Join recovering lawyer Patsy Day as she navigates her own midlife career crossroads in real time. The Wobbly Middle explores that moment when we recognise that restless feeling, for what is - returning ambition - and begin actively questioning our direction. It's that in-between space where we know we want change but don't know how to move forward.
Each season, Patsy sits down with women who share their career pivot stories about leaving corporate life and building businesses, breaking back in after career breaks, going back to study and taking their long-neglected dreams seriously
Guests include a teacher-turned-psychologist who went back to uni at 40 , a lawyer who made it to MasterChef: The Professionals, a midwife turned fem tech founder, and a journalist who started a comedy school.
In Season 4, she's speaking to the women who changed direction in midlife to build the things that make our summers: the holidays we book, the books we read, the swimwear we brave, and the financial confidence to enjoy it.
These wise women tell us that clarity comes from doing and that readiness grows as you go. The message is don’t wait to feel ready to begin. Dip in a toe and see where it leads.
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Turning a conversation into a £68m business: Helen Cannon on super-scaling from a people-first, purpose-led position and changing the workplace for good
Season 4 · Episode 6
Tuesday, September 1, 2026 • Duration 29:17
How do you turn a conversation into a £68m turnover business? Helen Cannon started a managed travel co in her late 30s (with five children at home!) off the back of a conversation in a restaurant. While the whole industry was pushing clients onto booking tools and stripping out the human contact, Helen saw that her ability to build good, lasting relationships would set Ison Travel apart.
In a little over a decade, Helen has grown Ison into a super-scaler operating across five countries, with a workforce that is 70% women. Within that, 25% are over 55, and 5% over 65.
We discuss Helen’s people-first, tech-second philosophy and building a high-growth business on the basis of a flexible working, part-time workforce.
Helen shares precious insights into what’s holding women founders back from scaling their businesses and how we all need to be 1-% braver.
She also reflects on how the pandemic, which paralysed the travel industry, became the inflection point on which ISON took flight.
Listen to bolster your entrepreneurial resolve and to help you be a little braver.
The Wobbly Middle is a podcast for women rethinking their careers in midlife. New episodes every other Tuesday.
Key Topics
Starting a business in midlife — middle-to-late thirties, five children, a six-month-old, and the realisation that no employer was going to be able to cope with her life
Flexible working — hiring on ability rather than hours or postcode, job shares, school hours, and part-timers who became full-timers as their children grew
Female founders — how female-founded businesses deliver higher returns and why women should not be scared to knock on the doors
Scaling up — inflection points, the multiplier effect past £10 million, and why each step gets bigger rather than simply doubling
10% braver — a philosophy that can mean building a company or can mean getting out of bed and taking one small step
Purpose before profit — "you can't have profit without purpose", and changing the workplace for good
Trusting your gut — "your gut instincts are your guardian angels", and asking what's the worst that can happen
Links
ISON Travel: https://isontravel.com
The SuperScalers: https://www.superscalers.world — Sam Smith's programme for female founders scaling their businesses, which Helen discusses in the episode
Everywoman: https://www.everywoman.com
The Women's Chapter: https://womenschapter.com
More from The Wobbly Middle
The Wobbly Middle on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-wobbly-middle/id1767850643
The Wobbly Middle on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4YhwsBch8Q9vAOUBBfusIv
Subscribe to the newsletter: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep36-helen-cannon
Find out more about The Wobbly Middle: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com/about?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep36-helen-cannon
If You Enjoyed This Episode
We've had other extraordinary female founders who have built boldly. Listen to Debbie Wosskow OBE (Season 1), who has founded and exited multiple businesses, and Rachael Newton (Season 2), a hedge fund lawyer who walked away to found period care company, Nixit.
Help Us Grow
If this episode resonated with you, here are two ways you can make a real difference:
Leave a review here — it only takes a moment, and it's one of the best ways to help new listeners find the show. Every review counts.
Share this episode with a friend — if you know someone who might be at a midlife career crossroads, please send this to them. Knowing that they are on this road with others can help build momentum.
Thank you for listening and for supporting independent podcasts.
Share Your Story
Made a left turn in your career? We'd love to hear about it. Write to Patsy at patsy@thewobblymiddle.com, Your story might just be the nudge someone else needs.
About The Host
Join lawyer Patsy Day as she navigates her own midlife career crossroads in real time. A penny dropped for her when she realised that the restless feeling she'd been having was returning ambition, and she began actively questioning her direction. The Wobbly Middle is that in-between space where we know we want change but don't know how to move forward.
