Fan Mail: Tell Wendy how you're saying yes to yourself!

Kathryn Morea spent 29 years married before a divorce in her early 50s left her rebuilding an identity she hadn't touched in decades. She'd only ever known herself as half of a marriage, so figuring out who she was on her own, in her 50s, meant starting from a blank page most people don't expect to face at that age. Now in her 60s, she coaches midlife women through what she calls the glow-up: reclaiming body confidence, dating, and desirability instead of assuming that season of life is over. 

They explore:

• Why she believes so many women unknowingly operate from scarcity around dating and love, and what changed when she started seeing real abundance instead
• The specific mindset shift that made her stop apologizing for her body on dates, and why she thinks the apology itself sends the wrong message
• What it took to separate her worth from a story she'd been telling herself for years about what was still available to her at this age

Kathryn's story isn't about pretending midlife is easy. It's about refusing to accept the version of it she'd been handed by default. She spent years rebuilding from the ground up, and what she's built instead isn't a consolation prize for what she lost. It's a life she actively likes better.

Connect with Kathryn:

Instagram: instagram.com/kathrynunleashed

Book your free call with Katheryn: calendly.com/kathryn-morea/one-on-one-call

________________________________________________________________________________________

Connect with Wendy:

Linkedin
Instagram: @wendy.harrop
Facebook: Phineas Wright House

Website: Phineas Wright House
PWH Farm Stays
PWH Curated Experience and Travel

Interested in being a guest on the show?
Send your pitch to [email protected]

Podcast Production By Shannon Warner of Resonant Collective
Want to start your own podcast? Let's chat!

If this episode resonated, follow Say YES to Yourself! and leave a  5-star review. It helps more women in midlife discover the tools, stories, and community that make saying YES not only possible, but powerful.

Fan Mail: Tell Wendy how you're saying yes to yourself!

This conversation opens on calling, guidance, and what it looks like to trust a path before you can see where it leads, and that path is exactly how Giselle Sandy-Phillips ended up writing a career guide for Gen Z. (Book talk starts around 24:00, if you want to jump ahead.) She built it as a family project: her own kids gave feedback on every chapter, and her daughter's photo is on the cover. 

In this conversation, Wendy and Giselle explore:

• The gap she kept seeing between how young employees actually think and communicate, vs. the myth that they are lazy, entitled, and unprepared
• How financial literacy, mental health, and career planning all ended up in the same book
• How the project shifted the moment she stopped keeping it private and let her own kids shape what made it into the final book

Giselle's book started as one woman noticing a hole on the shelf and deciding to fill it. What's followed — award recognition, international book fairs, a growing list of press — has as much to do with the people she brought along for the process as it does with her own drive to see it through.

Connect with Giselle:

Get her book, Thriving in the Modern Workplace: A Gen Z Guide to Success: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1969319089?tag=syty-20

Instagram: instagram.com/hrmeetsgenz

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gisellesandyphillips/

Facebook: facebook.com/p/Giselle-Sandy-Phillips-61578241349749

________________________________________________________________________________________

Connect with Wendy:

Linkedin
Instagram: @wendy.harrop
Facebook: Phineas Wright House

Website: Phineas Wright House
PWH Farm Stays
PWH Curated Experience and Travel

Interested in being a guest on the show?
Send your pitch to [email protected]

Podcast Production By Shannon Warner of Resonant Collective
Want to start your own podcast? Let's chat!

If this episode resonated, follow Say YES to Yourself! and leave a  5-star review. It helps more women in midlife discover the tools, stories, and community that make saying YES not only possible, but powerful.

Fan Mail: Tell Wendy how you're saying yes to yourself!

Adrienne Ryser moved to Paris for love with two suitcases, a cat, no visa, and no French, and ended up buying the oldest flower shop in the city. Now she's opened a second location in Oslo and just published her first book, Fleurs. 

In this conversation, Wendy and Adrienne explore:

• What it took to earn a spot at a shop the original owners hadn't let an employee touch in a decade, and why they still drive by to check on her years later
• Adjusting to a culture that discourages standing out, after building an entire business on doing exactly that
• The moment she realized chasing "calm and settled" wasn't actually the goal — building a life with room for both chaos and quiet was

What stands out about Adrienne's story isn't the shop, or the book, or even Paris itself. It's how many times she's said yes to a life she never planned for, then built something remarkable inside it anyway.

