0:00

And of that . Well

0:03

, yeah , we'll include an older woman , but we're

0:05

not going to really pay her , or we may not

0:07

. We may , you know , pair

0:09

her with someone that looks like her grandfather

0:12

. So it's , there are those

0:14

successes , but we still have a long

0:16

way to go for brands to understand

0:19

who we are and what age really

0:21

looks like and get the perception

0:23

and reality of age to match , because

0:25

it doesn't currently .

0:37

Hi , I'm Linus Woods Mullins and I

0:39

love to help women to vibe , to be

0:41

more vibrant , intuitive , beautiful and

0:43

empowered in their life . So come on

0:45

, let's vibe . There's

0:55

been so much discussion lately about

0:58

this whole aging process . I

1:00

really I'm

1:06

always getting people sending me articles and reels and all kinds of things about the

1:08

aging thing . It's not just like my generation all

1:10

of a sudden started getting old . I think

1:12

it has to do with the numbers . There

1:14

are so many more people like me than

1:16

there has ever been before

1:19

. In time , the baby boomers have

1:21

taken over and the interesting

1:23

thing is that we're not going

1:25

away . But unfortunately

1:28

, that particular part

1:30

of communication while I'm getting

1:32

all the information and I know my guests are getting information

1:34

it doesn't seem to be happening

1:37

as much when it comes to the marketing and advertising

1:39

arm of the

1:42

advertisers and the people

1:44

who make the decisions in terms of who hawks

1:47

their products . Basically , well

1:49

, I am so excited because I have

1:51

with me today a woman who is in many ways

1:53

, single-handedly trying to change that

1:55

. Stephanie O'Dell , who

1:57

is the founder of

1:59

Celebrate the Gray is an agency

2:01

for women over 50

2:04

, and she represents about 100

2:06

of the real models , influencers

2:08

and content creators . It's

2:11

a collective of women who are passionate

2:13

about changing the visuals and

2:16

the narratives that women

2:18

can be served at any

2:20

age , that we are still vibrant

2:22

, still involved , still engaged

2:25

, believe it or not , after 50

2:27

. And she represents a wonderful

2:30

demographic of women who are

2:32

living lives that are all about what I talk

2:34

about all the time vibrant lives after

2:37

50 , after 60 , after 65 . And

2:39

then we have with us Angela she

2:42

, angela Belias I hope

2:44

I'm saying that correctly , okay . And she's

2:46

a wife and a mom of an autistic teenager

2:49

and she is also

2:51

a recent gray haired model

2:53

. And I invited her on because she

2:55

is kind of in her encore career

2:57

and has had some demonstrated success in

2:59

working as a gray haired model . And let's just get

3:01

into it . What's going on , stephanie ? Why

3:04

do you think all of a sudden people

3:06

have awakened and say , oh , you're

3:08

old and maybe that's not so bad

3:10

?

3:13

well . Thank you , first and foremost , for

3:15

having us both here today and

3:17

um , we actually are close to 300

3:20

models and influencers and

3:22

content creators nationwide . So

3:24

, and growing , I have , you

3:27

know , five to 10 women

3:29

a week reach out and say I want to be part of what you're doing

3:31

. So I would say

3:33

, for us it hasn't been all

3:36

of a sudden . It's been a five year

3:38

plus journey of getting

3:40

our name out there , growing , organically

3:43

growing and

3:45

really building credibility

3:47

in the space , the age inclusion space , and

3:50

really listening to the brands that

3:52

are working with us to find out what works

3:54

for them . You know what

3:56

is the resource they need . Do they need models

3:59

? Do they need influencers ? Do they need ambassadors

4:01

? Do they need content ? Because

4:04

I think brands want to represent us more

4:07

authentically , but it's very hard to find those

4:09

visuals , it's hard to find us . It's

4:12

, you know , that's one thing I hear from brands

4:14

is where is she ? How do I reach her ? You

4:17

know they think we're on TikTok , they

4:19

think we're on Instagram and the data still

4:21

shows that the 50 plus woman

4:23

is mostly on Facebook . So there's

4:26

a lot of misconception and

4:28

misinformation . So

4:30

there's a lot of education that we , as the

4:33

consumer , need to do for

4:35

brands to really understand who we are .

4:38

You know it's interesting because you're right , the majority of us

4:40

are on Facebook , but just recently

4:42

the last two months literally

4:45

I've been on TikTok and I've been surprised

4:47

. I'm getting thousands of views and

4:49

people and I'm slowly

4:51

getting the followers . I think I'm like just under

4:54

a thousand or something like that , but

4:56

there seems to be an

4:58

audience for what it is that I'm talking

5:00

about . Of course , I talk all about wellness for

5:03

women over 40 . But the interesting

5:05

thing that I found out is that

5:07

the men who seem to be interested in finding

5:09

out more about what

5:11

it means to age

5:14

gracefully in this

5:16

particular time of our lives and I was just

5:18

wondering had you ever considered , do you have any male

5:20

gray haired models as well ?

