The Professor and Heather Anne
Although we don't have all the answers, we hope we can encourage and excite you. We're here sharing our lives to inspire you to make the most of the second half of your life. Join us each week, my friends, where you're sure to get a smile -- from lessons learned to mishaps, the adventures go on for miles...here on The Professor and Heather Anne.
A Season One Recap On Trauma Healing Midlife Health And Reinventing Home
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We hit record for the first time thinking we’d share a few stories, then realized the real work was learning how to talk about the parts of life we were taught to keep quiet. This season finale recap pulls together what we’ve learned across 24 episodes, 16 guests, and a whole lot of growth, including how we went from nervous and private to more honest and comfortable sharing our real midlife journey.
We revisit the biggest themes our listeners connected with: trauma recovery and resilience, ACEs and PACEs, somatic healing, and the...
You’re Not Alone – Finding Safety, Hope and Help
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Walking into a courthouse can feel like walking back into the worst day of your life. Recording on location at the Case Family Safety Center in Tulsa, we talk about what survivors actually need when they’re trying to get safe and why the “go here, then go there” system fails people who are already exhausted, afraid, and overwhelmed.
Heather Anne shares parts of her own history as a domestic violence survivor and why this topic can’t stay behind closed doors. Then we’re joined by Suzanne Stewart, CEO of the Family...
Hope After Trauma: Building Resilient Futures
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Secrets thrive in silence; hope grows where people show up. We open up about childhood trauma, domestic violence, and human trafficking—not to dwell on harm, but to show how kids and families rebuild with the right web of support. Heather shares the moments that kept her afloat as a teen—coaches who noticed, teachers who checked in, friends’ parents who asked “Are you okay?”—and why that steady care still matters. Then we welcome Karen Smith, director with the Oklahoma Coalition Against Human Trafficking and acting director of Camp Hope America in Tulsa, to wa...
How Protective Experiences Rewire A Traumatized Brain For Calm
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What if your daily routine could calm an overactive stress system and open the door to a healthier, happier life? We sit down with Dr. Jennifer Hayes-Grudo to unpack ACEs—the ten Adverse Childhood Experiences that predict health risks—and then turn toward PACEs, the Protective and Compensatory Experiences that help the brain and body recover. Heather shares her raw story of loss, secrecy, and hypervigilance, and how mentors, marching band, and sports became lifelines long before she had language for resilience.
Together we map the science to the everyday. You’ll lea...
Why Friendship Is One of the Most Underrated Forces in Human Life
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Friendship can change your health, your happiness, and even how long you live—so why do we treat it like an afterthought? We sit down with UCLA psychologist Dr. Jamie Krems, co-founder of the UCLA Center for Friendship Research, to unpack what truly makes a friend, why betrayal cuts so deep, and how small acts can rebuild trust and closeness at any age.
Jamie takes us around the world to show how cultures define friendship, then brings it home with an evolutionary lens: friends are allies we rely on when we’re a...
Health Starts at Home: The Missing Link in Your Healing Journey
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What if the place you sleep, cook, and unwind is quietly keeping your body on high alert? We take a hard look at total stress load and how a home’s air, water, noise, materials, and even location can amplify or ease symptoms like fatigue, rashes, brain fog, and poor sleep. Our guest, wellness-focused realtor and practitioner Holly Mullen, traces her own health puzzle back to hidden mold in her childhood house, then explains why standard inspections miss the biggest issues—and how smarter testing and smarter building choices change the game.
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Estate Plans That Prevent Family Fights
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Grief can turn a calm family into a courtroom drama. We brought estate planning attorney Jamie Miller into the studio to cut through the myths and show how a few smart documents can prevent the worst days from getting even worse. From blended-family tensions to small business complications, we share raw stories of what happens when there’s no plan—and the relief that comes when there is.
We dig into the difference between wills and trusts, and why a will still means probate. Jamie explains how a revocable living trust keep...
Healing Trauma Through Somatics, Breath, And Everyday Rituals
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What if your tight shoulders and shallow breaths are not bad habits but your body’s best attempt to keep you safe? We sit down with somatic practitioner and clinical hypnotist Gina Waterfield to explore how trauma takes up residence in tissue, breath, and posture—and how simple, daily practices return the nervous system to trust. From co-regulation and mirror neurons to fascia and vagal tone, we trace the science and the stories behind real recovery, including why falling asleep in a sound bath is a win and how handwriting a journal entry can...
