The "anti-influencer" who's been sharing midlife hacks in a weekly newsletter called Babble.
Brooke Amidei didn't set out to build a business. She was on a hike with her dog, post-COVID, trying to figure out what to do with the next chapter of her life, when a podcast question stopped her mid-step: "What would you do if you were Oprah?" Her answer was simple...she wanted to spend all day talking with her girlfriends.
Three years later, that answer is Babble: a free weekly newsletter that's part magazine, part group chat, and fully allergic to being another influencer account.
This conversation goes everywhere a real girlfriend hangout goes. Brooke and Laurie talk about the moment Brooke stopped calling Babble a "passion project" and started calling it her job...and the fear that came with finally saying that out loud. Then it gets into the good stuff: the docuseries that inspired Brooke to rent out a movie theater, the bone density scan she didn't know she needed, and the pelvic floor information that's about to change how every woman in this audience uses the bathroom.
It's a conversation about building something real without pretending to have all the answers, and about why the most useful thing you can hand another woman in midlife is just the truth, curated with love.
What we cover:
How a hike, a dog, and one line from a Rachel Hollis podcast turned into a business called Babble
Why Brooke calls herself "the anti-influencer" and refuses to fake the polish
The real definition of Babble's "top layer" — and why it's not another deep-dive wellness account
How a panel of 15 women actually decides what makes it into the newsletter each week
The moment Brooke stopped calling Babble a "passion project" and started calling it her job
Why she almost didn't want to admit, even to herself, that this was real work worth being paid for
The docuseries trailer that led Brooke to rent out a movie theater in Boise — and then do it again in Salt Lake City
What she learned putting together a health and wellness resource lounge for a room full of midlife women
The perimenopause "cheat sheet" Brooke built after watching the docuseries and interviewing experts — including the one line an expert had the whole room repeat out loud
Brooke's own experience going on vaginal estrogen — and what changed for her after almost two decades of a problem she thought she'd just have to live with
The book and the Instagram account Brooke says are the two non-negotiable resources for anyone starting to learn about perimenopause
Why women aren't supposed to get a bone density scan until 65 — and why that might already be too late
What happened when Brooke and her business partner got their own bone density scans and found out about risk factors they never knew they had
The colonoscopy prep Babble has covered so many times Brooke jokes she has a "frequent flyer card"
The pelvic floor tip about how women are peeing "wrong" — and the small daily habit that might be doing damage without you realizing it
How Babble started monetizing without losing the trust that made it work in the first place
Brooke's manifestation experiment with the Best Life Planner's "10 Dreams I've Achieved" — and the three unplanned massages that showed up after she almost deleted it from her list
Why Brooke and Laurie both push back on being called a "female" doctor, pilot, or scientist — and what that language habit reveals
Brooke's current favorite Amazon dupe, and the one product category she says is always worth the search
Quotable moments
"I actually call myself the anti-influencer."
"Stop calling it a 'passion project'. This is your job."
"Every vagina deserves estrogen."
"We are peeing incorrectly."
"It's the conversation in a newsletter form that you are having with your girlfriends."
"Go for it, girl. Just go for it."
"It feels kind of like a sisterhood, and I love it."
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