Should Have Listened to My Mother Podcast

My guest wrote to me saying "even as a child , my mother had me researching at the library and writing essays on various topics! I went on to pursue higher education and become a teacher, and after retiring from a successful and rewarding career, I went on to write an award winning spiritual fiction and a prominently endorsed 5-book series (in addition to contributing to numerous anthology books."  Dr. Foderaro continues, "I am passionate about handling life's challenges with goodness, compassion, honesty and love. I talk about surviving Family Trauma which initially led to being open to the Universe's s...

BEFORE TURNING TWENTY, MY GUEST EXPERIENCED AND INDULGED IN MORE IN THE LA AREA, THAN MOST  PEOPLE IN A LIFETIME. MUSICIAN, CREATIVE, STORYTELLER AND WRITER, JENNIFER FINCH, WAS REMOVED FROM HER ADOPTIVE MOTHER’S HOME AT 11 YEARS OLD. SHE BECAME ASTUTE AT RUNNING AWAY FROM HOME BY THE AGE OF 13. AND AT 14, SHE GOT INTO DRUGS AND PUNK ROCK. SHE ADORED HER MOTHER WHO STRUGGLED WITH MENTAL HEALTH ISSUESAND JENNIFER SAYS “IT WAS A TIME WHEN WOMEN WERE PUNISHED FOR EXPLORING OTHER WAYS TO LIVE THEIR LIVES OUTSIDE OF THE NORM.”

JENNIFER FINCH IS THE BASS PLA...

Dr. Greg Hammer, is a Former Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, Physician, Best-Selling Author, and Mindfulness Expert.

It was a wonderful conversation as he shared stories of his grandmother and her love for art and he declaration about using proper english grammar. Greg shares how he inherited  that same consciousness as to being respectful to the english language.

A Best Selling Author with an eye on being active and healthy, his recent book is about adults, caregivers, teachers helping teenagers reduce their stress levels by using his meditative technique incorporating Gratitude, Acceptance, Intention a...

This is the story of a brave and hard working veteran who had to overcome sorrow, pain and life's hard knocks since he was four years old. Yet he was determined to find a way to a path of balance and clarity in life. Rob mentioned that by the time he was a teen, he felt that he'd rather die overseas than stay living with his father and stepmother. 

Rob served his country for seven years. After attempting to take his life and being assaulted by a senior officer, he decided that it was time to retire. I...

As a child, riding, tinkering/repairing bicycles were just a few hobbies Mike enjoyed. But the woodworking project is beneficial for so many reasons. Yes it’s fun but it truly helps children and adults with distracted minds become more grounded and able to focus.  Children collaborate and help one another, improve their math skills, use their hands, learn to measure and cut wood and so much more. 

But it was Mike's mother, Linda, who really concentrated on helping Mike with his OCD/ADHD.  He says, "she was very instrumental in trying to keep me active. It was v...

Robert is the middle child of nine, five girls and four boys. Because of his mother's health, the family packed up and moved to California from Minnesota. The warm, sunny weather of southern California helped with his mom's chronic pneumonia.  But the many lakes in Minnesota played a crucial role in Robert's  relationship with his mom, one that he'll never forget.

Robert says, my mother had a sunny personality, really cheerful. She looked at real estate as a matchmaker-match people together with a beautiful home."

Joan lost her mom, Robert's maternal grandmother, when she was fo...

Ruth was one year old when she and her family arrived in the United States from Wertheim am Main, Germany in 1938 according to Jonathan Ramsfelder, Ruth's son. A time of confusion, despair and relief,  yet so much regret for members of her  family that were left behind to the inevitable Nazi genocide of European Jews.  Ruth was the last Jewish baby born in Wertheim am Main.

Ruth's family was upper middle class cattle dealers in Germany yet once in the US, they lived in poverty and worked whatever jobs they could to provide for the family including man...

Pattie was a strong woman through and through. She learned everything she knew about raising and caring for animals and growing crops from her parents  and the land she grew up on.  

Because of her experience on the farm plus her ability to drive and operate farm machinery, etc, she was available to help out her country during WWII. This enabled her to be active during the Land Army, in New Zealand. Josh shares how she had a wonderful sense of humor (Irish family roots), taught Josh how to sew, cook, play cards, knit and so much mo...

My guest is the oldest of two daughters, with seven years between she and her younger sister. Mina was working the night shift at a factory, when she was pregnant with her first daughter.  Parita shares that her mom used to let she and her sister explore as much as they needed when they were young. Both daughters were pushed academically and socially, but the girls found comfort in the fact that there mom would be there if ever they needed her. 

Mina was the oldest of four daughters. Parita's Maternal Grandfather said, "God didn't give me a...

