142. From Abuse to Act Three: How One Woman Rebuilt Her Life (and a Business) | Conversation with Megan Hodgdon

This is the story of what happens when a woman finally says: enough.

In this deeply moving episode of The School of Midlife, Laurie is joined by Megan Hodgdon—a survivor, entrepreneur, award-winning food artist, and living proof that it’s never too late to rewrite your story.

Megan’s journey includes surviving two abusive marriages, navigating the court system, rebuilding trust, reclaiming her identity, and eventually launching a thriving charcuterie business—Boise Beauty Boards—that’s earned her recognition as a top food influencer and local favorite.

You’ll hear how Megan’s business started as a graduation party Pinterest idea and became a full-fledged career that’s not only provided for her family, but also helped her rebuild her confidence, her community, and her voice.

This conversation is about pain—but even more about power.

If you’ve ever felt stuck in a life that doesn’t reflect who you really are, Megan’s story will remind you: you can walk through fire and still come out whole—and better than before.

⚠️ Content Note:

This episode includes discussion of domestic violence, including physical and emotional abuse. Please take care while listening.

💡 In This Episode:

• Why it took Megan nearly 15 years to leave—and what finally changed
• The real challenges of navigating the court system as a survivor
• How charcuterie boards (yes, really) became her creative outlet and calling
• The power of saying YES to yourself—and creating Act 3 on your own terms
• Advice for women considering entrepreneurship in midlife
• How she handles internet trolls (and goes viral anyway)

🔥 Favorite Quotes:

“I’ve gone through the fire—and I’m coming out on the other side.”
 “You don’t know what you’re capable of until you go for it.”
 “Midlife is where you get to soar.”

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Transcript

[00:00:00] 

In today's episode of The School of Midlife Podcast, we're talking about what happens when life completely derails your plans, and ultimately hands you something better than you could have imagined. I'm joined by Megan Hodgdon, an award-winning charcuterie entrepreneur whose journey to success wasn't paved with a business plan or an MBA. But mostly with grit and courage and one fiercely protective mama heart.

Megan didn't grow up dreaming of owning a business. In fact, for a long time, survival was the only priority. Navigating an abusive relationship, finding the strength to start over and choosing her kids' safety over everything else.

But through it all, she kept moving forward. Step by brave step. This is a story about reinvention, healing, and building a beautiful life from the inside out. You'll hear how Megan turned her love of creativity and connection into a thriving boutique charcuterie business, what it took to claim her own happiness, and the real [00:01:00] raw truth about starting again in midlife. If you've ever wondered whether you're allowed to rewrite your story, this conversation is your proof that not only can you, you absolutely should.

Quick trigger warning, there is some discussion about domestic violence in this episode. If that is something that you would rather not hear about, maybe join us next week. Let's dive in.

Welcome to the School of Midlife podcast. I'm your host, Laurie Reynoldson.

This is the podcast for the midlife woman who starting to ask herself big life questions. Like, what do I want? Is it too late for me? And what's my legacy beyond my family and my work. Each week we're answering these questions and more. At the School of Midlife, we're learning all of the life lessons they didn't teach us in school and we're figuring out finally what it is we want to be when we grow up. Let's make midlife your best life. [00:02:00] 

Laurie: Megan, welcome to the School of Midlife podcast. I am so excited to have you here today. This is a conversation I have wanted to bring to the listeners for quite a while because your story, the more I find out about it, the more I learn about it, it is so inspiring. I just know our listeners are really going to love getting to know you.

So real quick, could you just, you know, 30,000 foot level, introduce yourself, tell us who you are and what it is that you do.

Megan: Sure. Thank you for having me. I'm Megan Hodgdon. I own Boise Beauty Boards, which is a charcuterie company. Started out as a hobby and then turned into a full-time business. I love it. I am making connections everywhere and it's just really brought a whole different side of me that I didn't know, made me more confident made me just be able to reach people.

, I am married. I am [00:03:00] 44, and I got married to my husband a year and a half ago, and he's just the most amazing man. That I could ever ask for. And then I have two kids. My son is 22. He actually just flew to China for a year to teach English over there. And then my daughter is gonna be 16 in two weeks.

Have older kids, but you know, it's great. They love me and we've been through ups and downs together and I just, I love my kids to death and my husband has been a great support and loves 'em to death as well. 

Laurie: So since you talked about your family,, I know it hasn't always been roses. I want you to talk to us a little bit about the prior marriages that made you the person that you are, to be able to find your real love later in life.

