From the Kitchen Table: The Duffys - It IS Possible To Chase Your Dreams & Create A Family

Episode Date: May 9, 2024

Motherhood was once a dream many young girls across the country had. While that dream remains for some, a significant number of women today are terrified of that reality. Rachel speaks with President of Guiding Star Project, Lisa Canning, a woman dedicating her life to creating a world where all women feel supported and capable to raise a family while pursuing their passions. As an author and mother of 10, Lisa shares her journey of balancing motherhood and her professional life (spoiler alert, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows).   Follow Sean & Rachel on Twitter: @SeanDuffyWI & @RCamposDuffy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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All right, well, welcome to From the Kitchen Table. We have a special edition today because we're celebrating Mother's Day, and I wanted to bring in a mom that I really have a lot of respect for. I think her journey professionally and in terms of her motherhood would be really interesting for all of you. And so I'm really excited to introduce you to my friend, Lisa Canning. So Lisa Canning is an author. She's a speaker. She's also a mindset coach, which we're going to get into and learn what she means by that.

But she has devoted her life to helping mothers. And one of the ways that she has done this is as the president of an organization called Guiding Star Project, which is the absolute future of women's health care. So many conservatives, Christians have handed over the idea of women's health care to Planned Parenthood, which doesn't do any health care for women. Guiding Star Project is like the dream I wish I had when I started off having babies, because they are an organization that is dedicated to educating and protecting women and their fertility and sort of looking at them holistically as women and connecting them to life affirming medical practices. What an amazing

mission to have. In addition to that, you know, Lisa, of course, has been supporting moms, helping Christian and Catholic moms see their plan with God for motherhood. And her own journey is one of discovering, you know, what her passions were, wanting to be a mom and trying to figure out if there was, if she could find that balance, if there was no balance, what was she going to do about that? So her journey is one that so many women can relate to, whether you're in the midst of being a mom and managing all of these things professionally, the at-home front, maybe you're an at-home mom, or maybe you haven't had kids yet, Maybe you're an at-home mom, or maybe you haven't had kids yet, and you're wondering what that might look like.

Maybe you're a grandma, and you know your own son or daughter is about to have a baby, and maybe you have some new fresh ideas from listening to Lisa about what motherhood looks like right now. So with no further ado, I'm going to introduce you to somebody who, I mean, I rarely get beat, you. I'm going to introduce you to somebody who, I mean, I rarely get beat, but I'm going to hand it over to Lisa Canning because she has not nine, 10 kids and she's doing all of this. So great to have you, Lisa. Thank you for joining us. I'm so happy to be here. So Lisa, you and I share some parallel life journeys. I got my start on the real world on a reality television program as a single woman and was sort of making my way. And then I got married, had kids and had to find a way to balance all of that. And in fact, we'll get into this. I actually took 14 years off to be an at-home mom and then got back on the train.

And that's sort of my journey is, and we can talk about it, is like that you can create your own journey. You can get on, you can get off. There are no steadfast, hard rules. You got your start on HGTV at the same kind of tender age, 22, 23 years old. HGTV, we all know it. We all love it. But when you got on, it was sort of the new next level reality show, you know, cable network. And you were one of the early stars of it. Let's talk about that. So Lisa, welcome and tell us how you got your start on TV. I was always talking, literally.

I just like, I can't stop talking. And one of the moms at my high school recognized this ability that I had to be charismatic and talk in front of people. And so she put me in touch with a casting director who then put me in touch with this brand new program called Marriage Under Construction that was the very first show that was a bit more reality based. So they were following this young couple and I was a newbie designer, didn't know what she was doing and was like, go, let's put this on national television. And it was a great blessing to my

life. It launched my interior design career. I had a really wonderful career for about 10 years in front of the camera and behind the camera as an interior designer. I worked with the Property Brothers. You were like the pre-Joanna Gaines. Pre-Joanna Gaines, like pre-Joanna Gaines. Before you watch Joanna Gaines like cleaning her counter or cutting flowers, like we were there. But you know, similar, just I was also getting married and having children at a very young age. And we were very open to having babies. And quickly, I could not figure out how to reconcile the two worlds. I was essentially compartmentalizing them, if I'm being really honest.

I would show up to work, professional, putting a lot of pressure on myself to do well, be it all, have it all. And then I was showing up in motherhood, same thing, just trying to prove to all of my church friends, to my mother, to people that you can be a great mom and have a career. And spoiler alert, what happens when you try to prove things to other people? It doesn't really work. And so I would say for many years, I struggled with feeling like I had to live for other people. And it took me a very long time. And I'm happy to say now I'm still on a journey, of course, but it took a very long time.

