Latest / Mama Making Podcast / Elizabeth Rago | The Modern Domestic Woman: Building Community, Navigating Crisis, and a Village That Shows Up

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Elizabeth Rago | The Modern Domestic Woman: Building Community, Navigating Crisis, and a Village That Shows Up · Mama Making Podcast

• 0:10
  SPEAKER_02: Hello and welcome to the Mama Making Podcast, where we share stories of moms making impact in their own lives and in the world around them.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Jessica, and each week I sit down with women who are building businesses, leading communities, shaping culture, and redefining what success looks like inside of motherhood.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: Because motherhood does not have to stop your ambition, it can transform it.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Now let's get into it.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Mama Making Podcast.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: I'm your host, Jessica.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: If you're new, welcome.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: If you're not new, then welcome back.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_02: Today I am so excited to have Elizabeth Rago on the podcast.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: She is a wife, a mom of three, a writer, and a community builder who is building something quietly extraordinary in King County, Illinois, and beyond.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_02: She is the founder of MGW Media, the modern domestic woman, and executive director of MDW Cares, a nonprofit dedicated to helping women navigate life's transitions through trusted information, meaningful connection, and accessible support.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome, Elizabeth.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for being here.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for having me.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: I love your podcast.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: I'm excited to chat.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: So tell us a little bit more about you, who you are, where you're from, whatever you're comfortable sharing.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: As you said, I am, you know, first and foremost, uh a mom that takes up a lot of my day, which is great.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my oldest is 20 in college, uh, 18 new in college, and then I have a high school freshman.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: So we have, you know, gone from diapers and um, you know, fun little day trips with toddlers to it seems like it just happened very quickly.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: All of a sudden, people are in college and they're able to wipe their own butts.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's really just about um yeah, trying to release them into the wild and hoping for the best that you, you know, that I did my best of raising them.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so the the kids are great.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: I, like you said, am a writer.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um I have been for the last 20 years written for a variety.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, I I was looking over my like list of all the places that I've written, and I can't believe that the list grew that big.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: So um I've written for large ad agencies, small ones, nonprofits, startups, you know, been part of marketing teams.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: So all the good things from a writing perspective, and then, you know, building MDW from the ground up over the last 12 years while I was paying the bills with bills with my writing career.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, and then also I have a husband.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: That always comes at the end.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: He he's great.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: We've been together 27 years, which is also crazy.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so over half of our lives we've spent together, which is really odd.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then we just adopted a puppy last week.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: So that's been very fun.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that'll keep you busy for sure.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, totally.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I'm just I'm excited to share, you know, more about what I'm doing and just, you know, it's just taking a day by day.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying not to get ahead of myself.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: I had a good cry yesterday because I was feeling really overwhelmed with my own ambition.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought, you know what, you need to like take your own advice that you are like giving people and like pump the brakes and do one thing at a time.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, you get excited as a woman and like a creative, and especially when I see the momentum from when I first started MDW to where it is today.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I just quit my corporate job in February to do this full time.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: And that's very scary to take that leap from two incomes down to one income.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: And but it's it's been a really intense six months.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: But um, I'm, you know, just looking forward to every day now that I can spend doing this full time.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: So tell me where did the modern domestic woman start?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: How did it all come together?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: And then I guess we'll just go through and see what it looks like now and what you're building.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: The beginnings, it really started when I was going through a rough season of my own.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I had small kiddos.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: I was deep in the throes of building my own freelance business.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: And my husband got in a car accident and he broke his back.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: We went through a variety, you know, that that one event kind of snowballed a whole bunch of extra stressors.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, medical bills, um, lawyers.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: We were having, you know, financial problems because we were having, you know, it took seven years to get that that whole legal process finished.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: But in between the seven years, we still had to pay our bills and do all the things.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it was, you know, filing for bankruptcy and hiding my car in a garage so it didn't get repossessed.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, and raising three kids and being stressed out.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I say that all to say I felt very alone.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: And not only did I feel very alone, but I felt very ashamed about going through what life threw us when you really shouldn't feel that way, right?
