Episode 0: Welcome to the Podcast!
Welcome to the Life Coach for Working Moms Podcast! Settle in and get to know your host, Katelyn Denning, as she shares her journey from writer to podcaster, from professional to working mom of 3, and from the corporate world to now supporting working moms as a life and executive coach. This podcast will be your guide to effectively managing your time, learning to set boundaries, navigating career changes and opportunities, and prioritizing the most important things in your life. Get ready for actionable ideas, relatable life stories, inspiration, and a supportive community.
In this episode, you’ll learn…
This podcast is designed for working moms who feel overwhelmed or need guidance.
Katelyn Denning, a working mom and life coach, offers relatable advice and tools.
You'll learn time management hacks, the art of setting boundaries, and self-care strategies.
The podcast will also address career navigation for working moms.
Katelyn emphasizes the importance of self-care and not feeling alone in the challenges of working motherhood.
links & resources mentioned in this episode:
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You are listening to the Life Coach for Working Moms podcast, the show where we are talking about what it actually takes to make life work as a working mom. I'm your host, Katelyn Denning, a full time working mom of three and a certified life and executive coach. I'm so glad you're here and I hope you enjoy this week's episode.
 Hey everyone, welcome to the first official episode of the podcast. I'm excited to be here. I can't believe it's finally happening. You know, we, we had planned, we, I had planned to launch in June. And of course life had other plans, or I should say my children had other plans. But everyone is finally healthy back on track.
So right. The timing is always what it was meant to be. So here we are, I wanted to kick off this first season of the podcast with just a short intro episode one. I think it's going to help me settle in to the microphone, which I'll talk about in just a minute. And two, for anyone who's new or maybe it's been a while since we've met this will give you just a quick overview.
Who I am, what I do, why this podcast, and what you can expect moving forward. So I don't know if you know this, but. I have been, I'm going to call myself a writer. I've been a writer for years. I started my website, themothernurture.com, which you can check out, of course, years ago. I think I officially started it after my middle child, who is now seven, was born.
I have always written in journals and notebooks and, you know, just sort of cataloging my life. I love to do that. And it just seemed like a natural extension to write articles, blog posts, actually, of what I was going through. As I was, you know, figuring out my identity and, and who I was now after at this point my second child and just sort of again cataloging but in a little bit more of an official way.
This was of course back when blog posts were a little bit more popular than maybe they are now. So anyway, this, this format of writing has just always felt so natural to me. I still write. If any of you are on my newsletter list, you get an email from me every Wednesday. If you're not, you can sign up.
We'll put the link in the show notes here. But I write every week. I publish to my website every week. I also do guest articles, if you didn't know that, for a number of publications monthly as well. I just love writing. And so podcasting is a new platform for me. I have been guest, a guest on other podcasts but never had my own, always wanted to have my own.
And so, yeah, here we are. I'm not gonna lie. It is a little strange. To be sitting here, I'm in my office, all by myself. talking into a microphone. There's no one here, but I am picturing you. And that is what I think is helping me move through this. I'm, I'm picturing you, this amazing community that I have here for Mother Nurture.
And I know that y'all are going to be Just accepting and welcoming and whatever happens on these episodes, the imperfections, right? It's that's just life. That's how it goes. So I'm excited to be here. If you are new to me I'm Caitlin. I am a life and executive coach for working moms. I love what I do.
And before this, I worked for, I guess it was over 16 years in the corporate world. Everything from, I was a chronic job hopper. So anything, everything from marketing event planning, fundraising, then into, you know, the for profit side of the world, I did product management and tech sales. I had all three of my children who are now nine, seven, and five while working full time.
So I know what it's like to return from in my case, three, two short maternity leaves to pump at work to figure out that, and to leave my kids in all sorts of combinations of childcare over the years from, you know, in home childcare to a nanny or several nannies, and then formal daycare arrangements where my youngest still is today.
So. My journey, though, to where I am now as a life and executive coach really began that first year of motherhood after my oldest, my son, was born before having kids, if any of you can relate to this, I was sort of the Picture of quote unquote success. I had a good job, a full schedule, a long list of hobbies and activities that I took part in, a growing career.
And I was always in constant pursuit of my best self. I remember. Finding out that we were pregnant and feeling nervous. Right? I, I think we were earlier in our friend group to, to get pregnant. I didn't have a lot of great examples in my life of what it would look like to return to work, to manage a career, and, and raise kids.
My mom, I should say, was a working mom. And so I did have that. I don't want to discount that at all. But she was a teacher. So a little bit different than the corporate world, right? I actually attended her school. So we would go to school with her and, and she had summers off, which was amazing, of course.
But when I thought about my corporate career, right, what would that look like? But I remember thinking that I wouldn't have to change too much about the way I was living. Right? And, of course, I was wrong because nine months later, Henry arrived and I was forever changed. I remember in those, that first year in particular, feeling confused, torn between work and, and him, but, but also confused and like, was it okay that I actually wanted to go back to work?
Or was something wrong with me? That I craved that adult conversation and the structure and sort of creating something that was my own. Then I felt overwhelmed. By everything that had just been, you know, dropped onto my plate with caring for a newborn and, and everything that I think we just don't talk about enough.
The, the onslaught of to dos that come with raising a child as well. But, you know, putting on a brave face at the office when people asked how I was doing, I was smiling on the outside, but I remember days of just holding back tears or, or screams of like, this is. Not possible. This is not fair. How is anyone doing this?
