The Breadwinners Podcast

Alexis Contos
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They say you can't have it all — that mothers must choose between ambition and presence. But what if we're asking the wrong question? On The Breadwinners Podcast, Alexis Contos redefines what it means to be a Breadwinner in modern culture, moving it far beyond the paycheck. Through raw, honest conversations with women like Morgan Zanotti (CEO of Primal Kitchen), Nicole Trunfio (CEO of Bumpsuit), and Eve Rodsky (Author of Fair Play & Find Your Unicorn Space), we explore what it really takes to bring financial richness, emotional richness, and systemic change to our families. This isn't about balance, it's about integration. Not perfection, but wholeness. Whether you're already navigating motherhood and career, building your empire before kids arrive, or reimagining what family leadership looks like, these conversations will challenge everything you've been told about what's possible. The Breadwinners: Where ambitious mothers aren't just earning a living, they're pioneering a new era for themselves, and everyone who comes next. Learn more at thebreadwinners.co.

  1. 4d ago

    When Success Becomes a Cage with Keren Eldad | The Breadwinners Podcast

    Most of us are told to chase the title, the house, the marriage that looks good from the outside. Keren Eldad had all of it, and it nearly broke her. In this episode, executive coach and bestselling author Keren Eldad (Gilded, Gilt Free) sits down with Alexis to unpack what happens when your ambition outruns your actual self. Keren shares the exact moment her life "came crashing down" in the shower, why she believes overachievement is an addiction, and the difference between women with high standards and women trapped in perfectionism. The setup: Keren had every marker of success — a C-suite title at a luxury brand, a home in Zurich, two degrees, a marriage that looked good on paper — and was quietly miserable underneath all of it. The break: In her mid-30s, a breakdown in the shower gave her sudden clarity: she wasn't the problem, the life she'd built was. That's when she started "burning it all down" — leaving the marriage, leaving the job, starting over with no savings. Redefining "high achiever": Keren reframes it as a personality wired for intensity and an unhealthy relationship to effort, not a compliment. She draws a hard line between perfectionism (chasing something unattainable, inherently unsatisfying) and high standards (enjoying the work itself, staying "kind of chill"). Where it comes from: She traces her own overachieving back to being raised as the "golden child" — praised constantly for grades, achievements, and performance — and explains how that praise turns people into what she calls "dancing bears," performing for approval instead of living as themselves. The self-sabotage list: Debt, isolation, doom-scrolling, workaholism, harsh management styles — Keren walks through the ways overachievement quietly shows up as addiction, and why the first step out is simply acknowledging it. Rebuilding after loss: After her divorce, a fire destroyed everything she owned. She talks about what that taught her about materialism — and why her relationship to "stuff" changed even though her love of nice things didn't. Coaching, decoded: Keren breaks down how to actually vet a coach — look for rapport, lived experience, and results, not credentials alone — and pushes back on the excuse "I don't have time," reframing it as a preference problem, not a time problem. The climb is supposed to be hard: She compares building something new to a plane burning most of its fuel on takeoff — the early grind isn't a red flag, it's the cost of getting off the ground. Devotion over discipline: Her framework for sustainable ambition isn't intensity, it's consistency — showing up in smaller or bigger doses every single day, and letting that compound over time. Meet Monica: Keren names her overachiever alter ego after Monica from Friends — the part of her that shows up cleaning and barking orders the second something feels uncertain — and shares how she catches herself and resets (including literally booking a flight to Miami to do nothing). On legacy: When asked what legacy she wants to leave, her answer is refreshingly unbothered: "Who cares? I'll be dead." She'd rather be remembered as a nice, kind person than build toward some future she won't be around to see. Keren Eldad is a leadership coach and the author of Gilded and Guilt Free. She has coached thousands of high achievers out of burnout and into what she calls a "gold" life. She joins the show to talk about the cage of overachievement and how to walk out of it. Join The Breadwinners community: Subscribe on Substack: wearethebreadwinners.substack.com Follow on Instagram: @wearethebreadwinners Rate & review wherever you listen - it helps more women find this show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    When Success Becomes a Cage with Keren Eldad | The Breadwinners Podcast

