Women Around a Table Eating Food (WTF): Unfiltered talk about this curious midlife. And food.

Nicole O'Brien and Jennifer Chase-Corwin
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At Women Around a Table Eating Food (WTF), we don’t sugarcoat midlife...we plough through it (with snacks). Nicole O’Brien (therapist) & Jennifer Chase-Corwin (journalist) are 30-year best friends and curious as hell about relationships (and pretty much everything else). The tables between us have seen it all: tears, triumphs, laugh-riots, and more cheese boards than we can count (back when cheese didn't f* us up). Now...we invite you, Dear Listener, to join. Expect messy truths, unfiltered stories, some cussin’, experts who challenge and inspire us, and conversations that nourish. Bring food.

Episodes

  1. JAN 22

    WTF#10—Just Us—Where It All Began (Now Let’s Talk About What’s Next)

    One year ago, this podcast was just an idea and a table. Now it’s a season and a ritual, with new people in our lives who feel like friends. In this "Just Us" season finale of Women Around a Table Eating Food, Jen and Nic gather with Nic’s wife Heather and Heather’s bestie, Samantha, family to dish on what the past year actually cracked open: sacred rage, creative risk, midlife bods, chosen fam, grief, joy, perimenopause, and the radical act of staying present when everything in you wants to check out. This isn’t a neat little wrap-up. It’s a toast…to female friendship that saves you, to projects you don’t overthink into oblivion, and to the next year being just a little more honest, a little more brave, and a lot more delicious. Pull up a chair. We really did this. Stuff we love: Sam’s fam’s kickass Connecticut-based food empire: https://www.laylasfalafel.com/ All the timestamps! 17:00 — “We Birthed a Podcast” From “let’s just try this” to realizing they created something real. 18:45 — “The Year That Dug a Hole… and Found the Sun” Reflecting on surviving a brutal year and finally seeing light again. 20:30 — “Friendship That Saves You” A raw moment about being picked up at rock bottom—and not forgetting who carried you. 22:50 — “Your 50th Year Is a Launch, Not a Landing” Why this next chapter is about catapulting forward, not slowing down. 25:15 — “Joy Doesn’t Have to Be Loud” Redefining happiness as presence, not performance. 27:40 — “Chosen Family Hits Different” What it means to have people you’d call at 2 a.m.—no questions asked. 30:10 — “Content Is Not a Dirty Word” A surprisingly deep defense of being satisfied and still striving. 32:45 — “Being Present Is a Full-Contact Sport” Phones, work, hormones, grief—and why attention is the real flex. 35:30 — “The Practice of Being With Yourself” Why presence with others starts with presence alone. 38:20 — “Four and a Half Listeners (And We’d Do It Anyway)” Gratitude, jokes, and the softest possible mic drop. 40:00 — “Season One: We Really Did This” Closing toast, dance party energy, and what’s coming next.

    55 min

  2. JAN 8

    WTF#9-Just Us: Wait...That’s Happening to You Too?!

