Wise Women Forward

Nancy Cushing-Jones entered Universal Studios in 1979, when only three other women at the company worked above the level of secretary. She went on to become the first female division president in the studio’s history, transform publishing into a global revenue-generating business, and help build the emerging video-game licensing industry.  But this conversation is about more than an extraordinary résumé.Nancy joins Wise Women… Forward to talk about the quiet architecture of power: keeping your back straight, setting clear boundaries, asking for what you deserve, and refusing to confuse aggression with authority.She shares what happened when men assumed she was there to fetch their coffee, how she stopped a notorious Hollywood screamer before he could begin, and why being underestimated can become an advantage—provided you know who you are when you enter the room.  It is a masterclass in leadership without theatrics, confidence without ego, and speaking the truth without surrendering your dignity.Because sometimes power does not shout.Sometimes it smiles politely and says, “No, I don’t think so.”Nancy's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancy-cushing-jones-366b7/Rent the Wise Woman Movie - bingeable.net/wisewomenInfo about the film wisewomenmovie.com

After being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Kristen Shelt didn't just seek a cure — she sought coherence. That journey took her deep into quantum physics, matriarchal history, and a radically different way of understanding reality and women's place in it.Kristen is the founder of Ether Well, a structured plasma water company, and is currently getting certified as a lecturer in matriarchal studies through the only program of its kind — based in Germany. She's also a truth teller on social media who has received death threats for simply saying what she sees.In this episode of Wise Women Forward, Christopher Henze and Dominique Debroux talk with Kristen about what it means to live a coherent life, how 95% of human evolution was matriarchal, and why the way forward is rooted in the deep past.TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kristen1942Substack: https://kristenshelt.substack.com/?r=5vilos&utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-pageLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-shelt-351083213/Ether Well: https://etherwell.coFrom us:Rent Wise Women: Humanity’s Untold Origins bingeable.net/KristenMore about the film → wisewomenmovie.com

In this episode of Wise Women Forward, Dominique and Christopher sit down with Angela Gentile, founder of the Single and Child Free Network, an international community for women living outside the traditional expectations of marriage and motherhood.Angela’s work challenges the old, exhausted script that tells women their lives only become meaningful when they are chosen, partnered, married, or raising children. Together, we talk about the cultural pressure to become a role in someone else’s life, the loneliness of choosing differently, the power of community, and why a woman’s worth was never meant to be measured by her reproductive status.This conversation is fiery, funny, tender, and deeply necessary. Angela reminds us that single and child free women are not missing a life. They are building one — with purpose, autonomy, joy, friendship, travel, care, creativity, and the occasional well-earned refusal to explain themselves.Because it is your goddamn life. Go live it.Connect with Angela Gentile:Instagram: @TheAngelaGentileSingle and Child Free Network: https://www.theangelagentile.com/scfnetworkAngela’s Podcast: https://www.theangelagentile.com/podcastWebsite: https://www.theangelagentile.comWise Women Links:Rent the film: https://bingeable.net/wisewomenFilm info + trailer: https://wisewomenmovie.com

Kukuwa and Coach Cass are a mother-daughter team leading a global African-rooted wellness movement through Kukuwa Fitness, their app and online community, and Africa With Us, their cultural wellness travel program.In this episode of Wise Women… Forward, they join Dominique Debroux and Christopher Henze for a conversation about movement as medicine, food as foundation, ancestral healing, menopause, longevity, and the wisdom passed through generations of women.Kukuwa shares how African dance connects us barefoot to Mother Earth, strengthens the core, moves the pelvis, works the whole body, and welcomes people of all ages and abilities. Coach Cass speaks about strength, mobility, motherhood, weight release, food choices, and the importance of meeting women wherever they are in their wellness journey.Together, they explore why food is more than fuel, how ancestral remedies and whole foods support the body, why menopause symptoms can be teachers, and how Africa With Us creates cultural immersion, community service, wellness, and reconnection with Africa as source.This conversation beautifully embodies the Wise Women hypothesis: that postmenopausal women are not done — they are still leading, teaching, healing, dancing, and carrying the knowledge forward.LINKSKukuwa Fitness: https://www.kukuwafitness.com/Africa With Us: https://africawithus.com/Kukuwa SocialsFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/KukuwaFitnessYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@KukuwaFitnessInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/kukuwafitness/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kukuwafitness?lang=enJoin the app: https://ignitehappinessnow.comTwo Weeks to Live video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BtO2L0vd38Rent Wise Women: https://bingeable.net/KukuwaMore about the film: wisewomenmovie.com

