“The older you get, the better you get unless you’re a banana.”
— Betty White
Welcome to The Midst!
Are you a Grown-Ass Lady? Get on in here and help us reinvent this thing called “midlife”. Because over the hill is so over and done with.
The Midst is a community-driven platform that inspires, connects, and empowers women 35+.
If you’d like to support our work and give us the ability to produce more of it, please consider contributing $5 a month as a member (or $50 for the whole year). A paid subscription grants you access to all of our content that’s behind a paywall.
We also welcome you to become a Founding MidstHer to network and fuel our community conversation. Many Founding MidstHers are entrepreneurs, consultants, community and thought leaders, and game-changers. Meet Founding MidstHers here.
What’s our vision?
We are transforming the conversation about the middle decades in women’s lives: no one is "over the hill" — they're in the prime of their lives. We publish thoughtful content that empowers women in the midst to reimagine this period as a time of growth, exploration, and possibility.
Read more about why we started The Midst here.
The Midst in the press
Femtech Insider: ‘It’s time for change. This ain’t my mom’s midlife.’: Amy Cuevas Schroeder Launches Media Platform The Midst
Adweek: How The Midst Taps Into the Midlife and Perimenopause Ad Market With She Media
About Amy Cuevas Schroeder, founder of The Midst
I’m a writer and parent of twin girls who’s navigating the ups and downs of midlife and perimenopause. I moved to Phoenix from Chicago by way of Brooklyn with my husband (Martin Cuevas, a therapist) and our daughters Lydia and Isabel. In addition to The Midst, I work full time in tech. I've previously worked or written for Etsy, Minted, HarperCollins, Writer AI, Atlassian, West Elm, NYLON, and Pitchfork.
I’ve been to Venus and back
I started my first business, Venus Zine, about women in music and DIY culture, as a freshman at Michigan State University. Thanks to the big hearts of hundreds of talented creative people, I scaled Venus bootstrap-style, from a fanzine into an internationally distributed magazine. After a decade of running the show, I sold my company to an independent publisher, and moved from Chicago to New York to start a new chapter.
I began building a new way of thinking about midlife empowerment about three years after having twin girls, moving from Brooklyn to the Chicago area to be near family, while holding down a full-time job and putting my husband through college. During that time, our daughter Isabel was diagnosed with Pitt Hopkins, a rare genetic syndrome that causes inability to walk and talk among many other symptoms.
To deal with the complexities of daily life, including undiagnosed perimenopause and navigating what it means to be “in my prime” at the same time, I started learning coping strategies, ranging from mindfulness and therapy to transcendental meditation and minimalism. I also created the Adventures in Perimenopause series to get to the bottom of this misunderstood state that millions of women face.
Now that I'm in my 40s, I wholeheartedly believe: I’m in my prime — that what I do now will pay off in my decades ahead. In so many ways, I feel like I’m just getting started with coming into my own. I’m on a mission to redefine, reinvent, and disrupt what midlife means, and I’ll be damned if anyone stops me.
About Lauria Locsmondy, our head of content
I believe that beauty is in everyone. Everyone.
I also know that the media and advertising have long been telling us to feel bad and to look “better.” That buying a red lipstick isn’t just a boost quicker than espresso — it’s a story of liberation, a color palette of inclusion, and a finger back at the male gaze.
I bring this media literacy and feminist lens to the articles that I carefully curate. This is my angle. But we’ve come too far to not also have some fun.
Along with a personal mission to empower women, I share a lifelong love affair of the beauty industry, where decades of dedication define my profile, both literally and professionally. I’m a self-taught makeup artist, who refined her skills in the theater, on set, at the MAC counter, and with cancer survivors. Here, I’ve witnessed beauty’s power to transform.
I also love to write. I studied journalism and received my MFA in writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where I founded the indie publication, PISTIL Magazine. Stories of beauty, fashion, health and even horoscopes comprise my bylines, along with a long run as Beauty and Editorial Director at Walgreens.
I share my home in Chicago with my young son, a born artist, my loving partner, and his amazing teenage daughter who visits often. My longtime wish to rescue every senior pet in the city maxes out at two pups and a cat in our fabulous rental — a constant work of art with my obsessive rotation of vintage gems — supported by my daytime gig, of course, directing copy.
What’s the best part of being in your forties? Confidence. The unwavering confidence to live contently and share my truth without fear — because living authentically is the (very hard and) very real expression of beauty.
About Carrie O’Neal Brenner, our creative director
I’m a wife, mama, cat lover, award-winning graphic designer, entrepreneur, and surface pattern designer living in a 100-year-old home in Cincinnati, Ohio. From Minted greeting cards in your neighborhood Target to the logo for a new theme park in Doha, I enjoy the variety that comes with creating holiday wrapping paper to branding a new museum. My signature style is refined elegance as much of my work involves sharpening the ideas of my collaborators and clients. My work has been featured on The Today Show, Good Morning America, and in publications such as Martha Stewart, Real Simple and The Knot. However, it can also be experienced in person in exhibits and attractions for Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, the Prudential Center Observatory in Boston and on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. I received my BFA in Graphic Design from The Ohio State University in 1999 and worked at a design studio until 2001 when I had the first of two amazing children and decided to start my own company. Since the pandemic, I’ve left my downtown studio in Hamilton, Ohio and now spend most of my time providing art direction, photo styling and graphic design for my clients from my attic studio. I’m a perpetual optimist with a fierce love for creating beautiful brands, environments, and products, and am so excited to be a part of The Midst.
