Half Betty

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! 

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

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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

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 

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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

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.

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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

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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

What began as an April Fools’ idea has become something much more meaningful.

Half George returns as a space for men to move into honest, open conversations about midlife alongside the stories we’ve been hearing from our guests on Half Betty.
Co-hosts Chris Rathborne and Kyle Gruen are joined by their first guest, Steve Pratt - writer, entrepreneur, and self-described “weird, kind, creative, enthusiast, experimenter.”

At 50, Steve found himself in a strange and profound shift -  leaving the company he built, becoming an empty nester, and questioning long-held definitions of success and identity. Instead of rushing to redefine and make sense of it all, he chose to experiment. Literally. 

Through his Midlife Field Guide, Steve approaches this mid-chapter as a series of real-life experiments - letting go of old metrics and beliefs and exploring what it means to live with more presence, curiosity, and intention.

This conversation is thoughtful, funny, and very honest - touching on identity, purpose, connection, and the evolving nature of work and life in the midlife chapter. 

A reminder that this time  isn’t about having it all figured out, it’s about staying open, staying curious, and, sometimes, embracing the weird.

Bio, Steve Pratt

Steve Pratt is our first Half George guest after our initial Half George episode in 2024 with co-hosts Chris Rathborne and Kyle Gruen. Steve is a midlife explorer navigating what this chapter of life has to offer with curiosity, courage, and a wicked sense of humour. Quirky, candid, and endlessly inventive, he has spent his career helping others find their voice and telling stories that matter.
He is the author of Earn It: Unconventional Strategies for Brave Marketers and the founder of The Creativity Business, a hub for helping companies craft content, marketing, and messaging that actually earns attention. He’s also writing the Midlife Field Guide, a Substack project in which he and his friend Geoff experiment with their own lives in public, trying to decode midlife, one adventure at a time.
Steve co-founded Pacific Content, the world’s first branded podcast agency, which he grew from the ground up in 2014 to work with global brands like Ford, Audible, BMW, Shopify, Adobe, and more - eventually being acquired by Rogers Communications in 2019. Before that, he ran a digital audio innovation lab at the CBC, launched one of the first legal music podcasts in the world, and built a highly engaged community for CBC Radio 3.
He lives in Vancouver with his wife, Debbie, and their three kids, Cedar, Dawson, and Charlotte. Always experimenting, always learning, Steve describes himself with his five words, simply as: Weird. Creative. Kind. Enthusiast. Experimenter.

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The Midlife Field Guide with Geoff Siskind  
 
Bio, Chris Rathborne
Chris Rathborne has spent 25+ years in promotional marketing and branded merchandise, building and nurturing relationships, shaping programs, and delivering results for brands including 7-Eleven, A&W Restaurants, Pacific Salmon Foundation, Pepsico, Indigenous Health and more. At BAMKO, he helps clients turn ideas into meaningful branding experiences. Chris is also the co-host of Half George, where he explores midlife with honesty, curiosity, and humour. A sports lover, Vancouver history nerd, music and pop culture enthusiast and lifelong family man, he lives in New Westminster with his wife Andrea and their daughters Sophie and Bridget. 

Bio, Kyle Gruen
Kyle Gruen is a product management executive with 15+ years of experience scaling products across startups and growth-stage companies. He blends strategy, data, and operational insight to create solutions that work and more importantly, last. Kyle co-hosts Half George, sharing thoughtful, systems-oriented reflections on midlife, ambition, and life’s unexpected turns. He lives in Vancouver with his wife Krista and their twin sons, Weston and Foster.

References
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Use the code HALFBETTY and receive 20% off your first purchase

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Half George
Guest: Steve Pratt 
Hosts: Chris Rathborne & Kyle Gruen

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

For this episode of Half Betty, Andrea and Krista are joined with Anar Ali an award-winning author, TV creator, and Executive Producer of CBC/NBC Universal’s Allegiance (now on the tail end of Season 3), as she traces her path from Tanzania through small-town Canada, Mexico, the UK, and Toronto. Anar talks through guiding values like freedom over security, kindness as power, collaboration, compassion, and a curiosity that fuels wonder.
She reflects on power amplifying character, “sharing it” through politics, incremental community change, and circular storytelling that honours ancestors. As well, the very raw and real moment she left her Procter & Gamble corporate life and first marriage to pursue writing a debut novel (Night of Power, Penguin Random House), as well as TV, sparked by CBC’s Diverse Creators Program.

Bio
Anar Ali is the Creator & Executive Producer of the hit police drama, ALLEGIANCE (CBC/NBCUniversal), and a critically acclaimed short story writer and novelist. Her first book, BABY KHAKI’S WINGS, was a finalist for multiple awards including the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Best First Book), and her debut novel, NIGHT OF POWER, was recently published internationally by Penguin Random House. She started her TV career when she won a development deal with CBC’s Diverse Creators Program for her 1-hour serialized dramedy, RUBY'S TURN. Soon after, she was a writer on the hit medical drama, TRANSPLANT (Netflix/NBCUniversal/CTV). She left a successful career as a Business Development Executive at Procter & Gamble to pursue her dream of becoming a writer. Anar was born in Tanzania to Indian parents, grew up in small-town Alberta, has lived in Mexico and the UK, and now makes her home in Toronto. She's represented by Altas Literary and Atlas Artists.
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Anar’s Words - freedom, kindness, collaboration, compassion, fearless, adventurous, curiosity and wonder. 

References
Allegiance (Procedural) - A rookie agent working in Surrey, her hometown, who faces the limits of the judicial system as she battles to exonerate her politician father. Now in its third season and can be watched on CBC and NBC Universal.
CBC
IMDB

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: Anar Ali (Screenwriter/ Author/Executive Producer)
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