Real Women Models Over 50 with Stephanie O’Dell of Modeling Agency Celebrate the Gray
Sponsored by Elektra Health
Show Snapshot:
Are you seeing more gray or silver-haired models splashed across Instagram and catalogs?
You may have Stephanie O’Dell to thank.
Stephanie is changing the face of modeling, one silver-haired, 50-plus model at a time. The long-time fashion stylist founded the industry-first modeling agency, Celebrate the Gray, to represent silver and gray-haired models, ranging in age from 50 and beyond.
We dive into what criteria she uses to pick models, brands that get the mature market, and why ageism is never in style.
Plus, colors that make silver hair pop, what washes you out as you age, Stephanie’s hot take on fashion dos and don’ts. Want to toss your hat (and silver hair into the ring?) Listen in to learn what she’s looking for in a model.
In This Episode We Cover:
How Stephanie identified the lack of age diversity in modeling as a business opportunity.
Why spotlighting older models helps reframe a sense of possibility and optimism around aging.
Stop letting society and cultural messages put you in a box. Getting to midlife means giving yourself permission to pick a new lane.
Yes, midlife is sexy and multi-faceted.
The rise of the *real model* -- why women want to see themselves reflected in advertising.
Brands that get age representation right, and why women should vote with their wallets and support age-positive brands.
What Stephanie looks for in a gray hair or mature model, plus, becoming a midlife influencer.
A hot take on fashion dos and don’ts. Colors to make silver hair pop, and you may want to rethink these shades as you age.
Bonus, midlife entrepreneurship and why your 50s is the perfect time to launch a company.
Quotable:
I chose gray because it’s really the first thing we’re told as we age that we need to change to fit into society’s definition of beautiful. I felt like if we can turn gray into just a hair color and not a definition of our abilities, then the rest of aging—the wrinkles, the body changes could also be more accepted.
It’s so important how powerful our dollars are, to really support those brands that are age-positive, or reach out to those brands that maybe aren’t showing that you love, and say, 'Hey, I love your product, but you’re not really representing me as a customer.'
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Transcript
Katie Fogarty [0:22]:
Welcome to A Certain Age, a show for women who are unafraid to age out loud. When you hear the word “model,” what comes to mind? Cat-walking superstars like Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista? Do you think of newer faces like Gigi Hadid and Kaia Gerber?
My guest today is a woman who is changing the face of modeling, one silver-haired, 50-plus model at a time. Stephanie O’Dell is a long-time fashion stylist and the founder of the industry-first modeling agency, Celebrate The Gray, which represents silver and gray-haired models, ranging in age from 50 and beyond. If you are finally seeing mature models splashed across catalogs and Instagram, there’s a good chance you have Stephanie to thank. Welcome to the show Stephanie.
Stephanie O’Dell [1:06]:
Thank you, what a great intro, I might have to steal that.
Katie [1:09]:
Oh yeah, go for it. [Stephanie laughs] We love it. All right, well thank you so much for being here. I have been following you on Instagram for a while; I follow Celebrate The Gray, I love what you’re doing and I’d like to start by opening with the origin story. What made you launch Celebrate The Gray and spotlight older models?
Stephanie [1:28]:
Well, I didn’t set out to open a model agency, which is kind of always the story, right? I’ve been a fashion stylist like you said, for 10-plus years and many of my older clients were saying, “We feel like the fashion industry has forgotten us, we feel invisible.” And so, kind of with that question on my mind… And as I was aging too, I just turned 60, three days ago. I’m still getting used to wearing the 60 tag but I love it.
Katie [1:54]:
Yeah, happy birthday.
Stephanie [1:56]:
thank you. They said, “We feel invisible” and I had noticed that myself. I’d been an athlete all my life and had been really fit and I was starting to feel not included in the narrative. So, I started a blog called Celebrate The Gray to figure out if there was a need specifically for a fashion line for the 50-plus woman. I had met a designer and we were talking about designing a line together. And through that process I asked friends and family to refer friends and I met these amazing women, and I had this moment of: why are these not the women that I see in advertising to talk about aging? Why am I constantly felt the age-denial messaging with the 20- and 30-year-olds that just make me feel bad that my hair is going gray, that my body’s changed, that I have wrinkles? Why couldn’t I see these women that represent positive aging?
