Cake For Dinner

Are we raising kids who can’t handle hard things?

Harvard-trained psychologist Dr. Amy Todey says our children are not fragile. In this episode she explains why letting kids struggle is one of the most loving things a parent can do. Dr. Todey is a parenting and family relationship expert who specializes in parenting, co-parenting, and neurodevelopment. She’s also a mom of three boys, and she’s honest about what that looks like at home.

We talk about why parents swung so far into hyper-monitoring, what boomer parenting actually got right, and how to suppor...

What if your drinking doesn’t look like a problem—but it doesn’t feel right either?

Kate Bee, founder of The Sober School, joins Cake for Dinner for an honest conversation about gray area drinking, “mommy needs wine” culture, and choosing an alcohol-free life without waiting for rock bottom.

Kate shares how she kept her career and life looking together while privately questioning her drinking. We explore the quieter warning signs: making rules you keep breaking, hiding how much you’ve had, and waking up wishing you’d drunk less.

We also talk about wha...

Would you stay in your marriage if money weren’t a factor? Tracy Tutor gets candid about financial independence, divorce, mom guilt, and the lessons she wants her daughters to carry into adulthood.

In this episode of Cake for Dinner, the Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles star joins Keesha Scott for an unfiltered conversation about building a demanding career while raising two daughters—and letting go of the pressure to do everything perfectly.

Tracy opens up about co-parenting after divorce, dating younger men, her tendency to choose partners who need saving, and why she believes fina...

When does helping your child become rescuing them—and how do you know when they truly need you to step in?

Double board-certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist Dr. Samantha Saltz joins Keesha Scott on Cake for Dinner for an honest conversation about parenting anxious kids, motherhood, and the pressure to get everything right.

Dr. Sam shares why connection matters when working with teenagers, how she sees social media affecting their emotional lives, and why parents need compassion and validation, too. Keesha opens up about raising a daughter with OCD and why a child’s bigg...

"I smoked weed when I was a kid and turned out fine." If you've ever said that or thought it, this episode is for you.

John Puls is a licensed clinical social worker, master certified addiction professional, adjunct professor at Florida Atlantic University, and expert witness who specializes in addiction and mental health. He joins Cake for Dinner to explain why today's cannabis should be treated as a completely different drug. Potency is much higher now, and vapes are nearly odorless, so teens can use almost anywhere, anytime.

We get into cannabis-induced psychosis and why...

Are we punishing children for being children? And can we set firm boundaries without relying on shame, disconnection, or control?

In this episode of Cake for Dinner, Dr. Vanessa Lapointe—parenting educator, former psychologist, and bestselling author of Discipline Without Damage—challenges common approaches to discipline and explores what children’s behavior may be communicating.

We talk about raising strong-willed and highly sensitive kids, why kindness during a meltdown isn’t the same as giving in, and how to balance compassion with clear expectations. Vanessa shares her approach to co-regulation, while both women get honest about th...

What if being a “good parent” has less to do with controlling your kids—and more to do with learning how to regulate yourself?

In this episode of Cake for Dinner, Keisha sits down with Hunter Clarke-Fields, bestselling author of Raising Good Humans and host of the Mindful Mama Podcast, for an honest conversation about what modern parenting is getting right—and where we may have swung too far.

Hunter opens up about discovering her own temper after becoming a mom, struggling with yelling and reactivity, and realizing that knowing the “right” parenting technique means very little...

What happens when you love your children deeply—but part of you still wants to escape?

In this episode of Cake for Dinner, I sit down with author Jessica Guerrieri for an incredibly honest conversation about motherhood, sobriety, addiction, identity, and the complicated truths women are often afraid to say out loud.

Jessica shares how her desire to become a mother ultimately forced her to confront her relationship with alcohol—and the moment she looked at herself after another night of drinking and realized she had finally had enough.

We talk about why addi...

In this episode of Cake for Dinner, we sit down with Ryan Soave, trauma expert, therapist, speaker, and friend, for a powerful conversation about trauma, addiction, parenting, relationships, emotional discomfort, and the nervous system.

Ryan opens up about how his own years of pain, alcoholism, drug addiction, treatment, and recovery led him into trauma work. He explains that trauma is not always about one major life event. Sometimes it is about the way we were shaped, the environments we grew up in, and the survival patterns we carried into adulthood.

This conversation explores the difference...

What if the reason you can’t stop overthinking isn’t because something is wrong with you — but because you’re trying to control everything?

In this episode of Cake for Dinner, Daniel Chidiac, bestselling author of Stop Letting Everything Affect You, joins the conversation for an honest look at overthinking, emotional reactivity, comparison, self-sabotage, relationships, gratitude, and what it actually takes to let go.

Daniel explains why overthinkers can often be highly driven and passionate people — but why that same intensity can become destructive when we convince ourselves that thinking about a problem long enough wil...

