What did you think of the podcast? Send your comments here!

“Free Birding” is an empowering reframe of the traditional idea of empty nesting, shifting the narrative from loss to liberation. This episode explores how midlife can become a season of renewal, freedom, and self-reclamation once children leave home. Rather than focusing on what’s gone, Free Birding celebrates what’s opening: space, possibility, creativity, and choice.

This conversation centers on the idea that raising children who are ready to fly is a success, not an ending. With the sky open again, midlife becomes a powerful invitation to reconnect with identity, pursue long-held dreams, explore new careers, deepen relationships, travel, and step fully into a long-awaited second act.

Guest Spotlight

Paria Hassouri is an Iranian-American pediatrician, author, and advocate whose writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Huffington Post. She is the author of the memoir Found in Transition: A Mother’s Evolution During Her Child’s Gender Change and the novel Harvesting Rosewater. Based in Los Angeles, she provides gender-affirming healthcare for trans and gender-diverse youth and speaks widely on identity, motherhood, and midlife transformation.

Key Insights

• Empty nesting can be reframed as a midlife awakening rather than a loss
• Free Birding is about reclaiming identity, time, and personal freedom
• Midlife transitions often unlock creativity, courage, and reinvention
• Past experiences shape midlife growth but don’t have to define it
• Reinvention is possible at any age, and often multiple times

Episode Summary

This episode of the Female Fluence Podcast explores Free Birding as a modern, empowering lens on midlife and empty nesting. The conversation highlights how this life stage can become a renaissance, inviting women to reconnect with themselves after years of prioritizing others.

Through reflections on identity, motherhood, cultural memory, and personal evolution, this episode reframes midlife as a powerful second act. Instead of grieving what’s ended, listeners are encouraged to honor what’s opening: freedom, creativity, and a deeper alignment with who they truly are becoming.

Connect with Paria

🌐 Website: pariahassouri.com
📖 Author: Harvesting Rosewater & Found in Transition
🏥 Physician: Cedars-Sinai Medical Group
📸 Instagram: @pariahassouri
🎵 TikTok: @paria.hassouri

Pearl Mashour is a Master Women Empowerment Coach, Life Coach & Multiple Subject Credentialed Teacher.

Take the Self Reflection Quiz "Are You Living in Alignment?"

Learn more about Pearl Mashour at www.femalefluence.com

• Connect with me on IG @pearlmashour_femalefluence
• Follow along on TikTok
• Subscribe on YouTube
• Connect with me on FB @femalefluence
• Email: info@femalefluence.org

What did you think of the podcast? Send your comments here!

Your body isn’t broken. And your symptoms aren’t random. They’re data.

In a world built on quick fixes and constant hustle, women are often taught to ignore fatigue, brain fog, and burnout. But these signals aren’t inconveniences. They’re communication.

This conversation explores how personalized nutrition, hormone awareness, and stress regulation support lasting energy, clarity, and confidence. When women stop overriding their bodies and start listening, healing becomes sustainable.

My guest today is Dr. Lahana Vigliano, a board-certified clinical nutritionist and CEO + founder of Nuvitru Wellness, a private practice in Austin, Texas that helps women balance hormones and improve digestion using food as medicine.

With a Bachelor’s degree in Nutrition Science, a Master’s in Human Nutrition and Functional Medicine, and a Doctorate in Clinical Nutrition, Lahana brings both deep expertise and genuine empathy to her work.

She’s deeply passionate about helping women uncover the root causes of their symptoms, especially when they’ve felt dismissed or gaslit by conventional care. Through personalized functional nutrition, she guides women toward healing that actually supports their lives.

Beyond her professional work, she’s a wife, mother of two, and a lover of heavy lifting, natural remedies, good books, and family meals. She’s not just a practitioner, she’s a purpose-driven leader who lives what she teaches.

Key Takeaways

✨ Symptoms are signals. Fatigue, brain fog, and mood shifts are messages, not failures.

🥗 Fuel supports focus. Eating enough, especially earlier in the day, stabilizes energy and hormones.

🧠 Stress disrupts balance. Chronic stress keeps the body in survival mode and affects digestion, sleep, and clarity.

🌿 Gut health matters. A supported gut improves hormones, immunity, and mental well-being.

😴 Sleep restores systems. Quality sleep is essential for nervous system and hormone regulation.

💪 Wellness over hustle. Sustainable health creates better productivity than pushing through exhaustion.

🩺 Self-advocacy is power. Women deserve personalized care and must trust their body’s signals.

Connect with Dr. Lahana

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlahana/

🌿 Nuvitru Wellness: https://www.instagram.com/nuvitruwellness/

🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drlahana

▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NuvitruWellness

Pearl Mashour is a Master Women Empowerment Coach, Life Coach & Multiple Subject Credentialed Teacher.

Take the Self Reflection Quiz "Are You Living in Alignment?"

Learn more about Pearl Mashour at www.femalefluence.com

• Connect with me on IG @pearlmashour_femalefluence
• Follow along on TikTok
• Subscribe on YouTube
• Connect with me on FB @femalefluence
• Email: info@femalefluence.org

What did you think of the podcast? Send your comments here!

When you believe life is happening to you, it’s easy to feel powerless, stuck, and trapped in survival mode. But when you shift that belief to life happening for you, everything begins to change.

In this powerful episode of Female Fluence, we explore the mindset shift from victimhood to personal agency, from surviving to thriving. Resilience becomes the foundation—not because life becomes easier, but because your response to life becomes stronger.

Dr. Patricia Smith shares her extraordinary journey from being abandoned as a child in Jamaica, experiencing homelessness, and living on the streets, to becoming the CEO of a multimillion-dollar home healthcare company in the United States. Her story is a living example of how persistence, resilience, and hope can transform even the most painful beginnings into purpose-driven leadership.

This conversation dives deep into identity, mindset, leadership, healing, and what it truly means to reclaim your power and create a meaningful life—no matter where you start.

Key Takeaways

✨ Resilience is built through perspective, not circumstances
Learning to ask “What can I learn from this?” shifts you from survival mode into growth and self-leadership.

💪 You are not defined by your trauma
Your past may shape you, but it does not get to decide your future unless you allow it to.

🧠 Mindset shifts create momentum
Moving from a victim mindset to a creator mindset unlocks clarity, confidence, and long-term success.

🌱 Persistence is a practical tool, not just a mindset
Daily choices, discipline, and belief in yourself compound over time and create real transformation.

👑 Leadership is born through lived experience
Adversity can become your greatest qualification when you allow it to inform how you serve and lead others.

Dr. Patricia Smith is the CEO of Sweet P Home Care Inc. and a powerful voice in resilience-driven leadership. Raised in Jamaica’s child-care system after being abandoned by her parents, Patricia experienced homelessness, instability, and unimaginable adversity. Despite the odds, she refused to give up on herself.

Through persistence and determination, she rose academically and professionally, ultimately becoming the CEO of a successful home healthcare organization in the United States. Patricia is also the author of IPersist, a book centered on hope, resilience, and personal transformation.

Connect with Dr. Patricia Smith

📸 Instagram: @ipersist_patricia
📘 Facebook: www.facebook.com/PatriciaSmithOfficial/
🌐 Website: www.ipersist.net

Pearl Mashour is a Master Women Empowerment Coach, Life Coach & Multiple Subject Credentialed Teacher.

Take the Self Reflection Quiz "Are You Living in Alignment?"

Learn more about Pearl Mashour at www.femalefluence.com

• Connect with me on IG @pearlmashour_femalefluence
• Follow along on TikTok
• Subscribe on YouTube
• Connect with me on FB @femalefluence
• Email: info@femalefluence.org