What does 'NOMOCRONE' mean? Well, nomo = not-mother and crone hasn't always been an insult!
The #NomoCrones are a group of not-mother elderwomen from all over the world that Jody Day, founder of Gateway Women, gathers around the Zoom Fire near each Solstice and Equinox. The webinars are public, free and recorded and all are welcome, whatever your age, gender expression or reproductive identity. You can watch previous sessions here, and sign up for future sessions here.
YOUR HOST: JODY DAY (UK/Ireland) is 60 and a World Childless Week Ambassador. She is the founder of Gateway Women, the global advocacy network for involuntarily childless-not-by-choice women, and is a childfree ally too. Jody is a psychotherapist and the author of ‘Living the Life Unexpected: How to Find Hope, Meaning and a Fulfilling Future Without Children (PanMacmilian 2016/2020) and Chapter 12 explores ageing without children. You can find out more about Jody’s emerging Gateway Elderwomen project here, read her free Substack essays on ageing without children here, and follow her on Instagram @ApprenticeCrone. If you are a 55+ nomo (non-mother) and would like to become one of our #NomoCrone panellists, please email Jody at jody@gateway-women.com to introduce yourself. And if you’d like support with your eldering process and are childless not by choice, do consider joining the ‘Childless Elderwomen’ subgroup of our online community which Jody hosts. www.gateway-women.com
GUESTS VARY FROM SESSION TO SESSION AND MAY INCLUDE:
VICKI ROBIN (US) is in her late 70s and is a prolific social innovator, writer and speaker. She is coauthor with Joe Dominguez of the international best-seller and classic, Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Achieving Financial Independence (Viking Penguin, 1992, 1998, 2008, 2018), and author of Blessing the Hands that Feed Us; Lessons from a 10-mile diet (Viking/Penguin 2014). She is co-founder of Conversation Cafes and of the 10-Day Local Food Challenge, and hosts the podcast/YouTube interview series, What Could Possibly Go Right?, inviting cultural scouts to shine a light on what’s emerging as the pandemic, climate, the economy and polarization unravel the old normal. Currently, she’s exploring ‘the unmapped territory from older to elder’ on her Substack Coming of Aging. Vicki serves on the Board of the Post Carbon Institute and lives by herself on Whidbey Island in Washington State, USA. https://vickirobin.com/
PAMELA MAHONEY TSIGDINOS (USA) is in her early-60s and was voted a World Childless Week Champion in 2023/4 for her groundbreaking and tireless work for the childless community globally. She is the author of Silent Sorority (2009), the first infertility-and-after memoir not written by a mother, and 2015’s Finally Heard which moves beyond the personal to examine the complex inter-relationship of the psychological, social and cultural implications of ‘Generation IVF.’ An award-winning journalist, researcher and truth-teller about the realities and the aftermath of ART (assisted reproductive technology) her newest paper, ‘An IVF Survivor unravels ‘fertility’ industry narratives’, was published in a special issue of the Journal of Marketing Management in 2022. www.silentsorority.com
SUE FAGALDE LICK (US) is 72 and the author of the memoir & blog ‘Childless by Marriage’, the collection ‘Love or Children: When You Can’t Have Both‘, a wonderful trilogy of novels (beginning with ‘Up Beaver Creek‘) featuring her inspiring and relatable childless heroine, ‘P.D.’, as well as journalism & poetry. She is childless due to her second husband not wanting (more) children and in 2024, published her memoir ‘No Way Out of This: Loving a Partner with Alzheimer’s‘, about their marriage, his decline, her life whilst being his sole-carer, and death. A musician and singer, she lives alone in rural Oregon and writes a Substack about her experience of ‘solo ageing’ called ‘Can I Do It Alone?‘ Main website: www.suelick.com
ELIZABETH GRAMBSCH (USA) is in her late 50’s. A musician, performance coach and licensed Gateway Women workshop facilitator, she lives with her husband near Minneapolis, USA; they are childless due to health-related issues and after multiple miscarriages. Elizabeth has shared Germanic and Obijwe heritage which deeply informs her approach to ancestral healing and reintegration after trauma. elizabethgrambsch.com
KAREN MALONE WRIGHT (US) is 65 and the founder of The NotMom, the site for women ‘childless by choice or by chance’ and The NotMom Summit. An only child, she is married and childless due to health issues. She now co-hosts ‘The NotMom Conversation‘ on YouTube. www.thenotmom.com
