Blueprint Breakers

During this inspiring part two of the conversation with Jeanette Leardi, we hear about how empowering and fruitful this next age of life can be! Despite hearing the message around "dying alone" since we were little girls, as "Blueprint Breakers" our needs may be different but we are not at a disadvantage because we are solo. (Having a family is no guarantee of care!)   As we approach the Third Age of our lives, let's face the anxiety and fear of growing old alone and step into our power instead.  Jeanette shares the practicalities of caring for our future with an optimistic and pragmatic approach that will prepare you to live life to its fullest.

Solo Aging Resources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jkCM7Rrz8NnGaKtd9prWJQAb2RnD6y0BN6fEWtksZr8/edit?usp=sharing

About Jeanette Leardi

Jeanette Leardi is a social gerontologist, community educator, writer, editor, public speaker, and aging wellness leader who has a passion for older adult empowerment and finds special personal fulfillment helping Boomers and older generations identify and share their wisdom with others.

Her decade of experiences as the primary caregiver to both of her parents inspired her encore career goals of changing perceptions about the aging process and helping people appreciate elders’ inherent dignity, wisdom, and unique value as mentors and catalysts for social change.

She accomplishes this through her publications and successful presentations and classes in  journaling, spiritual writing, memoir writing, brain fitness, health literacy, ageism, intergenerational communication, creativity, and caregiver support to people of all ages. 

Jeanette’s publishing experiences include positions at Newsweek, Life, People, Condé Nast Traveler, and Sesame Street magazines and The Charlotte Observer. She has a master’s degree with honors in English from Rutgers University and a graduate certificate in gerontology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

About Amy A. Palmer

As host and facilitator for The Modern Elderwoman podcast, Amy A. Palmer is dedicated to expanding and amplifying the voices of women over 45 who are living a “non-traditional” lifestyle (aka Blueprint Breakers!). After a lifelong struggle with feeling “outside” the societal norm and longing to live up to perceived expectations, Amy has found peace, acceptance and joy as she embarks on the Third Age of her life. Amy is originally from upstate New York, and currently considers herself nomadic with home bases in New York, New Jersey, Washington DC, and California.  She left her successful corporate career early in 2022 and currently is freelancing as an Executive Contractor and sales specialist.  Amy has a vast network of friends and colleagues with whom she enjoys travel and adventures and a close family including six niblings, the loves of her life!

Contact Amy at: [email protected]

Amy's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amyapalmer1/

Please join us in our Modern Elderwoman Facebook Group and be part of the conversation!

Whether you are in the midst of caring for a parent(s) or are not yet in that season of life, this conversation is crucial for you! Knowledge is power and preparation is key! This week's guest, Jeanette Leardi, Social Gerontologist and Educator brings her real life and professional experience to the table as we discuss important considerations. Jam-packed with tactical suggestions, along with suggestions for navigating the mental and emotional wellness of the caregiver, Jeanette generously provides numerous resources to ensure we have all the tools we need. Access list of valuable resources on Aging and Caregiving HERE. 

About Jeanette Leardi 

Jeanette Leardi is a social gerontologist, community educator, writer, editor, public speaker, and aging wellness leader who has a passion for older adult empowerment and finds special personal fulfillment helping Boomers and older generations identify and share their wisdom with others. 

Her decade of experiences as the primary caregiver to both of her parents inspired her encore career goals of changing perceptions about the aging process and helping people appreciate elders’ inherent dignity, wisdom, and unique value as mentors and catalysts for social change. 

She accomplishes this through her publications and successful presentations and classes in  journaling, spiritual writing, memoir writing, brain fitness, health literacy, ageism, intergenerational communication, creativity, and caregiver support to people of all ages. J

eanette’s publishing experiences include positions at Newsweek, Life, People, Condé Nast Traveler, and Sesame Street magazines and The Charlotte Observer. She has a master’s degree with honors in English from Rutgers University and a graduate certificate in gerontology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. 

About Amy A. Palmer 

As host and facilitator for The Modern Elderwoman podcast, Amy A. Palmer is dedicated to expanding and amplifying the voices of women over 45 who are living a “non-traditional” lifestyle (aka Blueprint Breakers!). After a lifelong struggle with feeling “outside” the societal norm and longing to live up to perceived expectations, Amy has found peace, acceptance and joy as she embarks on the Third Age of her life. Amy is originally from upstate New York, and currently considers herself nomadic with home bases in New York, New Jersey, Washington DC, and California.  She left her successful corporate career early in 2022 and currently is freelancing as an Executive Contractor and sales specialist.  Amy has a vast network of friends and colleagues with whom she enjoys travel and adventures and a close family including six niblings, the loves of her life! 

