June 8, 2025 • 40 mins
What would you do if doctors gave you just one year to live? For Jen Hardy, CEO of Hardy House Media, that devastating 2018 diagnosis became the catalyst for her most vibrant chapter yet. Seven years later, not only has she defied medical expectations, but she's transformed from using a walker to walking freely, moved her family to a Florida island paradise, and built a thriving media empire that celebrates the power and potential of women over fifty.
Jen's reinvention story challenges everything we think we know about aging, illness, and starting over. The moment she pivoted to "Fabulous Over 50," everything changed. "Aging is not depressing," Jen insists, "because the alternative—not being here anymore—is much worse." This perspective shift opened doors to unprecedented opportunity, including award-winning podcasts and a YouTube channel that exploded from 38 subscribers to nearly 70,000 in less than a year.
What makes Jen's approach so magnetic is her raw authenticity. From filming philosophical "Shower Thoughts" videos (fully clothed!) that went viral to interviewing judges and reformed convicts for her "Voices of Justice" series.
Ready to reinvent yourself at any age? Subscribe now to hear Jen's full story and discover why throwing a little glitter on life's wrinkles might be exactly what your journey needs.
About Jen Hardy
Jen Hardy is the CEO of Hardy House Media, winner of Podcast of the Year and Broadcast of the Year awards, and a bestselling author of 6 books. She hosts the "Fabulous Over 50" podcast and the "Voices of Justice" series. As a mother of 7 children spanning three generations, Jen lives on a tropical island with her producer husband and their two youngest children. Her mission is to empower others to rediscover their potential and live fully at any age.
Connect with Jen Hardy
Join me at this year's National Qigong Association conference Harmony in Motion held in Richmond, VA. This conference is for anyone who is curious about qigong and who already have a practice. Learn more, experience more and connect with others. You can find more information at https://www.nqa.org/annual-conference
⭐️WINNER OF TOP 50 OVER 50 PODCASTER AWARDS!⭐️
Rose Wippich bridges ancient wisdom and modern life, teaching people how to tap into their natural healing abilities. Through her work as a Qigong and Yoga instructor, Reiki Master Teacher, and Energy Alchemist, she guides others toward vibrant health and authentic self-discovery. She's passionate about helping women rewrite society's limiting narratives around aging and step into their sovereign power.
Connect with Rose!
Rose's Website
IG: Rose Wippich
Youtube Channel: Rose Wippich Wellness
Email: rose@rosewippich.com
Please review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ via Apple Review or Podchaser.
Join the National Qigong Association and be a part of this year's Annual Conference
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rose (00:00):
I am super excited about today's guest.
Jen Hardy is CEO of Hardy HouseMedia, a dynamic content
creator, winner of podcast ofthe year, broadcast of the year
and bestselling author of sixbooks, with a passion for
(00:38):
reinvention and a flair forinspiring others to embrace
their best lives.
She hosts the Fabulous Over 50podcast wit and wisdom through
her shower thoughts shorts.
She also gives you abehind-the-scenes look into the
lives of those in the justicesystem through her Voices of
Justice series.
(00:59):
Jen says that life is short, solive boldly, laugh often and
leave a legacy, ready to unlockyour most vibrant, authentic
self.
Your journey to radiantwellness starts now.
Welcome to Chat Off The Mat.
I'm your host, Rose Wippich,and I'm here to guide you on an
(01:20):
extraordinary journey offeminine healing energy work and
total well-being.
An extraordinary journey offeminine healing energy work and
total well-being.
Get ready to be inspired byauthentic conversations with
leading women practitioners,wellness experts and holistic
healers who understand yourunique journey.
Subscribe to Chat Off the Matwherever you get your podcasts
and let's create magic together.
(01:41):
I am so excited, jen, to haveyou on the podcast today.
Welcome to Chat Off The Mat.
Jen (01:50):
Thank you so much.
I am so thrilled to be here andI love your blingy with me and
everything.
We're just having such a goodtime together.
Rose (01:56):
Yeah Well, you've helped me embrace that inner bling, and
why not right?
Jen (02:01):
Why not?
Why not Exactly?
Rose (02:03):
So I have been inspired by your story and I would like, if
you don't mind, sharing yourpersonal story on you know
things that have happened to youin your life and how it helped
inspire you to get to whatyou're doing today.
Jen (02:21):
Yeah, so I mean long story short.
We had, you know, the rags toriches story, but it was really
a riches to rags story.
I grew up with things very niceand then I ended up living in
gang territory as a single momand worked my way out of that
and married the man of my dreams, who I'm married to now, dave,
(02:41):
and when we had seven children Iwas I fell down the stairs a
couple of times and they went infor a scan and found some
things wrong.
And long story short, in 2018,they gave me a year to live and
you know I had a two and a fouryear old Well, no, they were a
little older at the time but Ihad two little kids and five
(03:04):
older kids.
I have seven born in fourdecades that span three
generations, and I was not readyto say goodbye to them, and so
you know, I thought I don't.
I really don't like that idea,but if things are going to
happen, I want to have themhappy, right?
So my five older ones are outthere on their own.
They're successful, doing theirthing, thank goodness, and with
(03:28):
the two little ones, we foundout that there was an affordable
island.
Who knew I always wanted tolive on an island and so we
moved them here and it's likethe wonder years.
We've got sidewalks, we'rethree blocks from the beach.
They do surf school in thesummer.
Oh my goodness.
Every day of summer I sit thereon the beach and think how can
(03:52):
this possibility be my life?
And guess what?
It's seven years after thatprognosis and I am still here.
And the crazy thing is whenthey said that I was using a
walker and a cane depending onwhat I did, and I am freely
walking at this point, which isabsolutely incredible.
And so, you know, people say,like, how do you do so many
things?
Because I've done a lot ofthings in the last couple years.
But really, you know, peopletalk about living like it's your
(04:15):
last day, right, living likeand I think I've just embraced
that.
Though what would you really do?
You know?
You think it would be take avacation and spend all your
money, and that does sound likefun, except that I didn't want
to live in a way that I wouldbreak my family.
Yeah so you know I'm doing allthe things and I tell you what I
(04:35):
think it's just keeping megoing.
I really do.
Rose (04:38):
Yeah, it's an amazing story, I think.
When we are struggling orthere's something that happens
in our lives, especially as moms, we like get up and dust, that
you know, we dust ourselves offand then we're like, okay, well,
I've got to do what I need todo for my children.
Jen (04:53):
Yeah.
Rose (04:53):
And that's what you did, and were you.
So you moved to Florida or tothis beautiful island, and it
helped you heal.
Were you like, intuitivelyguided to go there?
I sense that there you, you,had some innate feeling to go
there.
Jen (05:08):
So I grew up in LA and we had a cabin in the mountains and
then we were close to the beach.
So, you know, depending on theseason we would do the thing and
I love the beach, I don't.
The ocean is my happy place.
And we had spent 20 years inTennessee and my husband and I
went on a on a vacation toFlorida for our 10th anniversary
and on the way home he said weneed to save our money so we can
(05:31):
visit next year.
And I said, no, we need to saveour money so we can live here
next year.
And 11 months later we wereliving here.
But a few years before that Ihad decorated my room like we
were on an island.
I got a canopy bed and I gotthe mosquito netting and I did
the curtains and the thing.
And I thought, you know, I'mnever going to live in an island
(05:51):
.
Right, it's a fantasy thing,but I'm going to pretend because
at that point I was in bedabout 20 hours a day, and so I
just I got to be on an islandwhen I was in my room and I
think you know some there.
You can call it manifesting orlike whatever kind of thing you
want, but I think it was in myhead and once we found this
place I thought oh my gosh, wecan make it happen.
Rose (06:12):
So we did.
I think that you manifested itfor sure, and you know when we
really want something and wefeel that with that intention,
we send that message out to theuniverse and I think that you
know that that helped you and II sense such a beautiful warrior
spirit within you.
You know, I, I'm a, I'm abreast cancer survivor, but I
(06:32):
never use the word survivor, Ialways use warrior because you
know we, we're, we're going outthere and we're we.
We embrace what happened, ourstruggles, and we're helping
others and inspire others to getthrough them, if they can as
well.
I love your story.
Thank you for sharing that.
Jen (06:48):
Well, and you know, I think words matter, though.
You know you were saying, youknow I think the word survivor,
it's that whole survival mindset, right, and so I mean there's a
lot of people that use thatword.
But warrior is a wholedifferent thing, right, you are
grabbing your weapons and you'regoing into battle knowing that
you're going to conquer it.
And I think we've been making avery calculated use of words in
(07:11):
my home lately where we're justvery careful about the words we
use.
And so I think, yeah, that doeshave something to do with it.
And congratulations, by the way, because that C word, you know,
when people first hear it it'srough.
Rose (07:24):
Yeah, thank you.
It's rough.
Yeah, thank you.
I appreciate that.
Yeah, so you have a verysuccessful podcast, but that's
not the only thing you do.
You started out having apodcast that was more towards
chronic health, right as a mom,but then you pivoted because you
are the queen of reinventionand I love that.
(07:45):
Can you tell us about yourpodcast?