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because something always happens in your life and everybody's struggling and like going through something, but that level of isolation was really just quite debilitating.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so at the same time, I was writing about luxury kitchen design and luxury handbags, and I was going to like anthropology events in the city.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, what was happening in my like writing career and what was happening in my real life were so different.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, what I ended up doing, I had built a very small online community through Facebook with the column that I had.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I wrote for an editorial partner of the Chicago Tribune at the time, and I was writing about all the fun things that I was doing, you know, from a lifestyle perspective.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I put out on the Facebook group what I had been going through and that I was really stressed.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: I had so much anxiety and just kind of like put it out there.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: And this was before everyone was talking about mental health.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was there was a little bit of that, but it wasn't as intense as it is today when people are saying, you know, you know, I'm not afraid to share that I have, you know, anxiety or postpartum or whatever.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: And not the forward facing, right?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: So people weren't necessarily sending messages saying, like, thank you so much for sharing this.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Some people did, you know, but the other side, right?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: The text messages, the DMs, it was thank you for sharing this.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: I am going through something similar.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: I am so ashamed and alone.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what to do.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so from those conversations, they said, Can you help me find a therapist?
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Or like, who's your therapist?
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Or who is the financial person you work with on your bankruptcy, or you know, who is your lawyer?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: So more and more, week after week, people were messaging me saying, like, can you help me?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it was that level of transparency.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: It was now looking back, like the me of today sees that people were hurting and people are always hurting.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: And we tend to just pretend everything is going well and that we've got our ducks in a row and everything together.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: But seeing somebody share their story in that transparent way was led to just people reaching out.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: And how could I say no?
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't feel like I could just brush those people off and say, yeah, you know, good luck figuring out on your own.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I just started keeping a list of all the amazing women in our community or the organizations that were doing things to help women in whatever way that person had reached out.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that ugly old Excel spread Excel spreadsheet turned into um a website.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just kept going because I thought, well, I feel like I'm on to something.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: People seem to really resonate with that like transparent, you know, narrative that I'm putting out there.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: And gradually what ended up happening is I started establishing really good relationships with area therapists and lawyers.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: So those relationships really started to like blossom.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I it I got rooted into a community that I wouldn't really have been privy to because I'm not a therapist.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not a lawyer, I'm just a regular person, but I do love connecting people.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: So uh yeah, so it it really just I don't want to say turned into what it is today, but I slowly, slowly built this community uh over the last 12 years and the whole time, full-time job paying the bills.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like while I'm newer because I just put, you know, some formatting around it, some legal stuff.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm, you know, I'm an LLC and uh nonprofit.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's been there for quite a while, just like quietly in the corner.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_02: So tell me how it went from this like little spreadsheet of resources to being an actual thing.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, relationships.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was relationships.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um it was sitting down with people over coffee, learning not only from just a community member's perspective, like here's what I'm going through, just being an active listener and letting people talk more than I talked.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then on the provider side, it was about talking and establishing relationships with different providers in our area and really learning what's your specialty, right?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because if we, if I'm looking for a therapist, there's a thousand and one therapists, you know, out there, there's a thousand lawyers available.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: But like, how do I differentiate?
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: How do I find a good fit for me?
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so, really, what I wanted to do, and it was from my own experience of trial and error, of just like randomly picking somebody off like our insurance list.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to take that portion out because when you're looking, when you're looking to make a move, if you're going through some kind of transition, you're already stressed out, you're already exhausted and you're weary and you barely have the capacity to make the appointment.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that that is what a lot of women have said over the years.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't even know where to begin.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I have so much stress going on in my life that I don't even think I can make this call.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: So the last thing that person wants is to reach out to a provider and sit on a wait list or sit in an inbox and hope that this person is going to have good customer service or, you know, respond back straight away or, you know, not have a wait list.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so I talk to a lot of therapists, like, what are your pain points?
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: What can I do to help you?
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: And it was around like getting to know the community member and just kind of teasing out what they needed.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then, so really that's what I do.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: I listen when community members reach out to me and um I just ask them some questions.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, if you don't mind sharing, what's going on in your life?
