Liza Baker is proof that midlife power isn’t about staying nice, quiet, or graceful, it’s about reclaiming truth, ditching apology, and owning your inner crone.
No More Nice Girl: Why Liza Baker Isn’t Apologizing Anymore
There’s a moment in every midlife woman’s journey when she stops playing by the rules. For Liza Baker, that moment came with menopause, and a glorious rebellion was born.
Once the straight-A, valedictorian “nice girl,” Liza now lives with what she calls hagitude. She’s not here to age gracefully; she’s here to age disgracefully, owning the “crone” archetype as a fierce form of feminine power. Think less “frail elder,” more “wise woman, healer, (good) witch.”
Yes, she’s a health coach. Yes, she’s walked a winding path through academia, culinary arts, and nonprofit work. But Liza’s not here to rattle off bullet points. She’s here to tell the truth—the one most women are still whispering:
“It gets better. And better. And better.”
We couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome Liza back to the Kuel Life Thought Leader roster. She’s not just bringing expertise. She’s bringing a force. Read her bold, beautiful answers to our midlife spark-starter interview below—and prepare to feel more alive.
This isn’t a résumé rehash. This is a spark-starter, a way for our community to see you *as you are*: bold, layered, and unapologetically alive.
Midlife Power Means Speaking Your Truth—Not Saying Sorry:
1. What Have You Stopped Apologizing For, And What Changed Once You Did?
Speaking my mind/truth.
Yeah, I was that girl. The one who got straight A’s, was class valedictorian (in high school and college), and was always, always a good/nice girl. (Think Sandra Dee, most definitely not Rizzo.) In peri-menopause, I discovered that there is a lot more rebel in me than I ever imagined.
And I feel because I’m 60 and not 20, there is enough wisdom to temper the rebellion: I’m able to speak my mind/truth in a way that is respectful of others’ feelings and opinions. When I hear women in perimenopause talk about the freedom of this “I don’t give a f*ck what anyone else thinks any more” stage of life, I often think, no, that’s not my truth.
It’s more that I feel free to speak my truth, not apologize for it, and not be affected by whether others agree or disagree. It’s like discovering that there’s a difference between being nice and being kind. I strive to be kind—always—and I no longer apologize for not being nice.
Yes, Midlife Gets Better, Own That Truth Out Loud:
2. What Truth Do You Say Out Loud That Other Women Still Whisper?
Yes, it does get better. And better and better.
I actually really love being 60—way, way more than being 20! I love how in touch with my intuition I am, how aligned I’m becoming with my values, and how in tune with the Universe I feel.
3. What’s A Part Of Midlife You Were Never Warned About, But Wish Someone Had Told You?
How incredibly powerful I would feel.
It reminds me of the quote, not sure from whom, “Be the kind of woman who, when your feet hit the floor each morning, the devil says ‘Oh, sh!t! She’s up.’” And of course, I try to use that superpower only for good—mine and the world’s….
Grief, Grounding, And The Power Of Feeling Everything:
4. What’s A Recent Moment That Made You Feel Fully Alive?
Intentionally engaging with death.
I spent two weeks in Scotland this summer, making the trip largely in memory of a dear friend who passed away on Valentine’s Day from cancer after an eight-year battle with the disease. I had been so relieved that she was out of pain that I never took the time to mourn her properly, and I knew it wasn’t ever going to happen when I was in everyday life mode.
I wandered to some of the same places we’d been together, walking the mural trail in Glasgow as if it was the stations of the cross, visiting the botanical gardens, etc. And I took a full day on the Isle of Iona, where I’d never been but the healing energy in the earth is palpable, to grieve her and release her, and it was a really powerful experience that left me feeling fully alive … and simultaneously light as air and fully grounded.
5. Give Us A “Midlife Myth” You’re Burning To The Ground:
It’s all downhill after 50.
Calling bullsh!t on this! I love being 60 even more than being 50, way more than I loved being 20…. I am healthier physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually than I ever been. Do I look younger? No—and this body created two amazing humans from scratch, so she’s allowed to have a bit of a belly.
