Becoming Your Best Version

Gail Rubin, CT, The Doyenne of Death®, is a pioneering death educator based in New Mexico. A doyenne is a woman considered senior in a group who knows a lot about a particular subject. Gail is a Certified Thanatologist (a death and grief educator) and speaker who uses humor and films to get end-of-life conversations started.  She’s the author of the award-winning books  A Good Goodbye: Funeral Pla...

Ilene Berns-Zare, PsyD, PCC, is a life and leadership coach, psychologist, educator, and author who helps people navigate their lives with resilience, meaning, mindfulness, and well-being. Ilene is the author of the new book: You’re Not Too Old, & It’s Not Too Late: Weekly Practices of Meaning, Mindfulness & New Possibilities at Midlife and Beyond (MSI Press, released January 2026). Design...

Emily Lampkin is a highly sought-after speaker, author and advisor, known for empowering women leaders in corporate, non-profit, education, and political sectors to hone their skills and maximize opportunities. With a pragmatic style and actionable advice, she has trained thousands of women globally through her dynamic, one-of-a-kind “Women Leaders Series” workshop. The Women Leaders Series is the...

Gail Harris is a certified ghostwriter who drafts deeply healing, compelling, life-affirming memoirs for women authors who don’t want to write their book on their own. An  IPNE  Book Award Finalist for the memoir Finding Zoe , Gail resonates with authors who, in addition to any professional goals they may have, see writing their memoir as a way to heal—they want to heal and share what they’ve lear...

Bukky Onifade is a Midlife Reinvention Coach, International Speaker, Author and Founder of Coached by Bukky, where she helps professional women aged 45+ turn major life transitions into purposeful, profitable second acts. Her work centers on a powerful reframe: Midlife is not a crisis; it’s a creative threshold. On this episode, we talk about identity shifts, burnout, grief, divorce and the quiet...

Elana Auerbach is a lover, author, mother, mentor, activist and priestess. She spent her childhood and young adulthood on what she calls “the conveyor belt of life,” being the good girl and doing what others expected of her. This looked like graduating Phi Beta Kappa from UCLA, working on Wall Street for a Japanese investment bank, and marrying someone with whom she felt no chemistry. It all fell...

Julie Nise is a Relationship Trainer and Communication Strategist known for her direct, results-oriented approach. With more than two decades of combined corporate, entrepreneurial and clinical experience, Julie brings a rare balance of empathy and practicality to her coaching. She has successfully guided more than 8,000 individuals and couples through challenges in communication, trust and leader...

Ally Shaw is a fierce survivor who has reinvented herself multiple times after devastating loss. Ally is a proud cancer survivor who became an opera singer. She also is an award-winning entrepreneur who became an author. Ally and her husband Kevin recently retired as business owners of a multi-state Domino's franchise, after achieving eight Gold Franny awards (top 2% of franchisees worldwide)....

With several decades of experience in outdoor education, therapy, teaching, mentoring and rites of passage guiding, Katie Asmus, MA, BMP, LPC, incorporates present-moment awareness, relationship to the natural world, body-mind connection and ceremonial practices to support people in more deeply and compassionately connecting to themselves, others and the earth. She believes strongly in the power o...

Lisa Skinner has dedicated her career to teaching people the skills to effectively manage brain disease. She is a behavioral expert in the field of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. In her 20-year career as a community counselor and regional director of senior care facilities, she has helped thousands of families find the best care options for their loved ones. She spreads her important m...

Kathleen Conner is the woman everyone calls when they need something—ranch hand, stucco guy, chief bottle washer—you name it. Known as the unofficial “mayor” and “Angie’s List of People,” she built a life of service as a business owner, wife, mother, volunteer and humanitarian. At 53, she realized she had built a perfect life serving everyone else while becoming nothing to herself. This awakening...

As an international business and life guide, Mel McSherry helps inspired but overwhelmed entrepreneurs honor their lives and become the architects of their own success. Mel uses their spiritual gifts and their 15+ years of business-building experience to slash entrepreneurs’ stress and bring their success to life! By merging Human Design with traditional business development tools, Mel coaches oth...

