Going The Distance with Go Long: Making Your Life Unapologetically Awesome

Go Long
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Biweekly

Going the Distance asks hard-hitting questions to professionals, experts, and informed enthusiasts who are looking out for women over the age of 40. Go Long’s Jill Consor Beck doesn’t hold back and launches into each conversation with the goal to dispel myths, uncover life-hacks, and give the audience opportunities to find out how best to navigate their career, health, relationships, and much more. Topics range from fashion to menopause, from sex to religion, and from finance to divorce, all as they relate to living your best life as a woman over 40. But don't worry - men can listen, too.

  1. 9h ago

    What She Taught Me: Talking with Carin Parcel

    Carin Parcel's mom was never a wallflower. A Brooklyn-born force who moved her family from Southern California to Omaha, she showed up as herself everywhere she went — and that lesson stuck. On this episode of What She Taught Me, Jill sits down with Carin, a former intellectual property attorney turned jewelry designer and founder of Carin Susann Designs. They talk about growing up with a mom who modeled being unapologetic, unlearning the roles she saw at home, and walking away from a big law firm salary to build a career at the crossroads of science and art. In this episode: growing up with a mom who was always the authority in the room; how family roles follow you, and what it took to step outside them; starting therapy at 23, long before it was "fashionable"; what she saw at home vs. what she was told she could become; what her mom carried that no one acknowledged; leaving law for a retail jewelry job (and a huge pay cut) to follow her love of gemology; why COVID gave her the space to finally launch her business; the real tradeoffs of running a business while raising three kids; the Wendy's drive-thru story her daughter never forgot; how siblings can grow up with completely different childhoods; and finding ways to help aging parents when you're not the one nearby. More about Carin: • LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/carin-riekes-parcel-49597a20/ • Website — https://carinsusann.com/ • Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/carinsusanndesigns/ More about Jill & Go Long: • Sign-up for Go Long's newsletter — https://golong.substack.com/subscribe • Learn more about Go Long — https://www.golong.me/how-it-works • Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/justgolong/ • Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/justgolong • LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/company/go-long/ Jump to: 00:00 Introduction to Influences 01:51 Career Shifts and Maternal Influence 04:59 Finding Independence and Voice 07:34 Unlearning Traditional Roles 11:04 Carrying Unacknowledged Burdens 12:19 Asking for Help and Generational Patterns 14:15 Navigating Parenting Expectations 14:46 Career Transitions and Personal Growth 16:20 The Leap from Law to Jewelry 17:20 Balancing Motherhood and Entrepreneurship 19:36 Trade-offs in Daily Life 21:13 Crazy Mom Moments and Lessons Learned 28:10 Family Dynamics and Support 28:46 Creative Problem Solving 31:47 Reflections on Childhood and Growth 35:03 Reflections on Life Changes 37:06 Engagement Stories and Personal Connections

    What She Taught Me: Talking with Carin Parcel

  2. Sep 15

    What She Taught Me: Talking with Shane and Jenna Shaps

    In this episode of What She Taught Me by Go Long — the series' first mother-daughter conversation — Jill Consor Beck talks to Jenna Shaps, a recent Indiana University advertising grad about to move to New York City, and her mom Shane Shaps, who owns a social media engagement agency in Louisville. Shane traces her own boundary-setting straight back to watching her mother push herself into exhaustion and depression when Shane was twelve: "it's okay to say no, it's okay to have boundaries." Jenna calls her mom a "girl boss" who can "get shit done" for the whole family and still make time for herself. Shane says her own mother never really yelled at her — and then admits the line she swore she'd never say to her own kids slipped out anyway: "Can you just act like an adult for one?" More about Shane and Jenna: • Jenna's LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenna-shaps-59b1a9234/ • Shane's LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-shaps/ • Website — https://bigvoicesocial.com/ • Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/big.voice.social • Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/bigvoicesocial/ More about Jill & Go Long: • Sign-up for Go Long's newsletter — https://golong.substack.com/subscribe • Learn more about Go Long — https://www.golong.me/how-it-works • Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/justgolong/ • Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/justgolong • LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/company/go-long/ Jump to: 00:00 Introduction to the series' first mother-daughter conversation: Jenna and Shane Shaps 01:32 Shane on her mother's perfectionism, burnout, and learning to set boundaries 03:48 Sacrifices Shane made for Jenna and what Jenna would do differently as a parent 06:02 Growing up in a small Jewish community in Louisville and choosing colleges for that 07:58 Did Shane's mother ever learn to ask for help after burning out 10:21 The trade-offs women make, and Jenna's move to New York as her own 12:22 Asking friends for help: three generations, three different patterns 14:29 The line Shane swore she'd never say to her kids — and said anyway 18:15 Closing thoughts and where to find Jenna and Shane

