My So-Called Midlife with Reshma Saujani

Sahaj Kaur Kohli is going on her fourth father-daughter trip soon – something that she could never have imagined 10 years ago. And it’s something that Reshma definitely can’t imagine with her own father. Both daughters to immigrant parents, Reshma and Sahaj talk about how their unique upbringing has informed their senses of self. But Sahaj’s work as a therapist, journalist, and founder of Brown Girl Therapy isn’t limited to adult children of immigrants. She gives Reshma tools for setting boundaries, breaking generational cycles, and rebuilding adult relationships with our parents – things we can all use in our midlife.    Follow Sahaj at @BrownGirlTherapy. Check out her book, But What Will People Say?  here. You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife  Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.    Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium.    Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Classicist Mary Beard is the author of Women & Power: A Manifesto and has a cult following because she doesn't fit any kind of mold. She definitely speaks up, and she says whatever she thinks whenever she wants. But it wasn't always like that. In this episode, she talks to Reshma about how she had writer's block for most of her 20s and 30s. It wasn’t until midlife that she figured out how to write in a way that resonated with women. In her manifesto, Mary uncovers the ancient roots of misogyny in the Western world. Basically, she points out the first historical record of a man telling a woman to shut up, and in light of the 2024 election, this is the conversation we need to put it all into perspective.    You can follow Mary Beard on Instagram @wmarybeard. You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife  Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.    Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium.    Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bozoma Saint John is the newest cast member of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and she has a take-no-shit approach to life that will motivate you to demand everything you deserve. After working in executive marketing positions for companies like Uber, Netflix, Apple and Pepsi, Boz decided to leave corporate America and do things her own way. She had experienced so much loss in her life that she didn’t want to take a single day for granted. She lost her first daughter after a tough pregnancy, and her husband died of cancer. But Boz is not only working through it, she's talking about it. In this episode, she talks with Reshma about her life as a corporate girlie, the conversations she had with Housewives producers and what we can all learn from her book “The Urgent Life.” Follow Bozomo Saint John on Instagram @badassboz. Her book is called The Urgent Life and her Wig and Hair Care company is called Eve by Boz. You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife  Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.    Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium.    Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While My So-Called Midlife is on a holiday break, we’re introducing you to one of the shows we love: Choice Words with Samantha Bee. We make a lot of choices, every single day. Some explode, some implode, most we barely remember. Each week on Choice Words, Samantha Bee sits down with people she admires to examine the biggest choices they’ve made in their lives and the ripple effects those decisions have had.  In this episode, Actor Kathryn Hahn joins Sam from her “she shed” to talk about how important it is to try a decision on for size before you make it and how she’s very good at getting rid of stuff (except for her kids’ art projects). They talk about taking jobs to pay off student loans, the distinct wetness of pre-packaged hardboiled eggs, why moving to LA was never part of her plan, and watching their moms go through menopause. For more episodes of Choice Words, listen wherever you get your podcasts or head to https://lemonada.lnk.to/choicewordsfd  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Famed activist, journalist, and feminist Gloria Steinem knows how to regroup after a loss. Just like the rest of us, she’s gearing up to live through a second Trump presidency.  At 94 years old, she’s here to remind us that our community – friends, family, chosen family – is our power and our medicine. Gloria talks about how her home has become a sanctuary, and why she opens it up to women of all different backgrounds to exchange stories and ideas. Plus, Reshma reflects on a tough year, she shares her New Year's resolution and the goal-setting tradition she does with her husband. Follow Gloria Steinem on Instagram @gloriasteinem You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife  Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.  Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium.  Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For actress, comedian and singer Margaret Cho, being 50 is hot. And she’s here to tell us how we can all feel the same way. Not only is she taking better care of herself these days but she’s also tapping into her goddess energy. So much so that people are paying attention! And she says she owes a lot of this midlife energy to menopause. With hormones no longer ruling her life, she is free to be who she wants to be. She tells us how that evolution happened. Plus, the rituals she does to honor her age, what she's addressing in her new stand-up special Live and Livid and what we can all do to make daily meditation work for us. Follow Margaret Cho on Instagram @margaret_cho You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife  Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.  Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium.    Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ilana Glazer is all grown up! You might know them from their spunky stoner bestie role in Broad City. But now, they’re a mom, and they’re determined to show us what it's really like to be a pregnant person. We're talking about the funny, messy, and totally insane parts of growing a human that no one talks about. Illana talks to Reshma about getting the funding for their film Babes and what it was like going on tour for their newest comedy special, Human Magic. Plus, why they’re so pumped about midlife, how they shut off her work brain, and why pregnancy led them to come out as nonbinary.   Follow Ilana Glazer on Instagram @ilana https://www.instagram.com/ilana/?hl=en You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife  Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.    Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium.    Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yvette Nicole Brown says being single with no kids in midlife is something to be proud of. At 53, she’s about to walk down the aisle for the first time and she’s happy she waited. All the while, she’s been busy caregiving for her father. In 2013, her dad first started showing signs of Alzheimer's, so Yvette broke her contract with the beloved comedy series, Community, and took him into her home to take care of him. Yvette and Reshma talk about falling in love at 50, caregiving for elderly parents, and how the decision to leave her full-time acting job was a no-brainer. Follow Yvette Nicole Brown on Instagram @yvettenicolebrown   You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife  Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.    Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium.    Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“You’re in menopause. Any questions?” That’s the brief message a doctor sent to journalist Tamsen Fadal after she almost passed out one day at work. She was 49. And she did have questions. So she took it upon herself to talk to OBGYNs, neuroscientists and hormone experts about what’s happening to our bodies during this pivotal time in our lives. All her work is compiled into a new documentary, The M Factor: Shredding the Silence on Menopause. We talked to Tamsen about how menopause affects the brain, why many doctors are hesitant to prescribe hormone replacement therapy, and the benefits of watching her film with your loved ones (hint: it’s so they understand wtf you’re going through!). You can follow Tamsen Fadal on Instagram and TikTok @TamsenFadal https://www.tiktok.com/@tamsenfadal https://www.instagram.com/tamsenfadal/  Watch her documentary, The M Factor: Shredding the Silence on Menopause on PBS. Thank you to our sponsor Magic Mind. You have a limited offer you can use now, that gets you up to 48% off your first subscription or 20% off one time purchases with code MIDLIFE at checkout. You can claim it at: https://www.magicmind.com/MIDLIFE You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/ Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife  Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.  Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium.  Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Best selling author and advice columnist Cheryl Strayed isn’t looking back. She’s taking a front seat to her post menopause years so much so that she’s given it a name — the “crone age.” Cheryl shares why she’s excited about this next stage of her life and what she’s learned from her iconic advice column Dear Sugar. Plus she gets real about grief and why we shouldn't wait for the “deathbed moment.”  You can follow our guest on Instagram @Cheryl Strayed https://www.instagram.com/cherylstrayed/ Subscribe to Dear Sugar here https://cherylstrayed.substack.com  You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife  Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.  Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium.  Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  Divorce therapist Oona Metz takes us through the ups and downs of marriage, from fighting to making up to ending the relationship to dating after divorce. She tells us why we shouldn’t fight dirty (we all do it, right??), the difference between leaving a relationship and ending a relationship, how to make up in front of kids, and how to know when it’s time to go. Plus, why women get more sleep *after* divorce, and why women wait until midlife to leave! You don’t wanna miss this one!    You can follow our guest on Instagram @OonaMetz You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife  Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.    Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium.    Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chelsea Clinton would rather focus on the change she wants to see in the world than think about her age. That’s why we thought she’d be a perfect guest as we all count down the hours until Election Day. (I mean, how do we not let this election age us!?) As the author of several children's books, she gives us tips on talking to kids about big topics like abortion and climate change. Plus, what she learned from her mom, Hillary Clinton, about aging, why she doesn’t care much for birthdays, and how she makes time for friends, even if it is just a phone call. Yo can follow our guest Chelsea Clinton on Instagram @clintonfoundation https://www.instagram.com/clintonfoundation/?hl=en You can follow our host Reshma Saujani @reshmasaujani on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reshmasaujani/?hl=en Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife  Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.  Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium.  Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson knew she wanted to sit on the high court since she was a little girl. Now in her midlife, she’s made that dream come true – and she’s the first Black woman to do so. Reshma talks with her friend Justice Jackson about how to stay present while balancing it all: the kids, the marriage and the highest of high-pressure jobs. Literally, if she can manage to do it – it gives us all hope. Plus, we hear about her new love of boxing, why it’s OK to sometimes say no, and how gospel music keeps her going throughout the day.  Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.  Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium.  Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emily Oster is scheduling everything in her midlife. As an economist and author of multiple books about parenting, pregnancy and motherhood, that makes sense! But Emily even schedules her free time, and her whole family has to get on board. So is the secret to midlife syncing your family’s calendars? Scheduling sex? Accepting that you might just be… boring? Emily gives us her hot takes, so get your notepad ready.  You can find Emily Oster on Instagram and Tik Tok @profemilyoster  Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife  Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.  Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium.  Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is about to officially graduate from midlife. At 63, she can confidently say that the last thirty years were… great, actually! Is it because she won multiple Emmys? Or maybe because she called out age biases in Hollywood by starring in Amy Schumer’s Last F*ckable Day? Well, along with these milestones, Julia suffered a ton of loss and hardship in her 50s. So why does she say it's her best decade? It’s all about the mindset. Plus, why Julia has 15,000 unread emails in her inbox -- and doesn't care. Find Julia Louis-Dreyfus on Instagram @officialjld and listen to her podcast, Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus Let us know how you’re doing in midlife! You can submit your story to be included in this show at speakpipe.com/midlife Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.  Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium.  Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors To follow along with a transcript, go to lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Are you in bed every night by 9? Are your hormones just getting in the way of everything? Do you wake up every day asking: Is this it?? Our host Reshma Saujani knows these midlife blues well.  She’s gotten everything she’s ever wanted but still finds herself asking … Now what?? So, she’s calling in help. We’ll hear from Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Emily Oster, Chelsea Clinton, Emily Nagoski, and many more about how we stop just getting through this time of life… and start actually living it. My So-Called Midlife is out Oct 16th.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.