Women's Survival Guide Podcast

About Women's Survival Guide Podcast

I interview women passionate about what they do in the now-what phase of life with positivity and humor as important ingredients. www.womenssurvivalguide.com (https://www.womenssurvivalguide.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Kim Druker Stockwell

Category

comedy · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

24 Feb 2022

Latest episode

26 Jul 2026

Latest episodes

28 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   26 Jul 2026

   A nice chat between strangers

   Terri Weeding (https://substack.com/profile/92896862-terri-weeding) and I “met” on a Zoom with the goal of either recording a session talking about her Maven5Q (published (https://www.womenssurvivalguide.com/p/maven-5q-terri-weeding)last week) answers or, if the energy was off, just chatting. This is how I work with my Zoom interviews these days. What happened was not planned and that is what made it effortless and comfortable. A safe space chat. After I listened to it I asked Terri if she was OK with my publishing our unedited time together and she was, so here it is. The video starts at the very beginning of our first meeting. We had never spoken on the phone, and really had not communicated much. I like to have a fresh start with the women I interview on video so there is a feeling of discovery. The Maven5Q doesn’t require me to speak with participants and the texts are minimal. Nothing different here. But, what was different was the easy flow of conversation between two women who are around the same age, didn’t know each other, but really knew where the other was coming from. We both listened and both shared. We each needed a good chat! It’s a personal conversation. You are a fly on the wall. It’s not My Dinner with Andre, but it’s something. The first five minutes or so we talk about our experience on Substack, which might be interesting if you’re on Substack or use it. We touch on Terri’s hormone therapy experience, and my curiosity about it. We get specific. We talk abut the stigma of meds. We talk about the kids leaving, blended families, and caring for parents. We talk about her mom and Terri’s dedication to her at the end of her life and the book she made for her which led to her work on Substack, Create your Woman’s Wisdom Book (https://terriweeding.com). It’s a good old fashioned conversation with the addition of video. It’s like we are strangers on a bus and strike up a chat. I hope you enjoy it and participate in the comments❤️ MEET ME IN THE COMMENTS! Thoughts on a long meandering, sometimes inaccurate on my part, chat between strangers? What struck you? ICYMI PS: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.womenssurvivalguide.com/subscribe (https://www.womenssurvivalguide.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

2. 

   3 May 2026

   Launch party, Book Club, In-Person Events!

