She Shed Unfiltered
Empowering women to thrive
From divorce and career pivots to perimenopause and everything no one warned us about, at She Shed Unfiltered we bring you the honest conversations we've lived and survived. Explore our podcasts, resources, and discussions designed to empower and inspire women through life’s changes. Together, we rise stronger, sharing our experiences and wisdom.
She Shed Unfiltered
Episode 19: The Comeback Is Happening
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What started as a conversation over coffee turned into something neither of us could have imagined.
In the Season One finale of She Shed Unfiltered, Donna and Meg look back on the journey that brought them here, from meeting for the first time and building a friendship on the microphone, to creating a community that now reaches listeners in more than 20 countries.
Together, they reflect on the moments that mattered most, the guests who challenged and inspired them, and the surprising lesson that vulnerability wasn't a weakness, it was the thing that connected people most.
They talk about divorce, healing, parenting, friendship, heartbreak, resilience, and what they would tell their 20-year-old selves if they had the chance.
Most importantly, they discuss what happens when women stop trying to be perfect and start telling the truth.
This episode is a thank you to every listener who joined us for Season One, every guest who shared their story, and every person who reached out to tell us that our conversations helped them feel a little less alone.
Because if we've learned anything this season, it's this:
You're not alone.
Your story matters.
And sometimes the comeback is already happening — even when you can't see it yet.
Season One may be ending, but this is only the beginning.
Stay brave. Stay curious. Stay unfiltered.
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Welcome to Shake Shed Unfiltered. This is not a podcast for perfect women or polite conversations. This is for the women who've been divorced, dismissed, worked out, betrayed, and still somehow managed to show up, get shit done, and keep everyone else still alive. There'll be laughter, there may be tears, and you might even say. Did they really say that shit? Just real women, real stories, and the kind of honesty that usually happens after the second glass of wine. The first season of She Shed Unfiltered is about the things we learned the hard way. The lessons no one warned us about. The moments that changed us. Whether we were ready or not. I'm Donna. And I'm Meg. Well, welcome back to She Shed Unfiltered. Meg, this is our last episode of season one. Oh my god, that's crazy.
SPEAKER_00Where did the time go?
SPEAKER_01Oh my god, I can't believe it. Like, where did the time go? This is like episode 19. Wow. Yeah. Why didn't we go to 20?
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, why didn't we? I have no idea. Oh, you know what? We'll do, we'll do a best of. That'll be 20. Oh, there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Perfect. Perfect, perfect. Well, I can't believe we're here. And I can't believe that um what started as just like an idea.
SPEAKER_00Are you okay? No, I'm good. I was just checking to make sure this was alcoholic.
SPEAKER_01Oh. You know, it's bad when you can't taste the alcohol.
SPEAKER_00I was just like, why? It's like, is this a near beer? But I was like, no, it's legit. No, it's a it's a dirty blonde. I know you wouldn't you wouldn't do that to me. I would never do that to you.
SPEAKER_01God no. God no. I mean the cans do kind of look similar, but yeah. Yeah, when we started this podcast, like when that day that we were sitting at Second Cup in Sunnyside Mall chatting, did you think that we would get the podcast at this point?
SPEAKER_00No, I mean I would just definitely was in the mode of like, oh, this person is really cool. I like her vision. I hope she picks me. But you did make a point of saying that there was a lot of interest, which there was. So, you know, I thought that we had good uh good chemistry when we were chatting, but I had no idea that I would end up um sitting in the shed with you here. So I mean it's been an exciting journey so far.
SPEAKER_01I instantly like felt we had a connection, yeah. But there were connections with a few other people as well, and so the wine and cheese at my house was a little bit of an interview because I had some of my friends there, and I'm like, I'm struggling, there's like two people, and I can't decide. They both would bring a different perspective and a different vibe, and I honestly I just couldn't, I was having such a hard time, and so my friends were there, and they actually saw the connection that you and I had, but also like liked they liked everybody, of course, right? There was a good crew, it was such a good crew, but it was like unanimous, they were all like Donna, like Meg is definitely like the co-host for you, and um it's been great.
