MILK Podcast: Lost and Found, Episode 3 Episode 11: Mothers Before, Mom Rages and New Stages with Edan Lepucki

Novelist Edan Lepucki joins Mallory in the MILK Studio. Edan is the bestselling author of California and Woman No. 17, and the creator of the popular Mothers Before Instagram account. @MothersBefore was timed to the release of her latest book, which explored the themes of art, motherhood, and identity.

Edan asked women and non-binary people of all ages to submit a favorite photograph of their mother before she became a mother and write a description of what the images invoke. @MothersBefore was and remains hugely popular, and now Mothers Before is a book. In it, Edan gathers more than sixty original essays and favorite photographs to explore the question: Who was your mother before she became a mother?

The daughters in this remarkable collection are writers and poets, artists and teachers, and the images and stories they share reveal the lives of women in ways that are vulnerable and true, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always moving.

Contributors include Jennifer Egan, Angela Garbes, Alison Roman, and Jia Tolentino, among others. Mothers Before is a thoughtful and intimate celebration of motherhood and female identity. Edan is also the cohost of the podcast Mom Rage, which is candid and terrific. She lives in Los Angeles with her family. Follow her at edanlepucki dot com and @edanlepucki.

MILK Podcast: Lost and Found, Season 3 Episode 10: Kamala and Maya's Big Idea and Phenomenal Girls Make Phenomenal Women with Meena Harris

Meena Harris joins Mallory in the MILK Studio. Meena is the author of “Kamala and Maya’s Big Idea," an illustrated picture book based on a true story from the childhood of Meena’s mom and aunt.

Meena is founder of the groundbreaking Phenomenal Women Action campaign, she is a respected entrepreneur and is recognized as an influential voice for women’s equality. In the book, two sisters make a difference in their community by dreaming big and fighting for what they believe in. It’s an early lesson on the power of community organizing, and an example of what Meena’s grandmother always told her: “Each of us has a role to play.” Meena believes that to fight for women’s equality, we need to start with girl’s equality, and her book focuses on listening to girls of color, supporting their big ideas, and following their lead.

Currently, Meena is head of strategy and leadership at Uber, where she leads brand transformation initiatives focused on corporate citizenship, customer loyalty, and employee engagement. In addition to Uber, she has advised major brands on diversity and inclusion. Meena is also an attorney with extensive experience in consumer protection, data privacy, and cybersecurity. She is a graduate of Standford University and Harvard Business School. She lives in San Francisco with her partner and two daughters. The book can be purchased through a link on phenomenal girl dot com. Follow Meena @meenaharris or phenomenalwoman.us

MILK Podcast: Lost and Found, Season 3 Episode 9: You May Want to Marry Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Husband, Jason B. Rosenthal

Jason B. Rosenthal is the author of “My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me: A Memoir.” In March of 2017, beloved author Amy Krouse Rosenthal published an essay about her love for her husband Jason in the New York Times Modern Love column. Amy had been fighting late stage, aggressive ovarian cancer and ultimately died two weeks later, after the piece had gone viral and touched millions of readers. Jason’s memoir is his response to Amy’s death, and to their lives together as partners, parents, and explorers.

Jason is the best selling author of "Dear Boy," co-written by his daughter, Paris Rosenthal. He is the board chair of the Amy Krouse Rosenthal Foundation, which supports both childhood literacy and research in early detection of ovarian cancer. A lawyer, public speaker and devoted father of three, he is passionate about helping others to fill and expand their blank spaces, and to continue the intention and legacy of Amy’s life’s work.

Amy was a MILK, and Jason is the first, and probably only, honorary non-MILK guest. Follow Jason @jasonbrosenthal and @akrfoundation.

MILK Podcast: Lost and Found, Season 3, Episode 7: Ambition, Addiction and Tragedy with "Smacked" Author Eilene Zimmerman

Journalist Eilene Zimmerman joins Mallory in the MILK Studio. Eilene is the author of SMACKED: A story of White Collar Ambition, Addiction, and Tragedy, a deeply personal memoir about her husband Peter, who died after struggling with an addiction he kept secret from her and their two children.

Beyond Eilene’s personal experience discovering Peter’s body and retracing his secretive and harrowing addiction story is her own examination of herself as a partner and as a woman, as well as a powerful, reported look at addiction, privilege, and consumption in our culture.

Eilene has been a journalist for three decades, covering business, technology and social issues for a wide array of national magazines and newspapers. She was a columnist for The New York Times Sunday Business section for many years and since 2004 has been a regular contributor to the newspaper. In 2017, Zimmerman also began pursuing a master’s degree in social work, which she is completing soon. She lives in New York City and can be found online at eilenezimmerman.com

MILK Podcast: Lost and Found, Season 3 Episode 6: Moms Have Time to Read Books, Host a Podcast and Amplify Authors with Zibby Owens

Zibby Owens, is in the MILK Studio with Mallory, in a remote mom podcast to mom podcast host conversation. Zibby is the host of the award winning literary podcast Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books. A mother of four and a writer herself, Zibby has contributed to Redbook, Marie Claire, Parents, Huff Post, the New York Times online, What’s Up Moms, Kveller, Shape, SELF, and many other publications. She has been called “NYC’s Most Powerful Book-fluencer” by Vulture.com.

Her podcast was selected as one of Oprah Magazine’s top 21 book podcasts in 2019. A graduate of Yale University and Harvard Business School, she previously worked at Unilever, idealab! and other start-ups. She currently lives in New York with her husband, Kyle Owens of Morning Moon Productions, and her four children, ages 5-12.

