The Uplifters

Women over 40 who give endlessly but cannot take in a kind word are often carrying more than burnout. Developmental trauma therapist Zipa Leah Scheinberg joins Aransas Savas to explain what developmental trauma really is, how it shows up in midlife women, and why the second half of life can be an ideal time to rebuild what was interrupted in childhood. Zipa Leah has practiced in New York for nearl...

Thinking about starting a Substack, or already writing there and wondering how to grow? Aransas Savas sits down with two women who know the platform from both sides: Rachel Lipson, founder of Blue Balloon Songwriting School and writer of a top 40 travel newsletter on Substack called The Point, and Erin Shetron, a Substack strategist and the writer behind Frequent Criers Club, who has worked with m...

What does it take to have the conversation you are most afraid of getting wrong? In this episode, social psychologist and author Dr. Evelyn Carter joins Aransas Savas to talk about how to detect, interrupt, and unlearn bias in everyday life, and why a growth mindset is the starting point for women over 40 who want to keep learning and keep leading. You will hear how to lean into discomfort instead...

If your voice feels a little drier, a little less powerful, or just different since perimenopause or menopause, maybe there is a reason. Voice coach Jessica Hansen, a former staff coach at NPR, joins The Uplifters Podcast to talk about midlife voice changes, vocal fatigue, and why so many women over 40 are done sounding like what the room expects. You will hear simple, practical ways to care for y...

What if you stopped asking whether a midlife reinvention is possible and started asking what you would do if you knew you couldn't get it wrong? Kristy Halvorsen spent years building a firefighting career, then sold her house, let go of nearly everything she owned, and hit the road in a 28-foot Airstream named Cottie. That was almost nine years ago. For women over 40 wondering if it's too late to...

Tori DaCosta spent decades climbing the ranks at a Fortune 50 company while keeping some of her story tucked in her back pocket. Then in midlife, she decided it was time to write it down. Her debut book, "No Name B*****d: How Our Lives Teach Us What We Can Control, Manage, and Influence," became the framework she now teaches leaders, and it started with a question so many women over 40 will recogn...

She spent thirty years disappearing into other people's words on Broadway. Then, in midlife, an idea for a novel showed up and refused to leave her alone. This week, actor Jennifer Shay Carta joins The Uplifters Podcast to talk about what happened when she traded a script for a blank page, with zero training and zero expectations. We talk about:Her Broadway debut in Side Man and joining the cast o...

Lisa Congdon built one of the most recognized independent art careers on the internet: work at MoMA, U.S. postage stamps, ten published books, twenty years of a thriving retail business. Then, while it was still in its prime, she closed the business. This episode is about why, and about what it actually takes to end a chapter with integrity instead of letting resentment end it for you. We talk abo...

Three years ago, Heike Yates had to stop running. After qualifying for Boston in her first marathon and finishing the JFK 50 Miler, an arthritic knee said no, and she spent a year grieving the identity that went with it. In this conversation, she shares what it took to let go, what she built from the change, and why she thinks midlife is the perfect time to rebuild, not from scratch, but from righ...

What happens when the identity you worked so hard to build stops feeling like you? Faye McCray spent nearly a decade as a federal attorney, the first lawyer in her family, a title her whole community held onto. She left anyway. Within five years she tripled her salary and built something entirely hers. In this conversation, Faye and I talk about what it actually takes to stop living a single-story...

In this special episode, three extraordinary women explore fulfillment in midlife guided by the MOVE framework from Dr. Helen Krug von Nidda's forthcoming book Closing the Fulfillment Gap. What emerges is a conversation about midlife reinvention, second-act courage, and why women over 40 are primed for meaningful work. About the Guests: Dr. Helen Krug von Nidda is an executive coach, international...

What if the most motivating thing you could do for your midlife was think about your death? In this episode of The Uplifters Podcast, host Aransas Savas sits down with bestselling author and behavioral change expert Karen Salmansohn, who has spent decades helping people stop waiting for permission and start living as their most authentic selves. Karen has sold over two million books and courses wo...

