Chantal Challenger lives a different life from many of us, traveling around the world with her husband and two kids. She and her husband work in the hospitality/hotel industry, and have chosen a life as expats currently living in Jakarta. She shares about how they chose to move from their home in Australia, and how they’ve adapted to raising their family in a different culture. She had her children in Singapore, which is a very different birth culture where up to 45% of births are c-sections. Chantal was surprised to learn that many women choose an elective c-section, and for her it posed a slight challenge in finding a doctor who was supportive of natural birth. She also talks about the breastfeeding culture which is also very different than what she thought, where most babies are fed formula as the ‘norm’. So when she wanted to breastfeed her babies, she often had other women asking her why she was doing something so abnormal. It was fascinating to listen to Chantal talk about her life, and the cool thing about her was that she’s just another mom doing the best that she can, raising her children, being a wife, and living her day to day life just like all of us moms in the world. What I love about Chantal’s attitude and philosophy of life is how she makes choices even in the face of doubt and fear, with no regrets, and goes in with 100% commitment. We can only gain from following our hearts and going for it. If you’d like to ask Chantal a question, send her an email at Chantal.waddington@gmail.com

You're Doing Great Mom

YDGM Ep 32: Chantal Challenger, life as a mum and an expat.

Anyone who has written their own book deserves lots of congratulations. And lots of book sales. Especially if it took them ten years to research and write it. Well, that's what my husband Julian Wiseman has just completed. And it's now on sale.  It's called Port Vintages.  There's a lot of things that I didn't know about port wine. For example, I had no idea that it's not made every year. You'll learn more about that from this episode. I also didn't know what the differences are between Tawny Port, Crusted Port, Late Bottled Vintage Port, and finally, Vintage Port.  Many listeners have loved my past episodes with my husband (here and here), and I've had some requests that he continue to be a regular 'guest'. We always have fun with it, and it always seems like a good time to spend together.  Julian's book is a substantial and impressive reference book on Port Vintages. In fact, it's the only reference book on the subject. He went around to many different sources, including old libraries at universities, archives, department stores, auction houses, and many more. Ten years of researching and gathering data to find all the port vintages ever declared.  If you are a wine lover and you also enjoy port, this episode is so interesting with so much information about wine and Vintage Port. And you will see how much of a port geek he is.  Check out www.portvintages.com to buy your copy (or 10) of Port Vintages. Any questions or requests for bulk orders. email me at sales@portvintages.com Enjoy!

YDGM Ep 31: My husband Julian Wiseman talking about his book on Port Vintages.

Keith Wassung's got one of those stories. Ex-navy, super athlete, weightlifting champion, and on his way to fame, life was on a pretty extraordinary path. Then, at age 22, his body started to slowly break down, first with sinus headaches, then digestion problems, loss of hearing, and more, which eventually led him to be dependant on 18 different drugs. His health deteriorated so badly that he lost nearly all hope. He thought that was it. What more could he do? What saved him was a random chance encounter with a chiropractor who told him that he wanted to help him. Keith thought he was crazy. What’s a chiropractor going to do for him? Keith’s story is incredible and inspiring. After regaining his health and getting back his strength from his regular chiropractic adjustments, his passion for sharing his experience with chiropractic was born. He researched and studied everything he could possibly learn about what chiropractic is, and how he can tell as many people as possible. And now, after 30 years of spreading the chiropractic message by selling information and educational material, he has built a huge empire and well-known brand within the chiropractic profession. I remember being in chiropractic school hearing about Keith’s work. In fact, I always thought he was a chiropractor himself and he had a huge practice. In the profession, he is well-respected and is often seen lecturing at some of the biggest and most popular chiropractic seminars in the world. In this episode with Keith, he talks about his family, his six children, and his how he has built his life full of passion, prosperity, love, and dedication to serving and giving to people. It was an honor to have him on my podcast. This is an awesome episode and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! Keith's website: http://keithwassung.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keith.wassung — Dr MaryAnne

