The Care Gap

Mother Honestly Podcast - How Allie Darr Turned Her Passion Into A Six-Figure Lifestyle Business From Home

Allie Darr is a former family photographer, turned lifestyle coach.  Obsessed with all things glitter, laughing at inappropriate things, going to coffee shops alone, and seeing new places. She once read a quote and it fits her perfectly "my two favorite things are (1) Being with my kids and (2) Being without my kids" I feel like a mixture of both is what keeps me sane says Allie.
 
On today's episode, Blessing and Allie chat about everything motherhood, lifestyle, inspirations, kids, relationships, starting a six-figure business from home and her slow life with her five boys and husband in Ohio. 
 
Featured on this episode - follow @motherhonestly @alliedarr and our sponsor @motorcitywoman

How Women Can Bring Authenticity To The Workplace with Bolanle Williams-Olley, CFO at Mancini-Duffy

Bolanle Williams-Olley is the Chief Financial Officer at Mancini Duffy, a technology-first design firm based in NYC where she oversees the firm’s financial and operational performance. She has over 11 years of experience working in the AEC industry with a strong background in financial analysis and strategic initiatives. At her core, she thrives on building relationships between finance and management teams to ensure the overall financial success of projects and her firm. Before her current position at Mancini Duffy, she served five years as Senior Project Accountant at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and five years as Project Accountant at HLW. She recently received a Master’s in Education & Social Policy from New York University (NYU), and holds a Master’s in Applied Mathematics and a Bachelor’s in Mathematics from the City University of New York (CUNY) at Hunter College. She is passionate about service and is the founder of 3 impact organizations: SheBuildsWaves - a community that provides support, resources and gives back to professional women in the built industry, BolaKrafts Cares - a non-profit focused on addressing the needs of children and improving the quality of education in low-income schools in Nigeria, and REACHNigeria - a connector hub that creates awareness about NGOs and volunteer opportunities across Nigeria.
 
On this episode, Blessing and Bolanle discuss family and career values and what to look for in a company. Bolanle shares more around following her passion and dreams, taking chances, engaging in meaningful work and bringing authenticity to the workplace. Bolanle is married with two kids and absolutely obsessed with throwing really fun themed parties.
 
The Mother Honestly Podcast is sponsored by The Motor City Woman Studios

Modernizing The Workforce for Diversity & Inclusion w. Cheryl Thompson

Founder of Center for Automotive Diversity, Inclusion & Advancement (CADIA), Cheryl Thompson joins Mother Honestly in a discussion on integrating personal lives in the workplace as well as diversity and inclusion in the Automotive Industry.
Cheryl has 30 years of experience at Ford Motor Co. with positions ranging from skilled trades, operations, engineering and leadership. She graduated from Siena Heights University with a Bachelor’s in Manufacturing, Michigan State University with an MBA, holds a Tool and Diemaker Journeyman card, and earned a certification in Career Coaching. Cheryl has completed the Experienced Leader Program through Ford Motor Company, and Co-Active Leadership through CTI (Coach’s Training Institute).
CADIA is a professional development organization focused on advancing talent in a diverse and inclusive way, with a mission to increase the number of diverse leaders in the automotive industry.
This week’s episode highlights topics such as; talking about kids and family in the workplace, the opportunity for men to take parental leave and why it's best to ask for help from the women and men on your team.
 

How To Create Sustainable Solutions w. Sarah Shadonix, Founder & CEO Scout & Cellar

Do you know there are over 300 chemicals and additives in almost all mass-produced wine?  As a mama, I love to unwind in the evenings with the hubby over a glass of wine. When we started hosting Mother Honestly Events, a good friend introduced me to Scout & Cellar and I just had to interview Sarah! Sarah is an attorney-turned-sommelier who has dedicated her life to taking the headaches out of great wine. It’s arguably the most prevalent drawback to drinking wine at all. Sarah is all-too familiar with this feeling.
 
Ironically, it started while she was studying to become a sommelier. What started as a glass of wine to accompany long nights of cramming would eventually materialize into an unbearable headache the next day. Sarah knew something was off. A single glass shouldn’t lead to pain of this magnitude. So she began doing some research of her own. She spoke with renowned naturopathic physicians, and she consulted with vintners. Eventually, she discovered the source of these headaches: the up-to 300 chemical additives imbued in almost all mass-produced wine. Yeah. 300. Crazy, right?
 
This is where the fun began. Once Sarah stumbled upon the truth about mass-produced wine, she promised to discover and deliver a cleaner, healthier, better option. “Chemicals belong in a swimming pool,” she’d say. “Wine should be as natural as possible.”Dive into today’s podcast and learn more about mom-ing and wine, how to create and start anything from scratch, and be sure to pick up a Scout and Cellar wine from a consultant close to you.
 
Season 2 of the Mother Honestly Podcast is sponsored by Emilia George, Goldfish Swim School and Motor City Woman Studios. 
 
