Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP.141 | Allie from Cuse Moms Club!

Episode Date: January 19, 2026

Empowering Moms: Allie's Journey with Cuse Moms Club - Good News York In this episode of Good News York, host Mike Brindisi welcomes Allie, the founder of the Cuse Moms Club. Allie shares her inspiring journey from being a fifth-grade teacher to starting the Cuse Moms Club to connect and support mothers in Syracuse. She discusses the struggles of postpartum, the importance of creating a community for moms, and the variety of events her club organizes, ranging from happy hours and Gallantines Day events to support circles and family-friendly activities. Allie also touches on future aspirations for the club, including the possibility of establishing a physical space and potentially expanding into homeschooling support. Tune in to hear how Allie's initiative has grown into a vital resource for local moms. 00:00 Welcome to Good News York 00:41 Introducing Our Special Guest: Allie 01:08 Allie's Journey to Founding Cuse Moms Club 03:08 The Challenges and Rewards of Motherhood 05:14 Support and Community: The Heart of Cuse Moms Club 07:31 The Inspiration Behind Cuse Moms Club 09:58 Overcoming Postpartum Challenges 11:32 The Unexpected Growth of Cuse Moms Club 12:09 Finding the Secret Sauce for Social Media Success 14:22 Types of Events Hosted by Cuse Moms Club 15:47 Future Aspirations and Challenges 21:29 Upcoming Events and Final Thoughts

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I am your host, Mike Brindisi. You can follow me on all socials at Mike B-Tv. We are sponsored by ads on the go, get ads on the go.com. Love you, Zach. And shout out to our direct. producer of Good News York, Danny Tripote on the ones and twos. Isn't that what they say in the business? I don't know.

You can follow us on all socials at Good News York. Good NewsYork.com, Monday through Thursday. 5 p.m. Eastern is when we air our episodes. I am joined today by a very, very, very special guest. She has been on one of our clients' podcasts, the Crazy Real podcast. She is the founder of the Cuse Moms Club. Love it already. Allie.

Allie, welcome. Again, it's always an uneventful single clap. Well, thank you, Danny. But we want to welcome you. Good morning. Good morning. And thank you for being here, especially on a Monday. Thank you.

When it's, what, 16 degrees out? I know. You are the founder of the Kuse Moms Club, and we're clearly going to get into that. But you have a great, very interesting background that kind of really fits for what you're doing. Tell us about yourself and your background. Thanks. Well, I am going to be 40 this year, which is crazy. I don't usually say my age, but I've been around for a minute.

I grew up here in Syracuse. I went to West Tennessee High School, went to Cortland for college, and started my teaching career here after I traveled a bit and lived other places and started teaching here in the city of Syracuse. I taught fifth grade for 10 years. And then when I had my son, I decided I wanted to stay home. I kind of always knew if I had kids, I would want to be a stay-at-home mom. So it just kind of was the right path for me. And when I started to stay home, I was kind of looking for something, like a way to connect with other moms, a way to kind of just postpartum is very lonely and it's very isolating.

If you're a mom, you know that. So when I was about a year postpartum, I decided to start Hughes Moms Club because I looked around and there was nothing for moms in the area. There was no like mom groups. There was no postpartum support groups, really. I think there are a few, but you don't really know about them and they're hard to find. So I started to kind of think, okay, what could I do? What could I do for myself and other moms and our kids? And so I came up with Kuse Moms Club.

I love the idea. Thanks. I think it's awesome. Thanks. And it's so fitting, too, because that's such a teacher move, by the way. You know what I mean? Like, I mean that. Yeah.

No, but I mean that as a compliment. Like, here you are. You're leaving your teaching career. Your stay-at-home mom, but the teacher never leaves you. You're thinking, how can I bring everybody together and we can learn and grow? And speaking of that, when you had to make the decision, was it, tough for you to leave the teaching job? How did how did you navigate that?

Because that is a tough decision to make. It was. You know, I kind of had reached the point 10 years in the city. It's challenging. It's you get burnt out. It's tough. It asks a lot of you. It's very demanding.