Megan: Yeah, [00:04:00] so I, got married very early at 21, to my first husband, who I had my son with. Prior to us getting married, we had a lot of ups and downs and there was physical abuse that happened. But I pushed it under the rug. I said, I can help him, I can make him feel better. And we, we tried. We really tried.

And he, um, he and I just, we were more like roommates towards the end of our marriage than we were together. There was a fight that happened towards the end of our marriage. My son was about three years old. There was a fight that happened where he had pushed me against a wall and my son came trying to console me because I had fallen and started crying and he pushed my.

Laurie: At three.

Megan: pushed my son back and I was [00:05:00] like, no, you're not gonna get in the way of me and my son. So left that marriage and it was painful. I still love him. He is changed and he's a good person now, but different kind of love. He's always gonna be the father of my son. But I left that marriage and I didn't really date or wait around. Um, he was, that guy was my first everything. I never had boyfriends in high school or anything like that, so it was crazy to have that first person and then just have it all disappear. And so I was just felt like lost. I one of those that just wants to be connected with someone.

And so I probably would say about a month, maybe a month and a half, I met my second husband. And we dated for about a year before he actually went and did [00:06:00] basic training and went into the Army the National Guard, not full-time. And I supported him through all that and everything.

And we decided to get married 'cause he was supposed to go on a deployment which lots of stuff happened. He never went. But we got married and I. Basically shortly after we got married, there were different things that were happening. He had threatened to kill himself in front of me and my son.

He was getting angry, he was talking to other women. And it was just bad kind of right from the start. But again, me, I'm just like, oh, I wanna change him. I wanna help him. And I thought I could be that light in his life. And I got pregnant with my daughter and we were together for about nine years. 10 technically, because we got divorced that last year.

[00:07:00] We had moved a couple times and we tried to go to counseling and we had, child support services called on us a couple times, and it was a lot of physical abuse, emotional abuse, financial abuse, I mean, the whole gamut. And I say he was kind of worse than my first because it was...

My first was angry and got violent, but the second husband was just all around abusive. We had moved up to Boise. I thought we'd be better. We got our house and all this kind of stuff, and I found out he was cheating on me again. He had cheated several times before and the violence escalated.

Quite a bit, um, when we got up here, because he had me more isolated, so I stopped talking to my family, stopped talking to a lot of friends. I couldn't go [00:08:00] out without his permission. My kids were not scared of, well, they were scared of him. He never hurt them. physically, but he did a lot of emotional damage.

And so they walked on, we all walked on eggshells, when we were in the house. Basically the way that, uh, it ended was that he, we had gotten in a fight. I found out that he was cheating on me and he decided to put a gun up to my throat and.

Laurie: Oh.

Megan: Yeah. It took me a little bit to get my bearings to like, you know, figure out what to do.

I kicked him outta the house. We're fighting all, all the time on the phone for like a week and a half. And then I finally opened up and told one of the friends that I did have, and she immediately got on the phone with the police and was like, we need to get this, [00:09:00] we need to get him away from you.

Laurie: That's scary though, right?

Megan: well, yeah. The way that it escalated, it was very scary. I mean, I remember just fighting for my life. Well, I, I take that back. At the beginning when all of this went down, I just felt like, enough is enough. Take me out, leave me, let me go. You know? And so, but then kind of I'm like, wait, I can't, I can't let go.

Or, you know, I don't want to die in this moment. And so then I started fighting back. , The whole situation was messy, but he finally did, um, he heard something outside our door and rushed to put the gun away 'cause he thought it was one of the kids. And, um, left. And I was basically laying on the floor crying and sobbing just because I'm like, oh my God, what just happened?

So going from basically, it was 15 years [00:10:00] between the two husbands that I had all of this abuse. , There was a time where I did, go to, a women's victim shelter to get away at one point. Um, and I learned a lot and had some counseling and my kids, my son was old enough to have counseling. My daughter was still a little baby.

Um, so I went through a lot and you would think that like I would've learned, but on average, victims go back to their abusers about nine times, and I would say I was probably around nine to 12 times that I went back to him thinking, I mean, he always apologized, he always felt sorry, but then he would do it again and again.

And so it was just this ongoing cycle. When, when he left, finally I had to go get a restraining order and I was breaking down in the courtroom. Or in the courthouse [00:11:00] because I had to get this restraining order against my husband because I loved him. I wanted to make things work even after everything.

But it was it a police officer that had interviewed me, had said, if you didn't call us now, then it would've escalated and eventually we would've been having the coroner come. That was the light that like switched for me and I'm like, yeah, can't do that.

