LIBERTY ROAD

It's one of the great paradoxes: We're yearning to make a change. We feel inspiration or maybe discomfort. Something calls us to jump in, jump out, pivot, and stretch. But when it comes to taking the plunge, an obstacle looms: ourselves.? ? “That is the most common problem,” says Kate James. “We typically get in our own way.” ? ? Kate, a Melbourne-based confidence coach and author who consults people all over the world on how to find clarity and self-belief, explores how women find ways to hold themselves back. Women come to her when they feel “a little niggle that something needs to change,” and they seek counsel to untangle what that yearning is, she says. “And then we get to what is it that stops you from moving.”? ? We asked Kate to walk us through what lies beneath this inclination. Because we understand the roots of our obstacles, we’re more apt to move beyond them and onto what is truly calling us.? ? Read more about Kate here: https://lnkd.in/gUnub8q4 Interview and words by Stacey Lindsay.? ? #midlife #proage #agepositive #agepositivity #over40 #over50 #over60 #genx #midlifepodcast #startsomething #startinthemiddle #middlethird

How can we deeply connect with others—honestly, openly, and freely?? ? This question is essential for the times we live in. It's also an anchor of Vanessa Cornell's work. The mother of five and founder of NUSHU admits she "used to be a total liar" when it came to being vulnerable in front of others. This is not a liar in the sense that you couldn't trust her or that she bent the truth. Quite the opposite. As she says, Vanessa kept her pains, hardships, life struggles, and "anything that was going on in my internal life" close to her chest. It was her default to always put on a smile. And from this, she'd created a "deep, deep, deep loneliness."? ? It's colossal to think of how many of us can relate, which is why learning more about Vanessa's journey feels like taking a giant exhale. She found the courage to break from the pattern of keeping people at arm's length and decided to go deep. She started telling the truth—the radical, messy, unfiltered, whole truth—about her life to those around her. She was, as she says, "ravenous for knowledge" about how to rip off the avatars of perfection, grow in authenticity, and find a deep connection with herself again. ? ? Read more about Vanessa here: https://lnkd.in/gDztajWt ? Interview and words by Stacey Lindsay.? ? #midlife #proage #agepositive #agepositivity #over40 #over50 #over60 #genx #midlifepodcast #startsomething #startinthemiddle #middlethird

Every once in a while, someone asks a question you've heard a thousand times before, but this time, it hits your heart anew. The query rushes into your mind like icy December air through a window. It's as if you heard it for the very first time.? ? "How do I just get started?"? ? That question tugged our hearts last week at our Liberty Road LIVE: The Midlife Summit in Los Angeles. Yep, we've all heard it and likely asked it ourselves a gazillion times. But the passion behind this question, which one beautiful participant asked aloud, on this day was palpable. Soaked in urgency (and fear, excitement, rage, boldness, and yearning), this simple question distilled the reason we all gathered in LA: to grab what we truly want in our Middle Third, a time when we come to a threshold and see an opportunity to look left and right before moving forward.? ? Read more about our midlife summit here: https://lnkd.in/g3d5vNMM ? #midlife #proage #agepositive #agepositivity #over40 #over50 #over60 #genx #midlifepodcast #startsomething #startinthemiddle #middlethird

It wasn’t until I picked up Julia Turshen’s Small Victories in late 2016 that I realized how cathartic it could be to spend an afternoon with a cookbook. There is no proselytizing in Julia’s words. No shoulds or musts in her recipes. Julia is just plain real on her pages. She shows us that cooking can be the ultimate metaphor. It’s about knowing some basics and then letting it rip—the “it” being yourself and all the potential for learning, opening, and creating that can happen in the kitchen.? ? Small Victories is Julia’s first cookbook—and she’s followed it since with four more. When it comes to food, she knows her stuff: She’d co-authored numerous cookbooks before her first and worked in the private and public kitchens of giant names. But I’m especially drawn to her radically inclusive, honest approach to living that comes through in her writing. Life is hard; society, brutal. Amidst all of it, Julia’s words are an invitation to be kinder and gentler to ourselves. I’ve felt this mostly in her essays weaved throughout her cookbooks, one of which is “On the Worthiness of Our Bodies,” a piece she included in her last book, Simply Julia, in which she tells of her journey freeing herself from diet culture induced shame around her body. “I hid my scale in a closet,” she writes, “and then one day when I finally felt ready, I threw it away.”? ? Now Julia is out with a new book, What Goes With What, in which she again beautifully weaves in cooking wisdom, nourishing recipes, and a warmth and insight only she can imbue. In our conversation, which we had on an intense day when the news was extra heavy (as it is these days), we covered a lot in little time: finding pockets of security, creativity in cooking, and how finding safety and assuredness in our kitchens can be a metaphor for doing the same in our lives. ? ? Read more about Julia here: https://lnkd.in/gzfeb4mg Interview and words by Stacey Lindsay.? ? #midlife #proage #agepositive #agepositivity #over40 #over50 #over60 #genx #midlifepodcast #startsomething #startinthemiddle #middlethird?

