The Parentologist Podcast

Ditching Diet Talk at the Dinner Table: Raising Food Confident Kids

This week Dr. Kim is talking with Diana Rice. Diana Rice, RD, LD (she/her) is a registered dietitian, certified intuitive eating counselor and certified parent educator on a mission to help families enjoy a healthy relationship with food. She is the voice behind the online platform Anti-Diet Kids which teaches parents how to bring the concepts of intuitive eating and rejecting diet-culture into parenting. Diana also owns Tiny Seed Family Nutrition, a weight-inclusive nutrition counseling and coaching practice that helps both children and adults with issues including selective eating, food fixations, body image, intuitive eating and meal planning. Her Substack newsletter and podcast, "The Messy Intersection," speaks to parents seeking to restore their own relationships with food while raising children with the resilience to resist dieting, enjoy a variety of foods, and embrace their natural body sizes. She is the co-author of the book, "Food Positivity: How to Ditch Diet Culture and Talk to Kids About Food" (Wiley, 2026). Diana is based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma where she lives with her husband and two girls.

Parenting After "I Do": Navigating the Shift from Partners to Parents

This week Dr. Kim talks with her friend Eli Weinstein. Eli Weinstein, LCSW, is the therapist bringing heart and humor back to mental health. A loving husband and proudly goofy dad of two, Eli is based in Las Vegas and runs a thriving practice serving clients across New York, Nevada, and beyond through his global coaching work. Known for his straight-talking, relatable style, he’s the creator of ELIvation and host of The Dude Therapist podcast, where he dives into the messy, beautiful mix of relationships, parenting, and emotional growth.

An international speaker and sought-after guest, Eli has been featured on over 250 podcasts and major media outlets including The Kelly Clarkson Show, Psychology Today, and leading relationship and parenting platforms. His debut book, From I Do to We Do: Navigating Marriage Through Parenting Years (Wiley, 2026), helps couples stay connected when life gets loud. Eli’s mission is simple: make therapy-level wisdom feel human, hopeful, and real.

Why Parenting Feels So Hard Right Now (And What We Actually Need)

This week Dr. Kim sits down with Kaity Velez. Kaity Velez is the Executive Editor of Parents, the nearly 100-year-old brand that inspires and empowers caregivers to raise kids with confidence. A Brooklyn-born mom of two, she is a content expert, brand steward, and community builder. She oversees both content and business strategy, bringing together editorial vision and brand growth.

Regulate First, Communicate Second: Our Nervous System Explained

This week Dr. Kim talks with Dr. Shawn Horn, PsyD,  a licensed clinical psychologist and author of Thrive Socially with Adult ADHD: A Shame-Busting Guide to Building Better Relationships Through Neuroscience, Polyvagal Theory, and Social Executive Functioning.

Dr. Horn specializes in helping adults with ADHD who care deeply about connection but struggle with emotional reactivity, rejection sensitivity, and social overwhelm. Her work reframes social difficulties as a nervous-system and executive-function issue—not a character flaw—and offers a practical, shame-free path forward.

Through her Social Executive Functioning (SEF) model—grounded in neuroscience and informed by polyvagal theory—Dr. Horn teaches people how to understand and map their nervous system states, identify what each state needs for regulation, and build the executive functioning capacity required to access social skills when it matters most. Her work is clinically informed, shame-free, and deeply hopeful.

Find out more at https://www.drshawnhorn.com.

 

Big Feelings, Busy Brains: Practical Tools on How Help Kids To Thrive with ADHD

Today Dr. Kim is talking with Dr. Kelly Cagle, a boy mom of three, ADHD educator, and the host of the Parenting IQ podcast. With a passion for helping moms create refreshing rhythms, she specializes in supporting families navigating ADHD at home. Whether she’s homeschooling her boys, researching behavior management, or sharing practical wisdom online, Dr. Kelly offers research-backed strategies rooted in connection, simplicity, and legacy.

Follow her on Instagram @drkellycagle, listen to Parenting IQ on your favorite podcast platform, and explore resources at drkellycagle.com to help you grow wiser as a family.