Since the Covid-19 shelter in place began, Zibby has pivoted her podcast, her “in real life” author talks and literary salons, all online, created an online literary magazine called “We Found Time,” with original essays from her podcast guests, a Zoom live book club with authors and readers, and Instagram live chats with authors. Follow her on instagram @zibbyowens, and check out her podcast, writing and events at www.zibbyowens.com.

MILK Podcast: Lost and Found, Season 3, Episode 1: Midlife Limbo, Death, Dogs and Separation Anxiety with Author Laura Zigman

Laura Zigman joins Mallory in the MILK Studio to talk about her latest novel “Separation Anxiety,” some difficult creative and personal years that led to the book’s publication, and how we talk about women’s mid-life crises.

The author of “Animal Husbandry,” “Dating Big Bird,” “Piece of Work,” and “Her,” contributor to The New York Times and many other publications, and a ghost writer of books she can’t tell you about, Laura’s writing is a gift at this moment in time.

Laura writes from a truthful, humorous and chaotic place that lays bare the secret of adulthood: that most of us have no idea what the hell is going on. She opens MILK Podcast Season 3 with her stories of loss and finding her way through them. Follow her @LauraZigman on IG.

MILK Podcast: The Loss Season, Episode 11 Losing Both Parents, Book Clubs, Memoirs and Old Friends

Author Dina Bryk Pearl joins Mallory in the MILK Studio. Dina is a former strategy consultant, a graduate of Cornell University and Columbia Business School, and the mother of three kids.

Dina’s parents, Sy and Carol Bryk, passed away in quick succession at the end of Dina’s twenties. Despite the depth and heartbreak of those losses, Dina used the strong relationships she had with them to find her way through the grief, while beginning a new life as a wife and mother. Several years ago, then in her 40’s, Dina took a writing workshop and wrote "Raised," a deeply felt memoir about losing her parents at a formative age. The book explores of the foundation of love, honesty, and humor she absorbed from her late parents, and how Dina has found strength and wisdom to parent her own children and herself.

MILK Podcast: The Loss Season, Episode 10: Love and Conflict in Female Friendships, The Shedding of Selves, and #ClogLife with Author Lauren Mechling

Lauren Mechling joins Mallory in the MILK Studio to discuss her novel “How Could She.” They talk about changing and losing jobs and friendships, how clogs played a role in a cultivating a creative community, and about podcasts and the joy of a female only dinner party.

Photo by NIna Subin

Lauren has written for The New York Times. The Wall Street Journal, Slate, The New Yorker online and Vogue, where she writes a regular book column. She’s worked as a crime reporter and metro columnist for The New York Sun, a young adult novelist, and a features editor at The Wall Street Journal.

She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children. Learn more at www.laurenmechling.com.

MILK Podcast: The Loss Season, Episode 7: The Magic of The Moth, Storytelling about Life and Death, and an Office Filled with Moms with Artistic Director Catherine Burns

Catherine Burns is in the MILK Studio with Mallory. As The Moth's longtime Artistic Director, Catherine is a producer and frequent host of their Peabody Award ­winning "The Moth Radio Hour," and the editor of "Occasional Magic: True Stories About Defying the Impossible" (Crown Archetype); The Moth: 50 True Stories (Hachette) and All These Wonders: True Stories About Facing the Unknown. Catherine has directed theater, produced television and independent films, interviewing such diverse talent as Ozzy Osbourne, Martha Stewart and Howard Stern. Born and raised in Alabama, she now lives in Brooklyn with her husband and young son.

Photo credit: Aly Nicklaus

A semi­-accomplished fire performer (!!!) she also directed the New York City portion of the Burning Man Festival's Fire Conclave for three years, coordinating a 70­-person fire show performed in front of 50,000 people. Catherine and Mallory talk about the magic of live storytelling, how to hold space for our loved ones through narrative, and how her job listening to stories is a gift.

Catherine shared some memorable stories about loss from The Moth:

The House of Mourning, by Kate Braestrup

Love and Loss on Valentine's Day, by Autumn Spencer

Forgiveness, by Hector Black

Inside Jokes, by Ophira Eisenberg

Stumbling in the Dark, by John Turturro

A Kind of Wisdom and Lost, by Ellie Lee

MILK Podcast The Loss Season Episode 6 Losing Patience, All That Rage, and The Myth of Equal Partnership at Home with Clinical Psychologist Darcy Lockman

Darcy Lockman joins Mallory in the MILK Studio. Darcy is the author of "All The Rage: Mothers, Fathers, and The Myth of Equal Partnership," and  is a clinical psychologist practicing in New York City. 

"All The Rage" takes a close look at why in this modern era, full-time employed mothers continue to bear 65 percent of the childcare labor. 

Mallory and Darcy talk about how anger and resentment led Darcy to action. Using her marriage as a case-study, she chronicles the experiences of a cross-section of women raising children with men — visiting new mothers’ groups and pioneering co-parenting specialists; and interviewing experts across academic fields, from gender studies professors and anthropologists to neuroscientists and primatologists. She identifies three tenets that have upheld the cultural gender division of labor and peels back the ways in which both men and women unintentionally perpetuate old norms. If we can all agree that equal pay for equal work should be a given, can the same apply to unpaid work? Can justice finally come home? 

Darcy Lockman is a clinical psychologist practicing in New York City. Her first book, "Brooklyn Zoo," chronicled the year she spent working on a city hospital psychiatric ward. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post, and many others. She lives with her husband and daughters in New York. Find her at darcylockman.com