MILK Podcast: Lost and Found, Season 3, Episode 15: Anti-Racism, CURE and Before I Go with Activist/Artist Nicole Alifante

Nicole Alifante is a former actress, current singer songwriter, teacher and activist, and she joins Mallory in the MILK Studio. Nicole is the founder of the non- profit organization CURE, which stands for: Coalition for Understanding Racism in Education, based in Westchester, NY.

CURE engages in hard conversations about the construction of race and systemic racism by bringing in seasoned speakers and activists. Nicole is an artist, and she brings her heart and soul to her art, but also to listening and amplifying other people’s voices. Since she was on MILK Podcast in 2017, Nicole has grown CURE and is deeply committed to doing anti racism work in her community.

We follow up the conversation from 2018 and see where she is right now, in the time of COVID-19, working and creating as an anti-racism activist/artist mom. Follow Nicole's music at www.nicolealifante.com and CURE at www.learnwithcure.com.

Listen to Nicole's interview from Season 1, Epsiode 22 as well, to get a sense of Nicole’s trajectory as an activist who is learning and growing every day.

MILK Podcast: Lost and Found, Season 3, Episode 14 Cross Promo EPISODE SWAP with The Only One in the Room: Actress and Producer Kimberly Russell

MILK Podcast is swapping feeds with The Only One in the Room Podcast. Co-Hosted by Laura Cathcart Robbins, a writer and a recovery thriver and survivor, each episode, Laura and her partner Scott interview a person about their Only One story, highlighting stories of being “othered” and encouraging connection between listeners and guests.  

On this episode of Only One in the Room, Laura speaks to actress and producer Kimberly Rusell. Her story as a mother is a fascinating one. Kimberly was a young actress, dating celebrity after celebrity and then (predictably) found the love of her life on a film set. She married Michael Bonewitz, they had three beautiful babies and then made the decision together to put her acting career on hold while she raised their three children. But a chance encounter with a stranger, a mom at her kid’s school, threw them all an unexpected curveball: Her dying wish was to have Kimberly and Michael take her five children after she died and raise them as her own. What would you do if you were faced with a question that would change your life and those of an entire family that isn’t your own?

Check out this conversation between Laura Cathcart Robbins and Kimberly Russell on The Only One in the Room Podcast. They are two Moms I’d Like to Know. Follow @theonlyoneintheroom on instagram and theonlyonepod.com

MILK Podcast: Lost and Found, Episode 3 Episode 11: Mothers Before, Mom Rages and New Stages with Edan Lepucki

Novelist Edan Lepucki joins Mallory in the MILK Studio. Edan is the bestselling author of California and Woman No. 17, and the creator of the popular Mothers Before Instagram account. @MothersBefore was timed to the release of her latest book, which explored the themes of art, motherhood, and identity.

Edan asked women and non-binary people of all ages to submit a favorite photograph of their mother before she became a mother and write a description of what the images invoke. @MothersBefore was and remains hugely popular, and now Mothers Before is a book. In it, Edan gathers more than sixty original essays and favorite photographs to explore the question: Who was your mother before she became a mother?

The daughters in this remarkable collection are writers and poets, artists and teachers, and the images and stories they share reveal the lives of women in ways that are vulnerable and true, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always moving.

Contributors include Jennifer Egan, Angela Garbes, Alison Roman, and Jia Tolentino, among others. Mothers Before is a thoughtful and intimate celebration of motherhood and female identity. Edan is also the cohost of the podcast Mom Rage, which is candid and terrific. She lives in Los Angeles with her family. Follow her at edanlepucki dot com and @edanlepucki.

MILK Podcast: Lost and Found, Season 3 Episode 8: Home-Schooling, Home Teaching, Diversity Equity and Inclusion with Educator Nikki Turpin

Educator Nikki Turpin is in the MILK Podcast Studio with Mallory. Nikki is a teacher at Nashoba Brooks School in Concord, MA and this fall will be the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion leader at an independent school in New England. She is the Programming Director for Robbins House, and African American Museum in Concord and leads the Youth In Philanthropy Program at Middlesex School for Foundation for MetroWest.

Nikki has long held a passion for African-American history and recently presented at the Association of African American Museums, discussing the importance of telling the full stories of African-American female suffragists. She leads professional development workshops and leadership trainings for kids and adults as a diversity and inclusion consultant, and has worked in public, private, and independent education for over a decade.

She has been closely observing the effects of distance learning as an educator, a spouse, and a parent, and shares thoughts about her own daughter's racial identity and how her and her husband are navigating their quarantine household of home schooling and working from home as teachers. Follow Nikki @naturpin on Instagram.

MILK Podcast: Lost and Found, Season 3, Episode 7: Ambition, Addiction and Tragedy with "Smacked" Author Eilene Zimmerman

Journalist Eilene Zimmerman joins Mallory in the MILK Studio. Eilene is the author of SMACKED: A story of White Collar Ambition, Addiction, and Tragedy, a deeply personal memoir about her husband Peter, who died after struggling with an addiction he kept secret from her and their two children.

Beyond Eilene’s personal experience discovering Peter’s body and retracing his secretive and harrowing addiction story is her own examination of herself as a partner and as a woman, as well as a powerful, reported look at addiction, privilege, and consumption in our culture.

