The Curious Middle

Claire Bidwell Smith is a grief counselor and author. Claire's path to her current profession came from losing both her parents to cancer while Claire was still young. At first, Claire was in shock and tried to run from the overwhelming grief and anxiety she was feeling. Eventually, Claire decided to become a therapist and worked in private practice for over a decade. Claire went on to write three...

After going through breast cancer at 42, Dara Kurtz gained the courage and insight to completely change her life and career. Dara started the Crazy Perfect Life blog and self published her first book, Crush Cancer . Today, Dara continues to blog to her 195k followers on Facebook, write and take on a growing number of speaking engagements. Dara's second book, I am My Mother's Daughter, is a love le...

Eve Rodsky's goal is to change how families think about the distribution of household and care work. In other words, Eve's work revolves around reversing thousands of years of cultural norms that expect women to manage almost all the childcare and housework. It started one day when Eve was crazy busy juggling a new born, a toddler, an exhausting to-do list, and a demanding job. On that fateful day...

Today I Noticed is a creative mindfulness practice started by Willow Older and Deborah Huber. On their Instagram feed you'll find their often whimsical, sometimes touching observations—which combine words and sketches—that capture the ordinary, yet magical, moments of daily life. In our conversation, Willow and Deborah share how Today I Noticed started unexpectedly during a day trip to San Francis...

Shelley Zalis is the definition of a trailblazer. As the founder of OTX, a pioneer in the online market research space, and a founder of The Female Quotient , Shelley has consistently led with innovation and courage. In our conversation, Shelley walks us through her career milestones and the "heartbeat moments" that guided the most important decisions in her career. While most people conform to th...

Solving the problem of food waste and creating new products based on upcycled food was the type of project Caroline Cotto was meant to work on. As someone who has intentionally sought out challenging experiences since high school, Caroline is determined to live on the side of impact and adventure.   Today, Caroline is the COO of Renewal Mill , a next generation ingredients company that's reducing...

Annette Ross was meant for love. After overcoming a tragic accident during the birth of her second child that left Anette unable to walk, Annette went on to create a beautiful life with five daughters and the love of her life. In our conversation, we discuss how Annette adjusted to life and how her love for her family has always carried her forward. Annette shares advice on navigating through life...

If you have had issues receiving or giving performance feedback (who hasn't?), this conversation is for you. Therese Huston's role as a Cognitive Scientist at Seattle University involves finding ways to help professionals do their best work. Therese's third book, Let's Talk, focuses on how to deliver feedback and create conversations that lead to growth and stronger relationships. Although you hav...

Kelley Higney, Founder & CEO of Bug Bite Thing, is an unstoppable force also known as a "mom on a mission." When a relocation to South Florida, led to constant mosquito bites for Kelley and her daughter, Kelley started searching for solutions. After many failed attempts to help her daughter with the bites, Kelley discovered a little-known tool that uses suction to help remove insect saliva/venom f...

Erica Liu Williams is the founder of Gr8nola , a "delicious, low sugar superfood granola." A two-time Olympic time-trial swimmer who's married to a former-NFL football player named "Tank" Williams, Erica first created gr8nola as a crunchy snack during their annual food cleanse. Erica shares how she started her business as a "cottage food operator," baking trays and trays of gr8nola in her kitchen...

We often hear that volunteering can lead you to places that will change your life. For Jessica Goudeau , volunteering led to starting a nonprofit that provided supplemental income for Burmese refugee artisans for seven years and then to writing After the Last Border: Two Families and the Story of Refuge in America , which was named a New York Times Editors' Choice book.   Jessica has a PHD n liter...

We've all been through heartache and heartbreak, but Amy Chan has made a career of it. Amy is the founder of Renew Breakup Bootcamp , a   retreat that takes a scientific and spiritual approach to healing the heart. If you or someone you know is reeling from the pain of a breakup, attending one of these workshops can be transformative. During Covid, the bootcamps are going strong with online sessio...

Gianna Stanley made a huge career pivot when she realized her post college dream job for a boutique marketing and consulting agency was not the the path she wanted for the rest of her career. Instead of staying stuck and unhappy, Gianna made a bold move to leave her job, and then another bold move by deciding to go to the Institute of Culinary Education in NYC.  The decision to go to culinary scho...

