50 Women Over 50

Host Sherrilynne Starkie welcomes award winning entrepreneur and best-selling author Julie Cole to episode eight of the 50 Women Over 50 podcast to discuss the concept of ‘me time’ and what it means to an over 50 mom of six who is an internationally renowned business executive.

Julie is a former lawyer who, with a few ‘mom’ friends, co founded Mabel’s Labels, North America’s leading provider of kids label products. She’s also the author of the best-selling book, Like A Mother: Birthing Business, Babies and a Life Beyond Labels.

“I don’t need people telling me that I need to relax more. Don’t tell me to go for a manicure or to get a massage or in any way project how you relax on to me,” exclaims Julie. “Because quite honestly, this is me winding down. I love this. My work is so enjoyable that it feels like ‘me time’ to me!”

In this interview, Julie reflects on her shift from a law career into entrepreneurship because it gives her the flexibility and freedom, she needs to be the best mother to her six children. She talks about aging out of the ‘mommy’ cohort that is her customer base and describes her approach to parenting in a household full of teenagers. She generously shares the life lessons she’s learned from her hectic, but happy life.

About Julie Cole:

Julie Cole is a lawyer, mom of six and a co-founder and senior director of Mabel’s Labels.

She is an award-winning entrepreneur, best-selling author, and sought-after speaker, moderator, keynote and emcee. Julie is no stranger to the media, having appeared on NBC’s The Today Show, CNN, HLN’s Raising America, Breakfast Television, The Marilyn Denis Show, CP24, among many others. Her articles have appeared in The Huffington Post, Today’s Parent, The Globe and Mail, Profit Magazine, Working Mother Magazine, and others.

When Julie is not juggling her busy family and professional life, she’s an engaged community member serving on boards and volunteering. She is passionate about women’s issues, mentoring young entrepreneurs, and social justice.

Resources & Contact Information:

• About Julie Cole
• Mabel’s Labels
• Like A Mother: Birthing Business, Babies and a Life Beyond Labels by Julie Cole
• Big Gorgeous Goals by Julie Ellis
• Oakville & Milton Humane Society
• Halton Women’s Place
• Sound of Music
• United Way Halton & Hamilton
• Anna Epp, photographer
• Helen Tansy, photographer

About the 50 Women Over 50 Podcast:

Sherrilynne Starkie started this show as a creative project with the goal of interviewing 50 women past their 50th birthday to learn how they see the world, what lessons they’ve learned and what advice they have for us all. She’s been blogging and podcasting for 18+ years as part of a successful marketing and communications career and looks forward to learning from the women she will interview.

Subscribe to 50 Women Over 50 wherever you get your podcasts and please share it with your friends.

Elevating the voices and stories of women navigating the enriching complexities of midlife, '50 Women Over 50' is an empowering podcast that draws inspiration from the experiences of 50 incredible women.

Host Sherrilynne Starkie welcomes Sandra Markus, a marketing and communications consultant and the driving force behind the I Care for Rare advocacy campaign to the 50 Women Over 50 podcast.

As the mother of a young man with a rare neurological disease, Sandra is on a mission to improve the lives of patients, families and caregivers living with rare disorders. In this interview she shares how her life changed when her son graduated high school and his established health care and social support systems stopped almost overnight.

Sandra explains, “Zach is my son who was born with a rare disorder, and it gave me great relief that while I was working, he was in school. He graduated during the pandemic, and that was the turning point for our whole family.”

Sandra Markus
Sandra Markus is a brand, marketing and communications expert with over three decades of industry experience. She has worked with local, national and international brands of all types, ranging from public-sector and not-for-profits to private-sector consumer and technology. She’s an IABC certified strategic business communicator and is a Past President of IABC Ottawa. Her elder son, Zach, was diagnosed at 18 years old with CHD2 myoclonic encephalopathy in 2018. Sandra is sharing her story with the hope that together, the patients, families and caregivers of those living with rare diseases and disorders can come together and show support for much-needed healthcare and community care reform.
• Sandra Markus
• I Care for Rare
• The I Care for Rare Podcast
• CHEO
• Roger Neilson House
• Kiwanis Club of Ottawa
• The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch
• The Curse of Oak Island
• Next! The Power of Reinvention in Life and Work by Joanne Lipman

About the 50 Women Over 50 Podcast:
Sherrilynne Starkie started this show as a creative project with the goal of interviewing 50 women past their 50th birthday to learn how they see the world, what lessons they’ve learned and what advice they have for us all. She’s been blogging and podcasting for 18+ years as part of a successful marketing and communications career and has loved learning from all the women she interviewed. Subscribe to 50 Women Over 50 wherever you get your podcasts and please share it with your friends.