Wendy Valentine is the bestselling author of Women Waking Up:  The Midlife Manifesto for Passion, Purpose, and Play , and host of the top 1% podcast, "The Midlife Makeover Show." Before Wendy became a leader in midlife reinvention, she hit what looked like rock bottom, a “perfect storm” for which she did not plan. In her mid-forties, she faced a peaceful but painful divorce, uprooted her...

Shannon Russell is a Business Coach, speaker and author of  Start Your Second Act: How to Change Careers, Launch a Business, and Create Your Best Life.  She is also the host of the  Second Act Success Career Podcast , where she shares inspiring stories and actionable strategies to help professionals navigate career changes and start businesses with confidence. After spending more than 16 years as...

Who moves to a new country--one she has never been to, where she doesn't know anyone and doesn't speak the language--in the middle of COVID? Barbara Grassey did. She is a writer and expat, living in the Algarve, Portugal. She has written more than 60 books, manuals and home study courses over the past 20 years for national speakers, new speakers and small business owners. She ghostwrites b...

Bev Mitelman, M.A., specializes in helping women navigate the powerful intersection of attachment trauma, emotional health and menopause. Her work is grounded in science, compassion and lived experience — giving women (and the people who love them) the clarity, tools and support they need to feel secure, connected and confident again in midlife. Attachment therapy is designed to help people heal r...

Harper A. Bailey is the pen name of Dr. Tiosha Bailey, a Chicago native, public health leader and powerful storyteller who challenges the status quo. She manifests dreams through grief and creativity. She was the first Black woman to lead a prominent national women's healthcare nonprofit, where she prioritized health equity and amplified the voices of underserved communities. Her first book, I...

Michele Blood was a successful songwriter and rock singer in Australia and, after a near-fatal car accident, while in the hospital with many serious injuries, she created positive Affirmation Songs that not only healed her body but also took her to worldwide success. These Affirmation Songs affect the left and right hemispheres of the brain--lyrics, the left hemisphere, and melody and music, the r...

Tanja Brown, behavior analyst and psychologist, released a groundbreaking memoir revealing the impact of her age-gap relationship with a man 26 years her junior, while raising an autistic child. Unapologetically honest and intimate, this book is not about defending choices, but provides a powerful example for women navigating midlife, caregiving, love and identity. Tanja is a Board-Certified Behav...

Aline Ghorayeb is a visionary and spiritual guide whose work bridges inner alchemy, ancient wisdom and modern depth psychology. Her path is rooted in personal experience and years of study in the Science of Spirituality, the teachings of the Magdalene and the soul’s sacred journey of awakening. Certified in Applied Jungian Psychology and accredited as a coach, psychotherapist and hypnotherapist, A...

Tanya was diagnosed with HIV when she was 21 years old, at a time when it was viewed as a death sentence. She began speaking at this time about resilience, sharing her story with medical professionals and more. As a speaker decades later, Tanya brings the same insight, empathy and authenticity to live audiences, guiding professional women and entrepreneurs to embrace visibility, clarity and confid...

Remi (pronounced Ray-me) Gibbs is a certified life coach, positive psychology practitioner and the author of Renovate Your Reality . She helps women in midlife reconnect with their purpose, reignite their confidence and design a life that actually feels good to live. After reinventing her own life multiple times—through career shifts, major moves, loss and midlife awakening—Remi now teaches women...

Dr. Erika Rasure — a former financial advisor and university professor turned financial therapist — has helped thousands of people approach their finances in more intentional, healthy ways. She serves as Chief Financial Wellness Advisor at Beyond Finance, where she meets weekly with hundreds of clients working their way out of debt and towards financial freedom. In addition to her work at Beyond F...

Dr. Diane Dreher helps us learn better ways to deal with stress and how to find more hope and joy. She is the author of eight nonfiction books including the best-selling Tao of Inner Peace and her new book, Pathways to Inner Peace . She is an award-winning university professor and positive psychology researcher whose work on hope has been recognized internationally. Her books, workshops and webina...

Eileen Noyes is an author, speaker, mentor, podcast host at The Unsidelined Life, and founder of Lady Bellator. She lives in California with her husband and eight of their combined 15 children. Eileen journeyed through the limelight as a former pro-athlete’s wife in the public eye, escaped cult involvement, established single motherhood to eight children and is now remarried and spearheading the L...