   Thank you to everyone who tuned into our live video book launch for Fallout by Eleanor Anstruther (https://substack.com/profile/92328611-eleanor-anstruther)! In-person is magic! I hosted Eleanor Anstruther (https://substack.com/profile/92328611-eleanor-anstruther), Alisa Kennedy Jones (https://substack.com/profile/245322-alisa-kennedy-jones) and friends ( Substackers, Beth Lisogorsky (https://substack.com/profile/24190135-beth-lisogorsky), Good Humor by CK Steefel (https://substack.com/profile/27092661-good-humor-by-ck-steefel), Meg Oolders (https://substack.com/profile/49447374-meg-oolders) attended) at my home in Boston to celebrate her new book, Fallout. Eleanor did a reading, as you can watch on the video above and these fun Notes clips (https://www.womenssurvivalguide.com/notes) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/womenssurvivalguide/)!!, and we were hooked by the story of a fifteen year old girl running away from home to join a women’s peace camp in the early eighties United Kingdom. Fallout (https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Fallout/Eleanor-Ansthruther/9798999527042), is based on a major moment in the UK, the Greenham Common (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/mar/20/greenham-common-nuclear-silos-women-protest-peace-camp) protest. The all-women (30,000-70,000 of them) peace camp at a nuclear base from 1981-2000 in the UK is practically unknown here in the US. But, not for long. FIRST BOOK WE WILL READ: FALLOUT By Eleanor Anstruther (https://substack.com/profile/92328611-eleanor-anstruther) Fallout is the book to start our club with, ladies. These are crazy times, and so were the 1980s. We were around the same age as the protagonist, Bridget, is in the book, fifteen, in the early 80s. We can relate to the characters in Fallout now as grown women looking back and as mothers of girls, or as women in protest. The Greenham Commons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenham_Common_Women%27s_Peace_Camp)history is itself a major character in the book and something we women should know about and share with our kids and friends. About FALLOUT: “A radical daughter. A closeted father. A prim mother turned protester. One runaway girl sets a family on fire—and lights the way to liberation. In the bleak winter of 1982, fifteen-year-old Bridget has had enough. Enough of Thatcher’s Britain, enough of being invisible, and enough of her family’s secrets. Armed with little more than a sharp tongue and a fierce sense of justice, she runs away from her suburban life to join the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp—one of the most iconic protest movements in British history.But Bridget’s disappearance doesn’t just blow open her own life. It sends shockwaves through her fractured family: her distant, conservative mother, who’s about to fall headlong into a love affair she never saw coming, and her father—a man with secrets of his own, who’s spent a lifetime hiding in plain sight. Set at the unlikely intersection of nuclear disarmament and personal awakening, FALLOUT is a fearless, darkly funny exploration of identity, family, and midlife reinvention. With an irreverent bite that evokes Fleabag, the emotional complexity of Bad Sisters, and the political urgency of Milkman.” Simon and Schuster (https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Fallout/Eleanor-Ansthruther/9798999527042) I adore Eleanor’s writing and was hooked when I read her memoir, A Memoir in 65 Postcards & The Recovery Diaries (https://www.eleanoranstruther.com/a-memoir-in-65-postcards-the-recovery-diaries). She is a lot cooler than you or I and has survived to tell her own story. When shall we meet? Below is a poll to see about timing. You need to order the book here (https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Fallout/Eleanor-Ansthruther/9798999527042)and read it. We don’t want to wait too long! The actual meeting we can do a Zoom and in person, like the book launch. I’m hoping Eleanor can join in, too! MEET ME IN THE COMMENTS! What do you feel about protests? Have you gone to any lately? Are they worth the effort? Why? PS: Graduation is coming! Gift Ideas? PPS: Bebe’s new song!! PPPs: New Premium “Notes from My Bed” post coming next week! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.womenssurvivalguide.com/subscribe (https://www.womenssurvivalguide.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

3. 

