Episode 20: Bored, Brilliant and Werkin It with Podcast Host and Author Manoush Zomorodi

Note to Self Podcast Host Manoush Zomorodi joins Mallory in the MILK Studio and they talk being frazzled, switching between mom and non-mom identities, and how business trips are cool but are certainly not yoga retreats.

In her new book, "Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self," Manoush details how we can free ourselves from our devices by seeing boredom as a gift.

This episode recorded at the Werk It Women’s Podcast Festival, produced by WNYC Studios.

Episode 19 Ghosts, Sex, Cancer and Revenge with Author Stephanie Gangi

Author Stephanie Gangi joins Mallory in the MILK studio to talk about her compulsively readable literary ghost story, “The Next.”

Photo: Elena Seibert for Stephanie Gangi

Gangi's first novel, written at age 60, is a sexy, satisfying, whirlwind tale of a lover scorned, and of mothers, daughters, sisters, cancer, death, social media ... all with a killer soundtrack. Stephanie is fierce, funny, beautifully present, and her writing is thrilling and deep. 

Episode 18: #Goals, Getting Out More, and Making Me Happen with Educator /Coach Taayoo Murray

Taayoo Murray joins me in the MILK studio to discuss how she and her kids set and meet goals, her work/mom ephiphany, and her book and coaching program “Making Me Happen.”

Taayoo is motivated, positive, and ready to help tweens, teens and the parents who love them with academics, behavior, athletics, and personal goal setting. She is lovely to talk parenting with --  and she has a great laugh! Check her out at taayoomurray.com and Making Me Happen on Facebook. 

Episode 17: Siri, Schedules, Sidekicks and Autism Spectrum Disorder with Journalist Judith Newman

Journalist Judith Newman joins me in the MILK studio to talk about her new book "To Siri With Love: A Mother, Her Autistic Son, and The Kindness of Machines."  

Judith is the author of You Make Me Feel Like an Unnatural Woman, a columnist for The New York Times Book Review and a regular contributor to The New York Times Style section and People. A contributing editor to Prevention, she also writes for National Geographic, AARP, Vanity Fair, and many other publications. She and her sons live in Manhattan.
 

Episode 16: Tweens and Teens, The Trauma of Changing Schools, and Not Curating the Truth with Middle Grade Author Lisa Greenwald

Lisa Greenwald joins me in the MILK studio to talk about writing books for tweens and teens, fitting it all in as a mom and a writer, and not feeling guilty all the damn time. Hard!

She has 2 new books out this summer, “Kale, My Ex, and Other Things to Toss in a Blender,” which is her first young adult novel, and “11 Before 12,” which is part one of a middle grade duology.

Lisa takes questions from a tween superfan, talks about writing books during nap and school time, and finding pleasure and inspiration in watching people interact. Check her out at lisagreenwald.com. 

Episode 15: The Gypsy Moth Summer, Los Angeles as Zoloft, and Writing for an Audience of One with Novelist Julia Fierro

Julia Fierro joins Mallory in the MILK studio to talk about her riveting new novel, “The Gypsy Moth Summer,” as well as her first book, “Cutting Teeth.”

A graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, Julia founded The Sackett Street Writers’ in 2002, a creative home to more then 3500 writers n NYC, Los Angeles and Online. Her work has been published in The New York Times, Buzzfeed, Glamour, Poets and Writers, and many other publications. Julia speaks frankly about anxiety and the OCD behaviors she tackles to write, and how motherhood intersects with her writing mind.

Julia is a great champion of her students and colleagues, a supportive wife to another writer who “gets it,” and a mom to two super readers. She recently relocated from her beloved Brooklyn to Los Angeles, and likes to generalize about that.
 

Episode 14: Documenting Joy, Celebrating Love and Staying Present with Filmmaker Susannah Ludwig

Filmmaker and Producer Susannah Ludwig joins Mallory in the MILK studio to talk about making joyful documentaries, applying her producer hat to love, and embracing the darkness of uncertain health.

We talk anxiety and positivity, and how those factors shape us as mothers and daughters. Susannah is optimistic, really likes making lists, is driven in life and in love, and shines as a mom and as a human. 

Episode 13: Closets, Clothes and Confidence with Fashion Stylist Alyssa Dineen

Stylist and Art Director Alyssa Dineen joins Mallory in the MILK studio to talk about how clothes can make the (+40) woman. Many of Alyssa's personal styling clients are mothers looking to find an identity post kids, and she shows them how to approach getting dressed for this phase of life.

They talk about raising confident daughters, dressing and dating after divorce, and good, quality basics. Check out her latest venture: www.stylemyprofile.com. Alyssa is talented, smart and absolutely knows what you should wear to that thing.

Episode 12: Lifelong Activism, Thinking Antrhopologically, and Actual Facetime with Dr. Alison Hall

Dr. Alison Hall received her Ph.D. in Anthropology, worked as a lecturer teaching and had a career as a Museum Director at The Arkansas Museum of Science and History, The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum and Planetarium, and The Children’s Museum of Arkansas. 

Upon retirement from museum work, Dr. Hall taught at the University of Central Arkansas, and won two university research grants. In 2015 she retired from teaching in order to help her daughter pursue a demanding career in medicine, and now divides her time between Brooklyn (where she cares for three grandsons aged 4, 7, and 10 years old) and Arkansas.

She has served on boards of Women’s Action for New Directions, Heifer International, Arkansas Sustainability Network, and the Arkansas chapter of the A.C.L.U. She is still actively engaged in what has become a lifelong pursuit of political and community activism. Between all that, she is finishing up her book about Italian collective farming that she began researching in the 1970s. Amazing.

Episode 11: Helping Moms, Mom is Helping, and Trolling DJT with Juliana Sanchez Gebb

Dr. Juliana Sanchez Gebb is in the MILK studio talking to Mallory on International Women's Day. Juliana is an attending high-risk obstetrician in the Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and a mother to three boys.

She has a notable commute from New York for her intense job, and manages childcare with help from her own mother, Alison Hall. Juliana has found a creative way to further her career and cultivate her specific medical interests, while relying on her mom and husband for support. She doesn't make it look easy, because its not! She’s lovely and calm, but also enjoys trolling the current POTUS on Twitter.