We have a special treat this week. We've launched a new investigative narrative audio series documenting the health and well being of U.S. Latinas. Paulina Velasco, the editor, joins Juleyka for a conversation about exploring delicate topics with Latinas and their families for this project, and dives into the show's themes that most resonated with her as a first-gen.

If you enjoyed this episode listen to The Myths and Gifts of Bilingualism in Babies and Why We Must Talk About Peripartum Depression, from LWC Studios' 100 Latina Birthdays.

We’d love to hear your stories of triumph and frustration so send us a detailed voice memo to hello@talktomamipapi.com. You might be on a future episode! Let’s connect on Twitter and Instagram at @TalkToMamiPapi and email us at hello@talktomamipapi.com. And follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts.

Carmen has decided to go through fertility preservation treatment, but feels disconcerted when loved ones aren’t as supportive as she hoped. And Milan Chavarkar, a nurse practitioner specializing in fertility care, speaks with Juleyka about what to expect during an egg retrieval, and how to prepare for the emotional and physical stress along the way.

Featured Expert: Milan Chavarkar, has been a women's health specialist for 25 years and a family nurse practitioner for 20 years. She has worked with people from all backgrounds and seen that conventional medical system has fallen short in achieving true healing. She is dedicated to helping her clients improve their health and vitality through a collaborative and integrative approach. She uses functional medicine, conventional western medicine, natural therapies, mindfulness techniques, medications, supplements, and herbal treatments to treat her patients. She firmly believes that an integrative approach is the future of healthcare. With a 25-year career in nursing, Milan Chavarkar has worked in many capacities in the health care system, nurse, nurse-practitioner, midwife, professor, and manager. Dr. Chavarkar genuinely wants to improve the health care system and is available to guide corporations and individuals as a speaker and consultant. Learn more about her work and practice here.

Milan recommends Resolve, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, and the American College of Nurse Midwives, The National Association for Nurse Practitioners in Women's Health, as resources for anyone who wants to learn more about women's reproductive health and fertility treatments.

If you liked this show listen to Speaking About Breast Health As a Family and Telling Mamí about My IUD.

We’d love to hear your stories of triumph and frustration so send us a detailed voice memo to hello@talktomamipapi.com. You might be on a future episode! Let’s connect on Twitter and Instagram at @TalkToMamiPapi and email us at hello@talktomamipapi.com. And follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts.

Judith’s Iranian Jewish parents expected her to date, and ultimately marry, someone of her cultural background. But her new relationship is creating tension with her relatives--and within herself. And Samira Mehta, a religion and family politics scholar, debunks myths about interfaith marriage in the U.S. and shares strategies for making religious spaces and family traditions more inclusive.

Featured Expert:

Our expert this week is Samira K. Mehta. Samira is an Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies and the Director of Jewish Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research and teaching focus on the intersections of religion, culture, and gender, including the politics of family life and reproduction in the United States. Her first book, Beyond Chrismukkah: The Christian-Jewish Interfaith Family in the United States (University of North Carolina Press, 2018), was a National Jewish Book Awards finalist. Mehta is currently working on two academic book projects. The first, God Bless the Pill: Sexuality and Contraception in Tri-Faith America, examines the role of Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant voices in competing moral logics of contraception, population control, and eugenics from the mid-twentieth century to the present and is under contract with the University of North Carolina Press. The second, A Mixed Multitude: A History of Jews of Color in the United States, under contract with Princeton University Press, will trace that history through much of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Her book of personal essays, The Racism of People Who Love You: Essays on Mixed Race Belonging, was released by Beacon Press in January 2023. 

In addition to these academic book projects, Mehta serves as the primary investigator for the Henry Luce Foundation–funded collaboration Jews of Color: Histories and Futures and is working on editing scholarly and literary collections related to her research topics.She serves as a Creative Editor at the journal American Religion and co-chairs both the North American Religion Section of the American Academy of Religion and the board of eFeminist Studies in Religion. She holds degrees from Swarthmore College, Harvard University, and Emory University. 

In addition to speaking at colleges and universities, Mehta frequently teaches and speaks at high schools, churches, and synagogues. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram at @samirakmehta. Learn more about her work here.

If you liked this show listen to Raised Mormon, She Left the Church Fearing for Her Safety and A Historical Would He’s Trying To Understand.

We’d love to hear your stories of triumph and frustration so send us a detailed voice memo to hello@talktomamipapi.com. You might be on a future episode! Let’s connect on Twitter and Instagram at @TalkToMamiPapi and email us at hello@talktomamipapi.com. And follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and anywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts.