Join me, your host Carmen Hecox as I talk with Jack Perez about the challenges and triumphs of women in midlife. From embracing physical changes to finding strength in community, this episode is a must-listen for women seeking to understand and celebrate this stage of life.
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Join us next week as we'll dive into the topic of health changes during midlife. You don't want to miss that episode.
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Join me, your host Carmen Hecox as I talk with Jack Perez about the challenges and triumphs of women in midlife. From embracing physical changes to finding strength in community, this episode is a must-listen for women seeking to understand and celebrate this stage of life.
Next Episode Preview:
Join us next week as we'll dive into the topic of health changes during midlife. You don't want to miss that episode.
📕 Resources:
https://createthebestme.com/ep024
📨 Newsletter:
https://createthebestme.com/newsletter/
👀 Connect With Me:
Website: https://createthebestme.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/createthebestme
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carmenhecox/
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@carmenhecox
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@createthebestme
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Welcome to Create the Best Me. I am Carmen Hecox, a personal development coach, and I am so excited to be connecting with you today. Whether you're listening to the podcast or joining us on YouTube, my goal is to help women navigate through midlife challenges with compassion, inspiration, and empowering conversations. Each week we'll dive into thought-provoking topics, designed to build self-confidence, overcome invisible women's syndrome, and find the courage to create the best version of yourself. I'll also be joined by expert guests who will share their wisdom and insights, so make yourself comfortable and let's embark on this journey together. Well, hello there, fearless midlife trailblazers. Welcome to Create the Best Me. If you are new here, I'm so glad you made it here. If you're a returning listener, welcome back to the one and only place where we encourage and empower women to pursue their dreams and live life to the fullest. I am Carmen Hecox, your host and personal development coach. Today's guest is Jacqueline Jack Perez and she is the founder and C E O of Kuel Life, an online platform designed to normalize aging for women through meaningful curated content and women driven brands. Kuel life continues to grow daily with over 60 industry thought leaders and more than 40 women driven brands. Kuel Life offers women an opportunity to share, learn, shop and more. Today, Jack is going to share her story about midlife and what inspired her to create Kuel Life. So without further ado, let's dig right into today's conversation./Jacqueline Perez, welcome to Create The Best Me.
Jack Perez:Thank you, Carmen. It is amazing to be here. I'm so excited to share this space with you today.
Carmen Hecox:Yes. And today we have, Jacqueline Perez, also known as Jack of Kuel Life. Jack, for the people that do not know you, give us a little bit of background.
Jack Perez:So really quick, Carmen, I am a first generation born American, so both of my parents came from Cuba in 1962. Interesting way to grow up, right? I, I, I grew up, I think, uh, fairly quickly because I was responsible for a lot of grownup type activities at a pretty young age due to my parents' lack of language, skill, and then cultural skills as well, right? Because they came over already older and without the language and without the cultural knowledge that basically indicated that I had to do things like talk to the electric company, talk to the water company as young as like nine or 10 because my parents couldn't. So I, I grew up that way, which, you know some people will be like, oh, you were cheated out of a childhood. Like, no, I'm an incredibly high functioning human because I learned really early on how to do all of the things, you know? I mean, I had to by definition, right? So, and then I, I went to undergrad, got the undergrad degree, went to get my first job, did all the things. That are kind of on the list in your twenties, right? You get your education, you get your first job, you meet the boy, you marry the boy, you buy the house, you know, all of that stuff. And yeah, that was pretty much me. And I went back and got a master's, an MBA, and then I was recruited out to the Bay Area in California to work for a Fortune 50 company called Hewlett Packard. I'm sure everybody knows about it. But then last century in 1999, it hit me that I really needed to drop out of corporate America. I didn't do well in an environment where I was a cog. I needed to be closer to the result. My actions needed to be tied more directly, more, more linked to the results I needed to be held more accountable in my mind's eye. So in 1999, my then husband and I started our own marketing and PR firm in San Francisco called Summit Strategies. And we did that for many, many years. And then I decided to be a mom and I made that decision really late in life, Carmen. I was 38 when I had my son. So it's, you know, some people take, take some time, right. And I took, I took a little time to decide to take the motherhood track. And then once I became a mom, I really wanted to be the mom that was at home. You know, I wanted to be there to read in the school. I wanted to be there to walk him home. And in order to do that as a single mom, cuz I was divorced at the time, I then became a fractional executive. So, a few companies would hire me for part-time, sort of part-time fractional VP of marketing or part-time CEO. Then once my child was old enough, I decided to start my own gig, and that's where I am right now. Because once he got old enough that he didn't need me at that level, I had some extra time to go back to what I wanted to do professionally. Interestingly enough though, Carmen, it happened to coincide at the same time that I was going through menopause. And interestingly enough, menopause, that physiological change is what redirected my life professionally, interestingly enough, right? I made a decision to do something in the space for women in midlife and beyond because I had such a horrible time with the physiological change. So here we are, and this is how I ended up being in a room talking to you, Carmen.