Sure?
Jen (07:49):
So, yeah, it was the Sick Mom's Guide.
And then it morphed to HardyMom, because Hardy is my last
name and it means capable ofenduring difficult conditions.
And I thought, well, there yougo.
But I realized when I wouldwalk into a room I'd say I have,
you know, seven children andmultiple chronic illnesses.
And that's my podcast.
That is depressing as fire,right, we're talking about words
(08:09):
.
And I felt so sick and Ithought I have got to stop
talking about being sick.
I don't want to talk about itanymore.
So I was actually at PodFest,which is a convention for
podcasters, and I looked aroundand I thought what are people?
Who are people not helping?
You know what group is notbeing represented?
And it was women over 50.
And right there at that,fabulous over 50 was born and I
(08:32):
thought, yeah, I'm not giving up.
I had 120 episodes by then.
I didn't want to give those up,so we just renamed it and kept
going, because people over 50sometimes have health issues, so
they can go back and find thoseepisodes on cancer or you know
all the different things.
And then we just moved forwardand I cannot even tell you what
(08:53):
a difference it has made in mylife.
It is incredible.
And somebody said well, I don'tknow why you went from one
depressing topic to the other.
And I said you know, aging isnot depressing Because the
alternate, you know, if we'renot aging, we're not here
anymore.
So I think you know, and partof aging does suck, and it's a
lot of fun to throw some glitterand sequins at it, right?
(09:13):
And so I think it's helpingwomen see the beauty in being
over 50 that maybe they didn'tsee before too and that feels so
good.
Rose (09:26):
Yeah, I think that there's this resurgence or this
rebranding of women at a certainage, now that we're really
embracing life and myunderstanding.
I teach Qigong and my teacher.
I talked to my teacher about itand he said that women after a
certain age, although there aresome of their hormones change
and we go through menopause, wehave this energy to start
(09:46):
building and building somethingnew, whereas men, they already
did all their stuff right.
They built their empire.
Now they're ready to just gosit in a chair or hang out or
follow their women around thestore right, holding their bags
right, exactly.
But we have so much more to dobecause we raised our children.
We may have encountered somethings in our lives and we're
(10:09):
ready to share that and helpothers become resilient.
Jen (10:14):
Absolutely.
Rose (10:15):
Yeah, I think that's kind of what your podcast does.
Right, we want to feel good andthat's the messaging.
Jen (10:21):
Yeah, absolutely, and a lot of us were taught to sit down
and fold our hands and be quietwhile we were little, and I
think many of us have realizedwe don't have to do that anymore
and we're finding our voice andare you know, we being more, I
feel, I feel more secure in mybody than I did when it was
(10:41):
young and firm and toned andeverything, because then I just
hated it.
You know, because we weretaught so many things.
You can never be too rich ortoo thin and you know all these
different whatever, and now Ifeel like once you hit 50, it's
like dang it, I'm still here,I'm going to enjoy the crap out
of this Right, and so it's veryfreeing.
Rose (10:59):
It is very You're so right , and I also notice a lot of
people.
There's a lot more womenpodcasters now, right, and
that's great, and we're and I'vehad most of my guests have been
females on the show that haveembraced this, like this new
identity of helping others, andit's just fabulous to be able to
support them and help them,connect them with other people.
(11:22):
And you also have anotherpodcast that you, voices of
Justice.
Jen (11:27):
I believe I do.
Yes, so that is my videopodcast and right now my YouTube
channel is the Jen Hardy Show,but that is actually going to
switch around a little bit andthe whole channel is going to
become Voices of Justice,because that's what my audience
wants and I have catered to myaudience, which is how it has
grown by leaps and bounds, andI've got to tell you that is a
(11:47):
lot of fun and I think that'spart of I don't know it.
Really, I never wanted to be onvideo.
I put up a video on YouTube andit took off and it's really
helped me I don't know findmyself, I think, in a way, and
then be able to help other womenbe able to be in front of a
camera who never thought theywould be able to be in front of
(12:08):
a camera.
Rose (12:09):
It's kind of fun to be in front of a camera, but you've
done and I have to bring up theshower thoughts and I really
love listening to them.
So so you have this thing thatyou do called Shower Thoughts,
and if you want to share a story, because I love the way you
share it and we can talk aboutit.
Jen (12:28):
Sure, yeah.
So I love Shower Thoughts I wasa philosophy minor in college
and the idea why do we drive ina parkway and park on a driveway
kind of a thing, but nobodydoes them in the shower?
And I thought, if I'm going toput a video on YouTube, I
batched out 100 of them andshower.
(12:49):
And I thought, you know, if I'mgoing to put a video on YouTube
, I batched out 100 of them andI stand in the shower with the
shower nozzle as a microphone.
I hold my iPhone in the otherhand.
There is nothing fancy, but letme tell you what it took off on
YouTube and got me a partnermanager with only 2300
subscribers.
Usually you need 100,000.
So it even made YouTube notice,which was pretty incredible.
Rose (13:03):
And why do you think that is?
Is it because people are just,they're very witty and they're
so true?
So you know.
Jen (13:12):
I think it just it makes people think they're not alone,
right?
You know, when you think thoseweird, quirky things and you're
like, is it just me?
Am I the only one who noticesthis thing?
But what I've learned byputting them out there is no, it
isn't just me, it isn't justyou.
We're all thinking these weird,quirky thoughts and I and I
think it just resonates withpeople and there's some sort of
weird vulnerability and I'mdressed in the shower.
(13:32):
Let me just tell your listenersthat's a question that I get
from every man who hears aboutwhat I do.
I'm conservatively dressed, withmy blingy robe.
In the shower there is no water, it's just.
I'm just standing there, yeah,but there's a vulnerability to
it.
I think, too is that we'reusually not filmed in the shower
, and so I think I'm lettingsomebody, I'm letting everyone
(13:56):
in, and I think maybe there's anopenness to that that people
like.
Maybe, yeah.
Rose (14:01):
I think you're right.
I do know or follow some otherwoman who's uh into holistic
healing and she has a brand andshe has products and a lot of
the things she does in herbathroom.
She has this huge bathroom andshe'll be in her underwear,
she'll do gua sha and she'll dochugong and it's really taken
off and you know she's just whoshe is and I think that's part
(14:22):
of the charm and with you, Ifind that it's what you see, is
what you get, and you know it'slike this is who you are and and
and you're having fun with it.
Jen (14:33):
Yeah, and I've always been a real love it or hate it person
.
People either love me or theyhate me, and I've just embraced
that.
You know what?
I've stopped trying to makeeveryone happy and more people
seem to be happy now that I'mdoing that which is interesting.
Rose (14:49):
You know I don't have the same shower thoughts as you do,
but I do find that when I am inthe shower I have, like the best
ideas If I only had a recorderat the time.
I have to figure out some wayto do that right and record
those.
Jen (15:03):
I know I need to market some sort of waterproof paper or
something, and it can be theshower thoughts, ideas or
something.
I think that would be brilliant.
Rose (15:10):
I think that is brilliant.
So one of the questions I'dlike to ask you is what advice
for women do you have who arestruggling, maybe, to reinvent
themselves, or they're stuck ina rut or want to find a purpose,
like I'm sure that you'vespoken to a lot and have had
(15:31):
women on your show who have gonethrough that.
What advice do you have?
Jen (15:36):
for them.
So I am a huge fan of the braindump, which is a strange word.
But you know, get a huge pieceof paper or several pieces of
paper and a pencil and the thingis, the only rule is you cannot
list them in a line.
You have to write it all overthe paper.
You have to give yourselfpermission to just be free.
There's something about it justbeing chaotic.
(15:58):
That is actually helpful,because otherwise we think, did
I write it properly, is it?
No, there's none of that.
You set a timer for 10 minutesand write down everything you've
ever wanted to do.
Maybe you wanted to do art andpeople told you you're never
going to make enough of that.
Maybe, you know you wanted tostudy history and people said
there's no job in that.
Like, whatever those things are, it could be a fantasy, you
(16:23):
know.
Maybe you wanted to write abook, because I wrote and
published a book in two weeksand I was told I was an alien.
But you do that, just write itall down.
Maybe you wanted to write abook or star in a movie it
(16:50):
doesn't, whatever and thenyou're going to take that list
and you're going to put it inorder of how you really want.
What do I really want?
It doesn't matter if it's afantasy or if it would be hard
to do or what anyone else wouldsay.
And then you go down that listand you start at the top and
what's the first thing you couldactually do within the next
week, and you do it.
You cross it off and you go tothe next thing and you slowly
build up and do the things youalways wanted to do, because you
can.
That's the thing.
You're a grown up.
You're a grown person.
It doesn't matter.
Everyone told me my showerthoughts were stupid.
(17:11):
Everyone thought it was thedumbest idea they ever heard and
I did it anyway, you know.
And so I'll say, like, on April4, 2024, I had 38 subscribers
on my channel after eight yearsWow, I mean, that's not a lot.
And I had 127 views and I haddone like a lot of videos.
(17:31):
Nobody cared, but I didsomething I was passionate about
.
That was 10 months ago.
