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As women, we’re constantly asked to do more and be more. And yet, there's incredible strength and wisdom in just "being."
Being present. Being Mama. Simply being you.
This is Leaning into Being. A show brought to you by the Founders and Leaders of Hello Mamas and HeyMama. Erika Hanafin, mom, stepmom, CEO, and co-parent hosts alongside Amri Kibbler, mother, founder, and cancer survivor.
Each episode focuses on relatable situations, resources, and experiences to help you balance the beautiful chaos of motherhood and ambition. This show is designed for all mamas seeking community and connection in her definition of success.
Allowing you to simply be…be your all so you can give your all, for all you care about.
Mara S. Campo [00:00:00]:
What is it that you want? At the end of the day, I think that that voice is inside that that spirit lives in us. So really it's about getting in touch with your truest self and listening to your truest self and then meeting those true needs instead of chasing all these other things that aren't really feeding what we need.
Erika Hanafin [00:00:20]:
I'm Erika.
Amri Kibbler [00:00:22]:
And I'm Amri.
Erika Hanafin [00:00:23]:
This is Leaning Into Being the show that allows you to be your all so you can give your all.
Amri Kibbler [00:00:28]:
Brought to you by Hello Mamas and HeyMama.
Erika Hanafin [00:00:32]:
Amri, today's guest is Mara S. Campo. She is a four-time Emmy Award-winning journalist, anchor, managing editor at REVOLT Black News, and host at TV One. Currently identifying herself as a beauty founder.
Amri Kibbler [00:00:49]:
And that's not all. Mara actually is an author. She wrote a book about her incredible journey losing over 40 pounds and has had incredible success showcasing her passion for beauty. Recently, she hit 1.2 million views on her hair tutorials.
Erika Hanafin [00:01:09]:
I love that. And I know we're going to hear all about her pivot, her motherhood journey and how her role as a mom has evolved over the years and the importance of making sure that you feel better, which is how she talks to her audience.
Amri Kibbler [00:01:25]:
Well, let's get started. Well, we are so excited. It's so great to see you and to get to catch up. I mean, it's been a few years now since we've been able to connect. So, so thrilled to have you on and it seems like it's such an exciting time in your career and all these new things are happening and just you have had such an incredibly expansive and interesting career from being a four-time Emmy-winning journalist to an author. Can you just share with our listeners where are you right now in your career journey? What is happening?
Mara S. Campo [00:02:02]:
Yeah, that's a great question and one that I've very much been trying to figure out. Like, how do I define, like, what's my new identity? Because I've been taken on this ride and I say taken by the universe and I'll explain a little bit more about that later. But this was not a planned journey. And so now I found myself in a new space and I'm like, well, how do I define this new space? So what I have come to settle on is that I'm a beauty founder because, because I'm very, very comfortable with the idea of entrepreneurship. That's something that really speaks to me and that is very much a part of where I am right now. So that's, that's what I'm focused on.
Erika Hanafin [00:02:36]:
Wow, Love that. And so share a little bit more when you're saying a beauty founder, I'd love to reflect a little bit on your journey and how has your career goals evolved? Obviously, you've transitioned from different roles in media and beyond. Can you reflect a little bit and tell us how your goals have evolved?
Mara S. Campo [00:02:58]:
Yeah. So I am a journalist by training and, you know, by background. I've been a journalist for 20 years. I was at the Today show. I was at Good Morning America, and then I spent the last few years doing mainly true crime. So I had a true crime show on TV one and on Discovery ID. And about two years ago, I, you know, was going through kind of a personal darkness because my parents had died. They Both died within 18 months of each other.
Mara S. Campo [00:03:21]:
And so I was really trying to figure out how to heal because I just wasn't feeling very joyful. And so a spiritual advisor of mine, a woman named Queen Afua, encouraged me to ask God questions instead of telling God what I want. And so what she told me to do is something she calls impeccable listening. And she said, just ask the question and wait for the answer and listen. And then when you hear the answer, you act. And if you don't hear an answer, you do nothing. It just means wait and ask again later. It sounds very simple, but it literally was the first time in my entire life where I asked God what God wanted me to do instead of telling go what I wanted God to do for me.