SPEAKER_00That's so cool. Actually, that's the first that's the first time I heard that. I knew I knew about the wine and cheese being like a chance to get to know folks more, and I actually thought that was really smart because it was such a lovely evening, and like everyone telling their story and just kind of everyone being so open and um just sweet with each other, like it did feel like a group of friends, even though we were mostly all meeting each other for the first time, exactly. But I did not know that um that your friends had unanimously uh voted, so that that feels really nice.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I didn't want to say like, oh, my friends are coming because they're gonna be interviewing you guys. It wasn't like that, it was more of like, you know, again, it was like I had a connection with like you and one other person, and I'm like, again, different vibes, different perspectives, and I'm like, I'm really stuck, I'm really stuck, and they're like, No, I can see why you're stuck. But throughout the night, like they were like the next day, they're like definitely, and they are all like they all said, Oh, wow. Yeah, it was great without them talking, yeah.
SPEAKER_00No, it's really helpful to get that outside perspective, though, especially when you're stuck spinning on something. That's what our friends are for, right?
SPEAKER_01They're there to pick out the red flags and the green flags and all the other flags that are there, right? Yeah, no, so it's great, and uh it's been you know, we've grown as like with the podcast, you know, we didn't know what the hell we were doing when we started out. True, right? And um a lot of people thought that we had been friends for a while, and we hadn't. You know, when we got behind the mic, I think it was the first time we ever really talked personal. That's true, right? Absolutely, yeah, other than a quick like, this is my story, what's your story? Cool, cool.
SPEAKER_00And so our friendship has kind of like grown on the mics, and so you guys are kind of or what hearing our our friendship actually like develop on the mic because the only time Meg and I see each other is on the mic, which actually is really unique because I am um listeners, I am a total podcast nerd. I listen to a lot of podcasts, and for the most part, I find when there are multiple hosts, they tend to already know each other really well or be old friends who have decided to start something together. I've never heard a podcast where folks have come together specifically for the record and then get to know each other on the mics. So I think that's kind of a fun side to She Shed Unfiltered that not necessarily everybody knows.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, it's cool. I've never even actually thought about it that way until right now, right? Or next season I'm gonna find new like words to say instead of I love that and I remember. Remember when. Remember when? So stay tuned for season two. There's gonna be some exciting new words coming from my vocabulary.
SPEAKER_00Listen to us expanding our horizons and our vocabulary. Tune in next time.
SPEAKER_01So, yeah, so what we thought was a space that we were creating for conversation has turned into something much more than just that. I mean, there's like our friendship, and then there's like our friendship with Jenny. And so Jenny does our marketing. If you've looked at our website, Jenny has done uh created the beautiful website for us. Um, she's the one that you know uh helps with our social media and um and our branding, although you know that's Meg's role, that's Meg's profession. You know, we're really trying to like distribute the responsibility. So we're really fortunate to have Jenny, and then we have Tracy Barlow, who is our photographer, and you know, we've become you she was on the show, and um we we've become friends with her, and I know you guys spend some time together as well. And then Nicole, although she's down in Wolfville, we don't get to see her as much in person. Um, she's the person behind the scenes that makes sure that this podcast is out for you guys to listen to. So again, five women who did not know each other have come together to create this space um f for you know our listeners and for ourselves. And then we also have other the other women, the Pink Door Collective, and there's a couple of men who have signed up for that as well. And we will really be focusing on getting that up and running more over the summer. Um we're just the podcast is a lot on full-time full-time employment. So um yeah, so we're looking forward to that, and just you know, something that was about healing and connection just really blew my mind. I mean, I think we're now close to 3,000 downloads and uh 20 plus countries, which is insane.
SPEAKER_00I mean, we're we're blown away. Thank you everyone for listening and for engaging, and we hope to reach new folks in the uh coming season as well. It's definitely more than we could have dreamed of, that's for sure. We got pretty excited when we reached that 1,000 download milestone after the first month.
