Late Bloomer Living Podcast

If you've ever caught yourself thinking "I'm too old for that" — this one's for you.   After six years of hosting a podcast about ageism, I still catch myself having ageist thoughts. About myself. And I think that's worth talking about honestly — because the truth is, none of us chose these beliefs. We absorbed them. Long before we were old enough to question them, we were being taught what aging...

At what age are women officially supposed to stop starting new things? According to Trish Appello, never. At 55, Trish gave herself permission to do the thing she'd always wanted — and what followed was background work on Orange Is the New Black, a film producing certificate from UCLA at 62, and eventually creating The EffYou 50s, a comedy series about four women who decide the rules of midlife si...

When was the last time something changed in your life and you just... moved on? Didn't name it, didn't sit with it, just kept going? That's worth a second look. Kathy Mela spent 45 years in the NICU before becoming The Grief Navigator. Her take on grief will probably surprise you. Because she's not just talking about loss through death. She's talking about the grief of an empty nest, a career that...

What if the questions you're asking right now are actually working against you? Six years into this podcast, I thought I had a pretty good handle on the power of curiosity. And then Larry Robertson showed up in my inbox — through our mutual friend Lynn Borton of the Choose to Be Curious podcast — and I realized I'd only scratched the surface. Larry is an innovation advisor, Fulbright Scholar, and...

You look capable. You hold it all together. But somewhere along the way, you started leaving yourself behind — one small retreat at a time. Vera Knight calls it the half-second exit. And once you see it, you can't unsee it. After a burnout and a cancer diagnosis cracked her open, Vera stopped managing her life from a distance and started actually living it. Now she helps high-functioning women fin...

Here's the podcast description: Have you ever had a role or title that felt so much like you that losing it felt like losing yourself? Maybe it was a career you'd built over decades. A relationship that defined you. A version of yourself you'd outgrown but didn't know how to leave behind. Whatever it was — when it disappeared, the question that remained was the hardest one of all. Who am I now? Dr...

What if the biggest thing standing between you and the life you want isn't your age — it's the story you're telling yourself about your age? Sally Duplantier started her first business at 28, retired twice, went back to school in her mid-60s, earned a master's degree in gerontology, published seven peer-reviewed research papers, and is currently finishing her doctorate at 75. And she'll be the fir...

What if the thing holding you back isn't fear — it's the story you've never let yourself tell? Karen Rae knows that feeling. After 27 years as a stay-at-home mom, an unexpected divorce, empty nest, and menopause all arrived at once. In a therapist's office, she and her counselor held up pieces of paper at the same time. They had written the same word: invisible. That moment became the spark for ev...

Have you ever been in a room full of brilliant, accomplished women — genuinely inspired, genuinely moved — and then found the comparison spiral creeping in when you were alone with your thoughts? That's Comparanoia. And I had a bad case of it recently. A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak at Quest, a remarkable storytelling event for women in their third act created by Diana Place of Thi...

Beauty culture is loud. And most of us have been listening to it for so long we've forgotten it was never actually our voice. Writer, meditation teacher, and midlife coach Skylar Liberty Rose joins me for a conversation that kept surprising me. We're talking about beauty standards, the invisible pressure women carry around their appearance, and what it feels like to finally start shedding expectat...

Have you ever had one embarrassing moment — one failed public speaking experience, one bad drawing, one time you couldn't keep up — and quietly decided that was just who you are? That's what this episode is about. After a conversation with psychologist Gail Rice about re-storying our lives, something clicked for Yvonne — and it came straight from her work as a photographer. When she shoots headsho...

Scaring Yourself Alive: How to Re-Story Your Life at Any Age with Gail Rice What does it actually look like to choose expansion over disappearance — not just as an idea, but as a daily act of courage? This one is for the woman who has ever felt the pull to play it smaller, quieter, safer. The one who wonders if her best chapters are behind her. The one who's tired of waiting for permission. Spoile...

A sixth-grade teacher told Patricia Lee Lewis her story "could never have happened." She stopped writing creatively until she was in her forties. At 88, she just published her debut historical novel, Thorns of the Mesquite — 15 years in the making. In this conversation we talk about the writing workshop that cracked her open in her mid-forties, why treating your pain as fiction can set you free, w...

