A member of the well-known City Mom Collective, San Francisco Bay Area Moms is a top-rated online parenting publication and community focused on sharing information, ideas, and personal stories to support, inspire and connect Moms in the San Francisco Bay Area. Read more about us here.
Written for Moms, By Moms.
Pauline
Mom-in-Chief
After spending over a decade overseas, Pauline was repatriated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2019 with her husband, a Bay Area native, and their cheeky son. Pauline grew up in Toronto, Canada, and has held various positions – from environmental governance to marketing and public relations to brand management and corporate strategy – in the themed attractions and entertainment industry (the business of fun!). When she is not mom-ing at home and on San Francisco Bay Area Moms, Pauline enjoys traveling, photography, sports, music, going to the beach, visiting theme parks and attractions, exploring new places, and feasting around town. Follow her adventures through her lens on Instagram.
Olga
Managing Editor
Olga Rosales Salinas is Managing Editor for San Francisco Bay Area Moms, and host of Hella MomVersations, the first podcast here at SFBAM. As a freelance writer and journalist, her articles have been published nationally by palabra, National Association of Hispanic Journalists. Her bylines have also appeared in Voices of Monterey Bay, Jumble & Flow and various others. Her debut collection of poetry and prose, La Llorona, was published by Birch Bench Press in August of 2021. In 2019 her philanthropy and activism began with a non-profit benefiting first-generation and immigrant students, The Rosales Sisters’ Scholarship. She has had spotlights in the following podcasts and radio stations; THINK/NPR with Krys Boyd, Los Sotelos Podcast, The Hive Poetry Collective @ksqd.org, Walk the Talk Podcast, “Making a Difference with Sheetal Ohri” on Bolly 92.3 FM, and Roll Over Easy @BFFdotFM Radio.
Anastasiya
Events Manager
My name is Anastasiya Rutus, pronouns she/her. [name sounds like nicetosEEya].
I am a human, friend, mother, and wanderer on a mission to change the way we think about rest and self-care. I believe that rest is a necessity and our undeniable human right.
I am a Rest Coach helping parents of young children and entrepreneurs to integrate a sustainable self-care routine so they can enjoy guilt-free rest, travel more, and set an example for the next generations that you can live life successfully with yourself as a priority.
Outside of coaching, I speak about why self-care is important and the benefits of rest! It is more than just sleep and we need to rest every day as much as we need water or food to live a full joyful life!
When I am not working with clients or wandering the world with my family, you can find me on the Ocean beach or just chilling about on a playground in San Francisco, California.
Monica
Content Partnerships Manager
Monica is a Santa Cruz County Native currently residing in Watsonville but has lived all over the Bay Area.
After receiving her BA in International Relations from San Francisco State University,
she worked in corporate sales and marketing. Soon after, she jumped into the world of early childhood education and became a preschool teacher, opening up her own preschool program before having her own children.
She is a mother of two amazing daughters and currently a stay-at-home mom or ‘domestic engineer’ (which she has learned over the last few years, translates to project manager/chef/ chauffeur/referee/therapist/housekeeper).
When she’s not volunteering in her kids’ classrooms or driving to one of their many after-school activities, you can find her at the beach taking a million pictures of her kids and trying mightily to get through a good book uninterrupted…Always seeking balance.
Jeanne
Business Development Director
Jeanne is a married, full-time working mom with an MBA in Marketing from Golden Gate University and BA in Communications from San Francisco State University. She is a Director of Sales for Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants and loves that her career enables her to promote the city she loves. Jeanne and her husband Daniel live in San Francisco with their two daughters, Ilse and Alice. When Jeanne is not working, writing, or volunteering at her daughters’ schools, she enjoys running, spending time with family, and cooking from her collection of cookbooks (100+ and growing). Follow her adventures on Instagram and every Thursday on SFBAM’s IG Channel.