SPEAKER_01So when we look back at our first season, Meg, what are some of your favorite parts?
SPEAKER_00Ooh, that's a good question. Um, so some of my favorite parts. Uh well, one of my episodes of my moments that I loved in a previous episode was when we had Serena on, our sex therapist. I liked how bold and honest and kind of brash she was with the subject matter and just really laid it out and gave us a lot to think about, I feel. And on and off the mics kind of um talked to us about, you know, how to embrace all forms of sexual experiences and to not attach shame or judgment and to just be curious and exploratory. I really liked her sex positive vibe. Um, another episode that I really loved was when we had uh Shauna Selig and Cindy Viner on, where Donna, you and I were just saying we really wished that they'd been in the business they're currently in when we were going through our respective divorces because we would have loved to feel that financial security understanding and perspective on how to manage our money uh back when we were in that emotional freefall and you know, just just struggling with all the emotions uh and kind of recalibrating and redesigning our lives, honestly. Um those are, I mean, so many moments, but those are definitely two that stand out. How about you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think for me, one of my favorite parts of the season was just realizing how many women connected to the conversations that we had that we were actually nervous to say out loud. The other thing that I found so interesting was that those episodes where we were vulnerable, you know, some of our guests were vulnerable when we look back at like Stefan and Henrik, their stories, Shauna and Cindy, even though they were talking about um finances, they also had been through divorce and separation. And then Tracy and Nicole talking about job loss, those were our episodes, the ones where you and I were vulnerable as well as our guests, are the ones that seemed to have really resonated with our audience and um you know engaged more and had more downloads. So I found that really interesting. And again, I don't think either one of us are um vulnerable people, and we really opened up and made ourselves vulnerable on a mic.
SPEAKER_00So the kudos to us. I agree, yeah, and and also thank you to our guests because you're absolutely right. It was those kind of shared moments of honesty and openness and vulnerability that I think really hit home. And I was constantly impressed and surprised in equal measure when we had guests like this Stefan and uh Henrik episode that they were just really honest and down-to-earth and didn't hold back in their opinions and their experiences, and that's really what we want on this show, right? We really want people to bring their full selves on the mic, into the shed and onto the mic, and uh share their stories. So I'm certainly hoping that we can continue that trend leading into season two. I think we can.
SPEAKER_01Oh, absolutely, and I think you know, one of the things you and I have said a couple of times when the mics have been off is are we sharing too much? And what we've learned this season is no, because that is what people seem to be resonating with the most, because I think so many of us, whether you're male or female, um, have been going through very similar experiences and feeling alone or heartbroken or not sure how they're gonna get up off the floor. And I think that um, you know, if we reached one or two people and made them feel less alone, I think to me that is success.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I completely agree. Um, I and you're absolutely right. I think when we started this podcast together, I was a little bit nervous to share stories from my past life, from my divorce, what it feels like to be a single parent, starting a new business, you know, so many unknown variables. And it did make me nervous to share that with a larger audience of, you know, some friends, some strangers. Um, but I feel like it's it is freeing in a way. And I think um for the both of us, because we've both been quite candid and haven't held back on this show. Um, and and don't worry, you're gonna get more of the unvarnished in uh future episodes.
SPEAKER_01Honestly, I just want to thank everybody, all of our listeners, for being on this journey with us. And honestly, I can't tell you enough how much this podcast has healed me from a year I did not think I would survive. Being able to talk openly and be vulnerable and just say it out loud has really helped me more than I think anyone can even imagine. So I'm gonna try not to cry. I feel myself getting choked up. Um I I honestly I can't describe how I feel now versus how I felt six months ago. So thank you to all our listeners.
