When someone is a multi-hyphenate, you can imagine how packed their schedule is and how hectic their lives can be. Imagine being an Olympian, film producer, podcast host, sports commentator, and a new mother to daughter Georgie, whom she welcomed on Oct 2023: and that’s Tara Lipinski’s life. Lipinski has been open about everything, from […]
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When someone is a multi-hyphenate, you can imagine how packed their schedule is and how hectic their lives can be. Imagine being an Olympian, film producer, podcast host, sports commentator, and a new mother to daughter Georgie, whom she welcomed on Oct 2023: and that’s Tara Lipinski’s life. Lipinski has been open about everything, from her ever-changing career to her fertility journey.
Along with everything else on her plate, Lipinski was just hired as the Head of Community for Dandi, a game-changing brand that supports and advocates for people amid their fertility struggles. She recently spoke to SheKnows about her new role and what she hopes to do to help fellow women going through this struggle, as well as giving details about her own journey.
Now, when I spoke with the iconic figure skater and mother, the call was a reminder to everyone that mothers are superheroes. She did our interview, giving each question the attention and care a topic like this deserves, all while taking care of her beautiful baby girl and giving her all of her attention, as well. When you prepare to speak to someone of her caliber, you don’t expect such honesty and vulnerability. For instance, when I asked her about balancing parenthood and her career, she said, “I feel like everyone’s kind of winging it if we’re being honest.” So true!
When I asked her about her new role and the brand, she lit up with glee, clearly excited to talk about something so near and dear to her heart. Many have dubbed Dandi a life-saver, and Lipinski even said, “It wasn’t something that was available when I was going through my own journey.”
“I feel like since my own journey, I have tried really hard to stay a part of the community, try to get back wherever I could,” she said. “I’m so grateful that I was able to continue treatments and pursue surrogacy, and now that I have my, you know, beautiful daughter, I want to try to find ways to give back as much as I can.”
She added, “To just really have a platform where you get information, you get help, and then you also find community, and for me, I was just always trying to not feel alone, because fertility in itself is just isolating, and even if your friends and family are trying to be there for you, it’s just so overwhelming, and you want to get information, you want to connect with other people going through that same journey.”
Now, the fantastic thing about Dandi is that it has three different aspects to it. The first one is their products like the Dandi IVF Care Kit. (Lipinski even said they make IVF more manageable because when she did it, it was “a daunting thing to think about when it’s all of these shots, you’re mixing them alone.”) But, “with Dandi, they have products now that will help sort of take the fear and bring in the comfort away from the shot-giving process.” Along with the products, there are the services they provide, like the nurses who are “able to walk you through a shot virtually live, that is really game-changing.”
The third part, which Lipinski is clearly incredibly passionate about, is the community part.
“I was excited to be a part of this because during my journey, as I said, there really wasn’t anything like this, and I had a whole Instagram community that I followed from my burner account when I wasn’t sharing my own story. Those women, they probably don’t know, but they helped me so much through those five years,” she reflected. “I hope that, between lives and Q&As, just building that community on WhatsApp, connecting with women, and having all of us share our stories can create a cool group [for Dandi].”
Infertility can be a lonely struggle, but you are not alone. In fact, per the World Health Organization, infertility affects one in six people globally, and there are countless studies showing how the journey can affect one psychologically, socially, and emotionally.
Lipinski has been open about this journey on her and her husband Todd Kapostasy’s podcast Unexpecting, and since then, she’s become an advocate for people who’ve gone through the same journey as her. She said, “I think until you walk in those shoes, you really don’t realize how it can alter your life so completely.”
Speaking of her journey and those like her journey, she also revealed what she hopes her impact will be on others. “I think at the end of the day, what I learned with so many women on their journeys was that everyone approaches grief or loss or struggle differently,” she said. “To be able to follow other women that were on their journey, I felt just less alone. So, I feel like I’m hopeful that my story resonates with someone going through something similar or feeling the same way mine did.”
“It’s still a subject that is still a bit taboo. There’s still a lot of shame surrounding it, where people aren’t having these open conversations as much as we all would like. But I think that’s starting to change. I think companies like Dandi, and people that are speaking out about their struggles, are helping that movement,” Lipinski added.
While it’s still taboo to many, Lipinski believes having these conversations will help decrease the negativity surrounding it. She said, “I knew that I had some friends and family members that went through miscarriages, and we know that so many people struggle with infertility, and the stats are there. I think the more we can talk about it openly and vulnerably, there’ll be less fear, anxiety, and shame surrounding it.”
Also, a reminder from her, “It’s a medical diagnosis.”
And since it’s a medical diagnosis, she believes friends and families should stay away from it for the most part. “I think advice when it comes to like a medical diagnosis is probably something you can shy away from, knowing that they have a doctor and they’ve been through with it… Like you have all of these peaks and valleys when you’re going through it, where sometimes you don’t want to talk about it. Sometimes you want to talk about it.” But she did say that instead of telling your friend going through fertility struggles to “just relax,” Lipinski said something great could be to message them on important days, reminding them how you’re there for them.
It’s all really hard; Lipinski knows it firsthand. She’s well aware of the mental health struggles that go throughout your life. She firmly believes, though, that whether you’re going through infertility struggles or a young athlete with the goal of the Olympics in mind, “I think it’s important to get the support you need and to be able to find even if it’s just one person to confide in and find that support.”
Also, know that “the balance of it all is really hard to figure out.”
“Sometimes I feel like I’m trying to juggle all of these roles. But at the end of the day, I think if you just follow your instinct and you’re good, of course, you will eventually find hopefully a better balance. At least that’s what I’m telling myself now,” she said, full of that beautiful hope she will continue to spread to others.
These celebrities opened up about their struggles with infertility.
