A Certain Age

The countdown to Labor Day is on! But it’s not too late to pack your bags for a sweet summer escape. Today’s guest, travel pro Pavia Rosati, founder of the award-winning travel website Fathom, shares a treasure trove of time-tested recommendations from her latest travel book, “Travel North America (And Avoid Being a Tourist).” Designed to stoke your wanderlust while sticking closer to home, Pavia...

After decades of marriage, three kids, years as a stay-at-home parent, Laura Friedman Williams’ marriage and world imploded. Her upcoming memoir, Available: A Memoir of Sex and Dating After a Marriage Ends, is a riveting, page-turning read on navigating the modern dating scene, rediscovering sexuality, and redefining identity as the definition of wife is stripped away, the family unit morphs and s...

Want to maintain tip-top sexual health, vibrant intimacy, and self-care for down there as you age? Of course, you do. You’re fifty, not dead. We welcome back Dr. Anita Sadaty, an expert on gynecology and women’s hormonal health, who coaches us on how to care for our lady parts, libido, and pelvic floor. Plus, we dive into biggies like bladder health (spoiler – you SHOULD be able to sneeze without...

Want to inject more happiness into your life? Think about writing someone in your life a thank-you note. Writer and GenX podcaster Nancy Davis Kho, author of the feel-good read “The Thank-You Project,” walks us through the science-backed benefits of gratitude and how you can rewire your neural pathways and cultivate more happiness with a thank-you project of your own. Audiophile bonus, we talk mus...

Self-proclaimed late bloomer, novelist Karen Dukess, author of "The Last Book Party," became a first-time author in her mid-50s. If you have a long-simmering book idea of your own, are curious about how to crack open the world of book publishing, or need a jolt of inspiration for your own creative midlife bloom, you don't want to miss this episode. Booklover bonus! We talk reads galore. SHOW NOTES...

Venture capitalist Tracy Chadwell makes good bets – early investments include Beautycounter, recently valued at $1 Billion. But after facing the double-whammy of sexism and ageism in the venture capital world, Tracy made her biggest bet of all – launching her own investing fund, 1843 Capital. Now, she leads an all-female team in closing the gender investing gap and investing in diverse founders. ...

PULL UP YOUR BEACH CHAIR. We’re talking all things sunblock on today’s show. Because summer fun equals sun. And if you’re Generation Coppertone, baby oil, and silver tanning reflectors, sunblock has come a long way baby.  Meet Valerie McMurray, the founder, and CEO of Soleil Toujours, a line of mineral-based, eco-friendly sun and skincare products. While pregnant, Valerie looked at the sunblocks o...

Ready to banish bad hair days? Tackle brittle, dry, thinning, or graying locks? Meet Sonsoles Gonzalez, founder of haircare company Better Not Younger, the first haircare brand for women over 40. She joins me to talk about age-proofing your hair, entrepreneurship, and how her 25-year career at L’Oréal and Procter & Gamble helped her identify a gap in the multi-billion-dollar hair care market. Want...

Mood swings. Brain fog. Hot flashes. Toxic rage. Menopause is all that and a bag of chips.   Did you know that there are 30+ symptoms that can mark menopause? When no two bodies menopause the same - getting educated is the first step in getting relief from menopause’s irksome symptoms.  On this week's show, Catherine Balsam-Schwaber, CEO of menopause-relief company Kindra, shares the four most com...

For 32 years, naval aviator Rear Admiral Nancy Lacore has made military service and love of country a central part of her life. She joins me to talk about life as a military family, why the Navy is both a career and a community, how she balances six kids and overseas deployment, and why valor knows no gender. As we mark Memorial Day, we also cover the nonprofit she created to honor the U.S. milita...

Meet Tracey Cox, one of the world’s foremost writers on sex and relationships. With 16 best-selling books, she is back with a buzzy new podcast and the midlife must-read, “Great Sex Starts at 50:  Age-Proof Your Libido & Transform Your Sex Life,” which offers reassuring, nuts-and-bolts advice for keeping your sex life humming. We dive into the toe-curling fun of great sex and uncover midlife speed...

After decades of marriage, three kids, years as a stay-at-home parent, Laura Friedman Williams’ marriage and world imploded. Her upcoming memoir, Available: A Memoir of Sex and Dating After a Marriage Ends, is a riveting, page-turning read on navigating the modern dating scene, rediscovering sexuality, and redefining identity as the definition of wife is stripped away, the family unit morphs and s...