    What She Taught Me: Talking with Shane and Jenna Shaps

  3. Sep 15

    What She Taught Me: Talking with Shujaat Ahmed

    In this episode of What She Taught Me by Go Long, Jill Consor Beck talks to Shujaat Ahmad, a founder focused on helping people who are being left behind by AI. Shujaat's mother is a contradiction — relentless in service to others, but rigid and opinionated about fairness and gender roles — and by his own account, that paradox is what made him who he is: someone built for service, and someone now actively pushing back against the same rigidity as him and his wife raise their daughters. As the youngest child in the house, his job every night during Ramadan was to carry a tray of his mother's celebratory dinner to a neighbor, then a second tray to a guard or stranger on the street who had nothing to eat that day. Now, in his mid-40s, he's stopped staying quiet — telling Jill flat out, "we're going to not even sugar coat this... even if that means that there's a rift in the family because of it." More about Shujaat: • LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/shujaatahmad/ • Website — https://www.skool.com/chaiwithai/about More about Jill & Go Long: • Sign-up for Go Long's newsletter — https://golong.substack.com/subscribe • Learn more about Go Long — https://www.golong.me/how-it-works • Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/justgolong/ • Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/justgolong • LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/company/go-long/ Jump to: 00:00 Introduction to Shujaat and Growing Up as a "Professional Immigrant" 02:21 His Mother as a Paradox of Service and Rigid Fairness 06:35 Three Things That Shaped Him: Service, Ramadan Meals, and What He's Unlearning 11:39 Raising Daughters Inside a Multigenerational Household 14:14 Backchanneling with His Daughters and Drawing the Line

    What She Taught Me: Talking with Shujaat Ahmed

  4. Sep 1

    What She Taught Me: Talking with Rebekah Bastian

    In this episode of What She Taught Me by Go Long, Jill Consor Beck talks to Rebekah Bastian, CMO at mpathic and author of Blaze Your Own Trail: An Interactive Guide to Navigating Life with Confidence, Solidarity, and Compassion, who traces her creativity and "delusional optimism" straight back to her free-spirited, artist mother. Rebekah still brings that creative streak into her workday — she admits to "literally being sitting here in a meeting, knitting a leg warmer right now." She's trying to unlearn the same over-involvement she inherited from her mom: "I should delegate more. I should step back more." She was, by her own account, "an absolute train wreck of a teenager" — and still hasn't found a clean answer for what her parents could have done differently. Resources mentioned: • Blaze Your Own Trail — https://www.amazon.com/Blaze-Your-Own-Trail-Interactive-ebook/dp/B07Y422NWF More about Rebekah: • Website — https://rebekahbastian.com/ • LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebekahbastian/ More about Jill & Go Long: • Sign-up for Go Long's newsletter — https://golong.substack.com/subscribe • Learn more about Go Long — https://www.golong.me/how-it-works • Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/justgolong/ • Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/justgolong • LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/company/go-long/ Jump to: 00:00 Introduction to Rebekah and Being Purpose-Driven in Her Current Role 01:33 Following in Her Mom's Footsteps as an Artist 03:14 What Went Unacknowledged: A Family of Worriers 05:14 How She Uses Creativity to Bridge Both Personal and Professional Lives 07:00 Time-Boxing Work and Startup Motherhood 09:04 How She Thinks About Her Train Wreck Years As She Parents Her Kids 10:38 The Importance of Vulnerability, Crying, and Asking For Help 12:08 Closing Thoughts and Family Time at the Mariners Game