Carmen Hecox:Exactly. and that's the reason why I asked you to come on to the show is, because you hit that stumbling block of menopause. Menopause kind of, made you pause and try to rediscover who you are. And where your new direction, where are you going? And so, and I think that a lot of us, when we hit menopause, cuz I'm in menopause now, I think that we develop this fear that perhaps it's time to put on the polyester pants and go get a perm and allow the gray hair to come in. Or some of us even get scared that, oh my gosh, I'm not ready to go there. And so what I want to talk about is accepting aging and aging on your terms. Because I don't think that I'm, I don't think that women. That are in mid age and beyond are wearing the polyester pants and, wearing the perm anymore, or at least my mom's not and she's 70.
Jack Perez:Well, and I don't see you in polyester with permed hair, and you don't see me with polyester and permed hair. No, thank you, ma'am. I like to shop at Anthropology and Athleta. I'm not slowing down. I'm not, and there's so many of us. Yes. What I want to do in, in this part of my life and what my mission is, I, I, I turned myself, I've given myself a moniker of Pro Age champion because my quest is to help the sea change of the normalization of aging. One of the reasons I think women struggle so much with all of the various. Things that happen to us as we age, and that I'm talking about everything from the hormone change, which then leads to, you know, physical changes, our skin loses ELA elasticity, our hair thins, our mid-section widens. We become different than we were in the first half or the first, whatever, you know? But, my contention is that there's a huge chasm between miniskirts and depends adult diapers, right? We're not ready for adult diapers. We're not ready for the polyester. We have an entire lifespan to live, and we get to live it however we want. Because here's the deal, at least from my perspective, the older I get, And I don't know if we're allowed to swear on here, but just in case I won't, the less Fs I give about almost anything. And honestly, every day goes by. I give less Fs. It's a delightful place to live. It's a delightful place to live. And I will take that. I will take my confidence, I will take my wisdom, I will take my unshakeability. That's not even a real word, but I just made it up. I will take that way over less crow's feet, to be honest with you. Right. I mean, I, because the crow's feet, if I'm not in front of a mirror, don't bother me. They might bother you, but they don't bother me if I'm not in front of a mirror. I once had a guest in an interview say to me, you know, if you don't like what you're looking at in the mirror, stop looking at the mirror, and I thought that was really funny.
Carmen Hecox:I can sort of look at, crow's feet as sort of like, um, like stretch marks. At least my stretch marks. I wear them with honor because through my stretch marks came my beautiful children that I have, my three beautiful children, my two adults, and I like you had a child older in life as well. I have a 10 year old. And so, I wear them with pride At least my stretch marks to me. they represent my children. My, crow's feet or laugh lines, whatever they may be. Just show that, I'm a little wiser than my 21 year old self. It just shows that I have experience.
