Interview

Carla Hall is a busy lady. Along with cohosting The Chew, she's also working with a bunch of really talented kids. Superchef Kids, a web-based cooking competition show for young chefs, invites kids to prove their skills through culinary challenges. With help from famed chefs John Besh, Elizabeth Karmel, and Aarón Sanchez, host Carla guides the contestants through the ups and downs of cooking — spills and all (appropriately, the show is sponsored by Bounty!).

I had the chance to chat with the Top Chef fan favorite, and here's what she had to say about her new show and cooking with kids.

On getting involved with Superchef Kids:
"I was excited to get involved with the next generation of chefs. These kids grew up watching cooking shows and see the chefs as heroes. I had different mentors while growing up, and to see that not only are athletes big heroes to these kids but also chefs is really exciting. And cooking is something you do every day, so I was all in with both feet."

On why kids should be excited about getting in the kitchen and cooking:
"Actually, two parties need to be excited: first the parents need to get excited. Because kids in the kitchen means the child has a hand in what's being made for dinner, and they'll be more motivated to try new foods. Whoever cooks in the family is usually so pressed and just wants to get through dinner, forgetting they could have help. Just giving kids the little stuff you don't want to do, like peeling garlic, is so great for kids who want to get in the kitchen. And cooking is a good skill to learn: math, hand-eye coordination, and cleanliness all happen when working with food, which should really get parents excited!

"Then it's about the child having the opportunity to be creative, gaining confidence, and getting excited about where the food is coming from. There's nothing like seeing a kid's face light up when they've accomplished something in the kitchen."

Keep reading for more conversation with Carla.

In the two years since Christy Turlington debuted her moving documentary about maternal death, No Woman No Cry, the global maternal death rate has almost been cut in half. While Turlington does not claim sole credit for reducing that rate, her Every Mother Counts advocacy group has raised significant awareness of the issue as more people are paying attention to its mission than ever before.

One group that is listening are the designers behind Ergobaby, the popular baby carrier. To kick off its Guest Designer Series, Ergo is collaborating with Every Mother Counts to introduce four new products in November. The print carrier ($165), a solid carrier ($145), the "not-just-a-diaperbag" ($150), and a hip and shoulder bag ($75) will feature a new "Umbra" pattern designed by a small-business woman in Togo who uses a batik method to create her unique design. A portion of the sale of each item in the collection — which will be available on Ergobaby's website — will go back to Turlington's organization to help raise awareness of maternal mortality and improve the lives of girls worldwide. I chatted with the model mama about the new collaboration, sharing her experiences with her kids — Grace, 9, and Finn, 6 — and disconnecting from our wired world.

LilSugar: How did the relationship come about?
Christy Turlington: Well, Amy [Swift] used to work with me a long time ago when I started my brands Nuala and Sundari. She was doing some consultancy work with Ergo and . . . they were trying to figure out to do a guest designer series and trying to link themselves with an organization. So she made an introduction. For us, we were just thrilled to have somebody come to us, because we just are tiny. Especially something like this that really is about educating and supporting moms and husbands too. It's such a unique thing we have in our culture. All the African men that I know, they look at men and fathers carrying babies and they're like, "Oh my god. I don't know it will ever be in our lifetime. Why would you ever?"

LS: Why partner with a baby carrier company?
CT: A lot of people don't know that sort of face-to-face, skin-to-skin thing. In low resource settings, educating moms, it's such an interesting thing. It's so natural to carry a baby in many developing countries, but sometimes — like with a preemie or a very weak, new baby — they don't know that something as simple as putting skin-to-skin is like an incubator and if you don't have electricity, that is called kangaroo care, [and it] can keep a baby alive.

LS: What impact is Every Mother Counts having on the maternal death rate?
CT: When I first learned about the statistics, there were 530,000 women dying per year, globally, and two years later the number was 353,000, and then the next year [it dropped more]. Part of that is just better accounting like we're paying more attention to girls and women all over the world right now, which is fantastic and that's a big part of what will help get this problem taken care of, because it's a matter of prioritizing women and girls. Now that we're starting to count — I still think the number is higher than that, honestly, it's almost an impossible thing to count — it shows that there is a steady decline. There's something to it and we have to keep the fire on it, really. [There] really should be very few cases that this happens.

Keep reading for Turlington's experience bringing her kids to Africa and why she wants them to just disconnect from technology.

Rosie Pope is quickly positioning herself as the maternity guru for an entire generation of moms-to-be. With a successful Bravo show — Rosie is waiting to hear if the show will be back for a third season — an eponymous maternity clothing store packed with beautifully designed pieces, and a preparation for pregnancy class held in the store, Rosie's popping up in many pregnant women's worlds. Her latest effort is Mommy IQ: The Complete Guide to Pregnancy, a fun but informative resource book about pregnancy packed with personal anecdotes, doctors' notes, and input about what men are thinking in each part of the story.

