what does it actually look like to build a business and a life at the same time without sacrificing one for the other?

in this episode of Mocktails with Marina, Marina pulls back the curtain on how she and her husband have designed their household to run with the same clarity and intention as a business. from defined roles and shared documentation to the mindset shift that changed everything, this conversation is equal parts practical and permission-giving.

Marina shares how she works up to 20 hours a week while running a business that fully supports her family and why that didn't happen by accident. you'll hear how she and her husband divided household responsibilities, why they treat family management like operations, and how Notion became the digital backbone of everything from grocery lists to financial planning.

this episode also gets real about the postpartum season and what it taught Marina about the power of having systems before you need them and why clarity between partners is one of the most loving things you can build into a household.

if you've been feeling the weight of running a home and a business at the same time, this one is for you.

in this episode:
— why Marina is done with the "working class hero" narrative and what she believes instead
— how she and her husband divide executive responsibility at home without rigid, black-and-white roles
— using Notion for household management, financial planning, and family operations
— what postpartum taught her about sustainable systems and shared load
— designing a life around presence, flexibility, and intentional business building
— how her podcast supports her family without requiring her to be constantly on

Nobody hands you maternity leave when you run your own business. You build it or you don't take one.

In this episode, Marina gets into exactly how she prepared for maternity leave as a consultant with active retainer clients, what the first 40 days of postpartum actually looked like as a business owner, and what she would do differently if she had to do it all again.

This is the episode for every freelancer, consultant, and service provider who has wondered how to step away without losing clients, income, or momentum and for every new or expecting mom trying to figure out what sustainable business ownership actually looks like in the hardest season of her life.

Topics covered:
— How to prepare your retainer clients for your maternity leave
— What to batch, what to delegate, and what to let go
— The first 40 days postpartum: what nobody tells business owners
— Why presence (not productivity) is what good preparation buys you
— How a podcast can generate income while you're completely offline
— Profitable Podcasting Without Sales Calls: the program that kept earning while Marina was in her first 40 days

If your business only works when you do, this episode is the wake-up call and the roadmap.

https://themodernmocktail.thrivecart.com/profitable-podcasting/

Unmedicated birth. Sober mom. Two miscarriages. 200 days of vomiting. And a business that held through all of it.

In this episode, Marina shares the full story from meeting her husband in 2021 and building a life around their future family, to two pregnancy losses, a pregnancy that left her barely functional for months, and the unmedicated birth of their son, Bula Baby, on February 12th, 2026.

But this isn't just a birth story. It's about what happens when you reject fear in the birth room and in business and build something on your own terms instead.

Marina breaks down why she, as a sober woman, chose to go completely unmedicated through labor and delivery, the connection between sobriety and presence, why she saw labor as teamwork between herself, her husband, and her baby, and what it felt like to be fully in it without interference for every contraction.

She also gets honest about the entrepreneurship side of this season: how a business built for "later" became the lifeline that carried their family through the hardest year of their lives before baby ever arrived and what that taught her about building with real intention.

In this episode:
— Why sobriety and an unmedicated birth are rooted in the same philosophy
— Rejecting fear culture around birth and why 98% of people wanted to hand them their fears
— The full birth timeline: water breaking at 7am, birthing center arrival, baby by 7pm, home by 11pm
— Two pregnancy losses and what they taught Marina about resilience and intentional building
— How a virtual business built for lifestyle freedom became the foundation that made this season survivable
— Why your podcast might be your most underleveraged business asset and how to fix that

Resources mentioned: Profitable Podcasting Without Sales Calls → themodernmocktail.thrivecart.com/profitable-podcasting/