CELEBRATE THE GRAY Press/Speaking
Stephanie O’Dell, owner Celebrate The Gray
Marin IJ October 5, 2019
When Stephanie O’Dell began working as a stylist, first with Athleta, then for Stitch Fix, Bloom and private clients, she noticed a common theme among women over age 50. They’d steer clear from wearing bright colors, prints and patterns, avoid certain stores they thought they were too old to be shopping in and felt unappreciated by the fashion world.
Motivated to change the narrative around aging, the 57-year-old San Rafael mother of two created Celebrate the Gray, her 4-year-old company that began with her interviewing and blogging about women over the age of 50. She’s expanded her business to include fashion styling and brand consulting for and about midlife women, and recently created a modeling agency that represents more than 20 gray-haired models….
Video on AARP’s Disrupt Aging movement
AARP Feature
AARP’s Disrupt Aging Feature on Celebrate The Gray
Revel Blog - Celebrate The Gray
When Stephanie O’Dell sees a stylish woman with gray hair on the street, she never fails to introduce herself. O’Dell, the 57-year-old founder of the company Celebrate the Gray (www.celebratethegray.com) loves to see women out in the world who embrace aging and look fantastic doing it.
A former stylist at Athleta and Stitch Fix, O’Dell now provides fashion guidance to women over 50, and is building a stable of models to help brands advertise authentically to older women. “The fashion industry is not paying attention to women over 50,” O’Dell says. “Most visuals associated with aging are used in a negative way. Older women feel like they’ve been forgotten.”
But, she adds, these are vibrant, fascinating women with real buying potential, and brands ignore them at their peril. “Baby Boomers are willing to spend, and they are loyal customers. I say, ‘Let’s normalize aging.’”
Stephanie O’Dell joins Julia Lucia Raina and Barbara Mark to discuss passion, purpose and self discovery. We are experiencing a moment of profound global transformation, a moment that is causing many of us to deeply examine core aspects of our lives that we once ...
How She Revels: Jen Chapin of Kikoko
Join me in my conversation for Revel with Jen Chapin, co-founder of Kikoko.Jennifer Chapin is the co-founder of Kikoko, a women-focused cannabis company whose signature products are cannabis-infused herbal teas, providing a healthy and natural path to wellness. Jennifer created Kikoko with her friend and business partner, Amanda Jones, in honor of a friend with cancer who had trouble finding reliably low-dosed consumables.
Before diving headfirst into the cannabis industry, Jennifer was a serial entrepreneur, founding and growing companies, including a gaming company that became Hasbro’s leading licensee.
Learn more about Kikoko at https://kikoko.com/
Learn more about Revel at https://hellorevel.com/
How She Revels: Barbara Rose Brooker
Grab a cocktail or cup of tea and listen in for a lively, colorful conversation with Barbara Rose Brooker.
One current goal for Rose Brooker is to become the next hot movie star now that her book, The Viagra Diaries, about dating and love after 60, is going to be a mini-series on HBO. Never at a loss for words, Barbara is in conversation with Stephanie O'Dell, Revel member and founder of Celebrate The Gray. O'Dell and Rose Brooker will talk about erasing ageism, a focus for Rose Brooker as the founder of the first age march in history, a national march to celebrate age and the end of age discrimination. Brooker will also share about promoting her recent book during a pandemic and, the ever evolving dating scene.
“Ageism is a disease in our country and I feel we have to obliterate the word ‘anti’ in front of age. People are losing who they are, they’re becoming invisible.”
Barbara Rose Brooker is a prolific author with 13 published books and a National Library Award for her poetry. Not a fan of labels such as senior, elder, gay or straight, she does not believe in retirement and will continue, writing, teaching and doing. She regularly teaches writing seminars at SFSU/SF/OLLI and at private seminars. Her students are between 60 and 97.
How She Revels: Varda Yoran
I had the opportunity to interview Varda Yoran for the Revel Community. Varda is a 90 year old sculptor who has adapted her art as she has aged. Listen in on her interesting journey from Israel, China and finally Brooklyn. We talk about the value of life at all stages.
Coronavirus has required all of us to confront the intersection of aging and disease susceptibility. Varda Yoran has raised her voice as an advocate for the value of each life no matter the age, in a time when we are seeing not only the devastating impact of disease on the elderly, but when some worst case scenarios have brought age into the equation of acute medical care.
In a recent Huffington Post guest writer article, Ms. Yoran spoke out about how age should neither mitigate the fullness of a life nor the profoundness of a life lost.
At 90, Ms. Yoran sculpts, reads, writes, runs a philosophy club, and is more than comfortable with technology. She started a foundation that helps immobile seniors. This cause is an extension of her belief that while the activities of life may change, the enjoyment of that life and the right to live it does not.