How We Use Couple Goals To Stay Close, Communicate Better, And Keep Love Intentional
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What if the difference between drifting and thriving is a whiteboard, a budget, and a standing date for coffee? We open up about how we turned love into a living plan: setting shared goals, checking progress without blame, and making space for the quirks that make us, us.
This conversation starts with the science—why coordinated goals boost happiness—and moves into the messy, human stuff: a wedding that shattered the budget but taught us how to plan together, a cross-state move with a custom home build, and a clear deadline to h...
How A Single Mom Built Oklahoma’s First Kombucha Brewery
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What if the most painful parts of your past could power a healthier future? Rashel Hudson joins us to share how she grew up inside abuse, survived volatile relationships, and still found the courage to rebuild. First, she rebuilt her mind and body, then a business that’s changing how her community drinks and gathers. It’s raw, steady, and hopeful: therapy and hypnotherapy to rewire thought patterns, a practical look at negative and positive influences, and the small daily choices that reduce inflammation and return the body to balance.
We walk...
Love After 50, For Real
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A coffee date that ran six hours, a Trader Joe’s aisle dance, and a moment of unexpected safety—that’s how our second chance began. We open up about finding love after 50, where the spark is real but the work is what keeps it alive: naming baggage, repairing quickly, and building trust that lets you rest instead of perform.
We talk through the messy middle most people skip: saying no to passive aggression, asking whether a reaction is about us or the past, and the hard pause that led to a Vale...
Choose The Relationship You Want, Not Just The Person You Like
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Looking for a roadmap to real connection without the burnout? We open up about our two very different returns to dating—one marked by deliberate healing and a long pause, the other by a quick dive into apps—and what those choices taught us about expectations, values, and compatibility. Then we’re joined by Jamie Anderson, a relationship coach and singles guru, who shares practical frameworks to move from confusion to clarity.
Jaimee walks us through her Conscious Dating approach: identifying your five core values, translating long “wishlists” into the meaning underneath...
How To Build Strength, Eat Smart, And Age Well
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Strength doesn’t retire. We sit down with IFBB pro and veteran coach Erin Hawkins to unpack how to build muscle, protect joints, and boost confidence at any age—especially through your 50s, 60s, and beyond. From posture and balance to smarter meal planning, we break down what actually works and how to start without getting hurt or overwhelmed.
Erin shares why the basics still win: squats, deadlifts, push-ups, pulling movements, and controlled progressions. Small-group training offers one-on-one attention with the energy of a class, and good coaches always modify for your...
Why Feeling “Normal” Is Not The Same As Being Well
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Feeling “fine” isn’t the same as feeling well. We sit down with Tia Christ, a nurse practitioner and owner of Pathway Health and Beauty in Owasso, Oklahoma, to unpack what it really takes to thrive in your 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond.
We discuss how hormones, stress, sleep, nutrition, and strength training work together. If you’ve ever been told your labs are normal while your body tells a different story, this conversation offers a smarter roadmap.
We explore how to redefine wellness beyond symptom suppression, starting with the gap...
The Hard Truths About Menopause: How to Advocate, Test And Treat With Confidence
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The conversation gets real fast: Night sweats that derail sleep, weight that won’t budge despite the macros and the miles, labs that say “normal” while life screams otherwise. We trace two different menopause paths, one medically induced after a hysterectomy, the other arriving shockingly early at 37. We also unpack the physical, emotional, and relational fallout that follows when hormones shift and answers are hard to find.
Shae Rozzi, Fox 23 news anchor, joins us to share what her on-air series uncovered: How poorly menopause is taught in medical training, how many women...
Light Therapy, Real Food and the Second Half of Life
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Feeling your balance slip on a plane aisle or your energy dip before dinner? We’ve been there. In this candid, practical conversation, we share what actually moved the needle in our 50s and 60s: A sustainable gym routine, yoga for mobility and stress, simpler food choices and a surprising tool that supports recovery without meds.
Wellness expert Nikki McCutchen joins us to unpack photo biomodulation in plain English—how low-level infrared light from your own body can signal peptides like GHK-Cu, and why the X39 patch is a starting point for m...
From Overwhelmed To Organized: Practical Steps To Declutter, Downsize, And Move With Less Stress
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Feeling owned by your stuff? We explore a simple, humane way to take control: Make just one decision per item. Do I want it, or do I not want it? That single question cuts through analysis paralysis, whether you’re clearing a junk drawer, combining households, or guiding a parent through a major downsize. Along the way, we share real stories, from purging decades of academic journals to facing a room full of miniature houses, and the surprising relief that comes from choosing with intention.
