March 29, 2024 • 35 mins
Age ain’t nothing but a number, honey. Maryjane Fahey of “Glorious Broads” joins us to talk about owning your sexuality, your individuality, and your reinvention at any age. She inspires us to unapologetically embrace getting older. Plus, Simone and Danielle close out Women’s History Month by honoring two legendary feminists: Shirley Chisholm and Gloria Steinem. Another reason to celebrate? It’s Beyonce’s album release day! Have you listened to her new country album? How does it stack up?
We want to hear from you! You can reach the show at: hello@thebrightside.com.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Today on the bright Side, we're talking about the best
parts of aging, specifically aging imaginatively, with the founder and
creative director of the online community Glorious Broads.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
It's Friday, March twenty ninth.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I'm Danielle Robe, I'm Simone Boyce, and this is the
bright Side from Hello Sunshine. Danielle. Hello, we have some
kind of big news to share. We do.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
We have some big news.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
We made the top ten on Apple Podcasts.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
And when we say we mean everybody listening. We all
made the top ten.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
We did it, y'all. We can't thank you enough. We're
such a new show and we have been working so
hard on this show behind the scenes, just to be
really thoughtful about how we approach all these topics, making
sure that we're representing you and everything that we do.
So thank you so much for the support.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
One of our goals when we started this show was
thinking about women not a monolith, but that if we
do this the right way, that it will represent the
collective consciousness of women in twenty twenty four. And I
think the fact that we made the top ten make
Simona and I feel like maybe we did that the
(01:14):
first week. So big thank you to you all. Thanks
for listening, and thanks for your dms. It's so fun
to talk with you about the episodes on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
It means so much, means the world to us.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
We're closing out Women's History Month today and so in celebration,
we're talking about and talking with some amazing women.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
I'm thinking a little dose of inspiration, you know.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
And today is an extra special day because Beyonce's new album,
Cowboy Carter is here.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Wow, this is a day that everybody has been waiting for.
So Beyonce first announced her new music last month, and
the Internet has not stopped talking about it since. I
feel like it's one of the most anticipated drops out
right now, oh for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
The album includes a track called Joe Lean, which is
inspired by the Queen of Country herself, Dolly Parton, plus
a Miley Cyrus collab.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I mean I forget Willie Nelson.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Willie Nelson too. We've got so much buy in from
the greats of country music. I think I'm gonna need
a full day to digest this album. So we're gonna
check in on this next week.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
You know.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
When she announced it a while ago, she wrote that
this album has been over five years in the making,
and it was born out of an experience that she
had years ago where she didn't feel welcomed and everybody
was kind of talking about how that was probably a
twenty sixteen CMA moment that she had. There was some
backlash from the country music industry. So not only am
I excited that it's out, but I think that this
(02:43):
actually holds a really deep meaning because for Beyonce, this
is more than music. She did disco with Renaissance, She's
now doing country. She mentioned the next one's going to
be rock and roll. She is creating a legacy here
that is so much bigger than music, and I'm here
for it.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I think lately there's been a lot of dialogue around
who is country music for and who gets to create
country music? And this album, I think is going to
redefine that narrative. And she alluded to this in her
Instagram post when she said that I hope that any
mention of an artist's race becomes irrelevant years from now
(03:23):
when it comes to releasing different genres of music.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Plus, can we talk about the country core that's about
to happen? Are you bringing out your cowboy boots?
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Move a side? Coquette move aside coquette cor yeeha, core
is here.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
I wore Sparkley belt here that was country core inspired,
and I feel like everybody was like, oh yeah, it's
Beyonce inspired.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
I have a cowboy hat sitting at the top of
my closet. It's waiting to come out. It's ready to
come out. My husband makes fun of me because every
time we go to a more rural or country town,
I always shop for cowboy boots. But I can never
make a decision. So maybe I'll finally purchase my own
pair of Cowboy bears.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
The time it really is, Now's the time.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Now is also the time to let us know what
you think. Where does Cowboy Carter rank for you? Is
it up there with Lemonade or Renaissance? Let us know
at Hello at the bright sidepodcast dot com.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
All right, let's get to another leading lady. Shirley Chisholm
is in the spotlight over fifty years after her political
career first began. That's because Regina King Shirley Chisholm biopic
that she produced and stars in is on Netflix.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Now.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
We have to take a moment to just give Shirley
her flowers because she accomplished so many firsts over the
course of her career. First Black woman elected to Congress,
the first black woman to run for president, and she
was also a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
But here's the thing, Shirley Chisholm is somebody that has
had such an impact on my life. I think it's
important to take these feminist figures and actually get to
know them as people. She was born in New York.
Her dad was Guyanese, her mom was from Barbados, and
she married a private investigator from Jamaica in her twenties,
(05:03):
which I love. She took night classes at Columbia University.
In her thirties, she worked as the director of childcare
centers in Brooklyn and Manhattan before becoming a consultant in
New York City's Bureau of Child Welfare. And then it
was just after her fortieth birthday that her political career began.
And we've been talking so much about second acts on
(05:23):
this show. Talk about to second acts one.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
For the books.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
I mean, she made such an imprint and she was
hugely influential in passing the Equal Rights Amendment. Everybody talks
about how she had this gift for language, and her
campaign slogan when she ran for president was unbought and unbossed.
And I have that book on my bookshelf. It has
this beautiful blue cover, and she gives me this inspiration
(05:49):
because it's like no one's ever done it before. Doesn't
mean you can't. Everybody's saying no doesn't mean you can't
get a yes. Like she just really never took no
for an answer.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Contrarian spirit that Reese was talking about too. You know,
when I think of Shirley Chislm, I think of all
the women of color who ran for office because of her,
and my grandmother was one of them. What Yes. So,
my grandma's name was Bonnie John's and when she was little,
I actually never got to meet her, which is really sad.
She died just before I was born. But she's a
legend in my eyes from everything that I've learned about her.
(06:21):
Her name was Bonnie John's and when she was little,
she was so poor. She only had one pair of
shoes to wear to school, and all the kids would
make fun of her. But she knew that education was
going to be her ticket out. And she was right
because later in life she won a seat on the
school board in Maryland during the seventies when integration and
bussing was taking place, and she was fighting for black
(06:43):
students to have access to the same quality of education
as their white peers. So my grandmother ran for public
office because of Shirley CHISHLM.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
That's an unbelievable story. Is this your mom's mom?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yes, So you come from a long line of unbought and.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Unbossed exactly, a long line of agitators, organizers, civil servants.
And to this day, there are several buildings named after
my grandmother in my family's community in Maryland. Have you
been yes, Yeah, I've seen all the buildings. Yeah, you
have to post photos of those. That's amazing. Yeah, it's
a special legacy that we have. And I think about
(07:20):
like what it must have been like for my grandmother
to take that step and take that risk and all
the ridicule and criticism that she was probably up against
at that time because there wasn't a ton of representation
in public office. So huge thanks to women like Shirley
for paving the way.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
I mean, what a way to close out women's history
months amone.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
That's incredible.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Speaking of icons of the women's liberation movement. We want
to take a second to recognize the legendary Gloria Steinem.
