What was your professional background before Inside the Moms Club?
As for my professional background, I practiced environmental and immigration law for large law firms in Washington, D.C., Dallas, and Austin. Later, I was on the staff of the Bush presidential campaign. Rather than move to Washington, I decided to stay home with my children. From that experience, I teamed together with JC Conklin to write Comeback Moms: How to Leave Work, Raise Children, and Restart Your Career Even If You Haven’t Had a Job in Years for Random House. We interviewed over one hundred women across the country for the book, and later did a national book tour where we met lots of inspiring and interesting women.
How did your time in Plano lead you to the Moms Club?
It all started in Plano. I graduated from Plano Senior High School, and while I was there, I was editor of the school newspaper, The Wildcat Tales. I wrote a column that won awards and that really inspired me to write and be creative. At graduation, I won the “Major P” awards for English and journalism, which was quite an honor (although I must confess, I think they could come up with a better name for it)! I was also in the Social Studies Major Studies program there, where I was inspired to go to law school. We even won the State Championship in football while I was at PSHS, which made me kind of a spoiled sports fan. My son is a huge Dallas Cowboys fan, and I give him a lot of credit. It’s definitely easier to be a rabid fan when your team is winning all the time than when things aren’t going so well.
What inspired you to start the podcast?
A friend of mine was married at the time to the late actor, Paul Sorvino. She was doing a podcast in Los Angeles, and she suggested that her producer talk to me about doing a podcast based on my book. We actually started the podcast with the subject of the book in mind. I have four close friends who I met through our kids at school. Initially, I asked them to come on the show as Zoomer Moms. It wasn’t long before the producer said, “You know your friends are really good on this show.” That’s when the lightbulb went off for me. I decided to extend the show beyond a discussion of the subject matter of the book and talk more about the importance of women’s friendships and how we support one another. We call it the “Moms Club,” but there are all kinds of variations. My mother had a “Bridge Club.” I didn’t hear about them playing bridge that often, but they were lifelong close friends.
What is a typical format of Inside the Moms Club like?
We have interesting guests. Some are celebrities, but mostly we talk about topics interesting and relevant to women. Our tagline is “If you don’t laugh sometimes, you’re gonna cry,” so above all, we try to keep things light and funny. That doesn’t mean we don’t hit serious topics. We did a show on pet bereavement, and afterwards, my producer said, “You weren’t very funny on that one.” I replied that I was pretty sure cracking jokes in the middle of a discussion like that would be the end of the show! We try to balance things, and I think we do a good job of that.
For our readers who have not listened before, can you explain what a Zoomer is?
We started the show during the pandemic when everything happened through Zoom. We decided to add an element to the show where women from around the country could come in, introduce themselves, and ask our guest a question. These are our “Zoomer Moms.” We’ve had some great Zoomers. We do a lot of preparation for each show, and yet it never ceases to amaze me how the Zoomers can come in and ask questions that never crossed our minds.
What else should our readers know about you or the podcast?
We are growing like crazy, which is very exciting. Our YouTube channel is approaching 200,000 subscribers, and we’re getting over 200,000 views per episode, with one recent episode topping 300,000. We also have great reviews on other podcast platforms, and all episodes are free. You can scroll through to find the guests or topics interesting to you. Our goal is to create a global community of women who appreciate and support one another. I hope your readers will check us out on YouTube.com/@insidethemomsclub.
What guest experience on the podcast has stuck with you the most?
We’ve had a lot of great guests, so it’s hard to think of just one. I’ll give you two. Early on, we interviewed the singer, Taylor Dayne. She has twins the same age as our kids. All these kids graduated in 2020, which was probably the worst year in recent memory to be a senior in high school. There was no prom. Graduation was pretty much a drive-thru event, if that. We all started talking about how hard it was on our kids, and pretty soon, it was just moms sharing and talking about our kids. It was Taylor Dayne, but it could have been any other mom in that situation. We also interviewed Missy Peregrym, who stars on FBI on CBS. She had just come back from maternity leave, and you could tell she was struggling with being away from her kids to work. She even teared up a few times. We tried encouraging her and cheering her up. It didn’t feel like an interview as much as it felt like trying to help someone. She just happens to be someone on television.
Where is all this headed?
We’re in discussions for turning all of this into a streaming television show and global brand, so there are very exciting times ahead for the show!
Interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.