Welcome To Midlife: The Search For Meaning In The Middle

What does it look like to stop fighting your body and start honoring the life it has carried you through? In this powerful episode of Welcome to Midlife, host Lisa Steadman sits down with artist, speaker, and body-acceptance advocate Cheryl Girard to explore beauty, aging, eating disorders, healing, and the freedom that comes from owning our bodies as Gen X women. Cheryl shares the deeply personal...

In this Welcome To Midlife episode, host Lisa Steadman sits down with Arielle Zadok, a board-certified sexologist, intimacy coordinator, consent director, holistic health coach, producer, pole dancer, and host of Birds and Bees Don’t Fck . Together, Lisa and Arielle have an honest, stigma-free conversation about sex, intimacy, desire, consent, body confidence, and reconnecting with pleasure in mid...

Midlife women are often told they’re burned out, stressed, or just tired. But what if the real issue is hormonal? In this episode of Welcome to Midlife , Lisa Steadman talks with women’s health expert Mariah Prince-Allen about Hormone Intelligent Leadership , a powerful new framework for understanding how perimenopause, menopause, and midlife hormonal shifts impact women at work, at home, and in t...

What happens when midlife becomes the ultimate wake-up call? In this episode of Welcome To Midlife: The Search For Meaning In The Middle , host Lisa Steadman sits down with Rick Clemons, The Coming Out Coach, for a candid, compassionate, and deeply human conversation about identity, sexuality, relationships, career reinvention, and what it really means to come home to yourself in the middle of lif...

In this episode of Welcome To Midlife: The Search For Meaning In The Middle , host Lisa Steadman sits down with Erika Bryant, showrunner, author, and storyteller, for a rich, funny, and deeply honest conversation about creativity, courage, identity, representation, and the magic of midlife. Erika opens up about what it means to overcome fear, trust your voice, and give yourself permission to live...

What happens when you stop waiting for permission—and just make the thing? In this episode of Welcome To Midlife: The Search For Meaning In The Middle , indie filmmaker and author Courtney Daniels and I go deep into a conversation that feels like equal parts creative spark and midlife exhale. We explore the moment you realize you’re in midlife (not approaching it—fully in it), what it means to rec...

From Hair Stylist to AI Architect: Minista Jazz on Sovereignty, Creativity & Building Technology That Protects Artists What happens when a celebrity hair stylist learns to code in midlife and builds voice-first AI technology that protects creators? In this inspiring conversation, host Lisa Steadman sits down with Minista Jazz—visionary architect, former touring hair stylist to Madonna and Mile...

What does it really mean to age well—especially in a beauty industry obsessed with youth? In this episode of Welcome To Midlife: The Search For Meaning In The Middle , host Lisa Steadman sits down with esthetician, educator, and skincare mentor Shelley Hancock, who brings 38+ years of experience in the beauty and skincare industry. From launching her first skincare center in 1988 to mentoring thou...

Reclaim Your Midlife Power: Author Angela Burk on Rage, Reinvention & The Real Girls Guide to Midlife Tired of feeling invisible in midlife? Ready to stop apologizing for aging and start reclaiming your power? In this raw, honest conversation, host Lisa Steadman sits down with author and marketing expert Angela Burk to talk about what nobody tells you about being a Gen X woman in midlife—and h...

Midlife Meaning & Caregiving: Actor Katie Prentiss on Second Act Careers & Turning Pain Into Art | Ep. [11] What happens when you enter midlife while caring for aging parents? Actor and filmmaker Katie Prentiss joins host Lisa Steadman to discuss navigating midlife transitions, family caregiving, second act careers, and finding meaning in the middle of life. In this deeply personal convers...

Do women get funnier as they age? Veteran stand-up comedian Carole Montgomery thinks so — and she’s proving it on stage. In this episode of Welcome to Midlife: The Search for Meaning in the Middle , host Lisa Steadman sits down with Carole Montgomery, creator and producer of Funny Women of a Certain Age , the hit stand-up comedy series and touring show spotlighting hilarious women over 40. Togethe...

What does it really mean to be aligned at work, especially in midlife, when the rules are shifting, the noise is louder, and the stakes feel higher? In this episode of Welcome to Midlife: The Search for Meaning in the Middle , host Lisa Steadman sits down with Laurie Battalia, Leadership Rebel, System Disruptor, Change Catalyst, and CEO of Aligned at Work for a deep, honest conversation about purp...