In this episode of Cake for Dinner, we sit down with Dani Beckerman, founder of Jars by Dani, to talk about what it really takes to build a brand from the ground up — and what happens when it's time to walk away from something you've spent more than a decade creating.

Dani started Jars by Dani almost by accident at just 22 years old. What began with baking in her New York City apartment and sharing her creations on Instagram quickly grew into a recognizable dessert brand shipping thousands of jars to customers.

But behind the su...

We sat down with Dr. Stephanie Rogers, a board-certified geriatric and internal medicine physician, associate chief of geriatrics clinical programs at UCSF, and the voice behind Age Well with Dr. Steph.

Dr. Rogers shares practical, evidence-based insights on aging, dementia prevention, brain health, muscle loss, strength training, GLP-1s, social connection, chronic stress, caregiving, and what women can actually do to stay strong, independent, and mentally sharp as they age.

This conversation challenges the fear-based narrative around aging. Dr. Rogers explains why life satisfaction can actually improve as we get older, why memory decline is...

In this episode of Cake for Dinner, we sit down with Sydney Sadick, media entrepreneur, author, fashion expert, and founder of Spotlight magazine.

Sydney started a fashion blog as a teenager and turned that early passion into a career that has included interviewing some of the biggest names in the world, appearing on major television shows, writing a bestselling book, and building her own luxury lifestyle publication.

In this conversation, Sydney shares how she got her start at just 16 years old, why she has always been motivated by a challenge, and what it really takes...

In this episode of Cake for Dinner, we sit down with Dr. Doris Day, one of the country’s leading dermatologists, scientist, author, and pro-aging advocate, for an honest and eye-opening conversation about what really happens to women’s skin during perimenopause and menopause.

Dr. Day breaks down why so many women feel like their face changes overnight, what collagen loss actually means, and why aging gracefully should never be confused with aging helplessly. From dry skin, breakouts, facial volume loss, and wrinkles to posture, facial expression, inflammation, and hormone changes, this conversation goes far beyond surface-level skin...

What can death teach us about truly living?

Bestselling author and spiritual leader Rabbi Steve Leder joins the conversation to share what he has learned from standing beside hundreds of dying people, officiating more than a thousand funerals and eventually experiencing the devastating loss of his own father.

Rabbi Leder explains why professional experience with grief could not prepare him for the moment he placed his hand on his father’s chest and confronted his own mortality. That experience changed the way he understood death, memory, compassion and the preciousness of time.

Together, th...

OCD is one of the most misunderstood mental health conditions in the world—and it's far more than being organized or liking things a certain way.

In this episode, OCD specialist Kristina Orlova shares her own journey of living with undiagnosed OCD for years, believing she was simply "losing her mind" before finally receiving answers. Together, we unpack what OCD actually looks like, why intrusive thoughts become so terrifying, the hidden subtypes most people have never heard of, and why reassurance often makes OCD worse instead of better.

Whether you're living with OCD yourself, supporting a...

For 20 years, Erin struggled with eating disorders and tied her worth to soccer, her body, relationships, and being chosen. In this episode, she opens up about the shame she carried, the story she almost never shared, and how telling the truth became the beginning of her freedom.

Erin also shares how healing changed the way she parents, how she thinks about alcohol and restriction, what divorce taught her about choosing herself, and why women need safe spaces to talk about the things they usually hide.

This is a conversation about self-worth, mo...

Gina Zapanta joins Cake for Dinner to talk about empowerment, motherhood, survival, and the moment women stop waiting for permission to become who they were always meant to be.

Gina is an attorney, entrepreneur, founder of Empowered With Gina, and a woman who has built a community around helping women reclaim their agency, trust their intuition, and break free from cultural and societal programming. What began as small virtual meetups during COVID eventually grew into a platform where women could find community, resources, and the reminder that permission was never something they had to earn — it was al...

Jennie Garth joins Cake For Dinner for an honest and deeply vulnerable conversation about fame, motherhood, midlife, self-love, and what it really means to choose yourself.

Best known for her iconic role on Beverly Hills, 90210, Jennie opens up about what it was like becoming famous at a young age, how the show changed her life, and what it cost her along the way. But this conversation goes far beyond Hollywood.

Jennie shares the heart behind her book I Choose Me, reflecting on the seasons where she lost sight of herself, struggled through depression, navigated divorce...

In this episode of Cake for Dinner, Keesha sits down with Erin Morrison, the voice behind The Conscious Mom and author of Three Minutes for Mom, for a raw and honest conversation about motherhood, conscious parenting, emotional regulation, and the pressure moms feel to get everything right.

Erin shares why parenting is less about controlling your child and more about understanding what is happening inside of you. Together, they talk about mom guilt, gentle parenting, the labels we put on our kids, why parents take behavior personally, and how apologizing to your children can actually build deeper...

