What if the next chapter of your life isn’t a wind-down — but the most powerful, purposeful season you’ve ever lived? Social impact strategist Suzanne Smith says women over 50 aren’t running out of time to make a difference – they’re just getting started.
Life after 50 used to mean you’d retire and settle down, play with the grandkids, maybe even do some traveling. But as you’ll learn in my conversation with Social Impact Architects CEO Suzanne Smith, this season is prime for making an impact. A professor and TEDX speaker, Suzanne has spent decades studying and teaching what it makes to be a change maker. Together, we explore her signature Four T’s Framework as a practical, soul-aligned map for giving back in ways that energize you rather than drain you.
This is a conversation about reclaiming agency, reconnecting with purpose, and discovering that your life’s work has never been more valuable than it is right now. Whether you’re craving community, longing for meaningful impact, or simply ready to stop doom-scrolling and start hope-scrolling, this episode will leave you feeling grounded, encouraged, and ready to take that first small step.
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In this episode, you’ll discover:
- Why women over 50 are in a “powering up” phase — not winding down — and the science that confirms it.
- How the Four T’s Framework (Time, Talent, Treasure, Testimony) can help you give back in a way that fits your gifts, your schedule, and your soul.
- Why “energy management” matters more than time management — and how to choose service that fills you up instead of depleting you.
- The surprising truth about “talent”: you may be undervaluing the exact gift that others are desperately waiting for you to share.
- How using your voice — your testimony — on social media, in your community, and in classrooms can create ripple effects you’ll never fully see.
- A simple monthly practice to explore where you’re called to give back and build the consistency that brings real belonging and joy.
- How “hope scrolling” can shift your energy, your algorithm, and your sense of what’s possible in today’s world.
About My Guest
Suzanne Smith is a social impact strategist, professor, and TEDx speaker who helps people design lives of purpose and possibility. As CEO of Social Impact Architects, she guides changemakers at every stage, including those seeking a meaningful second act. Her 4 T’s framework blends strategy, soul, and storytelling to spark sustainable community impact. Her upcoming book, Flywheel, is a guide to professional change making, and her weekly Substack blog, Social Trendspotter, has over 13 years of archived insight on social change and community impac
Connect with Suzanne
Website: SocialImpactArchitects.com
Substack: Social Trendspotter
LinkedIn: @SuzanneSmithTX
Resources & links mentioned:
Suzanne’s TEDx Talk: Everyone Is a Change Maker
Find a Giving Circle: philanthropytogether.org
Red Wine & Blue (organization I attended): redwine.blue
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America: www.bbbs.org
The Good News Network: A media resource for uplifting, solution-focused stories. Visit goodnewsnetwork.org
Design Your Life, Your Way – next steps:
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Share this with a friend who’s navigating transition, reinvention, or a fresh start after 50.
Connect with me on LinkedIn @GloriaGraceRand to continue the conversation about midlife, meaning, and living on purpose.
Take my free Personal Power Archetype Quiz and explore your natural strengths as a midlife entrepreneur: bit.ly/PersonalPowerQuiz
TRANSCRIPT
Meet Suzanne Smith: Social Impact Strategist and Change Maker
Gloria Grace: Namaste. Today’s guest is a true change maker and she’s going to be helping us talk about being a change maker. And the reason she’s going to do that is because she is a social impact strategist, a professor, a TEDx speaker who helps people design lives of purpose and possibility. And as the CEO of Social Impact Architects, Suzanne Smith guides change makers at every stage, including those seeking a meaningful second act, which is what we’re all about here on Design Your Life, Your Way. So she has a framework called the Four T’s and it blends strategy, soul and storytelling to spark sustainable community impact. I love all those S’s in her bio. That was really good, but I think I handled it well. So without further ado, I’m going to bring Suzanne up on the stage and we’re going to get right into talking about all how you can really make a difference in your life, in your life now and in the future. So welcome.
Suzanne: Thank you so much for having me and what a wonderful introduction. I’m going to have to use you for other ways I’m being introduced. It was lovely.
Gloria Grace: Well, it’s my pleasure. And yeah, when we first connected and I learned what you’re all about, I was like, oh yeah, this sounds just my cup of tea and just what I want to be able to talk about. So I think maybe what we’ll start off with is right where I talked about you. You have this framework called the Four T’s. So maybe you can start us off there and explaining what those are and how we can use them for greater impact.
