Growing Up, Growing Together

What happens when the people who are supposed to help you decide your future is already limited? In the first of our two part conversation, Deanna Jones shares her remarkable journey from growing up in a neighborhood known as Uzi Alley to experiencing heartbreaking loss, family separation, foster care, and becoming a mother at just 15 years old. By 16, Deanna was raising two children, and a caseworker told her she needed to choose between keeping her children and pursuing a college education. But Deanna refused to accept that those were her only options. She shares how she earned her GED, held on to her dream of attending Ohio State, and navigated poverty, domestic violence, and the emotional toll of spending so much of her life being strong for everyone else. This is an honest, sometimes heartbreaking, and often funny conversation about determination, the importance of having someone in your corner, and why becoming a young mother should never mean giving up on your dreams. And as Deanna reminds us, sometimes a delay is just that. It doesn't have to be a denial. Be sure to come back for Part 2, when Deanna shares what happened when she returned to the child welfare system, this time as a professional determined to make a difference for other families.

How much do you really know about your rights as a parent? If you're an unmarried mother, does having the father's name on the birth certificate automatically give him custody or visitation rights? What happens when child support isn't paid? And can being a teenage mother put you at risk of losing custody of your child? These are just a few of the questions we're tackling in this episode, and some of the answers might surprise you! Susan sits down with Gina DeGenova, an attorney with more than 25 years of experience who now serves as a magistrate and court administrator for Mahoning County Juvenile Court. Together, they discuss custody, paternity, child support, school truancy, and the role of juvenile court and children's services. Gina also shares valuable insight into the resources available to struggling families, what to do if you're facing a legal issue, and why asking for help doesn't automatically mean putting your family at risk. Whether you're a young mom trying to understand your rights or simply a parent who wants to be better informed, this conversation is full of information worth knowing. Because at The EMBER Project, we believe knowledge is empowering, asking for help is a strength, and your circumstances don't have to determine your future. This episode provides general information, primarily about Ohio law, and is not intended as legal advice for individual situations.

What happens when you become a mother before you've ever really experienced what it feels like to be loved? This week, Susan sits down with Dara Koenig, who became pregnant at sixteen while searching for the love, safety, and family she never had growing up. Dara shares her journey through poverty, abusive relationships, difficult decisions, and the painful realization that she wasn't always the mother she wanted to be. But Dara's story is also about growth, healing, and breaking generational cycles. From graduating high school as a teen mom to rebuilding her life and watching her children become confident, independent adults, Dara reminds us that our past doesn't have to determine our children's future. She and Susan also have an honest conversation about the mistakes they made as young mothers and how learning to love and value themselves changed the way they parented. Today, Dara is an executive and leadership coach who works with women, business owners, and organizations to help prevent burnout, particularly in demanding professional environments. Her work focuses on helping women understand their identity, develop healthier patterns, and lead with greater clarity and purpose. She is also an author of devotionals, host of the Her Becoming podcast, and serves in church leadership alongside her husband. Dara is passionate about mentoring young mothers and becoming the kind of support she wishes she'd had when she was younger. To learn more about Dara's coaching, speaking, books, podcast, and other resources, contact her at ⁠[email protected]⁠ or visit ⁠darakoenig.com⁠. This episode is a reminder that you don't have to be a perfect mother to become the mother your children deserve. It's never too late to grow, make different choices, and build a life you're proud of. Content note: This episode includes discussions of domestic violence, sexual assault, and suicide.

In this special episode of The EMBER Project Podcast, Susan welcomes Kylie back to the podcast after her first episode, Baking Through the Backlash, and this time she is joined by her husband, Devin. This conversation is extra meaningful because Devin is the first dad to join us on the podcast, giving listeners a chance to hear not only what young motherhood looked like, but also what young fatherhood, commitment, and growing up together looked like from his perspective. Kylie and Devin share what it was like to become parents young while still figuring out who they were, how teen parenthood shaped their relationship, and what they had to learn quickly because they did not have a choice. Together, they reflect on the challenges people may not have seen from the outside, the ways they had to grow, and the lessons they now carry into their marriage and parenting. Now raising three daughters, Kylie and Devin talk about parenting from experience without parenting from fear. They share how they approach conversations around dating, boundaries, red flags, sex, respect, self-worth, and trust. This episode is a beautiful reminder that young parents are not a stereotype or a statistic. They are people growing, learning, building, and sometimes creating the kind of family they once needed.

In this episode of The EMBER Project Podcast, Susan is joined by Chani Getter for a powerful conversation about young motherhood, identity, safety, healing, and becoming who you were meant to be. Chani became a parent at 19, had three children by the time they were 22, and made the brave decision to leave an unsafe marriage while slowly stepping away from the Hasidic community they grew up in. Chani's story offers an honest look at what it means to rebuild your life while raising children, especially when you are also learning who you are for the first time. Chani shares openly about growing up in an insular faith community, becoming a single parent, finding support through therapy, and learning how to listen to their own voice. Chani talks about the exhaustion of parenting three young children, the fear of not being enough, and the small but powerful ways they created space for themselves in the middle of survival. Now a licensed clinical social worker, interfaith minister, author, and scholar-in-residence at Footsteps, Chani brings deep wisdom to the conversation around trauma, grief, self-care, and healing while parenting. This episode is a beautiful reminder that young mothers are not just raising children. They are also growing, healing, learning, and becoming. Chani’s story speaks directly to the heart of The EMBER Project’s mission: that early mothers deserve support, mentorship, encouragement, and the chance to build a future that reflects who they truly are. You can learn more about Chani and their book Mapito at ⁠www.chanigetter.com⁠.