You give everything to those kids. And at that point, it was kind of like a struggle for me because I'm like, I don't want to have kids and send them to some. someone else to be raised and then me go raise other kids. You know, like, it might, some people might take that the wrong way, you know, but some moms don't have a choice and that is really tough. I think a lot of times when I talk with other moms, especially in these postpartum support circles, the hardest thing is moms leaving their babies to go back to work.

And a lot of them, they only get six weeks. Some of them, they get a little bit more time, but almost all the moms I talk to, they're not ready. So for me, it was like I, I knew I wanted this time. This time is priceless. You cannot get this back. When I'm 80 years old and I look back on my life, I'm never going to regret saying, oh, I stayed home with my son, but I would regret saying I went back to work. That makes sense. You know what? You just completely mirrored a Facebook post or social media, not even just Facebook. Yeah. I posted on social media about a week ago. my wife took a video of my son and I playing football out in the yard.

And I said, as I'm getting older, especially as a father, I'm starting to really realize how much time is the most precious thing we have on this earth. And you can't get it back. You can't. And when you are a parent and you love your kids so much, you want to spend every minute you can with them. So I totally understand that mentality and that's such a great perspective. Is there anything that you do miss about teaching?

But it's kind of a part two to that question is, but does the Q's Moms Club kind of scratch that itch for what you're missing? Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's a good question. I think there are things I miss. Like, I definitely miss the adult interactions and, like, my teammates in that. But then I've met so many moms through Kuse Moms Club,

where it's like I have those interactions now. I'm a super social person. So, yeah, like the events that I do, the moms that I meet, it's, it kind of, like you said, you know, fills that void, I guess. But, yeah. The, obviously, we're going to get into actual Q's Moms Club, what it's all about. But quickly, you come up with this idea. Yeah. I'm going to start this Q's Mons Club.

Now, I don't know your husband. I assume there had to have been a conversation. how did it go? Was it like a what? Or was it like, all right? You know, how, what was his reaction called that? Yeah, my husband is the complete opposite of me. He's like the most chill person. He doesn't have social media. He doesn't have Instagram. I can be that man. He doesn't know. Like, I will show him a real and he'll be like, like, he's like an 80 year old. Like, what am I looking at? Like, what? Does he do the glasses on the end of the nose? He wears contacts, but I'm sure if he did. Yeah. So he's just like, he doesn't like get things when I show, you know, so it's like, okay, whatever. Um, so when I told him, um, so when I told him, um, so when I told him,

I was doing this. Like he really, I don't think understands. I'm like, oh, I have like 4,000 followers now. And he's like, you know, he does. Yeah, he has like no idea. Like, um, what's going on. He knows like obviously about the events and all that. And he knows like, it's really funny to both of us.

Like, it's very, very weird and funny when people are like, oh my God, like you're a celebrity or local celebrity when people meet us. And like, my husband's like, okay. See, that's great. This is ridiculous. No, but that's great. He's the last. of a dying breed. I love and envy the people. You know, I work in this field now. So even if I wanted

to get rid of social media, I couldn't. I envy the people that are so oblivious to what's going on. And they're like, oh, you have 4,000 followers. Yeah. I don't care. Yeah. I think he's probably like, you know what? My wife's happy. She's not yelling at me. Let's go. That's it. So Q's Moms Club, love the name first of all. Thanks. So the idea comes about, tell us about what is Kuse Moms club at its core and and yeah just what what it's all about so when i thought like oh i want to start something i kind of had like all these ideas kind of in my head but i didn't want it to be like i thought of like the kew's mom and i'm like but i don't want it to be about me you know it's not really about me um so kews mom's club i feel like the club kind of sounds exclusive but it's it's not

you know like i'd have moms be like how do i join the club i'm like you just follow you can join, come to any event. You just did. Yeah, you just did. Are you interested? You're in. You're in, you know, so yeah, it's not, um, it's not like this exclusive thing, but it kind of sounds like it. So that's kind of what I liked it. Like a group, you know, a club. Um, yeah. So. And what is the kind of the mission statement, so to speak, of the club? This is, is it a little bit of a support group? Just a little bit of a way to get out and do things. Talk about that. Yeah. So I think like in my Instagram on bio. I have connecting and supporting moms in Syracuse, which that's definitely

like the main goal. And so doing that through the postpartum circles, the events, and then finding adventures and things to do for you and your kids around Syracuse, because I felt like that was one of the things that was missing too. I would wake up and I'd be like, okay, what can we do today? And you're kind of like endlessly searching and you just kind of hit dead ends. like, okay, I don't really, I don't know. I guess we'll, you know, do the same thing. So kind of helping moms try to find different things to do in the area and, and sharing all about all the local offerings in the area.