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: What do you, you know, what kind of support are you looking for?
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of insurance do you have?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it's those things that kind of help take down that barrier of getting access sooner to support services rather than just waiting and waiting and waiting.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because when we're when we have such a low capacity, when we're already stressed out and maybe there's trauma, maybe there's domestic violence, maybe there's whatever, we're like little squirrels who, if you know, if a crazy movement happens, we're gonna run away because it's like too much.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: We can't handle it.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: So my goal is always to take that stress of sometimes I reach out for them and and take that stress off their plate, you know, so that they can focus a little bit more on just like something else in their life that's going on.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: And what I love about the work that you are doing is one, it's super intentional, but it also stemmed out of being so vulnerable and authentic.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I think had you not shared your story and what you were going through, and you're like, hey, I'm feeling really lonely, and this is a really hard place to be in, and I don't see an end in sight or whatever it might be.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: I think that people so identify with stories like that because it's like I've been there in whatever capacity, or on your end, like you probably learned how much help other people were looking for as well.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: And you were just kind of like going through it together.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like the lived experience you had of having to find those resources for yourself kind of broke down that barrier for other people to be able to start to find those resources themselves as well.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I do have to give a shout out.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: I had a group of during this hard time, we lost a lot of friends.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Our life was very messy.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a lot of times when you're going through like a rough season, people don't know what to say to you, people don't know how to help.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so we we did lose a lot of friends.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I had three really good lovely human beings that stuck by us and showed us in whatever way that they had the capacity how they could support.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: So, like one person like was groceries because we we didn't have money to buy food.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, one person helped us uh find a financial advisor, somebody else helped me find a therapist.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: So their kindness and empathy during like one of my darkest seasons was what I wanted to be for someone else later on.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like when I could see a way out, I was like, okay, nobody should feel this way because they're just living life and you know, life has gotten rocky.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like nobody should feel alone in that.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: And because of the way, you know, because of the way the world works today, right?
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: We're so connected yet we're like so isolated at the same time.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: People move you're a lot of the women that come to our events are like, I'm new to the area, I don't really know anyone, I don't know how to make friends as an adult.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're already in a new place and you're going through something difficult, where do you go?
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: And and a lot of times uh maybe people don't have like a church or a place of worship.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because tr traditionally, that was the third space for people to go.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but you know, not there's been a shift where maybe you haven't had a good experience going to your place of worship and you're looking for some third space to be and be taken care of and give back.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: And we can talk about the village later, but I've got some thoughts on uh, you know, community building and you know, what our idea of the village is today.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I was actually that actually segues perfect because I was gonna say the I think the the community is kind of serving as like a public service or like a public health initiative to to really start to rebuild what things look like in a community.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_02: Things are so different.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: And I really and obviously you just said this, but like going through a challenging or tough time is almost like a magnifying glass on what your community looks like, what your, like you said, your third space, like the the support system around you.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_02: It really magnifies that.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: And you if you have a really great one, that's incredible.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_02: And if you don't, you learn that very quickly, unfortunately.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_02: And so I I love that you are bringing all the resources into one space to help people to build that support system around them.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: What does that look like in practice?
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_02: I think a lot of people are like, okay, well, everyone's like, build a community and and get a support system.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what does that look like in in real life?
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so I cut, and this isn't a new word, but like it's all about the ecosystem of support, like wrap around support.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: So if you look at just how we live our daily life, right?
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: We have our family, you know, we have a partner or a spouse, we have our, you know, our outside of our nuclear family, like our people in the fringes that we love.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then, but then as women and as human beings, we also have health support that we need, and we need mental health support that we need.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: We also have social support that we need.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then because we can't talk about depressing things all the time, we also need guidance or suggestions around like fashion.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, who doesn't love to get a cute new outfit from a thrift store and you know, spread the word about the cute, you know, shop she bought it in?
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, we all like to have nice homes.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: So when I set out to build a space for women, I didn't want to pigeonhole myself into one area, right?
