Glimmer & Grit

Sharing our Connected

Listen to my latest podcast on your favorite channel Shara Ernst

what inspired

Glimmer & Grit

“How can I help?” That’s what I said when I showed up at the refugee shelter two blocks from my house in 2015. Over a million refugees had arrived in Germany that year. I was an American mom living in Nürnberg, my teenagers were outgrowing the need for me to hover, and I was itching to be useful. So when Angela Merkel asked citizens to step up, I walked down the street and volunteered.

what inspires gg large view

Do you have a story to share with me?

The world can be an overwhelming place. Learning others stories open doors to connection and understanding. Sharing your experiences and sharing your vulnerability is a simple way to start breaking down barriers and opening our eyes to the realities we all face. And life’s a lot easier if we face it together.

What’s yours?

Your story doesn’t need to be finished, polished, or even fully understood yet. It just needs to be true. A moment of grit. A flicker of glimmer. The quiet courage of starting over – at any age, from anywhere. I read every submission personally. If your story feels like a fit for G&G, I’ll reach out directly before anything is shared or published. You can also choose to remain anonymous – your name, your call. Either way, your story is safe with me.

Share it. Own it. You’ve already done the hard part.

G&G Passion

Subjects that Matter

If I feel passionate about a subject, I know others must too. Here are a few of mine and why. Join me in staying informed and up to date.

Aging Boldly

Science has rewritten what’s possible — and the gap between your grandparents’ experience and yours is wider than you think. The work is real but more doable than anyone tells you. We save our energy for the rest — wrinkles, silver hair, and all.

Displaced People

No one leaves home by choice. Behind every story of displacement is resilience, dignity, and a reminder that the distance between their life and ours is smaller than we think.

Mind, Mood & Mental Fitness

Today’s mental health landscape, and the impossible art of knowing how much — or how little — to do for someone you love who is struggling. Including yourself.

AI & The Future We Choose

Technology is reshaping everything — faster than most of us realize. Honest thinking about AI, ethics, and why now is exactly the time to get informed and claim your seat at the table.

Stories from the Kitchen Table

Food is my love language. The table is where life actually happens — hosting without losing your mind, life between two countries, the friendships that travel with you, and how to stay close to people you love when you don’t see the world the same way.

Vision

A global, human-centered community empowering badass women to live with more:

• Courage • Clarity • Strength • Joy

while recognizing our shared humanity across differences.

Mission

Glimmer & Grit envisions a global community of women who refuse to fade quietly into life’s later chapters: we encourage women to be curious, resilient, and unapologetically alive. Through authentic storytelling and thoughtful conversation, we create space to navigate change, loss, reinvention, and possibility with honesty and courage. This is a place to rediscover purpose, claim hard-earned wisdom, and find joy that isn’t naïve, but deeply earned. At Glimmer & Grit, strength is rooted in self-trust, meaning grows through reflection, and the next chapter is not an ending: it’s an opening. Join us!

The Pearl Podcast

Come listen, keep becoming…

A pearl isn’t made from something perfect — it’s made from something that got under your skin. That’s exactly what we’re doing here. Real conversations about the things that actually matter: using AI to evolve into better biological beings, owning our health and the health of people we love, standing up for the displaced and the forgotten, and yes — the kitchen table, the dinner party, the glass of wine that turns into a real conversation. Plus everything in between. This is for women who aren’t done. Who know their next chapter is the one worth writing.

Coming soon in the fall..

You are not done

Welcome to the years you stop asking permission. You’re free to learn what lights you up, reinvent who you are, and decide what comes next-on your own terms, in your own time. There is no expiration date on becoming. Whether you’re starting over, starting fresh, or simply starting-this is your time.