SheSez with Linda Grasso

For 20 years, Amanda Jones enjoyed a successful career as a travel writer. Based out of San Francisco, she was also a mom to two daughters and like any mom, cautioned her kids about staying away from drugs. Then a good friend got cancer and she started using marijuana to cope with the side effects of treatment. The woman constantly grappled with "riding the crazy train" due to the high levels of THC in cannabis. For Amanda, and another friend of hers, Jennifer Chapin, the light bulb went off. Watching their friend struggle, the two women recognized a need for a product with carefully controlled amounts of cannabinoids like THC and CBD that women could use for health & wellness–something that looked good, smelled good and felt good.

In 2015, with the recreational use of marijuana legal in only a handful of states, Amanda and Jennifer launched Kikoko—a decidedly feminine line of cannabis-infused, organic teas aimed at everything from lightening your mood to having better sex. One of their "High Tea" parties" with guests in vintage gowns and hats drinking from dainty teacups was featured on the Oprah website. Now that 10 states that have legalized the recreational use of marijuana the company with four different varieties (sleep, pain, sex, mood) has exploded. Amanda shares with Linda how she embraced this unexpected entrepreneurial endeavor in mid life, and how she believes women around the world will soon discover that cannabis is a healthier alternative to alcohol and prescription drugs.

Dina Kaplan, as founder of The Path, teaches meditation to groups and organizations across the globe.

It's a far cry from where she started out. In her early career, Dina was an award-winning TV news reporter and later she became something of an "it" girl in tech after co-founding the online video platform, Blip. Named one of Fortune Magazine's Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs in 2010, Dina was one of the very few female top tier tech executives in the world. To the outside, she seemed to have it all.

But Dina had a secret: she suffered from debilitating panic attacks. One day she got dropped off by a cab and couldn't make it across the street to her office. Dina shares with Linda how she packed her bags and bought a one way ticket to Asia, where she discovered the restorative powers of meditation, and embarked on a new start-up, The Path which is aimed at helping executives calm down.

On today's show we meet food entrepreneur Candace Nelson.In 2005, Candace founded the world's first cupcakes only bakery— Sprinkles —which now has 24 locations nationwide. Sprinkles are the Tesla of cupcakes: artfully decorated and made with premium ingredients.

With celebrity fans like Oprah and Blake Lively, Candace quickly became known as the Cupcake Queen—and she's gained even more exposure on TV. Candace is an Executive Producer and Judge on the new Netflix baking show Sugar Rush. She's also appeared on the Food Network's Cupcake Wars.

Candace shares the story of how her love of baking inspired her to get out of investment banking and go to school to become a pastry chef and how her hunch that people would treat themselves to a high-end cupcake and— in fact drive to a bakery that only serves cupcakes to get it—paid off big time. Plus, the two lucky breaks that made Sprinkles a worldwide brand and why she focused these days on Pizzana restaurant which she co-owns with actor Chris O'Donnell.

There are many successful red carpet stylists in Los Angeles, but Dana Asher Levine has a distinction. She is the town's most sought after, influential power dresser.

Dana styles the biggest behind-the-scenes names in showbiz – including producer Shonda Rhimes who has created TV shows like Scandal and Grey's Anatomy.

Dana's path to the top was bumpy. She'd been a stay-at-home mom, got divorced and suddenly found herself the sole supporter of three children. At the time, she had a thousand dollars to her name. Dana shares with Linda how she kicked off her career with a "fake it until you make it" attitude—showing up at high-end department stores dressed to the 9s and hoping to meet prospective clientele. Plus Dana offers tips for dressing to feel powerful, confident and appropriately sexy whether you are a petite or a plus size.

Hear the amazing story of how 27-year-old Adi Arezzini turned her mother's organic tea garden into the Teami Blends empire.