When you finally decide to make a change… and life has other plans. In this episode, I’m joined by Beth Schillaci, creator of Roaming Yeti and host of Pop Culture Passport, for an honest conversation about what it looks like to reinvent yourself in midlife—when things don’t go the way you imagined. Beth left behind 25+ years of client work to pursue a more creative, freedom-filled life. But just a...

What if the clarity you've been grinding for has been waiting for you in the quiet all along? Theresa Crisci has years of experience helping people reconnect with their bodies — first as a massage therapist, then as an interfaith minister — and she's learned that our most important insights rarely arrive when we're pushing harder. They arrive when we finally stop. In this conversation, Theresa sha...

So many of us arrive at midlife carrying parts of ourselves we've never quite made peace with. The shameful parts. The doubting parts. The ones we've spent years trying to fix, hide, or outrun. What if those parts aren't the problem — and accepting them is actually the key to feeling more free? That's the heart of my conversation this week with Dana Hilmer, coach, positive psychology practitioner,...

Have you ever sat down to do your work and wondered… how does any of this matter right now? That question shaped this conversation. Before creativity consultant and author Melissa Dinwiddie and I even hit record, we found ourselves talking about something that didn’t fit neatly into a typical interview. With so much happening in the world, it can feel strangely difficult to focus on the work we ca...

The world feels heavy right now.   In this conversation with award-winning filmmaker Sky Bergman, we explore how storytelling — especially across generations — can remind us that we’re not alone.   Sky shares what she learned while filming The Jollytologist®, her new documentary about humorist Allen Klein, and reflects on why humor, curiosity, and connection matter even more in difficult seasons....

Grief and joy are not opposites. In this episode, I’m joined by Allen Klein — known as “The Jollytologist” — for a deeply human conversation about loss, resilience, and the surprising role humor can play in hard seasons of life. After his wife’s three-year battle with a rare liver disease, Allen found himself navigating profound grief while raising their 10-year-old daughter. In the midst of hospi...

It’s National Heart Month. And if loneliness affects the heart as much as research suggests… we need to widen the conversation. When we talk about heart health, we usually focus on cholesterol, steps per day, and cardio routines. All important. But what about the relational side of heart health? In this solo episode of Late Bloomer Living, Yvonne Marchese explores how midlife transitions — parenti...

As Valentine’s Day approaches, this episode offers a reminder that love doesn’t only live in romance — it also lives in friendship, shared purpose, and meaningful connection. In this conversation, Yvonne sits down with Gail Zelitsky and Catherine Marienau, co-hosts of the podcast, Women Over 70: Aging Reimagined, to talk about how a friendship formed later in life grew into a powerful creative par...

Midlife has a way of surfacing questions many women have carried quietly for years — about identity, desire, change, and who they’re becoming now. In this episode, Yvonne is joined by writers and editors Dina Aronson and Dina Alvarez, co-editors of Midlife Private Parts, a deeply honest anthology that reflects the many ways women experience midlife. Together, they explore what happens when women s...

The Real Reason You Keep Saying Yes When You Mean No - And What to Do About It   Many women spend decades being the reliable one — the helper, the fixer, the one who always says yes. Somewhere along the way, it can start to feel exhausting… and a little confusing. In this episode of Late Bloomer Living, I’m joined by returning guest Wendy Perrotti, a master-level certified coach, speaker, and auth...

Why trying something scary can unlock your next chapter What happens when you give yourself permission to be a beginner again — in midlife? In this episode of Late Bloomer Living, Yvonne Marchese is joined by her friend Marc Ronick for a candid conversation about play, fear, and reinvention. After more than 20 years in podcasting, Marc decided to try something that genuinely scared him: improv cla...

Most of us don’t think of ourselves as playful — especially at work. Play can feel awkward, indulgent, or like something we were supposed to outgrow. But what if that discomfort is actually pointing us toward something essential? In this episode of Late Bloomer Living, Yvonne Marchese sits down with playful change maker Brandi Heather to explore why play feels so uncomfortable for adults — and why...