Let me tell you something. That sounds like such a simple idea. Yeah. And maybe it is as a parent. Yeah. Especially as a parent whose wife is, my wife's a teacher. Yeah. And when you have a long break and you're scrambling for finding things to.

do. You can only look up so many things. Just, I mean, obviously the support part of the group of Q's Moms Club is great. But I think just having one place where you can go and find events is probably key for everybody. Do you think, because I know you had mentioned, you had gone through some postpartum, which is a very real thing that, that, that moms go through. Do you think that was kind of the catalyst? Like, that was the thing that that kind of gave you the spark to start? this was that kind of the inspiration yeah for sure um like i said postpartum was really hard for me i had a really tough time my son was in the niccue for the first week of his life yeah so um which is terrific it was really tough he yeah it's he actually was like perfectly healthy it was just a

protocol because he was born so early so that was like a really hard thing to deal with i think i would have had an easier time if i like knew he needed the nik you but like in my heart i knew he didn't like later confirmed with my midwife who is at a different hospital but I decided to go to Kraus because I was early she was like yeah he would have been fine here so that was like a hard thing to deal with because when yeah when you have a baby you're like I just want to have that baby with me all the time and that I couldn't it was that really messed me up and it it had like long-term effects um so yeah once he was a year old I kind of felt like okay I was like not getting back to myself, but I was like I was kind of out of the throes of it. And so that's when I decided to start

it. But it definitely was probably the spark that made me want to start it. That's amazing. And I'll tell you, you know, on any sort of entrepreneurial adventure, whether it's small or large, it's a leap of faith. You have to have the confidence and and the bravery to do it. you know, you have a career as a teacher. What gave you the confidence to say, you know what? I'm going to go do this. I can, and I can do this. Yeah.

That's, I know. I honestly didn't think it was going to become this big. I just was like, oh, I'll just like, like start this club and see what happens. Maybe I'll have like 10 or 20 moms, you know. And I remember the first day it was like 400 followers. Like they shut my Instagram. Really? They shut my Instagram down because they thought I was.

was like collecting bot followers. Like I'm like, what is happening here? Like I posted it. I'm like, they're not letting me access. Have you ever actually looked at the label on your dog's food? Most dog food labels are a long list of things that don't look like food. Powders, starches, additives used to hold ultra-processed kibble together. At We Feed Raw, the label looks very different.

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If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start your new podcast for free today at RSS.com. Like somebody messengers like because you're growing so fast that they shut it. What did so I mean for for anybody who's on social media, especially that, we're a company. Click Stream Studios. We produce podcasts and social content and we have good news York. Everybody wishes they knew the secret sauce. You know, everyone dreams of like, I'm going to start something.

I'm going to get a ton of followers. Yeah. What did you post? Like what's the gist of what you posted at work? You had the magic recipe. I honestly think at the beginning it was there was nothing in this area for mom. It is. Yeah.

And I think. Instagram was my preferred platform because I think as a millennial and as a mom, that's where a lot of millennial moms are, you know? I think TikTok is growing for us, but not as much as like Instagram as our platform. And so then when it started to, I was like, oh, my God. Once I got that many followers, I'm like, oh, shoot, I better like start planning some stuff. I better actually do something. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm like, okay. Like let me like the postpartum circle was the first thing. But yeah, I was like, oh my gosh. This is a lot of pressure now. Like, it started to become where I'm like a lot of pressure.

But now I've chilled out. I'm like, all right. I have like a really great group of moms. And I do not care about the followers. I do not care about like if people know who I am at all. Like I don't really post myself really on my page again because it's not about me. And I actually don't care about that. Oh my gosh.

Yeah. So you're the equivalent of the, you know, I had a band for a lot of years. You're the equivalent of the of the, of the, of the, of the, of the, of, of, of, of, of, of, the musical artist that's like, I don't care if I have fans, I do it for the music. And you end up growing the biggest following next to all the bands that are like posting every day. Check out my music.

