Welcome to her comeback, transforming your life
after 50. I'm your host, Michelle Thompson. If
you've ever whispered to yourself, There has
to be more than this. You are in the right place.
This show is for women over 50 who have hit their
breaking point and are finally ready to stop
going at it alone. You've tried the self -help
books, the vision boards, the positive thinking,
but you're still stuck. And here's what I know.
You're not broken. You just need the right support.
And that's exactly what you're going to find
here. Each week, I'll sit down with incredible
women who have transformed their lives. You'll
hear their real stories, the messy middle, the
breakthrough moments, the practical steps that
they took to create the lives that they love.
Because your lowest limit, it can be your launching
pad. So if you're done settling and ready for
your comeback, stay with me. Let's discover how
other women have made it happen and how you can
too. Are you ready? This is her comeback. Welcome
everyone today. I am so excited all the way from
Los Angeles, California, Natasha McCrae. She
is the founder of Love CEO Institute. I had the
privilege of meeting her at an event earlier
this year and asked her if she would join us
today. She is a coach, a speaker and actress
and author, and all of her work is rooted in
her own journey of self discovery and empowerment.
So I just feel so blessed to have her with us
today. Natasha, welcome. Hello. I'm excited to
be here. Can you tell our viewers a little bit
more about yourself? It's so fascinating when
you ask that question and you hear all the crazy
things of being multi -passionate and this weekend
someone said without the titles who are you they
asked that question at an event and years ago
i stripped that all down because i found myself
compartmentalizing myself with all the things
and i like to think of myself as a creative lover
of life of myself, of women, of the collective
consciousness that we're all connected. So I'm
a creative lover to start. Yes, that's amazing.
I love that. Yeah. And then as we go into all
the things that I do, it's really important for
me to leave this planet and this earth and Not
leaving any dreams unturned Yeah, so that's a
big deal for me then and what a beautiful goal.
I love that that you're want to make sure that
you have Lived fully as you went in every direction.
You wanted to go it sounds like yeah, definitely
So tell me a little bit more about what moment
led you to founding the Love CEO Institute and
how did your own journey of self discovery kind
of shape where you are with this work? Yes, by
the age of 30, I was married and divorced twice.
And I went into therapy, extensive therapy, and
I began to uncover What love really is because
in therapy I realized I was a love addict never
heard that term before didn't know that existed
and one of the things in understanding what love
addiction was I said, okay, let me really dive
into what exactly is love. So I did all the workshops.
I did all the books. I did therapy and I began
to uncover this most beautiful concept of pure
love and where it's generated from and where
it starts. And at the same time, as an actress,
I was writing my one woman show. So over this
10 year journey, I finally decided to put my
one woman show up and I had no clue what it would
be about, but I had all these monologues written
and one day God was like, pull out all these
monologues, lay them on your living room floor.
And I looked at it and it was evolution of a
love addict. Wow. And so that's what my one woman
show was about. And after the show, you always
do Q and A and I assumed the Q and A was going
to be people asking me about my process or how
did I ride or getting my director. But the questions
that came in were more like group therapy. How
do you love again? How do you pick yourself up
after divorce? How do you begin to love yourself
again? How do you forgive your family for things
that you thought were wrong as a child, but as
an adult, you realize they were doing the best
that they could with the tools they had. So these
questions became group therapy and I would get
emails that I would at night go home after the
show and I would be replying to emails and I
would be replying with the process that I used
to start living the life that I wanted, start
designing. life that I wanted. And when I realized
that combination of the group. therapy after
my one woman show and doing the emails and looking
at all the things that I had done to get to where
I was. That's when I decided I would become a
coach and that's how I started love CEO Institute
because I truly believe it starts with love and
if we took the concept of business and connected
it with love and we began to treat ourselves
with the same type of importance of showing up
on time of having meetings all the time then.
