BTM S1E3: Barbie Moreno
Adam Baruh: [00:00:00] Welcome to Beyond the Microphone, a podcast about podcasters and the stories of how their shows came together grew, and what they’ve discovered along the way. I’m your host, Adam Baru. For many that get into podcasting, the story their podcasts grew out of oftentimes is not a pleasant story. Like the events that led into my own venture into podcasting, the podcaster story can be one of trauma, pain hitting rock bottom, but then also discovery, awareness, gratitude, healing, and triumph.
Podcasting can be extremely therapeutic, not just for the listener, but also for the host. As I said, I know this firsthand. I never could have imagined myself as a podcast host yet during my own healing journey, this whole new side of me was born. And what’s so amazingly [00:01:00] beautiful about this work we do is that it allows us to make connections with people that allow themselves to be vulnerable and that strive to be their authentic selves.
the conversations truly have the power to heal our listeners and ourselves. And the same is true for our guest today, Barbie Moreno, host of the podcast, Mental-Hell. Hey Barbie, welcome to Beyond the Microphone.
Barbie Moreno: Thank you, Adam. So grateful to be here.
Adam Baruh: let’s start with having you tell us a bit about your yourself and ultimately the, the painful and eventual healing journey that led you into podcasting and to start your show.
Barbie Moreno: Yeah. I love your intro because it’s so true. I think that as, um, Humans where we actually identify and gather is through our trauma. Um, you know, usually when you have something in common with somebody and it’s a traumatic experience, it’s actually more powerful than it is if you have just a traditional, you know, everyday thing in common.
Um, and podcasters almost always have that story, [00:02:00] right? That’s why they started, they wanted to share that, and I was one of those. I, um, let’s see. So I named my podcast Mental Health because I. When you’re in some sort of mental illness or just stress, anxiety, whatever it is, it literally feels like you are in hell.
And oftentimes it feels like there’s no getting out of that. That’s why you have people who see no way out. Right? That’s why you have the people who have the, they take their own life because they feel like they’re, there’s no way. And, and, and medication helps, but it’s, you know, anybody who’s tried medication will tell you that.
Um, it seems like it numbs you.
Adam Baruh: too.
Barbie Moreno: Um, oftentimes it will seem like, you know, they have to experiment on different things and so I wanted to talk about just the subject and bring it out there so that people knew that they’re not alone. Um, that lots of people are going through it, especially in this society now where there’s so much pressure to perform.
Everybody is looked. Debt by how many hours a [00:03:00] week they work and how much they are showing up on social media. And um, it’s just like nonstop. You know, before we started recording, you kind of talked about your story, about how many hours a week you were working and you know, you were sleeping three hours a night and you cannot sub you.
You can’t sustain that kind of lifestyle, but that’s also what it takes oftentimes to even succeed. And what is success? Right? That’s a whole different question. Um, so my story comes from, I worked in the mortgage industry, uh, for the private bank, uh, for 22 years in the mortgage industry. And I really did very, very well.
I was an overachiever. Um, I was one of those people who barely slept and answered the phone every single time. Somebody called. And I had my, um, I had my second child, uh, which is my son who’s now nine years old and previous to his birth, I actually, um, I had a miscarriage and I didn’t give myself the time to grieve.
I [00:04:00] just basically went right back to work. Because that’s what the position basically called for. Um, I was a female working in a very, uh, in a man’s world. And you know, they it, if you haven’t experienced it, you don’t understand it. Um, and so two months after that miscarriage, I then got pregnant with my son.
And when he was born, I had severe postpartum depression, but I didn’t know what that was. And I didn’t know because even though back in 2000, let’s see, he was born in 2016. You would think that that would be a subject that was talked about. And I, nobody had ever talked about postpartum depression with me.
And when I had it, it was one of those things where it was almost like a shame, like you failed as a mother,
Adam Baruh: so,
Barbie Moreno: Working in a position where, you know, I worked with very, very wealthy people in a very competitive environment. Um, one of the things that, uh, we were basically given as being like, you know, high achievers, is we would get an office space on a very elite [00:05:00] floor where we got to work with very elite clients.
And that was kind of like a, you know, um, a prize that you get. And when I asked for additional time off, which. Really was only like, you know, I had only taken eight weeks off, so I just needed a little bit more time off to deal with the postpartum depression. My, um, manager said, yeah, no problem, whatever, but if you don’t come back, then I’m gonna have to give up your office space.
And I was like, mm. Like, why would you give up my office space? I just need a little bit more time. Like, I earned that office space. It took many, many years to get that office space. And, um, so I. We had a discussion. He said, fine, you can go ahead and take your time off. No big deal. And then I found out from a coworker of mine that they had moved all my stuff out and put somebody in my office while I was out.