She turned ninety this week, ninety, and she's such a
personal hero of both of ours. And I think birthdays
are sort of this one and only beautiful time that
you get to eulogize someone to their face. You get
(08:02):
to dedicate a day to love on them and tell
everybody what's special about them in your eyes. And so
I love reading people's birthday wishes to Gloria.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
But have you ever met Gloria.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I have met her in passing. She would never ever
remember me. I'm sure you have a much better story.
She definitely won't remember me either. But tell me, no, no, no.
I met her at a party once. That's it.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
At a party.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
It was like, you know, like a woman's you know,
like a feminist party. But it's an uneventful story that's
not worth mentioning. I want to hear your story.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Hold on. First of all, I love a feminist party.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
I wore a pink pantsuit. I can tell a whole
segment about that. Tell me your Gloria Steinem story.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
I went to the Maker's conference years ago and went
backstage to go meet her. I specifically asked to go
meet her because I was like, I don't like, I
don't really care about meeting celebrities.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Gloria Steinem I was shaking, and I was like, what
do I ask her? If I get one question?
Speaker 3 (08:59):
So my friend Corey and I went backstage, and Corey
is trans and spoke with Gloria first, and Gloria was like,
first of all, she looked at her and affirmed her
in the best way because she goes trans people have
always been around Native Americans had two spirit people, and
I've never seen Corey's face light up like that, like
you could just tell what Gloria Steinum gave her in
(09:21):
that moment. And then I went up to her and
she looked at my belt and I wore this big
statement belt because Gloria always wears statement belts. It's like
her only piece of fashion that I think she cares about.
And I was like, what does it feel like to
have all the answers, like you're the person that every
feminist turns to great question? Is that a lot of pressure?
(09:44):
And she looked me dead in the eye and she
giggled and she was like, I feel no pressure at
all nobody has, all the answers. All you can do
is live present in the moment. And she spoke so intently,
and that word presence really stuck out to me, because
that's all she was. She met hundreds of people that
day and gave everybody her eye contact, and I was like,
(10:06):
if I take anything from that moment, its presence.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Also.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Have you ever read the book Dedication of My Life
on the Road.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I haven't read it.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
The dedication is to the doctor that gave her an abortion,
and it says they've done the best I could with
my life.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
This book is for you. Oh gives me chills when
I read that.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Well, that makes me think about how that decision changed
the course of her life, and how that doctor changed
the course of her life, like all the things that
she went on to achieve that might not have been
possible had she not made that choice.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
That's all she's ever been fighting for. Yeah, I think
is choice. She always said that feminism is not about
right or wrong, It's just about choice.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Yeah. Well, we want to wish Gloria Steinem a happy birthday.
We hope that you enjoyed your celebration.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
You deserve it, girl, Yes ninety a only decade.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Okay, after the break, we're talking aging and joy with
me Mary Jane Fahee. It's a segment we're calling Grand
Old Grammys. You don't want to miss it.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Welcome back.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I'm Danielle Robe here with Simone Boys, and we want
to introduce a regular segment on the bright Side called
Grand Old Grammys celebrating, yes, absolutely celebrating aging.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
We want to recognize the wisdom of the women who
came before us, and our inaugural guest is here to
help us confidently and boldly embrace aging. Mary Jane Fahey
is the founder and creative director of the fast growing
online community for aging, Glorious Broads. And even though Mary
Jane technically isn't a grandma herself, we like to think
of her as a universal matriarch dropping knowledge bombs for
(11:51):
all of us. You got to check them out on
Instagram and TikTok. They're fabulous, Mary Jane, Welcome to the
bright Side.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Welcome Mary Jane.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
Ha I love to be here, such a fan.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
We're so happy to have you. Okay, Mary Jane, can
you define what is glorious Broad's.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
We're a community that wants to spread the word to
go forward unapologetically. Don't complain about your age, do not
talk about being invisible. You decide to be visible. We
really really want to get to women like you, to
the younger women, and say there's plenty of joy here. Look,
(12:33):
look what's ahead of you.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Yes, okay.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
So when I think of the word broad I think
of someone's old crotchety grandpa using the word in an
aheimy voice. But I looked it up and there seems
to be a few histories of the term online. So
some people say it comes from broad hips, which is funny,
and some people trace it to American English meaning a
(12:56):
broad wife, which was like a word for a woman
off in a away from her husband.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
I kind of always thought of it as a derogatory word.
But just like great feminist, do you flip the term
on its head? So why do you call yourselves glorious broads?
Speaker 5 (13:13):
Well, I just want to give credit where it deserves.
Broad City. Do you remember that show?
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yes, no way, it was inspired by that absolutely.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
See I was not a sex in the city fan. Yeah,
I'm going to say it. I was a broad City girl.
And I love that they brought that term back and
I think of abroad. I do not think of Frank Sinatra,
thank you very much. I think of somebody owning it
their sexuality, their sassiness, their everything. Yes, it's a girl
(13:44):
who kind of stomps through life. Look those two girls did.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
So who is Mary Jane the glorious broad?
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (13:52):
I will tell you. I had a very successful publishing career,
and it was design. And then I decide I did
somewhere along the line, probably when print went could put
that I was going to start writing something I always
thought i'd do. I started writing, wrote a very funny
book called Dumped, and I loved it and I was
(14:14):
good at it. And I got a gig at orpaarp
to design for them, and I got offered the editorship
of something called disrupt Aging. So I literally walked across
the hall and started my new current.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Amazing. So who are the most influential brods in your life?
Speaker 5 (14:37):
Good question. I had a wonderful mother or kick ass mother,
and I had a great grandma, and we all lived
in the same house. It's not a house, it was
a Brooklyn apartment. We squashed the men, sorry, sorry boys,
but we did. And so those older women were an
inspiration to me until until we all the house and
(15:02):
I saw that you really have to hold onto your
power and not through kids. So this may sound odd,
but later in my life with all my sisters, all
my sisters were kick ass broads as they grew older.
But I read an obituary Clara Hancocks, and this woman,
(15:23):
at eighty five years old, decided to become a lesbian,
move to the country, write a book, took up motorcycling.
She was everything I ever wanted to be. And that's
what kind of started Glorias Braun's.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Older women hold so much wisdom and a lot of
it is untapped. So I'm really curious as to the
biggest surprise you've personally had when it comes to aging. Hmmm.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
I would say the freedom. As a young woman, I
was harassed on the street. I had like thirty eight
d cups and I was tortured. I like men. I
don't hate men, I don't hold it all against you,
but it wasn't fun. So as I get older, I
(16:09):
like it when I choose to be invisible, and I
like it if I don't feel like wearing makeup or
I don't feel like putting my lipstick on, and I
just put on a baseball hat and I could put
on a sweater that made disguise the assets that were
probably more prevalent when I was in my twenties and thirties.
I am free and that has been the surprise for me.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Everything changes when you're no longer seeking the approval of men.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
Right, absolutely, And that is another one of those surprises.
