If you’ve ever wondered, “Is it too late for me to...?” the answer’s NO, and The Uplifters will prove it to you. This space is for purpose-driven women who want to do big, brave things in the second half of their lives. I’m your host, Aransas Savas, and I’ve spent the last 20 years at the intersection of behavior change research and coaching.
Listen to this episode if...
Your voice feels scratchier or different in midlife
You’re tired of trying to sound “right”
You’re rebuilding your image of yourself
It’s Menopause Awareness Month, and it seems there’s one symptom nobody is talking about yet: what happens to our voices! And yes, I mean both the physical voice and the “speaking our minds” voice. Also yes, I’m writing this as I drown myself in hot water with honey and lemon to preserve my voice before my big TEDx Talk. (By the time this message reaches you, I’ll hopefully be breathing a giant sigh of relief and screaming like a banshee just because.)
But the day I recorded this episode, I spent ten minutes hyping myself up to ask someone to describe their payment terms more clearly. Ten minutes for one polite, perfectly reasonable question.
My voice has been a character in my life since before I could spell my name. When I was five, a bus driver asked my mom if I was a little person or a child. I was a baby Lauren Bacall, and eventually my vocal cords made it into textbooks because they looked like those of a retired opera singer.
Research shows that Midlife is when many of us loosen the grip on both our words and voices, which is why I wanted Jessica Hansen’s help understanding all of it.
Jessica spent eight and a half years at NPR as a staff coach and the voice of the brand. When Jessica was laid off, her first weeks were “A great big kettle of emotions. Grief, excitement, overwhelm, confusion, and an early flicker of possibility.” She spent some days out in the yard weeding and realized that what she really wanted was something more creative.
She has been an actor since she was five, so being “not an actor” was a big departure. She had to let go of her definition of who she was, and let herself play again.
Now she is writing two books: a novel series that picks up Shakespeare’s heroines whose stories ended badly, and a guidebook to your voice. She also sings with a jazz combo.
Jessica’s mission: She wants every woman to feel empowered to use her whole voice, in an easy, accessible way. In this episode, she teaches us how.
Her Courage Practice
Jessica described going into an audition years ago, thinking about what the people in the room were probably looking for, and then trying to be that. Her practice now is to walk in as her whole, quirky, specific-to-only-her self, say, “Here is what I bring, and let it be a fit or not. If it is a fit, great. If it is not, thanks for your time.”
Jessica says a lot of her trying to fit in over three decades is what held her back. She says trying is the enemy. The effort is what gets in the way. And nobody wants a fake version of anything.
Lift Her Up
Follow Jessica on Instagram at @at_home_in_your_voice (voice coaching) and @jessacts (performing), connect on LinkedIn and Facebook, reach out if you want to find out what your voice is capable of, and if you know a great literary agent, tell her about the Shakespeare novels.
Jessica was nominated by Sadie Dingfelder. Listen to Sadie’s episode next:
Discovering You're Neurodivergent at 40
If you’ve ever wondered, “Is it too late for me to...” the answer’s NO and The Uplifters are about to show you why. This space is for purpose-driven women who want to do big, brave things in the second half of their lives. I’m your host, Aransas Savas, and I’ve spent the last 20 years at the intersection of behavior change research and coaching.