Paige Connell is one of the leading voices on the mental load of modern motherhood, known for her honest and deeply relatable commentary on marriage, parenting, invisible labor, work, and the realities women are often expected to carry quietly.In this episode of Wise Women… Forward, Paige joins Christopher Henze and Dominique Debroux for a conversation about what women carry, why so many mothers feel isolated, and how the mental load connects to larger systems — from childcare and paid parental leave to workplace expectations and partnership at home.Paige shares how she first began speaking publicly about her own experience, why so many women feel like they simply have to “grin and bear it,” and how hearing from other women gave her the confidence to keep going. Together, we explore motherhood as a life-altering transformation, why pregnancy and parenting are taken far too casually in our culture, how men can become part of the solution, and why family support is not just a women’s issue — it is a societal issue.This conversation is part of the larger Wise Women… Forward mission: reframing menopause, aging, motherhood, care, and women’s lived experience as sources of wisdom, leadership, and cultural power.LinksPaige Connell’s free mental load guide:https://www.sheisapaigeturner.com/mental-load-guideFollow Paige:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sheisapaigeturner/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sheisapaigeturner/TikTok: [insert correct TikTok link]Wise Women film rental:bingeable.net/wisewomenMore about the film:wisewomenmovie.com

In this episode of Wise Women… Forward, Dominique speaks with Dawn Gallagher, former supermodel, author, beauty expert, and television host, about beauty, aging, self-worth, and what happens when women stop letting youth define their value.Dawn’s career has spanned major magazine covers, global beauty brands, bestselling books, and decades inside the fashion and beauty industries. But this conversation goes far deeper than skin. Dawn shares what she saw behind the camera: the pressure on young models, the lack of voice women were given in shaping their own image, the predators hiding in plain sight, and the impossible beauty standards sold to women as if they were instructions for survival. Charming little system. Very profitable. Deeply broken.Together, Dawn and Dominique explore what it means to move from aging to “staging”—seeing each phase of life not as a decline, but as a new expression of wisdom, radiance, and self-respect. Dawn talks about self-care not as indulgence, but as self-preservation; about beauty as health, happiness, kindness, and lived experience; and about why women in their 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond must be heard in leadership, culture, and the decisions shaping our future.Because women are not milk cartons. There is no expiration date on beauty, purpose, or power.Dawn’s LinksIG: @dawnlgallagherWeb: dawngallagher.comYouTube: @DawnGallagherRent WiseWomen bingeable.net/DawnBeautyInfo about the Wise Women Film wisewomenmovie.com

In this episode of Wise Women… Forward, Dominique speaks with transformational coach and teacher Gary De Rodriguez about the invisible patterns that shape our relationships, our money stories, our sense of power, and the way we move through the world.Gary explores how family systems, ancestral imprints, trauma, and early conditioning can create “neuro sensitivities” that affect how quickly we are triggered, how long we stay in reaction, and how difficult it can be to return to center. In other words: sometimes the thing we think is “just us being dramatic” is actually old wiring looking for a little mercy. Imagine that.This conversation moves through relationship dynamics, inherited beliefs around money, toxic masculinity, women’s power, emotional regulation, spiritual practice, and the profound transition into later-life wisdom. Gary offers a generous and grounded view of post-menopausal life as a time of contribution, balance, awakening, and embodied power—not a retreat from relevance, but a deeper arrival into it.Because relationships don’t just show us who other people are.They show us what is ready to be healed.Learn more about Gary: https://www.garyscourse.com/Rent the film: https://bingeable.net/wisewomenLearn more about Wise Women: https://wisewomenmovie.com/