I now have almost 70,000subscribers as of today and
almost 3 million views in lessthan a year.
That's amazing, right, and Inever would have thought right.
But I did the thing I thoughtwas a brilliant idea, even
(17:52):
though everyone said it was dumb, I did it and that's my
encouragement.
And maybe you won't have 3million views on something, but
maybe you'll just be happy andfor a lot of women that is the
biggest success you could everfind, because they're not
finding it.
Rose (18:06):
And I think once again, I think that you did what you
wanted to do.
You went with your intuition,with your gut, and you said it
when you were talking about thatmind mapping or that brain dump
Do what you want to do, notwhat someone else is suggesting
or planting in your mind.
Jen (18:27):
Else is suggesting or planting in your mind.
You know you embrace that andbe empowered.
Well, and this is the time todo the impractical things.
You know, I said I was writinga book in two weeks and it was
going to be a bestseller, andeveryone said that is ludicrous.
No one's ever done that and youknow what I did.
And it stayed at number one newrelease for 30 days.
So you know, I mean it'sincredible what you can do when
you really decide that you'rejust going to do it and forget
(18:49):
the rules.
That's the thing.
I mean, there's certain rules,you know.
Like we're not going to killpeople, those are rules we need
to.
You know, whatever you may needto edit that word out,
depending on where you'reputting this, but we don't want
to hurt people, right?
But as long as you're not, youknow, yeah, we can start bending
those rules that we have had inour heads for so long and, yeah
, it makes life a lot more fun.
Rose (19:10):
It doesn't.
It makes you feel like realfree.
It does that group.
(19:31):
We are so stuck in the rulesand being a certain way and
maybe not being seen, not beingheard, right and what you're
doing in your video shorts andyour books.
You are sending messages outthere that it's okay to have fun
, it's okay to be in the shower,it's okay to live a fabulous
life and feel good aboutyourself.
Jen (19:45):
Yeah, exactly, and I'll tell you, okay, I wrote the book
.
I know there's going to bemistakes.
You can't publish a book in twoweeks without mistakes and
people are like, oh my gosh, jen, you're going to have mistakes.
So you know what I did, and notthat someone's going to do this
exact thing, but it's aworkaround, right.
I put a sticker on the book andit said editing quest, because
when you're a YouTuber, you haveto edit the first three people
(20:07):
to find five mistakes get aT-shirt.
So now, instead of peoplesaying, oh my gosh, jen, there's
mistakes in your book, they'relooking for mistakes on purpose
and I've set them up to edit therest of my book, you know, and
just things like just thinkoutside the box and to get
things done.
And it's so incredible and sofreeing.
(20:29):
And even ChatGBT told me it hadnever heard anything like that.
That's amazing, but it worked.
Yeah, can you share what bookthat was?
So it's Uncensored YouTubeHacks.
So, yeah, it's how to start aYouTube channel for people who
have no idea.
And I was on a podcast withsomebody who's been on YouTube
for 10 years and he told me he'sread the book through twice
(20:51):
because there were things henever learned.
And that was, I think, thebiggest compliment I've ever
gotten about anything.
Rose (20:58):
That's great.
Well, videocasting and being onYouTube and videos is
definitely trending.
It's going to grow, I feelright, that was the message that
we're sensing and it's really Imean, it's been there for a
long time, but I think we needto embrace it as content
creators, right, yeah, and notbe afraid to get out there, and
(21:21):
it doesn't always have to beperfect just to get it out there
.
I want to grow my channel, too,and I'm going to read your book
and take that advice that youhave in there.
Jen (21:29):
Well, and what's great is that what's trending now is real
authenticity.
So people don't want thesecarefully curated, perfect
everything videos anymore.
They want to know that it'sreally you.
You know, like, this is a mess,what am I doing?
I don't know.
I got things in my back wrappedup that aren't absolutely
perfect today and you knowthat's okay, because people are
going to say, yeah, it's somepeople.
(21:50):
Someone will complain theyalways do, and that's fine,
because that's really their ownjunk, right, because whatever.
But everyone else is thankfulthat they see the reality.
They want reality.
You know.
Rose (22:04):
Yeah, I think you're right .
I think it's better just to putaside that perfection, because
that perfection can stop us, cananchor us and we can't move
forward once we.
I'm like that too.
I'm like everything has to beperfect.
I'm editing my book right nowand I'm like going over it over
and over, I'm like, okay, youknow what, at some point I need
to let it go and get it done.
Jen (22:23):
Can I tell you?
I will tell you in youraudience, the best way to edit a
book.
You ready, read it out loud andmake the audio book, because
when you read it out loud youhear differently than when you
read it in your head.
Wow, okay, and then you'vecreated an audio book.
Rose (22:41):
Boom, great advice.
Yes, I was thinking aboutsharing some of that already to
my audience to see what they're,if it piques an interest.
For example, let's circle backto how you support other female
podcasters.
You have right now, as thispodcast is recording, you're
doing a top 50, over 50 podcastcontests, right?
(23:06):
Uh, do you want to talk aboutthat first, so we can sure get a
little glimpse into that?
Jen (23:10):
I am so excited.
So I wanted to do it because mypodcast won twice last year
podcast of the year and it'swhatever in the top two percent
worldwide, whatever, and um, andmy, my youtube, my, my YouTube
thing and my everything's justkind of taken off.
And so I thought how can I helpother people?
So if I could get other peopleon my show and in front of my
(23:33):
audience and give them a voicein a new place, that would be
good.
And I thought, you know,there's these top 30 under 30,
business people in top 40 under40, but nobody, nobody's really
doing top 50 under 50 or over 50, a few people you know,
whatever.
And so that's what we're goingto do.
And then everyone who winsthey're going to be on my show
for the next 50 episodes.
It's going to be incredible.
And but then we were talkingand someone said well, you know,
(23:59):
you could do an in-person event, so it's going to be hybrid of
of a virtual, and we're going tohave a gala here, oh my
goodness.
And so everyone who comes isgoing to stay at the hotel on my
island, in my town, so I canshow them around because I keep
talking about it and it's just,I'm so excited to be able to
share with everybody.
Rose (24:16):
I can sense it.
It's exciting too.
I was looking, I was looking atit and that that is at the end
of March, right?
So if I'm not sure this isgoing to, I may air this sooner
than that so that we can.
Jen (24:27):
But if not, they can come next year because we're going to
do it again.
Rose (24:31):
That's exciting.
You know I was thinking I sawyou at PodFest.
I was at PodFest this past year.
It was my very first one.
I was really excited and I hadso much fun and learned so much.
And I saw you and I didn't geta chance to talk to you because
you were so busy talking toeveryone.
You're like the celebrity atPodFest.
But next year I'm going to meetyou in person.
(24:52):
But I was thinking maybe nextyear and I can help you, we can
do maybe a party of top 50 over50 podcasters or female
podcasters or something we canjust have like a meetup or a
gathering.
Jen (25:07):
That would be kind of fun.
I would love that.
Yeah, so I do have a groupcalled the Golden Mic Society
and it is for podcasters over 50.
But we could put on a party forthem.
That would be a blast because,you know it's funny, it's not a
group of old fuddy-duddies, itis.
You know, it's funny when Ipicture people that were my age
now when I was a kid, thingswere so different then you know
(25:27):
they were winding down, theywere done.
We are not winding down, we aredoing some epic things and I
think a party would be a blast.
Rose (25:37):
I think so too.
We'll have to talk about that.
Yeah, so your golden.
I would like to talk about yourGolden Mic Society as well,
because a lot of my audience too.
They're podcasters.
I've had a lot of podcastingguests, podcaster guests on my
show, so there's a world offabulous podcasters out there.
Jen (25:56):
Can you talk about it?
So we meet?
We were meeting weekly and thatis way too often, we're too
busy, so we're going to meetonce a month now and it's just a
nice group of people we cancome in.
You know, I love people ofevery age.
It's not that I don't I mean, Ihave children in three
different generations for cryingout loud, but sometimes it's
just nice to talk to people whoare around our age, because
(26:21):
there's a lot of communicationdifferences between the
different generations and it'sjust nice to be with people who
get where you're coming from.
You don't have to explain it.
You can talk about a brokenrecord, they know what you're
talking about.
Or winding the pencil in thecassette tape, you know and we
can.
Just we give each other thispositive, good energy to get
(26:42):
back out there and do things.
Sometimes we'll have a hot seatwhere someone comes with an
issue and everyone brainstorms,or we'll have a speaker and we
just do some different things toelevate the voices of the
people our age, yeah, and youcreate community.
Rose (26:56):
I think that's really really important Women
supporting other women andfeeling that they're in a
community that is supportive.
Jen (27:07):
Yeah, we let men into the Golden Mike Society.
I wasn't sure how I felt aboutthat.
It's been good, it's beenreally good, yeah.
But I think you know theredefinitely needs to be a space.
I just went on a retreat justfor women, and we do.
We do need a space, you know,and so do the men.
They do need their own space,you know just to kind of talk
(27:27):
about stuff you know, but it'sgood to have a softer group
sometimes.
Rose (27:33):
Yes, I agree with you and I hope you had a lovely retreat.
