I AM MOTHER — Chapter 2: The Woman Beneath the Mother an Initiation with Nicole Jones
Available on — Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts & Substack
Interview Episode with Nicole Jones
In this deeply intimate episode of I Am Mother, we sit with Nicole Jones — mama, guide, ceremonialist, and Maven at Maman Cacao — to explore the many layers of what it means to become a mother.
Nicole has spent more than 20 years immersed in the wellness world, but it was her own experiences, initiations, and seasons of being brought to her knees that ultimately shaped the path she walks today. Her journey through healing, ritual, plant medicine and sacred Cacao became part of a much deeper relationship with herself — and, in many ways, a preparation for the profound initiation of motherhood.
Together, we move beyond the polished image of what motherhood is “supposed” to look like and into the truth of what it can actually ask of us.
Nicole opens up about the very different experiences of birth she and her wife had, the physical and emotional realities of postpartum, and the identity shifts that come with becoming a mother. We explore what happens when the person you were before motherhood begins to transform — and how much of motherhood is actually a process of being reborn yourself.
The conversation moves into the importance of having a village, especially in a time when many mothers are expected to do so much without the support of a true community. Nicole shares what it has meant to mother two children, trust her intuition, and navigate the wildness, beauty, exhaustion and surrender that comes with it.
We also explore the deeper layers beneath motherhood: ancestral healing, breaking cycles, reconnecting with ritual, and creating space for yourself even in the most demanding seasons of caring for others.
This is a conversation about birth — but not only the birth of babies.
It is about the birth of a mother.
And the woman she continues to become.
In this episode, we talk about:
• The initiation of becoming a mother
• The realities and nuances of pregnancy, birth and postpartum
• Nicole and her wife’s individual birth experiences
• The identity shift that happens when we become mothers
• Motherhood as a process of rebirth
• Learning to trust intuition and mother from within
• The importance — and absence — of a true village
• Becoming a mother of two and the wildness of it all
• Ancestral healing and breaking generational patterns
• How motherhood can bring us into deeper relationship with ourselves
• Ritual, sacred Cacao and creating moments of connection
• Finding space for yourself while mothering others
• The intertwining paths of healing, career and motherhood
• Surrendering to what is rather than trying to control what motherhood “should” be
Nicole’s story is a beautiful reminder that motherhood doesn’t simply add another role to our identity.
Sometimes, it asks us to release the woman we thought we were becoming so we can meet the woman who is waiting underneath it all.