Tracy
Featured Writer
Tracy is an Authorized Facilitator and Certified Instructor with Darkness to Light, a child sexual abuse prevention organization. Tracy grew up in northeast Ohio, and has lived in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Arizona, and Northern Virginia and has worked in the arts, in education and most recently as a Public Educator for a child abuse prevention non-profit. Her husband’s job brought them to the Bay Area and there’s no looking back! Tracy is mom to a 15-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son. Self-care includes pedicures, reading, cooking, crafting, and just being with her family.
Elisa
Featured Writer
Elisa is a loving wife and stay at home mom living in San Francisco’s Telegraph Hill neighborhood. A proud sixth-generation San Franciscan, Elisa spent her early years in the Haight-Ashbury before moving to Mill Valley in elementary school. She studied Comparative Literature and French Language at University of San Francisco, where she wrote her thesis on the origins of fairy tales. Along with being the Managing Editor here at San Francisco Bay Area Moms, Elisa also writes for POPSUGAR, FamilyEducation, and OXO brands.
Michelle
Yoga Queen
Michelle Corley Wing is a certified children’s yoga and mindfulness educator and the founder of It’s Yoga Kids®. Created in 2005, IYK teaches essential success skills and leader development training. Her work has been featured in Yoga Journal, Today.com and Parenting Magazine. Michelle is a proud mompreneur dedicated to helping all children feel healthier & happier. Can yoga help you? Take the 1-minute quiz at www.itsyogakids.com.
Robin
Featured Writer
Robin is a Bay Area native who spent eight years on the East Coast (college, journalism school and work) before returning to California with her husband Basil in 2007. She’s the mom of a boy and two girls born in 2012, 2014, and 2017 and works as a freelance journalist when the kids allow. Exercise is her highly valued “me time,” and in early 2016 she became a Bar Method instructor in Palo Alto (Click here and use the promo code FREE for a free Bar Method class).
Sysamone
Featured Writer
Sysamone Phaphon is a single mom of two. She’s lived in the east bay area for 15+ years. She is the current CEO and founder of the CBD Nanoemulsion brand, Khuenphu. Sysamone also provides growth marketing consultancy in the technology, healthcare and cannabis industries through a digital marketing agency called A.V.O. Prior to pursuing the consultancy path & building her own company, she was previously the Head of Growth for cannabis manufacturer, Vertosa, where she managed PR, Marketing and brand partnerships. She is also a brand ambassador for Mothercoders, a nonprofit organization helping mothers on-ramp to careers in tech so they can thrive in a digital economy. When she’s not working, she’s playing baseball mom for her daughter’s all girls competitive travel baseball team and lacrosse mom for her son’s competitive travel team. When she has personal time for herself, she loves naps, enjoying infused products and binge watching various series on all the streaming channels.
Clara
Featured Writer
Clara Hogan is a writer based in the East Bay, and a mom to two young daughters. She enjoys strong coffee, braving restaurants with a baby and toddler, discovering new parks, and weekend trips around California with her family.
Patti
Featured Writer
Patti O’Brien has worked in the non-profit sector for most of her career, specializing in donor relations, event and volunteer management, program management, strategic planning, and fundraising.
Patti is a native of Saint Louis, and holds a B.A. in Communication from Saint Louis University. She and her husband Matt have lived in St. Louis, Miami, Phoenix, and now reside in the Bay Area with their two sons and dog, Lola.
Erin
Special Contributor
Erin is a mom of two beautiful little girls and a little boy. She has a bachelor’s degree in Business Marketing from San Francisco State, and her career as a VP of Operations for a cosmetics company was her game for a long time. But once she became a mom everything changed, she wanted life to slow down and focus her energy on raising her children. She is fortunate to be married to a wonderful husband who is a frontline hero, a Respiratory Therapist, at Kaiser. Being a stay-at-home mom has been such an incredible journey and she enjoys life’s great adventures. Erin enjoys reading, working out, being a foodie, crafting, and always having a good laugh.
