About the show
The Shift is a podcast that aims to tell the truth about being a woman post-40, created and hosted by writer and broadcaster, Sam Baker. Did you ever wonder why you stop hearing so many women’s voices once they pass 40? That’s where The Shift comes in – a frank, funny, sometimes heartbreaking, always honest look at what it means to be a woman in midlife and beyond.
Work, life, love, health, sex, money, identity, body image… What does it all mean when everything around you (and inside you…) is changing? Each week, award-winning author and journalist Sam Baker asks a different woman how she got here, where she’s going – and how it feels to be where she is right now. Expect intimate conversation, big laughs, occasional tears and an awful lot of ripping up the rule book and stamping on it…
Past guests have included Nicola Sturgeon, Marian Keyes, Guilty Feminist Deborah Frances-White, Minnie Driver, Philippa Perry, Anita Rani, Tracey Thorn, Isabel Allende, Bobbi Brown, Barbara Blake-Hannah and many more, talking everything from confidence to career reinvention, mental health, menopause and so much more.
If you enjoy The Shift podcast, and you’d like to show the love, you can buy me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theshiftwithsambaker And if you really love The Shift and would like to hear more conversations with women over 40, why not become a member of our community and receive a weekly newsletter, get exclusive transcripts, join The Shift bookclub and so much more, please visit https://theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com/
The Shift is a podcast that aims to tell the truth about being a woman post-40, created and hosted by writer and broadcaster, Sam Baker.Â
Did you ever wonder why you stop hearing so many women’s voices once they pass 40? That’s where The Shift comes in – a frank, funny, sometimes heartbreaking, always honest look at what it means to be a woman in midlife and beyond. Work, life, love, health, sex, money, identity, body image… What does it all mean when everything around you (and inside you…) is changing? Each week, award-winning author and journalist Sam Baker asks a different woman how she got here, where she’s going – and how it feels to be where she is right now. Expect intimate conversation, big laughs, occasional tears and an awful lot of ripping up the rule book and stamping on it… Past guests have included Nicola Sturgeon, Marian Keyes, Guilty Feminist Deborah Frances-White, Minnie Driver, Philippa Perry, Anita Rani, Tracey Thorn, Isabel Allende, Bobbi Brown, Barbara Blake-Hannah and many more, talking everything from confidence to career reinvention, mental health, menopause and so much more.
If you enjoy The Shift podcast, and you’d like to show the love, you can buy me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theshiftwithsambaker
And if you really love The Shift and would like to hear more conversations with women over 40, why not become a member of our community and receive a weekly newsletter, get exclusive transcripts, join The Shift bookclub and so much more, please visit https://theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com/
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My guest today is the bestselling American novelist Jennifer Weiner.
I first encountered Jen When her debut novel, Good In Bed, was thrust into my hands by someone I worked with on Company magazine. It was the first time Iâd ever read a mainstream novel whose lead character was a fat woman who didnât need fixing. Good In Bed was a smash hit on both sides of the atlantic but for some reason it has taken until now to make its way to the big screen. Itâs being adapted for HBO and starring Mindy Kaling.
Jen followed that up with In Her Shoes which was also made into a movie, starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette and Shirley Maclaine. And since then sheâs written 15 more novels, and an essay collection, as a well as writing a column for the New York Times.
Like Jojo Moyes and Marian Keyes Jen has an unerring talent for being able to make you laugh and cry and nod in recognition all on the very same page.
Her latest, The Griffin Sisterâs Greatest Hits, is another surefire hit, tackling sisterhood, our relationships with our bodies, how weâre endlessly judged on our looks and the way the world – and the music industry – treats women.
Jen joined me from home in Philadelphia to talk so much good stuff. We discussed Trump, Nora Ephron, body image, ageing, her mum coming out, wishing she had her daughterâs boundaries, why she loves writing middle aged women and so much more.
* You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at â â The Shift bookshop on Bookshop.orgâ â , including The Griffin Sisters Greatest Hits by Jennifer Weiner as well as the book that inspired this podcast, The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 – and you can too, by me.
* If you enjoyed this episode and you fancy buying me a coffee, pop over to my page on â â buymeacoffee.comâ â .
⢠And if you’d like to support the work that goes into making this podcast and get a weekly newsletter plus loads more content including exclusive transcripts of the podcast, why not join The Shift community, come and have a look around at â â www.theshiftwithsambaker.substack.comâ â
⢠The Shift (on life after 40) with Sam Baker is created and hosted by Sam Baker and edited by Juliette Nicholls at Pineapple Production. If you enjoyed this podcast, please rate/review/follow as it really does help other people find us. And let me know what you think on twitter @sambaker or instagram @theothersambaker
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