The Boomer Woman’s Podcast

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 encounter with winemaking sparked a 20-year career

Why Hillary finally opened the wine bar she'd imagined for years

The unexpected challenges of running a small restaurant

Taking risks when there's more to lose — but more experience to draw on

Why patience and research matter before making a big commitment

Testing a dream without betting everything on it

Changing priorities around work, money, motherhood, and relationships

Finding freedom in letting go of an old definition of success

Discovering interesting wines without needing to be an expert

Wine myths, overlooked regions, and finding good value in a bottle

Hillary's experiences offer plenty to consider, whether you're contemplating a new venture, revisiting an old ambition, or simply becoming more adventurous about what you pour into your glass.

Find Hillary at https://www.hillaryzio.com/

Learn more about Hillary and find all her links at The Boomer Woman's Podcast.

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 code.

In this conversation, we explore:

How time with family changed Rob's definition of success

The emotional difficulty of leaving a financially rewarding career

Why diligent savers can struggle to become comfortable spenders

The difference between having enough money and feeling secure

Planning for an uncertain lifespan and changing expenses

Section 72(t) and early access to certain U.S. retirement accounts

Why the rules around early withdrawals require careful attention

Retirement decisions for women already past 60

Balancing support for adult children with our own financial needs

Using a budget to make room for enjoyment, not just expenses

Rob also shares how he eventually found a new sense of purpose, along with more time for the people and activities that matter to him.

For American listeners interested in Section 72(t), visit Early Retirement Access for Rob's resources and information.

Financial information in this conversation is general and U.S.-specific rules may not apply in Canada or elsewhere. Consult a qualified professional about your circumstances.

Learn more about Rob and find his links at The Boomer Woman's Podcast

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 conversation, Anne and Agnes explore:

Anne reminds us that we don't need a grand new mission to make this stage of life meaningful. Sometimes it begins with curiosity, a small experiment, a new connection—or simply asking ourselves what we'd like an ordinary Tuesday to look like.

Learn more about Anne at The Boomer Woman's Podcast

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 from? It's also What might I do with it?

In this conversation:

Along the way, Agnes introduces Judy to a determined great-grandmother, a possibly mythical Spanish princess and a family tendency that might best be summed up as: Oh no, we're doing this.

This is a conversation about looking at your family — and yourself — with curiosity rather than rushing to decide what needs fixing.

Learn more about Judy, find her prior episode and all her links at The Boomer Woman's Podcast.

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:

We may never know whether these patterns are inherited, learned, modelled around the dinner table or simply coincidence. But noticing them raises a much more interesting question: What came through your family to you — and what are you sending forward?

Find more than the Boomer Woman's Podcast at Boom! With A Bang!

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, and why finding the root of what is draining us matters more than simply pushing ourselves to keep going.

In this conversation:

This isn't about forcing yourself to bounce back or filling retirement with more things to accomplish. It's about becoming curious about what drains you, what restores you—and learning to trust yourself again.

Learn more about Elke and find all her links at The Boomer Woman's Podcast

Note: This conversation is for general information and personal reflection and is not a substitute for individualized medical or mental-health advice.

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:

Paula's experience is a reminder that sometimes an entirely new chapter begins simply because something interests us enough to try it.

Learn more about Paula and find her links at The Boomer Woman's Podcast

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 safe, why an old response that once protected us may no longer serve us, and why understanding a behaviour isn't always enough to change it.

Craig also clears up some of the myths surrounding hypnosis—no clucking chickens required—and explains why hypnosis is about participation rather than surrendering control.

Especially relevant for those of us creating life after 60, we explore regret: the marriage that didn't work, the career left behind, the opportunity not taken, the dream postponed. The past may be part of our story, but does it have to determine what happens next?

We also discuss the importance of properly trained hypnotherapists, what to look for before working with one, and why age doesn't put an expiry date on our ability to learn, change and grow.

Because perhaps "this is just who I am" deserves another look.

Learn more about Craig Meriwether and find all his links at The Boomer Woman's Podcast.

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.

At nine years old, a teacher told Shirley never to stop writing because he believed she could become a great writer. She never forgot him. Decades later, during the pandemic, Shirley began writing the story inspired by her father's extraordinary—and often painful—early life. She published her first novel at 75.

Our conversation wanders exactly the way a good conversation with a born storyteller sometimes does. We talk about difficult marriages and finding yourself again, why age can bring better boundaries, trying things even when failure is possible, the assumptions society makes about older people—and why Shirley believes another door can always open.

There are also detours involving Cyndi Lauper, Colin Powell, the bomb squad at Logan Airport, a suspected terrorist, a cocaine mule and a Porsche.

Because apparently one lifetime wasn't enough material for Shirley.

In this episode we talk about:

Content note: This conversation includes references to emotional abuse, gambling addiction, sexual violence, human trafficking and a serious medical crisis.

Learn more about Shirley and find all her links at The Boomer Woman's Podcast

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 things, discovering abilities she didn't know she had, and eventually building a second career around wellness, teaching and healthy aging. Along the way, Lorie had to ask some surprisingly difficult questions: Who was she without “Lorie the lawyer”? Had career success crowded out friendships, hobbies and connection? And did she really want to reach the end of her life wondering whether she could have billed one more hour?

Now 70, she's reinventing herself again — this time by learning how to work with an aging body rather than expecting it to perform like the younger one she remembers. Lorie and Agnes talk candidly about metabolism, menopause, strength, protein, sleep, stress, food environments and why “the rules have changed, but nobody makes an announcement.”

In this episode:

This conversation is about much more than wellness.

They talk about purpose, friendship, kindness, marriage, learning to relax, letting go of things that no longer matter — and the realization that reinvention isn't a single dramatic decision. Sometimes it is simply continuing to adapt as we become the women we're going to be next.

Learn more about Lorie and find all her links at The Boomer Woman's Podcast