Linda
Special Contributor
Linda, born and raised in San Francisco, is a mom of two little Toddlers. Love to travel around the world but also love discovering all the little hidden gems around the city, especially family friendly spots. Recently discovered that she has a secret talent in cooking, so she is testing out new recipes when there is time. She has a background in Event planning and excited to be a part of Community Events in San Francisco!
Meredith
Featured Writer
Meredith is a transplant to the Bay Area and has fallen in love with the weather, gorgeous scenery, and plethora of kid-friendly parks and activities. A wife and mother of two, she also works part-time as a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist. She hails from Texas, where she attended the University of Texas and will always bleed orange. She then moved to Washington DC for medical school, where she fell in love with her husband, a fellow student, and has now been happily married for 6 years. She and her husband moved to Cincinnati, Ohio for Residency where they started their family, and then recently relocated to the Bay Area last year. Meredith has chosen to devote more time at home now that she has two young kids, and has been enjoying the balance of working and full-time parenting. In her limited free time, she enjoys reading, running, playing old lady soccer, watching college sports, and more recently wine tasting.
Jen
Featured Writer
Jen is a 15 year San Franciscan who migrated to sunny California from Erie, PA after completing an engineering degree at Penn State University. She is mom to two young boys, Leighton and Rhys, and has found the perfect work-life balance by continuing to pursue a career in digital marketing part-time while spending her “off” days dedicated to her sons. Jen is a distance runner, longtime yogi, and amateur chef, passionate about developing a healthy and active lifestyle for herself and her family.
Sarah
Sleep Specialist
Originally from Ottawa, ON Canada, Sarah moved to Mountain View, CA in 2014 with her husband and two children. Sarah has a Bachelor of Kinesiology and a Doctor of Chiropractic degree, but found her true calling helping parents get their kids to sleep at Helping Babies Sleep. As a sleep consultant, Sarah empowers parents to teach their babies and toddlers to sleep by educating parents on age appropriate sleep needs and sleep training options. Sarah helps parents with her online courses and personal sleep consultations. When she’s not helping babies sleep, picking up from preschool or watching kids on the playground, she enjoys talking to adults, exploring new sights, and seeing live music with friends.
Cathy
Master Baker
Cathy is our resident Master Baker! She owns P.S. I Cake You, a custom cake and desserts business in the East Bay. She is also a Head Teacher at a before & after school childcare center where she enjoys fostering play and art development. Along with her two career jobs, Cathy is a loving wife and a mother of one active toddler boy. During her limited “me time” she enjoys doing CrossFit, being a foodie, and crafting. Follow Cathy on Facebook and Instagram to see what this mompreneur is up to next.
Michelle
Featured Writer
Michelle Kaye is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and mother of two children. She holds a post-graduate certificate in infant-parent mental health. Michelle lives in Pacifica and works as a Clinical Director at a nonprofit in San Francisco. She recently published a humorous parenting book titled Better Than Good Enough that can be found online here.
Chris
Featured Writer
Chris is originally a Midwest girl from Ann Arbor, Michigan who now lives in Menlo Park. She has an almost 6 year old daughter and a 4 year old son. Before retiring from the corporate world and creating her own fine jewelry company, Chris was an HR exec at LinkedIn and ServiceNow. Chris enjoys cooking, being a hostess, finding people the perfect gift, sparkly things, and traveling.
Tavia
Contributing Writer
Tavia is the Producer, Director, and Talk Show Host for Connection & Prevention with Tavia Avila, a program dedicated to mental health awareness and suicide prevention. She grew up in Santa Cruz, California, and studied Communications, Radio, and Television at San Jose State University, where she began her broadcasting career. Tavia is mom to a 9-year-old son, who she loves to run, play, and cuddle with. Her best days are spent being in connection with her family and friends.