And that for me, because my identity was wrapped around what I did for a living and my achievement was devastating. And I ended up going back to work, talking with HR about getting like an office space back. I didn’t get the one that I, you know, had worked [00:06:00] for. Um, but I went back to book work and I wasn’t ready.
And because of not being ready and not knowing what to do and how to deal with my mental health and stuff, I just pushed it down, pushed it down, pushed it down. And from 2016 to 2018, my body, um, you know, I just wore it out. And by 2018, September, 2018, I went on a retreat with one of my friends cause I couldn’t take it anymore.
And I had just been at the doctor. And the doctor said, if you do not stop, you will die. Like my, my entire body had started shutting down my, my, um, kidney functions, my liver functions, my heart palpitations. I had severe stress. I was like ridiculously just unhealthy. And my friend said, you’re just, you’re you.
I don’t know what you’re doing, but you need to stop. You’re not gonna be around to raise your kids. And so I took leave. And I took two years and I have to tell you, two years leave, even on two years, my brain could not get back where it needed to be. My body. It took me so much time and effort in going to doctors [00:07:00] and, you know, doing all of this stuff like they do these IV therapies just to get your body back to like a decent place.
Um, and it was, it was horrible. I felt like I was actually in more, um, depression because I did take leave then I felt like a failure. And you know, you go through all of these different things that, um, We tell ourselves we need to be to succeed, and when we. Don’t achieve those things, or we feel like we’re lacking in some way that creates an even worse space.
And so I was just in this horrible, horrible spiral. Um, and I started figuring out I have to do something cuz I’m not gonna be around to take care of my kids. Like there’s just no way. Um, either I was going to do something to myself or my body was just gonna give in. And I started working on mindfulness and meditation and.
Trust me when you say, oh, meditation to somebody like me, I was like, there’s no way I can sit through a meditation. Right? Um, but I had to learn to develop something, um, in order to survive. And that’s exactly what I did. And once I [00:08:00] got healthy and once I figured out, you know, um, that. My identity was not tied to how much money I made and how well I did in the company, and that if I died, they would just literally replace me without even a second thought.
I started taking care of myself. I started talking about it to other people, which was, this was before the pandemic, so nobody talked about it. Right. Um, And I read up on it and I educated myself. And then I decided, you know what? I need to talk to other people about this because there’s so many of us who suffer and we feel like failures and we suffer in silence and we don’t talk about it.
And even our spouses and partners don’t know how bad it is. And at some point, we’re just gonna break. And I don’t want us to break. I want us to succeed and be happy, and be happy with who we are. And so that’s why I brought my podcast together.
Adam Baruh: together. I think. that postpartum depression is something that just seems like it’s not really talked about.
Um, and [00:09:00] you having gone through it, I mean, you can speak to that, um, in, in much greater, you know, detail and authenticity. And so I want to kind of stay there for a moment. And so when, you know, after your, your second child was born, like, let’s go back to those feelings and the, the identity creation around the shame.
Cuz I’d like to. I’d like to just maybe stick with that topic a little bit more. Like when, like when did you kind of start to notice that you were maybe not really on a healthy track or not really at least mentally healthy after your child was born? Like was there an awareness like. Or, I mean, did a period of time occur, like, was it not maybe six months or a year?
You’re like, oh my God, like I’m after, you know, my son’s been born. I, something changed within me. Like how did that awareness develop for you over time that you finally recognized something was different, something was wrong.
Barbie Moreno: Well, [00:10:00] it’s actually interesting because, uh, when he was born I was extremely excited. And um, where it actually triggered me was I was unable to produce enough milk for him. And I went to the lactation specialist, you know, at the, um, doctors, and they basically shamed the crap out of me. They were like, he’s losing too much weight.
You need to give him formula now. Nobody told me like when an infant is born that they actually lose weight. Right that, that, that’s one of the first things that happens is they lose weight and then they start putting the weight back on. And so here I thought I was doing a good job, and by the way, I probably would’ve produced enough for him.
It was very early on and nobody talked to me about that either, about ways to produce, but I thought to myself, oh my God, I’m failing my kid now because that’s how they made me feel. And so the lactation people were just like, yeah, he’s starving. You’re gonna kill him, blah, blah, blah. Like, I’m not joking when I say that.
It was very, very harsh. My husband and I were like, we couldn’t believe it. Like we went outta there thinking, oh my gosh. He’s like [00:11:00] starving. Um, and so instead of supporting that whole process, it was, um, they, you know, they basically. Made it seem like I was killing my son if I didn’t get him on formula.