Waking up one day and for me it was almost
like that and realizing, oh, I no longer care about
what they think, and I no longer care if I
made it or not. That is incredibly freeing.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
I have to admit, when I'm sixty plus, I still
kind of hope I care about getting laid.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
Oh yes, I care. Oh no. That is a big
part of what I'm talking about too. That we are
remain sexual and sensuous. Absolutely, but I mean that it
drives you. So it's a different kind of drive.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Please tell me more of that, because I think while
it's taboo for women at virtually every age to start
talking about sex, it's definitely taboo for women as they
get older. And so, how do you think that sex
has changed as you've aged, and is it as enjoyable
at seventy as it was at thirty.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
I'm gonna be blunt, Mary Jane. Does the sex get
better with time?
Speaker 5 (17:40):
It has for me? And I.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Say, say more.
Speaker 5 (17:46):
I am not alone. I am not alone. I just
had a dinner with one of my very, very fabulous
friends from Washington, DC and she went off for about
five years. I too went off for about it wasn't
five years, but four years. I just need a little
detox after my marriage broke up.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Off the sex, you mean, just to clarify, Yeah, just.
Speaker 5 (18:05):
Like off sex. Yeah, I needed a little detox, a
little time for me. Me me. Uh and so did she?
But wow did she come back roaring? And so did I?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
And why is that?
Speaker 5 (18:17):
I think it's because there's almost a feeling of being
more in control as you age. You know what you want.
And I know this is a little cliche, but it's true. Ladies,
you know what you want, and if you remain healthy
that is an issue for me, and even if you
(18:39):
lose your health. A friend of mine, this is a
great one. A friend of mine recently said, I may
not be able to get all the positions, but I
still have my mouth. And I was like, okay, girlfriend,
and some of the I'm saying, I am not alone.
If you choose not to have sex, good for you.
But I just feel like so many choices are ours
(19:02):
rather than when I was young. Anyway, I chased a lot,
and I wanted that phone to ring. Now, I just
like I do the dialing.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Mary Jane, Speaking of choices, we also get to choose
how we perceive our own bodies. Right, How has your
relationship with your body changed over time?
Speaker 5 (19:20):
I think I really became friends with my body when
I hit fifty. I was always a fitness girl, but
I always had idealistic pictures of myself on my fridge,
and I must have hit about fifty and when I said,
fuck this, I'm just going to do the best I
can and be the best I can at whatever decka
(19:41):
I'm in. I think that I'm much more comfortable with
having my flabby belly at this age than I was
when I was twenty.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
It's okay, it's more than okay. Okay. So I want
to pivot back to talking about Glorious Brad's who is
in this community of women? Is there one materia they
all share in common?
Speaker 5 (20:02):
Well, I think most of the women that I talk
to are unconventional. And I don't mean that necessarily they're
not married or they don't have kids, but there is
definitely a thread of saying fuck the system. Am I
allowed to say that?
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Please tell ye?
Speaker 5 (20:18):
Oh yeah, and uh they live imaginatively. So I just
want to say to all all of the younger ones
that you can have a wonderful older life and in
many many ways it's freeing.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
What have you learned from the very oldest glorious broads,
because you've interviewed so many people.
Speaker 5 (20:39):
Yeah, I would say my very favorites are is a
very good friend of mine. She's eighty five and also
a one hundred one year old woman who every time
I go out I learned something remarkable from I now
recognize the courage it took to be single for so long.
(21:03):
I never looked at it that way, but I am
still treated differently around the holidays, and I'm like, oh, no, no, no,
don't feel sorry for me. So I think it took
my friend to make me realize that the decisions that
I made in life were in fact they took some
they took some guts. I'm just so thankful for having
(21:26):
these old broads in my life.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
What do you do for the holidays now, because I
think whether you're older, or you're simply single at any age,
or just alone for some of those moments, I'm so
curious as to what you do to make sure that
they're full and happy.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
Well, the delicious thing. I do whatever the fuck I want,
but I also have a good group of pals. I
often have a man in my life, and I do now,
and he's usually involved with the women. But I like
to go away, or if i'd stay in town, I
have a nice full day. My birthday's coming up seventy four,
and I want to do everything that I want to
(22:02):
do that day, and that's kind of like a big
holiday to me. I'll go to Saint Ombros down that
block and have one of my fantastic sandwiches. I'll go
to the museum. I love New York. I love getting
old in this town. I'll go see Piece of Theater,
and I'll see my buddies at Joe Allen's. That's a
holiday to me, no different from Christmas, because you know
(22:24):
the I don't have as many people in my family
as I did, and that's okay. You come to peace
with that. All the changes in life, including death.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
We constantly hear this narrative, yes, of fearing our birthdays.
Like I can't tell you how many times my friend,
a lot of my friends are turning forty and they're like, Oh,
I'm so scared, I'm so scared. Do you age out
of those fears around your birthday?
Speaker 5 (22:48):
Oh? I have to say I did have older sisters
and they had such a great attitude about aging that
I had them to look up to. But for again,
for me, I'm going to bring up the fifties. For
some reason, all my ladies say the fuck you fifties
are a real thing, and I know they were for me.
(23:09):
They were definitely from me.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
It's funny because we have it written down as the
fuck it fifties, but you keep saying the fuck you fifties,
which is even more powerful.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
But you'll see, I can't wait to find out.
Speaker 5 (23:22):
If you get there early, you're good for you.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Yeah, right, that's the goal.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Yeah. Simone and I are in our thirties. She's thirty six,
I'm thirty three. What is something at seventy four that
you think we absolutely need to know at our age?
Speaker 5 (23:36):
Mmm? You know what I would say, ladies, I would say,
to let go of the timeline. You may have it
for yourself. Whether it's career although obviously you're both kicking ass,
whether it's a love life, whether it's even baby making.
You know, try to let go of that timeline and
you will have a more joyful life.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
May Jane. We often and here leaders saying that finding
your authentic self is so important, and yet to me
that word has never felt more meaningless or overused. Today.
I have a feeling that you and all the glorious
brods could school us on authenticity. So what do glorious
broads know about authenticity that we don't.
Speaker 5 (24:19):
Oh, that's a very good question. I'm going to say
that that imaginative living is the way they all live,
meaning they really listen to their guts. And if you
lived your life where you're really listening to that little
(24:41):
authentic voice, that voice in your head that said quit
that job, or try harder, or write that book or
write if you follow that gotsy voice in your life,
it'll be authentic.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Wow, Danielle has tear in her eyes. What's making you emotional, daniel.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
I really didn't think I was gonna cry this week.
Speaker 5 (25:08):
On the bright side, I wish we could go have
a martini right now.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
I can't use one of those SAMs.
Speaker 4 (25:16):
You know.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
I have been feeling really.
Speaker 6 (25:22):
I turned thirty three in January, and I've been feeling
really anxious about my timeline. I really want kids, and
I'm single. I don't have a partner, and I don't
really try to go find one, which is not to
my mother's liking.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
However, I really needed to hear that. I loved that
you said imaginative living. Yeah, so thank you for that.