    Your body is changing. Ours are too. And honestly? What the actual f**k. In this Just Us episode of Women Around a Table Eating Food, Jen and Nic talk candidly—and hilariously—about the messy realities of midlife bodies. Hot flashes. Achy joints. Softness in new places. And yes, we say the word labia. Out loud. Like grown women who are done pretending this stuff isn’t happening. (And in the middle of it all, like any good WTF ep, we dish on some the best TV we watched in 2025. Links below. 👇🏻) The convo feels like a voice text between best friends that accidentally became medicine for other women. It’s funny, a little bawdy, deeply reassuring, and grounded in the kind of friendship that makes you say, “Ohhh, THAT’S happening to you too?” and mean it with love. So if you’ve ever wondered whether your body is broken (it’s not), or felt alone in the weirdness (you’re not), pull up a chair. This episode is about aging honestly and wants you to laugh first, and then quietly hand a friend a mirror and a hug. The Micro-Chapters 00:00 – Midlife has entered the chat (and did not knock) 02:05 – When your body starts doing… new things 06:00 – The ‘wait, that’s happening to you too?’ moment 12:18 – Hot flashes + temperature chaos 19:04 – Body changes with zero explanation 27:52 – Alcohol and midlife: a breakup story 34:15 – Sleeping hot, cold, and everything in between 41:06 – Styes, CHAZ, and perimenopause surprises 46:02 – Let’s talk labia (yes, really) 50:07 – Commando days vs. underwear reality 54:20 – Vaginal estrogen: things we’re learning late 01:09:50 – Midlife bodies, WTF (the thesis) The Stuff We Love 🌹Mountain Rose Herbs 📺 Famous Last Words 📺 Mare of Easttown 📺 The Girlfriend 🩺 Function Health 🩺 Gliss Wellness 🩺 East West Integrative Health Clinic (Dr. Lisa Rosenberger) 🪷CGM - Continuous Glucose Monitor ⚡️Vaginal estrogen: costdrugsplus.com 💪🏻Lisa Maximus: lisamaximus.com

    1h 16m

  3. JAN 1

    WTF#8-The Chiron Return: Why Midlife Hits Different, with Danielle Beinstein

    Danielle Beinstein’s website says she helps people navigate the human experience—and after listening to her talk midlife, self-trust, and listening to your body, we’re believers. No astrology degree required. Pull up a chair, friends. In this episode of Women Around a Table Eating Food, Jen and Nic sit down with Danielle Beinstein to unpack the Chiron Return—WTF it is, why it tends to show up in midlife for so many women, and why this conversation lands even if astrology makes you roll your eyes. Less “astrological event,” more “midlife pattern,” Ms. Dani helps us understand why this 49-51ish moment can feel so disorienting as old coping strategies stop working, our bods get screamier, and the ways we used to push through suddenly feel…off. Together, Dani, Nic and Jen explore… Why midlife can feel like a reckoning WITHOUT being a breakdown How urgency often disguises itself as intuition What it means to rebuild self-trust after years of proving and performing Why embodiment matters more as we age (even if you’ve never thought about it that way) Perfect listening for kicking off 2026, this episode is for the astro-curious and astro-skeptics, especially midlife women wondering why the actual f**k everything feels different in their bodies, relationships, sense of self. No charts. No jargon. No cosmic homework. Just a grounded, honest conversation about navigating midlife and trusting yourself a little more as you do. Pull up a chair. You’ll recognize yourself here. (And if you find yourself drawn to how Dani thinks about midlife, self-trust, and listening to your body, you can spend more time with her work. She’s built a life out of marrying her innate intuition with deep study spanning philosophy, spiritual psychology, and consciousness, health, and healing…using them to support people through life transitions with clarity, curiosity, and a very grounded sense of self-trust. You can learn more about her writing and work at daniellebeinstein.com.) Timestamps of the good stuff: 00:09:00 — Dani joins the table + instant soul recognition 00:14:30 — What astrology actually is (and isn’t) 00:22:00 — The Chiron Return, explained for non-astrology people 00:31:45 — Why ages 49–51 suddenly feel emotionally louder 00:38:20 — Midlife as energetic recalibration (not a crisis) 00:45:10 — What Dani wishes women trusted more in this season 00:52:40 — Intuition, cycles, and listening to your body 01:00:15 — The cosmic permission slips women actually need 01:06:30 — Food talk + daily rituals that ground Dani 01:10:00 — How to work with / find Dani online Links to good stuff: 🌐 About Danielle: https://www.daniellebeinstein.com 📸 Danielle’s IG goodness: @daniellebeinstein 🫖 Tea Huntress: https://www.teahuntress.com