I know you mentioned that.
Did we talk about the voices ofjustice?
Enough for you, Like I don'tknow if you wanted to talk about
it.
Jen (27:43):
Yeah, so I didn't say what it is.
We could talk about what it isbecause it's different.
So when I started my YouTubechannel, it was supposed to be
fabulous, over 50.
And I interviewed a woman who Ilove and watch on YouTube she's
a judge Did not know she was aYouTube famous, which is part of
how my channel took off.
And I got so many subscribersand they said we are not women,
(28:05):
we're not fabulous and we're notover 50, you need to change it.
So I randomly changed it to theJen Hardy Show and then called
the podcast the video podcast,voices of Justice, which is now
gonna become the whole channel.
But it's different in that Iinterview judges, lawyers,
legislators and ex-convictswearing glitter and sequins and
(28:28):
legislators and ex-convictswearing glitter and sequins and
it's one of those things wherepeople are scrolling and they
look and they kind of look again.
And now that I've added onlyex-convicts that are doing
wonderful things, I will say so,not just somebody who's
committed a bunch of crimes, andI randomly interviewed them.
They're actually people thatare helping other prisoners do
something with their lives andthose stories are some of the
best, honestly, on my channelIncredible.
Rose (28:51):
So what made you do that?
What made you interview thejudges or the ex-convicts that
are doing well and justhighlight the justice system?
Jen (29:02):
Well, you know, I interviewed the one judge and
then I had a bunch ofsubscribers I mean, not that
many For me, it was a lot, itwas like 1,500 overnight and I
thought, oh my goodness, I haveto do whatever they say.
And I'm really glad that I did,because it's turned into this
incredible thing and it's givenme access to people in the
judicial system that I neverwould have had access to.
I've learned things about ourjudicial system I never knew
(29:25):
before, and I think more peoplein our country and it's amazing
people all over the world arefascinated with our judicial
system because it's so open andthey want the people in the
United States to understand howit works.
That's why the judges arestreaming on YouTube.
It's not because they're tryingto grow something.
None of them are monetized,they're not making money off of
(29:46):
it.
They just want people tounderstand how things work
because so few people do.
And so I've really just taken itand grabbed that bull by the
horns and thrown myself.
In fact, next month I'm goingto go to Texas and interview
some in person and really getthe scoop and hopefully get put
(30:06):
in jail.
That is my goal, not because Icommit a crime.
I want to be filmed.
Because I want to be filmed andhave people see what the
reality is, because it'sunpleasant and I think it would
help people not do bad things,maybe if I can help one person
not do a bad thing.
That would be great.
Rose (30:24):
I think that's amazing and it's giving people the
perspective of what it's like,because maybe people don't
realize what it is really likewhen they're in a court scene or
in a court and you know thereare so many things on TV, but to
see it in reality it's totallydifferent and it's almost like
true crime.
But it is true crime, but it'syour, you know the judicial
system.
Jen (30:43):
True crime stories.
Yeah, so technically I'm underthe umbrella of true crime, but
what I do is different and Ithink, yeah, and I think the
jail part, the reason I want todo that is because, you know,
people watch court and theythink, oh, lock that guy away,
lock him up, da, da, da.
But they do not realize whatthat means.
You know it's not a TV showwhere, you know, the people just
(31:04):
pretend like things arehorrible and they get to go home
at the end of the day.
It is continual, yeah that'sgreat.
Rose (31:16):
What is your vision for the future of women, not just in
podcasting, but but just how tolive their lives, or how to
embrace their life and live,live a fabulous life.
Jen (31:29):
I think you know it depends on the woman and whatever she
envisions.
And I think, letting go of whateveryone else has told you you
should do, I mean within reason,don't abandon your family,
that's not what I'm saying.
But you know, within theconfines of you know society,
but who are you?
You know, learning who you are,letting yourself, explore the
(31:52):
ideas that you used to have,that everyone told you were
stupid or that were dumb orwouldn't make you money, or who
cares?
At this point, you know, and youknow I was raised by someone
who really wanted women to havethe same rights as men, which I
can fully agree with, but to theextent that I wasn't allowed to
do anything girly, no pink, nopurple, no girl, anything.
(32:15):
And I think that's why I'membracing the sequins and the
glitter.
And my mom told me that glitterwas the herpes of the craft
world.
I was not allowed to useglitter.
God forbid a piece of it gotsomewhere because it would never
go away.
Well, my thing now is neitherdo wrinkles, so let's cover them
in glitter, and then peoplenotice the glitter and not the
wrinkles, right?
And you know?
You see, I have pink lampsbehind me and all these things
(32:36):
and I'm exploring all thosethings I didn't get to earlier
and it's like go after thingslike you're a kid again.
You know that childlike wonderand it's exciting and it makes
it fun you know I love that.
It's just a whole different wayand I think I don't know.
You know, I just did my biggestinterview on my channel with a
(32:59):
judge that had never.
He did one four-minuteinterview six years ago.
I got the exclusive.
He's a wonderful man, he'srighteous and fair and also an
African-American man who was thefirst African-American man to
be elected in his county in 1999ever and then spent 10 years as
the only black judge in hiscounty in 1999 ever and then
spent 10 years as the only blackjudge in his county.
(33:20):
And I think that crap has toend and I'm hoping that the
women will be the ones to stop.
We don't need quotas, we don'tneed whatever.
Stop, just stop and just startembracing humans as humans.
And I think if I had onemessage, I would want that to be
it.
Rose (33:38):
And I think if I had one message, I would want that to be
it Amen, I agree with you.
I love that and I see youmaking that change and helping
make that change.
I hope so.
I know you will.
Jen (33:48):
I just don't know how.
It's a thing you know, I don'tknow.
I mean, when we were in LA, mydaughter was one of two blonde
children out of 550 people.
We weren't allowed to go topeople's houses.
So when people look at methey're like you don't
understand racism.
Well, I don't understand it inthe same way that they
experience it.
I absolutely don't.
But at the same time, we doknow what it's like and it feels
(34:09):
horrible and I don't thinkanyone should go through it.
I think we need to be done.
So I agree, that's my soapboxbut I'm off it now, but it
really is a passion of mine, itreally is.
Rose (34:20):
No, I love this and I totally support you.
I grew up as a child in Newarkduring the riots, and so I was a
young child and I remember,even though I was young, and I
don't think we've sometimes, Idon't think we've really come
that far in these many years,and it's terrible.
(34:41):
So I encourage that change aswell.
Thank you, I will be prayingfor that, as I always do, so
what's besides everything thatyou've mentioned?
I know you always havesomething like I know, I don't
know, you know you, but I couldtell that there's other things
and other ideas.
What's, what else is next forJen?
What do you?
What do you see happening orwhat would you like to happen?
Jen (35:05):
So funny.
Funny that you would, that youwould ask that because actually
we have just we were making somemajor changes here at Hardy
House Media and so some thingsare yeah, well, there's gonna be
a lot of changes at the end ofthe year, but I have been
speaking since I was 22 yearsold, so three decades of
(35:27):
speaking, and we've just coinedmy main, the name of my message
and power frame messaging.
So I'm going to start speakingon that, so helping people find
their message, be able todeliver their message and power
frame because it can either befor executives or people that
(35:47):
want to get on video, like in aframe and helping people find
their voice.
So I'm very excited that bookis coming out in April actually,
and so that's the new thing isthat I'm going to start
traveling all over andinternationally actually and
speaking on that.
So, because I really want tohelp everyone find their voice,
(36:08):
I think it's so important.
Rose (36:10):
Wow, I love that.
And you said you've beenspeaking since you were 22.
And I'm guessing this is whypodcasting was such a natural
transition for you.
You found your voice there.
You're continuing to developwhat you're speaking about and
that's changing.
(36:30):
And now you're going to helpothers and I love that.
That's amazing.
Jen (36:33):
That's my goal.
Yeah, I've been helping womenor business owners locally to
just get on stage, get in frontof camera, learn how to do that
and feel comfortable.
And now we're just going totake that message and run with
it.
So I'm very excited.
Rose (36:48):
As content creators.
As a creator, I'm learning theimportance of having the right
message.
Yeah Right, because we want toattract the right audience as
well.
Right, and hone in on thatmessage.
Yeah Right, because we want toattract the right audience as
well.
Right, and hone in on thatmessage.
Yeah, oh, I love that.
I'm so excited.
I can't wait to see you.
I hope you do come to New Yorkor wherever you go.
Maybe I'll go to London and seeyou there.
(37:10):
We go yeah Podcast show.
I'll be your assistant.
I'll be your assistant.
And is there anything else thatyou would like to share with
everyone besides that great news?
That was amazing news.
Oh, thank you.
Jen (37:26):
You know, I think no matter where you are, no matter what's
going on around you, even ifyou are stuck in bed because I
was stuck in bed for a long timethere are things you can do.
You know.
You can start by making the bedaround you and making it look
nice, like I mean, if that'swhere you're at right, or if you
(37:46):
can get up, you can go take awalk.
You can do something nice forsomeone.