   25 Jan 2026

   💪How to be strong with Cindy Sullivan

   MAVEN OF THE WEEK! CINDY SULLIVAN! Cindy Sullivan EverSTRONG (https://www.cindysullivanfitness.com/ever-strong) “You’re never too old, and it’s never too late to live your best life.” Whether you’re 40 or 80+, Cindy helps you move well, feel great, and stay strong for life.” I met Cindy Sullivan many years ago when our daughters were at Beacon Hill Nursery School. I remember Cindy as tall, thin, blond, lovely…and kind. I knew she had a sweet daughter, worked full time, and was very involved with a key playground in our neighborhood. She is someone I wanted to know better. Life got going and next thing I know it’s nearly twenty years later and our daughters are seniors in college. Like so many of the women I talk to who start something new in midlife, Covid had a hand in the pivot for Cindy. It’s not surprising to think people switched it up during the year we all were shut ins. We had to do something other than watch reruns of friends. For instance, I started this blog in earnest in December, 2020. I had been working on it, but it was really the uninterrupted time that covid allowed to sit and focus that I took advantage of as many others did. Trying to have a baby Years before Covid, Cindy had been working in PR and marketing in the financial world when she hit a wall. At the time she was in her late thirties, working full time and trying to have a second baby. It wasn’t going smoothly. For any of us that have experienced infertility, it becomes all consuming. Full of huge disappointment and dashed hopes but the possibility of success keeps you in it. It’s like an abusive relationship you cannot leave. You want what they promise you but you know you might not get it and there is no way to know if you will. Your world is consumed by the thought of getting pregnant. Your marriage has that one focus. Your friendships are affected by their pregnancy successes and failures. It is isolating because it is private. You and your spouse can only discuss it so many times. You cringe at the idea of family events when they ask when number one or two is coming. You notice pregnant women. Needless to say, Cindy burnt out…thoroughly. She quit her job and for the next five years she worked with her husband in his new company. She made peace with her fertility. I don’t talk about fertility issues in this blog for the one reason that everyone I talk to is far past worrying about having a baby of their own. But, maybe I should talk more about it because the process leaves scars. In talking to Cindy I was struck by how sincerely over it she was. She found the blessings in what she had and didn’t have: A beautiful baby girl, a wonderful husband, the ability to stay in their home in a community that is wonderful but expensive and taking up a long ago dream: teaching fitness. New focus: fitness! Like so many stories at Women’s Survival Guide, there was a passion that wasn’t supportable for whatever reason. In Cindy’s case the reason was expectations. She was the first to go to college in her family, she is a type A personality and had goals to achieve. But, when the “success” side of her life burnt out, the old passion flickered to life. She knew she needed a change and she knew she had loved fitness from a young age. After attending a Gloria Stevens class with her mom at age twelve she wrote in her diary ““I want to be an aerobics instructor when I grow up.” How cute is that? She set about her new focus in the way she did with her corporate career, with gusto and a lot of degrees and certificates. Today, Cindy is a Certified Personal Trainer, Group Fitness Instructor, and Senior Fitness Specialist among others. Cindy has a niche focus, midlife and seniors, a health and wellness area that is overlooked and underserved. She still does classes for everyone, but her focus is a category called “Active Aging.” From doing her group classes she was asked to come to people’s homes and do personal training, which she still does. By word of mouth her business grew fast. We talked about how expensive personal trainers are but she has kept her fees low so that her clients can afford them. Seniors tend not to want or are able to afford expensive fitness, but Cindy adapts her fee model for them. Covid pivot: Cindy knew her senior clients were not going to be able to do in person classes or in home instruction when lock down happened. By April of 2020 she was up and running on Zoom. She began a program that she still does called “Ever STRONG (https://www.cindysullivanfitness.com/ever-strong)” for $85.00 a month that includes coaching calls and online classes. With Covid, her life and work took on a new dimension with the internet. She started posting fun, upbeat instructive clips on instagram and her world exploded. One of her posts got four million views on Facebook! She now has 63,000 followers on Instagram! I follow her and LOVE her easy to do exercises…I particularly like this post: What’s next for Cindy? Bone density and joint health! Cindy is working on a new category of fitness aimed at improving our bone density and preventing osteoporosis. For men, too! How do we improve bone density through fitness you ask? It starts with jumping! And nutrition. She is developing twenty minute videos to keep people engaged who don’t want to commit to a longer session. Like me. Meet Your Trainer – Cindy Sullivan Cindy Sullivan is a certified personal trainer and group fitness specialist with additional credentials in strength, functional aging, fall prevention, and posture/mobility training. She’s trained hundreds of midlife and older clients across the U.S. and was voted Best of Boston for her work. Her motto: “You’re never too old, and it’s never too late to live your best life.” Whether you’re 40 or 80+, Cindy helps you move well, feel great, and stay strong for life.” 💪Cindy Sullivan EverSTRONG (https://www.cindysullivanfitness.com/ever-strong) 💪COMING IN A FEW DAYS…Cindy’s Maven Questionnaire and a recipe she loves! 💪Meet me in the comments! What I love about Cindys work is that it is doable for those of us with a short attention span. Just follow her lead and your bod with thank you!! What are you doing to stay fit? Do you have questions for Cindy? I have a few that I will post this week… ICYMI This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.womenssurvivalguide.com/subscribe (https://www.womenssurvivalguide.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 24 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

37

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

27

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.