Roots & Realities: Stories of Motherhood & Marketing

Welcome to Roots & Realities , the podcast where motherhood meets marketing and nothing is off the table. Hosted by Emma Huschka, founder of Fiddle Leaf Marketing and mom of two, this show dives into the messy, meaningful middle of growing a business and raising a family. Each episode, Emma chats with real women, from stay-at-home moms to full-time founders, about the challenges, wins, and wild stories that come with building brands and bedtime routines. Expect honest conversations, zero judgment, and a whole lot of "me too" moments. Whether you're scaling a business, folding laundry, or both at the same time, you’re in good company here.

Roots & Realities: Stories of Motherhood & Marketing is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 9 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Roots & Realities: Stories of Motherhood & Marketing, a business show with 9 episodes published.

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  Episode #1

  Running on Empty: Understanding Mom Burnout with Kelsey Whittaker

  Aug 11, 202658 minS2

  If you've ever wondered why you're exhausted in a way that sleep doesn't fix, this episode is for you. Emma sits down with Kelsey Whittaker, founder of Lionheart Health Coaching, a National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC) and Certified Functional Nutritionist who helps women build sustainable habits that actually fit their real lives. Together they unpack the mental load, that invisible, always-running to-do list moms carry, and what it's quietly doing to women's bodies. Kelsey shares her framework of "energy deposits and withdrawals" for identifying what's draining you versus what fills you back up, and the mindset shifts that help women trade guilt and overwhelm for self-compassion. Kelsey's path to this work is deeply personal. After 13 years as a senior marketing leader, the sudden loss of her brother pushed her to rethink the legacy she was building, and Lionheart, named in his honor, was born. In this episode: What the mental load actually is, and the physical signs it's catching up with you The earliest red flags that you're running on empty (even when you think you're fine) Where to spend your energy if you only have ten minutes a day for your health One habit Kelsey would tell every mom to stop doing Connect with Kelsey: Website: https://www.lionheart-health-coaching.com Instagram: @lionheart_health_coaching LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lionheart-health-coaching/

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  Episode #8

  Proving Them Wrong Quietly: Single Motherhood, Career Growth, and Betting on Yourself

  Aug 4, 202647 minS1

  Kristin Johnson was born in a small Indiana town to an 18-year-old mom, the kind of beginning where nobody expects much from you. At 21, she became a single mom herself. What followed were years of surviving, barely getting by, and quietly holding onto business dreams she refused to let go of. In this episode, Kristin shares how she climbed the ranks in hospitality without a college degree, eventually leading fine dining locations and consulting on the side, until COVID shut it all down and a cancer scare with her son changed everything about how she thought about work, life, and what actually matters. From there: a pivot into SaaS project management, a layoff that stung, and an unexpected landing as Executive Director of a national scientific medical research association. And through all of it, the entrepreneurial dream never died. This year, it finally took root, twice. Kristin is the founder of Yorn Studio, a consultancy teaching creatives and makers the business skills art school never covered, and Made by Meridian, a line of analog thinking tools for high-functioning women in leadership, with its first product, the Meridian Planner, launching later this year. We talk about young motherhood, building a career your own way, the ventures that didn't work before the ones that did, and why your timeline doesn't have to look like anyone else's. Connect with Kristin: Yorn Studio: https://yornstudio.com/ Meridian Planner: https://www.meridianbound.co/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yornstudio/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kljohnson014/

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  Episode #8

  Proving Them Wrong Quietly: Single Motherhood, Career Growth, and Betting on Yourself

  Aug 4, 202647 minS1

  <p>Kristin Johnson was born in a small Indiana town to an 18-year-old mom, the kind of beginning where nobody expects much from you. At 21, she became a single mom herself. What followed were years of surviving, barely getting by, and quietly holding onto business dreams she refused to let go of.</p><p></p><p>In this episode, Kristin shares how she climbed the ranks in hospitality without a college degree, eventually leading fine dining locations and consulting on the side, until COVID shut it all down and a cancer scare with her son changed everything about how she...

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  Episode #8

  Redefining Ambition: Leading, Parenting, and Letting Go

  Jul 15, 20261 hourS1

  What happens to ambition when the old definition stops fitting? In this episode, Emma sits down with Lauren Winter, Head of Operations, Advertising at Vox Media, for the kind of conversation that doesn't require any explaining, the kind where two women who get it can finally say the quiet parts out loud. Lauren leads a large operations org, is raising three kids, and has lived through the version of working motherhood that never makes it onto LinkedIn. Together they get into the mental load women carry while still performing at the top of their game, what burnout has actually looked like up close, and the identity shifts nobody warns you about. Lauren opens up about how becoming a mom of three reshaped what ambition means to her, how her definition of success has changed, and the routines, boundaries, and hard letting-gos that are helping her thrive in this season, not the highlight-reel version, the real one. If you've ever held it all together on the outside while quietly wondering how much longer you can keep it up, this one's for you.

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  Episode #8

  Redefining Ambition: Leading, Parenting, and Letting Go

  Jul 15, 20261 hourS1

  <p>What happens to ambition when the old definition stops fitting?</p><p></p><p>In this episode, Emma sits down with Lauren Winter, Head of Operations, Advertising at Vox Media, for the kind of conversation that doesn't require any explaining, the kind where two women who get it can finally say the quiet parts out loud. </p><p></p><p>Lauren leads a large operations org, is raising three kids, and has lived through the version of working motherhood that never makes it onto LinkedIn.</p><p></p><p>Together they get into the mental load women carry while...

  ListenShow Notes

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