Lyn Slater (AKA the Accidental Icon) on How To Be Old
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 WalshGuest: Lyn SlaterMusic: David SchweitzerArtwork: Ayumi TakahashiCoordinator: Helen Johnson