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239 Connie Goddard: Writer and Independent Scholar: Intertwining Labor, Learning, and History
Connie Goddard has reimagined who she is for her entire life. One thing remains constant: her love for writing and for history. Connie lived in Chicago for most of her life; she writes about the city's history, that of the Dakotas where her family is...
238 Terri Banner Fitzsimmons: Rising from the Ashes: A Powerful Testimony to Life
Terri Banner Fitzsimmons hails from British Columbia. She has been in the field of education most of her adult life, as a teacher of all grades, Sociology Professor for twenty years, director of an Independent Study Program, helping adults earn their...
237 Dian Greenwood: Helping Women Discover Their Agency
As a therapist and writer, I support women who struggle with real problems to bolster their agency. - Dian Greenwood Growing up in the basement of the courthouse adjoined to the jail in South Dakota, Dian developed an affinity for people who struggle...
236 Cheryl Keen: Scholarly Activist Follows Her Callings
Cheryl Keen, EdD—scholar, activist, Quaker—has always tried to follow her callings which personify commitment, connection, and community. As a pioneer in significant movements--peace education and justice, service-learning, and progressive higher...
235 Liz Kitchens: Be Brave, Lose the Beige
Meet Beige. Beige is reliable, practical, sensible, and safe. Beige doesn’t put up a fuss; it follows the rules, blends in, doesn’t want to stand out. Now meet Liz Kitchens. She is more of a magenta. Magenta is rich, dynamic, loud, sometimes garish, and...
234 Noelle Nelson: What You Think You Know About Aging is Wrong
Author of more than a dozen books, Dr. Noelle Nelson has appeared on national and international radio and television, been interviewed, quoted or written about in dozens of publications and has spoken on the subject of appreciation before audiences in the...
233 Esther Gandica: Reinvention is a Way of Life
Born in Athens, Greece, Esther Gandica came to the United States, on her own, on a Fulbright scholarship in 1967. She was born in 1949. Her parents lived in Salonica, Greece, which had the largest Jewish population at the time, outside of Israel. The...
232 Valerie Ulene and Byrdie Lifson Pompan: Empowering Women to Care for Themselves with Dignity
Dr. Val and Byrdie are co-founders of Boom Home Medical, a “lifestyle brand that makes home medical products.” Dr. Val, a public health and preventive medicine physician, and Byrdie, a literary agent turned health care leader, recognized that home medical...
Phoebe Rubin and Erica Tanamachi: Work While You Have the Light
This cross-generational pair—Phoebe 76 and Erica 43—believes that younger women don’t hear enough from older women about what it looks like to keep “living out loud…and contributing actively” during the later decades. Why should women accept the cloak of...
230 Allura Adelson: Let Your Goddess Shine Through: Energetically Enliven your Heart’s Center
Living through the unimaginable - caregiving her son from his diagnosis of carcinoma at age 13, and through a 2nd diagnosis at 19, completely altered the trajectory of Allura's life. Her son died at 20. Even before that, Allura’s brother, with whom she...
229 Deanna Berman: An Interior Architect on a Lifetime Journey
“There will be junctions where it will be important for you to ‘just let it happen.’ We ourselves are many people at the same time.” Deanna Berman is an interior architect working with the bones, geometry and structure of 3-dimensional living and working...
228 Roxanne Lorch: Transitions in Work, Love, and Community
Roxanne Lorch, age 85, from Cary, NC, is a full-time artist with a studio in Durham NC who exhibits her work in juried shows and wins awards. Roxanne was among the first women to work in commercial design and graphics (who was not a secretary) and then in...
227 Terry Baum & Carolyn Myers: Pioneers in Lesbian and Feminist Theater
Playwright, director and collaborators for 50 years, Terry and Carolyn fearlessly tackle lesbian and feminist themes. They are thrill-seekers. While Carolyn is married with children, the pair seize every opportunity they can to work together. Terry moved...
226 Celina Edelstein: A Research Scientist Finds Passion, Purpose and Love
Celina Edelstein lived in New York, was married and had a son. They divorced while their son was young. With a background in chemistry and a love for science, she sought a job in research. Angelo, a research doctor, offered her the opportunity to help him...
