HIYA, GORGEOUS

Lake Forest’s Nina Vallone and Martha Zeeman turn a leap of faith into a community of joy through their podcast.

FROM THE BEGINNING, it’s always been about joy.

When Nina Vallone and Martha Zeeman launched their podcast Hiya, Gorgeous in 2024, they made a pact: the minute it stopped being fun, they’d be honest with one another and walk away. But a year’s worth of episodes, a live event, and a few middle-of-the-night panic sessions later, they’re still showing up with their headphones on and their hearts wide open.

“It’s still fun,” says Vallone of their podcast that focuses on topics encountered in midlife. “It’s also still a lot of work, but if just one person reaches out after an episode and says it meant something to them, that’s everything. That keeps me going.”

Zeeman likens starting the podcast to playing golf. “When I was first learning how to play, one good shot is all it would take to get me to play another round,” she says. “It’s the same with the podcast. Every time someone says, ‘I really needed this episode,’ I think—okay, we’re doing something right.”

The spirit of “say yes and figure it out later” has been the duo’s guiding light since the beginning of their podcast journey. Their origin story doesn’t have a polished marketing campaign or some carefully timed launch. It was two women, in the thick of midlife, looking at each other and saying: If we don’t do this now, we’ll be sitting here in six months wishing we had.

So, they did it. They gave themselves six months to get the podcast up and running, and to see if their idea could actually work. Six months turned into a year as they released their episodes on Spotify and Apple. And that year turned into something bigger than they ever anticipated—something that looks and feels a lot like purpose.

“We didn’t start with a plan,” Zeeman says, laughing. “But by the time we got to our one-year anniversary celebration, we had 52 episodes and a room full of people who were there for us. That night showed us that what we’re building is real.”

While the Hiya, Gorgeous community continues to grow on Instagram, through word-of-mouth, and with enthusiastic guests who now often come to them—the biggest transformation might be the one happening inside each of them.

“In the beginning, we were shrinking ourselves when we talked about the podcast,” says Vallone. “We’d say things like, ‘Oh it’s just this little thing we’re doing.’ But we’ve realized, this isn’t little. The podcast brings us joy. And we shouldn’t diminish that.”

It’s a message they now share freely—”Don’t brush off the things that light you up.”

“When you’re doing something that brings you joy, own it,” Zeeman says. “There’s still so much living left to do, even after the kids are grown, even after you’ve stepped away from a career.”

And joy, as it turns out, can look like late-night editing sessions, figuring out new technology, and scheduling interviews around Lake Forest testing its emergency alarm systems.

“Now when I wake up in the middle of the night, I find myself thinking about the podcast. It’s become a part of who I am,” Vallone admits. “But I’m proud of us. We just jumped in, and we’ve found traction.”

If there’s a heartbeat to Hiya, Gorgeous, it’s not the number of downloads. It’s the friendship at the center of it all.

“I didn’t think at 57 I’d get a new best friend,” says Zeeman. “But here we are. Nina and I challenge each other, not in a competitive way, but in a way that makes each of us each better.”

Most midlife friendships, they note, are formed through kids or church or circumstance. But this one? It was chosen and it’s grown into something both fulfilling and unexpected.

“Martha has been an anchor for me I didn’t even know I needed,” Vallone says. “It’s never too late to deepen a friendship.”

With one year for the podcast in the books, the road ahead is filled with opportunities: a YouTube channel, monthly meditations, a Hiya, Gorgeous book club, and possibly another live event. But with all of these new ideas on the horizon, their ultimate goal hasn’t changed.

“We’ve never defined success as monetization,” says Zeeman. “That doesn’t mean we’re not open to that, but the things that this podcast has given us so far—creativity, community, connection, friendship—those are just as meaningful when we measure our success.”

While the podcast may have started just as a conversation between two friends, it’s become something far more universal.

“We realized that if we’re talking about something, other women probably are, too,” says Vallone. “Empty nesting, aging parents, midlife changes, beauty in your 50s … If someone doesn’t have a person to talk to, maybe we can be that person for them.”

Even if listeners never comment or reach out, they’re still part of the Hiya, Gorgeous community. Because as Vallone and Zeeman have discovered, joy doesn’t have to be flashy to be meaningful. Sometimes it’s just showing up, hitting record, and trusting that what you’re doing matters.

You can find Hiya, Gorgeous on Spotify and Apple.