For our last episode this season, Kallie sits down with postpartum nurse, lactation consultant, writer, and mother of three, Emily. Emily reached out to us at the CBCNetwork after writing about her near miss experience as an almost egg donor at just nineteen years old. Why didn’t Emily commit to becoming an egg-donor? What horrible information did she find out about the clinic who recruited her? These are all questions we will find out in today’s episode of Venus Rising.

Emily's background in women’s health and various experiences with birth and mothering allows for a robust discussion even beyond Emily’s personal experience with the fertility industry.  Through her writing on this vast topic and how it touches women and children, Emily hopes to spark critical thought and reverence for life, vitality and all that is good. It is in this spirit that Kallie and Emily also talk about the questions Emily seeks to explore in her writing.

Listeners can find Emily’s writings at her Substack under the newsletter name  “Women’s Work” (https://theworkofwomen.substack.com) and on Instagram @tend.her.heart

Today I have the pleasure of sitting down with a very interesting man, Peter Boni. Peter credits his disruptive childhood, a college education from Univeristy of Massachusetts Amherst, decorated on-the-ground service as a US Army Special Operations Team Leader in Vietnam, the love of his family and friends, plus his luck-of-the-draw DNA with making him the person he has become today—a best-selling author, donor-conceived rights advocate, and fun-loving grandfather.

Today we talk with Peter about his personal experience as a donor-conceived person, what he thinks of #BigFertility, and his best-selling book which intimately shares his personal odyssey and acquired expertise to advocate for regulatory oversight of the multibillion-dollar reproductive industry that conceives hundreds of half-siblings from a single donor, Uprooted. Uprooted has been twice recognized; first as the Winner of the 2022 Best Book Award, Narrative Nonfiction by American Bookfest, and second, as a 2023 Gold Medal Winner, Nonfiction Audiobook by The Independent Book Publisher’s Association.

You can find and follow Peter by going to his website: http://www.peterjboni.com/

Today on the show we hear from a very broken-hearted guest sharing the story of her sister’s life and untimely death at just 39 years old. Breaz’s sister was determined to have her own biological children and went through seven rounds of IVF. After her last pregnancy, cancer took Breaz’s sisters life. Breaz shares her sister’s IVF story in hopes of cautioning other women considering IVF and ART technologies stating “we are not all meant to give birth, but we can still be moms in many ways”. The grief is ever fresh and immensely hard to process, so listeners, be patient as you listen and be forewarned that this episode might be emotional and triggering for some.