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PODCAST

Who Sets This Clock?

Who Sets This Clock? is a podcast about timelines, external influences, and the often unspoken pressure to follow a life path that includes kids and other milestones. Hosted by Margarete, the show asks: who actually set these clocks we’re all supposed to follow? And are they ticking the same for everyone anymore? You know, just your average existential questions. Through honest, sometimes funny, and often vulnerable conversations, each episode explores life transitions, the choices we make (or

society & culture relationships

All Episodes

01:00:04

20. My mom shares the story of how she found out she...

Who Sets This Clock? ·

2025/10/16

This is a wrap on Season 2! Thanks so much for listening. For this episode, I brought on a very special guest, my very own mother. We focus on the story of how she found out she was pregnant with me. It has some twists and turns! We also get into: - How her upbringing shaped her early adulthood- What she wanted to be when she grew up- The emotions and her mentality around this time - Generational cycles, repeated patterns, and double standards- The support systems in place to help her (which

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01:42:28

19. Cynthia, 35, is rewriting her motherhood timeline...

Who Sets This Clock? ·

2025/10/09

Meet Cynthia. She is a close family friend of mine. Through her teens and 20s, she had a pretty normal life and always added a touch of realism to her perspective on things. In her 20s, she met her now husband and they were building a life together. In her 30s, while they were planning their dream destination wedding, Cynthia received a diagnosis that changed everything, including her timeline for marriage and motherhood. In this episode, we talk about:How her upbringing and realist point of view

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00:57:49

18. Allen, 41, shares his viewpoint on home ownership...

Who Sets This Clock? ·

2025/10/02

Meet Allen. He is a friend through my husband, Zach. They are both part of a tight-knit group of friends that has kept in touch for over a decade. In this episode, we talk about quite a few different topics, including: How he found his friend circles that he considers family (he has at least two!)Sharing the importance of hanging out regularly and staying in touch with friends Never really wanting to have kids, but loves his role as the fun uncleSharing his thoughts on whether home ownership is

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00:57:14

17. Caroline, 39, never expected to be a stay-at-home.

Who Sets This Clock? ·

2025/09/25

Meet Caroline. She is my first out-of-college work bestie. We were so young with bright eyes bushy tails, and driven to get started on our professional career path. During our time together, we became quick friends and have stayed in touch ever since. In this episode, we get into: Navigating her timeline with the focus on her career and not really thinking about marriage and having children. Getting a second chance through grad school to move away from home and have a college experience Pivoting and

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01:24:13

16. Marissa, 36, read a book with her husband to help...

Who Sets This Clock? ·

2025/09/18

Meet Marissa. In this conversation, we get into a dialogue about making the choice to have kids or not. Her story brings in new topics to the pod, including her upbringing in Mexico and being a dual citizen. In this episode, she shares: Growing up in Mexico and being a dual citizen in America and how she navigated life across bordersHow her parents' working long hours across the border shaped her childhoodGrieving the idea of recreating her own childhood for a future child she would not haveNot

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00:53:34

15. Lili, 31, shifted her marriage timeline and...

Who Sets This Clock? ·

2025/09/11

Meet Lili. She felt called to the caregiver role and remembers wanting to be a mom as early as 6. In this episode, we talk about her thoughts on motherhood, career aspirations, and her relationship journey with her husband, Gustavo. Topics include:Holding the duality of feeling the joy of being engaged and having concerns voiced by her family from the age gap between her and Gustavo How Gustavo proposed to her...twice! Her decision to work on her career to become a marriage and family therapist

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01:01:08

14. Jordan, 41, learned to be comfortable alone...

Who Sets This Clock? ·

2025/09/04

Meet Jordan. He grew up in a long lineage of people in faith and was the pastor’s kid. That heavily influenced him to want a wife and marriage. In his mid-20s, things shifted and he started to focus on a partner. In this episode, we talk about: Experiences in the church that shifted his values in lifeLearning how to be ok with being single and being on his own in his 20sThe meet-cute story on how he met his wifeRecalls his tough moments during the pandemic raising his young son in NYCHis

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00:58:55

13. Viviana, 37, paved her own path and challenged...

Who Sets This Clock? ·

2025/08/28

Meet Viviana. She had her daughter at the age of 19 and people told her she would ruin her life. At that time, she felt like she had let people down. By moving forward with her pregnancy, she challenged the assumption that there’s only one right timeline for becoming a mom. Her story shows how you can still have a great life even when you follow the milestones of career, marriage, and having kids in reverse. In this episode, we talk about: Her experience as a young mom trying to navigate motherhood

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01:06:01

12. For Ashley, 40, being childfree gives her the...

Who Sets This Clock? ·

2025/08/21

Season 2, let’s go! Meet Ashley Hall. Her various museum and zoo jobs over the past 17 years have been to talk to people about the natural world. Ashley wears many hats: author, paleontologist, naturalist, science communicator, cat parent, and more! I know Ashley because, at one point, we worked as museum educators together, and I learned a lot from her. On her socials, you learn about science and the natural world. In this episode, we get into: Her choice not to have kids and the conversations she

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00:20:46

Reflecting on Season 1! Talking about fighting my...