5:29

male gray haired models as well . Nope , nope , I've had men reach out , but I focused

5:31

on women . You know it's a space . I understand it's a personal journey for myself . You know

5:33

, having a 92 year old mother

5:35

and a 23 year old daughter , I

5:37

see the the journey

5:40

at both sides of the journey . So

5:42

I always think , you know , whatever journey

5:44

you're on , the more personal you can make it , the

5:47

more authentic and the more it resonates

5:49

with people . So you

5:51

know , maybe someday , but not yeah

5:53

, which is exactly why I don't work with

5:55

men in terms of wellness ?

5:56

I'm not . I don't do men . I'm married to one

5:59

, that's it . I've got four

6:01

daughters , you know , two sisters

6:03

. You

6:08

know we're a matriarchal family for the most part , so I'm

6:11

not into that part , but I could see where , because , in my

6:14

opinion , the men who are older

6:16

are not being represented

6:18

. I mean , I was looking at something the other day

6:20

with an actor and I was like Jesus

6:22

, he looks like he's one foot in the grave . Other

6:24

day with an actor and I was like Jesus , he looks

6:26

like he's one foot in the grave . But they had him as an active male adult who was married

6:29

, whose wife still seemed to be attracted to him

6:31

and everything else , and he looked like Methuselah

6:34

. I'm not going to say his name , but it

6:36

was like whoa . Okay

6:38

. First initial T , last initial

6:40

J

6:42

, middle initial L Okay .

6:49

Okay . Well , I'm going gonna have to work on that one

6:51

. You

6:55

have the same kind of experience on the Amazon prime ad that you did . I even wrote you and I'm

6:57

like who's the guy they paired you with .

6:59

Yeah , I got a lot of people responding to that

7:01

too going . I can't believe that was

7:03

your husband on the show . I'm like

7:05

, yeah , well , I'm not

7:07

part of the casting , I can't make that decision

7:10

, I just show up .

7:12

I thought that was interesting too , but it's interesting

7:15

. I know you have a lot of experiences now , Angela

7:17

, since you've entered into the second career . But what

7:19

made you decide to enter into the second career

7:22

?

7:24

It was a brave decision

7:27

on my part , because I never

7:29

thought of myself ever

7:31

being a model and I

7:34

got more and more people coming

7:36

up to me on the street going I love your hair

7:38

, how do you get it like that ? Or

7:41

, you know , I got a lot of compliments on

7:43

my look and I

7:45

thought , you know , maybe

7:47

? And then I started seeing , like , is

7:49

there modeling opportunities for

7:52

the 50 plus demographic

7:55

? And so I just kind of did a search

7:57

and I found Celebrate the Gray online

8:00

. And then I reached out on the bottom

8:02

of the website there's

8:04

a way you can enter your information

8:07

to get a callback or

8:09

, you know , an email back from Stephanie

8:11

. And I'm so glad I made

8:13

that first little like decision

8:15

after I talked to my husband and he's like

8:17

I don't know , that market might be flooded

8:19

with people . You might not be able to

8:21

make any money . You might not be able to make any

8:23

money . So I said , well , I never

8:25

know until I try . So I'm like , let

8:28

me try . This

8:33

was , you know , like a year and a half ago I guess , and it's

8:35

a decision I'm so thankful I

8:37

made out of a leap of

8:39

faith . So thank you , stephanie

8:42

, absolutely .

8:44

Because , angela , we had our call

8:46

and literally within the next week

8:48

I had a request for a hair shoot

8:50

in LA and I was reached

8:53

out to Angela and she did

8:55

it and it just kind of has

8:58

been successful . You've been successful since then

9:00

and you know , the thing I say about Angela is she

9:02

is open , she's a yes , she says yes and she does these . Know , the thing I say about Angela is she

9:04

is open , she's a yes , she says yes and she does

9:06

these things to build her resume . And

9:09

it may not be a ton of money , but it's experience

9:11

and it's really good exposure

9:13

for her . I mean , she's built her resume

9:15

on casting networks and has

9:17

much more credibility because of that . It's like anything

9:20

right when you start a new job , you

9:22

kind of do all that you can to learn , and

9:24

so I really applaud Angela for learning

9:27

and continuing to take jobs to

9:30

get more exposure for herself .

9:32

Stephanie , in all of this that you've been doing and

9:34

working with women and building your agency

9:37

, celebrate the Gray . What have been some of the biggest

9:39

challenges ?