Solomea's story begins in Drohobych, a city in the south of Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. At a young age, Solomea lost her hearing mainly because of two illnesses, Menangitis and Scarlett Fever. At the time, she was luckily old enough that she had learned to speak and read, so she adapted by learning how to read lips. 

Andy tells this heartwarming story of his mother's love  in his latest book, "A Promise Kept: A Tribute To A Mother's Love."  And Andy didn't know any of his mother's background and experiences until he was fifty years old. And he kep...

I'm so glad you're here to take a listen to Rachel's stories of her grandmother's gardens in Zimbabwe and her life growing up in Australia.

Throughout her life, Rachel has travelled and lived in London, Hong King and Tel Aviv. Now she lives in Manhattan and says she "pretty much lives for cooking and entertaining.  The history of food, it's culture and migration, as well as its ability to bring people together over a diverse and lively table is why I love what I do."  It's been ten years since she and her co-founders, Lisa Mendelson and Mo...

Grace is first generation Italian Australian. Her parents immigrated from Southern Italy to Australia when they were  young. Rosa and Alfredo, Grace's parents, met many years later in Australia and started their family of four girls.  Rosa was one of nine children and she was  fifteen when landing in Australia. Alfredo lost both his parents at five years old and had a rough childhood.  He was a victim of abuse and moved from house to house as a child. De Angeli reflects saying "he did the best he could with what he had."

Grace insists "that it was...

When I first came across my guest on social media, I couldn't quite believe what I was seeing. His interactions with the animals wasn't only unique and intriguing, but I found a sense of calm come over me. Plume was lucky enough to have been surrounded by women all of his life. These same women are a big part of how and why he's on this journey now.  I'm so happy we were able to have a conversation, not only about his new bond with his animal audience, but he's also lending a different perspective on life and what's i...

"Our mother was so aware of how important it was for us to treat each other well and she just led with such a loving graceful presence.  She was the quintessential mom. She was just warm and loving and forgiving and nurturing. She taught us to love and be loved," reflects Amy.

"To be loving and kind to one another" Amy explains, "mom gave me the gift of solice and comfort. She was happy being in the shadows. In big gatherings ...

Amy says mom gave her the  gifts of curiosity and independence. She considers herself a...

Nadia Turner was the #8 finalist on the 4th season of American Idol (2005) and Zareh, also know as Za, was only four years old. In the spring of 2022  Zareh, then  21,  auditioned for AI and surprised her mother when she took her to the audition.  Zareh   performed “Bust Out Your Windows” by Jazmine Sullivan, which impressed the judges.

It was such a pleasure to have a conversation with both mother and daughter at the same time, to share stories of  Nadia's mom and grandmother as well as  Za's perspective of her mother and grandmother -we're talking about four generations of strong w...

Dorothy was the eldest of two children. Her younger brother was well taken care of and able to continue on to higher education, mainly because he was male and in that era, women didn't really pursue higher education because culturally, that wasn't the norm.  Women's place was in the home and raising the children.

One of the many things that my guest admired about her mother was that she opened up her own Children's Clothing store. Gertrude loved seeing her mom running a business that she was truly good at and enjoyed. Gertrude loved seeing a different s...

This is the story of a small  Carpatho-Rusyn woman, who became know as Andy Warhol's mother. Ulia Zavacka ( pronounced Zavatski), was one of a very large farming family whose homeland today is in the North Eastern Slovakia. Today the general Rusyn population stretches across what is five European countries, including Ukraine, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Poland. Officials say that at the turn of the 20th century, approximately 250,000 Ruthenians, as they were known to US Immigration officials, emigrated to America where they worked in coal mines and steel mills of the northeast. Many settled in the Pittsburg. PA area. Rusyns s...

Deborah, Sophee's mother, "is in her own world and she's happy there and I come in and out of that world and that's ok," continues Payne who's never felt that she's had to live near  to her parents.  Payne is comfortable saying, "I care for them deeply, I just feel that closeness to them is not a priority."  A Florida native, now living in Vancouver, CA,  Sophee is happily ensconced in her full time career, helping other's fulfill their dreams.

After six years, getting straight A's and doing all that she was 'supposed to do,'  completing her b...

Eunice was a confident hard working woman, that loved God, her country and her family. She was proud of her accomplishments and rightfully so.  

Chef Dennis is a successful classically trained chef, now retired and a very popular travel and food blogger. He prefers to cook for others rather than cook a meal for himself. His grandmother taught him a lot about food and cooking and she passed down "the joy of cooking." And now Dennis is sharing the 'joy of it' with all of his readers. You can find out more at https://www.askchefdennis.com/ 

Though Dorothy was somewhat opinionated, she truly had a big heart. During my conversation with Marc, he shares story after story that had us laughing but Dorothy was the kind of woman who liked things done her way and it was best for everyone that you kept that in mind.