Follow @emiliageorgeofficial, @motorcitywoman  and @motherhonestly on Instagram for more!
 
There is still time to join us at Mother: The Summit 2019. Podcast listeners can take 10% off their ticket prices using the code PODCAST10.

Parenthood Doesn’t Come With A Manual w. Lauren Mohon, Marketing Director, Hour Media

Welcome to Season 2 of The Mother Honestly Podcast! Blessing, Founder and CEO of Mother Honestly opens up this season with a topic near and dear to her heart, resources for mothers, fathers and babies with Lauren Mohon, Marketing Director of Hour Media, Detroit. Lauren is a new mom herself who relies on family and local resources to meet her needs as a working mother. On this episode, we discuss career, motherhood, community and of course her newest project, The Metro Detroit Baby and Beyond Magazine as well as the Metro Detroit Baby and Beyond Expo. Parents expecting their first child or growing their families are invited to attend the Metro Detroit Baby and Beyond Expo from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28 and Sunday, Sept. 29 at the Michigan Science Center in Detroit. Attendees can discover the best products and services for babies, children and families from various local resources and exhibitors. Do you live in the Detroit area and will love to attend? Simply use the code "MOTHERHONESTLY" to receive 50% off your tickets at https://www.babyandbeyondexpo.com/detroit/
 
Season 2 of the Mother Honestly Podcast is sponsored by Emilia George, Goldfish Swim School and Motor City Woman Studios. 
 
Follow @detroitbabyandbeyondmagazine, @emiliageorgeofficial, @motorcitywoman  and @motherhonestly on Instagram for more!
 
There is still time to join us at Mother: The Summit 2019. Podcast listeners can take 10% off their ticket prices using the code PODCAST10.

Motherhood Gone Global w. Sunshine Abou Bakar of African Boheme

Sunshine is the Founder of African Boheme, a black family travel blog, standing at the intersection of the black travel movement and millennial motherhood. Documenting the lives of herself and her daughter, Sunshine soon realized that not all women had the confidence to travel with their children. 
 
Once upon a time she tried on a pair of leopard print pants and vowed to move wherever they were made.  Within the year she closed up her vintage shop and moved to Byron Bay, Australia. There she spent her time working alongside boutique bohemian brands, quintessential of Byron Bay, facilitating the manufacturing process between young female entrepreneurs and the skilled artisans of Bali, Indonesia.
Blessing connected with Sunshine via social media to understand how Sunshine inspires herself and her daughter through travel. We discuss how she combines her passion, ambition and goals as a stay-at-home mother, traveler, content creator, and travel blogger. Showing her daughter these various parts of herself is meaningful and important to her and it's what keeps her excited about her role as mother. She feels super proud of her role as a stay-at-home mother, since it offers her the ability to redefine success for herself, and do work that feels aligned to her. As a photographer for 18 years, she is able to create content and share that in a creative way with various audiences and brands.
You can find Sunshine Abou Bakar at www.africanboheme.com and on instagram at www.instagram.com/africanboheme.

Making Breastfeeding Work At Work + EveryWhere w. Sascha Mayer Co-Founder of Mamava

Working mothers are a huge part of the workplace and the global economy, yet millions of mothers go back to work after having a baby with little or no resources available to ensure the continuity of breastfeeding or continuity of breast milk for their newborn. Mamava is a business dedicated ti transforming the culture of breastfeeding. With a freestanding lactation suite available in airports, conference centers, and an app that locates lactation rooms globally, Mamava provides privacy, cleanliness and all you need tp pump or nurse an infant. 
 
On this episode Blessing and Sascha dive into the realities and logistics involved when a mother is away from her babies and needs a safe, clean and private location to pump. We also chat about the work Mamava is doing to connect mothers across the country through its app. 
 
About The Guest - Sascha Mayer, CEO And Co-Founder of Mamava
Sascha started with Solidarity of Unbridled Labour (Mamava’s birthplace) in 1995. She helped to develop the Living Brand®, Solidarity’s philosophy on brands and brand creation. As Strategy Director, Sascha participated in the creation of many brands, has provided account planning services and has designed and facilitated multidisciplinary creative-collaborative sessions with numerous brands, including HP, Levi’s, Lululemon, Merrell Apparel, Nike Women, and Red Door Salons. Before joining Solidarity, Sascha worked for the office of Congressman (now Senator) Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.), where she served as staff assistant and then assistant press secretary. Sascha is a founding board member of Mobius, a mentoring nonprofit, and has a BA in sociology with a minor in Women’s Studies from the University of Vermont. She lives in Williston, VT with her husband, and two children where she gardens, cooks, and tends to her five chickens.
About The Host - Blessing Adesiyan, CEO and Founder of Mother Honestly
Blessing is a career professional, thought-leader and entrepreneur with over 10 years of experience in consulting, manufacturing and operational excellence for Fortune 100 companies such as HP, Microsoft, Cargill, DuPont and BASF. She is Founder & CEO of Mother Honestly, a platform and complete ecosystem for the modern woman to thrive in and beyond motherhood. She is also the host of award-winning Mother Honestly Podcast where she interviews thought-leaders, career professionals, CEOs, investors, policy-makers and more on how women can align their goals and ambition in motherhood. Blessing earned her B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Florida, M.Sc. in Energy Management from New York Institute of Technology, and her MBA in Marketing and Finance at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School. 
 
