Like A Mother

  Who you surround yourself with matters. Science is on my side with this. If your friends smoke, you are more likely to smoke. If your friends are overweight, you are likely, too. Divorced? Your friends are next! I have started to see people in one of two camps: Victims who give their power and ability to be happy away to others by blaming the world for their own shortcomings. Everyone else. I just don't have time for victims. They are on a different course. That is fine, but I don't want to hang out with you. I don't want to do business with you, and I don't think you're a good influence for my kids. And so I don't call my old friend. I see her around, and she is a nice and good person. I wish her the best. But she kills my mojo. Call me sensitive, I don't care. There are too many other awesome people who will are in my camp, living full lives and taking responsibility for their happiness. If you have that toxic friend, that single mom friend -- even if she is the only other single mom in your own town! -

  Last month Lizanne Falsetto, 52, sold her protein bar company, ThinkThin, for $217 million -- a huge triumph for this single mom without a college degree. In this Lizanne Falsetto interview, we dish about: Her darkest moment, while going through divorce, facing business bankruptcy when the Atkins craze tanked and her dad died -- and how she pushed through. Why this former model stayed in the background as she built  her empire. What her big, Italian family's food tradition taught her about business, family and life. What her panty color has to do with her professional and romantic success. How she balanced entrepreneurship with single motherhood on a daily basis. What she teaches her teenagers today about business and money. How she attracted the alpha male who is her long-time romantic partner. Why she describes herself as a "warrior woman." What's next.     Loving this podcast? Follow on RSS or  iTunes. 

For the past 10 years Free-Range Kids' Lenore Skenazy,  New York City journalist and mom of two, has been taking one for the team. The Free-Range Kids author and blog founder has been on a one-woman mission to give kids back the freedom and autonomy they need to grow into self-actualized adults. I can't get enough of every single thing she has to say, including stats like: Crime is back to the level it was when gas cost 29 cents a gallon, says the Christian Science Monitor. Crime is back to the level it was before color TV, says The Week magazine. 2013 gun crime rate back to level of early 1960s, says Pew Study. 2014 violent crime rate down another4.4%, says USA Today. Pedestrian, bicyclist and car deaths ALSO at lowest rate in decades, says The Council on Foreign Relations. And here’s an overall report on crime over the last 25 years, which includes the graph below: Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School All violent crime in the U.S.: Down  48% 1993 – 2012 All homicides: Down 50.5% 1993-2012 Forcible

I love Lauren Greutman. I mean, who else can talk about coupons and budgeting and you still like her after? Lauren and her husband Mark run IAmThatLady.com, a site devoted to teaching families how to build the life they want -- on a budget. In this episode Lauren tells me the amazing, devastating and hilarious story about how her family overspent on a lavish lifestyle until they were $40,000 in debt -- and clawed their way out of it, slinging steaks and living on a tightwad budget. Also, she will crack you up with my most favorite story of hers: Having her pink Cadillac repo'd in the most dramatic way possible (tears ensued).  In the past few weeks Lauren's freezer meal plans have been blowing up, thanks in part to her appearances on Today, Fox and Friends, Dr. Oz and Good Morning America.  Have a listen! And check out  IAmThatLady.com ! 

  I've been friends and a fan (fran?) of Christelyn Russell-Karazin for a long time. A mom of two, freelance writer and founder of BeyondBlackAndWhite.com, Christelyn has impressed/shocked me with her razor-sharp stance on interracial relationships. A black woman married to a white man, who also had an unplanned baby with a black man, she is adamant that women of color find love, marriage and family men they deserve -- regardless of race.  What sets Christelyn's blog apart from any other voice on race -- aside from the astonishing interaction with readers -- is that in her smart and sharp voice, she admonishes everyone brands, the media, Washington and black men and women alike for their stance on race, relationships and policy. She gets pissed off, takes a stand and says front-and-center what trolls typically post in the comments section. In between posts about beauty products, her garden and love stories about interracial couples, recent topics include criticizing a black woman for suing her boyfriend for m