Mara S. Campo [00:03:58]:
And the answer was very, very simple. You know, I asked the question, how can I heal? What do you want me to do right now? And the answer was, find your joy. And it was very clear. It was unambiguous. And it was also, find your joy every single day. Don't wait for the weekend. Don't schedule it for when you're on vacation or you have time off. Find something every single day that brings you joy.
Mara S. Campo [00:04:19]:
And so I thought, okay, well, what could I possibly do? You know, I have two kids, and I have the career and the house and the husband. What could I possibly add to this that I have to do every single day that's going to make me happy and not feel like a chore? And the answer was, I knew instantaneously. I have always loved to doll myself up and to do glam. In fact, when I'm feeling down, when I wake up with the blues, my medicine is always to get, like, as dolled up as possible, even if I have nowhere to go. It's like, let me do full face beat full Hair. By the time I'm done with all that, I will 100% feel better. And so I started doing that every single day. Every single day.
Mara S. Campo [00:04:55]:
I started playing, you know, that's my play. And I started posting the videos because why not? We all need to post something, right? And it just took off like a rocket and took me on this whole new journey.
Erika Hanafin [00:05:07]:
I love that studies show, right, that the better you feel or, like, look about yourself, the better you perform, too.
Mara S. Campo [00:05:16]:
Yeah, yeah. Beauty is. You know, it's funny because I always have had this thing for beauty, always since I was like 5 years old. My entire life, I was cutting dolls hair. I was putting My Little Pony's hair into my hair. I was always. And I always hid it because I've also, you know, it's always a straight A student and a scholar. And, you know, and I felt that people wouldn't take me seriously if they knew that I was such, like, an inner glam girl.
Mara S. Campo [00:05:40]:
But what I learned through my travels around the world as a reporter and I traveled to really rough places, meeting people on the absolute worst day of their lives. And what I found is that no matter the circumstance, whether women were in refugee camps, whether they had just lost their homes, whether their livelihood, whatever the circumstance was, women were still adorning themselves. They were still putting on lipstick, they were still painting their nails, they were still doing each other's hair. I would see it over and over and over and over again. And so it confirmed for me, this is not superficial. This is not a vanity thing. There's a very much a spiritual component to beauty.
Amri Kibbler [00:06:18]:
It's self care. It's investing in your outside and your inside at the same time. It's not just the one thing. It's so beautiful. You mentioned that you're a planner, and Eric and I are both planners as well. And this is the first time that you really sort of let yourself, you know, follow along on the journey. What's that? Has it that been scary? Like, what's that experience been? Like?
Mara S. Campo [00:06:42]:
In some ways, it's been really freeing because I am so certain that this is what the universe and God wants for me right now. And I keep checking in, like, okay, what am I supposed to do next? And the answer is, like, you're still on step one. Keep doing what we told you to do. And we being the universe, you know, what you were told to do. And so I just keep putting one foot in front of the other in the way that I'm guided spiritually. And I am certain that it's going to work out. Now. I don't know what workout means because I don't even have an end goal in mind.
Mara S. Campo [00:07:14]:
But it's very, very freeing to be led and to follow and to be a passenger when you really trust the driver. And that's the space that I'm in right now. And I've always, always, always been a planner my entire life. So now I kind of feel like, well, dang, like, should I have tried this 20 years ago? Like, I wonder, I wonder how my life would have been different.
Erika Hanafin [00:07:34]:
I love that. I mean, really putting the trust and the faith and the one step at a time, you know, clearly is resonating. Right? You recently hit 120 million views on Instagram. Tell us about your experience. And why do you think your content is resonating so much for your audience?
Mara S. Campo [00:07:52]:
First of all, I think it comes from a place of authentic and people really connect to that. And also, you know, I'm offering the audience something, and that's something that I take very, very seriously. I believe I am here of service. This is not about me. This is about you. And so I have this skillset that if you can use something that I'm doing to in your own life to feel more beautiful, more quickly and for less money, like, that's my goal. And so if I can give that to you, I've had a great day. And so that's my approach.