About Eve Chen, our operations director
I am many things. A reader. A writer. A wife. A mother. Honestly, I am still figuring out everything that I am and will be. In my twenties I spent most of my career in the publishing industry. After having children I paused my career for a little while, diving head-deep into the murky waters of raising multilingual and culturally diverse children in America.
In addition to helping to run the show at Jumble & Flow, I work as a freelancer, volunteer when I can, and pursue hobbies in my spare time. The superpower that comes with midlife is I care a lot less about possibly failing at something and a lot more about making the attempt.
About Tiffany Nieslanik, our head of community
I’m a creative writer, community builder, bibliophile, mom, cat whisperer, and secret karaoke rapper. I live in Denver with my husband and three kids, where we thoroughly enjoy the copious amounts of sunshine, outdoor activities, and friendly people.
I’ve held a wide range of jobs in my time, but one of the most impactful was joining Yelp as one of their first 100 employees to help grow and nurture the Denver community of yelpers. I grew with the company over the next 11 years, taking on wider opportunities in the community world and learning how much I loved connecting with people. Since then, I’ve helped grow communities for working motherhood (The Mom Project) and travel nurses (Trusted Health), among other efforts.
In 2020, I went back to school to earn an M.A. in Creative Writing and recently started working on a science fiction novel that I’ve dreamed of writing since I was a kid. When not working on The Midst, you can find me writing novels, pitching articles to outlets, and working on other community-based freelance projects as they come up.
Since I was a child, I’ve often gone off the beaten path set up by our society for women. Demanding my aunts return my Barbies in exchange for building blocks. Refusing to wear anything pink/fluffy/dress-like when it wasn’t practical (read: without pockets.) Spending my afternoons alone, roaming the woods by my house with just my dog to keep me company. I joined the Army straight out of high school, traveled on my own in Europe for six months in my early twenties, and thought I’d never get married until I met the dreamiest partner in my 30s.
Now in my 40s, I see my friends asking more questions about the invisible work they do, why we don’t have more/better information for our healthcare concerns, and what an authentic-to-them life looks like, and I am here for it. I think the tide is turning, and absolutely cannot wait to see what the future holds for midlife and women and women in midlife.
I believe that the universe is full of magic. And so are you. I’m so glad you’re here.
About Rachel Rhee, our head of marketing
I am a creator, business consultant, and executive coach. Drawing from my own 15+ years of diverse cross-industry marketing experience in management consulting, fintech, and media, I support high-achieving professionals and solopreneurs in crafting the professional and personal life they desire.
Additionally, as a cancer warrior, I bring unique insight and awareness into the important connection in aligning professional pursuits with personal values and life vision. I am also the creator and host of the podcast, “You Are Here.” It serves as a space where I delve into the stories of professionals living life on their own terms, fostering a sense of community and shared wisdom. To learn more about me, follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Apple Podcasts.
About Dixie Laite, our columnist
I've been a second-grade teacher and mechanical bull operator, and for the past 25 years I've worked for a variety of TV networks as a writer, editorial director, trainer, advice columnist, even an on-air personality. But primarily I've trotted around New York City in one cowboy shirt or another, lurking around flea markets, gyms, and anywhere they’ll hand me French toast.
I'm currently lounging around my apartment with one husband, five parrots, and roughly 2,000 pairs of jeans.
I write two columns for The Midst: Age Against the Machine and Dear Dixie.
Crushing on: I have countless girl crushes on badass, brave women of today, and I’m inspired by so many older lady style icons, especially Linda Rodin. And of course I have lady boners for dozens of yesteryear dames for their courage, humor, and glamour — too many to name. (That's why I started Dametown.com!)
I'm currently in The Midst of learning: 1) that what I thought were bugs were actually features, 2) everyone doesn't hate you, and 3) OK, some people hate me, but that's their loss.
Now that I'm 60, I wholeheartedly believe in making gratitude the cornerstone of each day, making sure I'm always learning and moving forward, and not giving too many f**ks about what others think.
About Anne Holub, our senior writer
I’m a writer and poet and my last name means “pigeon” in Slovak.
I was recently named as the 2024 writer-in-residence at the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, Montana. I’m a full-time freelance writer in MT and I fill my days in stunned disbelief that bald eagles literally fly over my backyard and mountain lions are a risk to backyard chickens. I love to type poems on demand on vintage postcards at events around town. My poetry has been featured on Chicago Public Radio, Yellowstone Public Radio, and publications both online and in print, including the anthology Bright Bones: Contemporary Montana Writing (Open Country Press 2018). My debut poetry chapbook, 27 Threats to Everyday Life, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2023 and was a runner-up in the press’ New Women’s Voices Competition. Originally from Charlottesville, Virginia, and after more than a decade in Chicago, I now live, write, and keep my side of the street clean in Montana with my husband Dan, two dogs Merle and Rosie, and a sourdough starter named Rhonda.
Catch up with my writing at aholub.com or subscribe to my residency newsletter at anneattheyam.substack.com.
About Sally Duffin, our senior writer
I am a UK-based health writer, registered nutritionist/nutritional therapist, and author of Natural Nutrition for Perimenopause: What to Eat to Feel Good and Stay Sane. I have worked in the natural health industry for over 20 years as a nutrition practitioner, writer, and educator, and loves nothing more than empowering people to take charge of their own health. Outside of the nutrition world, I enjoy creative writing, making things, and buying more books than I have time to read.