I'm a traveler. Starting at age 15 when I took off for a year of study in France, hopping on a plane, navigating around a new city, chatting up the locals and finding my way around a bus terminal or market is not only natural to me, but also one of my greatest joys. I want to share that joy with my kids, and also, even though I'm a parent, I don't want to stop traveling myself (call me selfish, I could care less). I've written a lot about the annual road trip I take with Helena and Lucas  (The Wall Street Journal interviewed me about my radical policy of no tablet in the car. Common, America! Gah!), and now that they are older we are taking more adventurous trips -- they to Greece with their dad in the summers, and hopefully skiing this winter. I sympathize with parents who are terrified about traveling with kids. I admit that the morning after returning from our three-week road trip last year, I could.not.get.out.of.bed. Not because I was so tired. But because being home felt sososoossoososososo good! Those

When I was growing up in Sycamore, Ill. (pop. 10,000), I dreamed of moving to New York City to be fabulous: To have a fabulous career, attend fabulous events, and hang out with fabulous people. My dreams came true, for the most part. Including the people part, even if I spend much of my free time with Betsy Smith, my friend from Sycamore, Ill. (pop. 10,000). You've met Betsy in previous episodes. She's married to Kris, a podcast maven with whom she co-hosts the epic Croncast show and who produced this very show. Betsy is also principal of social media marketing agency AllinSmith, and mom to two awesome kids, whom my kids adore. In fact, this weekend my kids are staying at the Smiths so I can spend time with my European lover who is flying in.  In other words, Betsy and I are all up in each other's business, and business is what she and I like to talk about most. Business and money. And how those things differer in Sycamore compared with New York, and why we used to not make money and now we do, and how we can

I first saw Cocoa Brown in Tyler Perry’s Single Mom’s Club, in which she plays a down-and-out mom with a husband and son in jail and struggling to find child care while she waited tables at the local diner. In real life, Cocoa is a very real single mom of a 3-year-old, and she is killing it in her career as a standup comic and actress. Roles include Jennifer on Tyler Perry’s For Better or Worse series on TBS, and the upcoming miniseries American Crime Story, in which Cocoa plays Queen Bee, a pivotal juror in the OJ Simpson trial. In this hilarious interview, Cocoa shares her story about: Leaving corporate life to pursue standup comedy Breaking into Hollywood Dealing with an unfaithful husband Raising a son without an involved father Being a single mom with the help of her tribe of five amazing gay men Dating as a single mom Her standup album, One Funny Momma   Loving this podcast? Follow on RSS or  iTune

Two years ago, Jenn Scalia, 34, was a recently divorced New Jersey mom, unemployed and living with her parents -- and miserable. This year she will bill $500,000  ($400,000 profit) from her coaching and business consulting business for female online entrepreneurs. One month she did $100,000 in sales. What struck me about Jenn's story is not just that she made so much money, so quickly, but that she chose to make a 180-degree turn on her money mentality. I know a lot of people, including a lot of very rich people. There is not a big intelligence gap between the middle-class and the affluent. But there is a difference in money mentality. How did Jenn jump from one club to the next? After all, before losing her job, she felt she was doing really well with a $48,000 per year social marketing position for an Atlantic City casino. Then, she realized she deserved a whole lot more -- and got it. In this episode Jenn and I discuss the steps she took to get through the money hangups that were holding her back [raise yo

Growing up, one of my fondest memories is waking up on school mornings in the winter, lured from my cozy bed to the still-chilly house by the smells of breakfast cooking. Every single morning of my childhood, my own single mom would rise before my two brothers and me, and cook a proper hot breakfast: Pancakes and sausage with applesauce on the side, french toast and bacon, any version of eggs and omelets, oatmeal or muffins. This was the midwest, and my mom grew up on a farm. Meals were square, big, and served with cold milk. Now as a mom, I do more or less the same -- though I do find some short-cuts, like baking healthy muffins in bulk, freezing them, and microwave de-thawing them before dragging the kids out of bed. For dinner, I cook from scratch most evenings and we always sit down together for the meal -- something that makes me a bit of an anomaly these days.  This shared passion for family dinners is just one thing that draws me to Leanne Ely. Over the past few years I've looked to Leanne as a mentor.

