Living Left

We talk with Candace Sampson about building Girl Trips for midlife women, why we are starving for real community, and how saying yes can change everything.

• How women bond quickly when they drop the mask and have each other’s backs
• Why Girl Trips is “a connection company disguised as a travel company”
• The case for going analog in a world of bots, AI and constant screen time
• Examples of curated events and trips that make it easier to meet new friends
• Why midlife friendships can fade and how to rebuild them on purpose
• The internal battle of entrepreneurship, pricing and fear of judgment
• Behavior change, momentum and the simple power of saying yes once
• Candace’s divorce story, rebuilding stability and choosing remarriage on her terms

So it is girltrips.ca

Follow Living Left for bold conversations by women for women on business, creativity, and comeback energy. 

Find us on Instagram @living_left_​​

Because what’s left isn’t less. It’s everything.

We talk with author Karma Brown about the left turns that shape a life, from a cancer diagnosis at 30 to publishing her debut at 41 to the disorienting quiet of becoming an empty nester. We dig into why some transitions feel harder than the hard parts, especially when the world expects women to follow a script.

• The decade-by-decade pivots that redefine identity
• Cancer at 30 as a true before-and-after moment
• Infertility, embryos, surrogacy, and building a family in uncertainty
• Early parenting internet community before today’s social media pressure
• Learning to write novels through bad drafts and 100+ rejections
• What “women’s fiction” means and why the label frustrates so many readers and writers
• Empty nest emotions, community loss, and the temptation to fill the space too fast
• Stillness as a practice for strivers and planners
• Reading for pleasure versus reading like a working writer
• How book ideas start with a character and research accumulates over years
• The next pivot, late diagnosed ADHD, and the urge to continue becoming (beekeeper or pastry chef??)
• The performance of womanhood and whether we “buy into” the expected narrative

Follow Living Left for bold conversations by women for women on business, creativity, and comeback energy. 

Find us on Instagram @living_left_​​

Because what’s left isn’t less. It’s everything.

September hits and we admit the quiet can feel sharper than we expect, even when we are proud of our kids and grateful for their independence. We compare how we launch children into university, why the second time can feel harder, and how to let the transition change us without getting stuck.

• Revisiting empty nest season as a real life transition
• Why second-year university and off-campus houses create new stress
• How “false confidence” shows up when each child is different
• Group chats, community, and the difference between needing and appreciating support
• Over-engaging versus avoiding as two valid stress responses
• Helping with logistics to support mental health and reduce pressure
• Meeting kids where they are and redefining what “home” means
• Loosening control, building new hobbies, and being the lighthouse
• The bedroom door question and other small rituals that reveal big feelings

Reach out to your friends because a lot are not okay, and that's okay to not be okay.

Follow Living Left for bold conversations by women for women on business, creativity, and comeback energy. 

Find us on Instagram @living_left_​​

Because what’s left isn’t less. It’s everything.

We sit down with Louise Gleeson, Registered Psychotherapist, with a niche in neurodiveristy, to talk about the lifelong pattern behind big left turns and how listening to our values can change everything. Louise connects midlife burnout, parenting overload, and “high functioning” success to the hidden reality of high-masking neurodivergence in women. 

• Louise’s path from science to near-med school to science writing 
• Building a flexible career through freelancing and motherhood 
• The insights that called her to change her career
• Going back to graduate school in her late 40s 
• Feminine wisdom as cumulative lived experience 
• Why postpartum and midlife distress can be a signal of something deeper 
• High-masking neurodiversity in women and chronic misdiagnosis 
• Autism and ADHD statistics and the cost of late identification 
• Internalized ableism and why parents miss signs in kids 
• Perimenopause, estrogen, dopamine, and neurodivergent burnout 
• Workarounds, accommodations, and rebuilding regulation 
• How to advocate at home first then at work 
• Practical next steps, self-identification, and referral paths in Ontario 

Louise Gleason practices in Oakville and is also a speaker and consultant on neurodiversity affirming workplaces and parenting. For more information follow her on Instagram @the.affirming.space or reach out through email [email protected]

Follow Living Left for bold conversations by women for women on business, creativity, and comeback energy. 

Find us on Instagram @living_left_​​

Because what’s left isn’t less. It’s everything.

We sit down with Jennifer Powell to talk about why midlife can push us into bold left turns, from career pivots to divorce to redefining who we are after the kids grow up. We dig into uncertainty, identity, and menopause with a grounded focus on community, self-trust, and practical self-advocacy.

