By: Lotti Pharriss Knowles
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 7/28/2025 – Satori Shakoor’s life has had many acts. Born Jeanette McGruder in Detroit, Michigan, she was primarily a singer and violinist as a teenager and young adult. She experienced early years of success in the music world as a background singer for George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic, then as a member of the P-Funk Collective group The Brides of Funkenstein.
When that chapter came to a close, she pursued acting and stand-up comedy in Toronto. She performed on a sketch comedy TV show, but when she found few other acting roles available to her, she co-founded Obsidian Theatre Company (still hailed as Canada’s “leading culturally specific theatre company”). In her third act she has become a renowned storyteller, performing regularly with The Moth and founding The Secret Society of Twisted Storytellers.
“I’m entrepreneurial,” says Shakoor. “Not enough opportunities were presenting themselves (after the P-Funk era), so I had to create them.”
Shakoor remembers, “I came back to Detroit (from Toronto) out of a tragedy, and I realized that touring the country with The Moth was healing me. People were thanking me for telling my story, and I thought to myself, ‘You mean storytelling can be a service?’ And then I discovered it was my purpose.”
Her most recent one-woman show, Confessions of a Menopausal Femme Fatale, tackles aging, womanhood, and the “change of life” transition all women must navigate – subjects often felt to be taboo in our society. She filmed several live performances to create the “concert film” now available via streaming to audiences nationwide.
In Confessions, Shakoor lays bare her struggles with post-partum depression after her son Noah was born, the grief of losing both Noah and her mother, and (as the title indicates) the vagaries of menopause. Shakoor transforms the pain and adversity she’s experienced into communal catharsis, while also providing her audience with plenty of her fearless humor and deep empathy.
“Some of the reviews have put me in tears. One woman wrote, “Satori does that which is most difficult for any woman to do, and that’s to give birth to herself.’ And that’s exactly what I think menopause provides us – it’s a rebirth. I think it should be a celebration, a rite of passage, a menopause mitzvah!” As a woman of a certain age myself, I raise a glass to Shakoor and her inspiring message to embrace those changes.
To find out more about Satori, you can follow her on social media or visit her website: satorishakoor.com. Confessions of a Menopausal Femme Fatale is now available streaming on Amazon Prime, Apple TV+ and Google Play.
Enjoy the interview below.
