Badass Women at Any Age

Launching a digital magazine for women over 45, Jeannie Ralston began building a community that has blossomed into much more than a good read. An experienced traveler and planner,  Jeannie is the co-founder and CEO of Next Tribe, the digital magazine that has recently morphed into a travel company devoted to smart, engaged women over 45.  She homeschooled her children while traveling the world. As a magazine writer, her work has appeared in a variety of publications, including National Geographic, the New York Times, Life Magazine, Travel and Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, Parenting, and Allure.  Jeannie is the author of The Unlikely Lavender Queen, A Memoir of Unexpected Blossoming, and the e-book, The Mother of All Field Trips, Homeschooling Two Kids in 14 Countries.    What You Will Hear in This Episode:  2:02 Jeanne’s story and shifting focus 9:37 Business and personal challenges faced while changing focus 14:28 What Jeannie has learned about herself 19:28 Discoveries and surprises about women in the 45 pl

Growing up in a home where she had to withstand physical, mental, verbal, emotional and sexual abuse, Alreen Haeggquist was desperate to escape her reality.  After failed suicide attempts, Alreen’s journey took a turn when she realized going to college would give her the opportunity to escape the abusive environment. Through therapy and a lot of intentional work to overcome Alreen turned her traumatic past into a mission to help other women stand up for themselves and own their power.  Alreen has a fervent passion to advocate for women who suffer from sexual abuse, harassment or discrimination.  As a lawyer with 21 years of experience, she has recovered millions of dollars for clients in cases involving sexual harassment, discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination. In addition,  Irene has an unwavering commitment to not allow wealth, power, influence or status to exempt anyone from the rules of society.     What You Will Hear in This Episode:  2:23 Alreen’s Personal Journey 8:38 Lessons learned 12:0

Kristen Gibbons Feden has always had a knack for the art of argument.  After earning a bachelors in neuroscience, she redirected her focus from medicine to law.  Kristen’s passion for fighting for victims of sexual abuse was ignited after working in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office Family Violence unit where the stories of young girls who had survived horrific violence inspired Kristen to become the powerful voice piece she is today for those who have been silenced. A celebrated trial attorney and legal expert, known as the female litigator who stared down Bill Cosby, Kristen joined Anapol Weiss as a shareholder in March 2024. In addition to being internationally recognized as a fierce and relentless litigator in the MeToo movement and for her world renowned closing argument in the Bill Cosby trial, Kristen is known for many eight figure verdicts that she's won.  Between 2023 and 2024 alone, there was a $10. 5 million verdict against the survivors of singer and entertainer R. Kelly, and  a $22 mill

Jillian Ramirez Chaves’s life took an unexpected turn when she faced the painful discovery of infidelity by her soon to be fiance.  This life altering experience shattered her self-confidence and left her questioning her ability to make healthy relationship choices.  Refusing to let this define her, she embarked on a profound journey of healing, discovery, and personal growth. Jillian is a dynamic visionary who has pioneered transformative changes in the dating and relationship health landscape as the founder and CEO of Clara.  For daters, she leads a revolution that empowers individuals to make informed purposeful choices in their dating lives. Her journey from a successful career in the male dominated automotive industry to becoming a trailblazing entrepreneur in the tech world is a testament to her resilience and passion.  As a female minority founder and CEO, Jillian embodies the spirit of resilience and innovation. She is a staunch advocate for mental wellness in the context of dating, a subject often ov

As a clinical psychologist, Dr. Joshua Klapow recognized a pattern of professional women attempting to navigate a workplace culture that was never set up for them to succeed.  Inspired to affect change, Dr. Klapow re-focused his career and is making an impact in that culture through performance coaching. Dr. Klapow is a clinical psychologist, behavioral scientist, and performance coach who helps women in leadership positions leverage their unique style and build influence to successfully navigate the male dominated culture in which they work.  Josh is a Phi Beta Kappa alumnus of University of California, L.A. with a Ph. D. in clinical psychology from UCLA San Diego.  He's authored over 100 scientific publications and is the author of Living Smart:Lifestyle Change Made Simple. He's also the co-founder of Chip Rewards, a privately held company with proprietary software that delivers incentive offers to influence population health behaviors. The success of this venture led him to be one of the top entrepreneurs