In this episode of Wise Women… Forward, Dominique speaks with Becky Jones, also known as The Empower Coach, about diet culture, body image, food freedom, mindset, and what it really takes to stop fighting your own body.Becky is a trained personal trainer and nutrition coach, but her work goes far beyond meal plans and exercise routines. After her own experience with disordered eating, bullying, anxiety, body shame, and the brutal legacy of 90s diet culture, Becky saw the missing piece in the fitness world: mindset, history, environment, identity, and the whole person.This conversation digs into the systems that teach women to shrink—physically, emotionally, socially—and why diets alone can never heal a wounded relationship with food or the body. Becky and Dominique explore body acceptance, the patriarchal roots of beauty standards, medical dismissal of women, the seduction of “solutions” that keep us stuck, and the courage required to step into a new era.Because the body was never the enemy.The story was.Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_empower_coach?igsh=bTNqNmU0MHB5Nzdl&utm_source=qrFacebook- https://www.facebook.com/share/18jWw69GqR/?mibextid=wwXIfrWebsite - https://theempowercoach.com/Rent Wise Women - bingeable.net/BeckyUKInfo about Wise Women Movie - wisewomenmovie.com

In this episode of Wise Women… Forward, Dominique is joined by two powerful media voices: Tammy Reese and LaKisa Renee.LaKisa Renee is a dynamic media professional, journalist, host, and entrepreneur working at the intersection of media, fashion, beauty, wellness, and culture. Tammy Reese is an award-winning multimedia journalist, content creator, publicist, and mental health advocate dedicated to elevating diverse voices through intentional storytelling.Together, they bring a sharp, honest, and deeply necessary perspective to the conversation around aging, menopause, media representation, women’s leadership, and the stories culture tells us about our worth.After watching Wise Women – Humanity’s Untold Origins, Tammy and LaKisa reflect on how aging is framed in entertainment and media, why menopause has so often been presented as something to fear, and what changes when women begin seeing this transition not as decline—but as wisdom, power, and leadership.This conversation moves across generations, touching on reproductive pressure, women in politics, collaboration, mental health, holistic healing, storytelling, and the urgent need for women to support one another now.Because the future doesn’t change when women politely wait their turn.It changes when we speak up.LINKSIG: @tammyreesemedia https://www.instagram.com/tammyreesemedia?igsh=MTdpM3RsNW9mZjZlOA==IG: @visionarymindsnyshttps://www.instagram.com/visionarymindsnys?igsh=MWRyY3huNjd5bTRqNQ==IG: @theblisssectionhttps://www.instagram.com/theblisssection?igsh=MXMxMGVsN3plaTNlMg==IG: @lakisareneehttps://www.instagram.com/lakisarenee?igsh=MTN6YXVlamZxcXFnaQ==IG: @lakisareneeentertainmenthttps://www.instagram.com/lakisareneeentertainment?igsh=ZTZoOTZqZnBrcDdhIG: @souljevityhttps://www.instagram.com/souljevity?igsh=YzVvZnhnYmwxbDVqIG: @ledujourllchttps://www.instagram.com/ledujourllc?igsh=d2owcGRwd3lnNzlpIG: @talesfromthemediahttps://www.instagram.com/talesfromthemedia?igsh=Y2tuN2dhbXd5OHhuWise Womenwisewomenmovie.comRent Wise Womenbingeable.net/wisewomen

