Episode 321: Not an Angry Mom, I’m a Raging Mom: Owning Mom Rage with Annia Palacios

“Motherhood is hard, but it doesn’t have to be this hard.” - Annia

Have you ever felt so anxious, overwhelmed, tired, or a million other emotions, but what comes out is… anger? This is called rage, in particular mom rage, and our guest this week is explaining these feelings and how we can handle them. Annia Palacios is a therapist who has dedicated her career to working with moms after her own struggle with postpartum depression. During our conversation, we discuss the symptoms of mom rage, the challenges of motherhood that ignite these emotions, and our overall maternal mental health. We also touch on post traumatic stress that parents specifically have felt over the last few years, and how to cope. 

Before the show…

Bricia is alone this week (Paulina is in Oaxaca), but we do have a major announcement this week. Our michelada mix company, I Love Micheladas, is now being carried in select Costco locations in California! We want to shout out our tiny but mighty ILM team who worked so hard to make this all possible, and to our new Costco family for all the love, patience and support. Full list of locations is below. And for our listeners not local to Los Angeles or California, you can also shop our mix at Vallarta, Northgate Markets and 24/7 on ILoveMicheladas.com.

Costco Locations Carrying I Love Micheladas Mix

Azusa

Eastvale

Fontana

Fullerton

Inglewood

La Habra

La Quinta

Monterey Park

Norwalk

Oxnard 

Van Nuys

More about Annia: Annia Palacios is a therapist, coach, mom and stepmom who has dedicated her career to working with moms. She transformed her therapy practice into primarily working with mothers after her own struggles with postpartum depression following the birth of her first child. Through that journey, Annia realized that moms deserved better and shouldn't have to suffer in silence.

Today, Annia's therapy practice is dedicated to helping moms and mom-to-be navigate postpartum depression and anxiety, grief, infertility, and birth trauma. Her coaching work supports mom in managing mom rage and the mental load of motherhood so they can redefine themselves and find balance in life and motherhood.

Annia offers therapy services to clients living in Texas and Florida through Tightrope Therapy and provides coaching services nationwide and internationally via Moms Playbook Coaching.

Our Conversation with Annia

How long does maternal mental health last?

Post Traumatic Stress after Uvalde and other tragic events

Preparing for Safety with our Children

Symptoms of postpartum depression and anxiety

Mom rage - what does it feel like and look like?

How to cope with rage

Annia is offering Super Mamas listeners $100 off her signature "Mom Rage" coaching package. You will receive 5 individual 1:1 coaching sessions to help you understand what makes you rage, instantly begin applying coping skills to help manage your unique situations and develop a playbook to help tackle future issues. Just mention that you found

Links

Follow Annia on Instagram - @the.therapy.mom and TikTok @tightropetherapy

You can also learn more about Annia’s practice at TightRopeTherapy.com and her online coaching for moms at MomsPlaybookCoaching.com.

Episode 318: Parenting from Abundance with Lilliana Vazquez

Our guest this week, Lilliana Vazquez, has held many titles - style expert, former television host on E!, and most recently, mama to her almost one year old son, Santiago. Like most episodes, our conversation is all about parenting but this one is a little different. We’re not only talking about Lilliana’s road to becoming a parent, including IVF treatment and her birth story, but also what is means to parent in abundance. She believes that making sure her own cup is full before anything else helps her be the best parent she can be. We also talk about the difficult feelings surrounding motherhood, advocating for your health (always!) and how good it feels to finally be heard. 

More about Lilliana: Lilliana is known as one of the fashion blogging OGs, and has carried many titles - from blogger to style expert, TV commentator to television host on E!. The enterprising star has curated a career that began from her small blog (CheapChicas.com), which she launched in 2008, to being seen by millions daily on numerous platforms including NBC TODAY, "Extra" to "The Talk," "Rachael Ray," "The Wendy Williams Show" and "Steve Harvey."  Today, she’s at PEOPLE (The TV Show) as a Special Contributor covering all things entertainment, red carpets, runways, and celebrity pop culture news.

Born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, to a Puerto Rican father and Mexican mother, Lilliana is a first-generation Latinx who radiates gratitude for the dedication and sacrifices that her family made for her. Among the first in her family to attend college, she graduated from George Washington University, where she earned a double-major in international business and entrepreneurship. Lilliana has always used her platform to advocate for her community, and fight for Latinx representation in media and entertainment, as well as raise awareness on social issues.

In April of 2021, Lilliana announced she was pregnant with her first child, after battling with six years of infertility and IVF. After living this experience, Lilliana wishes to use her voice and platform to break the taboo around infertility and how it affects the Latinx community. In July 2021, Lilliana announced the birth of her healthy baby boy, Santiago “Santi” Merrick McGrath. Lilliana hopes to continue sharing about her journey to motherhood, the lessons, the challenges and hope with other mothers and those who hope to experience motherhood one day.

Vocabulary from this week’s episode

IVF: In vitro fertilization (IVF) helps with fertilization, embryo development, and implantation, so you can get pregnant.

IUI treatment: Intrauterine insemination (IUI) is a simple procedure that puts sperm directly inside your uterus, which helps healthy sperm get closer to your egg.

