The Midlife Edit

When was the last time you made a decision nobody else influenced? Not your husband, your kids, your job, or your therapist...just you. This week, Jen shares the story behind a line that came out of nowhere on July 4th and cracked open something bigger: the difference between a permission question and a desire question, and why so many of us stopped noticing we'd handed our pen to someone else. Th...

This week starts with a mirror. Jen catches her own reflection mid-morning-routine and doesn't recognize the woman looking back - not because she looks older, but because she looks unedited . That moment cracks open two things Jen's been sitting with: why women apologize for wanting more in midlife, and what it means when you stop recognizing yourself. She names the "guilt tax" that comes with eve...

What if what everyone calls a midlife crisis is actually a return to yourself? In this episode of The Midlife Edit , Jen sits down with entrepreneur, Harvard graduate, endurance athlete, and joy-seeker Nicole Canole for a deeply honest conversation about achievement, worthiness, grief, reinvention, and learning to receive. Nicole shares how losing her father to suicide shaped her relationship with...

Don’t Be Afraid: Music, Reinvention & Finding Your Way Back to Yourself with Debora Masterson What happens when you stop letting fear make your decisions? This week on The Midlife Edit, Jen sits down with debut novelist, musician, educator, producer, and lifelong creative Debora Masterson for a conversation about music, reinvention, grief, creativity, and learning how to say yes to yourself at...

What if the reason women are reconnecting with boy bands, 90s music, and nostalgia has nothing to do with the music itself? In this episode of The Midlife Edit, Jen sits down with author Jenifer Goldin to talk about motherhood, identity, burnout, friendship, social media pressure, and the versions of ourselves we thought we lost forever. Inspired by her novel Moms Love Boy Bands , Jenifer shares h...

EPISODE DESCRIPTION Think of a song. Not your current favorite. Not the one you'd put on a playlist to impress someone. The one from when you were 13, 14, 15 years old. The one you played so many times the tape warped. The one that felt less like entertainment and more like survival. This episode is about that song. And about why you needed it. In this solo episode of Hot, Hormonal & Highly Op...

What if the key to changing your life wasn't burning it down — but making a small edit to the story you've been telling yourself about who you are? This week I'm sitting down with Ellen Baker, novelist and founder of Next Chapter Studio, and this conversation is one I know you're going to want to come back to. Ellen's own life is a masterclass in reinvention: she landed a two-book deal with Random...

Episode Description You're not crazy. You're not lazy. And you're definitely not the only woman who has sat in a parking lot after a doctor's appointment wondering why you somehow left feeling worse . Women are being dismissed in exam rooms, overwhelmed by conflicting information online, and told to "just manage stress" while their bodies are clearly changing. So today we're getting into the how —...

This week’s episode is part story, part reminder, and part permission slip. Jen takes you inside a once-in-a-lifetime weekend in Brooklyn that started with one thing: an email she almost didn’t send. What followed was a surreal and deeply emotional experience recording with Tracy Bonham at Grand Street Recording for the 30th anniversary re-recording of Mother Mother — alongside a room full of wome...

This week on The Midlife Edit , Jen is getting brutally honest about motherhood, stepmotherhood, reinvention, guilt, and why Mother’s Day can feel more like a performance than a celebration. From burnt breakfast-in-bed stories to awkward brunch reservations and the emotional complexity of being a stepmom in midlife, this episode dives into the messy middle so many women are living through but rare...

What happened to the women who defined the soundtrack of our lives? In this episode, Jen dives into the rise, disappearance, and long-overdue resurgence of the women in music who shaped the ‘90s and early 2000s. From Meredith Brooks to Tori Amos to Missy Elliott, this is a conversation about truth-telling, industry bias, cultural memory, and why so many iconic women were labeled, dismissed, or era...

This one’s a little different—in the best way. In the first-ever Hot, Hormonal & Highly Opinionated episode, I’m skipping the neat little box and giving you the real, unfiltered version of what’s been on my mind lately. Think of it like we’re sitting across from each other with coffee… and I’m telling you everything. We’re talking about what self-care actually looks like in midlife (hint: it’s...

