Two Old Bitches: Stories from Women who Reimagine, Reinvent and Rebel

"It was just an ocean of stars. And you're in the middle of night. And it's pitch black. You can't see your hand in front of you. And…you just sit there and wait for the light." Having a crazy dream is good. Making it come true is rapturous! And that's what Betsy "La Guapa" Gude did on the cusp of her 59th year, all-too-aware that 60 was not far off. One of her dreams was to cross the Atlantic on...

Citing her age at somewhere between 5 and 100 years old (decide for yourself, she suggests), Luxor Tavella revels in beauty, art and mystery. Forty three years ago -- after leaving her native Milan and studying textiles in London -- she opened her Soho fashion boutique, Paracelso. It is her gallery, a living work of art. Visited by famous artists and designers – including Alexander McQueen – and c...

Janice Zarro Brodman is a writer and political activist who busts norms and defies categories. That's why she wrote her recently released book, "Sex Rules!: Astonishing Sexual Practices and Gender Roles Around the World". Like Janice, the book entertains, challenges and delights with little known "astonishing" sexual, romantic and relationship mores from around the world.  With humor and affection...

"If you're in love with what you're doing., what are you going to retire for? ...What are you going to do for the next 25 years?" For 63-year old Martha Cortes , it's all about oxygen. An internationally recognized leader in restorative aesthetic dentistry, Martha says that oxygen is the best supplement there is. She uses holistic and innovative practices to expand people's airways so they get the...

"Sexism on its own is so ugly. When you pair it with ageism, it is devastating." "Why is our view of late life so unrelievedly grim when the lived reality is so different?" Writer and activist Ashton Applewhite, 65, set out to answer that question almost a decade ago. What she discovered is at the heart of her successful blogs, This Chair Rocks and Yo, Is This Ageist? and her recent her book, This...

" When you're in a band, there's a dance you're all doing. When it works it's orgasmic. Everyone is listening, moving together. It's perfect . " - Diane Scanlon   " I've gone from religious to righteous, and now, to rebellious ." - Freida Williams In their 50s and 60s and still as hot as ever, Freida Williams and Diane Scanlon love performing together. They are long-time friends and supporters for...

Race is for me the bottom line. When I'm seen, I'm seen as black more than a woman.  Maybe that's a reality of being a black woman. We met up with Inca Alexandrina Mohamed, 63, on her 'graduation' day, after a three-year apprenticeship to deepen her work on racial justice. Her reflections on her journey as a Black woman, a lesbian, a 'new world creation' and a social justice leader are illuminatin...

"I'm someone who's very lucky. I didn't come from anything fancy. I've always been determined to do whatever it was I should be doing. There's nothing in the arts that I haven't attempted. I'm still at it." At 86, Sondra Lee is simply unstoppable.  At 16, she stormed a Broadway theater after auditions were over and landed not only a part but a lifelong friend, Jerome Robbins. Robbins was the one o...

" I'd like to write the great American novel, but I don't think I'm the person to do that. I think I'm the person to find that." Whether you're thinking about writing a book or just love reading them, you'll want to listen in on our conversation with Malaga Baldi. At 61, Malaga has been a literary agent for more than 30 years and shares her wisdom about publishing, writing and living a good life (...

"Certainly I have felt many times that I'm hovering over an abyss. But you have to make that leap over to  get to the other side." Kathy Brew, 64, is a self-defined, label-defying "hybrid:" a documentary filmmaker, public television producer, curator, teacher, and artful dreamer. After college, she stumbled on her first job making educational filmstrips  –remember those dreaded "hygiene" films in...

"I am what I am. I have defined who I am. I no longer have to be careful with what I say because it might offend some organizational rules. So I'm able to be the best of what I can be. Unfold my highest goal. I'm free!"  Socorro Reyes, 68, hasn't run for political office --yet-- but she's a politician at heart! She's an irrepressible and principled pragmatist who artfully navigates the legislative...

"I think about that wonderful Adrienne Rich quote that the genius of a spider is that she weaves and spins at the same time.  That for me is the guiding principle in writing: to weave and spin at the same time." Jaune Evans is a modern day Renaissance woman! At 66, she's a writer, visual artist, activist and Zen priest. Through a life she describes as a "crazy quilt," she worked her way through co...