Each season, Patsy sits down with women who share their career pivot stories — leaving corporate life and building businesses, breaking back in after career breaks, going back to study, and taking their long-neglected dreams seriously.
In Season 4, she's speaking to the women who changed direction in midlife to build the things that make our summers: the holidays we book, the books we read, the swimwear we brave, and the financial confidence to enjoy it.
This episode was produced by Patsy Day. Studio recording by The Pod Collective.
Hypnotherapy Career Change: A Purpose-Led Second Act, Identity Shifts and the Antidote to Imposter Syndrome | Heather Makepeace |
Season 4 · Episode 5
Tuesday, August 18, 2026 • Duration 27:59
After over a decade in the family business, Heather took the painful decision to close its doors and change careers. The decision was long in the making but the relief was quick in flooding her senses. Now in her 40s, Heather retrained as a hypnotherapist, starting from scratch with zero clients and, in her words, imposter syndrome through the roof.
Propelled by her purpose-led approach, Heather now works with everyone from burnt-out professionals to Comrades ultramarathon runners.
In this episode Heather and Patsy talk about what hypnotherapy actually is (nothing to do with being made to cluck like a chicken); they pop the lid on confidence issues; and discuss how a purpose-led life gives you something to navigate by when you're at a career crossroads or the imposter voice starts up.
Links
You can find Heather at https://mindofpeacehypno.com/
You might also love The Wobbly Middle Episode with investigative wellness journalist, Rebecca Newman, on the neuroscience of action boards (Season 3).
We've also been lucky enough to have other remarkable South African women on the show, like Carri Simmons, who left teaching to retrain as a clinical psychologist. and Donna Crous — a stay-at-home mum and self-taught photographer who became Nikon's first-ever food photography ambassador. Both conversations are well worth going back for. Until next time.
Leaving the Ladder Down: Vogue, Motherhood and the Mental Rolodex | Dolly Jones
Season 4 · Episode 4
Tuesday, August 4, 2026 • Duration 29:00
“From the very earliest point of your career, you're building a wonderful mental Rolodex of people who might roll into any future part of your life, and I could've been more confident with that.” Dolly Jones, former editor of vogue.com, now an author building a portfolio career, reassures and encourages those of us at a career crossroads to get in touch with old friends and colleagues for encouragement and guidance.
For twelve years Dolly Jones ran vogue.com, at exactly the moment the fashion world looked most like The Devil Wears Prada. When she returned to work after her first baby, she was ready to go but could not find a roadmap to help her navigate the way forward.
That experience became Leaving the Ladder Down: How to Combine Career and Motherhood, from the Women Who’ve Done It, a book built on the voices of women who’ve made it work, and on the euphoria of working parenthood that needs to be celebrated.
In this episode Dolly and Patsy talk about returning to work; the confidence to say “this is my livelihood” when it comes to money; women’s professional networks and why building your network in midlife is less daunting than it sounds; and the bedtime trick a therapist gave Dolly for quietening the voices in your head.
About Dolly Jones
Dolly Jones is a journalist and digital strategist who edited British Vogue’s digital platforms running vogue.com before being promoted to Content & Strategy Director across Condé Nast’s wider portfolio. She left Condé Nast in 2018 after two decades to set up her own consultancy. Her debut book, Leaving the Ladder Down: How to Combine Career and Motherhood, from the Women Who’ve Done It, was published by 4th Estate. She is a trustee of Advance, a charity supporting women and young people affected by domestic abuse, and a primary school governor.
Links
Leaving the Ladder Down: https://www.4thestate.co.uk/products/leaving-the-ladder-down-dolly-jones-9780008431402/ — Dolly’s book, published by 4th Estate
Also mentioned: Julia Samuel, psychotherapist; June Angelides, venture capitalist
Books and Chocolate: Tech entrepreneur Georgina Atwell on values-led, commercially minded change
Season 4 · Episode 3
Tuesday, July 21, 2026 • Duration 28:56
Values-led and commercially minded Georgina Atwell turned a career crossroads moment and her knowledge of the publishing industry into two book businesses that give back.
Georgina grew up with chocolate and books running through her veins — a family chocolate business on one side, a lifelong love of reading on the other. She spent eight happy years at Penguin, then was made redundant while on maternity leave.
From her kitchen table she built Toppsta, a platform where children recommend books to each other, now home to more than 160,000 reviews. She did it on a shoestring: starting on Facebook, teaching herself newsletters, social media and the "dark art" of SEO from an online course.
Now Georgina has launched Readerama, a second-hand books marketplace that channels funds back into authors, festivals and schools. Listen for her advice on starting something new, building businesses on a shoestring, the power of SEO and, of course, our best 2026 summer reads.