In being so open about my romantic life and divorce, people -- strangers, even -- often confess to me the very personal, dirty details about their own personal lives. One big theme I hear again and again: Women frustrated with their husbands, whom they feel do not pull their weight around the house or with the kids. Then, in an angry whisper, she will lean in and snarl: "And I make all the money!" That is what is happening, people: Women -- yay us! -- are getting ahead, winning professional success and the money that comes with it. As we close that wage gap, more and more women are earning more than their man. And cheating, conflict and divorce ensue. In fact, marriages are 50 percent more likely to end in the even that the woman earns more than her husband. Fact. Today's guest, my friend personal finance journalist Farnoosh Torabi, geniusly wrote a whole book addressing this phenomenon head-on: the bestseller When She Makes More: 10 Rules for Breadwinning Women. Torabi, host of the So Money with Farnoosh Tor

I've known Samantha Ettus for three or four years now -- long before people had a reason to take my calls or do me favors. And she always took my calls, and supported me with advice and social media shout-outs and brainstorming when I needed it. So, of course, I always loved her. But, that is all very authentic and honest, and has built a wildly successful speaking and writing career, which includes regular network TV appearances, a New York Times bestseller and The Pie Life: The Recipe for Professional and Personal Success, out September. In this episode of Like a Mother with Emma Johnson, Samantha shares her formula for reaching your potential, squashing the negative self-talk that keeps you up at night, and expecting the very most out of life while embracing the fact that life is inherently hard and very, very messy. She laughs at my assessment of her Instagram feed, which a lesser person may dismiss her as too-perfect. After all, Samantha is a drop-dead gorgeous blonde with three adorable pumpkin kids, a

Would you pay $3,000 to have lasers shot into your vagina to tighten it up? What about $1,900 to have stem cells shot into your clitorious to improve sexual pleasure? Hundreds of women each year get these services at Smooth Synergy Spa in New York City, says Nicole Contons who together with her physician husband runs the spa. These outpatient procedures can be had on the same day you get your facial peel and your mustache lasered. Incontience, lack of sexual sensation and a desire for a long, healthy sex life are driving businesses that offer these procedures, Contos says. Contos made national headlines (Oprah!) 18 years ago when she was jilted at the alter at her own big greek wedding, but turned the paid-for reception into an actual party, instead of a pity party. Today she says she's happily married with two beautiful daughters, and helping women achieve physical and sexual health. Contons talks about the new sexual revolution that fuels her business, the younger-man-older woman trend, and what it's like

For several years now, we know the traditional, nuclear, two-parent, married hetero family is the minority. Instead, as many of us have suspected, the majority of kids in this country are being raised in households that are multigenerational, headed by gay parents, or -- in the majority of these non-traditional families -- single moms or dads. We're talking hundreds of millions of kids and their parents who struggle to feel normal, even if the census bureau tells us that families like yours and mine are actually the normal ones. This trend is so long coming, and affects so many people, that it is nearly amazing that we didn't already have a big website to document and celebrate it. Last year former top Canadian parenting magazine editor Brandie Weikle launched TheNewFamily.com, a website and podcast by the same name, that celebrates the myriad ways to define family. Weikle, who lives next door to her ex-husband and his new wife, talks about the joys and challenges of navigating the no-man's land of reinventin

  Tammy Tibbetts, 29, bucks common assumption that millennials are a bunch of entitled brats. Six years ago Tibbetts launched She's The First, a nonprofit that supports girls' education in developing countries. To-date, the charity has supported nearly 600 girls in 10 countries -- all thanks to Tibbetts fundraising, including her signature tie-die cupcake fundraisers and powerful command of social media and leveraging support on college campuses. Named to Forbes' "5 Most Powerful Women Changing The World For Girls," and "30 Under 30," She's The First this year is on track to raise $1 million. Have a listen to how Tibbetts' own high school experience, growing up in a blue-collar New Jersey family in which she was the first in her family to attend college -- just like the girls her organization supports. She shares with me her passion for teenage girls, which started with her own awkward high school years (voted "most shy"), through her experience as an editor at Seventeen magazine ("I didn't read Seventeen whe

