Posts in Episodes 101-125
Episode 125: I’m Very Ferris – Tess Kossow

Entrepreneurship has always been Tess Kossow’s dream profession. And after having her miracle baby boy, Ferris, she realized this was a now-or-never moment to jump in and become an author with a product the world needs. Ferris was her last embryo and the answered prayer of faith, love, and science through IVF. Reading holds a very special place in Tess’s heart, and this next stage of her career has her creating something she is so very passionate about in the lives of children through her picture books: in vitro fertilization.

 

In November 2019, Tess was a finisher in the New York City Marathon. In October 2020, she survived sudden cardiac arrest and was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. Still through it all, she loved to host parties and celebrate life, no matter the occasion! She holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree from Elmhurst College, which is also where she met her best friend and husband, Dan. She has a Havanese named Gatsby and a Siamese cat named James Bond. (Both of which are Ferris’ partners in crime).

 

Tess is a mother, first and foremost, and everything else comes second. She believes you really can have and achieve anything you want…but you are going to have to work for it and expect nothing to be handed to you. Her husband often calls her his real-life Steve Jobs, because of how she lives her life and leads by example for her son to believe in the following: “Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” Ferris is her inspiration, and her husband, Dan, is the motivation that keeps her running the extra mile in all she does.

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Episode 124: Embryo Disposition Dilemmas - Melanie Mikkelsen

Melanie Mikkelsen has over 20 years working in the field of fertility counseling, with a special interest in third party reproduction, donor embryo programs, and donor screening. She is Secretary of the Mental Health Professional group of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, and has served on the MHPG Tele- Mental Health Task Force, MHPG Coding Task Force, and Gamete and Embryo Donation Guidelines Task Force. She is the past chair of the ASRM Mental Health Mentoring Committee and past member of ASRM Scientific Advisory Board.  She is a consultant for Empower Donation, speaker for Fertility IQ, and member of the Society for Ethics for Egg Donation and Surrogacy (SEEDS). She has given numerous presentations and appeared on podcasts surrounding gamete donation, anonymity, and embryo donation. Melanie is a mental health counselor and donor liaison with Seattle Reproductive Medicine, and creator of Hold Hope, LLC, a fertility counseling and advocacy practice.  

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Episode 123: Your DNA Guide –Diahan Southard and Jayne Ekins

Diahan Southard is a pioneer in the world of DNA testing and family history. She founded Your DNA Guide as a way to teach anyone with DNA how to use it to find out more about themselves and their family. She is the author of Your DNA Guide - the Book, and creator of Your DNA Guide - the Academy, an online learning platform. She spends all her spare time with her three kids and especially looks forward to date night with her handsome husband.

Jayne has 23 years of experience in the field of genetic genealogy. She had the extraordinary experience of being mentored by Dr. Scott Woodward and his visionary team that took shape in the earliest days of this burgeoning field. She has been a part of nearly every stage of driving the discovery process forward: field specimen collection, marker selection and assay design, data management and computational processes, analysis, and algorithms, and investigating population-level research questions. She has lectured throughout the United States and international venues on the applications of molecular biology to elucidating ancient and recent genealogical connections. She has authored and co-authored many peer-reviewed scientific publications, as well as general articles on genetic genealogy. It is a pleasure for her to see the accelerating developments in genetic genealogy, and the wide accessibility and application it has for the average human curious about their origins.

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Episode 122: Navigating The Aftermath Of An IVF Mix-Up – Donna and Vanner Johnson and Devin and Kelly McNeil

Vanner and Donna Johnson are a married couple, parents of two children, living in Utah. Vanner is a licensed attorney with a strong technology background, currently working in the financial industry in client success. Donna is an elementary educator.

Kelly And Devin McNeil are a married couple who are 3 time IVF patients, with 2 failed cycles, then a successful pregnancy resulting in their now 13 year old son. They reside in Colorado. 

These two couples met because of an inexplicable IVF mix-up, forever connecting the two families. Together they are working to support their children and navigate the best path forward.

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Episode 121: HeyReprotech – Alison Motluk

Alison Motluk is a Toronto-based freelance journalist who works in print and radio. She has reported widely on the social fallout of reproductive technology, including about the first boy to find his anonymous sperm donor using only his spit and the internet, about the health uncertainties of egg donation, and about the Ottawa fertility doctor who used his own sperm to help patients conceive. She publishes a weekly newsletter, HeyReprotech and Ukraine Surrogacy Dispatches.

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Episode 120: Intersectional Fertility – Josie Rodriguez-Bouchier

Josie Rodriguez-Bouchier (they/them) is a queer, non-binary, Latinx fertility acupuncturist, and Queer Reproductive Health and Justice advocate. Since 2008, they have been supporting folks with wombs to conceive with the help of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Josie's mission is to re-center queer, trans, and non-binary folks, especially those who are Black, Brown, and Indigenous, in the reproductive healthcare realm and beyond. Josie is the host of The Intersectional Fertility Podcast and creator of the Whole Self Fertility Method™. They live on stolen Cheyenne land, known today as Lakewood, Colorado, with their fiancée, two children, and two rescue pups.