So, I set about trying to answer that question and decided there wasn’t really a need for fashion line, there was really a need for updated age models that used in marketing. I tried to find an agency to partner with and all the agencies I reached out to said, “Look we’ve got our two gray-haired models and we’re set, it’s not really a demographic that brands are interested in.”
Katie [3:17]:
This boggles my mind Stephanie because I think I know one of those gray-haired models — she’s actually sort of white-haired — but I see this woman and I have no idea what her name is, but I see her all over everything. Like she must be making a fortune on stock imagery because she’s in picture frames and she’s on pop-ups, and she’s selling vitamins… I mean, it’s like, comical because it’s just one woman who is representing this entire category. So, keep going. Tell us a little bit about how you took this from a blog into an actual agency.
Stephanie [3:50]:
Well, we did a small photoshoot with six of the women I’d interviewed and then I saw… I had this idea in theory of updating age models and how would we do that? What would that look like? And then in practice, we had this small photoshoot with six of the women and the energy that I saw these women start to see themselves differently… We did modern styling and hair and make-up, and I just realized that women kind of got tucked into these little boxes. And then all of a sudden, they got to not be in the box.
I remember putting this beautiful red dress on one of them and she’s like, "Oh, it’s too sexy it’s not appropriate for me.” And she was early fifties and I said, “Well wait a minute, who is giving you that messaging? Where’s that messaging coming from?” And so, I just saw in practice the power that an updated visual could give a woman to even think about the permission and the possibility of aging. And I had a friend that had a small brand and asked her about using models and she said, “Well we can't afford them, and if we can afford them they really don’t represent the real woman.” So, just finally, after beating my head against a wall and trying to get somebody else to do it, I became a licensed agency three years ago.
Katie [5:09]:
Amazing. I love that you used the word “permission”. That this woman felt like she needed permission to sort of be sexy at this time of life. It sounds like you seized your own permission and said, “I’m going to seize this thing myself,” which I absolutely love.
Your mission also says on your website that you use “real women”. So, beyond having women who are silver-haired, or white-haired, or gray-haired, or a certain age, they have a quality that makes them feel like people that you see in your life. Talk to me a little bit about what do you mean when you say “real” and why it’s important to spotlight multi-faceted women. I follow you on Instagram and I see that your models are engineers, they’re business owners, they have careers beyond modeling. Tell me about real and tell me about why you’re choosing multi-faceted women.
Stephanie [6:03]:
Well, in the beginning the women chose me. They reached out to me and said, “I want to be part of what you’re doing,” I got some local and national press about the photoshoot that we did. And I also had this moment of: I don’t want to define beauty. Just because I think someone’s beautiful, doesn’t mean that’s how beauty should be defined. We get so caught up in how society defines beauty, so I didn’t want to be that either.
I remember in the beginning, people saying, “This isn’t what an agency looks like, you have to do it this way.” And I had this moment of, “Why? Why do I have to do it that way?” These women want to be part of changing the face of aging for women. If they have that power and that energy around it, why would I not want them included? And I also really wanted to represent age, race, size and, you know, the phrase, “You can't be what you don’t see.” So, if you only see, society-deemed beautiful women represented, then again you get put back into your box and you feel like, “Well, I don’t look like that.” But then when you start seeing people that look like you or sound like you, like you said — they have jobs, or they’ve retired, or they’re grandmothers — then you start to say, "Oh maybe I can do that, because she did it.” So, it’s really the power of the visual and the narrative to allow women what they truly can be.
Katie [7:36]:
Yeah, it’s so important in our youth-obsessed culture to have message that celebrates aging and being vibrant and beautiful and natural. I mean, honestly, it’s the most universal of human experiences, is to age. We start doing it from day one, but pop culture really wants us to think that the world revolves around the young. I love that you mentioned that you’re looking for diversity, not just in age but also in race and size, because we often think of models as being very tall and willowy. So, what has been the reaction to more body diversity or age diversity from brands that you’ve worked with? Were people welcoming this with open arms, did you have to knock on several doors? What’s the reception been like with brands?
Stephanie [8:30]:
Well, that is a… [both laugh] I’m still knocking on those doors.
Katie [8:34]:
Well, keep— I love it. Bang on them for the rest of us.