And this is where I feel a great passion for moms, that motherhood can look very different for everybody. But what's so important to remember is that your accomplishments outside of the home do not define you. All of those things can be taken away. Like when you think about it, like everything can go. And what do you have left? You have the relationships left and our, our ability to mother and form human beings is a paramount, it's a paramount role we have. And so that took me a really, really long time to reconcile, to kind of figure out what that looks like. And now I help other mothers do the same. Yeah. You know, it's such an interesting question. You know, I've had to grapple with that balance as well. You know, the message that young women are getting,

Lisa, and you know this very well, I think about Sheryl Sandberg. She used to be the CEO at Facebook. Now she's on to other things, but she's a very high powered executive. And I once saw a clip that she gave a speech at a commencement. And in the speech, she told the women, put your foot on the gas pedal and don't let up. And I thought, wow, that is a terrible message. I mean, maybe there's a small percentage of women that that fits. But most women are just so much, I mean, that's what makes us women. That's what makes us so much different than men, right? I mean, I just think we're so multidimensional and we're wired for motherhood.

And if you are interested in motherhood, and most women are at some point, the message can't be that it's all about your career and put your foot on the gas pedal. In fact, the image I have, and I came to this, you know, I was like you, it's trial and error. It's, you know, constantly recalibrating and trying to figure out, you know, how do I feed my passions, which are an important part of who I am and my interests. And then my children and my family and my husband. And it's a really tough balance. But the image I have is the opposite of, like, getting in a car, putting my foot on the gas and go with my career. I mean, not at all. I see it as a train that's moving at a steady pace and we can jump on and off that train depending on the seasons of our lives. And that may mean that you can't have a super high powered career in order to do that. I mean, the people I think who balance it best, frankly, I don't know

if you've noticed this, Lisa, nurses, they have this ability, they have a flexibility, most of them, to their schedules. When they're at work, they're there for long, intense hours. And then they can go back to their family. I've seen, I know a lot of nurses who just have been able to balance that professional mother life, but that's a very unique career. And I think for me, I had to accept that, you know, I wasn't going to be Barbara Walters. You know, I wasn't going to have that career and have nine kids. It's just not possible to do that.

And I had to accept that and say, I'm going to make the most of what I have. I'm going to, as you said, I'm going to worry about the things that last. I always tell young people, Lisa, that, you know, it's great to work for a great company. I work for an awesome company. I love Fox. They've been great to me. They give me all kinds of opportunities. But Fox doesn't love me.

I mean, I like there are people in the building that love me, but Fox doesn't love me. Corporations don't love people. People love people. And the people that I care about at the end of my life, um, and, and that I care about what they think about me the most and, and, and, and the work I did on earth are my family. And so that really helps me to put it in perspective. You know, just quickly, we don't love you because you're Barbara Walters. We love you because you're Rachel Campos Duffy. And that's what I had to learn. Like I had to learn that there's going to be a way that Lisa Canning does life. And this is for everyone. But the thing that about Cheryl that I want to just touch on is that there's no conversation around when you have

your foot on the gas, there's fertility is not included in that conversation. So what happens when you have a baby, what happens when you get pregnant and your foot is full on, on the gas, right? It can be a little problematic, you know, even just physiologically, when we are pregnant, we get tired, we are bigger, we have to get out of cars in a different way. Like there's a there's an adjustment that needs to be placed on our life. And so when you say this picture of the train, I think it's interesting. But this is the thing. And this is where I'm so excited. Really quick, Lisa, really quick, Lisa, I think, in order to do the to do the foot on the gas pedal, I think what the culture is now telling women, and it's problematic, and it goes to Guiding Star, your Guiding Star project, I'm sure sees this a lot, which is if your foot's on the gas pedal in your 20s and 30s when you're most fertile, I don't think that they're being honest with women about just how their fertility rates drop and how that will impact their ability, not just how many children they can have, but

having any at all. And I'm going to also add the inverse is true as well, meaning that it's, you can have a baby and still do things. So meaning like, it's not like you have to be on some perpetual pause. Right. And that's what I feared my fertility. I feared it. And Rachel, why did I fear it? Because I was legit told, I was told by television producers, do not get pregnant. They said it gently, you know, it wasn't maybe so kind of as I'm presenting it, but I was told that getting pregnant would impact my career. These kinds of messages stay with women. And, and again, it's going to look different. I'm not saying that every single woman needs to have 10 children and a career. That's not what I'm saying. But if that

is what you are uniquely called to do, if there's something in you that is really meant to get out to go impact the world, there are interesting, creative ways that life can get done, that work can get done. I think we live in an amazing time, Rachel, where because of the internet, you and I, with the number of children we have, we're able to launch platforms and talk like this in different parts of this incredible nation, you know? And so that's the thing. I think there's, unfortunately, you know, we look at, what's her name? The girl at the Oscars, Michelle Williams, the actress, right?