If you enjoyed his episode:
Make sure you follow us so you don't miss our episode with Wendy Welpton who tells us how she used social media to build her Reclaim Movement Programme.
You might also love The Accidental Influencer: Hut-to-Hut Hikes, Night Trains and Going Viral with Bea Searle (Season 4). Like Georgina, travel blogger Bea built an online business from scratch around something she genuinely loved.
The Wobbly Middle is a podcast for women rethinking their careers in midlife. New episodes are released every other Tuesday.
You can find out more on our Substack page: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com/about?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep32-bea-searle
The Accidental Influencer: Hut-to-Hut Hikes, Night Trains and Going Viral | Bea Searle |
Season 4 · Episode 2
Tuesday, July 7, 2026 • Duration 25:17
Travel blog income, going viral on Instagram and hut-to-hut hiking with kids - Bea Searle turned school holiday travel into a midlife career.
Bea Searle has never quite known what she wanted to do but she is totally at ease with that. A part-qualified accountant who escaped the Big Four, she worked in top-end travel until her second child made the five-week India trips impossible. In lockdown, she started a travel blog, Wild Bee Outdoors, for the joy of it but as the world opened up so she left it go.
Eighteen months ago she restarted it properly - an SEO course, a rebuilt website, a focus on train travel in Europe and the adventures she and her kids actually do. Then one post about an independent trip to Finland went viral, and 1,000 Instagram followers became 54,000 in a week.
This is about travel as joy rather than logistics, hut-to-hut hiking in the Dolomites, cycling Austria's river paths on a Haribo economy and how an "accidental influencer" is now replacing her old salary by virtue of the freedom of her blog.
If you know a lot about something, Bea's advice is simple: just start.
BONUS EPISODE WITH BEA: For members of The Wobbly Middle Club over on Substack, there's a bonus episode (release date: 8 July 2026) where Bea gets into the nuts and bolts of blogging: why she chose WordPress as her blog building platform, engagement differs from Facebook to Insta to Pinterest, and how ad income actually works on a blog.
Bea also shares the details of that SEO course that changed things for her.
More about Bea Searle
Bea Searle of Wild Bee Outdoors is a family travel blogger specialising in active, sensible-budget European adventures — hut-to-hut hiking, multi-day cycle routes and train travel with kids. A former Deloitte accountant and luxury tour operator, she restarted her lockdown blog eighteen months ago, went viral on Instagram in January, and is now replacing her former part-time salary with income from her blog and brand partnerships.
Legendary Mermaid, Rita King, On Going Back To Mermaid School in her 60s
Season 4 · Episode 1
Monday, June 22, 2026 • Duration 25:26
Rita King is a Legendary Siren - a mermaid at Florida's Weeki Wachee Springs - who returned to the water after a whole working life away. She first performed in the famous mermaid shows as a teenager in the late 1960s, then raised a family, taking the sensible route to pay the bills. But the pull to the water never faded.
When she retired from the US Postal Service at 60, Rita retrained at mermaid school and waited four years for a place among the Legendary Sirens to open up. Now she runs adult mermaid camps for women who come from all over.
This Season 4 opener is about intrinsic motivation and reclaiming the part of yourself you set aside. Have you drifted from something you once loved?
THE WOBBLY MIDDLE is a podcast for women rethinking their careers in midlife. Each season, Patsy sits down with women who share their career pivot stories — leaving corporate life and building businesses, breaking back in after career breaks, going back to study, and taking their long-neglected dreams seriously.
New episodes every other Tuesday.
ABOUT THE HOST: Patsy Day is a recovering lawyer navigating her own midlife career crossroads. A penny dropped for her when she realised that the restless feeling she'd been feeling was returning ambition. The Wobbly Middle is that in-between space where we know we want change but don't know how to move forward.
IF YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE:
You might also love our episode on how to make an action board: Pin It To Win It: The Neuroscience of Action Boards with Rebecca Newman (Season 3, Episode 2). If Rita's story is about honouring a wish or a dream you've held inside you and finally going for it; the Rebecca's is about the science of holding that wish in front of you and acting on it.
It's an opportunity to be playful, to cut and stick and to start.
Links
Where to find out about mermaid camps at Weeki Wachee Springs, Florida — :https://weekiwachee.com/
S4 Trailer: The Women Who Bring The Sunshine
Season 4
Tuesday, June 16, 2026 • Duration 00:48
For women rethinking their careers in midlife, Season 4 of The Wobbly Middle is here and this summer it belongs to the women who bring us the sunshine.
The holiday you book. The book you pack. The swimwear you brave. The financial confidence to enjoy it.