"We were convinced of our ideas. That gave us the power to confront the tragic situation of the dictatorships. The truth is that we were ready to die for what we believe." Ana Falu, 69, is a brilliant Argentinian architect, academic, and activist with the charisma and elegance of the sexiest 40's movie stars. As a lifelong feminist, Ana's life spanned exile during the dictatorships of Latin Americ...

Aruna Rao, 61, is co-founder and Executive Director of Gender at Work, a global network of people dedicated to building cultures of equality. She dreams of  singing "the blues like Nina Simone and rock like Janis Joplin!" And, as you'll hear in this episode, she has the voice to do it. She's lived and worked in more countries than anyone we know, growing up as the daughter of an Indian diplomat wh...

" Having been raised and trained as a historian...I already had the notion of generations and the responsibility of each generation to carry people forward in the time you've had. It wasn't that hard for me to say that I've made my mark and to let go to the younger folks who now need to come and take over."   At 71, activist historian and organizer, Leah Wise, challenges us to think deeply about t...

My husband, when I married him, was a very shy man. He always got third billing. He would always say, "Dodo, you have the talent of an amateur and the temperament of a star!" Dodo Berk is 102 years old and a "star" to everyone who knows her. She is the vibrant matriarch of a large and loving family, the doyenne of the condominium where she lives on Lido Beach in Long Island and the unofficial Recr...

We joined Radhika Balakrishnan, 58, for a conversation about politics, economics and bitchcraft right before Christmas. Radhika is an activist, a to-the-bone feminist and an economist. In fact, she was part of the small group of women who first coined the term and established the field of feminist economics just decades ago. A professor at Rutgers University, Radhika ran their Center for Women's G...

"There is so much toxicity in 'bitch' --all the misogyny, all the hatred of women. And then to add 'old' to it.  It's everything terrifying and awful. All the more reason to glorify it!" Alta Starr, 65, is a coach, trainer and writer who has a dazzling way with words and an exuberant sense of humor.  A former teacher, radio news and music producer, and grantmaker, these days Alta only does the wor...

"The women in my family kept working, never saw any kind of deadline –'Oh well, now I'll retire and not do anything.' I think that's what I'll do as well, and hope I'll get a few more things done before it's over." Carol Jenkins, 72, award-winning news broadcast journalist, author, and "always an agitator" has "retired" many times only to find herself moving on to the next new thing. After 25 year...

"If you stay removed from life, you don't get anything. If you get involved in life, you get everything back!"   At 85 1/2, Elaine Finsilver  is – and has always been – determined to fill her life with art, politics and love in all their fullness and complexity. Her long life is full of those moments you stand up for your own convictions and justice, no matter the price. From reveling, in the 1950...

In these challenging times, we need wise women more than ever! For the last 40 years, Noeleen Heyzer, 68, has been a courageous and influential thinker and advocate for women's rights, workers' rights, climate justice and so many other issues. Until 2015, she was the United Nations Under-Secretary General for the entire Asia-Pacific region and, from 1994 to 2007, she was the Executive Director for...

Jane Summer, 62, describes herself as a writer and as "the most downwardly mobile person" she knows. Writing is her passion and affliction. At 55, she transformed her life and returned to school for an MFA. Searching for her story, she remembered a precious friendship: While working at Women's Wear Daily in the late 1970s, Jane's colleague, Kay, boarded Air New Zealand flight 901 to Antarctica, ne...

Katherine Acey, 65 years old, is a life-long radical social change activist who has stood up, with love, to fight intersecting injustices, whether they're about gender, race, class or other fissures. She was the Executive Director of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice for over 20 years. She's been an unstoppable force for creating funding and attention for LGBTQ priorities for many decades...

Sandra Garcia Betancourt, 60 years old, is a writer whose work appeared most recently in Abriendo Caminos , an anthology of Puerto Rican women writers in New York. She is currently the Director of the Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art and Storytelling in Harlem. She was the founding Director of the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance (NOMAA) in Washington Heights, a high-heeled union organizer, a p...