The Engine Mom Podcast : Fuel For The Driven Mama | Lifestyle | Motherhood | Wellness | Fitness | Passions | Mindset

Aparna Mele, M.D. is a board certified gastroenterologist with Digestive Disease Associates since 2007. She came to the field of medicine with extensive experience in international relief work overseas and is actively involved in local philanthropic work directed towards patient education and promotion of societal health. She started My Gut Instinct, her nonprofit organization, to educate the community about self-empowerment towards better health through better dietary choices, regular exercise, and preventative care. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two children, doing CrossFit, playing the piano, gourmet cooking, and traveling around the world. Listen in while Aparna talks about: - her experience of working alongside Mother Teresa in India as a young woman - how she ended up working in the medical field (after having zero desire to do so) and how she created her own meaning behind her work - what inspired her to start her non-profit in the 9th fattest city in the country - an

Today you’re going to be hearing from a new Mom who started her own business several years before her son was born, and has some great perspective and insight into running a small business and scaling that business. She and her husband turned a homemade treat into a successful brand after promoting it through food bloggers 5 years ago. Today, they have scaled this once home-based business to include a producer and distributor with their product featured online and in stores including Whole Foods and Wegman’s. Listen in as my guest and I discuss: the importance of putting pen to paper and writing down your goals and your vision for any pursuit whether it be business-related or personal relinquishing control when it comes to removing yourself from your business how the birth of her son encouraged her to take the big leap scaling her business the very real challenges of following your passions, especially as a mom my guest’s newest business venture: business coaching; specifically for women who are interested i

Today you will hear from my guest, Gina VanCant, a wife and mother who, along with her sister, co-founded, The Milk Mission: A Breastmilk Delivery Service. After the birth of her son, Gina faced her own struggles with breastfeeding that left her as though she had failed at breastfeeding. In hopes of supporting & encouraging other breastfeeding moms, Gina sought out to start a business that would make it easy for moms to get their breast milk home to baby while at work or away on business. Both Gina and her sister / co-founder, Kendra Valton, believe that a mom should not have to choose between her career and breastfeeding their child.  Listen in to hear Gina & I discuss: - exactly what The Milk Mission is and how she and her sister are working to support breastfeeding, working moms - how Gina and her sister took a common problem and began developing a solution and what the process was like exploring options for delivery and storage of breast milk - the importance of networking and making connections w

Today you will hear from my guest, Dr. Allie Demers who is now a Mama of two, and actually, we did this interview several months back so she was still pregnant with her second at the time that we spoke! In addition to raising her kiddos, my guest has always been passionate about helping others. She has spent the last 7 years working as a Women's Health Specialist in the field of Physical Therapy. She has a special interest in the care of pregnant and postpartum women. After having her daughter in 2015 she has become more passionate about advocating to improve the standards of care for post-partum women in this county. Allie loves her job and the ability to empower women to live a healthier, pain free life. My guest believes that service to others leads to greatness.  After starting her family, my guest quickly realized that with her schedule she wasn't able to give patients her all and come home and do the same for her family.  That’s when her journey as an entrepreneur began. At the beginning of 2016, she wa

In this episode you will hear from my guest, Lizzy Mourges who beyond being a wife, a mom and a lawyer most closely identifies as a CrossFitter and this past season competed in the CrossFit Games. This was the first official conversation she and I had and let me tell you she is just the sweetest and so genuine, I admitted over the interview that I had been a little intimidated by her when I first saw her because she’s just so bad ass as an athlete, I was honestly in awe of her. And she and I joked after the call that we think its funny that women can find each other intimidating - in fact, something I’ve been  trying to do recently is reframe that mindset from women are intimidating to women are inspiring. Women like my guest who was passionately pursuing competitive CrossFit while training for the games, now she’s taking a step back to focus on her career and family. My guest had some amazing things to say throughout out conversation about the balancing act of mothering, career and passions mom guilt or gui

After teaching middle school for over seven years, Jennifer Gonzalez took a break to stay home with her three young kids. Within a few years, she was teaching part-time at the college level, where she worked to prepare new teachers for the classroom. Eventually, Jenn took this work online and created her website, Cult of Pedagogy, where she’s have been writing, podcasting, and creating products and courses since 2013 to help teachers crush it in the classroom. Listen in to hear Jenn and I dive in to topics including  how she built her online community for educators the parallels of teaching and parenting why just doing “something” is the first step to eliminating overwhelm why it’s “Ok” to be a dork about the things that bring you joy the best ways to connect with likeminded people and how to use “CrossFit” as a verb and a way to tackle the to do list I kinda felt like my guest is my soul sister - I definitely connected with her over this interview and well beyond just both geeking out about CrossFit - i ju

My guest today is the founder of the Bridge Moms Conference - designed to connect new moms to information they need and to each other! My guest is a mother of 4, an Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant and runs her own Lactation Consulting Practice and is actively involved in the Baltimore Birth Network. In our conversation we talk about: how her passion for helping Moms lead her to starting her business how she used social media to support Moms in the early stages of her business through Twitter chat and how she current uses social media currently what inspired her to launch the Bridge Moms conference and how much of this event was put together through trial and error and why it’s so important for the event  to be inclusive of all demographics the importance of children seeing strong women and how to model our strengths to our children she talks about the challenges she’s faced while running her business, preparing for her event and finding the balance between work and being present with her