In this powerful episode of The EMBER Project Podcast, Susan sits down with author, educator, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother Dianne Brazell to talk about early motherhood, lost milestones, healing, education, grief, and the beauty that can still grow from difficult beginnings. Dianne became a mother at 16 after leaving behind the high school life she had just begun to love. At the time, she was too focused on her new life to mourn the one she was leaving, but years later she began to understand the grief that many young mothers carry quietly. Dianne shares how support, purpose, and self-love helped shape her life after becoming a teen mom. After earning her GED, she went on to college, became a public school teacher, taught at the university level, and built a life rooted in education, creativity, family, and service. She also opens up about childhood trauma, therapy, caregiving, the loss of her husband, and how writing helped her process grief and create beauty from ashes. This conversation is a reminder that early motherhood may change the path, but it does not end the story. You can love your child deeply and still grieve the younger version of yourself who had to grow up too fast. You can miss what you lost and still celebrate what you built. And most importantly, you can keep going, keep healing, and keep believing that your dreams may still find you in another season.

In this solo episode of The EMBER Project Podcast, Susan talks about three powerful threats from the book Be Your Future Self Now and how they show up in the lives of young mothers. This is not just a conversation about personal development. It is a conversation about poverty, survival mode, low expectations, money, relationships, and what happens when the world around you stops expecting more from you. Susan shares pieces of her own story, including how becoming a mother at 16 shaped what she believed was possible for her life, career, income, and future. She talks honestly about the way survival can shrink your world, why it is so hard to think long term when every day feels urgent, and how small choices can begin to build evidence that something better is possible. This episode is also a reminder of why mentoring matters so much. A mentor does not have to be a superhero or have all the answers. Sometimes the most powerful thing a mentor can do is show up, ask good questions, speak possibility, and help a young mother see a future she cannot quite see for herself yet. If you have ever felt stuck, underestimated, or unsure how to move forward, this episode is for you.

If you've ever wondered what The EMBER Project is really all about, this is the episode to listen to. In this deeply personal solo episode, Susan shares the beliefs that keep so many women stuck: the idea that we have to earn support, earn belonging, earn encouragement, and even earn love. Drawing from her own journey as a young mother, she explores how shame, self sufficiency, and the need to prove ourselves can quietly shape our lives and relationships. More than anything, this episode explains the heart behind The EMBER Project. Why mentorship matters. Why support matters. And why women do not need to be rescued, they simply need fuel. If you've ever struggled to ask for help, felt like you had to do it all alone, or wanted to better understand the mission behind EMBER, this conversation is for you.

In this episode of The EMBER Project Podcast, Susan is joined again by Meghan D. Gregory for a powerful conversation about ACEs and PACEs. Together, they talk about adverse childhood experiences, protective factors, trauma, resilience, and the people who help change the direction of a life. Meghan brings both lived experience as an early mother and years of knowledge from her work in mental health and nonprofit leadership. This conversation is honest, but deeply hopeful. Susan and Meghan talk about how childhood trauma can affect us well into adulthood, but also how healing, therapy, safe relationships, faith, mentors, grandparents, teachers, coaches, and supportive communities can help cushion the blow. They also discuss what young mothers can do when they are afraid of repeating cycles, including getting healthy, asking for help, creating emotional safety for their children, and learning that perfection was never the goal. At the heart of this episode is a reminder that trauma matters, but it is not the whole story. We can heal. We can build new patterns. We can become protective factors in someone else’s life. And for the early mother listening, your past may have shaped you, but it does not have to define the future you are building for yourself or your children.

In this episode of The EMBER Project Podcast, Susan sits down with author, entrepreneur, wife, mother, foster and adoptive mom Christine Shuck for a raw and honest conversation about survival, young motherhood, trauma, self-advocacy, and building a life no one else imagined for you. Christine shares what it was like growing up with emotionally immature parents, running away from home before her seventeenth birthday, becoming a young mom, surviving homelessness, abusive relationships, a suicide attempt, and the long, complicated road of learning how to believe in herself. Her story is heavy at times, but it is also full of humor, grit, and hard-earned wisdom. This conversation is a reminder that one chapter does not get to define the whole story. Christine talks about finding her voice, fighting for her child, becoming her own best advocate, writing books, investing in real estate, and creating a life that seventeen-year-old Christine never would have believed was possible. If you have ever felt trapped, behind, or like your future was already written for you, this episode is a powerful reminder that the door may be open, and you are allowed to walk through it. To connect with Christine, you can find her at www.christineshuck.com. Subscribe to her newsletter there as well as take a look at her book selection.