We, however, tend to do things differently. After years of nurturing and giving to others, midlife is a time when we chose to focus on our own goals and dreams and begin to express ourselves in new and creative ways. At long last, we’re choosing to “do unto ourselves as we’ve been doing unto others.” The author of this quote is Gloria Steinem and her good friend and longtime editor at MS. magazine, Suzanne Braun Levine, and I discussed this very idea in the first installment of our ongoing monthly radio series.

So much has been said about happiness recently. Yet Suzanne believes this particular word does not cover the depth and complexity of the transformation we experience at midlife. Perhaps a more all-encompassing term would be “fulfillment.” And a large part of feeling fulfilled for women is sharing our lives with our female friends. In truth, as we’re doing unto ourselves, we’re hardwired to want to share our journey with those closest to us. As Suzanne puts it: “A circle of trust is a must.”

I invite you to take a brief 15 minutes from your day to listen to this enlightening conversation. You’ll come away feeling both informed and inspired. As always, Suzanne shares her special insight into the changes and challenges today’s women face as we continue to revolutionize the spirit and style of aging.

Yet, now that we’re past fifty, friendship and a sense of community with likeminded women holds even greater meaning. Aging can bring with it a shrinking world: we may no longer be working and feel the loss of day-to-day communication; we might live on the opposite side of the country from our dearest family members and mourn the physical closeness we yearn for; and we may lack the social resources that once gave our lives richness and depth.

Viola! Enter The Transition Network. This nationwide organization was founded to fill the void that many of us feel as we move beyond our initial careers and seek to find fulfillment elsewhere. Their Mission is to provide “a community for women over 50, who join forces as they navigate the transition from one career to another—or whatever is next.”

And, true to the boomer trailblazing spirit, The Transition Network defines itself as a “movement”—a national movement of engaged and energetic women of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds who together will:

• DISCOVER new perspectives and opportunities
• IMPACT their lives and their communities
• ADVOCATE with a collective and powerful voice

Talk about a feisty spirit! I’ve recently become a member of TTN and look forward to interacting with women my own age who understand the issues and concerns I’m facing at this time in my life. And, making things even more exciting, I just had the pleasure of interviewing the inspiring speaker and “encore career role model,” Betsy Werley, who also happens to be the Executive Director of The Transition Network.

I invite you to spend the brief fifteen minutes to listen to what Betsy has to say. You’ll come away from the experience with a renewed sense of purpose and confidence in all you can accomplish during this rich and fertile time in your life.

Also, be certain to check out the website for The Transition Network. With a few new friends on your side, a bit of information and support, and the inherent power found within a group of menopausal women on a mission, you’ll be feeling feisty for sure!

Special Event: I’m joining forces with the National Association of Baby Boomer Women to present a special Teleseminar, How to Land the Job You Love on Thursday, Aug. 12th at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. If you or a boomer friend are looking for work, please sign up and attend. There is absolutely no charge and we’ll be covering the critical tools and techniques that will jumpstart your search and help you maximize your opportunities in today’s competitive market. The last 10 minutes will be open for Q & A–so think of the special answers you need to know and plan on attending. Sign up here!

But there’s a fresh (um, actually mature) role model on the scene and she’s showing us an even greater lesson: 80 is now the new eighty. Maybe it’s her dimples or perhaps it’s the ever-present twinkle in her eye, but Betty White has become the pin-up girl for the Wrinkled Revolution. And, speaking of fresh, this gal has got some mouth on her! Did you catch her Saturday Night Live appearance?

Although her life has not always been easy (she lost her beloved husband, Alan Ludden, back in 1981 and never remarried), Betty White is showing us the art of aging without losing the spark and sparkle of youth. Her mind remains cuttingly clever and she’s not afraid of delivering a bawdy retort when interviewers give her any opening to inject that famous sense of humor. This lady is still taking risks, still making waves, and still enjoying life to the fullest. In fact, in just a couple of years, Betty will be showing us how to be a cheeky old broad at ninety!

So here’s to the woman who’s provided us countless laughs and many great moments for more than half a century: may her star continue to shine as she shows us the way to the Feisty Side of 100. If anyone can make her centenarian years sexy and fun, it’s gotta be Betty!