Eilene has been a journalist for three decades, covering business, technology and social issues for a wide array of national magazines and newspapers. She was a columnist for The New York Times Sunday Business section for many years and since 2004 has been a regular contributor to the newspaper. In 2017, Zimmerman also began pursuing a master’s degree in social work, which she is completing soon. She lives in New York City and can be found online at eilenezimmerman.com

MILK Podcast: Lost and Found, Season 3 Episode 6: Moms Have Time to Read Books, Host a Podcast and Amplify Authors with Zibby Owens

Zibby Owens, is in the MILK Studio with Mallory, in a remote mom podcast to mom podcast host conversation. Zibby is the host of the award winning literary podcast Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books. A mother of four and a writer herself, Zibby has contributed to Redbook, Marie Claire, Parents, Huff Post, the New York Times online, What’s Up Moms, Kveller, Shape, SELF, and many other publications. She has been called “NYC’s Most Powerful Book-fluencer” by Vulture.com.

Her podcast was selected as one of Oprah Magazine’s top 21 book podcasts in 2019. A graduate of Yale University and Harvard Business School, she previously worked at Unilever, idealab! and other start-ups. She currently lives in New York with her husband, Kyle Owens of Morning Moon Productions, and her four children, ages 5-12.

Since the Covid-19 shelter in place began, Zibby has pivoted her podcast, her “in real life” author talks and literary salons, all online, created an online literary magazine called “We Found Time,” with original essays from her podcast guests, a Zoom live book club with authors and readers, and Instagram live chats with authors. Follow her on instagram @zibbyowens, and check out her podcast, writing and events at www.zibbyowens.com.

MILK Podcast: Lost and Found, Season 3 Episode 5: Sexual Assualt, Survivor Advocacy and Activism with Marissa Hochstetter

Activist Marissa Hoechstetter joins Mallory in the MILK Studio. Marissa is a survivor advocate who writes and speaks about sexually abusive doctors, enabling institutions, and corrupt politicians. She’s been fighting for change since her own reports of assault by an OB/GYN received inadequate responses from the medical system and law enforcement.

Marissa spearheaded a successful campaign in New York City to allow patients to remove the names of abusive doctors from birth certificates. She has given testimony on medical abuse to lawmakers and medical boards, and she founded Reform the Sex Crimes Unit, a group calling for increased transparency and accountability within the Manhattan DA’s Sex Crimes Unit and Special Victims Bureau. She is also a member of RAINN’s Speakers Bureau and the Patient Safety Action Network’s Medical Board Roundtable. Marissa is a senior advancement and communications professional for non-profit organizations and lives with her family in Massachusetts. Follow her @mhoechstetter and reformthescu.com

MILK Podcast: Lost and Found, Season 3 Episode 4: Mystery, Motherhood, and Moving through Loss with Novelist Joanna Hershon

Joanna Hershon is in the MILK Studio with Mallory, talking about her latest book, St. Ivo. ˆThey talk about a strange incident on the subway that happened to Joanna and prompted this book of fiction, about having children 9 years apart and about Joanna's former careers as playwright and actress.

Joanna Hershon Photo by Justin Schein

St. Ivo, a novel about two couples who reconnect after a loss, after a series of miscommunication and secrets, has received excellent reviews -- including a rave from the New York Times. Joanna is the also author of the novels Swimming, The Outside of August, The German Bride, and A Dual Inheritance.

Her writing has appeared in Granta, The New York Times, One Story, Virginia Quarterly Review, and two literary anthologies, Brooklyn Was Mine and Freud’s Blind Spot. She is an adjunct assistant professor in the Creative Writing Department at Columbia University and lives in Brooklyn with her husband, the painter Derek Buckner, their twin sons, and their daughter. Follow her on instagram @JoannaHershon

MILK Podcast: Lost and Found, Season 3 Episode 3: Ready or Not, Overparenting and How Not to Do It with Dr. Madeline Levine, PhD.

Dr. Madeline Levine, PhD, joins Mallory in the MILK Studio. Madeline is a clinician, consultant, educator and the author of the New York Times bestsellers, The Price of Privilege and Teach Your Children Well.

Mallory and Madeline talk about anxiety in children and in parents, about how overparenting is a major issue for launching successful and happy kids, and how flexibility will be key as our kids launch and eventually enter the work force.

Madeline is a co-founder of Challenge Success, a project of the Stanford Graduate School of Education that provides families and schools with the practical, research-based tools they need to create a more balanced and academically fulfilling life for kids. She also is a consultant to BDT & Company and their clients, a merchant bank that advises and invests in founder and family-led companies. She has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Fox & Friends, Nightline, 20/20, Dateline, MSNBC, and on numerous NPR radio shows. She has been interviewed by and written original pieces for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The San Francisco Chronicle, and many other outlets and speaks widely around parenting and education.

She lives in San Francisco with her husband and is the proud mother of three grown sons and a newly minted grandmother.

MILK Podcast: Lost and Found, Season 3 Episode 2: NYC Hustling, Flexibility, and Boy Momming with Peloton Yoga Instructor Kristin McGee

Peloton Yoga Instructor Kristin McGee joins Mallory in the MILK Podcast Studio to talk about her years as an actress, pivoting to yoga and fitness, and how she's found her perfect career sweetspot at Peloton.

Growing up in small town Idaho, Kristin had big dreams of pursuing dance and acting in New York, and became one of the most sought after and recognized yoga instructors in the city. Throughout her career, Kristin has been a pioneer in making yoga more accessible.

Photo Courtesy of Peloton

She has starred in yoga DVD’s, has privately trained celebrities and written books about the value of the yoga in everyday life. As a mom of three boys, Kristin strongly believes that just a few minutes of yoga a day can bring more balance and harmony to your life.

Kristin and Mallory talk about how moms can reconnect to their bodies and to their (new) selves post partum, and how her life and career has changed since she became a parent. Follow @KristinMcGee on Instagram.