Meet the Newest Members of Pittsburgh Moms Blog!

We are thrilled to introduce you to our newest Pittsburgh Moms Blog team members! You’ll get to know them more over the next few weeks as they share their first posts with you. Here’s a little insight into the newest Pittsburgh moms who are joining our team!

Amanda Piacquadio lives in Castle Shannon, is married to Angelo, and has one handsome son named Lorenzo. Their son mostly gets complimented about how much he looks like Dad, but their is no denying he has her big, brown, beautiful eyes. Angelo and Amanda have been married for almost three years and their son will be two in August.

She graduated from Point Park University in 2010 with a Bachelor’s degree in Advertising
and Public Relations. Even though she works full­time as an Operations Analyst for a large retail bank, she is still searching for her dream job.

Amanda loves to spend most of her free time with her son. She loves watching him learn
new things and loves his adventurous spirit. Most weekends are spent running errands,
shopping, and play dates.

She hopes to one day inspire woman to believe in themselves, stand up for one another,
and never take life to seriously.

I’m 32 years old and a mommy to two beautiful girls. Sofia is my sassy girly girl and Olivia is our 8 week old newborn who loves to be attached to mommy. I was born in the Dominican Republic and moved to New Jersey with my family when I was 5. I’ve been a Jersey girl most of my life until two years ago when I moved with my husband to Pittsburgh,  where he’s originally from. I have a career in human resources and was working as a Corporate Recruiter until March when I delivered Olivia.

I am now a stay at home for a bit until I figure out this work life balance while having two little ones.  I love living here and exploring the city’s Latin culture. I also love to write and blogging has always been something I wanted to do!

Originally from the  Mojave Desert of Southern California Brandee has been a resident of the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh in Cranberry Township for 16 yrs. Mother of three crazy kids, and wife of a gasp, Browns fan, Brandee is a  Gymnastics coach and Adult fitness instructor at X-cel gymnastics.

Brandee has a passion for early childhood development, healthy living and exploring all that the city of Pittsburgh has to offer families, and adults of all ages.

Erica is married to her college sweetheart and has two sons, ages 4 and 5 months. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Animal & Nutritional Sciences, a Certificate in Infant/Toddler Education, and is currently pursuing a Masters of Education in STEM Education.

Erica is the Founder of Science Tots, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, with a mission to develop sustainable early childhood STEM programs and promote parent involvement in Western Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia. She also works as an independent educational consultant specializing in early childhood STEM education.

Erica loves spending time with her family and of course, all things science.

I’m Jen, mama to a spirited and beautiful 6-year-old girl. A Pittsburgher through and through, I met my husband Greg 20 years ago while watching the Clarks play at Nick’s Fat City. We currently live in North Huntingdon with our two crazy kitties, Sadie and Popsicle.

Born and raised in Western Pa., I’m a former high school English teacher who left my career four years ago to stay home with my daughter. I now work from home as a freelance writer, contributing to numerous local, regional and national publications. I started my blog, One Committed Mama, in 2014 as a way to share my parenting escapades and connect with other moms. Prior to teaching, I worked in public relations and marketing for the health care and technology industries. I’m also a self-described gadget geek and an enthusiastic natural light portrait photographer.

Music is a huge part of my family’s life. My husband and I have an acoustic guitar duo that, frustratingly, has been on hold as a result of my 2015 thyroid surgery and subsequent thyroid cancer diagnosis. Now on the mend physically, mentally and emotionally, I hope to start playing local shows again soon. Our daughter is a budding musician in her own right; she sings, is actively involved in musical theater and has started learning to play the piano.

When we’re not hanging out at home, my family loves to explore all that Pittsburgh has to offer. We enjoy spending time in the Strip, riding bikes on the GAP, and attending local concerts and festivals. I also enjoy buying books that I someday hope to read, eating at Lulu’s Noodles, and rooting for the Pens.

Maya Henry, LCCE

Maya is the chief meal planner at Meals with Maya (mealswithmaya.com) where she helps busy moms who are stressed out about dinner time plan meals their whole family will love so they start enjoying mealtime again. She is also the City Design editor and a writer at NEXTpittsburgh, a Pittsburgh publication about the people driving change in our city and the innovative and cool things happening here.

Maya loves hiking and cycling, art and architecture, and cooking.  She has a BA from Bard College in American Studies, an MA in Historic Preservation Planning from Cornell University and is also a certified health coach and a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator.

Maya’s husband is an artist who creates custom miniatures of people’s homes and they live in East Liberty with their two sons ages four years and 6 months.

My job is 24-7; I am a mom, I am a wife, and I am a friend… I am Michelle! I write from my experiences of having a toddler and an infant living in the Beaver County area near Pittsburgh, PA. I went to college to become a teacher, got my Master’s in education; however, life moves fast and after getting married my husband and I started a family. It has been a wonderful and rocky road but we have been having a blast so far!

