Alisa Kennedy Jones Is A Fearless Wild Thing (From the Archive)

She's a bestselling author, screenwriter, podcaster, CMO and disability rights activist with a flair for strategic rule breaking.

EDITOR’S NOTE: A hell of a lot of amazing stuff has happened in Alisa Kennedy Jones’ life since this was published in 2023, not the least of which is that she founded Empress Editions, a publishing company by and for midlife women, to make sure that our stories are heard and amplified. I pre-ordered 6 copies of their first book, “Quickies”, a midlife sex manual written by Heather Bartos, MD who is sometimes known as “Oprah’s gyno.” I’ll have Alisa and Heather back in Womancake’s pages soon, but for now enjoy this inspiring and hilarious interview with The Empress herself:

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Hi, Alisa, and welcome to the Womancake interview! Please tell me how your day is going?

My day has been going great. I woke up funny, which is a great thing to have happen when you're a comedy writer. People are saying things on your socials or in your household, and you're like, “Oh, that I can use!”. So I brought that into my morning pages, the Julia Cameron thing. I've noticed that when I was writing for TV, because one of my books was being adapted for television, my writing got really choppy. You’re writing a lot of dialogue and a lot of short scenes where things have to happen every two or three pages. So the morning pages force you out of that, because [you just] flow out anything that comes to mind. 

Excellent! Among many other things, you are a bespoke brand consultant, a best-selling author and a disability rights activist. When you look out across the cultural landscape right now, what are you most attracted to and hopeful about, and what is more concerning?

What I'm most attracted to right now is the power of [older] women. In 2025 a billion women will be in menopause. They will be at their wisest, most powerful point in their lives. I want them to know that they're at their most powerful, that they're at a point where their inner teacher is right there, and ready for them. I want us to feel funnier and better about the fact that we're getting culturally, [and] on a planetary level, to a stage where we're about to know a lot about ourselves. And we should use that, we need to leverage that. It's no surprise to me that Oprah is hosting a menopause summit. She's been trying to rebrand menopause for 20 years. It's time for us to change ‘The Change’. 

What's concerning to me is this obsession with Ozempic and the mass commoditization and capitalization of wellness culture, and faux wellness culture. But what's also concerning to me on a broader level is the fact that we have a lot of villains in our current political landscape who [have] the power to do real harm to women with the banning of abortion. That power needs to stay with women and become a whole structure. We're going to need to break a lot of laws to make sure that women are alright. 

You strike me as a rule-breaker from way back, have you always been like that?

Yeah, I don't think I've behaved myself very well through my life. I was a good Girl Scout, I was an A student throughout most of my life, wanting to be the people pleaser. In my family I was uppity and sneaky, but I was also justifying my rule breaking all the time. Like, I can break these rules, because I have good grades. 

The theme of our first issue is flourishing. Is there a particular activity environment or state of mind in which you flourish?

I flourish with other women in the writers’ room, flowing and collaborating. When I have that, I am in heaven. It doesn't have to be all women, but when there are great women and a couple of great men, and you’re in a groove, working together on a story creatively, and mapping out the beats of the story and hitting the notes of the different characters, it’s the most wonderful thing. That can be for a commercial or for a brand, or that can be for a half-hour comedy. Or it can be for a book you're writing together. 

Sounds great! Are there any daily wellness habits or practices that are meaningful to you?

I do my little crone walk with my ladies out in the park in San Francisco. It is so restorative to see my same old bitches out, we know each other a bit. We range in age from, I don't know, 38 to 98. I love these women. When it's a beautiful sunny day, it'll be us and the park roses, and I'll see the bay and the sun on the water. That for me is the most restorative thing on the planet, to be out there with my women. 

How does wisdom manifest in your life at this time?

