Half Betty

Andrea Rathborne & Krista Gruen
Half Betty
Latest episode

33 episodes

  • Half Betty

    Claire Fitzsimmons: Still Becoming

    2026-06-20 | 1h 27 mins.
    In this thoughtful and inspiring conversation, Andrea and Krista welcome their first UK guest to the Half Betty Podcast - writer, wellbeing curator, coach, and podcast host Claire Fitzsimmons.

    Claire is the co-founder of If Lost, Start Here, a wellbeing company supporting people as they navigate life’s wilds with greater emotional honesty, clarity, and self-compassion. She is also the host of the podcast A Thought I Kept, where she explores the ideas, moments, and conversations that stay with us long after they happen.
    This episode marks more than simply Half Betty’s first conversation with a UK guest; it feels like the beginning of a meaningful bridge between communities, cultures, and shared conversations around midlife, identity, growth and transformation. 

    Together, Andrea, Krista, and Claire explore the cultural differences between North America and the UK when it comes to visibility in midlife, emotional expression, and conversations about women’s evolving identities. They discuss the uniquely British tendency to soften discomfort with humour, the challenges of asking for what we need, and why so many of us are still learning how to articulate what we feel.
    Claire shares her personal story -  from witnessing her mother’s struggles with mental health in midlife to navigating her own experiences with anxiety and depression - and reflects on how these experiences shaped both her work and her understanding of whole and well-being.

    This conversation gently but powerfully challenges the modern obsession with wellness hacks, optimization, and the endless pursuit of self-improvement. Instead, Claire offers listeners a more compassionate and sustainable perspective that our health and wellness may not be something to chase, but something that we shape within the beautifully imperfect reality of everyday life.

    At the heart of this episode, there is a sense of unlearning of emotional courage and the moving  truth that midlife is not a finished chapter, but an ongoing becoming.

    Sometimes being lost is not a signal that something has gone wrong. But. simply the beginning of a new chapter. And, for some, an entirely new book. 

    Bio
    Claire Fitzsimmons is a wellbeing writer, coach, podcast host, and co-founder of If Lost, Start Here, a wellbeing company on a mission to help people find their way to a better place.

    As an ICF Associate Certified Coach and a certified Emotions Coach Practitioner, Claire works with women navigating change, burnout, emotional overwhelm, or an experience of feeling stuck. She helps people untangle what they’re feeling, find clarity, and create a sustainable wellbeing practice that fits the shape of their everyday lives.

    Claire’s writing on mental health, emotions, and midlife wellbeing has appeared in Happiful, Breathe, The Simple Things, and others, with features in Stylist, Red, and Psychologies. Her first book, If Lost, Start Here: Wellbeing for the anxious, disconnected or uncertain, co-authored with Amanda Sheeren, is available now.

    Claire is also the host of the podcast A Thought I Kept, where each week she speaks with guests from across creative, academic, business, and wellbeing fields about the ideas that stay with us for a lifetime. (Andrea was a guest on Claire’s podcast with her conversation found here: A Library made of Moments ) 

    Book
    If Lost Start Here - Wellbeing for the Anxious, Disconnected or Uncertain
    Created by Amanda Sheeren and Claire Fitzsimmons

    References
    Website https://www.ifloststarthere.com/ 
    Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ifloststarthere
    Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ifloststarthere
    YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@AThoughtIKept
    Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-fitzsimmons-4130aa100 
    Podcast https://www.buzzsprout.com/2521342 
    Substack https://moregooddays.substack.com AND https://itsalotactually.substack.com 
     
    Claire’s Five Words 
    Emotional
    Curious (thoughtful)
    Creative
    Loyal
    Tenacious

    Sponsor Information
    Zaleska size-inclusive jewelry
    Use the code HALFBETTY and receive 20% off your first purchase

    Connect with us
    Website link here
    Instagram link here
    LinkedIn link here
    Facebook link here

    Leave a voicemail for us
    https://www.halfbetty.com/voicemail/

    Guest: Claire Fitzsimmons
    Founder/Host/Producer: Andrea Rathborne
    Producer/Co-Host: Krista Gruen
    Editors: Andrea Rathborne & Krista Gruen
    Audio Engineer: Alex McCarthy
    Episode sponsors:  Zaleska size-inclusive jewelry
  • Half Betty

    Dr. Kelly Kasteel: Thrive Instead of Survive

    2026-06-04 | 1h 8 mins.
    What happens when the career you’ve built no longer fits the life you want? This week, Andrea and Krista sit down with Dr. Kelly Kasteel—emergency physician, Mum, and founder of Emerge Wellness.

