Jess

I didn't start this because I had it all figured out. I started it because I almost didn't survive.

After I had my first daughter almost 11 years ago, I did the thing so many of us do. I smiled. I performed. I told everyone I was fine. Publicly optimistic, privately suffering — that was me for longer than I'd like to admit.

A year into motherhood, we moved internationally to Barcelona. I was isolated, overwhelmed, and completely disconnected from myself. I didn't understand why something that was supposed to feel so natural felt so unnatural. Everyone else seemed to be handling it. Why couldn't I?

I spiraled. I got depressed — really, deeply depressed. And eventually I reached a place so dark that I believed my husband and my daughter would be better off without me.

That was the moment everything changed. I got emergency help. I did an outpatient program at a mental health facility. I got on medication. I restructured my entire life. And slowly — with therapy, lifestyle changes, real friendships, and a lot of honesty — I came back to myself.

By the time my second baby arrived, I was in a completely different place. Motherhood was still hard (it's always hard), but I wasn't suffering anymore. And I realized I had learned things in that darkness that other moms desperately needed to hear.

I started making YouTube videos — really basic stuff at first. A "Baby 101" series for parents who, like me, felt completely clueless about the fundamentals even though we thought it would all just come naturally. And the messages started flooding in. Moms telling me they were lonely. Moms telling me they felt like the only ones struggling. Moms asking questions I couldn't answer fast enough.

So my best friend and I did something about it. We started Very Good Mother's Club — first as an online store curating thoughtful gifts for moms, with a handwritten letter from a real mom tucked inside every order. Because the heart was always connection.

But here's what we noticed in our own shop: moms would put three things in their cart — something for the baby, something for their husband, and something for themselves. And right before checkout? They'd take out the item for themselves.

Over time, the business evolved. The products took a back seat because coaching was where the real impact was happening. Women would hang out with me on a call for an hour and walk away saying things like "this changed my life" and "I feel like myself again." I knew this was the work I was supposed to be doing.

I believe that ages zero to five are the most fundamental years of a child's life — and they also tend to be some of the hardest years of a mother's life. The mom is struggling the most during the time that matters most. What a difference we could make in a child's life if we could better support the mother and help her be well.

That's why I care for the parents who are caring for the children.

I'm not here to tell you which diapers to buy or whether to sleep train your toddler. I don't care if you co-sleep or crib-sleep, homeschool or public school. That's your call — and when your inner compass is dialed in, you'll know exactly what your family needs. My priority is you. The human being inside the "mom."

I also won't pretend that motherhood becomes easy if you just do the right things. It doesn't. I have a YouTube video called "I Don't Like Being a Mom" — and I meant it. I love my children with everything in me. But I don't always love the role itself. The booty-wiping, the stepping on cereal walking from one room to the next, the never having full autonomy over your own body. And when people say things like "don't you just love this?" or "can you even remember life before kids?" — yeah. I remember sleeping. I remember going wherever I wanted. I'd be faking it if I said I didn't.

We don't have to pretend that life is so amazing that we can't talk about the stuff that hurts.

I hear it a lot: "You feel like a friend." A warm internet big sister. Someone safe enough to bring the messy, complicated, embarrassing stuff to — the things you can't say anywhere else.

I've had successful businessmen — complete strangers — book coaching calls with me because something about my presence online made them feel like I wouldn't judge them. I've had doctors, attorneys, CFOs, and therapists sit on my calls and say "I look like I have everything together, but I don't feel good inside." And every time, the work starts the same way: I see you. That makes sense. And here's what we're going to do about it.

I'm not a guru. I don't have it all figured out. I still have hard days. I'm just further along on the journey and I've learned some things I can share because I got here first. I've been coaching moms every single week for over six years. I'm a certified doula. I'm always reading, always learning, always growing. And I co-lead my programs with Dr. Julie Fernandez, who brings her own incredible depth to this work.

But the thing that makes this different isn't my credentials. It's the fact that I've been where you are. I know what it feels like to love your kids and hate how your life feels. I know what it's like to lie awake at 10pm replaying everything you got wrong that day. And I know what it takes to come back from that — not to a perfect life, but to a life you actually enjoy.

When you were pregnant, everyone said it. You're glowing. Look at you. And then the baby comes and nobody's looking at you anymore. They're looking at the baby — how adorable, how tiny, how perfect. Meanwhile you feel soft and squishy and sleepy and like a shadow of whoever you used to be.

Restore the Glow isn't about going back to who you were before kids. That person doesn't exist anymore, and that's okay. It's about feeling alive again. Feeling like you're glowing — not because everything is perfect, but because you like who you are inside the life you're actually living.

Think of it like running a marathon. There's no amount of comfortable shoes and hydration that makes 26 miles not hard. But you can make it the best possible experience — fulfilling, supported, and the kind of thing you'd sign up for again because it was that good. That's what we're building here.