Did I Say That Out Loud? Midlife Indignities with Kristin van Ogtrop

https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/ctvwn3/KVOF2_-_5_24_21_820_PM980a6.mp3

EPISODE SUMMARY:

As former editor in chief of Real Simple Magazine and current author of two books, Just Let Me Lie Down and Did I Say That Out Loud?, Kristin Van Ogtrop and her writing experience has allowed her to become a voice for midlife women. By sharing her story with readers, she is giving insight on topics rarely discussed in the media while forming a community amongst midlife women who can relate to her journey. In today’s episode, we sat down with Kristin to discuss her books, her experiences with female bosses, and her career journey.

First, we asked Kristin what the inspiration behind her most recent book, Did I Say That Out Loud?, was. She told us that, at first, her book wasn’t intended to be a personal essay. As a writer, she often writes to make sense of the world around her. What started as a way to understand her experiences gradually morphed into her book’s finished producted. She also mentioned that working as an editor in chief made her realize just how large the midlife female demographic really is, and by telling her story, she could be giving voice to a big readership. We then asked Kristin about her journey to becoming editor in chief of Real Simple. At first, Kristin worked for Vogue along with numerous other magazines, and in 2003, she started at Real Simple. Kristin spoke about how around 2008-2010, her career began to change. Due to technology and the public’s growing obsession with social media, the need and interest for printed magazines began to decline. Her job became less about content and more about firing employees. Kristin ended up leaving the magazine in 2016 to try and find a new passion, which led to her becoming a book writer. During her time at Vogue, Kristin got to work under Anna Wintour. When asked about her experience having Anna Wintour as a boss, Kristin was honest about the positives and negatives. She spoke about how Anna was a tough boss and could even be scary at times. However, what made Anna a good boss was that she was great at communicating. While other bosses Kristin had would be indecisive, Anna knew what she wanted, made quick decisions and hardly changed her mind. Kristin took traits not only from Anna but many of her bosses and utilized them when becoming editor in chief at Real Simple. We then talked about the story behind the cover of Did I Say That Out Loud?. The cover of the book portrays a fork with one of the tongs missing, and Kristin told us that the image alludes to a story within the book about the time she accidentally swallowed a portion of a fork. The experience perforated her stomach and left her in the hospital for six days, but it also changed her perspective on life. Before then, she’d only seen hospitals through the lens of childbirth and life. After her accident, she was forced to face her own mortality. When asked about job dissatisfaction in midlife, Kristin said that she’s known many midlife women who either change careers or are unhappy in their current fields. Midlife people often seek change due to newfound freedoms with their age. According to Kristin, some of these freedoms include having life experience to know how to get through tough situations and decisions, being not as easily embarrassed and not caring what others think. We asked Kristin the meaning behind a phrase in her book, “the president of hormones”, and she told us that it refers to estrogen. As she’s gone through the changes and symptoms that come with menopause, Kristin has learned that many of them stem from imbalanced levels of estrogen. Estrogen problems started coming up so often as the root cause of issues that she dubbed it the “president of hormones”. We then discussed conversations surrounding menopause in the workplace and Kristin’s experience. Kristin told us that, when working at Real Life and other jobs, she has never witnessed a conversation about menopause in the workplace. In fact, menopause was a conversation that was often discouraged in the press. Kristin spoke about how investors and advertisers feared that speaking about menopause would dissuade younger readers, so they opted to remove any mentions of menopause entirely. When asked what she hopes readers take away from her latest book, Kristin said that she wants people to read her book and feel optimistic. Although the book touches on some sadder topics, she wants readers to find the humor in it and apply that humor to their own lives, especially when it comes to experiences during midlife. Finally, everyone went around and said what they are looking forward to. Kristin is looking forward to increased career success as a literary agent, seeing her children find jobs that make them happy and having a better garden. For Colleen, she is looking forward to seeing her oldest daughter get married, her youngest daughter graduate college and being able to take trips with her husband. For Bridgett, she is looking forward to her children being in a good place and her husband’s retirement.

Kristin Van Ogtrop

From Kristin’s Website:

After getting my B.A. in English from the University of Virginia and my M.A. in English from Columbia University, I began working in magazines as an assistant to the managing editor of Vogue. I subsequently worked at Premiere, Travel & Leisure, Vogue (again) and Glamour. In 2003, I was named editor in chief of Real Simple, a job I held until 2016. Along the way I wrote for various publications, contributed essays to the books Child of Mine and The Bitch in the House, wrote “The Amateur” column for Time and the book Just Let Me Lie Down: Necessary Terms for the Half-Insane Working Mom. In 2018, I began a new career as a literary agent at InkWell Management.

In this episode, we discuss…

[0:01] Introduction
[0:23] Guest Introduction
[5:31] Start of Interview
[6:34] Inspiration Behind Did I Say That Out Loud?
[8:56] Kristin’s Journey with Real Simple
[13:21] The Knowledge Kristin Received from Her Female Bosses
[17:36] The Story Behind Did I Say That Out Loud?’s Cover
[25:00] The President of the Hormones
[26:46] Menopause Conversations in the Workplace
[28:57] What Kristin Hopes Readers Take Away from Did I Say That Out Loud?
[32:04] What Kristin’s Looking Forward to
[35:51] Closing Thoughts
[37:19] Outro

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