Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books™️

Today’s episode features female founders of two communities: Jennifer Shoop, Magpie, and Aly Wente and Niki Wente, The Wine Sisters Book Club. Both groups have prioritized books — in addition to birds, wine, and more interests and avenues. Jennifer Shoop’s book, Small Wonders: A Field Guide to Life’s Quiet Joys, was absolutely beautiful. 

Pain psychologist Dr. Rachel Zoffness sits down with Zibby Owens to discuss her new book, Tell Me Where It Hurts: The New Science of Pain and How to Heal. Prompted by one parent’s powerful question and the transformative experience of working with teenagers, Rachel reflects on her personal and professional experiences with pain and her goal of sharing the true science with the world. They dive deep into overcoming imposter syndrome, how to identify the ingredients of a bad pain day, the genetics of highly sensitive people, and Rachel’s own struggles with chronic pain. Learn more about Dr. Rachel Zoffness here: https://www.zoffness.com/ or follow her on Instagram @therealdoczoff. Hosted by Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sara Goodman Confino’s high school journalism teacher was the first person who told her “you can do better than this.” And she did. Sara joins Zibby Owens for an intimate talk about her new novel Off The Record, a fun, thrilling, and mysterious romantic comedy set in 1962 about 22-year-old Judy Greenberg looking to be the next big reporter as a young Jewish woman in a male-dominated field. Sara opens up about the challenges she faced as a female teacher with male administrators, the long road from writing to becoming a published author, and how a single mentor can change the trajectory of a life. Visit Sara’s website here: https://saraconfino.com/ or follow her on Instagram @saraconfino. Hosted by Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Midlife desperately needs a rebrand. Dr. Margie Lachman is doing just that with her research at the Lifespan Lab at Brandeis University where she teaches psychology. She has pioneered the lifespan psychology approach to midlife. We talked about the joys midlife can bring and why her academic approach is so essential. 

Tokyo-born Lisa Katayama took her parenting techniques with her to Northern California and found that what Japanese culture had to offer was quite useful when it came to raising kids. We discussed the pain points of parenting, how she puts her ideas into practice, and how she pulled off writing a book in the midst of all of it. 

Ann Tashi Slater and I spoke about life, meaning, the role of literature, travel, family, and more, inspired by her book Traveling in Bardo: The Art of Living in an Impermanent World. (Special thanks to past podcast guest Lauren Grodstein for the introduction!)

Jackie Friedland, a contributor to my anthology On Being Jewish Now and past podcast guest, returns with her latest novel, Breathing Under Water! A poignant story about life around the pool, an unfair accusation, an autistic main character, and a community shaken, this book will make you think and feel. Jackie and I discussed parenting, coaching, writing, and more. 

Eva Zu Beck seems like an unlikely solo pioneer in the wilds of Pakistan, but her fearlessness has taken her around the world with just a van, a dog, and a camera. What does it take to live like that? To call off an engagement and a way of life and, instead, bring millions of others on international adventures with her? She shares her self-destructive behaviors, her doubts, and her inner monologue as she becomes a global adventurer.  

I’m insanely impressed by Stephanie Wittels Wachs, not just because she’s the co-founder and CEO of Lemonada Media, an award-winning podcast network with a mission to "make life suck less,” but because of her ability to use humor and wit to get through loss. She lost her brother, writer-producer-comedian Harris Wittels, to the opioid crisis and has now written multiple books on the topic. This raw exploration of grief is also a manual for anyone else struggling with how to help an addicted loved one. Our conversation ranged from entrepreneurship and what it takes to start something new to her profound struggles in the aftermath of sibling loss.