Who literally publicly was saying. Oh, that was horrible. Lay that out. Lay that out. Because that was a terrible moment. She's thanking the fact she's she's grateful on her acceptance speech she was grateful for the fact she had had an abortion because she attributed it to her success to be able to literally win that oscar and and here's the

thing i just want to scream from the rooftops it's like you can do things and have babies like babies do not end your life. Do you have to make adjustments? Might there be a period where sure, you're not maybe, you know, jumping out of an airplane or maybe you're not creating a movie or what have you. But it's not like it's the only role. If I could have sat down with that actress and held her shoulders and looked her in the eyes, I would have said, there will be other roles. Why are we being so limiting in your mindset? Like

there will be other roles. It's not like that was the only thing that caused you success. Now, again, I'm not trying to be naive. Are there pivotal roles? Are there things that happen to people in their lives? Sure. Absolutely. But it doesn't mean that it's like the end, like it's just the end. You do one thing and you're done. No, success can be so different. It does. And I think that there are so many lies about motherhood and that's why I'm so glad to have you on the show because I think this is one of the most important topics. You know, I go around, Lisa, and I give speeches on economics and socialism versus communism and free markets. And I give speeches on politics. And inevitably, afterwards, the young people come up, the young women come up to me and say, we actually just want to know about how to balance life. And I think it's so interesting that what they're clued in on is not what I'm talking about.

Like it's not about politics and the culture stories I have. They're looking at my life and they're going, how do I manage that? Because no one ever talks about it. They're getting a message that motherhood is incompatible with having passions, having a career. Now, I think it's really important what you're saying, Lisa, about managing expectations for a career. Like I said, you're not going to be, you know, it's going to be really hard to have a very large family and have a very, very, very large career. And that's, it's a very complicated, you know, thing. It involves a really great spouse.

It involves, you know, a lot of, a lot of components, but, but just the basic, like having a couple of kids and, and getting through, there still is a balancing process. My daughter, um, is in college and she goes to a Catholic university, um, the university of Dallas, and she had a, a counseling. This is, this is one of the, you know, one of the most beautiful benefits. Lisa, when I tell you this story, you're, you're going to say, yes, somebody's getting it. So she's, she goes to get counseling about her major and she's debating between education. She really loves psychology a lot. And that's really kind of where her passion is, is in that.

And she was having a conversation with a professor who was acting as a guidance counselor in this moment for her. And she is a mom of, I think, six kids. And she had this discussion with her. Here's my daughter who doesn't even have a boyfriend,, I think, six kids. And she had this discussion with her. Here's my daughter who doesn't even have a boyfriend, by the way, right now. And she said, you know, I think psychology is great. And she started talking, you know, I have a lot of friends who are therapists and they have kids and they have a family and they're able to kind of work the, you know, they have an office in their home or not far from their home, or they service their local church and they're the therapist or the counselor for their church.

And it's a really flexible job that you can, it works with the seasons of your life. And I thought, wow, that is probably one of the most useful college counseling sessions I've ever seen. Because this woman looked at my daughter, knew that my daughter, if you met my daughter, that daughter, you would know that she has a heart for kids and marriage and family and looked at her as a whole person and said, if you're interested in this family life, think about a career path that is flexible. And I think so many girls are told to get on the, you know, the corporate path of, you know, becoming a partner in a law firm in these really high, intense jobs. And it's not

really serving who they are as a person. Nobody's actually asked them what they really want to do with their life and what are their goals outside of academics and, and, and career? Like, how do you fit all this other stuff in? And I think sort of trying to reverse engineer that is, you know, it's really helpful. And it comes down to really knowing what your priorities are, right. And, and declaring them and owning them. If I want to be a good wife, I best date my spouse. If I want to have my children remember me as a present and loving mom, I best show up that way and put my phone down and actually make sure that they have memories of me looking in their face and not at my phone, you know? And this is what excites me about my work at the Guiding Star Project. We want women to understand that they can contribute in a way that is in

alignment with their fertility. So, so getting pregnant does not have to be this big oppositional start. Stop having another child. Doesn't have to be this like, Oh my gosh. Like, yes.

