At 88, Jane Fonda Is Still Saying "I Need to Work." Boomer Women, Are You?

At 88, Jane Fonda Is Still Saying "I Need to Work." Boomer Women Are You? In two weeks, on October 1st, we celebrate the UN's International Day of Older Persons. But I want to take you back to October 1st last year, when Jane Fonda — an 88 years old, double Oscar winner, global icon — said something on Christiane Amanpour's show that stopped me in my tracks: "I'm scared to death." Not of dying. Of never being hired again. If Jane Fonda, with her stature and platform, is publicly naming the fear of being smudged out of the workplace narrative, what does that mean for the rest of us? This week I also came across Stacy Duguid, 52, former fashion editor at ELLE, who has applied to over 150 jobs in 16 months with zero response and is now on Universal Credit. She's taking the regulatory route by campaigning for tighter governance of the recruitment industry. Her own research that only 10% of recruitment agencies belong to the body that (loosely) regulates them, on a voluntary basis. Jane refuses to be invisible. Stacy is fighting for accountability. Both are right. But in today's show, I explain why I believe institutional governance — like the Information Commissioner's Office consultation on automated hiring, moves far too slowly for women who have bills to pay today, not in 2027. That's why I talk about a third path, becoming an Industry of One. We're not waiting on algorithms, regulation, or institutional timelines. Instead, we're building a public identity from your own decades of skill, wisdom, and lived experience. If this resonates, tell me in the comments: what have you been too quiet about that needs saying plainly? If you want to go deeper with me, there are two ways: → Free downloadable audio guide: uncover three nuggets from your own life history and backstory → 2-hour VIP session: a strategic, pragmatic roadmap from where you are to where you want to be Access the guide and book your session here: www.stan.store/bybreensamuels Subscribe to The Smart Years, and share this with all the Boomer women in your life. Be they mothers, sisters, aunts, colleagues, neighbors. Let's be drivers of change, not passengers. See you tomorrow.