The Uplifters

Burnout recovery starts with slowing down. Yoga teacher Elena Brower shares how women over 40 can reduce brain fog, protect energy, and build sustainable courage. Episode Description Burnout recovery isn't about doing more—it's about carrying less. In this episode of The Uplifters, legendary yoga teacher, author, and artist Elena Brower shares her journey from New York City's achievement-driven yo...

Midlife career change takes courage. Catherine Clark shares how women over 40 can leave burnout behind, trust impermanence, and create what's next. DESCRIPTION: After 30 years of building a successful branding agency, Catherine Clark made a radical choice in her 50s: she walked away. In this conversation, Catherine shares the truth about midlife career change—how to recognize when partnerships dra...

About This Episode Join host Aransas Savas in a powerful conversation with Hala Alyan, a Palestinian-American poet, writer, clinical psychologist, and mother, as they explore the intersections of identity, motherhood, creativity, and social engagement. Key Topics Discussed: Navigating multiple identities as a Palestinian-American The role of motherhood in understanding personal and collective expe...

Perimenopause symptoms like hot flashes, sleep problems, and brain fog often go undiagnosed. Here's how Joanna Strober built accessible menopause care for women over 40. Perimenopause symptoms went undiagnosed for years while Joanna Strober suffered through sleepless nights, unexplained weight gain, hot flashes, and anxiety. Despite seeing multiple doctors, no one mentioned perimenopause or hormon...

Episode Description: What happens when a scientist with two decades of pharmaceutical research experience realizes she doesn't understand what's happening to her own body? Dr. Isabelle Raymond joins us to discuss her journey from studying sleep medicine and neurotoxins to becoming the Head of Clinical and Medical Affairs at Nutrafol—and why it took until 2020 for any brand to study menopausal wome...

This special episode features three remarkable women from the Uplifters community who reached out to share their stories of transformation after 40. Elaine Perkins (64) packed up her life in Brooklyn at 60 to become a homeowner in Delaware. Adena Artale (47) looked herself in the mirror at 45 and finally pursued her childhood dream of acting. Tracy Keibler (64) became a nonprofit founder at 50 whe...

Karly Swaim holds an unofficial world record in joggling—a sport that combines jogging and juggling. Her transformation from perfectionist paralysis to athletic courage offers practical lessons for anyone ready to stop letting fear of failure control their life. What You'll Learn: How to identify safe spaces for growth and experimentation Practical techniques for building self-awareness and emotio...

Dating coach and podcast host Lakshmi Rengarajan joins Aransas Savas to challenge everything you think you know about finding love after 40. Discover why traditional dating advice fails midlife daters, how to build authentic connections through storytelling, and why your forties and fifties might actually be the perfect time for romance. What You'll Learn: -How to reframe dating without biological...

Episode Summary Join host Aransas Savas as she kicks off the highly requested Late Bloomers series with memoirist and publisher Sari Botton. In this deeply resonant conversation, Sari shares her journey of publishing her memoir "And You May Find Yourself: Confessions of a Late Blooming Gen X Weirdo" after 15 years of wrestling with fear and self-doubt. Why Gen X Is the Late Bloomer Generation  Sar...

Episode Description: MacArthur Fellow Cristina Jimenez shares her powerful journey from living as an undocumented teenager in fear and shame to co-founding United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led organization in the United States. In this deeply moving conversation, she reveals how finding her voice didn't happen in isolation—it happened in community, through action, and by refusing to le...

Episode Description: Meet Melissa Aviles-Ramos, Chancellor of New York City Public Schools – the youngest and first Latina to lead the nation's largest school system. From growing up as the first in her family to graduate high school to now overseeing the education of nearly a million students, Melissa shares how childhood experiences with educational inequity shaped her commitment to ensuring eve...

Episode Description: Deshi Singh went from Wall Street finance executive to co-founding Chamber of Mothers , a national nonprofit that's united 45 chapters across 30+ states to advocate for paid leave, accessible childcare, and maternal health. In this conversation, we explore how to move from overwhelm to engagement, why hope matters more than happiness, and how one social media experiment became...

Episode Description: Holly Diamond arrived in New York with $400 and a dream, faced the heartbreak of job searching during the 2009 recession, and eventually opened a restaurant during the pandemic to employ her parents. Now she's the CEO of Work Onward, a map-based hiring platform connecting small businesses with local workers, especially in immigrant-owned businesses and blue-collar industries....

