L4: Living Loud Living Long

How to Ignite Creative Passion, 50 up Women Artist Life: Ep 12 L4

Earlier in my life and, likely yours too, we put aside our desires, interests, and passions to care for and support others: employers, spouses, and children. Once we reach 50 plus, we are tired of this constant outside focus. We’re ready to devote energy to ourselves, to restore our passion. I know I was an award-winning poet before family life took over.
Because I wanted to reignite my own creativity, I was excited to meet and learn about art from Jennifer Croney Chernak.
In this episode, Jennifer tells us her story about when she knew she was an artist.
She shares her life journey of how she developed and grew her skills as an artist from childhood through liberal arts college at Mount Holyoke to working as an English then art teacher. While working, she continued to push boundaries in her own art.
Even more than her journey, she shares specific art techniques using various media and surfaces for her painting. Discover her innovative and non-traditional approaches.
What I love is how she combines urban and natural space in her art, focusing on the interface between nature and human constructs like buildings.
Based in Philadelphia, she has a perfect location for exploring and pushing boundaries between human beings and the natural world.
Jennifer gives us valuable advice for how to color outside the lines- transform your life as a 50 up woman by following your creative passion on your own and within communities.
Are you ready to create the passion filled life you always wanted but had to ignore? Learn how in our Living Loud Living Long (L4) community and podcast. We support you in becoming. Join us today at https://livingloudlivinglong.com.
About: Jennifer Croney Chernak lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her preferred mediums include acrylic, charcoal, caron d'ache, plaster, and mixed media. Her art explores the complexity of landscape through personal observation influenced by emotion, psychological impulse, and imagination. Chernak studied art at Mount Holyoke College, has attended several artist residencies, and currently teaches visual arts at the William Penn Charter School. She will soon join Orquevaux Artist Residency in France. "When I am outside, it is impossible for me to detach from thoughts of erosion, pollution, land overuse, and toxic human impact. These thoughts occur simultaneously with feelings of awe over the beauty of the sky, bodies of water, and land," said Chernak. Visit: Instagram: @Jenn_C_Chernak_art

Exit Fortune 500 Executive, Enter Academic & Artist: The Executive to Creative Transformation of Christiane Palpant: Ep11 L4:

Christiane shares her learnings and advice with our Living Loud Living Long (L4) community about her mid-life career transformation journey from executive to creative.
She made a significant career switch from successful senior executive at billion dollar financial software firms to a business school professor at Georgia State University and a fine artist.
A near death health crisis made Christiane realize her health was precious and required nurturing. She survived, using her experience as a driving force for mid-life change.
Using her business expertise, she created lists of pros and cons and used spreadsheets to map out specific actions on her path to fulfillment and healthy living.
Her first step was reconnecting to childhood art training by her mother, a professional artist.
Setting her goals for financial, physical, and mental well-being (the foundation of the Living Loud Living Long (L4) approach to life), helped illuminate her path.
Christiane shares stories of her clinicians, family and friends who supported her. Like the doctor who encouraged her to connect to nature by walking barefoot on the office lawn.
During her illness, her physician prescribed bed rest. Yet, Christiane turned this into an opportunity to deepen her art. Like Frida Kahlo, she learned to paint in bed.
When it came to turning her passion into a career, Christiane tells L4 how she changed her mindset toward social media, embracing it with skill to connect with people and seize opportunities leading to fulfilling and paying work in academia and art.
About: Christiane Palpant is passionate about Professional Sales, Marketing, and Client Service. She has devoted her three-decade career to business leadership from start-up companies to Fortune 200 global enterprises. She was recently Senior Vice President and Head of Client Services at FIS, a Fortune 200 company and the world's largest global provider dedicated to banking and payments technologies. Since 2019, Christiane has been teaching Principles of Professional Sales at Georgia State University with a full-time position with the university. She is an artist with Agora Gallery. Her passion is making a positive impact on people’s lives.