We all have the power to dothings and I think people forget
that every day is a gift andtreat it, treat every day like a
gift and get up and dosomething, because you're going
to feel really good about it.
Rose (37:59):
I love that message.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for beinghere and for sharing your space
and your energy, and I've beenwanting you to be on this
podcast since I first saw you ata virtual thing for PodFam and
I was like, oh, I wonder on myshow show someday.
And here you are.
Oh, that is so sweet.
That is so sweet.
Thank you, I'm so happy and Ican't wait to meet you and, who
(38:24):
knows, maybe collaborate withyou one day.
I'm always putting that vibeout there.
Jen (38:28):
Let's do it.
I'm up, let's have it.
We're having a party at PodFestnext year.
It's done.
Rose (38:34):
Awesome, absolutely.
Thank you so much, jen.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Thank you for joining me onChat Off The Mat.
If you're ready to transformyour energy and step into your
fullest potential, I'd love towork with you.
As an energy alchemist, I helpwomen release blocked energy and
reclaim their vibrant essence.
Visit rosewibichcom to exploreworking together and discover
(38:56):
free resources for your journey.
Love today's episode, subscribewherever you get your podcasts,
leave a rating and share yourbiggest takeaway with me on
Instagram at Rose Wippich.
Remember wellness warriors yourenergy is precious.
Nurture it wisely.
I am super excited about today's guest.
Jen Hardy is CEO of Hardy HouseMedia, a dynamic content
creator, winner of podcast ofthe year, broadcast of the year
and bestselling author of sixbooks, with a passion for
(00:38):
reinvention and a flair forinspiring others to embrace
their best lives.
She hosts the Fabulous Over 50podcast wit and wisdom through
her shower thoughts shorts.
She also gives you abehind-the-scenes look into the
lives of those in the justicesystem through her Voices of
Justice series.
(00:59):
Jen says that life is short, solive boldly, laugh often and
leave a legacy, ready to unlockyour most vibrant, authentic
self.
Your journey to radiantwellness starts now.
Welcome to Chat Off The Mat.
I'm your host, Rose Wippich,and I'm here to guide you on an
(01:20):
extraordinary journey offeminine healing energy work and
total well-being.
An extraordinary journey offeminine healing energy work and
total well-being.
Get ready to be inspired byauthentic conversations with
leading women practitioners,wellness experts and holistic
healers who understand yourunique journey.
Subscribe to Chat Off the Matwherever you get your podcasts
and let's create magic together.
(01:41):
I am so excited, jen, to haveyou on the podcast today.
Welcome to Chat Off The Mat.
Jen (01:50):
Thank you so much.
I am so thrilled to be here andI love your blingy with me and
everything.
We're just having such a goodtime together.
Rose (01:56):
Yeah Well, you've helped me embrace that inner bling, and
why not right?
Jen (02:01):
Why not?
Why not Exactly?
Rose (02:03):
So I have been inspired by your story and I would like, if
you don't mind, sharing yourpersonal story on you know
things that have happened to youin your life and how it helped
inspire you to get to whatyou're doing today.
Jen (02:21):
Yeah, so I mean long story short.
We had, you know, the rags toriches story, but it was really
a riches to rags story.
I grew up with things very niceand then I ended up living in
gang territory as a single momand worked my way out of that
and married the man of my dreams, who I'm married to now, dave,
(02:41):
and when we had seven children Iwas I fell down the stairs a
couple of times and they went infor a scan and found some
things wrong.
And long story short, in 2018,they gave me a year to live and
you know I had a two and a fouryear old Well, no, they were a
little older at the time but Ihad two little kids and five
(03:04):
older kids.
I have seven born in fourdecades that span three
generations, and I was not readyto say goodbye to them, and so
you know, I thought I don't.
I really don't like that idea,but if things are going to
happen, I want to have themhappy, right?
So my five older ones are outthere on their own.
They're successful, doing theirthing, thank goodness, and with
(03:28):
the two little ones, we foundout that there was an affordable
island.
Who knew I always wanted tolive on an island and so we
moved them here and it's likethe wonder years.
We've got sidewalks, we'rethree blocks from the beach.
They do surf school in thesummer.
Oh my goodness.
Every day of summer I sit thereon the beach and think how can
(03:52):
this possibility be my life?
And guess what?
It's seven years after thatprognosis and I am still here.
And the crazy thing is whenthey said that I was using a
walker and a cane depending onwhat I did, and I am freely
walking at this point, which isabsolutely incredible.
And so, you know, people say,like, how do you do so many
things?
Because I've done a lot ofthings in the last couple years.
But really, you know, peopletalk about living like it's your
(04:15):
last day, right, living likeand I think I've just embraced
that.
Though what would you really do?
You know?
You think it would be take avacation and spend all your
money, and that does sound likefun, except that I didn't want
to live in a way that I wouldbreak my family.
Yeah so you know I'm doing allthe things and I tell you what I
(04:35):
think it's just keeping megoing.
I really do.
Rose (04:38):
Yeah, it's an amazing story, I think.
When we are struggling orthere's something that happens
in our lives, especially as moms, we like get up and dust, that
you know, we dust ourselves offand then we're like, okay, well,
I've got to do what I need todo for my children.
Jen (04:53):
Yeah.
Rose (04:53):
And that's what you did, and were you.
So you moved to Florida or tothis beautiful island, and it
helped you heal.
Were you like, intuitivelyguided to go there?
I sense that there you, you,had some innate feeling to go
there.
Jen (05:08):
So I grew up in LA and we had a cabin in the mountains and
then we were close to the beach.
So, you know, depending on theseason we would do the thing and
I love the beach, I don't.
The ocean is my happy place.
And we had spent 20 years inTennessee and my husband and I
went on a on a vacation toFlorida for our 10th anniversary
and on the way home he said weneed to save our money so we can
(05:31):
visit next year.
And I said, no, we need to saveour money so we can live here
next year.
And 11 months later we wereliving here.
But a few years before that Ihad decorated my room like we
were on an island.
I got a canopy bed and I gotthe mosquito netting and I did
the curtains and the thing.
And I thought, you know, I'mnever going to live in an island
(05:51):
.
Right, it's a fantasy thing,but I'm going to pretend because
at that point I was in bedabout 20 hours a day, and so I
just I got to be on an islandwhen I was in my room and I
think you know some there.
You can call it manifesting orlike whatever kind of thing you
want, but I think it was in myhead and once we found this
place I thought oh my gosh, wecan make it happen.
Rose (06:12):
So we did.
I think that you manifested itfor sure, and you know when we
really want something and wefeel that with that intention,
we send that message out to theuniverse and I think that you
know that that helped you and II sense such a beautiful warrior
spirit within you.
You know, I, I'm a, I'm abreast cancer survivor, but I
(06:32):
never use the word survivor, Ialways use warrior because you
know we, we're, we're going outthere and we're we.
We embrace what happened, ourstruggles, and we're helping
others and inspire others to getthrough them, if they can as
well.
I love your story.
Thank you for sharing that.
Jen (06:48):
Well, and you know, I think words matter, though.
You know you were saying, youknow I think the word survivor,
it's that whole survival mindset, right, and so I mean there's a
lot of people that use thatword.
But warrior is a wholedifferent thing, right, you are
grabbing your weapons and you'regoing into battle knowing that
you're going to conquer it.
And I think we've been making avery calculated use of words in
(07:11):
my home lately where we're justvery careful about the words we
use.
And so I think, yeah, that doeshave something to do with it.
And congratulations, by the way, because that C word, you know,
when people first hear it it'srough.
Rose (07:24):
Yeah, thank you.
It's rough.
Yeah, thank you.
I appreciate that.
Yeah, so you have a verysuccessful podcast, but that's
not the only thing you do.
You started out having apodcast that was more towards
chronic health, right as a mom,but then you pivoted because you
are the queen of reinventionand I love that.
(07:45):
Can you tell us about yourpodcast?
Sure?
Jen (07:49):
So, yeah, it was the Sick Mom's Guide.
And then it morphed to HardyMom, because Hardy is my last
name and it means capable ofenduring difficult conditions.
And I thought, well, there yougo.
But I realized when I wouldwalk into a room I'd say I have,
you know, seven children andmultiple chronic illnesses.
And that's my podcast.
That is depressing as fire,right, we're talking about words
(08:09):
.
And I felt so sick and Ithought I have got to stop
talking about being sick.
I don't want to talk about itanymore.
So I was actually at PodFest,which is a convention for
podcasters, and I looked aroundand I thought what are people?
Who are people not helping?
You know what group is notbeing represented?
And it was women over 50.
And right there at that,fabulous over 50 was born and I
(08:32):
thought, yeah, I'm not giving up.
I had 120 episodes by then.
I didn't want to give those up,so we just renamed it and kept
going, because people over 50sometimes have health issues, so
they can go back and find thoseepisodes on cancer or you know
all the different things.
And then we just moved forwardand I cannot even tell you what
(08:53):
a difference it has made in mylife.
It is incredible.
And somebody said well, I don'tknow why you went from one
depressing topic to the other.
And I said you know, aging isnot depressing Because the
alternate, you know, if we'renot aging, we're not here
anymore.