And so that I think is what really started, um, the process because I was very happy before that. And then that kicked in and I felt again, that shame that they do when you are not doing what you’re supposed to do and you’re body’s not producing supposedly the way it’s supposed to. And, um, I just, I remember walking out of there feeling different, um, sorry, it gets emotional to this day.
Adam Baruh: Yeah, take your time.
Barbie Moreno: Um, and then it was almost like a cloud just said it
Adam Baruh: it,
Barbie Moreno: and, you know, simple things just weren’t right. Like, uh, I talk about sometimes I. You know, I would start something on the stove and then I would forgot, totally forget that I was even cooking anything. And you know, they [00:12:00] say it’s like, oh, it’s mommy brain, you know?
And, but nobody really says like, no, it’s probably more than that if it continues to happen. And so my husband brought it up. He was saying, you know, like you, you know, you’ve left something on the stove again, and we had to start putting timers on so that. I would remember to like, you know, turn off the whatever it is that I’m cooking.
I remember one time I put boiling eggs on the stove, and I literally left the house and almost got the house on fire because your brain just doesn’t, it goes into this weird place of where it just doesn’t function correctly. Again, not knowing that I had, um, postpartum depression or anything going on there.
I went to a traditional, like, uh, just a check-in and they have you fill out this form, and then the, I filled out the form thinking like everybody’s probably fills this way after having a baby. And the, uh, ob gyn was like, oh no, you have like severe depression. I’m like, what do you mean? She’s like, all of these questions that you answer indicate that you have severe depression.
So the other thing I talk about is [00:13:00] that my ob gyn put me on antidepressants that day. There was no discussion. There was like not nothing like. First of all, not a psychiatrist. Totally. Just an ob gyn. Right. Um, put me on antidepressants. Never talked to me about my past, my family’s past history. If there was any mental health Ill, uh, problems in the past with myself or my family.
Literally just put me on, I think it was like I. Prozac or something like that.
Adam Baruh: Mm-hmm.
Barbie Moreno: And so then you feel like you’re, we’re going back down the shame thing, right? So now I’m a mom who can’t function, right? Who’s, my son was very colicky, was crying all of the time. I’m almost burning my house down. Like it’s just this hole of just you just cannot get out of, which again, is that mental health that I talk about where everything just seems like no matter what you do, it’s going the wrong direction.
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Adam Baruh: I think our society is a lot to blame there. I mean, just, you know, the, the lactation consultant experience. So my wife also experienced the same thing. Like, um, we had a lady that came to the house, I remember for my daughter [00:16:00] and, um, You know, she just was very old school and traditional and, you know, just, I just think there’s been this shift over time now and, and you know, partly I think the pandemic is something that, you know, to some extent we can be grateful for because it did get people talking about mental health.
So, you know, where, I guess if you look at the last several years, like since the, on the onset of the pandemic and kind of through the pandemic and, and also relating to your own experience like, Do you think that we’ve made a shift towards better conversations around just mental health in general?
Obviously postpartum depression, shame, the way society looks at these things. Like, do you think that we’ve made this shift and do you think the shift, if we’ve made a shift, is it here to stay or is it something that, you know, maybe, maybe we just, over time we kind of revert back to. You know, the pressure, the [00:17:00] society, the, you know, identity building around your, our work rather than our mental health and our, our wellbeing.
Barbie Moreno: I think both. So I think that absolutely the pandemic brought out the fact that like, people have issues, right? You’re stuck in a house with like a bunch of people that you don’t have to spend all the time with, and then you’re like, One, I don’t think I like these people today. Um, parents having to deal with the kids on the iPad where they’re used to, you know, they’re trying to do their job and they got this kid on the iPad.
So I think the pandemic was amazing for that. Um, I’m actually extremely grateful for that part of the pandemic and. It brought awareness to public figures. It seems like in this country specifically, if somebody who’s a superstar doesn’t say something, then it doesn’t matter. Um, so it did bring awareness, um, to a lot of public figures coming out and talking about it, and all of that being said.
And on my show I talk about a lot. It is absolutely [00:18:00] ridiculous how much stress and pressure is put on the children nowadays to achieve things before they’ve even gone to high school. You know, I was actually just editing one of my podcasts and I was talking to a doctor who works with children, and we talk about the fact that before children are even out of the womb, they are gonna be doctors.
You know, um, and the amount of ridiculous amount of stress. Um, I wrote a children’s mindfulness book where I go to the schools and read to the kids to teach them how to understand their feelings because they have stress and anxiety in first and second grade. Um, so to answer your question, I think that it brings up the ability to talk about it.