Jack Perez:Exactly. Exactly. It shows that we are using what we have, right? I don't wanna end up at the end of life, pristine, nothing broken, nothing used. I wanna use it all up. I, by the time I get to the end, I don't want much of me left, to be honest with you. I wanna have spent it. I wanna spend my life. I don't wanna sit and save it or waste it. I wanna spend it.
Carmen Hecox:And let's add here that. You're a third degree black belt. Is that correct?
Jack Perez:That is correct. I am a third degree black belt in TaeKwonDo, which is a Korean martial arts form, and I started that journey in my forties, which just goes to show that. It is never too late to begin a new journey and to challenge yourself. I, I knew a lot of women my age in martial arts at that time, and we, we dominated, we were so good because we also had the patience and the wisdom to know that something like that isn't learned in a day. It's not mastered in a year. It takes thousands of hours, thousands of hours to master anything. And I know that when I was younger, I was a little less patient with myself and a, I demanded a lot more from me as far as like, hurry up, hurry up. But now I understand that perfection doesn't exist. Mastering something takes a really, really long time, and I'm still not a master. I'm not a master.
Carmen Hecox:Let's go back to when menopause did hit you. How did you know it hit you? What was going on in your mind and your body at the time that gave you the passion that you needed to do something about it?
Jack Perez:So I wish I could tell you that, you know, there was a, a date, a time, a particular acute event, but sadly that's not how menopause affected me. It was. Very quiet. It was a quiet, gradual dismantling almost of my person, meaning I gained 30 pounds, but I didn't gain them in a day. I gained them kind of creepily over. Couple of years, right? So it's like, wow, I'm a, I'm a couple pounds heavier. Okay, well that's okay, you know, but then all of a sudden I'm 30 pounds heavier. Right? The other thing that happened in this also wasn't something that one day I woke up with anxiety, brain fog, dysregulation of emotion. I couldn't hold it together, Carmen, I couldn't. Of course there were the obvious symptoms, like the hot flashes, the insomnia. But honestly, a lot of it was sort of, it was like a specter. You know what I mean? It was not in my face as one thing. It was just sort of this general malaise that kept making me feel worse and worse and worse and less and less like myself. And I got so low and then it hit me. I'm like, what am I gonna do? I can't live like this. I cannot spend the next 30 or 40 years of my life dealing with these symptoms. There has to be a solution. I mean so many women that the stats are incredible about the number of women who are leaving the workforce, Carmen, because they're misconstruing these quote unquote normal signs of menopause that are transitory, by the way, as permanent early onset dementia or Alzheimer's. And so they're leaving the workforce in droves. Over something that can be managed and fixed. If you ask me, I, I managed to fix it. I don't have those 30 pounds anymore. I can regulate my emotions. I wake up my old happy self again. Why I chose to do something about it, and, and I wanted to serve other women because it hit me. I'm like, I'm a, I'm a pretty disciplined individual, Carmen and I, I got a lot of tenacity and I have a lot of drive and so. I was able to, even at the deaths of despair, say, there's gotta be a solution. There's gotta be a solution. I, I've gotta figure this out. But once I, I got myself out of it. I looked backward and I said, well, what if, what if there are women out there who, for whatever reason, just don't have, that? That's not part of who they are, and now they're stuck. And they think they're alone, they're isolated. They don't know where to go for help. They don't know that what they're feeling is normal. And when I say normal, I mean statistically normal. Meaning if you put all the data on a curve, you get this like curve, it's called a population sample, and that's 70% in there is like where the bulk of the individuals lie, and almost everything that we experience, I mean, I'm not saying everything, but most of what we experience during this time, other women are experiencing it too. Why not learn from each other? Why not share with one another? What's going on for us? How we're solving it? Other potential solutions? Why? Why not? Why allow women to continue to be in the dark about these transitions when we don't have to?
Carmen Hecox:Exactly cuz I think that a lot of women, or at least in my case, how I sort of started to feel lost. And then I started to feel like I was developing invisible woman syndrome. Like I was so slowly disappearing or kind of just fading away and I'm like, what is wrong with me? It's got to be me. Because nobody else, my circumstance has not changed. What's going on? And so, what gave you the power per se, to dust yourself off and go out and search for an answer? And even when perhaps maybe doors were shut and they were like, it's normal, Jack, you're just going through menopause.