Elevating the voices and stories of women navigating the enriching complexities of midlife, '50 Women Over 50' is an empowering podcast that draws inspiration from the experiences of 50 incredible women.

Host Sherrilynne Starkie welcomes Dr. Helen Ofosu, PhD. to episode seven of the 50 Women Over 50 podcast to discuss why many women who are later in their careers are overlooked at work.

She is an I/O (industrial-organizational) psychologist providing HR consulting and executive and career coaching. She’s also an adjunct professor of psychology at Carleton University and is the author of the soon to be published book, How to be Resilient in Your Career: Facing up to Barriers at Work.

“Women who are over 50 years of age are often underestimated and can be passed over for promotions, especially if they don’t exhibit much ego or a big personality in the workplace,” explains Dr. Helen. “But there are steps they can take to ensure they are given new opportunities.”

In this interview, Dr. Helen also reflects on her own lived experience of building her successful career as a single mother and the challenges she faced, and she shares her vision for a happy (but busy!) retirement.

About Dr. Helen Ofosu, PhD:

Dr. Helen Ofosu, PhD. has more than 20 years experience as a I/O psychologist and is an expert in human behaviour in the workplace. Her company I/O Advisory provides a range of counselling and consulting services to organizations, executive leaders and other career minded individuals. She’s on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce and is an officer of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA).

She’s been cited as a subject matter expert by a range of news media outlets and her first book How to be Resilient in Your Career: Facing up to Barriers at Work is due out in early 2023.Dr. Helen lives with her partner and son in Ottawa, and in her spare time she loves boating and spending time with her family and friends.

Resources & Contact Information:

• About Dr. Helen Ofosu, PhD.
• I/O Advisory
• How to be Resilient in your Career: Facing Up to Barriers at Work
• The One That Got Away: Being Passed Over for Promotion
• Beatrice and Croc Harry, by Lawrence Hill
• Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce

About the 50 Women Over 50 Podcast:

Sherrilynne Starkie started this show as a creative project with the goal of interviewing 50 women past their 50th birthday to learn how they see the world, what lessons they’ve learned and what advice they have for us all. She’s been blogging and podcasting for 18+ years as part of a successful marketing and communications career and looks forward to learning from the women she will interview.

Subscribe to 50 Women Over 50 wherever you get your podcasts and please share it with your friends.

Elevating the voices and stories of women navigating the enriching complexities of midlife, '50 Women Over 50' is an empowering podcast that draws inspiration from the experiences of 50 incredible women.

Host Sherrilynne Starkie welcomes best-selling, multiple award-winning author, playwright and performer Alison Wearing to the 50 Women Over 50 podcast.

Alison’s critically acclaimed book, Confessions of a Fairy’s Daughter: Growing up with a Gay Dad, was a National Bestseller and selected as an Indigo “Top 50 Books of 2013.” Her solo play based on this memoir has also won top awards in virtually every festival in which it has appeared.

Alison has lived and traveled all over the world, from the Amazon rainforest to the Middle East and the former Soviet Union to Sri Lanka. She wrote a bestselling memoir, Honeymoon in Purdah, about her journey and provided glimpse into the culture and people of Iran.

Alison is also a memoir writing coach who guides retreats and is the creator and facilitator of Memoir Writing Ink, an online program that guides people through the process of transforming personal stories into memoir.

In this interview she shares what she learned from Aztec culture about life in your 50s. She says, “In Aztec cultural, 52 is called new fire. It's the year of new fire. And when I turned 52, I was living in Mexico, and I had a big birthday party to celebrate the new fire in me. It was very special.”