Is it overwhelming? Can we honor all of those fears? Can we help a woman, you know, process that, oh, I'm so overwhelmed already. How can I have another child? Absolutely. We can do that, but we can also equip with potential possibility and with straight up life skills. And this is what I mean about priorities. If you know, you want to homeschool, then let's help you understand that you can homeschool from 8 to

12 PM. And then you can take a little break right after that. Like, I think sometimes we have these notions in our head of like, oh, if I'm a homeschooling mom, my house has to look like a Montessori, you know, a showroom. And I have to all day long from like eight to eight, like my whole life has to be this beautiful, like Instagram has done a lot for that. Hasn't it? Those Instagram homeschool moms that have it all perfect. And again, on the other side of that camera is a whole bunch of dirty laundry and all the things, you know? And so just again, I think sometimes we, and this is the mindset coaching me. We, we can have, we call this in the coaching world manuals the same way I have a manual for my iPhone or for like my computer, don't drop it in

water, that kind of thing. We can have a preconceived notion based on how we grew up, based on, you know, things that we were exposed to as a child of how something should be. And what I really encourage my clients, what I really encourage here in our work at Guiding Star is just what if it could be a little different? Like, what if that's not the only way you do life and motherhood? What if you homeschool different? What if you do your career different?

What if you do travel, adventure, whatever it is, you know, different? We had the last opportunity to spend time with you at Fox and Friends in New York City. we had the last opportunity to spend time with you at Fox and friends in New York city. And my husband and I, we looked at each other in a lovely little walk in central park, pushing the, our 10th baby in a stroller. And he looked at me, he was like, did you ever picture our life would be this fun? And I was like, you know, kind of like in a way, like, but, but there was a point where I thought that having one child and traveling in New York

City would not be at all a possibility I have 10 and it's and again I'm not trying to paint that it's easy I know you know this too I have help I have I have been very strategic about the kinds of help that I have I outsource a lot of things I delegate a lot of things my I don't do laundry anymore Rachel Campbell's definitely my oldest. I don't do laundry anymore. My oldest children, I literally do not step into that laundry room anymore. It is the job of my teenagers. But my point is, you can learn how to prioritize, how to make space for those priorities. And then delegate. We'll be back with much more after this. From the Fox News Podcast Network.

I'm Ben Domenech, Fox News contributor and editor of the Transom.com daily newsletter. And I'm inviting you to join a conversation every week. It's the Ben Domenech podcast. Subscribe and listen now by going to Fox News Podcasts dot com. Yeah, we have a lot of conversations on this podcast about delegating. Yeah, we have a lot of conversations on this podcast about delegating. When people see people like you and I who have that many kids, they think that we must be super moms or we must be lying about our lives.

But what happens in big families is you get good at delegating and everybody has to work as a team. And if you, Lisa, tried to do it all yourself, you would fall over. You wouldn't be able to wake up the next morning. It has to be a team effort. And that's the beauty of a family. And so that works. And then as you get older, like I am, and you get a little more resources, you get a little bit more help.

So I get a little bit more help in my house, but I didn't have that help early on at all. Um, and, and, and somehow we, we managed, I think for me, you know, looking at, you know, professionally how I got to this place, I took a, um, I took a, I got, I was started on television. I got married. I got pregnant. I had kids, and I thought I could do it. And I was far away from L.A., and I would get a gig here and a gig there at one point. And that's around shortly after I had this realization. I ended up writing this book. I came to that conclusion.

You came where, you know what? At this season in my life, God, I've tried the other stuff. God wants me to be here. There's a reason why these things are not working out really for me. And I, once I accepted that, like you did, um, I started to find a lot of joy and purpose and, and, and mission in what I was doing. And, and frankly, when some of my kids look back on old videos from that period of time, Lisa, they have such joyful memories of me in that phase of my life. And there was about 14 years. And then financially, we kept having kids. I actually needed to work. And so I ended up working for a nonprofit, sort of part-time-ish. And I had a really great boss who I still love, Danielle. And he allowed me to work and make some money, mostly working from home and doing some travel

here and there for the company. And then I ended up getting a contributorship with Fox. And then I ended up getting my job with Fox. I got my job as the co-host, official co-host of Fox and Friends Weekend when I was, I don't know, maybe 48 or 49, maybe. I mean, I was old. And so, you know, it's a matter of timing. I mean, for me, I have to say now looking back, like everything that happened was, you know, for purpose. And, um, I thought, I think it was all in God's plan. And I frankly think I'm better at my job now. Um, then I would have been, if I had had it at, you know, 32 and, and, and never had having done what I did and having those time, that time

off, um, those 14 years were, I think is, is where I blossomed as a woman, frankly. Um, now I'm not saying that everyone has to take that much time off or, or whatever it's, it could just be your maternity leave. Um, but, and, and, and, and a job that gives you enough time when you get home that you're not like dying and can't be present. There's lots of combinations and recalibrations of what it looks like. And you know that, Lisa. But I think that the most important message that you're putting out there that I'm trying to put out there is that don't believe the lies about motherhood. You can do