9:40

Well , as you mentioned , getting brands to actually step

9:43

up and spend money to represent

9:46

us . I mean , I get a lot of reach

9:48

out . Oh yeah , we're not really paying

9:50

anything , but almost to the effect

9:53

, or almost to the idea , that we're

9:55

doing you a favor by using somebody in your

9:57

agency and I'm like , no , that's

10:00

a favor , like we're an important consumer that

10:03

you should be valuing . I'm one of

10:05

the gals . Grace just did a job in New

10:07

York and they reached out with initial fee

10:09

and I was like that's her hourly

10:12

fee , so I don't think we could

10:14

do this job . And they ended up paying her what she

10:16

was worth and what she should be paid . But

10:18

you know , it's kind of that

10:20

. Um well , yeah

10:22

, we'll include an older woman , but we're not going

10:24

to really pay her , or we may not . We

10:27

may , you know , pair

10:29

her with someone that looks like her grandfather

10:31

. So it's , there are those

10:33

successes , but we still have a long

10:35

way to go for brands to understand

10:38

who we are and what age really

10:40

looks like and get the perception

10:42

and reality of age to match , because

10:44

it doesn't currently .

10:46

Yeah , well , let's talk a little bit about those brands

10:48

. Angela , what brands

10:50

have you worked for so ?

10:51

far Well

10:54

. I've done the Amazon Prime

10:56

Black Friday football commercial

10:58

, which was a really big one , pravana

11:01

. As Stephanie mentioned , that was my first

11:03

job . I've

11:06

worked with Amanda Gorman for

11:08

a milk campaign for a first

11:10

ever women's marathon coming

11:12

up that I think Stephanie is going to be running

11:14

in . Oh , not that one , not

11:17

that one Okay , I'm

11:19

not ready yet New

11:21

York , new York . And

11:24

then I did a Bad

11:26

Bunny video . I've

11:29

done a couple

11:32

little pop-up ads that are showing

11:34

up on Facebook and Instagram for

11:36

Superbeat , heart Shoes and

11:38

MeUndies . So I

11:41

have another one coming up . That

11:44

is a Q&A

11:46

kind of panel , where it's

11:49

from a new company that's launching

11:51

and that coming

11:56

up in March or April , and

11:59

I'm on a panel of people being

12:02

asked questions about cosmetic

12:04

skincare routine and what we do

12:06

. Wow , that's

12:08

fabulous .

12:09

That's fabulous , stephanie . Why do you

12:11

think you mentioned that ? It's because you know

12:13

she's willing to take anything and get not

12:15

anything but take a lot of work and get the experience

12:18

.

12:18

Yeah , not anything .

12:20

Get the experience , but what else goes

12:22

into being successful ? Once you decide you want

12:24

to do something like this , what do you look for when

12:27

it comes to signing someone to the agency ?

12:29

Well , I , you know , believe that

12:32

I'm not defining

12:34

what beautiful is . I feel

12:36

like if a woman comes to me and

12:38

is over 50 , in

12:41

the beginning it was over 50 , going gray or

12:43

gray and had not

12:45

had cosmetic plastic

12:48

surgery facial cosmetic surgery

12:50

, um , but we've

12:52

pivoted and and now have

12:54

the influencer and ambassador side , so it's really

12:56

a woman over 50 that um

12:59

are really passionate about positive aging

13:01

. So that is the reason I speak

13:03

to everybody , because I do have women that come to me and

13:05

say I want to make this a full-time career and

13:08

we're just not there , and

13:11

I really believe that each woman

13:13

that's part of the collective is an advocate for change

13:15

, and so her voice and opinion

13:17

matters , and so she has to be willing to

13:20

put herself out there , talk about how old she

13:22

is , what she's doing to

13:24

give other women that are sitting around

13:26

living in a box

13:28

society has put them in an example

13:31

or a role model to say , oh , she

13:33

looks like me , she sounds like me , maybe I can

13:35

do that . Like Angela's story

13:38

, we've done an Instagram live together . She

13:40

talked all about casting networks , which is

13:42

a platform , and I'm an agent on and and use

13:44

and use and encourage

13:46

women to use it , because it does feed

13:49

all kinds of opportunities and

13:51

it's kind of getting out

13:53

of your own way , right . It's like

13:55

hearing Angela was frightened to do

13:57

these things or it was scary to go drive

14:00

to the studio lot and find the parking lot and find

14:02

the right wardrobe and all those

14:04

things that we all experience

14:06

. But she did it and

14:08

you know , so the next time it's easier

14:11

and it's just having those examples

14:13

. So we also have the private

14:15

Facebook group collective . So if women

14:18

don't really fall into the modeling

14:20

side or the influencer side , there's

14:22

a space for everybody that's

14:25

over 50 that wants to really understand

14:27

how they can take control back of their aging

14:29

.

14:30

You know , it's really an empowering opportunity

14:32

for many women because , like , as Angela was saying

14:34

, she hadn't done anything like this before , but somewhere

14:37

in the back of their mind of something that she , you know

14:39

, kind of maybe always wanted to do but just didn't actually

14:42

do it , and it seems to

14:44

me that by doing it you begin to feel

14:46

more empowered . What

14:48

are other ways , in both of your opinions

14:50

, that women can

14:52

begin to feel more empowered as they age

14:54

? What should they be doing to feel more empowered ? Angela

14:57

, we'll start with you .

