Kanika Chadda-Gupta

Kanika Chadda Gupta is a consummate new media professional with 10 years of experience in television (CNN, Zee TV), print, and the digital landscape.
071 Lesley Butler on Thats Total Mom Sense with Kanika Chadda-Gupta
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071: Lesley Butler — What’s For Dinner? This Smart Oven Is Doing the Cooking
071: Lesley Butler — What’s For Dinner? This Smart Oven Is Doing the Cooking 1920 1080 Chase Jennings

Since the pandemic began, families have been opting to eat at home instead of dining out and premium delivery services have become not only ubiquitous, they’re necessary. This new food tech startup sends you premium meals with a subscription, but you get something else — your very own smart oven. It’s called Tovala. You simply scan the barcode and the oven knows exactly how much time to cook it for. What I was most fascinated about is that it can scan other bar codes like frozen foods from Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s.

On today’s episode, I interview Lesley Butler, CMO of Tovala. A proud Canadian, she holds a BComm from Queen’s University and an MBA from Harvard. She’s spent 15 years in consumer marketing, innovation, and strategy roles at Pepsico, Bain, and Kraft. Most recently at Pepsico, she co-led marketing for the Quaker brand and oversaw innovation, launching over 30 products generating $200MM in revenue. Tovala has become a dinnertime savior in her busy life with two young boys. Her favorite ingredient is basil.

Since joining Tovala in 2018, Lesley has helped drive 5x growth and deliver over 1MM meals to customers. At Tovala Lesley oversees all marketing efforts across the customer journey including new user acquisition, customer experience, brand and design.

Prior to joining Tovala, Lesley was founder of The Growth Project, a strategic marketing advisory business helping early stage food & beverage startups chart a consumer-led path to growth. Previously, Lesley spent nearly 15 years in the CPG Food & Beverage industry where she held a number of senior roles in marketing, innovation, and strategy at Pepsico, Bain & Company, and Kraft Foods. During her time at Pepsico she launched over 30 new products generating over $200MM in annual revenue.

Originally from Canada, Lesley holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and lives in Chicago with her husband and 2 young boys.

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Kids’ Clothing Brand Teaches Sustainability, Empowerment, and Imagination
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Kids’ Clothing Brand Teaches Sustainability, Empowerment, and Imagination
Kids’ Clothing Brand Teaches Sustainability, Empowerment, and Imagination 1920 1080 Chase Jennings

What if there was a kids’ clothing brand that was sustainable (both the product + packaging), made kids feel like a superhero, sparked their imagination, and taught them to love our planet? Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, it exists. It’s called Living Loudly.

 

Living Loudly encourages parents to “create moments that matter” with their kids. Let me walk you through the process because it’s pretty awesome.

1) Log on to the website, www.livingloudly.com, and have your kiddo select a t-shirt. The tees come in fun colors, feature a cute character on the front, and they’re unisex! The shirts are super soft as they’re made of 100% organic cotton + bamboo and they won’t shrink or fade in the wash. They’re ideal for hand-me-downs or donations, which is inherently sustainable and a bonafide #momwin.

2) Next, you’ll receive a capsule delivered to your doorstep. My kids were so intrigued and couldn’t wait to open it. The capsule itself can be reused for small toys, a pretend rocket ship or you can recycle it because it’s 100% biodegradable.

3) Inside you’ll find a piece of paper with a story about the character on the t-shirt like Everett the Elephant or Trevor the Tiger. This promotes literacy and allows parents and kids to cultivate time for the joy of reading.

4) When they’re rocking their new shirt, your kiddo can have fun ripping up the seed paper that the story was printed on and plant the bits in potting soil.

living loudly trevor the tiger

5) Once the seeds sprout, you can transfer them to a larger pot. Now your kids can enjoy watching their very own garden of wildflowers grow!

To serve as an ongoing resource for parents, Living Loudly hosts virtual on-demand workshops that cover a range of topics from creating a calm + focused home to owning your unique parenting style to teaching gratitude and building emotional intelligence.

I had the pleasure of interviewing the founder, Shannon Murray-Doffo, on my podcast.

Shannon Murray-Doffo, is an award winning serial entrepreneur, marketing expert, and business strategist. Shannon spent over 13 years helping Fortune 10 companies strategize, build, and implement their marketing campaigns, culminating in launching her own brand in 2019, Living Loudly.