That really is the key I feel like sometimes is you get rid of preconceived notions. You just do it because, you know, it's your passion. Yeah. And if it's good, it'll come along. You know, it'll work. Right. And, you know, kind of business 101 is like,

I always tell people like, if you want to open a restaurant, right, you're not in your city as far. five steakhouses, don't open a steakhouse, right? You found a hole in the market. There was an extreme need for mothers who needed support and things to do, and you found that. And that's so great. And you're selfless about it. And I think it's wonderful. What are some of the things that you guys do? I know you mentioned like a postpartum circle. I know I've noticed there's happy hours. Talk about the types of events that you guys do. Yeah, we do all different types of events. We do events just for moms.

So, yeah, the happy hours. We're doing like a Galentine's Day event. So a mom's night out with like shopping, pampering. It's going to be great. We do events for moms and kids so that we can connect and meet, you know, moms in the area that have maybe the same age kids as us or that live in the same area as us. So that's a great way.

I've had like moms who have become friends through Kuse Moms Club, which that's amazing. You know, that's like, yeah, obviously the main reason, like, why I started it was to help moms connect. So that's great. And then, yeah, just doing events for families too. A lot of the events I do on the weekends I do for families because that's family time, right? So I don't want to be like, oh, no, it's just moms and kids. And then, like, what are the dads going to be doing?

Just, you know, that's their time to spend with their kids. So I try to be mindful of that. But most of the events are for moms or moms and their kids. That's amazing. Yeah. And is there a certain venue that you go to? I know obviously with events, you have different venues because it's a different event. Yeah.

But is there like a clubhouse or just kind of a home base for you guys? There's not. I wish there was. But there's not. I think that's something that in the future I would love to do. Again, like you talked about the entrepreneurial side of this. I can't say the word. That's a tough word.

But that is like not my wheelhouse at all. So again, being a teacher, like I don't really know how to run a business. I don't. But I would love to, have you ever heard of Play Day in Liverpool? It's like an indoor play place. No, I have no. Okay. So it's like an indoor play place for kids, but it's the only one in the area.

So in the back of my mind, I'm like, I would love to own something like that in like Camillas, like where I am kind of based. And that could be like a home base. that could also be used for events. That could also be used for like even like schooling down the road, like a little like pre-K or top, you know, school. Or the dads can come and they can go in the play area with the kids and then the moms can do their thing, you know. I mean, if anyone's listening, yeah.

Investors, investors, any realtors. I think that's a wonderful idea. Yeah, so right now we don't have a clubhouse, but I would love that, you know. That would just take, obviously, I don't make money off of this right now. So that would take, I have to find funding. And I've been wanting to try to look in the not-for-profit route, but have you ever, like, searched how to do that?

It's very daunting. Oh, it's a ton of paperwork. Like, I feel like I need to just hire somebody and be like, can you turn this into a not-for-profit? So I have some funding so that I can, like, elevate my events and, you know, take it to the next level. Well, it sounds like you're doing everything right. what uh how do you come up with this idea for for different events and you know where and and what goes into choosing the venues yeah so a lot of times like i think okay what are things that i would want to do either by myself or with my my son um so that kind of helps i have people reach out to me a lot like

hey would you want to collab on this type of event would you want to do something at our space um so that's really nice i have been now kind of been able to to pick and choose like what I do because I have a lot of people reaching out to me, which is also hard because I have to say no sometimes because otherwise it's like too much. So I try to keep it to like five to seven events per month so that it's not like a burnout. And I'm not like every night of the week like, okay, I got to go, you know, do this or. Yeah, no. And that's, it's actually really smart.

again, I'll apply it to, I'll compare it to, you know, having a band or being a musician. You know, one of the rules of thumb in like a local music scene is don't, don't play 10 times a month because then, you know, the shows that you do play, some people are going to go, I'm not going to go to this show. I could go see them next week. You know, make it, make it more of a special thing. Yeah. Is there also some, like, so obviously the events are the events. But outside of that, you have a strong social media presence. Is there a lot of interaction with the members through social media as far as support goes and interacting with each other? Yeah, for sure.