Mara S. Campo [00:08:25]:
I'm really always listening. I'm very, very engaged. So I try to respond to every comment. I read them all. It takes me hours a day. But it's so important to me to be really connected to the community. And it sounds like a small thing. You know, people say, well, I have, I'm having trouble with this.
Mara S. Campo [00:08:39]:
I can't figure this out. So I'm like, huh, okay, well, how do I make it even easier or how do I make it cheaper? And that actually led me to what has been my most successful video ever. It's at like 9, no, wait, probably almost 11 million views now. And it's, it's still growing. It hasn't like, plateaued yet. And I found a way to do a style that takes about four hours in like 45 minutes. So I've given women this gift of their time back. And what I'm hearing is like, thank you so much for figuring out a faster way to do this exact same thing.
Mara S. Campo [00:09:12]:
And so I think that's, at the end of the day, that's what it is. I'm giving people a way to feel more Beautiful. And with less time and less money. Who doesn't want that?
Amri Kibbler [00:09:22]:
Who doesn't want that? And especially as moms, we know that time is our most essential asset.
Mara S. Campo [00:09:28]:
Right?
Amri Kibbler [00:09:28]:
It's like, there's never enough time in the day to do all the things that we need to do. So if you can save someone three hours and they come out looking amazing, that is like. That's like gold right there.
Mara S. Campo [00:09:40]:
It's great. And then you feel so good, you know, it just makes life more fun.
Amri Kibbler [00:09:44]:
Yeah, it is. It's like adding in that fun. And there's so much, so much value there. And this isn't the first time that you've pivoted in your career. You've had quite a few pivots from. You wrote a book about an incredible weight loss journey. What kind of advice would you give to women that are contemplating making a major pivot?
Mara S. Campo [00:10:05]:
I would advise them to do the same thing that was advised to me. And this is regardless of your faith background, if you believe in any higher power, regardless of what or who that is, then I would ask the question and think about what the question is. Like, what is it that you want? Do you want healing? Do you want happiness? Do you want money? Do you want financial success? Do you want love? Like, what is it that specifically you want? And then ask, how do I get that? And listen, God is not the author of confusion. So if you're confused, it's like dating guys. Like, if you're confused, the answer is he's not into you, Right? Like, when a guy's into you, you know, okay. And God is very much the same way. So when God answers you, it is very clear. It is never ambiguous.
Mara S. Campo [00:10:52]:
And so if the answer is confusing or cloudy, that just means you have to wait. That just means that God is not ready to provide the answer right now. Not that you're not being heard, but the answer is not yet. Just sit tight. And at the end of the day, I think that that voice is inside that that spirit lives in us. So really, it's about getting in touch with your truest self and listening to your truest self and then meeting those true needs instead of all these other things that aren't really feeding what we need.
Erika Hanafin [00:11:22]:
It's so true. I mean, that's why we have this podcast called Leading Into Being, because we are always served to be doing everything every. You know, you've got to. You got to be the homemaker and a boss, and then you need to do the kids, and you got to do all of these Things. And there's something so important about just being. And as you said, like, listening and being and being present and creating that opportunity for that information to kind of download to you. Right. One of the things that we always talk about, Amri and I, it's really important around supporting success and however, whatever success means to you.
Erika Hanafin [00:12:00]:
So what does success mean to you today, and how has your definition of success changed over the last decade?
Mara S. Campo [00:12:08]:
On a professional level, I will say it has changed massively, because I was never, ever motivated by money. Now I'm incredibly motivated by money. And there are two reasons for that. And they're my children. They're 12 and they're 8. So I am incredibly motivated not to give them things now, but to leave them something and to make sure that they are in a good position when my husband and I are no longer here. So that's a completely different motivation. I mean, that keeps me going no matter what, because I'll be damned if I'm not gonna leave my baby something.
