Misti McCloud: NASM-Certified Coach on Rebuilding Strength, Confidence, and Self-Trust After 50

Misti McCloud: NASM-Certified Coach on Rebuilding Strength, Confidence, and Self-Trust After 50

At 12, a botched surgery shattered every bone in both feet and ended her Olympic skating dream. At 315 pounds in her late 30s, she decided that wasn't her story either. Two weeks before her 52nd birthday, a corporate layoff handed her a door she never would have opened herself. She walked through it. IN THIS EPISODE: * The malpractice surgery at 12 that launched a lifetime philosophy: focus on what you can do * Losing over 100 pounds as a single mom through tiny, sustainable changes — before GLP-1 injections existed * The layoff at 52, one week of intentional stillness, and the Venn diagram that changed everything * Why six months of living expenses in savings is the breathing room that makes real choices possible * What happens when women reconnect with physical strength — and why it changes everything beyond the body * The 69-year-old client: breast cancer, a stroke, two knee replacements, couldn't rise from a toilet unassisted — now a self-described gym rat who lifts a 30-pound sewing machine alone * Why reinvention starts where staying the same becomes more painful than changing EPISODE SUMMARY: Misti McCloud built her coaching practice around what she knows firsthand. She survived single motherhood in D.C., raised a neurodiverse son, built a corporate career, and lost over 100 pounds through micro-changes made one at a time. When a layoff at 52 pushed her through an unexpected door, she took one intentional week, drew a Venn diagram of her skills, the world's needs, and what she could earn, and found her answer: NASM-certified coaching for women 40 and better. Her philosophy: when women reconnect with physical strength, the transformation is never just physical. It changes how they walk into rooms, set boundaries, and trust themselves. She is the GPS. Her clients do the driving. ABOUT MISTI: NASM-certified personal trainer, nutrition coach, and women's empowerment coach serving women 40 and better. Former corporate professional and single mother who lost over 100 pounds. Speaker and workshop leader for women's groups. CONNECT: trainwithmisti.com COMMUNITY: WeCanDoItWomen.com If this episode fanned an ember, take one step today — then join us at WeCanDoItWomen.com. A 5-star Apple Podcasts review helps more women find this show.

She Spent 8.5 Years Caregiving for a Husband with a Brain Tumor — Then Published 3 Novels in 2 Years

In his last coherent week, after eight and a half years of a brain tumor that had stolen him one layer at a time, Gerard came back. He told his wife she had been to hell. Then he asked her to promise him two things: love again, and write the novels. She scattered his ashes in Ireland and started writing that same night. IN THIS EPISODE: * A fifth-generation Michigan girl who read every library in town — and ended up in the Reagan White House * How CEO Frank Popoff found her writing speeches that didn't sound like business speeches — and her career was never the same * Meeting Gerard Cowan in a Dublin pub — the electricity, the Tuesday Club, the triplets * Eight and a half years of a right-frontal-lobe astrocytoma: personality changes, financial devastation, seizures, a broken back, and caregiving alone * How IBM's chief medical officer got them into Sloan Kettering by Wednesday morning * Gerard's final week — the deathbed promise that unlocked everything * Three novels published in two and a half years. A fourth coming. A life that is finally full. EPISODE SUMMARY: Michelle Morris has always connected with people by telling their stories — at the White House, in journalism, across corporate boardrooms, in crisis communications on three continents. But the decade she spent caregiving for a husband whose brain tumor was slowly dismantling his personality was one she lived mostly alone — too hard to explain, too strange to fit anyone's framework. When Gerard died, he gave her a permission slip she had been waiting for her whole career: write. She came home to Michigan, walked away from her last corporate job, and in two and a half years published three novels. Her characters face what she faced — the question of whether you get back up and what you build next. Her answer, in every book and in this conversation, is yes. ABOUT MICHELLE: Novelist, former Reagan White House staffer, corporate executive, and crisis communications professional. Author of Comes Around, A Quiet Town, Fresh Water, and a forthcoming fourth novel. Based in Michigan. CONNECT: http://michellesmorris.com | Amazon: Michelle S. Morris | Facebook: Michelle S. Morris, Author | Instagram: @michelle.s.morris COMMUNITY: WeCanDoItWomen.com If this episode reminded you the story isn't over, come find your people at WeCanDoItWomen.com. A 5-star Apple Podcasts review helps more women find this show.

How to Stop Letting Your Own Mind Be the Handbrake on Your Life | Cindy Koehler, Mind Garage

