Episode 1: Meet Your Hosts & Your New Virtual Village

What happens when two moms—who’ve never met in real life—slide into each other’s DMs and build a soul-deep friendship rooted in faith, honesty, and a shared heart for helping other moms? This podcast. 💛

In our very first episode, we (Robin & Nicole) introduce ourselves, share how this unexpected connection became a calling, and invite you into the community we were longing for—a virtual village for moms navigating the messy middle of motherhood, womanhood, and everything in between.

If you’ve been looking for a space that feels safe, honest, and spiritually nourishing… welcome to your virtual village

👋 Meet your hosts:
 Robin Richards of Robin’s Wellness: holistic wellness coach, trauma survivor, and passionate bridge between science and soul
Nicole Coates of Hey Girl, It’s Nicole: parenting coach, mental health advocate, and prayer guide creator walking through the hard and holy of raising older kids

Thanks for joining us in the Messy Middle!

Ready for more real talk and soulful support? Head to motherhoodandthemessy.com for resources, freebies, and our latest episodes.

Explore the Resource Vault - packed with free tools and more, to support you in every season of motherhood: Click Here

Let’s connect on Instagram:
@robin.wellness | @heygirl_itsnicole | @motherhoodandthemessymiddle

Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review—it helps other moms find our virtual village.

This podcast is for moms navigating the real, raw, and redeeming parts of motherhood—and we’re so glad you’re here.

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to motherhood and the Messy Middle where grade school meets grown kids. Hot flashes meet holy fire, and no topic is too messy for this village. I'm Robin. One half of the voice behind this podcast. Nicole and I are two moms who slid into each other's dms and built a virtual village where we are inviting you in into our honest, healing, and often hilarious conversations. Help you feel not so alone. In the beautiful chaos of motherhood and midlife, we talk about what it really means to mother to grow, to fall apart and rebuild spiritually, emotionally, hormonally, and sometimes all before breakfast. So whether you're in the thick of motherhood, facing perimenopause, praying hard, or just tired of pretending, you're fine. This face is for you. Let's dive in.

Robin: 0:53

Hey Nicole. Hi. I'm so excited. Me too. So here's what I'm thinking for this intro episode. I wanna let the listeners get to know us, especially you. Yeah.'cause I'm just like, love you so much. Oh, you're so sweet. And I want to start with you, and then maybe I'll share a little bit about myself. Yeah. And then we, I wanna talk about this vision that we have for this podcast. Yeah. And what they can expect each week when they tune in. How does that sound? Yeah, I think that's great.

Nicole: 1:21

I think that's great. Yeah.

Robin: 1:22

All right. Tell us about you. Who are you? What? Just a small question to start, just a little one. Who are you? What is, what is your mission in life? We're not, we're

Nicole: 1:30

not diving deep or anything at all. We're just jam right in with the casual stuff. Uh, my name is Nicole Coates and I have, um, established, uh, Instagram and a website nicole coates.com where you can follow me over at Instagram at, Hey girl, it's Nicole and I really. I'm a mom of four. I've been married 17 years. My oldest child is my daughter through a stepparent adoption, and then our younger three are all boys and they're still all at home. So we have kids raging from ages 21 all the way down to 11. So we have quite a range and life gets a little bit chaotic with three boys, so I'm always on my toes, but as I was navigating motherhood and my kids were getting older into the teen years. I really found that there's this gap in the older years for support for us moms. And so my, how Robin and I connected or how you and I connected is we were building solo. You always say it really well, solopreneur, soul-based online businesses, and my mission was to create support for moms of older kids in whether that's prayer, whether that's parent coaching. Workbooks webinars. I'm a mental health advocate for a nonprofit called Speak Out because mental health has affected, um, my children in really big ways, and I also feel like support for parents of kids who are struggling with their mental health is lacking. And so I'm out here just to remind moms of older kids that it's hard and we're not talking about it. Like we were when they were toddlers because the issues are bigger and their issues are private, but they do affect us and it's hard to gain wisdom from other moms when it's such private issues. And so you feel very alone and isolated. And I'm over here on this side of the internet screaming, you're not alone. You're not alone. You can't talk about it. I know, but I just want you to know that we're going through it too. And I think that there's such power in feeling. Seen and that connection when you feel seen, is so beautiful and empowering. And that's really what I'm trying to do on my corner, a little corner of the internet and what we now are trying to do through this podcast, which I'm so excited about. So, Robin, tell us about you, your family, how we met, what your. Part of the Internet's doing over there in Minnesota.