Why Midlife Is a “Powering Up” Phase, Not a Wind-Down
Suzanne: Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, before I do that, I’d kind of like to enter into the conversation around women over their 50s. And so I know you spend a whole lot of your time in your podcast really talking through what that second act looks like. And so let me just give a couple of some framing around why this is such an important time. So I do believe that society kind of talks about it being a wind-down phase, but I actually think it’s a wind-up phase and that it’s a powering up. And really, I think women, myself included, are really in that place of power. Not only do they have clarity around what they like and what they don’t like, but they also have more capacity to do some of the different things that they want to do and they have confidence and courage that they can actually kind of deploy. And so it’s really a special group.
Women as the Original Change Makers: A Historical Perspective
Suzanne: And just to give a little bit of historical context. Putting my professor hat on. Many of the nonprofits that started in the early stages of kind of the evolution of the United States were started by women in their midlife. So think Clara Barton, think Harriet Tubman. And so while we’re talking today about everyday change making, so how anybody can be a change maker, which is what my TED Talk is about, there’s also this professional change making. So there’s a lot of women, and some of my favorite CEOs of nonprofits are people who are in their second act, and they decided to then shift from a corporate job into a nonprofit space. And so I’m really excited about kind of sharing this topic and giving people an opportunity to talk about the variety of things that they can do in their community in this powering up phase, as I like to call it.
Gloria Grace: I like that. I love that idea of powering up, because it’s true. The old idea of retiring at 65, I think, has long gone by the wayside. I am at the tail end of the baby boomer age group. And I know certainly people that are older than me are still, you know, in their 70s, in their 80s, being vital, and they’re not necessarily sitting around watching TV or playing golf. They’re doing more than that.
The Science Behind Midlife Wisdom and Resilience
Suzanne: And that’s where you touch on the science that I think is so important. I think I just saw the study last week, which I thought, of course, was very reinforcing of what I see in the community, which is that while cognitive speed may decline as you get older, actually cognitive processing power increases because we have so many collective experiences that we can pull from. We are actually able to have a higher level of resilience. And we have just so much knowledge, and so oftentimes we can go through a situation in a much more calm place. And so from my perspective, that is absolutely what I see from the women that I work with, whether they’re chair of a board of a nonprofit I’m working with — an everyday change maker or professional change maker. And so the science really supports that. And then to your point, we know when people give back in their community that there’s this thing we call a helper’s high, that it actually decreases depression. It actually decreases loneliness. We do have a loneliness epidemic, based on what the previous surgeon general said, and it increases all those happy hormones that we all want. And you don’t have to do it alone. You can do it with a partner. You can do it with friends. It can help you meet new friends. And so we’re going to talk through all the different ways that your listeners can actually give back.
Gloria Grace: I love that. Yeah. And I’ll share maybe later on just an experience I had yesterday, just that will demonstrate exactly what we’re talking about. But yeah, so let’s dive in a little bit now and get to the nitty gritty here and start sharing some of this good information here.
The Four T’s Framework: A Practical Guide to Giving Back
Suzanne: Absolutely. So you mentioned the Four T’s, which are my favorite. So if you think about the Four T’s, and you think about all the different ways you can give back, you can just choose those different ones that are best with where you are. And so it’s time, talent, treasure and testimony.
The First T: Time — Starting Small and Choosing What Lights You Up
Suzanne: And so of course, time is the first one because you’re giving back. But what we find oftentimes when people give back is they sometimes underestimate just how a small amount of time makes a big difference. So one of the things that we know longitudinally about young people is that if they have one or two adults that invest in them, it can change their trajectory. And I’m an example of that in the sense that when I turned 18, I actually got involved in the Big Brothers, Big Sisters program. And so not only did I get a lot out of that program, but I was also able to invest in someone too. We’re still together, we consider each other family. And so, you know, thinking about the ways that you could potentially mentor somebody, you could help them with their reading skills, you can also dedicate your time as a professional and you can actually serve on a board. So thinking about how you can give your time and what I typically remind people is to think about something that lights you up.
Suzanne: So whatever is going to light you up, this is what you should be thinking about when it comes to your time. And so because people who are in their second act have more time, and I would actually say it’s less about the actual time, because my belief is I don’t really practice time management anymore. I practice energy management. And I think that my experience with people who are in midlife is they have really figured out what they like, who they want to spend time with, and so they end up having more quality time. And so in this time category, I would encourage people to really reflect upon what lights you up, what are some things where you could give back and you could feel like your time was well spent. And that energy needs to be a factor in that. Like, you should come out of that experience feeling more energized from that volunteering experience versus less energized.