things that you love and you're passionate about, and you don't have to forfeit your family. You just have to keep working on finding that balance. And it's really imperfect and it's really messy, but it's really beautiful. And don't ignore the reality of your fertility. Like fertility is not bad. I think that's the piece that I've come, I get very passionate about today and today's society with the various ways that we suppress or alter fertility. It's a shame. Like it's the ability for a woman to get pregnant, just naturally get pregnant is an accomplishment. And so in the mix of all of this, it's a miracle. It's a legit accomplishment. A lot of things have to line up for a baby to happen, you know? And so I think that's the piece that I've come to sort of see more clearly now in

my, in my forties, I just turned 40, just that you can't ignore your fertility, nor do you have to. And that's where I'm really hoping in the next 10 years, if I get it my way, so to speak, Rachel, if God gives me everything I want, women understand that your fertility is not a detriment to you. Like it's not a detriment. It can enhance your life. It can make you incredible and feel fulfilled. And that again, you can do things in integration. It doesn't have to be these compartmentalized. Nobody talks to each other. I'm pregnant over here and I'm a career mom over here. No, it can be very holistic. It can be very fulfilling and it can be very happy. holistic. It can be very fulfilling and it can be very happy. Well, that brings us to your, the guiding star project, which, I mean, I think the overarching theme is that you want to create

a world where women never fear their fertility. Um, and, um, and, and, and by the way, you know, as you're talking about fertility and, and what a miracle it is and how lucky we are to have it. I mean, if you've been around people who have struggled with fertility, it's painful. It's heartbreaking. And so I love that your project also addresses that as well. So why don't we just let you just kind of lay out what kind of, because this is so revolutionary, everyone listening. This is so revolutionary, everyone listening.

This idea of women's health care has been 1,000% hijacked by the left. They have come up with a clinic called Planned Parenthood that doesn't offer health care, that lies about the services they provide women. They claim that they do all these breast exams and everything else, and it turns out they give abortions and hand out, you know, hormone blockers. That's really the majority of what they do. And Guiding Star could not be more opposite of that. It is a pro-woman, pro-fertility. And I just I want you to lay it out because you do it so much better than me, Lisa.

We have a vision for the future. Leah Jacobson, the founder of the Guiding Star Project. She has this incredible vision of a future where no women fear pregnancy. And we do that through education, community and health care solutions at physical centers. You know, I've been in the pro-life movements, I suppose, you know, in my adulthood, right? Like that's when I started getting more aware of these things and understanding them as a young person. And in my head, I was kind of like, okay, this is enough. Like meaning, you know, yes, we just need lots of these kinds of videos

and talks and books written about this topic. But what Leah Jacobson has really helped me understand is that healthcare is pivotal to the pro-life movement. Because exactly what you said about Planned Parenthood, the left has accepted that as healthcare. It is not. Anything that is going to suppress, alter, ultimately kill something that is natural in your body is not healthcare. That's not healthcare. And so Guiding Star is a very special thing where we provide four core services, fertility, breastfeeding, pregnancy, motherhood. We want women to start understanding as young as age nine, like young girls. Your period is not bad. It's not gross.

It's not something to, you know, certainly we maybe want to talk about it privately for modesty's sake, but it's not something to be like, ew, that's gross. It's an incredible thing. Again, another accomplishment, part of our design. And if we can educate women, young women as early as age nine, that your fertility is good, that this is how you were designed to be. These changes are natural and amazing. Think about how they now start thinking about themselves as they are contemplating sexual activity. They are contemplating adding to their family. Think of how that messaging is going to inform their mindset and their decisions.

We want fertility to be seen as something to be celebrated. But the thing that I think is really special and why centers like physical centers, why, yes, of course we need education. We need books. We need rallies. We need all the things, but at physical centers, this is where support happens. This is where actual healthcare happens. So, Hey, you're having a really hard time getting pregnant. Let's talk about it. Let's figure out what's going on with your hormones. Hey, you're feeling really overwhelmed. I see that. Come and take a seat. Let's have a really long conversation about your feelings. And let me connect you with a mental health professional who will help you. And then probably my favorite thing, and this is the thing I wish

