A lot of moms in my life are hitting a new chapter right now, asking themselves, “What’s next for me? Should I stick with this career? Do I really have entrepreneurship in me? Should I write a book? And who am I after my kids leave the home?”

If you’re among them, you’re not alone. But! I’m back after a short break to give you so much support in this week’s episode of Spawned. I’m speaking to award-winning journalist, Katherine Goldstein, who writes about mothers, caregivers, and gender equity in the workplace for the NY Times, Harvard Business Review, TIME, WashPost, Vox, and more. She’s the founder of The Double Shift, a care reporting fellow at The Better Life Lab at New America, a popular Substack publisher, and mom of three — including pandemic twins!

We discuss her own pivot since the pandemic, and her helpful op-ed, There’s a Life Coach for Everything These Days. You’ll come away knowing whether you should be exploring life coaches, career coaches, marketing coaches, SO MANY COACHES! —  or maybe you just need a good therapist and a solid community of friends.

Listen here right now or in your favorite podcast app

Are we seeking out coaches because we haven’t invested enough in our friendships? – Katherine Goldstein

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Katherine recommends her collaborator Angela Garbes’s important book, Essential Labor: Mothering as Social Change. (It’s no longer on pre-order, it’s now a national best-seller!) Liz is a fan of The TueNight Substack archives, which have so much wonderful content for “grown-ass ladies” — and not just because they featured me in a fun interview. Find out what’s on my nightstand (and half-read, eek), my 80s crushes, and a few serious thoughts about being a grown-ass lady myself.

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Related Episodes and Links from Today’s Episode

• Subscribe to Katherine’s terrific The Double Shift newsletter for stories, interviews, and big ideas about the forces shaping family life and impacting American moms today.
• Katherine Goldstein Interview: Working Mom Guilt (Spawned 157)
• Katherine Goldstein Interview: How the Covid pandemic screwed working moms, big time (Spawned 213)
• NYT Parenting Editor Jessica Grose: Are moms going to be okay (Spawned 275)
• Katherine’s groundbreaking A Playbook to Transform How America Cares: The Care Movement’s Winning Tactics, Lessons, and Case Studies from the Pandemic Era and Beyond
• Liz’s Substack post on working mom guilt: Kids Remember the Donut, Not the Hole
• McKinsey’s 10th anniversary report on Women in the Workplace: 2024
• Skillshare is a great way to learn new skills to advance your career or life goals