Host Patsy Day speaks to women who have navigated a career crossroads in midlife and gone on to build businesses, solve overlooked problems, or finally pursue long-neglected dreams. Like the mum of five who built a multi-million pound travel business and the US postal worker who went back to mermaid school in her 60s and now runs adult mermaid camps. There is also the Vogue editor leaving the ladder down for others to follow.
Season 4, the Summer Edit, drops Monday 22 June, then every second Tuesday.
Show Notes
Welcome to Season 4 of The Wobbly Middle — The Women Who Bring Us the Sunshine.
This is a podcast for women rethinking their careers in midlife - that in-between space where you know what you don't want to go back to, but haven't quite worked out the path forward. That's the wobbly middle.
If you're at a career crossroads in your 40s or 50s, wondering whether a midlife career move is still possible, please give our pod a listen. We speak to women who have changed direction, backed themselves, and built things when the market didn’t provide. Together, their stories make the case that that restless feeling we have (call it our returning ambition?) is… well…normal.
This season features:
Rita King — A US postal worker who returned to mermaid school, in her 60s, to become one of the legendary mermaids at Weeki Wachee Springs, Florida. (And she now runs the adult mermaid camps but hurry - they sell out soon).
Helen Cannon — A superscaler who started building the multimillion pound Ison Travel when her fifth babe was wee.
Bea Searle — The accidental influencer who became a go-to guide for families travelling Europe on a budget, and one of Cycling UK's 100 Women in Cycling 2025.
Going back to study: Executive MBA for Women | Urmi Dutta-Roy & Louise Welch
Season 3 · Episode 9
Tuesday, April 28, 2026 • Duration 35:27
Executive MBA, going back to study as a mature student, and finding your tribe in midlife with Urmi Dutta-Roy (CFO, The Folio Society) and Louise Welch (ex-PlayStation, now working fractionally) are executive MBA alumnae and good friends.
In this conversation they talk about the difficulty women have creating space to investing in themselves; about stepping away from the nine-to-five, and how "the 100 year life" changes our attitudes towards learning and the shape of our careers. They are honest about the trade-offs (financial, practical, emotional) and the rewards too of going back to study: community, confidence, a lens on the world that a job title alone will never give you.
If you are feeling a career plateau, wondering whether it's too late to go back to study, or simply looking for your tribe in the wobbly middle, listen listen listen.
THE WOBBLY MIDDLE is a podcast for women rethinking their careers in midlife. Each season, Patsy sits down with women who share their career pivot stories — leaving corporate life and building businesses, breaking back in after career breaks, going back to study, and taking their long-neglected dreams seriously.
New episodes every other Tuesday.
ABOUT THE HOST: Patsy Day is a recovering lawyer navigating her own midlife career crossroads. A penny dropped for her when she realised that the restless feeling she'd been feeling was returning ambition. The Wobbly Middle is that in-between space where we know we want change but don't know how to move forward.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS AJ BELL
Thank you to AJ Bell Money Matters for supporting this episode. The AJ Bell Money Matters podcast is created for women by women, featuring news, information and inspiring interviews to help build your knowledge and confidence around finances. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Please click here to show your support and find out more about AJ Bell: https://www.ajbell.co.uk/investment/women-and-investing?utm_source=moneymatters&utm_medium=partnership&utm_campaign=wobblymiddle
The Road Less Travelled: Curiosity, Boardrooms and Going Far Together | Shefaly Yogendra
Season 3 · Episode 8
Tuesday, April 14, 2026 • Duration 29:11
Non-linear careers, midlife career change and what it takes to walk into a boardroom. Shefaly Yogendra - engineer, Cambridge PhD, portfolio board director and author of Uncharted Spaces: Reset the Agenda. Reimagine the Boardroom- joins Patsy on her book’s launch day.
Curiosity and patience are the golden threads running through Shefaly's life, and in this episode they take us from beehives in rural Kenya to onion warehouses in India, by way of a black cab in London.
If you’re at a career crossroads, feeling returning ambition, or quietly reimagining what a second act looks like, listen as together they unpack metacognitive reflections that will help you carry your capabilities into the next chapter.
THE WOBBLY MIDDLE is a podcast for women rethinking their careers in midlife. Each season, Patsy sits down with women who share their career pivot stories — leaving corporate life and building businesses, breaking back in after career breaks, going back to study, and taking their long-neglected dreams seriously.
New episodes every other Tuesday.