PATRICIA (TRISH) FAULKS (UK) is 74 and blogs regularly and candidly about being a solo childless elderwoman living alone in a small Lincolnshire market town with her dog Lilley. The only child of an only child, she is childless due to infertility in her early twenties. She and her then-husband tried to adopt but were turned down and she learned not to speak of her childlessness to anyone due to the awful comments people would make. The marriage ended, in part due to their childlessness and both of them found new partners. Trish then set up a successful corporate estate agency which she enjoyed running for many years until she sold it and retired. Her second life partner died many years ago. www.justmeandlilley.co.uk
CIVILLA MORGAN (US) is an author, blogger, and podcaster including her long-running Childless Not By Choice show. A former financial and investment professional, she was a caregiver for her mother at the end of her life and for many years, also her father. In her spare time, which she says hardly exists, she enjoys reading, cooking and travelling. She is single and childless not by choice. https://www.civillamorgan.com/
DONNA WARD (AUS) is in her mid-60s and is a writer, editor, publisher and former psychotherapist from Western Australia who now lives in Melbourne. Her fiction and personal essays have been awarded and published internationally and her 2020 memoir She I Dare Not Name: A Spinster’s Meditations on Life was published by Allen & Unwin Australia in March 2020 and is now also available in the UK and US. donna-ward.com.au You can see a video/written interview Jody did with Donna about her book here.
MARY HENSON (UK) is in her mid-50s. She is childless after multiple pregnancy losses and fertility treatments, a journey which began in her late twenties and has recently also recovered from breast cancer. A veteran of the childless support space, Mary was a long-time volunteer at a pregnancy and baby loss charity, and has been an active member and moderator in the Gateway Women / Childless Collective online community for many years. She blogs candidly and insightfully about her life at It’s Inconceivable.
KATE KAUFMANN (US) is in her late 60s and the author of Do You Have Kids? Life When the Answer Is No. Kate’s blog for Psychology Today, ‘Unapparent’, explores the lives and issues faced by the childless and childfree. She is childless due to failed infertility treatments and single after divorce. www.katekaufmann.com
DR STELLA DUFFY OBE (UK/NZ) is 61, and lives in the UK. She is an existential psychotherapist, and her doctoral research was into the embodied experience of postmenopause. She’s also a yoga teacher who teaches yoga for writers. She’s the author of seventeen (yes, you read that right) novels, over seventy short stories, as well as plays, feature articles and reviews. She and her wife are childless due to cancer treatment and subsequent failed IVF. http://stelladuffy.blog
SUSAN DOWRIE (AUS) is 60 and a long-time member of the Gateway Women/Childless Collective Online Community, as well as having hosted the member Gathering for Brisbane members for several years. A student and practitioner of NVC (Non-Violent Communication), Susan describes herself unapologetically as a Spinster and is single and childless due to not meeting the right man. https://gateway-women.com/community/
JACKIE SHANNON HOLLIS (US) is in her 60s and is the author of “This Particular Happiness: A Childless Love Story” about her journey to making peace within her marriage to a man who chose not to have children. For many years, she worked as a counselor in addiction treatment and later worked in human resources. She now lives in Portland, on the west side of Oregon. She and her husband, Bill, lead workshops on communication, conflict management, and building successful relationships and she also facilitates creative writing workshops for people experiencing homelessness and other hardships. As a survivor of sexual assault, Jackie also writes and speaks about the unfolding impact of sexual assault on survivors and those who love them. www.jackieshannonhollis.com
SUE NEWSOME (UK) is 60 and a psychosexual therapist, coach and educator, and in 2013 was named ‘Sex Therapist of the Year’ by Outsiders, the UK charity that provides sex and relationship support to physically and socially disabled people. Partnered and childless-by-circumstance herself, Sue has been a long-time member of Gateway Women. www.suenewsome.com
TESSA BROAD (UK) is in her 60s and lives in rural Cornwall with her second husband and their dog. She is the author of ‘Dear You: A Letter to my Unborn Children’ (2017). When she has time in between caring duties for her elderly mother, she is working on her first novel. You can read Jody’s review of ‘Dear You’ here and find out more about Tessa on her website: https://tessabroad.co.uk/
