Becoming Your Best Version

Yvonne Marchese is the host of the Late Bloomer Living Podcast, a professional photographer, mother and wife.  At the age of 48, she realized that she’d bought into a story about getting old that was adversely affecting her health and relationships.  Changing her story about aging inspired her to start the Late Bloomer Living Podcast where she is on a mission to redefine society's ideas on aging and exploring how to live a life by design.  Yvonne believes that midlife is filled with possibility, that it’s never too late to pursue a dream and that the stories we tell ourselves have tremendous power.  Yvonne presented an online event called Midlife Uprising, May 11-13, 2022, dedicated to helping women in midlife get unstuck, get inspired and take the steps to bust through resignation and old habits so they can take on new challenges, dreams and passion projects.  The speaker lineup included experts like Dara Goldberg, Jack Perez, Lou Blaser and me, Maria Olsen.  The summit is built on three thematic pillars--Clarity, Compassion and Courage-- one for each day of the event.

Day 1 - Clarity around our automatic thoughts and unearthing our desires for the future.

Day 2 - Compassion - Reframing our thoughts with a big dose of self compassion.

Day 3 - Courage and taking action towards our desires and goals.

See https://latebloomerliving.com/ for more information and to listen to this terrific podcast!  

Nancy Gaudet is a strong, fiercely independent woman who cares deeply and loves unconditionally.  Her story involves doing a bike ride for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to raise funds for children with Type One diabetes, as her son had been diagnosed with it at age nine. It was her fourth ride and she was 58 years old. She completed the 100 miles and two hours later had a massive seizure, landing her in the ICU unit at a hospital in Florida. She spent five days there close to kidney failure and was read her last rites. Fortunately, she has no permanent damage, went through months of rehab, and changed her life.

Nancy manages 12,000 apartments and supervises 400 staff for a family-owned real estate company in Boston.  Her greatest joy is her 22-year-old son.  She also is an advocate and fundraiser.  She started and has been running for ten years a monthly support group for other moms, whose children also have juvenile diabetes, helping more than 200 mothers with that effort.

Nancy met her soulmate during the pandemic, while working on another fundraiser.  She and her partner were both working on a fundraising project for dear friends.  A friendship formed, and a goal of raising a substantial amount of money to help mutual friends was achieved.  According to Nancy, that first kiss, after months of talking on the phone for hundreds of hours, was just like living in a Hallmark movie.  There was that one singular, slow motion moment when time stood still and two very bruised and battered hearts let the tiny droplets of love seep in slowly.  She believes that there are no coincidences; there are only “God instances.”  

To learn more about Nancy's support group for women whose children have juvenile diabetes, email her at [email protected].

In her 30+ year career as an author, Laura Davis has written seven non-fiction books that have changed peoples' lives. The Courage to Heal paved the way for hundreds of thousands to heal from the trauma of sexual abuse. Becoming the Parent You Want to Be helps parents develop a vision for the families they want to create. And I Thought We'd Never Speak Again: The Road from Estrangement to Reconciliation teaches the skills of reconciliation and peace building to the world, one relationship at a time.  Laura's ground-breaking books have been translated into 11 languages and sold more than two million copies.  Her new memoir, The Burning Light of Two Stars, tells the story of Laura's dramatic and tumultuous relationship with her mother, from the time of Laura's birth until her mother's death. This story about "two souls who just wouldn't quit each other" provides a no-holds-barred peek at the real Laura--the woman behind the teacher, the facilitator, and author.  Laura's love of words extends into her teaching life. She loves building communities of writers and teaches weekly writing workshops online and in Santa Cruz, California. When there isn't a pandemic, she leads transformative writing retreats in northern California, Bali, Peru, Italy, Vietnam and other international destinations.  Laura lives in Santa Cruz, California with her spouse Karyn and their new yellow lab puppy, Luna. She enjoys swimming, hiking, mahjong, making kombucha, motion theatre, her grandchildren and, of course, writing.  Go to https://lauradavis.net/ to learn more.