• Growing up in the early social media and mommy blogger era and what we lost when content became performative
• Gen X conditioning around ambition, motherhood, burnout, and the pressure to keep the peace
• Why divorce usually starts years before the paperwork
• Building tolerance for uncertainty and making intentional left turns
• Reframing fear with the question what if this is the best decision
• Intuition, signs, and giving ourselves permission to be who we are
• How judgment shrinks friend circles and strengthens the right ones
• Navigating divorce alongside an open nest and shifting parenting patterns
• Role and status as identity and why that transition feels destabilizing
• Menopause and perimenopause realities, symptom noise versus solutions
• Advocating for care, second opinions, and better menopause literacy

Connect with Jennifer @jennpowelllive @pause_midlife

Follow Living Left for bold conversations by women for women on business, creativity, and comeback energy. 

Find us on Instagram @living_left_​​

Because what’s left isn’t less. It’s everything.

We talk with Mary Fearon about the moment a “happy life” stops feeling like enough and how intention turns midlife into an awakening instead of a crisis. We dig into women and entrepreneurship, positive psychology, and why purpose is built through small choices that add up to a scalable legacy.

• Building a business as a woman while managing self-doubt and risk
• The “full bucket” trap and the cost to your nervous system
• Using a midlife pause to choose meaning instead of drifting on momentum
• Bringing positive psychology into workplace culture beyond perks and platitudes
• Finding support systems when family support is not available
• Why happiness is less about circumstances and more about response
• Recovery and hardship as a fast track to awareness and gratitude
• Reconnecting leaders to belief and identity so teams can align
• Purpose as connection and contribution that shows up in everyday moments
• “You’re only old if your future is smaller than your past”

To connect with Mary follow her on Instagram @onprpose_inc

Follow Living Left for bold conversations by women for women on business, creativity, and comeback energy. 

Find us on Instagram @living_left_​​

Because what’s left isn’t less. It’s everything.

We talk with Julie Ellis, co-founder of Mabel’s Labels, about what happens after a major win when you still feel lost, grieving, and unsure of your next move. We unpack Big Gorgeous Goals, midlife left turns, and how to build time freedom and purpose without waiting for life to feel “certain.” 

• Leaving a successful business and feeling unqualified anyway 
• Grief after an exit and the pressure to feel only gratitude 
• Why high expectations create paralysis and how “trying things” creates clarity 
• The midlife pattern of entrepreneurship and Gen X burnout 
• Big Gorgeous Goals as the umbrella over smaller goals 
• Moving forward in uncertainty instead of waiting for security 
• “Pools of support” and telling the right people your goals 
• Why leadership growth matters as much as strategy when scaling 
• Pocket Coach and getting help in the moment 
• Building businesses in today’s noisy market and what AI-first search changes 
• Time freedom as a real goal you can design now 
• Third-act repurposement and bringing back what your soul liked 

Follow Living Left for bold conversations by women for women on business, creativity, and comeback energy. 

Find us on Instagram @living_left_​​

Because what’s left isn’t less. It’s everything.

We kick off season three with a new theme: shining a light on women who are turning left and choosing their next phase with intention. A milestone birthday trip turns into a 10-day London, Bordeaux, and Champagne adventure that strengthens our partnership and clarifies what we want for the next decade of business.

• Setting the season three theme around women making bold left turns
• Taking a real vacation while still working on the business vision
• Learning how travel reveals partnership dynamics and trust
• London highlights including walking tours, palaces, pubs, and high tea
• Noticing female leadership threads in British history and culture
• Planning Bordeaux and Champagne with a wine travel company
• Favorite Bordeaux moments including wine school, tours, and tasting dinners
• Champagne history with Widow Clicquot, riddling, and rosé origins
• The shock of the underground chalk cellars and how champagne ages
• Travel anxiety versus overplanning and how we balance each other

Follow Living Left for bold conversations by women for women on business, creativity, and comeback energy. 

Find us on Instagram @living_left_​​

Because what’s left isn’t less. It’s everything.

We celebrate a 50th birthday that turns into a full-bodied look at friendship, effort, and what it means to be seen by your people. We also map how intentional gatherings and big trips can become a reset button for midlife joy and gratitude.

Follow Living Left for bold conversations by women for women on business, creativity, and comeback energy. 

Find us on Instagram @living_left_​​

Because what’s left isn’t less. It’s everything.

We talk with Dr Brenda Vrkjlan, an occupational therapist and mobility researcher, about how everyday choices like where you live, how you drive, and who you spend time with shape your health as you age. We zoom out to the sandwich generation reality, then zoom way in to the practical stuff that protects dignity and independence.

• Aging parents and the stress of starting the downsizing conversation
• Planning earlier to avoid the “double downsize” and rushed moves later
• Person-environment fit and why home design affects mobility and safety
• Loneliness as a serious health risk and why community keeps us resilient
• Building routines that create connection after kids leave home
• Driving as identity, access, and participation plus what makes it harder
• Small adaptations that matter like grab bars, non-slip mats, and smart habits
• Reframing aging with “perhaps another unexpected solution exists”

Follow Living Left for bold conversations by women for women on business, creativity, and comeback energy. 

Find us on Instagram @living_left_​​

Because what’s left isn’t less. It’s everything.