14:59

Well I'm going to say say yes to more

15:01

opportunities that come your way . Don't feel

15:03

like , just because of your age

15:06

or your silver hair or

15:08

the wrinkles on your face , that

15:10

you can't do something necessarily

15:13

. I say if an opportunity

15:15

arises , please give it a try

15:17

and don't let

15:20

your own preconceived

15:22

ideas or stereotypes about

15:24

aging hold you

15:26

back . So , for

15:28

instance , I , over

15:30

the pandemic , wanted to find my happy

15:32

again and I started roller skating . I

15:35

haven't roller skated since I was

15:37

a teenager and in my 20s , but

15:39

after 30 years of not

15:41

lacing up , I decided to try

15:43

it and it immediately

15:45

all came back to me like riding a bike

15:47

and I fell in love with it and

15:49

it is my new passion and my

15:52

favorite way to exercise , honestly

15:54

. So it's one of

15:56

those things that don't let , just

15:58

because you're at an age

16:00

bracket , say no to something

16:02

that you may really love .

16:05

You know it's interesting because you bring up an important point

16:07

. Many times , the whole ageism thing

16:09

that you hear everybody talking about sometimes

16:12

really starts with us in terms of how we

16:14

perceive ourselves . I hear so many women say

16:16

, oh no , I can't do that , I'm too old

16:18

, or no , why would I do that ? Or that doesn't look

16:20

right because she's too old . And you know , sometimes

16:22

I feel like we have to change our narrative

16:25

, change our mindset in terms of how we view

16:27

ourselves . Sometimes you know how they say that you can

16:29

sometimes be your own worst critic . Well , take

16:31

that a step further . Sometimes women

16:33

in this age bracket can be their own worst

16:35

critic because of expectations

16:37

or limitations that we

16:40

set on ourselves , based upon , of

16:42

course , indoctrination and the things we've

16:44

heard over the years . But even though

16:46

we are our mother's child , we

16:48

are not our mother . There's a big , big

16:50

difference between our parents

16:52

, who might have been raised in the 30s and 40s

16:55

, and us that were raised

16:57

in the 60s and 70s

17:00

. The technology age began to come in

17:02

, diversity began to come

17:04

in , just a whole range of things

17:06

that our parents just weren't

17:09

experiencing . In fact , I would venture to say

17:11

there is more of a differentiation

17:13

between the baby boomers and their parents

17:15

than there is in the Generation Xers and

17:17

their parents , you know . So we

17:19

didn't get a whole lot of you know

17:21

feminism talk . You know we got that

17:24

when we were in high school from our peers and listening

17:26

to things we're not necessarily from our parents . So

17:28

we have to kind of change and

17:30

be advocates for ourselves

17:32

. You know , advocate , looking at things a little differently

17:35

. What about you , stephanie ? What kinds of things do

17:37

you think women should be thinking about when it comes to getting

17:39

more empowered as we age ?

17:44

Well , I , you know , agree 100% with Angela about getting out of your own

17:46

way , but I think also , friends and family can have such

17:49

a huge impact on our

17:51

decisions that

17:54

we sometimes stop ourselves because we're

17:56

afraid of what our friends

17:58

, how they will respond , our family

18:00

, what our mothers

18:02

, our fathers , our sisters

18:04

, our brothers , whatever , may say to us . So

18:07

, if you can't

18:09

get the support that you need

18:11

to take that first step or next step

18:13

in your journey , find

18:15

a community that does see you in

18:18

the light that you see yourself , especially

18:22

with social media . There are and this is

18:24

why I'm so passionate about women sharing their stories

18:27

Because there is somebody out there

18:29

that will be

18:31

an inspiration to you and give you the strength

18:33

to think about what's next for

18:35

you and not settle into what you've done

18:38

and feel like , well , that's as good as it gets . It's

18:40

like . If you really believe or feel

18:42

like you want to do more , find that

18:45

community that can support that more for you

18:47

.

