Women Beyond a Certain Age Podcast

Brigit Binns is a well-known and prolific cookbook author but this week she’s here to talk about her memoir, Rottenkid: A Succulent Story of Survival. Her narrative includes Hollywood stories, an alcoholic actor father, a glamorous narcissistic mother, a bit of political intrigue, world travel, and the search for belonging. It’s a story of both privilege and profound neglect and shows how she found comfort and self-worth in the kitchen. Brigit’s memoir is a testament to female determination and will inspire all who suffer damage from a narcissistic parent.  

Brigit finds happiness in her Paso Robles, California kitchen with her dog Stella and her fabulous husband Casey (AKA the Wine Spectator Paso Wine Man). 

BRIGIT’S LINKS:

Website

Buy the book

Instagram

Threads

Good Reads

Facebook

Substack

Women Beyond a Certain Age is an award-winning weekly podcast with Denise Vivaldo. She brings her own lively, humorous, and experienced viewpoint to the topics she discusses with her guests. The podcast covers wide-ranging subjects of importance to older women.

SHOW LINKS:

• Website

Welcome to season 6!

Pamela Rand is with us to chat about the power that laughter has on our health and longevity.

Pamela is an actor, comedian, sketch comedy performer and inspirational speaker. Through her company, Past Primetime Productions, she creates and acts in a wide variety of hilarious sketches across social media platforms. Try not to laugh! https://youtu.be/l3matQTOWzM

You can find out more about Pamela and her work on her website. Watch her videos at Adventures in Feeling Young.

Pamela stays young by meditating, practicing Qigong, and making people laugh. Her favorite quote is--

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”

Anias Nin

PAMELA’S LINKS:

• Website

Women Beyond a Certain Age is an award-winning weekly podcast with Denise Vivaldo. She brings her own lively, humorous, and experienced viewpoint to the topics she discusses with her guests. The podcast covers wide-ranging subjects of importance to older women.

SHOW LINKS:

• Website

Bonnie Lester is back with us to talk about her new book, to be released on September 5, Unwinding Pain: Affordable and Accessible Ways to Feel Better Today. When you suffer from debilitating chronic pain, living a vibrant, pain-free life may seem impossible. Bonnie’s book is your guide to shake free of the isolation and hopelessness of chronic pain! This is a life-changing guide for chronic pain suffers. Bonnie guides reads through a wealth of simple, budget-friendly, and science-backed methods that are easy to incorporate into daily life.

With an unwavering commitment to helping others reclaim their lives, Bonnie shares the powerful techniques that enabled her to break free from a 30-year battle with one of the most painful neurological syndromes known to humankind. Her expertise is bolstered by advanced training in biopsychosocial chronic pain rehabilitation, cognitive behavioral therapy, the science of well-being, critical incident debriefing, and plant-based nutrition.

Bonnie’s transformative journey has been shaped by her diverse roles as a public health educator, social worker, and police chaplain. She holds a master’s degree in psychology and counseling from American International College and a bachelor’s in health science from San Francisco State University. As an ordained interfaith minister from the Chaplaincy Institute in Berkeley, California, Bonnie brings a holistic perspective to healing.

BONNIE’S LINKS:

• Instagram

Women Beyond a Certain Age is an award-winning weekly podcast with Denise Vivaldo. She brings her own lively, humorous, and experienced viewpoint to the topics she discusses with her guests. The podcast covers wide-ranging subjects of importance to older women.

• SHOW LINKS:

Maria Brown is with us to talk about discovering herself after divorce. Maria is an executive producer and television comedy writer with a Golden Globe Award for the TV series CYBIL, and Emmy nominations for FULLER HOUSE and HANNAH MONTANA (and a whole slew of other awards for Hannah Montana, too!) Maria's article, “I’m a Divorced Women. Was I Ready to be Naked with a New Guy?” was recently published in the L.A. Times.

MARIA’S LINKS:

• IMDB

Women Beyond a Certain Age is an award-winning weekly podcast with Denise Vivaldo. She brings her own lively, humorous, and experienced viewpoint to the topics she discusses with her guests. The podcast covers wide-ranging subjects of importance to older women.

SHOW LINKS:

• Website

Sky Bergman is an accomplished, award-winning photographer. Her documentary, Lives Well Lived, was Sky’s directorial debut. Lives Well Lived celebrates the wit and wisdom of people aged 75-100, who reveal their secrets for living a meaningful life. Encompassing 3,000 years of collective life experience, diverse people share life lessons about perseverance, the human spirit, and staying positive in the midst of life’s greatest challenges. Their stories will make you laugh, perhaps cry, but mostly inspire you. Watch the film here or on PBS (This is the 56-minute version. When asked, say that PBS is your local station!).

Her fine art work is included in permanent collections at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Brooklyn Museum, the Seattle Art Museum, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (National Library of France) in Paris. Her book, The Naked & The Nude: Images from the Sculpture Series, includes an introduction by Hèléne Pinet, curator of photography at the Rodin Museum in Paris. She has shot book covers for Random House and Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc., and magazine spreads that appeared in Smithsonian, Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel, Reader’s Digest, and Archaeology Odyssey. 

