EP7 Kerry Buzzell: Alliance of Moms supporting pregnant and parenting teens in foster care

Not A Mama Yet

Today’s podcast guest is Kerry Buzzell, the Director of Alliance of Moms, a membership-based program that supports pregnant and parenting teens in foster care in Los Angeles County. Kerry was born and raised in San Pedro, CA, by two parents who were civil servants in Los Angeles. From a young age, she has been exposed to the inequalities in our community and was always encouraged to help underserved Angelinos.

After earning a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in Education, Kerry began her career as a LAUSD teacher and taught throughout Los Angeles, until transitioning to marketing, brand association, and business development work with numerous women's athleisure brands. It was after the birth of her daughter, Elle, Kerry knew that she wanted to utilize her professional talents to help mothers and children in Los Angeles who might not have the resources to find success.

Today we are talking about her work with Alliance of Moms, motherhood, and how having mentors at every stage of your life if important especially during the transition to parenthood. Listen as we talk about her childhood and path to Alliance of Moms where she is helping further their mission of helping people in foster care in Los Angeles navigate parenthood, setting them and their children up for success and breaking the cycle of foster care.

I met Kerry at a work event and loved hearing about the work Alliance of Moms is doing. I learned that teen girls in foster care are 2.5 times more likely to become pregnant by age 19, half of young men aging out of foster care have become fathers, compared to 19% of their peers who were not in foster care, and 75% of young women in foster care report at least one pregnancy by age 21, compared to only one third of their peers who are not in foster care (Source). Additionally, California has more children in foster care than any other state. I hope you enjoy listening to this episode about Alliance of Moms and if you’re inspired to get involved, as I was, you can head to their site to learn more here.

Lastly, I need to share why I’m a little embarrassed by this episode. It was one of the first I recorded and it was over the phone! You can hear me typing while I was taking notes during some parts and I just wanted to apologize for that ROOKIE mistake! Please just tune those moments out and listen to Kerry instead!

I hope you enjoy this episode of the Not A Mama yet podcast!

My main takeaways:

-Something that I have started to realize, which was solidified while reading Miki Agrawal’s new book Disrupt-her is that we should be focusing on our lit path, as Miki puts it, not our career path. Society makes you think that you need to climb the corporate ladder and grow in your industry to define your success, but the reality is that many dots in your life connect to create your "lit path". Kerry talked about 9/11 and becoming a mother as moments in her life that made her pivot in her career or just her outlook on life. I think it’s important to always find the value in your experiences and not just write them off as roadblocks or unwanted disruptions, but more as building blocks to bring you further down your path.

-Every conversation can benefit from listening. We tend to talk and talk or get our next comment ready while someone else speaks, but really listening is so important to connect with people.

-Having access to the right tools and education is so empowering, especially as a new parent when you can feel you are doing a lot wrong. The reassurance and confidence Alliance of Moms gives these young parents is undeniable.

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