YDGM Ep 30: Keith Wassung

Tom’s the kinda guy that you can hang out with, have a beer with, and chat about anything. His energy fuels you each and every minute. He’s also the guy you could call up and ask his advice and he’d give you his 100% with a solid answer. And he’s also the guy you’d see on a stage in front of thousands of people. He’s unstoppable. In this episode, I’m speaking with Thomas Waller. He’s a dynamic successful chiropractor in Lincoln, UK and he owns and runs his practice with his wife Sarah (at the time of the recording, they were planning their wedding and about to get married). The very first time I heard about Tom was, serendipitously, a few years ago. A close friend of mine was in need of a good chiropractor and she asked me if I knew anyone near her in Bristol. So I asked some colleagues and everyone recommended Tom. He was practicing in Bristol at the time and he was highly recommended. I had no idea who he was. I just trusted my chiropractic friends. Each time I checked in with my friend, she told me how great Tom is and how he was helping her tremendously. She only said wonderful things about him. Over time, Tom kept on popping up on my radar on Facebook, as well as among mutual friends at seminars, yet I had never actually got the chance to meet him face to face. I was so happy when Tom volunteered to be a part of my podcast to talk about fatherhood and parenting. I was so looking forward to what he’d say about those topics, and I also knew we’d spend a lot of time talking about chiropractic. A few weeks after we recorded the episode, we finally got a chance to meet in person at a seminar. It was such a pleasure to do this episode with him, and I’m very much looking forward to following and supporting him in his plans, as well as our continued friendship. You can connect and reach out to Tom by going to his website: www.epochcentres.co.uk Facebook: Thomas Waller Dc and facebook.com/epochlincoln Instagram: dr_tom_dc33

YDGM Ep 29: Thomas Waller DC

Craig Peterson is American who lives in Rome Italy. He’s 35 years old and he’s a Network Spinal Chiropractor. He is not a father, and he’s in a relationship with a woman who doesn’t want children. He’s thought about having kids, and it was his current girlfriend who gave him the deeper thought of why he wants kids, and why not live life without having kids. Check out Dr Craig's website:    www.chiropraticauniverale.com   For more information on Network Spinal Chiropractic, go to https://epienergetics.com/ 

YDGM Ep 28: Craig Peterson, an American living in Rome

Brendan Waddington continues the conversation of fatherhood into the second episode of the series speaking to men. There are so many people on this planet, and it's always such a joy and so much fun to speak to someone who you know is making a difference in the world. I just met Brendan and to me, he is an all around great guy. Intelligent, interesting, fun, totally got his shit together, and he has even written a book about no-bullshit health.  His new book is called “The Wellness Bible, A No bullshit Guide to Wellness”. His website is http://nobullshitwellness.com/ Brendan is a naturopath, soft-tissue therapist, personal trainer, and he also helps miners by coaching them on their health. When I asked him to be on my podcast, he didn't think I'd be interested because he's not a father. Naturally, it's what people would think, but I was very keen on having men who are not fathers to talk about their views on the subject. Brendan mentions that he definitely wants kids eventually, and it was interesting to hear how he thinks and feels about fatherhood. 

YDGM Ep 27: Brendan Waddington on Fatherhood

This is the first episode in my 3rd series on my podcast, You're Doing Great Mom. I decided to include my husband and to have his episode kick off the series talking about fatherhood. This series is centered around the topic of fatherhood, where men from all walks of life share their views on the subject. My husband and I sat down together on a Saturday with our kids running around. It took us all day to get some good solid recordings down without too much interruption. Topics included: Fatherhood Dating Sperm Virility Alcohol Foie Gras Blue Planet Hitchcock story-telling styles Having a will Submarines Breastfeeding Baby fat-folds Baby bathtime Being a fat bastard Diapers Astronauts Fonseca Port More alcohol How to taste wine when you’re 12. Test-taking skills How to be an astronaut or an Olympic swimmer Final words of advice about fatherhood How not to get murdered by your wife You can find out more information about my husband Julian on his website, http://www.jdawiseman.com/author.html  