Mother’s Day is a holiday impossible to escape or ignore. But not every woman is buying what Hallmark is selling. Many women have complicated relationships with their mothers. Others mourn lost or absent moms, and many women are not mothers at all, either by choice or by chance.  This week’s show explores being a childless woman in a culture that fetishizes motherhood. Meet Jody Day, a global thou...

May’s graduation season means those nests are emptying. Are you ready? Today’s show features a woman with ideas for reinventing your life after the kids leave. Writer Melissa Shultz, author of From Mom to Me Again, chronicles how to survive that first dislocating empty-nest year and shares ideas for transforming your marriage, friendships, career, and life as you once again take center stage in yo...

Thinking of ditching the dye and embracing your grey? Ready to save oodles of time (and money) but worried about navigating the awkward transition? Worried your boss, friends,  the world will think grey hair makes you...old? Meet silver hair evangelist Katie Emery, creator of the popular blog, Katie Goes Platinum. After 29 years of coloring her hair, she ditched the dye and has ideas for helping y...

Meet Carole Montgomery—stand-up comic, writer, actress, and producer of two Showtime comedy specials, Funny Women of A Certain Age. After a 40+ year standup career on stages from Vegas to small clubs, often as the only female comic, Carole shares how she got an all-women comedy special greenlit in an ageist entertainment industry. Plus, what’s making her LOL, and the female comics to put on your r...

Got bladder leaks, UTIs, or a fear of being seated in the middle row of an airplane or movie theater? Meet Dr. Angelish Kumar, a urologist and certified menopause practitioner who has ideas for combatting all your irksome bladder issues. We dive into the top 4 common bladder complaints (and why NO ONE talks about them) and the impacts of menopause and aging on bladder and vaginal health. Bottom li...

As editor-in-chief of Real Simple, Kristin van Ogtrop grew the magazine into the #1 women’s lifestyle title with a finger-on-the-pulse insight into the psyche and wants of the American woman. Now, she is back with a hilarious new book, Did I Say That Out Loud? Midlife Indignities and How to Survive Them, a memoir-cum-exploration of the phases, stages, and outrages of midlife. We cover aging parent...

How are you? No, really. How are you? Today’s show features a woman who answers that question honestly. Entertainment lawyer Terri Cheney ripped the covers off her secret battle with bipolar disorder in her New York Times bestselling memoir, Manic. Now she is back with a new book, Modern Madness: An Owner’s Manual. We explore the struggle, stigma, and treatments for mental illness and her practica...

Meet Michelle Fishburne. After losing her job and home during the pandemic, Michelle packed up an RV to crisscross the US, filming ordinary Americans sharing their pandemic stories for a one-of-a-kind oral history project called Who We Are Now. At age 57, the former lawyer and non-profit communications pro found herself "on the edge of a cliff" after her life dramatically changed during our COVID...

Meet Leslie Gray Streeter – veteran journalist and author of “Black Widow: A Sad-Funny Journey Through Grief for People Who Normally Avoid Books With Words Like ‘Journey’ in the Title.”  Named a Glamour Magazine  “Top-20 Books to Read in 2020,” Leslie's memoir chronicles the unexpected loss of her young husband and how she was left to raise their baby on her own.  Leslie mixes heartbreak and laugh...

Falling in love is easy. Getting divorced is hard. Today’s show features a guest who helps answer the question – should I stay or should I go?  Kate Anthony is a certified divorce coach and host of the New York Times recommended podcast, “The Divorce Survival Guide.” She walks us through how to know when it’s time to call it quits--and how to survive with your sanity and bank account intact. SHOW...

Is there a woman alive who hasn't thought deeply about her relationship with her mother? Today's guest, the author, and essayist, Rachel Levey Lesser explores motherhood from every angle: as a daughter coming of age, a parent to teens, and through the lens of her mother's devastating early death. Her most recent book, "Life's Accessories: A Memoir (and Fashion Guide)" explores the totemic power of...

Do we age out of love? Has the pandemic derailed dating and mating? Not according to Dr. Helen Fisher, chief science adviser to Match.com. An anthropologist, human behavior researcher, and expert on love and the biology of why we mate, stay, and stray, Dr. Fisher joins me to drop optimistic truth bombs on love in the time of COVID. Bonus, she shares snippets of her own love story and marriage at a...

Women friends rock. None of us would have made it to our fifties without our girlfriends. None. Of. Us. You can love your spouse, adore your kids, appreciate your family, but your female friends get it. On today’s show, we dive into female friendships, friend breakups, and the health benefits of having a girl gang with Jacqueline Mroz, an NYT science writer and author of Girl Talk. Bonus, we talk...