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.
I cleaned out my closet this weekend. It was a belated seasonal switch: pulling things from bins and trying to figure out what actually fits this body, this month, this year. For 25 years I knew that if something fit one summer, it would fit the next. But that era is over. Dresses that were too small last year fit now. Pants that were loose in the fall are not anymore. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, other than the obvious: I am different this year, so my body must be too.
And then I thought about this week’s guest…
Susan Kanoff spent nearly 25 years as a social worker running federal programs for low-income families. She was devoted to it, but she also needed something light and creative as a relief from the weight of systemic challenges her clients faced.
So she started styling her friends, and before she had a name for it or a plan or any fashion credentials whatsoever, Susan was a personal stylist, a local magazine style editor, a television contributor, and the woman behind The Midlife Fashionista, with 45,000 followers and 2.4 million blog views. Susan has collaborated with national and global brands including Chico’s, Clinique, Easy Spirit, Braun, and L’Oreal.
When her styling clients started asking if they could bring their donated clothes to her office so they could go directly to women who needed them, she set up clothing racks in her government office. In 2016, that became Uncommon Threads, an innovative nonprofit in Lawrence, Massachusetts, one of the poorest cities in the country. With an innovative "outside-in, inside-out" approach, they help low-income women see and feel their true potential by using clothing and image as tools for building self-esteem and self-worth. Unlike other organizations that solely focus on work attire, Uncommon Threads addresses all aspects of a woman’s clothing needs while nurturing personal growth through self-esteem-focused styling sessions and workshops. They serve more than 8,000 women a year now.
In 2018, Susan was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). During treatment, she had to step back from Uncommon Threads, hire a new director, and trust that what she’d built would continue to grow. It did. She used that time to co-found CLL Women Strong, the first national support group for women with CLL, and Kicking Cancer in Heels, an online platform providing resources, community, and hope for women impacted by cancer.
This episode is about a lot of things. It’s about fashion and midlife bodies and building a platform when you don’t know what you’re doing yet. It’s about what cancer teaches you about timing. And it’s about the one thing Susan believes most: that overanalyzing is the thing that actually holds us back.
What the Research Says:
The concept Susan and I discuss, enclothed cognition, was named by researchers Hajo Adam and Adam Galinsky in 2012. Their work found that clothing doesn’t just reflect our psychological state. It actively shapes it. What we put on affects attention, focus, and cognitive performance. For midlife women navigating identity shifts and new chapters, the first decision we make every morning may be more powerful than we’ve been giving it credit for.
Lift Her Up:
Follow Uncommon Threads and visit uncommonthreads.org. If you are in the Greater Boston area, Uncommon Threads turns 10 this fall and is throwing a birthday bash on September 17th in North Andover, Massachusetts. They need sponsors and silent auction items, and the details are all on the website. Find Susan’s daily midlife fashion inspiration on Instagram. And if you are living with or impacted by CLL, CLL Women Strong is the first national support group built specifically for women with this diagnosis.
Every dollar of paid Uplifters subscriptions goes into a community fund we use to donate to the nonprofits, books, and causes our guests champion. To celebrate Susan and the work she’s built, I made a donation to Uncommon Threads on behalf of our Uplifters community. If Susan’s story moves you, please join me in supporting Uncommon Threads.
Huge thanks to Dina of Patina with Dina Aronson for nominating Susan!