When Sameena Rahman, MD, joined Instagram about six years ago, she was floored by what she saw and read. "There's so much misinformation, so much confusion," the board-certified OB/GYN tells us. She was concerned for her patients and all women trying to navigate their health and the medical system. People go online and think, "What is the real deal when it comes to hormone therapy and when it comes to sexual dysfunction?" adds Dr. Rahman. ? ? Clarifying this confusion charges Dr. Rahman's work today. Beyond her private practice, she's built an online educational empire via her @gynogirl brand, where she educates women on her YouTube channels and social platforms about what we must know about our health. With her experience, which includes holding a seat on the board of the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health and working with The Menopause Society, we're all ears. Dr. Rahman is also part of the "Menoposse," a group of boots-on-the-ground clinicians focused on banding together to provide women in midlife with true, modern, life-empowering information about menopause. ? ? Nada recently spoke with Dr. Rahman about the misinformation we face, how we can better advocate for ourselves, and the menopause misconceptions that continue to live.? ? Read the three key takeaways from the sex-med gynecologist that we want to shout from the rooftops here: https://lnkd.in/guj-Fmaj ? #midlife #proage #agepositive #agepositivity #over40 #over50 #over60 #genx #midlifepodcast #startsomething #startinthemiddle #middlethird

This May, we had the chance to listen to interior designer and new author Raili Clasen at our Newport Beach dinner, and she lit up the room. Nada joked that everyone who came was there for Raili, not Liberty Road. If that's the truth, we'll take it, as this woman is impressive (and so creative). After a successful run in surf industry sales, Raili pivoted in her late forties to become an interior designer—a hugely known one, at that. But her career shift was never in her plans. "It's always been a part of me," she told Nada about interior design. "I just didn't know it."? ? Didn't know it yet, that is. As Raili tells us, it took some deep listening to herself to lean into her creativity, build her design firm, and get to where she is today—which is, at 60, right where she wants to be.? ? Read more about Raili here: https://lnkd.in/g2iTqycT ? #midlife #proage #agepositive #agepositivity #over40 #over50 #over60 #genx #midlifepodcast #startsomething #startinthemiddle #middlethird

Shelley Paxton is a 26-year advertising and marketing veteran whose legacy is imprinted on iconic global brands like McDonald’s, Visa, and Harley-Davidson. At the pinnacle of her career, as Chief Marketing Officer of Harley-Davidson, she was shocked to find herself feeling success-empty instead of success-full. That awakening led her on a profound journey that became her mission, business, and bestselling book, Soulbbatical: A Corporate Rebel’s Guide to Finding Your Best Life. Now, as Chief Soul Officer, she works with leaders and teams to advocate for redefining success in ways that celebrate humanity, well-being, and soul. Her influential work is an empowering antidote to corporate burnout, attrition, and disengagement. It’s gained recognition on platforms like NBC, CBS, Forbes, Inc., and Thrive Global, making her a respected thought leader, advisor, and sought-after keynote speaker who’s been called “the next Brené Brown” by Chip Conley, NY Times Bestselling Author, Former Airbnb Exec, and Founder of Modern Elder Academy. Her energizing and actionable keynotes create undeniable ROI (Ripples of Impact) in lives, businesses, and culture. In this episode, Nada sits down with Shelley to talk about her soul journey and why she walked away from a high-powered and glamorous career in marketing. Shelley explains how the world’s view of success can leave us empty and searching for meaning. Through sharing advice and intimate stories, she invites us to search for what our soul requires and to redefine what a full middle third can look like. Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/g7x6BmzV ? #midlife #proage #agepositive #over40 #over50 #over60 #midlifepodcast #startsomething #startinthemiddle #middlethird