ABOUT THE HOST: Patsy Day is a recovering lawyer navigating her own midlife career crossroads. A penny dropped for her when she realised that the restless feeling she'd been feeling was returning ambition. The Wobbly Middle is that in-between space where we know we want change but don't know how to move forward.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS AJ BELL
Thank you to AJ Bell Money Matters for supporting this episode. The AJ BellMoney Matters podcast is created for women by women featuring news, information and inspiring interviews to help build your knowledge and confidence around finances. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Please click here to show support of our podcast and to find out more about AJ Bell:
Modelling, motherhood and the Microbiome | Catherine Hurley Arbibe on gut health
Season 3 · Episode 7
Tuesday, March 31, 2026 • Duration 30:07
Modelling, Motherhood and the Microbiome | Catherine Hurley Arbibe on Gut Health & Investigative Wellness Journalist Rebecca Newman
From behind the scenes at the world's biggest fashion shows to the science behind the gut microbiome - Catherine Hurley Arbibe shows us a new road to gut health.
Catherine read medicine at Oxford, modelled internationally gracing the covers of Vogue, Marie Claire and Cosmo, and is now the founder of NEWROAD30, a gut health supplement developed with scientists from Oxford, INRAE Paris and Queen's University Belfast. Catherine talks candidly about the reality of life as an international model, what motherhood changed, and how she found her way back to science.
Together with guest co-host and investigative wellness journalist Rebecca Newman, Catherine helps us cut through the noise on gut health supplements, the emerging research on microplastics and three clean living changes that actually make a difference - including the sunscreen question we all need answered.
This is an episode about returning to ours roots, career changes in our 40s, plant diversity, our beautiful brains and finding our way back to something that energises us.
THE WOBBLY MIDDLE is a podcast for women rethinking their careers in midlife. Each season, Patsy sits down with women who share their career pivot stories — leaving corporate life and building businesses, breaking back in after career breaks, going back to study, and taking their long-neglected dreams seriously.
New episodes every other Tuesday.
ABOUT THE HOST: Patsy Day is a recovering lawyer navigating her own midlife career crossroads. A penny dropped for her when she realised that the restless feeling she'd been feeling was returning ambition. The Wobbly Middle is that in-between space where we know we want change but don't know how to move forward.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS AJ BELL
Thank you to AJ Bell Money Matters for supporting this episode. The AJ BellMoney Matters podcast is created for women by women featuring news, information and inspiring interviews to help build your knowledge and confidence around finances. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
📺 Also on YouTubeGuest Co-Host: Rebecca NewmanKey TopicsTime to make your action board🎯 Time To Make Your Action Board
Help Us Grow
If this episode resonated with you, here are two ways you can make a real difference:
Leave a review here. It only takes a moment, and it's one of the best ways to help new listeners find the show. Every review counts.
Share this episode with a friend. If you know someone who might be in their own wobbly middle, please send this to them. Knowing that they are on this road with others can help build momentum.
Want more from Patsy between episodes? Subscribe to the newsletter — it's where the conversation continues: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep35-heather-makepeace
New to The Wobbly Middle? Find out what we're all about:https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com/about?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep35-heather-makepeace
Thank you for listening and for supporting independent podcasts.
Dolly’s summer read: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
You might also love our episode Books and Chocolate with Georgina Atwell (Season 4). Georgina was made redundant while on maternity leave and built two book businesses from her kitchen table.
Find out more about The Wobbly Middle:
The Wobbly Middle is a podcast for women rethinking their careers in midlife. New episodes are released every other Tuesday.
You can find out more on our Substack page: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com/about?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep34-dolly-jones
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep34-dolly-jones
Help Us Grow
If this episode resonated with you, here are two ways you can make a real difference:
Leave a review here — it only takes a moment, and it's one of the best ways to help new listeners find the show. Every review counts.
Share this episode with a friend— if you know someone who might be in their own wobbly middle, please send this to them. Knowing that they are on this road with others can help build momentum.
Share Your Story
Made a left turn in your career? We'd love to hear about it. Write to Patsy at patsy@thewobblymiddle.com — your story might just be the nudge someone else needs.
About The Host
Join recovering lawyer Patsy Day as she navigates her own midlife career crossroads in real time. A penny dropped for her when she realised that the restless feeling she'd been having was returning ambition, and she began actively questioning her direction. The Wobbly Middle is that in-between space where we know we want change but don't know how to move forward.
Each season, Patsy sits down with women who share their career pivot stories — leaving corporate life and building businesses, breaking back in after career breaks, going back to study, and taking their long-neglected dreams seriously.
In Season 4, she's speaking to the women who changed direction in midlife to build the things that make our summers: the holidays we book, the books we read, the swimwear we brave, and the financial confidence to enjoy it.