Shannon explains, “Living Loudly serves parents as a children’s clothing and lifestyle brand, helping parents realize they’re not alone and bringing a little more joy to the parenting experience.

Whether parents are picking out super-soft, eco-friendly apparel with their kids and cuddling up with a story, or taking one of her online workshops to get real support with their relationships, self-care, or parenting, Living Loudly puts connection at the heart of the business so parents (and their kiddos) can have a few more laughs and a few less bribes.”

According to LiveScience.com, “in a 2010 study of about 300,000 creativity tests going back to the 1970s, Kyung Hee Kim, a creativity researcher at the College of William and Mary, found creativity has decreased among American children in recent years. Since 1990, children have become less able to produce unique and unusual ideas. They are also less humorous, less imaginative and less able to elaborate on ideas, Kim said. Has modern society really extinguished the creative spark among our youth? Experts say creativity is innate, so it can’t really be lost. But it needs to be nurtured.”

This brand is getting us all off our screens, involving kids in the shopping process and practice decision-making, and is reminding us that some mundane tasks like buying kids clothes can be experiential and means to bond with our little ones.

As an exclusive BOGO offer, buy one item from LivingLoudly.com and receive the second 30% off with my code, MOMSENSE30.

Enjoy living loudly and making memories!

70 Shannon Murray-Doffo on Thats Total Mom Sense with Kanika Chadda-Gupta
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070: Shannon Murray-Doffo — Kids Apparel That Sparks Imagination
070: Shannon Murray-Doffo — Kids Apparel That Sparks Imagination 1920 1080 Chase Jennings

Imagine if children’s apparel was so much more than just clothes. What if it were experiential and allowed kids to use their imagination and bring things to life.

My guest has been there and is doing it as we speak.

Shannon Murray-Doffo, is an award winning serial entrepreneur, marketing expert, and business strategist. Shannon spent over 13 years helping Fortune 10 companies strategize, build, and implement their marketing campaigns, culminating in launching her own brand in 2019, Living Loudly.

Living Loudly serves parents as a children’s clothing and lifestyle brand, helping parents realize they’re not alone and bringing a little more joy to the parenting experience.

Whether parents are picking out super-soft, eco-friendly apparel with their kids and cuddling up with a story, or taking one of her online workshops to get real support with their relationships, self-care, or parenting, Living Loudly puts connection at the heart of the business so parents (and their kiddos) can have a few more laughs and a few less bribes.

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Bedtime Can Be Sweet, Not Stressful Thanks to Mommy’s Bliss
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Bedtime Can Be Sweet, Not Stressful Thanks to Mommy’s Bliss
Bedtime Can Be Sweet, Not Stressful Thanks to Mommy’s Bliss 1920 1080 Chase Jennings

Want mom to mom advice? You can trust Mommy’s Bliss to carry you through each stage of motherhood and parenting. They have you covered with pre and postnatal care supplements, babies and kids vitamins, medicines, and probiotics, and now a newly launched sleep product line for toddlers.

A couple months ago, I was introduced to the founders of the brand and after several conversations, I immediately knew the brand was one I wanted to partner with and endorse as an ambassador. I first learned about Mommy’s Bliss when my mom explained the benefits of gripe water, which we’ve been using for generations since key ingredients organic ginger extract and organic fennel extract are staple herbs in Indian home remedies. Ever since my twins were infants, I’ve been using Mommy’s Bliss gripe water to settle their tummies so they could sleep soundly, and I could too.

Gripe Water is where it all started for the family-owned company. It all started when Roshan Kaderali, a mom, pediatric nurse, midwife, and doula who had used Gripe Water to ease infant colic and fussiness for years while working in Scotland. When she moved to the U.S., she was astonished that the “magical” Gripe Water formula she relied on wasn’t available here. So she set out to create Gripe Water and Mommy’s Bliss was born. As the company grew, its mission hasn’t changed: help moms everywhere bond with their babies by creating effective, trusted products that incorporate wise ingredients from around the world.

Now, Roshan’s daughter Yasmin, who’s a mom of two, is at the helm as CEO. She grew up learning from her mom about the “miracle of life,” surrounded by the realities of childbirth and infant health through her mom’s maternity center. After attending college at the University of California, Davis, Yasmin spent two years living in Central America volunteering with programs focused on women and children’s human rights. Inspired to learn more and make a difference, Yasmin pursued an MPH & MBA and continued this work in the non-profit sector, and then was led back to @mommysbliss bringing fresh perspective as a new mom herself. Both Roshan and Yasmin share the dream of helping children and women all over the world to live in bliss, with food, good health, respected human rights and peace.

