The New School Of Motherhood Podcast

Mandy Cai
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Most conversations about motherhood are about managing it. This one isn't. The New School of Motherhood is for the woman who senses there is a deeper conversation to be had. One that begins with her. Who she is becoming. What she is carrying. What becomes possible when she moves through this initiation with intention rather than just endurance. Motherhood isn't where you lose yourself. It's where you find the truest, most powerful version of her. Continue the deeper conversation on https://thenewschoolofmotherhood.substack.com/

  1. 1d ago

    Relearning Sex, Intimacy, and Your Body After Birth

    After birth, intimacy can feel unfamiliar. Your body has changed, but so can your relationship, your sense of yourself, and what sexuality means to you. In this conversation, I’m joined by sexologist and author Sanderijn van der Doef to talk honestly about sexuality and intimacy after birth. We explore what can change in a couple’s sexual relationship, why reconnecting with your body can take time, and how partners can find new ways of experiencing closeness and pleasure. We also question some of the assumptions built into the postpartum six-week checkup. Physical healing matters, but there are questions that a medical appointment can’t answer: Does this feel good to me? Do I want this? And how do I want to experience intimacy now? We talk about birth trauma, pornography and cultural expectations, communication between partners, and the pressure to return to a version of sexuality that may no longer feel right. For me, one of the most important ideas in this conversation is that the goal isn’t necessarily to get back to how things were before having a baby. It’s to understand what your body, your desire, and your relationship need now—and to give yourself permission to discover what intimacy can look like from here. If intimacy after birth has felt complicated, unfamiliar, or different from what you expected, I hope this conversation gives you space to slow down and ask what you actually want. In this episode, we explore: Why sexuality and intimacy can change after birthThe difference between physical healing and feeling ready for intimacyHow birth trauma can affect desire, connection, and sexHow communication and consent can help partners reconnectWhat it means to listen to your body instead of following a postpartum timeline About our Guest: Sanderijn van der Doef is psychologist and sexologist. She is the author of several best-seller books about sexuality education for young children, adolescents, parents and teachers. She is an international expert and leading authority in the field of sexual development and sexuality education of children and young people. About your host: ⁠⁠Mandy Cai⁠⁠⁠ is the founder of The New School of Motherhood, a philosophy platform built on a single conviction: motherhood isn't where you lose yourself. It's where you find the truest, most powerful version of her. ⁠⁠⁠Begin the guided reflection⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to her newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect on Instagram⁠⁠⁠

  2. 6d ago

    What Financial Dependence Taught Me About Becoming Well-Resourced

    Financial dependence changed how I experienced confidence, power and choice inside my marriage, even within a loving and supportive partnership. In this episode, I explore what it means to become well-resourced as a mother. Not to reject interdependence, but to have greater agency within it. I also look at why mothers in business need to build for more than “just enough” if we want our work to create meaningful options, freedom and care. What’s in this episode: How financial dependence affected my confidence and sense of equalityCreating personal agency within an interdependent familyWhat being well-resourced makes possible for mothersWhy “just enough” leaves businesses with no marginBuilding a profitable business around the realities of motherhoodThree questions to connect your financial vision to your business model Book a 1:1 business strategy session with me

  3. Sep 23

    What I Learned From Pivoting My Business

    In this episode, Mandy shares why she pivoted The New School of Motherhood to focus more explicitly on motherhood and business. She explores the difference between staying committed to your mission and staying loyal to a business model, offer or direction that no longer works. What’s inside this episode Why persistence is not always the right business strategyHow to identify the real bottleneck in your businessThe fears that make pivoting feel so difficultWhy a pivot does not mean starting overHow to test a new direction before making a major changeBuilding a more sustainable business around motherhood and family life Book your 1:1 business strategy session with Mandy

  4. Sep 15

    Discernment: The Most Underrated Skill for Motherhood, Mental Load, and Business

    We often think the mental load is determined by what needs to be done or how supportive our partners are. But it is also shaped by what we automatically take responsibility for. In this episode, Mandy explores discernment as a motherhood and business skill. She looks at how fear, habit, control and expectation influence what we carry, and how seeing these patterns gives us the freedom to choose differently. In this episode, Mandy explores: How old patterns shape the mental loadThe difference between responsibility and expectationWhy asking for help can feel difficultHow discernment changes the way we leadA three-day practice to pause, separate and choose If you’re building a business centred around motherhood, you can follow how Mandy applies these ideas inside her private Substack community.⁠⁠​ About your host Mandy Cai is the founder of The New School of Motherhood, a business philosophy platform for mothers who are ready to stop trading family life with work. Subscribe to her newsletter

    Discernment: The Most Underrated Skill for Motherhood, Mental Load, and Business

  5. Sep 1

    Why We Need to Stop Devaluing Ourselves in Motherhood and Business

    Many women are waiting for the world to recognise their value while quietly discounting it themselves. We minimise what it took to become mothers. We overlook the intelligence inside the mental load. We overgive, undercharge and assume someone else’s experience, audience or success makes our contribution less meaningful. In this episode, Mandy explores how these patterns often begin long before motherhood. When we learn that love, attention or safety must be earned, we can carry that conditioning into our homes, relationships and businesses. This conversation is not about denying the structural ways women are undervalued. It is about recognising the internal patterns we have the power to change now. Mandy shares: Why external recognition cannot replace believing in your own valueWhat birth and the mental load reveal about women’s strength and intelligenceHow women and men often approach pricing, support and capacity differentlyWhy you are not separate from your offer or the reason people choose itHow comparison can become an invitation to recognise what only you can bring The problem was never that we lacked value. It is that we have been taught not to recognise it within ourselves. If you are building a business centred around motherhood, or creating work that respects your life as a present mother, you are invited to join Mandy inside Building a Mother-Centric Business, her private Substack community. Join as a paid member.