I think the more and more celebrities who talk about it, I think Robin Williams, um, you know, taking his life was a really big eyeopener.
Adam Baruh: I was just thinking about him yesterday even, you know, and what happened.
Barbie Moreno: Yeah, because I mean, he was such a, you know, to all of us who didn’t know him, um, but just saw him, he was such a happy, [00:19:00] funny, and even the people who know him, I read about him.
You know, he never, he never showed that he would’ve done something like that. And that’s what mental health, you know, a lot of people hide it. It’s a shameful thing. We go back to the shame, and so they hide it, and so you don’t know that they’re suffering. You can see somebody, you have no idea if they’re suffering mentally or not.
Um, you know, we just keep pushing people to the edge. Do more, do more, be more, be more. Um, so I feel like it opened up the door. And I also think we have a lot of work to do. We need to stop celebrating people who just because of the way they look, Or the things they post on social media. Uh, we need to stop celebrating people who, um, you know, spend their whole lives working and they don’t take time to be mentally healthy and take care of their families.
We need to teach our children how to understand what their feelings are. We need to honor their feelings. You know, kids will tell you no, and then most people go like, don’t you dare tell me no. And then we basically [00:20:00] teach them that their feelings don’t matter. So I think it was a good opening. I think that it could go back to the way things were if people don’t take steps, like you’re taking and I’m taking and talking about it.
Um, and I really just think it’s up to us to keep the momentum otherwise. Yeah, I do think it could back co could go back to the way that it was and simply because it always goes back to what do you do for a living?
Adam Baruh: living? Yeah, it does. It’s like a weird society thing. Um, you know, I see signs of, you know, definite signs of the, of there being some longevity, like, Um, you know, mentioning the celebrities. I mean, just, I was even thinking of like Anthony Bourdain, like again, I mean obviously I didn’t know him and I’m sure he kept a lot.
You know, private, but just that was a shocker. And seemingly what I read, it’s like even those close around him, you know, didn’t really see that coming at all. Um, and then even yesterday I saw a post from Rachel Brosnahan. Um, you know, the actress who plays Midge Maisel on the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and [00:21:00] her aunt was Kate Spade.
And, and I think. Um, yesterday was like the five year anniversary of Kate Spade taking her life. And uh, you know, it’s like you said, like when you see people like Rachel Brosnahan and obviously you know the people that follow her and, and she’s talking about mental health. I mean very helpful and it’s very good that people are doing that cuz I think, you know, certainly.
Yeah, that’s something that is unique about the age that we live in, is I think those conversations weren’t, they were kind of, you know, brushed aside and, and hush hush, like people weren’t having that dialogue. But I want to go back to, you know, how your podcast kind of manifested from, you know, your own pain and trauma.
You, you described, you know, your alcoholism that you experience as a way to kind of cope with. Um, you know, what you were going through. So tell us how you eventually found mindfulness [00:22:00] and got on a path of healing and, and ultimately what led to that, you know, moment where you’re like, I should have a podcast speaking about this.
Tell us about that that part of your journey.
Barbie Moreno: I think that a lot of people, um, drink to relax because we’re all so stressed out, and that’s exactly what I was doing. Um, you know, I always talk about my husband and I had this thing when our kids went to bed.
I got my wine, he got his beer, we sat in the hot tub, and we had the best conversations in the best time. And so it felt good. And so it was okay. Right. Because
Adam Baruh: I totally get that cuz yeah, like my wife and I, it’s the same, same story. Yep.
Barbie Moreno: Mm-hmm. And without that we really wouldn’t have spent time together. We might have watched tv, but we wouldn’t have talked.
But we just had these amazing conversations because we were sitting in the hot tub drinking and stuff. And that then became a habit. And this, you know, all was kind of basically during like the pandemic. And so, you know, you worked from home so you could kind of do what you [00:23:00] wanted to do so you could wake up and if you didn’t feel amazing, not a big deal.
You sit there and go on a couple of Zoom calls and half-ass it until you feel better. Um, and then. You know, one of my most shameful moments is, um, is I, we were drinking, you know, too much. I would say not as much as a lot of people would say in order to stop drinking and feel like you’re an alcoholic. Um, but enough to where I felt like I was craving alcohol to take away the stress.
And so for me, that did not feel good because I came from a family of alcoholics and I knew what it looked like. Um, And one night I, my I, uh, I talk about this sometimes and it’s very, very hard for me to talk about. Um, I got upset with my husband and I tried to slap him. And we are not people who put our hands on each other.
