SheSez with Linda Grasso

Elisabeth Noel Jones shares with us how she pulled off her masterful midlife redesign. After several life-altering events, the New York City-based retail executive knew she needed a change, but was stuck on how to do it. When conventional therapy failed, she tried psychedelics. The plant medicine helped Elisabeth envision her future—and the courage to realize it. She pivoted from living in Manhattan to a more intentional life in the bucolic Hudson Valley, where she opened a brick-and-mortar retail and "wellness destination." Gift Me Soul offers a variety of wellness experiences including the state-of-the-art Morphus Chair—a multi-sensory system that uses vibration, light and sound technology to regulate the nervous system, lower stress and improve sleep. The shop also offers a variety of well curated, "soulfully aligned" gifts—from jewelry and accessories to artwork.     

Can optimism change the course of a life? When Isabelle Rosa's 70-year-old father lost everything and found himself on the brink of homelessness, she refused to believe his story was over. Instead, she came up with an ingenious plan to help the former Hollywood "caterer to the stars" not only earn a living again, but rediscover a sense of purpose. In the process, Isabelle uncovered the surprising power of what she calls "delusional optimism"—the radical belief that something better is always possible, even when the odds say otherwise.

  The best-selling book Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage—which is being adapted into a film starring Gwyneth Paltrow— has put midlife aka gray divorce in the zeitgeist. In the book, Belle Burden recounts marrying a wildly successful businessman who, at the height of the pandemic, discovers her husband is having an affair.  He leaves her the next day, abruptly ending their 20-year marriage. She thought they were both happy. Making matters even worse, the Ivy league-educated former corporate attorney—who had shelved her career to stay at home with kids—was clueless about the couple's finances. And she had signed a prenup that prevented her from sharing in any of her husband's earnings during the marriage.    So this week I'm re-running an episode of SheSez that features an interview with prominent L.A. divorce attorney Lisa Helfend Meyer. We cover numerous topics: why prenups can be overturned; why mediation can disadvantage women; the "I earned it, why do I have to give her anything?" counter argument; and how we women are wired to be eternal optimists which can sometimes gets us in tricky situations.  

By now, most of us are familiar with LASIK, which can correct both near- and farsighted vision. But there's a newer option that LASIK can't address—the aging eye. As we get into our mid-40s and beyond, the eye's natural lens loses flexibility, leading to presbyopia and that all-too-familiar need for (i.e. hassle of) reading glasses. Lens replacement surgery offers a solution: the aging lens is swapped out for an implant that can restore clear, often near-perfect vision. Many patients choose to have this done at the same time as cataract surgery, since insurance will often cover part of the cost. Dr. Ella Faktorovitch, an industry leader in lens replacement surgery, joins us to share the details of the procedure.  Dr. Faktorovich founded Pacific Vision Institute more than twenty years ago. Under her leadership, Pacific Vision Institute, located in the Bay Area, offers the industry's newest diagnostic and treatment technologies to patients. The Institute's doctors are continually recognized for their involvement in leading research and educational projects that advance the field of vision correction. For more, go to pacificvision.org.

The story of how Yvette Lanneaux started reimagining her life during the pandemic, and ultimately made a pivot from NYC-based attorney to sheep farmer in rural Vermont. Today, farming the artisan wool of Merino sheep (she also has Babydoll Southdown sheep as pets), Yvette lives in a shape-shifting structure that couldn't be more different than the suburban New Jersey home where she raised her kids. It is an uber cool "tiny home" developed by the Dutch designer Caspar Schols and built from prefabricated parts. Only 300 square feet, and architecturally stunning, the structure can expand to 500 feet during warm weather.