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: When I really first started writing, it was the season of the mom blogger.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I, while I love my children, and you know, I it wasn't, I wasn't just a mom.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: I was like 16 other things, you know, and not I was a mom and a wife and a sister and a cousin.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I'm also a gardener and a writer.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: And there's so many facets to being a woman that I was like, well, why can't I just talk about all the things?
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's who I am, right?
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it I always looked at the conversations I was having with other women as an extension of me.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I sat back and I thought, well, if I if I want to build a community, which is a huge buzzword right now, everybody's talking about community.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: We're building community.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a difference between building a community and being like an event person and like hosting events.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: And there's nothing wrong with that because I host events too.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're really truly trying to build a community where people will stick around with you when times get tough, that involves a level of relationship building that cannot be that that cannot be achieved through a variety of social events.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: It just can't because it takes time and it takes time on the back end and the front end of those work of those events.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: So what I did, sorry, I kind of like went off on a tangent about the community thing, but I'm I'm seeing so much conversation in there about like what is truly a community.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, the community piece was a community where you can come in just as you are.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's not performative.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you're having a rough time and you just need to cry during that event, whatever it might need, whatever you might need, whatever your capacity is, that's how you participate.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Community is also people who stick around, you know, that don't get creeped out when you're going through something rough.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it's also providing tangible resources, whether that be a grocery gift card, whether that be an ongoing support group, access to mental health, access to lawyers if you're going through divorce or whatever you're going through that might need a legal support.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: But it's really just wrapping you in support.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's my idea of a community.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason I pepper in the lifestyle portion of it goes back to me thinking about this organization being an extension of me.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: So when I go out to the grocery store, I always use this illustration.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: I go out to the grocery store, you are over in the produce section, you're picking out some grapes, and you've got your littles all around.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I can just tell you are like, it's been a day.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: So what do I do?
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just I have resting nice face.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I try to attract people who might be like going through something.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so what do I say?
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: I say, you're doing a really good job.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a really cute top that you have on.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we have a little bit of dialogue, you start talking, you're overwhelmed, your kids are so cute.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: You mention that your kid's on the spectrum.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm making up the scenario, obviously.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: My gosh, my child's on the spectrum as well.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: I've been looking for a therapist.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know anyone?
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: So if we hit the pause button, how did that conversation start?
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: It started with me telling you you were a great mom and I liked your shirt.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: You told me where you got it.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then as we joined in conversation with some shared interests that were very minimal and simple, you felt safe enough to say, I've been looking for a therapist for my kiddo who was just diagnosed on the spectrum and I don't know what to do.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I took all of those, it took a solid year of me reflecting on how I was interacting with people in the community and how these conversations started.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the reason why I, because I people say all the time, why are you selling products?
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's dumb.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, well, hold on.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: We all love cute little things in our life.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: We all love little bookmarks and mark, you know, I love pens, I love journals.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's an entry point of a conversation to get into our little bubble and start talking over shared interests.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: So we will have, we have a little makers workshop that we have the first Sunday of every month where we just sit around a table and make something cute.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's a great way for you to break the ice with people, make something that you want, you know, that you love to put your hands on, get away from screens, of course, and make some connections, right?
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: But it's ongoing.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so that that's another portion of like what I'm trying to build is repetitive, ongoing uh like touch points for people to meet and get to know people.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: I think something that resonates.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_02: Did with me a lot that you just said was about it's something so simple.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: The lifestyle part of it is it's something so simple, but something that I feel like is really deep rooted, and that no matter where you land in life, I think you're still deserved of dignity.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_02: And in a in a broader sense, just because you're having a hard time financially doesn't mean that you don't like to have a house that looks nice or get a new bed spread or have have a cute outfit put together or get a new pair of shoes.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_02: Like all of those things, no matter where you land in life, you are deserving of the dignity of being able to go out and do a girl's night or do a pottery class or whatever it might be.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like just because your life circumstances aren't picture perfect doesn't mean that you don't deserve the dignity of being able to be a full human.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's an excellent point that like those are really good, easy touch points.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like if you if you think about the amount of times that you've met someone at a party and you're like, oh my God, I love your pants.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_02: Where did you get those?
