The Boomer Woman’s Podcast

Family relationships can be wonderfully rewarding, endlessly complicated, and sometimes downright exhausting. Family therapist Angela Caldwell joins Agnes to explore the roles we take on within our families, why those roles can follow us well into our 60s and 70s, and what happens when we're ready to change them. In this conversation: Why families keep repeating familiar patterns, even when those...

What happens when a dream you've carried for years finally becomes something you can do — and how do you know whether it's still the right dream? Sommelier, author, and restaurant owner Hillary Zio joins Agnes to talk about opening Isola Wine & Tapas at 38, taking calculated risks, and discovering how much our ideas about success can change as we get older. In this conversation: How a chance e...

We spend years saving for retirement. But when the time comes to use those savings, why can it feel so uncomfortable? Rob Townend spent more than two decades in corporate finance before COVID gave him an unexpected opportunity to reconsider his priorities. Leaving corporate life meant finding new ways to support his family financially, including navigating a little-known provision of the U.S. tax...

What happens when you've planned financially for retirement—but haven't planned for the life you'll actually live? Anne van Leynseele believes retirement deserves more than simply spreading our old weekend activities across seven days. She created Preferment®, a framework for thinking deliberately about identity, purpose, curiosity and connection in the years beyond full-time work.  In this lively...

What if some of the traits you've spent years trying to change aren't simply problems to solve? Returning guest Judy Wilkins-Smith joins Agnes for a different look at the patterns that travel through families — creativity, perfectionism, restlessness, independence, resilience and those inexplicable urges that seem to appear across generations. This time, the question isn't only Where did this come...

What else travels through a family besides names, eye colour and the shape of our jowls? In this solo episode, Agnes goes rummaging through her own family tree looking for something genealogy charts don't record: creativity, perfectionism, wordplay, curiosity, independence and that intriguing family tendency to say, Why not? Along the way: Makers across generations — from furniture and knitting to...

Registered psychotherapist and author Elke Scholz joins Agnes for a conversation about something many women experience but don't always know how to name: feeling exhausted, overwhelmed or simply not quite like themselves. Why can we finally reach a stage of life with fewer responsibilities—and still wonder where our energy went? Elke explores the relationship between burnout, stress and anxiety, a...

Retirement left Paula Panariello with a question she hadn't spent much time asking before: What would I actually like to do? An avid historical-romance reader, Paula decided to try writing one herself. Her first manuscript needed plenty of help, but the story was good — and seven novels later, Paula now comfortably calls herself an author. In our conversation, we talk about: finding something mean...

Can we really change patterns we've carried for decades? Craig Meriwether is a clinical hypnotherapist, medical hypnosis specialist and subconscious transformation expert. In this conversation, Craig takes us beneath the conscious thoughts we know so well and into the patterns and beliefs that may have been quietly influencing us for years. We talk about how the subconscious mind tries to keep us...

hirley B. Novack has reinvented herself more than once—or twice. She grew up in a family where girls weren’t expected to go to college, worked to put herself through school anyway, entered laboratory science, became a teacher, raised three children, built a decades-long career in interior design, opened a summer candy shop and eventually returned to the dream she'd carried since childhood: writing...

What happens when you've built the successful career, proved you could do it — and realize you don't want to spend the rest of your life doing more of the same? Lorie Eber spent 23 years as a corporate litigator, became a partner and successfully opened a branch office others predicted would fail. Then, at 49, she walked away. What followed wasn't an instant reinvention. It was a decade of trying...

What happens when the roles, titles and definitions of success that once shaped us no longer fit? Chip Scholz joins Agnes for a warm, wide-ranging conversation about identity, marriage, family, resilience, usefulness and the quiet wisdom that comes from living long enough to reconsider what really matters. After a later-life layoff, a stroke, 42 years of marriage, raising three daughters and nearl...

What happens when life gently—and sometimes painfully—asks you to rethink everything you believed about yourself? Former history teacher and memoirist Lee Knapp joins Agnes to explore faith, family, marriage, race, identity, and the surprising freedom that can come with growing older. Together they discuss why becoming ourselves is often less about reinvention than revelation. What You'll Hear: Wh...

