Avon Power in Ageing Podcast Series Avon Global

Katie Joynson, aged 53, has a thriving Avon beauty business. Katie worked in IT for many years, climbing the career ladder to senior management. But after a career break to have her son aged 36 she found herself unable to re-enter the jobs market. Following a decade trying different jobs, Katie set up her Avon business aged 50. She is now a Sales Leader and a mentor to new Avon Reps and in March 2022 was awarded a ‘Star of the Year’ Award at the UK’s annual Direct Selling Awards. In this episode, she discusses how personal challenges such as her marriage breakdown and financial anxiety fuelled her drive for success and in the process helped her regain the power she once lost.

Ntsiki is South Africa’s first black, female winemaker and two-time finalist for ‘Most Influential Women in Business and Government’ award. Not only did Ntsiki overcome prejudice, she saw untapped potential within it - and set about marketing wine for a black South African audience. Now in her forties, her self-funded wine company, Aslina Wines, is a hugely successful business. In this episode, Ntsiki explains why a positive outlook is key, how she and her team stay motivated in challenging times, and why she feels more empowered with each passing year.

Michelle Griffith-Robinson OLY, 50, is an Olympian, life coach, and personal trainer. During her sporting career, Michelle’s focus was performing at the best of her ability. Now retired and in her fifties, she passes on the key learnings and techniques that helped her perform at an elite level as well as dealing with failure. In this episode Michelle talks about her life journey since retiring from athletics and how she helps other women improve their confidence and achieve their ambitions through her work as a life coach. She also reflects on her role as a menopause ambassador, the challenges of the perimenopause and how she’s found balance in mid-life.

Award-winning journalist, motivational speaker, published author and powerlifter, Poorna has shifted the direction of her life since turning 40. In this episode, she explains how she rebuilt her life mentally and physically following trauma, the role powerlifting has played in helping with her grief and why it’s vital to challenge the stereotypes which often hold other women back. She also explores the culture of silence around suicide, mental health stigmas, gender equality and racial discrimination.

Campaigner, broadcaster and influencer Anna Whitehouse, aka MotherPukka, joins Andrea Thompson, the editor in chief of Marie Claire UK, on this first episode of Avon’s Power in Ageing Podcast Series.

Anna, now 41, speaks candidly about how changing careers led her to where she is now. After training as a barrister, she realised there weren’t any women of child-bearing years at the top of the legal system. She left to forge a media career but found herself challenging a similarly out-dated corporate working model that favoured presenteeism and penalised parents. She talks about how she became an accidental campaigner for flexible working for all, and why the key to gender equality is having male allies behind us.