  2. Sep 8

    Saved Seats | Go Get the Help You Deserve with Kelly Hubbell from Sage Haus

    You're expected to work like you don't have kids and parent like you don't work. Kelly Hubbell, founder of Sage Haus, looked at this impossible equation and decided to build the solution herself.In this episode, Kelly shares her journey from corporate tech sales to launching Sage Haus—a company that provides house managers and holistic family support for busy working parents. After her second child, Kelly found herself overwhelmed, creating a spreadsheet at 2am cataloging everything she was managing on top of her full-time job. That breakdown moment became her breakthrough. We dive into the reality of founder-motherhood, why the "mental load" conversation needs to shift from problem to solution, and how Kelly is building a business that reflects her values while showing her three kids what's possible when you refuse to choose between ambition and presence. Kelly Hubbell is the founder of Sage Haus, a company that helps busy families find holistic, versatile support through house managers and family assistants. A former software sales professional who worked her way through Silicon Valley startups, Kelly made the leap from corporate America to entrepreneurship after realizing the support gap working parents face.Kelly lives in Portland with her husband (also an entrepreneur), three children (ages 7, 5, and 3), and a 7-year-old dog. She's on a mission to normalize household support and give families permission to get the help they need. Find Kelly:Instagram: @mysagehaus LinkedIn: Kelly Hubbell Website: Sign up for informational calls about finding your house manager Get $200 off your deposit by using this link: sagehaus.com/alexiscontos  Join The Breadwinners Community: Subscribe to The Breadwinners on Substack for Full podcast episodes In-depth written interviews with guests Live Q&A sessions with experts Exclusive content on hormones, finances, partnership dynamics, and moreIt's free to subscribe → wearethebreadwinners.substack.com #workingmom #mom #podcast #breadwinnermom #momentrepreneur #femalefounders , #worklifebalance #ambitiousmoms Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Saved Seats | Go Get the Help You Deserve with Kelly Hubbell from Sage Haus

  3. Sep 1

    It's Okay to Not Be Okay: Sonny Williams on Maternal Mental Health | Courage to Confide campaign

    Postpartum is not a diagnosis. It's an experience every mother has, whatever form it takes. What determines whether you need support is severity and how long it lasts, and most of us were never taught the difference. In this episode, Alexis sits down with Sonny Williams, a perinatal mental health certified counselor and clinician with BetterHelp, to break down the real spectrum of maternal mental health, from baby blues to postpartum anxiety, OCD, depression, and psychosis. This conversation is part of the launch of Courage to Confide, our campaign built on one belief: the courage to confide is the confidence to lead. What you'll learn: The difference between "PMADs" (perinatal mood and anxiety disorders) and why postpartum depression is only one piece of a much bigger spectrum How to tell the difference between support and help, and why you need both Why identity shift, not just hormones, is at the center of the postpartum experience How ambition and motherhood can coexist without shutting down who you were before Concrete tools for what to do when you notice something is off, for yourself or someone you love Sonny Williams is a licensed professional counselor and perinatal mental health certified counselor who works with mothers across the full spectrum of the perinatal journey, from fertility through the first year postpartum. She joins the show to give clinician-backed language to a conversation that too often only lives in headlines. It's okay to have it all together and look polished and always be presentable. It's also okay to not be okay. #CourageToConfide If any part of this piece feels close to home, we’ve partnered with BetterHelp to offer a free month to anyone who signs up through The Breadwinners. Join The Breadwinners community: Subscribe on Substack: wearethebreadwinners.substack.com Follow on Instagram: @wearethebreadwinners Rate & review wherever you listen - it helps more women find this show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    It's Okay to Not Be Okay: Sonny Williams on Maternal Mental Health | Courage to Confide campaign

  4. Aug 18

    Trimester Zero, Male Fertility, and Why Balance Is a Hoax with the Founders of WeNatal | The Breadwinners Podcast