Episode Description Join host Aransas Savas as she reconnects with Alex Stried, former Chief Product Officer at Cerebral who left her executive role to co-found Poppins, a revolutionary 24/7 pediatric care and parent coaching platform. In this candid conversation, Alex shares how the Surgeon General's declaration of parent stress as a public health crisis became her wake-up call to build the compa...

This Week’s Featured Uplifter: Dina Berrin Dina Berrin is a professional intuitive and coach, but her journey from corporate sales executive to master tarot reader wasn't a straight line. For years, she kept her mystical studies hidden, reading cards at parties but never discussing it at work, helping colleagues in bathroom conversations but always waving them away when her boss was around. What w...

How to Stop Taking Everyone's Stress Personally | 5,000-Year-Old Secret to Better Relationships | Carey DavidsonEver wonder why some people drain your energy while others light you up? Or why the same communication patterns keep causing problems in your relationships, no matter how hard you try to fix them? In this episode, relationship expert Carey Davidson reveals the ancient Chinese wisdom that...

Hi! New here? Welcome to the Uplifters! I'm Aransas Savas. I've spent the last 20 years at the intersection of behavior change research and coaching. On The Uplifters Podcast, we share diverse stories of women who have found something beautiful on the other side of the hard stuff. Despite self-doubt and fear (and honestly, who doesn't have those?), they've done big, brave things anyway, and show u...

Episode Description In this inspiring episode of The Uplifters Podcast, host Aransas Savas sits down with Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely, a California-French educator who made a bold career pivot from 20 years in teaching to founding Big Belly Breathing, her mindfulness and meditation platform. Vanessa shares her transformative journey from San Francisco classroom teacher to entrepreneur, including a...

Episode 117 Episode Description Host Aransas Savas sits down with multihyphenate artist Karisma Jay to explore how to build an abundance mindset even when resources feel scarce. Karisma, a Broadway performer, filmmaker, educator, and founder of Abundance Academy, shares her powerful reframe from asking "What don't I have?" to "What's in my luggage right now?"This conversation is packed with practi...

Meet Emily Levin, who made a stunning career pivot from trauma therapist to tech co-founder, creating AI solutions for the affordable housing crisis. In this powerful conversation, Emily shares how she went from helping individuals heal to transforming entire systems, co-founding Access—an AI platform that's already raising capital and getting families into homes faster. 🏠 What You'll Learn: How...

Guest: Mahogany L. Browne - Award-winning writer, playwright, organizer, educator, Lincoln Center's inaugural poet in residence, and founder of the Woke Baby Book Fair Episode Summary: In this powerful conversation, Mahogany L. Browne shares her journey from a young mother who almost dropped out of college to becoming Lincoln Center's inaugural poet in residence. We explore how she learned to bet...

Episode Description In 2006, Terry Grahl received a simple phone call asking if she'd volunteer to paint one wall at a women's shelter. What she discovered in that dormitory—30 women sleeping on prison-donated bunk beds held together with duct tape—changed the trajectory of her life forever. Today, Terry is the founder and CEO of Enchanted Makeovers, a national nonprofit that has transformed shelt...

Guest: Jennifer Allebach Former Chief Girl Experience Executive at Girl Scouts USA and MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association) Episode Summary Jennifer Allebach's life changed forever when her husband Brian was diagnosed with ALS in 2019. After 32 years of marriage and five children together, she became his primary caregiver while continuing to work full-time—first at Girl Scouts USA, then in a remar...

Episode Description In this powerful conversation, Aransas speaks with Deesha Philyaw, whose debut short story collection "The Secret Lives of Church Ladies" swept every major literary award, winning the PEN/Faulkner Award, The Story Prize, the LA Times Book Prize, and earning a National Book Award nomination. Deesha shares her journey from rule-following church girl to award-winning author, revea...

summary Former marketing executive Sarah Gomley shares how she transformed her life after discovering that all her achievements – the prestigious job titles, beautiful apartments, and impressive salaries – weren't bringing her joy. When she was laid off from Adobe just as her mother was dying, Sarah returned to Ohio and took a year off to reassess everything. Through therapy (which had started yea...