In this episode of Wise Women… Forward, we sit down with April Wall, psychic medium, author, tarot and tea leaf reader, and creator of Namaste Magical, for a conversation that walks straight into the mystical, messy, and magnificent terrain of midlife.April is 45, in perimenopause, and very much “in the trenches,” as she puts it. But instead of treating this transition as a medical inconvenience or cultural disappearing act, she sees it as something deeper: a spiritual initiation.Together, we talk about intuition, patriarchy, the rise of women, and the strange, sacred moment when you wake up inside your own life and think: Wait. This cannot possibly be all there is.April names five stages women often move through in midlife: disillusionment, descent, reclamation, reorientation, and embodiment. Which sounds poetic until you remember descent may involve night sweats, 3 a.m. existential dread, and forgetting the word “spatula” while holding one. Transformation is rarely tidy. Shocking, we know.This conversation is for every woman who has felt the old roles stop fitting, who has wondered whether the unraveling might actually be the beginning, and who suspects—quietly or loudly—that menopause is not the end of her power, but the return of it.Link BlockWebsite: http://www.namastemagical.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/namastemagical/Rent Wise Women: bingeable.net/NamastemagicalWise Women movie info: wisewomenmovie.com

In this episode of Wise Women… Forward, Dominique sits down with songwriter, producer, social entrepreneur, and founder Kelly Slattery for a conversation about what happens when success stops being enough—and service starts calling.Kelly’s career has moved through entertainment, philanthropy, fashion, foster care advocacy, and women’s community-building. She has written for major studios, produced films, helped launch social-impact ventures, fostered teenagers with her husband, created Barely Canadian, a clothing brand that supports and employs foster youth, and founded Power Ladies, a growing global community of women across North America and Europe.But beneath the resume is the real story: a woman willing to begin again, follow the tug toward service, admit she doesn’t have all the answers, and build anyway. Imagine that. A woman not waiting for permission. Revolutionary, we know.This conversation explores foster care, empty nesting, midlife reinvention, women’s friendship, men’s loneliness, community, and the kind of leadership that doesn’t need a podium—it just needs people willing to show up.LinksBarely Canadian:https://barelycanadian.com/Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/kellyslattery/Wise Women linksWebsitewisewomenmovie.comRent the MovieBingeable.net/wisewomen

There comes a moment in midlife when many women realize they’ve been quietly moved to the edge of their own lives.Not because they lost their power.Because the culture stopped knowing how to see it.In this episode of Wise Women… Forward, Dominique Debroux and Christopher Henze sit down with author Lydia M. Hawke, creator of the Crone Wars series, for a joyful, witchy, deeply human conversation about visibility, aging, fiction, power, and the radical act of reclaiming the word crone.Lydia began writing these books as she approached her 60th birthday and found herself feeling like a side character in her own life. She wasn’t done. Not even close. She wanted stories that centered women like her: older, wiser, unfinished, funny, complicated, and still burning with possibility. Not background grandmothers. Not comic relief. Not women politely fading into the wallpaper while everyone else gets the plot. Women with power. Women with magic. Women with a little righteous “no, I don’t think so” in their bones.Together, Lydia, Dominique, and Christopher explore what it means to become visible again after a culture has trained women to shrink with age. They talk about the hunger for stories where mature women are not merely supporting characters, but the heart of the adventure. They dig into the difference between magic and power, the freedom that comes with refusing other people’s expectations, and why the so-called “crone” phase may be less an ending than an initiation.This conversation is tender, funny, and delightfully defiant. It is about books, yes — but also about the bigger story so many women are living right now: the moment when you stop asking permission to matter.Because life does not end at 50, 60, or anywhere culture decides to stop paying attention.Sometimes, that’s exactly when the magic finally starts behaving itself.Lydia M. HawkeLydiaHawkeBooks.comhttps://www.facebook.com/LydiaMHawkeRent Wise Women - Humanity’s Untold Origins herebingeable.net/wisewomenWise Women Filmwisewomenmovie.com#WiseWomenForward #LydiaMHawke #BecomingCrone #MidlifeWomen #WomenOver50 #AgingBoldly #WomenAuthors