Joey
Special Contributor
After 20+ years in radio, Joey Fortman dropped her headphones for a diaper bag and didn’t look back… until she moved to San Francisco in 2018. Until recently, Joey was one of the Top 5 morning shows in San Francisco on 96.5 KOIT. Once again, the diaper bag wins. Except this time it is the backpack and mental health-mothering all while parenting in a pandemic. You could say like many other moms in the Bay Area, Joey joined the SHE-cession because she didn’t have the flexibility to care for kids in crisis. After leaving radio for the first time in 2008 Joey build Real Mom Media and Reality Moms. Real Mom Media is an influencer marketing agency and as a “reformed-mommy-blogger” Joey has worked on campaigns all over the world. Joey has also been a parenting and lifestyle contributor as a travel, tech, and toy expert on many national and local traditional media outlets. Shows like Today Show, Dr. Oz, The Talk, Good Morning America, Fox Philly, KPIX in San Francisco, and hundreds more. Reality Moms is a global community of women that includes over 250 contributors who share the good, the bad, and the funny parts of parenting.
Courtney
Special Contributor
Originally from SoCal Courtney is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy of Hollywood, where she studied voice and performance. Courtney came North in 2013 with her husband, Ron, and they fell in love with the bay area’s diverse outdoor adventuring opportunities. She and her family have thrived, raising 2 young girls, in the richness of experiences here in the Bay. From rocky beaches to rolling green hills, She loves to be active outdoors. Whether it’s Running, paddle boarding, or trekking up mountains with her pup she is always on the go. Her curiosity and passion for fitness education have earned her multiple fitness certifications including sports nutrition. She now Coaches functional fitness & strength from her backyard gym, Consciously Capable, which she opened in 2018. Courtney seeks to remove the vanity aspect of one’s wellness and focus on how being well truly FEELS like. If you can’t find her on top of a mountain or under a waterfall, you might find her in her home studio learning new music or sitting on the couch enjoying a fun game of Uno with her daughters.
Devorie
Contributing Writer
Devorie Levin, Co-founder of Chabad of the Neighborhood, enjoys playing with her kids and dancing to music in the kitchen. Devorie hosts Shabbat dinners and is the creator of the pop-up Kosher Deli on West Portal Ave. Connect with Devorie at ChabadNeighborhood.com.
Michelle
Featured Writer
Michelle grew up in a small mountain town in the Sierras but was most recently living in San Diego before she and her family made the move to the East Bay in early March 2020 (how’s that for timing?!?). She tried the corporate 9-5 after college but truly found her passion when she left her office job and started an event planning and baking business. Her baking business took the back burner while she focused on being a mom, but she still loves to break out the baking supplies to celebrate life’s milestones with a special dessert.
Now she’s a mama on a mission to educate + share her journey to a cleaner lifestyle. She enjoys family time, entertaining, cooking, baking (mostly gluten-free), crafting {anything} and a good sweat sesh on her peloton. You can follow her clean journey (and occasional recipes) on @a.berry.clean.lifestye.
Jlove
Featured Writer
Jlove is a parent and co-founder of Mercury Coach. She combines alternative therapy, education and coaching to free parents and kids from fear and trauma, and to live with freedom and confidence. She has studied and trained teams in human behavior and motivation for the past 20 years working in the fields of experience design, consulting, organizational design and culture. Her focus is on empowering others to unlock their own transformation from the inside out.
She is a certified Delivering Happiness Culture Coach-sultant™ and practitioner of Hypnotherapy, Neuro Linguistic Programming, NLP Coaching, Time Line Therapy™, and 2nd Degree Usui Reiki. Jlove’s passion is understanding man’s connection with the divine and the unique life journey each person is on.
When she’s not working, you can find her studying esoteric literature, learning from her kids, or cleaning the kitchen.
Jennifer
Featured Writer
Jennifer is a student midwife who runs Little Ones Welcome, a holistic practice where she integrates Western and Eastern perspectives on Fertility and Pediatric health. She offers services in Acupuncture, Elimination Communication, and Post-Partum Preparedness. Jenn lives in San Francisco with her Husband Oliver, Son Eli, and Dog Franklin. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time outdoors hiking, walking, gardening, or just listening to the ocean waves. Jenn especially loves traveling, enjoying a good meal, and just chillin’ with her boys!