Adi shares with Linda how, after serving two years in the Israeli army, she returned to the U.S. in the shape of her life. But after eating the army's institutional, bland diet, she grappled with constipation and bloating. She tried all kinds of remedies but nothing worked—until she started experimenting with the tea that her mother was growing in her garden. She came up with two distinct blends of tea that solved her digestive problems—and from those blends developed a 30-day detox program.

Cut to five years later and Adi is the CEO and founder of Teami Blends, an all-natural loose-leaf tea company based in Clearwater, Florida. Adi oversees 50 employees and recently the brand expanded to include tea-based skincare products that are sold at the nationwide chain, Ulta Beauty.

When Kate Betts took over the top job at Harper's Bazaar at 35, she had already earned a reputation as someone with guts. At her previous job at Vogue, she was known as one of the few who, while clashing with infamous, ice maiden Anna Wintour, could hold her own.

At the time of taking over Harper's Bazaar, Kate was the youngest editor ever to helm a national fashion magazine. She was also a new mom; her first child was born just three days after taking the job. Kate shares the story of her very public, humiliating firing just two years later, and how she rebounded to snag her real dream job and write a book that she describes as her proudest accomplishment.

Kate's memoir, My Paris Dream: An Education in Style, Slang, and Seduction in the Great City on the Seine is a New York Times Bestseller.

When Susan Feldman sold One Kings Lane to Bed, Bath & Beyond in 2016, she could have kicked back. Instead, she founded the on-line, platform Get in the Groove, which offers curated lifestyle articles and retail geared for the middle-aged woman. "I started hearing a lot from women that they were feeling invisible," Susan shares. "So it's important for women to figure out how they can stay current and 'in the know.' Plus, there are just a lot of things that no one tells you about middle age and we need a forum for that." In this episode, Susan addresses ways of being proactive in order to stay current, relevant and ultimately visible.

Discover how to tap into your creative side—and experience profound personal growth.

For most of us, being creative was something we did as a child. Whether painting or molding play dough, we were creative for the fun of it. But as we've gotten older, with jobs and kids, most of us have let our creative side go.

Creativity Coach Robin Finn aims to help people get it back. Robin shares how engaging in creative endeavors "for the pure joy of it" can help people pivot towards fulfillment— and ultimately be happier.

The mom of three shares the story of how, even though she had wonderful family, she started feeling deeply unsatisfied. Robin realized that she wasn't doing anything in her life just for her; like most moms, she was at the bottom of her list. Robin turned her life around after getting a master's degree in spirituality psychology and then going on to write her first novel, Restless in L.A. Today she teaches a class called Heart. Soul. Pen. aimed at encouraging people to access the creative energy lying dormant inside them though stream-of-conscious-style writing.

While many designers gravitate towards trends, Rachel Pally stays true to the elegantly draped dresses, wide-leg pants and feminine tops that put her on the map some 15 years ago.

Her line, which includes plus sizes and maternity, can be found at stores including Neiman Marcus and Pea in the Pod…. and at rachelpally.com.

Rachel shares with Linda how she stumbled into designing clothes at 22 and launched her business with $300 dollars of babysitting money, how she believes being a business woman makes her a better mom to her two sons and her belief that women should dress in a way that compliments their curves, and avoids pain and discomfort.

As a celebrity and as the head of Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow has access to a pretty much anything she wants when it comes to beauty products. So when the lifestyle guru recently posted a video of her short-list nighttime beauty regimen—which included slathering a $185 skin serum by Vintner's Daughter on her face—women around the world took note.

One of them was April Gargiulo, founder of Vintner's Daughter. April launched the company in 2014 — taking what she knew from growing-up in a fine-wine-making family— and applying it to creating a nourishing, natural face serum. "Both of them essentially come from the terroir," she explains. April shares with Linda how she formulated her serum with 22 botanicals and essential oils and how she discovered an unexpected bonus: men love it, too (it was listed as one of GQ's Best Grooming Products of 2017). April recounts how she decided to launch the company after her husband told her, "When you talk about this company idea your eyes light up," and how she manages running her rapidly growing empire with mothering two daughters.