Understanding the Multi-Hyphenate Life: Navigating Identity and Leadership in Midlife

What does it really mean to live and lead as a multi-hyphenate woman in midlife?

In this episode, I sit down with Teddra Thomas Burgess—leadership strategist, executive coach, and founder of Chasing Outcomes—to unpack the outdated advice to “pick a lane” and explore why holding multiple roles—leader, entrepreneur, partner, parent, caregiver, community builder—is not confusion, it’s capacity.

Together, we examine what it takes to lead across professional, personal, and community spaces without shrinking any part of yourself. As women evolve, so do our standards, our ambitions, and our relationships. This conversation is about embracing that expansion with intention.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why choosing one path is a myth—and why intentional multi-identity leadership is the real strategy
• How embracing change and ambiguity strengthens both corporate and entrepreneurial leadership
• Practical ways to systematize your work, avoid burnout, and create sustainable boundaries
• The difference between shrinking and realigning as your life evolves
• How relationships shift as you step into fuller leadership—and how to nurture the right ones
• The iceberg analogy and the invisible labor many women carry beneath the surface
• How to communicate your multifaceted identity without sounding like a résumé—and how to find your through line
• Personal stories of boundaries and strategic decisions that led to stronger leadership across roles

About Teddra Thomas Burgess:
Teddra is a leadership strategist and executive coach who works with high-capacity leaders to clarify outcomes, strengthen decision-making, and lead with intention. Through her platform Chasing Outcomes, she supports professionals in aligning their leadership approach with measurable impact and personal clarity.

Reflection Prompt:
Write down all your current roles—professional, partner, parent, caregiver, community builder. Which feel aligned with who you truly are? Which are driven by expectation? Where might you need clearer boundaries or a shift in focus?

For deeper reflection, explore The Shifted Self: Evolution of Gratitude and Self-Reflection Journal on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Shifted-Self-Evolution-Gratitude-Self-Reflection/dp/B0F8NV1591

You can also find coaching, systems support, and additional tools through Amira’s store.

Stan.store/AmiraEvolved

Connect with Teddra Thomas Burgess for leadership coaching and community support:

• LinkedIn
• Chasing Outcomes

The woman who leads across multiple spaces isn’t doing it by accident—she’s intentional, systemic, and clear on her outcomes.

Your multifaceted life isn’t something to minimize. It’s something to own.

💫 Description

Amira is joined by Dr. Rashida Vassell, founder and CEO of Safalah Medical in Corning, NY, for part two of their conversation where they unpack what really happens to women’s bodies during perimenopause and menopause—and why so many women feel unseen, unheard, or dismissed along the way.

Together, Amira and Dr. Vassell explore what it feels like to live in a state of constant hypervigilance as symptoms pile up, stress increases, and women are often told they’re “fine” because their labs look normal. 

Amira shares her personal experience of feeling gaslit by the medical system, the emotional toll of not being believed, and the relief that comes with finally finding a provider who listens.

🪷 Key Topics

• Reframing menopause as a sign of longevity, not failure

• Why estrogen depletion causes such widespread symptoms

• Feeling like your body is “revolting against you”

• Being told “you’re fine” despite ongoing symptoms

• Gaps in medical education around menopausal care

• Why women are taught to say they’re “fine”

• Continuing to look for answers when something feels off

🪞 Reflective Journal Prompt

Write down one way you've been operating from survival mode, even if no one else sees it, and what would ease look like instead?

✨ Guest

Safalah Medical is a community centered healthcare practice committed to delivering compassionate, culturally informed, evidence based care. Rooted in trust and accessibility, Safalah Medical provides patients with clear guidance, personalized treatment plans, and a supportive environment where questions are welcomed and well-being is prioritized.