Building a Business With Perseverance, Joy, and Play

This week, Dr. Kim is talking with Melissa Bernstein, an entrepreneur, creative, and mother of six. She’s cofounder of the billion dollar toy company Melissa & Doug and cofounder of Lifelines, a wellness brand offering science-backed sensory immersion products designed to help manage stress, find calm, and enhance well-being. Melissa is the Entrepreneur in Residence for the Inner MBA certification program created by Sounds True, LinkedIn, and Wisdom 2.0, cofounder of the Duke University Melissa & Doug Entrepreneurs program, Duke University Trustee, and author of Lifelines, Practice Makes Purpose, and the recently released The Heart of Entrepreneurship.

From Conflict to Connection: Evidence-Based Tools to Avoid Power Struggles

This week Dr. Kim is talking with Jess VanderWier, the founder of Nurtured First and Raising Families Therapy, a private therapy practice. She is also a Registered Psychotherapist with a Master’s Degree in Counselling Psychology and has logged thousands of clinical hours helping families understand and respond to their children with gentleness and respect. Jess uses her expertise to support parents through her online community, Nurtured First, offering evidence-based parenting support via online courses and free resources.

Nurtured First offers daily parenting guidance to over 2.6 million families on Instagram and is committed to helping parents and caregivers raise a generation that is truly nurtured first. Jess and her husband also co-host a popular parenting podcast called Robot Unicorn, where they engage in deep, meaningful conversations and explore a wide range of difficult topics.

Managing Grief and Holding Hope: Life After Suicide Loss

This week, Dr. Kim talks with Elyce Mandich, LCSW. Elyce is a mental health therapist in California with experience in the child welfare system, school social work, and currently, in private practice as the founder of The Therapy Co. She has extensive experience in crisis intervention, particularly in suicide prevention, and prioritizes a relational, compassionate approach with her clients. In her practice, Elyce specializes in supporting high-achieving women through trauma and suicide loss, helping clients integrate their lived experiences, rebuild a sense of safety, and cultivate self-compassion through evidence-based and trauma-informed approaches.

In addition to her private practice work, Elyce provides suicide prevention trainings to mental health professionals, educators, and community members, aiming to increase confidence in navigating difficult conversations while balancing safety with authenticity and empathy. Elyce has also created empthy-centered merchandise to encourage others to cultivate belonging and empathy and is also working on a book to support suicide loss survivors, anticipated for release in 2027.

Learn more at www.thetherapyco.org , elycemandich.com , and follow along on Instagram @elycemandich 

Holding Hope: Reproductive Mental Health, Fertility, and the Journey to Pregnancy

This week's episode is a chat with Dr. Lucky. Dr. Lucky Sekhon is a board-certified reproductive endocrinologist, infertility specialist, and obstetrician-gynecologist, as well as an Assistant Clinical Professor at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City. She is the author of The Lucky Egg, a comprehensive, myth-busting guide to understanding reproductive health and overcoming infertility — written to empower anyone navigating the complex and often confusing world of fertility.  

 

Follow Dr. Lucky on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lucky.sekhon

Buy her book here: Amazon

In Your Dreams: An Interview with Director Alex Woo

This week Dr. Kim has a fun time talking with Alex Woo. Alex Woo, a Director and Filmmaker, was a former story lead at Pixar Animation Studios, a former director of development at Lucas Film Animation, and the Creator and Executive Producer of the Netflix original series Go! Go! Cory Carson. He has contributed to several films including Ratatouille, Wall-E, Cars 2, The Good Dinosaur, Finding Dory, and Incredibles 2. And now is Director of a Netflix original animated film called In Your Dreams that is now streaming. Alex Woo was a former story lead at Pixar Animation Studios, a former director of development at Lucas Film Animation, and the Creator and Executive Producer of the Netflix original series Go! Go! Cory Carson. He has contributed to several films including Ratatouille, Wall-E, Cars 2, The Good Dinosaur, Finding Dory, and Incredibles 2. And now is Director of a Netflix original animated film called In Your Dreams that is now streaming.