Former CNN International anchor and executive producer Kanika Chadda-Gupta leveraged her journalism expertise to create a podcast enterprise that partners with Meta, the White House, and major brands—all while raising three children.

Launched in 2019, “That’s Total Mom Sense” serves time-starved parents seeking life wisdom through long-format interviews with figures like Chelsea Clinton and Kelly Rowland. The catalyst for this venture came during late-night nursing sessions with her twins, when podcasts became Kanika’s lifeline to the outside world.

“I remember early on when I was nursing my twins, I would wake up at odd hours of the night and nurse one, then the other. And I always had podcasts in my earbuds,” she explains. “It made me feel like I was part of a conversation, just hearing voices in my head.”

This personal experience revealed both a market opportunity and a deeper purpose. “I thought, ‘How can I pass on life lessons to them so that I feel proud of the legacy I’m building?’” Kanika recalls. “Why not use my journalistic skills and interview people from all walks of life, from thought leaders and celebrities to everyday parents, on what they want to impart to the next generation? Because I believe we’re building a collective legacy and we can learn from one another.”

‘That’s Total Mom Sense’: Production Strategy and Content Approach

Kanika applied her newsroom experience to create a professional production from day one. “I wanted to have a very high-brow, well-produced show. And so I didn’t go in thinking, ‘Okay, I’m going to script, I’m going to get the guests and I’m going to edit myself,’” she explains.

Instead, she leveraged the digital marketing firm she had been running for six years prior to launching the podcast. “I asked my team members, ‘Are they cool with launching a podcast with me? We’re going to have to learn new software.’ And they were all game.

The team-based approach allows for specialized roles, including video editors, audio editors, and a webmaster handling the technical aspects, while Kanika focuses on guest sourcing and interviewing. As she explains, the division of labor has enabled her to maintain a disciplined weekly publishing schedule for five years straight, never missing an episode.

The podcast’s name itself carries meaning beyond wordplay. “I was in the shower, and I just thought, ‘Nonsense, mom sense,’” she recalls. “It encompasses our mother’s intuition. It’s that inner knowing that even though we’re doing everything for the first time and no guidebook and no one is telling you how to raise kids, your inner voice is your North Star and somehow you figure it out.”

Kanika’s guest sourcing strategy combines research of bestselling parenting books, monitoring social media for emerging voices, and working with PR representatives. The common thread is seeking stories with lasting value.

“I’m always researching who’s writing the best, most award-winning self-help books and parenting books out there,” she explains. This research has led to interviews with authors like Sahil Bloom, who wrote about different types of wealth beyond finances, and Erica Komisar, who discusses the importance of maternal presence in early childhood.

The Business Model: Strategic Partnerships and Platform Integration

Kanika’s strategy for establishing her podcast’s credibility involved media exposure. “I loved being on the television outlets because it made me so nostalgic and reminded me of being on the other side of the chair asking the questions,” she notes about her appearances on Forbes, CBS, ABC, and NBC. “That exposure definitely helped me get to the next level.”

Despite her traditional media background, Kanika recognizes that podcast distribution requires a multi-platform approach. “Social media will help you amplify your message. If I grind but don’t amplify it on Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, then nobody knows, and it’s crickets,” she explains.

Her promotion involves creating “breadcrumbs” across platforms: “You have to repurpose, tease the content. If you feel like this interview was so groundbreaking and this guest was amazing, share three clips from that episode that you’re dripping onto different platforms and then see who clicks.”

A key part of Kanika’s business growth has been her partnership with Mom 2.0, a conference for parent creators. “I first heard about Mom 2.0 after my third child. I saw it all over Instagram, and I thought, ‘Oh, my goodness, there is a conference dedicated to moms and creators,’” she recalls. After pitching a breakout session on podcasting, she deepened the relationship to become “the Official Podcaster of Mom 2.0.”

Kanika shares that this partnership has yielded several business opportunities: “They’ve helped me land interviews like America Ferrera and Kelly Rowland with organizations like the White House and March of Dimes, which is incredible.” 

These collaborations have included campaigns addressing COVID-19 vaccinations for children under five and the Black maternal health crisis.

The Mom 2.0 connection has also facilitated brand campaigns with companies like Aura, a cybersecurity firm focused on parental controls, as well as Naturepedic, Name Bubbles, and Bright Horizons. 

As Kanika describes it, the summit provides an “all-encompassing experience” where she can conduct interviews, moderate panels, and connect directly with brand executives and marketing teams. In this year’s edition, she’s partaking in a keynote discussion about content trends, forecasts, and growth strategies.

Balancing Content Creation with Family Life

Managing a podcast while raising three young children requires balance and support. “Having a 50-50 balance is always a myth. There’s never going to be a day or a year that it’s like, ‘Okay, I did this much work and family life.’ Every day is different,” Kanika acknowledges.

Her approach to managing competing priorities is adaptability coupled with delegation. “The linchpin of it all is not to do it yourself if you can,” she advises. “I have my video editor, audio editor, and webmaster, who are scheduling the weekly podcast in my absence so that everything doesn’t halt because I’m doing something else.”

This team structure has allowed Kanika to create content within hours that work around her family’s schedule, typically between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.

As Kanika reveals, the podcast has provided both professional fulfillment and personal support during a demanding phase of parenthood. “It saved me because it allowed me to focus on writing my questions, coming up with an enlightening talk, and then connecting one-on-one with another person,” she says. “It was for the community, but also to keep myself sane.”

The Growth of Podcasting

When Kanika launched her podcast in 2019, she entered a growing but still relatively uncrowded field. “There were just over 500,000 active podcasts globally. Fast-forward three years, and there were over 2 million active podcasts worldwide, 424.2 million podcast listeners,” she notes, citing industry statistics that highlight the medium’s growth.

Kanika believes the pace of this expansion is due to podcasting’s practical advantages. Unlike video content that demands full visual attention, podcasts can accompany listeners through their day: “I’ll do laundry, I’ll do dishes, because I know that I’m listening to a podcast or an audiobook. It’s time that you’re learning.”

Kanika also sees parallels between traditional and digital media patterns. “History repeats itself,” she observes. “Much like we used to have radios, where families would gather around this box and listen to audio only, we are also listening to audio only in our earbuds.” 

Similarly, she notes how TV news packages of 90 seconds have their digital counterpart in Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts of the same length.

Looking ahead, Kanika is expanding her reach through new partnerships, including an upcoming collaboration with Meta, titled “Parenting in the Digital Age,” which is set to launch around Mother’s Day. “It’s about what we need to do as parents to safeguard our kids online because that is inevitable,” she explains.

“If you know what the values are in your home, and you know how to use the apps yourself, I think it’s so important to have tech fluency and not feel scared about a certain game or app, because then you are leaving your kids to their own devices – literally,” Kanika emphasizes.

As for her podcast, she plans to continue pursuing creator economy success by consistently producing content inspired by personal experience while leveraging her traditional media expertise to maintain quality and secure brand-expanding partnerships.

As Kanika concludes, “I want to impress upon everyone to trust their intuition. This mom sense that we are gifted with is really our guiding light in life.”