Joan MacDonald91裸聊视频檚 health was in shambles at age 71. She was overweight and on numerous medications with high cholesterol, rising blood pressure and kidney trouble.
Her daughter, a fitness coach, warned that she91裸聊视频檇 wind up an invalid if she didn91裸聊视频檛 turn things around. She did, hitting the gym for the first time and learning to balance her diet with the help of a brand new tool, an iPhone.
Now 75, MacDonald is a hype beast for health with a bodybuilder91裸聊视频檚 physique and 1.4 million loyal followers on Instagram.
She91裸聊视频檚 among a growing number of 91裸聊视频済randfluencers,91裸聊视频� folks 70 and up who have amassed substantial followings on social media with the help of decades-younger fans.
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 so rare to find someone her age being able to do all these things,91裸聊视频� said one of her admirers, 18-year-old Marianne Zapata of Larchmont, New York. 91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 just such a positive thing to even think about.91裸聊视频�
Both aspirational and inspirational, older influencers are turning their digital platforms into gold.
MacDonald has paid partnerships with the sportswear and supplement brand Women91裸聊视频檚 Best, and the stress-busting device Sensate. And she just launched her own health and fitness app not so many years after learning how to use digital technology herself.
On TikTok, four friends who go by @oldgays 91裸聊视频� the youngest is 65 91裸聊视频� have 2.2 million followers, including Rihanna. They have an endorsement deal with Grindr as they delight fans with their clueless answers to pop culture questions.
Others focus on beauty and style, setting up Amazon closets with their go-to looks and putting on makeup tutorials live. Lagetta Wayne, at 78, has teens asking her to be their grandmother as she tends to her vegetables and cooks them up in Suisun City, California, as @msgrandmasgarden on TikTok.
Wayne, with 130,500 followers amassed since joining in June 2020, owes her social media success to a teenage granddaughter. Her very first video, a garden tour, clocked 37,600 likes.
91裸聊视频淥ne day my garden was very pretty and I got all excited about that and I asked her if she would take some pictures of me,91裸聊视频� Wayne recalled. 91裸聊视频淪he said she was going to put me on TikTok and I said, well, what is TikTok? I had never heard of it.91裸聊视频�
Most people ages 50 and up use technology to stay connected to friends and family, according to a by AARP. But less than half use social media daily for that purpose, relying on Facebook above other platforms.
Just 37% of those 70 and older used social media daily in 2019, the research showed. Since coronavirus struck, older creators have expanded their horizons beyond mainstay Facebook and gotten more voracious, often driven by the growing number of feeds by people their own age, said Alison Bryant, senior vice president for AARP.
In the California desert town of Cathedral City, Jessay Martin is the second youngest of the Old Gays at 68.
91裸聊视频淚 thought I was going to spend the rest of my life relaxing pretty much, and I do, but this is picking up more for us. I had a very structured week where Monday I worked the food bank at the senior center, Tuesday and Friday I did yoga for an hour and a half, Wednesday I was on the front desk at the senior center. I was just sort of floating by, not being social, not putting myself out there in the gay community. And boy, has the Old Gays changed that,91裸聊视频� Martin said.
Like MacDonald, they do a lot of myth busting about what91裸聊视频檚 possible in life91裸聊视频檚 sixth, seventh and eighth decades.
91裸聊视频淭hey91裸聊视频檙e showing that anybody can do these things, that you don91裸聊视频檛 have to be afraid of aging. The 20 and 30 somethings don91裸聊视频檛 often think about that,91裸聊视频� Bryant said. 91裸聊视频淭he authenticity that we91裸聊视频檙e seeing in some of these older influencers is really refreshing. That91裸聊视频檚 part of the complexity of their narratives. They91裸聊视频檙e bringing other parts of their lives to it. They91裸聊视频檙e grandparents and great-grandparents and spouses. They91裸聊视频檙e more comfortable in their own skins.91裸聊视频�
Sandra Sallin, a blogger and artist, has slowly built her following to 25,300 on Instagram. Her reach recently extended to the British Olympic gold-medal diver Tom Daley, who raved about her mother91裸聊视频檚 cheesecake recipe after his coach spotted it online and made it for her athletes and staff. Sallin, a lover of lipstick who focuses on cooking and beauty, also shares photos from her past and other adventures, like her turn last year in a vintage Spitfire high above the Cliffs of Dover.
