Host Mikenzie Ginsberg analyzes the first season of her podcast, highlighting the importance of support systems and authenticity for working mothers, in this reflective episode.
3 Jul 2025
Living Life Intensely: How Livia found meaning through a business turnaround, motherhood and loss
Livia Paggi recounts her experiences as a political risk consultant, business partner, and mother, detailing her career journey, navigating professional triumphs, and coping with devastating personal loss, ultimately finding renewed meaning and focus; this is an interview.
26 Jun 2025
Beautiful Things Come at Their Own Inconsiderate Timing: Shachar's journey of resilience through career and fertility uncertainty
Shachar Peled recounts her career pivots from journalism to Google, navigating fertility challenges and layoffs, and ultimately embracing uncertainty while pursuing further education, in this interview.
19 Jun 2025
Growing Career and Family: Camilla on going from startup manager to public company executive while navigating IVF and raising 3 kids
Camilla Kater discusses her decade-long career growth at Deliveroo, balancing executive leadership with IVF treatments and raising three children, and shares strategies for setting boundaries between work and family in this interview.
12 Jun 2025
From BBC Reporter to Social Entrepreneur: How Genia Followed Her Curiosity to Build an Award-Winning Business as a Mother of Two
Genia Mineeva shares her journey from BBC reporter to social entrepreneur, highlighting the challenges and rewards of building a business as a working mother in an interview with the host.
5 Jun 2025
Can Women Really Have Kids and a Big Career? Karina’s Journey from COO to Mom Entrepreneur in Her Late 30s
Karina Valencia shares her journey from COO at Citigroup and Palantir to founding Longvia, discussing how she balanced career ambitions with motherhood after facing fertility challenges and workplace discrimination in this interview.
29 May 2025
No More Playing Small: Award-winning filmmaker Shaina Feinberg on how motherhood unleashed her career ambitions
Award-winning filmmaker Shaina Feinberg discusses with Mikenzie Olds her New York Times film about motherhood and career ambitions, revealing how meeting Joan Darling reignited her purpose as an artist and parent in New York City in this interview.
22 May 2025
When Planning Meets Intuition: Charlotte on fast tracking her marketing career, navigating fertility challenges, and going freelance
Marketing strategist Charlotte Brown shares how an early endometriosis diagnosis shaped her career goals — fast-tracking her rise in the corporate world so she could start a family before 30. She opens up about navigating fertility challenges, a difficult pregnancy, and the realities of returning to work after maternity leave. Charlotte also reflects on the surprising way motherhood reignited her ambition and why she ultimately left her corporate job to go freelance. Her story explores the tension between planning and intuition, and how she’s building a career and family on her own terms.
If you're a company looking for brand and marketing strategy, you can find more about Charlotte's freelance consultancy - https://www.lacuna.studio/
Show Time Stamps
06:30 – Climbing the corporate ladder with kids in mind
Why Charlotte chose strategy roles, fast-tracked her salary growth, and planned for early motherhood in London.
10:45 – Pregnancy, pressure, and navigating fertility with endometriosis
Charlotte opens up about being told to have children before 30, and the emotional impact of managing timelines she didn’t choose.
17:20 – A challenging pregnancy and redefining strength
What it was like to be bed-bound with hyperemesis, and how it shattered her expectations of “pushing through” the pregnancy
21:50 – Returning to work, loss, and the complicated in-between
Charlotte talks about her miscarriage, returning to work, and the vulnerability of being open with her employer.
28:40 – Leaving corporate: Burnout, reflection, and the leap to freelance
Why Charlotte decided to resign, and how she created space to build a more fulfilling career around motherhood.
36:15 – Building a sustainable life and embracing flexibility
How she and her husband split home responsibilities, set boundaries with kids, and navigate work-life balance with intention.
15 May 2025
From Achievement to Meaning: Leila Zegna on hard work, authentic leadership, and the gifts of parenting a child with additional needs
In this episode, venture capitalist Leila Zegna shares her inspiring journey founding Kindred Capital while becoming a mother of three. When her first daughter was born with a rare genetic condition, Leila's identity as a high-achiever was challenged, forcing her to redefine success beyond metrics and accolades. She candidly discusses navigating the venture capital world while pregnant, and her evolution from valuing hard work to embracing authenticity, which is just one of the many gifts her daughter has taught her. This conversation offers powerful insights for anyone questioning how ambition and family can coexist.