Speaker 5 (25:47):
Oh you're welcome. You have plenty of time.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
And now I'm empathy crying alongside her. This is just
a really blubbery episode of the Preside.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
It really takes a lot to make some oone cry too.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Hey Jane, you brought it out of us. Gosh, this interview,
I mean, this conversation, I don't even want to call
it an interview, It's a conversation. Has just been so
revelatory and soul filling. Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (26:12):
You're very welcome.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Thank you, Mary Jane.
Speaker 5 (26:15):
All right, have a great afternoon, ladies.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
You too, please have a martini or two for us.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
I think I will.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Mary Jane Fahe is the founder and curator of Glorious Broad's.
Check it out at Glorious Brod's on Instagram and TikTok.
What an incredible conversation we just had with Mary Jane
Faihe Yeah, she was special. I don't know about you,
(26:45):
but it felt like I was talking to an older
version of myself, like an older, wiser version of myself.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
I could tell you felt that in the conversation. Why
just the way you were talking to her, I felt
that you like aligned with her spirit, with what she
was saying. What did you feel like you needed to hear?
Speaker 1 (27:06):
What I love about our conversation with her, and what
I love about a lot of the videos that she
posts on Glorious Broad's is that the advice that comes
from these older women really debunks a lot of the
things that we tend to worry about in our thirties
or forties or you know, definitely our twenties.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
And the things that we hear culturally, right like, for women,
so much of the cultural conversation is well, you better
hit a milestone before this age because you expire. And
then when you see wonderful older women do quite the opposite,
you're like, hmm, maybe I've been sold a bill of
goods exactly.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
And I also I just really get angry and resent
all of the anti aging messaging that were fed through ads,
through media, through celebrities who will go unnamed. And I
love to see a woman like Mary Jane who is
thriving in our seventies.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
I actually will not buy a product that is marketed
as anti aging. I know that's actually controversial because I've
said that on my Instagram and people are like, well,
sometimes I do want to refine fine lines or wrinkles,
but I think saying that is very different than saying
anti aging.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
I heard an ad the other day that was like,
do this and it'll take five years off your face.
It's just so rude.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Well, we don't say it to men, you know, get
about that.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
I mean the whole double standard when it comes to
silver hair with men. We see silver haired, gray haired
news anchors all the time. Just speaking from my own industry,
we see them all the time. But do you ever
see a gray haired female news anchor.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
It's very rare.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
There was actually a Canadian news anchor that got fired
because of her gray hair. She let it go great
during COVID and they were like, you're out it was crazy.
They didn't say that explicitly, but that's what happened.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
I hope she took them down.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
I loved when she started talking about imaginative living, same
the idea that we have the power and the ability
to create the life that we're looking for and it
doesn't have to be this cookie cutter thing. And you
mentioned the hedonic treadmill the other day, but I think
(29:29):
that it's been making me reflect on what's important to
me and what is.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Like what am I coming home to?
Speaker 3 (29:41):
And I started thinking about my life differently and wondering
if I've spent too much time professionally not enough time
pouring into my romantic life. And I've decided I don't
regret it, but I am I think going to make
a shift. Her words really inspired that, like, no shame
(30:03):
of the past, no regret of the past, but maybe
do something different moving forward.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
I'm really proud of you. I know that sounds weird
because we haven't been friends for that long, but that's
a really massive realization to have, and a very mature
one and a very wise one. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
I've realized through therapy it's about collecting information, and so
I'm just noticing, but I'm noticing a shift within myself
and Mary Jane's words hit home.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Did anything in particular hit you?
Speaker 1 (30:38):
I have to agree. It's the imaginative living part. This
idea that you are the creative director of your own life. Hmmm,
and imaginative living. What I love about that phrase is
that it reflects back to ourselves. It's not about like
our imagination is something internal. Our imagination is completely unique,
(31:00):
different from someone else's imagination. So it's not about comparing
yourself to other people and living by a timeline that
you see represented and everyone else. It's about what does
my life look like according to my imagination, according to
my vision for it. So you know how we like
to leave our bright side bessies with a little spark
(31:21):
to carry throughout their day. Yes, I have an idea
telling that I want to leave everyone with this affirmation.
I am a force of imaginative living.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
We also want to share a voice memo that we
got from Jacob Rivera Sanchez at Texas Wesleyan University. He
was talking about which parts of the Reese Witherspoon interview
meant the most to him.
Speaker 4 (31:46):
Good morning, my name is Jacob and I just finished
listening to the first episode of the bright Side podcast.
It's a rainy Monday morning here in Texas, so it
definitely was a bright spot to work week. The thing
that I took away the most from your interview with
(32:06):
Reese is about the impact of strong female figures and
influences in your life. But at least for me and
I know some other young men out there, it helps
us to become better advocates and better supporters because we
also have had strong female influences in our lives, from
(32:30):
mothers to grandmothers and sisters, cousins, even co workers. So
I'm looking forward to hearing more from the bright Side
podcast than just Hello Sunshine projects in general about how
I can be better for the women who make me better.
(32:52):
So yeah, I just wanted to share a little bit
about that, and I'm looking forward to listening to more
from the podcast.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Jacob, that voice memo made our day. Your mama raised
you right?
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Oh he is so sweet, Jacob, Thank you for that
when he said we want to support the women who
supported us.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
H that is a good man.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
That's the thing, Like, we can't do this alone. We
need the good men out there.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Yeah, thank you, Jacob.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
We'd love to hear from you, which Beyonce album Reigns Supreme,
and send us.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
The trickiest questions you have about friendship dilemmas for our
new segment, asking for a Friend. We know how important
our friendships are, but we don't always know how to
nurture them. Friendship coach Danielle Byer Jackson joins us on
the show to answer your biggest friendship questions.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
Send your voice memos to Hello at the Bridside podcast
dot com. Well that's a wrap on today's episode of
the bright Side. Thank you for an amazing, mind blowing
first week. We can't wait to come back with more
episodes on Monday. Listen and subscribe to the bright Side
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get
you podcasts, and if you love the show, leave a review.
(34:02):
It helps other people discover us.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
The bright Side is a production of Hello, Sunshine and
iHeart Podcasts and is executive produced by Reese Witherspoon.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Production by Arcana Audio. Courtney Gilbert is our associate producer.
Our producers are Stephanie Brown and Jessica Wenk. Our engineer
is PJ. Shahammat, and our senior producer is Itsy Kintania.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Arcana's executive producers are Francis Harlowe and Abby Ruska. Arcana's
Head of production is Matt Schultz. This week's episodes we're
recorded by Graham Gibson.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Natalie Tulluck and Morien Polo are the executive producers for
Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Julia Weaver is the supervising producer, and Ali Perry is
the executive producer for iHeart Podcasts Special Thanks to Connell Byrne,
Will Pearson and Zach Schmidt.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Our theme song is by Anna Stump and Hamilton Lighthouser.