Contact Amy at: [email protected] 

Amy's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amyapalmer1/ 

Please join us in our Modern Elderwoman Facebook Group and be part of the conversation!

Talking about finances can be intensely boring, but talking with Jan Blakely Holman about it is lively and informative! How and where can we become more financially literate?  What does it mean to be "prepared for retirement"? Are there any specific considerations we should have as "Blueprint Breakers" who may or may not have a partner or children? How do we know if we have a good financial advisor? And if we don't, what should we look for in a financial advisor?

Jan covers all of the above and more in today's conversation.  

About Jan Blakely Holman, CFP, CIMA, ChFC, CDFA, CFS, GFS

Jan Blakeley Holman is director of advisor education at Thornburg Investment Management. She is responsible for identifying and creating advisor education programs that support financial advisors as they work with their clients and prospects. Jan has spent more than four decades in the financial services industry. Over the course of her career, she’s served as a financial advisor, an advisor to financial advisors, and a financial services corporate executive. Jan is a frequent presenter at broker/dealer and industry conferences where she discusses Women and Investing, Women in Transition, Longevity Planning, and Managing Legacy Wealth. She is internationally published author, whose columns are translated and syndicated in numerous global publications. A strong believer in the importance of the financial advisor/investor relationship, throughout her career, Jan has demonstrated a passion for helping consumers understand the often off-putting language of financial services. An avid skier, photographer, and novice silversmith, Jan’s career at Thornburg has enabled her to achieve her goal of living life “on purpose” by doing rewarding and meaningful work while enjoying the beautiful mountains of Santa Fe. Jan lives in Minnesota and is a mother of three and a grandmother of five. She holds a BA in political science from the University of Denver.

Check out Jan's podcast #NowMe  Once investors realize that they are responsible for their own financial security, the first gift they should give themselves is a financial advisor. In this podcast, we share ways advisors can speak to clients who have decided it's time to put themselves first and are saying, "#NowMe".

Article in HerMoney.com: FINANCE FOR WOMEN OVER 50: HOW TO REAP THE REWARDS AND AVOID THE PITFALLS

About Amy A. Palmer

As host and facilitator for The Modern Elderwoman podcast, Amy A. Palmer is dedicated to expanding and amplifying the voices of women over 45 who are living a “non-traditional” lifestyle (aka Blueprint Breakers!). After a lifelong struggle with feeling “outside” the societal norm and longing to live up to perceived expectations, Amy has found peace, acceptance and joy as she embarks on the Third Age of her life. Amy is originally from upstate New York, and currently considers herself nomadic with home bases in New York, New Jersey, Washington DC, and California.  She left her successful corporate career early in 2022 and currently is freelancing as an Executive Contractor and sales specialist.  Amy has a vast network of friends and colleagues with whom she enjoys travel and adventures and a close family including six niblings, the loves of her life!

Contact Amy at: [email protected]

Amy's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amyapalmer1/

Please join us in our Modern Elderwoman Facebook Group and be part of the conversation!

Today's conversation is a vulnerable, open, and honest conversation about life after an unsuccessful IVF journey.  Lana Manikowski shares her experience and what she has learned along the way.  This episode explores how some women are uninformed around the full IVF and infertility journey.  Lana shares how she worked through the disappointment and managed the grief- including how it impacted her marriage and relationships with those around her.  Lana has turned her traumatic experience into an opportunity to help others.  Sharing stories and shining a light on the path is what it takes to eliminate the shame we often have around living a childless life.

About Lana Manikowski

After 7 years of fertility treatments and a lifetime dreaming of motherhood, Lana Manikowski was presented with the realization that she would not be a mom. The years that followed were full of loneliness, self judgment and confusion about living a childless life. Lana yearned to connect to a community of infertile women to grow past this together. When she couldn’t find one, she created one by courageously telling her story and creating connections weekly on The “So Now What?” Podcast. 

Lana is a Certified Coach, an Infertility Advocate, founder of The Other's Day and The So Now What Sisterhood and the creator of “The Thrive Method” - a 3 step process that helps women thrive and feel fulfilled even though they don’t have the children they always believed they would . Lana guides women in the rediscovery of their meaning and helps them build a future they truly love. 

Since launching her practice in 2021, Lana has amassed a following of over 18,000 women with teachings on self love, discovery, and thought rewiring. Lana has been featured on national media outlets spreading her message and serving as an example that infertile women can create the life of their dreams, even when it didn’t turn out as planned.