SPEAKER_00That's incredible. And yeah, I mean, I've definitely seen a change in you, um, kind of um almost like a relaxing of the shoulders, a letting go as you kind of, you know, talk about your past and what you've been through and who's helped you along the way, your incredible friends, and you know, your um your son and daughter as well, of course. But uh yeah, I think it's been um revelatory for me too. Um getting to know you, getting to know the she shed community, you know, as you mentioned before, um, Jenny and Tracy and Nicole, it's it's been quite a trip. You know, I'm just really looking forward to seeing uh what comes next because we have so many things that have come up this season that we'd like to take a deeper dive into in season two.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we were just like touching the surface for season one. We just wanted to know how everything would land with our audience. So now we know what you guys are looking for. Watch out, season two. When I look back our journeys, Meg, not just like the last year, but 20, 30 years. If you could go back, what would you tell the 20-year-old Meg?
SPEAKER_00I would probably tell the 20-year-old Meg that she doesn't need to be so hung up on a traditional path that she can, you know, carve out her own trail, and that is okay. Uh, because I definitely was so obsessed with getting the right job and meeting the right man and getting married and having kids at the right age. And honestly, there is no right or wrong, you know, there's no perfect job or perfect age to get married. You know, results may vary, consult a physician, but uh it's it's different for everybody. And honestly, I'm so much happier and more comfortable in myself and my situation now on the edge of 46 than I was, say, at uh 25 or even 35. So honestly, I feel like it gets better over time as you feel comfier in yourself and understand what you need and what you don't want in your life. Wow, that is that's great.
SPEAKER_01I love that. I think if I could sit beside my 20-year-old self right now, first of all, I would give her a big hug because that 20-year-old spent so much time trying to be chosen, trying to be enough, and trying to keep everyone happy. I would tell her, you don't have to earn love by abandoning yourself, and that confidence doesn't come from being desired, it comes from surviving things that you thought would destroy you. And I would tell her that some people will promise forever and still leave, and that says more about them than it does about her. And I tell her to trust her intuition sooner and to stop apologizing for needing more.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's that's very that's so moving. I yeah, that's really well said. Um yeah, it's it's kind of when you think about your 20-year-old self, it's it's almost like you're thinking about a different person, isn't it? Oh my god. I feel like we've changed so much.
SPEAKER_01So much, uh so much, and I see that like having a daughter who's 22 and seeing like I try to tell her like this is not the end of the world. Like you have so much, you have no idea what your journey, like how long your journey is going to be. And so I'm always like telling her, I think I'm trying to like save her some of the heartache and the pain. Um, but also that's how we grow, right? If we don't make mistakes, if we don't if we don't hurt, um you can't be sheltered because then you don't grow. Uh, and so everything that we go through just helps us become the person at the end.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's so that's so true. And I think it it must resonate so much more with you having a daughter who's in her 20s. Um, I honestly cannot even picture my Kate at 20. That makes me emotional to try to try to picture that like too soon. Um, I know. I I can't believe she's already in double digits, honestly, and she acts like such a little grown-up sometimes and tries to school me because you know, our kids know everything. We know nothing, our kids know everything.
SPEAKER_01It's so true, it's so true. And you know, this is probably just going to like maybe make you cry, but I remember reading something, and it's so true. You don't know, you never know when that last day is, the last day that your child jumps up and wraps their arms around you, or the the last night that your child crawls into bed with you. You know, as parents, sometimes we're always like, Oh my god, I wish they would stop sleeping with me, or I wish they'd stop hanging off my leg. But when they do, it's sad. Like, you know, sometimes I still long for them to like jump up and wrap themselves around me, but they're 6'1 and 6'4, and I'm 5'9. So that would just knock me over. But I think that you just saying, like, you can't envision Kate being 20 and she's already in double digits, and the time just goes so fast, like you can't slow it down. And it really is about I say this to my my niece all the time. She has a seven-year-old, and it's just like, enjoy him right now. I know he's like driving you crazy, and he's so busy, but it's not gonna last. There's gonna be another stage that's gonna drive you crazy, and then one day they don't even want to hang out with you because they have their own life. So enjoy those moments that you think you're not going to survive parenthood.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, definitely the oh no, just getting emotional thinking about it. Um, the moments that I can still very much be in the present with my daughter is we do um, I have her every other weekend with me, and we do Friday night movie night, which is really fun. Um, she will still pull blankets up around us and cuddle, and I love that so much. It's just like I I get very calm and my heart rate slows and just the stress just melts away. And I'm gonna be really sad on uh on the day that she stops doing that. And also, if I drop her off at school on a Friday and she knows she's gonna be spending the weekend with her dad, she grabs my hand and kisses it before school drop off, which is so cute. So I know those days are are ending as she she keeps referring to herself as a tween, which I don't like. And she also uses the phrase back when I was little a lot, which I still like. Back when I was a little kid. I'm like, oh honey, okay. I don't I don't fight it because I know she wouldn't like that. But yeah, the the couch cuddles I'm gonna miss, so I just try to soak that up as much as possible because it is the best.