Meet Revel Member of the Month: Mary Rawles
Listen in on my Revel Member of the Month Conversation with Mary Rawles. Learn how at 72, she continues to learn new things and build her Fit For Life Fitness business.
Meet Lisa Felder: Ultra Distance Runner, Coach and Model
Born out of long-time Coach 'Mama Lisa' Felder's personal experience with and passion for long-distance running, she has begun her own program, Ultra Fitness Beyond Imagination.
Lisa has been running since the early 1980's, finishing nearly 300 marathons, a Duathlon, a Century Bike Ride, has hiked the Grand Canyon and completed 111 ultra-marathons. She started her coaching career in 1996, for the San Francisco Fit team, and over the next two years, helped implemented "Fit First" program in the Bay Area. From 1998-2009 she coached the East Bay run team for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program (TNT). In 2009, she launched the first ever TNT Ultra Team, the largest endurance program in the world. Lisa is an incredible athlete in her own right and has decided to expand her Ultra training program beyond TNT after successfully coaching ultra runners for the past four years.
Learn how to start or improve your personal running program and be inspired by the lovely “Mama Lisa”.
Celebrate The Gray in conversation with Gennev
Our most recent webinar was “Dressing for Menopause: Clothes, Change, and Body Positivity." Bodies change in menopause, and while we do what we can to stay healthy, we also want to feel good in our skin. But that extra padding around the middle, changes in bra size, and increasing slackness in muscle tone can really tank our confidence. We invited an expert aboard to talk about how to shine through menopause (and we don't mean hot-flash sweat). Health Coach Stasi and Stephanie O'Dell of Celebrate the Gray had a conversation on feeling great in our bodies.
How She Revels: Dana King
Dana King is a sculptor who also paints and draws. Sculpting captures all her senses and allows her to bring humanity to history. Her work is in the public sphere, available for any and all to see, completely free. Whether someone is intentional about spending time with it or has come upon it accidentally, the storytelling opportunity is the same. Dana is a classical figurative sculptor who also paints. She says, “Painting is a more immediate medium that I use when I feel the need to get something off my chest right now. The narrative when using clay requires more time: time to sit with the story as told in a 3 dimensional space. I prefer sculpting because it allows the medium to do the talking for as long as a piece will last. Bronze is an unforgiving material that can stand for centuries. Sculpture also takes up space and space is power. I dream of seeing sculptures of and by African Americans installed throughout this country.” King regarded sculpting to be her "third career," explaining art and sculpture to be her passion and true calling. King's art includes the mediums of sculpture, charcoal drawing, and oil painting. Throughout her art career, King is known for her sculptures and community projects that revolve around the goal of portraying a political message. One of King's best known sculptures is her outdoor sculpture dedicated to the memory of the women who led and sustained the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This sculpture is on display at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice that opened in 2018 in Montgomery, Alabama. This sculpture depicts a teacher, grandma, and pregnant woman who are standing in a triangular formation. Furthermore, King utilized her knowledge gained through journalism to portray these women as if they were from 1950s Alabama. This sculpture of women, according to King, was meant to portray how the women involved were "quiet activists" who were silently making a difference although faced with discrimination. She was recognized as one of "10 Emerging Black Female Artists To Collect" by Black Art in America. King is also an entrepreneur and the owner of a thriving artists’ enclave located in Oakland, California.
How She Revels: Angel Cornelius
Join Angel Cornelius in conversation with Stephanie O'Dell, Revel Host, as they talk strategies of going gray and how to look your best. Angel will share why she created her skin and hair line, Maison 276, and how it helps her keep her gray hair looking its best. Angel Cornelius is the Founder & CEO of Maison 276, a collection of premium beauty products created with nutrient-rich botanicals and designed to inspire women to celebrate their own version of beauty, not someone else’s version of who they should be. Angel’s mission is to fill a void in the beauty industry by supporting women who want to embrace the aging process. Maison 276 provides clean, efficacious, and vibrant products with messaging and images that are authentic, diverse and age positive. The New Orleans native never intended to become an entrepreneur, however in 2012, she decided to ditch chemical relaxers to adopt a cleaner, toxic-free beauty regiment. After becoming increasingly frustrated with the lack of clean, effective products, she began formulating her own skin and hair care products. Her body butters quickly went viral, starting in her church and local community and eventually found their way to the beauty editors at ESSENCE. The company launched in 2016 when the best seller, Pomegranate Kiss Body Butter was introduced to over 14,000 ESSENCE BeautyBox subscribers. Her follow up launch to the popular body butter was the unique Maison 276 – 3 Step Haircare System that brightens and hydrates silver and blonde hair without the use of harsh purple dyes. As a winner of QVC’s The Big Find, a nationwide search for new, innovative brands, Angel debuted the Maison 276 – 3 Step System on-air on QVC in February 2020. It became a best seller in two months!