50, NOT DEAD

Lisa Edmondson shares her journey from being a corporate professional to becoming an accidental entrepreneur. The motivation behind her entrepreneurial venture, Leadership Reno, was the personal experience of workplace bullying she encountered. She underwent a healing process after facing bullying in the workplace. It's important to channel negative emotions into positive action and use perso...

Sarah Blankenship is a remarkable woman who turned her life around despite facing immense challenges. Her journey began in 2012 when she went through a divorce, suddenly finding herself as a single mom living below the poverty line. She describes those years as "hell," filled with self-doubt and uncertainty about the future. As a business owner and photographer, Sarah's dreams seeme...

Tracy Swartzendruber, a successful boss in a male-dominated industry, shares her journey and the valuable lessons she learned along the way. She describes herself as an average person with a normal life, married for 25 years, raising two teenagers and two dogs in the Midwest. However, her story goes beyond the ordinary. Growing up with a father who was a Marine, Tracy developed a bold and brash pe...

Rachel Gotto is an intervention hypnotherapist, mind coach, and best-selling author. Her story is nothing short of inspiring as she shares her remarkable journey of reentering the business world after a 20-year absence. Prepare to be uplifted and motivated as Rachel's words resonate deeply with your own aspirations. She reminds us of the incredible potential we have to overcome challenges and...

Discover the fascinating journey of a woman who describes her life as continually being lucky  and falling "ass backward into clover".  She's funny, she's smart, and she obviously works her ass off. Michelle Little, a Senior Program Manager of global logistics at Google, discusses her unconventional and extraordinary path to success after success and the various industries she...

In this episode, we speak with Michele Simon, JD, MPH ; a workplace trauma lawyer, author, and fearless advocate for women in the food industry. Michele has always been one to call things as she sees them, and when she entered the industry that she loved and believed in, it shocked her to discover a culture of ill-treatment towards women. Despite the industry's apparent dedication to treating...

Barbara Birke brings an impressive depth of experience to her work as a holistic health coach.  Sports scientist, mindset coach, nutritionist, health coach with a background in the sporting goods industry, Barbara helps you "find your thrive".     In this wonderfully informative episode, we laugh a lot about being an age where there are lots of households with hormonal teens and hormonal...

Beth Henkes is the Founder and CEO of The Idea Hound and truly brings order to disorder with expected organization and assessment skills but adds creative flair that allows her to achieve unexpected success in challenging circumstances.     As a former Production Stage Manager in live production, she is an expert in crisis management, able to handle multiple moving parts and tight deadlines with e...

Nova Newcomer is the Director Community Relations and Mariners Care Foundation spent a lifetime getting prepared for this role. Nova's love of baseball began as a child. During two years in Foster Care, Nova was allowed to stay in Little League, a place where she felt seen, where she had friends and where she had fun.  She's not sure who paid for her spot in Little League, her community...

Shana Kahn spent 24 years in the fashion industry and in her early forties saw her opportunity for growth and promotion continually and blatantly diminish.     In her words,  it was with shock and awe that she had to come to terms with the fact that though she was producing excellent results and helping grow the company she had been in for years, she was kept in a "nice and neat little box&qu...

Shaema Talib, Vice President Strategy & Product in the Tech Industry and adjunct professor at two universities highlights  how drive and passion far outweigh age when she hires employees.  Self professed as not having experienced ageism herself, she highlights that in her C-Suite position, what she looks for when interviewing candidates is how deeply a person cares about the things they are in...

Harvard Business Review Editorial Audience Director, Nicole Smith, shares insights on writing the HBR article titled I was a Manager in an Ageist Workplace.     Nicole also just moderated an event with The Wharton School's Peter Cappelli titled Navigating Ageism at Work: The Forgotten DEI Factor. Nicole found herself managing a team; over 50's who sat in one part of the office and the un...

Lys Hardy says her age is her superpower.  I love her already. CEO and Founder of a groundbreaking new platform called Wemxntr.com, Lys and her partners are unapologetically focusing on women and minorities.  Their platform allows employees to locate and connect with women and minority mentors across companies and locations. As these are the most underrepresented groups in leadership positions, Ly...