She loved keeping a clean house. It was duly important that her sons did well in school but what was clearly obvious was how much she loved her family. Dinners together every night was a must. Everyone had to share what happened during their day and what...

Life sometimes has a funny way of turning out. Sometimes a dire situation presents itself and the outcome is much better than we could have ever imagined. In this particular case, it took a mother to show her true love, courage and support and possibly willingly risk jail time to prove  to her son that she loved him with her whole heart.  

While convalescing at home, Chisom finally was courageous enough to come out to his loving parents. Bedridden and home bound after his initial collapse, he was convinced it was time to open up to his pa...

Sadiqa, my guest's mother, was fifteen years old when she became a mother for the first time as part of an arranged marriage in Baghdad, Iraq in 1955. She was a wonderful mother but Sairan thought a bit too cautious which is very common for a teenager to think. Having a more conservative husband, Sadiqa loved all of her children equally and would often do anything for them. She was more lenient that her husband. My guest was one of seven children, safely nestled in the middle of the large group of children.

With no formal education, she...

Shayna is the founder of "Austin Therapy For Girls" in Austin, TX. She lives next door to her mother Kappie. My guests talk about their similarities and differences through out our conversation. And they both are very keen on helping young ladies figure out/work around all of life's stressors, especially beginning with the tween and teen years. 

"Pink Chaos-Navigating the Mother-Daughter Relationship with your Tween" is Shayna's book which helps mothers and daughters navigate the tween years. Shayna felt that tween girls need as much help and support as teens, but weren't getting the acknowledgement that t...

Gwenda, short for Gwendoline, convinced her father to let her go into the circus as long as she got an official job or "booking." She did not want to get a traditional job such as working in the postal service, as her father had dreamed she'd do.

Gwenda and her mother were very very close but unfortunately her mother died way too early.

In spite of her parents, Gwenda became a Catholic. She fell in love with Stephen's father who was Italian and catholic.Well he had already abandoned the Catholic church by the time...

The details of the 2022 Ukraine/Russia conflict change minute by minute and hour by hour.  What's difficult for  my guest and her 80 year old mother,  Mariyka, to understand is how shocking this event is. Here we are in the 21st century, and Ukraine is under attack.  Certainly not plausible, but clearly possible. What makes this all the more difficult is the fact that Anya and her mom have many relatives still in the Ukraine today.  They've set up group chats on their phones to make sure that they can all stay in touch with updates regarding their safety and where...

Randee and her mom are very close. They have a wonderful relationship and Randee says "she's my best cheerleader."  A lot of that has to do with the honesty and open communication that they had from the very beginning-"adoption was normal, not a stigma, not a tragedy."  Also, Randee learned at a young age that just because you are blood related doesn't guarantee you a loving relationship.

Lois was definitely a role model to Randee. But Randee also feels that she learned from things that Lois did and didn't t do and then would form her ow...

Patrick shares stories of his mother and her ability to light up a room whenever she walks in. "She's always herself," beams Patrick. Patrick attributes, her sense of humor to her brothers and he says "she's a little butch, not too feminine."  And all of that and more makes him love his mother even more. "She unadulterated herself. She never code switches or changes her behavior depending on the crowd. She always her most authentic self."

Eight years of piano lessons was tough for Patrick. He didn't like the repetitive method that his teacher was using and h...

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As I mention in the introduction of my show, Gramps Jeffrey, I believe is the first grandfather I've interviewed on SHLTMM, so that's pretty great. I was so happy to hear how engaged he is with his grandchildren.

Gramps' mother's name was Faye  and she really left quite an impression on him and his brother.  Faye was the youngest of 3 children, with two older brothers. Growing up during the Depression and  WWII, known as T...

It was such a pleasure to speak with Dani. She's wonderful and has accomplished and overcome quite a bit thus far in her life. And a lot of that has to do with her mother. It took Dani many, many years to figure out what her real connection was with her mother. Was it love? Was it control? Dani was convinced it was love. Even Dani's girlfriends were convinced that she and her mother had the most special relationship and were even a bit jealous of what these two woman had- what looked like a very special bond.

"I am my mother's only daughter," explains Bergstein. Both of Rachelle's parents eventually remarried. Her father has two daughters from a subsequent marriage. And Rachelle's mom, has remarried twice. Rachelle's parents were very much in love and married right out of college. At around the  age of five years old, her parent's split up and Rachelle lived with her mother though there was joint custody between her parents.  Rachelle admits that they did a pretty  good job of not pushing and pulling her into their disagreements up until just prior to her wedding!

Pauline eventually went to gra...