Robin: 3:56

Oh yeah, Minnesota. So Nicole's in Idaho. I'm in Minnesota, that's, I'm in Idaho. We've never, we've never met in person. Oh yeah. That's an important piece. I hope that that changes someday. It's gonna be real special and probably uncomfortable for you because I am a hugger. Let me tell you. I'll take all your thoughts. So my name is Robin Richards and. I have a business called Robins Wellness, where I teach holistic weight loss and wellness, and it's really important to me, the word teach and that I'm a teacher, I do coach. That's part of what a teacher does, but my identity and my professional career is based on teaching. Mm-hmm. I actually was a high school math teacher and an. Woo. I'm struggling with saying that and an administrator.

Nicole: 4:43

There

Robin: 4:43

you go. In public schools for 13 years before I had a crippling mental and physical health crisis. Mm-hmm. That led me to resigning my position in public schools, dedicating myself to healing, and in turn the lifelong learner that is in me and the, uh, relentless. Pursuit to ignite the infinite growth potential that I see in others. Extended beyond the math classroom. Mm-hmm. And came into the work that I do now. Um, for a period of time I had been a Weight Watchers coach. Mm-hmm. Because I was, um, always the big boned girl and in my. The entire existence that I could remember was struggling with weight, was in the midst of toxic diet culture. And there are some really wonderful elements that I have learned and still keep and translate from being a coach, um, with. Weight Watchers. And there are other aspects that I have ditched along the way as I have gained nutrition coach certifications as well as multiple wellness certifications ranging from meditation, yoga, Pilates, all the way to being a Reiki master teacher. And if you don't know what reiki is, um, it is, uh, an energy healing technique that part of who I am is that I merge. Soul and science, she does it so

Nicole: 6:09

well.

Robin: 6:09

I actually was, um, I'm really rooted in conventional practices. A lot of my identity, I re relate to a lot of, like the boomer generation, really high skepticism for like what I define as the world of Woo. And. Yet, I came into all of it because I love learning and there's the aspect of me. I'm very eclectic, so even though I am a math person, I'm also really artistic and creative, and I'm learning to embrace more of that. And so I learned science behind the energy practices, and I like to synthesize information for people so that they can create personalized plans that help support them in their goals around holistic weight loss and wellness. Mm-hmm. And I did come into all of this because we're gonna talk about the real deal. Um, you know, and this is motherhood and the messy middle. I'm a mom, I have an only child, and I had years of crippling infertility that I dealt with. Mm-hmm. As well as my childhood was, um, filled with trauma that translated into complex PTSD into adulthood. And I have, um, been in recovery for my mental health as well as addiction, um, for almost a decade now. And as part of that, it uncovered an autoimmune condition. And I also am in early menopause. So I'm 42 at the time of this first episode. And I have learned a lot about my body, about my mind, and about my. Spirit and all of those connections. Mm-hmm. I'm just, I'm passionate about bringing together circles of women, so that has ranged from retreats to online spaces. Mm-hmm. And, you know, in the midst of all of that, that it's a, it's a lot of different things. Mm-hmm. And so I've struggled with, how do I. I became an entrepreneur, not because I wanted to be an entrepreneur. It's because the only way for me to actualize this passion that I have around holistic wellness and helping empower people is to create a business that then serves that, and also that I can serve my family. And that's how Nicole and I met because. Packaging all of that up into a quick social media. Anything is, um, a challenge for, for this neurodivergent brain, let me tell you. And we were in, um, we were in a, a course, we were getting some resources from the same person and that's how we ended up getting connected And mm-hmm. There was a, a third woman that was involved with us, who's absolutely wonderful, and the three of us. Slid into each other's dms somehow started, we're like

Nicole: 8:49

living proof that you could have a virtual village because we've never met, we've been friends. Our friendship has grown over, has it been a year or two? I think it might be two.

Robin: 9:00

Yeah, I think that it'll be two in December. So we're at like a year and a half. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So

Nicole: 9:04

we've grown this and we're evolving it to then reach out and include other women in our virtual village, but we're proof that it can happen. Like we don't have to be next door to be able to find support and friendship.