I'm Simone Boyce. You can find me at Simone Voice
on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
I'm Danielle Robe rob a Y on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
See you Monday. Famm Hm
Today on the bright Side, we're talking about the best
parts of aging, specifically aging imaginatively, with the founder and
creative director of the online community Glorious Broads.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
It's Friday, March twenty ninth.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I'm Danielle Robe, I'm Simone Boyce, and this is the
bright Side from Hello Sunshine. Danielle. Hello, we have some
kind of big news to share. We do.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
We have some big news.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
We made the top ten on Apple Podcasts.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
And when we say we mean everybody listening. We all
made the top ten.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
We did it, y'all. We can't thank you enough. We're
such a new show and we have been working so
hard on this show behind the scenes, just to be
really thoughtful about how we approach all these topics, making
sure that we're representing you and everything that we do.
So thank you so much for the support.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
One of our goals when we started this show was
thinking about women not a monolith, but that if we
do this the right way, that it will represent the
collective consciousness of women in twenty twenty four. And I
think the fact that we made the top ten make
Simona and I feel like maybe we did that the
(01:14):
first week. So big thank you to you all. Thanks
for listening, and thanks for your dms. It's so fun
to talk with you about the episodes on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
It means so much, means the world to us.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
We're closing out Women's History Month today and so in celebration,
we're talking about and talking with some amazing women.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
I'm thinking a little dose of inspiration, you know.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
And today is an extra special day because Beyonce's new album,
Cowboy Carter is here.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Wow, this is a day that everybody has been waiting for.
So Beyonce first announced her new music last month, and
the Internet has not stopped talking about it since. I
feel like it's one of the most anticipated drops out
right now, oh for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
The album includes a track called Joe Lean, which is
inspired by the Queen of Country herself, Dolly Parton, plus
a Miley Cyrus collab.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I mean I forget Willie Nelson.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Willie Nelson too. We've got so much buy in from
the greats of country music. I think I'm gonna need
a full day to digest this album. So we're gonna
check in on this next week.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
You know.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
When she announced it a while ago, she wrote that
this album has been over five years in the making,
and it was born out of an experience that she
had years ago where she didn't feel welcomed and everybody
was kind of talking about how that was probably a
twenty sixteen CMA moment that she had. There was some
backlash from the country music industry. So not only am
I excited that it's out, but I think that this
(02:43):
actually holds a really deep meaning because for Beyonce, this
is more than music. She did disco with Renaissance, She's
now doing country. She mentioned the next one's going to
be rock and roll. She is creating a legacy here
that is so much bigger than music, and I'm here
for it.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
I think lately there's been a lot of dialogue around
who is country music for and who gets to create
country music? And this album, I think is going to
redefine that narrative. And she alluded to this in her
Instagram post when she said that I hope that any
mention of an artist's race becomes irrelevant years from now
(03:23):
when it comes to releasing different genres of music.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Plus, can we talk about the country core that's about
to happen? Are you bringing out your cowboy boots?
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Move a side? Coquette move aside coquette cor yeeha, core
is here.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
I wore Sparkley belt here that was country core inspired,
and I feel like everybody was like, oh yeah, it's
Beyonce inspired.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
I have a cowboy hat sitting at the top of
my closet. It's waiting to come out. It's ready to
come out. My husband makes fun of me because every
time we go to a more rural or country town,
I always shop for cowboy boots. But I can never
make a decision. So maybe I'll finally purchase my own
pair of Cowboy bears.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
The time it really is, Now's the time.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Now is also the time to let us know what
you think. Where does Cowboy Carter rank for you? Is
it up there with Lemonade or Renaissance? Let us know
at Hello at the bright sidepodcast dot com.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
All right, let's get to another leading lady. Shirley Chisholm
is in the spotlight over fifty years after her political
career first began. That's because Regina King Shirley Chisholm biopic
that she produced and stars in is on Netflix.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Now.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
We have to take a moment to just give Shirley
her flowers because she accomplished so many firsts over the
course of her career. First Black woman elected to Congress,
the first black woman to run for president, and she
was also a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
But here's the thing, Shirley Chisholm is somebody that has
had such an impact on my life. I think it's
important to take these feminist figures and actually get to
know them as people. She was born in New York.
Her dad was Guyanese, her mom was from Barbados, and
she married a private investigator from Jamaica in her twenties,
(05:03):
which I love. She took night classes at Columbia University.
In her thirties, she worked as the director of childcare
centers in Brooklyn and Manhattan before becoming a consultant in
New York City's Bureau of Child Welfare. And then it
was just after her fortieth birthday that her political career began.
And we've been talking so much about second acts on
(05:23):
this show. Talk about to second acts one.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
For the books.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
I mean, she made such an imprint and she was
hugely influential in passing the Equal Rights Amendment. Everybody talks
about how she had this gift for language, and her
campaign slogan when she ran for president was unbought and unbossed.
And I have that book on my bookshelf. It has
this beautiful blue cover, and she gives me this inspiration
(05:49):
because it's like no one's ever done it before. Doesn't
mean you can't. Everybody's saying no doesn't mean you can't
get a yes. Like she just really never took no
for an answer.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Contrarian spirit that Reese was talking about too. You know,
when I think of Shirley Chislm, I think of all
the women of color who ran for office because of her,
and my grandmother was one of them. What Yes. So,
my grandma's name was Bonnie John's and when she was little,
I actually never got to meet her, which is really sad.
She died just before I was born. But she's a
legend in my eyes from everything that I've learned about her.
(06:21):
Her name was Bonnie John's and when she was little,
she was so poor. She only had one pair of
shoes to wear to school, and all the kids would
make fun of her. But she knew that education was
going to be her ticket out. And she was right
because later in life she won a seat on the
school board in Maryland during the seventies when integration and
bussing was taking place, and she was fighting for black
(06:43):
students to have access to the same quality of education
as their white peers. So my grandmother ran for public
office because of Shirley CHISHLM.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
That's an unbelievable story. Is this your mom's mom?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yes, So you come from a long line of unbought and.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Unbossed exactly, a long line of agitators, organizers, civil servants.
And to this day, there are several buildings named after
my grandmother in my family's community in Maryland. Have you
been yes, Yeah, I've seen all the buildings. Yeah, you
have to post photos of those. That's amazing. Yeah, it's
a special legacy that we have. And I think about
(07:20):
like what it must have been like for my grandmother
to take that step and take that risk and all
the ridicule and criticism that she was probably up against
at that time because there wasn't a ton of representation
in public office. So huge thanks to women like Shirley
for paving the way.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
I mean, what a way to close out women's history
months amone.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
That's incredible.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
Speaking of icons of the women's liberation movement. We want
to take a second to recognize the legendary Gloria Steinem.
She turned ninety this week, ninety, and she's such a
personal hero of both of ours. And I think birthdays
are sort of this one and only beautiful time that
you get to eulogize someone to their face. You get
(08:02):
to dedicate a day to love on them and tell
everybody what's special about them in your eyes. And so
I love reading people's birthday wishes to Gloria.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
But have you ever met Gloria.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I have met her in passing. She would never ever
remember me. I'm sure you have a much better story.
She definitely won't remember me either. But tell me, no, no, no.