    59 min

  4. 12/25/2025

    WTF#7-Just Us: Surviving The Holidays After Loss

    The holidays have a way of cracking things open. In this very vulnerable Just Us Christmas episode of Women Around a Table Eating Food, Jen and Nic pull up a chair and talk honestly about grief, growth, and the moments that changed everything. Through the lens of A Christmas Carol, they reflect on the memories they’d hope the Ghost of Christmas Past would shine a light on—and the ones they’d rather leave untouched. Here comes some grief, growth, ghosts, and gallows humor—and how we survive loss without becoming Ebenezer forever. Nic shares why, after losing her dad and her brother, she wasn’t ready to return to a beloved Christmas tradition last year—and why this year feels possible. “Time heals,” she says, “but it’s also what you do with the time.”   Jen and Nic talk about the emotional deaths we don’t always name: marriages ending, versions of ourselves falling away, and the quiet rebirths that follow. “What parts of us have had to die in order for the parts of us now to show up?” Nic asks—and the answer lands softly, and honestly.   This episode is about friendship, midlife, food, and telling the truth when it matters most. It’s about laughing when things hurt, crying when you need to, and being grateful for the people who stay. As Jen says at the close, “I’m so grateful that we can bring these parts of ourselves to each other… and to anybody else who decided to pull up a chair today and listen to a little gallows humor about grief and happiness.”   Timestamps of the good stuff: 00:00 — Welcome + setting the table for our Christmas episode 03:45 — Why A Christmas Carol matters (and why this episode exists) 07:30 — AI, creativity, and why Jen and Nic use it very differently 12:15 — Holiday rituals, food, and what makes Christmas feel like Christmas 16:45 — Watching A Christmas Carol with Dad 22:40 — When grief is too fresh to revisit traditions 23:45 — “Time heals—but it’s also what you do with the time” 27:10 — Back-to-back loss and emotional exhaustion 31:30 — Gallows humor, “dead daddies,” and surviving the hard parts 36:45 — Emotional deaths, rebirths, and who we’ve become 37:55 — “What parts of us had to die for the parts of us now to show up?” 41:30 — Gratitude, friendship, and why this conversation mattered 1:01:45 — “Pull up a chair” + closing love fest Links to good stuff: ☕️ Bodum double-walled glasses that we both love. 🏠 Joanna Gaines/Magnolia, which we both love. 🌰Nutpod Pistachio Dairy-Free Creamer

    1h 3m

  5. 12/11/2025

    WTF #6-Chasity Melvin's Rebounds, Reinvention & Real Talk

    Pull up a chair for an emotional, decades-in-the-making reunion. Nic and WNBA legend Chasity Melvin hadn’t seen each other since their AAU days…making this ep equal parts catch-up, confession, and two messy midlifers remembering who they were at 17 while Jen watched in awe. From AAU vans, basketball moms, big decisions, and the kind of athletic camaraderie that imprints us hard, the ladies shared laughs along with Chasity’s hall-of-fame-vibe résumé: 2,000+ points and 1,000+ rebounds at NC State A Final Four run 12 seasons in the WNBA More than 4,000 pro points, 2,000 rebounds, and a groundbreaking turn as the first woman hired to an NBA-affiliated G League coaching staff.  Part sports radio, part therapy sesh, part giggly old-friend reunion, this one's about confidence, belonging, and pivoting in midlife after you’ve lived several lives on and off the court. Nic’s and Chasity’s teammate energy was so legit it almost made Jen want to run suicides. (Don’t worry: Definitely didn’t happen.)  It’s a heart-hitting, funny, beautifully human Women Around a Table Eating Food about friendship, identity, sport, and the courage it takes to build your next chapter…one rebound at a time. 🏀 Visit Chasity's website 🏀 Check out Chasity's book (At the End of The Day: A Devotional Memoir) women, midlife, friendship, food, Chasity Melvin, WNBA stories, women’s sports, resilience in midlife, basketball friendships, pivoting careers, NC State Wolfpack, women’s podcast, AAU basketball, therapist, journalist, author, commentator