Kathy Sidell "banked" on herself.? ? That's exactly how she describes the giant career leap she took when she was 47. She’d been running her film and television production company in Los Angeles and traveling worldwide for shoots. Her career was thriving and compelling, but it was time for a change. Life was shifting, her marriage was ending, and she wanted to be with her kids more. Plus, Kathy had a dream burning inside her: She always wanted to start a restaurant of her own.? ? "I knew I had the stuff to do it," she tells me over the phone. "So I had to figure it out."? ? Indeed, Sidell figured it out. The lauded restaurateur opened her first restaurant, The Metropolitan Club, in Boston's Chestnut Hill in 2004, which she ran for 10 years. In 2016, she opened Saltie Girl, a wildly popular seafood restaurant that boasts one of the best lobster rolls in New England (that’s a hefty superlative, as we Bostonians are serious about our lobster). She's since opened a sister Saltie Girl location in Los Angeles to parallel rave reviews.? ? Kathy, who is 67, credits much of her success to hard work—there are no shortcuts—but she's forthcoming about her mistakes. "It's been 20 years, and we've made some brilliant decisions, and we've made some not-so-brilliant decisions," she says about her time in the restaurant business. "You can't bat a thousand, but as the adage goes, you certainly learn a lot more from the failures than you do the successes."? ? She only wishes, she continues, that women didn't didn't beat themselves up so much in the aftermath of missteps. "We've got to find a way to be kinder to ourselves and take what we learn from our mistakes and apply it to what we want."? ? Kathy shared generously with me about women supporting women, how she loves the intergenerational energy of LA, and the funny ways life has of preparing us for what's ahead. Here are seven bits of wisdom from our conversation. ? ? Read more about Kathy here: Interview and words by Stacey Lindsay ? #midlife #proage #agepositive #agepositivity #over40 #over50 #over60 #genx #midlifepodcast #startsomething #startinthemiddle #middlethird

Founder and Creative Director Joy Cho has authored seven books and consulted for hundreds of creative businesses. Joy has given keynote speeches on entrepreneurship, leadership, and business at conferences and companies, including Alt Summit, Pinterest HQ, Target HQ, and Hallmark HQ. For two years in a row, Joy was named one of Time's 30 Most Influential People on the Internet and has the most followed account on Pinterest with over 15 million followers. Most recently, Joy's house and studio have been featured in House Beautiful, Parents, and Domino Magazines.? ? Through her namesake, Oh Joy!, she’s created a wide range of licensed products, including home decor, kids, pet, and furniture collections, with brands such as Target, Band-Aid, Petco, Rockport, and more. ? ? In this episode, Nada sits down with Joy to discuss the making of her Oh Joy! brand and its many iterations over the years. The two talk about Joy's early days of blogging and her title of "most followers on Pinterest." Joy takes us through her entrepreneurial journey, including downsizing, finding herself in a mid-life crisis, and rethinking what she needed from her work and life. She shares how she's gained a new perspective from an old game and how she's reclaiming her life on her terms.? ? Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gW4pNTXJ ? #midlife #proage #agepositive #agepositivity #over40 #over50 #over60 #genx #midlifepodcast #startsomething #startinthemiddle #middlethird

You can tell when someone is creating something out of sheer passion. When they're not doing the thing in hopes it will take off or appease an audience, but rather because it's a seed inside them they must give light. ? ? This truth encapsulates Mimi Ison, the beloved founder of the site Hey Middle Age and Instagram account of the same name. When she was 55, Mimi wanted "to figure things out for myself," as she says. She'd just lost her mom, her daughter graduated from high school, her body was changing, and she'd left her job. Change was everywhere in Mimi's life, prompting her to yearn for a roadmap or outlet—something she couldn't find. So, she started a blog about midlife and eventually began posting regular content on Instagram. It all took off. "Well, that was 100 percent not the plan at all," she says about the popularity of her message. ? ? Following a heartfelt, more wabi-sabi approach is very Mimi. Now in her early sixties, she's one of the most profound, do-it-your-way pro-aging influencers for her irreverent and honest take on exercise, crushing ageist stereotypes, growing older, and finding yourself. She aims to “bust ages stereotypes about getting older,” as she says, through a lot of physical movement, fitness, dancing and things she loves.? ? When Nada recently spoke with Mimi, she asked the influencer what else had changed when she turned 55.? ? Read more here: https://lnkd.in/guCPUbfc ? #midlife #proage #agepositive #agepositivity #over40 #over50 #over60 #genx #midlifepodcast #startsomething #startinthemiddle #middlethird