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Episode 119: 800+ Siblings – Laura Doe

Like many hopeful parents-to-be, Laura and her wife turned to sperm donation for assistance forming their family. Finding the right donor was difficult, especially given the strict Australian requirements preventing donors from donating sperm to more than a handful of families. After giving birth to her son, Laura was shocked to discover that they had not received accurate information on how often their chosen donor had previously donated. In fact, their sperm donor was a “serial donor” with over 800+ children!

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Episode 117: Global Principles of Surrogacy- Steve Snyder

Steve Snyder is nationally known for his work helping families with assisted reproduction law. He is the past chair of the American Bar Association's Assisted Reproductive Technology Committee, Family Law Section. Steve has taught numerous reproductive law continuing legal education classes to fellow Minnesota attorneys, as well as to lawyers from across the globe. Many attorneys refer assisted reproductive law cases to him because of his extensive knowledge in the field. Steve has been recognized as a Super Lawyer, and he is also AV Rated (which means judges and fellow attorneys have noted him as having the highest degree of legal ability and ethical standards).

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Episode 116: RESOLVE Advocacy Day 2021 - Jesse Feist and Joe Cody

Jesse Fiest has worked in family-building marketing and content creation for over six years and is proud to be co-chair of RESOLVE's 2020 and 2021 Federal Advocacy Day. She was inspired to take a more active role in advocacy when she began working with gestational carriers and egg donors. "Just seeing women put themselves on the front line as surrogates and donors do, it made me want do contribute in a more meaningful way, to pay forward the luck I have had in my own family-building."

Jesse's educational background is in law and cultural anthropology. She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and their young daughter. (Jesse REALLY wants to find a West Virginia attendee for AD 2021 so that all 50 states are represented.)

Joe Cody has been active in RESOLVE Advocacy Day since 2018, previously serving on the Volunteer Training Committee, as a Maryland State Captain, and as Advocacy Day Co-Chair in 2020. He is dedicated to increasing access to family building options and has been blown away by the support and energy from RESOLVE volunteers. He believes stories from constituents and experts like Advocacy Day attendees move policy, drive support, and create real change. He has lived in Washington DC since 2008, where he has worked for a Member of Congress, served as a health policy consultant, and provided health care related government relations and regulatory analysis for multiple medical associations for over a decade.

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Episode 115: Military Family Building Coalition - Katy Bell Hendrickson and Ellen Gustafson

Ellen Gustafson is a social entrepreneur, author, activists, and, most importantly, Mom and Military Spouse.  She has done extensive work toward food system change (Authoring “We the Eaters: If We Can Change Dinner, We Can Change the World”, Co-Founding Food Tank: the food think tank, giving 4 four TEDx Talks on food system change and advising big food businesses like Barilla and start-ups like Food Stand).  She is the Co-Founder of FEED and the FEED Foundation, an early give-back fashion brand that has helped provide over 100 million school meals to children around the world, has been the Co-Director of the Summit Institute since 2016, which applies creative solutions to the world’s biggest challenges and has helped create diversity, inclusion, and anti-harassment programs at multiple conference companies. She is the Mom of three miracle toddlers and lives with them and her husband in “just seasonal enough” Virginia Beach, VA.

Katy Bell Hendrickson is a Military Spouse to a retired career Naval Special Warfare officer and mother of five children. She and her husband have experience with adoption, assisted reproduction and third party reproduction. Katy was the Reserve Flag Spouse Advisor for the Command Spouse Leadership School at NLEC in Naval Station Newport, Flag Spouse Advisor for CORE San Diego, and an Advisor to Naval Services FamilyLine in Washington DC. Katy has been active in the Warrior and Family Support Group at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado as a Senior Peer Mentor and has led multiple workshops on Family Building covering the topics of ART and Adoption. In her spare time, she is an architect by education and training - having spent the last decade working mainly in residential design and historic preservation. She is a former Board of Director for the Coronado Historical Association, Chairperson for the Heritage Committee, Chairwoman for the Coronado Historical Home Tour 2017-2019 and the recipient of the Cobb McCarty Preservation Award. Katy is currently on the Women's Committee for the National Museum of Women in the Arts and lives in Washington DC with her husband, youngest son, and twin daughters.

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Episode 114: - Known Sperm Donor --David Dodge

David Dodge is a writer, researcher, and LGBTQ advocate with a special interest in non-traditional families, politics, arts and culture, and travel. He is a regular contributor to The New York Times, and has also written for HuffPost Queer Voices, The Advocate, Travel + Leisure, The Glass Magazine, and more. In 2014, he chronicled the start of his journey as a known sperm donor in "The Sperm Donor Diary," in a series of posts for The New York Times’ Motherlode Blog. David is the Executive Editor of Gay With Kids. He is based in New York City. 

