Introducing our Queenager Podcast - out today! And we launch a new retreat

Need something to listen to on your sunbed and some post-summer excitement?

Our brand new Queenager podcast is launched today!

Dear Queenagers

Hope you are all happy on your sunloungers… the whole world seems to be on holiday, my Insta is full of sun-kissed toes and Mediterranean beaches while here I am in grey London. But it’s all go here at NOON, what with the book (Waterstones just made it one of their August picks and I was featured next to my novelist hero Edna O Brien, what a proud moment)… and tada this week we are also launching  our brand new The Queenager Podcast.

As you would expect, The Queenager podcast with me Eleanor Mills is stuffed with amazing women in midlife talking about their collisions and pivots, and sharing hard-won wisdom. I’ve raided my old Sunday Times contacts book and our stellar NOON Advisory Board to bring you some top notch conversations, it’s fun to be back doing some interviewing. The first episode just dropped – and my first guest is Laura Tenison MBE. She is one of Britain’s most successful female entrepreneurs, founding Jojo Maman Bebe on her kitchen table with a sewing machine aged 25 and building it to a £70million global company. But she was also a corporate visionary, running a B-Corps (taking into account impact on people and planet as well as profit) and supporting women in Africa (her husband is Nigerian) before that was a thing. Then two years ago at 55, she suddenly sold Jojo to Next because of a massive midlife collision involving burnout, Sepsis and a sense that “I just couldn’t breathe any more because of the stress”. This is the first time she has ever talked about this decision to quit, so it is quite the scoop.

I went to meet Laura at her new project, an historic farmstead in the Black Mountains which she has lovingly restored with local craftsmen and imaginative upcycling – Laura has a designer’s eye so every room is like an art installation. It was so peaceful there that I lay down on my bed (we’d just got there) and instantly fell asleep; and so beautiful I never wanted to leave. So we’ve decided that our next NOON retreat will be held here in October – we’ll walk, we’ll swim in her glorious natural pool, we’ll climb the Skyrrid mountain behind her house, we’ll chill in her oak-beamed barn with its flagstones and mighty fire.

Laura Tenison's beautiful retreat centre - cosy sofas, lovely rooms, magic countryside and architecture

We’ll look at the moon and listen to birdsong, chat and laugh and most of all  RELAX together. We’re calling it NOON Escapes to the Country, it’s going to be intimate (only 20 places) and there is a superb chef. Details all HERE on the Noon website where you can also book (the price includes a fab room, all meals and all retreat activities and a special NOON tote bag); if you fancy coming I’d do it soon as we have an early-bird offer till this weekend!  Big thanks on this one to General Jackie my brilliant MD at NOON who knows Laura from her time in Private Equity and introduced us. Oh and we’ll be releasing a new episode of the podcast fortnightly - guest number two is midlife guru Liz Earle.

 It is such an exciting moment: I’ve been wanting to do a podcast for a while but we were looking for the right sponsor and we found them in And Begin skincare. Their CMO is a refugee from the mainstream beauty industry who became sick of its ageism and wanted to work on a new brand which was actively pro-ageing and pro-Queenager. We found them some inspirational Queenagers to tell their stories of new chapters for the brand’s launch last year so we know they mean it. “And Begin is on a mission to help you reveal your best skin yet with personalised prescription age-renewing skincare. Discover dermatologist-designed multitasking formulations made with clinically proven ingredients, dosed at your ideal levels. Simplify your skincare routine and amplify your results.”

If you would like to try it go to their website and use the promo code QUEENAGERPOD and you will receive your first bottle for a bargain £4.99 it is normally £29.99.

Can’t wait for you all to hear the podcast and to see you all in Wales!

Lots of love

Eleanor