Work While You Have the Light

Grateful to be included in the SF Chronicle Sunday paper on October 22nd. @sfchronicle Erica shares her "why" behind making this podcast: “Our society shows the opposite: that when you get older, you get weaker, but the truth is that as you age, you get more comfortable with yourself,” Tanamachi continued. “You may be living within a society that says you’re invisible, but women who are older know they are magnificent. I want every woman to know how much better it gets and how exciting life is as we age.” Phoebe tells us how it is: “I’m just as curious, interested, angry as I was when I was 30; that doesn’t really change,” she said. “I still have ideas every day about things I want to do, want to create. Listening to the women on the podcast affirms that I’m not alone. Yes, we are older, but we don’t stop being curious at a certain age. We are just as interesting.” Link: /senior-living/article/podcasts-shine-light-experience-aging-18424380.php

"Aging women are saying, 'I still have a voice and these are my opinions.'" -Phoebe Rubin Filmmaker, 75 Today is our final episode of this season and it is also the most personal. Erica interviews Phoebe, as Phoebe checks the boxes of being a working woman over seventy. Phoebe Rubin is a film producer and director. She began making movies in 1999. Her first film, Women Who Cry In Restaurants, was part of the LA Shorts Festival. In 2004, Phoebe began making documentary films with Erica Tanamachi for non-profit organizations. Their short documentary, A Perfect Note, was included in the 2018 Napa Valley Film Festival. Phoebe holds an MA in Psychology with a concentration in Drama Therapy. She taught and directed autobiographical performance to at risk youth in San Francisco. Phoebe worked for the Los Angeles Theatre Council, coordinating conferences and events. She was assistant to a vice president at CBS records and an assistant to a Los Angeles film producer. She built and ran a recording studio in Sausalito, Ca. Before moving to California, Phoebe opened and managed a French restaurant by the University of Cincinnati called Cafe Lautrec. At 51, Phoebe received full custody of her 10 week old grandson. He is now 24. It was a profound period of adjustment being a new mommy at 51, as well as another opportunity for re- imagining and re-inventing herself. Last year Phoebe began treatment for Multiple Myeloma. Phoebe is 75.

For our last and BONUS episode of this season, we turn inward -- Erica Tanamachi interviews her co-host Phoebe Rubin, who is 75 years old and still working as a filmmaker, podcaster and creative, while dealing with some difficult life challenges. Here is a sneak peak! Episode drops Wednesday 5/3/23!

"Life itself guides me and shows me the way to go." -Pat Welsh - Author, 92 Pat Welsh is an Emmy-award winning garden writer and author of books including Pat Welsh’s Southern California Gardening: A Month by Month Guide--which is the bible for all Southern California gardeners. She was the first Garden Editor of San Diego Home/Garden Magazine in 1979 and hosted a TV news garden segment on Channel 39 on the San Diego evening news. She also hosted multiple garden videos and infomercials for Better Home and Gardens and the H/GTV network. Pat has received countless awards for her work, notably the San Diego Emmy, Three Quill and Trowel Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award from Quail Botanical Gardens, and Horticulturist of the Year from San Diego Horticultural Society. Pat has two daughters, 5 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren and I am one of the lucky grandchildren who get to call her “Nana”. She still writes and paints from her home in Del Mar, California. Pat Welsh is 92 years old. Welcome to “Work While You Have the Light”, Nana.

Pat Welsh began her successful writing and television career after 50. She wrote one of the most successful books in Southern California gardening in her sixties and updated it in her 80s. She's won an Emmy and continues to write books. Here's a preview to our conversation with this 92 year-old (at the time of recording) powerhouse.

