How our friendships change, the connections we value and making new friends in midlife.

Friendships are an important part of our lives, but they don't necessarily stay the same as we get older.

Some friendships last a lifetime, while others evolve or fade as our circumstances, interests and priorities change. And sometimes we find ourselves making new connections in our 50s and beyond.

In this Summer Rewind, I'm revisiting one of the most popular episodes from Season 1 of Unfiltered & Unbound, where I explored the evolution of friendship after 50.

It's a conversation worth returning to, particularly as I've been thinking more about the differences between friendship, solitude and loneliness, and how we build meaningful connections in midlife.

Two practical ideas from the episode:

• The low-effort reach-out. Staying connected doesn't always require a long lunch or elaborate plans. A quick message, voice note or shared memory can help maintain a friendship, even when life is busy.
• Follow your curiosity. Rather than setting out specifically to make new friends, explore an interest, try a new activity or join a club. Shared experiences can create opportunities for friendships to develop naturally.

And here's a little challenge: think of someone you haven't spoken to for a while and send them a message. It doesn't need to be complicated. Sometimes a simple hello is enough to reopen a conversation.

I'll be exploring friendship, loneliness and relationships further in the coming season, but in the meantime, I'd love to hear about your experiences.

Have your friendships changed since you turned 50?

If this episode resonates, share it with a friend. It might be a lovely excuse to reconnect.

Unfiltered & Unbound — conversations about life through the perspective of women in midlife.

You don't need to be an athlete to think like one. Athletes don't wake up every morning feeling motivated. They have a goal, a plan, a way to measure progress and a process for managing setbacks.

In this solo episode, endurance athlete and running coach Kate Baxter shares five principles athletes and their coaches use to prepare, perform and adapt, and how anyone can apply them to a career change, a new business, learning something new or any big life goal.

In this episode:

• Choose your finish line:
  use A, B and C goals as checkpoints
• Work backwards:
  break a big ambition into actions you can schedule
• Train consistently:
  build a routine that works on the days you don't feel motivated
• Monitor and adapt:
  use real feedback to update your plan, and treat setbacks as experiments, not failures
• Rest and recover:
  why recovery is part of the work, not a reward for finishing it

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What does it take to build a career on your own terms, particularly when the path forward isn't a straight line?

In the first episode of Ask Me About My Strategy, a special limited series from Unfiltered & Unbound, host Kate Baxter sits down with Premila Jina, CEO, management consultant, board director and chair of the WA Technology Innovation and Talent Alliance (WAITTA), for an honest conversation about ambition, leadership, career decisions and the realities of being a woman in traditionally male-dominated industries.

Born in India, raised in Kenya and educated at the London School of Economics, Premila built an international career in technology, investment banking and transformation before making a life-changing decision to move to Perth with her family. That decision meant leaving behind a successful career in London, taking a substantial pay cut and rebuilding her professional life in Australia.

But Premila's story isn't simply about professional achievement. She speaks candidly about workplace bullying, unconscious bias, motherhood, the trade-offs behind career decisions and the importance of recognising when success no longer looks the way it once did.

In this conversation, we explore:

• Career by design: Why career progression doesn't have to follow a traditional ladder, and how deliberate sideways moves can create unexpected opportunities.
• The myth of work-life balance: The realities of ambition, motherhood, boundaries and the trade-offs women make throughout their careers.
• Mistakes as experiments: What Premila learnt from a damaging workplace experience and why understanding an organisation's culture matters just as much as securing the job.
• Breaking the glass ceiling from above: Why Premila believes more women should pursue board positions and use those seats to influence leadership, diversity and organisational decisions.
• Representation and opportunity: How unconscious bias and systemic barriers have shaped Premila's career, and why seeing women in positions of influence matters.
• Redefining success: Why the goals that mattered at 25 may no longer reflect what you want at 50, and why that's worth recognising.
• Action builds confidence: Why waiting until you feel completely ready may mean missing opportunities that could change your career.

One of the strongest messages from this conversation is that confidence doesn't necessarily come before action. As Premila explains, taking action develops the experience, competence and conviction that help confidence grow.

Whether you're considering a career change, exploring board opportunities, questioning what success means to you or simply wondering what might be possible next, this conversation offers a different perspective on leadership, ambition and making deliberate choices.

About Ask Me About My Strategy

Ask Me About My Strategy is a limited series within Unfiltered & Unbound that explores the professional journeys of women, the decisions that shaped their careers and the experiences behind those decisions. These are conversations about strategy, risk, leadership, power and the choices women make along the way.

About Unfiltered & Unbound

Hosted by Kate Baxter, Unfiltered & Unbound is an Australian podcast for women 50+ featuring honest conversations about the issues, opportunities and decisions shaping midlife and beyond.

Rewrite the rules. Then live them.