Influential Motherhood

The Influential Motherhood Podcast empowers moms to thrive at work, at home, and in their communities. Each week features a chat with a mom who is making a difference, and shares practical tips for parenting and adulting (both are hard!), plus real talk about what's challenging even when she looks "successful" to the rest of us. Hosted by Melissa Duncan, a lawyer, mom, and wife whose mission is to celebrate the moms whose long days at work and at home are making a positive difference. Moms can change the world!

Choosing Joy: Navigating the Holidays with a Chronically Ill Child with April Robson 12/10/2019

Lyme Disease, YouTube, & Working With Your Spouse with YouTuber Whitney Meade 12/04/2019

Embracing Career Shifts + Motherhood in Hollywood with Heather Brooker 11/26/2019

Pediatric Cancer, Having Twins, and Raising Four Kids with Lauren Palmer 11/20/2019

A Conversation with My Husband about Fatherhood, Parenting, & Working Moms 11/12/2019

Marriage & Family Therapy with Lindsey Paoli, MFTI 11/05/2019

Healthy Screen Habits with Hillary Wilkinson, M.Ed. 10/29/2019

Skincare Tips for Moms with Alyssa Daniel, M.D. 10/22/2019

Olympic Champion Shannon Miller 10/15/2019

Great Family Photos with Photographer Laura Foote 10/08/2019

Great Family Photos with Photographer Laura Foote Photographer Laura Foote is married to high school sweetheart and lives in Tampa FL with her husband, an actor, and cute daughter Mac. She's sharing her story of working at Disney World, working in the non-profit and higher ed worlds, and then unexpectedly becoming an entrepreneur and full-time photographer. Laura was working in nonprofits when she started using a point-and-shoot camera to take pictures. Eventually, she had clients and bought an SLR camera. As she moved around the country for jobs and education, business kept ballooning as she moved. She thought it was fun to do as a side gig, and didn't realize how it was ballooning. "I just never really had my head around being an entrepreneur. I liked that I had walls, and an office, and a title and a nametag and letters behind my name." In this episode, Laura also shares her knowledge of the StrengthsFinder personality inventory. The StrengthsFinder inventory looks at 34 talents, which we all carry, and breaks them into your top 5 and top 10. Each of the 34 talents fits into a category: influencing, executing, strategic thinking, and relationship building. To take the assessment, you can purchase a book, which comes with an access code, or you can just buy the inventory online. Laura shared that she is a certified facilitator and provides StrengthsFinder education to businesses and grops (visit As a full-time photographer, Laura has learned a lot about making the "magic" happen for the people in front of the camera. Here is some of our Q&A about taking great family photos: When is the best time of day for photos? Golden hour is the best time of day; it is the 1.5 before sunset. However, morning can also be a great time and is sometimes better for families because the children are fresh. Would a photographer prefer to change locations or let the family change outfits? Often, it may be easier to change locations rather than change outfits for everyone in the family - most photographers fully support changing locations. Give us a "what not to wear during family photos" rundown. No logos, loud patterns, color, and anything with words. No tennis shoes, even on the kids. Think about the colors in your home and that you like generally, and those are the colors you should have in your photo. Pick a color palette so you don't have to be matchy-matchy; everyone can wear colors from within the palette. How can we make it easier on the kids so it is less stressful for everyone? Hire a photographer that is really going to make it fun for the kids. Create a family experience out of it. Get ice cream afterwards or even spend the night at a hotel! Snacks and water are hugely helpful. Gummy bears and fruit snacks are great because they are things they can chew individually and quickly. What other tips do you have for moms? Give yourself grace. Get a village. even if it is paid! Where can we find Laura? Find Laura's photography business online at , and follow Laura on Instagram at . /episode/index/show/influentialmotherhood/id/11556164