Jack Perez:Yeah, listen, if I knew what that trigger was that turned me from victim to action mode, I'd flip and bottle it and sell it on Amazon and never, ever, ever have to work a day in my life again. I don't know what it was, Carmen. I, I don't know. I just know that I reached the end of the rope of what was happening to me at that time, and I had gone to, um, a variety of doctors looking for answers. Didn't get the answers that I was looking for though. I got a lot of get over yourself. You're, this is just normal. You'll just get used to this new weight. You'll just get used to this new brain fog. You'll just get used to this dysregulation of emotions. I'm like you know I'm not interested in living my life that way, not interested. And so, I kept searching and searching until I found a part of the medical community that is focused on women's health in particular, after we are done procreating, most of the medical community and most of the medical care for women is all about OB G Y N, making babies. Okay? That's an important function in a woman's life. I'm not telling you it's not. We are still worthwhile and we are still worth caring for. Once we are done making babies and now we're just living on the planet, but we're giving back, we're adding value. We're leading people, we're making sea changes. We're powerful and we should have the medical health community paying attention to what our needs are now because they're very different. They're very different. It's almost like we're two different species, right? The, the procreating woman and the non-procreating woman, we have very different requirements.
Carmen Hecox:And so, when you found the, the right place for you, what type of treatment are they providing for you?
Jack Perez:I am on what's called bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. It's a lot of words, and they're big words, right? I mean, it's crazy, but what it means is that I go once a quarter every three months, every three and a half months, once, once a quarter, basically, and they insert these pellets in, in my subcutaneous fat, I guess in my flank, in the sort of in my backside. And it's a combination of estrogen and testosterone. And then I orally take progesterone because they're all three important, at least for me my blood work, I mean, I had a bunch of blood work. I thought my doctor was of vampire for a moment. like, how many vials of blood do you absolutely need to figure out what's wrong with me? But I have to tell you, I have been on them now for. Four years, within the first two years, the 30 pounds disappeared. I didn't change my behavior. I was still doing exactly the same thing. My muscle mass is significantly bigger because of the testosterone. Testosterone has fundamentally changed my life in a way that I don't know what you would have to tell me or what proof you would have to give me, for me to tell you, you can take it away from me. Because no one's taking these away from me. It has turned me into a highly functional, active, fun-loving person who's alive in the world. I have no desire to go back to that other person. I have no desire to go back to her, and if they come and tell me that I'm shortening my life by 10 years okay. Because those, years aren't worth living to me if I'm not living. You know what I mean? I'm not using it, if I'm not spending it, then I, I don't want it.
Carmen Hecox:And when did you notice the brain fog dissipate?
Jack Perez:Everything was, it was a gradual coming back, right? It wasn't like I went to the doctor, I got the procedure, and then I woke up and everything was fine. That didn't happen. It was interesting because it's, it was almost as imperceptible. The getting better was almost as imperceptible as what happened to get me to that point where I was desperately looking for information. Everybody knows the story or the, anecdote or the tail about the frog in the water, right? You put a frog in a pot of water and you slowly turn up the heat and you literally cook that frog. But if you throw the frog into the water that's already boiling, the frog's gonna jump out because the frog's like, what the f. But menopause and then the return from menopause was more like the gradual turning up of the heat or the gradual turning down the heat. I did remember noticing that I slept well. Almost immediately better, like my sleep got affected. I think that was like one of the first things that was improved, which I was very grateful for because anyone out there who's struggling with sleep, and I think most of us are, most menopausal women, have trouble sleeping. You know how crazy I can make you?
Carmen Hecox:mmm, Well you're tired, you're sluggish, and you're kind of cranky cuz you know you're not rested.
Jack Perez:And it hurts your brain. It actually hurts your brain. Our brain health requires us to be able to sleep well.