Who Sets This Clock? ·

2025/07/31

This week, it’s just me talking to you! I reflect on my podcast experience with you. I do love a challenge and I share what I’ve learned from putting this together all by myself. I touch on how I’m fighting feelings of burn out, moments that I wanted to cry, my favorite parts, and much more. There have been multiple times I wanted to stop creating episodes but I’m glad I’ve kept going. I also recap each guest’s responses to the question I ask everyone at the end of each episode. Lots of great wisdom

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01:06:01

10. My husband, Zach, 40, gives his hot takes on our...

Who Sets This Clock? ·

2025/07/24

Zach brings it all to the table. He shares how he never felt like he fit in in social circles and friendship groups starting in high school and how that led him to leave behind conventional timelines. He’s not one to conform because that’s what society says. We get into his thoughts on kids and marriage before and after he met me. We share how we figured out the joint decision not to have kids and how we got there. Luckily, we agreed on that early on in our relationship. At the end, I share one

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00:51:15

9. Hannah, 39, talks about career pivots, motherhood...

Who Sets This Clock? ·

2025/07/17

Hannah shares how her career trajectory in her 20s prompted her to pause and embark on a journey to discover what she wanted out of life. That led her to type out a spreadsheet of what she desired in a partner. She discusses how in her thirties she found her husband and then grew her family into a family of four. From her life experiences, she says she doesn’t have life figured out but is comfortable with change. Since we met on a tennis court, of course, there are tennis analogies and we talk about

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01:00:28

8. Monica, 38, moved to a different city to help...

Who Sets This Clock? ·

2025/07/10

In this episode, I talk with my cousin and friend, Monica. We’re only two weeks apart! Recently, there have been a lot of big changes she’s adapting to, but they were thoughtful ones that she feels ready for. We talk about her life changes and milestones. We discuss her thoughts on her childfree life, which includes her journey with a PCOS diagnosis in her 20s and discovering uterine fibroids in her 30s. Overall, in her late thirties, she has made the moves to find purpose in her life and feel

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01:06:45

7. Gustavo, 46, a husband and dad, has finally found...

Who Sets This Clock? ·

2025/07/03

Gustavo hoped and dreamed that he would start a family right out of high school. But that ended up not being in the cards for him at that time. We go through his timelines and look into how he spent his 20s and 30s finding himself and building confidence.. All the while, he had fun and kept his heart and mind open to new opportunities. Then, in his 40s, he met his wife, and they had a son. He built a family he had always dreamed of, even though it wasn’t on the timeline he wanted it to happen. Now,

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00:54:42

6. Belen, 33, changed her mind about marriage and kids.

Who Sets This Clock? ·

2025/06/26

In this episode, I interview my sister’s best friend, Belen. She talks about how her timelines changed as she grew up. Early on, she thought she would be destined to be on one pathway, to repeat her mother’s timeline. But her viewpoint and perspective have changed a lot as she’s grown up. I love that she shares how she finds moments with her bestie, even though they live states apart. We end with some comments on reality TV shows like The Valley. Belen is showing us all that we don’t have to hold on

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01:00:20

5. Leia, 35, is balancing her creative projects and...

Who Sets This Clock? ·

2025/06/19

In this episode, Leia and I talk about how she’s merging her career and creative project aspirations, like writing a book, with her desire to have a kid soon. She shares the societal and familial pressures she’s felt lately. Drawing from our own experiences, we get into how we can have better conversations with our friends who have kids. New episodes drop every Thursday. Let’s Stay Connected:Email: hello@thisclockpod.com / Behind-the-scenes + reflections: thisclockpod.substack.com / Instagram:

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00:45:22

4. For Rocio, 39, adoption is on the table.

Who Sets This Clock? ·

2025/06/12

My friend, Rocio, shares that she never pictured her wedding day and often resisted conventional timeline milestones. Now, at almost 40 years old, she talks with her husband about the possibility of adoption. She shares how her perspectives on life have changed over time, especially caring less about what other people think. Rocio shares many insightful, wise life lessons she’s learned along the way. New episodes drop every Thursday. Let’s Stay Connected:Email: hello@thisclockpod.com /

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01:03:33

3. Frankie doesn’t need the American Dream to feel...

Who Sets This Clock? ·

2025/06/05

I talk with my friend, Frankie. He shares how growing up with loving and emotionally intelligent parents gave him the freedom to figure out his own pathways in life. We talk about the pressure, or lack of it, to follow traditional, heteronormative timelines, aka the American Dream. We get into the hope we both have for generational shifts that make more room for openness and, honestly, more privacy. Frankie also shares how he finds purpose in volunteer and union work and how he navigates friendships

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00:46:44

3. I talk with my friend, Jenna, about being the one...

Who Sets This Clock? ·

2025/05/29

In this episode, I talk to my friend, Jenna, whom I met in our freshman year of college. We instantly hit it off. To start, we walk through Jenna’s timeline towards motherhood. We get into the many factors that affected her timeline to grow her family, including FOMO, and her career. We’re both millennials, so you just know we’re talking about the 2008 Great Recession. Then, we get into how our friendship has shifted now that she has kids. I reveal some guilt I’ve been holding onto. We both share

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00:53:23

2. My sister, Rachel, feels like there’s not a lot of...

Who Sets This Clock? ·

2025/05/22

My first guest, here we go! I have a conversation with one of my sisters, Rachel, the second youngest in our family. We dive deep into how she feels about where she is in life, how our childhood shaped our thoughts around having kids, and a term she’s created herself: “mom hugs.” Rachel shares how she navigates dating in her 30s, especially through the lens of seeing more men in her age range who already have kids. Rachel turns the tables and asks me some questions about how I feel about my decision

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21 results

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