    What She Taught Me: Talking with Rebekah Bastian

  5. Aug 25

    What She Taught Me: Talking with Shelby Tutty

    In this episode of What She Taught Me by Go Long, Jill Consor Beck talks to Shelby Tutty, a certified perimenopause coach and author of two Substacks — The Periprofessional and Women's Health 365. Shelby says the caution her mother carried from childhood trauma — a near-drowning, a serious car accident, a miscarriage — got imprinted onto her, and it shaped her into the kind of parent who can't just relax at the playground. She still remembers her mother throwing her arm out to protect the kids in the front seat every time she had to stop short, and now catches herself repeating her mother's own warnings to her own kids, like "if it's brown and round, step around." She's still questioning whether she took it too far: "I wonder, did I go too far? Did I really imprint upon them?" Resources mentioned: • Women's Health 365 (Substack) — https://womenshealth365.substack.com/ • The Periprofessional (Substack) — https://theperiprofessional.substack.com/ More about Shelby: • Website — https://www.theperiprofessional.com/ • Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/theperiprofessional/ • Services — https://theperiprofessional.substack.com/p/paid-services More about Jill & Go Long: • Sign-up for Go Long's newsletter — https://golong.substack.com/subscribe • Learn more about Go Long — https://www.golong.me/how-it-works • Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/justgolong/ • Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/justgolong • LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/company/go-long/ Jump to: 00:00 Introduction to the series and guest Shelby Tutty 02:42 When her mother said not to be afraid of men 04:41 Her mother's journey through independence and education in the 60s 08:04 Unseen burdens: trauma and resilience in her mother's life 11:12 Learning to ask for help: a personal transformation 14:36 Parenting imprints from her mother and if it went too far 16:30 Advice to her younger self and understanding her mother better after her passing 17:43 The devastation of losing everything of her mother's in a house fire

    What She Taught Me: Talking with Shelby Tutty

  6. Aug 20

    What She Taught Me: Talking with Liz Ward, MS, RDN

    In this episode of What She Taught Me by Go Long, Jill Consor Beck talks to Liz Ward, MS, RDN — a dietician and author of The Menopause Diet Plan. Liz credits her mother's insistence on balanced meals and family dinner — "if one egg is good, three eggs are better," a colorful plate on the table every night no matter her mother's work schedule — for shaping how she fed her own three kids. When her mother got sick in her late 80s, three years of doctor's appointments and hospital calls fell to Liz while she was going through perimenopause herself and raising three teenagers, a pattern she attributes to "I was the female" and admits she still doesn't fully know why she took it on. We get into what her mother's own trade-offs cost her, the impact of her grandparents on her today, and what Liz would tell her three daughters about not worrying their way through motherhood the way she did. Resources mentioned: • The Menopause Diet Plan — https://www.amazon.com/Menopause-Diet-Plan-Managing-Happiness/dp/0593135660/ • Liz's Substack — https://substack.com/@menopausenutrition • Liz's previous appearance on Going the Distance — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3hZdNso07g&t=1084s More about Liz: • Author page — https://www.amazon.com/stores/Elizabeth-M.-Ward/author/B001HPCT92 • Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/menopausedietplan More about Jill & Go Long: • Sign-up for Go Long's newsletter — https://golong.substack.com/subscribe • Learn more about Go Long — https://www.golong.me/how-it-works • Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/justgolong/ • Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/justgolong • LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/company/go-long/ Jump to: 00:00 Intro to the series: welcoming back Liz Ward 02:26 Liz's Mom as the Para-Dietician 05:21 Dinner on the Table Every Night, No Matter the Chaos 09:12 Living the Sandwich Generation Dream 11:47 Her Own Career Trade-Off: Falling Behind on Technology and Face Time 13:54 How Liz's Grandparents Set the Standard for Self-Sufficiency 17:11 When Liz Told Her Mother She Was Pregnant with Kid #2 Four Months After Kid #1 19:11 Lessons Learned From the Trenches of Motherhood