This episode was produced by Patsy Day. Studio recording by The Pod Collective.
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep32-bea-searle
The Wobbly Middle on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-wobbly-middle/id1767850643
The Wobbly Middle on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4YhwsBch8Q9vAOUBBfusIv
Help Us Grow
If this episode resonated with you, here are two ways you can make a real difference:
Leave a review here — it only takes a moment, and it's one of the best ways to help new listeners find the show. Every review counts.
Share this episode with a friend— if you know someone who might be in their own wobbly middle, please send this to them. Knowing that they are on this road with others can help build momentum.
Share Your Story
Made a left turn in your career? We'd love to hear about it. Write to Patsy at patsy@thewobblymiddle.com — your story might just be the nudge someone else needs.
About The Host
Join recovering lawyer Patsy Day as she navigates her own midlife career crossroads in real time. A penny dropped for her when she realised that the restless feeling she'd been having was returning ambition, and she began actively questioning her direction. The Wobbly Middle is that in-between space where we know we want change but don't know how to move forward.
Each season, Patsy sits down with women who share their career pivot stories — leaving corporate life and building businesses, breaking back in after career breaks, going back to study, and taking their long-neglected dreams seriously.
In Season 4, she's speaking to the women who changed direction in midlife to build the things that make our summers: the holidays we book, the books we read, the swimwear we brave, and the financial confidence to enjoy it.
This episode was produced by Patsy Day. Studio recording by The Pod Collective.
Key Topics
From Deloitte to the departures board— scraping the accountancy exams, the Big Four's "half day" culture at 6:30pm, and why Bea has never regretted leaving a job
The lockdown blog that became a business — restarting with an SEO course, affiliate links and brand partnerships, and what travel blog income really looks like (one kids' hiking backpack sold a day)
Going viral on Instagram — 1,000 to 54,000 followers in a week, the freak-out about her kids' faces, and her husband's billboard advice
School holiday travel her kids can actually do — hut-to-hut hiking at the Tre Cime in the Dolomites, Austria's traffic-free Radweg cycle paths, and a snack-per-kilometre ratio powered by Haribo
Find out more about The Wobbly Middle:
The Wobbly Middle is a podcast for women rethinking their careers in midlife. New episodes are released every other Tuesday.
You can find out more on our Substack page: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com/about?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep32-bea-searle
Subscribe to our newsletter: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep32-bea-searle
The Wobbly Middle on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-wobbly-middle/id1767850643
The Wobbly Middle on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4YhwsBch8Q9vAOUBBfusIv
Help Us Grow
If this episode resonated with you, here are two ways you can make a real difference:
Leave a review here — it only takes a moment, and it's one of the best ways to help new listeners find the show. Every review counts.
Share this episode with a friend— if you know someone who might be in their own wobbly middle, please send this to them. Knowing that they are on this road with others can help build momentum.
Share Your Story
Made a left turn in your career? We'd love to hear about it. Write to Patsy at patsy@thewobblymiddle.com — your story might just be the nudge someone else needs.
About The Host
Join recovering lawyer Patsy Day as she navigates her own midlife career crossroads in real time. A penny dropped for her when she realised that the restless feeling she'd been having was returning ambition, and she began actively questioning her direction. The Wobbly Middle is that in-between space where we know we want change but don't know how to move forward.
Each season, Patsy sits down with women who share their career pivot stories — leaving corporate life and building businesses, breaking back in after career breaks, going back to study, and taking their long-neglected dreams seriously.
In Season 4, she's speaking to the women who changed direction in midlife to build the things that make our summers: the holidays we book, the books we read, the swimwear we brave, and the financial confidence to enjoy it.
This episode was produced by Patsy Day. Studio recording by The Pod Collective.
Find out more about The Wobbly Middle:
The Wobbly Middle on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-wobbly-middle/id1767850643
Subscribe to the newsletter: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep31-rita-king
TIME STAMPS
- 02:30 — Becoming a mermaid in the late '60s and the magnetic pull to the water
- 03:30 — Mermaid myths: custodians of the springs, manatees, and Columbus
- 04:30 — Inside Weeki Wachee: the aquifer, the current, the underwater caverns
- 06:00 — What it's really like to swim in a mermaid tail
- 07:00 — "It spoiled me for any other job" and the rural swamp mail route
- 07:50 — Going back to mermaid school: the four-year wait to become a Legendary Siren
- 09:00 — The performance schedule and underwater safety for the young swimmers
- 09:40 — Conservation: algae blooms, chemicals, and 17 springs that dried up
- 10:00 — Adult mermaid camps: who comes, and how the women transform
- 13:50 — The bond between the mermaids, across every age
- 15:00 — Inspiring women of every age and size from the theatre
- 17:40 — "How do I find the water baby in me again?"