So I think you know, and partof aging does suck, and it's a
lot of fun to throw some glitterand sequins at it, right?
(09:13):
And so I think it's helpingwomen see the beauty in being
over 50 that maybe they didn'tsee before too and that feels so
good.
Rose (09:26):
Yeah, I think that there's this resurgence or this
rebranding of women at a certainage, now that we're really
embracing life and myunderstanding.
I teach Qigong and my teacher.
I talked to my teacher about itand he said that women after a
certain age, although there aresome of their hormones change
and we go through menopause, wehave this energy to start
(09:46):
building and building somethingnew, whereas men, they already
did all their stuff right.
They built their empire.
Now they're ready to just gosit in a chair or hang out or
follow their women around thestore right, holding their bags
right, exactly.
But we have so much more to dobecause we raised our children.
We may have encountered somethings in our lives and we're
(10:09):
ready to share that and helpothers become resilient.
Jen (10:14):
Absolutely.
Rose (10:15):
Yeah, I think that's kind of what your podcast does.
Right, we want to feel good andthat's the messaging.
Jen (10:21):
Yeah, absolutely, and a lot of us were taught to sit down
and fold our hands and be quietwhile we were little, and I
think many of us have realizedwe don't have to do that anymore
and we're finding our voice andare you know, we being more, I
feel, I feel more secure in mybody than I did when it was
(10:41):
young and firm and toned andeverything, because then I just
hated it.
You know, because we weretaught so many things.
You can never be too rich ortoo thin and you know all these
different whatever, and now Ifeel like once you hit 50, it's
like dang it, I'm still here,I'm going to enjoy the crap out
of this Right, and so it's veryfreeing.
Rose (10:59):
It is very You're so right , and I also notice a lot of
people.
There's a lot more womenpodcasters now, right, and
that's great, and we're and I'vehad most of my guests have been
females on the show that haveembraced this, like this new
identity of helping others, andit's just fabulous to be able to
support them and help them,connect them with other people.
(11:22):
And you also have anotherpodcast that you, voices of
Justice.
Jen (11:27):
I believe I do.
Yes, so that is my videopodcast and right now my YouTube
channel is the Jen Hardy Show,but that is actually going to
switch around a little bit andthe whole channel is going to
become Voices of Justice,because that's what my audience
wants and I have catered to myaudience, which is how it has
grown by leaps and bounds, andI've got to tell you that is a
(11:47):
lot of fun and I think that'spart of I don't know it.
Really, I never wanted to be onvideo.
I put up a video on YouTube andit took off and it's really
helped me I don't know findmyself, I think, in a way, and
then be able to help other womenbe able to be in front of a
camera who never thought theywould be able to be in front of
(12:08):
a camera.
Rose (12:09):
It's kind of fun to be in front of a camera, but you've
done and I have to bring up theshower thoughts and I really
love listening to them.
So so you have this thing thatyou do called Shower Thoughts,
and if you want to share a story, because I love the way you
share it and we can talk aboutit.
Jen (12:28):
Sure, yeah.
So I love Shower Thoughts I wasa philosophy minor in college
and the idea why do we drive ina parkway and park on a driveway
kind of a thing, but nobodydoes them in the shower?
And I thought, if I'm going toput a video on YouTube, I
batched out 100 of them andshower.
(12:49):
And I thought, you know, if I'mgoing to put a video on YouTube
, I batched out 100 of them andI stand in the shower with the
shower nozzle as a microphone.
I hold my iPhone in the otherhand.
There is nothing fancy, but letme tell you what it took off on
YouTube and got me a partnermanager with only 2300
subscribers.
Usually you need 100,000.
So it even made YouTube notice,which was pretty incredible.
Rose (13:03):
And why do you think that is?
Is it because people are just,they're very witty and they're
so true?
So you know.
Jen (13:12):
I think it just it makes people think they're not alone,
right?
You know, when you think thoseweird, quirky things and you're
like, is it just me?
Am I the only one who noticesthis thing?
But what I've learned byputting them out there is no, it
isn't just me, it isn't justyou.
We're all thinking these weird,quirky thoughts and I and I
think it just resonates withpeople and there's some sort of
weird vulnerability and I'mdressed in the shower.
(13:32):
Let me just tell your listenersthat's a question that I get
from every man who hears aboutwhat I do.
I'm conservatively dressed, withmy blingy robe.
In the shower there is no water, it's just.
I'm just standing there, yeah,but there's a vulnerability to
it.
I think, too is that we'reusually not filmed in the shower
, and so I think I'm lettingsomebody, I'm letting everyone
(13:56):
in, and I think maybe there's anopenness to that that people
like.
Maybe, yeah.
Rose (14:01):
I think you're right.
I do know or follow some otherwoman who's uh into holistic
healing and she has a brand andshe has products and a lot of
the things she does in herbathroom.
She has this huge bathroom andshe'll be in her underwear,
she'll do gua sha and she'll dochugong and it's really taken
off and you know she's just whoshe is and I think that's part
(14:22):
of the charm and with you, Ifind that it's what you see, is
what you get, and you know it'slike this is who you are and and
and you're having fun with it.
Jen (14:33):
Yeah, and I've always been a real love it or hate it person
.
People either love me or theyhate me, and I've just embraced
that.
You know what?
I've stopped trying to makeeveryone happy and more people
seem to be happy now that I'mdoing that which is interesting.
Rose (14:49):
You know I don't have the same shower thoughts as you do,
but I do find that when I am inthe shower I have, like the best
ideas If I only had a recorderat the time.
I have to figure out some wayto do that right and record
those.
Jen (15:03):
I know I need to market some sort of waterproof paper or
something, and it can be theshower thoughts, ideas or
something.
I think that would be brilliant.
Rose (15:10):
I think that is brilliant.
So one of the questions I'dlike to ask you is what advice
for women do you have who arestruggling, maybe, to reinvent
themselves, or they're stuck ina rut or want to find a purpose,
like I'm sure that you'vespoken to a lot and have had
(15:31):
women on your show who have gonethrough that.
What advice do you have?
Jen (15:36):
for them.
So I am a huge fan of the braindump, which is a strange word.
But you know, get a huge pieceof paper or several pieces of
paper and a pencil and the thingis, the only rule is you cannot
list them in a line.
You have to write it all overthe paper.
You have to give yourselfpermission to just be free.
There's something about it justbeing chaotic.
(15:58):
That is actually helpful,because otherwise we think, did
I write it properly, is it?
No, there's none of that.
You set a timer for 10 minutesand write down everything you've
ever wanted to do.
Maybe you wanted to do art andpeople told you you're never
going to make enough of that.
Maybe, you know you wanted tostudy history and people said
there's no job in that.
Like, whatever those things are, it could be a fantasy, you
(16:23):
know.
Maybe you wanted to write abook, because I wrote and
published a book in two weeksand I was told I was an alien.
But you do that, just write itall down.
Maybe you wanted to write abook or star in a movie it
(16:50):
doesn't, whatever and thenyou're going to take that list
and you're going to put it inorder of how you really want.
What do I really want?
It doesn't matter if it's afantasy or if it would be hard
to do or what anyone else wouldsay.
And then you go down that listand you start at the top and
what's the first thing you couldactually do within the next
week, and you do it.
You cross it off and you go tothe next thing and you slowly
build up and do the things youalways wanted to do, because you
can.
That's the thing.
You're a grown up.
You're a grown person.
It doesn't matter.
Everyone told me my showerthoughts were stupid.
(17:11):
Everyone thought it was thedumbest idea they ever heard and
I did it anyway, you know.
And so I'll say, like, on April4, 2024, I had 38 subscribers
on my channel after eight yearsWow, I mean, that's not a lot.
And I had 127 views and I haddone like a lot of videos.
(17:31):
Nobody cared, but I didsomething I was passionate about
.
That was 10 months ago.
I now have almost 70,000subscribers as of today and
almost 3 million views in lessthan a year.
That's amazing, right, and Inever would have thought right.
But I did the thing I thoughtwas a brilliant idea, even
(17:52):
though everyone said it was dumb, I did it and that's my
encouragement.
And maybe you won't have 3million views on something, but
maybe you'll just be happy andfor a lot of women that is the
biggest success you could everfind, because they're not
finding it.
Rose (18:06):
And I think once again, I think that you did what you
wanted to do.
You went with your intuition,with your gut, and you said it
when you were talking about thatmind mapping or that brain dump
Do what you want to do, notwhat someone else is suggesting
or planting in your mind.
Jen (18:27):
Else is suggesting or planting in your mind.
You know you embrace that andbe empowered.
Well, and this is the time todo the impractical things.
You know, I said I was writinga book in two weeks and it was
going to be a bestseller, andeveryone said that is ludicrous.
No one's ever done that and youknow what I did.
And it stayed at number one newrelease for 30 days.
So you know, I mean it'sincredible what you can do when
you really decide that you'rejust going to do it and forget
(18:49):
the rules.
That's the thing.
I mean, there's certain rules,you know.
Like we're not going to killpeople, those are rules we need
to.