Stephanie [8:38]:
Yeah. But, you know, it’s this slow burn, as I call it. And there’s a lot of education around it. Because the perception doesn’t match the reality and brands… A lot of decision-makers have this idea of what a certain age looks like. And I’m sure you’ve talked a lot about this, we’re living longer and healthier, and we’re going to be working longer, and the spending power we have — the woman, the 50-plus woman, the super consumer — is going to be around longer.
The brands that are getting it are brands of women that are stepping up and starting companies because they couldn’t find a solution to their problem. So, right now, we’re working with a really interesting brand called Bloomers Intimates, a mother-daughter team, the mother is 70 and the daughter is in her forties. And they wanted to use older models. They cold-called me and we’ve been working together for the past four months, and it’s been a beautiful campaign and the feedback we get from women about, “Thank you.” This one woman we just used as a model, I don’t know if she’s in her sixties, she may have even been in her seventies, you know, she’s in her underwear and looks beautiful. Just for women to see that and not feel inadequate about wearing lacey underwear again, is super powerful.
So, the smaller brands are getting it and I think like, a lot of movements, it’s the smaller groups that start speaking up and then those all kind of swell together and then you get some big names, for sure, coming in. And then that’s when change happens.
Katie [10:20]:
I love that. Bloomers Intimates, I’m putting that into the show notes. We’re going to head into a quick break but when we come back, I want to talk about other brands that are getting it right.
[Ad break]
Katie [11:54]:
Stephanie, when we headed into the break, we were talking about Bloomers Intimates, how they are featuring mature models in their 70s to sell lingerie which makes sense, because women do not stop consuming products once they hit midlife. In fact, you touched on this, we are some of the most affluent consumers out there and you know, makes sense to have brands market to us and communicate to us in a way that feels real.
I see brands like Athleta, I buy their clothing because I play platform tennis and regular tennis and I see they’re using mature models. I see companies that… I love when I see companies that market to all women like a Jones Road Beauty, which was started by Bobbi Brown, she’s making cosmetics for any age, but she’s also choosing to feature silver-haired models in her campaign, along with the dewy 20-year-olds, which I adore. It’s not just a menopause product, we should be using obviously menopausal women. It’s a company that’s selling to every woman and they’re choosing to spotlight older models. So, I love to support brands that don’t diminish you as you age. What are some other brands, maybe not even ones that you’re working with, but what are brands that you see doing it right?
Stephanie [13:13]:
Well I love that you used Jones Road, we have a couple models that work for them and one that did their initial campaign. She cold-called them actually, she DM'ed them on Instagram and it was her very first modeling gig so, it’s such a good story and I love when an older founder actually gets it. There are so many older founders of brands that aren’t including us, which just amazes me, that you would think they would even get it more as they age.
Target is doing a good job. There’s not a ton of brands that do it well. There are those ones that check the box and throw an older model in a catalog every so often, but Target has done a good job for a long time. In-store, in commercial, in video, and in print, they always do a good job. T.J.Maxx is another one that you always see a very… There’s a great new commercial out right now that I just love. It’s got every age, every race, every size and it really is a great representation of what women look like. Wildfang is a small brand out of Portland that is great. Universal Standard does a great job.
We worked with a swimwear brand this summer, but they didn’t see the return on investment so they kind of dropped the campaign which was unfortunate. So, it’s interesting you know. I’ve spoken to a lot of big brands, and they are very interested but when it comes to actually launching a campaign, it’s another story.
Katie [14:54]:
So, this is such an important point that you’re making. I hope that everyone who is listening just picked up on this: that brand didn’t see return on investment which is why it’s so important to vote with your dollars and your wallet and support companies and brands that are age-positive. We’re not going to see a cultural shift and we’re not going to see ourselves in ads and in pop culture unless we demand it and we support people that are doing it. So, I want everyone to go buy a Jones Road Beauty lipstick or something fabulous. You know or follow Stephanie on Instagram so you can see where her models are advertising because those brands are choosing to work with us, with our demographic.
Stephanie [15:35]:
Katie, I just want to circle back to that because it’s so important how powerful our dollars are, to really support those brands, or those brands that maybe aren’t showing that you love, reach out to them and say, “Hey, I love your product, but you’re not really representing me as a customer.” It’s amazing how powerful that is for a brand, they really want to talk to the real woman and talk to their customer and understand their consumer. So, I tell people, “Look, we’ve got to be very vocal about who we are,” women especially, “who we are, what we’re doing, and how old we are.” Because we are getting put into these boxes and I don’t think it’s… It’s from lack of understanding more than anything putting us, you know… How do I want to say this? It’s more a lack of understanding.