I had the great pleasure of connecting with just such women earlier this week: Tomatoes in the Trenches. They’re a bicoastal group who’ve joined forces to present a “lively gabfest for smart women over 40” on Blog Talk Radio. Each Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and 10:00 a.m. Pacific, they interview fascinating women—from celebrities like Shelly Fabares to experts on film, food, design, and more.

The East Coast contingent is composed of three lively ladies from New York who grew weary of being overlooked by marketers choosing to lavish their attention on the size zero, barely post-pubescent set. Being trailblazing baby boomers and unwilling to be sidelined, they’d had enough of the invisibility factor. So these midlife tomatoes decided to create their own newsletter where they provide the real skinny on the best of everything in NYC. And they have standards! Whatever they promote has to pass muster at the “Three Tomato” review panel.

The West Coast is represented by an amazing group of women I’ve written about several times on Feisty Side of Fifty. In the Trenches Productions was launched by four actresses who’d had enough of the ageist, sexist attitude of Hollywood. So, like their East Coast counterparts, they decided to take the bull by the horns and do something about the “ignored audience” on their own. Using the hormonal chutzpah menopause gifts us, they went about creating the first entertainment network for women over 40 on the web. Their productions are geared right at our interests, our issues, and us, and you’ll find humor and insight in each and every one of their fabulous films.

I was both fortunate and honored to be interviewed by Tomatoes in the Trenches about the best methods for landing a job when you’re fifty and over. It’s tough out there these days, but if you know the latest and most effective techniques to successfully compete in today’s job market, you’re halfway there. And there are huge benefits to being an older applicant—you just need to learn the tips and tools for turning your age into an advantage. So please give their show a listen and check out what you can do to distinguish yourself from the crowd of jobseekers and move your search forward quickly and on target.

And most especially, as baby boomer women who are all tomatoes in the trenches, let’s look out for one another and call a halt to the invisibility factor once and for all!

We boomers are indeed fortunate because, as Suzanne writes, for our mothers and grandmothers, the “change of life” meant their lives stopped changing. As their nests emptied so did much of their focus and purpose. Without careers and with limited options and outlets, many of them became ladies who lunch, played tennis or bridge, or waited anxiously to become grandmothers. Maintaining home and hearth remained their primary responsibility and, with fewer mouths to feed, their job description became marginalized.

Ours, however, is a different generation. The women’s movement, the trailblazing spirit of the baby boomers, and the current economic realities have combined to keep us actively engaged in life way past our half-century birthdays. Traditional retirement is a thing of the past as the “forever-young” mindset of the boomers drives us to continue to contribute, interact, and break social barriers.

With our passion and energy still intact, the popular phrase for women our age has become “fifty is the new thirty.” But Suzanne buckles at that one! As she wrote: “That is not it at all. I have discovered that most women in Second Adulthood are very happy being where they are—they don’t want to go back to any of their earlier stages or decades… The assumption is that youth—or at least younger—is the ideal state and that given a choice, no woman in her right mind would relinquish it. I have found the opposite to be true.”

I, too, have found the opposite to be true and I bet you have as well. The years of fifty and beyond present us with many gifts: a newly found freedom to speak our minds and renounce much of our reflexive need to please; a greater sense of strength, mastery, and the ability to roll with the punches; and the drive towards authenticity and becoming the magnificently ripe and wise women we know ourselves to be.

Fifty also brings with it life lessons. Suzanne has highlighted ten of them in her book Fifty is the New Fifty and I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing her about all ten. Please take the brief fifteen minutes to listen to the final broadcast in our series and then check back to listen to each and every one. The lessons are powerful and profound and will guide you well through this amazing time in your life. In fact, you too, will likely start taking umbrage when someone smugly states, “fifty is the new thirty.”

No—it’s not! It’s far from that. Fifty is the brand new, remarkably fertile, ripe, robust, and exceedingly feisty FIFTY!

Silent and invisible? I think not! Relegated to the margins of society? No way! Boomer women retain our revolutionary spirit and, in many ways, are growing even stronger and more outspoken with age—and, for us, that’s saying a lot!