Sometimes the deepest wounds are the ones no one else can see. In this heartfelt conversation, grief and resilience coach Lee Atherton shares how years of unresolved trauma, family loss, and PTSD led her to one of the darkest periods of her life—and how a remarkable service dog named Shadow became part of her journey back to hope. Together, we also explore the everyday losses many women carry quie...

What if many of the freedoms women celebrate today didn't begin in the 1960s at all? In this fascinating conversation, author Scott Reisfield explores how Greta Garbo quietly challenged expectations nearly a century ago—not through speeches or slogans, but through the women she portrayed, the life she chose, and the influence she had on generations that followed. Together, we explore history, Holl...

This conversation begins with cats but quickly becomes something much bigger. Deborah Felin Magaldi never intended to build a rescue organization. One stray cat led to another, and today she leads CatPAWS, helping thousands of vulnerable animals while inspiring ordinary people to discover that small acts of compassion can transform entire communities. In this episode • How one neighbour's cats bec...

For many women, saying yes became second nature long before we ever stopped to ask what we actually wanted. We were raised to be dependable, accommodating, and generous—often at the expense of ourselves. Psychologist Wendy Oconnor joins me to explore why learning to say no isn't about becoming selfish. It's about making room for the people, passions, and purpose that truly belong in this next chap...

Talking about death isn't easy—but avoiding the conversation doesn't make it any easier. ICU nurse, yoga teacher and author Theresa Evans joins Agnes to share the deeply personal story of supporting her mother through Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD). Together they explore anticipatory grief, caregiving, family relationships, dignity, and why showing up with love may matter more than having all...

How many women have spent decades doing what needed to be done while quietly setting their own dreams aside? At 85, nurse, hospice specialist, writer, grandmother, and author Nancy Jasin Ensley believes we all have two jobs in life: the one that earns a living and the one that feeds the soul. In this heartfelt conversation, she shares stories of resilience, recovery, creativity, caregiving, and fi...

Downsizing is rarely about the stuff. For many women, it's about deciding what still fits, what no longer serves them, and how to create space for the life they want next. Professional organizer and author Donna Barwald joins Agnes to talk about decluttering, moving, family treasures, storage units, memories, and why your home should reflect who you are today—not who you used to be. In This Episod...

Many Boomer women remember the reality of single parenthood. Today, many are watching their adult children face the same challenges in a world that feels faster, more expensive, and far more demanding. In this conversation, Pat Hankin shares practical, research-backed strategies for reducing overwhelm, managing the mental load, building resilience, and creating support systems that help both paren...

What happens when we stop asking who we're supposed to be and start asking who we really are? In this thoughtful conversation, Agnes talks with life coach Zipporah Jarmon about transitions, identity, self-trust, communication, curiosity, and the courage to live a life aligned with who you are—whether you're 35 or 85. In This Episode: Why transition never really stops How coaching helps people unco...

What happens when the life you built no longer feels like your life? In this deeply honest conversation, Agnes talks with Kim Peek about divorce after 30 years of marriage, empty nest loneliness, toxic relationships, breast cancer survival, and the surprising power of small “yes” decisions that slowly rebuild a life. This episode of The Boomer Woman’s Podcast explores health, reinvention, and pers...

What do worms, sprouts, and laughter have in common? More than you might think. In this lively and surprisingly thoughtful conversation, Agnes talks with Cathy Nesbitt — founder of Cathy's Crawly Composters — about composting, food, resilience, stress, and why joy may be one of the most overlooked health practices of all. What begins as a conversation about worms becomes a much deeper discussion a...

Author Teri M. Brown returns to The Boomer Woman’s Podcast for a conversation filled with laughter, honesty, grief, reinvention, and the wonderfully messy reality of midlife. From menopause rage and dark humour to widowhood, writing through grief, and learning how to keep becoming after life changes everything, Teri shares the deeply human stories behind her newest novel, Peg, Unhinged. In This Ep...