She was made redundant on a Friday. By Monday she'd enrolled in naturopathy. She built a 5-site business, sold it in one of South Australia's largest exits, and founded Mind Garage. Now Cindy Koehler brings 40 years and 10,000 coaching hours to this conversation. In This Episode: * Cindy's own story: from biomechanics to education to a 5-site business to its sale — and now the coaching practice she was always building toward * Why the beliefs we carry into adulthood were never actually chosen — and the one question that exposes whether they're helping or holding you back * The "handbrake" metaphor: how the business owner's own mindset is the single largest obstacle to business growth * Identity-based resilience coaching: why "who am I becoming?" is a more powerful question than "what should I do?" * The three-word exercise: a practice for stepping into your future self right now, without waiting * Metacognition — the skill only humans have — and how to use it to separate threat from story * Uncomfortable is not the same as unsafe: why the brain defaults to threat and how to override it with choice * How women rebuild self-trust after years of people-pleasing and meeting everyone else's expectations * "Empty the drawer first": the Russian proverb that reframes every major life transition * Cindy's upcoming book Manifest You and what it will walk readers through About Cindy Koehler Cindy Koehler is a transformational business and life coach based in Adelaide, South Australia. With 40 years of experience in mindset coaching, 20 years in education, 25 years in business, and a background in NLP, hypnotherapy, mindfulness, and energetic medicine, she is the founder of Mind Garage and the author of the forthcoming Manifest You. She has delivered over 10,000 hours of coaching to elite professionals, business owners, and athletes. She turned 60 last year and says she has never been more excited for what comes next. Connect with Cindy Koehler * Website: mindgarage.com * Upcoming book: Manifest You (July 2026) Resources * WeCanDoItWomen.com/group — join Debra's community

Sex, Sensuality, and How Women Over 70 Reclaim Their Desire and Their Lives

She was 70 years old, running a solo business without a steady paycheck, supporting a husband in severe decline in a nursing home — a man she had already decided to divorce — and quietly hitting the lowest point of her life. By 73, she was dating men in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, writing erotica, taking university classes, and finishing a book called Sex, Sensuality and the Senior Woman. Andrea Feinberg didn't wait for circumstances to improve. She decided she was the one who was going to improve them. In This Episode: * The unexpected crisis that preceded Andrea's transformation: planning a divorce, then watching her husband have a life-changing accident and decline in a nursing home * The four changes she made at 70 that cost nothing and changed everything: university classes, a weekly discussion group, one friend per week, and dating * What she discovered on a dating website for the over-50s — and why it completely reframed how she thinks about age and desirability * The 16 reasons younger men gave her for why they specifically seek out older women (she asked every single one) * Why Andrea says there's a generation of men in their 30s, 40s, and even 20s who find older women "wildly attractive and wildly desired" * Her 10-step common sense framework for personal transformation — no investment, no unusual skills required * Writing erotica for the first time at 70+ — and why she's now expanding it toward female satisfaction specifically * The childhood story that made independence feel like her natural state About Andrea Feinberg Andrea Feinberg is the founder of Coaching Insight and a 40-year veteran of business development, strategic marketing, and entrepreneurial coaching. After a decade on Wall Street and 35 years running her own firm, Andrea made a radical personal pivot at 70 — enrolling in university, dating younger men, and writing her most personal book to date: Sex, Sensuality and the Senior Woman, a 10-step transformation guide for women ready to pursue the life society told them they couldn't have. Connect with Andrea Feinberg * Website: marketingthatrocks.com * Website: bossonthebeach.com Resources * Sex, Sensuality and the Senior Woman * WeCanDoItWomen.com — join Debra's community

Aging Is Not the Problem. Ageism Is. Ashton Applewhite Makes the Case That Changes Everything.

She found out that two-thirds of divorces are initiated by women — and was stunned. Then she found out that almost everything she believed about aging was equally wrong. That same question — why don't we know this? — made Ashton Applewhite the world's leading voice on ageism. IN THIS EPISODE: * Why "old" should be a neutral word — and the shame we attach to it is the problem, not the age * The U-curve of happiness: people are happiest at life's beginning and end — and why * Only 2.5% of people over 65 are in nursing homes — and dementia rates keep dropping * Yale research: your attitudes toward aging affect your health at the cellular level * Elder speak — what it is, why everyone hates it, and how to avoid it * Why "aging successfully" is ableist and sets us all up to fail * The single greatest predictor of a good old age: not health, not wealth — your social network * The shoe test for age diversity — and why making one older or younger friend is an anti-ageist act * Free resources: Old School Hub, Wednesday office hours, "Aging Is Living" artwork EPISODE SUMMARY: Ashton Applewhite is entirely self-taught. She didn't start writing until her 40s or discover ageism until her mid-50s. Her TED Talk, her manifesto This Chair Rocks, and the Old School Hub she co-founded are the product of a researcher's rigor and a deep suspicion that cultural forces keep women in the dark on purpose. Under capitalism and in a sexist, ageist society, fear of aging is profitable. The facts are not. The facts: the U-curve proves people are happiest at life's beginning and end. Yale psychologist Becca Levy's research shows people with positive views of aging live 7.5 years longer. Loneliness rates are higher in young people than old. And discrimination, not age itself, is the problem. When you learn to see ageism in yourself, a veil lifts — and then you can do something about it. ABOUT ASHTON: Author of This Chair Rocks, TED speaker, co-founder of Old School Hub. Recognized by the United Nations, WHO, PBS Next Avenue, NYT, and NPR as an expert on ageism. CONNECT: thisChairRocks.com | oldschool.info | Wednesday office hours 1:30 ET COMMUNITY: WeCanDoItWomen.com If this episode lifted a veil, go to oldschool.info and join us at WeCanDoItWomen.com. A 5-star Apple Podcasts review helps more women find this show.