YDGM Ep 26: Julian D A Wiseman AKA My Husband

Lillian Lartey is my guest in this last episode of 2017. She’s a personal trainer, massage therapist, and I consider her a life coach for women because she is so grounded in her values and commitment to having an extraordinary life. She came over to record this episode, and it was wonderful to spend those 90-minutes together. So much of what she said was illuminating for me about womenhood, and motherhood. Lillian isn’t a mother, and yet, she has so much wisdom about it! “If we look from the central part of the world going eastwards, a lot of the time when it comes to parenthood, it’s not just the mom taking total responsibility of that child or those children; you’ve got a total village, you’ve got a total town taking care of that child. So that mother doesn’t necessarily have those pressures that they do in the Western world. We also don’t have those pressures of wanting to get a really good job, wanting to have A, B, and C; Take the children to the best school, have the best clothes, have all this money, etc, go on the best holidays - all this pressure adds in. Why? Where as, when we appreciate our lives why we’re here, and that mum gives birth in a village to a child, everybody celebrates that. That’s everybody’s child. It’s not just that mum who’s given birth to that child. It’s everybody’s responsibility.”   Lillian is a personal trainer, massage therapist, and I consider her a life coach for women because she is so grounded in her values and commitment to having an extraordinary life. “For mums, I believe, and having worked with mums in the type of work that I do, a majority of the time, if they’re under that pressure to have to hand over their baby, at say, at 6 months, even a year, their bodies physically are not ready to let go. Because it’s such an emotional trauma - one, in terms of when you’re pregnant and you’re carrying a child. There’s so many hormonal activities going on. Two, when you give birth. And in three, through nursing that child. And that body, I believe, has to go through a process of recovery, and that includes when you’re doing the releasing of that child to go into someone else’s hands, in terms of going to school or going to nursery, taking care of the house, etc.”   As a life coach, she has helped women, many of them mothers, to focus on themselves and to achieve happiness, building back their health, self-esteem, and love for life. “I’ve had women who wanna be super women, you know business women in particular are like, ‘Oh yeah, I gave birth yesterday, and I’m here today and I’m treatin’ my clients, I’m speaking to my clients, and I’ve got my baby on my boob…’ And I just think, ‘Why’? In the Western world there’s this race to get back and to prove yourself that, ‘I’m a strong woman and I’m going to be a responsible mother, and I can do it all.’ And then they crash and burn.”    Check out Lillian's website for her business, I Want My Body Back. 

YDGM Ep 25: Lillian Lartey

“I like to think I lead a very intentional life. And that isn’t that it’s not open to surprises or spontaneity. But I very deliberately chosen … and I’ve been very lucky, I realize that when I say that. Not everyone gets to choose as much ‘cause there’s inherent struggle with being able to just to afford doing things like that. I get that. I love living by myself. I love setting my own hours. I love being able to keep everything clean and neat and how I want it. There’s intention to those things. I really enjoy that." Drea Clark lives in LA and works in film. She's my sister's best friend from highschool and we've known each other for a really long time. She's basically considered to be part of our family. I asked her to be on my podcast for this current series of conversations with women who are not mothers, and she was totally enthusiastic to participate. I knew it would be a fantastic conversation, a fun one too, because Drea is just so articulate in just about anything.  Yeah. You ask her about anything, and she'll have something to say about it. And it usually makes you want to go, "Hmmmmm." I love Drea. She's fabulous. In this episode, Drea opens up and tells it like it is, raw, and direct, sharing her views on why she’s not a mother and that she’s very happy in her life without children. “You should live your life in a way that you feel bad for other people for living it differently.” “Oh my God. I had it so good. My parents are legit good parents, and they are a very loving couple. So it’s ironic to me that I’m like, ‘Oh you guys knocked it out of the park on both fronts. Do not take it personally that I am not replicating that,’ because I remember telling them years ago when I sort of knew that I wasn’t gonna have kids - I wanted them to know.” If you want to get in touch with Drea or find our more about her, go to her website: dreaclark.com or find her on Twitter @thedreaclark  You can check out my website, You're Doing Great Mom and be sure to subscribe and write a review. I would be so happy if you all do that. Thanks, and see you next week!