This year, Mommy’s Bliss launched a toddler sleep line because they truly believe in the importance of #bedtimebliss. It’s no surprise an ongoing challenge we face as parents is getting our kids to SLEEP. Regressions, routines, daylight savings, life in a pandemic! We often have to recalibrate so our little ones can fall asleep at the right time and have a restful night.

I interviewed Pediatric Sleep Expert Nicole Cannon, aka @sleepymamanj, to learn more about the science behind sleep. Nicole is a mom of 3 kids (ages 7, 5, & 3) with her 4th child on the way! Drawing from her expertise as a Maternity and Child Sleep Consultant as a member of the International Maternity Institute and Association of Professional Sleep Consultants, Nicole clears up misconceptions around sleep and explains how melatonin and cortisol affect our sleep cycles. On our podcast interview, we discuss how essential it is to have a bedtime routine in place and and review what to do on those days we’re thrown for a loop and need to call in the reinforcements. That’s where the new sleep line from Mommy’s Bliss comes into play with options for kids 3+ — a gummy, a chewable tablet or liquid — that all contain safe ingredients such as melatonin, magnesium and a bedtime bliss blend of organic chamomile, lemon balm and passionflower.

Some of the best quality time I have with my kids is when we’re reading books at bedtime. I love our conversations, the giggles, and witnessing their imagination take flight. Now that I have toddlers, circumstances are different and “sleeping through the night” varies. I’m glad that I have an arsenal of safe, natural, efficacious products when my kids are having an especially difficult time.

LINKS:

Use this link to save $3.00 on any (1) Mommy’s Bliss sleep product:
https://mommysbliss.com/sleep

Sweet dreams kiddos (and grown-ups too!)

 

68 Nicole Cannon on Thats Total Mom Sense with Kanika Chadda-Gupta
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069: Nicole Cannon — Toddlers and Sleep: Routines, Regressions, and Remedies
069: Nicole Cannon — Toddlers and Sleep: Routines, Regressions, and Remedies 1920 1080 Chase Jennings

An age old problem we face as parents is getting our kids to sleep. Regressions, routines, daylight savings, traveling and what tools we can implement to help our toddlers fall asleep and stay asleep.

Nicole Cannon is a certified sleep consultant, founder of Sleepy Mama, wife, and mom of 3 kids ages 7, 5, & 3 with her 4th child on the way!

She has worked as a nanny, babysitter, and baby planner and in 2012, she completed the Maternity and Child Sleep Consultant Course through the International Maternity Institute to become a member of the Association of Professional Sleep Consultants. Through this certification, she has been educated on numerous methods that help families get more sleep. She looks at sleep holistically and addresses all elements in a child’s day-to-day life that may be preventing him or her from sleeping well. She recently completed a certification in Infant Mental Health and a course in Maternal Mental Health. Her goal is to be sensitive to both the mother and the baby during the sleep work process.

However, the biggest change came when she welcomed her son in February 2013. From the start my son was a terrible sleeper. Suddenly Nicole was one of those sleep-deprived parents and she never imagined how hard it would be to go through sleep issues first hand!

Thus, during one morning of sleep-deprived delirium, Sleepy Mama was born. Nicole is here not only to help you and your loved ones get better sleep, but also to let you know you are not alone! Part therapist/part sleep consultant, this Sleepy Mama will work with you for a healthier, happier, well-rested family.

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69 Yasmin Kaderali on Thats Total Mom Sense with Kanika Chadda-Gupta (2)
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068: Yasmin Kaderali — Creating Blissful Moments for Moms at Every Stage
068: Yasmin Kaderali — Creating Blissful Moments for Moms at Every Stage 1920 1080 Chase Jennings

One Mom hack or piece of advice I share with all new mothers-to-be is Mommy’s Bliss gripe water. It’s a panacea for babies’ gas and digestive issues, helps with colic, and instantly soothes them just before bed.

Mommy’s Bliss was founded by Roshan Kaderali, a mom and pediatric nurse, midwife and doula who had used Gripe Water to ease infant colic and fussiness for years while working in Scotland. When she moved to the U.S., she was astonished that the “magical” Gripe Water formula she relied on wasn’t available here. So she set out to create Gripe Water and Mommy’s Bliss was born. As the company has grown, their mission hasn’t changed: help moms everywhere bond with their babies by creating effective, trusted products that incorporate wise ingredients from around the world. Now, at the helm of a company is Roshan’s daughter, Yasmin Kaderali.