Founded by Dr. Rashida Vassell, the practice blends medical excellence with a warm, patient-first approach, ensuring every individual receives the time, attention, and respect they deserve.🔗 Connect with Amira Davis / Amira Evolved

Instagram: instagram.com/amiraevolved 

Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61562292933065 

TikTok: tiktok.com/@amiradavis7 

Stan Store: stan.store/amiraevolved  Dr. Rashida Vassell / Safalah Medical

Website: https://www.safahlamedical.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1DpTWbCizp/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/safahlamedical?igsh=MXh6NDViaGE3eG1vbA==
🧘‍♀️ SEO Keywordsmenopause, perimenopause, women’s health, midlife women’s health, menopause symptoms, perimenopause symptoms, hormonal health, estrogen decline, estrogen and menopause

💫 Description

In this deeply moving and eye-opening conversation, Amira sits down with Dr. Rashida Vassell, founder and CEO of Safalah Medical in Corning, NY. Dr. Vassell is a double board-certified surgeon whose personal health crisis shifted her from traditional high-volume medicine into a holistic, integrative, patient-centered model of care.

Together, they explore the pressures women face to always “push through,” even as their bodies wave red flags. Dr. Vassell shares her breast cancer story, her forced reset, and how she rebuilt her medical practice with intention, legacy, and whole-person healing at its center.

This episode is a must-listen for any woman who looks strong on the outside but feels depleted, disconnected, or dismissed by the medical system.

🪷 Key Topics

• How Dr. Vassell’s breast cancer diagnosis transformed the way she practices medicine
  

• Why so many women don’t realize they’re living in survival mode until their bodies crash
  

• How generational trauma, gender norms, and social conditioning shape women’s health patterns
  

• The difference between being “busy” and having a dysregulated nervous system
  

• What hypervigilance does to your hormones, cortisol, and long-term wellbeing
  

• Why culturally informed care is not optional—it’s essential
  

• How medical dismissal happens (and why so many women feel unheard)
  

• What it looks like to receive care from someone who truly sees and believes you

✨ Guest

Safalah Medical is a community centered healthcare practice committed to delivering compassionate, culturally informed, evidence based care. Rooted in trust and accessibility, Safalah Medical provides patients with clear guidance, personalized treatment plans, and a supportive environment where questions are welcomed and well-being is prioritized.

Founded by Dr. Rashida Vassell, the practice blends medical excellence with a warm, patient-first approach, ensuring every individual receives the time, attention, and respect they deserve.🔗 Connect with Amira Davis / Amira Evolved

Instagram: instagram.com/amiraevolved 

Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61562292933065 

TikTok: tiktok.com/@amiradavis7 

Stan Store: stan.store/amiraevolved  Dr. Rashida Vassell / Safalah Medical

Website: https://www.safahlamedical.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1DpTWbCizp/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/safahlamedical?igsh=MXh6NDViaGE3eG1vbA==🧘‍♀️ SEO Keywordswomen in survival mode, signs of survival mode, dysregulated nervous system, hypervigilance symptoms, women’s hormonal imbalance, culturally informed healthcare, integrative medicine for women, trauma and women’s health, burnout in women, medical dismissal of women

💫 Description

In this deeply honest and insight-filled conversation on The Shifted Podcast, Amira welcomes certified coach and founder of Ari Coaching, Danielle Smith, for a powerful discussion on midlife transition, identity, and the transformative clarity the Enneagram can bring.

Danielle shares how her own midlife questioning led her into coaching, and why so many women hit a point where long-held roles—achiever, caregiver, peacekeeper—begin to feel too tight. Together, they explore how the Enneagram helps uncover the motivations beneath our behaviors, the stories we’ve carried since childhood, and the patterns that once kept us safe but now hold us back.

🪷 Key Topics

• Why midlife naturally triggers reevaluation
  

• How each Enneagram type thrives and overextends
  

• The surprising gifts hidden in your childhood memories, favorite books, and formative experiences
  

• How imposter syndrome shows up, especially for women stepping into new levels of purpose
  

• The difference between living from who you are vs. how you’ve learned to do life
  

• Practical ways to pause, reflect, and shift out of old emotional patterns
  

  
  

  🪞 Reflective Journal Prompt

Where in your life are you still reacting from an old version of yourself? And what would change if you paused first?

✨ Guest

Danielle Smith - founder of Vocare Coaching helps women double their impact and fulfillment by living from their true identity.