We don’t even yell at each other, much less do that. And that was the breaking point for me. I was like, if I can get to a place where I feel like I want to [00:24:00] slap my husband, I obviously have a problem. And from that day forward, I never drank again. Um, For the podcast. So how did I get into my mindfulness? I was already working on myself.
I. When I had the postpartum depression, I knew I had to do something. I knew I, I knew I couldn’t be somebody who was just taking all kinds of different medications. Um, and I mean, that’s a whole nother subject on how many different, I think I was on 10 different medications in a six month period of time, um, because they couldn’t figure things out and kept changing doctors.
Horrible, horrible mental health system we have. But, um, I knew I had to do something. And I knew I had to be an example for my kids, and I knew I had to change. It wasn’t okay. And so, like I said, I started reading books, um, on, I didn’t even understand half the stuff I was reading at the time. Um, but it was, um, one of my favorite ones was one where, uh, it was about a codependent book.
And, and, and she was an alcoholic and she talks about AA in it. And so I was like, okay, I’m [00:25:00] gonna try aa.
Adam Baruh: aaa
Barbie Moreno: And AA helped me, not necessarily because I needed the daily meetings, but because I saw that other people were struggling and I saw that there was a way to get out of it. And so I don’t currently attend AA meetings.
Um, but I love the, the idea of it. I love the 12 steps. I did the 12 steps that helped me. So again, how did I bring about the mindfulness and all of that stuff? The any 12 step program where you have to sit and look at your life. Really, really can help if you put your time and effort into it. Um, and through all of, so through listening to people on the meetings, when I did the meetings for a full year, um, listening to the, uh, people on the meetings and just watching and observing and reading and being aware, and I was like, this is a bigger issue than just me.
You know, um, and at that time I was still in the, you know, I went back to the corporate world after my two years off. And um, you know, I’m looking at people [00:26:00] who are just exhausted and they’re just pushing everything that they have going on. You know, they’re just pushing, pushing, pushing for what? I have no idea, right?
We’re all just trying to achieve something. Climb a ladder of some sorts, go on a hamster wheel to buy a new car, wear a fancy new dress. Um, and so I’m just sitting there
Adam Baruh: of.
our, of our kids and our families.
Barbie Moreno: of our kids and what are we teaching them, right? We’re teaching them this is how you live. And so as a mom, I’m extremely aware that was one thing I never wanted to repeat the patterns of my past and my parenting that, you know, I was given.
And so, Really without my kids, I probably wouldn’t be who I am today because I had to make decisions to be better and I had to open up conversations to make spaces safe for them, and I needed them to understand that we are all humans, whether we’re, you know, 40 years old, 50 years old, two years old, three years old, we’re all just trying to get through life and learning lessons.
[00:27:00] So all of these different things, I had to figure out how do I, how do I talk about this? I do this for a living or do I have to still stay in this world where, you know, it’s important to achieve and, you know, uh, maintain a lifestyle that we had become accustomed to. Uh, which by the way, I finally decided to give all of that up.
And I’m not making nearly the amount of money, but I’m happy. Um, and. So that’s, I mean, I don’t, I don’t remember like where you wanted to go, but why I did the podcast and why I wrote the book and why I did my website and why I teach this constantly and why I coach people is because we all are in a school.
We all have lessons and we just need guidance, and I wanna be the guidance that’s realistic and not the bullshit. You know, you can do it. You know, put 900 hours a weekend, you can do it. Let’s rah rah, rah. Bullshit. I don’t wanna wear people down. I wanna regenerate them.
Adam Baruh: I love that. Um, so let’s stay there [00:28:00] for a little bit. So then you decided to basically, you know, be a leader and be out in the open, you know, working to make change and to make an impact. And you came up, you know, with, with an idea to create a podcast so you can have conversations that matter and, and bring all this stuff out in the open and, and work to try to heal people through the conversations.
So, How did you even know where to get started in podcasting? Like, you know, if
you, if you go back, like how do you even like going from concept to like execution, like, you know, cuz like, I, I went through that journey and so did so many others and it’s like, how do you even begin? Like, what was that like for you?
Barbie Moreno: Well, the first thing for me was I had, so there’s the technical beginning, right? Like the how you figure out how to get on websites and do all that stuff. And then there’s the actual like, well, what the hell am I gonna talk about that people even care about? Right? And so my first thing was, okay, if I’m gonna do a podcast, I have to be vulnerable.[00:29:00]
I have to put my story out there and people are gonna probably say like, she’s an asshole, or whatever the case may be. Or maybe she’s too, you know, suck it up buttercup. I don’t know. Right. Or they might say, you know what, I relate, like you were talking about with your wife and you know, the lactation person.