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Episode 113: Best Shot - Abby Mercado

Abby Mercado is the Co-Founder & CEO of Best Shot, a patient’s companion in fertility treatments. A former venture capital investor, Abby conceptualized Best Shot after her frustrations with IVF medications and the mental health challenges she faced after her infertility diagnosis. Now, on the other side of her fertility experience, Abby is passionate about providing those who struggle to grow their families with the tools to help them succeed with confidence and grace.

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Episode 110: 4+ Parents, One Family - Indra Lusero

Indra Lusero is founder of Elephant Circle and the Birth Rights Bar Association. Indra's family has been in the Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado area for generations. As a Queer, Genderqueer, Latinx parent rooted in this region, Indra is attuned to the importance of people on the margins and our role in leading the dismantling of oppressive systems to build a more equitable world. Indra helped pass legislation in Colorado to eliminate the shackling of incarcerated women during pregnancy and birth, to improve midwifery and birth center regulations, and to create more humane policies for families impacted by substance use. Indra also spearheaded the creation of "Birth Rights: A resource for everyday people to defend human rights during labor and birth."

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Episode 109: - Swimming Aimlessly – Jon Waldman

Jon Waldman is a multi-time published author, journalist, marketing and communications professional and photographer. From an early age, Jon knew that he wanted to enter the world of the written word and has scribed articles for the likes of the Toronto Sun, Winnipeg Free Press, The Hockey News, Winnipeg Men Magazine, CBS Sports and several others over his near 20-year career.

In 2009, Jon published his first book, SLAM! Wrestling: Shocking Stories from the Squared Circle with Greg Oliver. This was quickly followed in 2011 by Got'em, Got'em, Need'em. In early 2015 his third book, He Shoots He Saves, was released, his third with ECW Press.

Jon's fourth book, "100 Things Jets Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die" released in 2015 with Triumph Books and has been his best seller thus far.

In 2021, Jon's fifth book, "Swimming Aimlessly", will release with Simon and Schuster's imprint, Tiller Press. Inspired by his TEDx Talk, the book takes a deep look at men and infertility and, in part, tells the story his family has experienced.

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Episode 108: How I Became Your Mother: My Global Surrogacy Journey - Ginanne Brownell

Since beginning her journalistic career in 1993 as an intern at CNN’s Larry King Live, Ginanne Brownell has covered stories in over 45 countries and on six continents. She worked on staff for CNN (Washington, DC) and Newsweek (London) and is currently a London-based freelance writer covering arts, culture, development and education stories.

Her writing has been appeared in publications including the New York Times, Financial Times, CNN, Conde Nast Traveller, Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio, Scientific American, Salon, Foreign Policy and Washington Post. She has also done media consulting for UNICEF and J.K. Rowling’s Lumos Charity. Ginanne is the co-founder of she-files.com, a webzine highlighting stories about women written by women.

Ginanne is in the process of completing two narrative non-fiction books. "How I Became Your Mother: My Global Surrogacy Journey", is both a personal memoir about becoming a parent through surrogacy and also a journalistic deep dive examining a number of debates, discussions and conversations taking place internationally about surrogacy. Meanwhile her book "Ghetto Classics: How a Youth Orchestra Changed a Nairobi Slum" examines the role that music can play in community development.

Most importantly, she is the very proud mom of cheeky but exceedingly sweet three-year-old twins who were born via surrogacy in Illinois.

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Episode 107: The Professor Is In - Jody Madeira

Jody Madeira is a professor of law and co-director of the Center for Law, Society & Culture at the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University. Her scholarly interests involve empirical research; the role of emotion in law; the sociology of law; law, medicine, and bioethics; and the Second Amendment. Her most recent book, Taking Baby Steps: How Patients and Fertility Clinics Collaborate in Conception (University of California Press, 2018), takes readers inside the infertility experience, from dealing with infertility-related emotions to forming treatment relationships with medical professionals, confronting difficult decisions, and negotiating informed consent. Based on a wealth of qualitative and quantitative data (130 patient interviews, 83 interviews with reproductive medical professionals, and 267 patient surveys), Madeira investigates how women, men, and their care providers can utilize trust to collaboratively negotiate infertility’s personal, physical, spiritual, ethical, medical, and legal minefields.

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Episode 106: My Surrogacy Journey - Anna Buxton

Like many women, Anna Buxton’s journey to motherhood was far more complicated and painful than she had ever realized was possible. Two missed miscarriages and subsequent surgeries to remove the pregnancies left Anna with severe scarring of the womb -- a condition known as Asherman’s Syndrome. Five operations over 16 months failed to correct the scarring and Anna was told that she would never be able to carry a pregnancy.

Anna is now Mum to three children born through surrogacy. She is also part of the team behind a new non-profit UK surrogacy organization that is doing things differently – My Surrogacy Journey. 

About My Surrogacy Journey:  My Surrogacy Journey is a UK surrogacy organization unlike anything that exists. We offer the most extensive emotional, practical, and logistical support that has ever been available to intended parents, surrogates, and egg donors for both domestic and international surrogacy.

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