Laurie: Yeah. Right. Because I mean, obviously you've got yourself to protect, but you've got these two children to protect as well. Right. It's so interesting. Thank, I just wanna thank you so much for sharing that because I, I think a lot of women feel this whole idea like, I can fix it. I, it's a project. I, I got this, I can handle it.

And [00:12:00] whether it is physical abuse or emotional abuse or financial abuse, like you were talking about, a lot of women do experience some of what you're talking about. Um, gosh, I, I, I hope that most women aren't experiencing the, the gun to the, that's awful. Megan, I'm so sorry you had to go through that. But thank you so much for sharing your story because I think when we talk about it, people are going to be able to resonate a little bit with what you're talking about and then be able, you're, you're such a shining example of what happened after that.

So thank you for setting that stage. Um you know, you said, you said. You would think I would've learned. And what was, what do you think that the final straw or the, the final thing was that, that made it so, okay, I've got my confidence [00:13:00] back. I'm going to leave. Can you pinpoint what, what

Megan: So we had a long trial. He was charged for domestic violence. And so we had a criminal trial, and then we also had our divorce trial. So both of those were kind of separate entities. The criminal trial took about six months. Uh, because there was like, oh, he needed to get an attorney, or, oh, they needed to review more evidence, and it just kind of got pushed back and pushed back.

My dad actually came up for every single court date, um, as

Laurie: Hmm. Dads are the best, aren't

Megan: I had to tell my whole family what was going on because like I said, I hadn't not, I hadn't really. I talked with them here and there, but I had separated myself a lot from my family and so they had no, they had ideas of like what was going on. 'cause like I said, I've been, I was in [00:14:00] a domestic violence home and stuff like that.

But, um, my dad came up for every single court date after I had told him they were compassionate. They wanted to make sure I was safe, all that kind of stuff that got me, like video cameras from my house. Um, so. Six months, I finally got to the day that we were going to go in front of the judge and get the hearing and stuff done.

We had known beforehand that he had made a plea agreement, which was basically pleading to battery, which is like a bar fight, you know, it's not even domestic violence.

Laurie: Was, was that a gut punch? How did you

Megan: Oh, it was horrible. It was horrible. And so I had written a victim witness statement, and I had to basically in front of the judge talk about my feelings about what you [00:15:00] know had to transpired and all this stuff that I basically had a whole, like three pages that I read to the judge and in that courtroom.

When I was reading, my ex was sitting over there fumbling and trying to like talk to his attorney, and he was freaking out and the judge was like, hold on, stop for a second. Told me to stop. And looked over at him and said, you need to stop what you're doing and you need to listen to her and you, you need to, you know, like this is her time.

You need to stop. And it's like.

Laurie: were you looking at him? Were you making eye

Megan: no, I was looking at the judge. So we were at the two tables and the judge was in front. The judge like, kind of was like, you sit down, shut up. Uh, so I, so, and I really hadn't paid attention to him 'cause I was just trying to focus on my words. I did hear like the rumbling, but I wasn't looking at him.[00:16:00] 

Um, but it was just like gave me that, like, confidence at that point. Like, I need to say something. I need to get this out. And so that was really where like it started, um, sorry. Uh, so it started and um, the judge gave a lot of compassion to me. She's like, I have never heard a better presentation and everything.

Like she was just very sweet to me. But she also knew that they had already agreed on a plea deal, and she basically told him, I, I don't like this plea deal, but I know it's on the table and I bet that I will see you in six months. Because you are, you're not learning your lesson here. There's nothing going on where you're trying to change.

Like she saw through it, he had to do, um, a domestic violence [00:17:00] evaluation and he got like the highest score on it, like basically repeat offender kind of thing. So it was like, why, why, why are you giving him a slap on the wrist? He had to do, he had to do the, um. Battery charge. And then he also had to do domestic violence education program, which is a year long here in Idaho.

Um, but that was it. He didn't have to serve any time. Didn't have to it. It was just a mess, so.

Laurie: Did that

Megan: yeah. Oh yeah. I mean, like I, I still had the, you know, protection order in place. Uh, they did, you know, keep that and everything. But yeah, and it was interesting 'cause uh, when we, when me and my dad were leaving the courthouse, obviously we had to go out to the parking lot.

He was in the parking lot. My dad [00:18:00] was trying to go off on him. He was screaming at him in the parking lot and I'm like, dad, just get in the car. Let's go. We're done. And he was so mad, and I know my ex, he was there by himself. None of his family showed up. I know he was on the phone with probably his mom and my dad's screaming at him and like. Okay.

