76 Comments

The change is an EXCELLENT book. Let's shout that one from the rooftops. Love this next step in your journey Alisa! 💜

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We're super excited. It's a ton of work, but to bring more books like THE CHANGE to life means everything :) 💜

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You have my heart. I am with you all the way. We are sharing stories of midlife women too on our podcast and personally I am embarking on a project here in Australia to house the fastest growing homeless demographic here too...women over 50. We have much to do because there are so many gaps for women in midlife. Health and housing. I want my daughter's generation to not have those gaps to fill. For women. By women. We are the answer. Thank you for fueling the fire. Anita xx

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Anita, I just spoke to my cohorts at the Institute for Women's Futures and we'd love to learn more about what you're doing in AU on the housing front. In the US, the fastest-growing homeless segment is women over 55 and we'd love to understand other efforts and models out there that are working. Feel free to DM me! It'd also be great to feature both you and Erica in the EQ! xo-A

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Such a great idea, and love the back story!

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Thanks! So glad you are here!!!

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I am the living embodiment of the first part of this post. I was fired at 50 and left to flounder in the job market. It was an incredibly foreign place to be and I shit you not, nobody was hiring after interviewing me. I could only assume my resume looked awesome but then they saw me and realized I'm "mature."

So, after hitting financial rock bottom, in desperation I started my own business early this year.

Where am I now? flourishing! And I'd say roughly 99% of my clients are my age and older and all of them are on Substack. It's been AMAZING meeting so many brilliant minds.

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This is WONDERFUL! I love hearing this! If you ever have time and inclination, I'd love to feature you in our Empress Questionnaire!

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Anytime! I eat networking and community building for breakfast 😁 so by all means, I'm game whenever it fits with your schedule.

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My eyes started burning just a little bit reading this. I’m a 52 year old indie romance author. I mainly write characters in their 40s who are reclaiming their selves and their sexuality. When you spoke about bringing in writers, my immediate thought was ‘but it won’t be for romance, because the romance genre is not as respected.’ Can’t tell you how happy it made me to be wrong. I’m all tingly now!😂

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Oh, yes! We deserve ALL the romance! And it should be absolutely respected! SO glad you're here!!! 😂 ❤️🔥

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Me too❤️

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Absolutely WONDERFUL!! The Change is on my shortlist for this season's book club! Revolutionary! I started a podcast / book club (destigmadialogues.substack.com) this year at the age of 49 through Substack. I have always enjoyed writing but for some reason this year, the stars aligned and I believe I truly found my purpose. Looking forward to seeing what develops with Empress Editions. Congratulations!

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HOORAY!!! So glad you are here! And can't wait to listen! ❤️🔥👑

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Thank you! I’m so happy to have discovered you as well! 🌸

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Aged 74, Im finding deep and enriching friendships with younger women. We offer each other nothing less than love and support. This is exciting. Thank you!

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So glad you are here! I'll be 55 on Monday and one of my dearest friends is 77. She is the Grace to my Frankie and I have loved every bit of our 20-year collab.

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Congratulations! I feel this and can’t wait to see where you go.

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Need this! Especially as a 45 year old mom with an elementary school kid! Oh and with immigrant parents who though bilingual and acculturated still have issues with me because of cultural differences!!

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So glad you're here. ❤️🔥

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God, yes fucking please.

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🔥❤️👑

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I’m so excited for this inspiring initiative! My 20s pale in comparison to the messy middle years I’m in now. And in some ways, I feel as if I’m stuck in a disappearing act not of my own making. Looking forward to this collaboration of women’s wisdom!

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That feeling of being caught in a "disappearing act not of my own making" is rough. SO glad you are here!

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It’s kind of crazy that the idea of “hiring each other” is so novel for women…men have been doing it FOREVER. Love this!

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I know right? When Kirsten said it... We were like, wait, a minute... why didn't we even realize this was an option? Yes, there are "nice" campaigns out there to support women-owned businesses, but what if it were a more intentional act of resistance? Like you say, men have been doing it forever. ❤️🔥👑

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This is so exciting! ❤️

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Congratulations! That’s fantastic news. As a writer of women’s fiction, I’m bummed that your new pub won’t consider my work, but I’m glad you’re out there representing us. Maybe you’ll inspire more publications in the same spirit that represent different genres.

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I’m in and I subscribed, but technically midlife begins in our thirties. I’m 39 and consider myself midlife, but this talks about women over 50. Please include us slightly younger midlifers too x

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Oh gosh, totally agree! I think that was the unemployment stat, which sees a dramatic drop-off at 50, but what we now know is that the average life span of a US woman is 77.43 years, so divide that by two and you're at 38.71 years for midlife. The other thing is many women often start experiencing perimenopause in their late-ish 30s. I was 39 when it hit me. So, I think we have to be much more inclusive than just 50+. Sorry if I gave the impression otherwise. So glad you are here! 💛

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No problem at all. I hadn’t thought about being “midlife” until I saw the average age we live to and like you did the math! Perimenopause is creeping in. Us near 40’s need voices of women who have come out the other side and how to thrive. So will be reading all with interest.

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There's so much I wish I'd known--just simple "hacks" for getting through the annoying stuff--like speed-wicking PJs for night sweats, but also about different HRT options. I'm three years post menopause--and it's the BEST.

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I am ALL IN. This is an amazing initiative and I’m so grateful for the women coming together to support and uplift each other’s voices.

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So grateful you are here! Looking forward to getting to know your work!

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