YDGM Ep 024: Drea Clark

Angie is a successful therapist, working with individuals as well as companies, big and small. This episode was awesome, with so many interesting and thought-provoking nuggets of wisdom, ideas, and stories about motherhood and how we can shift our perspectives about it in the context of applying it to roles of leadership and life in general. “That’s part of my mission, really, in working with everybody I do, is trying to get the word out that the more you can be with ‘stuck’ the more you’re life is going to transform, because every time you go to learn something new, whether it’s changing your golf swing… changing a part of their skill, they’re gonna go through a chaos phase as they relearn things. So if every time you see ‘stuck’ as it means you did something wrong, you’re gonna back off and you’re not gonna get the learning. It’s important that we spread that - that stuckness means you are one step away from change.”

YDGM Ep 023: Angie Dairou

I don't think I've laughed so hard recording an episode. Michelle Dry is my guest today, continuing the series about women who are not mothers. Michelle is hilarious, multi-talented, creative, and full of life as she travels the world in her job as a communications director on a cruise-line. She is also a prolific writer/author of many books, already published by herself and available on Amazon. Her most successful book is The Hairy Legged Mystery, a children's book about a mysterious creature with hairy legs.  Check out Michelle's website https://michelledry.com/

YDGM Ep 22: Michelle Dry

My guest this week is Rachael Talbot-Frank. Rachael doesn’t have children of her own and is not a mother. These last few weeks and in the next few episodes, the topic has been about women who do not have children. I’ll be speaking to women who share their story of not becoming a mother. It’s something I think people should hear about. There’s always that uncomfortable, politically correct awkwardness that looms over us when we address it. There’s always the elephant in the room and the curious, what’s her story? And I think many women who aren’t mothers don’t get a chance to tell theirs. Rachael’s experience is possibly unique because for her, everything changed when she was twenty-one. Something happened to her body which she had to heal tremendously from on an emotional and mental level, not to mention learn how to cope on a physical level. This shift is what catapulted her relationship to herself as a woman without children. It also formed her view on the possibility of not having children and why she didn’t want to risk passing down her chronic illness. This made her believe that there’s a natural reason for her NOT to have children. Inside her journey to heal from her illness, to experience shame that her body ‘failed’ her and then having to go through the process of whether or not she wanted to become a mother, Rachel has discovered her own power within herself as a woman who is nurturing, caring, beautiful, and owning her amazing body. Listen to Rachel share her experience in the context of not being a mother and her unique story talking about health challenges and how she’s living a life she loves and continues to love.   

YDGM Ep 021: Rachael Talbot-Frank

Noreen Sumpter is a personal life coach who lives in Brooklyn. She and I have been close friends for nearly 20 years. She talks about how, since the age of 13, she knew she did not want to have children. I wanted to open up this conversation because it's just not something people often talk about. Maybe because it's not a very comfortable subject. Maybe because people just don't know what to say. It's not like you can just ask a woman (who isn't a mother), "So why don't you have any children?" The Economist recently had an article on this very subject. Childless women are more common, significantly more than from the 1940s. The reasons range from choosing not to have children (desire not to), to medical reasons, and every possible scenario in between.  My guest today, Noreen Sumpter, shares her story and gives us her perspective of what motherhood is to her. Enjoy!

YDGM Ep 020: Noreen Sumpter

“I think subconsciously I was looking for an outlet. I think I wanted a way out, and I wanted something more in my life, a creative outlet because I knew I wasn’t getting that from my career. So I was happy to take that time away, and then I had Noah and then it was just me at home with Noah and Yasmin. And I look back at that time and oh my gosh, it was so special.” Samina Courtin is the creator and owner of Mon Dessert, a London-based patisserie company. She specializes in beautiful and delicious macarons, and she has also designed cooking kits which she sells in Fortnum and Mason, Harrods, and other high-end specialty shops. Samina is a mother of two adorable happy children, a girl and a boy, in primary school in Southwest London. Her husband is French and they met through mutual friends. Her career started in a very male-centered in an e-commerce digital marketing company, using her interests in math and science. But she felt that something was missing. Working in the marketing industry wasn’t allowing her to explore her creative side. “It was strange. I was the first person to become pregnant in my company. It was a very young industry. You know, you’re thinking, it was 2009 and that’s when I first went on maternity leave. The internet world and how to monetize that and how to create e-commerce platform, it was just exploding. It was still a very young industry and I was one of the oldest there and I wasn’t even 30. And when I came back (from maternity leave), I think it was the financial crisis, literally I walked into the office and I didn’t recognize anyone. I felt like I was being given shoddy work, the stuff that nobody didn’t want to do. When I became pregnant with Noah, and I took my second maternity leave, obviously one after the other during a financial crisis, and they were like, ‘uh, we really would like you NOT (to do that) …” Motherhood is what opened her natural artistic and creative side. Being at home with her two small children inspired her to start exploring her home skills, especially baking and cooking. She shares about how she started her company Mon Dessert and how she is living her multi-passionate and amazing life with her husband and two children. Check out my episode with Samina listen to her fabulous and interesting story. It’s so amazing and colorful and ‘tasty’. Oui Oui! Visit Samina’s website http://www.mondessert.co.uk/. Connect with her on Instagram @mondessert and Twitter @mondessert