Movie Industry Still Photography: Creative Career Pivots with Claire Folger: Ep 10 L4

Claire works in the highly sought space of Hollywood movies and television shows in the less commonly known creative field of still photography. She talks with Dr. Hughes, Founder of Living Loud Living Long, about creativity both as a financially supportive career and as a soul satisfying activity. If you are reaching mid-life, wanting to transform yourself, feeling alone, then you belong in our authentic, healthy community where you can find who you’re meant to be and how to get there. With us you get fresh ideas grounded in good medicine and like-minded friends in our Living Loud Living Long Community.
Career paths are often winding and involve pivots. Claire has been there. Pivots are good.
Claire started in biology working in a top tier neuroscience laboratory. She tells us how people misunderstand science as lacking in creativity.
Her pivot from science to art took place in steps. She tells us how she took purposeful smaller steps to get where she wanted to go.
Our listeners learn how she turned her creative outlet, photography, into a career working on movie sets with well-known actors and actresses.
She talks about her involvement with the Cinematographers Union.
Mentoring is a more recent activity that the industry has taken up. Claire is on the forefront of this by being an early mentor and passing along her hard-earned experience through her union program.
If you are inspired or learned from Claire’s podcast Like or Share this podcast or support us by Donating as a Patron to Living Loud Living Long. https://livingloudlivinglong.podbean.com/ or become a corporate sponsor.
To hear the full interview, subscribe to our Premium Season 1 podcast. https://www.podbean.com/premium-podcast/livingloudlivinglongexclusiveseason1
Bio: Claire is a Unit Still Photographer working in Motion pictures and Television. Known for feature film work on over 70 features: dramas such as August Osage County, and Indy films like The Way, Way Back, and Manchester by the Sea. Worked with Director Ben Affleck on all four of his films, including Academy Award winning ARGO. Twice nominated for Publicists Guild award for Excellence in Still Photography for Motion Picture, 2013 and 2017. Affiliated with Local 600 Cinematographers Union since 2000.

Reclaiming Our Body: When Women Create Menopause Solutions with Debbie Dickinson: Ep 9 L4

Debbie Dickinson and her daughter are innovating to solve your menopause frustrations. They join us in our women’s health over age 50 podcast series after summer break. You get fresh ideas grounded in good medicine and like-minded friends in our Living Loud Living Long Community for 50up women.
Have you wondered if your career journey is giving you fulfillment or taking you where you want to go? Debbie wondered that too and it started her on a fabulous path from a JD at Harvard Law and Wharton Business School to innovation motivated by helping herself, her friends and family. Listen to share her journey.
“Why do we as a society teach young women about puberty but don’t teach women about menopause?” That is the key question Debbie and Dr. Hughes discuss but find no answer to today. We reaffirm our missions to address this gap.
Debbie gives our listeners tips and advice about being a later in life entrepreneur who is also a woman of color.
Learn how menopause can change your day-to-day life.
Hear Debbie’s approach to solving menopause challenges such as hot flushes, including her startup Thermaband, for today’s 50up women and for our daughters and young women who will one day be in our place in life.
Want to hear more about Debbie and her innovation journey? Listen to our L4: Living Loud Living Long Premium podcast series.
About: Debbie Dickinson, Esq. is an experienced Harvard Law benefits attorney, Wharton Business School alumna and Lecturer, as well as a serial entrepreneur.  Debbie was a Benefits executive at Johnson & Johnson, then practiced Benefits law in Atlanta, before starting several small businesses. Her expertise includes wearable technology, direct sales, and ecommerce.  Debbie is very active in her church and community and serves on several nonprofit boards, especially with organizations which serve the needs of women and children. 
As a perimenopausal woman battling hot flashes, Debbie envisioned a discreet smart tech wearable to provide thermal relief, utilizing digital health data, and founded Thermaband with her daughter, working diligently with Yale scientists, physicians, engineers, and a highly involved community of women.  She is passionate about women's health, wellness, and rebranding menopause as a natural and empowering phase of life, by shattering negative stereotypes. She is also an advocate, speaker, author, change agent and happily married mom of four. Learn more about her:
Https://www.facebook.com/groups/multigenerationalsisterhood
 

Wander Women: How You Can Find Healing Strength in Mind and Body One Step at a Time: Ep 8 L4