Carmen Hecox:Do they check your blood? How often do they check your blood as you're using, these hormones?
Jack Perez:Every year I get a full panel, and then if I feel something different, in between the annuals, she will pull blood just to make sure it's a very actively managed process. I feel very confident in my decision. Now, I'm also gonna tell you as a caveat, I know it's not the answer for everyone. I know when I understand that, and I'm not telling you or telling your audience that every woman should run out and get this, that this is the solution. It happens to be my solution, and that is all I can say about it. It works for me. Yeah,
Carmen Hecox:I know that, when they talk about hormone therapy, is this a more natural type of hormone therapy or is this just your regular, traditional hormone therapy?
Jack Perez:This is bioidentical, it's compounded, but it is compounded in the lab. It's not a holistic or natural supplement. This isn't turmeric or cumin or black pepper. This is medicine. This is pharmaceuticals, and I'm not a huge fan of pharmaceuticals in general, but, you know there's a reason science exists and we have managed, to advance the field of science and understanding how to help ourselves. So I'm open to Western medicine when, when it serves me. I, I'm open to all forms of medicine when it serves me.
Carmen Hecox:Mm-hmm. Yeah and it's given you your life back, as you stated, perhaps even a better life than you had before.
Jack Perez:Well, yes, cuz now I have all that wisdom and I give no Fs and so, right. Yeah. So kind of now I'm unstoppable. It's kind of, it's kind of, it's kinda crazy, but I definitely feel way better about me now than I did even 10 years ago.
Carmen Hecox:And I know we talked about this one part that you have done to help you is you've gone to the doctors to get help, but what about, how women should dress when they're older. What's your view toward that?
Jack Perez:Well, this is why I built Kuel Life, Carmen. So I, I have a digital platform that I created where I provide information for women on the various and sundries opportunities and challenges in this, in this time of life and fashion, skincare, makeup, application. All of those are, they change with time and with age. We need different things. If we used to apply makeup, at least I did when I was in high school, I would apply makeup with the goal to look older. I wanted to get into a bar. I didn't wanna get carded. I wanted to attract older boys, college boys. Well, I, I wanted to look older, so I applied makeup in a way to make myself look more dramatic, to make myself look more sophisticated. Apply the makeup now that way you're just gonna look older and we don't wanna do that. So to answer your question about what are my beliefs on fashion, and I, I'm not an expert, but I went out and found thought leaders from all over the world who are experts. Who are thought leaders, who are fashion designers. One of our thought leaders literally dressed Serena Williams and Tina Fey. I mean, these are, these are women who have some pretty serious credentials. They are bringing their wisdom, their tips, their tricks, their hacks to women in midlife and beyond. And they're bringing it, you know, via their own platforms, via their own social medias, via their own. Uh, clients, but they're also providing it through Kuel Life as a way to bring all things, or as many things that are relevant to us in one concentrated platform so that it's not, it's clear to women where to go for information. And we have several thought leaders that write about fashion and beauty and skincare and makeup and all sorts of things like that. And, and what I think personally, I think you wear whatever you wanna wear as long as you feel good in it, and it makes you walk tall with shoulders back and head held, eye and chest out. I don't care if it's a miniskirt, you're wearing a miniskirt, wear it. But then you gotta own it. As long as you're comfortable, you can wear whatever you want.
Carmen Hecox:Yeah, and I think another thing is that, Let's say for example, I do see a woman that is my age and she is wearing a mini skirt. Just because I don't wear a mini skirt, I should say rock on and not say, oh my God, look at her.