Wynona Benson is not 50.  Not even close.  This working mom of 4, adjunct professor and runner, shares what it is like at the opposite end of the age spectrum.  Facing ageism as an Asian American, Wynona says that for years she could NOT WAIT to appear older because no one believed that she was the mom of 4.  In this variation from our usual conversation, we explore gendered ageism that younger wo...

At 50, Barbara Simon-Evronsoglu's department, in a large, white-male dominant company, was dissolved.  She watched from the outside as it was reconstructed by a younger man.  Initially crushing, Barbara ultimately realized that the job hadn't been that great at all.  She was then able to accept the layoff with grace and she reconnected with her kids, with her family and with friends all...

Gabby Nelson is the founder and lead consultant of Rodenhus Group where she “un-gnarls large, global communications problems. "   Prior to going solo, Gabby was the senior most Communications Leader at Sleep Number (the top luxury mattress retailer in the country) and was a Senior Communications Leader at America’s largest private company; Cargill (which has 160,000 workers in 70 countries)....

While looking for a resume to update in 2013, Kristen Falso-Capaldi landed on a treasure trove of writing she'd begun years before. It re-ignited a creative spark in her that blossomed from writing (SEVERAL pieces published, a book being shopped and another complete), to painting, film directing, screen-play writing and production design.  As she succinctly puts it; her dream is to make shit...

Heather Schwenneker is an Industrial & Organizational Psychologist with more ideas for moving forward than a car salesman!  Using her own layoff as both an example and an exercise in positivity, Heather provides us with 7 Tips for Managing Job Loss and 10 Ideas for Bouncing Back. Looking through the lens of a layoff happening at 50+, Heather provides so many PROACTIVE ways to safeguard yoursel...

After becoming an SVP in a major athletics brand, Dagmar Chlosta was given a 360 degree review by her peers.  The summary of all of the feedback can be boiled down to this: she was a woman, and she was screwed. Listen in as Dagmar opens up about what it feels like to be labeled an "Ice Queen" by her male counterparts and the pressure that resulted in heart surgery.  A while back, in disc...

Lesley Stewart Armstrong understands change. She understands proactivity. She understands that you must actively and continually level-up. After doing "all the right things" she was told to not mention how long she had been in the textile industry (an industry she loves and has given her heart to) because it would put a target on her back.    And it did. Suddenly, her experience was forg...

Meryem Olgun is a Bloomingdales Corporate Executive, and a self-proclaimed accidental influencer.  She is bound and determined to help women succeed.  Holding her grandmother's story of strength close to her heart Meryem believes in giving other women the tools and the opportunity they need in order to grow; and to never sell themselves short. Rooted in Retail Fashion, Meryem's world is...

Deb Schad has a lot of experience working in the weeds.  Listen in as she describes how difficult it is when strategic decision makers don't understand the impact their decisions have on the people doing the execution of the vision.   Deb is the type of person who sees a problem and finds a solution.  She's also the person not promoted because "she's really good right where she...

Claire Midwood knows what it is like to experience that awkward question "what are you up to" when you are between jobs and figuring out what to do next....all while still having to pay the bills. In a rather lighthearted discussion we cover the deep topic of stepping into your best self and having to sit in the discomfort while you go on the journey to discover who that is.   Of having...

Going from Silicon Valley start-ups to Stanford, Meredith Vaish knows all about hard work.  Pleasing, Proving and Perfection led to a physical response so severe she was told she had to quit working.  At 48, her "soul-battical" led to rest, rejuvenation and profound tuning-in.   Now the founder and CEO of Pause Box, Meredith shares that life after 50 is a time of reinvention and rebirth....

Cat Valyi believes in thinking about age in a different way.  She shines brightly and is incredibly inspiring.  In our interview you will learn about being both prepared for career change and in charge of it.  As her book title says; SHIFT ALWAYS HAPPENS. Cat's perspective is full of energy and vibrancy.  Her positive outlook on rising in age, winding up, not winding down is infectious.  You...