Katie [16:30]:
But we’re going to help them understand, that’s a big theme of this show, which is age out loud.
Stephanie [16:35]:
Yeah, I love that.
Katie [16:35]:
We’re not going to shift the needle on culture unless we are in the conversation on aging. And we have to be able to age out loud, it’s like, why not?
Stephanie [16:47]:
Right, be proud of how old you are, what you’ve done, your experience.
Katie [16:50]:
Exactly, your experience, your wisdom, your age. And stop acting like it’s the end of the line. So, I love this notion of aging out loud and I love the notion of voting with your wallet. Such smart advice.
So, Stephanie I want to switch gears for a minute. So, women who are listening to this show, and I think of some women in my own life, who are just absolutely knock out healthy, silver-haired, fit, gorgeous women that feel real and every time I see them, I’m like, “What are you doing? What’s your secret? You look amazing.” So, if somebody’s listening to this show and thinking I have a friend, or I would love to throw my hat in the ring; what are some criteria that you look for when you’re selecting model to work with?
Stephanie [17:37]:
So really, there’s two categories. For the gray— and I chose gray because it’s really the first thing we’re told as we age we need to change to fit into society’s definition of beautiful, and I felt like if we can turn gray into just hair color and not a definition of our abilities and our age, then the rest of aging, the wrinkles, the body changes, that could also be more accepted. So, to be a gray model, you have to be gray or going gray, over 50, and then I also throw in, and I really am not a big believer of plastic surgery, so not done facial plastic surgery.
But I’ve also built… Because I had so many women reaching out to me saying, “Oh I’m not gray, I haven’t gone gray, I really don’t want to go gray, but I really want to be part of what you’re doing,” I have developed and built the influencer and ambassador side of the business. Because we are such a powerful force on social media and brands really want that reach of those influencers.
Katie [18:46]:
Oh, interesting. Tell me about this. You work with midlife influencers then, to help connect them with brands?
Stephanie [18:53]:
Exactly.
Katie [18:53]:
Got it.
Stephanie [18:54]:
So, Bloomers in fact, we’ve built and influencer program with two of the models and, you know, our first kick-off was a couple weeks ago, we did an Instagram live and I think we had 250 people on the Instagram live…
Katie [19:11]:
Yay!
Stephanie [19:12]:
…which is great, and it just shows that women want to be represented. And so, they were using two of the influencers, I have about 100— No, about 300 influencers, 100 models. So, there’s different opportunities to be involved with Celebrate The Gray and we also have a private Facebook group that we invite brands to come into and talk about their brand and build an ambassador program if they don’t have one, or invite the women to check out their ambassador program, to extend the reach of that brand. And also give women opportunity to create revenue streams for themselves.
Katie [19:51]:
Got it, I love this. First of all, congratulations. You launched this, it sounds like three years ago, you already have 100 models, 300 influencers, a really robust number of people that you’re working with, which is phenomenal. What do you see next? Do you see other agencies kind of copycatting this? Do you want to continue to expand? Are you looking to work with new brands? What’s your vision for year four?
Stephanie [20:19]:
My vision is really to get some of those major brands to step up to the plate. Athleta actually just used one of… Carolyn Doelling was featured on the cover, I think she was on the cover or internally, she’s part of the print campaign. She was one of my initial models and she actually has moved on to a New York-based modeling agency. So, it was fantastic to see her in the catalog.
And I applaud that. I don’t think I’m the only game in town. I have women sign a non-exclusive contract with me because I think that any opportunity is a good opportunity. One person can't do it all, I can't even imagine that, so that was a beautiful thing to happen, for her to move on. And Athleta has always been one of those dream situations and so to have that happen was great and I hope more of those will be happening this year.