Gloria Grace’s Story: Community, Division, and Being Heard
Gloria Grace: Yeah, absolutely. And I will say that, just to share an experience I had yesterday — as we’re recording this, we’re in a very fraught type of culture right now and a lot of division going on. So there’s a wonderful woman that I met recently, started a group that invited people to come together where we can help to foster communication and try to be able to communicate with people who don’t necessarily share the same ideas that you have, and to try to listen to them, because that’s what we all want. We all want to be heard. And so we had about close to 20 people yesterday show up, and a lot of people were talking about how they were feeling frustrated and angry. But by the end, it was like, it was so great because we realized, wow, we had different beliefs, but we all felt heard and we all felt like we all had something in common. And we left feeling much more optimistic about getting together again and seeing what else we can do. So to your point — you don’t have to be stuck by yourself. You can look for opportunities to spend your time with people who get you.
Start Local, Start Small: Finding Your Volunteer Fit
Suzanne: I agree. And I always encourage people to start local. There’s a lot of small needs that the community needs. I’ll give an example. I had a neighbor of mine who realized that we were having some traffic congestion and even some accidents because there was a two-way stop that was kind of intermixed between four-way stops. And so she went to city council and said, look, we need to fix this. So it doesn’t have to be big, it can be small. And you kind of start small and build. So look local, start small and build, and then find the thing that lights your fire. You know, really think about the people that you want to intersect with and the issues that you deeply care about. And there are volunteer centers across the country who stand ready for you to look at all the different things if you want to see what’s out there. But you can also email or call your local nonprofit and just say, hey, I want to volunteer. What are some ways in which I can volunteer?
Gloria Grace: Yeah, definitely. And I will put a couple of organizations in the show notes that I’m in particular a big believer in. And AI is our friend, right? We could go on to Google and look in your community and see. But I do think you’re right. You know, it does have to be something that lights you up because life is short and you need to spend it on things that are going to give you a good feeling, give you purpose, but also be something that you can look forward to doing.
Suzanne: And then the research also shows that if you can give that time consistently, you get a higher return. So rather than a scattershot effect where I’m doing this and I’m doing this and I’m doing this — if you find a volunteer activity, so maybe you’re a docent at your local art museum where you start building a community, that’s actually also highly beneficial. So you almost get two for the price of one. You get the helper’s high, but you also get community and connection at the same time. So also finding something over time that you can commit to. I oftentimes recommend just use a month to do exploratory time and just spend time doing lots of different things, and one of them will really stand out to you. Then stick with it for six months and see if it’s still a match. If it is, then you’ve found the thing that you want to give back to that really lights you up.
The Second T: Talent — Leveraging Your Unique Gifts for Social Good
Suzanne: So that’s really my best advice when it comes to time. So the next one is talent. And they’re kind of connected to each other, but they’re a little bit different in that what I find from women particularly who are in their second act — so they’ve had an amazing corporate experience or they’ve been an entrepreneur and started a business and now they’ve got extra time — but they also have this really amazing talent. And that talent can really be leveraged for the benefit of the social sector. So it could be government, it could be a nonprofit. It could also be an opportunity for that individual to eventually turn it into a nonprofit if they wanted to. So this is the former executive who wants to help a nonprofit by being on their board or going in and doing project-based volunteering.
Suzanne: So maybe they need to streamline the way that the food bank actually does their intake process. I see retired Toyota executives being great with this. There’s also people who have a really good gift of emotional support and maybe they’ve experienced something themselves. So they’ve had a loved one that has been in hospice as an example. And that’s such an experience that until you’ve actually been through it, you don’t quite understand it. And so they go back and actually mentor people who have family members that are in hospice. So they’ve got this rare talent of connecting with people and they’re giving it back and kind of paying it forward. And what I typically tell people is — find the thing that everybody keeps calling you for and ask people what your talent is. Sometimes it’s the thing people are calling you and saying, I need you for this, because it means you’re equally talented, above average in that area.
Gloria Grace: Absolutely. I know when I talk with my clients, a lot of times we don’t necessarily put the value on it because it’s something that just is second nature to us, but it is something that other people are like, you can do that? Oh, please help me.