    What She Taught Me: Talking with Liz Ward, MS, RDN

  7. Aug 13

    What She Taught Me: Talking with Sonni Abatta

    In this episode of What She Taught Me by Go Long, Jill Consor Beck talks to Sonni Abatta, author of 'News for Normies', and host of the 'We Gotta Talk' podcast. Sonni credits her mother's gratitude, relentless work ethic, and growth mindset for shaping who she is today. On dinner breaks from her news anchor job, Sonni would rush home to nurse her baby to sleep before heading back to the newsroom — until her mother, watching her run herself into the ground, told her flatly one night: "Quit your job." We get into what she's doing to unlearn the instinct of "always being busy" and the need to keep filling every open moment instead of allowing time to recharge. Resources mentioned: • News for Normies (Substack) — https://sonniabatta.substack.com/ • Sonni's previous appearance on Going the Distance — https://youtu.be/M0nruFbM6ng More about Sonni: • Website — https://wegottatalk.com/ • Podcast — https://wegottatalk.com/podcast-show/ • Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/sonniabatta/ More about Jill & Go Long: • Sign-up for Go Long's newsletter — https://golong.substack.com/subscribe • Learn more about Go Long — https://www.golong.me/how-it-works • Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/justgolong/ • Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/justgolong • LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/company/go-long/ Jump to: 00:00 Intro: Welcoming Back Sonni Abatta 03:35 How Her Mother's Work Ethic Shaped Her 06:25 The Well-Oiled Machine: Mom Never Asked for Help 08:31 What She's Consciously Carried Forward 10:44 "Quit Your Job": The Pivotal Career Moment 13:19 Realizing She'd Already Checked the Box 15:24 Immigrant Roots: Why Work Ethic Wasn't a Luxury 17:20 Underselling Herself and "You'll See Someday"

    What She Taught Me: Talking with Sonni Abatta

  8. Aug 12

    What She Taught Me: Talking with Kim Oser

    In this episode of What She Taught Me by Go Long, Jill Consor Beck talks to Kim Oser, founder of Game Plan Organizing, about how her mother's perfectionism shaped both her business and the way she copes with stress. She talks about how her mother's need for perfection turned into a business built leveraging the opposite mindset. Kim opens up about the shift that happened during COVID, when she went from occasional helper to the child managing her parents' finances, travel, and technology. She talks about what she's still unlearning as a self-described "headstrong" entrepreneur — that asking for help doesn't mean losing control — and how her mother's high bar has followed her impacts her dating life. Resources mentioned: • Blog — https://kimoser.substack.com/ More about Kim: • Website — https://www.gameplanorganizing.com • Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/gameplanorganizing/ More about Jill & Go Long: • Sign-up for Go Long's newsletter — https://golong.substack.com/subscribe • Learn more about Go Long — https://www.golong.me/how-it-works • Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/justgolong/ • Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/justgolong • LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/company/go-long/ Jump to: 00:00 Intro: Welcoming Back Kim Oser 01:52 Perfectionism and Her Organizing Business 03:51 What Her Mom Modeled: Order, Control, and Stress 05:39 Coaching Her Mom to Let It Roll 07:44 What Asking for Help Actually Gives Her 09:41 Fix-It Girl: Navigating Tech and Travel for Her Parents 11:16 Sibling Dynamics and the COVID Caregiving Pivot 14:13 What Her Mother Carried Unacknowledged 15:52 How Her Mom's Influence Shows Up in Dating

    What She Taught Me: Talking with Kim Oser
See All (54)

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Going the Distance asks hard-hitting questions to professionals, experts, and informed enthusiasts who are looking out for women over the age of 40. Go Long’s Jill Consor Beck doesn’t hold back and launches into each conversation with the goal to dispel myths, uncover life-hacks, and give the audience opportunities to find out how best to navigate their career, health, relationships, and much more. Topics range from fashion to menopause, from sex to religion, and from finance to divorce, all as they relate to living your best life as a woman over 40. But don't worry - men can listen, too.

Information

You Might Also Like