In speaking with my two guests, they shared stories of the three generations of writers in the family including, Irene's mother, Wilma, followed by my guest, Irene and her son Brendan. Brendan is an award winning graphic novel/picture book author and acquiring editor at Blackstone Publishing where he also runs the TV and Film Division even made notice of having his maternal grandmothers published books on his desk. 

Brendan shares that he was always supported and encouraged by his family with his passion for comic books which he started writing and drawing caricatures at a young a...

Dravon was the eldest of the three kids  and would sometimes hear her mom crying at night. That was really hard for Dravon because she knew how hard her mother had worked and how much she gave up in order to give her children a solid family foundation and a good education. So Dravon was afraid to disappoint her mom because of all the sacrifices her mom had made for the family.

Now, Davon is a doctor, an author and a Life Coach.  She has so much to thank her mother for, including how her mom...

As a proud mother, Dorothy was all ready to share very specific stories of when she thought June "should listen to her mother," including her junior high musical instrument selection, Orange Bowl Queen/King Orange Bowl Game in Miami, taking a job at the "nascent" CNN news network and not marrying her first husband. 

"Greetings From Paradise" began as a screen play and it turned into a gift from June to Coral Gables. It is a one act, 80 minute play written by June Thomson Morris, making it's debut at Miracle Theater on Miracle Mile.     

The roar...

Julie Jargon is the first 'Family & Technology' Columnist for the Wall Street Journal. Congratulations again Julie. She is also a Gen X mom.  Generation X is  the generation after the 'baby boomers'-mid 1960's to early 1980's, and her findings may not be too surprising.

As a parent, I've often told my boys to get off their phones and/or computer for many reasons.  The worst being social media and the damning effect it can have on ones self confidence.  In times of need, one often thinks that reaching out to friends is the smartest and safest solution, but...

My guest, Dr. Joseph Garcia, was speaking to me from  the Pacific Northwest. As he said, "I'm 15 miles south of Canada and 6 miles in from the water (Pacific Ocean)."

Emma was born and raised in Alabama. She moved up North to Milwaukee and started her family in her 40's.  Joseph is so proud of all his mom's accomplishments and is overwhelmed at times by the number of lives she touched.  One of the things that impressed Joseph the most, is that "I never saw my mother get angry, ever in my life."  She was sure to never rais...

 As a young child, Sarah, native to Western Australia, didn't understand the voices and visions inside her head. She didn't understand how she knew things that a 4 year couldn't possibly know. It wasn't until she was older that she came to understand  that she had psychic/intuitive abilities.

"As a child, I was emotionally and verbally abused by my mother and brother," continues Strong. My mom was  Bipolar/Narcissistic  and that made the situation even complicated. 

Sarah's father didn't really play a role in her life. Now, Sarah says "he has an anti-role." "He's never been...

 To say that Claire Sinclair is  generous with her time, is an understatement.  She's been a teacher for decades.   And currently she's  teaching kindergarten in the same classroom at the same elementary school she attended.    

What's interesting about how our conversation began is that both Claire and her mother  attended Columbia High School in Maplewood, NJ and both women married their high school sweethearts, just decades apart.

Claire shares stories of the similarities of she and her mom and how much it means to her that so many people from her community still hold her mother c...

Micheal's been working on his own personal healing journey for a minimum of fifteen years.

"I walked into therapy for the first time when I was seven years old because someone had molested me," reflects Michael. Michael's been working at changing his life trajectory. It's taken years of being committed to changing his past experiences to better his future.  Michael is now offering  help to others. (All information is below regarding his website, free weekly meet-ups, and his social media links, etc.)

This is probably the best advice anyone could give someone with addiction and ab...

Before we get into more of the story, I just wanted to mention that Liz, as a comedian performed for the sold out symposium on January 12, 2025 for "Not Your Mother's Menopause, NJ which took place in Maplewood,NJ. Allison Kalsched along with Dr. Sharon Mallone, OBGYN  and best Selling Author, were guests on S6E4 of SHLTMM. I wanted to mention Stacey Futterman Tauriello and April McKenzie who are also Co-Founders of NYMMNJ. Many people were involved, working diligently to have a long list of practitioners and  professionals speak on the topic of women's health, wellbeing and happiness.

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Dr. Sharon Malone's book is titled "Grown Woman Talk, Your Guide to Getting Healthy and Staying Healthy."  This is a book isn't filled with stats, charts and graphs. It's a book about taking care of oneself and getting support from family, friends and doctors that take the time to recognize you, your symptoms and guide you  in the correct direction until you get the answers that you need.

Bertha, Dr. Malone's mother, was born in 1914 in rural Alabama.  Sadly Bertha died when Dr. Malone, her youngest daughter, was twelve.  Out of necessity, Bertha and close relatives had to s...