Real Stories: How Small Talents Make a Big Donor Difference
Suzanne: I’ll give a funny story. So, you know, I have a couple of board members who don’t like asking for money and so they’ve resisted joining a board because they’re like, I’m not a fundraiser, I’m not an asker. And I always remind them, you also have to have stewardship, because the cheapest customer to get is the customer you already have. And so I have two board members — one who has lovely handwriting. And so she just sits and writes these beautiful thank you notes after people make a donation that are personalized. She sits there while she’s watching her British mysteries, and she just writes these beautiful thank you notes. And then there’s another who loves talking on the phone. And so she will call donors and say, I just want to tell you about what this after school program did. They had this huge thing on astronauts and the kids dressed up… I’m going to text you the picture. And just that quick phone call, because of course no one actually answers their phone anymore, it just goes to voicemail. To do those calls over a couple every day — it has had dramatic impact on their donor stewardship as well as donor retention.
Gloria Grace: Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Those small things. I mean, one is handwriting and the other is talking on the phone. So everybody’s got talents that they can give back to the space. And any nonprofit would love to have those kinds of talents.
The Third T: Treasure — Giving More Than Just Money
Suzanne: Yeah, so treasure. We’ve talked a little bit about donating to the nonprofits, but I want people to think kind of broadly about what their treasure is and really thinking about the way in which you could give back. So obviously writing that check is important, but it’s also your opportunity to bring people in who maybe don’t quite understand all the great things that are going on in a community. And you could create a magnetic effect. So it doesn’t necessarily have to be your treasure. It could also be your friend raising towards that organization and the work that needs to be done.
Suzanne: And of course, thanking people, properly stewarding people — like the docents who volunteer for art museums, they’re incredible stewards. And people then want to give back as a result. And so treasure is one of those things where it is important for the space to continue to get donations, particularly very recently where government has less and less money to give to nonprofits. So we need to support the charities that we most care about. But you can also find other people who can give back to that organization and learn about that mission.
How Entrepreneurs Can Give Back — and Strengthen Their Business Too
Suzanne: In addition to that, many women are entrepreneurs. So you may also want to think about using your company to give back. And I’ll give you a quick example of this. So there was a gentleman that I was working with who was in midlife, and he actually came to a lecture I did on giving back, and he’s like, oh, this is just for corporations. And I’m like, well, let’s think about that. And so he actually did some investigation. He asked his employees, like, if we were to give back, what would we do? And the employees said, well, let’s adopt the local after school program. So that’s what they did. He ran an oil change company. They actually donated the oil changes over time. When they visited, they realized most of these young men and women had no idea about auto mechanics. So they actually then taught auto mechanics — like how to do oil change, how to check your tire pressure. And over time, they got closer and closer to the nonprofit and they did a roundup campaign. And while customers were waiting, they could learn about this local after school program, which then led to additional donations. The last time I saw this individual, he’s now on the board of that afterschool program.
Suzanne: And while he doesn’t need to actually do the calculations, he thinks it’s actually helped his bottom line because oil changes is a commodity, and he can get oil changes anywhere. But the people in that community are choosing to use him because they know he is invested and they know that he’s giving back to the community. And so that’s another great example of if you’re a woman who’s running a business, you can also give back to the community in small and large ways.
Gloria Grace: Yeah, absolutely. And I know I do get notices from local organizations and they’re always looking for sponsors. Like golf tournaments where you could sponsor a hole, supporting a local charity. So there are ways that, as this gentleman found out, it ultimately benefits your bottom line, because people do like to see that companies care.
Women’s Giving Circles: Community Philanthropy and Collective Power
Suzanne: So if you also want to join a community of giving, there are now more giving circles across the United States for women than any other group. And so if you want to give and you want to connect with other women who want to give back, I guarantee you, if you live in a major metropolitan area, there probably is a women’s giving circle. And there may be even ones connected to your ethnic background — the Asian community, African American community, Hispanic community, also has giving circles. That’s also a really great way to work with other women. You actually pool your resources, pool your money, and then you deploy it to nonprofits that are directly connected to things that that group cares about. So that’s another really great way of building community while also getting that helper’s high.
Gloria Grace: I love that. All right, so what’s our last T?
The Fourth T: Testimony — Using Your Voice to Spark Change
Suzanne: Testimony. So using your voice and of course, this is all the stuff you would think of. So going to social media, going to Facebook, and if there’s a charity or there’s an issue you deeply care about — I know for myself, every time I get a mammogram, I always post it and say, women, this is important. You need to do this. And you don’t know what the impact is on that, but it certainly gets people to like, clock in and say, have I had one in the last year? But also to really using your testimony to make sure that you’re involved in things that are going on at your city hall, maybe you need to testify about the importance of arts and culture funding or the importance of your libraries. So using your voice in that way. Whether it’s signing a petition, signing up to go speak to your city council, writing a letter — all of those things really matter. As someone who used to be in the policy space, I know that legislators and policymakers are counting the number of people who’ve contacted them around an issue before they make that vote.
