Stephanie Cartin on How Hope and Community Created a Miracle

"I pushed for additional tests, I changed doctors when I felt unheard, and I insisted on rechecking all of my health conditions before proceeding with treatments. That persistence made all the difference in my journey." — Stephanie Cartin

Every year, National Infertility Awareness Week (NIAW), led by RESOLVE, takes place from April 19–25, 2026, and asks us to pause, acknowledge the millions of women and families navigating this experience, and help break the silence around it. This year, we're honoring that call with a conversation that is deeply personal, profoundly universal, and unlike anything we've shared on this podcast before.

Stephanie Cartin, entrepreneur, co-founder of Entreprenista, has never told her full story. Until now. In this podcast, she sits down with Randi Zinn, author, women's mentor, and founder of the Group Experience, whose life's work is creating the kind of safe, vulnerable space where the most honest stories can finally be spoken out loud.

In this episode, Stephanie shares her experience navigating failed treatments, a high-risk twin pregnancy, loss, and weeks of uncertainty in the hospital, and how she continued to advocate for herself through it all. She also reflects on the role community played along the way, from online groups to conversations with women who understood what she was going through.

If you’re in the middle of your own challenging season: in motherhood, in business, or in life—this episode is for you. Stephanie shares her experience openly, and Randi creates space for a thoughtful, honest conversation. Together, they show how important it is to have support when things don’t go as planned.

You can listen to the podcast here on Spotify and Apple Podcast.

Here are a few moments from Stephanie’s story that stayed with us:

“I always knew I wanted to be a mom from my longest childhood memories. I remember being five years old, playing with dolls and pretending that I was a mom. That was just always part of my DNA and who I was even as I continued to get older and throughout my life.

Every choice I made in my career was about how I could work hard enough to set my life up so I could have a family and take care of a child. I remember saying to my husband when we got married that my biggest fear in life was not being able to become a parent or having difficulty becoming a mom.”
‍

As she began navigating the process, that desire quickly met the realities of the system:

“This man is the one who can create this family that I can’t create on my own, and I have to do whatever he says. I hadn’t done any research. I just went back to the same doctor. Even though he didn’t treat me with much respect, I was focused on the result. I just wanted a healthy baby. That was all I wanted.”
‍

That experience led her to approach her fertility journey differently:

“The biggest lessons and what I've learned through the fertility process and what I share with so many who are going through it is if you're having issues getting pregnant and you end up at a reproductive doctor, there's some underlying issue of why you're not getting pregnant. Like, figure out what those issues are first and treat those before just jumping into treatments because if you can solve those, you actually might not need further treatments. It could be as simple as taking certain supplements or just diagnosing a certain issue to know what you're treating before, you know, spending all of this time, money, resources, pain, agony, everything on going through the toady treatment.”
‍

Then came one of the most difficult moments of the entire journey:

“No one should ever have to make these type of decisions. It's just so horrible, how do you decide? How do I choose to end the life of one of my children? I just couldn't wrap my head around how anyone can make these choices.
We tried everything we could to save her and at least we tried…And I have peace knowing that we did whatever we could to try to save her and give her the best chance. And now… we just had to hope that Molly could keep fighting and could make it through the rest of the pregnancy.”
‍

In the middle of that uncertainty, support became everything:

“I went to Facebook and I typed in TTTS and twin-to-twin transfusion and joined groups. The women in this group responded to me within seconds… People offering their advice, information from their experiences and what they went through. I probably would not have my daughter. I know I would not have my daughter without these communities. I wouldn't.”
‍

After weeks of uncertainty, everything led up to this moment:

“I was so nervous for the birth because the first thing was, was she even gonna be able to breathe? That was my first thought—I just needed to know that she could breathe and that she was okay. And then once I knew they were taking her and taking care of her, it became how do we grieve and say goodbye to our other child?

The big focus became Molly and was she breathing. She didn’t cry right when she came out. They put her on my chest and I said to the nurse, is she okay? Is she okay? And then I finally heard a little cry and they kept saying, she’s great, she’s okay.

And I’m just bawling and saying, I knew it, I knew she would be okay.”
‍

Through it all, her mindset became a constant:

“I celebrated every single day. My mantra was ‘every day pregnant is a good day.’ I spoke to Molly every single day. I wrote in a journal every single day to her. I wrote letters to Molly every single day that I was in the hospital. And I would tell her in this journal, talking to her every single night before I went to sleep, I would say, ‘You just got to hold on. We're going to Disney World in December. We already have a trip booked.’

So when we finally took our trip to Disney in December, because we went on this trip, and just being there like outside the castle in the Magic Kingdom and taking a photo, I was like, this is it. This was the moment that I told Molly we would have every single day.”

‍

For the full conversation and everything in between these moments, listen to the episode on Spotify and Apple Podcast.

• The Moment Stephanie Knew She Wanted to be a Mom [12:43]
• What Stephanie Learned Through the Fertility Process [23:00]
• Stephanie Finding Out She Was Pregnant [37:45]
• A World Shattering Scan [45:30]
• Who to trust: your doctor, or your community? [1:02:25]
• Mollie's Miracle Birth [1:13:50]
• Closing Thoughts [1:28:45]

‍

Connect with Stephanie: Instagram | LinkedIn

Connect with Randi: Website | Instagram | LinkedIn

Connect with Mollie: Instagram

Join our Entreprenista League community of women founders! You’ll have access to a private community of like-minded Entreprenistas who are making an impact in business every day, special discounts on business products and solutions, exclusive content, private events, the opportunity to have your story featured on our website and social channels, and access to Office Hours with top founders who have been on our show! We can’t wait to welcome you, support you, and be part of your business journey!

Curious about joining the Entreprenista League? Sign up here for a free info session.

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of The Entreprenista Podcast - the most fun business meeting for women founders and leaders. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the show and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple Podcasts | TuneIn | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart Radio | GooglePlay

Be sure to share your favorite episodes across social media to help us reach more amazing female founders, like you.

Relay is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Thread Bank member, FDIC.

‍