I also love speaking to brands about who we are and how we want to be represented; be the resource for those brands, of models, influencers, we can do focus groups, we can do testing, we can build campaigns. I have, over the past two years, with COVID really built a deep resource of photographers and agencies and…
Katie [21:36]:
Stephanie, I have a business idea for you. I think that you should be creating stock imagery. I spend a lot of time for my work and for the podcast on places like Shutterstock and iStock, and I’m not kidding, there’s like two people that do all of the sort of, white-haired— If you type in mature women or midlife, it’s the same person over and over again. I honestly think that there should be a better stock imagery catalog of people in midlife who are real, the models that you’re talking about. So, put that into your… [laughs]
Stephanie [22:09]:
Yeah, I totally agree.
Katie [22:11]:
Put that into your vision board.
Stephanie [22:11]:
Every photographer I meet, I say that and… Unfortunately, the revenue is not there. And I also need to find a younger person, I hate to say that, but I really do, to build the site, to understand how to do that. But I am totally with you. I remember when I first started my business and having to find stock photos. Now, I can actually access real photos. But definitely down the road, I totally agree with you. I am a sole proprietor and I’m bootstrapping my business so at some point, when I start hiring people and have that, it definitely is on the docket of things to do because you’re not the first person to say that. [laughs]
Katie [22:59]:
All right, so future you will do that. So, let’s talk about past you though for a minute. I know that you alluded to this at the top of the show, that you spent 10 years working as a stylist. I believe that you still do some work in that. Tell us a little bit about what that looks like. I also want to hear your take on: does style change as we age? Do you believe in some of these dos and don’ts that women’s magazines tend to give us as we move from decade to decade?
Stephanie [23:27]:
Yeah, in my late forties, I have two kids, I have a 25-year- old and a 21-year-old, and in my late forties, I kind of had that moment of, "Okay, my kids are much more self-sufficient, they’re going to be gone soon to college. What am I going to do next?” And it was probably one of the most scary moments and one that I just couldn’t even face because I didn’t even know what I was passionate about anymore.
I got a part-time job at Athleta and really found a love of helping women embrace their shape, and understand their shape, and learn how to dress their shape. And that led to working for them for five years. I worked for Stitch Fix, which is an online styling site. And started working with them when they first launched and really got a sense of what a startup looks like and how you build a business and started doing my own work too.
But you know, for women, I think… Again, it goes back to those boxes, right. And it goes back to those people that we are surrounded by maybe when we’re trying to figure out, and those internal voices or those stories that we tell ourselves of what we’re not capable of versus what we are capable of. And I remember in the beginning when I started even putting out in the world that I was thinking about opening an agency and the whole, “Fake it ‘til you make it.” And also, surround yourself with people that see the vision you do or see the version of yourself that you see… I, now, turning 60, I knew in my fifties I didn’t want to turn 60 and regret not going for it.
Katie [25:04]:
I love that. I had a guest on the show Stephanie I have to tell you, her name was Dr. Juliana Hauser and she brought up, to me, a concept I’ve never heard of before and that’s of finding an age mentor. And that’s sort of maybe what you’re doing a little bit with this modeling agency, is you’re finding a mentor for somebody who… Like you said, surround yourself with women or people in your life that see the future you and are going to help you get there. I feel that this notion of finding an age mentor, somebody who is aging out loud, who is living a vibrant next chapter is something that is so helpful as we chart our own course. So, I love that you jogged that memory, thank you.
So, does style change as we age? I mean I know that I grew up in the eighties in the Bermuda Bag era and cardigan sweaters, the Preppy Handbook, and I feel like I still have sort of a preppy core that runs through, but I know that I abandoned things like wearing black because I grew up in New York City…
Stephanie [26:09]:
[laughs] Good for you.
Katie [26:10]:
I’ve embraced color, I love color, I love pattern, and that’s just a big… I know my own style has changed. Do you see women kind of getting stuck sometimes in style boxes that you referred to? Do you think that people are open to change? And where do you stand on the dos and don’ts? Are you team “don’t” in fashion? Or do you feel like anything is okay?
Stephanie [26:35]:
Well, I feel like anything is okay as long as you’re comfortable. I think being comfortable in your clothes makes you confident and that confidence can be a catalyst for many things to happen. But I am a huge proponent of color. I think that as we age, we start to dress to disappear. Many of my older clients would be in tan, black, or gray. And you see this kind of, first you dress to disappear, your body may have changed so you start to hide those changes. That just leads to less vibrant colors and less vibrance in your life. Then that can lead to other things, you stop speaking up, you stop striving to make, learn new things. So, it’s amazing what adding a little color to your wardrobe… Women that I work with, I always encourage color. I think that I say, "Look, it’s like walking out on a spring day versus a winter day, which one fills you with more joy?” But wearing color can be really scary. I mean, all of a sudden, you’re calling attention to yourself.
