That's Not My Age

Lyn Slater (AKA the Accidental Icon) on How To Be Old


Listen Later

Lyn Slater and I have met several times over the years, in New York - and she attended both my book launches with her partner Calvin. The former professor, writer, activist and 'reformed cultural influencer' is an impressive woman. A social worker for 45 years, she has a PhD in Social Welfare. While lecturing at university, 61-year-old Lyn started her fashion blog Accidental Icon and subsequently became a massive social media star. Now she's published her first book How To Be Old: Lessons in living boldly from the Accidental Icon. Part manifesto, part memoir. It's brilliant and - no longer accidental - Lyn has gone viral, again.

Each chapter covers a year in her sixties, and throughout Lyn discusses her experience as an influencer and offers sage advice on remaining visible and rethinking the ageing process. In How To Be Old, Lyn explains how she eventually loses herself in the maelstrom of social media and marketing, forgets her values and ends up burnt out. Eventually rejecting the online world in order to regain control.

The book ends with Lyn settled upstate in Peekskill with Calvin, close to her daughter and two grandchildren. After all the madness of the ' influencer years' and the drain of social media, she is enjoying a quieter life and writing from her garden shed (built by Calvin for her 70th birthday), everything feels calmer and more authentic. It definitely leaves you wanting more...

Lyn is very wise and I loved chatting about age, style and reinvention. Hope you enjoy the episode.

Producer and audio engineer: Nick at The Small Green Studio.

Host: Alyson Walsh

Guest:  Lyn Slater

Music: David Schweitzer

Artwork: Ayumi Takahashi

Coordinator: Helen Johnson

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

That's Not My AgeBy Alyson Walsh

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

44 ratings


More shows like That's Not My Age

View all
grow, cook, eat, arrange with Sarah Raven & friends by Sarah Raven

grow, cook, eat, arrange with Sarah Raven & friends

206 Listeners

Check Your Thread: Sewing More Sustainably by Zoe Edwards

Check Your Thread: Sewing More Sustainably

94 Listeners

The Rest Is Politics by Goalhanger

The Rest Is Politics

3,110 Listeners

Rosebud with Gyles Brandreth by Gyles Brandreth / Plain Jaine Media

Rosebud with Gyles Brandreth

540 Listeners

Dig It with Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball by Persephonica

Dig It with Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball

239 Listeners