Mara S. Campo [00:12:46]:
So I'm very focused. Not just dollars, but pennies. Like, I am the person I never thought I would be. I mean, I have spreadsheets for everything. I'm keeping track of everything, and interest rates. And, you know, I'm making the smartest financial decisions possible at all times because I really feel this, you know, duty to serve them in that way and to care for them in that way. So that's completely different because I was never motivated by money before. Now I'm all about the bag.
Mara S. Campo [00:13:13]:
The. The other thing is kind of the surrender that goes with having this professional identity. You know, I've always been a journalist, and my identity was very, very, very much wrapped into that. And I had a really hard time when I saw how my life was drastically pulling me away from that. Like, how am I going to define myself now? How do I define myself? What do I say when I meet somebody at a cocktail party? They ask, what do you do? I make hair videos. I do DIY hair hacks. That didn't feel grand enough. It didn't feel important enough.
Mara S. Campo [00:13:46]:
And so, I mean, even the way you asked me to this right now and I said, beauty founder, you know, I had to find some, like, legitimate answer to that question because my identity has been so wrapped up in my profession. But that's part of what I'm learning as I surrender is that my identity has nothing to do with what I do for work and answering the call and just trying to serve others and be joyful along the way.
Erika Hanafin [00:14:13]:
I want to double-click into something really quick because you brought up a really interesting point. And it's something that we're seeing more and more, which is money. And then you mentioned spreadsheets and financial literacy and awareness. Right. How would somebody really be able to make that switch to focus on money? What was it for you that allowed you to say, I want to make sure that for me, me as a mother, I'm leaving money for my kids? And, you know, I'm sure there was a learned skill that you needed to learn.
Mara S. Campo [00:14:44]:
Yeah, I mean, the first thing is you gotta know where it's all going. I found that I had no idea where our money was going. I had no idea about our investments or retirement. Like, my husband took care of all that. And when he was alive, my father did. It was very retro, like, for a woman who's like, so like, you know, such like a modern girl and a feminist and all the things. But I just let the men in my life handle the money. So for one, I had to, like, get into the details.
Mara S. Campo [00:15:13]:
And for me, that meant putting everything in a spreadsheet because I wanted to see it and I wanted to see every single dime. And that took a while. I had so many subscriptions, like old subscriptions, and then they would always pop up. It was like, whack a mole. It's like I thought I deleted them all. And then I'd get this bill and I'm like, what is this? And it's something I signed up for three years ago and forgot about. So it was, you know, kind of getting into the details and then organizing things, things by interest rates. And I can thank the Fed for that.
Mara S. Campo [00:15:38]:
You know, they. Because they kept raising interest rates, our bills were getting higher and higher. And so it's like, okay, well, what do we pay off first based on this? You know, every single month the bill is higher. So which. Which ones do we want to get rid of first? So a lot of that was circumstance. And then I did do some reading, you know, so bought some like, rudimentary books and listened to some podcasts and things like that. Understanding taxes helped me a lot because taxes is a huge part of, you know, takes a big bite out of our finances. And then a lot of it was fear based because, like I said, my parents died.
Mara S. Campo [00:16:08]:
Now, my parents did not physically support me, but I always knew I had the safety net. I always knew if things went down, me and my kids could pack up our bags and go stay with my parents. And I don't have that. Now I'm the. I'm the safety net for them. And so that fear was like, all right, you better stop messing around and you better start planning.
Amri Kibbler [00:16:26]:
Wow, that is, like seismic shifts there in so many things, you know? So we talked about motherhood and money, and I'm also curious. I want to talk about motherhood in time as well. So you're a busy mom, have all these career elements going on. How are you juggling at all what your mother work, life balance, like, right now?
Mara S. Campo [00:16:46]:
So I'm going to tell you what I consider to be, like, the best mommy hack ever is that I try to identify ways to spend time with my kids doing things that we both enjoy. Now, this may sound very, you know, like, duh, it's obvious, but it's really not. Because a lot of times our kids, we do what they want to do. So they want to watch this Avengers movie or they want to play with the dollies. And you, like, really don't want to do it, but you're like, okay, I want to spend time with you. And so you do it because it's, like, obligatory. And what I have said to them, I say small time is like, no, we're going to do something we both want to do. What do we both like to do? So what do we both like to do? Like, my daughter and I love to bake together.