I feel like if we can take left and right brain
concepts of love and combine the two, we would
live more fulfilling lives. And so that's how
I created Love CEO Institute. And the very first
course was Loving Yourself to Love, which is
a course that I still offer here at Love CEO
Institute. Wow. What an amazing journey. And
for women over 50 that are looking at their own
transformations, how do you feel that your transformation
relates to women at this age? How does that connect?
Yeah, we're always evolving, right? I started
Love CEO Institute in my early 40s and the foundation
of my company was self love, self care. It felt
great. It was cushy. I had events at spas and
we did all these fabulous things and I started
a whiskey brand and me and my business partner,
we decided we wanted to disrupt the industry
with a brand that focuses on women and brings
women into the conversation. And we did that
at 50 and 60 years old. And yes. And so we got
accepted into tech stars and tech stars is a
tech accelerator, which is. So fascinating, our
whiskey brand. And entering Techstars, it was
a different lifestyle. A lifestyle that was different
from my spa days and retreats and vision board
workshops. It became networking, showing up,
phone calls, meetings, all these things that
was pulling me back into my masculine energy.
And I, my husband was cracking up at me because
he would walk in the room and he's like, is that
you I'm listening to? And I'm like, yes, I'm
listening to Mod. of unapologetically alpha,
because I had to redefine even my self care plan
at 50. I had to redefine that. I was starting
a new business at 50 when some, at least back
in the day, were thinking, okay, what's my retirement
plan? And so I had to consider that since life,
Is fluid and I am fluid in the sense of we're
always ever changing. I had to really dive into
this concept that I I teach a methodology called
love see called love intelligence and one of
the core pillars of love intelligence which I
believe we are all born with is self awareness.
And self -awareness can be thrown around, but
it's really about relationship with self. If
you are having a continuous relationship with
self, then you know when things change. So I
have had to completely transform as my life transforms,
as my circumstances transform. I've had to dive
into continuing that conversation and dialogue
with myself. Understanding what worked for me
six years ago isn't working for me in this moment.
And when I knew that and I have a huge toolbox,
I was able to open that toolbox and pull things
out that could help me navigate. this new life
of being in a highly masculine environment or
this new life of being in menopause and the things
that come with that. So it made life a lot easier
when I understand that I am always transforming
so that I don't get stuck in the, oh, I should
have, oh, I couldn't have, oh, I should be life
after. Yeah. Yeah. Love that message. It's cause
it's so true. And cause I know on my own personal
journey, I'll do some work and I'm like, okay,
I've got that self -awareness. I feel like I
know where I am and who I am, but then some time
passes and then all of a sudden I don't have
that same comfort level. So what is it? How do
you keep in touch with that? What is you talk
about tools and your toolbox? Is there something
that works for you to keep that contact with
yourself? Yes. I have a course that I created
in, it's a self care, self care for high achieving
women, because I believe there's a different
level of self care. We look at self care a little
differently and it's really about building that
blueprint of self care and it's in depth. It
goes far beyond the physical self care, which
most of us, when we think about self care, we
think about the bubble baths, the massages, but
it dives into like your mental, your emotional,
your physical, your your spiritual self care,
your financial self care. And so when you just
begin to ask yourself certain questions or dive
into that, you create a blueprint that covers
all the different aspects of self care. Because
if you're doing self care and you're not being
rejuvenated, then something, there's a discrepancy.
And so what I've done over the years, I've created
these blueprints for myself. And in creating
the blueprint of my self care, that's where I
start. Like my self care, whenever I'm creating
a goal or I'm going after these dreams that I
have, self care is right in alignment with the
tasks that need to get done. And I generally
lay that foundation first. And with the understanding
that my self care blueprint, that I had prior
to 2023 was not the self -care blueprint I had
by the end of 2023. It is not the self -care
blueprint that I have right now in 2025. So it's
becoming so in tune with yourself that You can
have that conversation. Like you said, Michelle,
when you're sitting there and you're like, oh,
it's just not feeling right for me, but you can
have that conversation and you can ask yourself
the question, what do I need right now? That
can help me navigate this time that I'm in. And
surprisingly, if you get quiet and ask that yourself,
that question, we are intuitive beings and the
answer will come to you. It will. But what happens
is we get conditioned to second guess it. Oh
no, it's not that. Oh, it's not that. Oh no,
maybe it wasn't that, but we have an answer.