But I figured I have to be real, I have to be authentic, I have to be able to be a place that is safe and I wanna be, um, I just, I just wanted to be, I. At the face of somebody who could, says, we’re all in this together. So how do you do that? I don’t know. The, you know, I just did it right? It’s probably the same as you.
You kind of figure out like, okay, there’s, um, I’m gonna do this. If I don’t just start, then I’m never gonna do it. And so that’s exactly what I did. I found, I found guests that I related with, that I wanted to talk to. I love all the guests, right? It’s probably like you, you learn something from everybody.
Some people I relate with more than others.
Adam Baruh: ever.
Barbie Moreno: I’ve had, um, sex addicts [00:30:00] on, I’ve had, you know, alcoholics on, I’ve had gambling addicts on, I’ve had therapists on, I’ve had people who think that, you know, minerals help. I’ve had all kinds of different people on, and by the way, I do think that your body has a lot to do with your mental health.
So, um, So just, I wanted to make sure that, that’s a side note in there, because if you don’t take, take care of your body, you will not be able to be mentally healthy. Um, so I wanted to have all kinds of different points of views on, and then I, you know, and then I started introducing people who went through traumatic events.
Like I had a lady who had a bag put over her head in the middle of the night by her personal trainer who broke into her house and tried to kill her, you know? Um, and so, All of these things. It’s like, no, not everybody has a bag put over their head in the middle of the night, but we’ve all been through some trauma, right?
So I just kinda like let things flow and I feel like when you are in your flow, when you’re doing something that matters, it kind of just comes together.
Adam Baruh: Yeah, I totally agree. Um, and so, you know, [00:31:00] going from concept to, I guess first of all, how long have you been podcasting for? How many episodes? You know, what are your download numbers look like? Um, and then ultimately, you know, where I’m going with that is, um, you know, is that something you still look at over time?
Like, is the purpose behind what you do more important than the measurement of how successful you are doing it?
Barbie Moreno: Yeah. So, uh, right now I’m editing my 15th episode to be released. I have about 10 more recorded. Um, I just got an email. From Bud Sprout, which is where I load my stuff up on that like two weeks ago that I had like 500 views. I’m like, I don’t even know, 500 people. So that’s cool.
Adam Baruh: Awesome.
Barbie Moreno: Like, yeah. Right. Um, no, I don’t care how many, how many quote unquote views I have, right?
Like, I’m not looking to. I don’t even, it’s not, I’m not looking to monetize it. I’m just looking to have a space. Um, and I feel like once you turn it into something where you have to meet, [00:32:00] um, certain numbers, it takes away from the authenticity of it. Um, so now I don’t care. I mean, I thought it was cool that I got that email saying about the downloads.
Obviously I would love to have more people listen, not because I want to get rich off of it or anything like that. It’s just because I want us to connect. And if that means that there’s somebody out there who’s telling stories and that are connecting more, um, then I would love to talk to that person.
But again, not because I need the views, but because it matters.
Adam Baruh: Yeah. Wholeheartedly agree. Um, so how do you, you know, you got two kids, uh, one of them’s nine. I know you said how old’s, how old’s the other one?
Barbie Moreno: She is a 15 year old teenager. Yay.
Adam Baruh: okay.
Barbie Moreno: She’s actually amazing. I love her to death.
Adam Baruh: Okay. Um, I have an, I have a seven and a half year old going on 15, so, um,
yeah, I’m already
Barbie Moreno: 15, going on 30?
Adam Baruh: Yeah. But I have a 24 year old and a 21 year old also, so I’ve been through it, but it’s weird that like [00:33:00] forgetfulness that you get and cuz I’m like right back to square one. But anyway, how, you know, being a mom and being pretty busy, you know, trying to, trying to, you know, be there for your children.
Like how. How do you manage your podcasting work and your obligations to your family, and also your obligations to your own mental and physical wellbeing? Like how do you, how do you keep it all together?
Barbie Moreno: Huh, um, by being realistic, right? So, um, I don’t get to work as much as I would like to work because it’s more important for me to read my son a book every single night. Although, trust me, if I could, I would work. All night long, but he has a routine and he likes his book, and we read his book and he has to have his back rubbed every single night.
And my teenager will come and sit in my office at home and she sits on my couch that you can see behind me if you’re watching this, where you can see video. And she just likes to be in my space. And so I just. Allow them in my space and sometimes they drive me absolutely [00:34:00] insane and want ’em to tell ’em to get the hell out because I’m busy.
