What if you didn’t need more experience, a perfect plan, or permission to start?
In this candid and empowering episode of Making It with Jess Ekstrom, Jess revisits a previously unreleased conversation with restaurateur and former sex crimes prosecutor Martha Hoover. Martha shares how she opened her first restaurant without ever having worked in one, discovered she was pregnant with her third child, and built a business around the life she wanted for her family. Together, they explore the identity shifts that come with motherhood, why ambition can move at different speeds in different seasons, and how choosing outcomes over ego makes taking risks less intimidating. Martha also introduces her Wisdom Exchange Project and shares why she refuses to let the label of imposter syndrome define her confidence.
Episode Highlights
• Starting Before You Feel Qualified: How Martha entered the restaurant industry with no experience and trusted that other people wanted what she wanted.
• Building a Business Around Motherhood: Why breakfast-and-lunch hours helped Martha grow her company while making it to school pickup.
• Giving Yourself Permission to Evolve: Jess and Martha get honest about ambition, motherhood, and the tension of outgrowing an old identity.
• Outcome Over Ego: Martha explains why being willing to change your mind can matter more than getting every decision right.
• Wisdom Goes Both Ways: How intergenerational conversations help women share lessons, challenge assumptions, and learn from each other.
• Rethinking Imposter Syndrome: Martha challenges the idea that self-doubt means you don’t deserve your seat at the table.
Connect with Martha Hoover on LinkedIn and learn more about her Wisdom Exchange Project.
Jess’s book, Making It Without Losing It, is available wherever books are sold.
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