    WeNatal co-founders Ronit Menashe and Vida Delrahim explain trimester zero: the three months before conception when both partners can improve egg and sperm quality through targeted nutrition, bioavailable supplements, and cutting alcohol, smoking, and vaping. Male factor influences roughly half of miscarriage and infertility outcomes, and men regenerate sperm continuously, which means the window to improve is real and short. On this episode of The Breadwinners, Ronit and Vida also share how they built a bootstrapped prenatal supplement company after two miscarriages a week apart, why the supplement industry runs on smoke and mirrors, and what burnout, a health crash, and losing a home in the Palisades fire taught them about time. Ronit and Vida were best friends and Nike colleagues who lost pregnancies within a week of each other in spring 2020 and were told by their doctors that it just happens. They refused that answer, dug into the research, put their husbands on antioxidants for three months, and both went on to have healthy daughters. That experiment became WeNatal, which has now helped 30,000 people become parents. In this conversation, Alexis Contos talks with them about building a company while postpartum, growing for three years on nights and weekends and no salary, why they turned down the paid-ads playbook, and what their daughters see when they watch their mothers work. What you will hear: Why "just happens" is not an answer, and what to ask your doctor instead Trimester zero and the specific antioxidants that support sperm and egg quality How to read a supplement label: third-party testing, bioavailable forms, and fillers "Balance is like a hoax": what a health crash and a house fire taught them about non-negotiables Bootstrapping against competitors with $40 to $50 million in venture money The Google Doc called "Bestie Co" and why you should write letters to your future self Timestamps:  00:00 Why WeNatal chose podcasts over paid ads  02:23 The club of women told they were too old  04:09 Two miscarriages a week apart  09:18 Trimester zero: what they put their husbands on  13:16 How men show up in the fertility conversation  18:20 Supplement industry smoke and mirrors: third-party testing and bioavailability  25:05 Building the company while postpartum  30:35 Burnout, and why balance is a hoax  36:32 The Palisades fire and the wake-up call  38:20 Don't wait for rock bottom  43:09 What their daughters see  48:29 Bootstrapping and the cost of patience  55:34 The legacy question  56:38 Breadwinner Artifacts: the Bestie Co Google Doc  59:31 Letters to your future self and trusting your gut  62:39 Breadwinner Bites  72:06 Where to find WeNatal Start your WeNatal routine today by going to wenatal.com/BREADWINNERS and receive a free Rest+Digest Magnesium supplement ($30 value) with your first prenatal subscription. Join The Breadwinners community: Subscribe on Substack: wearethebreadwinners.substack.com Follow on Instagram: @wearethebreadwinners Rate and review wherever you listen. It helps more women find this show. #breadwinner #fertility #trimesterzero #womeninbusiness #femalefounders #prenatal #motherhood #entrepreneurship Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Trimester Zero, Male Fertility, and Why Balance Is a Hoax with the Founders of WeNatal | The Breadwinners Podcast

  5. Aug 11

    Saved Seats | The Mental Load of Dads: Nick Firchau on Modern Fatherhood

    *This is a replayed episode from earlier in Season 1* The first man to sit at the Breadwinners table. We're bringing back this conversation with Nick Firchau, host of the Paternal podcast, because the questions it raises haven't gone anywhere. Nick has interviewed more than 130 men about fatherhood, and this episode gets into what those conversations reveal: men parenting without a model, the friendships they don't know how to build, and the load they carry but rarely name. Alexis and Nick also take on the topics that tend to get avoided, from the respect-versus-love dynamic in marriages to whether lifting up mothers has left fathers out of the conversation. In this episode: Why roughly 40% of the fathers Nick has interviewed grew up without a father figure at home, and how that shapes the way they parent now The sitcom trope that taught a generation of men how to be dads, going all the way back to Father Knows Best What Nick learned about himself when he examined why he says "be careful" to his kids The invisible load of fathers, and why men are reluctant to talk about it "Benefit of the doubt," the two-word operating rule at the center of Nick's marriage Nick Firchau is a longtime journalist and podcast producer, and the creator and host of Paternal, a show about the brotherhood of fatherhood. Since launching in 2017, Paternal has featured Super Bowl winners, Pulitzer Prize winning journalists, and award-winning authors, and has been named a best podcast for fathers by Apple Podcasts and Lifehacker. Nick lives outside Boulder, Colorado with his wife and two kids. Join The Breadwinners community: Subscribe on Substack: wearethebreadwinners.substack.com Follow on Instagram: @wearethebreadwinners Rate & review wherever you listen - it helps more women find this show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Saved Seats | The Mental Load of Dads: Nick Firchau on Modern Fatherhood

