About me
Yvonne Marchese is the host of the Late Bloomer Living Podcast and the Age Agitators Club for Women. She’s also an author, speaker, professional photographer, mother, and wife on a mission to explore what it means to live playfully at ANY age. Her book, In Full Bloom: A Guide to Aging Playfully, reached #9 on Amazon’s Midlife bestseller list.
Yvonne is a roller skating, paddleboarding “Age Agitator” who believes that midlife is filled with possibility, that it’s never too late to pursue a dream, and that the stories we tell ourselves have tremendous power in our lives. She is also a co-host of the Salty Sisters Livestream, a Roving Reporter for Good Morning Entrepreneurs and contributes articles to Kuel Life, a platform that is normalizing aging for midlife women.
What do you do and why do you do it?
I’m an age agitator, podcaster, speaker, professional photographer, mom, and wife on a mission to Live Playfully at ANY Age. At the age of 48, I realized that I had bought into a story about getting old that was adversely affecting my health and relationships. Changing my story about aging inspired me to start the Late Bloomer Living Podcast and the Age Agitators Club for Women, where I am on a mission to redefine society’s ideas on aging and explore how to live a life by design at any age.
I believe that stories can change lives… maybe not in an instant, but in laying the seeds of possibility. I work every day to embrace big, scary, beautiful change and believe it’s never too late to pursue a dream.
What changed for you after age 50?
I finally started my podcast after 2 years of delay. That decision quite literally changed my life. I have learned how to finally get out of my own way, and move through fear to do the things I most want to do.
What would you tell the 20 or 30-year-old YOU?
I would tell 20 and 30 year old me that she doesn’t need to be perfect, that there is no such thing as perfect. I would tell her to embrace what makes her weird and lean into it as a source of strength and access to joy.
What do you think you’ll tell yourself in retrospect at the end of your life?
I would tell myself to work less and do more of what makes me happy!
What impact do you think increased visibility can have on your business?
Increased visibility will help me to spread the message that just because we’re aging doesn’t mean we’re done playing and living with purpose.
Who or what inspires you and why?
How can I choose? I’m just going to roll with someone I’ve recently been in contact with… Melissa Davey was just on my Salty Sisters Livestream to talk about the making of her film, Climbing Into Life, that will be released in fall 2024. Climbing Into Life tells the life story of Dierdre Wolownick, the oldest woman to climb El Capitan at the age of 70. (Dierdre was also on the show with us). Melissa left her big, corporate job at the age of 66 to become a filmmaker. She’s now made 2 documentary films and her films focus on the achievements of women over 60. She’s awesome!