I met her at a party once. That's it.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
At a party.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
It was like, you know, like a woman's you know,
like a feminist party. But it's an uneventful story that's
not worth mentioning. I want to hear your story.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Hold on. First of all, I love a feminist party.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
I wore a pink pantsuit. I can tell a whole
segment about that. Tell me your Gloria Steinem story.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
I went to the Maker's conference years ago and went
backstage to go meet her. I specifically asked to go
meet her because I was like, I don't like, I
don't really care about meeting celebrities.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Gloria Steinem I was shaking, and I was like, what
do I ask her? If I get one question?
Speaker 3 (08:59):
So my friend Corey and I went backstage, and Corey
is trans and spoke with Gloria first, and Gloria was like,
first of all, she looked at her and affirmed her
in the best way because she goes trans people have
always been around Native Americans had two spirit people, and
I've never seen Corey's face light up like that, like
you could just tell what Gloria Steinum gave her in
(09:21):
that moment. And then I went up to her and
she looked at my belt and I wore this big
statement belt because Gloria always wears statement belts. It's like
her only piece of fashion that I think she cares about.
And I was like, what does it feel like to
have all the answers, like you're the person that every
feminist turns to great question? Is that a lot of pressure?
(09:44):
And she looked me dead in the eye and she
giggled and she was like, I feel no pressure at
all nobody has, all the answers. All you can do
is live present in the moment. And she spoke so intently,
and that word presence really stuck out to me, because
that's all she was. She met hundreds of people that
day and gave everybody her eye contact, and I was like,
(10:06):
if I take anything from that moment, its presence.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Also.
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Have you ever read the book Dedication of My Life
on the Road.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I haven't read it.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
The dedication is to the doctor that gave her an abortion,
and it says they've done the best I could with
my life.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
This book is for you. Oh gives me chills when
I read that.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Well, that makes me think about how that decision changed
the course of her life, and how that doctor changed
the course of her life, like all the things that
she went on to achieve that might not have been
possible had she not made that choice.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
That's all she's ever been fighting for. Yeah, I think
is choice. She always said that feminism is not about
right or wrong, It's just about choice.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Yeah. Well, we want to wish Gloria Steinem a happy birthday.
We hope that you enjoyed your celebration.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
You deserve it, girl, Yes ninety a only decade.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Okay, after the break, we're talking aging and joy with
me Mary Jane Fahee. It's a segment we're calling Grand
Old Grammys. You don't want to miss it.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Welcome back.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I'm Danielle Robe here with Simone Boys, and we want
to introduce a regular segment on the bright Side called
Grand Old Grammys celebrating, yes, absolutely celebrating aging.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
We want to recognize the wisdom of the women who
came before us, and our inaugural guest is here to
help us confidently and boldly embrace aging. Mary Jane Fahey
is the founder and creative director of the fast growing
online community for aging, Glorious Broads. And even though Mary
Jane technically isn't a grandma herself, we like to think
of her as a universal matriarch dropping knowledge bombs for
(11:51):
all of us. You got to check them out on
Instagram and TikTok. They're fabulous, Mary Jane, Welcome to the
bright Side.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Welcome Mary Jane.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
Ha I love to be here, such a fan.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
We're so happy to have you. Okay, Mary Jane, can
you define what is glorious Broad's.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
We're a community that wants to spread the word to
go forward unapologetically. Don't complain about your age, do not
talk about being invisible. You decide to be visible. We
really really want to get to women like you, to
the younger women, and say there's plenty of joy here. Look,
(12:33):
look what's ahead of you.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
Yes, okay.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
So when I think of the word broad I think
of someone's old crotchety grandpa using the word in an
aheimy voice. But I looked it up and there seems
to be a few histories of the term online. So
some people say it comes from broad hips, which is funny,
and some people trace it to American English meaning a
(12:56):
broad wife, which was like a word for a woman
off in a away from her husband.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
I kind of always thought of it as a derogatory word.
But just like great feminist, do you flip the term
on its head? So why do you call yourselves glorious broads?
Speaker 5 (13:13):
Well, I just want to give credit where it deserves.
Broad City. Do you remember that show?
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yes, no way, it was inspired by that absolutely.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
See I was not a sex in the city fan. Yeah,
I'm going to say it. I was a broad City girl.
And I love that they brought that term back and
I think of abroad. I do not think of Frank Sinatra,
thank you very much. I think of somebody owning it
their sexuality, their sassiness, their everything. Yes, it's a girl
(13:44):
who kind of stomps through life. Look those two girls did.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
So who is Mary Jane the glorious broad?
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (13:52):
I will tell you. I had a very successful publishing career,
and it was design. And then I decide I did
somewhere along the line, probably when print went could put
that I was going to start writing something I always
thought i'd do. I started writing, wrote a very funny
book called Dumped, and I loved it and I was
(14:14):
good at it. And I got a gig at orpaarp
to design for them, and I got offered the editorship
of something called disrupt Aging. So I literally walked across
the hall and started my new current.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Amazing. So who are the most influential brods in your life?
Speaker 5 (14:37):
Good question. I had a wonderful mother or kick ass mother,
and I had a great grandma, and we all lived
in the same house. It's not a house, it was
a Brooklyn apartment. We squashed the men, sorry, sorry boys,
but we did. And so those older women were an
inspiration to me until until we all the house and
(15:02):
I saw that you really have to hold onto your
power and not through kids. So this may sound odd,
but later in my life with all my sisters, all
my sisters were kick ass broads as they grew older.
But I read an obituary Clara Hancocks, and this woman,
(15:23):
at eighty five years old, decided to become a lesbian,
move to the country, write a book, took up motorcycling.
She was everything I ever wanted to be. And that's
what kind of started Glorias Braun's.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Older women hold so much wisdom and a lot of
it is untapped. So I'm really curious as to the
biggest surprise you've personally had when it comes to aging. Hmmm.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
I would say the freedom. As a young woman, I
was harassed on the street. I had like thirty eight
d cups and I was tortured. I like men. I
don't hate men, I don't hold it all against you,
but it wasn't fun. So as I get older, I
(16:09):
like it when I choose to be invisible, and I
like it if I don't feel like wearing makeup or
I don't feel like putting my lipstick on, and I
just put on a baseball hat and I could put
on a sweater that made disguise the assets that were
probably more prevalent when I was in my twenties and thirties.
I am free and that has been the surprise for me.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Everything changes when you're no longer seeking the approval of men.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
Right, absolutely, And that is another one of those surprises.
Waking up one day and for me it was almost
like that and realizing, oh, I no longer care about
what they think, and I no longer care if I
made it or not. That is incredibly freeing.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
I have to admit, when I'm sixty plus, I still
kind of hope I care about getting laid.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
Oh yes, I care. Oh no. That is a big
part of what I'm talking about too. That we are
remain sexual and sensuous. Absolutely, but I mean that it
drives you. So it's a different kind of drive.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Please tell me more of that, because I think while
it's taboo for women at virtually every age to start
talking about sex, it's definitely taboo for women as they
get older. And so, how do you think that sex
has changed as you've aged, and is it as enjoyable
at seventy as it was at thirty.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
I'm gonna be blunt, Mary Jane. Does the sex get
better with time?