Sparked by the tragic loss of her father, Judy Wilkins Smith set out on an unexpected journey as a writer that developed into much more.   Judy is a highly regarded Family Patterns, Systemic Work, constellations expert, transformational coach, motivational speaker, and author who is passionate about individual growth, visionary leadership, and positive, accelerated, global change. The Founder of System Dynamics for Individuals and organizations, she has 18 years of expertise assisting high-performance individuals, Fortune 500 executives (Chevron, JP Morgan, Kellogg's, ExxonMobil), and legacy families end limiting cycles and create lasting breakthroughs and transitions into peak performance. She is a regular guest on TV news and entertainment shows and is the author of Decoding Your Emotional Blueprint: A Powerful Guide to Transformation Through Disentangling Multigenerational Patterns.    What You Will Hear in This Episode:  1:55 Judy’s personal story 5:20 Constellation work defined 12:26 What we can learn ab

A life long lover of music,  Jennifer Ritvo Hughes found her calling as a college student sitting in the back of a concert hall.  A musician herself,  Jennifer was passionate about integrating her business savvy and love of music into a successful career supporting the arts.  Jennifer is CEO of American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra overseeing their daily operations, fundraising efforts, community engagement, and promotion of the globally renowned Israel Philharmonic in the United States.  Jennifer received a master's degree in musicology from Brandeis University and has led a variety of performing arts organizations and initiatives, including Boston Bass Chorus. Cantata Singers and Wellesley College's first ever Arts at Wellesley initiative.     What You Will Hear in This Episode:  1:18 Jennifer’s personal story 6:31 Greatest challenges 10:19 Lesson learned and work life balance 14:32 Challenges relative to gender and age 20:05 Confidence and courage as a young executive director 23:28 The rol

Raised with a lot of personal agency, Lydia Sherrer learned the value of hard work and personal responsibility from observing how her entrepreneurial father ran his business.  Lydia is the award-winning and USA today bestselling author of Love, Lies and Hocus Pocus Universe of Books, which has sold over half a million copies worldwide.  Most recently, she published her Gamelit series, Trans Dimensional Hunter, with New York Times bestselling author, John Ringo, and has written stories for several Black Tide Rising anthologies. Lydia Co-owns Chenoweth Press with her husband David Cher, and together they publish their own books and games to a growing audience of science fiction  and fantasy fans.    What You Will Hear in This Episode:  1:40 Lydia’s personal journey 7:40 Choosing writing as a career 24:70 Advice for women interested in writing as a career 31:05 Self publishing   Quotes “We as humans have incredible powers to over come things….if we just believe we can.” ”It’s really important to understand your

Annoyed by the lack of representation and the  way society media portrayed middle aged women, Michela Di Carlo decided to do something about it.  She embarked on a journey and launched an online magazine to help empower women over 50 and reframe midlife as a colorful journey.  Michela is a seasoned, bilingual lifestyle journalist (Italian/English) with a Masters in Communication Sciences from the University of Rome.  Living between Manchester and The Eternal City,  former feature writer for the most influential Italian National newspaper “La Repubblica”, regular contributor for ANSA, the italian major news agency, she is the founder and chief editor of CrunchyTales.com, the popular first solely illustrated online magazine for sassy, badass women over 50.  Focusing her work on inspirational content to empower women feeling stuck in the second act of their life and highlighting the bright side of growing older, Michela is also the creator and producer of the first pro-age live radio show format called “The Beau

At 50 Suzette Mullen couldn’t shake the feeling that, despite her successful professional and family life,  there was something missing.  Focusing on her passion for writing,  Suzette began working on a memoir that led her through a personal journey and discovery of  her true authentic self.  Suzette Mullen (she/her) is a memoir and nonfiction book coach, retreat leader, and the author of the new memoir The Only Way Through Is Out, published by the University of Wisconsin Press. Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, today.com, among other outlets. As a book coach, Suzette focuses on amplifying the voices of LGBTQ+ writers as she guides them to find their deeper stories and define their big ideas. A graduate of Harvard Law School and Wellesley College, and the mother of two sons, Suzette made a big leap professionally and personally at midlife and now lives in Pennsylvania with her wife and their rescue pup.      What You Will Hear in This Episode:  1:41 Suzette’s personal story 5:44 Writing and self