I grew up in Beaver Falls, PA then moved to Carnegie, PA with my husband and then back to be closer to home and we now live in Monaca, PA. I met my husband in high school and we dated for 8 years before we got married. Then following the wedding we adopted our loving cat and had two beautiful children. Our daughter and little princess is now 2 years old and our son is 2 months old… but he is a BIG boy, you’d think he is 6 months old! We now live around family and our close friends and couldn’t be happier, and I’m sure they are happy to have us close by as well.

My future seems quite bright as I hope to eventually get back into a classroom and start teaching! One day my husband and I would like to open a B&B, since he has trained as a cook he could work the food and I would work hospitality. It is our dream and we hope to make it a reality some day! As of now, I love to read, research new things, watch videos/movies, play with the kids, hang out with friends and family, play board games, travel, and spend time with my husband. One day I hope to write a book, create a children’s picture book, and be a Ted-Talks speaker. I always like to dream big!

Nicole is a Pittsburgh girl at heart and spent the first 29 years of her life living north of the city, but made a big move to the South Hills last year, just a week and a half before the birth of her daughter. A new house, a new side of the city, a new job for her husband, and a new baby were a lot of changes at once; Nicole decided to add to those changes by leaving her full time job as a virtual English Teacher to become a stay-at-home-mom. A year later she is more settled into life in the South Hills and life as a mom.

As someone who never thought they would leave the full-time work force Nicole eventually decided to become a stay-at-home/work-at-home mom. She now teaches Social Studies part-time for a virtual education company, and has become involved with Radiantly You as an Independent Wellness Guide.

Nicole describes her life as organized chaos, being the wife of a Police Officer life can be pretty sporadic, but she wouldn’t want it any other way! Nicole enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter, and Ruger (the family’s energetic Black Lab); she also enjoys reading, writing, cooking, working out, taking walks in the local parks, traveling, checking out local businesses, and shopping. Often you will find Nicole in the kitchen dancing and singing (badly) while she cooks and entertains her daughter.

Nikki is a mom to four kids ages 5 through 16. She has enjoyed putting pen to paper since she was a little girl and seeing what words come together. She has lived in the same 5 mile radius of the Northside/ North Boroughs her whole life but has discovered a love of travel and has gotten over her fear of flying in just the past few years.

Since her oldest child started school over 10 years ago Nikki has devoted a lot of time to volunteering at both school and church but has recently learned the liberating word ‘No.’ Currently a SAHM,Nikki previously worked at the Carnegie Science Center for 13 years and sometimes thinks she’d like to go back to work. Sometimes.

When Nikki is not playing referee between her sons and daughters she can be found blasting music while working on her 1902 American Four-Square with her husband Tim, deciding which pair of glasses to wear from her collection or obsessing over her Fitbit and really,really good food simultaneously.

Stefanie S. is a wife and SAHM to 4 children, living in Mars. Stefanie and her husband refer to their children as Phase One (Dylan-Age 11 and Alexandria-Age 9) and Phase Two (Liliana-Age 4 and Liam-Age 2). Phase Three is out of the question! Stefanie’s family became a family blessed with Down syndrome when her youngest child had a surprise diagnosis after his birth.  Although the family’s initial reaction was shock and fear, they quickly learned to embrace this beautiful journey and they now realize what the term “The Lucky Few” really means.

Stefanie spends her days wrangling chaos, but in her spare time she loves to embarrass her children by singing show tunes from her musical theater days, come up with messy projects to keep her children busy, chase her children around with her camera, visit her horse, do online volunteer work for the Down Syndrome Diagnosis Network and blog at http://www.lexieloolilyliamdylantoo.com./   Sleep is just a distant memory!

Stefanie’s family can usually be found out and about in the Pittsburgh area with an extra kid (or 2 or 3) in tow.  Stefanie embraces the chaos and feels blessed to be able to spend her days with her children!

A kindergarten teacher turned stay at home mom who was born in Pittsburgh and raised in Arizona, Stephanie returned to Pittsburgh 9 years ago after meeting her husband online. Though she plans to return to the classroom one day, these days she happily spends her time being home with her blended family of 4 kids.  She has a 16 year old son, a 12 year old stepdaughter, and 5 year old and 2 year old daughters. Daily life is hectic running the mom taxi between music, school, dance, other activities & events, and maintaining custody schedules.  As a result, weekly date nights are essential for Stephanie and her husband. Lucky!

Tara is a native Pittsburger. Currently she lives in the South Hills with her husband, 3 year old daughter and 5 month old son. Tara is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Nursing. She has worked in pediatrics her entire career and there is no other nursing she would rather do! Tara graduated with a Masters of Nursing from Waynesburg University which lead her to her current role as a Clinical Nurse Educator. In her free time Tara enjoys girls nights with her best girlfriends, and spending time making memories with her family!