A Global Peace Leader on Turning Fear Into Action When Democracy Feels Fragile

About this episode

Kerri Kennedy discusses how midlife women can turn fear into action and lead in civic spaces.

This week on The Uplifters Podcast, global peace leader and midlife changemaker Kerri Kennedy shares how women in the second half of life are uniquely primed for civic action. Kennedy brings 20+ years of experience in human rights, peacebuilding, and political violence response to a conversation that every woman navigating midlife reinvention, community leadership, and the question of "what can I actually do?" needs to hear. In this episode, you'll hear how Kennedy mobilized a community to secure the release of a neighbor detained by ICE, how small community actions add up to a bigger impact, and how she's sustained decades of difficult work without burning out. Her framework for turning fear into action is practical, research-backed, and exactly what women over 40 need right now. From training women parliamentarians in Afghanistan under death threats to founding PACs to get more women elected in New Jersey, Kennedy's story is a masterclass in how midlife women can use their networks, experience, and identity certainty to lead when it matters most. What You'll Learn: How women over 40 lead differently in civic spaces — Kennedy's specific account of how midlife identity certainty…

People in this episode

Host: Aransas Savas

Guest: Kerri Kennedy

Topics covered

• civic action
• midlife women
• community leadership
• human rights
• peacebuilding
• political violence

Keywords

• civic action
• midlife
• women leadership
• human rights
• peacebuilding
• community impact
• political change

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: ICE

Places: Afghanistan, New Jersey

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