Fighting the Flu with Serese Marotta 10/02/2019

Fighting the Flu with Serese Marotta When her kindergartener died of the flu in October 2009, former environmental scientist Serese Marotta knew she had to do something about it. Eventually she connected with the nonprofit organization Families Fighting Flu and now serves as the COO, directing the organization's efforts to spread information and awareness about the severity of influenza. According to Serese, around 50% of kids who lose their lives to flu are otherwise healthy. She says there is no replacement for the flu vaccine, and it provides both individual and community immunity. Her son, Joseph, had received the vaccine but the pandemic (H1N1) was not in the vaccine that year, so he had no protection against the pandemic strain. At the time of his illness, the monovalent (1 strain) vaccine became available to help prevent the h1n1 strain but was not available where the Marotta family lived until two weeks after Joseph had died. In this episode, Serese address common misconceptions about the flu and the flu vaccine, including whether you can get the flu from the vaccine. The vaccine isn't perfect - but if you get it you probably won't get hospitalized or die. But the flu virus knows no calendar, and the only thing we can predict about flu is that it will be unpredictable. According to Serese, everyone 6 months or older should be vaccinated against the flu annually. Flu is the deadliest vaccine-preventable disease: 650,000 people globally every year lose their lives to flu. Serese also says the flu costs the US economy 87 billion every year. 80% of the children who lose their lives to flu are not vaccinated. "Sometimes i feel like i have the weight of the world on my shoulders because if I stop, people are going to die." - Serese Marotta, COO of Families Fighting Flu To learn more about Families Fighting Flu and the statistics and information for preventing the flu, visit . For more inspiring stories of moms making a difference, visit . /episode/index/show/influentialmotherhood/id/11478200

Empowering Other Women with Gabrielle Raymond McGee 09/24/2019

Minimalism + What "Enough" Looks Like with Miranda Anderson 09/17/2019

Letting Go of Expectations with Katelyn Denning 09/11/2019

Finding Joy Despite Tragedy with Dawn Barton 09/03/2019

When Your Kid Has Diabetes with Stacey Simms 08/27/2019

Online Privacy + Sharing Your Story with Laura Tremaine 08/20/2019

The Fifth Trimester with Lauren Smith Brody 08/13/2019

Your Kids' Dental Health with Dr. Sara Karner, DDS 08/06/2019

BONUS: #HowMomSeries: How Mom Stays Organized 08/01/2019

29: Planning a Disney Trip with Kasey Smith 07/31/2019

BONUS: #HowMomSeries: How Mom Eats Breakfast 07/25/2019

28: Thriving in Corporate Leadership with Lauren Widrick 07/23/2019

BONUS: #HowMomSeries: How Mom Sleeps 07/18/2019

27: Overcoming Fear & Burnout with Charmaine Gregory, M.D. 07/16/2019

26: Mom's Side Hustle: Writing Feature Films with Brooke Buffington 07/09/2019

25: Being a Mom on Broadway with Lindsay Northen ("Wicked") 07/02/2019

24: Drowning Prevention with Nicole Hughes 06/25/2019

23: Being Afraid of All the Things with Scarlet Hiltibidal 06/18/2019

23: Being Afraid of All the Things with Scarlet Hiltibidal Scarlet Hiltibidal wrote "." But many years before - as a first-grader - Scarlet read "Madeline" and became overwhelmingly afraid that she was having appendicitis. When she wrote "Afraid of All the Things," Scarlet began to unpack her life experiences and realized the many ways fear almost overcame her completely - through many cross-country moves, meeting and becoming engaged to her husband, cancer, tornadoes, sinkholes, adoption, and one big thing Scarlet and I have in common: ectopic pregnancy. When Scarlet met her husband, Brandon, and they started dating, Scarlet says she "traded [her] fear of not being good enough for fear of not being pretty enough" and she managed to get engaged and married without Brandon knowing she was anorexic-bulimic. Finally, though, Scarlet realized she was going to die one day when she was drinking a double shot of espresso so she wouldn't pass out. It became clear to her that God kept putting His word in her face (specifically Proverbs 28:13, Jeremiah 17). Scarlet says the day she confessed her anorexia-bulimia to her husband, was the day she was healed. Some other topics we chatted about: How the Lord speaks to her Her thoughts in what she thought were her dying moments during an ectopic pregnancy, and how that experience with the ectopic pregnancy changed her life and her faith Her fears around adoption, and how God put people in her life to get her past those fears Scarlet's current "ammunition" against fear We also chatted about her daughter's "" and how her entire family learned sign language when they adopted Joy. I'm thrilled that Scarlet is releasing another book in July 2019: "", which is focused toward teenage girls and is all about finding your identity in Christ. Scarlet and her three daughters and husband Brandon are the reason the internet is still a happy place so go follow her over on Instagram at and be sure to read her books! For more inspiring stories of moms making a difference, check out . /episode/index/show/influentialmotherhood/id/10191167

22: Supporting Women Survivors with Thistle Farms Founder Becca Stevens 06/11/2019

Influential Motherhood

TOPICS