Mainstream Mom Contributors

If you’d like to share your expertise with other moms – who welcome your words of wisdom – here’s how to submit a guest post to MainstreamMom! …We’re looking for original (not published elsewhere), inspiring articles and/or useful tips and resources. Please send your suggested topic and title to [email protected].

Jacoba Urist

Jacoba Urist is a lawyer, Huffington Post Blogger and mom in Manhattan. She received her JD in 2002 from New York University School of Law and an LL.M., Masters in Taxation in 2004. Jacoba spent the last year researching (almost) every facet of planning for the future and parenting for her book “The Happiest Parent,” and came to one overwhelming conclusion: the happiest parent plans for the future no matter how hard it is today. Currently, she runs an estate planning consulting practice, especially for couples with young children, and writes for numerous sites about family finance and legal issues.

 

Beth Kobliner

Beth Kobliner is a personal finance commentator and journalist, and the author of the New York Times bestseller Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties. She was appointed by President Obama to the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability, a bipartisan committee charged with tackling the problem of financial illiteracy in our country. She has a regular segment on public radio’s national program The Takeaway, produced in collaboration with the BBC World Service and The New York Times. She is a contributor to public radio’s Marketplace, discussing teens and money with her daughter in the “Beth and Becca” segment. She is also a content advisor for Sesame Street’s financial education initiative, and is proud to teach Elmo about money in their outreach video. Read More…

Jenna McCarthy

Jenna McCarthy is an internationally published writer, former radio personality and the author of five books including the recently-released If It Was Easy They’d Call the Whole Damn Thing a Honeymoon: Living with and Loving the TV-Addicted, Sex-Obsessed, Not-so-handy Man You Married (Berkley Books, 2011). (Please note that it says the blah-blah-blah man you married, not the one Jenna married. Her husband likes it when she points that out.) Her work has appeared in more than fifty magazines, on dozens of web sites and in several anthologies including the popular Chicken Soup series. Jenna likes it when you like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter (although she can be quite profane so you might want to keep the kids away). Find out how Jenna survived tanorexia and watch the hilarious trailer for her new book by visiting her website.

Jesse Mecham

In 2003, Jesse married his sweetheart, Julie. With seven semesters to go in the Accountancy graduate program at Brigham Young University, Jesse knew their meager earnings would have to do some serious stretching. As a result, he created a unique money management system. It worked so well, he officially founded YouNeedaBudget.com in 2004, and started selling his program–earning extra income for his growing family. After graduation, Jesse worked as a certified public accountant, but continued to sell YNAB on the side. Eventually he left the day job in order to focus on his business full-time. YNAB is used world-wide and can be found on Amazon.com, the Intel App-Up store, and the Apple store. In September, 2010, Jesse wrote a companion book to the software, also titled “You Need a Budget.” The program was recently named winner for Best Windows Personal Finance Software in About.com’s Reader’s Choice Awards for 2011 and Best Desktop Personal Finance tool on Lifehacker.com. Jesse enjoys working from home, golfing, taking his wife on weekly dates, and keeping up with their five kids.

Neale S. Godfrey

Neale S. Godfrey is an acknowledged expert on family and children’s finances who has been in the financial field for more than 30 years. Early in her career, Neale became one of the first female executives at The Chase Manhattan Bank. Later, she became the president of The First Women’s Bank and founder of The First Children’s Bank. In 1989, Neale formed her own company, Children’s Financial Network, Inc., whose mission is to educate children and their parents about money. Neale is the author of 17 books that deal with money, life skills, and value issues, and has been honored with a #1 New York Times Best Seller, Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees: A Parent’s Guide to Raising Financially Responsible Children. Read More…

Paula Rizzo

Paula Rizzo is a television producer and founder of ListProducer.com. She’s an Emmy Award winner and attributes much of her success to her compulsive list making. She makes lists for everything and started ListProducer to help others become more organized, focused and efficient, while being less stressed. Paula has been featured in several publications including: Whole Living Magazine, Women’s Health Australia, WomansDay.com and Mainstreet.com. She’s also the author of Enough Time Mom’s ebook, 10 Lists Every Mom Needs. Her compulsive list making has earned her CBS New York’s Most Valuable Blogger, KIRO-FM’s Blogger of the Week, and Top 50 Productivity Blogs of 2011.

Samantha McNesby

Samantha McNesby writes about creative gift ideas for new moms and dads over at Gifts For New Parents. Samantha is a freelance writer specializing in topics related to crafting, hobbies, parenting and the home. She has been a professional writer for 12 years, and is the author of several books, including Sewing with Vintage Linens and Baby Couture, and over 500 magazine articles.