I had had, I was like, where was guiding star when I was, you know, a young mother, you can come in and there's child watch. So meaning if you are overwhelmed, you need to just sit down and have a cup of coffee and not be interrupted. Your child will be happily cared for in the adjacent room. And you can just sit and have a pause or maybe have a great conversation with another mom. Maybe you come early for your own medical appointment. And on purpose, you come early because you just want to sit. And we grew up in community. Like generations before us lived in community you

know i spent i'm filipino intergenerational living is that's what i'm saying you know and we've lost that we've lost that in modern motherhood and and and when we lost that and and and by the way i grew up in a catholic school um it was like hispanic and and Filipino. So I feel like I'm kind of Filipino. And everybody says at school, a lot of people thought I was half Filipino. But, you know, I love Filipino culture and I love Latino culture because there is that intergenerational living. And that has always been a big support for women. don't think that it's a coincidence that women started to feel overwhelmed with motherhood when we started, we started to see that, that move into the suburbs away from family members, um, and support systems. And, you know, a lot of the happiest moms that I know and meet

are women whose moms and sisters live down the block, you know, and of course that would be the case. It is, it's difficult. And, you know, I know Hillary Clinton's kind of famous for saying it takes a village. I never liked that term. I think it takes a family and that includes the extended family. And I think, you know, for some people it's too late, right? Like that's just not happening, but there's no reason why moving forward, families can't start to think about their own children having children. And creating that kind of support system and starting to make, you know, help them see that maybe living closer to home, you know, there's a benefit to that once they get married and move on, because then we can all be together. And of course,

grandparents want to see their grandkids. So that so that's always a plus, but, but I think that you're right. Like that support system has been lost. And so, so many women are looking to for alternatives for that. I, you know, I basically, what I, my vision for guiding star as president now is for every objection that the left might have about, oh, the pro-life movement, they don't really care about babies. Like they don't really care about mothers. I want to answer every single objection at our centers. I want us to have education so that women feel empowered, that they can have an amazing natural birth and that they feel like just rock stars afterwards. They can have an incredible healing

experience afterwards. They can feel empowered around breastfeeding and, and again, just equipped to be a mom. When you think about it, right? You have to get a license to fish in a lot of places. What do we have to do to become mothers? You know what I mean? So with this loss of intergenerational living and even things like home economics in mean? So with this loss of intergenerational living and even things like home economics in high school, with the loss of these kinds of built-in societal constructs, we need that somewhere. We need somewhere where a woman can feel like, I don't know what I'm doing. Somebody please help. And then somebody is able to surround them and multiple people able. I love what you say about, you know, maybe it's not a village, it's a family. And, and we want guiding star to be the family when, you know,

maybe your biological family is not here or you don't have the support of them, you know? Yeah. So somebody who comes into your center, they, they, they come in pregnant, um, uh, just like for an example. So they come into pregnant, maybe it's a, it's, it's an unplanned pregnancy and they're stressed about it. You guys help walk them through that, through the birth plan, through preparing for that moment. You're helping with breastfeeding. What other services could I get at a guiding star? We have incredible stories.

One that comes to mind is Abby, who was unexpectedly pregnant in her teens, and she was pretty set on having an abortion. And her mother brought her into a guiding star. And just she, she was listened to, she was cared for. And she shares in her story that she had a big aha, when the care provider was explaining, well, this is what happens after an abortion. You're still going to feel pregnant for a period. You're still going to have physical symptoms and impact. And in her head, it was like, no, I'm going to be done.

And that really had a big part to play in her decision to ultimately have that baby. And then that baby now is adopted in an open, open situation. So she's able to interact with that sweet child. And it's an incredible, incredible story. Yeah. And so we certainly, yes, if women are coming in in a vulnerable state like that, we have services for women post-abortion. We have support for women who are experiencing infertility. And then we have services for women who are pregnant or perhaps are having, you know, some hormonal challenges around it. We have perimenopause services and a lot of different support groups. Basically, we want to be full spectrum wraparound health care for women focused

on fertility. I just love it. So how many centers do you have? We currently have eight in the United States and our goal is to be in all 50 United States by 2033. How do you guys finance Guiding Star? How is it paid for? How do the clients pay? How does it all work that way? We are very much funded by the generosity of our supporters. And so if this project is interesting to you, guidingstarproject.com slash donate is where you can go to learn more. And we have an academy where we also share a lot of free information around these topics, natural fertility, what it looks like to advocate for your own care to your health care provider. When you feel like maybe your voice isn't heard or you're being sort of talked down to or when you're wanting to bring up something more natural, you know, like how you can have

those conversations in a very productive manner and how to talk to your daughters about their first period. A lot of these resources are available at guidingstarproject.com. But yeah, we are very much funded by the generosity of donors. And we want to give care to anyone who needs it. We'll have more of this conversation after this. I absolutely love it. I think about the millions and millions of dollars that our government pours into Planned Parenthood. They get, you know, almost more than half a billion dollars a year that we know of. God knows all the other ways that they're getting funded. And just imagine if those dollars were being poured into an organization like this that actually looks at