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_02: That's the that's the inroad to have it to having a deeper conversation or being like, hey, I'm an approachable person, come talk to me.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_02: I think that that's such an incredible that like the lifestyle part of it matters.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that people have this idea, and maybe that's where like the shame and isolation comes from, because I think people have this idea of, well, if you're struggling financially or you're getting divorced, or whatever it might be, you lost your job.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: People have this idea of what it means about you or what you should look like.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think allowing people the opportunity to come up to your booth at a at an event and be like, oh my God, this this mug is so cute.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the inroad to here are resources.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: We have a connection with a therapist and whatever it might be.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: I think that that's so important to share about.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: And you hit the nail on the head when you said like the dignity piece.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, why, if we are going through something horrible and stressful, why do we need to crawl in a hole and not look like, I mean, I don't want to say put together.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm never put together, but it's relative.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: Why is this right?
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: What is this correlation between going through a rough season?
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now you need to look like you're going through a rough season?
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: Or God forbid you go out and buy yourself a new shirt when you just told me you were like struggling, you know, to pay your bill.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, first of all, it's none of my business.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: None of my business.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: And if, but if that, if you buying a candle so that you can have a moment of small meditation to get you through that day and that sensory experience is helping you on a mental health like perspective or helping your senses get regulated.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I just don't understand that shame around that, also.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: So for for me, the the I would say 100% of the people and the women that reach out are have so full of shame, it's heartbreaking.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's really a place where the magazine stemmed from.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: I started it out as a digital magazine first.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, my background is in lifestyle writing and I love it.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's fun.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: Who doesn't love writing about like cute kitchen decor and like, you know, the latest hand?
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm a lifestyle girly.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: I love that stuff.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: And um I was doing that in my day job, and I'm like, oh, my dream to write for like a paper magazine, right?
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a child of the 80s and 90s.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: I love paper products.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, Earth.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: But I love flipping through a magazine and I always have.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: And my dream was to have my own magazine.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm like, you know what, I'm just gonna do it.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I started the digital version and I loved it because I could highlight the small businesses that I loved in this like elevated editorial way that I wasn't currently seeing in, you know, publications, like local publications.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not trying to like knock local publications, but you know, you we all have our own vision of what that's supposed to look like.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I loved the magazine.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a such a great entry point to not only talk about like cute things, beautiful things, great businesses, but I could weave in the mental health um perspective.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: So a therapist that I knew specialized in postpartum or they specialized in trauma, religious trauma, I could work with them and either co-write or ghostwrite an article where their specialty and their voice and their approach is featured.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not, so they're advertising essentially, but it's told through storytelling.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's told through a lens of here's my approach.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: Reach out to me if you need some help.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I loved that, you know, peppering in things that people could take away with them, tools, you know, coping skills, uh, you know, how to relate better with your partner.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like I loved that weaving it in.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I I the magazine is just all about serving like the whole woman.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: So no matter who picks up the magazine, there's something for everyone in there.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_02: Tell me more about your media company.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_02: What does that all look like?
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_02: What's the journey there?
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: So currently the media company is just the magazine.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then more lifestyle ticketed events that, you know, kind of like would cost money to put an event on.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: So it's right now, it's I don't want to say just the magazine because that's a lot.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's it's really the lifestyle magazine that we have, ticketed events.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: Eventually, I would love to have because my background is in media.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to have my own podcast.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to publish books by women to further tell telling their stories.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I published my own novella years ago, loved that process, and would love to give more.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: We all have a story to tell, and I would love to give more women that platform to be able to help them like publish their work.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, world takeover.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'd like to have like my own TV show.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um I mean, sky's the limit at this point.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_02: Of course.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_02: Well, uh tell me more about your new nonprofit venture.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_02: What made you decide to do this?
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_02: What does it look like?
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_02: And how can we all support it?
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: So that took a long time to tease out.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: And because I first and foremost, I always want to leave people better than they found me, right?