I felt lost. I will be the first to share and openly share that I, I struggled with postpartum depression and that sort of changed my view on things. I thought my marriage was falling apart. And I was unhappy. Just in general, I had a colicky, somewhat unhappy baby and I remember thinking that that was my fault because he never saw me smile.
But, you know, as so, so many people's stories go, I don't know. I did ask for help. I first sought a therapist, then I actually had my first experience with a coach and I got the help that I, I needed. And through that experience, and talking about it, and sharing about it, and writing about it, I realized how many other women, like me, needed that same type of support.
And at the time I could not find a provider, someone to support me who truly understood what it was like to have one foot in both worlds. I didn't want to outsource everything. I still wanted to be present with my, with my kids and, and have those moments and those memories, but I also wanted to grow my career and show up there.
And so and so that is really what led me to. Creating Mother Nurture to accepting clients and to supporting women today, like I do, to help them feel confident, right, in your identity as a working mom, to help you figure out what are your priorities in life and to make the most of your time so you can be present, whether that's, you know, when, wherever your feet are, with your family, at your job, at your work, and, and just in your life.
I think. You know, if I were to zoom out and think about why ultimately I do this work, I think that women have brilliant ideas. I think that we need even more of that female presence and leadership to be able to make the changes that we want to see in industries and businesses and our companies in systems.
And I mean, not to be dramatic, but in the world. Unfortunately, so many women are so tired, overwhelmed, and unhappy. Because we think we have to do it all and, and we just don't have the capacity for anything else to make that change. And so I want to see more women who are relaxed, who are joyful. Because I think that when women feel good about themselves and their lives, it has this ripple effect, right?
That extends to everyone else. It could just be to your family, your partner, your kids, to your colleagues, your friends, to people in your neighborhood, in your community. One of my all time favorite quotes that I reflect on myself and with my clients, it's on my website is this, you are the only one who can give your kids a happy mom who loves life.
And I think that when you raise kids who see what it looks like to take care of yourself, to have fun, to relax, to love your family, friends, and your partner, and contribute to something that you care about, or if that's just create income and wealth for your family, that the results of that are immeasurable.
I really do think it sounds so simple, but I think we can make big changes in the world, but it starts. With us so that we can have the capacity to do the bigger things that are required, that are so desperately needed.
So my coaching was, was born, I think, out of this desire to, to help working moms who were and are just like me, who value professional life, but also want to be a present parent, but feel overwhelmed trying to do it all. So my work largely focuses around, you know, efficient management of your time, setting boundaries and knowing your priorities, learning the skill of being present instead of so distracted.
By all of the distractions in life, but most commonly I think are to do's and what's next, and then learning how to find fun, joy, and rest amidst the chaos. I think it's something that we forget and lose how to do. I do that through one on one coaching, my group program, Plenty of Time, and my popular 90 minute planning intensives, which are essentially a strategy session for your calendar and your to do list.
But for this podcast, I have some amazing episodes planned for you, because of course I have to plan them out for this first season. What are we going to talk about? What are you going to learn? So, to give you some insight. Ideas and build some excitement of what you can expect. I want to share all of my best tips and tricks for managing time, creating routines that feel easy to implement and to sustain.
And for fitting in anything that I would say is beyond the basics of what we have to do for work and life or home. I am going to be sharing about how to Prioritize the things that make life meaningful. So that will be a little bit different for everyone. But what comes to mind for me is, you know, prioritizing your partnership or your marriage relationships with your kids, with your friends, with your family, hobbies, health, and, and so much more.
I also want to talk about workplace topics, career. This is a huge part of the coaching work that I do with my clients. Boundaries, right? The impact that you're having in your work, the output that you are contributing, career transitions and promotions. Right? This question that often comes up about, you know, can I really handle this?
I already have so much on my plate, or what is this going to take away from my family or from the personal things that I want to do in my life? Basically, I want to give you a behind the scenes look at what is coming up in my life. What is coming up with my clients and then share with you what is and what's not working so you can save yourself time and research and maybe be a little bit inspired.
Of course, I'll throw on some fun episodes. So I love reading. I talk about books all the time, or I will talk about books with anyone who wants to talk about books with me. I read 140 books last year. I'm scaling back my goal a little bit this year because that was a little off. To all consuming, but I, I read, you know, between eight and 10 books a month.
So I have lots to talk about there. We can talk about books specifically, or also just how do you fit that in? I love to work out. I always have a couple of personal challenges running in my own life, and I bet you would find some of them pretty interesting, and maybe even find an idea that you might want to try out for yourself.
But ultimately, I want this podcast to feel like a show that gets you, that gets the complexity Of being a working mom. I want this to be a show that inspires you and makes you feel like you're not alone. Whatever you're going through or feeling challenged or frustrated by it's probably totally normal.
As I say to all of my clients, of course, that's hard, or of course that's happening. Look at what you are doing, right? Look at your life and how much is there, but also how can we make it better?
So I am so excited again to have you along on this ride with me. Again, thank you for your patience as I figure out this cadence and this platform and how to speak right to, to you with your, with your earbuds in. I picture you taking me along. I hope this is how I listen to podcasts on a walk or while you're folding đź“Ť laundry or while you're cooking dinner or when the house is too loud and you just need a little bit of noise canceling adult audio.
Not that this isn't. Going to be kid friendly. You could totally have this playing in your car while the kids are there. It's not a problem. But let's go, let's go, let's dive into the first episode and I will talk with you soon.
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