Can I remember everything I need to without writing it down? No; and this mind does hold onto the truly important stuff. Am I emotionally even-keeled? No; and I know that sitting with the ups and downs is what makes the everyday moments more precious. Am I so enlightened that I glow from inside? No; and I can tune into and receive the gifts of the Universe without it feeling like a struggle.
Reclaiming The Crone, A Bold Vision For Midlife Power:
6. What Made You Say Yes To Kuel Life? And What Ripple Do You Hope To Create?
I want to build a community of women who live with what Sharon Blackie calls “hagitude.”
Beyond normalizing aging, I want to show women how to embrace aging. Screw aging gracefully—I want to age disgracefully, surrounded by women who own the crone, not accepting the contemporary usage of the word but using it in the original sense of the cailleach archetype: wise woman, healer, (good) witch.
The crone is the final and most powerful face of the Goddess: we’ve been maiden and mother long enough, subject in many ways to the demands of others/the external world; midlife/old age is our chance to reconnect with the woman we were meant to be, free of obligation to others and yet in even greater service to a world that needs our wisdom and our nurture in a way it never has before.
It’s time to stop playing in the boys’ sandbox by the boys’ rules and start engaging with the world and each other led from a more feminine energy.
Midlife Power Means Living Out Loud, In Body, Brain, And Work:
7. Tell Us About One Thing You Do For Your Body, Mind, or Pleasure That Others Might Raise An Eyebrow At, But You Swear By.
My first adult job was as a teacher of foreign language—Mandarin Chinese to be exact. After growing up speaking Russian (even before English) and taking every language my high school offered (Spanish, French, Latin), when I got to college, I thought maybe it was time to take on an Asian language. At that time, Mandarin Chinese was the only one on offer at my college, so Chinese it was.
Even as a child, I was aware that learning/living a language other than your native one gave you a different perspective on the world around you and that you could learn a lot about another culture by learning the language that reflects/reveals that world view. I’ve been out of the language teaching field for decades—and that training still shows up in my work as a coach. (So take heart, Mom, that MA was not a waste of time and money!)
How does it show up in my coaching? I think about languages as having the ability to not only reflect our reality but also to create our reality—just as with a gratitude practice, shifting your language (whether to a foreign one or a different version of your own) has the power to rewire your brain in more helpful, positive patterns and helps keep your mind sharp, something we know is increasingly important as we age!
That’s all a roundabout way of explaining why I just took up learning Scots Gaelic before traveling to Scotland this summer: 1) Why not? It’s good for my brain! 2) I wanted to know more about a country where daffodils go by the name “flowers with bowed heads” and bluebells are “the shoes of the cuckoo bird?” I mean, clearly this is why Robert Burns was Scottish…. 3) Why not be able to claim seven languages (nine if you include snark and sarcasm)?
8. How Has Your Work Changed Since You Began Showing Up More Fully As Yourself?
I always joke that my CV can be read two different ways: 1) This women is completely unemployable. What has she been doing with her life?!? 2) LOOKATALLSHESDONE! This woman can do anything. Naturally, I prefer the second reading.
When I was younger, most things were black and white. Must. Avoid. The. Messy. Gray. Area. At. All. Costs. Total lack of comfort with ambiguity. As I age, I’ve come to embrace all my pasts—maiden, mother, crone; foreign language instructor, chef/caterer, nonprofiteer, health coach: each one informs the other, feeds off the other, reflects the other…. I am a whole woman of many aligned, integrated parts—not one of disparate parts.
I’m comfortable with all the messy bits, all the uncomfortable ambiguities, the whole messy gray area. And this inner alignment has helped me to become a truly transformative coach, specifically for midlife-and-beyond women, whose burnout is most often a consequence of misalignment with their own values more than it is all the superficial causes we cite.
Together, we learn how to reconnect with intuition, align with our values, and transform ourselves and our world with a wildly feminine energy in contrast to the oppressive masculine energy of the world around us.
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