225 Joyce Porter: New Experiences Uncover New Talents – Meet Joyce, the Writer
Joyce Klowden Porter, 73, has been an actor in 60 films, taught college for 30 years and is a non-fiction author. She recently won several awards for the film, Stairs, and continues to act as roles become available. Joyce’s late husband, Paul, gave her...
224 Francesca James: Helping People Find Their Wholeness
Francesca James, age 71, from Ingelwood CA, is a full-time intuitive wellness coach and energy healer. After a life-threatening bout with cancer, Francesca gave up high-stress work as a successful Black woman in white corporate America to connect “more...
223 Barbara McAfee: Taking the Girdles Off Women’s Voices
As a voice coach, singer, and songwriter Barbara McAfee’s mission is to ‘midwife’ women’s voices. “Tell me your story about your voice” is Barbara’s invitation to help aging women break the sounds of silence, express new sounds for healing, and experience...
222 Edwige Gilbert: Passion Helps you be the Best Version of Yourself
Edwige Gilbert is French. As founder of New Life Directions, she guides women to reinvent their lives and create fresh starts driven by a purposeful vision. She is passionate about women taking care of their bodies and allowing themselves to feel sexy...
Debbie Watts: Ms. Senior World–A platform for women over 70
Crowned Ms. Senior World 70’s for 2023, Debbie Watts’ mission is to empower women, especially as they age. Debbie’s talents as an author, educator, playwright, songwriter and performer, and producer of film and stage plays prepared her to enter the world...
220 Connie Kiosse: Who Am I & Where do I Belong?
Connie Kiosse is a complex woman. A deep thinker whose life has taken many twists and turns. A lover of women’s literature and the authors who write them. She is always questioning how to use the artifacts of her past and asks, “Art and words - how do...
219 Anne White: Green Elder–Climate Justice Advocate
Anne fell in love with nature as a young girl spending summers on her grandparents’ farm in north Georgia. Often alone with “nothing to do,” she read books and made friends with the insects, plants, snakes, and trees. After several decades as an...
Kathryn Grody: The Unexpected 3rd, a Work in Progress
A true Renaissance woman, Kathryn Grody is an actor, playwright, and activist. She wanted to act since childhood. While born in Los Angeles, she recognized that living there was a cosmic error and never felt at home until she moved to New York City....
217 Karen Egoff: Healing Energy Gives You the Gift of Self-Care
Karen Egoff realized at a young age that she has extra gifts. She didn’t know what to do with the energy she felt from others until she became a young woman. Through practice, Karen has learned to manifest healing energy and help relieve aches, pains and...
216 Sara Paretsky: V.I. Warshawski Fights on for Women’s Rights
Sara Paretsky is a lifelong reader of crime fiction. She developed her social conscience early on, realizing that women were so often represented in negative ways, and so often invisible. Years later when she began to write crime stories herself, she...
215 Dr. Robin H. Miller – Keys to Well-being– Heart, Brain, and Gut
Dr. Robin H. Miller is a general internist and integrative medicine expert who founded and directs Triune Integrative Medicine in Medford, Oregon. Dr. Miller came close to quitting medicine altogether until, several decades ago, she completed a fellowship...
214 Diane Gilman: Risk-taking and Boldness are the way to Transformation
Bold and vivacious herself, Diane’s 2nd book: Too Young to Be Old: How to Stay Vibrant, Visible, and Forever in Blue Jeans: 25 Secrets from TV's Jean Queen shows women how to face life with unfailing optimism and be risk-averse. As she reached her 60’s,...
213 Helen Shiller: Daring to Struggle, Daring to Win
Helen Shiller, age 75, was a six-term alderperson in Chicago’s poor and oppressed communities where she advocated for radical changes to police misconduct, poverty, and racism. Starting in the early 1970s, Helen’s activism took a page from the Black...
212 Joyce Feustel: An Unstructured Life- Happiness is creating a business from your passion
Joyce Feustel earned three degrees: BS in English Education, MS in Health Education and MA in Health Services Administration. While pregnant with her first child, she was elected to the County Board of Supervisors. After her daughter was born in December...
