Reigniting Possibility: Season 3 of The Wobbly Middle Is Here | Going Back to Study

It's Baby Loss Awareness Week, and host Patsy Day tells the story of the unexplained stillbirth of her and her husband Wil's baby, Jack. Patsy shares a piece she made at First Person Health, an audio storytelling workshop run by the award-winning journalist Golda Arthur, where people learn to tell the stories of their bodies and their health in their own words. In her 40s, with children, work and a changing body, Patsy found that a loss she thought she had dealt with “pretty well at the time” had come rushing back tied up in anxiety affecting all aspects of her life, not least her working one. In the piece, she goes back to Jack's paperwork, where the hospital letter shows no cause, and asks why stillbirth research is so underfunded. If you or someone close to you has lost a baby at any stage, please take care as you listen. About Golda Arthur and First Person Health Golda Arthur has been an audio storyteller for 25 years, reporting and producing for organisations including the BBC and Vox Media. She runs her own production studio and hosts Overlooked: Women's Health Can't Wait which features immersive personal storytelling and in-depth conversations about women’s health. Her First Person Health workshop teaches people to tell their health stories in their own words, and each participant comes away with a professionally produced audio piece. Links Overlooked: Women's Health Can't Wait: https://overlookedpod.com/ Sands, the stillbirth and neonatal death charity: https://www.sands.org.uk/support-you Donate to Sands during Baby Loss Awareness Week: https://tinyurl.com/SANDS-Charity This American Life "One Last Thing Before I Go": https://www.thisamericanlife.org/702/one-last-thing-before-i-go/act-one-7

A midlife career change that began with perimenopause: Danni Hewson was an experienced BBC journalist who could take anything in her stride — until her body had other ideas. Perimenopause slammed her in her thirties, the brain fog wearing her down and undermining her confidence on live television. So she made a plan, moving to the early-morning microphone of Radio Five Live's Wake Up to Money, where she could keep her notes in front of her. Then Covid came, and with yet another restructure, the BBC were asking people to do even more with less. Danni finally made the call - and surprised herself more than anyone when it led her to the world of finance. Now Head of Financial Analysis at AJBell, Danni talks to Patsy about her career crossroads, transferable skills and how to look differently at what you've spent years building up. They also get into money. Danni breaks down the gender pension gap, explains why women's financial journeys diverge from men's at age twenty-eight, and gives us a good push to show our pensions some love. What We Cover How a chance meeting in a Mexican restaurant in Leicester led to a career in radio What local journalism gave Danni and what we lose as local newsrooms shrink Perimenopause in her late 30s and fighting to be believed The conversation that opened the door to AJ Bell Transferable skills: how to break down what you do every day into something someone else values The gender pension gap: why women’s financial contributions diverge from men’s at age 28 What to actually do when you open those pension envelopes for the first time The snowball effect of compound interest and the benefits of combining pension pots Pension options for freelancers, the self-employed, and women not currently in work The Lifetime ISA: what it is, who it suits, and why it’s underused

One night Wendy Welpton woke up in agony. She was a fit and healthy runner who had always taken good care of herself. Four years of chronic pain followed, with no clear answer from anyone on how to fix herself. What eventually changed things was a book, a lot of reading, and going back to study in midlife: first anatomy and physiology, then a movement certification. Out of that came Reclaim Movement and her book, Move Well For Life. This a conversation about noticing the signs and about making changes through small shifts. Links Read: Move Well For Life: Unlock the life-changing power of everyday movement by Wendy Welpton Wendy also mentioned: The Body Keeps the Score: Mind, Brain and Body in the Transformation of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk Visit Reclaim Movement's website here. Key Topics Reaching a career crossroads in midlife without choosing it A maternity leave career gap, and three or four senior interviews that ended in a quick no Keeping an entrepreneurial drive alive at home: knee patches, a wellbeing business, and a park campaign that raised £50,000 Career change after injury, and what four years of chronic pain does to your sense of the future Going back to study in midlife Retraining in midlife when you have no formal background in the field What natural movement actually means, and the other fifteen hours of the day Why the body is at its best moving frequently and through its ranges Building a business on Instagram, and what happens when a reel goes viral Small steps, trial and error, and building confidence through action Second career after children: turning a personal problem into a business

