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The Shift with Sam Baker

The Shift with Sam Baker

By: sam baker
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The Shift is a podcast that aims to tell the truth about being a woman post-40, created and hosted by writer and broadcaster, Sam Baker. Did you ever wonder why you stop hearing so many women's voices once they pass 40? That's where The Shift comes in - a frank, funny, sometimes heartbreaking, always honest look at what it means to be a woman in midlife and beyond. Work, life, love, health, sex, money, identity, body image... What does it all mean when everything around you (and inside you...) is changing? Each week, award-winning author and journalist Sam Baker asks a different woman how she got here, where she's going - and how it feels to be where she is right now. Expect intimate conversation, big laughs, occasional tears and an awful lot of ripping up the rule book and stamping on it... Past guests have included Elizabeth Gilbert, Martha Beck, Siri Hustvedt, Jojo Moyes, Nicola Sturgeon, Marian Keyes, Guilty Feminist Deborah Frances-White, Minnie Driver, Philippa Perry, Anita Rani, Tracey Thorn, Isabel Allende, Bobbi Brown, Barbara Kingsolver, Zandra Rhodes, Liz Earle and many more, talking everything from confidence to career reinvention, mental health, menopause and so much more. If you enjoy The Shift podcast, and you'd like to show the love, you can buy me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theshiftwithsambaker And if you really love The Shift and would like to hear more conversations with women over 40, why not become a member of our community and receive a weekly newsletter, get exclusive transcripts, join The Shift bookclub and so much more, please visit https://theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com/ For advertising enquiries, email sales@auddy.coSam Baker Ltd 2020 Art Literary History & Criticism Personal Development Personal Success Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Jennie Godfrey: 'midlife is a powerful place if you lean into it'

    Jennie Godfrey: 'midlife is a powerful place if you lean into it'
    Aug 4 2026
    My guest today is the bestselling novelist Jennie Godfrey. Jennie has experienced the kind of midlife turnaround most of us can only dream of. She started her career working in HR and rose to the top of her chosen industry working for a large corporation. Life was a whirlwind of high powered meetings, swanky job titles, frocks and heels - and boozing to release the pressure valve. Cue burn out - and drying out! In her mid 40s, in the midst of what she now knows was perimenopause, Jennie took voluntary redundancy and stepped back from her corporate job. Without a packed diary and a plan for the first time in decades she took a job in her local bookshop and signed up for a creative writing course. There she started writing her debut novel, The List of Suspicious Things, loosely inspired by her childhood growing up in West Yorkshire during the reign of the Yorkshire Ripper. It became the subject of a massive publisher auction, went to number one in the Sunday Times Bestseller lists and was the biggest debut of 2024. Now she’s followed it up with The Barbecue at No9, set in the summer of 1985 amidst the biggest music event in history, Live Aid. Jennie came to my flat to hang out with sausage the cat and talk about what it’s been like living the fairytale publishing dream. But don’t hate her! We also discussed how it felt to lose herself both physically and mentally in her 40s, how she recognises balance when she swings past it, growing up as a ‘glass child’, becoming visible in her 50s and rediscovering her lighthearted teenage self thanks to kitchen discos. Hear Jennie talking about The List of Suspicious Things to The Shift bookclub. * You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Shift bookshop on Bookshop.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, including ⁠The Barbecue at No.9 by Jennie Godfrey as well as the book that inspired this podcast, The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too, by Sam Baker. * If you enjoyed this episode and you fancy buying me a coffee, pop over to my page on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠buymeacoffee.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠ • And if you'd like to support the work that goes into making this podcast and get a weekly newsletter plus loads more content including exclusive transcripts of the podcast, why not join The Shift community, come and have a look around at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • The Shift is created, hosted and produced by Sam Baker and edited by Juliette Nicholls at Pineapple Audio Productions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr
  • Jane Green on being a walkaway wife & rebuilding your life in your 50s

