Late Bloomers: Why Your Best Work Might Be After 40

🎙 Female Friday | Ep. 4 — The Real Threat? Silence.

Have you ever felt yourself disappearing—not physically, but socially?
 Like the moment you hit a certain age, the world started looking right past you?

Yeah. Same.

In this debut episode of Female Friday, we’re talking about the quiet erasure of women—and what happens when we decide we’re done playing small. I’m sharing a personal story that flipped the script for me, and spotlighting five surprising women who prove it’s never too late to take up space, speak louder, and own your power.

This one’s for every woman who's ever felt invisible.
 You’re not fading.
 You’re just getting started. 💥

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introducing Female Friday
• 0:55 The Invisibility of Women Over 40
• 3:01 Personal Journey of Finding Voice
• 5:29 From Soft to Authentic Self
• 6:49 Five Women Who Bloomed After 40
• 9:37 You're Not Invisible, Just Warming Up

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the very first Female Friday. This is a space that we talk about all things female, especially what it means to be loud, proud and feminist as fuck over 40. I'm Christy Chanel and this is Sassy Politics. And this is Sassy Politics. Today we're talking about something that women probably feel but don't typically say out loud Feeling invisible, not in a superhero way, more like society stops seeing us, stops listening to us and stops valuing us Until we disrupt the silence. Have you ever walked into a room and felt like you were vanishing Because you're over 40? Like the world doesn't see you unless you're shrinking, apologizing or just taking care of somebody else? We don't fade with age and today we're taking up space. Let's start with the obvious Aging as a woman in this culture isn't just physical, it's societal erasure. In media, we disappear after 35. In Hollywood we go from fresh-faced to grandma, with zero in between. In the workplace we become less promotable but more responsible. In healthcare, they tell us that our symptoms are just stress hormones or just imaginary. We're supposed to quietly fade into the background just when we hit our prime. But guess what? A lot of us are hitting our stride right now. We're not doing it quietly. I do want to tell you stick around to the end, because I'm going to share five women that didn't even start their most iconic work till after 40. One of them didn't get discovered till 78. You'll want to hear who she is, and it's going to rewire how you think about your own timeline. Okay, let's get into it.

Speaker 1: 2:25

So a little bit about my story. I've always struggled to get past the middle management area and I'm still in it. I'm still in it, and maybe it has nothing to do with me being a female and everything to do with that. I should be more creative. I should be doing this. I mean, it's kind of obvious to me, but you got to make money somehow and I and I actually love my career because I work with people and that's my favorite part of my job and I'm good at it. I mean damn good at it. I feel like I've been respected in my position in my career.

Speaker 1: 3:01

Where I'm noticing the disrespect is online. It's actually doing this. It's me speaking up and being a little bit louder. It's me pointing out my own opinions. It's me standing in my truth. That is where I'm noticing the biggest problem Online. When I create online, some of the biggest comments are about my looks, about my glasses, about my hair, about my looks. It's always, always about my looks. It's not necessarily attacking my opinion, it's attacking my appearance. The messaging is clear Stay in your lane and don't get loud unless you're likable. But I also realized I wasn't invisible because I had nothing to say. I was invisible because I had stopped showing up fully. I was censoring myself before they could, and that ends now. It actually ended about a week and a half ago when I rebranded my whole podcast.

Speaker 1: 4:07

I started showing up for myself, I started being loud, I started being secure in who I am and maybe it came because I got my teeth fixed. Probably, you know, if you get the things that make you the most insecure fixed, it's going to impact how you show up for the world and although I am over 50, I feel like I'm just getting started. Being feminine used to mean being soft, nurturing and palpable, and I believe if you look at some of my first episodes, you'll see that I am being vulnerable, but I'm also being soft. I'm not coming at you too hard. I'm actually wearing white. My best friend saw me on my first episode and goes why are you wearing white? You're the brightest colored person. I know you love bold, vibrant colors, you're dramatic, and yet I chose white for my first episode and I know today I'm in light colors. But I think you guys know who I am already right. You know who I am already right. You know who I. You got me down. I can wear all colors. But I think her point was you're not even showing up as your authentic self on your episode one.

Speaker 1: 5:29

Yeah, I think I was coming out and not being as a gay woman, but I was coming out as being Christy, christy Chanel. That was me learning and walking through the whole process of learning who I am, and you'll see the evolution through the episodes. And here we are. I think I'm more myself than I've ever been and that is why I had to have an episode every Friday for Female Friday. It just makes sense Because I want to talk about other things that are not just politics. We have a lot of things that we have to deal with Metapause. There's other things that we need to talk about. There's other things that we never talk about. That's what this episode's about. I plan on having people on my show to talk about. There's other things that we never talk about. That's what this episode's about. I plan on having people on my show to talk about all these topics, and I'm kind of excited about it. I think the first guest that's coming on will be talking about menopause. She specializes in it and I cannot wait to get into the nitty gritty and hear all the things that they never taught us before, all the things that were like something wrong with me. What's going on? That's coming Now. Let's talk about what it's like when a woman stops being invisible when they demand to be seen.

Speaker 1: 6:48

These five women we're going to talk about did not find their power at 25. Just like me, they didn't peak in their teens. They bloomed after 40. And they bloomed loud. The first absolutely amazing female that we are going to talk about right now Julia Child. I know you've heard of her. She became a chef at 51. That's how old I am right now. She didn't publish her first book till 49. Hock, that's amazing.

Speaker 1: 7:26

Number two Vera Wang. I wore Vera Wang for my wedding to my ex. Love Vera Wang. Okay, I've always loved Vera Wang. I wore Vera Wang for my wedding to my ex. Love Vera Wang. Okay, I've always loved Vera Wang.

Speaker 1: 7:34

She launched her fashion empire at 40. After leaving her job at Vogue, she came into her own. We all know who Vera Wang is Mary Kay Ash. She started her Mary Kay cosmetics line at 45. After she was passed over for a promotion, she said fuck this shit, I'm gonna do it myself. Love women like that. They fuel me. They absolutely fuel me. Susan Boyle Susan Boyle remember her. She was discovered at 47 on Britain's Got Talent and sold 25 plus million albums. 45 became like this, singing sensation and number five, grandma Moses. She didn't pick up a paintbrush till 78 and then became famous in her 80s 80s.

Speaker 1: 8:30

What is your excuse? What is your excuse? What is your excuse? You know what all these women have in common they didn't ask for permission, they didn't need a deadline, they made space for themselves and the world had no choice but to listen. So if you're listening to this thinking, is it too late for me? Let me be clear. No, it's just the beginning. You're not invisible, you're just warming up.

Speaker 1: 9:01

Thank you for sitting with me on this very first Female Friday. I look forward to where we're going to go, all the different topics that we're going to talk about, and if you have a topic you'd like me to cover, please let me know. Send me a text it's in the show notes or leave me a comment or send me a DM. That's also in the show notes. So I want to hear your stories. What is the moment where you realized you were done shrinking? Don't forget. Every Monday we do the Sassy Politics update on what's happening in the world and how we're all feeling about it. So please tune in for my Monday episode. And now every Friday we bring it back home to womanhood Female Friday and finding your fire. Until next time, take up space, protect your peace and never apologize for being too much Love. You miss you, bye, bye.