Alison Wearing
Alison Wearing is a bestselling, multiple award-winning author, playwright, and performer. Her books have been nominated for the RBC Taylor Prize, shortlisted for the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Nonfiction, selected as an Indigo Top Pick, and become national bestsellers. Her essays and stories have been awarded the National Magazine Award Gold Medal, Western Magazine Award 1st Prize, and been a finalist for the Journey Prize. Her numerous theatre awards include Best Dramatic Script at New York City’s United Solo, the largest festival of solo theatre in the world.

Alison is the creator and facilitator of Memoir Writing Ink, an interactive online program that guides people through the process of transforming personal stories into memoir.

Alison was born and raised in Peterborough, Ontario. She bolted out of town (and country) at the age of seventeen and spent the next twelve years studying, living and travelling throughout Europe, the Middle East, the former Soviet Union, the Amazonian regions of Ecuador and Peru, and across Siberia and Mongolia to China.
• Alison Wearing
• Memoir Writing Ink
• Alison’s Performances
• You could make this place beautiful by Maggie Smith
• The Amy Award
• UNHCR
• Sierra Club
• Tree Canada
• David Suzuki Foundation
• The School of Life
• Alain De Botton
About the 50 Women Over 50 Podcast:
Sherrilynne Starkie started this show as a creative project with the goal of interviewing 50 women past their 50th birthday to learn how they see the world, what lessons they’ve learned and what advice they have for us all. She’s been blogging and podcasting for 18+ years as part of a successful marketing and communications career and loves learning from all the women she interviews. Subscribe to 50 Women Over 50 wherever you get your podcasts and please share it with your friends. Get each weekly episode dropped into your inbox by subscribing here. If you’d like to be one of the 50 Women over 50 featured on this podcast apply by clicking here.

Elevating the voices and stories of women navigating the enriching complexities of midlife, '50 Women Over 50' is an empowering podcast that draws inspiration from the experiences of 50 incredible women.

We are now deep in the throes of Summer 2023 and that means I’m taking my foot off the gas and am trying to relax a little. While I’m spending some time travelling and visiting family, please enjoy this encore presentation of one of my most popular episodes...

Host Sherrilynne Starkie welcomes author and executive coach Julie Ellis to episode 18 of the 50 Women Over 50 podcast.

Julie is a serial entrepreneur and an angel investor who has taken several start up companies past Series A funding into high performing enterprises. She’s learned a lot about business and life along the way and put that wisdom into her first book for women entrepreneurs who want to achieve great things. Published last year, the book is called Big Gorgeous Goals and it’s now available as an audio book for the first time on Audible.

Julie is someone who reached the top of her career and achieved her dream of flipping her business and yet, she was surprised when she felt sad and a sense of loss when it was gone. In this interview, she talks about learning to be kinder and gentler with ourselves as being the key to both business success as well as overall happiness.

“Remember,” she says, “When we look at people who do big, amazing things, what we are actually seeing is the highlights reel. We're seeing all the good things, the outcomes, the great successes. What is not being shown is all the hard work that came before. We only see the tip of the iceberg.”

About Julie Ellis:

Julie Ellis is an executive coach to corporate leaders and scaling entrepreneurs. Her unique experience and expertise stems from 25 years of working first in the corporate world and then as a leading Canadian entrepreneur. She is a co-founder of the award-winning company Mabel’s Labels, one of Canada’s greatest small-business success stories. Her book, Big Gorgeous Goals is a manifesto and call to action for women to lift themselves, and each other, up by refusing to accept limitations and instead embracing an ethos of possibility.

Resources & Contact Information:

• Julie Ellis
• Big Gorgeous Goals
• Only Murders in the Building
• Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor
• Resilient Kids Canada

About the 50 Women Over 50 Podcast:

Sherrilynne Starkie started this show as a creative project with the goal of interviewing 50 women past their 50th birthday to learn how they see the world, what lessons they’ve learned and what advice they have for us all. She’s been blogging and podcasting for 18+ years as part of a successful marketing and communications career and looks forward to learning from the women she will interview. Subscribe to 50 Women Over 50 wherever you get your podcasts and please share it with your friends. Get each weekly episode dropped into your inbox by subscribing here.

Elevating the voices and stories of women navigating the enriching complexities of midlife, '50 Women Over 50' is an empowering podcast that draws inspiration from the experiences of 50 incredible women.