You know, whatever you may needto edit that word out,
depending on where you'reputting this, but we don't want
to hurt people, right?
But as long as you're not, youknow, yeah, we can start bending
those rules that we have had inour heads for so long and, yeah
, it makes life a lot more fun.
Rose (19:10):
It doesn't.
It makes you feel like realfree.
It does that group.
(19:31):
We are so stuck in the rulesand being a certain way and
maybe not being seen, not beingheard, right and what you're
doing in your video shorts andyour books.
You are sending messages outthere that it's okay to have fun
, it's okay to be in the shower,it's okay to live a fabulous
life and feel good aboutyourself.
Jen (19:45):
Yeah, exactly, and I'll tell you, okay, I wrote the book
.
I know there's going to bemistakes.
You can't publish a book in twoweeks without mistakes and
people are like, oh my gosh, jen, you're going to have mistakes.
So you know what I did, and notthat someone's going to do this
exact thing, but it's aworkaround, right.
I put a sticker on the book andit said editing quest, because
when you're a YouTuber, you haveto edit the first three people
(20:07):
to find five mistakes get aT-shirt.
So now, instead of peoplesaying, oh my gosh, jen, there's
mistakes in your book, they'relooking for mistakes on purpose
and I've set them up to edit therest of my book, you know, and
just things like just thinkoutside the box and to get
things done.
And it's so incredible and sofreeing.
(20:29):
And even ChatGBT told me it hadnever heard anything like that.
That's amazing, but it worked.
Yeah, can you share what bookthat was?
So it's Uncensored YouTubeHacks.
So, yeah, it's how to start aYouTube channel for people who
have no idea.
And I was on a podcast withsomebody who's been on YouTube
for 10 years and he told me he'sread the book through twice
(20:51):
because there were things henever learned.
And that was, I think, thebiggest compliment I've ever
gotten about anything.
Rose (20:58):
That's great.
Well, videocasting and being onYouTube and videos is
definitely trending.
It's going to grow, I feelright, that was the message that
we're sensing and it's really Imean, it's been there for a
long time, but I think we needto embrace it as content
creators, right, yeah, and notbe afraid to get out there, and
(21:21):
it doesn't always have to beperfect just to get it out there
.
I want to grow my channel, too,and I'm going to read your book
and take that advice that youhave in there.
Jen (21:29):
Well, and what's great is that what's trending now is real
authenticity.
So people don't want thesecarefully curated, perfect
everything videos anymore.
They want to know that it'sreally you.
You know, like, this is a mess,what am I doing?
I don't know.
I got things in my back wrappedup that aren't absolutely
perfect today and you knowthat's okay, because people are
going to say, yeah, it's somepeople.
(21:50):
Someone will complain theyalways do, and that's fine,
because that's really their ownjunk, right, because whatever.
But everyone else is thankfulthat they see the reality.
They want reality.
You know.
Rose (22:04):
Yeah, I think you're right .
I think it's better just to putaside that perfection, because
that perfection can stop us, cananchor us and we can't move
forward once we.
I'm like that too.
I'm like everything has to beperfect.
I'm editing my book right nowand I'm like going over it over
and over, I'm like, okay, youknow what, at some point I need
to let it go and get it done.
Jen (22:23):
Can I tell you?
I will tell you in youraudience, the best way to edit a
book.
You ready, read it out loud andmake the audio book, because
when you read it out loud youhear differently than when you
read it in your head.
Wow, okay, and then you'vecreated an audio book.
Rose (22:41):
Boom, great advice.
Yes, I was thinking aboutsharing some of that already to
my audience to see what they're,if it piques an interest.
For example, let's circle backto how you support other female
podcasters.
You have right now, as thispodcast is recording, you're
doing a top 50, over 50 podcastcontests, right?
(23:06):
Uh, do you want to talk aboutthat first, so we can sure get a
little glimpse into that?
Jen (23:10):
I am so excited.
So I wanted to do it because mypodcast won twice last year
podcast of the year and it'swhatever in the top two percent
worldwide, whatever, and um, andmy, my youtube, my, my YouTube
thing and my everything's justkind of taken off.
And so I thought how can I helpother people?
So if I could get other peopleon my show and in front of my
(23:33):
audience and give them a voicein a new place, that would be
good.
And I thought, you know,there's these top 30 under 30,
business people in top 40 under40, but nobody, nobody's really
doing top 50 under 50 or over 50, a few people you know,
whatever.
And so that's what we're goingto do.
And then everyone who winsthey're going to be on my show
for the next 50 episodes.
It's going to be incredible.
And but then we were talkingand someone said well, you know,
(23:59):
you could do an in-person event, so it's going to be hybrid of
of a virtual, and we're going tohave a gala here, oh my
goodness.
And so everyone who comes isgoing to stay at the hotel on my
island, in my town, so I canshow them around because I keep
talking about it and it's just,I'm so excited to be able to
share with everybody.
Rose (24:16):
I can sense it.
It's exciting too.
I was looking, I was looking atit and that that is at the end
of March, right?
So if I'm not sure this isgoing to, I may air this sooner
than that so that we can.
Jen (24:27):
But if not, they can come next year because we're going to
do it again.
Rose (24:31):
That's exciting.
You know I was thinking I sawyou at PodFest.
I was at PodFest this past year.
It was my very first one.
I was really excited and I hadso much fun and learned so much.
And I saw you and I didn't geta chance to talk to you because
you were so busy talking toeveryone.
You're like the celebrity atPodFest.
But next year I'm going to meetyou in person.
(24:52):
But I was thinking maybe nextyear and I can help you, we can
do maybe a party of top 50 over50 podcasters or female
podcasters or something we canjust have like a meetup or a
gathering.
Jen (25:07):
That would be kind of fun.
I would love that.
Yeah, so I do have a groupcalled the Golden Mic Society
and it is for podcasters over 50.
But we could put on a party forthem.
That would be a blast because,you know it's funny, it's not a
group of old fuddy-duddies, itis.
You know, it's funny when Ipicture people that were my age
now when I was a kid, thingswere so different then you know
(25:27):
they were winding down, theywere done.
We are not winding down, we aredoing some epic things and I
think a party would be a blast.
Rose (25:37):
I think so too.
We'll have to talk about that.
Yeah, so your golden.
I would like to talk about yourGolden Mic Society as well,
because a lot of my audience too.
They're podcasters.
I've had a lot of podcastingguests, podcaster guests on my
show, so there's a world offabulous podcasters out there.
Jen (25:56):
Can you talk about it?
So we meet?
We were meeting weekly and thatis way too often, we're too
busy, so we're going to meetonce a month now and it's just a
nice group of people we cancome in.
You know, I love people ofevery age.
It's not that I don't I mean, Ihave children in three
different generations for cryingout loud, but sometimes it's
just nice to talk to people whoare around our age, because
(26:21):
there's a lot of communicationdifferences between the
different generations and it'sjust nice to be with people who
get where you're coming from.
You don't have to explain it.
You can talk about a brokenrecord, they know what you're
talking about.
Or winding the pencil in thecassette tape, you know and we
can.
Just we give each other thispositive, good energy to get
(26:42):
back out there and do things.
Sometimes we'll have a hot seatwhere someone comes with an
issue and everyone brainstorms,or we'll have a speaker and we
just do some different things toelevate the voices of the
people our age, yeah, and youcreate community.
Rose (26:56):
I think that's really really important Women
supporting other women andfeeling that they're in a
community that is supportive.
Jen (27:07):
Yeah, we let men into the Golden Mike Society.
I wasn't sure how I felt aboutthat.
It's been good, it's beenreally good, yeah.
But I think you know theredefinitely needs to be a space.
I just went on a retreat justfor women, and we do.
We do need a space, you know,and so do the men.
They do need their own space,you know just to kind of talk
(27:27):
about stuff you know, but it'sgood to have a softer group
sometimes.
Rose (27:33):
Yes, I agree with you and I hope you had a lovely retreat.
I know you mentioned that.
Did we talk about the voices ofjustice?
Enough for you, Like I don'tknow if you wanted to talk about
it.
Jen (27:43):
Yeah, so I didn't say what it is.
We could talk about what it isbecause it's different.
So when I started my YouTubechannel, it was supposed to be
fabulous, over 50.
And I interviewed a woman who Ilove and watch on YouTube she's
a judge Did not know she was aYouTube famous, which is part of
how my channel took off.
And I got so many subscribersand they said we are not women,
(28:05):
we're not fabulous and we're notover 50, you need to change it.
So I randomly changed it to theJen Hardy Show and then called
the podcast the video podcast,voices of Justice, which is now
gonna become the whole channel.
But it's different in that Iinterview judges, lawyers,
legislators and ex-convictswearing glitter and sequins and
(28:28):
legislators and ex-convictswearing glitter and sequins and
it's one of those things wherepeople are scrolling and they
look and they kind of look again.
And now that I've added onlyex-convicts that are doing
wonderful things, I will say so,not just somebody who's
committed a bunch of crimes, andI randomly interviewed them.
They're actually people thatare helping other prisoners do
something with their lives andthose stories are some of the
best, honestly, on my channelIncredible.
Rose (28:51):
So what made you do that?
