Nantucket to Netflix: Reinvention After 40

This is your Women Over 40 podcast. Welcome to Women Over 40, where we celebrate bold reinvention and fearless pursuit of new passions after forty. Today, let’s jump right in: what does it really mean to press restart and build the next, best chapter of your life? For so many women, this age brings not a sense of winding down, but a sense of awakening—a time to get curious, to shake up routines, and to step boldly into dreams you might have left on the back burner. Take Susan Lister Locke, who started as a store manager on Nantucket, then pivoted after fifty into fine jewelry design. She began by simply taking a jewelry-making class for fun. The response to her work was tremendous, and, at sixty-nine, she opened her own shop overlooking the Nantucket waterfront. Her story shows it’s never too late to cultivate your artistic side or turn a passion into a thriving business, even if that means completely changing your direction. Or think about Marla Ginsburg. She spent years in TV production before reinventing herself in her fifties as the creator of the MarlaWynne Collection, high-end fashion for women over forty. Today her clothing is sold globally—from Nordstrom to QVC in Japan. Marla’s entire brand grew out of noticing a gap in the market and daring to fill it, proving that lived experience and the confidence that comes with age can be immense assets. But reinventing after forty isn’t always about launching a company. Sometimes, it means finally making space for a creative calling. Rochelle Potkar, already an award-winning poet and author, embraced her forties by venturing into screenwriting. She describes this phase as living a “macro-journey”—less about urgency, more about trusting her own timeline and experimenting with new genres of storytelling. With less focus on external expectations, Rochelle has learned to find her sense of self in her own patchwork quilt of creative pursuits. Let’s not forget Beth Bengtson, who transformed her early passion for photography into the leadership of Working for Women, a social enterprise channeling business resources to help more women achieve economic independence. Her reinvention came not from a grand plan, but from following her instincts and embracing the moment—even when it came by surprise after a job loss. These stories show a pattern. Reinvention over forty isn’t about chasing youth. It’s about claiming your expertise, drawing on networks built over decades, and making your own fulfillment non-negotiable. Whether it’s learning from the likes of Toni Morrison, who published her first novel at forty, or finding inspiration in everyday stories, the power lies in deciding you’re worthy of more, then taking action—whether that means going back to school, joining a mastermind or networking group like Ashokvatika Nursery’s founder Shinde did in Mumbai, or dedicating time each week to build a skill. So, listeners, what’s your next passion project? Is it art, business, writing, advocacy—or rediscover This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.