🔗 Connect with Amira Davis / Amira Evolved

• Instagram: instagram.com/amiraevolved 

• Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61562292933065 

• TikTok: tiktok.com/@amiradavis7 

• Stan Store: stan.store/amiraevolved 

Connect with Danielle Smith

Website: https://www.vocarecoaching.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vocarecoaching

🧘‍♀️ SEO Keywords

Enneagram, enneagram types, enneagram coaching, midlife transition, midlife identity shift, women in midlife, personal growth, self-awareness, emotional patterns, imposter syndrome, purpose and calling, mindset shift, personal development, inner work, self-discovery

💫 Description

In this episode of Amira Evolved, host Amira Davis sits down with Dr. Jennifer Hopkins of Mindful Medicine for a grounded conversation on energy, spirituality, and nervous system clarity in midlife.

After both experiencing Sedona’s magnetic calm, Amira and Dr. Hopkins explore what it really means to “come home” to yourself—without needing to escape your life to find peace. They discuss how stillness reflects what we’ve been avoiding, why women in midlife often struggle to pause, and how to bring Sedona’s stillness into daily life through simple, sustainable practices.

If you’ve been craving calm, this conversation will remind you: you don’t have to go anywhere to find it. You just have to return to yourself.

🪷 Key Topics

• The science and spirituality of stillness
  

• How meditation, prayer, and nature regulate your nervous system
  

• Gratitude’s impact on hormones and stress response
  

• The “Sedona effect” and what it reveals about emotional clutter
  

• Rituals for grounding and energy balance at home
  

• Midlife clarity: learning to rest without guilt
  

• Letting go of movement that masquerades as peace
  

🪞 Reflective Journal Prompt

“Where in my life am I confusing movement with peace?” You don’t need an answer right away—just awareness. Stillness may have been waiting for you all along.

✨ Guest

Dr. Jennifer Hopkins – Founder of Mindful Medicine, blending science and soul to help women reconnect with their calm and clarity.

🔗 Connect with Amira Davis / Amira Evolved

• Instagram: instagram.com/amiraevolved 

• Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61562292933065 

• TikTok: tiktok.com/@amiradavis7 

• Stan Store: stan.store/amiraevolved 

  
  

  Dr. Jennifer Hopkins / Mindful Medicine

• Website: mindfulmedicine4.com 

• Mindful Healing Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/mindful-healing/id1736490534

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Mindful-Medicine-100093360940946TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drhopkinsmindfulmedicine

• Email contact: [email protected]
  

• Phone: 607-727-6079 

  
  

  🧘‍♀️ SEO KeywordsSedona vortex energy, midlife clarity, nervous system regulation, grounding practices for women, spirituality and wellness, energy balance, mindfulness for women over 40, Amira Evolved podcast, emotional maturity, stillness and peace, Mindful Medicine, women’s wellness podcast

Episode Description

What if the root of your exhaustion, anxiety, or hormonal chaos isn’t “just stress” — but your nervous system trying to get your attention?

In this episode of The Shifted Podcast, Amira Davis sits down once again with Dr. Jennifer Hopkins of Mindful Medicine to unpack the real science behind midlife regulation — the vagus nerve, your body’s built-in reset system, and how it influences everything from digestion and sleep to hormones and mood.

This isn’t another self-care conversation. It’s a grounded look at how stress, trauma, and hormonal changes intersect — and what you can do to support your body through it.

Amira also shares her personal ritual using Vibrant Blue Oils’ Parasympathetic Blend, explaining how scent and touch can activate calm through the vagus nerve and amygdala. Together, she and Dr. Hopkins explore the bridge between medical insight and practical daily tools that help women in midlife regulate their systems, one small reset at a time.

If you’ve ever been told “it’s just stress,” this episode will give you the language, science, and self-advocacy tools to find real answers — not quick fixes.

Key Topics

• ​What the vagus nerve actually does (and why it matters for women 40+)
• ​The connection between stress, hormones, and the nervous system
• ​How menopause impacts vagal tone and emotional regulation
• ​Science-backed ways to stimulate the vagus nerve naturally
• ​The role of scent, breathwork, and parasympathetic activation
• ​Why the amygdala and olfactory system are key to emotional calm
• ​How to advocate for better testing and medical care when symptoms are dismissed
• ​Small daily resets that actually work

Journal Prompt

“What’s one symptom I’ve brushed off as ‘just stress’ that might have a real, medical root?”