What do I need right now to help me navigate
this? And so with that being said, I have that
self -care blueprint that is one of my major
tools and that self -care blueprint can shift.
and ebb and flow at any given moment. And I understand
that. So when I'm feeling, it's not saying I
don't have moments where I feel off or I don't
have moments where I'm doubting myself. It's
not saying I don't have those moments. It's that
I can look at myself in the mirror and give myself
grace and accept what I'm feeling, not try to
brush it under the rug. And then after I am in
acceptance of what I'm feeling, I can also mother
myself and say, Well, what do you need in this
moment? I love that. Such a beautiful practice.
It sounds like that you're describing. So for
women that have spent so many years taking care
of other people, whether it was kids or a spouse
or partner, and they really want to start this
journey, but this is really new territory for
them. Just taking that first step and some type
of maybe a daily practice of self care. What
other thoughts might you share about that? Yes,
it is very challenging when you've created the
mind maps of everyone else comes first and that
your needs are not a priority. Um, it can be
a challenge. And I had a client who came to me,
she on paper, everything looked. amazing. She
had the career, she had worked up the corporate
ladder, she had two kids going into high school,
one was graduating, and she just was not feeling
fulfilled. And she didn't really have a solid
self -care plan. And one of the very first things
I remember, this was in our first session, I
had her open up her calendar and block two hours
on the calendar. And she's like, okay, so efficient.
What am I blocking it for? And I said, absolutely
nothing. And she almost like clutched her pearl.
She was like, what? This makes absolutely no
sense. And so the very first step, which now
after working with that client, a lot of my clients
go through is taking a two hour block out of
your calendar for absolutely nothing for yourself.
You don't have to, the first phase is I don't
have to be doing. Yes, but it's your time and
You can get into that two hours and then decide.
What is it? Am I going for a walk? Oh, do I want
to go get my hair done? I haven't had done in
ten years. It's a switch I think from doing to
just being yes, I just be and yeah to do yeah.
Yeah, and that is It's harder than you think
Some of you might be listening to this and think,
oh, that's so easy. Try it right now. And I'll
tell you how easy it is. The other thing that
has been helpful as well, cause I will, I have
my clients go on a, I call it a no, a detox from
yes. And what that means is just taking a week
to say no. Now that's even more challenging.
Oh, I bet. For sure. Even things, and I don't
mean saying no to yourself or saying no to things
that bring you joy. And you also have to ask
that question. Does this bring me joy or am I
looking for approval? That's a hard pill to swallow,
but it's saying no. If someone says, Hey, can
you pick me up here? Uh, no, and you don't have
to have an answer. It's just like, no, I can't
do that this week. And empowering, right? Like
just being able to say, no, I can't, and then
be able to step back and yeah, it's huge. It's
a, and it's going to feel weird at first. Yes.
It's going to feel challenging. It's going to
feel weird. You're going to feel guilty. You
might even have some people who want to guilt
you. If you don't want to pick someone up, you
could be sitting on your couch for all I care.
It does not matter. You don't have to do things
just because you have to give them a reason.
You don't have to say, oh, I'm not going to do
this because no, there's no because you just
I'm not going to do this. Yes. And then there's
a third one just because I'm a coach. So this
is always exciting because I always want to walk
you through processes. But the third one would
be to sit down, set a timer and brainstorm stream
of consciousness, all the things that bring you
joy. And if you cannot think of anything in this
moment, think of the last time you felt joy.
