🎁 ENTER THE HOLIDAY GIVEAWAY → andreabarr.com/giveaway

[HOLIDAY BEST OF SERIES]

This final Throwback Thursday of the holiday series brings you one of your most-loved episodes about navigating major life transitions. If you've ever loved a career but struggled to make it work after kids—or dreamed of starting your own thing—Mackenzie Forge's story will resonate deeply.

Mackenzie has an incredible story of competition, loss, drive, and raising a family. She went from varsity athlete to thriving in commercial real estate—a career she genuinely loved waking up for on Monday mornings. But after having her daughter Kennedy in February 2020 (hello, pandemic parenthood), and then twin boys 11 months later, everything shifted.

In this conversation, Mackenzie opens up about the guilt of not giving enough to either work or family, the moment she decided to leave her career, and how she channeled her business skills into creating Forge Magnetic Clothing—beautiful magnetic bibs and clothing for babies and toddlers.

This episode is for anyone who's trying to figure out how to honor both their career drive and their family values—and for anyone who needs to hear that leaving doesn't mean giving up.

In this episode, we cover:

• (04:55) Mackenzie's varsity athlete background and overcoming depression after leaving sports
• (07:49) 2014: A year of big highs and devastating lows—losing her mom, career changes, and meeting her husband
• (09:49) Why she absolutely loved her commercial real estate career
• (14:08) The pivot point: joining CREW and getting pregnant
• (15:42) Having Kennedy in February 2020 and pandemic parenthood
• (17:32) The challenging transition back to work part-time
• (19:45) Why boundaries are complicated in time-sensitive industries
• (21:50) The decision to leave after compensation changes and feeling like she was failing everywhere
• (24:07) Finding out about twins (and thinking it was triplets!)
• (27:29) Starting Forge Magnetic Clothing from a real problem she needed to solve
• (28:29) The frustration of snap bibs and why magnets changed everything
• (30:02) Building nine prototypes over 10 months while raising three kids
• (33:39) Finding fulfillment in entrepreneurship beyond just the money
• (35:20) The universe's hand: Would she have gone back to real estate if not for twins?
• (37:21) What's on the horizon for Forge Magnetics
• (40:07) Advice for ambitious moms trying to balance it all
• (42:27) What Mackenzie is still figuring out in 2024

About Mackenzie Forge:Mackenzie is a mom of 3 vivacious toddlers and the founder of Forge Magnetic Clothing. She was born and raised in North Vancouver and had a successful career in Commercial Real Estate, which she left in 2022, after finishing her second maternity leave, choosing to spend more time with her children and start a business.

Shop Forge Magnetics:

Website | https://forgemagnetic.com/

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/forgemagnetic/

Special offer for All Figured Out listeners:Use code ALLFIGUREDOUT10 for 10% off your purchase!(Code is limited to one use per customer)

About Andrea Barr, host of All Figured Out:

Andrea is a certified career and life coach for parents. Through her coaching, she supports parents in finding better work-life rhythms so they can continue to grow personally and professionally without sacrificing family time.

Connect with Andrea

Website | ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.andreabarr.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠

Instagram | ⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/allfiguredoutandrea⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠Resume Shop⁠⁠⁠⁠ – Beautiful, customizable resumes to land your dream job

🎁 ENTER THE HOLIDAY GIVEAWAY → andreabarr.com/giveaway

[HOLIDAY BEST OF SERIES]

This Throwback Thursday brings you one of our most impactful episodes on parenting. If you've ever felt overwhelmed trying to raise resilient, well-adjusted children—or if you're working to break cycles from your own childhood—this conversation with Nurse Practitioner Kathleen Sullivan is essential listening.

Raising children can (most of the time) be a mystery and a lot of trial and error. Add to that, trying to figure out how to raise resilient, well-adjusted, happy, and healthy children...and cue overwhelm.

That's why we have Kathleen Sullivan here: she's going to share with us ALL about how we can raise resilient children.

Kathleen is a Nurse Practitioner who, throughout her career, has worked with children in many different clinical settings. Currently, Kathleen works clinically with youth in mental health and substance abuse, and also serves in a leadership role developing education programs. She is part of a Doctors of BC working group focused on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and childhood trauma prevention.

