Episode 133: Male-Factor Infertility & Mental Health – Steven Miller

Steven J. Miller obtained bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology at Northern Michigan University and is currently in the part-time MSW program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He’s been in social work since 2009, working with youth and families. Steven is an advocate for more discussion among social workers and other helping professionals about the impact of infertility on one’s mental health. Steven and his wife struggled with infertility for seven years before being successful using IVF, resulting in now three-year-old twin boys. After his MSW, Steven plans to work in Reproductive Mental Health and continue advocacy for discussion about this topic in the classroom to help better prepare students and clinicians to support those coming to them for support.

Read More
Episode 132: Post-Mortem Sperm Retrieval – Casey DiPaola and Joe Williams

Kathleen (“Casey”) Copps DiPaola, Esq. is a partner of Copps DiPaola Silverman, PLLC in Albany, New York where she focuses her practice on Adoption, Assisted Reproduction and Estate Planning & Probate. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys, the President of New York Attorneys for Adoption & Family Formation and also an active member of various bar associations. She has worked tirelessly over the last several years to help draft the New York Child Parent Security Act and advocate for its enactment by the legislature. She is also a frequent lecturer to attorneys, judges, fertility clinics and other organizations on the topics of adoption, assisted reproduction/surrogacy and the intersection of estate planning and family formation. Ms. DiPaola is also the founder of the New York Surrogacy Center, a licensed surrogacy matching program that operates primarily in New York, Vermont and New Jersey. She is licensed to practice in state courts in New York, New Jersey and Vermont as well as various federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court. Ms. DiPaola is also an active volunteer in her community in both a legal and non-legal capacity. She previously graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with highest honors and as the salutatorian from Albany Law School in 2009. She lives in upstate New York with her husband and two children.

Joseph R. Williams practices primarily in the fields of matrimonial, family, and adoption law. Joe represents individuals in the negotiation and litigation of separation, divorce, child custody, support and domestic violence matters, as well as all areas of adoption law, including private adoptions, voluntary agency adoptions, foster care adoptions and step/second parent adoptions. Joe also practices in the related area of assisted reproductive technology law (egg/sperm/embryo donation and surrogacy/gestational carrier agreements) and kinship guardianship (kinGAP).

Read More
Episode 131: Faith, Cancer, and Surrogacy – Paige McCoy

Paige is a cancer survivor turned cancer advocate and mother to an energetic two-year-old son. Married in 2012, she never anticipated having to overcome a variety of obstacles to have a family. When unexplained infertility forced her to undergo multiple rounds of IVF, she never wavered. When leukemia unexpectedly struck three weeks before an embryo transfer, she kept her eye on recovering so she could one day pursue parenthood. And when the cancer treatments eliminated her ability to carry a child, she matched with a selfless surrogate to carry the embryo she dreamed about for years.

Today, Paige dedicates her life to helping other young adult cancer patients fight their diagnoses, knowing that a caring support system and documented bucket list are as strong as any medicine. In her spare time, she and her family alternate completing her personal bucket list created in the hospital with typical two-year-old activities like digging in dirt and memorizing construction vehicles. She lives in Denver with her husband, Jeff, and son, Bradley, whom she named after the bone marrow donor that gave her a second chance at life, and given the opportunity, she would love to grow their family by one more through another surrogacy journey.

Read More
Episode 130: Fertility and Film– Jessica McGaugh and Roma Sur

Jessica McGaugh is an award-winning independent film director, cinematographer and editor working out of Denver, Colorado. Her work has been screened internationally including the Mumbai International Film Festival, Denver Film Festival, NDTV and Rocky Mountain PBS. Her feature films Red Pearl and Three Worlds, One Stage are distributed internationally on VOD and SVOD platforms. Jessica received an MFA in Film from Syracuse University and is currently teaching in the Film & Television Department at the University of Colorado Denver.