Blessing is no stranger to big ideas and even bigger to-do lists, but her passion for solving challenges that millennial women face in the workforce and the cultivation of their ambitions is what led her to launch Mother Honestly as a response to a “gaping hole” in culture. Blessing is able to bring a deep knowledge and understanding on issues that affect women in the workplace, working mothers, entrepreneurial mothers and more. She is particularly excited about topics such as work-life integration and balance, career advancement for women, modern motherhood, parenting, and more.
 
Want to appear on The Mother Honestly podcast? Please send us an email at hello@motherhonestly.com and please follow along on our social media at www.instagram.com/motherhonestly
 
 

Inspire Me Home Decor’s Founder & CEO Farah Merhi on Inspiration, Motherhood And Building 5.5 Million+ Followers

When Farah Merhi launched Inspire Me! Home Decor in 2012, it was a creative outlet during what she calls "a phase of self discovery.” Farah was 3 semesters short of graduating with her political science degree and planning to attend law school when she had her "AHA!" moment, realizing that she was not following her passion and doing what she loved. With the support of her husband and her parents (who now admit they thought it was all just a phase...) she stepped away from her career path. Realizing that Interior Design was what made her heart happy, she launched Inspire Me! Farah had a clear vision of what she wanted to do, and that was to inspire others. Inspire Me! began as an Instagram page and has since become the most followed Home Decor page globally, boasting 5 million followers.
Today, Farah continues to inspire with beautiful home decor through her collections and works to make decorating one’s home both simple and enjoyable. Her Instagram followers were homeowners struggling with decision making when it came to decorating their spaces, reaching out for advice and simple tips to make it easier. Her mission became clear. She knew she had to facilitate the decor process for each and every person.
On this episode, Blessing and Farah dive into this episode chatting about the role mothers play in inspiring their children. Farah's mother was a huge part of the process from her early days designing and decorating her childhood home.
You can reach Farah at www.instagram.com/farahjmerhi and www.instagram.com/inspire_me_home_decor. Please leave us a review below and be sure to follow us on instagram at www.instagram.com/motherhonestly
 

How Moms Can Focus Their Attention And Increase Their Productivity with Tonya Dalton, CEO of Inkwell Press

Tonya Dalton is the Founder & CEO of Inkwell Press, a productivity company focused on helping women figure out what is important. She knows first-hand how overwhelming it can be to feel like you have a million things to do each day. As a modern mother, there are multiple demands on our time, and there is so much pressure to do "#allthethings and do them well" according to Tonya. 
 
Tonya's definition of productivity is not getting more done, rather, its focusing our attention on whats more important. What is even more unique was that Tonya started her business as a mother of two because she wanted to create a financial pathway for her family. She started off as a teacher, and then became a stay-at-home mother. After starting what she thought was going to be a small side-business, she grew Inkwell Press rapidly and within a year, her husband was able to quit his big marketing job to join her. 
 
Dive into the podcast to learn more about how Tonya mapped out a path to financial freedom for her family. Through her podcast, planners, and community all focused on helping women become more productive.
 
Tonya can be found at www.tonyadalton.com and her company at www.inkwellpress.com

How To Foster Creativity Personally And Professionally in Motherhood w. Anjelika Temple of Brit + Co

As Chief Creative Officer and Founding Partner at Brit + Co, Anjelika Temple brings her voracious consumption of all things creative and colorful to DIY projects, geeky gadgetry finds and more.  On this episode, we chat about creatvity, motherhood, entrepreneurship and work-life balance. "Creativity can take so many different forms in your professional and personal life" says Anjelika who grew up as a feminist in the 90's, studied philosophy and art in college and spent some time at an art residency program. Afterwards, she traveled the world and landed at an ad agency before meeting Brit Morin, and joined her in founding the creative company Brit + Co. 
 
As a C-level Executive, Anjelika overseas editorial, video and creative and works closely with her team to maintain and evolve the voice of the company. In this episode we chat about her new role as a mother of one and another on the way in the Fall. She went back to work because she wanted to be inspiring to her daughter. She schedules her work around her daughter, so she could be present for her. 
 
We also talk about the gap Brit + Co fills today for creative women. Through online classes, content and videos, Brit + Co offers women resources and information that can help start a side hustle or turn your side hustle into your main gig. 
 
You can follow Anjelika Temple on instagram and you can visit her series on Brit + Co. Please rate, review and subscribe to our podcast and let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at hello@motherhonestly.com