Katie [27:37]:
What are great colors if you do have silver or gray hair? What helps that pop and compliments it? It probably also depends on your skin type. But are there colors that photograph well, that you steer silver-haired models to?
Stephanie [27:51]:
Well, I think anything saturated. You know, pastels are not great but saturated colors; purple, blues, greens, reds look great… Again, it’s skin tone, but if somebody tells you you look great in a color even though you’re kind of like “Ugh, this is so much attention, I don’t know.” Kind of listen to what the universe gives you. And I, my power color is orange and I think that if there are colors that you love, you know that whole… I’m not a believer that you have certain colors that you can wear, I believe that if color brings you joy, wear it, because that joy really translates out into the world.
So, I’m not a big dos and don’ts person. I always say to somebody, they’ll say, "Oh I can't wear this because I’m 50,” or whatever it is. And I circle back and say, "Well, how do you feel in it?” “Well, I love this, this was my mother’s or I bought it on a trip to Europe,” and I’m like, "Then wear it. If it brings you joy, wear it. Step out of that box that somebody else has given you that’s not what you want to live in.”
Katie [29:01]:
Dress for joy. I love that. I think that we should all take that on. Stephanie, I want to switch gears for a minute and ask you about your podcasting work. I do know that you guest podcast for the show Brand Fifty, it spotlights entrepreneurial stories in midlife, which of course, is right up our alley; we love that, we love reinvention. What have you learned from the show and why is midlife the right time to launch a business?
Stephanie [29:29]:
Well, I think there are so many transitions in midlife. Those transitions can be really joyful, or they can be depressing almost. I remember when my son left for college, my oldest, it was a time of… It could be reinvention, or it could be, “I’m going to settle into who I’ve been.” I decided instead to discover who I was going to be.
So, hearing the stories of other women, I only focus on women and reinvention. So, again, it goes back to, “You can't be what you don’t see.” So, the visuals are super important, but the narratives like your work too, those stories of how somebody did it— hopefully my story of having no experience in the modeling industry, not knowing… I mean I reached out to every gray-haired model I could find on Instagram and asked for her advice. “How much do you get paid? How do you get paid? Do you only work with one agency?” And they were so generous with their information and so supportive of what I was trying to build. It’s okay to ask for help, it’s okay to say, “I’m a sole provider, I’m bootstrapping this, I don’t have any money for that, I’m just learning.” You know, people appreciate that authenticity in what you’re building.
So yeah, I love talking to women about how they did something just because it gives — back to that, what we talked about in the beginning — it gives some permission to think about what the possibilities are. How many of us have ideas in our head but we don’t think we can do them because we don’t hear someone else’s story. And then when we hear someone else’s story that started a consumer product but had no experience in it, then it gives you that, “Oh, it’s not a crazy idea, maybe I can do it.” So, I love being able to tell those stories, and I love when I meet somebody super interesting that I can say, "Hey can I interview you?”
Katie [31:25]:
It’s so fantastic because getting to midlife means you give yourself permission to get after whatever it is you want to get after. It’s the spirit of this show, it’s what I hear from guests who come on, constantly, we hear from women who’ve reinvented; they’ve left law to become best-selling novelists. You know, nobody gave them permission to become a novelist, they just seized their own permission. So, anyone who is listening to this, who thinks there’s something that you’ve wanted to do, a project, a company that you’ve wanted to launch, a nonprofit, whatever it is, give yourself permission to get after it.
Stephanie, I want to switch and move into our speed round because we’re nearing the end of our time together. The speed round is something I do at the end, just quick one-to-two-word answers that allow us to just hear a little bit more from you before we wrap. So, I want to hear from you, what is your one-word answer to launching Celebrate The Gray was _____.
Stephanie [32:20]:
Overwhelming. [laughs]
Katie [32:22]:
We love honest answers. Overwhelming. Favorite gray-haired celebrity, silver celebrity that you love _____.
Stephanie [32:29]:
I love Jamie Lee Curtis, I think she’s super authentic and has been for a long time.