Mentoring the Next Generation: Guest Lecturing, Reverse Mentorship, and Paying It Forward
Suzanne: But I’d also encourage one other thing. Because we have this benefit of lots of experiences, you know, I oftentimes say I’m a patchwork quilt of every person I’ve ever met. So that quilt’s big now because I’ve met other women that have been pieces of what I have learned along the way. So I also encourage women to go back and guest lecture at universities or mentor young people, because of course, when we’re very early on, we don’t fully understand sometimes that it’s a marathon and not a sprint or any of the different things that are important to young women. And so allowing them to learn and benefit from your experience, I think can be really helpful in the classroom. I also think it’s just helpful for one-on-one mentoring. And so I definitely encourage you to contact your local university. I guarantee you there’ll be professors like me saying, yeah, come in and guest lecture or come in and mentor young women who want to be entrepreneurs or want to be architects or want to be lawyers — just to give them that little bit of an edge.
Gloria Grace: And I think sometimes we forget all the things that we’ve done over our lifetimes as you get older. You may focus on some of the more standout things and kind of forget the little things. But those little things also were useful and helped out other people. I like this idea of speaking to university students. I actually was invited one time to do that and it was a great experience. So how would you go about that? Because my background is actually in mass communications and I got my degree in radio, TV, film. Would I contact that department first and just say, hey, do you ever have guest speakers come in?
Suzanne: Yeah, so really twofold. So your instincts are absolutely right. I would contact the local university — and it doesn’t have to be the one that you went to. I would also encourage community college as well. These are people, oftentimes it’s their first time in college, which means that they didn’t have parents who went to college or were in that career track. So they almost need more support and assistance. And so from my perspective, high school, community college, college, whatever you have in your local community is equally of benefit. It’s really important for young women to see people doing the career they’re most interested in.
Suzanne: So I would contact the department that is most closely connected, if you’re wanting to guest lecture. But then I would also contact career services, and those are the people who run the mentorship program. And believe it or not, I’m a big believer in reverse mentorship. I bet you you are too.
Gloria Grace: Oh, yeah. I always recommend to people who are mentoring that they really be open to what they’re going to learn from young people. I tell people the reason why I teach — one of the many reasons I teach — is it really is the fountain of youth. Like, I feel like I’m younger and definitely hipper and definitely more connected because I get to interact with young people. So I have questions for them, like, well, how are you using AI? Or what’s the new cool thing that I need to know about? Or what does 6, 7 mean? Like, can you explain it to me? So I do believe in reverse mentorship of really asking them their opinions about things. And it just builds a lot more connectivity, and it kind of also reduces the pressure of the insecurity that young people might have in asking difficult questions.
Gloria Grace: Oh, yeah, absolutely. And so my mom was 37 when she had me, and she used to say that I definitely kept her young because I was interested in things. And so we were watching David Letterman when he was on NBC, listening to music from Devo and things like that. And she was interested and she liked that stuff. And so I kept her young. And so yeah, we can always learn. And it’s so great to be able to have generations together.
Gloria Grace: I even had a guest on my old podcast under that name of Live Love Engage who did intergenerational travel for the same kind of reason, to bring people of different ages together so that they can learn from one another. So this is awesome.
Navigating Business, Government, and Nonprofit: Being Trilingual in Social Change
Gloria Grace: And I want to talk about one thing because you have kind of alluded to that — I saw somewhere where it says that you say you’re trilingual in government policy and business. And I wonder what has been like some of your big takeaways from being able to navigate those different areas.
Suzanne: I love that. So just to give the listeners a sense — I have a public policy degree from UT Austin. I worked in the nonprofit sector as a lobbyist and worked with them on strategy and then shifted and decided I wanted to go back to school and get my master’s in business at SMU. And so I oftentimes say I speak government and policy, nonprofit as well as business. And what we know is that some of the most complex issues that our society is dealing with — take whatever issue you deeply care about. It could be the environment, it could be animals, it could be art, it could be homelessness. Those issues are so entrenched and so complicated. It is really going to require all of those sectors to come together to create a strategy moving forward.