My guest today is, Dr. Sharon Dongarra, aka "Dr. D", a licensed Maryland chiropractor who specializes in the care of families, pregnant women and children. She lives in Baltimore with her wife, Katie and their two children and also runs her chiropractic practice, Thrive Chiropractic. Her interest in the care of pediatric and pregnant patients led her to obtain additional training and certification through the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association. She uses a variety of chiropractic adjustment techniques to meet the needs and comfort level of each member of her practice. Additionally, she has worked serving families living in low income housing in Baltimore City and with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Maryland Chapter. In this episode, Dr. D talks about: how discovering chiropractic care in young-adulthood helped her with depression and anxiety and ultimately lead her to become a practitioner herself she talks about her experience in finding a donor so that she and her wife could start a

This little firecracker of a Mama (literally, born on the fourth of July), is former cover model, the Founder of Ignite Girls, a graphic designer and Mama of 2 young kiddos. Disclaimer - in this very real convo between two Moms with lots in common, we really let ourselves speak freely and drop some ‘f-bombs and s-bombs’ Listen in on our conversation as Keri and I talk about all sorts of topics including the ‘balanced-threshold’ which she describes as a place where you can find your rhythm between being too rigid versus too loose with your goals  / lifestyle the importance of staying current, relative, and connected as the master of your craft - no matter what field you’re in and the challenges she faced as a new mom while trying to do this with her existing business she talks about the shifts she had to make within her business model once she had children the important lesson she learned about trademarking anything that you think might take off she reminds us that when it comes to motivation, it’s almost alw

Happy New Year Mamas! Today's episode is perfect for the new year and will inspire you to start simplifying you life right away! Today, I connect with not just one, but two amazing Mamas who are living the minimalist lifestyle while raising their families. They share their experiences with minimalism on their podcast, The Minimalist Moms Podcast. The show is a weekly conversation between my guests, Megan Ericson and Diane Boden, two simple-living and minimalism-loving moms. Their goal is to inspire you to think more and do with less. Diane: wife to Marty, mom to Miss Charlotte Rose and Baby Martin. Lover of books, travel, cool autumn days and coffee. A reformed ‘shop-aholic’ (so to speak) who now readily embraces a ‘less is more’ lifestyle. Megan: full-time mom to three little hooligans and part-time social media manager. Chronic purger, keeper of a capsule wardrobe, and seeker of ways to simplify life.  On this episode we discuss practical applications of minimalism in your life including: being more consci

Merry Christmas! A quick holiday episode with a reminder about kindness, a letter of gratitude for my daughter, and a teaser from some 2018 guests on the Engine Mom Podcast. *Please note: Adult language used in this episode*

My guest today is Austin Rees, a Baltimore Based La Leche League Leader, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant, as well as a Certified Babywearing Consultant. This mother of 4 is a former home-schooling mother and is now the co-founder of Sacred Milk within the Sacred Living Movement and runs the website BreastSkinSling.com - She is a firm believer in the power of skin-to-skin, sisterhood, and honoring all of life’s transitions. I’ll be honest, I definitely consider myself somewhat ‘crunchy’ or ‘woo woo’ when it comes to health and wellness, so I was loving this conversation coming from a place of female empowerment through intuition and trusting yourself. And in this episode we’ll be talking about how my guest uses local groups to help share her resources to build a larger support system reminds us of the importance of community and the idea that it really does take a village to raise a family she shares more about the organization that she co-founded, Milk Stories and the amazing opportunit

Dr. Jeanna LeClaire Hill offers a unique, personalized, concierge experience for the individual who is invested in improving their pain and achieving their goals.  Quality treatment, 24/7 access for questions, and detailed home exercise plans help in minimizing visit frequency for efficient results that fit in with your personal schedule.  In combining manual therapy techniques, pilates, functional and traditional strength training with one-on-one attention, you are guaranteed the best environment for healing and improvement to occur. "My biggest goal is to empower you to aid in your own recovery while preventing reoccurrence." In this episode you will hear Jeanna talk about her passion for Physical Therapy and how a series of events lead to her creating her own PT practice she describes the unique model for her practice and how being a mom has influenced her business model how she works with her patients in ways that will help educate them to treat themselves and retrain their brain and muscle memory she gi

My guest today is an amazing friend and fellow podcaster, wife and Mama. She and I recorded this episode a few months back at the end of the summer and we were in the middle of a really intense summer storm during our recording. My guest is the founder of The Harmony Tribe and the host of The Harmony Tribe podcast where she talks about wellness, recovery, mental and physical health. She was born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico and moved to San Diego seven years ago. She lives with her husband John, her daughter Sienna, her son Max and her dog, Charlie. Odette loves to enjoy the city of San Diego with her family, they love camping, checking out new restaurants, going to the beach and spending time outside. Odette has been a health and wellness coach for a little over two years, she helps people with their health habits and promotes a lifestyle in which people can find their own definition of harmony. Odette believes that being authentic to ourselves and owning who we are is the root to finding harmony within

