Wise Women Forward

Wise Women Forward

The origin story of humanity is wrong. This is the correction. A companion to the documentary Wise Women: Humanity’s Untold Origins, this podcast explores the ideas we were never meant to question—women’s power, post-reproductive wisdom, evolution, and the cultural systems that buried them. Hosted by filmmaker Christopher Henze and producer Dominique Debroux, Wise Women Forward features conversations with thinkers, elders, artists, and disruptors who challenge the myths of patriarchy, menopause, and “how things have always been.” This isn’t self-help. It’s a reframe of who we are—and where

  1. Kukuwa & Coach Cass on African Movement, Food Wisdom, and Legacy Forward

    May 30

    Kukuwa & Coach Cass on African Movement, Food Wisdom, and Legacy Forward

    Kukuwa and Coach Cass are a mother-daughter team leading a global African-rooted wellness movement through Kukuwa Fitness, their app and online community, and Africa With Us, their cultural wellness travel program. In this episode of Wise Women… Forward, they join Dominique Debroux and Christopher Henze for a conversation about movement as medicine, food as foundation, ancestral healing, menopause, longevity, and the wisdom passed through generations of women. Kukuwa shares how African dance connects us barefoot to Mother Earth, strengthens the core, moves the pelvis, works the whole body, and welcomes people of all ages and abilities. Coach Cass speaks about strength, mobility, motherhood, weight release, food choices, and the importance of meeting women wherever they are in their wellness journey. Together, they explore why food is more than fuel, how ancestral remedies and whole foods support the body, why menopause symptoms can be teachers, and how Africa With Us creates cultural immersion, community service, wellness, and reconnection with Africa as source. This conversation beautifully embodies the Wise Women hypothesis: that postmenopausal women are not done — they are still leading, teaching, healing, dancing, and carrying the knowledge forward. LINKS Kukuwa Fitness: https://www.kukuwafitness.com/ Africa With Us: https://africawithus.com/ Kukuwa Socials Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KukuwaFitness YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@KukuwaFitness Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kukuwafitness/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kukuwafitness?lang=en Join the app: https://ignitehappinessnow.com Two Weeks to Live video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BtO2L0vd38 Rent Wise Women: https://bingeable.net/Kukuwa More about the film: wisewomenmovie.com

    33 min
  2. May 28

    Paige Connell on the Mental Load Women Were Never Meant to Carry Alone

    Paige Connell is one of the leading voices on the mental load of modern motherhood, known for her honest and deeply relatable commentary on marriage, parenting, invisible labor, work, and the realities women are often expected to carry quietly. In this episode of Wise Women… Forward, Paige joins Christopher Henze and Dominique Debroux for a conversation about what women carry, why so many mothers feel isolated, and how the mental load connects to larger systems — from childcare and paid parental leave to workplace expectations and partnership at home. Paige shares how she first began speaking publicly about her own experience, why so many women feel like they simply have to “grin and bear it,” and how hearing from other women gave her the confidence to keep going. Together, we explore motherhood as a life-altering transformation, why pregnancy and parenting are taken far too casually in our culture, how men can become part of the solution, and why family support is not just a women’s issue — it is a societal issue. This conversation is part of the larger Wise Women… Forward mission: reframing menopause, aging, motherhood, care, and women’s lived experience as sources of wisdom, leadership, and cultural power. Links Paige Connell’s free mental load guide:https://www.sheisapaigeturner.com/mental-load-guide Follow Paige:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sheisapaigeturner/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sheisapaigeturner/TikTok: [insert correct TikTok link] Wise Women film rental:bingeable.net/wisewomen More about the film:wisewomenmovie.com

    30 min
  3. May 20

    Dawn Gallagher on Beauty, Aging, and Why Women Have No Expiration Date

    In this episode of Wise Women… Forward, Dominique speaks with Dawn Gallagher, former supermodel, author, beauty expert, and television host, about beauty, aging, self-worth, and what happens when women stop letting youth define their value. Dawn’s career has spanned major magazine covers, global beauty brands, bestselling books, and decades inside the fashion and beauty industries. But this conversation goes far deeper than skin. Dawn shares what she saw behind the camera: the pressure on young models, the lack of voice women were given in shaping their own image, the predators hiding in plain sight, and the impossible beauty standards sold to women as if they were instructions for survival. Charming little system. Very profitable. Deeply broken. Together, Dawn and Dominique explore what it means to move from aging to “staging”—seeing each phase of life not as a decline, but as a new expression of wisdom, radiance, and self-respect. Dawn talks about self-care not as indulgence, but as self-preservation; about beauty as health, happiness, kindness, and lived experience; and about why women in their 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond must be heard in leadership, culture, and the decisions shaping our future. Because women are not milk cartons. There is no expiration date on beauty, purpose, or power. Dawn’s Links IG: @dawnlgallagher Web: dawngallagher.com YouTube: @DawnGallagher Rent WiseWomen bingeable.net/DawnBeauty Info about the Wise Women Film wisewomenmovie.com