18:48

Yeah , I absolutely agree . You

18:51

know , it's interesting because I've been in business now for over

18:53

16 years and when I first got started

18:55

which my

18:58

age group , our age group women for me

19:00

, my demographic is 40 and and above we

19:02

were not online like that . Back in 2008

19:04

and 2009 , we might have been

19:07

looking at ebay maybe you

19:09

know cnncom or you know something like that

19:11

but we weren't necessarily shopping online and

19:13

the idea of getting our health services

19:16

online or a coach or any of that was

19:18

just not there . But

19:20

I knew that over time

19:22

we would be , and so I started those

19:24

building blocks quite

19:26

a long time ago . So I have really seen

19:29

how things have progressed and

19:31

in some ways , one of the good things that came out of

19:33

COVID even the most resistant

19:36

over 50 women who

19:39

didn't want to get on the internet , doesn't want to bother with computers

19:41

and everything else began to figure out how to get on

19:43

Zoom , get

19:45

on Zoom . And it's so funny because when

19:47

I first started my whole thing I'm

19:50

virtual , so I would have

19:52

to first I had this long description

19:54

thing , instructions on how to get on Zoom

19:57

and all of the kind of stuff , because it was also new

19:59

, new , new . So I'm looking at this now and

20:01

I'm like , wow , I'm so glad that we're catching

20:03

up , and I want to talk a little bit about women

20:05

and technology and how that plays

20:07

into your business . Do

20:14

you find that you use a lot of technology in your business ? And then how

20:16

are women ?

20:17

responding to that , since that might be a part of your business . Yeah , technology

20:19

, and especially Angela can talk

20:21

about this . The whole casting , the

20:23

way things are cast , is completely different because

20:26

of COVID and technology , so

20:29

it's much easier . I

20:31

mean , you don't have to drive . There's a lot of virtual

20:33

opportunities . You

20:35

know it's interesting . I will get women , I'm

20:38

trying to think . The oldest woman is

20:40

probably in her late 80s that has joined

20:43

Celebrate the Gray . Oldest

20:45

woman is probably in her late 80s that has joined Celebrate the Gray . So

20:47

yeah , there's definitely some technical issues that I may have to walk

20:49

her through , but what I always

20:51

find is those older women want

20:54

to learn and they're not afraid to ask

20:56

questions . And I think that goes back

20:58

to your question before is don't be

21:00

afraid to say I don't know how to do this . Can you help

21:02

me Right ? Because I think as

21:04

we age , we really want to support

21:06

and lift each other up and help , and

21:09

we know we've gone through something similar

21:11

. So to be able to guide

21:13

somebody else through and help and this is

21:15

Angela's done this quite a bit for the Celebrate the

21:17

Great Collective has shared her experiences

21:20

and that

21:22

is you know what's so golden

21:24

about it that you

21:26

know if you can share your wisdom , share

21:28

your wisdom with an older person . You

21:31

know they may be lonely and

21:33

not connected because and I think COVID helped

21:35

a lot of older people but there are those

21:37

opportunities for us to help our aunts , our

21:39

mothers or sisters , whatever

21:42

it may be , to understand

21:44

technology and I think , also to really talk

21:46

about our knowledge of technology

21:48

, because that is a reality

21:51

perception deficit . Right now too

21:53

, brands think that we're not

21:55

tech savvy and we don't want to be tech savvy

21:58

. But then it also comes back

22:00

to are you talking

22:03

to that end user and making sure that the

22:05

system works for her ? I mean , I look at some

22:07

of these bottles I get or products I get

22:09

and I'm like , ok , well , I can't read this . So

22:12

are you even thinking about me as a 50

22:14

, 60 year old ? Or you know technology

22:17

, all this user generated

22:19

?

22:20

There's a lot of energy goes into that

22:22

, but I don't know if it goes into it as

22:24

much for the older consumer that's a very

22:26

good point , because what about that medication

22:28

that is like almost fort knocks to get into

22:30

and you know it's not for children , and children aren't even

22:32

around anymore like that . For most

22:34

of us , they're with our kids because they're our grandchildren

22:37

living with us and getting into

22:39

it ? You have arthritis , or if your dexterity

22:41

isn't as way as it used to be , it's like

22:43

what got to take a sledgehammer and try to

22:45

get inside of it and everything ? You know it's

22:47

crazy . So you're right , there's still some

22:49

things that need

22:51

to be looked at in terms

22:54

of enhancing the consumer experience

22:56

if they want to do business for us . But I

22:59

guess the first step is just to get them aware that we're

23:01

even out here and want to be

23:03

included . And

23:05

why are visuals and narratives important

23:07

when it comes to our aging journey

23:09

? Stephanie ?

23:11

Well , it's hard to be inspired by a 20

23:13

year old that's a size two

23:16

when you're not a size two and you're , you

23:18

know , going in your 50s . I did a lot

23:20

of fashion shows for Athletic in the beginning of

23:22

growing the brand and I

23:24

had a woman reach out to me after we had to do

23:26

a virtual one during COVID and I

23:28

had a woman reach out to me and say thank you

23:31

so much for showing the fashion on a woman

23:33

, an older woman that was a size

23:35

12 . You gave

23:37

me permission to go into that store . I

23:39

always felt so uncomfortable to go into

23:41

that store , but then that

23:43

, you know , plays into . You

23:46

walk in the store and then what are the mannequins

23:48

look like ? What are the salespeople look

23:50

like ? What are the visuals look like ? So

23:53

there's , so it's so important that your visuals

23:55

and narratives as a brand are

23:58

represented authentically in

24:00

social media , in your brick and mortar

24:02

, you know , in your newsletters , in

24:04

your emails , yeah , and

24:07

that you actually your product works for us I

24:10

definitely know about that .