In this episode, my guest, Lori Jimenez talks about how she has used her passion for graphic design, her children and essential oils to create a truly blessed life. She’s a mother of 2 and her current goal is to retire her husband through the business she has built. This was one of my favorite conversations to date - stay tuned to hear about: how my guest uses essentials oils to help her kids stay healthy, how to calm them (and herself down) when moods start to get a little crazy how she’s combined her experience and love for graphic design and integrated that into her essential oils business the beauty of just starting something when it comes to taking action and additional advice on how to start pursuing your passions and putting yourself first and finally, how we (as moms) need to give ourselves more credit! My guest is genuine, enthusiastic and was such a pleasure to chat with - I know you’ll feel an instant connection with her as well. Links: Lori’s Website: letsgetessential.comLori on Instagram: https

Sara Dean is the host of The Shameless Mom Academy Podcast and the Founder & CEO of Sync Fitness Boot Camp and Transformation Center in Seattle, WA.  Sync Fitness was Sara’s first baby – until 5 years ago when she had a real baby, who totally kicked her butt.  Sara’s experiences and failures in motherhood created more stories than she could bear to keep to herself, so she birthed The Shameless Mom Academy in early 2016.  Through the Shameless Mom Academy, Sara helps moms feel less alone, gives moms tools to find their new identity after motherhood, and empowers women to find more joy in their life #everydamnday. In this episode we talk about: empowering women, especially moms to stand in their power and take up space in the world the benefits of professional development whether you’re an entrepreneur or in more of a corporate role what her days look like as the CEO of her own business she gives some incredible advice on how to prioritize your to-do list and how to narrow down your focus through the use of

In this episode, you will hear from Jameliah Blount, a woman who knows what it means to dream big and then act accordingly to see her dreams come true. Being a single mother of two young boys strives to show them on a daily basis that they can succeed at anything that they put their minds and effort towards. She is focused on exposing them to a well rounded, structured, and holistic parenting style. Jameliah’s belief that every parent’s goal in life is to raise well rounded children who don’t have to first overcome their childhood to follow their dreams. The combination of her own personal education and child rearing experience with many years of working with youth groups lead her to establish Holistically Empowered Youth, Inc. An 501 c3 approved organization dedicated to providing well rounded and holistic programs, activities, resources and support with a focus of helping to rear young people with a self assured, productive, confident, and an individual sense of community. Jameliah authored the book The Maz

In this episode, you will hear from Molly Powell, whose biggest passion is wellness: and is especially passionate about working with women. She is a mom to a little girl, with another baby on the way and she staying plenty busy with her Wellness Business. My guest is a Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, a CrossFit Level 1 Trainer, a Level 2 Reiki practitioner, an ACE Certified Personal trainer, an ICEA Certified childbirth educator and in January of 2017, became a Regional Director for BIRTHFIT Milwaukee. 
In addition to her certifications, my guest has hundreds of hours of self study and research on topics ranging from hormonal imbalances, autoimmune diseases, gut health, gut-brain connection and biohacking to chakra balancing, mindset & mindfulness, eating psychology and food addictions to maternity health, prenatal and postpartum care, and evidence based birth care. My guest is the perfect example of someone who has found a way to wrap all of her interests and passions together to help wome

In today’s episode, you will hear from my guest, Allison Zmuda who has an incredible story of building a name for herself in the world of education and shares her traumatic experience that changed her life and challenged everything she knew about learning. My guest is an international education consultant and actually a client of mine, I’ve been working with her for going on 14 years. As she’ll explain in the episode, she is a colleague of my Dad’s, which is how I originally was connected to her, and now she and I connect on many more things than just graphic design and education. She’s authored several books including her most recent, “Learning Personalized”, she works closely with the Habits of Mind Institute and you’ll hear in the show just how ambitious and motivated she is to make a difference in the world of education. Listen in as we talk about: Seeking a mentor or coach in order further your growth in a particular area of your life How being driven and ambitious can actually take a toll on your famil

In this episode you will hear from Lisa Daisey DeFibo, a Mom of 2 who has over 14 years of experience owning multiple businesses in the resort beach town of Bethany Beach, DE - which also happens to be her home town. Inspired by her father's travel agency as a kid, Lisa spent many years traveling and exploring the world. You will hear about the very adventurous life that she lived prior to settling back in to her home town and starting her family and how her go-getter attitude allowed her to build multiple successful businesses. Her businesses include EcoBay Kayak Adventures - a service on the bays of Delaware that offer nature tours, camps and equipment rentals; an informational kiosk located smack-dab in the middle of the Bethany Beach boardwalk; as well as The Juice Box, a healthy eats and juice bar, which now has multiple locations. Lisa shares how she took her love of nature, health, and helping people and built successful, seasonal businesses. She’s definitely someone who takes action when the need aris