Uh, but you know what? One day they won’t be there and I’ll be like, dang it, I wish they would come and visit me. So I think that I put that as a priority. Um, I love my podcast and I do them in the time that I have. The great thing about these and you know, is you can kind of schedule them around your, your, um, you know, whatever you have.
Open and then you can edit and release later. Sometimes I release four in a weekend and sometimes I don’t release anything for two or three weeks just because that’s what my time allows. Um, as far as my own, um, mental health and taking care of myself, I made it my life. So I teach mental health, so I teach, I teach meditation.
I teach yoga, I teach and coach people on mindfulness. I do, you know, um, meditation daily, I do my yoga practices. It became my life. I know that that can’t be everybody’s life, and not that everybody wants that, but for me it was what it took for me to completely remove myself from the other me that used to be so [00:35:00] competitive and in that corporate world, um, I needed to make it part of my lifestyle and part of who I am.
Adam Baruh: And what would you say have been some of the biggest highlights that you’ve encountered along the way? Maybe if there’s a favorite guest or episode quote that you remember.
Barbie Moreno: Well, actually I would say, because this happened yesterday at the top of my list, so I went and picked up, um, I went the school district where I live. Um, I was doing tours at different schools and reading my book to the kids and talking about mindfulness and teaching them different practices. And yesterday I.
Um, I went and picked up a package from the kids and there was just note after note after note of, thank you for coming. I’m gonna try this. I, I really appreciate learning that, like cute things too. Like, you know, I liked your shirt that day. Like, you know, so I would say the highlight is it brought tears to my eyes when I picked it up because I didn’t get paid for that.
I wasn’t selling books for that. I was just there to be with [00:36:00] the kids to teach them, and their little thank yous were just so impactful.
Adam Baruh: yeah, you’re connecting and
making a difference.
Barbie Moreno: Yeah. It made a, you know, you make a difference and, and sometimes it’s nice to see it in writing or to get it, you know, to hear
Adam Baruh: Yeah, I bet that feels a lot better than. Achieving some metric in, you know, your banking job,
Barbie Moreno: Right. Or getting some stupid, like glass like award that you put on your desk so you could show off. Right. I.
Adam Baruh: Sure. Exactly. All right. Um, as we, as we work to wrap up here, um, tell us a little bit about your production process. How you record, how you edit, how you market, um, for people listening that are just getting into podcasting and that are, you know, looking for some inspiration for themselves.
Barbie Moreno: Yeah, so the best valuable things that I have found, Buzzsprout was a great site that I’d found, and that’s because, um, so Buzzsprout is basically a platform where you upload your podcast too, [00:37:00] and then it will connect it to several different things. So it’ll connect it to, you know, um, Spotify, it’ll connect it to Apple, it’ll connect it to Google, I mean, all kinds of different places.
So, Whenever you see like somebody say like, um, you know, listen, where you stream your podcast, they will have had a platform like that so that it will go out to all these different things without the, the manual labor of it. Because if you don’t do something like that, I found it’s extremely labor intensive to try to upload to all of these different sites.
So love Buzz Sprout. Don’t know. I’m sure that there are other ones, but yeah, you use that. It sounds like you like Buzz Brown. Yeah. Love it. Um, I record when I have time. Generally, I try to make Tuesdays my day that I record, and sometimes I’ll record two or three podcasts a day. Sometimes I only have time for one.
Um, and then I edit on Mova video. Uh, I am, you know, I’m, I’m not a super techie person, so I just need it to be easy. Um, so I upload, I did a, um, I, here’s the one thing I found I found like I needed to have, [00:38:00] it’s almost like name recognition, right? So I felt like I had to have kind of like a brand so that when people saw a certain symbol, they thought of me.
And so if you look, um, there on my podcast, I have my mental health image, and that image is put in the beginning of every single podcast. With a thing that I edited that you know goes over like, it’s kind of like going through a mental health issue right then and there, and that is the intro to every single podcast.
I like that. I found that what I’m gonna do now is add a little, um, beginning that kind of talks about what we’re gonna talk about. So it separates the podcast out so people know if they listen to it or not. So I’m gonna change that, but I would say it’s all a process of just learning and then. Being, you know, so setting up.
So I went on podcast guests and that’s where I started finding my first podcast. I love that site. Um, there’s another one that’s called Matchmaker, uh, which I swear if you get emails, it looks like you’re trying to cheat on your spouse. Um, but I’m not, [00:39:00] I’m just trying to matchmaker for a podcast guest. Um, and then once you start interviewing people, I feel like again, it goes into a flow if you’re doing what you’re doing, because it’s a passion for you, you will just kind of find your way.