    After 17 years in emergency medicine, Kelly found herself facing burnout, questioning her identity, and navigating the very real challenges of perimenopause. She shares how the pressures of COVID, coupled with a traumatic workplace incident, became the catalyst for stepping away and reimagining her future.
    What started as an interest in aesthetics quickly revealed something much bigger: women in midlife (including herself) were struggling to find support, answers, and care. Determined to fill that gap, Kelly immersed herself in learning all the information she wasn’t taught in medical school and now helps women navigate hormones, perimenopause, confidence, energy, and overall wellbeing.

    We dive into the symptoms so many women experience but rarely talk about, the evolving conversation around testosterone, and why self-advocacy is one of the most important tools we have. It's an honest, empowering conversation about reinvention, resilience, and taking ownership of your health—because, as Kelly reminds us, no one's coming to save you.

    Whether you're curious about hormones, feeling stuck in a season of change, or simply wondering if what you're experiencing is "normal," this episode offers practical guidance, reassurance, and plenty of reasons to keep asking questions.

    Bio
    Dr. Kelly Kasteel, MD, CCFP-EM, known as Dr. KK, is the founder of Emerge Wellness MD in New Westminster, BC, Canada. After 17 years in emergency medicine, she built one of the most in-demand aesthetics practices in Vancouver's Lower Mainland, the kind of place where you finally feel like you have a girlfriend who also happens to be your doctor. She's known for a boutique, natural-outcomes approach at accessible price points that leaves women looking like themselves, just better. She believes aesthetics and hormone health belong together, and her own perimenopause journey and testosterone therapy is what brought those two worlds under one roof. You can find her candid, evidence-based take on midlife women's health on her Substack, Dr. KK: Hot and Informed, and on Instagram at @drkellykasteel, where she shows up with the same warmth and radical honesty she brings to her clinic every day.

    Website https://www.emergewellnessmd.com/ 
    Instagram https://www.instagram.com/drkellykasteel/
    Substack https://substack.com/@drkellykasteel 

    Dr. Kelly’s words - Radically authentic, warmly disruptive, refreshingly real, unapologetically direct, brilliantly approachable

    Sponsor Information
    Zaleska size-inclusive jewelry
    Use the code HALFBETTY and receive 20% off your first purchase

    Connect with us
    Website link here
    Instagram link here
    LinkedIn link here
    Facebook link here

    Leave a voicemail for us
    https://www.halfbetty.com/voicemail/

    Guest: Dr. Kelly Kasteel
    Founder/Host/Producer: Andrea Rathborne
    Producer/Co-Host: Krista Gruen
    Editors: Andrea Rathborne & Krista Gruen
    Audio Engineer: Alex McCarthy
    Episode sponsors:  Zaleska size-inclusive jewelry
  • Half Betty

    Christina Jazzar: Whole Body Hugs

    2026-05-17 | 57 mins.
    Some people find that their entire lives are about learning how to read a room. Christina Pitts Jazzar built a career learning how to care for the people inside of it.
    Long before she became an intimacy coordinator (IC) at 45 years old, Christina had spent years working as a performer, actor, and choreographer, instinctively attuned to the emotional energy, vulnerability and unspoken dynamics on both the stage and the screen. So when a friend suggested she explore the emerging field of Intimacy Coordination, something in her immediately and wholeheartedly responded. As Christina shares in this conversation, it was a full-body and resounding “yes”.
    In this episode of Half Betty, we explore the deeply human work behind Intimacy Coordination and the growing importance of care, communication, consent, and emotional safety within storytelling. From scenes involving romantic intimacy to the tenderness between parents and children, friends, partners, or chosen family, Christina shares what it means to support actors and crews through moments that require trust, boundaries, clarity, and compassion.