Today Lisa McCarty joins the conversation to talk about the stories women often carry in silence — grief, miscarriage, infertility, caregiving, mental health, motherhood, and the complicated realities of healing.

Lisa is a journalist, writer, and grief educator whose work has been featured in major publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, and more. Through her writing, she brings honesty and clarity to topics that many people struggle to talk about openly.

In this conversation, Lisa shares how losing her father while becoming a mother shaped her work, why writing became a...

In this powerful episode of Cake for Dinner, Greg Schiller joins the podcast for an urgent and eye-opening conversation every parent needs to hear.

Greg is a former assistant U.S. attorney who spent 20 years prosecuting online predators, internet crimes, and crimes against children. He has testified before Congress on online exploitation and now serves as the CEO of Child Rescue Coalition, an organization helping law enforcement identify and stop predators around the world.

This conversation dives into what parents are getting wrong when it comes to kids and technology, why smartphones are not just “ph...

Jamie Kolnick, founder of Jam With Jamie, shares the powerful story behind the music, the business, and the joy she brings to families across the country.

What started as a small children’s music party business has grown into a multi-city brand with dozens of performers, classes, events, school programs, and the annual Little Jam Fest. But behind Jamie’s success is a much deeper story of resilience. After losing her brother, father, and mother, Jamie found herself building something joyful during one of the hardest seasons of her life.

Jamie opens up about grief, impo...

Today we sit down with Alexia Ferrari, known online as The Millionaire Homemaker, to talk about motherhood, ambition, money, identity, and what it really means to build success on your own terms.

Alexia shares how she went from climbing the corporate ladder in the aerospace and systems engineering world to building a thriving online brand and business from home. After becoming a mother, she found herself questioning how she could keep up the pace of corporate life while also being present for her family. That tension eventually opened the door to a new vision: helping women...

In this episode, I sat down with Laura Rubin, writer, speaker, founder of AllSwell Creative, and author of The Big Unlock, for a powerful conversation about journaling, anxiety, fear, gratitude, and how writing can help us get unstuck.
Laura breaks down why journaling is so much more than simply writing down your feelings. Through her approach to mindful writing, she explains how intentional prompts can help us recognize patterns, quiet our critical voice, shift our mood, and reconnect with what actually matters.
Together, we explore why anxiety is often future-focused imagination, how positive memories can help calm...

Today I sit down with Ivey Leidy—integrative health coach and founder of Living With Ivey—to break down the truth behind modern wellness.

From building a multi-location wellness brand to navigating motherhood, eating disorder recovery, and the pressure of social media perfection, Ivey shares what actually matters when it comes to health.

We dive deep into:
The connection between gut health and hormones
Why most “healthy” products aren’t what they claim
The hidden dangers of fragrance, plastics, and protein powders
Healing your relationship with food without extremes
Building a business...

This episode marks the FIRST installment of our Cake for Dinner: Dad Edition — a brand new series we are incredibly excited to roll out this summer, featuring powerful conversations with fathers about parenting, identity, and growth.

Tyler Baltierra, best known from MTV’s Teen Mom, joins Cake for Dinner for a raw and powerful conversation about trauma, adoption, and what it really means to break generational cycles.

In this episode, Tyler opens up about growing up in a chaotic environment shaped by addiction, navigating becoming a teen father, and the life-altering decision to place...

What if your life isn’t random… but actually follows a pattern?

In this episode, we sit down with Ipek Gray—economist turned life coach and founder of The Born Method—to break down how numbers, patterns, and timing can reveal your true strengths, decision-making style, and life path.

We dive into why so many high-achieving women feel unfulfilled, how to identify your “zone of genius,” and why success on paper doesn’t always translate to alignment in real life.

If you’ve ever felt stuck, confused, or like something is “off” despite doing everything rig...

If you’ve ever felt like something is “off” in your body—but no one can explain why—this episode is for you.

Dr. Mary Claire Haver breaks down the truth about perimenopause, a phase of life that millions of women experience but few fully understand. From mood swings and anxiety to weight gain, sleep disruption, and loss of libido, many of the symptoms women face in their 40s are often misdiagnosed or dismissed entirely.

We dive into the science behind hormonal changes, why the medical system has lagged in treating women properly, and what you can ac...

What if midlife isn’t a crisis… but the most freeing chapter of your life?

In this episode of Cake for Dinner Live, we sit down with Angela Burke, author of The Real Life: A Real Girl’s Guide to Midlife, to unpack the honest, unfiltered truth about what really happens in your 40s, 50s, and beyond.

From identity shifts and hormone changes to self-acceptance, boundaries, and rediscovering desire—this conversation breaks the silence around topics many women experience but rarely talk about.

Angela shares her personal journey through motherhood, divorce, and reinvention, along wi...

What happens when life doesn’t go as planned?