SPEAKER_01My daughter still will like lay on the couch with me when I do sit down. We're always under the blanket and snuggling even. Popcorn trying to recover from uh our children growing up, our babies growing up. How do we separate from this? Kind of going back to the first season and and talking about some of the most surprising things that we learned through this past year and a half and with the podcast is not only how resilient I am, but I have been overwhelmed by how much I'm loved. Like my friends, we talk about, you know, not just my friends outside of work, but my friends at work and people who've all like come to like support me and be with me. Like that is one of the most humbling um emotional feelings that I've had. Like I just didn't understand it. I I was just so surprised, and I just love my village, my tribe. And uh yeah, so for me, that was really the most surprising thing that I've learned through this.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was definitely I feel that in a different way too, because you know, you have your really close friends and you have your acquaintances who you still care for just in a different way. And I never expected certain people in my life to listen to the podcast religiously and give me really kind feedback and tell me that they were following the story, and it was really surprising and touching. And um, I guess you just sometimes you never know who's in your corner. I mean, you have your core people, but there are other people who um are rooting for you as well, even if they're not as obvious about it. So I'm I'm grateful for them all, honestly.
SPEAKER_01I know it's it's been so heartwarming. And again, just thanking everyone for listening and all of my like Picto people from high school, like most of you have reached out, and I know that you're listening, and you know, from one Picto girl to another, thank you so much to everyone. Like, that blew me away. Everything this has just been like blow your mind season one. What do you call someone from Picto? Like a Pictonian? Yeah, oh yeah, absolutely nailed it. And the guys are listening to, I didn't mean to just say one Picto girl to another. It's like one Picto person to another. We stand in solidarity, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And that's an that was another surprise for me, too. That a couple of guy friends that I had in my life actually reached out and said, I'm listening, this is really cool that you're doing this. And even though they're not, you know, immediately the intended audience, it's still super cool that we're getting some of the uh the allies on that side uh coming in and listening faithfully. I love that.
SPEAKER_01I know that um my unicorn has gotten his friends to listen to it as well, and someday I might even tell you guys the unicorn's name, but for now he's just the unicorn, and uh apparently there is a story behind that with his friends. I think it's like a game, a golf game, and whoever loses has to wear this unicorn t-shirt. It's like super small and tight. It's so funny. I know, and uh go to like this bar anyway. Apparently, he's not had to wear it yet, but it's just kind of funny, yeah, how that worked out.
SPEAKER_00I feel like we need um a code name for my guy because I love the unicorn for your guy. Maybe mine should be the musician because he's a guitarist on the side.
SPEAKER_01Perfect. So the musician, yeah. Sorry, unicorn. That the musician sounds so much cooler.
SPEAKER_00I don't know. I think they're both cool in their own ways. One's creative, one's magical. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Oh shit. So, what about this past? I want to say year, but it's only a season. I know it's crazy.
SPEAKER_00Like it's it's has not even been uh 12 months of such a whirlwind. I know. Like what, four or five months?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we started, we launched Fed 3rd. It's been 15 weeks, I think. Wow. Um, maybe 16. The math hurts today. Um, but what has what has it taught you, Meg, going through this whole experience?
