111. Microbiomes 101: Probiotics, Vaginal Microbiomes, and the Impact of Microbes in Moms and Babies with Ara Katz, Co-Founder of Seed

<p class="" data-pm-slice="1 3 []">Ara Katz is a mother, entrepreneur, author and wellness expert. She is the co-founder of microbial sciences company Seed Health and consumer innovations brand, Seed.</p> <p class="">Ara's first pregnancy and breastfeeding experience led her to the microbiome and inspired her personal mission to explore the importance and impact of microbes. </p> <p class="">At Seed Health, she leads fundraising, design thinking, brand, insights, commercialization, and the company’s translational work in science communication and storytelling. </p> <p class="">Ara lives in Venice, California with her husband and six-year-old son, Pax and is currently pregnant with her second child.</p> <h3>In this episode, Ara and I chatted about</h3> <ul> <li>The invisible work - childcare and the roles her and her spouse play as two hard-working startup founders</li> <li>Mindset going into having two children</li> <li>How her mom’s pancreatic cancer inspired her to dive deep into health, care for our bodies and preventative health</li> <li>How her miscarriage before her current child was an eye opener to what she wanted to do with her life</li> <li>What is seeding?</li> <li>The effect of microbes in the prenatal period, birth and environmental</li> <li>What is vaginal swabbing and the effect of breastfeeding on the child’s microbiome</li> <li>The differences in vaginal microbiome and how that can affect reproductive health</li> <li>What she prioritizes in wellness everyday</li> </ul> <h3>SPECIAL OFFER: 15% YOUR ORDER AT <a href="https://seed.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SEED</a> WITH CODE: MOMMYSONACALL</h3> <p class=""><a href="https://seed.com">Seed</a> has generously offered 15% off your entire order if you use the code MOMMYSONACALL. If you haven’t tried the adult version of Seed (<a href="https://seed.com/daily-synbiotic" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">DS-01™ Daily Synbiotic</a>) then now’s the time to try both the adult and kid versions (<a href= "https://seed.com/pds08-daily-kids-probiotic" targe