It Starts Now with Juanita Dillard

About It Starts Now with Juanita Dillard

It Starts Now with Juanita Dillard, Embracing The Beauty of Growing Older! Podcast Bio: is a lively, conversational podcast that flips the script on aging. Hosted by veteran mea groomer and beauty expert, Juanita Dillard. This show is a fresh, funny, and feel good-space where getting older is celebrated-not dreaded. Each episode offers a blend of uplifting stories, personal reflections, and candid conversations, with guests who are living boldly and aging out loud. From retirement dreams and travel goals, to wellness, style, and reinvention. Nothing's off limits-except politics. We're all about joy, freedom, and grown-folk fun. Whether you're 50 or just fabulous, It Starts Now invites listeners to lean in, laugh more, and love the life they're living-right now!

Publisher

Juanita R. Dillard

Category

arts · health & fitness · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

13 Aug 2025

Latest episode

20 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

30 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   20 Oct 2026

   It Starts Now, October 20, 2026

   It Starts Now with Juanita Dillard Reflexology, Nervous System Reset, and Self-Care After 45 with Vicki Ran Juanita Dillard sits down with Vicki Ran of Florish Spa to unpack what reflexology actually is, how a full reset session works from foot soak to infrared sauna, and why women over forty-five need both rest and community. When Were You Last Truly Relaxed Juanita Dillard opens the episode by posing a question she wants listeners to sit with: when was the last time they were truly relaxed, not just medicated or distracted, but actually at peace. She draws a line between numbing out with a drink or a gummy and the deeper calm she is interested in exploring. Dillard connects the question directly to her ongoing theme of aging out loud, arguing that growing older means giving yourself permission to pause rather than constantly performing for everyone else's needs. She introduces her guest, Vicki Ran of Florish Spa, explaining that today's conversation will dig into reflexology, the nervous system, and how pressing pause fits into caring for the body as it ages. The setup is playful but pointed, setting listeners up to think honestly about their own relationship with rest before Ran begins describing what a session actually involves. Introducing Reflexology At Florish Spa Vicki Ran explains that Florish Spa builds comprehensive appointments rather than a single reflexology treatment, combining modalities so clients leave feeling completely reset. Every session begins with a foot soak in Epsom salts, delivering magnesium and relaxing the body before any hands-on work starts. During the soak, Ran has a conversation with the client about what is going on in their body, whether that is hot flashes, tension, or specific pain, so she can adjust room temperature, table heat, or pressure accordingly. She stresses that every program at the spa is fully customizable to the individual rather than a one-size-fits-all routine. Dillard responds with visible enthusiasm, asking Ran to walk through the process step by step for listeners who have never tried reflexology and wonder, half-joking, whether they will simply fall asleep on the heated table before the session even gets going. What Reflexology Really Targets Ran distinguishes reflexology from a standard foot rub, explaining that while a foot massage works the muscles and soft tissue, reflexology applies specific thumb and finger pressure to reflex points that correspond to organs and systems throughout the body, from the stomach to the heart to the colon. She describes clients arriving mentally exhausted and physically wound tight, with clenched jaws and tense shoulders they often do not notice until the session releases them. Dillard presses her on what calming the nervous system actually means in plain terms, and Ran answers that breathing deepens, heart rate normalizes, and jaw tension eases by the end of a treatment. She mentions a recent UK study using MRI machines during reflexology sessions to map brain activity against the corresponding foot points, with fuller results still pending publication, alongside existing research linking reflexology to improved anxiety symptoms and sleep quality. Inside A 90 Minute Signature Session Ran walks Dillard through the full signature experience at the small, intentionally quiet spa, where only one client is present at a time. After the initial foot soak and conversation, clients move to a treatment room for a back stretching mat that uses air compression to lengthen the spine, neck, and hips, paired with leg compression boots that inflate in a wave pattern to improve circulation. Red and infrared light therapy follows, aimed at skin and cellular rejuvenation, all conducted in near silence with only spa music playing. Once the compression boots come off, the reflexology portion begins, closing with a tuning fork session using both weighted forks on the feet and unweighted forks near the ear for sound-based relaxation. The

2. 