Jack Perez:Correct, I think that there has been incentive for women to be divisive in the past. When I was in corporate America in the nineties, I would look at the room, you know, the room where it happens, so to speak, you know, to quote Hamilton, and I knew that, that those chairs around that table were all filled by men. And maybe there was one chair in there, one chair in their first skirt. Well, if it was gonna be your skirt, you couldn't really be nice and collaborative. You had to kinda you know, I mean, we were incentivized to be competitive and to be petty and to be mean. And here's the best part of being older. Don't have to do that anymore. Don't have to do that. I do not have to dress you down to feel better about myself. You wear a mini skirt, I would say to you, rock on sister, more powered to you. And then I would say, huh? Can I, can I try it on? Does it look good on me? Cause at the end of the day, I'm still a girl. But yeah, I would, I would not say, look at her, or why is she wearing that? Or what is she trying to prove? No, cause ladies, if we stop being divisive, if we empower each other, we're unstoppable because there's so many of us. Keeping us divided is, is a tactic to keep us down, to keep our voices from being heard.
Carmen Hecox:Exactly, and I know that, at least for me, it takes a lot of courage for me to stand out there. To take that risk, to do something that, it's not my norm. And if someone criticizes, you know, you should have done this, or you should have done that, or, you know, you really shouldn't have done that. And it, it seems like it almost takes so much more for me to try again because it's hard to come back and take risks.
Jack Perez:Right. I agree. And you know, sometimes like I'll do something and you know, it probably needs some critiquing. It probably could be better or different. I probably, you know, should look at doing something, maybe tweaking it in some way, shape or form. And I'm open to that. I'm open to someone that I respect who's in the arena getting her a s s kicked as well, though, if you're not in it and you're not getting your ass kick, please don't bother to critique my performance
Carmen Hecox:Amen.
Jack Perez:If you're up in the nosebleed stands with popcorn and a beer in your hand. Your opinion is not welcomed, but I do appreciate leading to the positive. Like, look how brave you were to do that, and what a creative idea that was. Are you open to some ideas of how to make that better in the future? What a different way to approach and what a different response you would get and maybe then Carmen, you wouldn't feel uncomfortable trying again. You'd actually feel even braver because you'd feel like you were fortified with some added extra ideas of how to tweak it and improve it. Very different, right? Very different outcome.
Carmen Hecox:Exactly. Sounds like you're quoting a little bit of Brene Brown there.
Jack Perez:Yes. But she quoted it from somebody
Carmen Hecox:Yes. Theodore Roosevelt.
Jack Perez:Yeah, it came, it actually came from a president, but yeah.
Carmen Hecox:Yeah and that's something I always tell my husband is I say, I say, you know what? Doing some of the things that I do are risky. They're not things that I would normally do. But this year I've decided to be different. I've decided to take risks and I don't care what people say, or at least that's what I'm telling myself every day. I don't care what people say in, all reality I care what you say because you're in the arena with me. But if a man says something, nasty. Or someone who is perhaps 10 years younger than me says something nasty. I don't care. I'm like a duck. It's just water off my feathers. I don't care
Jack Perez:Right,
Carmen Hecox:because you are not in here with me. You're not taking the risks that I'm taking. You know, I'm trying to become a better version of myself because I feel like I owe that to the women that are in the arena with me that are scared to take that step. And I believe in leading by example.
Jack Perez:Honestly, that is the only way to really lead any other way. It's you're managing or you're dictating, you're not, you're not leading.
Carmen Hecox:I know that you had said that, you decided to leave corporate America, and I think that maybe, perhaps it's because you recognized that you had so much more to give and you sort of felt like, and please correct me if I'm wrong, you felt kind of boxed in, like you were limited because the role you had, this is the role you had and you were limited to just that role, but you had so much more. That the only way to be able to serve people at a greater level to your full potential with your full experience was to go on your own.
Jack Perez:Yeah.
Carmen Hecox:To call your own shots.
Jack Perez:Yeah. It didn't help that I didn't want my boss's job, and I didn't want his job, like his boss's job, and I looked up the chain. I'm like, I don't want any of those jobs. I think I need to go. So, yes. I needed to be a lot closer. As I said earlier, I needed to have my action, the reaction to it, or the response or the culmination of it. I needed to see that quicker. I needed to have more direct impact. That's just how I'm wired.
