I don't have an Instagram account but I am frequently on Instagram. My guilty pleasure is looking at pictures of people and tracing moments from their lives. I have thought for a long time why I am so interested in other people's lives. One viable explanation that I came up with was that as I often feel unsuccessful as a PhD student, I might be able to become more "successful" by imitating their lives and life choices I see in these pictures. I am constantly curious about how to be a PhD student. I am always looking for answers to these questions as I scroll down through the pictures: How does a PhD spend their day? Where do they travel to? What novels do they read? What movies do they watch? What are the fun activities that they are engaged with? Do they ever have fun? How many hours do they study in a day? How many days off do they take in a week? Are they in relationships? Or are they flaneurs? Do they have kids? How many hours do they spend with their family or by themselves?

Now that I am analyzing all of these representations that I subject myself to, I have noticed that while monogamic relationships are portrayed as a magic elixir to have a balanced and successful PhD life, motherhood during a PhD occupies a more ambiguous place in our minds. To go beyond the cloud of various opinions and interpretations on the subject matter, we wanted to see its complexity by listening to a first-hand experience. In this episode, we talked with Sandra Portocarrero about what being both a mother and a PhD student is like.

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