Melissa Davey retired from a lengthy corporate career at the end of 2015 to pursue her second act and her dream of becoming a filmmaker, which she made a reality when she completed her film Beyond Sixty. It's a feature length documentary about women over the age of 60 who have lived remarkable lives and have remarkable and inspiring stories to share with the rest of us.

Her life-long love of film, reading about how films are made, seeing as many films as she could, put her in a position to take advantage of an opportunity that came her way, when she was the highest charity auction bidder for a day on a film set with director M. Night Shyamalan. His question to her, “What do you really want to do?” set in motion a new chapter in her life when she decided to leave her long-time corporate job and become a filmmaker.  

Topics include:

• Facing the fear of making a big life change
• Her practice of Life Layering through her interest in all aspects of film prepared her for this moment
• Taking a self-inventory
• How taking a detour led her to meet M. Night Shyamalan, who asked her the question that would change her life
• Her film, Beyond Sixty, and three of the women profiled in the film, including Susan Bennett, the original voice of Siri; Peggy Bradnick Jackson, who has turned her traumatic abduction as a teenager into a plea for mental illness awareness; and A’lelia Bundles, the great great granddaughter and biographer of Madam C.J. Walker, the first Black woman millionaire.
• Her next project

Melissa Davey, age 71, retired from a lengthy corporate career at the end of 2015. Pursuing her dream of becoming a filmmaker became a reality in late 2018 when Melissa completed her first film, Beyond Sixty Project, a feature length documentary about women over the age of sixty. During 2019 Melissa’s film was accepted by and screened at 8 film festivals throughout the United States and Canada, winning awards and confirming that it is truly never too late to learn something new. The film was picked up by a distributor in late 2020 and was released in Spring, 2021.

Resources:

Beyond Sixty Project