YDGM Ep 019: Samina Courtin

[This episode is about miscarriage. Please understand that it may trigger sensitive emotions while listening, although the purpose of this episode is to spread the information about this topic so more women can learn about how common miscarriage is.] Lara Martins is a principle in the London production of “The Phantom of the Opera”. Lara is from Portugal, and studied theatre in the UK, and has been living in the UK for the last 20 years. I’m so happy to have Lara here with me for this episode. In searching for more topics revolving motherhood and pregnancy, I believe that it’s important to talk about all possible events relating to our experiences as women becoming mothers. One of them is miscarriage, which, for many people who do not know, it is quite common. Many women have experienced a miscarriage, and because of the sensitive emotional pain involved, most women do not know how to share their experiences. When Lara accepted my invitation to be on my podcast, she was very open and generous in sharing her story about her miscarriage. “When you have a miscarriage you don’t really think that because obviously miscarriage is quite a sensitive subject, and not many women talk about it. So you have no idea that having a miscarriage is quite common. It happens a lot. When you are confronted with a miscarriage it is very traumatic. It’s definitely one of the hardest things I had to deal with in my life. You know, the first thought you have is ‘what have I done wrong; did I provoke this’ and even though everybody tells you it’s nothing you have done, it’s nothing to do with you, it’s just your body maybe rejecting something that was not viable’. BUt you just try to find the reason. You just want to know why; what have I done; What could I have done differently to have a different outcome’.” “It gave me great comfort when I was trying to recover from my miscarriage to know that actually this is so common, and talking to other women who had the same experience. Because then I didn’t feel like some kind of freak, or that I had some kind of problem.” “I think when you have a very easy pregnancy, and obviously, and all the women that have never had problems in their pregnancy and never suffered miscarriages, pregnancy can be a very naive thing in the sense that when you look at that pregnancy test and it’s positive you think, ‘Oh great, I’m going to have a baby,’ because you just had a pregnancy that was completely normal, nothing happened, everything was great, so you think, oh, this is going to be the same thing again. It’s not until something goes wrong that you understand that actually quite a lot of things that can go wrong, and then becoming pregnant again it’s actually very very stressful.” To reach out to Lara Martins, check out her website and send her a message: https://www.laramartins.com/ To hear another woman’s experience with miscarriage, have a listen to episode 10 with Maryellen Stephens. http://traffic.libsyn.com/youredoinggreatmom/010-23-05-20172C14.53.mp3 Be sure to check out You're Doing Great Mom online. http://youredoinggreatmom.com/blog/

YDGM Ep 018: Professional Singer and Performer Lara Martins

Motherhood is something that all women will think about at one point in their lives. For many, it’s not even a thought. It’s a ‘when’. For some, it’s a clear ‘not for me’. For every other woman who falls in between, there was a journey which led them and may still be leading them to the ultimate conclusion. And, as we know, the experience of motherhood always keeps flowing, changing, and growing along with our children. Almost all of us can say it’s the hardest thing we’ve ever done, and it’s true when we say it takes a village. Using that analogy and today’s technology, this podcast is for women, mothers, and (sometimes) for men so they can listen and hear personal and heartfelt stories told by real, everyday women.

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You're Doing Great Mom

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