RUTH BERKOWITZ (USA) is in her mid-fifties and is a Holistic Well-being Coach for childless not by choice people and an Insight Meditation Teacher. With support and time, she has found new perspectives and new directions to belonging and purpose. She guides other involuntarily childless women and men in navigating grief, finding acceptance, and looking to what’s next. She holds a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology with an Emphasis in Spiritual Psychology. Ruth has facilitated groups and counselled individuals coping with many of life’s challenges. Leading a Caregivers Support Group in her local community and coaching childless caregivers of parents online has brought additional richness and depth to her work. Within the Childless Collective online community (formerly the Gateway Women online community), Ruth hosts its Mispacha group (for childless Jewish women), and also co-hosts (with Jody and others) its Childldess Elderwomen group. Linked-In profile; Coaching website https://yourlemonadelife.com/
JULIE GREENAN (UK) is 70 and lives in Newcastle, N.E. England, and regularly spends time in Spain, where she lived for ten years from the age of 59. She’s single, having been married and had several long-term relationships in the past. For many reasons, including ambivalence, circumstances and physical issues, including two pregnancy losses and many encounters with the medical profession, she did not become a mother, but prefers to avoid categorising herself as either childless or childfree. In 2023 she was a panellist at StoryhouseCHIDLESS as part of Jody’s ‘Finding Community in Elderhood’ panel, and has appeared on the Full Stop podcast episode ‘Single and Childless in a Pandemic‘ speaking of her experience of living alone through lockdown in the south of Spain. Julie is passionate about open-water swimming, loves singing and, when she gets down to it, writing. She’s an active member of the Singles sub-group in the Childless Collective (formerly Gateway Women) online community, and the Childless Elderwomen group (hosted by Jody).
MARIA HILL (US) is in her 70s and is a World Childless Week Ambassador. She is the founder of Sensitive Evolution and a leader/coach in the field of HSP experience and growth, and the creator and leader of The Magic of Joy program. A writer, artist, teacher, coach and transformative thinker, Maria has been a long-time member/moderator of the Gateway Women / Childless Collective private online community, where she hosts the HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) subgroup. https://mariaehill.com/
SUZAN MUIR (AUS) experienced a powerful and intentional rite of passage in her early 50’s to become a young elder. Her passion for the fascinating complexity of self-generated food and energy systems has fueled her lifelong vocation of weaving sustainable connections between humans, plants, animals, soil and sustenance. She is also passionate about working with women at all stages of their lives to deepen their connection to their authentic and powerful inner selves and to the natural world through nature-based programs. The grief of living her life without children and the forest surrounding her home have been her greatest teachers. grampiansnatureprogr
MARICA DRUT-DAVIS (US) is in her early 80s and one of the most prominent names in the childfree-by-choice movement’ she was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Childfree Committee in 2015. In 1974, affected by the shocking consequences of pronatalism, she lost a devoted teaching job after being interviewed on the TV show, ’60 Minutes’ about her choice not to have children. She has appeared in two recent documentaries: ‘To Kid or Not To Kid’ by Maxine Trump and ‘My So-called Selfish Life’ by Theresa Schechter. She has written two books: Confessions of a Childfree Woman (2013); and What? You Don’t Want Children: Understanding Rejection in the Childfree Lifestyle (2020). In 2017 Marcia keynoted at the NotMom Conference, as did Jody Day, and each found in the other a kindred spirit. Marcia lives in Florida with her husband Jim and one rescued, snarky, Chihuahua. www.childfreereflections.com
EMMA PALMER (UK) is in her late-fifties and is the author of ‘Other than mother’, which explores the process of the parenthood decision, from many facets, including ecological considerations. It was nominated for a 2016 Population Institute Global Media Award. Emma was named Childfree Person of the Year in 2018 and is enthusiastic about building bridges between the childless and childfree, in the face of ongoing pronatalism. She lives in Bristol, England, with her partner and rescue guinea pigs, and works as a psychotherapist, facilitator, and ecopsychologist. She’s written four other books and is working on her fifth. She’s been practicing Buddhism since her early 20s, and loves the meeting place of centuries-old contemplation and 21st-century action. www.kamalamani.co.uk