What happens when a classically trained actress, mom, and midlife woman hits perimenopause… and decides to tell the truth about it? In this episode, Jen sits down with Beth Crosby—aka The Garbage Mom —to talk about the messy, hilarious, and very real side of midlife. From viral TikToks to perimenopausal rage, body image healing, and the freedom of not giving a f*ck anymore… nothing is off limits....

Have you ever looked around at your full, busy life and realized you can't remember the last time you had a real conversation with a real friend? Not a text. Not a reaction on Instagram. An actual conversation where someone asked how you were really doing — and waited for the answer. In this episode, Jen names something that so many women in midlife are feeling but rarely say out loud: the quiet,...

We celebrate strong women. The bold ones. The loud ones. The ones who take up space and break the rules. But if you’re a Gen X or millennial woman… you probably weren’t raised to be her. You were raised to admire her. To be likable. To be easy. To go with the flow. To say, “I’m good with anything.” In this episode, I’m talking about what that actually did to us— how we learned to fit in instead of...

Lately, I’ve had a thought I almost didn’t want to say out loud… What if I’m just tired of working on myself? In this solo episode, I’m talking about the constant pressure to fix, optimize, and improve every part of our lives—and how exhausting that can become, especially in midlife. From conflicting health advice to mindset overload, it feels like there’s always something we should be doing bette...

What happens when two punk-loving rebels from high school reconnect decades later? In this episode of The Midlife Edit , I sit down with musical theatre writer Nicolette Blount and author Sirena Grey to talk about Riot Grrrl, feminism, motherhood, and what it looks like to reclaim your creative voice in midlife. Nicolette is a Chickasaw musical theatre writer, composer, lyricist, and producer whos...

March is Women’s History Month, and while it’s a time to celebrate the progress women have made, it’s also a time to step back and realize something surprising: Many of the rights women have today didn’t happen centuries ago. They happened in our parents’ lifetime. In this episode of The Midlife Edit , Jen talks about why so many women reach midlife and suddenly feel angry, frustrated, or ready to...

Thirty years ago, Mother Mother became an anthem - raw, emotional, unapologetic. In this episode of The Midlife Edit, I sit down with Tracy Bonham to talk about what it really meant to be labeled “the angry woman” in the 90s - and what it looks like to reclaim that voice in midlife. This conversation goes far beyond nostalgia. We talk about: Taking up space as a woman in the music industry Being m...

One year ago I hit record on a podcast I thought would be about fitness, weight loss, and midlife health. It turned into something completely different. In this one-year anniversary episode, I’m reflecting on why I started The Midlife Edit, what midlife actually feels like, and how this space helped me find clarity, confidence, and my voice in my 40s. We talk about the narratives women are given o...

Midlife changes everything - our bodies, our relationships, our identity, and sometimes even our sense of connection to ourselves. In this episode, I sit down with pleasure coach and author Elana Auerbach to talk about intimacy, shame, ritual, and what it really means to reconnect with your body and your desires in this season of life. Elana shares how spending more than a decade struggling with i...

Have you ever made plans when you were feeling confident, motivated, and emotionally stable… only for the day of those plans to arrive and you immediately think, “Wow… that was bold of me.” In this solo episode of The Midlife Edit , Jen dives into the very relatable experience of living out expectations, roles, and commitments that earlier versions of ourselves agreed to - and why midlife often be...

After years of giving, caretaking, and pushing through, many women reach midlife and quietly ask: What do I want? In this episode of The Midlife Edit , Jen sits down with Karen Novy and Tara Alexandra, co-founders of Your Odyssey , for an honest, grounding conversation about reclaiming yourself - not through dramatic reinvention, but through small, intentional shifts in everyday life. Together, th...

What happens when something you once loved starts to feel heavy? In this episode of The Midlife Edit , we’re talking about movement - not the loud, dramatic, “burn it all down” kind, but the kind that’s intentional, sustainable, and honest. This conversation is rooted in fitness, perimenopause, and the very real fear of slipping backward after working hard to change your health. If you’ve ever los...

What happens after you finally get clarity about what you want? In this episode of The Midlife Edit , Jen talks about the often-unspoken pause that comes after clarity - the fear, second-guessing, and “okay… now what?” spiral that so many women experience in midlife. Drawing from personal realizations, a leadership summit in Nashville, and real-life conversations, this episode explores: why living...