Looking to reinvent your life? Kristy and Annette tell L4 how they quit their jobs, sold their homes and hit the trails to live their dream life over 50.
You can do more than you think you can. They tell our L4 community their approach to building up fitness and endurance until they were able to hike 8 to 12 hours a day. Doubts? Sometimes but they get up everyday and push their limits, finding strength inside themselves.
Feeling frantic and overwhelmed? Nature on the trail provides healing and meditative stillness for Kristy and Annette. Listen to their advice on bringing calm into your life.
The kindness of the trail community embraces Kristy and Annette, and they share stories of trail angels and saddlebags of food shared similar to your L4 community where you find similar kindness and support!
Listen to trail stories from the Appalachian, Pacific Crest trail and more from Kristy and Annette who’ve logged over 8,5 00 miles of American trails.
Want to hear their advice for getting started on the trail? Get L4: Living Loud Living Long Premium podcast. Support our podcast today by becoming a Sponsor, Patron, Liking and Sharing.
About: Kristy Burns: I am 58 years old. Grew up in Colorado but attended college at the University of South Florida on a basketball Scholarship. I have a Masters Degree in Mental Health Counseling with an LPC license. I had a private practice in Colorado Springs providing therapeutic services to children and families. My specialty area was in early childhood trauma. I retired in 2015 and sold everything to full-time RV travel. The goal is to explore the globe, experience new things, meet new people and expand the confines of my life.
Annette Demel: Spend as much time as possible doing what you love. It’s a pretty basic retirement plan, but so far, it’s been a blast. In 2015, after retiring from my career in public education working as a teacher and school librarian, I left my traditional life behind and started a life of travel and adventure. Whether I’m rolling around the U.S. in an RV, exploring our national public lands by bike, or backpacking our national scenic trails and living in a tent for six month at a time, spending time in nature brings me joy.
Annette and I have visited 48 National Parks and many National Monuments, National Scenic Rivers, and National Seashores. We have thru hiked the Colorado Trail, Oregon Coast Trail,  Superior Trail, Lone Star Trail. We also completed the triple crown of long distance hiking: the Appalachian Trail,  Continental Divide Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail. The triple crown had us walking through 22 states and wearing out about 16 pairs of shoes each. Learn more: https://www.facebook.com/RVsters/

Get Healthy with Tea & Start a Second Career Following Your Passion: Ep 7 L4

Ever dream of a second career, perhaps a café or restaurant?
Love tea and wonder how it fits into healthy living?
Learn how a passion for tea led to Joan open a local café, eventually leaving her global corporate job.
While there are challenges in running a food and beverage shop, Joan Jia gives us tips on solving them and tells us what she loves about her café.
Tea has multiple health benefits that vary based on the type of tea. Joan tells us about green tea and beyond.
Looking for a favorite new recipe? Joan shares favorite tea combinations.
Want to take your tea into evenings with friends? Joan shares her tea innovations for social gatherings like tea infused wine.
Get real life advice on turning your food or beverage passion into a second career.
About: Joan Jia is a dynamic, high achieving entrepreneur and product executive with strong technology and market background in the FinTech and PropTech industry. A natural leader and strategic thinker with a clear vision and an ability to take initiative, make strategic decisions and execute. She was formerly an Executive Director at JPMorgan Chase & Co. Joan founded Hastings Tea & Coffee and Reentry an interactive marketplace and service provider, specializing in small multifamily homes.

Solving a Common Women’s Health Problem & Caregiver Concern Keeping You Home: Ep 6 L4

Seeing poor care giving of older women in nursing homes who had to wear diapers limiting their mobility and causing worse health problems when she was a child inspired Cheri Grantham on a life-long mission to solve the common mid- to older women’s health problem of incontinence.
Her goal is giving an option for active women and/or those caring for family members.
Younger women can develop incontinence after childbirth, or it can occur with age.
Women’s health is often overlooked. Doctors tend to reach for solutions that seem easy but interfere with healthy activities like running, playing sports or visiting friends.
Should 50up women pay more attention to their health and how? Cheri gives us tips.
Are startups better off with diversity in leadership? Cheri tells us how her startup benefits.
Can women gain confidence as inventors? Cheri offers real life experience.

Woman Polar Explorer Sunniva Sorby on Healing Nature: Ep 5 L4

As a young girl, Sunniva was fascinated by exploring places few people have seen. Her passion for learning about nature and the farthest reaches of our world despite the challenges continues to grow and motivate her make a positive impact as a teacher, explorer, and voice for change.
Sunniva tells L4 about the physical and mental challenges faced when exploring in the Polar regions, especially the Antarctic, how she continues to explore as a 50up woman and how we can all use these lessons in our lives to be resilient.
We explore how getting outside the noise of our technology filled lives into the silence of nature can refocus and heal us.
Sunniva and Dr. Hughes discuss how being a female explorer has challenges, but how woman can help each other.
We talk about her new project in Canadian Arctic supporting the climate and collaborating with the Inuit people. We explore how together, regardless of who we are, what age we are or where we live, we can support nature through teaching, citizen science or as advocates.
Where and what adventures do we discuss?
On January 14th, 1993, Sunniva Sørby made history as one of the four-team members of the American Women’s Antarctic Expedition. They reached the South Pole following a grueling 700-mile trip across the snow and ice of Antarctica.
In May 1999, Sunniva led a team of three across the Greenland icecap from the East to West side, 33-day crossing that was over 350 miles in length. She became the first Canadian woman to complete the Greenland crossing and the first Canadian woman to ski to the South Pole.
In May 2020, Sunniva Sørby and Hilde Fålun Strøm made history as the first women to overwinter solo in the Arctic. They spent 19 months in the remote trapper’s cabin collecting climate data and teaching kids and adults about the Polar region.
About: Sunniva Sorby has multiple historic firsts as a woman explorer including team member for first all- woman group reaching the South Pole, first Canadian woman to ski to South Pole and first all-woman team to overwinter in the Arctic. Before becoming an explorer, she led and managed outdoor travel programs and taught outdoors skills. In multiple roles, she has been an advocate and teacher for women, and diversity as well as the climate. She was born in Tønsberg, Norway and raised in Montreal where she graduated from Trafalgar School for Girls and went on to pursue Economics at Champlain College & Bishops University, where she majored in Economics. Learn more about her: https://www.heartsintheice.com