Things get deliciously unfiltered on this episode of Welcome to Midlife: The Search for Meaning in the Middle as host Lisa Steadman welcomes Ellen Ancui and Sophie Levine, the brilliant, bold co-hosts of the FILTHY MILFS podcast , a smart, sexy, laugh-out-loud exploration of desire, libido, marriage, motherhood, and everything we were definitely not warned about in our 20s. From the first “oh shit...

What if your style wasn’t about trends—or age—but about truth ? In this episode of Welcome To Midlife , Lisa Steadman sits down with brand image stylist Sybil Henry for a revelatory conversation about identity, intuition, and the emotional power of getting dressed—especially in midlife. Together, they unpack why style is never “just clothes,” how hormones quietly reshape our midlife self-image, an...

Do you feel called to share your stories with the world… but haven’t fully expressed them yet? Midlife has a way of unlocking profound truths—and stories that find us , asking to be shaped into art. Whether it’s a short story, novel, memoir, or screenplay, this season offers a rare invitation to reflect, reveal, and create from lived experience. In this deep-dive conversation, story consultant Jen...

Midlife has no rulebook… but it does have a reckoning. In this soul-stirring (and occasionally spicy) conversation, I sit down with actor, storyteller, and embodiment guide Diahnna Nicole Baxter to talk about what really happens when women hit midlife and stop pretending everything’s “fine.” We explore how acting and storytelling can become powerful tools for healing, why your body remembers every...

Authenticity. Energetic resets. Letting go of who you used to be. In this refreshingly real convo, host Lisa Steadman sit down with Energetic Reset Specialist Stephanie Kathan to unpack the midlife magic that happens when you stop performing and start being . They talk grief (the kind that knocks the wind out of you), rediscovering your true self, why community hits different in this season, and h...

Dating in midlife is a whole vibe—and not always the fun kind. In this episode. Welcome To Midlife host Lisa Steadman is joined by Evan Marc Katz, the OG dating coach, online-dating pioneer, and straight-talking voice women have trusted for two decades. Evan and Lisa explore why accomplished, self-possessed women are often mislabeled as “intimidating,” how that impacts dating dynamics, and what it...

No one warns you that midlife grief can crack you open in ways you never saw coming. In this powerful Welcome To Midlife episode, Self Love Mastery Coach Jonathon Aslay shares the deeply personal story of losing his son—and how he navigated the heartbreak with grace, grit, and unexpected gratitude. He and host Lisa Steadman explore how grief reshapes identity, why men need safe emotional spaces to...

What if midlife joy isn’t about doing more—but allowing more? International bestselling author Arielle Ford joins host Lisa Steadman to talk about surrender (the sexy kind), receiving life’s goodness without overworking for it, and softening into a season where joy doesn’t have to be earned. They explore love, magic, mindset, and the real meaning of “letting life surprise you.” If you’ve been hust...

We've all been there. Feeling like we've lost that loving feeling for our job - or having been unceremoniously dumped by our career. Whether you've been laid off, downsized, or find yourself feeling less than on purpose in your career, help is here. Enter Laverne McKinnon , entrepreneur, TV & film producer, career and leadership coach. Laverne's on a mission to help you "swing for the fences a...

Former pharmacist-turned-screenwriter Toyi Elizabeth is chasing big dreams at 50 with no signs of stopping. Find out how she's navigating midlife as an empty nester, soon-to-be grandma, and passionate bicoastal storyteller. Her vision and purpose are infectious... and I hope you leave the conversation feeling more on fire and deeply inspired. 

If you didn't already know... single moms are burning out BIG TIME. And corporations haven't yet figured out how to support them. In episode 10, my longtime friend, single working mom, and Founder of Rite Of Passage Coaching Gretchen de Castellane gets read about wearing both Mom and Dad hats, how the workplace champions "heroic" working dads while labeling working moms as "unavailable". Oof. We h...

In Episode 9, actress, playwright and TV writer Lisa Ramirez shares how turning 50 in her family sparks transformation and rebirth that goes back generations. Plus, she’s a spitfire of rebellion meets thoughtfulness that left me wanting more!

Society has PLENTY of opinions about women as we age. How we should look, when we should shut up, not to mention the "hysteria" we create during menopause. AND... as women, we know better. It's time to raise our voices and get LOUD in how WE change the narrative about women and aging. My guest Vicki Larson's on a mission to do just that.  About Vicki Larson Award-winning journalist, author and col...