Mara S. Campo [00:17:28]:
My son, 8 years old, loves to run on the track outside. So now we have, like, all of these activities that we both really enjoy. So now my leisure time and my mommy time, they coincide. So it's kind of like a time hack. It's like, okay, this is something I would be doing anyway just to blow off steam. It's something my kid loves. Now we're spending time together, we're bonding. It doesn't feel so obligatory.
Mara S. Campo [00:17:54]:
You know, sometimes you get some of that mommy resentment where you're, like, always doing what everybody else wants you to do. I never get to do what I want to do, even on my birthday and Mother's Day. And so it kind of eliminates that a little bit.
Amri Kibbler [00:18:04]:
I just imagined myself now making a spreadsheet of all the things that I.
Erika Hanafin [00:18:07]:
Like to do and all the things.
Amri Kibbler [00:18:09]:
That my kids like to do and like, color coding them. So I think we're all on the same page.
Erika Hanafin [00:18:13]:
I love that little mom hack, if you will. It sounds amazing. Could you share a little bit about how your role as a mom has evolved over the years and your perspective shift from first becoming a mother to where you are today? And it certainly sounds like you were in a sandwich generation with your parents as well. I'd love to hear about how your motherhood journey has evolved.
Mara S. Campo [00:18:38]:
Yeah, it's interesting because I always say you don't become a mother when you get. There's a very big difference between a woman who had a baby and a mother. There are lots of mothers who have never given birth, and there are lots of women who've had babies who don't consider themselves to be mothers. And so I learned that when I gave birth to my oldest, my daughter, and I did not feel like a mother right away. It took a while. That transition took a while until I really got it. There was, like, something in my brain that just clicked, you know, and now, like. Like, somebody told me when I was pregnant with my oldest, you're never going to have a good night's sleep again.
Mara S. Campo [00:19:14]:
Even when they're not babies, like, you're still worried about them at night, and when they grow up and leave the house, you'll still be worried about that phone call in the middle of the night or are they okay? And I feel like I always half-sleep. I'm always asleep with one ear open and one eye open. Like, I'm never fully asleep because I'm like, what if they need me? And so. So that, you know, that was a journey that did not happen the moment that my daughter was born. I also have found, as I've gotten older, which has really been a nice surprise, is that I have started to expand that mother role. And so I'm mothering more than just my children. I have people in my life who I consider like, my babies, even though I didn't give birth to them. Even my dog benefits so greatly from that.
Mara S. Campo [00:20:00]:
Like, she. I'm like, no, God put you in my care. You are my baby. So I mother a lot more than just my children, and that's a really beautiful energy to give, and it connects me to my mother because I feel like everything I learned about mothering, I learned from her. And so the more that I do it, the more that I feel she's present.
Amri Kibbler [00:20:19]:
And what about yourself? How are you mothering yourself? How are you taking care of yourself throughout this phase of your life?
Mara S. Campo [00:20:27]:
I think the answer is, I'm doing a pretty terrible job. I'm not, you know, And, I mean, I think that's something that we all struggle with, is I'm taking care of everybody, and nobody's taking care of me. So if you guys have a solution for that, I'm all ears.
Amri Kibbler [00:20:42]:
Oh, my gosh, it is. It's the biggest struggle. Right. We just try to remind each other constantly. So we're like a little mothering to each other. Okay, I see. It looks like you need a break. You look a little tired.
Amri Kibbler [00:20:53]:
Maybe you should take a little time. All those things that we wish that we would say to ourselves or.
Erika Hanafin [00:20:58]:
You're doing amazing, mom. Like, you're really doing an incredible job. Because we don't tell that to ourselves or to each other.
Mara S. Campo [00:21:06]:
Yeah, no, it's. It's kind of amazing how we can give to. So what we can give to so many others, we can't. Sometimes we can't find a way to give it to ourselves. But I'm worried. I'm a work in progress.