    Together, we talk about midlife reinvention, advocacy, and what happens when the work you step into feels less like a pivot and more like an alignment with who you have always been. Christina also opens up about her family life, her marriage, motherhood, and growing up with a father who was hard of hearing and later vision impaired -  experiences that profoundly shaped her understanding of communication, emotional awareness, and human connection.

    As film and television continue to evolve, Intimacy Coordinators like Christina are helping to redefine what safe, ethical, emotionally intelligent storytelling can look like, not just for actors, but for entire creative communities.

    This conversation is thoughtful, deeply grounded and such an important and beautiful reminder that the things we are naturally drawn toward often hold clues to the work we are meant to do.

    Bio

    With over 30 years of experience in the entertainment industry, Christina Pitts Jazzar (she/her) is a celebrated Performer, choreographer, and Certified Intimacy Coordinator (IC). She has been at the helm of Canada’s IC community with extensive training in Movement, Motion Pictures and Mental Health.

    When it comes to being an IC, Christina is a true collaborator. She has a fun, natural ability to put people at ease, focusing on Communication, Consent & Boundaries and Care. She creates inclusive, welcoming work environments for both cast and crew during sensitive and vulnerable content/situations. 

    As a mother of two, caregiver, partner, and working creative, Christina stepped into intimacy coordination at the age of 45 - in the middle of a global pandemic - and quickly realized something important: productions need care, but so do the people doing the caring. That understanding led her to become a proud board member of the National Society of Intimacy Professionals (NSIP), as well as co-founder of ICU (Intimacy Coordinators United), a Collective prioritizing intimacy coordination as a holistic, sustainable, and community-centred practice.
    You can see Christina’s work on Netflix, Paramount+, Disney FX, Hallmark, CBC and CBS with shows like FUBAR, Adults, Umbrella Academy, Miniature Wife, The WESTIES, Sheriff Country, Boston Blue, Devil In Disguise John Wayne Gacy, and The Way Home to name a few. 

    And finally, a special thank you from Christina to Dani, for 25 years of love and support, and to Krista Gruen and Laura Adkin for her first intimacy coordination credit on their beautiful film Re: Uniting. 
    If you haven’t seen it yet, consider this your sign to add it to the list! 

    Website
    Instagram
    IMDB

    Christina’s words - Communication, Curious, Creativity, Collaboration, Capable

    Sponsor Information
    Zaleska size-inclusive jewelry
    Use the code HALFBETTY and receive 20% off your first purchase

    Connect with us
    Website link here
    Instagram link here
    LinkedIn link here
    Facebook link here

    Leave a voicemail for us
    https://www.halfbetty.com/voicemail/

    Guest: Christina Jazzar
    Founder/Host/Producer: Andrea Rathborne
    Producer/Co-Host: Krista Gruen
    Editors: Andrea Rathborne & Krista Gruen
    Audio Engineer: Alex McCarthy
    Episode sponsors:  Zaleska size-inclusive jewelry
  • Half Betty

    Danielle Mika Nagel: Effort & Ease

    2026-05-05 | 1h 12 mins.
    We sat down with Danielle Mika Nagel for a conversation that moved dynamically between both reflection and clarity. A conversation that stayed with us long after it was over and, now, finds its opportunity to be shared with our listeners.
    At the heart of this episode is a phrase Danielle often returns to - “effort and ease”. The idea that everything meaningful in life asks something of us, but not everything should feel like strain. And that learning the difference is often how she describes beginning to understand herself more fully.

    Danielle speaks to the earlier decades that shape us in ways we don’t always notice at the time - learning boundaries, building courage, figuring out care, and sometimes finding our way back to who we truly are. And how those lessons don’t ever end but simply evolve.

    Now in this midlife chapter, Danielle describes being in a season that feels both grounded and expansive - continuing her long-standing yoga practice, leading retreats, and deepening her coaching work. She also co-founded and co-hosts the podcast Coffee Unlimited with J&D alongside her friend Janelle Aaker - a space that reflects much of her honest, lived-in way of seeing the world.
    She also speaks to the practices that have supported her along the way - yoga, meditation, and staying in an honest relationship with herself.
    It’s a conversation about what we carry, what we release, and what it means to keep choosing a life that fits.
    Bio