Wisdom is manifesting when I can get really quiet with myself. I've also been listening to Martha Beck's “Way of Integrity”. There's something about the way that she talks about being lost in the dark. She takes you through Dante's Divine Comedy as the structure of awakening and growth. So [I ask myself], where am I in the dark wood of error? And where in my life have I been in the dark wood? Listening to her reminds me of your inner teacher, that moment of, “Oh I know this, something in me knows this.” I've got to just remind myself that when I get doubtful or when I get scared of something, I can tune into my wisdom. There's a certain amount of audacity that comes with my particular disability, which is epilepsy. Because once you have had a diagnosis of epilepsy, and you've had 1000s of seizures in front of people all over the place, [it’s] pretty much like you've died on repeat over and over and over again. That makes you pretty audacious. That audacity makes you kind of wild. Wild things aren't afraid of other wild things. 

There's a certain amount of audacity that comes with my particular disability, which is epilepsy. Because once you have had a diagnosis of epilepsy, and you've had 1000s of seizures in front of people all over the place, [it’s] pretty much like you've died on repeat over and over and over again. That makes you pretty audacious. That audacity makes you kind of wild. Wild things aren't afraid of other wild things.

Wow, that’s amazing! Will you share an aspect of your character that you've grown to love and one that you still struggle with?

I used to be really worried about my mouth, my lack of filter. One of my bosses in the corporate world [used to tell me], “You need to have a better filter. You come off as too aggressive, too ambitious.” I used to be scared of that. Then, when I would be meek and mild, they would get mad at me for not being tough enough. But I’ve really grown to love the fact that I have no filter. 

The thing that I'm less comfortable with about myself is that I still have moments where I fire myself, where I self-cancel. My executive coach, who I value tremendously, is like, “Stop firing yourself. Get back in the game, you belong there.” Because sometimes I have a tendency to say, “I'm not qualified for that.”

Will you share a woman in your life who currently inspires you and why?

My girlfriend who “queen-bee’d” me. We met up after she accused me of certain things that I wrote about. She's been going through hell, that woman. She inspires the hell out of me because she's right in the middle of this terrible divorce. And yet she was in tears, and she was just full of rich emotion and love. [She offered] an apology, and sanity and hilarity. I've known her forever, and she's taken care of me through terrible seizures that I've had. A friend breakup is one of the hardest breakups you can go through, but a friend reconciliation and reconnection [is] one of the most powerful, wonderful things. [It’s great] to see friends come around to even forgiving you for all your microaggressions and your idiocies, which I'm full of.

Lastly, will you share your current favorite products that you have found through your work as editor of The Empress?

Hands-down my favorite thing that saved my life is Winona,* the HRT product. Because I have epilepsy, hormones can impact whether I have seizures. They worked with me and my neurologist to get the dosage right. It has enabled me to go back to sleep at night, to not have night sweats and my skin has softened everywhere. My vajayjay had completely turned into the Sahara. I was also having the additional suffering of UTIs because that's an adjacent problem. This product is bio identical progesterone. It's a cream, I rub it on my arm at nine o'clock every night. One pump. And Oprah does too. They also [provide] DHEA*. I take 50 milligrams a day. These two things come to maybe $79 every three months or something like that. My second favorite thing is those hot flash patches*, because when I have to go for meetings, I want to ensure that I don't have a hot flash.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The information contained in this Womancake Magazine interview is intended for informational purposes only, and is not intended for the purpose of diagnosing, treating, curing or preventing any illness. Before using any products referenced in this piece, consult your healthcare providers, read all labels and head all cautions that come with the products. Information received from this piece, or anywhere in this magazine, should not be used in place of a consultation or advice form a healthcare provider. If you suspect you have any adverse conditions, please consult your healthcare providers immediately. This magazine, including Alicia Dara and any other writers or editors, disclaim any responsibility from any possible adverse effects from the use of any information contained herein. Opinions of any guests in this magazine are their own, and the magazine does not accept responsibility for statements made by guests. This magazine does not make any representations or warranties about a guest’s qualifications or credibility. 

Alisa is the editor of two Substacks, The Empress and Gotham Girl. She can be found via her website. Pick up her vivid bestseller, “Gotham Girl: My Misadventures in Motherhood, Love, and Epilepsy”.