Amri Kibbler [00:21:15]:
We're all a work in progress. It depends on what day of the week you get me, to be honest with you. But by Friday, I'm good at taking care of myself. But not on Monday, right?
Mara S. Campo [00:21:25]:
Yeah. Yes. Yes. And sometimes the ways I take care of myself I don't think are like the healthiest. You know, it's like just going to bed early or it's like, you know, I'm just exhausted. And that to me is not really like going to bed at 8:30. Like, is it self-care? I guess technically. But like I'm really taking care of myself.
Mara S. Campo [00:21:43]:
So I just need to set the bar a little higher.
Amri Kibbler [00:21:46]:
Well, you. You definitely are by getting the rest that you need. But you know, it's all the other things. I really try to take some time in the morning before I do everything else. Else. I have like 30 minutes of some sort of movement and that really helps me to set the tone for the day. Some days it's just taking a little walk. Sometimes it's doing a little yoga.
Amri Kibbler [00:22:04]:
But I feel like having a little morning time, even if I have to get up extra early for me is better than the nighttime.
Mara S. Campo [00:22:10]:
Yeah, no, the morning. Starting the day off right is so key.
Erika Hanafin [00:22:14]:
I want to switch gears a little bit because you are an OG member of HeyMama and. Yes. And we, we love having you being part of our community. But you know, one of the things that we believe is certainly how important a strong community is, especially for mothers. So what do you believe is the strength in community and how did finding your people help support you and understand you and impact your journey throughout both motherhood and your incredible career?
Mara S. Campo [00:22:48]:
Yeah. Community is everything. And this wasn't. This took me a while to learn this. I was very much like a go it alone, hyper-independent person. Not because I don't like being a team player. But I just knew that I could count on myself. So I know I'm going to get it done the right way.
Mara S. Campo [00:23:04]:
So I'm just going to do it my way all the time. And you know, there's a saying that if you want to get a lot done, if you. What is it? No, I'm going to mess it up. Never mind. It's like if you want to go.
Amri Kibbler [00:23:14]:
If you need something done, give it to a mother.
Mara S. Campo [00:23:17]:
No, well, that 100%, if you want something done, give it to a mother. I mean we could and we should be running this world. I mean, I feel like every problem, including finances, now that I've like got my household finances in check, I'm like, wait, the government's spending what on what we're doing? What? And it's like they gotta get it together. So true. But I've learned that through. You know, it's funny, it's been reinforced really with the social media presence that developed because social media gets a. I don't know if it's a bad rap sometimes it's deserved. It can be a very toxic place, but it can also be a really, really beautiful place.
Mara S. Campo [00:23:52]:
And I've been really lucky to have become part of this amazing community. So like my social media, like it's a fun, uplifting place where I feel better after I get off than when I started. You know, when I'm feeling down, I go on social media and I spent time with my community and I feel better afterwards. Like it's very encouraging. Like even the way people talk to each other, people make connections and I just, I love it. It's a beautiful energy. And when it comes to kind of the sister circle, I love that I have, you know, women in my life that I'm able to get all of those emotional needs met with.
Amri Kibbler [00:24:29]:
Interestingly enough, I often hear from new moms that they don't have time for community. And I'm like. Because you know, once they get in there and they find their people, they're like, oh my gosh, this is everything that I've been looking for. It's like, aha moment. I feel better about myself and the things that I'm doing and all of those things. What was your early motherhood experience like? Did you have a close-knit community around you supporting you or who were your people?
Mara S. Campo [00:24:57]:
No, not at all. Which I think made it 10 times harder. You know, if I would have had like a mommy tribe, you know, with kids of similar ages, it would have been much, much, much easier. But we didn't really get that until our kids started school. You know, we live in New York City. Our family doesn't live here. And so really, it felt like my husband and I just like going through the wilderness, like, stumbling around, trying to figure out how to manage all of this chaos. So it was a lonely time.