- 18:30 — Soul-searching, determination, and how badly you want it
- 22:30 — What the little girl driven to Weeki Wachee would think now
- 23:50 — Advice to her younger self: "Be more patient"
- 24:00 — Season 4 preview: the women who bring us the sunshine
HELP US GROW
If this episode resonated with you, there are two simple things that make a real difference:
Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it only takes a moment, and it's one of the best ways to help new listeners find the show. Every review counts.
Share this episode with a friend — if you know someone who might be in their own wobbly middle, send them this one. Sometimes knowing you're not alone is all it takes.
SHARE YOUR STORY
Made a left turn in your career? We'd love to hear about it. Write to Patsy at patsy@thewobblymiddle.com — your story might just be the nudge someone else needs.
This episode was produced by Patsy Day. Studio recording by The Pod Collective.
Dolly Jones — Former digital editor at Vogue.co.uk, Digital Strategy Director at Condé Nast, and author of Leaving the Ladder Down on what she learned and why she's determined to bring other women with her.
Danni Hewson — BBC business correspondent turned Head of Financial Analysis at AJ Bell. She swapped the newsroom for the analyst's chair to help make the world of finance more accessible for women.
Georgina Magnotta — She faced redundancy, then founded Toppsta, the UK's biggest children's book review platform. Now she's launching Readerama, a new home for second-hand books.
Sarah Jordan — Former Head of Digital Strategy at Oxfam, turned underwear entrepreneur and founder of Y.O.U Underwear. Purpose-led from the start.
New episodes drop every second Tuesday from 22 June 2026.
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If The Wobbly Middle has ever made you feel less alone in your career thinking, please share it. Tell a friend who needs a little career sunshine this summer.
Leave us a review - it helps more women find us at their career crossroads
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The Wobbly Middle is hosted and produced by Patsy Day.For press enquiries: press@thewobblymiddle.com
Key Topics
Executive MBA for women — why Urmi and Louise did theirs, the financial and time trade-offs, and why women in their cohorts had to work harder to justify the space
Permission to succeed — the internal and external negotiation women do before investing in themselves, and why men in the same room didn't seem to need to
Going back to study as a mature student — the joy of learning for its own sake when you are no longer 19 and chasing a grade
Fractional working — what it looks like, why society struggles to classify it, and why "what do you do?" is a rubbish question we should start relishing
Identity beyond job title — Louise on the first day of her MBA cohort, watching everyone introduce themselves by job title, and realising she didn't want to
Women in male-dominated industries— Louise on gaming in the early 2000s, and the message younger women absorbed that to succeed you had to "be like a man"
Asking for help — Louise on unlearning the baby-boomer "keep your head down" mentality, and discovering that most people want to help
Links
- The Wobbly Middle on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-wobbly-middle/id1767850643
- The Wobbly Middle on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4YhwsBch8Q9vAOUBBfusIv
- Subscribe to the newsletter: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep29-urmi-louise
- Find out more about The Wobbly Middle: https://thewobblymiddle.substack.com/about?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep29-urmi-louise
If You Enjoyed This Episode
You might also love Season 3 Episode 8 Shefaly Yogendra, another conversation about non-linear careers, portfolio working and the gatekeepers women meet in midlife. If this episode made you think about what your next chapter might look like beyond a traditional job title, Shefaly's boardroom journey is the natural next listen.
HELP US GROW
If this episode resonated with you, there are two simple things that make a real difference:
Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it only takes a moment, and it's one of the best ways to help new listeners find the show. Every review counts.
Share this episode with a friend — if you know someone who might be in their own wobbly middle, send them this one. Sometimes knowing you're not alone is all it takes.
SHARE YOUR STORY
Made a left turn in your career? We'd love to hear about it. Write to Patsy at patsy@thewobblymiddle.com — your story might just be the nudge someone else needs.
This episode was produced by Patsy Day. Studio recording by The Pod Collective.
Thank you for listening and for supporting independent podcasts.
Over the next week or two, take something you’re chewing over — a challenge, a direction, a problem, a decision. Make a list of questions about it. Then drill down: what further questions do you need to ask to find the answers to those questions? In the next episode, we’ll think about what to do with them.
About Shefaly Yogendra
Shefaly studied engineering, earned an MBA from one of India’s most prestigious business schools, completed a PhD in decision making (and a Masters in Technology Policy) at Cambridge. Over the last decade she has served on the boards of several of the UK’s leading listed investment trusts, co-founded a luxury-tech startup, and been COO of an AI company. Her book Uncharted Spaces: Reset the Agenda. Reimagine the Boardroompublishes on 14 April 2026.