211 Kimbeth Judge: Becoming A Widow
Kimbeth Judge has been writing her entire life. At age 4 she was already fascinated by adult behavior. Understanding human nature has preoccupied her ever since. Putting words to paper enables her to make sense of what she thinks she sees. Her mother...
210 Opal Lee and Dione Sims: A Lifelong Fight Ensures Freedom, Food, Housing & Clothing for Everyone
Dynamic duo, Opal Lee, 96 and her granddaughter, Dione Sims, 54 are relentless in their fight for freedom. Opal’s activism started as a home school counselor in South Fort Worth, TX. Opal believed that “access to information and resources is what helps us...
209 Catherine Johns: You’ve Been Fired…Now What?
Catherine Johns found her way to an early career in broadcasting. She thought she went to college to become a nurse. There was this guy in her dormitory……how many stories started out that way in the ‘60s? “You have an amazing voice. You should be on the...
208 Susan Weininger Understanding Artists’ Lives and Work
Dr. Susan Weininger, age 78, is professor emerita of art history at Roosevelt University, Chicago, where she was Chair of the Department of History, Art History and Philosophy. She concentrates on art from the first half of the 20 th century, delving...
207 Eileen Joyce Donovan: Historical Research Unleashes a Writer’s Path
Eileen Joyce Donovan has been a writer throughout her life. It was not until she had been an adult for many years that she began to pursue writing seriously. Until then, she never felt her stories were “good enough”. It was her late husband who...
Claudia Cooley: Doing What She Loves Ignited Her Success
Claudia Cooley lives in Southern California with her husband of 61 years, one of the many ‘balcony people’ in her life who believed in her ability to make an impact. Self-taught, forward thinking and willing to put herself in uncomfortable positions,...
205 Sonia Ancoli-Israel: Sleep Disorders and What You Can Do About Them
Sonia Ancoli-Israel, Ph.D. is a Professor Emeritus and Professor of Research in the Department of Psychiatry and the Center of Circadian Biology at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine. Her expertise is in the field of sleep...
204 Sara Zeff Geber: Solo Agers Planning for Their Future
Sara Zeff Geber, PhD, considers the years beyond 65 as the ‘bonus years.’ As a nationally recognized leader in planning for aging and retirement, in 2013 Sara began pursuing solo aging with a passion. The baby boomers--some 15 million--who do not have...
203 Nora Natof: Moving Forward and Giving Back
Nora Natof, age 87, now resides in Oak Park, IL, the village that is home to the studio of her grandfather, Frank Lloyd Wright, and many of the homes he designed. The summers Nora spent at Talieslin, her grandfather’s ‘almost’ sustainable community in...
202 Sally Strosahl: Keeping Long-term Relationships Alive
As a marriage and family therapist in private practice for more than 4 decades, Sally Strosahl (LCPC) has heard countless stories from couples about distress in their relationship as they move into retirement and get older. She felt called to write Loving...
201 Janice Hooker-Fortman: Ms. Senior Illinois 2022 Speaks to All Relationships that Matter
Dr. Janice Hooker-Fortman, relationship coach, is a former Chicago Public School educator, motivational speaker, and producer and host of “The Mother/Daughter Relationship Show. and Relationship Matters tv. She is an award-winning author, relationship...
200 Alice Matzkin: Celebrating the Authentic Aging Self
Alice Matzkin is an internationally known artist whose works fearlessly depict women aging. Alice has 2 paintings in the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian and has appeared on Oprah. Her portrait of Chelsea hung in the White House during the...
199 Sally Duplantier: Lifestyle Choices to Live Your Best Life Longer
In her third career, Sally Duplantier, gerontologist and healthspan educator, founded her mission-driven company, Zing, to help older adults live as long as possible without chronic disease and disability. Through Zing, Sally offers Wellness Wednesdays,...
198 Annie Korzen: Tik Tok Sensation at 83 Shares Her Wisdom with Younger Generations
Annie Korzen’s career dreams finally came true in her 80’s. At age 83, she is a TikTok sensation with young fans who love her wit and wisdom about living life as an older woman. Annie brings her talents as an actress, writer, storyteller, and teacher to...
