Have you ever been told that work-life balance for women in STEM is a myth?
Do you want a meaningful science career and a rooted family life —but you worry that you’re “failing at both”?
Are you running low on time, energy, and sleep, trying to keep up with grant deadlines, conferences, and kids?
Do you wonder if negotiating career shifts, flexible jobs, STEM-adjacent roles, or maternity leave is proof you’re not a serious scientist?
Welcome to Science Careers for Moms — a TOP 2.5% GLOBALLY RANKED PODCAST for women in STEM who want a career path where they can thrive in science without sacrificing their family or personal wellbeing.
Hi! I’m Anokhi Kapasi, a PhD researcher and mom of two boys. I created this show because I know what it is like to feel torn between being a serious scientist and a present mom —and to realize that “trying harder” is not a strategy.
This show is different because it integrates career and life planning strategies designed specifically for science-minded moms in a work culture that was not built for caregivers. Every episode blends interviews with other scientists who have been where you are and career planning deep-dives where you will learn the answer to questions like:
🎯 Are there decision-making frameworks to help me navigate pivots, return-to-work, academia vs. industry…or to even know what the “next right move” is?
🎯 How do I set career goals that allow me to stay ambitious, connect with my family, and feel like myself again?
🎯 Is work–life balance for working moms in STEM actually possible, and what does it look like in practice?
🎯 Can I stay in science & tech without burnout, guilt, or losing sight of myself?
STEM-trained moms, I’ll teach you how to make confident career decisions that align with your whole life —not just professional development.
🎧 FOLLOW this show and never choose between being a good mom or a good scientist again!
🗣️ GUEST INTEREST FORM: https://calendly.com/anokhi-solveformom/guests-on-solve-for-mom
📩 QUESTIONS: hello@solveformom.com
🌐 VISIT: www.SolveForMom.com for more resources & information
Episodes
Sunday May 10, 2026
Sunday May 10, 2026
If you’re a scientist and have been Googling how to stop mom guilt, this episode is for you.
You can stop feeling like you’re failing at work and home.
You’ll learn how to treat guilt as data (not a verdict) and turn it into a simple Mom Guilt Prevention Plan—so you can make clear decisions, protect family time, and stay on track in your STEM career.
Mom guilt spikes during STEM “ambition seasons.”
Grant deadlines. Paper revisions. Conference travel. Promotion cycles.
And suddenly it feels like you have to choose between: good mom vs good scientist.
This episode gives you a work-life balance framework that works inside real constraints—so you can keep moving forward without the guilt spiral.
These strategies won’t just help you “feel better.” They’ll help you:
- Preempt predictable cycles of high scientific workload with a prevention plan
- Reduce decision fatigue with clear standards (“what done looks like”)
- Teach you how to prioritize tasks and create a system of support at home & work
- Stay connected at home while you’re in a high-stakes work week
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MOM GUILT AS A WORKING MOM IN STEM - QUOTES
- “That's when it feels like you're starting to have to choose between being a good mom and making sure that people still see you as a legitimate scientist.”
- “But what if the guilt isn't more proof that you're actually doing something wrong, which is how it feels, right? What if that guilt is actually data?”
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EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
- (0:00): Mom guilt spikes during “ambition seasons”
- (2:23): The bad mom / bad scientist spiral
- (6:52): Why STEM careers create predictable “ambition seasons” (deadlines, publications, travel for work)
- (10:17): Guilt is data you can use to make better decisions
- (13:24): Build your Mom Guilt Prevention Plan that works for women in STEM + Example (Planning a grant submission)
- (18:20): Using a Focus Funnel
- (23:27): Next step: Next step + resources
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NEXT STEP
➡️ Download the 2-Minute Reset for Scientist Moms and keep it handy for the week your plan starts collapsing → https://solveformom.com/reality-check
👍🏽 If this is your season, tap +Follow so you don’t miss future episodes
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KEEP LEARNING ON THIS TOPIC
- Time management & Focus Funnel – ⏮️ EP 46: Challenging Schedule? 3 Simple Plans to Win Back Your Day | Time Management Tips for Ambitious Moms (Podcast)
- STEM culture thinking creating the mom vs. scientist trap – 📖 Work life balance for women in STEM: 6 myths (Blog)
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HELPING MOMS IN STEM
👩🏻🔬 Know a scientist/engineer/data/health-tech mom who’s in a deadline season? Send this episode to them.
🙋🏻♀️ Q&A: Record your science career-for-moms question in one click. I'll answer it on the show. Let me know if you want a shout-out!