Vaijayanti
Contributor
Vaijayanti was born and brought up in India. She moved to the US in 2014 to Scottsdale, AZ where she lived for a year before moving to the Bay Area in 2015. She currently lives in Dublin with her husband and son. She has an engineering degree in Industrial Biotechnology and was working at bank before moving to the States.
Lynne
Contributor
Originally from the UK, Lynne moved to San Francisco from London in 2016. Her professional background is in marketing and she’s enjoyed working at companies such as Lufthansa and Twitter, but her real passion is travel. She caught the travel bug after college and has lived and worked in Australia and Germany before coming to the US. What started off as a temporary relocation resulted in her finding a home and starting a family in California. Able to explore beaches, National Parks, and mountains, Lynne thinks California’s kids are amongst the luckiest in the world and hopes to be back on the road soon, with baby in tow!
Molly
Contributor
Molly is a stay-at-home mom who lives in Martinez with her husband, two kids, and a needy French Bulldog. She has her degree in Advertising from the University of Illinois, is an Illinois native, and spent her post-college years living abroad in England and the Netherlands before landing in the Bay Area. After spending the past 7 years getting to know the area, she’s excited to spread her knowledge to other parents and newcomers to the Bay (the East Bay in particular!). Molly loves going on adventures with her family, discovering delicious spots to eat and drink, and a good Netflix show after the kids are in bed.
Laura
Contributor
Laura is the founder of Merry Styling, a mom of two, and a former teacher who lives in San Francisco. She grew up in Columbus, Ohio and relished the changing of seasons because it meant revamping her wardrobe! After completing graduate school at The Ohio State University, Laura relocated to San Francisco, where she taught elementary school for nine years before having her two children Noelle and Lucas. When her youngest was six months old, Laura started working as a stylist with jewelry and accessories company Stella and Dot. Since then, she has earned a Fashion Merchandising degree from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, styled with nonprofit Dress for Success, and done various merchandising projects for different retail organizations. Laura knows that style is more than clothing and accessories. She has found it to be an amazing confidence booster. Finding the perfect outfit on a bad day can turn it into a great one. She is especially passionate about working with moms Laura started Merry Styling because she wants to help other moms and anyone else who feels “left behind by fashion” to feel confident, empowered, and beautiful through personal styling, closet detox, and personal shopping sessions. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram for more!
Vanna
Contributor
Vanna is a mom of 3 and has lived in Berkeley, Emeryville, and is currently in Hercules. She has lived in the Bay Area for 15 years and has traveled quite a bit throughout the Bay Area, from Antioch to San Francisco and San Jose. She is taking a break from teaching duties at the moment!
Kelly
Founder
Kelly migrated to San Francisco in 2009 after living in Chicago, Florida, and growing up in Texas. She is happy now to call the Bay Area her home. She is a licensed Physician Assistant and previously worked in OBGYN and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. With the support of her husband and college sweetheart, Rob, she took a break from medicine to do something more creative! In addition to running San Francisco Moms Blog and Mid-Peninsula Moms Blog, Kelly is mommy to Mr. Gavin and Mr. Byron. She is happy to be the princess of the house! When she is not working or chasing her boys, she loves cooking, college football, and spending time and traveling with her family.
Rebecca
Founding Member
Rebecca is the former Managing Editor for both Mid-Peninsula Moms Blog and San Francisco Moms Blog. She and her husband moved to San Francisco from the East Coast in 2008 and love raising their two children in the city. Rebecca worked for two Fortune 500 companies in a variety of HR roles before surprising everyone, including herself, and leaving her job to stay home with her kids. She’s written for a variety of online parenting publications including Scary Mommy, Motherly, and YourTango, but promises that she can talk about non-parenting stuff in real life. Follow her on Facebook and BeckyRebecca.com.