Roma Sur is a screenwriter and a documentary filmmaker, based in Denver, Colorado. After having lost her father at the age of  four, she and her sister were raised by their mother in one of the most unsafe cities of India. Not surprisingly, her characters are usually fierce, independent women, or young adult, who know how to give adversity a tight backhand. She writes young adult and female driven dramas with levity, that are a cross-pollination of her immigrant experience of living in the US for twenty years, and her childhood in India. Her recent feature screenplay, “The  Rock Within”, has got acknowledged by the Sundance Asian American lab, Stowe Story Labs, India’s leading pitch market, Film Bazaar, and Screencraft’s Funding contest. Sur has also served as an Executive Producer on two award-winning web series. She has been teaching fiction and non-fiction writing at  the University of Colorado since 2009.

The Rock Within is crafted by an Asian-American female Screenwriter, who battled infertility for over four years and a Director who had three miscarriages. The story is told through the voice of the female lead, Trisha Sen. It is anchored in the cross-cultural friendship that she creates with the second lead, Jennie Gaw. This forms the emotional core of the movie, which is a fresh take on the subject of infertility. The narrative is punctuated with humor and adventure without making light of the subject. The diverse nature of this project opens it up to a much broader international audience. The story ends on an uplifting note, proving a strong cathartic arc.

Read More
Episode 129: Family Inceptions – Eloise Drane

After completing her MBA, Eloise Drane founded Family Inceptions, a full-service surrogacy and egg donation agency. Eloise also hosts Fertility Café, an educational podcast on modern family building, and is the creator of digital courses on independent surrogacy, Surrogacy Roadmap. 

Eloise knows that compassion and grace are necessary ingredients for the delicate journey that egg donation and gestational surrogacy can be for all parties. She understands the importance of empowerment and encouragement within the family creation process. 

Eloise’s passion and unparalleled empathy blossomed from her own experience as an egg donor six times and a gestational surrogate three times.

When she isn’t guiding others in making family legacies, Eloise can be found fostering the relationships in her own family, reading, traveling, and spending quality time with her husband and children.

Read More
Episode 128: Surrogacy Struggles in Michigan – Aubrey Gojcaj

Aubrey Gojcaj is a wife, mom, and Michigander, as well as a passionate advocate for eliminating family building obstacles. Medical complications from the birth of her first child ended Aubrey’s ability to be pregnant again. She was thrilled when her sister generously offered to be her surrogate. But the journey to having another child has been made especially difficult by Michigan’s anti-surrogacy laws.

Read More
Episode 127: Three Paths To Parenthood – Brett Griffin-Young

Brett and his husband live in England and are proud parents of three children: one through genetic (traditional) surrogacy, one through adoption, and one through gestational surrogacy. Brett regularly appears in the media advocating for and promoting surrogacy and adoption paths to parenthood. Brett is passionate about challenging inaccurate perceptions of surrogacy and adoption and supporting people in understanding and navigating these paths.

Read More
Episode 126: If These Ovaries Could Talk – Robin Hopkins & Jaimie Kelton

Jaimie Kelton and Robin Hopkins meet up each year at the Pride Family Picnic with their wives and kids in tow. That’s when then-pregnant Jaimie pitched Robin the idea to make a podcast about LGBTQ families. One baby and countless beautiful stories later, the popular and award-winning podcast If These Ovaries Could Talk was born. While shining a spotlight on all the different ways nontraditional families get made, Jaimie and Robin share their personal fertility journeys and their parenting adventures. Robin and Jaime are also the co-authors of the book "If These Ovaries Could Talk: The Things We've Learned about Making an LGBTQ Family." If ever there were two people you’d want to hang out with, it’s Jaimie and Robin. You just can’t help but love them.

Read More
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.

Read More
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.  

Read More
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.

Read More
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.

Read More
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.

Read More
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.

Read More
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!

Read More
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).

Read More
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.

Read More
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.

Read More
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. 

Read More