Sky Bergman was the former chair of the Art & Design department at Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, CA (2007 – 2013) and is currently a Professor of Photography and Video where she has been teaching since 1995.

SKY’S LINKS:

• Website

Women Beyond a Certain Age is an award-winning weekly podcast with Denise Vivaldo. She brings her own lively, humorous, and experienced viewpoint to the topics she discusses with her guests. The podcast covers wide-ranging subjects of importance to older women.

SHOW LINKS:

• Website

Claire Berger wrote “How Much Is Enough? Getting More by Living with Less” as an interactive memoir, to give voice to the ever-present conversation we’re all having in our heads. How Much Is Enough… Exercise? Religion? Health? Shoes? Family? Food? Claire tackles an array of topics in twenty-two chapters that can be adapted into an entertaining, interactive keynote that will engage audiences in every age and stage of life. Check her website for speaking dates in and around Los Angeles in July!

For over four decades, Claire has been earning a living as a comedian, improv actor, speaker and writer. She began her career in Chicago with The Second City and found big laughs in Los Angeles, earning acclaim as a warm-up comedian on over sixty-five of your favorite sitcoms, including Seinfeld. Claire was also the first comedian HGTV hired to host a series on their network (Fantasy Open House). 

Pivoting from television to corporate boardrooms, Claire helped businesses have fun while getting the job done with her memorable bespoke events.

Claire has always found humor in unlikely places, including Italian kitchens, where she served as resident writer, ambassador and cookbook contributor for two popular culinary immersion programs, Tuscan Women Cook (friends of the podcast!), and Italian Culinary Adventures.

CLAIRE’S LINKS:

• Website

Women Beyond a Certain Age is an award-winning weekly podcast with Denise Vivaldo. She brings her own lively, humorous, and experienced viewpoint to the topics she discusses with her guests. The podcast covers wide-ranging subjects of importance to older women.

SHOW LINKS:

• Website

Alison Tucker started off with a $50 PX store guitar. From there she got kicked out of the Baptist church for drinking, cussing, smoking and dancing. Then she became a grownup for about 20 years (a highly overrated state to be in), married, kids, and working in corporate America. When that life fell apart, Alison realized she needed to become the person she was always meant to be.

Alison’s music reflects her magical gift for storytelling and her voracious curiosity about life. Her multifaceted style crosses genres, reflecting her creative heart and soul. Alison’s country and folk roots blend storytelling into the poetic sound of Americana.

Alison’s Second Chance Tour begins June 19th. Her music can be purchased on and streamed from her website or on Bandcamp.

Alison lives in Austin, Texas. 

ALISON’S LINKS:

• Website

Women Beyond a Certain Age is an award-winning weekly podcast with Denise Vivaldo. She brings her own lively, humorous, and experienced viewpoint to the topics she discusses with her guests. The podcast covers wide-ranging subjects of importance to older women.

SHOW LINKS:

• Website

Show bestie Pat Greenberg is here to have a very direct chat about her recent hip replacement and the surprising things no one every told her to expect. We’re also talking about aging and changes and grace. It’s always a great episode when Pat joins us!

PAT’S LINKS:

• Website

Women Beyond a Certain Age is an award-winning weekly podcast with Denise Vivaldo. She brings her own lively, humorous, and experienced viewpoint to the topics she discusses with her guests. The podcast covers wide-ranging subjects of importance to older women.

SHOW LINKS:

• Website

Author Sharon Wishnow is with us to talk about her new novel, The Pelican Tide, and to talk about the writing process. Says she writes “stores about flawed, educated women with plots that have environmental themes, but not dystopian doom. I’m drawn to stores that show how changes in the environment change people.” 

Sharon is the former Vice President of Communications for the Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA), the founder of Women’s Fiction Day, and is the Executive Editor of the WFWA magazine, WriteOn! Her newsletter, Research for Writers and Other Curious People, is incredible! Her book is available for preorder at the link below.

SHARON’S LINKS:

• Website

Women Beyond a Certain Age is an award-winning weekly podcast with Denise Vivaldo. She brings her own lively, humorous, and experienced viewpoint to the topics she discusses with her guests. The podcast covers wide-ranging subjects of importance to older women.

SHOW LINKS:

• Website

Jean Tidd helps people stop fighting their ADHD brain and, instead, make it their ally. With an unparalleled zest for life, an unbreakable spirit, and a relentless determination that can move mountains, people with ADHD can hyperfocus on their passions and turn themselves into unstoppable forces of nature. Jean helps people channel that electrifying energy, and embrace life with an unapologetic intensity that’s nothing short of extraordinary.

Jean’s own ADHD journey led her to become and expert and coach. Jean is a Licensed Independent Social Worker and ADHD Certified Clinical Services Provider.

JEAN’S LINKS:

• Website

Women Beyond a Certain Age is an award-winning weekly podcast with Denise Vivaldo. She brings her own lively, humorous, and experienced viewpoint to the topics she discusses with her guests. The podcast covers wide-ranging subjects of importance to older women.

SHOW LINKS:

• Website