Like, I get so many messages just like thanking me, which is really nice and like how like this has helped me so much as a mom in my postpartum era, which is like awesome, you know? Yeah, that's the whole thing, right? I mean, the events are great, but it's like at the crux of it. Yeah. You know, this started by being inspired by by struggling through. postpartum and when you hear other moms you're like this is why I did it. Yeah, like at Christmas time, like I had a like a couple moms then moamy like just thank you so much for what you do. I had a mom give me a present like just so unexpected and so nice, you know. Yeah. But they're doing

it because again, you're selfless and and you're providing as much as this is a recreational thing of sorts. It's also a support group and you know, you're you're helping people through some of the the toughest periods of their life. It's amazing. You've accomplished so much with the Q's Moms Club. And for the most part, it's lighthearted, but is it, are there any milestones or goals or where do you see this going over there? Is there something like where you're like, you know what I really want to do with this group? I'd love for us to be able to do this. Yeah, I think like long term, obviously the not for profit route would be amazing.

And then I have thought about like the future and what this could look like because obviously my son. is not going to be young forever, you know? And as he grows, like, homeschooling is something I've thought about because I have just loved staying home with him so much. And then obviously bringing in that, like, teacher part of me, I would love to be the one that is teaching him and seeing him grow. And obviously being a teacher and you, like when that light clicks for the kids and you see their growth, like that's amazing. Like, that would be awesome to do that with my own son. So just talking with other moms about that. I know there are a lot of moms who are interested in the homeschool like route. So maybe down the road that's something like this could turn into like a homeschool

co-op. I don't know. I feel like the possibilities are on the list. No, I love where your mind's going because, you know, given your background in teaching, you know, this could evolve into something you never expected where, you know, the teaching element is involved. Who knows? But we we wish you the best. Allie, you're a former teacher. Once a teacher, always a teacher. Cuse Moms Club. What are some events coming up that you want to talk about? Yeah, so we have a couple events in February already on the books.

We have the Galantines Day event, which I'm super excited about. That's February 13th, and that is at the Linear Collective. So it's going to be a night of shopping. We have vendors. We have pampering, massages, things like that. And then we have an event February 11th. It's going to be at St. Camillas. It's a nursing home.

I don't know if you've heard of it. It's in, yeah, Syracuse. My grandpa was in St. Camillas for like forever for like seven years. So we're going to go and do like a little senior story time where the kids and the seniors can kind of like sing songs and do a little craft together and hopefully bring some joy to the people in St. Camillas because. I know. You know, you're not only helping my mom. Moms and children. Now you're helping the elderly. You're like Mother Teresa.

No, okay. It's wonderful. If there are any moms out there, they're interested in the Q's Moms Club, where can they go to find you? Give us the plugs. Yeah, so Instagram, it's at Q's Moms Club. That is the main platform I'm on right now. Okay. I don't really do much on Facebook, just because it's a lot to run multiple platforms and

answer a lot of messages in that. so I try to be mindful of how much time I'm on my phone. But yeah, Q's Moms Club. And if you are interested in collaborating an event or, you know, looking to have me host something at your space, you can email me at Q's or Q's Moms Club at gmail.com. Amazing. Is there anything else you want to talk about or mention about Q's Moms Club before we go? I don't think so.

Just thank you everyone who's part of it. And thanks for the support. And we love it. I think it sounds like everyone is thanking you. Even our executive assistant, Amanda, said before you got here, she goes, oh my God, I love it. She goes, every time I want to do something with my daughter,

I look up Cuse Moms Club. So you're doing amazing things. And we're so happy you came on Good News York. We wish you the best. Allie from Cuse Moms Club. Again, check her out at Cuse Moms Club. I'm Mike Brindisi. You can follow me on all socials at Mike B.

TV. And we, Good News York, are on all socials. at Good NewsYork, goodnewsYork.com. New episodes air Monday through Thursday, 5 p.m. Easter. Sponsored by Ads on the Go, get ads on the go.com. Danny Tripote, thank you for producing and directing. This is powered by Clickstream Studios, and we will see you tomorrow on Good News York.

Allie, thank you so much. Thank you. You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode, and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more.

Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this, even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com. You're listening to a podcast right now, driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say, too. With RSS.com, starting your own podcast is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads just like this.

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