What if reinvention isn't about starting over?

At 54, I've been thinking about this a lot.

I started Estetika at 50, after a career that has taken me through travel, hotels, marketing and interior design. And I don't feel finished. If anything, I feel increasingly interested in what might come next.

That's why I've started looking at women ahead of me.

Women in their 60s, 70s and 80s who are still building, learning, changing, creating and putting themselves into rooms they haven't been in before.

And I couldn't think of a better woman to begin with than Martha Stewart. Here is my video:

She didn't keep reinventing herself. She kept evolving.

Martha's career has moved through modelling, catering, publishing, television, retail, media and entrepreneurship.

What struck me wasn't the number of things she's done.

It's her attitude towards change.

One of the mottos she has spoken about is:

“When you're through changing, you're through.” so CHANGE IS GOOD.

She also lives by the idea of learning something new every day.

That matters to me.

We often talk about reinvention as though you have to burn everything down and become somebody completely different.

but maybe you don't.

Maybe everything you've done before becomes part of what you do next.

At 81, she said yes to something completely unexpected

In 2023, Martha became the oldest woman ever to appear on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

She was 81.

She described it as a challenge and said she hoped the cover would inspire other people to challenge themselves and try new things, regardless of their stage of life.

I love that.

Because she didn't need to do it.

She had already built an extraordinary career. She had nothing left to prove.

But she was still willing to be a beginner.

Still willing to be uncomfortable.

Still willing to surprise people.

And perhaps, most importantly, still willing to surprise herself.

And she hasn't stopped

Now 85, Martha is still developing businesses and putting her experience into new categories. She co-created skincare company Elm Biosciences with dermatologist Dr. Dhaval Bhanusali, bringing together hundreds of dermatologists, scientists and researchers around the brand.

That's the part of her story I find most interesting.

Not the swimsuit.

Not the businesses.

Not even the success.

It's the refusal to decide that there is an age at which you're supposed to be finished.

That's what I'm taking from Martha

At this stage of my own life, I'm realising that reinvention doesn't necessarily mean abandoning who you were.

It can mean taking everything you've learned and asking:

What can I do with all of this now?

I'm an interior designer who became a product designer and founder at 50.

I'm still learning.

I'm still changing.

I'm still listening to my customers.

And I have absolutely no idea what I'll be doing at 72 or 85 and I love that.

So maybe we need to stop asking women over 50 what they're winding down from.

I'd much rather ask:

What are you building next?

This is the beginning of my Reinvention Series, celebrating women who remind us that ambition, curiosity and change don't have an expiry date.

And Martha felt like the perfect place to start.