Lana's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lana.manikowski/

About Amy A. Palmer

As host and facilitator for The Modern Elderwoman podcast, Amy A. Palmer is dedicated to expanding and amplifying the voices of women over 45 who are living a “non-traditional” lifestyle (aka Blueprint Breakers!). After a lifelong struggle with feeling “outside” the societal norm and longing to live up to perceived expectations, Amy has found peace, acceptance and joy as she embarks on the Third Age of her life. Amy is originally from upstate New York, and currently considers herself nomadic with home bases in New York, New Jersey, Washington DC, and California.  She left her successful corporate career early in 2022 and currently is freelancing as an Executive Contractor and sales specialist.  Amy has a vast network of friends and colleagues with whom she enjoys travel and adventures and a close family including six niblings, the loves of her life!

Contact Amy at: [email protected]

Amy's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amyapalmer1/

Please join us in our Modern Elderwoman Facebook Group and be part of the conversation!

TW: if you are childless and grieving, this episode may not be for you.  This is an episode that celebrates the choice of not having children and living a full life.

Today Amy talks with friend and colleague, Lynn Hidy. Lynn is unapologetically a Blueprint Breaker!  During this conversation, Lynn shares how her childfree choices have impacted her life, career and relationships.  In spite of receiving the same messages as a child as most women, she was always confident and grounded in her decision to not have children. In fact, she simply never had the desire to be a mother. Her inspiring and open approach has helped her to build a full, loving, joy-filled life.

We rarely have these fully open and transparent conversations about such personal topics. Part of the vision at The Modern Elderwoman is to amplify these conversations so we have deeper understanding and empathy for the infinite number of life paths we are on as women. As we shine a light, the shame disappears, and bridges are built!

About Lynn Hidy

 Lynn Hidy as founder of UpYourTeleSales.com, is the specialist at creating profitable inside salespeople and organizations. She knows you can make six figures over the phone - she does it!  She self-describes her personal life as Joyfulness fueled by black coffee, hoppy beer, & adrenaLYNN

Join us on Tuesday January 17th for a FREE online session:

Breaking the Blueprints for 2023

Register Here: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEpd-2urzwsHtFxHFsRs39YrzBdPEFK23Pv

Vision Setting, Goal Planning, While Staying In Flow!

Are you are goal setter or do you prefer to go with the flow? Either approach can work! I am in the process of discovering how to combine these two areas of my personality into one blended approach and I would love to share it with you!

During this session you will:

*Have some designated time to think and reflect on the lessons from 2022, and how you want to create your 2023

*Participate or observe as much or as little as you want

*Share your thoughts, intentions, goals, ideas with others in a safe and protected space *Listen to others' thoughts, perspectives and approaches

*Walk away with a focus, an approach, a mindset to launch your New Year

*Have a plan (if you choose) for achieving the results you wish to see this year in any area of your life.

About Amy A. Palmer

As host and facilitator for The Modern Elderwoman podcast, Amy A. Palmer is dedicated to expanding and amplifying the voices of women over 45 who are living a “non-traditional” lifestyle (aka Blueprint Breakers!). After a lifelong struggle with feeling “outside” the societal norm and longing to live up to perceived expectations, Amy has found peace, acceptance and joy as she embarks on the Third Age of her life. Amy is originally from upstate New York, and currently considers herself nomadic with home bases in New York, New Jersey, Washington DC, and California.  She left her successful corporate career early in 2022 and currently is freelancing as an Executive Contractor and sales specialist.  Amy has a vast network of friends and colleagues with whom she enjoys travel and adventures and a close family including six niblings, the loves of her life!

Contact Amy at: [email protected]

Please join us in our Modern Elderwoman Facebook Group and be part of the conversation!

As Blueprint Breakers, we are all at different points in our journeys.  Both Naomi and Amy are mostly on the “good side” of their grief journeys, with painful depths as part of their stories.  Naomi, 46, and Amy, 56, bring commonalities and nuanced differences to their experiences with the disenfranchised grief of living a life that has not turned out as expected. Specifically a solo life.

Listen in to this open, vulnerable, pragmatic and optimistic conversation between two women who have never met in real life, but have been brought together by a common vision.

Part 1:

During part one of our conversations (featured on Naomi’s podcast, Singleness: Extended Edition), we discuss our grief journey and how it has played out in various aspects of our lives:

Part 2:

The conclusion of our conversations (featured on Amy’s podcast The Modern Elderwoman), we explore numerous additional topics:

About Amy A. Palmer

As host and facilitator for The Modern Elderwoman podcast, Amy A. Palmer is dedicated to expanding and amplifying the voices of women over 45 who are living a “non-traditional” lifestyle (aka Blueprint Breakers!). After a lifelong struggle with feeling “outside” the societal norm and longing to live up to perceived expectations, Amy has found peace, acceptance and joy as she embarks on the Third Age of her life.