women as a whole person and has their best interests at heart and the interests of their offspring at heart as well. I just want to say, Lisa, I love this next phase of your life that you're doing as the president of this organization, taking all the knowledge and wisdom that you have as a mom and applying it to helping other moms. I can't think of anything more consequential and more meaningful in the world right now. I think that, um, truly, um, you know, we, as you know, we have a declining birth rate. Um, I just got back from Italy, by the way, we, we talked about this on the podcast last week,

but I mean, the birth rate is collapsing in, in all of the Western world and, um, and America is no different. Um, and you know, I, I, I, I just think that part of it is this fear, right? And part of it is cultural and the way preferences are being influenced with young people. But I think a lot of it is the fear. And I think this idea that Guiding Star has that we're going to make it so that fear is not part of the equation when it comes to your fertility and pregnancy. And it shouldn't be. It's a blessing. It's a challenge. But it's nothing to fear. And again, I think what you guys do is dispel so many of the lies. I mean, you talked about this young woman who came in saying that she wanted to have an abortion. well, you know, what the abortion-minded people will tell

her is that your problems will go away. And you and I both know that that's not true. It's just the beginning of a whole new set of problems. The alcohol and drug addiction and mental depression rates for post-abortive women are absolutely sky high. They are simply not the same as for other women. They are off the charts. And it is like the one taboo issue. You will never hear about post-traumatic abortion syndrome outside the pro-life community. We're the only ones willing to talk about it. Nobody else.

I mean, I remember being a young woman. I don't ever think that was a topic even on Oprah. I mean, they had they had topics of everything on Oprah except post-abortion syndrome. Nobody wants to talk about it. Lisa, this question and I invite you, if you're listening to this and this conversation stirs up things in you, this and this conversation stirs up things in you, I just invite people to reflect on this question. What would the world look like if women didn't fear pregnancy? And as we were doing some, you know, internal branding and having these conversations around this topic, I went to all of our executive directors at our aid centers and I said, what's your answer to that and everybody kind of gave me just a different version of happy peaceful less stressed less worried tons of joy you know and that's I mean that's a vision for an America that I can get behind and and I think too like I look at my young daughters

and I hope that you know how they were raised in our house, like I hope that they know that fertility is not to be feared. I mean, I would hope so with 10 kids. Right. But I hope that when they are at those moments where they're making career decisions, they're not thinking things like I thought, you know, oh, my gosh, if I get pregnant, I'm going to lose my job. Like, I hope they're almost thinking things like I thought, you know, Oh my gosh, if I get pregnant, I'm going to lose my job. Like, I hope they're almost thinking the opposite. Right. I hope they're thinking early on. Yeah, no, I had those thoughts too. I mean, I remember I was up for a job on the view and, you know, um, same thing. And I, you know, I, I thought I'm going to lose this job, you know, but I will say, I do feel like things are changing, um, uh, at, at, at a certain level.

I know when I had, when I got pregnant with my, so while I was at Fox, let me think back. I think I had seven, eight, nine while I was at Fox, but I was a contributor, um, during, during those times, but still I was traveling back and forth. I was, um, you know, trying to, you know, uh, you know, advance career wise with Fox. And I remember they were always really supportive, but when I got to the ninth, um, and I went to my, my boss and I said, um, all right, I was thinking to my head, okay, they've been really great so far. They have had no problems with me. They love me. Um, they've been super supportive. I mean, to the point where like, as a contributor, Lisa, I would fly. Um, I lived in Wisconsin and I would

fly to New York just twice a month. That was my job. Just come back twice a month. And, um, and I would do as many hits as I could during those two, two, you know, one or two days that I was there. And then when I would go home, I might do a hit or two, you know, once, you know, once or once or twice a week while I was, cause I had a home studio. So it was a very manageable job for me. And, but they would literally, and, but my husband was in Congress. So it was really a complicated schedule. And the booker, who's one of my dearest friends there,

she would call me and she would say, okay, what works for you this month? And by the way, she is one of six and she's now a beautiful mom of three. But that for me was, I can't even tell you, like, I literally, when I see her in the hall, I give her a hug, because I'm still so very grateful that she was just trying to help make it work with my life. And then when I got pregnant with number nine, I had to go to the big boss and tell her, the president of the company, and also the president of the head of my show that I was working on. And both of them were, and she was the head of talent also. And both of those ladies said the same thing. They're like, all right, that's great.