Connect with Adrienne:

Get her book, Fleurs: Bouquets, Arrangements, and French Floral Inspirations: amazon.com/dp/1454958022?tag=syty-20

Instagram:

@AdrienneRyser instagram.com/adrienneryser

L’Arrosoir Oslo: instagram.com/larrosoiroslo

L’Arrosoir Paris: instagram.com/larrosoirparis

Referenced in this Episode:

Meghan Trainor - Me Too: youtu.be/qDRORgoZxZU?si=Aa9673EyzQVsmpNB

The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level by Gay Hendricks: amazon.com/Big-Leap-Conquer-Hidden-Level/dp/0061735361?tag=syty-20

________________________________________________________________________________________

Connect with Wendy:

Linkedin
Instagram: @wendy.harrop
Facebook: Phineas Wright House

Website: Phineas Wright House
PWH Farm Stays
PWH Curated Experience and Travel

Interested in being a guest on the show?
Send your pitch to [email protected]

Podcast Production By Shannon Warner of Resonant Collective
Want to start your own podcast? Let's chat!

If this episode resonated, follow Say YES to Yourself! and leave a  5-star review. It helps more women in midlife discover the tools, stories, and community that make saying YES not only possible, but powerful.

Fan Mail: Tell Wendy how you're saying yes to yourself!

Joni Woods spent nearly 20 years as a youth and young adult pastor before leaving both her marriage and the church that shaped her. Now an author and corporate consultant, she joins Wendy to talk about what it actually takes to trust yourself when the people around you don't agree with your choices. 

They explore:

• Why "anchoring down" on your own reasons matters more than winning an argument, especially when family, faith leaders, or an ex-spouse are working hard to change your mind
• The difference between grace that heals a relationship and grace that's used to justify staying in something harmful
• How writing through a contentious divorce turned into a book meant to give other people language for what they're not ready to say out loud yet

Joni's story isn't about rejecting faith. It's about redefining what alignment with it looks like on her own terms. Her decision to leave didn't come with anyone doing it for her or with her, and that's exactly the point: the anchoring has to come from inside.

Connect with Joni:

Get her book, Burned, Blocked, and Better than Ever: A Raw Journey of Healing: amazon.com/Burned-Blocked-Better-Than-Ever/dp/B0FGCXZBHX?tag=syty-20

Instagram: instagram.com/authorjoniwoods

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/joniwoods

Website: JoniWoods.com 

Referenced in this Episode:

Coffee Chat with Joni: https://youtu.be/AC4ZlMAzeGM

The Vow Series: imdb.com/title/tt10222764/

________________________________________________________________________________________

Connect with Wendy:

Linkedin
Instagram: @wendy.harrop
Facebook: Phineas Wright House

Website: Phineas Wright House
PWH Farm Stays
PWH Curated Experience and Travel

Interested in being a guest on the show?
Send your pitch to [email protected]

Podcast Production By Shannon Warner of Resonant Collective
Want to start your own podcast? Let's chat!

If this episode resonated, follow Say YES to Yourself! and leave a  5-star review. It helps more women in midlife discover the tools, stories, and community that make saying YES not only possible, but powerful.

Fan Mail: Tell Wendy how you're saying yes to yourself!

In this episode, Wendy sits down with Kristine Jensen, a psychotherapist who spent 35+ years helping clients heal shame, while carrying a deep sense of unworthiness herself. After closing her practice and moving to the California coast, she finally became her own client. What she discovered: shame is foundational, not superficial. It's not embarrassment or guilt. It's a survival mechanism rooted in childhood, where you learned to collapse, comply, and hide in order to feel safe. And it shapes everything.

They explore:

• Shame vs. other emotions: the misunderstood feeling that keeps women small, quiet, and disempowered
• Self-soothing internal dialogue: the practice children with healthy self-esteem learn early, and what happens when you have to teach it to yourself as an adult
• Stop telling your old story: why repeatedly reliving trauma reinforces neural pathways, and how moving toward who you're becoming shifts everything

The work isn't about understanding what happened to you. It's about learning to talk to yourself the way you'd talk to someone you love. Building an internal vocabulary of self-encouragement. Getting tired of your old story so you can create a new one. This is how unworthiness heals.