Today we get the great pleasure to interview Cheri King. Cheri was born and raised in Berkeley, California. She is the Executive Director of the Berkeley National Junior Tennis league. Since the league's inception, they have coached thousands of youth from ages 5 through 12. Cheri has over 30 years experience as a recreational tennis player and 15 years as a coach, manager and tennis league commissioner. She also is Executive Director of her family non-profit Operation/Pride where she runs the tennis tournaments and programs through the Berkeley National Junior Tennis League. Cheri holds a BA from Sonoma State University with an emphasis in elementary education, a vocational certificate from UC Berkeley, a Paralegal Certificate from St. Mary’s College and an Advanced Project Management Certification from Stanford University. In addition to tennis, Cheri’s career varies from being a flight attendant to a paralegal to a teacher to an IT project manager at Kaiser Permanente. Cheri is a natural born leader who has lived a life of service to her community. She is truly an inspiration for us all. We are so grateful to have her with us today to talk about her life and work. Cheri is 73 years old.

"The job is life..." - Cheri King, ED of Berkeley National Jr. Tennis League, 73 This jovial spirit will awaken you on Wednesday! Listen for a sneak peak!

"I don't worry when things don't work out as much, because I know that there is always a second chance, or a fiftieth chance!" -Lana Wilson, Potter, 80 Lana Wilson is a studio potter who lives in Berkeley, California. Each piece of ceramics that Lana creates expresses her unique vision of the world--they are organic, personal and beautiful. She has given more than 150 workshops on the ancient pottery technique of hand-building that involves creating forms without a pottery wheel at institutions including Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Penland School of Crafts, Mendocino Art Center, and Metchosin International Summer School of the Arts. She has taught workshops in Mexico, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Lana has been featured in Ceramics Monthly and Pottery Making Illustrated magazines, and for twenty years she wrote a column for Clay Times magazine. Her work has been in more than 185 exhibitions and appears in over fourteen books. She is the author of Ceramics: Shape and Surface, which includes extensive instruction on the electric glazes she has developed. Lana is eighty years old. Listen on all podcast platforms: /2068653/12527301

Meet Lana Wilson, a potter from Berkeley, California who takes life with a light hearted spirit and a profound depth of awareness and creativity. Her episode drops on Wednesday, April 10th! Available on all podcast outlets! Links in Bio.

"I have a destiny to fulfill. I'm here to make a contribution, to bring light." -Marlene Caldes (@millvalleymar ) Marlene is a lifelong Metaphysician who recently gave Phoebe a terrific tarot reading. She was so impressed with her work, she wanted to include her on this show. Marlene is internationally known for her Intuitive Forecasting, and integrating the practical with the mystical. Marlene is a speaker and seminar leader, tarot reader, coach and mentor. Marlene was one of the first female radio hosts on the popular SF’s KEST personal growth ‘HotLine to the HIghSelf” morning radio program launched in 1994. She went on to produce another radio show called, Conversations of the Quantum Age with the foremost writers and personal growth experts of our time–including Marianne Williamson. Marlene later joined KISS FM’s R&B station joining ‘Renel in the Morning’ as Renel’s Psychic Friend ‘ for more than a decade taking calls during the morning commute. Marlene is passionate about demystifying the metaphysical with individuals who are interested in raising the quality of their life. Marlene is known as “Radio’s Urban Mystic.” With a great sense of humor and practical strategies, Marlene addresses the challenges we face in today’s rapidly changing world. Marlene is seventy years of age. Listen here: /2068653/12527264

"Women want the light - men want control. You cannot control the light." -Marlene Caldes, Metaphysician, 70 drops on Wednesday. Here is a 30 second preview! Available on all podcast platforms! Links in bio

In contrast to many of our guests whose life seems to happen more spontaneously, Barbara Lavine is a planner - always was one step ahead to ensure she would be living a productive, healthy and full life after seventy - which she is. Tune in and enjoy. Barbara Lavine is a Licensed Professional Counselor. She attended Michigan State University for her undergraduate degree, then moved to the Washington DC metro area where she worked in the field of Hospital Personnel Management. While raising her sons she completed her graduate work in Counseling at George Washington University and worked part- time doing executive search. She then worked as a professional school counselor for 27 years. For the last five years she has been working as a Licensed Professional Counselor doing mental health counseling for young children, teens, and adults. Her areas of specialty include anxiety, depression and adjustment disorders. Barbara is 72. Available on all podcast platforms. /2068653/12420339 #workingwomen #womenworkingover70 #aginggracefully