I just got to get you more wardrobe budget. You know, like it could not have been nicer. It was just, it was so wonderful. And those are the things where, you know, we have to see, you know, see how much progress has been made and, and really celebrate that. And I really go out of my way to thank those women because I'm so grateful for that. Lisa, I did a show once with, with the great Lawrence, Florence Henderson. I don't know if, if you're old, you may, if you're not old, you may not

remember who she is, but she was Carol Brady from the Brady the brady bunch the mom and her and i did a show together on lifetime television um and my and it was a it was an eight-day show and um they flew me out it sounds super glamorous when i tell you this lisa and it it just it wasn't as glamorous as it sounds initially, but we flew out to a spa in Utah and we shot a show for eight days together. The problem was I had just had a baby five weeks before. So I literally I told Lifetime when I got the job, I'm like, I'm going to have a baby. This when you're ready to shoot, this baby will be five weeks old and I'm nursing and I can't be away from that baby that long, you know, for as long as you want me. I mean, I can't. And they said, no problem.

And they flew someone to take care of my baby while I was shooting, to stay in the room and bring me the baby so that I could nurse in between the takes. And I remember talking to Florence Henderson, and she said, God bless you, Rachel. By the way, Florence Henderson passed away, and it was just so sad. She was a remarkable woman and had a very big impact on my life at that time. And one of the reasons is the story that I'm about to tell you. She said, you know what, Rachel? I am so happy to see how well Lifetime is treating you. When I was Carol Brady and I was America's mom, I had four kids

and nobody knew about it and nobody wanted to, they wanted a mom, but they didn't want any of my mom problems. And I'm so happy that Lifetime has stepped up and really did that. And I was really proud of the Lifetime network for doing that. Um, and so I think it's important to acknowledge the ways that things are changing, um, and really give a lot of credit and love to those who are making those changes. You know, when you think about how much downtime there is in TV, like I just, there is, they're resetting lights there. Yeah. There's so much time to nurse and maybe not every job can be like that. You know, like maybe if you're resetting lights. Yeah, there's so much time to nurse. And maybe not every job can be like that. You know, like maybe if you're a surgeon, you know, I don't know. You know what

I mean? Like I'm sure there are specific jobs where you couldn't bring in a baby, but there are a lot of jobs where you can. And we sometimes just have to, again, like I said, expand our ability to view a situation. And again, sometimes it's getting creative. Maybe not every job can do that, but where possible, how can we accommodate a breastfeeding mother? And that's a beautiful example. Yeah. I can't think of anything more important than supporting breastfeeding moms. By the way, you will be happy to hear Lisa. I'm like the, I'm like the breastfeeding advocate at Fox News. Every story I can do about breastfeeding I do. Every new mom I talk to about breastfeeding, getting the support that they need to do it

because it's so important for the baby and it provides cancer, breast cancer protection for the mom. It's so important. Again, I want to also, before we end, remind people that, you know, they can donate to Guiding Star Project. They can also buy some amazing products through heritagegear.com, which is working with Guiding Star Project. Heritage Gear is like, I love all their stuff. Nobody sees me outside of my house with a purse that's not Heritage Gear. I love Heritage Gear. There are these felt bags. They're super sturdy. They got these leather under bottoms of them. And they have, I like the one with the American flag. You can get whatever you want on it. I love a good American flag. Well, in honor of Mother's Day, they put together a few products. And this is my new favorite one. It's a cream colored tote. It's so beautiful. It has the American flag on it, but they also have a blue one that's very large, canvas inside so it can double up as a diaper bag or just if you're like me and you always have messy stuff going on in your purse with your kid stuff

and your water bottles, it's a wipeable interior. That's on heritagegear.com. And look for the Mother's Day stuff that's going, but the proceeds go to Guiding Star Project because it's such a great cause. It's such a great look into the future, the present and the future of women's health care. Lisa, you have done so much to enlighten all of us. I love your story. I love your advocacy for moms.

I love your heart for moms. And I just really want to thank you. You came on Fox & Friends. You did a fantastic job there. Um, and I, I, I wanted to have you on the podcast cause I just love what you're doing. And this is a very full circle moment for me as well. Like I said, your book, stay home, stay happy. So many years ago impacted my view of motherhood in such an important way. So it is such a joy that you and I are now sitting here, 19 kids between us, sitting here having this conversation. Isn't that funny?

19 kids between us. By the way, I am like an honorary Filipina. I have such a heart for Filipinos. I don't know what it is. Every Filipina friend I have, they are the most family-oriented, faith-filled, good Catholics. They love their families. I just, there's something about Filipino culture and let's just admit it. They, Lumpia and so many of the great cuisine that I was always invited to in high school. I love Filipino cuisine as well. So I think that's

a, there's so many connections you and I have, Lisa. You didn't know you were coming on to an honorary Filipina podcast, but you are. I love it. I love it. I love it. And more to come. Yeah. Awesome. Well, thanks for joining us at the kitchen table, Lisa.

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