   7 Oct 2026

   It Starts Now, October 7, 2026

   It Starts Now with Juanita Dillard What are you officially too grown for? In this birthday-week solo episode, Juanita Dillard brings the laughs, the honest truths, and a few hard-earned lessons about friendships, boundaries, aging, and beginning again. It’s a birthday rant with heart. The Birthday Rant: Aging Out Loud, Saying No, and Ditching the Thirst Trap On the day after her birthday, Juanita Dillard goes solo for a candid, funny rant on friendships, boundaries, menopause, reinvention, and why she's done with textationships and thirst traps for good. A Birthday Rant Begins Juanita Dillard opens this episode of It Starts Now the day after her birthday, joking that she will not reveal her age but that the tree of her life "has a lot of circles." She explains she posted a question on social media asking followers what they feel officially too grown for, and she loved the funny, honest answers she received, including one listener who says they are too old for Halloween trick-or-treating, though Dillard admits she will still knock on a door for candy if she knows the homeowner. She frames the hour as her birthday rant, a list of ten things she has decided she is done tolerating as she gets older. She promises to work through topics on friendships, boundaries, dating, aging, and reinvention, setting a tone that mixes humor with hard-earned honesty about what no longer serves her. Friendships and the Gift of No Dillard moves into a frank discussion of friendship and boundaries, saying she no longer calls a lost friendship a mistake, preferring to call it a lesson learned. She admits that most friendships she has let go actually let go of her first, because they stopped serving a purpose or feeding what she calls her emotional rediscovery, and she accepts that former friends likely feel the same about her. She confesses she has always struggled with saying no, calling herself a people pleaser who used to throw parties and welcome drop-in visitors the way her grandmother once did. This year, for her birthday, she decided to practice saying no, turning away unannounced guests and impromptu drive-bys unless people call first. She calls no a complete gift to herself, explaining that she would rather plan a visit properly, with snacks and drinks ready, than be caught unprepared and unmoisturized at her own front door. Aging Out Loud Through Arthritis and Menopause Dillard turns to what she calls aging out loud, the freedom of saying plainly what getting older actually feels like instead of suffering quietly. She jokes that she inherited her mother's arthritis and now understands, too late to tell her mother so, exactly what that daily pain and stiffness feels like. She describes losing her old confident walk but insists that if she falls, at least her moisturized face will look cute. She talks about menopause taking over her body and argues that women are forced to be vocal about aging because the medical industry and insurance rarely cover menopause treatment, leaving them to pay out of pocket just to feel better. Still, she insists arthritis and menopause will not stop her, noting she may rise slowly from a low chair but she is still rising, still walking, and still very much alive, with her old sense of style and confidence fully intact. Reinvention and Influencers Over Fifty Moving to reinvention, Dillard says she refuses to keep picking herself apart over what her body can no longer do, like running or jumping hurdles the way she did when she played real tackle football and tennis. Instead she chooses to celebrate what she can still do, joking that she will walk fast enough to flag down a bus while playing the part of a sweet old lady with an umbrella if she has to. She insists her story has not ended but is actually beginning, pointing to reinvention in work, home, relationships, and dreams as always available regardless of age. She praises the wave of influencers in their fifties, sixties, and seventie

3. 

   23 Sept 2026

   It Starts Now, September 23, 2026

   It Starts Now with Juanita Dillard WHEN TALENT ISN’T ENOUGH: From Salon Roots to Tech Founder What happens when the world you grew up in becomes the inspiration for the business you were meant to build? On this episode of IT STARTS NOW, Juanita Dillard welcomes Ludny Jules, founder of Pink Gossip, for an inspiring conversation about reinvention, entrepreneurship, visibility, personal branding, and creating a business people remember. Growing up in her mother’s hair salon, Ludny witnessed firsthand the talent, passion, and hard work required to build a beauty business. When the salon eventually closed, she learned a lesson that would remain with her throughout her entrepreneurial journey: talent alone is not enough to create a successful and sustainable business. After nearly ten years of helping beauty professionals market themselves, her journey evolved into technology. She became fascinated with what happens after marketing brings a client through the door—and how a memorable client experience can turn satisfied customers into a business owner’s most powerful marketing strategy. I discuss what it takes to reinvent yourself, enter a constantly evolving industry, build a trusted personal brand, and become more visible without losing your authenticity. They also explore how Pink Gossip helps beauty entrepreneurs transform real client experiences into visibility, trust, loyalty, social proof, and repeat business. Because your clients aren’t simply customers. When you give them an experience worth remembering, they become the people who tell your story. Learn more about Pink Gossip at pinkgossip.ca. Personal Branding, Client Reviews, and Reinventing a Beauty Business with Ludny Jules Juanita Dillard opens the fall season of It Starts Now with Pink Gossip creator Ludny Jules, tracing her path from her mother's salon to building a tech platform that turns client experiences into visibility, trust, and word-of-mouth marketing — and what reinvention really costs. A New Season Begins Juanita Dillard opens the fall season of It Starts Now after a month-long hiatus, marveling at the show's new intro music and crediting her director, Doug, for the upgrade. She welcomes listeners back to a season built on honest conversations, reinvention, purpose, and aging out loud, then previews today's theme of talent, entrepreneurship, visibility, and what happens after a client walks through the salon door. She introduces her guest, Ludny Jules, who grew up in her mother's hair salon and later spent nearly ten years helping beauty professionals market themselves before moving into technology to build Pink Gossip, a platform that turns great client experiences into visibility, trust, loyalty, and word-of-mouth marketing. Dillard says the story reminds her of her own mother's salon. Jules thanks Dillard warmly for the introduction and compliments the new intro music before the two ease into a conversation about beauty, business, and reinvention. Growing Up In Her Mother's Salon Jules describes growing up in her mother's hair salon, first in France and later after the family relocated to Canada, where her mother continued building a beauty business. She tells Dillard the salon taught her that the work is about far more than services; it is about connection, sisterhood, and listening, with her mother often becoming a kind of therapist to the women who came in, sometimes just to talk. Dillard connects immediately, recalling how she had to close her own business during COVID and felt the same loss of connection with clients, prompting her to start Zoom calls teaching women makeup for video interviews just to stay close to them. Jules agrees, describing the relationship between stylist and client as an exchange of energy that goes far beyond the chair. She adds that losing that connection was especially hard on her mother when her salon eventually closed, a moment that later shaped Jules's own career pa