SPEAKER_00Well, it's taught me that um unlike what my preconceived notion was before I actually got on the mic, that there were no unseen repercussions for being honest and telling my story. I don't know what I thought was gonna happen. I'm really, as an anxious overthinker, I'm really good at uh devising worst-case scenarios and thinking about, you know, catastrophic shit that's never actually gonna happen. Uh so that's definitely uh that's definitely one of the things. And and just building that sense of community has been really cool. And I'd like to see where we can take it in future seasons. Uh, what about you, Donna? Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I did have some of those thoughts as well, but I um I did seek legal advice before I started the podcast. Just I wanted to make sure. Yeah, I think that just learning that we're not alone. So many people are going through different changes in their life, whatever that looks like for them. And I think that we're living in a world that seems to be so, I don't know, unrealistic where you're looking at social media and and every everything's perfect. People look perfect, they're in perfect shape, they're beautiful, they've got luscious hair and you know, beautiful skin, and their life just seems to be perfect. And I think having people who are chaotic and going through different stuff and sharing that and being raw and real is just so enlightening, liberating, liberating, right? And um, you know, and it's not just us. I I've I've saw I've seen some other podcasts, and I think that we're all craving real people now. We've, you know, we're moving into an age of like, I mean, social media is like huge and AI is coming up, and now you don't even know when you're reading stuff if it's real or if it's AI. So, you know, I think that just having talking about the real shit and the messy stuff, yeah, we're not perfect and life is chaotic, but life is also really good. And just finding like peace, realizing how important peace is, that's really something that just going through this whole process of the podcast, because before the podcast, I did a lot of journaling and a lot of writing. And so um, love, love, love where I'm at right now in life.
SPEAKER_00I definitely feel the same way. Um, should we tease what Shisha is gonna be doing over the summer when we're taking a little break from recording?
SPEAKER_01Well, we are going to be so you'll still hear from us, and uh we have some, we have a super exciting summer ahead of us. I don't know, Meg, can we tease it without divulging anything yet? Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00Um, well, um, we're going to stay afloat, just not in the studio. We're gonna take Shee Shed Unfiltered outside and with a smaller group of folks, listeners, if you will, but it'll be a little more interactive than the podcast. So stay tuned for updates on that, and uh, you will be able to buy tickets in advance, let's put it that way.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so if you're interested in having real conversations with real people about real life shit, stay tuned. There's going to be a lot more coming. And uh, like Meg said, uh, we're taking it outside, and uh we are in Halifax, so there's some beautiful spot that you'll see as we uh bring the she shed outside.
SPEAKER_00We're being so delightfully vague right now. Come to the place for the thing, it'll be great, it'll be so good.
SPEAKER_01So good, so good again to our our listeners. Thanks for sticking with us. Meg, thank you for taking this journey with me. Thanks for bringing me. You know, it's been uh incredible, and um you know, we would love to hear from our listeners on topics that they would like to see us cover next season. You know, maybe even drop us a note and let us know what your favorite episode was. And if you have, if you're interested in being a guest or you know of anybody who you feel would be interested in being a guest, please reach out to us. You know, we want to um expand our network. One of the things that we're really gonna ask is that it's super important for us to get our Instagram followers up. There's this whole algorithm thing, and without the followers, it's really hard to get boosted out past like the 300 views. So if you could please, please, please do us a favor and go on She Shed Unfiltered on Instagram and follow us and even make a little comment, we would greatly appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00And tag your friends or DM us with any ideas for future episodes because at this point we are very open to exploring other people's stories and issues that our listeners are interested in hearing about since we spent a large part of season one telling our stories and inviting some of our friends and collaborators into the shed to tell their stories as well. So we would love to hear from you.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. So as we sign off for the end of season one, feel a little sad, but I know like we're gonna start doing season or summer season soon to every woman out there that's rebuilding herself quietly. Megan, I see you. And trust me, the comeback is happening even when it doesn't feel like it yet.
SPEAKER_00This has been She Shed Unfiltered, where midlife isn't polished, it's real. From divorce and career pivots to perimenopause and everything no one warned us about. These are the honest conversations we've lived, survived, and shared with you today. Until next time, stay brave, be curious, and keep it unfiltered.