Irene & Michele

Bad Ass Besties Podcast

Two best friends. Real conversations. And absolutely no pretending we have it all figured out.

Bad Ass Besties is a show hosted by best friends Michele Hartwig and Irene Kok about friendship, confidence, beauty, health, aging, relationships, business, and figuring out who you are in every season of life.

Michele is the founder of Ornery Mule Racing, a trail and ultrarunning company that hosts races throughout the Midwest. Irene is an FDN Practitioner and nutrition coach who helps people improve their health, understand their bodies, and create sustainable habits.

But Bad Ass Besties isn't really about their résumés.

It's about the conversations they've been having for years.

On trail runs. Long walks. Road trips. Over coffee. While shopping for makeup. And during those phone calls when one of them says, “Okay, I need to talk to you about something…”

They talk about hormones and weight loss. Beauty and skincare. Perfume and fashion. Running and fitness. Relationships and divorce. Building businesses. Getting older. Starting over. Confidence. Friendship. And learning to care a whole lot less about what everyone else thinks.

Sometimes it's serious. Sometimes it's ridiculous. Usually it's a little of both.

Eventually Michele and Irene realized something:

Maybe other women would like to be part of these conversations, too.

So they hit record.

We're not experts at having life figured out. We're two women sharing what we've learned, what we're still learning, what we're loving, what didn't work, and the conversations we'd be having anyway.

Because being a Bad Ass Bestie isn't about being perfect.

It's about valuing yourself and the women around you, being unapologetically yourself, staying curious, and continuing to grow without losing your sense of humor along the way.

So pull up a chair. Grab your coffee. Pour a glass of wine. Lace up your shoes. Or throw us on while you're getting ready in the morning.

You're one of the Besties now. 🩷

Real friendship. Honest conversations. A little sweat, a little sparkle, and a whole lot of figuring it out together.