The Mothers
Podcast Description
Do you ever marvel at women seemingly crushing life – building businesses, leading congress, writing best sellers, dropping hit albums, winning gold medals – then learn they also have children and think Wait, how the f*ck are they doing this? And how are they, really? // Sara Brown and Veronica Wolanin are many things and also mothers – on their own journeys to “do it all” while redefining what it means to “have it all.” Join them in funny, vulnerable, true conversations with The Mothers among us as they reflect on their lives, identity & purpose through the lens of motherhood.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast explores themes such as the balance of motherhood with personal ambitions, identity, and purpose, with episode highlights including discussions on the portrayal of mothers in the show Shrinking, personal journeys of women like Seo Yun Yang, and reflections on the musical Peter Pan related to maternal figures.
Sara Brown sits down with the people shaping our world — extraordinary leaders, creators, and thinkers — to explore how their identity, purpose, and ambition evolve alongside career and motherhood.
These conversations invite you to get curious about who you are, what you want, and why you want it — and leave you inspired to build a life that honors those answers.
Raw, smart, and deeply human, The Mothers blends the emotional honesty of We Can Do Hard Things, the practical wisdom of Mel Robbins, and the intellectual depth of Brené Brown.
Follow, review and join us on IG @themotherspod.
More and more women are leaving powerful institutions to build businesses and careers on their own terms. But many of those “choices” were shaped long before they ever made them.
C. Nicole Mason, PhD is the founder and president of Future Forward Women, a policy network working to build women’s political and economic power in the United States and globally. She previously served as President and CEO of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research – one of Washington D.C.’s most influential think tanks – becoming the youngest person and first woman of color to lead the organization. She is also the author of Born Bright: A Young Girl’s Journey from Nothing to Something in America.
Raised by a single mother in Los Angeles, Nicole went on to earn a PhD in political science and become one of the country’s leading voices on gender and economic inequality.
But it wasn’t until she became a single mother by choice to twins that the structural issues she had spent years researching became deeply personal.
In this conversation, Nicole and I talk about the moment many women encounter: when “choosing to leave” a demanding institution or corporate path isn’t really a choice at all – it’s the only way to try to build a life that works.
We discuss:
– the “false choice” many women face between staying inside powerful institutions or building something outside them
– why childcare remains one of the biggest barriers to women’s economic power
– the sacrifices required to reach the top – and whether they’re worth it
– becoming a single mother by choice while leading major policy organizations
– redefining power on your own terms
If you're contemplating a career move outside the system, this conversation may change how you think about that “choice.”
Nicole and her team recently launched Shaping Power, Shaping the Future, the first national bipartisan study of women state legislators examining their leadership experience. If you or someone you know is serving in state government, you can participate or share the survey here:
https://futureforwardwomen.org/shaping-power-shaping-the-future-national-survey/
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The Mothers is a production of Backline Media.
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