What made you interview thejudges or the ex-convicts that
are doing well and justhighlight the justice system?
Jen (29:02):
Well, you know, I interviewed the one judge and
then I had a bunch ofsubscribers I mean, not that
many For me, it was a lot, itwas like 1,500 overnight and I
thought, oh my goodness, I haveto do whatever they say.
And I'm really glad that I did,because it's turned into this
incredible thing and it's givenme access to people in the
judicial system that I neverwould have had access to.
I've learned things about ourjudicial system I never knew
(29:25):
before, and I think more peoplein our country and it's amazing
people all over the world arefascinated with our judicial
system because it's so open andthey want the people in the
United States to understand howit works.
That's why the judges arestreaming on YouTube.
It's not because they're tryingto grow something.
None of them are monetized,they're not making money off of
(29:46):
it.
They just want people tounderstand how things work
because so few people do.
And so I've really just taken itand grabbed that bull by the
horns and thrown myself.
In fact, next month I'm goingto go to Texas and interview
some in person and really getthe scoop and hopefully get put
(30:06):
in jail.
That is my goal, not because Icommit a crime.
I want to be filmed.
Because I want to be filmed andhave people see what the
reality is, because it'sunpleasant and I think it would
help people not do bad things,maybe if I can help one person
not do a bad thing.
That would be great.
Rose (30:24):
I think that's amazing and it's giving people the
perspective of what it's like,because maybe people don't
realize what it is really likewhen they're in a court scene or
in a court and you know thereare so many things on TV, but to
see it in reality it's totallydifferent and it's almost like
true crime.
But it is true crime, but it'syour, you know the judicial
system.
Jen (30:43):
True crime stories.
Yeah, so technically I'm underthe umbrella of true crime, but
what I do is different and Ithink, yeah, and I think the
jail part, the reason I want todo that is because, you know,
people watch court and theythink, oh, lock that guy away,
lock him up, da, da, da.
But they do not realize whatthat means.
You know it's not a TV showwhere, you know, the people just
(31:04):
pretend like things arehorrible and they get to go home
at the end of the day.
It is continual, yeah that'sgreat.
Rose (31:16):
What is your vision for the future of women, not just in
podcasting, but but just how tolive their lives, or how to
embrace their life and live,live a fabulous life.
Jen (31:29):
I think you know it depends on the woman and whatever she
envisions.
And I think, letting go of whateveryone else has told you you
should do, I mean within reason,don't abandon your family,
that's not what I'm saying.
But you know, within theconfines of you know society,
but who are you?
You know, learning who you are,letting yourself, explore the
(31:52):
ideas that you used to have,that everyone told you were
stupid or that were dumb orwouldn't make you money, or who
cares?
At this point, you know, and youknow I was raised by someone
who really wanted women to havethe same rights as men, which I
can fully agree with, but to theextent that I wasn't allowed to
do anything girly, no pink, nopurple, no girl, anything.
(32:15):
And I think that's why I'membracing the sequins and the
glitter.
And my mom told me that glitterwas the herpes of the craft
world.
I was not allowed to useglitter.
God forbid a piece of it gotsomewhere because it would never
go away.
Well, my thing now is neitherdo wrinkles, so let's cover them
in glitter, and then peoplenotice the glitter and not the
wrinkles, right?
And you know?
You see, I have pink lampsbehind me and all these things
(32:36):
and I'm exploring all thosethings I didn't get to earlier
and it's like go after thingslike you're a kid again.
You know that childlike wonderand it's exciting and it makes
it fun you know I love that.
It's just a whole different wayand I think I don't know.
You know, I just did my biggestinterview on my channel with a
(32:59):
judge that had never.
He did one four-minuteinterview six years ago.
I got the exclusive.
He's a wonderful man, he'srighteous and fair and also an
African-American man who was thefirst African-American man to
be elected in his county in 1999ever and then spent 10 years as
the only black judge in hiscounty in 1999 ever and then
spent 10 years as the only blackjudge in his county.
(33:20):
And I think that crap has toend and I'm hoping that the
women will be the ones to stop.
We don't need quotas, we don'tneed whatever.
Stop, just stop and just startembracing humans as humans.
And I think if I had onemessage, I would want that to be
it.
Rose (33:38):
And I think if I had one message, I would want that to be
it Amen, I agree with you.
I love that and I see youmaking that change and helping
make that change.
I hope so.
I know you will.
Jen (33:48):
I just don't know how.
It's a thing you know, I don'tknow.
I mean, when we were in LA, mydaughter was one of two blonde
children out of 550 people.
We weren't allowed to go topeople's houses.
So when people look at methey're like you don't
understand racism.
Well, I don't understand it inthe same way that they
experience it.
I absolutely don't.
But at the same time, we doknow what it's like and it feels
(34:09):
horrible and I don't thinkanyone should go through it.
I think we need to be done.
So I agree, that's my soapboxbut I'm off it now, but it
really is a passion of mine, itreally is.
Rose (34:20):
No, I love this and I totally support you.
I grew up as a child in Newarkduring the riots, and so I was a
young child and I remember,even though I was young, and I
don't think we've sometimes, Idon't think we've really come
that far in these many years,and it's terrible.
(34:41):
So I encourage that change aswell.
Thank you, I will be prayingfor that, as I always do, so
what's besides everything thatyou've mentioned?
I know you always havesomething like I know, I don't
know, you know you, but I couldtell that there's other things
and other ideas.
What's, what else is next forJen?
What do you?
What do you see happening orwhat would you like to happen?
Jen (35:05):
So funny.
Funny that you would, that youwould ask that because actually
we have just we were making somemajor changes here at Hardy
House Media and so some thingsare yeah, well, there's gonna be
a lot of changes at the end ofthe year, but I have been
speaking since I was 22 yearsold, so three decades of
(35:27):
speaking, and we've just coinedmy main, the name of my message
and power frame messaging.
So I'm going to start speakingon that, so helping people find
their message, be able todeliver their message and power
frame because it can either befor executives or people that
(35:47):
want to get on video, like in aframe and helping people find
their voice.
So I'm very excited that bookis coming out in April actually,
and so that's the new thing isthat I'm going to start
traveling all over andinternationally actually and
speaking on that.
So, because I really want tohelp everyone find their voice,
(36:08):
I think it's so important.
Rose (36:10):
Wow, I love that.
And you said you've beenspeaking since you were 22.
And I'm guessing this is whypodcasting was such a natural
transition for you.
You found your voice there.
You're continuing to developwhat you're speaking about and
that's changing.
(36:30):
And now you're going to helpothers and I love that.
That's amazing.
Jen (36:33):
That's my goal.
Yeah, I've been helping womenor business owners locally to
just get on stage, get in frontof camera, learn how to do that
and feel comfortable.
And now we're just going totake that message and run with
it.
So I'm very excited.
Rose (36:48):
As content creators.
As a creator, I'm learning theimportance of having the right
message.
Yeah Right, because we want toattract the right audience as
well.
Right, and hone in on thatmessage.
Yeah Right, because we want toattract the right audience as
well.
Right, and hone in on thatmessage.
Yeah, oh, I love that.
I'm so excited.
I can't wait to see you.
I hope you do come to New Yorkor wherever you go.
Maybe I'll go to London and seeyou there.
(37:10):
We go yeah Podcast show.
I'll be your assistant.
I'll be your assistant.
And is there anything else thatyou would like to share with
everyone besides that great news?
That was amazing news.
Oh, thank you.
Jen (37:26):
You know, I think no matter where you are, no matter what's
going on around you, even ifyou are stuck in bed because I
was stuck in bed for a long timethere are things you can do.
You know.
You can start by making the bedaround you and making it look
nice, like I mean, if that'swhere you're at right, or if you
(37:46):
can get up, you can go take awalk.
You can do something nice forsomeone.
We all have the power to dothings and I think people forget
that every day is a gift andtreat it, treat every day like a
gift and get up and dosomething, because you're going
to feel really good about it.
Rose (37:59):
I love that message.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for beinghere and for sharing your space
and your energy, and I've beenwanting you to be on this
podcast since I first saw you ata virtual thing for PodFam and
I was like, oh, I wonder on myshow show someday.
And here you are.
Oh, that is so sweet.
That is so sweet.
Thank you, I'm so happy and Ican't wait to meet you and, who
(38:24):
knows, maybe collaborate withyou one day.
I'm always putting that vibeout there.
Jen (38:28):
Let's do it.
I'm up, let's have it.
We're having a party at PodFestnext year.
It's done.
Rose (38:34):
Awesome, absolutely.
Thank you so much, jen.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
Thank you for joining me onChat Off The Mat.
If you're ready to transformyour energy and step into your
fullest potential, I'd love towork with you.
As an energy alchemist, I helpwomen release blocked energy and
reclaim their vibrant essence.
Visit rosewibichcom to exploreworking together and discover
(38:56):
free resources for your journey.
Love today's episode, subscribewherever you get your podcasts,
leave a rating and share yourbiggest takeaway with me on
Instagram at Rose Wippich.
Remember wellness warriors yourenergy is precious.
Nurture it wisely.
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