One year can bring about changes to last for a lifetime. One year has been enough for me to explore new avenues, trust my guts, take some risks and believe in myself enough to launch a bold magazine for women over 40 – one that is changing the perception of midlife and defying existing stereotypes, one illustrated story at a time.

Making the Midlife Dream Come True

CrunchyTales was born out of necessity and frustration. I wanted to make the most of my 20 years of experience as a journalist and editor, and I couldn’t find any magazine that was truly able to represent me, my friends and all those sassy, confident and glamourous middle-aged ladies out there. As I do believe journalism’s first obligation is to the truth, I thought it was time to provide readers with new lenses focused on what’s really going on and to pay a tribute to a new generation of ‘grey pride’ women who don’t let age, circumstances, stereotypes define them. I was tired of the aura of ‘frumpiness’ with which the society describes middle-aged ladies and I wanted to portray the real, ‘crunchy’ side of midlife that is not just menopause and gardening. I wanted to highlight the talent and resources of women who break boundaries, find their true calling and create new, meaningful paths in their lives. What better way to do it than by using bold illustrations to enhance the content and the playful side of this ageless generation?

Since its launch in December 2018, our crunchy, refreshing narrative inspires a dialogue capable of breaking boundaries between assumption and reality. We have offered our global audience hundreds of crunchy, illustrated articles on lifestyle, wellbeing, food & wine, travel, also showcasing stories of ordinary yet extraordinary midlife women. We have organised 5 inspiring panel talks in the UK reaching audiences of a few hundred each time. Our initiative has been featured on the Italian press (La Repubblica, Ansa and IoDonna) and on the British newspapers CheshireLive and The Standard. We have a constant group of followers on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, a vibrant online community, and our articles are read by thousands of women all over the world.

A great team…and a supportive community

These fabulous results wouldn’t have happened without the help of a visionary, unconventional team. Crunchy Tales is the result of a great alchemy among its key elements: the magic touch and unbeatable, sophisticated style of our art director Stefania Tomasich who has been supporting this project since the very beginning, the inquisitive and sharp mind of our senior contributor and opinionist Lorenza Bacino, and the amazing creativity and sense of editorial judgment of our illustrator, graphic designer, and editor-at-large, Hanna Suni.

Indeed, I have to say thank you to many others as well. Amongst them is Nicola Haigh, the community manager of Chester Storyhouse, and all those inspirational ladies who believed in this project either supporting, promoting or attending our Crunchy Talks.

Prof Emma Rees, Dr. Vinita Mishra, Izzi Grey, Valentina Harris, Prof Raluca Radulescu, Rebecca Weef Smith, Rachel Peru, Emma Stringfellow, Theresa Robberts, Kate Blakemore, Angela Ferguson, Claire Dudman, Julie Salisbury have been happy to share their skills and wisdom with our community. A heart-felt thank you to you all.

Our readers are our ‘crunch’

But without our faithful audience, those of you who read our magazine regularly either via email subscription, RSS feed or visiting our website, the effort would be for naught. I am grateful for the time you have invested in reading our articles: this has given us a massive boost of energy and motivation to continue writing and resetting the meaning of midlife. Without you, we couldn’t have possibly dreamt of growing to our current level. Now, we are ready to embark on a new exciting path focused on promoting our positive message, consolidating our readership and our partner network, making the voice of women over 40 count even more. Our aim is to spread our wings and words of female empowerment around the world, so we can inspire more midlife women to rediscover their voices and the joy of the second act of their lives. Middle age is a colourful stage of our life and we are delighted to be part of your journey.