Menopause to Menopower, Big Corp to Start-up with Jill Angelo: Ep 4 L4

Are you fulfilled with your job? Are you looking to make an impact? Are you concerned about your health as a 50up woman?
If you are ready to hit go on your next life stage, considering leaving corporate America for a start-up or feeling frustrated or challenged by changes in your health and don’t know where to get straight answers then this episode is for you.
First, let’s get this out of the way…you are not alone. Not Alone.
We all experience changes in our body and mind as we transition to our next exciting life stage. While experts, doctors and even our mothers have been silent on women’s health challenges due to fear, embarrassment and societal lack of support, woman are now beginning to get the healthcare they need through companies such as Jill Angelo’s start-up Gennev.
Jill tells us about the most common changes women experience as they approach 50 years old and up. She discusses ways we can support our health while enjoying our lives more.
Her story includes making a career switch later in life from senior executive at Microsoft to co-founder of her women’s health start-up Gennev. As she approaches 50up, living the life of the women her firm supports, she creates an authentic experience.
Gennev has already attracted venture capital funding and is growing quickly while providing unmet health services for women experiencing menopause.
Are you Living Loud Living Long (L4) as a 50up woman? When will you be ready to start?
About: Jill Angelo is the co-founder and CEO of Gennev whose mission is to empower every woman to take control of her life in menopause. Gennev is the first-ever telehealth provider and community for women in menopause.
Jill has 20 years’ experience in the tech industry, primarily at Microsoft in executive roles such as Chief of Staff to the CMO, Director of Global Media, and Product Management for Emerging Markets. Jill is also a member of the Board of Directors for Special Olympics of Washington.  
Named as one of Inc. Magazine’s 2020 Top 100 Female Founders, Jill is a driving force for bringing effective health solutions to women in the most vibrant years of their lives. Twitter:@mygennev

Strong, Active, and Fabulous at 50up with Tina Tang, Fitness Trainer: Ep 3 L4

Can you begin improving your fitness at any age? Tina tells her story…hint, you don’t need to move into a gym or have any fitness experience.
Why get fit? Fitness is all about lifting bags of potting soil if you’re a gardener or opening a jar of jam or chasing children around the park. Fitness can include lifting heavy weights (Tina does), but it doesn’t have to be all about bench pressing. It's about feeling stronger and more confident every day.
Does age influence how you approach fitness? Yes and No. Tina and Dr. Hughes discuss what works in fitness exercises and plans and what to watch out for.
Do we dare talk about taboo subjects? Yah, we go there. Dr. Hughes and Tina talk about menopause and how it impacts women’s lives, health, and fitness and what we can do about it including starting now to treat our future self with love.
Physical fitness is fantastic, but for optimal fitness, we need to be mentally fit and happy with our lives. Tina exercises her creative side by designing jewelry. Her latest designs celebrate strength. Tina shares how as an entrepreneur she built a jewelry business, initially bricks and mortar, and now online, which brings holistic balance to her life.
About: Tina Tang, of Iron Strong Fitness, is a latecomer to fitness, starting at age 42! Before starting as a strength coach in 2012, Tina was an equities trader at Goldman Sachs and later transitioned to a jewelry designer who owned stores in New York City. Over the past 9 years, Tina coached over 3,700 sessions, trained her female clients to their first push-ups, pulls ups and compound barbell lifts. Strength is her specialty. Tina is a fit-at-50 coach and the creator of the 4S Formula to help mid-life women get stronger and leaner, through one-on-one coaching and online group fitness classes. Find Tina at  https://www.instagram.com/ironstrongfit