197 Jacqueline Boyd: The-Care-Plan Tackles the Unique Care Challenges of the LGBTQ+ Community
{spp-player] As a queer, biracial woman, Jacqueline Boyd, BA, BS, CGCM, has advocated for her community by offering services that address specific care needs. She is especially interested in how to provide people with continuing care in their homes. Her company,...
196 Mary Isabel Azrael: Publishing the Work of Older Writers
Mary Isabel Azrael, age 78, from Baltimore MD, is a poet, editor, and teacher. She is the author of four books of poems, and in her 60s, wrote the libretto for an opera, Lost Childhood, which has been performed in Los Angeles, New York, and Tel Aviv...
195 Bett Martinez: An Activist Who Advocates for Others and Self
Bett Martinez has experienced more death-defying accidents than most in her lifetime. An auto accident at 33, and again, later in life caused 2 serious head injuries, badly smashed broken legs and ongoing auto-immune issues. But Bett, who began to...
194 Josephine “Joby” Kennedy: Paths of the Heart – Where Will Your Heart Lead You?
As a young adult, Joby Kennedy became fascinated with how different people cope with trauma. This led her into a clinical psychology career during which she worked with adults, some families, and school children. She refers to herself as a generalist,...
193 Cynthia Barnett: For Girls Only–Careers in STEAM
Originally from the West Indies, Cynthia Barnett, Ph.D., from Norwalk CT retired at age 59 to pursue the question--Why Are There So Few Women in the Sciences? Cynthia became CEO and founder of a non-profit program--Amazing Girls Science-- whose goal is to...
192 Susan Reed: Being an Active Citizen–Why Not Me?
Susan Reed, PhD, age 70, has led a life of social-political action since her teens. She campaigned for McGovern and later for Obama; interned with the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union; protested the Vietnam War; worked on social policy for equities in...
191 Sara Levinson: Open-ended Thinking Leads to Adventure
Born in Poland, Sara Levinson, 75, migrated to the United States in 1963 when she was 16. She traveled by ocean liner to Montreal and later moved to Chicago. She practices an open-ended thought process and has learned to go for any opportunity that...
190 Diane Deaderick-DeMartra: Breaking the Cycle of Intergenerational Poverty for Young Women
Diane Deaderick DeMartra, a professional who has worked in corporations, non- profits, and higher education, devotes her passions and talents to “enlighten, educate, and empower inner-city teen girls and young women, especially teen and young, single...
189 Amy Temperley: Advocate for Active Aging
Amy Temperley’s passion centers on Active Aging--helping older adults stay social, active, and engaged. As a life coach and consultant, and entrepreneurial business owner, Amy focuses on helping 60+ adults find their passion and continue to live, laugh...
188 Betty Grebenschikoff: Escaping the Holocaust, adapting to refugee life, and belonging in America.
Betty Grebenschikoff, age 92 ½ , continues to speak out about the horrors of the Holocaust and her experiences as a refugee without a passport: from Germany to China to Australia and, finally, to the United States where she gained citizenship. At age 9,...
187 Dr. Louann Brizendine: The Female Brain Gets Stronger and Better in Midlife and Beyond
For years, women have been told by society to dread the second half of life, with no support available beyond expensive ointments and procedures promising to reverse the signs of aging. But thanks to Dr. Louann Brizendine’s latest book: The Upgrade: How...
186 Mary-Frances O’Connor, PhD: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Loss and Love
Why is grief so complicated and why does grieving take such a long time, possibly never ending? In The Grieving Brain (2022), renowned grief expert, neuroscientist, and psychologist, Mary-Frances O’Connor, PhD, offers new perspectives on understanding...
185 Donna Chacko: Gratitude for an Abundance of Health and Faith
Donna Chacko, MD, practiced medicine for 40 years, first as a radiation oncologist and later, after retraining in her 50’s, as a family medicine doctor. While serving people faced with poverty and homelessness, she learned that health involves far more...
184 Patricia Novick: Championing Reproductive Freedom in the post-Roe Era
Before abortion was legalized by the US Supreme Court in 1973 (Roe v Wade), a Chicago-based group of over 100 women--known as Jane--provided counseling and illegal abortions for 11,000 women (1969-1973). Rev. & Dr. Patricia Novick, age 75, was one...