Following the book's launch at Destination Maternity, I spoke with Rosie about hot-button pregnancy issues, the myth of doing it all, and some advice for couples dealing with infertility.

LilSugar: Why did you decide to write the book now?
Rosie Pope: I've had access to such amazing experts over the years and I've learned so much myself that I wanted to put it all in one place so people could buy just one book that had all of the science and all of the candid mom advice. I have these amazing clients and people, but I think the information should be available for everybody. The book is really my first opportunity to reach all of the people I always wanted to reach that we don't necessarily reach with our clothes.

LS: What's the first question you get from the new moms who come to the shop?
RP: How do you juggle everything? [My answer] varies from day to day! [I try to] remember this is what I asked for. I wanted a successful business and I wanted a big family. I'm really living what I dreamed.

Also know that you can't do it all in one day. There's no way I can dedicate myself to my work, and my kids, and my husband in one day. I know if I look over a long period of time — like a week — that I've spent quality time with my kids, and with him and my work, and I can fit it all in. A lot less pressure if you don't try to do it all in one day.

LS: You've experienced both infertility treatments and a natural pregnancy. What's the best piece of advice you can give parents having trouble conceiving?
RP: Have faith that you will get your family here somehow. Even if it's not the way that you had imagined.

LS: Let's go through some hot-button pregnancy issues. Give me your take on the following.
LS: Drinking while pregnant?
RP: No, No.

LS: Deli meat?
RP: No.

LS: Sex?
RP: Yes, if the doctor says it's OK.

LS: Who's in the delivery room?
RP: As few people as possible!

Keep reading for Rosie's list of must-have Fall maternity items and our four lil questions.

Just call Jessica Alba Superwoman. No, she's not starring in a new flick about a superhero — although she is reprising her role as Nancy in the sequel to Sin City — but she's playing one in real life. The mother, wife, sister, and daughter is juggling her film career and a start-up business that's growing gangbusters. Though many wrote her off as just the pretty face advertising for the company, her hands-on involvement has earned her accolades like Self magazine's Women Doing Good Award and a spot on Fortune's 10 most powerful women entrepreneurs list. When we met with Jessica at the Honest Company headquarters to discuss the latest additions to the line and the company's sale on Gilt, she opened up about working for a start-up company and how it feels to be known as a businesswoman, as well as an actress. Here are some outtakes from the conversation.

On being involved in Honest's day-to-day operations even when she's on set: "The good thing about doing a movie is it's really a finite period of time. So I did an independent a couple of months ago and it was just a week in Atlanta, and for Sin City I think I'll probably work, all together, three weeks. It can be two days in one month in October, and it can be four days in a row in November, and another four days in December. It's really spread out, and it's not like I'm gone for six months traveling the world or something."

On working at a start-up: "We all have to wear many hats. We don't have a CMO here, so Christopher and I are kind of like the CMOs. We still have so many positions that we have to fill. It's never like, 'Oh, this is a 9 to 5 and I get to go home.' It never ends. [I] go home, I do bath time and everything with the kids, dinner, and then I'm back on the computer and back at work. It's just the way it is when you're part of a start-up. It's awesome that I get to spend my time here, because I feel really proud of what we're doing."

On spreading the word about Honest: "I mean, I don't really have to preach it. I do send people that I work with little care packages."

On being considered a businesswoman: "I'm a mom. I have to say, I feel like a mom and everything else I don't really pay attention to, but I'm just really proud of . . . where I get to spend my time and what I'm doing with my time."

Keep reading to see what Jessica says about balancing work and home, and her kids' favorite products.

If you've never listened to Just Jenny, lawyer turned mom turned radio host Jenny Hutt's hilarious, candid, and self-deprecating show on Sirius XM, you're one, missing out, and two, in luck thanks to us (if we do say so ourselves).

We recently sat down with Jenny, the author of Whatever: Learning to Live Here: An Exuberant and Hilariously Irreverent Guide to Life, coauthored with Alexis Stewart (yep, Martha's daughter). While Jenny is a wealth of knowledge on a variety of subjects, we took a lead from her popular "Sexy Fridays" series and decided to focus on pregnancy and postbaby sex. Not surprisingly, Jenny had a lot to say on why sex and parenting can be a tough combo, reconnecting with your partner sexually, and when and how to talk about sex with your kids.

LilSugar: Let's start with the basics: besides exhaustion, what are the hurdles that parents have to overcome when it comes to sex?
Jenny Hutt: Sometimes parents are having less sex because they don't even realize the time is passing by without sex! We are so busy as a society — shuffling kids from place to place, getting them to bed, bringing work home from the office and into the bedroom — that personal relationships can get lost. We aren't in the mood to have sex, so it doesn't happen. Time passes and awkwardness can set in; a rut turns into a bigger rut and so it goes. Plus our partners often receive the brunt of our not-so-friendly moods. Who wants to have sex when you're feeling moody?!

Keep reading for more sex talk with Jenny Hutt.