AMH test: AMH, or anti-mullerian hormone is a substance produced by granulosa cells in ovarian follicles. Research shows that the size of the pool of growing follicles is heavily influenced by the size of the pool of remaining primordial follicles (microscopic follicles in “deep sleep”). Therefore, AMH blood levels are thought to reflect the size of the remaining egg supply – or “ovarian reserve”.

Gentle cesarean: A gentle C-section is a cesarean section which is elective and can occur under controlled situations.

Lilliana’s experience: “You can apply the same principles as a natural birth - skin to skin, cord clamping, vernix, and weight & height measurement can be delayed as long as the baby is okay. You can ask for a clear curtain instead of blue so you can watch the birth. You can also ask the doctor to take their time and be gentle; these are all things to discuss with your doctor if you are planning a gentle cesarean.”

Pick or Tip of the Week

Bricia’s pick this week is food! She has everything you can think of in her pantry - oils, salsas, etc. - she just wants to try one of everything. She recently tried David Chang’s products like the chili crunch, but her pick is the noodles. These are restaurant quality noodles come in clutch when you don’t have anything to eat.

Sun protection is Paulina’s tip this week. Coola Organic Radical Recovery After Sun Lotion has really helped her daughter’s recover from summer camp since they’re spending all day in the sun. They lather up before bed and it helps them so much in the morning.

Links

Follow Lilliana on Instagram @lillianavazquez

Episode 313: When Business and Motherhood Meet with Ellen Marie Bennett, founder of Hedley & Bennett

Who knew that becoming a mom is so much like running a business? Only our friend, Ellen Marie Bennett. She’s a new mom, founder of the brand Hedley & Bennett, and an incredibly accomplished woman who has changed the culinary industry. She talks about her birth story (including her 40 hour labor!), why it’s necessary for both parents to be a part of the postpartum experience, and how becoming a mother has changed her perspective as a business owner. She may be a new mama, but she has been exuding super mama vibes for a long time!

More about Ellen:  Growing up, Ellen Bennett, the founder and Chief Brand Officer of Hedley & Bennett, the leading Los Angeles based culinary brand, found herself spending summers in her native Mexico learning to cook with her abuelita. Soon after graduating high school, Ellen found herself back in Mexico City attending culinary school where she would rekindle the joys of her summer cooking adventures while learning the skills needed to tackle the hustle of the professional kitchen. Back in L.A., she put her training to work cooking in two Michelin Star restaurants, Providence and Baco Mercat. It was during this time working on the line that she experienced a “uniform” that was not aligned with the creativity and confidence found in the kitchen. This led to the vision for Hedley & Bennett; make the best aprons in the world by marrying the needs of professional chefs with the design trends for today's discerning consumers.

Today, Hedley & Bennett makes culinary workwear and gear that outfits over 6,000 restaurants, hotels, coffee shops, resorts and hundreds of thousands of home cooks all over the world. This evolution has also led to creative, out-of-the-box collaborations with brands and partners such as the Grateful Dead, Vans, Madewell, Parachute Home, Rifle Paper Co., Product (RED) and more. 

In early 2020, Ellen pivoted the resources of her company during the global COVID-19 pandemic to make masks to meet the needs of both professionals and consumers while donating hundreds of thousands of masks to front line workers. 

In April of 2021, Ellen released her first book Dream First, Details Later, which outlines her personal playbook of putting your inner worrier on silent and leaping into action. Peppered with unfiltered behind-the-scenes stories and colorful illustrations, the book empowers readers with the tools they need to bring their boldest and best ideas to life.  

Ellen and the Hedley & Bennett story has been featured in the New York Times, Fast Company, Inc., Forbes, Entrepreneur,  Bon Appetit, Martha Stewart, the Ellen DeGeneres Show, the Today Show and more. Ellen lives in Echo Park with her husband Casey, their brand-new baby boy Nico, their pet pig Oliver, and six chickens.

Our Conversation with Ellen

“My greatest accomplishment yet.” - Ellen, on becoming a mom

Her pet pig, Oliver

Nico’s birth

“40 hour labor - that’s a full work week!” - Ellen on her birthing experience

The story of Hedley & Bennett

“It started with this decision and this mental shift from no to yes and then taking the actions necessary which is very much like running a business.” - Ellen, on deciding she was ready to start a family

“There are crazy similarities with business and motherhood and I’m only 5 months in.” - Ellen

“It’s incredibly important that both that both the man and the woman show up for postpartum because it’s so fucking hard. It’s so much work and it’s so intense for the mother, and no mother should have to do it on their own.'“ - Ellen

Ellen’s postpartum experience

“I have never stopped in that way. I’ve never stopped for 40 days ever. It was crazy but I needed it.” - Ellen

“When the baby comes, you feel like your marriage becomes #2. But it shouldn’t. It needs to be number 1.” - Ellen

Business & a baby

Links

Follow Ellen on instagram @ellenmariebennett

Follow Hedley & Bennett on Instagram @hedleyandbennett and shop aprons, accessories and more at HedleyandBennett.com

Buy her book Dream First, Details Later: How to Quit Overthinking & Make It Happen! “It’s an easy read!” - Ellen

You can also buy the audio version, read by Ellen herself

Bricia also recommended this book, The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother, to Ellen during her baby shower. They both highly recommend it when preparing for your postpartum experience.