  6. Aug 27

    Building a Business That Honours Motherhood

    Many of us want a business that can hold our ambition and our motherhood. And yet we keep building as if those two parts of us have to stay separate. In this episode, I talk about what a mother-centric business actually is. Not a smaller business. Not a child-centric one. A way of building where who we are as mothers sits at the centre of our decisions. I share what happened when I didn’t build this way. In my agency years, and in the early days of this platform. The health cost. The holiday I couldn’t enjoy. The friction of jumping between work and my kids. And what changed when I started using motherhood as the anchor, instead of treating it as a conflict. We talk about: what mother-centric actually means, and what it doesn’twhy separating work and motherhood always bleeds outhow everyday desires, like being done by school pickup, become real boundarieswhy hustle advice often fails motherswhy we minimise what we’re buildingand what happens when we stop If you’re navigating this too, you’re invited into my private community, Building a Mother-Centric Business, on Substack. Each week I share what I’m actually working on, the decisions I’m making, and the realities of building The New School of Motherhood in real time, as a mother. Join here: https://thenewschoolofmotherhood.substack.com/subscribe About your host: Mandy Cai is the founder of The New School of Motherhood. She helps women build mother-centric businesses, and expands what’s possible for mothers who want to prioritise nurture.She spent a decade in branding and marketing. Now she brings that work together with what she’s learned in her own transformation as a mother. Join the community Subscribe to her newsletter Work with her

  7. Aug 17

    Motherhood Doesn’t Mean Wanting Less: Redefining Having It All

    We are often told that mothers cannot have it all. But maybe the real question is whether the version of “all” we are chasing actually belongs to us. In this episode, Mandy explores what it means to redefine having it all through motherhood, nurture, ambition, and family life. She reflects on why her relationships with her children and husband have become the anchor for her decisions, and why this does not mean giving up on her dreams. This is a conversation about inherited ideas of success, the pressure to measure our lives through tangible goals, and the difference between proving we can do everything and creating a life that feels aligned with what matters most. In this episode, Mandy explores: Why having it all does not have to mean everything, all at onceHow motherhood can clarify what matters mostWhy some versions of success were not built around caregivingThe difference between achievement and the feeling underneath itHow to build a life that can hold your children and your dreamsIf this conversation brings something up for you, The Mother They Remember is a place to sit with these questions more deeply. It is a guided reflection for women in pregnancy, postpartum, and the early years of motherhood who want to become more intentional about the kind of mother, woman, and family culture they are creating. About your host: Mandy Cai is the founder of The New School of Motherhood, a philosophy platform expanding the definition of what’s possible for mothers prioritising nurture. Begin the guided reflection Subscribe to her newsletter Connect on Instagram Follow on Rednote / 小红书

  8. Jul 27

    Learning to Listen to Your Body in Motherhood Part 2 with Vaness Henry

    What if your child doesn't need fixing, only understanding? As parents, it's easy to find ourselves asking, "How do I get my child to behave?" But what if the better question is, "What is my child trying to show me?" In part 2 of my conversation with Human Design Variables teacher Vaness Henry, we explore how children naturally process food, emotions, environments, and experiences differently—and what changes when we stop expecting one approach to work for every child. What begins as a conversation about Human Design quickly becomes something much deeper. We explore what it means to listen to our children without trying to change them, how our children's behaviours often reveal where we are disconnected from ourselves, and why the way we care for our own nervous system shapes the way we parent. If you've ever wondered whether your child is "too sensitive," "too stubborn," or simply hard to understand, this episode offers a different perspective. Not one that asks you to fix their behaviour, but one that helps you understand what might be underneath it. Key Insights: Why there is no one-size-fits-all approach to parentingHow Human Design Variables can help you understand your child's natural needsThe difference between correcting behaviour and responding to what's actually happening beneath itWhat our children's emotions can reveal about our own patternsWhy caring for yourself isn't separate from caring for your child My hope is that you'll leave this conversation feeling less pressure to get parenting "right," and more confidence in your ability to understand yourself, understand your child, and trust what you're already noticing. If this episode moved you, begin here. ⁠⁠⁠The Mother They Remember⁠⁠⁠ is a guided reflection for women who are ready to meet the mother they are becoming, not just survive the one they've been handed.⁠⁠⁠ About our guest: Vaness Henry is a journalist, shamanic practitioner, and Human Design Variables guide who helps people listen to their bodies and understand the patterns shaping their health and lives. A cancer survivor, her work is rooted in lived experience and a grounded, intuitive approach to healing and transformation. Youtube Vanesshenry.com thehumandesignvariables.com About your host: ⁠⁠Mandy Cai⁠⁠⁠ is the founder of The New School of Motherhood, a philosophy platform built on a single conviction: motherhood isn't where you lose yourself. It's where you find the truest, most powerful version of her. ⁠⁠⁠Begin the guided reflection⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to her newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow on Rednote / 小红书⁠

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Most conversations about motherhood are about managing it. This one isn't. The New School of Motherhood is for the woman who senses there is a deeper conversation to be had. One that begins with her. Who she is becoming. What she is carrying. What becomes possible when she moves through this initiation with intention rather than just endurance. Motherhood isn't where you lose yourself. It's where you find the truest, most powerful version of her. Continue the deeper conversation on https://thenewschoolofmotherhood.substack.com/

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