24:11

As an older woman and

24:13

an african-american woman , I can

24:15

tell you what you know it would . It would be

24:17

like over the years um , either

24:20

you just go ahead and patronize these people , because

24:22

otherwise you'd be walking around naked , because

24:24

they just weren't they just weren't showing

24:26

images like us . There was no one looking like me

24:29

for years and years and years . But

24:31

the tradeoff for that is

24:33

a strong sense of empowerment . I

24:35

mean if you're able to survive and thrive

24:37

in an environment like that , where people aren't recognizing

24:40

you or not thinking that you're relevant enough or

24:42

important enough to have

24:44

folks that look like you . I had

24:46

an experience the other day and you

24:48

know I'm becoming more and more of an advocate on

24:50

this thing because I have a . I run with

24:53

a group of women who are really advocating

24:55

the aging gracefully

24:57

from a woman of color point of view , and

25:00

there was this . They were , it was a promo

25:02

and they were advertising

25:04

, I think a second act

25:06

type of gathering . It's called the Gathering or

25:08

something like that . It was a wonderful promo and

25:10

all the women that they were showing , talking about

25:12

their experience and everything else , they were

25:14

all women that were not of color

25:17

. So I just put a comment

25:19

in the YouTube . I said , ok , well , where's the diversity

25:21

? And then she said , oh

25:23

, thank you so much for responding . She said , you know

25:26

, further emails are coming out and they'll have the diversity

25:28

. And I said , well , that's basically that's all fine and

25:30

good , but you know that first impression

25:32

is what's most important . If I'm

25:34

not seeing it , I'm not going to click around

25:36

and give you my email address to see if you do

25:38

it later . So I think that

25:40

in taking that story and applying it to the aging

25:42

thing , we want to try to get

25:45

those folks who are trying

25:47

to get our business . They need to lead with some of this stuff

25:49

instead of waiting for us to not

25:51

buy their products or talk about them

25:53

bad or whatever . It should be part

25:56

of the DNA of what

25:58

they include . And I have to say , stephanie , I'm

26:00

beginning to see some improvement and I

26:02

think that you have really

26:05

helped raise the awareness . I know it's been a lot

26:07

of hard work getting their

26:09

awareness raised but you know , if you don't put it in front

26:11

of folks , many times it's not their initial

26:13

impetus to go out after it . It

26:15

doesn't even have to do with their bias . It just has to do

26:18

with what they're used to and what they know

26:20

. And if you take a look at who runs these advertising

26:22

agencies , they're young , they're

26:25

young , they're millennials , yeah .

26:26

Yeah , and they're . You know , that's the thing I

26:28

always say look , it is not , it

26:32

is out of lack of information that

26:34

it is the way it is , but lack

26:36

of information and also acceptance

26:38

on our part that we continue to

26:40

buy product that represents us inaccurately

26:44

, and so then it just reinforces

26:46

the messaging oh , this is what they want

26:48

. This is you know . They want anti

26:50

aging products , they want anti

26:52

wrinkle products , they want to dye

26:54

their hair , they want to be skinnier

26:56

. Because we continue to buy

26:59

, because we think there's not options . But if

27:01

we're more careful with our dollars

27:03

and we take the

27:05

time to educate decision makers

27:07

and and Angela can speak to this

27:09

, and Linus , you're part of Celebrate the Gray and you've

27:12

been on shoots the

27:14

power that , that interaction when

27:17

you're on set , what happens for

27:19

those decision makers when they

27:21

actually engage with somebody that's not

27:23

their mother or their aunt or their grandmother

27:25

that's older ?

27:27

Yeah , it's interesting because when I went

27:29

on my shoot they were pleasantly surprised

27:31

because I had some . I mean , they were so funny

27:34

it basically . They literally said

27:36

, wow , you have so much energy . And I'm like , well , would

27:38

you expect me to show up dead . I'm

27:41

not dead yet . I know

27:44

I should be in the rocking chair with one baby

27:46

here and the other one petting the stomach of

27:48

my daughter who's expecting my next grandchild

27:50

. But that's not my life , it's

27:52

never been my life . And Angie

27:55

, we're getting ready to say something , too , about that .

