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I want older women to know: if you want to do something, get out there and do it, sister! Don’t sit around and think: I’m too old. No, you’re not! -Tracey Wheeler Noonan

It’s been about 10 years since I’ve interviewed Tracey Wheeler Noonan and let me tell you, this girl is on fire. She and her daughter, Dani took a unique way of making cupcakes in jars and turned it into a Shark Tank phenomenon. Wicked Good Cupcakes may have started out small in Tracey’s home kitchen, but it ended up going worldwide during the Pandemic and was sold to Hickory Farms for a nice profit. In this interview, Tracey takes us on a wild ride through her 6 Shark Tank appearances, sharing the lessons she learned along the way about entrepreneurship and how to run a company with her daughter. These days, Tracey is focused on public speaking and her lifelong love of writing with her first book titled A Wicked Good Idea. She’s also written two screenplays, a TV pilot, and a no-holds-barred memoir called Past, Present, Paris, based on her heartbreaking divorce. Denied a college education by her father because she was a girl, Tracey spent much of her adulthood trying to find her way and prove herself to her parents. In this very personal interview, it is Tracey Wheeler Noonan’s gigantic heart that really shines through. From priceless advice for entrepreneurs to words of wisdom for women of all ages, this episode is loaded with 23 minutes of inspiration. Says Tracey: “If I can do this, you can do this. Success is not something we hoard. It is something we must share. As women, we are NOT in competition with one another. We’ve got to lift each other up.” #sharktank #entrepreneur #women #empowerment #cupcakes

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:30 — 21.5MB) | Embed

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The biggest skill I use is listening.  Grievers don’t need to be fixed.  They need to be heard. – Louise Strasenburgh

The holidays are supposed to be joyful, but if you’ve lost someone you love, they can be tough. This week’s guest is here to help.   Louise Strasenburgh is a grief recovery specialist and the author of the book The Space In My Heart.   In 2011, her 26-year-old son Oliver’s body was found wrapped in a carpet in Puerto Rico.   In the middle of this horrific loss, her mother died, and then her daughter got married.  Needless to say, Louise experienced a roller coaster of emotions in a short period of time. Desperate to find a community of people who understood her loss, she discovered The Compassionate Friends, compassionatefriends.org, a non-profit that provides friendship, understanding, and hope to bereaved parents, siblings, and grandparents.  It wasn’t long before Louise became certified as a grief recovery specialist and became a leader within her local TCF chapter.  Says Louise:  “Imagine grieving parents, sitting in a circle, going around the room, saying their name and how their child died.  By the time you get to the end of the circle, your heart is flooded with compassion.  Here we all are, and we have to find a way to integrate this loss into our lives and still go forward.  Born in England and raised in Portugal, Louise has moved 32 times and in this interview, declares that she’s not done yet.  A former flight attendant for Pan Am, she was born to travel and loves the excitement of learning about new places and meeting people from around the world.  Her book The Space In My Heart was written during the Pandemic as a coping tool for loss.  Using the story of her two Westies, Digger and Daisy, as the protagonists, the book explains grief and loss to children but applies to people of all ages.   The daughter of a squadron leader in the UK’s Royal Air Force who fought during World War II, Louise credits her father and Queen Elizabeth as her role models.  “She was my queen from the day I was born, says Louise, and my father was a person of great integrity who taught me:  When things go right, hold tight.  When things go wrong, be strong.”  For 23 minutes of hope and healing, just hit that download button.  #grief #loss#mourning #hope #healing 

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We must all be compassionate. You never know what someone else is going through. – Keely Krantz

Keely Krantz got her start in PR, eventually leading the launch of high-profile, global brands. A proud Boston College graduate, she was fortunate to have a mentor who had broken through glass ceilings and believed in passing it on. Says Keely “Janet Diederichs at Edelman Public Relations in Chicago challenged me to be someone I would never have aspired to if it hadn’t been for her guidance. I learned to be bold and aggressive.” At the height of Keely’s career, she became a mom and decided to stay at home with her kids, choosing parenthood and volunteerism over a career. It was this devotion to community and the greater good that inspired Keely and her husband Jason to make the largest gift in the history of Mass General Hospital cancer research history last year. Says Keely: “We don’t want to see small, incremental changes. We want to see fundamental, monumental, landscape-changing breakthroughs in the treatment of cancer, and we are willing to take big risks at the Krantz Family Research Center on physician-scientists who have big, aggressive ideas. We want to swing for the fences.” A few months later, Keely launched her next big chapter as the founder of the O’Dell Women’s Center www.odellwomenscenter.com in Springfield, Massachusetts. Named after her 98-year-old grandmother, who was a maternity nurse in the community for 40 years, the O’Dell Center is a first-of-its-kind in Springfield with 10,000 square feet of collaborative space that houses Dress for Success/Western Mass and other non-profits that advance educational and career opportunities for low-income women. In just one year, $250,000 in grants have been awarded. For Keely, this new chapter is the culmination of a story rooted in faith and the lessons of her parents. “Anything is possible” are three words I heard all the time when I was growing up. Says Keely. “I want to be a connector, surrounded by the mantra that respect and kindness go hand in hand. I want to do good.” For 23 minutes of inspiration, just hit that download button. #women #community #cancer @massgeneralcancercenter