Mara S. Campo [00:25:25]:
It would have been fantastic. And I'm very jealous of people who, like, live in the cul de sac with, like, you know, all the other kids and other moms and the, you know. But that was not our experience at all. I'm, like, carrying this stroller up subway stairs by myself. I'd be lucky if a stranger helped me. And so, no, it's not great. What it shows you is that we are really meant. I mean, it takes a village, that I think that's really how we are meant to be raising families, is you need a lot of support.
Mara S. Campo [00:25:54]:
And so to any new mom listening, like, find it however you can get it. Because our instinct, I think, is to withdraw and isolate when we're not feeling great. But that, of course, is the worst thing to do because, you know, it just reinforces whatever bad feelings we're feeling.
Erika Hanafin [00:26:11]:
It's so true how important community and support with women. And it certainly does take a village. I have a question, which we're coming kind of close to the end of our conversation, but I know that you have a moment that you can't believe you survived or that you still laugh at today. Can you share what that is?
Mara S. Campo [00:26:33]:
Yes. So when my daughter was two, we were getting ready to leave the house. We were dressed and shoes on and everything. And she said she had to go to the bathroom. She was a little older than two, three, almost three. She said she had to go to the bathroom, and she said she wanted to do it herself. You know, she's a big girl. And I said, okay.
Mara S. Campo [00:26:50]:
She goes to the bathroom, and she takes a couple minutes, but, you know, kids are slow in the bathroom. And when she comes out, she's, like, covered in poop. She. She had tried to wipe herself, but clearly didn't have the full skills to do that. And so it was, like, in her hair. It was on her clothes. Like, it was a mess. So I realized I had to do, like, full bath, right? So strip her down, clothes in the laundry, put her in the bath, wash her, get her redressed again.
Mara S. Campo [00:27:21]:
I'm like, okay, let's go now. And as we're walking out, I peek in the bathroom, and I realize there's poop all over the bathroom, too. It's like, on the walls and on the toilet, and the toilet is, like, full of toilet paper. I'm like, if I even try to flush this, it's gonna flood. So it was so funny, you know, we were literally walking out the door, and it turned into, like, two hours later when we actually got out of the house.
Erika Hanafin [00:27:45]:
It's incredible to us that it's always some kind of projectile on one end, and that is always that moment that you have all survived well.
Mara S. Campo [00:27:55]:
And, you know, you ask about, like, the. The journey to becoming a mom. The biggest transition is that, like, I'm not grossed up. I throw up, boogers, poop, pee. None of it blood, none of it bothers me at all. If you would have told me, you know, 15 years ago that somebody could, like, literally throw up in my hand or that I would pick their booger with my finger, I'll be like, no, you have the wrong girl.
Amri Kibbler [00:28:17]:
No, it's like the great equalizer. Like, no matter what where you are financially, you're still going to be cleaning up, throw up, picking up boogers, like, all of those things. It's like every mom's rite of passage.
Mara S. Campo [00:28:30]:
Well, there's that, you know, that famous video of Beyonce. It was some award ceremony. I think it was the Grammys. And Blue was there, and Blue Ivy was like, maybe five or six, and they have her during the commercial break. Beyonce has the snacks for Blue in her purse. And it's like, even when you're Beyonce and you're at the Grammys, Blue's gotta have her snacks.
Amri Kibbler [00:28:49]:
You still have the snacks in your bag?
Erika Hanafin [00:28:51]:
Yeah, always prepared. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. We love having you in our community and supporting you and hearing all about your journey and celebrating your success. Thank you.
Mara S. Campo [00:29:08]:
I appreciate that. And thank you guys for all you do to foster such an amazing, safe, warm space for women and for mothers for friendship and connection. It really is beautiful work. So congratulations on all the success.
Amri Kibbler [00:29:21]:
Oh, thank you, thank you. We loved having you on today.
Mara S. Campo [00:29:24]:
Thank you.
Amri Kibbler [00:29:25]:
Thank you for listening to Leaning Into Being.
Erika Hanafin [00:29:27]:
To get connected and join the HelloMamas and HeyMama community visit hellomamas.co.
Amri Kibbler [00:29:32]:
Let's connect, support and grow together in this journey of motherhood.