Carmen Hecox:And so in this, platform that you've built, Kuel Life, you've allowed other women that have all these amazing talents and they are, curated for women that are in the trenches and providing guidance for others. I think that's an amazing platform.
Jack Perez:Thank you. Thank you. Um, it's been, it's been fun creating it and it's been fun living with it. And meaning like when I, when I opened it up, you know, when I did the soft launch, when I said, okay, the, the website is quote, live now. I had no social media presence. I had no one writing on the platform but you'res truly. So, you know, the information was coming whenever I could do enough research to get something done and post it and whatnot. But I focused on finding the resources globally. I focused on researching and looking for the women just to keep with the theater Roosevelt theme that were going on, that were in the arena before me, by the way, in this arena. Already in there, you know, fighting the lion right in the middle of it. And I was, I reached out to any and all of those women that I could find, let them know what I wanted to do. And almost every single one, I mean, there were a couple that said, Hmm, I'm not sure that's for me. You know, I totally get that. But mostly everyone else said yes to me. If I fast forward now, we're five. The platform is five years old. There are over 65 women from around the world, and I mean we have women from New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Spain, Canada, all over the US that are contributing monthly on topics. Like the fashion that we talked about, but also topics about, say divorce. Most divorces are initiated by women after 50. So we have women talking about divorce, how to navigate that. We have women talking about dating. Okay, so how do you start dating? How do you date with a dry vagina? These are all topics, right? I mean, you giggle, but these are things that are important to us that I believed weren't being addressed. At least they weren't being addressed in a way that I could find them. Uh, and they weren't being addressed in a way that I could take action from the information and they weren't being addressed, in my opinion, in an empowering and kind way. So my mission with Kuel Life is to address those three concerns, to to provide the information, to provide it in an actionable way and to make sure it's empowering and kind. Rather than pushing an agenda of anti-aging or avoid aging, which is the primary message that women get at this stage of life.
Carmen Hecox:And I think that, pop culture doesn't make it any easier.
Jack Perez:Nope. Yep.
Carmen Hecox:I think your platform is awesome because it's a one-stop shop. Because I know that sometimes I'm researching something, and I always call it a rabbit hole because I just dive, dive, dive, dive, dive, and it's just at the end of the day, I'm like, well, what was I researching? Because I didn't find the answer,
Jack Perez:Right.
Carmen Hecox:Or find the answer that was catered to the information I wanted. Maybe coming from a woman's perspective. Someone who's been there, done that. Has already done all her research, and now is sharing her shortcut to the answer.
Jack Perez:Right and what's great about the women, the Kuel Life thought leaders, most of them are also work in the industry, whatever that industry is. They're either, um, they have clients that they're helping with their adult children. So I've got several women who talk about parenting adult children. It's huge. That decade my son is about to be 21 and, that first year of his twenties near about killed me. And so I got nine more to go. I use the advice. And the tips and the wisdom that these women write about on how to navigate parenting adult children. What's great about the site is that if one of the women help you, one of the articles help you and they res it, resonates with you and, and you've been able to take action and, and help yourself, but you want more, you can reach out to them because most of them are coaches and so they can provide even more information and more help directly to a Kuel Life community member. And so we've done a lot of the heavy lifting for you, meaning we've curated, we have found the resources, we're providing the information. Take it, use it, run with it. Improve your life.
Carmen Hecox:So Jackie, tell me for anyone who's listening to this episode, either listening to it or watching it on YouTube. If they are an expert in some of the topics that we talked about, how could they become a member of Kuel Life?
Jack Perez:Reach out to me, you know, send me, drop me an email, you know, drop me a line, DM me on Instagram or Kuel, or on Facebook, whatever. Um, and I can send you a, I can send you information. Here's the deal, my table is long and there's always room for another chair, for another woman to be seated at that table with us. So I encourage, because yes, I built Kuel Life. It's mine, I, I built it, but it really belongs to the 66 women out there who are contributing regularly and also all the women driven brands. So if any of your listeners. Have products like they're an entrepreneur and they're selling something, jewelry, clothing, candles, soap, whatever, and they want to reach a larger audience of midlife women and beyond, and they wanna be part of this sea change of normalizing aging and empowering women. Have them reach out to me too, because there's room. There's room on Kuel Life for you as well.