Key Topics
The non-linear career — why Shefaly’s path through engineering, MBA, Cambridge PhD, MIT, a luxury-tech startup, an AI COO role and a portfolio of board seats was never going to be a straight line
Returning ambition in midlife — the women who step away in their 30s and 40s and still carry their curiosity with them
Curiosity and patience — two qualities that don’t seem to sit together until they do
The board director career path — what non-execs actually do, how it differs from the executive suite, and why it isn’t a retirement gig or a “jolly”
How Shefaly broke in — spotting the Board Apprentice Programme in a Sunday newspaper in 2015, being coached by headhunter Carol Rosati, and the interview where her small talk about Uber became big talk
Metacognitive reflection — how to describe the higher-level capabilities that actually travel with you
The psychological shift — detaching your identity from a job title and a company name
Margaret Wanjiku’s Smart Hive — a young Kenyan engineer using IoT, solar panels and mobile phones to save collapsing beehives, and the ecosystem around them
Kalyani Shinde’s onion warehouses — IoT sensing to catch rot before anyone can smell it, in Asia’s largest onion trading hub
Belief as the biggest limiter — Sam Smith of Super Scalers on what holds women back from scaling, and why seeing other women do it matters
The road not taken — Robert Frost only offered two roads. Shefaly thinks there are many — and many more uncharted ones
📺 Also on YouTube
Want to see as well as hear? An extended version of this conversation will be available on The Wobbly Middle YouTube channel — including extra material that didn't make the podcast edit. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/vvifAdOQ2os?si=XnVjDhJhWDndrkYY
HELP US GROW
If this episode resonated with you, there are two simple things that make a real difference:
Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it only takes a moment, and it's one of the best ways to help new listeners find the show. Every review counts.
Share this episode with a friend — if you know someone who might be in their own wobbly middle, send them this one. Sometimes knowing you're not alone is all it takes.
SHARE YOUR STORY
Made a left turn in your career? We'd love to hear about it. Write to Patsy at patsy@thewobblymiddle.com — your story might just be the nudge someone else needs.
This episode was produced by Patsy Day. Studio recording by The Pod Collective.
Please click here to show support of our podcast and to find out more about AJ Bell:
Want to see as well as hear? An extended version of this conversation is available on The Wobbly Middle YouTube channel — including extra material that didn't make the podcast edit. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/vvifAdOQ2os?si=XnVjDhJhWDndrkYY
Rebecca Newman is an investigative wellness journalist who has written for the Financial Times, The Guardian and GQ. She has a particular interest in the science of the gut microbiome, women's health and evidence-based wellness. She joined Patsy for The Wobbly Middle's vision board episode and is back this week to dig into the science with Catherine.
Career pivot in midlife — from medicine to modelling to founding a science-backed gut health supplement
The gut microbiome — why it matters more than we realised and how to support it
The American Gut Project — the research behind eating 30 different plants a week
Gut health supplements — what to look for, what to avoid, and why food state matters
Microplastics — the emerging research and what fibre has to do with it
The backstage reality — what life at the top of the modelling world was really like
Clean living edits — three practical changes Catherine has made at home
Women's health in midlife — plant diversity for a healthy gut
Before you leave — if this episode has you thinking about what you want your next chapter to look like, we have just the episode for you.
Do action boards actually work, or are they just arts and crafts with ambition? In our vision board episode, Rebecca Newman draws on the research of neuroscientist Dr Tara Swart, author of The Source, to explain what's really going on in our brains when we make an action board — and why it might be exactly the tool you need in your wobbly middle. Then theory meets practice as Patsy and Rebecca head to the craft room, where scissors and glue meet cork board, to make their own.
It turns out an action board isn't about magical thinking. It's a daily point of orientation — keeping you facing forward.
👉 Listen to the vision board episode here:
HELP US GROW
If this episode resonated with you, there are two simple things that make a real difference:
Leave a review on Apple Podcasts — it only takes a moment, and it's one of the best ways to help new listeners find the show. Every review counts.
Share this episode with a friend — if you know someone who might be in their own wobbly middle, send them this one. Sometimes knowing you're not alone is all it takes.
SHARE YOUR STORY
Made a left turn in your career? We'd love to hear about it. Write to Patsy at patsy@thewobblymiddle.com — your story might just be the nudge someone else needs.
This episode was produced by Patsy Day. Studio recording by The Pod Collective.
Thank you for listening and for supporting independent podcasters.
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