8 May 2025
The evolution of Identity: Silke's journey to reclaiming herself beyond the label of "working mother"
Silke is a senior leader at Dow Jones who has built her career and family life across three countries—Denmark, the UK, and the US. In this conversation, she shares her journey from leaving her native Denmark after university to establishing a successful international career while raising two young children with her husband Thomas. Silke speaks candidly about the mental challenges of early motherhood, breastfeeding struggles, and the importance of creating space for herself and her relationship. With her "good for now" philosophy, Silke demonstrates how embracing the present moment allows her to build a fulfilling life that balances career ambition with family priorities. Her approach to maintaining weekly date nights, not limiting her family's lifestyle, and finding support when living far from extended family provides valuable insights for parents navigating similar paths.
1 May 2025
Designing a Life That Works for You: Jaclyn's journey across cultures
Psychotherapist Jaclyn Udell shares her unconventional life path from studying Mandarin in North Carolina to working in Chinese textiles, retraining as a psychedelic therapist in New York, and building her practice in London as a new mother. Jaclyn discusses how exposure to diverse cultures—from the American South to China, New York, Paris, and London—shaped her unique approach to career decisions and motherhood. She reveals how freelancing allowed her to create a gradual, personalized return to work after having her son Bram, and the emotional journey of separation and establishing her own identity beyond motherhood. Jaclyn's perspective on navigating cultural differences in parenting, her views on community building, and her family's latest adventure considering a move to a futuristic "network state" community showcase her adaptable approach to life. Her story illustrates how blending different cultural influences and rejecting rigid structures can lead to a more integrated and fulfilling life path.
24 Apr 2025
You Make Plans and God Laughs: Candice's journey from corporate law to stay-at-Home motherhood to entrepreneurship
In this special episode, Mikenzie gets to chat with her older sister Candice about her career and motherhood journey. Candice is a mother of four girls who has navigated multiple career transitions from corporate real estate law to in-house counsel, stay-at-home motherhood, and now entrepreneurship. In this episode, Candice shares about her lifelong plan to be both a mother and lawyer—and how reality repeatedly disrupted those carefully laid plans. Candice opens up about the challenges of balancing high-pressure corporate law work with family responsibilities, her experience with pregnancy during a new job, navigating shifting financial dynamics with her husband, her decision to become a stay-at-home mother, and ultimately finding her entrepreneurial path. She shares candidly about postpartum anxiety, miscarriage, and the gradual process of learning to prioritize herself. Candice's evolution from a meticulous planner to someone who embraces uncertainty offers valuable perspective for anyone struggling to reconcile career ambitions with family life. Her ultimate message is powerful: "Trust yourself. Because you are all you need in terms of guidance.”
17 Apr 2025
The Achievement Treadmill: Emily’s path to balance as a tech leader and mother of two
Emily is a commercial operations leader at a major tech company, where she’s helped grow the organization from scrappy startup to public company—all while becoming one of the first senior employees to navigate parenthood.
In this episode, Emily shares openly about her deep-rooted drive for achievement, being the primary breadwinner in her family, and the ever-evolving dynamics of balancing an intense job with life as a mother of two. We talk about the crucial role her husband plays in childcare, how she prioritizes core friendships, and her ongoing work to set boundaries.
Emily’s honesty, clarity, and self-awareness make this a must-listen for anyone trying to figure out how to build a big career and be fully present at home.
9 Apr 2025
Turning challenges into opportunities: Cecilie’s journey through loss, motherhood and entrepreneurship
Cecilie Jakobsen is the founder and CEO of Wawa Fertility and a single mother to her son and stepdaughter. In this episode, she shares how she turned personal fertility pain into purpose and how she is building a VC-backed startup while raising a child. Cecilie shares openly about her fertility challenges, how she uses her flexibility to make running a business and family work, the crucial role of family and friend support in her life and much more. Cecilie’s honesty, grit, and creativity will leave you rethinking what’s possible for career, for motherhood, and for your life overall.
9 Apr 2025
Introducing Leaning My Way
Welcome to Leaning My Way, a show where I have honest conversations with working mothers about how they really "do it all". This show serves as a resource for all women, whether you're a mother, considering becoming one or just asking some of these questions about how to balance career and parenting.
Join us every Thursday for new episodes of Leaning My Way.
Who has been a guest on Leaning My Way
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Livia Paggi
Shachar Peled
Camilla Kater
Genia Mineeva
Karina Valencia
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
8 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 21 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
29
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
32
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