Yasmin Kaderali grew up learning from her mom about the “miracle of life”, surrounded by the realities of childbirth and infant health through her mom’s maternity center. After attending college at the University of California, Davis, Yasmin spent two years living in Central America volunteering with programs focused on women and children’s human rights. Inspired to learn more and make a difference, Yasmin pursued an MPH & MBA and continued this work in the non-profit sector for five years. Her path led her back to Mommy’s Bliss and she is now CEO of the company. Both Roshan and Yasmin share the dream of helping children and women all over the world to live in bliss, with food, good health, respected human rights and peace.

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067: Sara Blanchard and Misasha Graham — Talking To Kids of All Ages About Race
067: Sara Blanchard and Misasha Graham — Talking To Kids of All Ages About Race 1024 512 Chase Jennings

As we navigate the current climate of our country, we as parents have a responsibility to teach our children about race and how to be aware of injustices, stand up for what’s right, and be proactive as anti-racist citizens of the world. On today’s episode, I am joined by the hosts of the Dear White Women podcast – Sara Blanchard and Misasha Graham. They are Harvard grads who have been best friends for over two decades, and have very mixed-race families they want to advocate for. They’re smart, real, funny, and ready to make change.

Dear White Women is an award-winning weekly podcast dedicated to starting real discussions for (busy) people who wish they knew more about race, identity, and happiness in the United States.

EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT AND EVERYONE HAS VALUE.
And we each have the power to influence our communities.

Through their episodes and resources, Sara and Misasha are helping us reflect on (1) our nation’s history & current events, and (2) our personal experiences with race, justice, and more — so we leave the world a little better than we found it.

Sara Blanchard helps communities build connections through conscious conversations, which she does as a podcaster, facilitator, TEDx speaker, writer, and consultant. Having worked at Goldman Sachs and having helped to teach positive psychology at Harvard, Sara speaks the language of traditional accomplishment, but for over 10 years, Sara has also pursued the science and techniques of well-being as a life coach, mother, and author of Flex Mom. In addition to emceeing events like the World Happiness Summit and facilitating meaningful panel discussions about race, Sara co-founded and co-hosts award-winning Dear White Women, a social justice podcast that highlights the humanity in the history, race, and happiness of the United States.

Misasha Graham has spent her life attempting to bridge gaps, both professionally and personally, and foster understanding among groups of people.  Misasha is an accomplished attorney, specializing in intellectual property law and cross-border work with Asia, with over ten years spent at several international law firms honing these skills.  She is currently a Special Counsel at a Bay Area law firm, having stepped away from BigLaw to focus more on being present at home. Misasha is also passionate about diversity, equality and inclusion in the practice of law as well as in her communities.  Besides being a Megaformer instructor, she is the proud mom of two very active young boys, and the co-host of the award-winning Dear White Women.

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066: Dr. Melissa Garofalo Monaco, MD — A Pediatrician’s Perspective on Covid-19
066: Dr. Melissa Garofalo Monaco, MD — A Pediatrician’s Perspective on Covid-19 1024 512 Chase Jennings

We are facing unprecedented times and as parents, we have an added responsibility of decision making for our children. We may be working from home, but should they homeschool or go back for live sessions or do a hybrid of virtual and in-person.

Today I am joined by my kids’ beloved pediatrician, Dr. Melissa Garofalo Monaco of Forest Pediatrics in Paramus, NJ.

Originally from Saddle Brook, NJ, Dr. Garofalo had been practicing pediatrics in New Jersey since 2008. She started as a graduate of the Academy for the Advancement of Science and Technology in Hackensack, NJ. She then graduated with high honors from the combined BS/MD program though Stevens Institute Technology, Hoboken NJ and New Jersey Medical School Newark, NJ. She completed her pediatric training at Schneider Children’s Hospital at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, NY and also served as Chief Resident of Pediatrics. Her interests include promoting breast feeding and obesity prevention. She is board certified in Pediatrics and is a member of the NJ AAP section on Breast Feeding and has been a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics since 2007. Her hospital affiliations include Hackensack University Medical Center and Valley Hospital. She has been the recipient of the Castle Connolly Top Doctor Award and NJ Kids Favorite Docs.