Today we sit down with Sarrah Strimel Bentley — founder of Damn Good Yoga, former Broadway performer, and a voice for resilience — to unpack a story filled with unimaginable challenges and incredible strength.

From losing her husband during pregnancy, to battling breast cancer, navigating IVF, and ultimately building her family through surrogacy… Sarah’s journey is a testament to what it means to keep going when everything falls apart.

But this episode isn’t just about survival — it’s about learning how to choose joy, even in the hard...

Are you helping your kids… or accidentally holding them back?

Psychotherapist, parent coach, and author Nicole Runyon breaks down one of the biggest parenting mistakes today — over-helping our kids to avoid discomfort.

We dive into why so many children today struggle with confidence, anxiety, and independence… and how it often starts at home.

Nicole shares practical strategies to help parents raise resilient, self-sufficient kids — without damaging connection or trust.

If you’ve ever stepped in to “make things easier” for your child, this conversation might completely change how you parent.

🔑 In This Ep...

What does it take to rebuild your life after losing everything?

I sat down with Hilary Musser—real estate broker, developer, entrepreneur, and one of the standout personalities from Netflix’s Palm Beach reality scene. From living a $40M lifestyle to starting over from scratch, Hilary shares the raw truth about independence, relationships, and what it really takes to build success on your own terms.

We dive into her journey through five marriages, the lessons she’s learned about love and self-worth, and how she rebuilt her career into a powerhouse brand—now selling $42M luxury h...

Former CNN journalist and podcast host Kanika Chadha Gupta joins the show to talk about parenting in today’s world, trusting your intuition, and raising resilient kids.

From her journey as an immigrant growing up in the United States to her career in broadcast journalism and motherhood, Kanika shares the lessons she’s learned about balancing ambition, parenting, and personal growth.

We dive into the biggest challenges parents face today — from over-scheduling childhood and participation trophies to learning how to let kids struggle and develop resilience.

Kanika also explains why parents need to trust...

In this episode I sat down with Alli Webb, founder of the iconic beauty brand Drybar, to talk about the real story behind building one of the most recognizable brands in the beauty industry.

What started as a simple idea — blowouts only — turned into a category-defining company and a billion-dollar business. But behind the success story is a much more human journey.

Alli shares the details that made Drybar explode, the intentional design choices that competitors missed, and the grit required to build a brand before social media existed.

We also dive into the...

Hilaria Baldwin joins Cake for Dinner for an honest, vulnerable conversation about motherhood, marriage, media scrutiny, and resilience.

From raising seven children in the public eye to navigating intense criticism and family trauma, Hilaria opens up about what it really takes to stay grounded when the world is watching.

In this episode, she shares:
How she protects her children from media attention
Parenting through tragedy and legal uncertainty
The truth about clickbait culture
Living with ADHD and raising neurodivergent kids
Why you’re the “CEO” of your child
How to sto...

Why do we struggle with negative thoughts?
Is toxic positivity actually harming us?
And why do 91% of people fail their goals every year?

Clinical psychologist Dr. Rachel Goldman breaks down Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in a way that’s practical, relatable, and immediately usable. We discuss imposter syndrome, hustle culture, body image, self-doubt, and the science behind why your brain jumps to worst-case scenarios.

If you’ve ever felt stuck in your thoughts, overwhelmed by comparison, or frustrated with setting goals you never reach — this conversation will change the way you approach your mindse...

What does it actually mean to raise strong, world-ready kids in today’s culture?

Lauren Magers — entrepreneur, mother of four, and creator of the Happy Life System — breaks down her philosophy of radical accountability, self-mastery, and anti-mediocrity parenting.

From overcoming an identity crisis as a former athlete to building a business empire while raising four children, Lauren shares how discipline, gratitude, and value-based leadership inside the home shape resilient, confident adults.

This isn’t soft parenting.
This isn’t passive parenting.
This is parenting as leadership.

We get into...
Why mo...

Rachel Johnson looks like she has it all — founder of a successful law firm, creator of a thriving wellness community, wife, mother of three.

But six months after her third baby, everything changed.

Rachel shares her experience with postpartum depression that didn’t show up immediately — and didn’t leave quickly either. What began as stress returning to work turned into a dark cloud she couldn’t shake. She didn’t want to decorate for Christmas. She didn’t want to get out of bed. She didn’t feel like herself.

This episode explores:

What happens when your life unravels in front of millions — and you choose to rebuild anyway?

Gina Kirschenheiter opens up about motherhood, reality TV, divorce, sobriety, and what it really means to stay true to yourself while raising children in the public eye.

From accidentally landing on Real Housewives of Orange County to navigating heartbreak, co-parenting, and blended families, Gina shares how reality TV didn’t break her — it revealed her. She speaks candidly about choosing her kids over image, walking away from alcohol without labels, and raising kind, grounded children in a comfortable world.

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