    1h 17m

  6. 11/27/2025

    WTF #5-Amy Kule: The Woman Behind the Macy’s Thanksgiving Magic

    Pull up a chair for the Thanksgiving episode Jen’s been giddy about and where Nic once again tolerated her misty-eyed nostalgia…this time, over our guest’s stories from the front line of television memory-making.  Today, we’re joined by Amy Kule…former executive producer behind the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks. (And, yes: that parade. The balloons, the Broadway block, Santa’s finale. Basically, she shaped the magic we grew up watching in our PJs.) If you loved TV Guide, lived for Entertainment Tonight, or geeked out over how television gets made, this episode is pure nostalgic gravy. Amy walks us through the chaos, creativity, and childhood wonder tucked behind the scenes of a nationally beloved tradition. And because life is sometimes stranger than fiction, we had to talk about Miracle on 34th Street, the movie whose lead character basically had Amy’s job before Amy did.  Beyond the floats and fanfare, we also dig into messy midlife rhythms, evolving traditions, cozy lighting, hormones playing the role of The Most™, and how our holiday memories shape who we become. And we promise: even if your house is filled with bad overhead lighting and chaos, you can sit with us. P.S. We’re still new at this podcasting game…sound included. Thanks for rolling with us as we learn, tweak, evolve, and figure out what all these knobs do. Womp. 🎧 Subscribe for more WTF 🍴 IG: @womenaroundatable Stuff we loved talking about... • Amy Kule's second act • Comedic genius behind "sad childhood lighting" and "pump-pump-pump" bits • Best-ever turkey hash and chestnut recipe (thanks to Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock) is in this book. (Page 194 and you're very welcome.) #womenaroundatable #wtfpodcast #midlifewomen #macysparade #amykule #thanksgiving #holidaytraditions #miracleon34thstreet #womeninmedia women around a table, midlife women, macy’s thanksgiving day parade, amy kule interview, holiday traditions, miracle on 34th street, women in media, women in production, nostalgia podcast, merry wonderer, friendship podcast, food and friendship, behind the scenes parade

    1h 31m

  7. 11/13/2025

    WTF #4-Just Us: The Work That Found Us (And The Women We Became)

    Pull up a chair: This one goes deep into the trenches of purpose, calling, and the “Oh right: This is who I am” phase of the messy midlife. In this Just Us episode, Nic and Jen ditch the guests and dish on their professional trajectories…from when they were nudged toward therapy and writing, to a fateful fax-machine epiphany, to the gut whispers that grew louder as they hit their 40s. They trace how two best friends, one a clinicalist (yes, we’re coining it) and the other a storyteller-ist (we’re coining that, too), built parallel careers centered on listening, curiosity, and helping people make sense of their lives. Listen in on how they explore power dynamics in therapy, flattening hierarchies, learning how to hold space, interviewing as an art form, and how midlife shifts our sense of competence, confidence, and identity. With laughs, reflection, and a few “remember fax machines?” moments, enjoy the unmistakable comfort of two women who have spent 30 years growing up—and growing into themselves—together, and the permission to evolve in real time. Weck Jars: https://weckjars.com/ Kite Hill Plant-Based Yogurt: https://kite-hill.com/collections/original-yogurt (Come back in two weeks to queue up our VERY special Thanksgiving episode with guest and former Grand Marshall of the Macy's Day Parade, Ms. Amy Kule!) women, midlife, professional growth, career change, therapy, writing, friendship, identity, purpose, calling, Jen Chase-Corwin, Nicole O’Brien, storytelling, personal growth, women’s stories, WTF podcast, Just Us, midlife careers

    1h 30m

  8. 10/30/2025

    WTF #3-Just Us: Meals, Feels, and Linguica Reveals. Gram, Daddy, and the 'Who' Behind Our Bites.