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STAY CONNECTED
🤩 If this episode helped, please leave a review—it helps more women in STEM find this show in search.
💌 Grab my free Sci-Mom Says newsletter
🎙️Interested in a guest interview on Science Careers for Moms? → Apply Here
📫 E-mail hello@solveformom.com
🔬Connect with me on LinkedIn as a fellow PhD researcher & scientific consultant
🌐 Visit solveformom.com for more information and FREE resources
Sunday Apr 26, 2026
Sunday Apr 26, 2026
Women in STEM work‑life balance advice breaks down for one reason: it was built for someone without your constraints.
Yet every week can feel like a race—between meetings, pickups, bedtime, and the mental load… and you still end up at 10:30pm trying to “catch up,” feeling like you’re failing both.
But what if the reason you’re stuck isn’t because you’re doing it wrong… but because the “helpful” advice is based on myths that quietly push you into overcommitment and self‑blame?
In today’s episode, I’m walking you through 6 work‑life balance traps disguised as good advice—so you can make career decisions that protect your credibility and your family time, without burning out.
These are the exact reframes I use with high‑achieving moms in STEM—each one designed to bring clarity, sustainable systems, and a week that actually holds.
Let’s get into it.
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EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
- (0:00): Teaser
- (2:26): Listener shout out
- (3:23): Why most “work‑life balance advice” collapses for moms in STEM
- (5:39): 6 false narratives that become invisible rules that narrow your options and decisions:
- (6:10): Work-life balance
- (8:06): STEM work culture
- (10:49): Being called to both, career & motherhood
- (13:56): Career stability
- (16:01): Academia
- (19:20): Credibility
- (21:49): Free companion resource: the 2‑Minute Reality Check + reset + AI prompt
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WHO THIS IS FOR
This is for you if you’re a high‑achieving mom in STEM who wants to stay ambitious—without sacrificing your health, your home, or your identity.
If you’ve ever thought: “moms still get punished at work for being the default caregiver”… you’re not imagining it.
And if it feels like “the whole system still assumes you can't be both a hands‑on parent and a serious professional”—this episode will help you stop personalizing a structural problem and start designing around real constraints.
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NEXT STEP
➡️ Download the Myth‑Buster Cheat Sheet and keep it handy for the week your plan starts collapsing.
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WORK-LIFE BALANCE MYTHS - QUOTABLE MOMENTS
- “It's actually the balance advice that you're being told up until now that's failing you.”
- “False narratives about work-life balance narrow your thinking because they prevent you from fully examining what all of your options are.”
- “Having clear boundaries protects your credibility more than over availability does”
KEEP LEARNING ON THIS TOPIC
- ⏮️ Work-life balance myth keeping moms in STEM stuck (Podcast)
- ⏮️ Personalized work-life balance for high-achieving moms (Podcast)
- Flexible job work arrangements - ⏮️ Part 1 and ⏮️ Part 2 (Podcast)
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HELPING MOMS IN STEM
🤩 If this episode helped, please leave a review—it helps more women in STEM find this show in search.
🙋🏻♀️ Q&A: Record your science career-for-moms question in one click. I'll answer it on the show. Let me know if you want a shout-out!
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STAY CONNECTED
👍🏽 Tap +Follow and never miss an episode
💌 Grab my free Sci-Mom Says newsletter
🎙️Interested in a guest interview on Science Careers for Moms? → Apply Here
📫 E-mail hello@solveformom.com
🔬Connect with me on LinkedIn as a fellow PhD researcher & scientific consultant
Sunday Apr 12, 2026
Sunday Apr 12, 2026
Imposter syndrome in women in STEM can feel like a constant need to over-prepare, prove yourself, and still worry you’ll be “found out.”
In today’s episode, I sit down with Dr. AJ Lauer, EdD—a STEM leadership and workplace inclusion expert—to help you tell the difference between a real skills gap and imposter phenomenon, and to give you a simple way to respond in the moment.
Dr. Lauer teaches us how to notice your personal triggers, a quick nervous-system reset, the most important conversation you can have with your supervisor, and how to face imposter syndrome head on!
If you’ve ever felt like you have to prove you deserve a seat at the table, this conversation will help you get back into that calm, intellectual space where you can make clear high-stakes decisions—without perfectionism running the show.