27:57

Yeah , when I'm on the shoot there's

27:59

a lot of downtime between the camera

28:01

time and usually

28:04

they ask us to put our phones away for NDA

28:06

reasons . So it provides

28:08

one-on-one conversations , which

28:10

is lovely . The Millennials

28:13

and Gen Zers are kind of shocked

28:15

to hear my story because

28:17

they ask questions about me and

28:19

my life . They're surprised

28:22

that I roller skate , that I take Ariel Silk's

28:24

class , that I want to take

28:26

a pole dancing class one day soon

28:29

. So I kind of shocked

28:31

them that life doesn't stop

28:34

at 50 and

28:36

that you can keep doing new things

28:38

. And they're really . I'm

28:41

trying to hopefully show that you can

28:43

age and don't fear it more

28:46

, that

28:52

you can age and don't fear it more , step into it with a sense of of um accepting

28:54

challenges , accepting opportunities , saying yes and um

28:57

really living in the moment . Because , um

28:59

, yeah , I , I became a mom for the first

29:02

time at 37 . So I'm not

29:04

a grandmother I could be

29:06

and I play them on TV but I'm

29:09

authentically a real

29:11

mom of a teenager who you

29:13

know their biases too Many of them think

29:15

the millennials are horrible . They

29:17

don't listen .

29:32

They don't have any respect for lack

29:35

of a better description that we set

29:37

up in terms of how systems should be and everything else

29:39

. And that's not true . I

29:41

work with a lot of millennials because it's

29:44

my business A lot of them I've had

29:46

an increase of women following me between

29:48

the ages of 35 and 40 , 30 , 35

29:50

and 40 , all that demographic that's going up because they

29:52

want to know how

29:55

can I survive this craziness that's

29:57

going on right now and end up being

30:00

like you . What do I need to be doing right now

30:02

to take better care of myself ? And

30:05

a lot of baby boomers are still in that thing

30:07

. Well

30:10

, they're not listening to us . Well , you know , if you don't talk to them , you won't be

30:12

able to find out if they're listening or not . Many times they are , and many of

30:14

the millennials have told me they don't have those kinds

30:17

of relationships with their parents where they're talking

30:19

and exchanging ideas . You know

30:21

they're in their corner and their

30:23

parents are in that corner . They might meet for birthdays

30:26

, holidays , that kind of thing , but just having

30:28

a regular conversation , for whatever reason

30:30

, that's not happening . And so actually

30:32

, someone like you , angela , and also

30:34

Stephanie too , when they get a chance to work with us and me

30:37

. It's amazing how you begin

30:39

to to use a dated term bridge the gap

30:41

, because that generation gap is still there

30:43

. So many of the things we were talking about 40

30:45

years ago it's

30:52

still . There's still issues , they're still happening . There's nothing has really changed and , of course

30:54

, there's nothing really new under the sun . You know everything that is you know once old is new again

30:56

same reoccurring issues

30:59

and things like that . I was watching

31:01

oh , LA Law

31:03

has just been re-released , ladies , on Hulu

31:05

. If you ever watched it . I never got a chance

31:07

to watch all of it because I was raising my kids

31:09

in the 90s and we were just immersed with Sesame

31:11

Street and the Disney Channel , so I never got a chance to watch

31:13

it . But now I'm catching up on all

31:16

of the TV series I didn't get a chance

31:18

to watch and as I'm watching this , I'm like , oh

31:20

my gosh , minus the fashions

31:22

and maybe the background music

31:24

, the same things that they're talking about

31:26

then are still going

31:29

on right now . It

31:31

was amazing . It's a 30 year gap , but

31:33

it's the same thing . So we really have a lot

31:35

more in common with those who

31:37

are younger than us than what we might

31:40

think . A lot more in common .

31:42

Something you said earlier , linus

31:44

, about our parents , our

31:46

general parents that were different than our parents

31:48

, and I think that's a huge

31:50

reason there's change happening , because

31:52

I know my mom is

31:55

oh , it's just the way it is . That's her comment . If

31:57

I'll say well , why don't you know ? Why don't

31:59

you call the doctor back ? And what are the doctor ? Oh

32:01

, it's just the way it is , and you know , and

32:09

our generation is . But why ? We will ask the question why is it that way and can we change it ? So that

32:11

is why change is happening , because we're stepping up and saying

32:14

I don't like this , I don't

32:16

like feeling invisible , and

32:18

how do we change it ?

32:20

and we don't disappear , we're still here

32:22

.

32:23

I know we're not going away and

32:26

until it is time to go away , but

32:29

now we're here and I'm so

32:31

excited and I feel really

32:33

good about what's happening because

32:36

I feel like , quite frankly , I was

32:38

a small little impetus . Part of

32:40

that In my

32:42

background are many , many , first , in

32:44

terms of the things that I've done online that

32:47

you know women weren't doing or African-American

32:49

women weren't doing , and so it really

32:51

feels good to see all my sisters

32:53

out here doing stuff

32:56

and really rewriting

32:58

the playbook in terms of what

33:01

it is to age . I have to say one more thing about the

33:03

word anti-aging , and I just want to know

33:05

what's your opinion on that ? What's your word ? What

33:08

is it about anti-aging that you support or don't support

33:10

, stephanie ?