So after that we then had our divorce proceedings and he had filed for shared custody for my daughter, which got denied because he had to go through the domestic violence training course before he could have my daughter on his own. So he got to see her through a supervised visitation at a center.

 He also had a girlfriend, um, not the one that he cheated on me with, but a new one while we were going through the divorce. [00:19:00] And he ended up, was living with her and all that. And he hurt her and got sent back to court. And I showed up at that court. Because I was like, this is a pattern and um,

Laurie: Like I told you this was gonna happen again. You have to listen to me. I'm trying to protect his children, other women. Do you get frustrated that it feels like the court system and the government doesn't trust women, doesn't listen to

Megan: I think our court system needs a lot of help, especially when it comes to domestic violence. They don't really see the cycle. We learn about it, you know, in our domestic violence courses and classes and counseling, but I don't think the judges are as. I mean, some of them are, but I, I just, I see there's a lot that fall through the cracks.

I mean, it's really, it really [00:20:00] is a broken system, and I wish that there could be just standards in place. Depending on, like if someone hits you or pulls a weapon, you know, like there should be standards in place of like different levels of charges. you would think, but I don't know. We were still going through our custody, and divorce and all that.

And, he had hurt this other woman. She actually reached out to me and I talked with her here and there. Um, really couldn't. I couldn't be friends with her and she wanted to like, you know, pour everything out into me. And I'm like, your situation is different than mine. And I just, I can't. I'm trying to heal and get move past this.

And you're in the weakness.

Laurie: I can't comfort you. I, I can't be your go-to.

Megan: I think that really kind of hurt [00:21:00] her. But at the same time, I had to protect myself. I had to protect me and my kids and my family and all that. When we had the actual divorce hearing, I ended up getting on the stand.

And this is when I was looking at him and I was on the stand for six hours, just going back and forth talking about all the abuse. They wouldn't let me talk about the things that my son went through, um, 'cause he was older and so my ex did not, did not like him at all, and treated him like crap.

Laurie: Hmm.

Megan: But every time I tried to bring up my son, they wanted to skip over that part because they didn't want that child abuse to be highlighted.

Um, long story, I fought tooth and nail through the divorce. I [00:22:00] got the house. I basically had to pay for the house on my own. So I had to get, uh, I was working, but I had to get a new job that paid a little bit more, and I found one and just started building my life again.

Um, so I was paying everything on the house, paying for my vehicle, paying for all the bills. . He was supposed to gimme child support, but that's also another broken system where, you know, you see child support maybe once every six months and yeah.

Laurie: Yeah.

Megan: um,

Laurie: What. What year was your divorce finalized?

Megan: uh, 2019. Yep. So it was before the whole COVID and all that kind of stuff.

Laurie: Yeah. Um . The story has a great ending, so I don't wanna, uh, everything that you went through. Awful. And thank you [00:23:00] for telling us everything. And thank you for being open to sharing that because I do think it's important for other women to, to hear that they're not alone. That, that they have been able, that what I wanna turn to now though, is. The life that you have built. I don't know if you call it your act around here we, we talk about act three and in Act one you're someone's daughter. In act two, you're someone's wife and mother. And Act three is when you realize you get one shot at this life and you actually have to figure out what lights you up and what you wanna do with your life.

And from my perspective, your Act three is, it's incredible. So, um, you own, you're, you're an entrepreneur. I know that this started as a hobby. You had a full-time job and a career; right? What were you doing for work before

Megan: I worked my way up in marketing and I was actually a marketing [00:24:00] director for a local business here. Doing very well. I loved it. I've always been kind of the creative type, so I was creating ads for them and helping them with their marketing on their socials, uh, help them with website building.

Um, so I was very happy working, in marketing. I love it. I mean, that's kind of like driven a lot of what I'm doing now in my business and everything.

And winning awards.

Megan: Yeah. I won a couple,

Laurie: Tell us about the award you did. Well, what's that?

Megan: won a couple awards.

Laurie: Yeah. Yeah. Like Megan's killing it on the social media game and she's winning awards for it. I'll, I'll let her talk about that more if she wants to. When did you decide to go full-time entrepreneur making the most intricate, beautiful [00:25:00] charcuterie boards you have ever

Megan: The company I was working for, they were going through some changes and I really wasn't on board with some of the things that they were doing. Not to say anything bad about them, but it just kind of, we went two different directions. And I left on good terms and everything with them. And I was telling my boyfriend, now, husband, you know, well, maybe I should go into real estate or maybe I should look at some other kind of career path or.