“What question am I ready to ask my doctor—or myself—about my health?”

Featured Guest

Dr. Jennifer Hopkins — Integrative physician and founder of Mindful Medicine, blending medical science with mindfulness to help women reclaim calm, clarity, and whole-body wellness in midlife.

🔗 Tools & Resources Mentioned

• ​
• ​7-Day Reset Bundle — A self-paced guide to nervous system regulation with daily videos and tools by Amira Davis
• ​
• ​Parasympathetic Blend — A clove-and-lime essential oil by Vibrant Blue Oils designed to activate the vagus nerve and support the parasympathetic responseBook: Training Your Amygdala by Rebecca Gallagher
• ​Dr Jennifer Hopkins Mindful Medicine🔗 Connect with Amira Davis / Amira Evolved

◦

◦Instagram: instagram.com/amiraevolved 

◦

◦Facebook: facebook.com/profile.php?id=61562292933065 

◦

◦TikTok: tiktok.com/@amiradavis7 

◦Stan Store: stan.store/amiraevolved Dr. Jennifer Hopkins / Mindful Medicine

◦Website: mindfulmedicine4.com 

◦Mindful Healing Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/mindful-healing/id1736490534

◦Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Mindful-Medicine-100093360940946TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drhopkinsmindfulmedicine

◦Email contact: [email protected]

◦Phone: 607-727-6079 Parasympathetic Blend: ⁠https://dv216.isrefer.com/go/paraaf/amiradavis/Next Episode PreviewNext week, Amira talks with Danielle Smith of Vocaré Coaching about using the Enneagram to uncover identity, purpose, and clarity in midlife. If you’ve ever wondered why you react the way you do, in stress, leadership, or love, this one’s for you.

💡 Episode Overview

In this episode of The Shifted Podcast, Amira Davis dives into what happens when confidence gets mislabeled as “shade.” From a simple social post that sparked an unexpected reaction, Amira explores the deeper layers of perception, emotional maturity, and capacity — and what it means to stand in your truth during midlife without apologizing for it.

Through real conversation and reflection, she breaks down:

• How clarity often gets mistaken for conflict
  

• Why women in midlife still feel pressure to soften their truth
  

• What emotional capacity really means (and how to build it)
  

• How to stay grounded when someone misreads your intentions
  

• The difference between confidence, ego, and clean energy
  

Whether you’ve ever been called “too much,” “too direct,” or “shady” just for being proud of what you’ve built — this episode is for you.

🧠 Key Takeaways

• Confidence ≠ Shade: Celebrating yourself doesn’t make you arrogant. It makes you self-aware.
  

• Clarity Isn’t Conflict: Some people interpret calm truth as confrontation — and that’s about their filter, not your tone.
  

• Capacity Is Emotional Strength: It’s your ability to hold truth and peace, even when others can’t.
  

• Midlife = Mastery: With age comes emotional steadiness — the ability to speak directly without guilt or over-explaining.
  

• You’re Not Responsible for Other People’s Projections: Clean intentions don’t need defense.
  

Journal Prompt

“Where in my life am I softening my truth so it doesn’t get misread?” “And what would it look like to say it — clearly, calmly, and without apology?”

Use this week’s reflection to explore where you’re still editing yourself and what it might feel like to let go of that need for approval.

Coming Up Next

Amira shares a sneak peek into future episodes — including an honest conversation about the Enneagram and how it completely changed her self-awareness journey. She’ll also be joined by her friend Carrie, a midlife woman and speech pathologist, to talk about communication, identity, and rediscovering your voice in this stage of life.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amiraevolved/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61562292933065

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amiradavis7

Check out my digital products:  stan.store/amiraevolved

The Shifted Self: A 90 Day Journal For Evolution, Gratitude & Self-Reflection:

https://amzn.to/4ltSlXq

Parasympathetic Blend: ⁠https://dv216.isrefer.com/go/paraaf/amiradavis/

In this episode, Amira sits down with her friend Amelie Hennessy, owner of The Hennessy Group, to explore how partnerships evolve in midlife. Amelie shares her story of raising four kids and running a business with her ex-husband, proving divorce is not the end but a shift.