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's always like leaving your space.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's just how I grew up.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: My mother was always like, you clean up better than knowing you're over at somebody's house, you just clean up, you just leave somebody, leave a space or a person better than you found them.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so after year over year of talking to different therapists, one of the things that I saw that was missing was that middle person that I talked about to help bring the community member to the provider.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: So establishing that trust within the community and then trust also with providers that I had established uh trusted relationships with is really when I was like, okay, I don't want to make that portion of it a business.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't feel comfortable making that a business, right?
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'd been approached by several different, like smaller brands who were like, let's, you know, let's collaborate and you can be an influencer with these weight.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: One of them was weighted blankets with these weighted blankets, but it never resonated with me because we were talking about such heavy topics.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, I'm gonna be like, wow, I'm feeling really anxious today.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: Here's my weighted blanket and the code for 10% off.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I didn't, it didn't feel good.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I thought, well, this has to be able to be sustainable.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: So what if I made a nonprofit?
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so my day job at the time was a grant and proposal writer for another company.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so for the last, you know, three-ish years, I had spent learning the ropes of being a grant and proposal writer.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought, well, if I can make help make millions of dollars for this company, I could probably do it for myself.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: And uh just was like, all right, let's do it.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: So in October, we got approved to be a nonprofit.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I just actually got awarded our first grant through the city of St.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: Charles.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's the uh 708 Mental Health Grant.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna focus on helping uh women who are going through divorce and rebuilding their life after divorce.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I feel like that gives us some street cred, you know, that we are recognized in the community for doing good and helping people.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that, you know, grant writing is intense, but I it's fun.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's like a big puzzle, and you just have to figure out how you put the puzzle together and then hope someone resonates with, you know, your story.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, but the the nonprofit is is awesome.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a couple of different entities within the nonprofit.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: So we have uh support groups, peer-to-peer-led support groups.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: We have uh a mom support group that meets bi-monthly, and then we have a just women's support group that meets every Saturday at uh Story About Cafe in Geneva.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then we also have a paramenopause support group that meets bi-monthly as well.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: So we have kind of like the support group element of it.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then we have workshops and events.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: So workshops could be anything from rebuilding your life after divorce.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: It could be around a mental health topic or self-care, self-love.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: We had a great self-love event.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, also around the topic of um addiction and maybe changing habits.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: So we also don't shy away from those hard topics.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: So that's like the workshop and event section.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then um, the third part of that is part uh pairing people up with resources.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I act as like an intake counselor and gather information.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I work with several different therapists and um, you know, in the area and give the person, um, the community member an option, a couple of options so that they have um, you know, the dignity to choose who they want for their provider rather than just throwing them one name.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: And and that's a that's a big portion.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's not really an outward facing, you know, like the events and the support groups are very outward facing.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: The support, reaching out for support is very private.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we that that is very much something that happens through text messaging, you know, meeting people in the community and talking with them.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: But it's anything from therapists, lawyers, women's health.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we're really, really getting a lot of tasks for paramenopause, moms who are raising neurodivergent children or neurodivergent women who are newly diagnosed and they need support.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it really just runs the gamut.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what do you need?
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: And let's let's help you out.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_02: And what I love about what you're doing is taking so much stress work out of it.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it took me decades to find a therapist that I loved, and it was just trying different ones, seeing what happened.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I wasn't in crisis.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't need to find care immediately.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_02: And so when you think about it, it's it's really like vetting the resources and making sure that they're a fit in general, but then tailoring what that person needs for that resource and to to get them there.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I feel like you're doing like care navigation to for your community.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's so amazing.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's really it's a lovely thing to be able to hear that somebody has a successful interaction or relationship, you know, after the fact.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: If they share with the therapist, I mean, typically I'll give the therapist a heads up.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, this is this person's first name.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the basic situation they might be reaching out to you, right?