What if menopause isn’t the end… but the beginning of your most powerful chapter?In this episode of Wise Women Forward, we sit down with Toks Olagundoye—known for her roles in The Neighbors, Veep, Castle, and more—for a deeply personal and transformative conversation.After being diagnosed with breast cancer, Toks was pushed into menopause suddenly through chemotherapy. What followed wasn’t just physical change—it was a complete shift in identity, clarity, and power.We talk about:Sudden menopause and navigating the unexpectedBrain fog, ADHD, and reclaiming mental clarityLetting go of people-pleasing and stepping into truthCultural differences in how women are valued as they ageWhy post-menopause may be our most powerful leadership phaseToks shares what many women feel—but rarely say out loud:“I don’t care anymore… and that’s made me a better parent, a better actor, and a happier person.”This episode is a reminder that aging isn’t about disappearing—it’s about arriving.Because when wise women lead… everything changes.Links & ResourcesWatch the film:wisewomenmovie.comFollow Toks:https://www.instagram.com/toksolagundoyeBook Toks on Cameo:https://www.cameo.com/toksolagundoyeIMDB

What does it take to stop shrinking after a lifetime of being taught to stay small?In this episode of the WW Forward Podcast, Dominique and Christopher sit down with Leah Van King for a candid, energizing conversation about voice, visibility, and what it means for women to take up room in their own lives. Together, they explore why so many women learn to self-edit, soften themselves, and disappear in plain sight — and how that conditioning can be challenged, unlearned, and replaced with something truer.Leah shares her own journey of speaking up, using her gifts, and refusing to stay quiet just because the culture is more comfortable when women do. This is a conversation about unshrinking, about expression, and about the fierce midlife permission to be seen and heard.Because at some point, enough with the polite vanishing act.Leah Van King LinksWebsite: https://leahvanking.comInstagram: https://instagram.com/leahvankingLearn more about Wise Women - Humanity’s Untold Origins at:https://wisewomenmovie.com

Grassroots organizer and artist Christine Rea-Briskin joins Wise Women… Forward to talk about turning fear and anger into action. She shares how a small living-room gathering grew into a local Indivisible group, why “forward” matters when everything is trying to drag us backward, and what real community organizing looks like—visibility actions, democratic defense, and showing up with strategy and heart.Topics: grassroots organizing, Indivisible, civic action, women’s leadership, community power, resistance, democracyhttps://www.indivisible.orghttps://www.5calls.orghttps://www.govtrack.usHands Across New Jersey website:https://www.handsacrossnj.orghttps://www.hhwtsproductions.com

Colleen Kochannek on grief, reinvention, and claiming your third act as your power season.What happens when the life you built disappears? At 50, Colleen Kochannek lost her husband, her career, and her only sibling in a cascade of unimaginable change. What followed wasn’t retreat—it was awakening.In this intimate and unfiltered conversation, we explore what it means to outgrow the “good girl” script, to confront the question “What about me?”, and to step into midlife not as an ending—but as a first life. This is not a story about survival.It’s about reclamation. If you’ve ever felt the ground shift beneath you—and wondered who you are now—this episode is for you. Links For Colleen https://www.colleenkochannek.com https://www.facebook.com/TheColleenKochannek/ https://www.instagram.com/colleenkochannek/ https://www.youtube.com/@ColleenKochannek https://www.tiktok.com/@colleenkochannekFor Wise Women Rent the filmBingeable.net/wisewomenMore on the movieWisewomenmovie.com

In this first conversation on Wise Women Forward, filmmaker Christopher Henze and producer Dominique Debroux speak with psychotherapist, author, and founder of Gateway Women—Jody Day—about what it means to live beyond the narrow definition of womanhood.They talk about elderhood, grief, kinship, post-menopausal clarity, chosen family, and why the nuclear family model is failing us all. Jody shares the story behind her groundbreaking work, how she’s helping women find meaning outside of motherhood, and what it really means to age without vanishing.This is not about self-help. This is about cultural recovery.➤ Learn more about Jody Day:• Download her book intro: gateway-women.com/book• Substack: jodyday.substack.com• Fireside Wisdom Webinars: gateway-women.com/childless-elderwomen➤ Learn more about the film Wise Women: Humanity’s Untold Origins• www.wisewomenmovie.com