Melinda Brillinger is a Franklinton mom of two grown boys. She decided this year that she was done waiting for "some day." In June of this year she launched her podcast, “The Greenhouse”. She writes, records, and produces it at home in Franklinton every week, all while holding down a full time job.
In her own words:
“Everything I do grows out of The Bloom, a simple framework I built from my own backyard porch and my own hard seasons. At its heart is one truth I wish someone had told me years ago: You're not broken. You're untended. The Bloom is made up of five pillars, Nourishment, Roots, Cultivation, Pruning, and Seasonality, that help women notice where they're running dry and tend to it, one small step at a time. Because I believe it all the way down to my roots: Tend what matters. You matter. You can see more here: https://maintainingmelinda.com/five-pillars/
Now I'm in the Top 10 of my group in Top Host, a national competition benefiting the Ryan Seacrest Foundation. The winner gets a podcast produced by iHeartRadio, $25,000, and a guest spot on On Air with Ryan Seacrest. Voting for this round closes this Thursday, October 29, at 9pm Central, and I need Washington Parish behind me to keep advancing. I need the support to remain in the competition.
Here's the part that makes my heart beat fast. After time in the PICU with my own family, I watched little ones spend long days alone while their parents worked or cared for siblings at home, and I watched parents running on empty because nobody was tending them. If I win, a meaningful portion of the prize goes to Children's Hospital New Orleans to put a cuddly stuffed animal in the arms of children in the PICU, so they know they are seen, comforted, and never forgotten.
And I haven't forgotten the parents. When your child is in the PICU, you become the keeper of everything, the doctors' names, the medicine times, the updates for the family, and somehow your own needs fall right off the list. So I'm creating a six episode series just for them, recorded from my heart, housed on my YouTube channel, and shared through QR codes around the hospital, so a mom or dad can listen, or listen again, to exactly what they need in the moment. Whether that's 2 am in a hallway or ten quiet minutes in the cafeteria.
The first episode introduces The Bloom, and each of the next five sits with one pillar:
•Nourishment: Your instinct is to tend your child, but you can't do that if you aren't sustaining yourself. So take five minutes and get some sun on your face. Get a real cup of coffee, a real meal.
•Roots: Let your community help. Ask someone to sit with your child so you can take a real shower, or run an errand and get a change of scenery. Let those who want to help, help. You don't have to carry it alone.
•Cultivation: Put your energy on what needs you most right now, your child, your health, your family, and give yourself permission to let the rest wait.
•Pruning: Set down what doesn't need you in this season, knowing you can pick it back up later... if you want to.
•Seasonality: This season is different, and it's allowed to ask something different of you. You don't have to pretend you're handling it all.
Extra support, right when they need it most.
With Seacrest Studios opening at Children's Hospital New Orleans this year, the timing feels like it was meant to be.
The “Greenhouse” is a porch sitting, coffee in hand kind of show for women who take care of everybody else and forget to tend themselves. Real stories, a little southern long windedness, and permission to put yourself back on the list. Have a listen here: https://maintainingmelinda.com/podcast
Anyone can vote for free once a day here: https://tophost.org/2026/melinda-brillinger
is a Franklinton mom of two grown boys. She decided this year that she was done waiting for "some day." In June of this year she launched her podcast, “The Greenhouse”. She writes, records, and produces it at home in Franklinton every week, all while holding down a full time job.
In her own words:
“Everything I do grows out of The Bloom, a simple framework I built from my own backyard porch and my own hard seasons. At its heart is one truth I wish someone had told me years ago: You're not broken. You're untended. The Bloom is made up of five pillars, Nourishment, Roots, Cultivation, Pruning, and Seasonality, that help women notice where they're running dry and tend to it, one small step at a time. Because I believe it all the way down to my roots: Tend what matters. You matter. You can see more here: https://maintainingmelinda.com/five-pillars/
Now I'm in the Top 10 of my group in Top Host, a national competition benefiting the Ryan Seacrest Foundation. The winner gets a podcast produced by iHeartRadio, $25,000, and a guest spot on On Air with Ryan Seacrest. Voting for this round closes this Thursday, October 29, at 9pm Central, and I need Washington Parish behind me to keep advancing. I need the support to remain in the competition.
Here's the part that makes my heart beat fast. After time in the PICU with my own family, I watched little ones spend long days alone while their parents worked or cared for siblings at home, and I watched parents running on empty because nobody was tending them. If I win, a meaningful portion of the prize goes to Children's Hospital New Orleans to put a cuddly stuffed animal in the arms of children in the PICU, so they know they are seen, comforted, and never forgotten.
And I haven't forgotten the parents. When your child is in the PICU, you become the keeper of everything, the doctors' names, the medicine times, the updates for the family, and somehow your own needs fall right off the list. So I'm creating a six episode series just for them, recorded from my heart, housed on my YouTube channel, and shared through QR codes around the hospital, so a mom or dad can listen, or listen again, to exactly what they need in the moment. Whether that's 2 am in a hallway or ten quiet minutes in the cafeteria.
The first episode introduces The Bloom, and each of the next five sits with one pillar:
•Nourishment: Your instinct is to tend your child, but you can't do that if you aren't sustaining yourself. So take five minutes and get some sun on your face. Get a real cup of coffee, a real meal.
•Roots: Let your community help. Ask someone to sit with your child so you can take a real shower, or run an errand and get a change of scenery. Let those who want to help, help. You don't have to carry it alone.
•Cultivation: Put your energy on what needs you most right now, your child, your health, your family, and give yourself permission to let the rest wait.
•Pruning: Set down what doesn't need you in this season, knowing you can pick it back up later... if you want to.
•Seasonality: This season is different, and it's allowed to ask something different of you. You don't have to pretend you're handling it all.
Extra support, right when they need it most.
With Seacrest Studios opening at Children's Hospital New Orleans this year, the timing feels like it was meant to be.
The “Greenhouse” is a porch sitting, coffee in hand kind of show for women who take care of everybody else and forget to tend themselves. Real stories, a little southern long windedness, and permission to put yourself back on the list. Have a listen here: https://maintainingmelinda.com/podcast
Anyone can vote for free once a day here: https://tophost.org/2026/melinda-brillinger