You know, I, I just didn't know. And he's like, you already started this business on the side. You should just pour everything into it. And I was like, well, I don't know. Like I, we still have to pay our bills. And he was working, but it was, there was a lot of inconsistencies there. So. I did. I started just pouring myself into my business and I joined networking groups and I started building on social media and all this kind of stuff, and [00:26:00] I think it was basically within the first six months of me just pouring everything into my business, it just started taking off and I just started seeing the increase in people calling and ordering.

Just all I was, I was all over the place. I still am, you know, just going and talking to people and reaching out and it's just been amazing.

I won, the, uh, one of the top food influencers of Boise. Um, I was in the top 10 on that, and then I also won Best of Boise one year, and then there was another one that I won.

Um, all, all the different like publications have different awards and everything. It is been exciting. It's been a crazy journey. I still am building and pushing forward. I've been able to be on tv, [00:27:00] uh, which was crazy , doing a little segment, and that was a, a good, you know, turning moment for me.

People were just like, you are famous. And I'm like, ah. 

Laurie: You have to embrace it. You're an award-winning food influencer. That's incredible. So before this became your full-time job. Were you putting together charcuterie boards just for fun? Like you would show up at a, somebody was hosting a dinner party and you're like, you know what, I'll bring some meats and cheeses, or how, how did you even get into making art on a, on a board with food?

Megan: It actually came about, I was planning a party for my son's high school graduation. And I started going on Pinterest and looking at what I could do, and I was like, oh, charcuterie, that sounds fun. So I made my first charcuterie board for [00:28:00] his graduation party, which it looks nothing like what I do now.

Laurie: But you were probably pretty proud of it at the

Megan: was, I was all excited about it. Have my picture of him in front of the board and everything too, still. So yeah, I did start going to parties and doing stuff for the holidays and just, you know, doing it on the side. And then it was at one of my best friend's birthdays, I brought a board and all the girls were like, oh my gosh, you made a salami rose.

You made meat into a rose. And they were all excited about it and they were telling me like, you should start a business. And I was like, no, that sounds like too much work. I had enough on my plate at that time working and all that. Unbeknownst to me, they started referring me out and um, got me my first call.

Laurie: Those are good friends. Those are good friends.

Megan: friend. Um, she still refers people [00:29:00] to me all the time. So shout out to Abby. And, uh, it was just one of those things that just progressed. And I, like I said, I was doing it part-time while still working my marketing job. So I'd do stuff on the weekends or I would even take it like a day off during the week, and I'd go set up a table for like a business or something and my bosses would be like, so how was your day off?

And I'm like, oh, good. Just busy.

Laurie: I'm exhausted from my day off. I kind of come back to work to like, we relax a little bit. And, and I wanna like, because you, you casually mentioned a table. Wanna let the listeners know that we're not just talking about charcuterie boards, which you do and you do these darling little charcuterie cups, but you also do full on like conference room tables full of food.

So whether that's. Uh, you've, you've now more morphed into weddings and, and, [00:30:00] and big parties. But, when we're talking about charcuterie boards, we're not just talking about like a, a, a small little thing. Megan does an entire production and it's really incredible.

Megan: Yeah, I, I've morphed into just more like catering and those tables are called Grazing tables, which I love doing those because it kind of shows a lot more of my artistic abilities. I can make 'em all different, and just do fun things like this. I did a grazing table about a month ago and just put bread, kind of leaning against a tower and it looked cool, and I'm like, okay, you know, there's a big long, you know, loaf of bread, but it was just something different and I, I love doing those grazing tables.

Sometimes even more than just the boards because it's just so elaborate and you can do so many different things with it. And then people love them because there's so [00:31:00] much on them that they can kind of pick and choose what they want and all that kind of stuff. 

Laurie: And. You, you do different themes too, right? Not just, just meats and cheeses. I mean, I, I was at an event and you did a breakfast table.

Megan: I've done brunch tables, I've done, um, I've actually done, even you've mentioned the cups. Uh, so I can do like all sorts of different things and like cups, I've got snack boxes on me. I do it all. I've just branched into all these different things, like the holidays are coming. I'm gonna have so many different holiday boards going out.

It's gonna be amazing.

Laurie: Is most of your business now, is that weekend catering jobs or? Is it a nice mix of charcuterie boards, grazing tables, and catering jobs?

Megan: Yeah, it's a nice mix. Um, I would say I am busy pretty much every weekend. So it's very rare that I'll have like a weekend where I'm like. Oh, what do I do on [00:32:00] Saturday? Let's go to Farmer's Market, or let's go to a concert. It's kind of a catch 22 with my business, I've gotta make the money, but then I don't get weekends off.

