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Tips, freebies, event invites, and more to make your Childfree life even more amazing

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Insights Straight to Your Inbox

Tips, freebies, event invites, and more to make your Childfree life even more amazing

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Melissa Holcombe headshot

Melissa Holcombe

DSW, LCSW

Senior Advisor, Childfree Trust

Melissa Holcombe brings years of insight and an extensive background in guardianship and probate to Childfree Insights.

Her experience includes conducting competency assessments for adult guardianship petitions for Probate courts and serving guardianship clients through Adult Protective Services. This practical, in-the-field experience provides her with a distinctive ability to navigate complex legal and emotional dynamics for individuals.

For three decades, Melissa has distinguished herself through dedicated advocacy and exemplary work in social services. Following a decade of leadership as a child welfare case manager and supervisor, she spent 20 years in the public school system. During her tenure, she served as the McKinney-Vento Homeless Liaison and Foster Care Point of Contact, specializing in support for vulnerable student populations.

Additionally, Melissa is one of the nation's first Certified Veterinary Social Workers (VSW), having earned her certification while completing her doctorate at the University of Tennessee in 2014. She provides compassionate counseling to those grieving the loss of a companion animal and seminars on compassion fatigue within the animal services community. She also shares her knowledge as an adjunct professor of undergraduate level social work.

In her free time, Melissa enjoys camping, hiking, and kayaking with her dog, Darcy.

Episode 204: The Myth of the Maternal Instinct

Plenty of Childfree people carry a quiet suspicion that they’re missing some piece of wiring everyone else got. Dr. Amy Blackstone went looking for the research to explain what was wrong with her and found there’s no such thing as a maternal instinct. She joins Dr. Jay Zigmont, CFP® to talk about what the science really says, and why feeling wrong usually means you’re measuring yourself against the wrong population.

Episode 203: Disability Insurance and Protecting Your Paycheck

When you’re Childfree, life insurance may barely make your list, which is exactly why disability insurance is so easy to overlook and so important to get right. Bri Conn, CFP® and Scott Barnes, CFP®, TPCP®, CLTC break down how to protect the paycheck that funds the life you’ve built, and the fine print that decides whether your benefit shows up whole when you need it.

Episode 202: Where to Find Your Community as a Childfree Adult

Building real community as an adult is hard, and harder still when you’re Childfree and the friends you counted on get busy, have kids, or move away. In this episode, Maddy Roche sits down with Kari Cardinale, Florence Wlodarski, Charlie & Ali Higgins, who all stopped waiting and built the Childfree communities they couldn’t find.

Episode 201: Finding Friendship and Community as a Childfree Adult

When you are a Childfree adult, no one hands you a built-in community, so you build it intentionally. Melissa Holcombe, DSW, LCSW, Maddy Roche, Bri Conn, CFP®, and Alli Gage share honest stories of rebuilding their circles after divorce, sobriety, and big moves, plus the practical habits that turn strangers into the crew you actually do life with.

Episode 200: Building a Small Business as a Childfree Entrepreneur

Being Childfree shapes how you build a business, from the money you reinvest to the hours you keep to the question of what you’re building toward. Jena Gribble of Blush Cactus and Huzefa Kapadia of Scalar Learning join Bri Conn, CFP® to talk about what that’s really looked like, the freedom, the trade-offs, and how it changes what a business can become.

Episode 199: What Women Need to Know About Money and Starting a Business

In the United States, only 15 banks are women-owned. Ilaria Rawlins, CEO of Fortuna Bank, joins Bri Conn, CFP® to talk about why female entrepreneurs face a capital gap that most people do not even know exists, and what she built to change it.