We recently connected with Fran Braga Meininger and have shared our conversation below.

Fran, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you tell us the backstory behind how you came up with the idea?

I began writing eight years ago as a way to work through a lifestyle change. I had retired a bit early and found myself in a quandary, not sure what to do next, looking for greater meaning than I found in my daily life and plagued with an irritating feeling that something important was missing. I wondered if this was all there was. I had accomplished that for which I set out and had nothing more on the horizon.

It was my winter of discontent, so I did what every 59 year old woman struggling with angst and anxiety does; I went into therapy. My therapist was wonderful. She was a no BS, straight talking, marvel of a woman, who simply told me it was all up to me. So, I best get on with it.

​Well, for me, getting on with it meant getting up every morning at 4 00 am and writing it out. Bit by bit, page by page, my mind brought forth my answers. I was being set free and given the heaviest responsibility of my life, to create a life for myself; not for someone else, not for the benefit of another, just for me. That was, as close as I could tell, an impossible task. I’d never done that before. But it literally came down to do it or die, a slow, protracted, mind numbing, soul crushing, one foot in front of the other, end of life that would go on far too long to tolerate. So, I chose to do it.

I struck out into every direction at once. If it seemed interesting I did it. If it was fun, I was up for it. If the music played, I danced. And all the while I wrote about it. Every morning, I wrote about what was on my mind and what came flowing out of my fingertips was an insight. I was doing this differently than anyone I knew. I was recreating myself, living my life more fully than I ever expected and I was loving it.

But I was also setting out on a path that was unfamiliar and uncomfortable. There were some big decisions to be made and they were all mine to make. The twists and turns made it hard to see what was coming next and I had to bolster my courage to not turn back and retreat into my old comfort.
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As I shared what I wrote with other women, I heard many more stories similar to mine. There was a whole generation of us who didn’t want to age as our mothers had, who refuse to be saddled with convention and told we had to give up anything because we were getting older. I had found my tribe, and they were as eager as I to explore the future.

I established my blog, The Years Beyond Youth, as a way of creating community for those women, to consider our shared interests and challenges, to lend each other support and to shine a light on what needed to be acknowledged.

I take my inspiration from them. I engage women wherever I can in intimate conversation about their desires, experiences and their trepidation about aging. They are amazingly generous in their response and I find it extremely gratifying still to tell their stories and mine.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I am a 67 year old women, whose life changed dramatically when I retired from a career as a non profit executive. I left a robust social life, and my sense of purpose behind, and began writing as a form of self discovery.

My work was well received by the small circle of friends with whom I shared it and they encouraged me to cast it out farther. So, I published my own blog, started submitting my work and began getting published in print magazines and online.

I found my niche market writing for women like me in this era I call, the years beyond youth, and have established myself as a content creator for a number of international websites.

The market has expanded exponentially since I started eight years ago, with women ready to explore just what it means to be a modern mature woman and to learn from each other.

I am proud to be part of what has become a movement to change the perception of aging, for both men and women, but particularly for women. There are so many outdated stereotypes, limitations and misconceptions about what it means to be a woman of this era and joining those who are speaking out and initiating that change is invigorating and gratifying. It has become my purpose.

I have formed friendships with a number of my readers and it’s offered me even more inspiration as I learn their stories and travel through this era with them. Women are forming all kinds of allegiances and collaborations, similar to what we did decades ago as the feminists of the 70’s, and it’s very exciting to witness. I’m pleased to say mature women are trending!

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I grew up in a generation of strong social norms, when image was paramount. My parents were very concerned about what the neighbors would think and my actions in public were a reflection on them. So, the emphasis was always on keeping up the front, no matter what sort of chaos was happening behind closed doors.

When I began writing, I was exploring some pretty private issues and my instinct from my upbringing was to keep the dirty laundry and intimate truths to myself. But I took the risk of being honest and telling a little more than I was comfortable revealing and as I did, it was evident that was what women were looking for. They needed to read about another woman who was experiencing the things they wanted to talk about but felt unsure and perhaps embarrassed to admit.

The more I revealed the more my work was embraced, and the more opportunity presented itself. Women were looking for authenticity and honesty. They were tired of holding back and pretending everything was fine as they suffered in silence.

What I feared would result in being embarrassed and over exposed, instead became my way of establishing a community of women who were more than eager to share their inner thoughts and emotions given a safe and respectful atmosphere.

This became even more apparent during the worse of the pandemic. I wrote often about the isolation and uncertainty I was experiencing and the response was heartwarming. There were many times when hitting send was difficult, knowing people would soon be reading my most coveted thoughts, but each and every time, the response was an outpouring of support and comradery.

It has changed how I write, and how I experience life, knowing I am not alone and feeling the comfort of women who needed to know they weren’t either.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

When I began writing I was focused on publishing a book based on my experience of sorting out a dramatic lifestyle change. But carving out the time and mustering the energy required to attract an agent, secure a publisher and all the other parts to that end, were simply overwhelming. I endured a few false starts until I finally decided to switch tacks.

I had no idea how to grow my readership to the numbers I needed. I was struggling to increase my exposure and my market and frustrated that I lacked the financial resources to hire a professional team and the practical skills to do all the things necessary.

Mostly out of frustration, I decided I no longer cared about being published in the conventional sense. My main focus was having people read my work. So, I decided I would shift to providing content and submit my work to the few sites I found who were dedicated to my genre. One of them, Sixty and Me, has a community of 500,000 women. Affiliating with them and providing monthly content has boosted my own readership beyond what I could have ever done alone.

I’ve since established relationships with several others, offering me a steady source of readers I would not otherwise have attracted as an independent.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theyearsbeyondyouth.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_years_beyond_youth/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theyearsbeyondyouth
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fran-braga-meininger-840085196/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YuI5koaWgI&t=11s