But then I do have like a break, you know, sometimes during the midweek. Uh, but I have gotten to the point where I am busy sometimes all week long, I'll have, you know, an event on, well, I had like an event on Monday, and then I've got another event on Friday. And so it's just like, it keeps me going all the time. 

Laurie: What, what do you see long term for the business? What are you building? Do you, do you have a vision of what that looks like?

Megan: So in Boise, we don't have an actual cheese shop. There are places that sell cheeses. There are people that will do charcuterie at like wine bars and stuff like that, but I wanna make a cheese shop and I wanna hang.

Laurie: I love that.

Megan: cheeses and stuff like [00:33:00] that. And then of course, do my charcuterie boards, do little things for people to eat.

You know, inside have like wine pairings with different cheeses have wine pairing nights. So I have, that's like my long-term goal. Obviously you have to have like a location and go through all the business processes, but that is something that I've like... cheese shop. I love, I, since I've been building this business, I have learned so much more about cheese because what I'm putting on a plate is not just about how it looks, but also about what kinds of things pair well with each other, and so I have

international cheeses, I get cheeses from Wisconsin. I get cheeses all over the place that I, you know, taste test to see what it is. And there are some cheeses that I have not liked, but [00:34:00] then,

Laurie: Yeah.

Megan: there are other cheeses that I'm like, oh, I've gotta get this again. So it's really nice to be able to bring all of that.

And I know we do have a lot of good stores that do sell cheese, but I do see that there are some that I can't get here and I have to order it. And so I have got a international, uh, cheese website that I go through to get things that aren't available here. 

Laurie: I'll just say that you are pretty much speaking my love language when you talk about a store where you could go and get cheese and charcuterie and wine. That, that's one of my favorite things about going to Europe is, you know, you can go into these tiny little stores and, and, and just pick little bits of things and, and eat 'em with your hands and, and enjoy 'em with a great glass of wine.

So whenever you open your shop, let me know. I will, I will definitely be there to help you open it. I will be a huge, huge [00:35:00] fan and bring lots of people 'cause that is definitely my jam.

Megan: It's my jam too. That's why I'm like, I gotta build it. And I, like I said, I don't see a lot of cheese shops here in the valley, so there's a market for it. 

Laurie: We should probably have some good chocolate or

Megan: Oh yeah.

Laurie: well to also have a little dessert there. Um, do you have a favorite cheese that that is, is there something that ends up on every board because you just love

Megan: Well, it doesn't end up on every board, but, um, there's a cheese called a Purple Moon cheese. It's actually pretty common you can get it here. And it's basically a cheese that's soaked in Merlot. Uh, so it's got like a purple kind of a, uh, glaze on it. And then, um, when you cut it, it's a white inside and it's just so creamy and delicious.

And I found out that I liked that cheese, like beyond anything. I have tried, I've tried so [00:36:00] many cheeses there. It, there's a variety. Um, but that one was like when I first started, I tried it and I was like, this is it. This is the one for me. It was a purple moon cheese. 

Laurie: Are there some cheeses that will never make it on a board? 'cause they're they're too stinky, or they just don't pair well with other

Megan: Um, yes and no. There's a cheese that, I mean, a lot of the blue cheeses I don't always put on boards because a lot of people don't like blue cheese. and it's crumbly.

Laurie: I feel like either you love blue cheese or you don't like blue cheese, and it's like there's nothing

Megan: Yeah. And when you are trying to take blue cheese, it crumbles all over, so then it gets all over the other stuff on the board and it's not easy to put like on a cracker or anything like that. So blue cheeses I will put on like a grazing table sometimes, but I very rarely put blue cheese on my boards [00:37:00] and I've tried a lot of good blue cheeses. I do like blue cheese, but I just don't like 'em on my boards. 

Laurie: when we started, you were talking about you felt like the prior divorces, the prior, the, the marriage situations that you were in. You really lost your confidence. How has the success of your business and doing something on your own, how has that changed your confidence level?

Megan: it's. Done like a 180 from where I was. I

Laurie: Yeah.

Megan: when I started branching out on my own, I was going to networking groups, but I'd always look down. I'd always kind of be in the back. I didn't wanna talk to many people and I am a little shy. So it's kind of hard to open up and talk to people and everything else.

But now. I can go into a networking event and I know like four or five [00:38:00] people or more., At the Boise Breakfast Club. I know so many people, um, and, and they come to me and I don't even have to go to them. So it's just been a phenomenal experience for me and has given me that confidence because people are like, Megan, you're here.

