Aging With Power And Purpose

Every other month I host a 30 person dinner for women leaders. Last week’s dinner was co-hosted by the legend that is Norma Kamali, and the theme: Aging With Power And Purpose. Why does society make women feel past their prime after a certain age? Why do so many women talk of feeling disposable or irrelevant past 40, especially when the evidence is to the contrary.

For example, when two MIT professors tapped into census data in 2018, they found the average age of founders behind successful technology startups is 45, and that a 50-year-old founder is twice as likely to be successful as a 30-year-old. A 60-year-old founder, meanwhile, is three times as likely to be successful.

So many women are proving the adage ‘life begins at 40’ by powering up their careers, starting new businesses and utilizing all the experience and wisdom that comes with age. Norma Kamali is a case in point and left us feeling all fired up about our next chapters. She's been in business 50 years, owns her company with no debt, met her soulmate at 65 and has a ton of amazing new creative projects in the pipeline including a new skincare line NORMALIFE. Bring it on!

What Makes Working Mothers Want To Leave The Workforce?

On three separate occasions this week,  high powered, career-minded female friends of mine told me somewhat bashfully how much they wouldn't mind just giving up the rat race and becoming stay at home moms. The bashfulness was interesting because I guess they expected me, their feminist freedom fighter friend, to be a little disapproving.  But of course I feel quite the opposite.  The whole point of feminism is to give women the right to choose. Work outside the home, stay at home, all options are great if you make them from a position of strength.

But the reason for this particular post is to share what these women had in common and it's that they all hated their jobs. They were sick of the politics of corporate culture and the daily grind. So the question is, if you do what you love does that make the daily wrench away from your children every morning a little easier?  I think it might. I'm so passionate about my work and of course, as an entrepreneur I get to be my own boss and make my own hours. I can't imagine leaving it behind to focus solely on motherhood much as I idolize my son. I wonder if this rings true for others?

Nobody knows better than you

This week I interviewed Elizabeth Cutler, the founder of SoulCycle for my monthly speaker series and it was a bittersweet experience. She and her co-founder Julie Rice had announced their resignations from SoulCycle the day before. That aside, she was a funny, honest, straight talker about everything from the importance of trusting your instincts, to actually generating revenues to sustain growth (not just raising more money!), and the value of grassroots marketing over paid advertising. Amazing entrepreneur.