And you may need to go back to when you were
a child playing with your dolls, felt joy, picking
flowers, felt whatever it is, brainstorm stream
of consciousness. What brings me joy? That is
wonderful. I love that practice. And I know from
my own personal experience that at one time that
was really hard for me. I'm like, Oh my God,
what do I like? What does make me happy? And
it's taking some time in my own journey of Getting
in touch with myself and better understanding
me to say, yes, I like this. I don't like that,
but I like this and just knowing me. And for
me, I have to do that periodically. Just because
I know what brings me joy and I wrote that down
and I, and I'm saying it and I'm doing the things
there. Sometimes it gets stale and rusty in life.
You're on the journey and you're just ticking
those boxes off your to -do list and you have
to revisit it. You have to take a moment and
revisit it. And I do revisit that often. So important.
So how does developing this self love that we're
talking about change the dynamics of your existing
relationships? What do you think about that with,
whether it's with a partner or your kids or friends?
What are your thoughts? I truly believe you are
the blueprint of how people treat you. And that
was one of the toughest things I had to accept
in, when I was in therapy because We look at
the external all the time of all this person
is doing that. Oh, they did this they did that
if you created the blueprint of How you should
be treated meaning treating yourself the way
you should be treated Everyone else will fall
in line That's great. That is so beautiful. I
love that. And I know it's true. I know from
my own experience, it's like, for me, boundaries.
If I put a boundary up that this is something
that's acceptable to me, or this is something
that is not acceptable to me, and I stick to
it, it's just like you say, people will fall
in line. I've established a boundary and it's
going to go the direction that I'm driving it,
right? Yeah. Yeah. And you have to trust it.
I'll never forget, I had a colleague who's a
really close friend of mine now, and she was
going out with a group of women, and some people
asked, oh, where's Natasha? And she's like, oh
yeah, Natasha doesn't do this type of thing.
And it was because they were being really gossipy.
And these are fabulous women, but when they...
that particular group got together. They were
really gossipy or they steered on the negative
skew of life. I always, I choose the side of
the statistic I want to be on, not saying that
the other side that I don't want to be on doesn't
exist and not saying the other side I don't want
to be on. I haven't been in. However, I tend
to focus on the side of the statistic that I
want to be in. And so my friend responded to
those women and she was like, yeah, Natasha doesn't
do this, this kind of stuff. And almost when
she first said that I did almost at first think,
wow, they didn't invite me. I don't get it. And
then I paused for a second. I was like, you're
staying straight. Thank you so much for sparing
me. Yeah. And I love that. And we became like
the best of friends because she invites me to
a whole bunch of other stuff, but she knows which
group and I don't want to rain on other people's
parade. If they need to do group therapy and
complain about the world, then, you know, then
go right ahead. But she knew which side I was
going to be on because that's how I treated myself.
That's great. I think that's an excellent example.
And to me, that's the way it should be. Yeah.
So for someone that says, this is all great.
Everything we've talked about, it's just too
late for me. I've lived a lot of my life and
I just don't think this could work for me what
would you how would you respond to that it's
never too late if your organs can regenerate
after so many months if your skin what is it
like 10 days or something your skin regenerates
we were built to regenerate it is in our dna
Our brains regenerate. It is in our DNA. And
so it is never too late. I wasn't like all the
tools I'm talking about and this ideas of my
perfect toolbox. And I wasn't always in that.
I chose the wrong guy. Men up until the age of
38, I was always choosing or 35. I was always
choosing the wrong guy. I was married and divorced
twice by the age of 30. Yeah, so here I am in
this space of failed businesses and I can't make
the right decisions and you can always regenerate
no matter how long it's been. It is never too
late. And I know that might sound so simple that
it's never too late, but I always like to think
of the concept everything regenerate you clip
your fingernails today. They're going to grow.
So in so it's in your DNA. to continue to grow.
It's in your DNA to continue to shift and evolve.