183 Nancy Watson: Many Pathways to Nurturing Others
Nancy Watson’s entrepreneurial spirit has led her on different paths, always toward nurturing other people. Her 8-year long career as a teacher in disadvantaged neighborhoods in Chicago in the 1970s was interrupted by a 2-year stint as the contented owner...
182 Pauline Boss, PhD. – The Myth of Closure: Ambiguous Loss in a Time of Pandemic and Change
Closure from ambiguous loss is a harmful misnomer. What’s needed is resilienceto live in meaningful ways with no closure. - Pauline Boss PhD. In the 1970s, Pauline Boss, PhD, began developing her theory of ambiguous loss which shebrought to the lay public...
181 Karen Kalish: Social Problems; Social Causes – Over 70 and Still Reimagining
Karen Kalish’s career included school teacher, consumer advocate, business owner, and on-air TV reporter. She became a serial social entrepreneur and believes that to whom much is given, much is required. “Partners and collaborators are what make it work....
180 Joan Harmsen: Helping Others and Having Fun
At age 97, Joan Harmsen still thrives on helping others make life more meaningful and fun. As a young war bride, Joan traded the paradise-like environment of southern Australia for the hard realities of farm life in Minnesota. To alleviate disappointment...
178 Phyllis Walden: Learning for Life in a Complex World
For Phyllis Walden, life experiences offer abundant opportunities for learning. Reading The Second Sex near completion of her doctoral program in Philosophy in the late 1960s reinforced Phyllis’ feminist perspectives. As a mentor and teacher in...
177 Jane Llewellyn: Cancer Survivor Innovates Nursing and Travels the World
At age 65, Jane Llewellyn (PHD, RN) decided to retire from her rewarding and demanding positions as Vice President of Nursing and as Associate Dean of the Nursing College at Rush University Medical Center. Why retire when she was on top of her game?...
176 Lily Liu: Role Model to 1,000s of Children and Adults during her 40-year Agency Career
Ever since she came to the United States from Kobe, Japan, at 10, Lily Liu has devoted herself to living up to the role models she found in her grandparents, aunt and mother. Her grandmother raised her while her mother, widowed at 32, worked to support...
175 Martha Hansen: Actor, Writer, Producer Launches 1st Play
Martha Hansen knows what it’s like to age. What she didn’t know was that 7 Days at Sea would be the first play she wrote and self-produced. Or that it would hit, head-on, the sexuality of women at older ages, as well as bring her close up to illness,...
174 Stephanie Raffleock: Rewriting the Narrative About Aging Women
As a child of the 1960s drug culture, Stephanie Raffelock dropped out of high school. Her return to formal education in her mid-thirties opened the doorway into examining her own life and providing platforms for other women to tell the stories of their...
173 Katharine Esty: One Psychologist’s Study Reveals the 80s is a Time of Unexpected Happiness
Dr. Katharine Esty’s husband was seriously ill when she turned 80. It put her in a funk. Even hiking with her family, an ordinary event, sent her deeper into the doldrums. Katharine couldn’t make it to the top of a favorite hill during one hike and it...
172 Vicki Thomas: Purpose-Driven Business Woman: In this World to do Good
Vicki Thomas, 76 is a life-long journalist, producer, writer and purpose-driven businesswoman. She started her career as a media writer for a multi-state trade association, worked for ABC Chicago and, in 1988, started her own company. At 75, she realized...
171Joyce Sutphen: Using Words to Find My Way
In recognition of National Poetry Month, we bring you Joyce Sutphen. Joyce Sutphen discusses her love of teaching and writing poetry, her attachment to rural life, and her decade-long experience living with Parkinson’s. Farm girl becomes college professor...
170 Joan Sotkin: You Can Change Your Life by Changing Your Emotions
Joan Sotkin, 81, is creator of 3 books and 5 audios and a financial coach whose approach is based on brain science. She is also host of the podcast The Prosperity Show. “What you believe affects what happens in your life. Every decision has an emotional...
169 Francine Russo: Older Singles – Discover New Ways to Partner Up
Francine Russo grew up in New York - a lower middle class Jewish girl. Her parents felt strongly that her MRS. Degree was more important than getting her PH.D. She did marry, twice. Both husbands died and she was left to find Love After 50: the title of...
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