Our guest, professional organizer Kristin Switzer of...
Community Is Medicine For An Aging World
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Loneliness is more than a feeling; it’s a health risk that can be compared to smoking a pack of cigarettes daily. We open up about why social connection is essential as we age and how to rebuild a circle of friends after big life changes like retirement, remote work, or losing a spouse.
Then, we sit down with Judy Sunderman, president of the Tulsa Newcomers Club, to explore a living blueprint for community that turns strangers into friends through simple, reliable touchpoints.
Judy shares the club’s post–World W...
How We Found Identity, Community, And A Shared Faith In The Second Half Of Life
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Faith rarely follows a straight line. Our story weaves two very different routes—a child searching for God without guidance and a scholar stepping away from belief—into one shared table where Shabbat blessings, community, and gratitude anchor the week. Heather recounts a turbulent upbringing, a Pentecostal grandmother’s courage, and a relentless quest that led her to Judaism, where rituals, tribe, and an Orthodox conversion finally felt like home. Alongside, Joe shares how youthful disillusionment gave way to a later-in-life return, not through sudden spiritual epiphany but through questions of identity, belonging, and th...
The New American Compound: Multigenerational Living Without Losing Space Or Self
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What if your next move wasn’t about more space or less, but about a home that actually fits your life? We share our pivot from a suburban favorite to rural land in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where a custom design and a small apartment will let us support a 90-year-old parent while keeping everyone’s independence. Along the way, veteran realtor and broker Marc Bullock joins us to unpack how right-sizing really works (emotionally, financially, and logistically) when you’re buying, selling or building.
We get honest about merging two full h...
Catfish, Red Flags, And A Motorcycle Ride That Never Happened
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Middle‑age dating isn’t a sequel; it’s a rewrite—with sharper priorities, stronger boundaries, and a deeper hunger for peace. We open up about meeting online, the non‑negotiables that guided us, and the practical ways we kept safety front and center while still leaving room for delight. From faith and politics to health and independence, we unpack the criteria that actually matter when your life is already full and your time is precious.
We get candid about scams, flattery traps, and the subtle tells of fake profiles. You’ll hear the...
From UCLA To Black Tie: Reinventing Work, Home, And Homebuilding In Midlife
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We trace the real work of reinvention: why retiring at 62 made sense, how business and academia collide, and what it takes to merge two lives, two careers, and two homes while planning a custom build. The theme is fit over status, and compromise as a daily practice.
• reasons for leaving academia and shifting identity
• cultural shocks between university life and real estate
• new roles at home, cooking, cleaning, and time blocks
• right-sizing, downsizing, and hiring organizers
• giving furniture to a single mom rebuilding life
• expanding careers into speakin...
What If Telling The Hard Truths Is The Real Start Of Love?
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A coffee shop meet-up, a late arrival, and a pair of good shoes set the scene—but the real story began when we chose honesty over comfort. After Yom Kippur, we split a slice of pie and opened a chapter most people hide: years of abuse that ended in front-page headlines, a courtroom that felt surreal, and a family learning to breathe under the weight of judgment. That early disclosure wasn’t a test; it was a signal that midlife dating works best when truth arrives first.
We talk about how to s...
From Trauma To Triumph: Midlife Love, Reinvention and Hope
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We share how a six-hour first date led to a late-in-life partnership rooted in honesty, faith, and humor. Along the way, we map career pivots, health upgrades, and the courage to talk about trauma, hormones, and hope.
• who we are and why we care about midlife reinvention
• Heather’s path from Beverly Hills to lending and speaking
• Joe’s exit from academia and move to Oklahoma
• meeting on JDate and the six-hour first date
• building trust after divorce and long gaps in dating
• right sizing home and life during...
Join us in November for The Professor and Heather Anne
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What if the second half of life isn't a slow fade... but a fierce beginning?
What if love gets wiser, faith gets steadier, and purpose gets sharper—with age?
This series is a real-time story of reinvention—two lives that collided in midlife and chose honesty over performance, healing over hiding, and strength over survival. It starts with a six-hour first date—coffee, dinner, and a spontaneous trip to Trader Joe’s—and unfolds into a shared life built on courage, truth, and change.
Together, we talk about what most...
