from 3 generations. She is a mama of two very empowered ladies as a single mom. She uses the
theory of mindset for success, she created a modeling agency. She has written 13 books and has a podcast all about relationships. She believes in empowering women to be hea...

Kim Keane is a mom of two daughters and lives in Pennsylvania who also helps women through their healing journey through sound healing and reiki. Using vibrational frequency helps healing through tuning into your chakras. She was 27 when she became a mom and her biggest challenge has been letting go of perfectionism. This was a huge issue because both girls are strong willed and arguing with “yourself” is really hard. ...

Aureen Monteiro is an author of a book called Rise Higher, to manage stress for women in higher profile positions.  She became a mom at 27 with her one and only baby girl. She is a teenager now and it’s been a roller coaster as a mama of a teenager!  The spectrum of emotions is something she didn’t see coming. She was worried she would lose her connection with her preteen but she learned that she needed to listen more ...

Jalisa Hardy joined us from Maryland, where she is a publisher, author and all around amazing single mama. She got pregnant with her second only 6 weeks after giving birth to her first at 30 weeks! She struggled with landing in her body again. The biggest challenge she faced was the person she chose to have her kids with. She wanted her kids to grow up in a non-broken home so she and her parents moved in together and t...

Shakila Marando Is the owner of Doulas by the Bay in San Francisco, CA.  She had a tough time with breastfeeding and realized that other moms needed that help too.  She started working as a nanny and then accidentally started working with a family who taught her about what a doula is and what they do. She love it and that started her journey to help other moms.  She puts herself in the shoes of the other moms so she ca...

Sara Nudd is a mama of 4 with a heart bigger than you can imagine. Her birth story with her first, at the age of 21 was traumatic and heart wrenching, on top of having no support or knowledge of what being a mom would be like. She struggled and struggled but after 3 more kiddos, she realized that she was suffering with PPD.  Her life now is super full and her favorite mama moments are when all 6 of her family are toget...

Julie Morey is a school social worker who does a lot for single moms because she chose to become a single mom by a donor with an unconventional motherhood journey. Her goal is to do a TEDx.  She empowers women to write their own story and make decisions for themselves instead of waiting around for Prince Charming. She thought things were going to be more difficult than they were but she created a situation that worked....

Savannah Becerril is the Assistant Program Director of the Strong Mamas, Thriving Babies program for our nonprofit, YANA.  She has done a lot in the marketing world before coming to YANA including social media, websites and small business expansion.  She was a teen mom at the age of 18, is currently a foster mom to a 16 year old, a mom to a 13 year old and a 6 year old. She has so many different ages and personalities ...

Kalissa Braga is the Regional Program Coordinator for the Strong Mamas, Thriving Babies program through our nonprofit, YANA.  She has quite a birthing story with her 3 babies. She was diagnosed with PCOS as a teenager so she knew getting pregnant was going to be a struggle so they started with Clomid to get the process started and sure enough, she was able to get pregnant after the second round! She struggled with brea...

Jessica Jamison is a therapist and personal trainer in the eating disorder and body image space. She found herself there because of her own journey. When she couldn’t get pregnant, she needed to find ways to do things differently. She specializes in women who need help finding themselves. When she finally decided to have kids, it took her over 2 years to get pregnant with her first but it took years for her to slow dow...

Nicole Majik was a chemist over 16 years but almost died of mercury poisoning. She has had a business for almost 17 years to help people overcome their limiteding beliefs and step into their authentic selves. She has a genetic mutation (that she didn’t know she had) that doesn't allow her body to metabolise heavy metals and the exposure to them in her job created a catastrophic situation where she couldn’t even speak! ...

Whitney Frost is not only the Founder and CEO of The Riley Center for Hope and Healing as well as a Board member for YANA!  Her center takes all insurances including Medicaid and are on a sliding scale! Her journey has been a rough one. She had 5 losses between the 2 earth-side girls and her two pregnancies were very high risk!  She has two sassy girls, who obviously get their sassiness from their dad!  She is working ...

Christi Gmyr is a mental health counselor in upstate New York who virtually specializes in helping moms with managing and understanding all of the things it takes to be a mom. She had her own Covid baby but then had a 4 year old at home with her too during the pandemic. Mothering the 2 at a time was really challenging when she expected to have her 4 year old in preschool and having one-on-one time with the new baby. Sh...

Sarah Boes is a multifaceted mama who started her own business during covid but sold it and moved into advocacy. She found out that her daughter had congenital heart disease and has 4 heart conditions! With numerous ultrasounds, she thought she was going to have a healthy, happy baby. She also found out that she had OCD and her baby became her obsession. Her daughter will have to have numerous heart surgeries as she gr...

Dr. Bragg is a doctor in Norfolk, Virginia who treats people with non-surgical solutions for orthopedic and spinal problems. She is a pain management physician who does comprehensive pain management with as little pain meds as possible. She isn’t completely against opioids but has treated over 20,000 people. She has been working with pain management since 1995!  She wrote a book after taking care of her mom and it sp...

Margot Bisnow spent 20 years working for the government and then her oldest son started a company and she decided she wanted to get involved!  She joined his young entrepreneurs and most of them had people who believed in them. Most of the time, that person was their mom. Her book is called Raising an Entrepreneur and she interviewed 70 entrepreneurs and their moms to learn about how the support of a mom helped shape w...