Connect with Kristine:

kristine-jensen.com

Facebook: facebook.com/kristinebjensenauthor

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kristine-jensen-203a09129/

Get her book, Bruised Not Broken: amazon.com/Bruised-Not-Broken-Troubled-Childhood/dp/B0DZ2PZN37?tag=syty-20

________________________________________________________________________________________

Connect with Wendy:

Linkedin
Instagram: @wendy.harrop
Facebook: Phineas Wright House

Website: Phineas Wright House
PWH Farm Stays
PWH Curated Experience and Travel

Interested in being a guest on the show?
Send your pitch to [email protected]

Podcast Production By Shannon Warner of Resonant Collective
Want to start your own podcast? Let's chat!

If this episode resonated, follow Say YES to Yourself! and leave a  5-star review. It helps more women in midlife discover the tools, stories, and community that make saying YES not only possible, but powerful.

Fan Mail: Tell Wendy how you're saying yes to yourself!

In this episode, Wendy sits down with Kate Assaraf, founder of Dipped—a plastic-free shampoo and conditioner bar company born from 20 years in the beauty industry and a decade of frustration. In 2014, Kate discovered something most people don't know: plastic is way more problematic than the average consumers know. Recycling is a farce. Plastic leaches chemicals into our bloodstream and messes with our endocrine systems. But instead of guilt-tripping people into sustainability, she built something radical: a product so good, people switch for quality and savings first, then realize it's plastic-free as a bonus.

They explore:

• Why most sustainable beauty products fail: they're made for a specific avatar (linen-wearing boho) and disappoint people switching from expensive hair care
• Building a brand on integrity, not influencers: no UGC actors, no AI, only actual paying customers. Result: 0.006% return rate.
• Reinvesting in local economy: money spent at zero-waste stores stays in your community, supports your fire department and schools, brings back face-to-face commerce

Kate's philosophy is simple: don't guilt people into doing the right thing. Give them really good stuff. Treat smart women like smart women. Let quality and integrity be your marketing. The scaffolding is strong, the messaging is real, and people buy it over and over again.

Connect with Kate:

DipAlready.com

Instagram: instagram.com/dipalready

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kate-assaraf-b25a741a7

Referenced in this Episode:

HiBar: hellohibar.com

Bite: bitetoothpastebits.com

________________________________________________________________________________________

Connect with Wendy:

Linkedin
Instagram: @wendy.harrop
Facebook: Phineas Wright House

Website: Phineas Wright House
PWH Farm Stays
PWH Curated Experience and Travel

Interested in being a guest on the show?
Send your pitch to [email protected]

Podcast Production By Shannon Warner of Resonant Collective
Want to start your own podcast? Let's chat!

If this episode resonated, follow Say YES to Yourself! and leave a  5-star review. It helps more women in midlife discover the tools, stories, and community that make saying YES not only possible, but powerful.

Fan Mail: Tell Wendy how you're saying yes to yourself!

In this episode, Wendy sits down with Jossie Haines, a former Apple engineer who led teams on Siri, won a technical Emmy, and looked like she had it all figured out, until she realized the cost. After years in the frenetic tech industry where success equals hours worked and busyness is a badge of honor, she left. Then she took six months off and discovered something radical: she didn't have to keep living that way.

They explore:

• Why hustle culture is a lie: career success doesn't have to come at the cost of your nervous system
• Practical tools that actually work: worry dumps, scheduled worry time, and nervous system regulation
• How to build both: the career success AND the personal wellbeing, not choosing between them

Jossie's work now centers on helping people, especially high-achievers in tech, understand that both sides of the equation matter. Burnout isn't inevitable. Your nervous system can be regulated even while you're doing ambitious work. It just takes intention, tools, and permission to step away from the myth that productivity equals worth.

Connect with Jossie:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jossiemann

JossieHaines.com

Referenced in this Episode:

Cake on Tuesday Podcast by Elizabeth Bieniek: podcast.cakeontuesday.com

Positive Intelligence by Shirzad Chamine: amazon.com/dp/1608322785?tag=syty-20

________________________________________________________________________________________

Connect with Wendy:

Linkedin
Instagram: @wendy.harrop
Facebook: Phineas Wright House

Website: Phineas Wright House
PWH Farm Stays
PWH Curated Experience and Travel

Interested in being a guest on the show?
Send your pitch to [email protected]

Podcast Production By Shannon Warner of Resonant Collective
Want to start your own podcast? Let's chat!