In fact, even on the, um event that I did on Monday, I had someone come up, she's like, oh, Megan, and she gave me a hug and she's like, it's good to see you again. And I like that. I like being able to be personable with people. I'm very authentic, you know, this is who I am. I would love to be the designer, Megan and everything, but I just don't have time for that.

So I, I just like, here I am, this is who, this is me. I'm very loyal, uh, trustworthy. And I think that that, you know, draws a lot of people to me as well. And going on podcasts, tv, getting awards, you know, it's all [00:39:00] like surreal to me sometimes 'cause I'm just like, okay, has this like mean I made it like, um,

Laurie: Kind of a big deal, Megan, you, you have to embrace that. You're, you're kind of a big deal.

Megan: Yeah, but all at the same time, I'm very like, you know, this is just, this is just my business. This is who I am. Like when I got the food influencer, I'm like. All the people that are on that, most of 'em are like people that are going to different restaurants and talking about it. I'm just doing my business, but you know, I'm doing it well and people see that.

And then it's also now that I'm married to my husband and my kids, you know, like they all support me. My family supports me, like I have so many friends and family that surround me now that I didn't have, um, or, you know, had, but weren't in my life as much. And my kids even help, you know, [00:40:00] cutting cheese or my daughter, she goes with me to do large grazing tables.

When my son was home this summer before he left, he was helping me immensely with my business and he's very smart. I'm very proud of him. And he, uh, he is like, at the beginning of the year, he's like, mom, you should raise your prices because you know, you, you're getting a lot of nice cheeses and meats and everything else, and you need to price yourself better.

So I listened to him raise my prices at the beginning of the year, and it's like, okay, now I see that people still do wanna order from me. Like it was not it, it was, they see the value that I bring and they're not afraid to pay extra for, you know, my boards. And so it's just kind of been this buildup of like, okay, I can do this.

I know what I'm doing. [00:41:00] Also, being able to be knowledgeable about my business and know like what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong. I mean, I'm still. I have a lot of people that I follow on Instagram that I learn from as well, that are charcuterie artists in different areas, even some local, and so I'm always kind of looking at what they're doing and learning how I can do better.

Laurie: Sure. Yeah. Did you ever think you would own your own business?

Megan: Absolutely not. Um, I come from a family where my parents always worked. They always had full-time jobs. I actually didn't even know what entrepreneurship really was until I started being entrepreneur. I'm lucky that Idaho is a great state for starting your own business and everything. Um, we were living in California before, so we, when we moved here, my ex had his own business and I was helping him [00:42:00] with that.

Um, but I was just working, you know, all the time. Being an entrepreneur is kind of scary. It's like it's all on you. You have all the responsibility, all the highs and lows, and I talk about that a lot when I, you know, do a little social media reels and stuff like that, and I'm like, it's not easy and you have to keep going.

And I am mostly a one-woman show. I mean, my kids help a lot, my husband helps, but I am mostly a one-woman show, so I have to bust my butt to make everything happen. And I have, and it's, you know, it's fun. 

Laurie: You talked about social media. I wanna come back there, but before we, before we move off of this topic. What advice would you give to a woman who is thinking about starting her own business?

Megan: So one thing I learned when I started my business is that you have to have [00:43:00] certain parameters in place. Make sure you look at the laws or regulations on what you need to do to start a business. You know, getting the LLC, registering with the Secretary of State, um, getting insurance.

All of those things. Even if you are, you start and you have to build on that a little bit after it's important because you wanna be established and trustworthy and all that kind of stuff. Um, but I would say being an entrepreneur has given me so much more to life than I ever expected.

And you, you never know what you can do until you go for it. I feel like. A lot of people get stuck where like, this is just my life. This is what I'm gonna do the rest of, you know, for the next 40 years. And it's like, no, you can, if you believe in yourself and you work on it as hard as you can, you can do so [00:44:00] much more.

So I just would say make sure you're following the rules, but also believing yourself to just go for it.

Laurie: You are spitting some truth today. I love it. So inspiring. You mentioned and, and I almost hesitate to go backwards 'cause I feel like we're on this super high. But I will say, Megan, you are getting large enough, you're getting known enough that you've actually got some detractors on social media and , you are handling it beautifully, but.

What would you say to a woman who is like starting to make it big and then all of a sudden starts getting these shitty comments on social media?

Megan: So you have to really have some thick skin when you're on social media, even if you're small. And you're growing. Um, or if you, you know, go viral and you grow exponentially, you have to have tough [00:45:00] skin. There are always gonna be people that wanna tear you down because they're jealous or they're not.

