Shining a light on the good, the bad, and the ugly with Ashley Charbonneau

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Shining a light on the good, the bad, and the ugly with Ashley Charbonneau

This week on my podcast It’s a Lot, I spoke to my college friend Ashley Charbonneau, who is now a therapist, author, and podcaster. We met during our sophomore year of college and worked together on a research project about people's writing traumas and how they impacted their feelings about writing 🤓 It was so fun to have an in-depth conversation with Ashley over a decade and a half later. In the first half of the show, we discuss abusive workplaces, how AI is causing issues that therapists now have to determine how to deal with, the writing process for her new book, why she was inspired to start a podcast, and more.

In the second half of our conversation, we explore what it was like to become the guardian of a teenage sibling, how being the oldest of 8 affected Ashley growing up, her decision to be childfree by choice, and how to read more books you love!

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Mai Nguyen knows that we can feel two contradictory things at once

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Mai Nguyen knows that we can feel two contradictory things at once

On It’s a Lot this week, I talked to author and fellow toddler mom Mai Nguyen. Mai is the author of Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead, a novel rooted in her own experience with infant loss. We talked about the utter shock of losing a baby when they’re a few days old, why it’s worth measuring the placenta, which platitudes we hated the most when grieving, and how Mai moved through her grief by starting to write again.

Mai got pregnant 7 months after losing her firstborn; in the second half of the episode, we discuss some of the joys and struggles of parenting a toddler. Highs: getting new episodes of Trash Truck on Netflix, visiting splash pads, and eating ice cream often. Lows: trying to get them to eat any food that’s not woefully plain. We also talked about how she speaks to her youngest, Leah, about her big sister Gemma, and how they honor Gemma as a family.

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Someone needs to rise to meet this moment in history, and Robin Wilt is ready

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Someone needs to rise to meet this moment in history, and Robin Wilt is ready

This week on my podcast It’s a Lot, I spoke with Robin Wilt, a mom and candidate for Congress. Robin is running to represent New York’s 25th Congressional District and is the only anti-fascist, anti-genocide, anti-ICE, and anti-poverty candidate in the race. I loved that in the first half of our conversation, Robin really opened up about struggles she and her kids have faced, like her oldest experiencing severe racial harassment in middle school and her youngest coming out as trans and facing discrimination as an athlete.

We also talked about her accomplishments on the Brighton Town Board, her experiences growing up as one of only a handful of Black kids in Pittsford, the history of racist zoning policies in the greater Rochester area, and much more. I hope you’ll give it a listen and learn a lot!

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