If this episode resonated, follow Say YES to Yourself! and leave a  5-star review. It helps more women in midlife discover the tools, stories, and community that make saying YES not only possible, but powerful.

Fan Mail: Tell Wendy how you're saying yes to yourself!

In this episode, Wendy sits down with Dawn Pfingsten, a beauty and skincare creator who's spent the last decade on social media, and learned that perfectionism is the cage keeping women stuck as a result. Raised in the South with the conditioning to "look good before volleyball practice," she gradually dismantled that cage by showing up authentically: sweaty walks on camera, no-makeup days, real life. But the real story isn't about skincare. It's about seasons.

They explore:

• How perfectionism shifts as you age: in your 20s you judge, but in your 40s and 50s, you assume good intent and give people the benefit of the doubt
• Life has seasons, not failures: parenting phases, empty nests, marriage evolution aren't bad, they're just different, and you get to choose if you'll find good in the next phase
• The power of following what feels right over what's shiny: roadblocks often mean "this way," and sometimes you have to try something to know if it's not for you

When her kids started growing up and moving out, Dawn made a choice: intentionally find good in this next chapter or spend 40 years miserable. So she moved to a farmhouse, started raising sheep, and traded her dresses for Target jeans, because she realized she still has so much more life left.

Connect with Dawn:

Instagram: instagram.com/justdoingmybest

Facebook: facebook.com/justdoingmybest

YouTube: youtube.com/justdoingmybest

Referenced in this Episode:

Naturium.com

________________________________________________________________________________________

Connect with Wendy:

Linkedin
Instagram: @wendy.harrop
Facebook: Phineas Wright House

Website: Phineas Wright House
PWH Farm Stays
PWH Curated Experience and Travel

Interested in being a guest on the show?
Send your pitch to [email protected]

Podcast Production By Shannon Warner of Resonant Collective
Want to start your own podcast? Let's chat!

If this episode resonated, follow Say YES to Yourself! and leave a  5-star review. It helps more women in midlife discover the tools, stories, and community that make saying YES not only possible, but powerful.

Fan Mail: Tell Wendy how you're saying yes to yourself!

In this episode, Wendy sits down with Sarah Barnes-Humphrey about what happens when your entire life plan disappears overnight. Ten days before her 37th birthday, the family business she'd wanted to run since age 16 closed its doors. Job gone. Title gone. Future gone. It was the worst day of her life, but she didn't stay there.

They explore:

• When you lose everything, you discover what you're actually made of, and how resilience looks less like inspiration and more like showing up broken
• The moment someone told her the work was worth $1,000 and she believed it: how discovering your worth changes everything
• The ongoing battle: autoimmune disease, panic attacks since her 20s, a dysregulated nervous system, but continuing to say yes to what matters anyway

Sarah's story isn't about bouncing back perfectly or finding the silver lining. It's about climbing out of rock bottom while still carrying the wounds. It's about rebuilding while your body and mind are still fighting. It's raw, honest, and real.

Connect with Sarah:

Get her book, I Buried Her in a French Press: amazon.com/Buried-Her-French-Press-Finding/dp/1544549466?tag=syty-20

Instagram: instagram.com/sarahbarneshumphrey

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sarahbarneshumphrey

BlendedPledge.org

SarahBarnesHumphrey.com

Podcasts: sarahbarneshumphrey.com/content

Referenced in this Episode:

On Our Best Behavior by Elise Loehnen: amazon.com/dp/059324303X/?tag=syty-20

Lewis Howes Podcast: lewishowes.com/sogpodcast

________________________________________________________________________________________

Connect with Wendy:

Linkedin
Instagram: @wendy.harrop
Facebook: Phineas Wright House

Website: Phineas Wright House
PWH Farm Stays
PWH Curated Experience and Travel

Interested in being a guest on the show?
Send your pitch to [email protected]

Podcast Production By Shannon Warner of Resonant Collective
Want to start your own podcast? Let's chat!

If this episode resonated, follow Say YES to Yourself! and leave a  5-star review. It helps more women in midlife discover the tools, stories, and community that make saying YES not only possible, but powerful.

Fan Mail: Tell Wendy how you're saying yes to yourself!