Now that many of us have moved past our earlier focus of building young families and/or nurturing careers, we’re freed up to express ourselves like never before. Coupled with the hormonal changes at menopause, I like to say we gals our “sprouting our whiskers and strutting our stuff!”

As regular readers know, I’m doing a series of interviews with Suzanne Braun Levine on embracing our age after fifty. Suzanne knows whereof she speaks. As the founding editor of Ms. magazine, she and her coworkers did their share of trailblazing in the name of womankind. And Suzanne didn’t stop there. She’s now helping us relish this most fruitful and, in many ways, exciting period of our lives through her books, Inventing the Rest of Our Lives and 50 is the New Fifty: Ten Life Lessons For Women in Second Adulthood.

The most recent life lesson we covered is “Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes,” perhaps the most fundamental lesson of them all. So take a moment to listen to what Suzanne has to say. The broadcast is a mere 15 minutes, and you’ll come away with a renewed spirit as you contemplate the changes you wish to make in your own second adulthood.

I also want to share a lovely surprise I had from another author. Randy Susan Meyers wrote The Murderer’s Daughters a haunting and unforgettable story of two sisters growing up under unimaginably difficult circumstances. The book awakens many emotions but will leave you feeling hopeful and inspired. I highly recommend it.

The surprise, however, came later. Randy is embracing her own age by writing a piece for the Huffington Post. In it she mentions her issues surrounding appearing on a radio show entitled: Feisty Side of Fifty. Please take a moment to read this hilarious (and, yes, feisty) article, check out her website, and take a look at her remarkable book.

There’s another boomer movement going on and it’s bigger and better than ever. So watch out world—we gals are marching again and this time we’re revolutionizing the spirit and style of aging. Embrace it, baby, embrace it!

I am thrilled that the founding editor of this groundbreaking magazine selected Feisty Side of Fifty to help launch her summer series on “Embracing Our Age.” Suzanne Braun Levine has spent a lifetime working in support of women, families, and women’s issues. Having been instrumental in creating untold opportunities for boomer women in the past, she’s now helping us create vital, healthy, and successful lives after fifty.

To these ends, Suzanne has written a number of books on aging including Inventing the Rest of Our Lives: Women in Second Adulthood and Fifty is the New Fifty: Ten Life Lessons for Women in Second Adulthood. One of the major and most joyful of the life lessons she shares is that growing older is not (I repeat, NOT) a disease.

Suzanne writes of the menopausal zest Margaret Meade described years ago. Although women in previous generations no doubt “felt the zest,” it is yet one more boomer blessing that we are fortunate enough to actually live it! With a little of what Suzanne terms, “mindful maintenance,” we can take on new ventures and adventures with gusto; we can thrive in the second half of life and we can push our boundaries even further than we ever thought. Want to learn how to dance the salsa? Why not? Want to learn to skydive? Who’s stopping you? Want to learn most anything? Just go for it—at this age, we’re most often limited only by the limits we place upon ourselves.

So take a brief 15 minutes to listen to our interview and hear what Suzanne has to say about embracing our age. Then be sure and catch every interview in this exciting 10-part series. Suzanne will be describing each of the ten life lessons and how she’s seen them lived out through the numerous women she’s interviewed. She calls these ladies “horizontal role models.” I promise, you’ll come away renewed and revitalized as you’re touched by these flesh and blood examples of living fully and joyfully after fifty!

Nevertheless, there is one large and formidable bastion that has yet to acquiesce to our demand for visibility. Hollywood is still caught up in the male fantasy of the nubile twenty-something-year-old paired with the aging and oh-so-commanding hero. Yes, there have been some cracks in the movie moguls’ glass ceiling. There are shows like “Cougar Town” (starring an actress in her mid forties) and a smattering of older actresses do appear on the small screen. But, if it weren’t for Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, and Helen Mirren, we’d be hard pressed to find many wrinkles gracing the faces of female leads on the silver screen.