Carmen Hecox:What if you are not an expert, but you're alone traveling through this dreary midlife.
Jack Perez:Well, I really hope that the articles, the insight, the wisdom, the tips and advice, knowing that other women are going through what you are going through, I'm hoping that that helps alleviate a little bit of the despair of the isolation of the loneliness. But I have to say, Carmen, isolation, loneliness is a far greater risk to our longevity and our health than BMI or smoking a pack of cigarettes. And so, Kuel life isn't gonna solve that problem. It isn't. I mean, it'll help you find resources. It'll help you realize that what you're going through isn't abnormal or crazy or never experienced before. It'll help you potentially come up with some hacks and tips, but isolation and loneliness being heard, you gotta get out there. And you can find connections. If you're, if you can't get out of your house, you can still find real connections through social media. It's just a tool. I know it's used poorly by many, and it's getting a lot of publicity about how poorly it's being used, but I used it for good. I use social media to find the 65 women from around the world who are now contributing positively. To the mission of normalizing aging and how I found them was through that tool. You can find real life, real connections through that tool. So Kuel Life doesn't solve that problem, but it does give you resources.
Carmen Hecox:Yeah, so if someone is feeling isolated, they can still go to Kuel Life and read the resources that are there and maybe get inspired?
Jack Perez:Yes, and if one of the women inspires you, go to the about page, get to their bio, reach out to them, they'll wanna hear from you.
Carmen Hecox:Well, thank you so much for sharing all of your information. just real quickly, oh no, I wanted to ask you any future projects that you're currently working on?
Jack Perez:Future projects. Oh my goodness. Um, always, there's always something in the hopper. Right now, I am focused on traveling. I have a goal to get to 60 countries before I turn 60. I have three more to go before I get to 60, and then I have. A different goal. I'm gonna get to 65 countries by the time I'm 65. I'm a little less worried about that cause I got some space to, to figure that out. But yeah, I've been really pushing the solo traveling and I'm loving it. So I'm really focused on that right now.
Carmen Hecox:Perfect. So, where can people find you?
Jack Perez:Kuel Life. K U E L. Yeah, I know that's a weird spelling, but C o o l, that's just a regular word that it's an adjective. Couldn't really use that. It's not really trademark. And I found a synonym for C O O L on Urban Dictionary and it was spelled K U E L and I thought, what a great word. So I took it so you can find me on Kuel Life. That's K U E L Life. And you can reach out to me there. I'm on all the socials, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, you name it, I'm there. So just reach out. I'm easy to find.
Carmen Hecox:Perfect. All right. And I will make sure to include all your links on my website so that if people were unable to write it down, they can find all of your information there. Thank you so much I look forward to being connected with you on Kuel Life.
Jack Perez:Carmen, it's a pleasure. Thank you so much for hosting me today.
Carmen Hecox:What an episode. Jack is such an amazing leader. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling inspired to check out Jack's website again. That website is Kuel Kuellife life com, so that's KuelLife.com. If you're a female leader, entrepreneur, or sell products exclusively for women in midlife and would like to be part of the Kuel Life community, I encourage you to connect with Jack. You can find all her information on my website. Create the best me.com/ep 0 2 4. If you're a woman who's going through midlife and needs inspiration, I bet you'll find it at Kuel Life. Again, I want to thank Jack Perez of Kuel Life for sharing her inspiration and her community with us. If this episode resonated with you, please hit subscribe to stay updated. Join me next week as we'll dive into the topic of health changes during midlife. You don't wanna miss that episode. Until next time, keep dreaming big take care of yourself. And remember, you are beautiful, strong, and capable of creating the best version of yourself. Thank you for watching. Catch you next week. Bye for now.