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065: Anibal Soler, Jr. — Back To School Or Not? Safety and Guidelines
065: Anibal Soler, Jr. — Back To School Or Not? Safety and Guidelines 1024 512 Chase Jennings

According to governor.ny.gov, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo recently announced that based on each region’s infection rate, schools across the state are permitted to open this fall. Every region’s infection rate is below the threshold necessary by the State’s standards to open schools. The Department of Health will review submitted reopening plans from school districts and notify districts of their status on Monday. Out of 749 school districts across the state, 127 have not yet submitted plans to the Department of Health, and another 50 are incomplete or deficient. The determination of how individual districts reopen – in-person vs a hybrid model – will be made by local school districts under strict Department of Health guidelines.

The Governor also announced that school districts must post their remote learning plan online as well as their plan for testing and tracing students and teachers. Schools must also have three to five public meetings prior to August 21 with parents – who will be allowed to participate remotely – as well as one meeting with teachers to go through their reopening plan.

“Based on our infection rate, New York State is in the best possible situation right now. If anybody can open schools, we can open schools. We do masks, we do social distancing, we’ve kept that infection rate down, and we can bring the same level of intelligence to the school reopening that we brought to the economic reopening,” Governor Cuomo said. ” Our school guidance has been touted as the smartest in the country. Our economic reopening guidance was the smartest in the country. So, if anyone can do it, we can do it. But we have been successful because we’ve been smart and we have to continue to be smart. Parents and teachers must feel safe and secure in each school district’s plan to return to school, and those plans must adhere to the Department of Health’s guidance. To ensure that is the case, New York’s family’s must be fully informed and part of the conversation. And so, over the next several weeks, school districts must engage: Talking to parents and teachers and getting all parties on board.”

Of the 70,170 test results reported to New York State yesterday, 714, or 1.0 percent, were positive.

Today I am joined by Superintendent Anibal Soler.

Mr. Anibal Soler, Jr. is currently the Superintendent of Schools for the Batavia City School District. A small city school district located in Genesee County that serves approximately 2,200 students.

Before his appointment as Superintendent of Batavia City Schools, Anibal served as the Associate Superintendent of Strategic Alignment and Innovation for Buffalo Public Schools, the second-largest school district in New York State. In that role, his leadership focused on building and supporting Strong Community Schools, a turnaround strategy used to move the district’s lowest-performing schools to schools in “good-standing”. He also supervised District Athletics and Adult Education Division and lastly the district’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative. Prior to his role as an Associate Superintendent, Anibal was a Principal at North Park Academy in North Buffalo, where he helped establish North Buffalo’s first community school and helped transition the school from a 5-8th grade school to a new PreK to 8 Community School.

Previous to his role at North Park Academy, Anibal served 7 years as a high school Principal in the Rochester City School district where he led the district’s largest comprehensive high school. Through his professional journey, he also has served in prior capacities as an Academy Director, Instructional Technology Teacher, and Art Teacher.

In 2014, Anibal was recognized by President Obama and The White House as a Latino Educator Champion of Change for his leadership and commitment to positive change for the Latino community.

Additionally, Anibal is a member of the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (ALAS) a national organization that advocates for Latinos and Latino educators. In 2011-12, Anibal was a Charter Member of the inaugural ALAS Superintendents Leadership Academy in 2011-12. Currently, he serves as the Communications Officer and Regional Board member for the New York State Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (NYSALAS) representing Western, NY.

This past October 2019, Mayor Byron Brown of the City of Buffalo recognized Anibal as a Champion of Education as part of Buffalo’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration.

Finally, Anibal is a husband and proud father to four amazing kids. He enjoys sports, staying current with technology trends, and reading education-themed articles and books.

Most recently, in December 2019 Anibal was selected as the next Superintendent for Batavia City Schools in Batavia, NY.

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064: Alice Benedict — Back To School Or Not? An Insider’s Take
064: Alice Benedict — Back To School Or Not? An Insider’s Take 1024 512 Chase Jennings

Parents are in a state of frenzy as we navigate Back To School season. Gone are the days of buying binders and decorations for our kids lockers. Now we’re ensuring our Wifi is up to the mark and are having our kids become acclimated with Zoom, Google Meet, and Google Classroom.

Alice Benedict is a retired paralegal and president of the board of education in Botavia City School District in upstate New York since May of 2020/elected in July 2020. Our school district has approximately 2200 students.

She’s also a mother of three. Mother of three children since 1978. They are all adults now.

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