If you’ve ever wondered, “Is it too late for me to...” the answer’s NO and The Uplifters are about to show you why. This space is for purpose-driven women who want to do big, brave things in the second half of their lives. I’m your host, Aransas Savas, and I’ve spent the last 20 years at the intersection of behavior change research and coaching.
In honor of Women’s History month, we’re featuring midlife women who are making history in big and small ways.
Corinne van der Borch and Edwina White whose documentary subject, Miss T, a Brooklyn crossing guard teaches us how tiny moments can have deep and lasting impact. Listen HERE.
Rebecca Wells and Carolyn Broullon who ran against each other for mayor in a tiny New Jersey town. They’ll show us how proximity and face-to-face engagement can reconnect communities - and why your backyard is the place to start making change.
Kerri Kennedy, a global peace leader, who has spent two decades challenging authoritarianism worldwide. She’ll teach us the specific actions ordinary people (especially midlife women) can take right now to protect democracy - no political experience required.
Deborah Koenigsberger, a former model, who started Hearts of Gold, which has helped over 45,000 homeless mothers and children since 1994.
Listen to this episode if...
You’ve been feeling powerless about the state of the world and wondering how to make a difference
You’ve thought about getting more involved in your community but don’t know where to start
You’ve ever talked yourself out of running for something because you didn’t feel qualified enough
It was a Tuesday night in November, and the firehouse in Highlands, New Jersey probably smelled like coffee and nerves. Two women stood inside waiting for election results. The walls were lined with gear and history. It was a male-dominated space, in a male-dominated profession, in a male-dominated field, politics, and yet here were two women who had each decided that this was their room too.
Their names are Rebecca Wells and Carolyn Broullon. Rebecca is a lifelong Highlands resident whose family has shaped her town for generations. She became the first woman ever to serve as fire chief of the Highlands Fire Department, served five terms on town council, nearly two decades on the housing authority, and still serves as Deputy Chief and on the Board of Education. Carolyn found Highlands in 2002 while looking for a vacation home, and like so many of us, never left. She and her wife Donika have poured themselves into this place, streaming town hall meetings after Hurricane Sandy so displaced residents could still have a voice, leading the effort to bring nonpartisan elections to Highlands, and winning the mayor’s seat three times, including this most recent race.
When I saw the photo of the two of them standing in that firehouse, I felt something shift in my chest. Not because one of them was going to win and one was going to lose, but because both of them had shown up. In a moment when national politics feels like a spectacle we’re watching from the outside, these two women were doing something different. They were saying: this is our community, and we are willing to stand in it and fight for it, even when it’s uncomfortable, even when it’s personal, even when the margin is just 66 votes.
What struck me most about this conversation was how much these two women agree. They both want Highlands to move forward while protecting what makes it special. They both care about keeping the town affordable for long-term residents and welcoming to new families. They both believe that local engagement is where the real change happens. And they ran against each other anyway, because that’s also democracy at its most functional: giving people a choice.
In the end, Carolyn won with 51.35% of the vote to Rebecca’s 48.28%. Just 66 votes separated them. About half the town voted for one, and half voted for the other, and roughly a thousand people who showed up to vote for governor didn’t bother to go all the way down the ballot to vote for their mayor at all.
What the Research Says
Research consistently shows that women are twice as likely as men to rate themselves as not qualified to run for office, even when they have identical credentials. They are also far less likely to have ever been encouraged to run in the first place. And yet the Edelman Trust Barometer, which has tracked public trust longitudinally for over 25 years, tells us something important: our distrust of institutions and systems is only challenged by proximity. Face-to-face time with another human being, shared values, shared goals, these are what rebuild trust. Which means that the most powerful thing midlife women can do right now may be exactly what Rebecca and Carolyn did: get out of their houses, knock on doors, and show up in person.
5 Ways Rebecca and Carolyn Show Us How to Build Our Courage Capital:
Show up with your body, not just your opinion. Rebecca walked her town at 6 a.m. with flashlights. Carolyn opened a store on the main drag to be present with her community. Both of them know that real trust is built face-to-face, not through a screen.
Bring the next generation with you. Rebecca brought her kids door-to-door. Carolyn works to bring newer residents onto committees so they learn the ropes and eventually step up themselves. Creating the conditions for other people to lead is its own form of courage.
Let grief be a reason to keep going, not a reason to stop. Rebecca lost her father just before the election. She ran anyway, partly because he’d told her not to quit. Grief can be a north star if we let it.
Hold your convictions without demonizing the opposition. These two women ran against each other and still share a vision for the future of their town. They disagree on some things and agree on most things, and they say so openly. That is rare, and genuinely brave, right now.
Start in your own backyard. Neither of them is running for president. They are taking care of their town, their neighbors, their kids’ schools. As I mentioned in the episode, Helen Arteaga’s father taught her to focus on her own backyard, and that small piece of advice eventually carried her to leading a health system serving millions. It starts local.
Lift Her Up
If you’re in Highlands, look for Rebecca’s community group forming to bring neighbors together outside of social media and political affiliation. And if you want to see what Carolyn is building, attend a town council meeting or connect with local government in your own community.
More broadly: vote in your local elections. All the way down the ballot.
Your Turn
What would it take for you to get more involved in your own community, even in the smallest possible way? A town meeting, a school board meeting, a neighborhood cleanup, a conversation with a neighbor you’ve never actually spoken to? Share in the comments. Your answer might be exactly the nudge someone else needs.
