One question project: Heidi Clements
How do you address societal pressures & stereotypes about ageing, especially as a woman in the public eye?
I think when we realize what a gift and a privilege it is to age - a lot of the societal pressures just fade away. I don’t actually think of myself as someone in the public eye - I’m just a woman living her life - some of it on social media. My fifties were particularly difficult for me in the sense that I realized i was suddenly invisible - or at least I thought i was, so when i started this social media journey i wanted to focus on this age group. It was a surprise to me that most of my followers were under 40 and that they felt terrified about aging. Imagine making young women feel badly about aging? This is insane to me. I think the use of the words ANTI AGING should be banned from all beauty products. If you are against aging than you are against life. I don’t care what society thinks about the way i live my life because for the most part “society” is the patriarchy and i certainly don’t care what old white men think about me - they’ve been running shit for far too long.
We need to stop telling women how to live their lives. There is no right or wrong way to age. You just do it. I personally think its a shame we tell women that wrinkles are ugly and should be erased. You are erasing the stories of your life. You are erasing how you have lived.
Imagine if we started lifting up older women for aging naturally. Imagine if we celebrated wrinkles, single hood, child free lives. Imagine if cellulite , sagging knees and drooping necks were a thing of beauty, something to achieve.
I think it’s important to understand that the beauty industry wants you to feel badly about aging so they can continue to feed their billion dollar business. We need to change the stereotypes. We need to love ourselves at all stages.
About Heidi:
Heidi Clements is a 63 year old writer who wants to change the way the country looks at women over 50. A former tv writer turned social media influencer, Heidi uses fashion and storytelling to help reframe the way people look at aging.
Born and raised in Staten Island NY, Heidi went to Emerson College in Boston with dreams of working in the television industry. It was a dream that came true. Heidi has worked in both magazine news and entertainment news running shows like Entertainment Tonight , before moving into scripted television at 51. 100 episodes of a show called Baby Daddy, Heidi decided to shift her script focus and now only writes about women over 50. While waiting for the industry to take notice - Heidi is now focused on turning her social media into a business and spreading the word about pro-aging, anti-alcohol and general ideas about life love and the pursuit of happiness.
You can find Heidi on TikTok and IG.
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