33:11

Well , I don't support it . I mean , I don't

33:14

want to fight aging , I want to celebrate

33:17

the wisdom and experience I have

33:19

had over the years and I want to learn

33:21

what wisdom and experience others have

33:24

. And really that's celebrate the gray

33:26

it . You know , it's gray hair , yes , but it's really

33:28

the gray of aging that

33:30

it's this time of celebration . We've

33:33

done amazing things in the world . We've brought

33:35

human life into the world and

33:37

now it's we want to

33:39

evolve into the next phase of our life

33:41

. And I really

33:44

, by saying anti aging , we're saying

33:46

we don't want to age . I used

33:49

to be so fearful of aging , oh my God . I remember

33:51

when I was little I'd shake it out of my head . I don't even want to think

33:53

about it , I don't want to think about dying and

33:55

I just am really

33:58

settled into who I am and

34:00

really celebrate

34:02

what I've done to get myself to this

34:05

point . And

34:09

I think a lot of women sometimes will talk about the things they haven't done or the experience

34:11

they don't have , or they this , but they don't

34:13

focus on all the amazing things

34:15

they've done . And if we could really turn

34:18

their narrative , turn our narratives

34:20

around in our head to focus on that

34:22

, it would give you that strength to kind

34:24

of move forward .

34:26

Angela , what about you ? Yeah

34:31

, again , I'm not an anti-ager , because I'm trying

34:33

to authentically represent what the

34:36

years look like for me , and that's

34:38

why I chose to go silver and

34:41

not Botox and not

34:43

get fillers . I'm just letting the wrinkles

34:45

come and the age

34:47

spots and the sagging skin kind

34:49

of all of it . So I'm

34:52

looking at it more as I'm

34:54

thankful I'm here because I have

34:56

so many friends who didn't get to see

34:58

silver hair . They died of cancer

35:00

in their thirties or forties

35:02

and I'm I'm so

35:04

thankful for every day I have breath

35:06

on this planet and I want to celebrate

35:09

that day and just be probably

35:13

trying to show a positive ripple in

35:16

this big ocean of life of

35:18

what authentic aging can look

35:20

like . I don't felt people

35:22

who want to do the Botox , because

35:24

if that's their choice , it's

35:26

everybody's personal choice . So again , I'm

35:28

not , I'm not . I'm going to say

35:31

nay , say that those that choose that

35:33

that's their choice and I'm , you

35:35

know , I celebrate them . But for

35:37

me I want to show what

35:40

I it looks like on my face and my , my

35:42

body and my representation .

35:45

I'm with you , sister , and I'll tell you something else too . And

35:47

my representation . I'm with you , sister , and I'll tell you something else too . When I hear the word

35:49

anti-aging , that just means okay . So what's the opposite of that

35:52

? If you're not for aging and if you're

35:54

against anti-aging , does that mean you're against living ? Because

35:57

if you're not aging , then

35:59

you're dead .

36:00

But we're bender and buttoning and we don't

36:02

do that .

36:03

So I don't know , unless

36:05

you have been like Ponce de Leon and found

36:07

the fountain of youth . We're

36:13

going to age and there's all kinds of things you can do to it , but

36:15

to be anti-aging means to me that you're anti-living because there's no

36:18

way . And these folks that do have a problem with aging

36:20

, who are younger , you know , if you're lucky

36:22

, keep living and we'll see later on

36:24

if you feel the same way about older people

36:26

, because you're not going to necessarily go away

36:28

in the dark and slither under a door and stay in a rocking

36:31

chair in a corner and hold a bunch of grandbabies . You're

36:33

not going to want to do that . You're going to want to continue

36:35

to live and celebrate who

36:37

you are , just like Stephanie O'Dell of Celebrate

36:40

the Gray and Angela , also of Celebrate

36:42

the Gray , are doing right now . Thank

36:45

you so much for being on the

36:47

Vibe Living podcast . It's been wonderful having you

36:49

here today , thank you so much

36:51

for having us . You're welcome

36:53

. And thank you to all of you who are listening . I know you

36:55

could be listening to so many different podcasts

36:57

there's 50 million out there , literally and

36:59

I thank you for placing me in the upper 10%

37:02

of the Apple podcast and keep listening

37:04

. Please like , share and subscribe

37:06

to this podcast . Make

37:08

sure that you're talking about it , letting people know what's happening

37:11

when it comes to women over 40 , and specifically

37:13

women who have chosen to age

37:15

gracefully and to vibe , to be

37:17

more vibrant , intuitive , beautiful and empowered

37:19

in midlife . Thanks so much for listening . Have a

37:21

fantastic day . Don't forget

37:23

to vibe . Bye-bye everybody . Thank you , don't forget the vibe . Bye-bye everybody

37:25

. Thank you

37:28

, thanks for listening to the Vibe Living Podcast

37:30

and don't forget to subscribe , like

37:32

and comment and share this podcast

37:35

. Have a fantastic day and don't

37:37

forget the vibe . Bye-bye everybody

37:39

.