They, they don't have the skills that you do. Or they just wanna be mean vindictive people. Even Taylor Swift, who is amazing with her, you know, singing abilities and shows and everything she puts on, she even has to block some of her comments because people wanna tear her down. So it's like, you gotta think about it you might. Feel like the world is crashing around you because you just see all these comments going and going, going, but you also have to understand like there are people that are so popular that have to deal with this on a day-to-day basis. And it's one thing to, I feel like, uh, there are little things that I've seen because I've read a lot of the comments unfortunately.

[00:46:00] Um.

You're not supposed to do that.

Megan: I know, I know. But, um, there are some things that, you know, sometimes get under my skin, but then I remember and I see all of the positive people coming on and supporting me. And there was like one point, and this just happened last week, where like people were fighting in the comments and I was just sitting there laughing, like they were just fighting with each other in the comments.

And I'm like, I'm just letting it go, letting it go. And, um,

Laurie: I'm just sitting back here with my glass of wine and eating my cheese, watching the comments, watching the people tear each other apart on social

Megan: and one thing, they, they don't know who you are. They're just looking at the screen. They're looking at what you're posting, whether it be funny or you know, bad, whatever. They're, they don't know who you are. And that's where I feel like it's been a very big process for me to [00:47:00] be like, I know where I have come from.

I know what I have done to overcome a lot of things. People might not, they, they might feel like, well, what's going on with your face and your smile and all that? And I'm like, you know, you don't understand where I started. I just to give you a little insight, I was basically disabled when I was born.

And I had to learn a lot of stuff to be able to eat and swallow. And I have had surgeries and I've had a lot of different things happen and I, people don't need all the explanation, but I know what I've gone through and, and going through just everything in my life, I feel just like I'm stronger for it.

I am better for it. I have gone through the fire and I'm coming out on the other side. So [00:48:00] that is like where I look at, it's like I love my life now. I love my husband, I love my kids. It's just, it's just all come to fruition and that's what I have to think about deep down.

Laurie: That's the most important. I mean, it doesn't matter what some Joe Schmo on the internet says who doesn't know you and is sitting probably in his

Megan: Yeah.

Laurie: you know, 

Megan: Yeah.

Laurie: cares? I, I do think it's, it's. What you just said is in. Thank you so much for sharing it. It, I mean, definitely heartfelt, um, just beautiful words.

Your community also really rallies around you. I feel like they've got your back and when people start trying to tear you down or, um, kind of pick away at your success a little bit. Your, your community's like, no, no, no. That's Megan. We got Megan. She's good. And it's [00:49:00] particularly given, um, how maybe isolated you may have felt in in different parts of your life.

That's gotta

Megan: Yeah. Oh yeah. It's like a warm hug. I'm just like, I always feel like a warm hug with my community because they just, they love me and they care about me and they, they hire me and they, you know, get excited when I enter a room and it's just like, so, just uplifting and I just feel like this is my third stage of life where I feel just like I'm taking off and it's so fun and I'm here for it, and it's just, it's amazing. 

Laurie: Thank you for sharing all of that with us. It, it really was a fantastic conversation. Megan, we end every episode of the School of Midlife podcast with the same two questions. Number one, if you could go back, knowing everything that you know now, having had all of the [00:50:00] experiences that you've had, lessons learned, what advice would you give your 20-year-old self? 

Megan: Great question. I would say

you. 

You have gone through hell and back, and you just need to believe in yourself. That would be my thing, is believe in yourself because you can get through this.

Laurie: Love it. And number two, what do you love most about being a midlife woman?

Megan: It is the one of those things where you are on highs and lows, and there are more highs now than there are lows because you understand where you've been and you're in a whole new level where you could just soar. And so I feel like that is just the best thing about being in this [00:51:00] midlife is just being able to soar and spread your wings and show people that you made it.

Laurie: You heard it here, folks. Midlife is all about soaring and spreading your wings and making it. I couldn't have said it any better. Thank you so much for joining us today, Megan. I have so enjoyed this conversation.

Megan: Thank you, Laurie. I appreciate it.

 Thank you so much for listening to the School of Midlife podcast. It means so much to have you here each week. If you enjoyed this episode, could you do me the biggest favor and help us spread the word to other midlife women? There are a couple of easy ways for you to do that first. And most importantly, if you're not already following the show, would you please subscribe? That helps you because you'll never miss an episode. And it helps us because you'll never miss an episode. Second, if you'd be so kind to leave us a five-star rating, that would be absolutely [00:52:00] incredible. And finally, I personally read each and every one of your reviews. 

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