Yes. And it's all about surrender. That's what
it is. That's so true. Yeah. Letting go of those
things that don't serve us. Yeah. Whatever attachment
or whatever the circumstances. So true. So if
there's one piece of wisdom you wish Every woman
over 50 knew about her power and potential. Is
there anything that you would say to that? Well,
first, I always like to let people know that
they are the most important piece to the puzzle
of their life. Your wellbeing, your self care,
Will be a reflection will be reflected in your
finances. It'll be reflected in your relationships
and if you Choose to put yourself first Everything
else will fall in line and I like to give the
example of They always say give give from a full
cup But imagine there's a cup sitting on a saucer
and you're pouring water into that cup you only
give from the overflow that has poured over into
the saucer. So you have to fill your cup to where
it is overflowing and everyone else gets what's
in the saucer. They don't get from the cup. Yes.
And I would just challenge everyone to walk through
life day to day, wake up in the morning and say,
how can I fill my cup today? How can I fill my
cup? Making yourself a priority, right? Yeah.
Yeah. Your family's gonna get the most amazing
parts of you. They're gonna get this overflow.
Your friends are gonna get the most amazing parts
of you. The one example is if I go try to hang
out with friends when I'm depleted, I am not
that cool. I'm not that cool, no? Yeah, I'll
put on the front. You know, you put it on the
happy face. But I am so much more fun when my
cup is so overflowing, where I might've missed
the last two events because I was depleted and
I'm like, yeah, no, I'm pouring into myself today.
And when I get to them, finally they're getting
the overflow. That's fun. That's the fun, Natasha.
That's right. It's when I'm creative, I'm not
held back by fears. I am just there, present
in the moment and enjoying it. Yeah. You're not
thinking, oh my goodness, I should be at home
doing this thing. Oh, I forgot to put that in
the dryer. You're not doing any of that. That's
right. That's exactly right. What great wisdom.
And I so appreciate you sharing your experience
and part of your journey with us today. What
would be a way or the best way for anyone to,
if they wanted to connect with you, what's the
best way for them to do that? I see. It's so
funny. I've turned into a millennial. I think
I say go to my Instagram and DM me. Natasha,
Natasha McCray, Natasha McCray anywhere. You
can go to my website, natashamcray .com and DM
me as well. But I say go to IG and DM me. And
I have a couple of links to free self -care rituals
and I make sure that you have that. Just one
more thing before we close, I was just thinking,
with the launch of your new brand, the whiskey,
what's the next step there? Where is that going?
Oh, yeah. So Jackson McCray, we got into market
October 2023. And just the beginning of this
year, we are now in all California total wines,
as well as some other wine and spirit shops around
California. And we're also available e -commerce
in 46 states. So if you go to Jackson McCrae
Whiskey, then you can see the link of everywhere
that we are available. Or if you're not in the
state of California, you can order it. Wonderful.
That is so exciting. I'm so happy for you. And
you're such a beautiful example of someone who
has truly recreated their life in every way and
being true to yourself and not being held back
by any fears, going after those things you want
to go after. And I just, I'd love to see that.
I'd love to see women who are unafraid to just
be them, be in that space and just go for it,
whatever it is. this. I thank you so much as
someone asked me one time what is your greatest
fear and I said I'm a fear itself. Fear itself
is so paralyzing and that freaks me out and sometimes
that works in my favor and other times I jump
the gun because I'm like I don't want to get
paralyzed and it might be too soon, but I rather
air on that side then looking up. five, 10 years
from now and having a laundry list of things
that I didn't believe in myself enough to go
after. Yeah. Oh, I'm right there with you. That's
so true. Thank you again so much, Natasha. You're
wonderful. I know that our listeners are going
to get so much out of everything that you have
shared with us today. So thank you. Thank you
so much, Michelle. This is wonderful. Thank you
so much for spending time with me today. I am
truly grateful that you chose to listen in and
I hope that this conversation sparked something
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