Sara Schulting Kranz is an acclaimed author, keynote speaker, trauma and life/leadership authority, wilderness guide, and executive producer of "Walk Through This,” a documentary feature in production of her healing journey in nature. She is also a single mom of three amazing sons. As a multiple trauma survivor who used nature in her healing and transformational journey, Sara coaches clients, leadership executives and organizations on the necessity and benefits of using nature for mental and emotional health. You will find Sara speaking to businesses, corporations and running executive leadership workshops, in addition to leading healing, transformational and leadership retreats in nature. Sara’s signature land-healing retreat is in the Grand Canyon, where she guides clients to go deep within themselves while being guided into the healing benefits of nature. Her signature water-healing retreat involves kayaking out of Whittier, Alaska, alongside glaciers and surrounded by majestic mountains. All retreats, whether signature or tailored, involve transformational coaching, healing, hiking, adventure, connection to nature, energy work, manifestation, mindfulness and meditation. Sara’s book, WALK THROUGH THIS: Harness the Healing Power of Nature and Travel the Road to Forgiveness, was released in 2020. The documentary, "WALK THROUGH THIS: A Story of Starting Over," has filmed in Black Earth, WI, Los Angeles, CA, and in the Grand Canyon, and will be released in the near future.  Some gems from this extraordinary woman:  Hurt people hurt people, and healing people heal people.  When we speak our truth, we are giving others the opportunity to do the same.  Another nugget:  Forgive yourself.  This is your journey, just as your children have their own journeys.  Find out more at https://www.saraschultingkranz.com/ and https://www.walkthroughthis.com/, and follow her on Instagram (@saraschultingkranz) and Facebook (Sara Schulting-Kranz).  Check out her beautiful TEDx Talk on forgiveness:  https://www.saraschultingkranz.com/keynote-speaker/#single/0.

Ellen Albertson, PhD, RDN, NBC-HWC, is a psychologist, registered dietitian, national board certified health and wellness coach, reiki master, and mindful self-compassion teacher.  Known as The Midlife Whisperer™, she helps women raise their vibration so they have the energy, confidence and clarity to make their next chapter their best chapter.  A bestselling author, inspirational speaker and expert on women’s wellbeing, Dr. Ellen has appeared on Extra, the Food Network and NBC World News and has been quoted in Psychology Today, Eating Well and USA Today.  She has written five books and articles for SELF, Better Homes & Gardens and Good Housekeeping.  Her latest book, Rock Your Midlife: 7 Steps to Transform Yourself and Make Your Next Chapter Your Best Chapter!, provides concrete steps we can all use to improve our lives.  She brings more than 25 years of counseling, coaching and healing experience to her holistic practice and transformational work.  She lives on the Champlain Islands of Vermont with her high-tech, raw-food loving partner, Ken, and her tree climbing Border Collie, Rosie.  Dr. Ellen helps us let go of who we think we are supposed to be and embrace who we are.  Go to https://themidlifewhisperer.com/ for more information.

Gina Vild is an author, educator, thought leader and speaker on the themes of happiness, living with purpose and resilience. Her career includes more than four decades in which she held senior leadership positions in healthcare, academia and government. Most recently, she served for 12 years at Harvard Medical School as Associate Dean and Chief Communications Officer.  She is known for being a curator of poetry, meditation enthusiast, lifelong learner and mother. Her vibrant approach to life blends academic learning with real-world experiences.  She is co-author with Sanjiv Chopra, MD, (Deepak Chopra's brother) of the successful book The Two Most Important Days, How to Find Your Purpose and Live a Happier, Healthier Life published by St. Martin’s Press. She is at work on her next book on the topic of resilience. She blogs for Psychology Today and shared with us how to mend a broken heart and other interesting tips for living one's best life.  See https://www.2mostimportantdays.com/ for more information.

The Hon. Marjorie Margolies is the former Congresswoman from the 13th district of Pennsylvania. She's a 25 year veteran of NBC news and the Founder and President of Women's Campaign International (WCI). She's a professor of political science at UPenn and the author of five books, the mother of 11 and the grandmother of 21.  Her son is married to Chelsea Clinton.  Her new book, And How Are The Children? (MacKenzie-Wyatt, January 2022), is a wonderful inside look at the world of an Emmy-award winning broadcaster who adopts hard-to-place refugees from Vietnam and Korea, blends them into a joyful, chaotic household consisting of four stepdaughters and two biological sons and then adds three more Vietnamese boys plus various and assorted family members who stay for 25 years.  Marjorie was the first single woman to adopt from abroad!  Hillary Clinton wrote the foreword to this rich, inspiring book.  Marjorie, who was married to Congressman Ed Mezvinsky while continuing her own challenging work as an NBC correspondent, somehow made juggling eleven kids and a super-sized career seem effortless.  One of Marjorie's adopted Vietnamese children, Vu, now an anesthesiologist, says, "What would have happened to me if my folder had been on a different desk that day."  