They discuss:

• Dating in midlife and what changes after your 20s and 30s
  

• Practical tips for co-parenting and collaborating with an ex
  

• Type A strengths and balancing masculine and feminine energy
  

• Redefining partnership in midlife—with yourself, your kids, and new relationships
  

This conversation is for anyone navigating life transitions, co-parenting, or rethinking what healthy relationships look like.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• How to co-parent and run a business with an ex without constant conflict
  

• Why clear boundaries and blunt communication actually strengthen partnerships
  

• The role financial independence plays in redefining midlife relationships
  

• How to pivot when a partnership changes—without losing respect or connection
  

• Ways midlife can bring unexpected clarity, freedom, and fresh definitions of love
  

• Why being unapologetically Type A (or whatever your style is) can be a strength, not a flaw

Links & Resources: ✨Journal Prompt:  Where in your life do you need to shift from refighting old battles to building new ground?

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amiraevolved/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61562292933065

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amiradavis7

Check out my digital products:  stan.store/amiraevolved

The Shifted Self: A 90 Day Journal For Evolution, Gratitude & Self-Reflection:

https://amzn.to/4ltSlXq
Parasympathetic Blend: ⁠https://dv216.isrefer.com/go/paraaf/amiradavis/

Marriage doesn’t stay the same and it’s not supposed to. In this episode of The Shifted Podcast, Amira sits down with her husband, Sam, to talk honestly about what it takes to grow separately and still stay together after thirty years of marriage.

From meeting in 1992, marrying in 1994, raising three kids, and walking through health struggles, belief differences, and hard relationship challenges, Amira and Sam share how boundaries and self-respect reshaped their connection.

This conversation explores:

• How to grow as individuals without drifting apart
  

• Why boundaries create more intimacy, not less
  

• The role of self-respect in long-term marriage
  

• Navigating marriage challenges and change in midlife
  

• A candid Q&A where Sam and Amira ask each other questions they’ve never said out loud
  

If you’ve ever wondered if marriage can survive growth, reinvention, and tough choices, this episode will give you hope and practical perspective.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Why long-term relationships require evolution
  

• How Gen X women are redefining marriage in midlife
  

• The difference between “empowerment” and true self-respect
  

• Practical examples of setting boundaries with your partner
  

• How to rebuild connection after hard years in marriage
  

Links & Resources: ✨ Journal Prompt: “Where in your relationship are you afraid your growth might create distance? What would shift if you trusted that boundaries could bring you closer instead?”

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amiraevolved/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61562292933065

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amiradavis7

Check out my digital products:  stan.store/amiraevolved

The Shifted Self: A 90 Day Journal For Evolution, Gratitude & Self-Reflection:

https://amzn.to/4ltSlXq

Parasympathetic Blend: ⁠https://dv216.isrefer.com/go/paraaf/amiradavis/

Grief doesn’t come with a rulebook and it certainly doesn’t owe anyone an explanation. In this episode, I dive into the messy, deeply personal reality of grieving in midlife and the boundaries we often forget we’re allowed to set.

From the quiet ache of friendships fading, kids growing up, bodies changing, and parents aging, to the gut-punch of losing a beloved pet, I’m sharing how grief shows up in ways both obvious and invisible and why honoring your own style of healing matters.

Whether you need solitude and silence or constant check-ins and connection, your way of grieving is valid. The right people will honor your boundaries, not question them.

In this episode we cover:

• Why you don’t owe anyone a “front row seat” to your grief

• The difference between functioning and actually thriving

• How cultural pressure to “share everything” can erase your true needs

• What real support looks like (and what it doesn’t)

See a pic of my beloved puppy, Dozer here

Let’s Connect:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amiraevolved/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61562292933065

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amiradavis7

Check out my digital products:  stan.store/amiraevolved

The Shifted Self: A 90 Day Journal For Evolution, Gratitude & Self-Reflection:

https://amzn.to/4ltSlXq

Parasympathetic Blend: ⁠https://dv216.isrefer.com/go/paraaf/amiradavis/