People, this is ridiculous. Women everywhere whine that there are no decent dudes out there. Men bitch there are no good women out there. Hogwash to all of it! In this episode I chat with my friend Bruce Fretts (that's him above, cute, right?), who is such a nice guy, successful in his interesting career, great dad and is just burnt on dating. We talk about the two minutes we dated (and he suffered a panic attack at the burlesque show he took me to. Sigh.) and how online dating has changed the romance game forever. I also chat with Katherine, a gorgeous single mom in Houston who is so successful in her career, an awesome mom and funny chick -- and she is just bitter about men! I help her get to the bottom of her hangups and we devise a Tinder prayer designed to help her find sexy love.   Love this show? Subscribe and leave a REVIEW on iTunes. Me love you long time xxx

Gay men are richer than everyone else, right? After all, they're men, so they automatically earn more than women, and they are less likely to have kids, which of course are the biggest bucks-suck of all time. Plus, just look at all the gay men you know. So, so fabulous. Right? Not so fast, says today's guest.   Ten years ago John Schnieder, 42, and David Auten, 45, found themselves, in many ways, typical of their peers. The Denver financial professionals were gay, young, hot, with solid incomes and a love of partying -- and were deeply in debt.  With combined incomes of $70,000, they realized that clubbing, shopping and travel had landed them $51,000 in credit card debt and living in a basement apartment.  The couple realized they had to make a change -- and over 2.5 years they not only paid off their debt, but bought a condo and started to build their financial future. They also realized that there was a huge need for financial education and support among their gay peers. The pair launched DebtFreeGuys, and

Moms and money! In this episode I interview two amazing women:  Mandi Woodruff, 27, is personal finance correspondent at Yahoo! and podcaster at Brown Ambition (with recent Like a Mother guest Tiffany 'The Budgetnista' Aliche). She also has an awesome boyfriend (they live in my neighborhood and have had dinner with my kids and me. Two words: A. Dorbs.) Why is she having such an existential crisis about when to have a baby? Mandi and talk through this very common challenge of women her age -- the pressure to have your career, finances and love life in perfect shape before bringing a little person into the world.  I also interview Laura Vanderkam, mom of 4 and author of 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think, and I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make The Most of Their Time (in which she quotes moi). Laura is a student of America's time use-- especially families with professional mothers. She breaks down the myths about how much time we all think we spend with our kids, how much time we actuall

    Raised on public assistance, Kimra Luna and her husband found themselves living with his parents and relying on welfare to support their tiny kids. Eventually, Kimra's husband landed a FedEx job, and this bored housewife became obsessed with online marketing. Have a listen to hear with very limited expertise, blue-haired, pierced Luna launched an online business that grossed seven figures within a year, relocated her family from Southern California to a luxury Manhattan apartment, and today sends her kids to private schools and employs a vegan chef. Oh -- and she started a social revolution, too: Freedom Hackers.  Her tagline? "A Little Bit Of Punk Rock, A Whole Lotta Business"

Vin Armani is the star of Gigolos, the Showtime hit reality drama about male escorts. In other words: Vin Armani is America's No. 1 most known gigolo.  The male escort profession elicits giggles upon first mention, but here is something I have come to know about Vin after working with him over a few years: He's super-smart, extremely insightful about gender relations, and what women really want from a man -- including in bed. Plus, Vin really, genuinely likes women. In fact, that his how he explains his professional success: He has a keen knack for understanding what every single woman wants and needs -- and what it takes to seduce her. I find him to be a delight to speak with. Probably because I'ma  woman and he knows what I want (eek, I feel so vulnerable!).  In this episode, Vin shares with me exactly what happens on a client date, including what he drinks, the cologne he wears, what successful women REALLY want in bed, and why 45 is the magic number for women coming into their sexualities. Oh -- and we ha