Katie [32:35]:
And she’s got that amazing pixie haircut, I’m Team Jamie Lee Curtis fan as well. A silver model you would love to have join Celebrate The Gray _____.
Stephanie [32:47]:
I would love Lyn Slater.
Katie [32:49]:
Nice. This color always looks amazing on women with silver hair _____.
Stephanie [32:54]:
Purple, probably.
Katie [32:56]:
I think you might have touched on this but: consider skipping this color if you have silver or white hair _____.
Stephanie [33:03]:
Pastels.
Katie [33:04]:
Pastels. A book or podcast to read that celebrates aging _____.
Stephanie [33:13]:
…You may have stumped me….
Katie [33:14]:
[both laugh] We’re going to go with Brand Fifty. I’m going to throw Brand Fifty in there.
Stephanie [33:18]:
Brand Fifty, yeah, yeah, Brand Fifty.
Katie [33:20]:
Okay, here’s another one and I hope it’s not a stumper. A book or podcast that gives great advice for entrepreneurs _____.
Stephanie [33:27]:
Well, I love How I Built This.
Katie [33:29]:
Yes, I do too.
Stephanie [33:31]:
One of the most powerful ones that I listened to that gave me a lot of freedom in what I do is the guy that built Chipotle.
Katie [33:41]:
Yes.
Stephanie [33:42]:
That he talked about never having a business plan. And I remember in the beginning, people were like, “How are you going to make money? I don’t understand, how are you going to monetize it?” And I just said, I don’t know, I just know this fills me up completely. And even if all it is, is a blog and I’m interviewing women and making them feel great and walking away having them say, “Oh my god, you made my day,” because I actually saw them and talked to them and wanted to hear their story, that’s enough for me. I know the money will come because I just love what I’m doing. I get excited to wake up every morning.
Katie [34:18]:
That’s a great episode. I’ve actually listened to that because both my boys are Chipotle nuts and we tuned into that in the car. And the other thing I remember about that particular episode, the founder of Chipotle, launched Chipotle, this sort of, kind of food truck business, because he wanted to generate revenue for his five-star fine dining restaurant that he had as his vision. What happened instead is Chipotle took off like gangbusters and he wound up building that business. He never built what he started out to do which was a fine dining establishment. So, sometimes just getting in action and beginning something produces results and success that you can't even envision when you start.
Stephanie [35:04]:
For sure, and that’s what I think about with what I’ve been doing. I mean I had a certain vision when I started and it’s taking one step at a time. I think if you would have asked me the question, “What’s the greatest thing you’ve learned in this journey?” It would be patience. I’ve never been a patient person and I have learned, if it’s meant to be it will be and it will come back and I’ve had two years later, a conversation I had, all of a sudden, “Oh yeah, I talked to your two years ago and I was just able to find your card again.” I just believe that what I’m doing is what I’m supposed to be doing.
Katie [35:37]:
Love that. So finally, your one-word answer to complete these sentence; as I age I feel _____.
Stephanie [35:43]:
Confident.
Katie [35:44]:
Nice. Thank you, Stephanie, this was a total blast, I loved learning more about Celebrate The Gray. How can our listeners find you? How can they pitch themselves to you as a future Celebrate The Gray model?
Stephanie [35:58]:
Celebratethegray@gmail.com is my email and then I’m on Instagram, and Facebook all @CelebrateTheGray. Gray is with and “a” the American way, the “e” is European spelling. And yeah, reach out if there are brands that you know that you think, “Oh my god, Celebrate The Gray should be all over this,” let me know and I will reach out to them. I do a lot of DMing, I do a lot of cold-calling and I have no issue with just reaching out to somebody I don’t know. And then if people are interested in learning more about modeling or being an influencer and ambassador, they can reach out in the same way.
Katie [36:36]:
Fantastic.
This wraps A Certain Age, a show for women who are aging without apology. Thank you to everyone who has already signed up for our end-of-April zoom book club. We’re reading Find Your Unicorn Space by A Certain Age guest and author, Eve Rodsky. You can sign up by emailing me at katie@acertainagepod.com.
Want to stay on top of other book events and new episodes? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter AGE BOLDLY over on acertainagepod.com or follow the fun on Instagram @acertainagepod.
Special thanks to Michael Mancini who composed and produced our theme music. See you next Monday, and until then: age boldly, beauties.