Angela Burk spent three decades scaling companies from scrappy startups to Fortune 500 giants, but inside, she was white-knuckling her way through her 40s, shrinking to keep the peace, saying yes when she meant no, and editing out the very parts of herself that made her who she was. In this conversation, you'll learn what it takes to shed the stories others have told about you, how to stop apologi...

Today we're talking about clothes! How they fit in midlife, how updating our wardrobes can upend our identities, and most of all, how donated clothes can give other women a fresh start. In this episode, Susan Kanoff shares how her 25 years in social work led to starting Uncommon Threads, a nonprofit now serving more than 8,000 women a year in Greater Boston through clothing, personal styling, and...

Today we're talking about clothes! How they fit in midlife, how updating our wardrobes can upend our identities, and most of all, how donated clothes can give other women a fresh start. In this episode, Susan Kanoff shares how her 25 years in social work led to starting Uncommon Threads, a nonprofit now serving more than 8,000 women a year in Greater Boston through clothing, personal styling, and...

Have you ever been told you're too sensitive? Too emotional? That you just need to toughen up? For highly sensitive women, those words often start in childhood and follow us straight into midlife, where perimenopause turns up the volume on everything we've been quietly managing for years. In this episode, licensed occupational therapist, certified perimenopause and menopause coach, and functional...

In this episode, elite brain health coach Christine Despres shares the science behind perimenopause and brain health, the four areas proven to prevent up to 50% of cognitive decline, and the micro habits that make the biggest difference. Whether you're in the thick of perimenopause or planning for your 90-year-old self, this is the conversation you didn't know you needed. What You'll Learn: The pe...

What if the brain fog, exhaustion, and restlessness of midlife were not problems to fix, but invitations to finally slow down? In this episode of The Uplifters Podcast, host Aransas Savas talks with bestselling author and yoga nidra teacher Tracee Stanley about using sacred micro-rituals to reclaim attention, presence, and purpose during perimenopause and the second half of life. For women over 40...

Sarah Kauss bootstrapped S'well with $30,000 of her own savings and built it into a $100 million company, one of the most recognizable consumer brands of the last decade. But this conversation isn't about how she built it. It's about what happened after she let it go, and what that taught her about identity, success, and legacy. In this episode, Sarah and Aransas talk about what it is like to step...

Can getting in touch with your sexuality change everything else about your life? Sarah Nelson thought she had it all figured out. Good marriage, two kids, a high-powered nonprofit career. But underneath it, she'd spent decades editing herself into the good girl she was taught to be, especially when it came to sex. This conversation about women over 40 and midlife reinvention traces what happened w...

What do you do when the midlife magazine you actually want to read doesn't exist? If you're Laura LeBleu, you burn your AARP card, drain your stock options, and build it yourself. In this episode, host Aransas Savas talks with the founding editor of Geezer Magazine about starting a print publication at 54, betting on yourself after a lifetime of betting on others, and what midlife reinvention real...

What do you do with the words you never said? Sofia Kavlin built a home for them. In February 2024 she dragged a wooden mailbox into Washington Square Park, asked strangers to drop in a letter they would never send, and handed each person someone else's letter in return. More than 4,000 letters later, the Unsent Letter Mailbox has spread to Austin, Houston, and Chattanooga, and has been featured b...

This week on The Uplifters Podcast, two extraordinary women in midlife share what a cancer diagnosis taught them about finally giving themselves permission to do the big, brave things they'd been putting off. If you've ever felt like you're driving through life with one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake, this episode is for you. You'll hear from Jacquelyn Fletcher Johnson, founder of the H...

Did you know the average professional woman loses 20 to 25% of her annual income to menopause? Not from medical bills alone, but from invisible career costs and compounding retirement losses that most women never see coming. If you're a woman over 40 navigating perimenopause, midlife career decisions, or a second act reinvention, this conversation will change how you think about menopause, money,...

Did you know the average professional woman loses 20 to 25% of her annual income to menopause? Not from medical bills alone, but from invisible career costs and compounding retirement losses that most women never see coming. If you're a woman over 40 navigating perimenopause, midlife career decisions, or a second act reinvention, this conversation will change how you think about menopause, money,...