  6. Aug 4

    What New Moms Actually Need: Melanie Kaplan on Postpartum Mental Health and Building oPPal

    Melanie Kaplan is the founder and CEO of oPPal, a peer support platform for postpartum moms that matches new and expecting mothers, called Little oPPals, with trained, experienced mothers, called Big oPPals. She built it after her own experience with severe postpartum depression and anxiety, and she joined host Alexis Contos the same week oPPal launched nationally in May 2026. In this conversation, Melanie shares the full story for the first time in this much depth. Four months after her first daughter was born, a weaning hormone crash collided with a birth control error, and Melanie left home for four nights, driving toward the ocean because she needed to see something bigger than what was happening inside her. Two years later, she found a video she had recorded for her daughter during those days, posted it on Instagram, and woke up to hundreds of messages from women sharing their own postpartum stories. That morning changed her career. Melanie and Alexis talk about the early warning signs of postpartum anxiety that get dismissed as normal new mom worry, why the standard six week screening misses the gray area where most struggling mothers actually live, and the hole in American postpartum care where a woman goes from weekly appointments during pregnancy to almost nothing after birth. Melanie explains how she validated oPPal before writing a single line of it: a survey that drew over 300 responses in 48 hours, with more than 80 percent of moms saying they would mentor a new mother, and a beta that proved matches work best with someone outside your inner circle. She walks through the Big oPPal training, including the platform's central rule that every check-in starts with the mom, not the baby, and how oPPal's partnership with Phoenix Health creates a path to therapists trained in maternal mental health when peer support isn't enough. The episode closes with the legacy conversation, the story behind the logo drawn from her grandmother's handwriting, and what Melanie's daughter says her mommy does all day. This episode is for anyone navigating postpartum, supporting someone who is, or building a company from lived experience. Find oPPal: www.myoppal.com Instagram: @myoppal Join The Breadwinners community: Subscribe on Substack: wearethebreadwinners.substack.com Follow on Instagram: @wearethebreadwinners Rate and review wherever you listen. It helps more women find this show. If you are struggling with postpartum depression or anxiety, Postpartum Support International is at postpartum.net. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    What New Moms Actually Need: Melanie Kaplan on Postpartum Mental Health and Building oPPal

  7. Jul 28

    Saved Seats | Julie Cordua on Protecting Kids Online: AI, the Dark Web, and What Parents Can Do

    This is a replay of an earlier episode. Alexis reunites with Julie Cordua, CEO of Thorn, the organization building technology to defend children from online sexual exploitation. The two worked together 15 years ago on Thorn's launch, and Alexis has watched Julie turn that early mission into her life's work while raising three kids of her own. **Content warning: This episode discusses child sexual abuse and exploitation. We don't include graphic details, but the subject matter is inherently difficult.** This conversation explores what it means to be a Breadwinner when your currency goes beyond the financial - measured instead in children identified, abuse content removed, and platforms made safer. Julie breaks down how AI has changed the landscape of child exploitation, what actually happens on the dark web, where tech companies must do better, and what parents can do right now to protect their children online. What you'll learn in this episode: Why kids see no divide between online and offline life, and why "stranger danger" no longer works as a warning When to start age-appropriate online safety conversations (hint: before the first device, and yes, that includes the iPad) The warning signs of grooming and sextortion, and why kids block instead of reporting Exactly what to do if it happens to your family: why you block but never delete, the Take It Down tool, and when to contact the FBI How AI is being used on both sides of this fight, and what policy changes Thorn is pushing for in Washington Whether you're navigating your child's digital life or want to understand how to make a difference, this conversation will leave you informed and equipped. Resources: Thorn Thorn on Instagram Julie's TED Talk Thorn Parent Guide Join The Breadwinners community: Subscribe on Substack: wearethebreadwinners.substack.com Follow on Instagram: @wearethebreadwinners Rate & review wherever you listen - it helps more women find this show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Saved Seats | Julie Cordua on Protecting Kids Online: AI, the Dark Web, and What Parents Can Do