As Molly Sider approached her 40s panic set in.  Unsure of her life decisions and what lay ahead she chose to focus on what interested her and began the long, brave and arduous work of discovering herself, her purpose and her joy by sharing her story and encouraging others to do the same. Molly is a midlife change coach and the creator and host of the podcast “I Am This Age,” proving you’re never too old to make a significant change. When Molly turned 40, she needed proof that she wasn’t too late or too old to find her “extraordinary” career, love, friendships – she sought meaning in all of it and found her life purpose in the process. Now an ICF-accredited CPC, motivational speaker, and podcast host, Molly coaches people in midlife, turning their “crisis” into meaningful change and helping them to write their next life chapter with clarity and confidence.   What You Will Hear in This Episode:  1:50 Molly’s personal story  5:21 Storytelling 10:53 Courage 15:33 Lessons learned about people in midlife 25:33 Mid

Eileen Maus manifested an incredible career by finding her passion, recognizing her strengths, trusting the process, working hard and honoring the journey.  CEO of Axena Health, Eileen brings 20 years as a healthcare industry sales and marketing executive with strategic planning experience to her role as Chief Executive Officer with Axena Health. Eileen entered the women’s healthcare space during her 12 years with Cytyc Corporation, where she was a key contributor to Cytyc’s growth from $8 million to over $700 million, holding leadership roles from sales management to Vice President, Commercial Operations of the Surgical Division. Specifically, Eileen built and managed sales forces for five new product launches, including the ThinPrep® Pap Test, ThinPrep® Imaging System, FirstCyte Breast Test, NovaSure Endometrial Ablation, and Mammosite Targeted Radiation Treatment. In addition, Eileen spearheaded the integration and commercialization of Cytyc’s surgical division. Prior to Axena Health, Eileen served as CEO

Watching her mother struggle with chronic illness Momoko Uno knew by the age of 14 that she wanted to have a career in medicine. Momoko has overcome trauma and adversity to become a doctor of integrative medicine, entrepreneur and author. She grew up in Australia and obtained a medical degree in internal medicine, integrating pharmaceuticals and Chinese herbal medicine. She has a masters in psychology with a certification in Consciousness Health and Healing, and is also a certified functional medicine practitioner and licensed acupuncturist. Momoko came to the United States 25 years ago with borrowed money, two suitcases and her dreams. She served as the department chair of clinical studies at Pacific College of Health Sciences and taught various classes there as well as at Touro College in 2009. She founded Omni Wellness, a multidisciplinary wellness center in New York City, where she also maintains her private practice.  She holds a particular interest in trauma and its effect on the body and mind and how i

Emily Kane Miller was deeply influenced by the resilience of her grandparents, two of whom were holocaust survivors.  She has dedicated her career to transforming the social impact and philanthropic paradigm.  She's a social impact trailblazer who's built a 20 year career at the intersection of government, non profit, business, and philanthropy. As the founder and CEO of Ethos Giving, a social impact consultancy, Emily is behind some of the most innovative social impact programs for a range of companies, from professional sports teams, to founder-led startups, to fortune 500 companies. She also founded Ethos Tracking, a 100 percent bootstrap, female led, social impact management platform that allows clients to measure and manage their social impact efforts all in one place.  Launched just last year, the platform already has a range of very dynamic, socially conscious companies on the tool. Prior to founding this company, Emily served as vice president of philanthropy and community affairs at the wonderful com

Although both Laura Frombach and Joy Farrow lived completely different experiences, their similarities working in male dominated fields and their desire to help women compelled them to work together to write a book for women and their safety.  Laura Frombach was introduced to technology in the United States Army, working on Pershing nuclear missiles. She spent most of her career as a technologist and engineer with IBM, Hewlett Packard, FedEx, Coca Cola Enterprises, Lenovo, and others. A turning point in Laura's life was the aha moment when she correlated her mother's mental illness to domestic violence. She advocates for local domestic violence shelters. She's a TEDx speaker and speaks on women's safety. And Joy Farrow is a retired deputy sheriff with 28 years of experience. She worked road patrol in Pompano Beach, Florida and faced every situation imaginable. After the 911 tragedy, Joy transferred to the Fort Lauderdale Holiday International Airport with Broward's Sheriff's Office to focus on safety of air t