    Danielle Mika Nagel is a wellness coach with over two decades of experience weaving together yoga, Ayurveda, and leadership. A former Director of Leadership Development at lululemon and Vancity, she also spent 14 years as a lead educator with the Chopra Center.
    Today, she supports leaders to thrive across all areas of their lives through 1:1 coaching, workshops, and global retreats - bringing a grounded, integrative approach to how people live, lead, and sustain themselves over time.
    Website https://www.daniellemika.com/ 
    Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellemikanagel/ 
    Instagram https://www.instagram.com/daniellemikawellbeing/?hl=en 
    YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@CoffeeUnlimitedwithJandD 
    Podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/6bwPMMAfs1wpbIJhp54MZq?si=8be2a07645e540df 

    Danielle’s Words - Student (learning), Flexibility, Bossy Guru, bougie 

    Sponsor Information
    Zaleska size-inclusive jewelry
    Use the code HALFBETTY and receive 20% off your first purchase

    Connect with us
    Website link here
    Instagram link here
    LinkedIn link here
    Facebook link here

    Leave a voicemail for us
    https://www.halfbetty.com/voicemail/

    Guest: Danielle Mika Nagel
    Founder/Host/Producer: Andrea Rathborne
    Producer/Co-Host: Krista Gruen
    Editors: Andrea Rathborne & Krista Gruen
    Audio Engineer: Alex McCarthy 
    Episode sponsors:  Zaleska size-inclusive jewelry
  • Half Betty

    Dr. Rachel Goldman: Pause

    2026-04-17 | 43 mins.
    Last year, in a packed room at the Hello Sunshine Conference, Krista and I listened to Dr. Rachel Goldman speak.

    Afterward, we had a brief chance to meet her and share what we were building with Half Betty - a space for women navigating midlife, or what we often call centre life, and all that comes with it. She listened with a nod and what felt like immediate understanding - a kind of quiet recognition in the exchange. She spoke briefly about the work she was immersed in, including her upcoming book, and said she would be happy to support what we were building if the opportunity ever arose.
    And here we are.
    This conversation is part of something that began before we pressed record - and will continue long after it ends.
    We’re so glad to welcome her here.

    Dr. Rachel is a nationally recognized clinical psychologist, a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, and the author of When Life Happens (April 2026). Her work focuses on stress, body image, and sustainable behaviour change - grounded in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and a deep understanding of how change unfolds in real life.
    Her perspective has been featured in TIME, The New York Times, CNN, and USA Today, and she has appeared on the TODAY Show alongside voices such as Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Mel Robbins.
    In this episode, we explore what it means when life doesn’t follow the plan - how we respond, what we hold onto, and what we might be ready to shift.
    A conversation about the power of the pause.

    Website
    Instagram
    Linkedin
    YouTube

    Dr. Goldman’s Words
    - Focus on what's in your control
    - Aligned
    - Grounded
    - Mom
    - Runner
    - Pause 

    References
    When Life Happens - Book launched April 7th 2026

    Sponsor Information
    Zaleska size-inclusive jewelry
    Use the code HALFBETTY and receive 20% off your first purchase

    Connect with us
    Website link here
    Instagram link here
    LinkedIn link here
    Facebook link here

    Leave a voicemail for us
    https://www.halfbetty.com/voicemail/

    Guest: Dr. Rachel Goldman
    Founder/Host/Producer: Andrea Rathborne
    Producer/Co-Host: Krista Gruen
    Editors: Andrea Rathborne & Krista Gruen
    Audio Engineer: Ryan Clarke
    Episode sponsors:  Zaleska size-inclusive jewelry
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About Half Betty
Podcast founder Andrea Rathborne and the iconic Betty White share the same birth date - January 17th. In 2022, as Betty would have celebrated her 100th birthday, Andrea turned 50—Half Betty’s age. This milestone sparked a powerful reflection: Betty White achieved more between 50 and 100 than in her first 50 years, suggesting that midlife is not an end but a bold, new beginning. Inspired by Betty’s legacy, Andrea saw turning 50 as the gateway to a second, even greater life chapter - one full of possibility, reimagination, and purpose. This vision gave rise to Half Betty, a bold and vibrant community where midlife women come together to feel supported, inspired, informed, and deeply valued. It’s a space where the stories of their next chapter take shape and the extraordinary potential of their second scene unfolds.
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