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: So when people come back and say things like, you know, you saved my teenager's life, I I I went to this pelvic health therapist and my entire life has changed.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like that, that's huge.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that that's what keeps me going is knowing that somebody's life has been impacted in such, in such a positive way.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: I that's what keeps me going because, you know, there's been a lot of tears over the years.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: Just like any like some any person building a business, uh building a nonprofit.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's a lot of work.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I think being honest about it is important.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, your whole story stems from like showing up as you are.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I think people so identify with that.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_02: Like building something new is hard, staying determined when it feels like it's not working how you expected it would, or pivoting and obviously there's gonna be hard situations, but I think when you can see that impact, that's why the community aspect is so important.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_02: When you can see that someone through your community has succeeded in an area that you supported them with.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_02: Not that it's like self-fulfilling, but it's it keeps you going, I imagine.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, it feels good.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you want in in the day and age where we're supposed to be, you know, going again.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like everybody everyone wants everyone else to be an enemy.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, if we just band together and we like work together, so many magical things can happen.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you see somebody who came to you just in a state, and and here's the other thing, I am not again, I am not a therapist.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: So when some if if and when someone comes and they are in a crisis mode, that person needs to like I am not equipped for that.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: So of course I send them to the appropriate people to get help and assistance.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_00: But I I would say that rarely happens because the word has gotten out that if you're just in that those beginning stages of struggling, you don't have to burn out or you don't have to be in crisis.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like, let's cut that off at the past.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then come into our little bubble.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: I just like to call it a bubble because I feel like that sounds cute and like supportive and soft.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_00: Come into our little bubble.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we will love on you, we will get you like a cute little lip balm to take home.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we'll love on you a little bit, we'll laugh, we'll cry, we'll maybe make something cute.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then, like, here's some resources if you need it.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_00: And if you you're not ready, that's fine.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: Just come back.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: Just come back.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then when you are ready, here's here's a jumping off point when you have the capacity to seek support.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I I honestly think that this format could be in every community, but you have to have like leadership that is prepared to establish those relationships ongoing.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're talking like year over year of being like a community connector, having conversations with people.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, while I see that it could be in every community, it does it definitely is going to take people who are dedicated to that level of support.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us more about how we can support the work that you're doing, what you have coming up, and what we can do to be part of the work you're doing.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_00: So part of one of uh our pillars, you know, we like to take things off people's plates is that element of like tangible support.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: So last year when uh SNAP benefits were paused, right in November around Thanksgiving time, we, you know, essentials should not be a luxury, right?
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: And food is an essential.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: So we launched that was like our first initiative as a nonprofit was we raised$2,500 to give grocery card gift uh grocery gift cards to families in this area in Kane County.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: So that was like one way I created this uh initiative called the Essentials Exchange around the idea of like basic necessity should not be a luxury.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: So listening to what our community needs, I I identified last month that period poverty was definitely an area where we could do better.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: So we just launched our period poverty initiative.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: I can list, you know, some information.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: But if you are interested in donating, we've got several drop-off sites at various boutiques and um wellness spaces in Kane County.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then if you're not, you know, in this area, we have an Amazon wish list where you can buy products as well.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: People who want to get involved, um, we will have a period packing party once we have all of our, you know, once we have all of our products, so we can pack separate period packs up for different uh organizations.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: So we're not only tackling um, we're going to be donating to uh products to school districts and different mental health organizations in the community, like Tri-City Family Services.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: We partner with them, they're amazing.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: So that when their community member is in a session, a mental health uh appointment, and they're seeing that they might need some supplies, they can just hand the supplies over to them.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing is for me, all means all.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_00: That also means incarcerated women, incarcerated young girls.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: So the juvenile justice system, we're partnering with them as well to provide them with items for the girls who are either incarcerated or they're going out back out into the world.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's just very important to me.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_00: So that's uh the essentials exchange for period poverty.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then coming up in the fall, we have um something called the Wildflower Project, which is we're focusing on connecting teenage girls to an alternative way to meet people, socialize, learn more about agriculture and gardening.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a multi-generational project where we're going to have women of all ages throughout their community who are going to come and volunteer and talk about their knowledge as either gardeners or people who have worked in agriculture before will, you know, go visit working farms in this area.