Cocoon is not a pregnancy podcast. Not really. It’s not about babies. It’s not a week-by-week look at how your body is changing. We won’t be talking about what to expect when you’re expecting because Cocoon is really about what you didn’t expect when you were expecting.

These are stories of metamorphosis. Of growth and development and pain and progress and, eventually, of emerging as a different being.

Maybe we are more open than we were before. Maybe we understand a little more deeply what someone else is dealing with—and how to help them. Maybe we were surprised by our endurance or our committment or our ambivalence or our apathy.

Whatever it is—however we’ve changed— we share our stories to give support, we share them to find support. We share them to speak the truth, to make people laugh, to relieve a burden, to find answers, to connect.

That is what Cocoon is, and is about.

It’s hosted by Valerie Best and Lizzie Heiselt, who live with their families in Brooklyn, New York.

Valerie Best grew up in Southern California, which accounts for her larger than-the-average-New Yorker sandal collection. She attended Brigham Young University-Idaho and earned a Bachelor’s degree in English and Theatre. Valerie moved to New York City in 2006 with her husband, James, where she worked in publishing as an editorial assistant and read manuscripts for a literary agency. Valerie earned a Master’s degree in English from Brooklyn College. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two daughters, Edith and Posy. Also, she has seen every episode of Murder, She Wrote ever produced.

Lizzie Heiselt grew up in Utah and attended Brigham Young University. Lizzie moved to New York in 2007 to attend graduate school, and earned her Master’s degree in Journalism from NYU in 2009. Lizzie is a wife, mom, sister, friend, and runner, among other things. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Micah, and three children.

Meet the Team
Micah Heiselt – Producer
Ryan Barnhart – Producer, Editor
Linsay Laidlaw – Design
Ben Howell – Music

Cocoon: Stories of Gestation was founded in 2015. Thanks for visiting.