Have you ever thought about what it's like to work as a financial advisor? Kristin O'Keeffe Merrick, a money expert with 19 years of professional experience in the financial industry, is a financial advisor at her family-run firm, O'Keeffe Financial Partners. Kristin shares her career path story and why more women should consider financial advising as a career option. We discuss the challenges Kri...

Grief Warrior was born out of Leslie Barber's tragic personal experience—the sudden death of her husband, Steve, at 46 years old. This life-changing event, and the grief Leslie has since endured, led her to found Grief Warrior . The company is dedicated to changing how individuals, companies, and our society at large thinks about and handles grief.  Grief Warrior is both a mission and a movement....

Jenny Rustemeyer, a writer and producer with Peg Leg Films,  shares her career path story and how she ended up as a documentary film producer. Jenny has produced This Mountain Life, The Clean Bin Project, and Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story which won multiple festival awards and took home the Leo for Best Feature Length Documentary. If you want to learn and be entertained at the same time without...

When Brooke Shannon realized the smartphone decision was coming for her three daughters, she felt she needed to wait, and she also suspected she was not aloe in dealing with the mounting pressures and questions surrounding kids and smartphones. Brooke created a website dedicated to waiting on smartphones and support from other families was instant. Today, the Wait until 8th organization, is a plac...

When Alexandra Kenin realized her job was not allowing her to fully thrive, she found a way to combine her love of outdoor exploration with writing and crafted herself a dream career. Alexandra is the founder of Urban Hiker SF, Studio Chief and Senior Editor at Wordsmithie, and author of Urban Trails: San Francisco and Urban Trails: East Bay. In our conversation, Alexandra shares how she made her...

If you have ever wondered why motherhood in the US is so difficult, you don't want to miss this conversation with Caitlyn Collins, Assistant Professor of Sociology a Washington University and author of Making Motherhood Work: How Women Manage Careers and Caregiving. In her book, Caitlyn dives into the ways public policy shapes the lives of mothers in the USA, Germany, Italy and Sweden. By examinin...

Jennifer Justice started The Justice Dept.  with a goal of making women as rich as men. The company is a female-focused advisory, consulting and law firm advocating for female founders, talent, execs and brands. Its vision is, "To accelerate the success of women, women-owned businesses and women -ocused brands to achieve equality and diversity in the market, workforce and workplace as it should be...

Tracy McCubbin is a professional declutterer, but what she really does is help people manage their relationship to stuff. When Tracy realized she had a talent for helping people organize their stuff, she turned it into dCluttefly , a thriving business.   In our part 2 of our conversation with Tracy, we discuss the 7 emotional clutter blocks Tracy discovered   while running her business. Tracy walk...

Tracy McCubbin is a professional declutterer, but what she really does is help people manage their relationship to stuff. When Tracy realized she had a talent for helping people organize their stuff, she turned it into dCluttefly , a thriving business.  Tracy decided to start a service that will help others start their own decluttering and organizing businesses. The $22B storage industry, Tracy's...

Our guest today Katie Fogarty is the   founder of LinkedIn Reboot and Reboot for Business , Katie Fogarty's work helps people transform their LinkedIn profiles, personal brands and career opportunities. Katie's background writing for morning TV news, working for a global PR firm and even for a U.S. Senator has given her a perfect combination of skills to help others summarize their personal storie...

Jessica Jackson is the Chief Advocacy Officer for Reform Alliance, an organization working to reduce the number of people in the criminal justice system by focusing on probation and parole. Jessica previously served as a Human Rights Attorney, Mayor of Mill Valley, California and National Director of #Cut50 . Jessica is also getting attention for mentoring and helping Kim Kardashian with her law s...

A random act of kindness to help   furnish an apartment for someone who aged out of foster care altered the course of Georgie Smith's life. Georgie started receiving requests from others who needed the same type of assistance. When Georgie realized there were no organizations providing this help to set up homes for kids coming out of the foster system, Georgie decided to create a Sense of Home wit...