91裸聊视频淚 wanted to expand my world. I felt that I was older, that my world was shrinking. People were moving, people were ill,91裸聊视频� Sallin said. 91裸聊视频淪o I started my blog because I wanted to reach out. After that, I heard about this thing called Instagram. It was really hard learning it. I really stumbled my way in. I91裸聊视频檓 shocked because most people who follow me are 30 and 40 years younger. But there are people who are older, who have kind of given up and say, 91裸聊视频榊ou know, I91裸聊视频檓 going to start wearing lipstick.91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频�
Toby Bloomberg, 69, in Atlanta is a Sallin supporter. She discovered Sallin after Sallin competed on the short-lived Food Network show 91裸聊视频淐lash of the Grandmas.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频淪he talks a lot about aging. That91裸聊视频檚 quite an unusual phenomenon on social media, which is obviously dominated by people far younger than we are,91裸聊视频� Bloomberg said.
MacDonald said she was surprised at the beginning that people actually cared what she had to say.
91裸聊视频淲hy would people want to follow an old broad,91裸聊视频� she giggled from her home in Ontario, Canada. 91裸聊视频淢y daughter, Michelle, cleared that up. She said it91裸聊视频檚 what you91裸聊视频檙e representing, that people can do what they think they91裸聊视频檝e not been able to do or were told that they couldn91裸聊视频檛 do.91裸聊视频�
Grace Maier, 32, is home full time with her two kids, ages 6 months and 2. She follows Barbara Costello, a 72-year-old Connecticut grandmother who uses the handle @brunchwithbabs.
91裸聊视频淪he does these posts, 91裸聊视频楧id your mom ever tell you?91裸聊视频� and I followed her immediately on Instagram,91裸聊视频� Maier said. 91裸聊视频淗er content brings me joy! She91裸聊视频檚 got all of these life hacks and tips that remind me of things my grandma shared with me before she passed. She also doesn91裸聊视频檛 take herself too seriously and just seems like the kind of person who would welcome you into her home.91裸聊视频�
Mae Karwowski, founder and CEO of the influencer marketing agency Obviously, has more than 100 influencers in her network between the ages of 60 and 80. With more than a billion users on Instagram alone, she points to the successes on that platform of 93-year-old Helen Ruth Elam (baddiewinkle), 67-year-old Lyn Slater (iconaccidental) and 100-year-old style legend Iris Apfel.
There91裸聊视频檚 another aspect to the reach of seniors: Grandparents and grandchildren who have teamed up to share their adventures together, from traveling the world to Nerf gun battles.
91裸聊视频淢ainstream media, I would say, presents a really narrow viewpoint on this age group. What91裸聊视频檚 great about social media is you can follow a really cool 75-year-old woman who is just doing her thing in Florida and that91裸聊视频檚 fun. That91裸聊视频檚 different. And she91裸聊视频檚 funny,91裸聊视频� Karwowski said. 91裸聊视频淭he 21-year-old fashion model influencer is managed. She has a team. She has designers falling all over themselves to give her everything. She has professional photographers. A lot of these 70-plus influencers are doing it all.91裸聊视频�
Candace Cima, 74, taught herself to shoot and edit video for Instagram by watching YouTube tutorials. She hopped on the platform in February 2019 as a fresh voice on fashion and style while encouraging her audience not to be afraid of aging. Her husband sometimes helps out with photos for @styleinyour70s.withleslieb (Leslie is her middle name).
91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檓 still in that learning curve, I have to be honest. Two and a half years ago, I didn91裸聊视频檛 even know what an influencer was,91裸聊视频� said Cima, in Ithaca, New York. 91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檝e always had a lot of ideas about aging. I don91裸聊视频檛 understand why aging has such a negative connotation.91裸聊视频�
With 37,900 followers, some of her youngest fans have shared with her why they care: 91裸聊视频淭hey don91裸聊视频檛 want to age the way they saw their relatives aging,91裸聊视频� Cima said. 91裸聊视频淭hey feel like they can learn something.91裸聊视频�
Leanne Italie, The Associated Press
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