TRAILER for Series 2 — 440 Years of Female Wisdom

Finding Your Right Mind — with Vanessa Potter

I will be kicking off Series 2 very soon and do I have a treat in store for you ! '440 years of female wisdom' is a series of 8 interviews (plus some cool bonus episodes!) that chart the lives of 8 women who have all had a decade birthday this year. The 440 is their combined ages.

The idea came about because I am turning 50 in a few months and I found myself reflecting my life. We do that on 'big birthdays' don't we? We audit our lives. We think critically about what we’ve achieved, our families relationships, careers…and I was curious as to why a decade birthday seemed to be so different from other birthdays. How would a woman turning 80 view her life ? So I decided to find out ! The idea mushroomed and before I knew it I had found incredible women from all walks of life aged from 20 to 90 willing to speak to me.

Then there was the problem of what questions do I ask? I decided to consult other women to gather what questions they’d like to ask - what wisdom were they seeking? What they told me was unexpected and fascinating and created the scaffolding for these interviews.

Delving into other women’s lives has brought up some incredibly honest, forthright , sometimes emotional and inspiring stories. Some of these women are the last generation to remember war time, ration books and a very different world. The interviews are gripping - because these women are us - they’re you and me. They mirror our lives in a way we don’t often allow — we don’t ask ourselves these probing questions and we rarely provide the space and time for what these important reflections — for the wisdom to shine through.

In episode one you’ll meet Misgana Araya a 20 year old Eritrean graduate who turned 20 in the midst of the pandemic. Subscribe NOW so you don’t miss out on what she had to tell me!

Support the show