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many areas about where we can learn about growing.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: So the hope is young women who may not resonate with like traditional ways to connect with people.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_00: So specifically like sports, maybe you're just not a sports person, but you're kind of interested in like growing.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_00: We are gonna start that up in the fall.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're gonna take the girls through an entire grow cycle and really just like learn, uh, work together, be outside, get our hands dirty.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, that's not for everybody, but I think there's definite interest and there's such a mental health reward in being outside and connecting.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_00: And also for, you know, other community members who are outside of their, you know, generation.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a beautiful, I'm just really excited about it.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: So there's more information about the wildflower project on our website as well.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: So those are kind of like the two initiatives that we have coming up.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_00: And we have um monthly support groups that I mentioned.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_00: Those happen repeatedly either every other week or once a week.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_00: Just again, trying to always be here when the community needs us instead of just having one-off events.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then we do a smattering of like fun events throughout the year.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we made clay bowls, we're gonna do some crafting, probably around the holidays and stuff.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: But um, yeah, there's there's a lot of different ways to get involved in whatever capacity or whatever way that you, you know, want to get involved.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: So when in doubt, just come to a Saturday morning coffee.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's so much fun.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: We um it's kind of silly.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_00: We have a theme, a show and tell theme every Saturday.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it has become so much fun.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: Last week we did what did your middle school self-love?
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_00: And we had people bringing like folded notes.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I brought, a folded note, like to pass notes in class.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody brought Hello Kitty supplies, like stationary supplies.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: One girl said she was like smoking in middle school.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: So everybody has like amazing stories to tell.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where I come back with it's really simple to connect.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_00: We just have to be creative about how we bring people together.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_00: So that is a really fun group that meets on Saturday.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that's that's kind of how you can get involved with that.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_02: Well, all the work that you're doing is so incredible.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_02: I had like chills when you were explaining some of your programs.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm a really huge believer in like just digging your feet in in your own community, and that that just continues to grow.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_02: And people don't forget the impacts that you've made on them, whether big or small.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_02: And so I think the work that you're doing is really making a mark and and changing people's lives at the end of the day.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you for doing this.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you just for sharing my story and um being so kind.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_00: It I we we all want and crave connection.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, it always you kind of learn from what you know.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: And what I knew was just like heartbreak and isolation, and I just didn't want other people to feel that way.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I I'm I'm still in awe of like how far it's come.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes I don't even realize it.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when you're in the picture, sometimes it's hard to see the picture.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: So when we do conversations like this, I'm like, wow, that is a lot.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_02: When you're in the thick of it, it's like you just do, and and then you got to take a step.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_02: But tell people where they can find you, website, social media, all the things.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: So you can go to mdwcares.com.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's a nonprofit site.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then if you're interested in like events or our shop, it's mdwshop.com.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and events are on there, different like items, cute things.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_00: Also, I have to give a shout out.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_00: So the items that we have on our in our shop and when we do pop-up events, they're small business owned items that we sell, other women, small business owners, and then or items that like our community has made and contributed to the shop.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_00: So it always thoughtful.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm always trying to be thoughtful in everything that we put out there because I I do care as much as I love paper products.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_00: I do, I do care about the environment.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I just want to make sure we're not just selling random stuff to, you know, fill landfills.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_00: I want it to be like purposeful and thoughtful as we, you know, provide a cute little boutique.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_00: One day I'll have my own space and then I'll be sharing an address.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_00: Who knows when that'll happen?
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_00: But I I foresee it happening in the near future.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, but for now we're online and then we pop up at different boutiques, libraries, and and such.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_00: So awesome.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we'll share all of that in the show notes for people to find you.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_02: But thank you again for being here and sharing your story and all the work that you're doing in our community.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Jessica.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_00: Keep doing what you're doing.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_02: If this conversation resonated with you, I'd love for you to follow the podcast wherever you listen and share it with another mom building something meaningful.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_02: If you want deeper behind the scenes reflections that I don't share anywhere else, join my email list at the Mama Making Podcast.com.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for being here, and I'll see you next time.