Unaccepting of the fate of having to live life with migraines as her mother and grandmother had, Debbie Waidl  made it her mission to seek out the root cause, conquer her migraines and lower the percentage of women  that suffer from migraines worldwide to zero. Debbie’s passion stems from her past experience with daily migraines and her desire to ensure no one has to live through years of endless pain as she did. Debbie is a migraine specialist certified through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and the Institute for Functional Health Coaching. She's founder of In The Balance Health Coaching and the Freedom From Migraines Method, and she's a proud mom of two amazing kids and a little havanese, a wife of 30 years and a lover of learning.  Debbie helps busy moms dealing with migraines, uncover what's holding them back from migraine freedom so they can live their life pain and symptom free. Spend time they want with their family and friends, and stop missing out on the things they enjoy.     What You Will

Sherri Nourse is a successful woman entrepreneur who at the top of her game followed her passion, tapped  into her creative energy and is making a difference in the lives of many women.   Sherri's background is in social media. Her digital agency is Ambition Media but in 2022 Sherri started a new venture, Audrey Nicole Diamonds, which makes fabulous custom engagement rings and jewelry from ethically sourced and lab-grown diamonds,  Sherri designs personalized pieces for you online or in person and as a woman-owned business, she empowers and collaborates with  nonprofits and donates a portion of her profits  from every purchase to women who've been through trauma.  Whether that be emotional, physical, sexual or sex trafficking  she wants to help them get back on their feet and get their lives back.     What You Will Hear in This Episode:  1:32  Sherri’s personal story 4:35  Helping women who have gone through trauma 8:28  Lab grown diamonds and ethically mined diamonds 18:19 Starting the business and its chall

After going through the process of healing from a traumatic experience that significantly affected the first two decades of her life, Dr. Amy Hoyt dove into trauma research and found a calling in helping others recover from their trauma.  According to Dr. Hoyt, it's important to look inside yourself and see if you have old wounds that are creating subconscious patterns and thoughts that are keeping you small. Toxic stress and trauma can cause autonomic responses to the world, business, and others that keep us playing small.  When we heal our wounds, we're able to create new neural wiring and start to think and act differently. Dr. Hoyt is certified in traumatic stress studies by the Trauma Research Foundation.  She's been working in the field of trauma for 10 years as a researcher of mass trauma, genocide, and apartheid, and individual trauma. She's an author, podcaster, and speaker, and is passionate about helping others learn to break free from the chains of past trauma using research and science. And, she

Discovering that her chosen career in engineering was not for her, Kim Imas took a leap of faith and dramatically changed the direction of her career to pursue something that brought her joy, came naturally and she always loved. Kim received degrees in engineering and urban planning before deciding to pursue a career as a writer. Her pieces appeared in the likes of Boston Magazine, in the Boston Globe magazine. Before she transitioned to long form fiction, her first novel, which was a romance novel, was initially published under a pen name and earned praise from Publishers Weekly for its smooth prose and witty dialogue. A former Oregonian, she now lives with her family outside New York and tries to accomplish in her writing what Dolly Parton does in the song Nine to Five, delivering stories of women's struggles in a way that is too damn delightful to ignore.     What You Will Hear in This Episode:  1:30    Kim’s personal story 7:31   Getting into writing.  The Aha moment 16:03 Lessons learned and being neurod

Born into a family of strong women, Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode defied societal norms by pursuing her education.  Motivated by her observance of the difference between formally educated and uneducated women in Nigeria, Aisha felt compelled to fight for change.   Aisha  is a development specialist, international non-governmental organization (NGO) expert, and human rights activist specializing in women’s and girls’ initiatives. She is the founder and CEO of the Murtala Muhammed Foundation (MMF), a non-governmental organization that promotes good governance and is dedicated to engendering socio-economic change on the African continent.  As co-founder of the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG), an activist group formed in the aftermath of the abduction of 276 girls from their school premises in the Chibok village of Borno State, and the author of Stolen Daughters of Chibok, Aisha is committed to societal change and making sure all of the girls are returned home and not forgotten.    What You Will Hear in This Episode:    1:5