Um, I found, so I do upload to YouTube as well. I think that people need to be able to see video as well as, um, here. Um, so, you know, if they’re driving, obviously they’re gonna listen. But I like seeing people. I think it’s important to see people, um, And then, you know, like you said, this is an amazing community.
I have had so many people who say like, I. This FM site that you’re on, somebody else told me about it. So I’m gonna look into that. And so as you can start and you start interviewing people before you hit the record button, get to know people and their process because everybody seems so helpful to help each other out to get the word out.
And then I always make sure whoever I talk to, I give them a link so they can put it on their site. Um, I had to go back [00:40:00] and change my format cuz I never included pictures with um, You know, who I was talking to, like a, like a, a, a profile picture. So I had to go re-edit that. I feel like that’s important so that they get to advertise it for themselves.
Um, and just, just remember that we are all just trying to work together to help share what we feel like is important. And so if you honor that and you talk to people and you honor their story, they really help you and you help them.
Adam Baruh: This has been an amazing conversation and. I’m so grateful for you and, and the vulnerability that you’ve shown today. I, like I said, I think, you know, just by modeling that it really helps people, um, that maybe going through similar experiences and, and are looking to make connections because Yeah, I mean we’ve, especially since the pandemic, I mean, we’ve, we’ve kind of, now many of us work in a remote capacity and it’s just harder and harder to make the connections.
And so these conversations are where often these [00:41:00] connections. Are made. Um, you don’t have to necessarily be having the dialogue or face to face with somebody. These conversations, you know, can, can give that way of feeling connected to something bigger and something greater. So thank you so much for being here.
I really appreciate it. Lastly, can you, um, you know, let us know where people can connect with you, where they can find your book, um, and, you know, any links, um, that you have where people can find out more?
Barbie Moreno: Yes. Love that. Um, so my website is, uh, you can find it two different ways. It’s pathways to gratitude.com. Um, I named it that a long time ago because I feel like that is the goal. To find pathways to gratitude, so it’s pathways to gratitude.com, or if that’s too long for you, you can just go to my zen z e n life, l i f e.com.
My book is on there. Um, a lot of the, the things that I do are on there. I have free meditations for kids on there and adults. Um, I think [00:42:00] it’s important for us to have free access to things. Uh, not everybody needs to spend a bunch of money just to get healthy. Um, you can find my mental health, so it’s M E N T A L.
Dash hell, h e l l. So there’s a dash in between it, um, on basically anywhere that you listen to your podcast, thanks to Buzz Sprout. Um, and you know, you can find me on YouTube. You can find me on Instagram at i am barbie moreno.com or, uh, whatever it is. I am Barbie Moreno.
Adam Baruh: mm-hmm.
Barbie Moreno: I’m 43. So these things, you know, they’re not,
Adam Baruh: We’re gonna have all
these links. We’ll be on our website, but, uh, yeah.
Barbie Moreno: Yeah. Um, you know, and I’m on LinkedIn and I’m on Facebook, you know, um, Facebook is Zen Life. Um, and so you’ll find me just look up Barbie Rhino, although you will find some interesting things when you look up Barbie Rhino, and those are not me.
Adam Baruh: Look for the real Barbie Morena. Well,
Barbie Moreno: Look for about the
Adam Baruh: is, this has just been fantastic, so thank you.
Barbie Moreno: I appreciate you.
Adam Baruh: Barbie [00:43:00] Moreno is the host of Mental-Hell, a podcast that tackles the weighty subjects of mental health and mindfulness with a bit of humor and vulnerability.
In her own words, mental health is no joke. It’s just as important as physical health and it’s time we start treating it that way. She hopes that by sharing her story, she can inspire others to seek the help they need and find the tools that work for them. After all, we’re all in this crazy journey of life together.
Go check out Barbie’s podcast, mental health, wherever you listen to podcasts, or read more about her on pathways to gratitude.com. Beyond. The microphone is proudly sponsored by pod. Whether you’re just starting out in podcasting or you’ve been at this a while and are looking to save time so you can create amazing content for your listeners, go check out podcast, a podcast management and marketing platform designed by podcasters for podcasters with podcasts, automated workflow management, and AI based marketing tools.
You’ll save time and sanity and be better equipped to grow your podcasts. Thank you [00:44:00] all for listening. We’ll see you next time on Beyond the Microphone.
EIQ Media: Beyond The microphone is produced and distributed by E I Q, media Group L L C. Elevate your Emotional IQ with podcasts and content focused on entrepreneurship, overcoming adversity, stories of emotional courage, women’s health, aging, and more.