As distressing as this might be, just like Dylan sang way back when, “the times they are a-changin’.” And we owe much of this change to one feisty group of actresses who decided to take matters into their own hands. Led by Debbie Zipp, the ladies from In the Trenches Productions are in the business of reflection. They are reflecting the faces of gals over fifty back at us—not the botoxed, pulled back, waxen-like super Hollywood variety—real faces with laugh lines, crinkles, and age spots.

Their films run the gamut from touching to informative to hilarious. I have several favorites but my all time #1 is “Believe It Baby!” Be sure and stop by their amazing site and take some time to view the incredible films they offer. They’re all free (a true public service and a cause each of us will want to support). I promise you’ll come away from the experience entertained, renewed, and empowered—the furthest thing from feeling invisible.

Debbie and her colleagues are true heroines in my book. They’ve started a grass roots movement to take on tinsel town and, step-by-step, film-by-film, they’re succeeding in putting our faces front and center. So movie moguls—beware! We older gals are on the move and there’s a lot of heat to be generated by a group of menopausal broads on a mission. In fact, I think I can smell your tinsel melting already. Go get ‘em, Debbie!

Some of these values have led to social reforms on a major scale. The women’s movement, civil rights, and world outreach organizations such as the Peace Corps are all hallmarks of our generation. Now, our trailblazing spirit is found in organizations such as Encore.org and Boomers Building a Better America where we’re using our expertise and well-honed skills to better society in meaningful ways.

But what about our personal values? I had the great fortune to interview Peter Buffett about his new book, Life Is What you Make It: Find Your Own Path to Fulfillment. You may recognize his name (after all he is the son of Warren Buffett) but you may not recognize his message.

Over and over Peter heard the remark: “But you’re so normal!” And it’s true that many of us hold some pretty negative preconceptions regarding the lifestyles and attitudes of children of the mega rich: they’re spoiled, self-centered, and feel entitled to the best of everything at the snap of their well-manicured fingers.

Peter blew away each and every one of these unflattering stereotypes. Although, as his father put it, he “won the ovarian lottery,” Peter was by no means brought up to feel superior to others. Rather, his parents imparted a sense of social consciousness, the importance of education and self-discovery, and the life-affirming joy of finding what you love to do and pursuing it.

A thoughtful man of depth and insight, Peter delivers his message in a friendly, down-to-earth manner. In addition to being an enjoyable read, his book will leave you pondering your own life choices and inspire you to live in greater alignment with your values and passion. In fact, it’s the perfect gift for readers of any age—it will ignite the energy and enthusiasm of the young as well as reignite the dreams and desires of those of us in midlife.

So spend 15 minutes and listen to my interview with Peter—I promise it will be time well spent. And then go and check out his website and his book. As Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues put it: “It is a book of value and honesty.” What better tool to guide us on the path to finding our own fulfillment?

I’m always claiming that boomer woman have transformed the spirit and style of aging. Now one of our own has written the definitive guide to help us navigate the rockier aspects of midlife and sail through the transition with style and panache.

Barbara Hannah Grufferman was a top executive in magazine and periodical publishing for many years. When she turned fifty, she wanted to remain fashionably hip, healthy, and happy so she went in search of information to help her do just that. Although she did find several books on aging, she realized there was a need for a comprehensive guide to keep women feeling vibrant in every area of their lives. So, being the can-do boomer she is, she wrote one!

The Best of Everything After 50: The Experts’ Guide to Style, Sex, Health, Money, and More has achieved the author’s goal and more. It’s packed with helpful and cutting edge information that you’ll refer to again and again. Barbara turned to the experts and queried everyone from Diane Von Furstenberg to heart expert, Dr. Jennifer Mieres asking their advice on a range of issues impacting the femme d’un certain âge.

Best of all, Barbara doesn’t leave us with trends and generalities. She provides specifics. Her book is chock-full of product names, resources, and practical tools. You’ll find everything from shopping for the best brands of blush to questions you should ask when shopping for a financial planner.

Give yourself a 15-minute treat and listen to our interview on Feisty Side of Fifty Radio. And, when you’ve finished, head on over to Barbara’s website, take a look at her vast array of resources and order her book. After all, having the best of everything after 50 is a very feisty thing to do!