Justine Clay

I was delighted to be a guest on the Joy CEO podcast with Lori Pine. Lori’s focus on high-achieving women gave me an opportunity to stretch into slightly different territory: the midlife squeeze so many high-achievers experience with their career, teenage kids, aging parents. Throw in perimenopause and menopause and you’ve got yourself a situation! If you’ve ever wondered if you’re tired, burned out, or wonder if that brain fog is actually ADHD, this conversation is for you. I hope you enjoy it!

I was delighted to be a guest on the Joy CEO podcast with Lori’s focus on high-achieving women gave me an opportunity to stretch into slightly different territory: the midlife squeeze so many high-achievers experience with their career, teenage kids, aging parents. Throw in perimenopause and menopause and you’ve got yourself a situation!

If you’ve ever wondered if you’re tired, burned out, or wonder if that brain fog is actually ADHD, this conversation is for you. I hope you enjoy it! Click the link in my bio to listen.

Yesterday we said goodbye to Charlie — the easiest to love cat in the world 😻(even for people who are allergic or claim to “hate cats”!)

Not to be dramatic, but he’s left an enormous hole in our world and if I cry anymore, I’m gonna need an IV 😭

It’s been a stellar birthday week (only amateurs limit the fun to one day!) 🥳

A huge highlight was seeing at the
Such an original telling of such a familiar story. If you haven’t seen it and get the chance, do!!

Building a brand that reflects the style and point of view of the founder is tricky territory. Make it too much about you and it risks slipping into “influencer territory.” Remove too much of your personality, aesthetic, and voice and you disappear into a sea of other business owners.
It’s a delicate balance. Which is why I’m SO excited that Madeline Shaw, founder of will be joining me on Instagram live tomorrow (Thursday, March 12th) at 12 p.m. EDT.

We’ll dive into:

🎨 Her journey from maker to educator, design authority, and community builder
🌈 Turning her personality and style into a magnetic brand
🤝 Evolving her business to support the work and clients she wants to focus on
💡 Why empowerment and education are at the heart of everything she does

If you’re a creative business owner or freelancer that’s curious about building a brand that truly reflects and grows with you, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss!

📅 Thursday, March 12th at 12 p.m. EDT – set your reminder and come hang out!

Check out my new Substack post on the Enduring Magic of David Bowie ⚡️🌈

Link in bio 👆

My first post on Substack is live 💃🏼

It’s where my non-business-y writing and thoughts will live. Think, Inspirations Realizations 💡Trials & Tribulations 🤨

I’d love for you to check it out and leave a comment. Thanks to for helping me figure out where and how this kind of writing could live 🫶

Link in bio 😍

is one place I will reliably:

✨Meet old and new friends
✨ Hear an inspiring talk from someone doing something pretty special
✨Meet someone who’s attended one of my Field Trips
✨ Eat 2 chocolate croissants (in my defence, they’re small!)

Are you a Creative Mornings person?

I just found this “love request” I put out to the universe in 2007. It was 2 years after a disastrous breakup, I was in my late 30’s, and I wasn’t messing around 😂

I essentially wrote a checklist ✔️ (hello, Virgo-rising) of exactly what I was looking for. It reads:

My Soulmate 👫

♥️ He is my best friend
♥️ I feel totally comfortable with him
♥️ He is strong and sensitive
♥️ He is responsible and successful
♥️ We are madly in love and have both an emotional and physical connection
♥️ We respect and love one another
♥️ I think he’s handsome and he thinks I beautiful
♥️ He wants to get married and have children
♥️ He loved his work and is successful at it
♥️ We love to travel together
♥️ We love each other’s friends and family

A year later, he turned up at a mixed martial arts class I was attending and checked every box and only gotten better!

May this be a reminder to ask for what your heart desires (and make a checklist!)