    17 min
  4. May 11

    Tammy Reese & LaKisa Renee on Women, Media, and the Power of Speaking Up

    In this episode of Wise Women… Forward, Dominique is joined by two powerful media voices: Tammy Reese and LaKisa Renee. LaKisa Renee is a dynamic media professional, journalist, host, and entrepreneur working at the intersection of media, fashion, beauty, wellness, and culture. Tammy Reese is an award-winning multimedia journalist, content creator, publicist, and mental health advocate dedicated to elevating diverse voices through intentional storytelling. Together, they bring a sharp, honest, and deeply necessary perspective to the conversation around aging, menopause, media representation, women’s leadership, and the stories culture tells us about our worth. After watching Wise Women – Humanity’s Untold Origins, Tammy and LaKisa reflect on how aging is framed in entertainment and media, why menopause has so often been presented as something to fear, and what changes when women begin seeing this transition not as decline—but as wisdom, power, and leadership. This conversation moves across generations, touching on reproductive pressure, women in politics, collaboration, mental health, holistic healing, storytelling, and the urgent need for women to support one another now. Because the future doesn’t change when women politely wait their turn. It changes when we speak up. LINKS IG: @tammyreesemedia  https://www.instagram.com/tammyreesemedia?igsh=MTdpM3RsNW9mZjZlOA== IG: @visionarymindsnys https://www.instagram.com/visionarymindsnys?igsh=MWRyY3huNjd5bTRqNQ== IG: @theblisssection https://www.instagram.com/theblisssection?igsh=MXMxMGVsN3plaTNlMg== IG: @lakisarenee https://www.instagram.com/lakisarenee?igsh=MTN6YXVlamZxcXFnaQ== IG: @lakisareneeentertainment https://www.instagram.com/lakisareneeentertainment?igsh=ZTZoOTZqZnBrcDdh IG: @souljevity https://www.instagram.com/souljevity?igsh=YzVvZnhnYmwxbDVq IG: @ledujourllc https://www.instagram.com/ledujourllc?igsh=d2owcGRwd3lnNzlp IG: @talesfromthemedia https://www.instagram.com/talesfromthemedia?igsh=Y2tuN2dhbXd5OHhu Wise Women wisewomenmovie.com Rent Wise Women bingeable.net/wisewomen

    20 min
  5. May 7

    The Five Initiations of Midlife with April Wall

    In this episode of Wise Women… Forward, we sit down with April Wall, psychic medium, author, tarot and tea leaf reader, and creator of Namaste Magical, for a conversation that walks straight into the mystical, messy, and magnificent terrain of midlife. April is 45, in perimenopause, and very much “in the trenches,” as she puts it. But instead of treating this transition as a medical inconvenience or cultural disappearing act, she sees it as something deeper: a spiritual initiation. Together, we talk about intuition, patriarchy, the rise of women, and the strange, sacred moment when you wake up inside your own life and think: Wait. This cannot possibly be all there is. April names five stages women often move through in midlife: disillusionment, descent, reclamation, reorientation, and embodiment. Which sounds poetic until you remember descent may involve night sweats, 3 a.m. existential dread, and forgetting the word “spatula” while holding one. Transformation is rarely tidy. Shocking, we know. This conversation is for every woman who has felt the old roles stop fitting, who has wondered whether the unraveling might actually be the beginning, and who suspects—quietly or loudly—that menopause is not the end of her power, but the return of it. Link Block Website:  http://www.namastemagical.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/namastemagical/ Rent Wise Women: bingeable.net/Namastemagical Wise Women movie info: wisewomenmovie.com

    29 min

About

The origin story of humanity is wrong. This is the correction. A companion to the documentary Wise Women: Humanity’s Untold Origins, this podcast explores the ideas we were never meant to question—women’s power, post-reproductive wisdom, evolution, and the cultural systems that buried them. Hosted by filmmaker Christopher Henze and producer Dominique Debroux, Wise Women Forward features conversations with thinkers, elders, artists, and disruptors who challenge the myths of patriarchy, menopause, and “how things have always been.” This isn’t self-help. It’s a reframe of who we are—and where