In this episode, we cover:

• (03:33) Kathleen's career pivot from pediatric nursing to becoming a Nurse Practitioner
• (11:29) The definition of trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)
• (13:35) The groundbreaking ACEs study and its surprising findings on long-term health impacts
• (21:02) How trauma physically changes the brain—and how quality care can reverse those changes
• (37:00) The four S's of secure parenting: Safe, Seen, Soothed, and Secure
• (32:00) Practical ways to build resilience in children through attachment and connection
• (28:29) How to break generational trauma cycles
• (30:10) Resources for parents navigating these challenges

CONTENT ADVISORY: We will be talking about trauma and adverse childhood experiences in a theoretical sense. Topics include child abuse, neglect, mental illness, and substance abuse. Please do what you need to do to take care of your mental health, and skip this episode if this topic isn't speaking to you right now.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Book: Raising a Secure Child by Ken Hoffman
• Book: The Power of Showing Up by Dan Siegel
• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy
• Doctors of BC Working Group on Adverse Childhood Experiences

About Kathleen Sullivan

Kathleen is a family Nurse Practitioner with a clinical practice in a youth mental health and substance use. She recently joined the leadership team as a lead with the Regional Professional Practice NP team with a focus on supporting quality practice environment and excellence in clinic practice for NPs, specifically in urgent care and primary care. After completing a capstone in Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Kathleen joined the provincial ACEs working group with Doctors of BC. Outside of work, she finds balance exploring trails and mountaintops with her partner and giant dog.

About Andrea Barr, host of All Figured Out:

Andrea is a certified career and life coach for parents. Through her coaching, she supports parents in finding better work-life rhythms so they can continue to grow personally and professionally without sacrificing family time.

Connect with Andrea

Website | ⁠⁠⁠https://www.andreabarr.com/⁠⁠⁠

Instagram | ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/allfiguredoutandrea⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Resume Shop⁠⁠⁠ – Beautiful, customizable resumes to land your dream job

🎁 ENTER THE HOLIDAY GIVEAWAY → https://www.andreabarr.com/giveaway

[HOLIDAY BEST OF SERIES]

This week's Throwback Thursday features one of your most-loved episodes from early in the podcast. If you're navigating the tension between career ambition and new motherhood—or questioning what success really means after becoming a parent—this conversation will resonate deeply.

Trigger Warning: Topics such as disordered eating, infertility, and infant loss do come up in this episode. Please do what you need to do to take care of your mental health, and skip this episode if those topics just won't jive with you today.

Today, I have Meredith MacKenzie on the show sharing her career story. And if there's one thing I've learned from coaching working parents and chatting with Meredith, it's that it's never just a career story—it's a life story.

Our conversation spans Meredith's drive as a high achiever, her fertility challenges, and the current questions she's asking herself as she finishes her maternity leave, juggles her doctorate degree, and decides what to do about her return to work and considerations for family planning. As you can tell, we cover a lot here.

Meredith is a Counsellor and the Founder of Parallel Wellness. Her team provides mental health therapy services to individuals, couples and families throughout British Columbia. Meredith is also a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia and first-time mom. Meredith supports women in overcoming years of dieting, poor body image, binge eating and emotional eating, so they can reconnect with their body's true needs and find freedom from food and diet culture.

For Meredith, figuring it all out has been understanding herself more deeply, weighing her career, her health, and her family values, and learning to put herself first.

To connect with Meredith MacKenzie:

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/parallelwellness/ | https://www.instagram.com/dr.meredithmackenzie/

YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@dr.meredithmackenzie

To learn about her current offerings and group programs, visit her platforms above

About Andrea Barr, host of All Figured Out:

Andrea is a certified career and life coach for parents. Through her coaching, she supports parents in finding better work-life rhythms so they can continue to grow personally and professionally without sacrificing family time.

Connect with Andrea

Website | ⁠⁠https://www.andreabarr.com/⁠⁠

Instagram | ⁠https://www.instagram.com/allfiguredoutandrea⁠

⁠⁠Resume Shop⁠⁠ – Beautiful, customizable resumes to land your dream job