Amy is originally from upstate New York, and currently considers herself nomadic with home bases in New York, New Jersey, Washington DC, and California.  She left her successful corporate career early in 2022 and currently is freelancing as an Executive Contractor and sales specialist.  Amy has a vast network of friends and colleagues with whom she enjoys travel and adventures and a close family including six niblings, the loves of her life!

Contact Amy at: [email protected]

Please join us in our Modern Elderwoman Facebook Group and be part of the conversation!

Have you noticed a change in how the world interacts with you as you've gotten older? If so, does it bother you or do you embrace it?

This week, Amy interviews author, college educator, Ted Talk speaker, and contributing editor, Akiko Busch to discuss the phenomenon of becoming invisible as we age. Akiko's research for her book "How to Disappear: Notes on Invisibility in a Time of Transparency" uncovers examples of how different women handle this evolving change, and how it can actually be leveraged into a superpower.

About Akiko Busch:

Akiko Busch writes about design, culture, and nature for a variety of publications. Her most recent book, Everything Else is Bric-a-Brac, will be published by Princeton Architectural Press in September, 2022. Her collection of essays, How to Disappear: Notes on Invisibility in a Time of Transparency was published by Penguin Press in 2019. The Incidental Steward, her essays about citizen science and stewardship, was published by Yale University Press in 2013 and awarded an Honorable Mention in the Natural History Literature category of 2013 National Outdoor Book Awards. She is also the author of Geography of Home: Writings on Where We Live, The Uncommon Life of Common Objects: Essays on Design and the Everyday, and Nine Ways to Cross a River: Midstream Reflections on Swimming and Getting There from Here.

She was a contributing editor at Metropolis magazine for twenty years, and her essays have appeared in numerous national magazines, newspapers, and exhibition catalogues. She has been a visiting teacher at Bennington College and was on the faculty of the MA Design Research Program at the School of Visual Arts from 2009 until 2020. Her work has been recognized by grants from the Furthermore Foundation, NYFA, and Civitella Ranieri.

She lives in the Hudson Valley and makes it a point to swim across the Hudson River once a year.

Contact Amy with your thoughts, feedback and questions: [email protected]

Join the conversation in our Facebook group: The Modern Elderwoman Podcast

If you are over 45 and have not followed the traditional lifestyle blueprint for happiness, this episode is for you!  If you are feeling discouraged, or unseen, or in any way “less than”, we invite you to hear about the amazing women in today’s spotlight.

Hear some incredible success stories and empowering quotes from women who have built a life without a life partner and/or without having children.

Our challenge to you is to listen to their examples, and see what WE can do to carry the torch.

As blueprint breakers we are redefining LEGACY!

“Tell me about the Blueprint Breakers in your life! I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]” ~Amy

Please join in the conversation in our facebook group: The Modern Elderwoman Podcast

Resources used in today’s episode:

25 Famous Women on Childlessness ~Julie Ma

10 Famous Single Ladies on the Joys of Being Unmarried ~Kristina Marusic

7 women who had very full lives and never married ~ Lisa Bonos

Everything Jennifer Aniston Has Said About Trying to Become a Mom, Candid Comments About Pregnancy Rumors: ‘I Have Zero Regrets’ ~ Yana Grebenyuk

Life After 40? Get Inspired By These 52 Late Bloomers. ~ Ramesh Dontha

Whether you love or hate the holidays (or are somewhere in between), today's episode is for you!  Amy joins friends Carie and Tara for an open conversation about what the holiday season means to them at this time in their lives.  They chat about new realities, changing family dynamics, setting boundaries, and how this season takes on new meaning as we age.  

For those looking to make this season memorable and creating new traditions, Amy shares some ideas and resources that may help you!

Contact Amy with any topic or guest ideas at [email protected]

Please join in the conversation in our facebook group: The Modern Elderwoman Podcast

Resource shared in today’s episode:

Reclaim Your Holidays Workshop:

https://www.naomigeidel.com/see

Revolutionizing Your Single Holidays

https://gateway-women.com/revolutionizing-the-single-holidays-a-free-gw-masterclass-with-jody-day-shani-silver-sasha-cagen-yael-wolfe-nicola-slawson-sat-11th-december-register-now/