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ABOUT DR. AJ LAUER, EdD
Dr. AJ Lauer, EdD is a STEM leadership and workplace inclusion expert with 20+ years in DEI and workforce development in science and technology. Through her work at Thriving Ibis, Dr. Lauer coaches high-performing women in STEM on sustainable confidence and is the author of My Monster Mungo, an illustrated book that reframes imposter syndrome.
- Getting Started with Imposter Monsters Guide: https://www.thrivingibis.com/imposter-monster-email
- AJ’s website: https://www.thrivingibis.com/imposter-monsters
- AJ on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajlauer
- Book: My Monster Mungo: A Story About Imposter Syndrome
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EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
🫥 (4:26): What is imposter phenomenon?
🫥 (8:05): Why women in STEM experience imposter syndrome and “prove-it pressure”
🫥 (9:50): How motherhood can amplify the “superhuman” juggling effect (perfectionism)
😃 (13:35): AJ’s supercomputing story (and the conversation that changed everything)
😃 (20:10): How to tell a skills gap from an imposter spiral
😃 (28:18): The 3 common imposter coping patterns
😃 (31:59): A quick reset for high-stakes presentations and leadership moments
😃 (37:26): Meet your “imposter monster”
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NEXT STEP
➡️ Grab AJ’s free guide, then share this episode with one fellow woman scientist who needs an instant reboot from self-doubt to owning her worth.
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KEEP LEARNING ON THIS TOPIC
⏮️ Building an ambition inventory (Podcast)
⏮️ Rewiring your identity (Podcast)
📖 How to get unstuck as a scientist mom (after motherhood) (Blog)
🌐 Visit www.SolveForMom.com for more information and FREE resources
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HELPING MOMS IN STEM
🙋🏻♀️ Q&A: Record your science career-for-moms question in one click. I'll answer it on the show. Let me know if you want a shout-out!
🎙️Interested in a guest interview on Science Careers for Moms? → Apply Here
~
STAY CONNECTED
👍🏽 Tap +Follow and never miss an episode
💌 Grab my free Sci-Mom Says newsletter
📫 E-mail hello@solveformom.com
🔬Connect with me on LinkedIn as a fellow PhD researcher & scientific consultant
Leave me a 🤩 rating & review—your support helps other moms find the show!
Sunday Mar 15, 2026
Sunday Mar 15, 2026
Women in STEM: If you want to have both - a meaningful science career and a rooted family life —and you’re done feeling like you’re “failing at both”… this NEW SHOW is for you.
This is a short welcome episode where I’m introducing the new podcast name and focus: Science Careers for Moms.
If you’re a STEM-trained mom who wants to have both: a meaningful science career and a rooted family life (without burning out, second-guessing, or trying to do it all), you’re in the right place.
After listening, you’ll know:
- If this show is for you and what to do next
- The 3 outcomes you can expect from the show: STEM career planning clarity, Decision-making frameworks, and Systems to support work life balance
- How this show creates instant community with women in STEM who share insider stories and experts who offer solutions supporting scientist moms
You don’t need the perfect routine or more willpower—but you do need a framework that fits real constraints of a demanding career and realities of mom life…like maternity leave, childcare logistics when you travel to conferences, sick kid weeks, and grant review deadlines.
Let this show be your key to escaping the cultural trap that forces women in STEM to choose, so you can build a clear path to whole-life success.
SUBSCRIBE / FOLLOW
👍🏽 Add Science Careers for Moms to your playlist
MOMS IN STEM - SHAREABLE QUOTES
- “The culture of science wasn’t built for caregivers.”
- “You should never have to choose between being a good mom and being a good scientist.”
- “Here’s what I learned: ‘trying harder’ can’t be your only strategy. That just leads to burnout, guilt, and living a very fragmented life.”
KEEP LEARNING ON THIS TOPIC
- What work-life balance is (& is not) – ⏮️ EP 108: Work-Life Balance Question: What Does “Being Aligned” Really Mean as a Scientist Mom? (Podcast)
- Career-life integration flips the script – ⏮️ EP 111: Design Your Life, Then Set Your Career Goals: Purpose-Driven Personal Growth for Moms in STEM (Podcast)
MORE WAYS TO CONNECT
💌 Sci-Mom Says newsletter: https://solveformom.com/insider
🙋🏻♀️ Want to be a guest → https://calendly.com/anokhi-solveformom/guests-on-solve-for-mom
🔬Connect with me on my personal LinkedIn as a fellow scientific researcher & consultant.
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🌐 Visit solveformom.com for more information and FREE resources
📫 E-mail hello@solveformom.com