The Head Start: Embracing the Journey

As a working mother, author, and speaker, Muneera knows what it means to juggle competing priorities. But living with Chronic Migraine has forced her to reconsider the pressure to always keep going. In this episode, Nora sits down with Muneera to explore the realities of managing family, career, and a very public life while navigating a seemingly invisible disease. She reflects on the guilt that can come with slowing down, the impo...

There’s something different about a voice note. It’s not polished. It’s not rehearsed. It’s just one person trying to put words around something that’s hard to explain. In this special episode, Nora McInerny steps away from the traditional interview format to hear directly from Michelle Douglas and Caitlyn Eiffert through personal voice notes. Together, they reflect on the long road to diagnosis, the c...

Living with Chronic Migraine is rarely a straight line. Life keeps moving, responsibilities pile up, and the journey continues long after the moment of diagnosis. In the Season 4 premiere, Nora reconnects with two familiar voices from earlier seasons: Priya Rama and Qasim Amin Nathari. Together, they reflect on what has changed, what has stayed the same, and what it looks like to keep moving forward while living with Chronic Migrai...

We all carry more than we show—juggling roles, responsibilities, and realities that often go unseen, even by those closest to us. In this episode, Nora sits down with her big sister, Meghan, for an honest and vulnerable conversation about the reality of living with Chronic Migraine—a reality woven into their family history. Together, they reflect on how this shared thread has shaped their relationships with each other a...

Living in the public eye brings constant pressure, making it even more important for actress and host Lilly Singh to approach life with intentionality while managing her Chronic Migraine. In this episode, Nora sits down with Lilly to explore the daily routines, open communication, and wellbeing-first mindset that have helped her manage both personally and professionally. She shares strategies for setting boundaries, prioritizi...

Talking about intimacy can be difficult, even with your partner. It’s nuanced. It’s often avoided. But it’s still very important. In this episode, Nora and guest Tom Picerno explore how he’s navigated these delicate conversations while living with Chronic Migraine. They’re joined by Tom’s wife, Cheryl, who adds an extra layer of perspective to how they’ve relied heavily...

The healing power of fitness goes far beyond physical benefits—for today’s guest, it’s a form of self-expression and a celebration of what the body can do. In this episode, host Nora McInerny sits down with fitness personality Ivylis Rivera, who shares her deeply personal journey of navigating life with Chronic Migraine while holding onto her passion for movement. Ivylis opens up about the struggle of staying acti...

It’s one thing, as a parent, to deal with your own struggles, but to watch your kid go through it - to see them face obstacles and struggles can be excruciating. It often feels like the parent’s job is to shield their child from hardships. In this episode, Nora shares the story of Angel and Xavier, a mother and son who are no strangers to Chronic Migraine, supporting each other t...

Oftentimes the standard “I’m good!” response isn’t rooted in the truth. We often act our way through our struggles, so we don’t burden someone else with our problems. In this episode, Nora delves into how Aaron Matthew Atkisson balances the art of acting both on set and as the primary caregiver for his family. When a migraine attack hits, he can’t simply ask his family to wait, or call cut o...

Navigating parenthood can be overwhelming all on its own, but Danielle Mandoza takes it a step further teaching young children at work, too. In this episode, Nora explores Danielle’s struggle to balance her roles as a parent and teacher with the ever-lingering threat of a migraine attack. Thanks to the experiences of her mother and grandmother who both lived with migraine, Danielle continues to face ...

“Knowledge is Power” may be an old cliche, but it is never more true than when talking about

living with a chronic illness, like Chronic Migraine. In this episode, Nora explores how writer and advocate Jaime Sanders found the right words to describe her migraine symptoms earlier than most, thanks to her access to healthcare education. Her community and support provided a springboard for her emp...

Most of us have probably heard “Suck it up!” or “Get over it!” at some point. But when you’re living with Chronic Migraine, these phrases are far from helpful. In this episode, Nora talks to Air Force veteran Ivan Perry who is pushing back on a culture that measures strength by silence and a lack of struggle. He channels the resilience he developed while living with Chronic Migraine by founding Operati...

The pressures of hustle culture can be nonstop. In this episode, Nora and guest, Lauren Browning, get vulnerable about navigating Chronic Migraine in the unforgiving and unrelenting world of entrepreneurship. Building a working environment that fits her life, Lauren shares what drove her to create the sustainable swimwear brand, Ricki Beach Club. She talks about bringing your authentic self to your work, e...

In this episode of The Head Start: Embracing the Journey, Nora explores the impact and importance of storytelling and advocacy in people's lives and how it can help people feel seen and heard. She speaks with Paula Dumas about how her advocacy work in the migraine community is about more than just changing perception and policy. It's about connecting people living with migraine worldwide through their shared experiences. Being the ...

In this episode of The Head Start: Embracing the Journey, Nora explores what a support network can look like and how to shape one that feels right to you. She has been connecting with people for years by sharing her personal journey to find support. Nora takes a look at the different types of support - interpersonal, creative, and even the more traditional medical support - and what that looks like for someone living with Chronic M...

In this episode of The Head Start: Embracing the Journey, Nora dives into the ever-blurring lines between work and life. Nora has made a career of sharing moments from her life to connect with others. That makes it nearly impossible to have any sort of separation between her work and life. She speaks with guest Winnielyn Bautista about how she tries to find and set boundaries between her career and personal goals amid the constant ...