How do you turn a conversation into a £68m turnover business? Helen Cannon started a managed travel co in her late 30s (with five children at home!) off the back of a conversation in a restaurant. While the whole industry was pushing clients onto booking tools and stripping out the human contact, Helen saw that her ability to build good, lasting relationships would set Ison Travel apart. In a little over a decade, Helen has grown Ison into a super-scaler operating across five countries, with a workforce that is 70% women. Within that, 25% are over 55, and 5% over 65. We discuss Helen’s people-first, tech-second philosophy and building a high-growth business on the basis of a flexible working, part-time workforce. Helen shares precious insights into what’s holding women founders back from scaling their businesses and how we all need to be 1-% braver. She also reflects on how the pandemic, which paralysed the travel industry, became the inflection point on which ISON took flight. Listen to bolster your entrepreneurial resolve and to help you be a little braver. The Wobbly Middle is a podcast for women rethinking their careers in midlife. New episodes every other Tuesday. Key Topics Starting a business in midlife — middle-to-late thirties, five children, a six-month-old, and the realisation that no employer was going to be able to cope with her life Flexible working — hiring on ability rather than hours or postcode, job shares, school hours, and part-timers who became full-timers as their children grew Female founders — how female-founded businesses deliver higher returns and why women should not be scared to knock on the doors Scaling up — inflection points, the multiplier effect past £10 million, and why each step gets bigger rather than simply doubling 10% braver — a philosophy that can mean building a company or can mean getting out of bed and taking one small step Purpose before profit — "you can't have profit without purpose", and changing the workplace for good Trusting your gut — "your gut instincts are your guardian angels", and asking what's the worst that can happen Links ISON Travel: https://isontravel.com The SuperScalers: https://www.superscalers.world — Sam Smith's programme for female founders scaling their businesses, which Helen discusses in the episode Everywoman: https://www.everywoman.com The Women's Chapter: https://womenschapter.com More from The Wobbly Middle The Wobbly Middle on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-wobbly-middle/id1767850643 The Wobbly Middle on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4YhwsBch8Q9vAOUBBfusIv Subscribe to the newsletter: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep36-helen-cannon Find out more about The Wobbly Middle: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com/about?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep36-helen-cannon If You Enjoyed This Episode We've had other extraordinary female founders who have built boldly. Listen to Debbie Wosskow OBE (Season 1), who has founded and exited multiple businesses, and Rachael Newton (Season 2), a hedge fund lawyer who walked away to found period care company, Nixit. Help Us Grow If this episode resonated with you, here are two ways you can make a real difference: Leave a review here — it only takes a moment, and it's one of the best ways to help new listeners find the show. Every review counts. Share this episode with a friend — if you know someone who might be at a midlife career crossroads, please send this to them. Knowing that they are on this road with others can help build momentum. Thank you for listening and for supporting independent podcasts. Share Your Story Made a left turn in your career? We'd love to hear about it. Write to Patsy at [email protected], Your story might just be the nudge someone else needs. About The Host Join lawyer Patsy Day as she navigates her own midlife career crossroads in real time. A penny dropped for her when s

After over a decade in the family business, Heather took the painful decision to close its doors and change careers. The decision was long in the making but the relief was quick in flooding her senses. Now in her 40s, Heather retrained as a hypnotherapist, starting from scratch with zero clients and, in her words, imposter syndrome through the roof. Propelled by her purpose-led approach, Heather now works with everyone from burnt-out professionals to Comrades ultramarathon runners. In this episode Heather and Patsy talk about what hypnotherapy actually is (nothing to do with being made to cluck like a chicken); they pop the lid on confidence issues; and discuss how a purpose-led life gives you something to navigate by when you're at a career crossroads or the imposter voice starts up. Links You can find Heather at https://mindofpeacehypno.com/ Heather's Book recommendation for practical tools to work out your own purpose: There Is a Reason You Are Here by Gavin Lund. If You Enjoyed This Episode You might also love The Wobbly Middle Episode with investigative wellness journalist, Rebecca Newman, on the neuroscience of action boards (Season 3). We've also been lucky enough to have other remarkable South African women on the show, like Carri Simmons, who left teaching to retrain as a clinical psychologist. and Donna Crous — a stay-at-home mum and self-taught photographer who became Nikon's first-ever food photography ambassador. Both conversations are well worth going back for. Until next time. Help Us Grow If this episode resonated with you, here are two ways you can make a real difference: Leave a review here. It only takes a moment, and it's one of the best ways to help new listeners find the show. Every review counts. Share this episode with a friend. If you know someone who might be in their own wobbly middle, please send this to them. Knowing that they are on this road with others can help build momentum. Want more from Patsy between episodes? Subscribe to the newsletter — it's where the conversation continues: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep35-heather-makepeace New to The Wobbly Middle? Find out what we're all about:https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com/about?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep35-heather-makepeace Thank you for listening and for supporting independent podcasts.