Robin: 9:16

We're called because we know that it is needed because we have needed it. Right. When you're in the pickup line, when you're in between practices, right. When as the kids are aging, as Nicole said, I started consuming her content because I'm though I'm an educator and have worked with teenagers, I've never parented one before. Right. And my daughter is. About to be in her last year of elementary school and I'm freaked out. So I'm trying, I'm trying to learn all that I can.'cause I, I have one shot at this and I, I, no pressure. No pressure, no pressure on that. Poor only child of, with a really intense mom. Right. Um, so, you know, we have come together in friendship, but it's also this deeper calling and mm-hmm We are both extremely spiritual and grounded in our faith. Yes. And that looks different for both of us. But

Nicole: 10:07

what we've learned so much from each other too. Yes.'cause we have these conversations that take us deeper and just open my eyes to different ideas and practices and. And in this world right

Robin: 10:19

now, people aren't having a lot of those deep conversations because it can be so uncomfortable to sit in. But also there is so much stigma around which side are you on and where are you with this? And really, as women, we're meant to be in villages communing and seeing those connections to help expand our ourselves and in turn. Become better, better mothers and navigate the messy middle, whatever that looks like.

Nicole: 10:47

Yeah.

Robin: 10:47

In different seasons of life.

Nicole: 10:49

Yeah, absolutely. Better. Yeah. I, we, I, it's our desire when you're here listening and we're creating this village that you feel seen, that you feel connected, that you, it's a eye-opening. Like, okay, like that's a good idea. What we talk about may not always be something you can apply, but maybe it sparks an idea of what might work for you or it's offering a different perspective that maybe you haven't thought of, and we just. Hope that you feel empowered after you spend some time with us and we wanna hear from you. If there, like, you'll hear us ask for feedback and that send us questions because we want, we want this to be a community where there's back and forth.

Robin: 11:29

So what you can expect from us each week is that we're gonna drop an episode where Nicole and I have a topic, but really we're going to engage in a conversation around it. And you're invited to the table to listen in on. Yeah. Two real moms who are just. Trying to navigate this world. And we have some resources that we've had to bring in because of our own journeys in motherhood and the messy middle that we wanna share with you. And as Nicole said, we want to connect with you, so please always feel free to reach out and no topic is off the table. Um, so this is just the beginning. Thank you for joining us today. I also wanna mention that Nicole and I have been very intentional that we want these episodes to be able to be consumed while you are serving as the chauffeur, that you never knew that you would be as a maum and while you are, you know, doing the dishes or whatever else, folding the laundry. Mm-hmm. Um. It's just that, that, that thread that can help you to know that you're not alone. Mm-hmm. And that you have a virtual village of connection and support. Mm-hmm. Yeah, so now we are called to do this work, but we do have a simple, easy request to help support us. All it is, is to scroll down to the bottom of whatever platform that you're listening and leave us a rating and review, especially at the launch of a podcast. It means so much because it helps us get to the top of searches and support more women. Mm-hmm. And that is our calling because when moms feel seen, when they feel supported and not so alone. Mm-hmm. The whole world. Gets a little bit better.

Nicole: 13:18

Mm-hmm.

Robin: 13:19

Also, if you could please pass it on, share motherhood in the messy middle with someone in your village who's also navigating motherhood. Or even make it like a podcast book club, if that feels like something that I, gosh, I love that. Yeah. Where instead of reading who has time for that, we're just gonna listen. I love it. Listen to it separately and come in and even Marco polo each other back and forth. That's how we're all communicating nowadays. Anyways. Yeah. We're marking DMing. Whatever we can do, just to have that connection as we navigate motherhood and that messy in between.

Nicole: 13:50

Mm-hmm.

Robin: 13:51

So we're so grateful that you're here. Thank you for tuning in, and now you can go binge the next two episodes that dive into motherhood and exactly what the messy middle means. Alright, until next time, send you so much love. Bye.

14:08

Hey, before you go, we've got something just for you. We created the motherhood and the messy middle resource vault. It's a growing library of support that's just for you. So inside you're gonna find tools from both Nicole and my work plus resources that we mention right here on the podcast. It's free, it's sent straight to your inbox, and it's always evolving just like you. So take what you need, leave the rest. You never know when you're gonna need it. Or when your group chat might thank you for it. So use the link in the show notes or head to motherhood and the messy middle.com to get access and welcome to your virtual village.