Marjorie runs WCI, which trains and empowers women around the globe to transform their communities and to take a seat at the table in political leadership, economic development, civil society and conflict transformation. She has traveled to more than 50 countries.  WCI has had phenomenal success, including doubling the number of women in parliaments around the world.

She is currently on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, having just completed teaching a course with David Eisenhower on the "First Hundred Days of the Biden Administration." In addition, she has lectured at universities throughout the country on topics like "Dealing with the Media" and "Women Leaders in Emerging Democracies," analyzing the ways in which politics and the media interact.

When she was elected to represent the state of Pennsylvania in the House of Representatives, she was the first woman ever elected to Congress from Pennsylvania in her own right. She was defeated because she became the main target of Republicans after she cast the deciding vote to approve President Clinton's budget.

Dara Goldberg is a changemaker, entrepreneur, speaker and the founder of the Lovin’ Midlife Movement. She’s known for her undying passion to make the world recognize women in midlife are invincible–not invisible.  After 15 happy years advising and raising millions of dollars for nonprofit organizations and charitable foundations as a founding partner in a consulting firm, she woke up one morning and realized something was off. This was the pivotal moment–as society told her she was crazy for wanting to leave a perfect job–where she realized there needed to be a change. Now she advocates for and brings together women in midlife to change the way society looks at, listens to and understands them. Appearing weekly on Clubhouse, she has sparked a community of like-minded women who are fiercely proud to call themselves women in midlife. As she sparks conversations about aging with confidence and excitement, she lives in Philadelphia with her husband, two step-daughters, two cats and a super silly dog named Chumley.  See www.lovinmidlife.com for more info.  You can find her on Clubhouse and Instagram at @daradoesmidlife.  It's a growth spurt, not a midlife crisis!

Iris Krasnow, a Stanford University grad, became the fashion writer for the Dallas Times-Herald, before moving to United Press International in Washington, D.C. to become the national feature writer.  In her several years at UPI, Iris specialized in celebrity profiles, including Yoko Ono, Billy Graham, Ted Kennedy, Norman Mailer and Queen Noor of Jordan. Iris is the author of Surrendering to Motherhood, the New York Times bestseller, Surrendering to Marriage, Surrendering to Yourself, and I Am My Mother's Daughter.  The Secret Lives of Wives continues her journey as a journalist who chronicles the adult female growth cycle, followed by the publication of Sex After...Women Share How Intimacy Changes As Life Changes. Her newest book was released in 2020, Camp Girls: Fireside Lessons on Friendship, Courage & Loyalty.

Her writing has been featured in many national publications, such as Parade, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and AARP publications.  Iris has been a guest on numerous national television and radio programs, including Oprah, Good Morning America, Today, All Things Considered, and has been featured on CNN. Interviews with Iris, and reviews of her work, have appeared in Time, O: The Oprah Magazine, Glamour, The New Yorker, U.S. News & World Report and Redbook. She is the Senior Editor of AARP's The Ethel, a lifestyle and health online publication for women over 50.  Iris is a professor emerita teaching writing at American University in Washington, D.C., where she became one of my mentors, while teaching in the Lifelong Education And Professional Development (LEAD) Program there. She is married to an architect, and they are parents of four grown sons. 

Iris helps women get unstuck.  She instills hope in all who are blessed to know her.

See https://iriskrasnow.com/ for more information.

Philippa P.B. Hughes is a Social Sculptor and Creative Strategist who designs relational spaces for honest conversations across political, social, and cultural differences. She has produced hundreds of creative activations since 2007 for people who might not normally meet to engage with one another in unconventional and meaningful ways. These relational experiences build social capital, social cohesion, and social discourse. Her practice encompasses a multi-disciplinary approach informed by sociology, psychology, philosophy, political science, history, community organizing, design thinking, creative placemaking, art, and humanities.

Philippa, who has been published many times and has spoken on multiple platforms, speaks about how to have better conversations and about using creative placemaking and innovative interventions and happenings to strengthen communities and to increase dialogue between people who might not normally interact. She also speaks about the personal transformation that comes from curiosity and discomfort.  See https://www.philippahughes.com/ and https://www.curiosityconnects.us/ for more information.