The Work & Play Podcast Episodes

Marriage, Relationships Nancy Ray Marriage, Relationships Nancy Ray

199 - 15 Years Married : Part 2

This week, we’re diving back into our 2-part series as Will and I celebrate 15 years of marriage (crazy, I know)! This week, we’ll be talking about kids and home life—from how we balance everything after adding kids to the mix to how we keep our home running smoothly amid the day-to-day busyness. It’ll be a fun one, so listen in!

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Marriage, Relationships Nancy Ray Marriage, Relationships Nancy Ray

198 - 15 Years Married : Part 1

Back in January, I did a big survey of all of my podcast listeners and one of the most requested people that I was asked to interview on the podcast was my husband, Will! Today, we’ll kick off a two-part episode series just to cover some of the most-asked questions about travel and finances for us. We'll talk about kids and home life next week.

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196 - Book | The Blessing, with Kari Trent Stageberg

I'm back with another May is for Mama's episode, and today I'm releasing one of my Patreon-only episodes into the world. This episode was published to my Patreon community last year, and it's the first time I've ever done this, but I love this precious woman so much, and I loved what she had to say so much that I knew eventually I had to share it with everyone.

Elizabeth Ray, who we affectionately call Grammy in our home, is my husband's mom, so she is my mother-in-law and she is one of my favorite people on this earth. Now, it's not lost on me that I am calling my mother-in-law one of my favorite people. I realize this is very rare and it is truly the greatest gift. Now, she always told me that she had the privilege of having an incredible mother-in-law herself who modeled that to her and now I am receiving that gift because she's now passing it down to me and I'm learning what that looks like.

I'm learning it because I'm watching it in action and I love that we have such a good, healthy relationship. But let me just say, whether you have a great relationship with your mother-in-law, a mediocre one, or maybe even a terribly painful one, I know you'll be encouraged today as Grammy simply shares about what she's learned from her mother-in-law—the power of words. And we can all take notes and decide now the kind of mother-in-law that we want to be one day.

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195 - Birds & Bees With Megan Michelson

I am so excited about the guest that I have today on the podcast because I kept thinking “If I could choose someone who would deliver a lot of value to my listeners who are mamas this month of May, who would it be?” And I kept thinking about Megan Michelson.

Megan is the co-creator and co-host of Birds & Bees, an online course with an amazing woman named Mary Flo Ridley. The two of them teach about sex and how to talk to your kids about sex in a healthy way. Let me just say—it is such a fabulous resource. Will and I have watched the course, we have taken so many notes, and I have even watched it a second time. It is such a great resource that I thought “You know, if I could have her on the podcast to share this information with you guys, it would be a game changer.” Megan has three kids of her own, is married, and lives in Dallas, Texas, and she is just a wonderful human being. I am very grateful to their generosity to you and I hope you enjoy!

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194 - Being a Loving Mother-in-Law with Grammy

I'm back with another May is for Mama's episode, and today I'm releasing one of my Patreon-only episodes into the world. This episode was published to my Patreon community last year, and it's the first time I've ever done this, but I love this precious woman so much, and I loved what she had to say so much that I knew eventually I had to share it with everyone.

Elizabeth Ray, who we affectionately call Grammy in our home, is my husband's mom, so she is my mother-in-law and she is one of my favorite people on this earth. Now, it's not lost on me that I am calling my mother-in-law one of my favorite people. I realize this is very rare and it is truly the greatest gift. Now, she always told me that she had the privilege of having an incredible mother-in-law herself who modeled that to her and now I am receiving that gift because she's now passing it down to me and I'm learning what that looks like.

I'm learning it because I'm watching it in action and I love that we have such a good, healthy relationship. But let me just say, whether you have a great relationship with your mother-in-law, a mediocre one, or maybe even a terribly painful one, I know you'll be encouraged today as Grammy simply shares about what she's learned from her mother-in-law—the power of words. And we can all take notes and decide now the kind of mother-in-law that we want to be one day.

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Relationships, Encouragement Nancy Ray Relationships, Encouragement Nancy Ray

185 - The Minkies

I've had three best friends for over 20 years: Jess, Heather, and Sam. And the four of us are called The Minkies, and I invited them to do a special episode of the podcast, just me and my best friends sharing our story, sharing our favorite memories and what it's taken for us to maintain a long lasting friendship for over two decades.

So it's a very fun, different episode today. There's a lot of laughing and joking and storytelling, and when it comes to work and play, these ladies, they definitely know how to work hard, but when we're together—it is 100% play. They are my idea of fun and having a good time, and they have been for the better part of my life. What a gift it is that I get to share them with you today!

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158 - Raising Daughters with Shay Cochrane, Part I

Welcome to May is for Mamas, where every episode in the month of May is dedicated to all the mamas out there with topics and conversations specifically for you. Today, I'm chatting with my friend Shay Cochrane, who is a wife and an entrepreneur, and a mama of two daughters. She owns Social Squares, which supplies elevated stock images and digital marketing education for female owned online brands.

Her vision as a creator is to enable more women to find greater success, sharing their ideas and businesses with the world, and she does all that and just 16 hours a week. I love how she models her life and her parenting and I have loved this conversation with her today.

We jumped into some hard stuff like, what it looks like to raise daughters in 2022—body image, style, confidence, work ethic, technology, teaching your kids about money. You are going to leave this conversation with some really practical parenting conversations and decisions, as well as some solid encouragement to keep up the good hard work we are doing as mamas.

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116 - An Interview with my Mama

My mom is the kindest wisest, warmest, funniest woman I know. It is really an honor to have her as a mom. She's so trustworthy. She's the best listener in the world, and every time I ask for advice, it seems like she always has the exact words I need to hear. The world needs more people like my mom, and today I get to share her with you.

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Faith, Relationships, Parenting Nancy Ray Faith, Relationships, Parenting Nancy Ray

114 - BFFs, Infertility, and Miracles with Samantha Ray

Today we are diving into one of the most difficult seasons of our friendship, the season of five years where my best friend and sister-in-law, Sam, was walking through infertility and I had three babies. I'm just so honored to share today's podcast episode with you, because what it feels like for me is a precious gift that I'm giving to you, that you can hear Sam's heart and her story. And it feels like we are sharing this really vulnerable part of our journey together as friends and sisters with you.

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Work, Books, Relationships Nancy Ray Work, Books, Relationships Nancy Ray

070 - Book | Crucial Conversations

Today's episode is one that I hope you will bookmark and come back to. Actually, I'm almost positive this is one that you will bookmark and come back to. That's because I'm going to share with you the simple steps and how to have a really hard conversation—a crucial conversation—steps that will help you think through what you will say before you say it, and tools that will change your marriage, change your family relationships, your work relationships, all for the better.

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066 - How the Church Can Respond to Racial Crisis with Dr. Dorrell Briscoe

Today I’m humbled and grateful to have Pastor Dorrell on the Work and Play Podcast. We’re going to talk all about the racial crisis that we’ve been in and how the church, how believers, how you and I should respond during this time, during a racial crisis, and even more than that how to bounce forward, not bounce back, when the current storm we’re in starts to quiet.

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