Speaker 5 (17:40):
It has for me? And I.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Say, say more.
Speaker 5 (17:46):
I am not alone. I am not alone. I just
had a dinner with one of my very, very fabulous
friends from Washington, DC and she went off for about
five years. I too went off for about it wasn't
five years, but four years. I just need a little
detox after my marriage broke up.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Off the sex, you mean, just to clarify, Yeah, just.
Speaker 5 (18:05):
Like off sex. Yeah, I needed a little detox, a
little time for me. Me me. Uh and so did she?
But wow did she come back roaring? And so did I?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
And why is that?
Speaker 5 (18:17):
I think it's because there's almost a feeling of being
more in control as you age. You know what you want.
And I know this is a little cliche, but it's true. Ladies,
you know what you want, and if you remain healthy
that is an issue for me, and even if you
(18:39):
lose your health. A friend of mine, this is a
great one. A friend of mine recently said, I may
not be able to get all the positions, but I
still have my mouth. And I was like, okay, girlfriend,
and some of the I'm saying, I am not alone.
If you choose not to have sex, good for you.
But I just feel like so many choices are ours
(19:02):
rather than when I was young. Anyway, I chased a lot,
and I wanted that phone to ring. Now, I just
like I do the dialing.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Mary Jane, Speaking of choices, we also get to choose
how we perceive our own bodies. Right, How has your
relationship with your body changed over time?
Speaker 5 (19:20):
I think I really became friends with my body when
I hit fifty. I was always a fitness girl, but
I always had idealistic pictures of myself on my fridge,
and I must have hit about fifty and when I said,
fuck this, I'm just going to do the best I
can and be the best I can at whatever decka
(19:41):
I'm in. I think that I'm much more comfortable with
having my flabby belly at this age than I was
when I was twenty.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
It's okay, it's more than okay. Okay. So I want
to pivot back to talking about Glorious Brad's who is
in this community of women? Is there one materia they
all share in common?
Speaker 5 (20:02):
Well, I think most of the women that I talk
to are unconventional. And I don't mean that necessarily they're
not married or they don't have kids, but there is
definitely a thread of saying fuck the system. Am I
allowed to say that?
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Please tell ye?
Speaker 5 (20:18):
Oh yeah, and uh they live imaginatively. So I just
want to say to all all of the younger ones
that you can have a wonderful older life and in
many many ways it's freeing.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
What have you learned from the very oldest glorious broads,
because you've interviewed so many people.
Speaker 5 (20:39):
Yeah, I would say my very favorites are is a
very good friend of mine. She's eighty five and also
a one hundred one year old woman who every time
I go out I learned something remarkable from I now
recognize the courage it took to be single for so long.
(21:03):
I never looked at it that way, but I am
still treated differently around the holidays, and I'm like, oh, no, no, no,
don't feel sorry for me. So I think it took
my friend to make me realize that the decisions that
I made in life were in fact they took some
they took some guts. I'm just so thankful for having
(21:26):
these old broads in my life.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
What do you do for the holidays now, because I
think whether you're older, or you're simply single at any age,
or just alone for some of those moments, I'm so
curious as to what you do to make sure that
they're full and happy.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
Well, the delicious thing. I do whatever the fuck I want,
but I also have a good group of pals. I
often have a man in my life, and I do now,
and he's usually involved with the women. But I like
to go away, or if i'd stay in town, I
have a nice full day. My birthday's coming up seventy four,
and I want to do everything that I want to
(22:02):
do that day, and that's kind of like a big
holiday to me. I'll go to Saint Ombros down that
block and have one of my fantastic sandwiches. I'll go
to the museum. I love New York. I love getting
old in this town. I'll go see Piece of Theater,
and I'll see my buddies at Joe Allen's. That's a
holiday to me, no different from Christmas, because you know
(22:24):
the I don't have as many people in my family
as I did, and that's okay. You come to peace
with that. All the changes in life, including death.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
We constantly hear this narrative, yes, of fearing our birthdays.
Like I can't tell you how many times my friend,
a lot of my friends are turning forty and they're like, Oh,
I'm so scared, I'm so scared. Do you age out
of those fears around your birthday?
Speaker 5 (22:48):
Oh? I have to say I did have older sisters
and they had such a great attitude about aging that
I had them to look up to. But for again,
for me, I'm going to bring up the fifties. For
some reason, all my ladies say the fuck you fifties
are a real thing, and I know they were for me.
(23:09):
They were definitely from me.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
It's funny because we have it written down as the
fuck it fifties, but you keep saying the fuck you fifties,
which is even more powerful.
Speaker 1 (23:20):
But you'll see, I can't wait to find out.
Speaker 5 (23:22):
If you get there early, you're good for you.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Yeah, right, that's the goal.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
Yeah. Simone and I are in our thirties. She's thirty six,
I'm thirty three. What is something at seventy four that
you think we absolutely need to know at our age?
Speaker 5 (23:36):
Mmm? You know what I would say, ladies, I would say,
to let go of the timeline. You may have it
for yourself. Whether it's career although obviously you're both kicking ass,
whether it's a love life, whether it's even baby making.
You know, try to let go of that timeline and
you will have a more joyful life.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
May Jane. We often and here leaders saying that finding
your authentic self is so important, and yet to me
that word has never felt more meaningless or overused. Today.
I have a feeling that you and all the glorious
brods could school us on authenticity. So what do glorious
broads know about authenticity that we don't.
Speaker 5 (24:19):
Oh, that's a very good question. I'm going to say
that that imaginative living is the way they all live,
meaning they really listen to their guts. And if you
lived your life where you're really listening to that little
(24:41):
authentic voice, that voice in your head that said quit
that job, or try harder, or write that book or
write if you follow that gotsy voice in your life,
it'll be authentic.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
Wow, Danielle has tear in her eyes. What's making you emotional, daniel.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
I really didn't think I was gonna cry this week.
Speaker 5 (25:08):
On the bright side, I wish we could go have
a martini right now.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
I can't use one of those SAMs.
Speaker 4 (25:16):
You know.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
I have been feeling really.
Speaker 6 (25:22):
I turned thirty three in January, and I've been feeling
really anxious about my timeline. I really want kids, and
I'm single. I don't have a partner, and I don't
really try to go find one, which is not to
my mother's liking.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
However, I really needed to hear that. I loved that
you said imaginative living. Yeah, so thank you for that.
Speaker 5 (25:47):
Oh you're welcome. You have plenty of time.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
And now I'm empathy crying alongside her. This is just
a really blubbery episode of the Preside.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
It really takes a lot to make some oone cry too.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Hey Jane, you brought it out of us. Gosh, this interview,
I mean, this conversation, I don't even want to call
it an interview, It's a conversation. Has just been so
revelatory and soul filling. Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (26:12):
You're very welcome.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Thank you, Mary Jane.
Speaker 5 (26:15):
All right, have a great afternoon, ladies.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
You too, please have a martini or two for us.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
I think I will.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Mary Jane Fahe is the founder and curator of Glorious Broad's.