    Jane Green on being a walkaway wife & rebuilding your life in your 50s
    Jul 28 2026
    Where do you turn when the identity you’ve clung to for decades slips away? That’s the position today’s guest, Jane Green, found herself in at 55. Her solution? She packed a case and ran away! Anyone who was a fan of women’s commercial fiction (aka chicklit, ugh) in the 90s and noughties will know Jane’s name. Along with Marian Keyes and Helen Fielding, she ruled the roost. She wrote 21 novels - the first of which, Jemima J, was right up there with Bridget Jones in the states. And for a while, they were piled high in bookshops all over the world. Until they weren’t... But now her subject is herself and I guarantee her story will make you want to chuck it all in and move to Morocco! Rewilding is her first memoir and recounts the breakup of her 24 year marriage and what came next. At 55, realising she had vanished inside the trappings of her Instagram-worthy life, Jane left the marital home on the East Coast of America with only a suitcase and went to Marrakech. Once she got over the shock and terror of being alone after bringing up four children, she set about the job of rewilding herself, dropping the armour that had seen her through her adult life and stripping herself back to the original Jane. Several years on Jane is living proof that she wasn’t escaping her life, but reclaiming it. Jane joined me to talk about the long process of returning to herself from a life she no longer recognised. We also discussed the gift of menopause, the curse of perfection, Why no-one should ever give up financial independence, being a ‘walkaway wife’, learning to recognise red flags, facing the fear, And how to answer the question: how did I get stuck in a life I don’t recognise? 2 more things before we start: • Firstly, Apologies if the sound is iffy in places. (I mean, it IS iffy!) Jane was sitting outside because of the heat so we were dealing with a lot of erm…external noises! • Secondly, and if, by the end of this, your heart is beating faster, Jane is hosting a 5 day rewilding retreat in Marrakech in October. Find out more at www.kitabamarrakech.com * You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Shift bookshop on Bookshop.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, including Rewilding by Jane Green as well as the book that inspired this podcast, The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too, by Sam Baker. * If you enjoyed this episode and you fancy buying me a coffee, pop over to my page on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠buymeacoffee.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.⁠ • And if you'd like to support the work that goes into making this podcast and get a weekly newsletter plus loads more content including exclusive transcripts of the podcast, why not join The Shift community, come and have a look around at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • The Shift is created, hosted and produced by Sam Baker and edited by Juliette Nicholls at Pineapple Audio Productions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    59 mins
  • Sarah Hiscox on self esteem, shame and overcoming addiction

    Sarah Hiscox on self esteem, shame and overcoming addiction
    Jul 21 2026
    Hello and welcome to SEASON 22(!) of The Shift with Sam Baker podcast. That's 300 fascinating conversations with women in midlife and beyond, if you're new here and fancy diving in. (To think that when I started it back in 2020, I thought I'd only do six!) My guest today is Sarah Hiscox. Now a counsellor for NA and AA, amongst other things, the first three and a half decades of Sarah’s life were marked by turbulence and addiction. Sarah was just eight years old when she first experienced the oblivion drugs can bring - in that case through sleeping pills (mogadon, if you can believe it) - and a young mother by the time she became addicted to heroin. In her memoir, The Beginning And End Of Everything, Sarah looks candidly at the childhood experiences that shaped her and how ‘the hole inside my being’ led her to lose her marriage and custody of her children. Somehow, after repeated relapses, thanks to her sister, Belinda, then ex-husband Renshaw, and best friend of thirty-odd years, Davina McCall, she got it all back. Sarah has now been clean for 24 years. So, if you’re looking for hope when it feels like all hope has gone, you’ll find it here. Sarah joined me to talk about self esteem and the life long impact of never feeling enough, the shame surrounding disordered eating and the difficulty of caring for a parent who never cared for you. We also discussed sisterhood and the power of female friendship, how she finally got off the misery go round, overcoming her personal committee of critics and finding purpose at 50. CW: anorexia bulimia addiction suicidal ideation * You can buy all the books mentioned in this podcast at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Shift bookshop on Bookshop.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, including The Beginning and End of Everything by Sarah Hiscox as well as the book that inspired this podcast, The Shift: how I lost and found myself after 40 - and you can too, by Sam Baker. * If you enjoyed this episode and you fancy buying me a coffee, pop over to my page on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠buymeacoffee.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. • And if you'd like to support the work that goes into making this podcast and get a weekly newsletter plus loads more content including exclusive transcripts of the podcast, why not join The Shift community, come and have a look around at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.theshiftwithsambaker.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • The Shift is created, hosted and produced by Sam Baker and edited by Juliette Nicholls at Pineapple Audio Productions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    48 mins
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