In this episode, Wendy sits down with Angela Burk, author of The Real Girl's Guide to Midlife. Angela spent decades saying yes to everything—yes to things she didn't want to do, yes to explanations and justifications, yes to everyone else's needs before her own. Then she hit a wall. Not one explosive moment, but a gradual awareness that she'd lost parts of herself in the process of trying to be everything to everyone. So she started saying no. And her life changed.

They explore:

• How saying no is actually saying yes to yourself, and why "no" is a complete sentence that needs no explanation
• Breaking patterns rooted in decades of modeled behaviors and old stories about who you're supposed to be
• The simple power of speaking your truth out loud: even saying it to yourself in an empty room interrupts a thought pattern and shifts your entire trajectory

Angela's philosophy centers on one core truth: you are not broken; you've just been operating from old blueprints. Midlife is an invitation to get real about what's working and what isn't. Rest isn't weakness. Boundaries aren't selfish. Your voice matters. And the messy middle part—the part nobody talks about—is where the actual transformation happens.

Connect with Angela:

Get her book, Real Girls Guide to Midlife: Hot Takes, True Stories, and Fearless Advice from Women Who’ve Lived It & Experts Who Get It: amazon.com/Real-Girls-Guide-Midlife-Fearless/dp/1959009338?tag=syty-20

realgirlsguidetomidlife.com

Instagram: instagram.com/realgirlsguide55/

Referenced in this Episode:

Episode 281: Aging Gracefully Vs. Aging Helplessly | Dr. Sofia Din: buzzsprout.com/1872382/episodes/18782263 

A Widow's Fire: An Intimate Memoir of Heartbreak, Survival, and Moving Forward by Diane Pike Heiler: amazon.com/Widows-Fire-Intimate-Heartbreak-Survival/dp/B0F67HJ3HW

________________________________________________________________________________________

Connect with Wendy:

Linkedin
Instagram: @wendy.harrop
Facebook: Phineas Wright House

Website: Phineas Wright House
PWH Farm Stays
PWH Curated Experience and Travel

Interested in being a guest on the show?
Send your pitch to [email protected]

Podcast Production By Shannon Warner of Resonant Collective
Want to start your own podcast? Let's chat!

If this episode resonated, follow Say YES to Yourself! and leave a  5-star review. It helps more women in midlife discover the tools, stories, and community that make saying YES not only possible, but powerful.

Fan Mail: Tell Wendy how you're saying yes to yourself!

In this episode, Wendy sits down with Karla Freeman, a therapist, somatic experiencing practitioner, writer, filmmaker, artist, tango dancer, and playwright. Karla's life is a masterclass in reinvention. She's lived in 5 countries, traveled to 40, and built multiple careers—each one aligned with creativity and transformation. But her story isn't about constantly running. It's about saying yes. To imagination. To calls. To the next chapter, even when the current one is beautiful.

They explore:

• How discovering your voice and realizing you have insight worth sharing changes everything
• Reinvention as a spiritual practice: following the call even when you have to leave wonderful things behind
• Living outside the box and what happens when you stop trying to fit into your family of origin's mold

Karla's philosophy is simple: fall down, get up, do it wrong long enough to learn the lesson. She's been a social worker, therapist, dancer, writer, and now a playwright—gathering all her experiences into one piece. She's lived in Brooklyn, Manhattan, California, Argentina, and Ecuador. She's followed her teachers, her instincts, and her imagination. And she's discovered that the universe supports the people brave enough to say yes.

Connect with Karla:

KarlaFreemanStoryteller.com

Get her book, Creating Magic in Midlife: 101 Questions and Answers to Reinvent Your Work, Relationships, and Life!: amazon.com/Creating-Magic-Midlife-Questions-Relationships/dp/0976554003?tag=syty-20

________________________________________________________________________________________

Connect with Wendy:

Linkedin
Instagram: @wendy.harrop
Facebook: Phineas Wright House

Website: Phineas Wright House
PWH Farm Stays
PWH Curated Experience and Travel

Interested in being a guest on the show?
Send your pitch to [email protected]

Podcast Production By Shannon Warner of Resonant Collective
Want to start your own podcast? Let's chat!

If this episode resonated, follow Say YES to Yourself! and leave a  5-star review. It helps more women in midlife discover the tools, stories, and community that make saying YES not only possible, but powerful.