Check it out at Glorious Brod's on Instagram and TikTok.
What an incredible conversation we just had with Mary Jane
Faihe Yeah, she was special. I don't know about you,
(26:45):
but it felt like I was talking to an older
version of myself, like an older, wiser version of myself.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
I could tell you felt that in the conversation. Why
just the way you were talking to her, I felt
that you like aligned with her spirit, with what she
was saying. What did you feel like you needed to hear?
Speaker 1 (27:06):
What I love about our conversation with her, and what
I love about a lot of the videos that she
posts on Glorious Broad's is that the advice that comes
from these older women really debunks a lot of the
things that we tend to worry about in our thirties
or forties or you know, definitely our twenties.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
And the things that we hear culturally, right like, for women,
so much of the cultural conversation is well, you better
hit a milestone before this age because you expire. And
then when you see wonderful older women do quite the opposite,
you're like, hmm, maybe I've been sold a bill of
goods exactly.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
And I also I just really get angry and resent
all of the anti aging messaging that were fed through ads,
through media, through celebrities who will go unnamed. And I
love to see a woman like Mary Jane who is
thriving in our seventies.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
I actually will not buy a product that is marketed
as anti aging. I know that's actually controversial because I've
said that on my Instagram and people are like, well,
sometimes I do want to refine fine lines or wrinkles,
but I think saying that is very different than saying
anti aging.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
I heard an ad the other day that was like,
do this and it'll take five years off your face.
It's just so rude.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Well, we don't say it to men, you know, get
about that.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
I mean the whole double standard when it comes to
silver hair with men. We see silver haired, gray haired
news anchors all the time. Just speaking from my own industry,
we see them all the time. But do you ever
see a gray haired female news anchor.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
It's very rare.
Speaker 3 (28:53):
There was actually a Canadian news anchor that got fired
because of her gray hair. She let it go great
during COVID and they were like, you're out it was crazy.
They didn't say that explicitly, but that's what happened.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
I hope she took them down.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
I loved when she started talking about imaginative living, same
the idea that we have the power and the ability
to create the life that we're looking for and it
doesn't have to be this cookie cutter thing. And you
mentioned the hedonic treadmill the other day, but I think
(29:29):
that it's been making me reflect on what's important to
me and what is.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Like what am I coming home to?
Speaker 3 (29:41):
And I started thinking about my life differently and wondering
if I've spent too much time professionally not enough time
pouring into my romantic life. And I've decided I don't
regret it, but I am I think going to make
a shift. Her words really inspired that, like, no shame
(30:03):
of the past, no regret of the past, but maybe
do something different moving forward.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
I'm really proud of you. I know that sounds weird
because we haven't been friends for that long, but that's
a really massive realization to have, and a very mature
one and a very wise one. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (30:24):
I've realized through therapy it's about collecting information, and so
I'm just noticing, but I'm noticing a shift within myself
and Mary Jane's words hit home.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Did anything in particular hit you?
Speaker 1 (30:38):
I have to agree. It's the imaginative living part. This
idea that you are the creative director of your own life. Hmmm,
and imaginative living. What I love about that phrase is
that it reflects back to ourselves. It's not about like
our imagination is something internal. Our imagination is completely unique,
(31:00):
different from someone else's imagination. So it's not about comparing
yourself to other people and living by a timeline that
you see represented and everyone else. It's about what does
my life look like according to my imagination, according to
my vision for it. So you know how we like
to leave our bright side bessies with a little spark
(31:21):
to carry throughout their day. Yes, I have an idea
telling that I want to leave everyone with this affirmation.
I am a force of imaginative living.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
We also want to share a voice memo that we
got from Jacob Rivera Sanchez at Texas Wesleyan University. He
was talking about which parts of the Reese Witherspoon interview
meant the most to him.
Speaker 4 (31:46):
Good morning, my name is Jacob and I just finished
listening to the first episode of the bright Side podcast.
It's a rainy Monday morning here in Texas, so it
definitely was a bright spot to work week. The thing
that I took away the most from your interview with
(32:06):
Reese is about the impact of strong female figures and
influences in your life. But at least for me and
I know some other young men out there, it helps
us to become better advocates and better supporters because we
also have had strong female influences in our lives, from
(32:30):
mothers to grandmothers and sisters, cousins, even co workers. So
I'm looking forward to hearing more from the bright Side
podcast than just Hello Sunshine projects in general about how
I can be better for the women who make me better.
(32:52):
So yeah, I just wanted to share a little bit
about that, and I'm looking forward to listening to more
from the podcast.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
Jacob, that voice memo made our day. Your mama raised
you right?
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Oh he is so sweet, Jacob, Thank you for that
when he said we want to support the women who
supported us.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
H that is a good man.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
That's the thing, Like, we can't do this alone. We
need the good men out there.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Yeah, thank you, Jacob.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
We'd love to hear from you, which Beyonce album Reigns Supreme,
and send us.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
The trickiest questions you have about friendship dilemmas for our
new segment, asking for a Friend. We know how important
our friendships are, but we don't always know how to
nurture them. Friendship coach Danielle Byer Jackson joins us on
the show to answer your biggest friendship questions.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
Send your voice memos to Hello at the Bridside podcast
dot com. Well that's a wrap on today's episode of
the bright Side. Thank you for an amazing, mind blowing
first week. We can't wait to come back with more
episodes on Monday. Listen and subscribe to the bright Side
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get
you podcasts, and if you love the show, leave a review.
(34:02):
It helps other people discover us.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
The bright Side is a production of Hello, Sunshine and
iHeart Podcasts and is executive produced by Reese Witherspoon.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Production by Arcana Audio. Courtney Gilbert is our associate producer.
Our producers are Stephanie Brown and Jessica Wenk. Our engineer
is PJ. Shahammat, and our senior producer is Itsy Kintania.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
Arcana's executive producers are Francis Harlowe and Abby Ruska. Arcana's
Head of production is Matt Schultz. This week's episodes we're
recorded by Graham Gibson.
Speaker 1 (34:34):
Natalie Tulluck and Morien Polo are the executive producers for
Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Julia Weaver is the supervising producer, and Ali Perry is
the executive producer for iHeart Podcasts Special Thanks to Connell Byrne,
Will Pearson and Zach Schmidt.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Our theme song is by Anna Stump and Hamilton Lighthouser.
I'm Simone Boyce. You can find me at Simone Voice
on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
I'm Danielle Robe rob a Y on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
See you Monday. Famm Hm
Popular Podcasts
1. The Podium
The Podium: An NBC Olympic and Paralympic podcast. Join us for insider coverage during the intense competition at the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. In the run-up to the Opening Ceremony, we’ll bring you deep into the stories and events that have you know and those you'll be hard-pressed to forget.
2. In The Village
In The Village will take you into the most exclusive areas of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games to explore the daily life of athletes, complete with all the funny, mundane and unexpected things you learn off the field of play. Join Elizabeth Beisel as she sits down with Olympians each day in Paris.
3. iHeartOlympics: The Latest
Listen to the latest news from the 2024 Olympics.