  8. Jul 21

    Jaclyn Johnson on Building, Losing, and Reclaiming Everything

    Jaclyn Johnson built Create and Cultivate from a blog into a multi-million dollar company, sold it, watched it fall apart under new ownership, and bought it back. In this episode, Create and Cultivate founder Jaclyn Johnson breaks down what it actually costs to build a company: a $75 million acquisition deal that collapsed because of COVID, a private equity sale two years later, a stage zero breast cancer diagnosis, and a marriage that ended along the way. She explains how she negotiated her way back into ownership of the company she started in 2012, why she now runs Cherub to get more women into angel investing, and how resilience carried her through every setback. What you'll learn in this episode: - Why Create and Cultivate didn't turn a profit for five years, and why that was the point - The difference between a strategic acquisition and a private equity buyout - How COVID killed a $75 million deal and forced a pivot to virtual events overnight - What to know before your next mammogram, and how to push for a second opinion - How she negotiated to buy back her own company after the PE firm decided to sell - Why women get 1.9% of VC funding, and how Cherub is closing that gap with angel investing starting at $10,000 Jaclyn Johnson is the founder of Create and Cultivate, the media and events platform for women entrepreneurs she built starting in 2012 and grew into a multi-million dollar company before selling a majority stake in 2021. She later bought the company back and now also runs Cherub, an angel investing platform built to get more capital into the hands of women. Timestamps: 00:00 Intro/Teaser 02:32 Meet Jaclyn Johnson 05:30 Building community before it was trendy 10:15 Early career, layoffs, and starting over 16:14 The moment Create and Cultivate got real 20:08 Getting acquired, a deal falling through, and COVID 25:12 Strategic acquisition vs. private equity, explained 30:05 Buying back her own company 34:28 Identity, marriage, and the crash after the sale 38:03 Her breast cancer diagnosis 44:01 What to do when you get "the call" 47:22 Founding Cherub and democratizing angel investing 49:26 Accreditation and check sizes, explained 53:34 Her mom, the unofficial co-founder 55:34 Defining "breadwinner" Join The Breadwinners community: Subscribe on Substack: wearethebreadwinners.substack.com Follow on Instagram: @wearethebreadwinners Rate & review wherever you listen - it helps more women find this show #CreateAndCultivate #WomenInBusiness #FemaleFounders #AngelInvesting #WomenAndMoney #BreastCancerAwareness #Breadwinner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Jaclyn Johnson on Building, Losing, and Reclaiming Everything
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They say you can't have it all — that mothers must choose between ambition and presence. But what if we're asking the wrong question? On The Breadwinners Podcast, Alexis Contos redefines what it means to be a Breadwinner in modern culture, moving it far beyond the paycheck. Through raw, honest conversations with women like Morgan Zanotti (CEO of Primal Kitchen), Nicole Trunfio (CEO of Bumpsuit), and Eve Rodsky (Author of Fair Play & Find Your Unicorn Space), we explore what it really takes to bring financial richness, emotional richness, and systemic change to our families. This isn't about balance, it's about integration. Not perfection, but wholeness. Whether you're already navigating motherhood and career, building your empire before kids arrive, or reimagining what family leadership looks like, these conversations will challenge everything you've been told about what's possible. The Breadwinners: Where ambitious mothers aren't just earning a living, they're pioneering a new era for themselves, and everyone who comes next. Learn more at thebreadwinners.co.

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