    Pull up a chair because this one’s got meals and feels! In Episode 3, Nic traces the crumbs of her culinary origins to Gram’s Italian kitchen and a legacy of Christmas disguised as carbs. Jen takes you to her dad’s “variety is the spice of life” universe where meal prep’s an art and linguica’s a love language. Nic drops her fave Erin Chase lore. And the big reveal? Just how nutritionally questionable Jen’s solo dinners get when Parker travels. It’s all about our WHY for food and the unforgettable WHOs who make every bite matter (which, let’s be honest, is exactly why we started this pod). Warm, funny, and a wee unhinged, this “Just Us” episode proves that family food stories—and the friends who feed us—are the ingredients to surviving midlife with our digestion (mostly) intact.

    1h 17m

  9. 10/16/2025

    WTF #2-Lisa Maximus Redefines Strength

    What does “strength” really mean? What does it mean to you, Dear Listener? In this loaded and varied conversation, world record-holding powerlifter and coach Lisa Maximus blows up the old-school rules—about women, weights, and what’s possible—one rep at a time. She gets truthy about the emotional side of fitness, why everyone (especially women) should be training for longevity, not looks, and how our so-called “self-governor” is a bold-faced liar. (Plus, she shares her go-to supplements, her go-to mental-toughness tome, and why she believes lifting heavy benefits everyone…not just the “fitspo” crowd). Come for straight talk; stay for the friendship, food chat, and behind-the-scenes messiness that makes WTF feel like midlife therapy with your besties (with snacks). Lisa’s straight-up advice on getting strong, aging well, and ignoring that little voice that says, “you can’t!” will keep you thinking long after the show’s done. ⚡️Bonus: If Lisa inspires you to prioritize your healthcare a smidge more, here’s where to find her (along with some stuff she mentioned that she loves): 💪🏻 Lisa’s Social Handle (Instagram & YouTube): @lisamaximus 💪🏻 Lisa’s Website: https://www.lisamaximus.com 💪🏻 Lisa’s App (she has an app!): https://my.playbookapp.io/lisa-maximus 🍽️ Lisa’s fave protein powder: https://nitorperformance.com  💰 A discount code for Lisa’s fave protein powder: Lisa20 (20% off five bags) or lisamaximus for 10% off

    1h 60m

  10. 10/03/2025

    WTF#1-Nic + Jen...From Swiss Cheese to Soul Sisters

    Some Swiss. A Sarah McLachlan surprise. And one determined “capture” that launched a 30-year friendship. (Spoiler: Nic snagged Jen.) In this debut of Women Around a Table Eating Food (WTF), Nicole O'Brien and Jennifer Chase-Corwin unpack how their through-line of food, friendship, and messy midlife moments became the heartbeat of their sisterhood and the backbone of this podcast that neither of them can agree on whose idea it was. It’s just the two of them this time (and be nice...it's the first flippin' episode!), but you just wait ‘til they invite other inspiring women (and their stories!) to the table.

    39 min

  11. SEASON 1, EPISODE 1 TRAILER

    Trailer! Welcome to Women Around a Table Eating Food (WTF)

    At Women Around a Table Eating Food (aka: WTF), we don’t sugarcoat midlife...we snack through it. We’re Nicole O’Brien (therapist) and Jennifer Chase-Corwin (journalist)—30-year best friends and curious as hell about relationships (and pretty much everything else)—and the tables between us have seen it all. Tears. Triumphs. Laugh-riots. More cheese boards than we can count (back when cheese didn't f* us up). Now...we invite you, Dear Listener, to join. Expect messy truths, unfiltered stories, some cussin’, expert guests who challenge and inspire us, and conversations that nourish. Come curious and hungry. Bring snacks!

    1 min

Trailer

5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

At Women Around a Table Eating Food (WTF), we don’t sugarcoat midlife...we plough through it (with snacks). Nicole O’Brien (therapist) & Jennifer Chase-Corwin (journalist) are 30-year best friends and curious as hell about relationships (and pretty much everything else). The tables between us have seen it all: tears, triumphs, laugh-riots, and more cheese boards than we can count (back when cheese didn't f* us up). Now...we invite you, Dear Listener, to join. Expect messy truths, unfiltered stories, some cussin’, experts who challenge and inspire us, and conversations that nourish. Bring food.

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