Understanding the Poly Crisis — and Why We’ve Been Here Before
Suzanne: And so part of what we try to do at Social Impact Architects is really help educate people on the professional change making of how do you actually solve for these things? And so I think the thing that most stands out to me right now is that we’re in what we call a poly crisis. And so four or five years ago at Davos, they talked about all of these things that are coming together. And really in some ways it’s shaking the very foundation of human society. And it’s not any one thing. It’s a lot of things — it’s economics, it’s AI, it’s generational trends like we were just talking about. And economists and sociologists call that a poly crisis.
Suzanne: And I think what can happen when you have that unsteady foundation is you think, oh my gosh, things are falling apart. But I tell people — and I have the benefit of wisdom, but also because I was a history and government major — we’ve been here before as a society. You know, if you think about what happened after the printing press, or the radio, or the transition from the horse and buggy to the automobile, we’ve seen these big shifts. And sociologists say they happen every 80 years. And we just have to adjust to these new circumstances, which is why I think the blending of the generations is so important. We’ve solved social issues before. We’ve come really far on things like civil rights. Tobacco was something when I was growing up that was a big issue. And now we’ve virtually extinguished tobacco use. And so I think we’ve really done a lot of work on a lot of social issues.
Suzanne: And so what I try to remind my students and people when I speak is — we’ve been here before. It’s really about us having the right professional skills around change making and continuing to persist. So not getting overwhelmed, continuing to recognize every single day we as individuals make a choice around how we want to change the world. And in our small little neighborhood, there are things we can be doing every single day to make it better. Just really leaning into being a force for good individually as well as collectively.
Gloria Grace: Amen. I love it. And that was the one thing that was breaking my heart a bit last night at this meeting — so many people were just feeling so overwhelmed and depressed. And my philosophy is trying to — I was telling one woman, you know, yes, I know. And yet at the same time, I will see posts where they’re talking about all communities coming together and helping out one another and looking for ways to support each other, escorting kids to school and preparing meals and all of the stuff we can do right now. No matter what political situation is going on, it still comes back to just supporting one another. Whenever there’s like a natural disaster, the people rally around one another. I believe that we’re all inherently good, and it sometimes does bring some stuff around us to remember that we can help each other.
From Doom Scrolling to Hope Scrolling: Reclaiming Your Energy in 2026
Suzanne: Well, and it goes back to what I talked about before, which is that I don’t believe in time management. I believe in energy management. And so I think right now all of us need to control our energy and what we’re consuming. It’s one of the reasons why — and I know you and I talked about this — I’m on a personal campaign in 2026 to get people to less doom scroll and more hope scroll. And part of the hope scrolling is making sure that you’re consuming the right information, which is where the world is at a realistic level. Knowing that the algorithm is probably going to create the doom and gloom itself. That’s just where the algorithm is at this point. But we can shift the algorithm. Who’s in control of it? It’s us.
Suzanne: Yeah. And so if you post all the great things that you’re doing with the nonprofits that you’re working with, if you talk about the stop sign thing that you got, if you talk about the city council meeting, people are going to recognize they can break through that moment of overwhelm and realize the only way through it is to find one thing that they’re going to do differently and get that helper’s high and really use their agency around something in their local community. And honestly, I’ve seen the change in people — if they just take a month and really explore their community, figure out where they can invest, they actually the next month feel a whole lot better. And then they don’t pay attention to the bad news. They just pay attention to all the good that they’re seeing. Because to your point, there’s far more good out in the world. Unfortunately, good news just doesn’t have the same PR engine that bad news does. So we just have to be mindful of that in our practices and that energy management.
Gloria Grace: Absolutely. And you know, I know during COVID there, I had stumbled on someone in the entertainment industry who was curating good news. And I think it was even Jim Krasinski, that actor from the office. But I know that there are even social media pages like on Facebook where they do — and I think it’s called like the Good News Network. So it’s out there. We can find it, we can look for it. Right. And you don’t have to — I know I’ve been guilty of it. This morning I realized I was doom scrolling again. Stop it. I have to slap my hand.
The Science of Social Media, Phone Addiction, and Protecting Your Sleep
Suzanne: And the science really supports it. If you haven’t read Jonathan Haidt’s work, I highly encourage it. In my class, I usually will have them read his early Atlantic article “Why the Last 10 Years Have Made Americans Uniquely Stupid.” And there are a whole lot of things about your phone you don’t fully understand and how it is interacting with your brain. It’s almost like an addiction in many ways, which is why many states across the country and now some countries are actually banning it for young people. But I personally think we should be really helping adults with regulation as well. Because just as an example with energy management, I don’t watch the news after 8 PM. Just like I don’t take caffeine. I don’t do anything news after 8 PM because otherwise it connects with my deep sleep and my REM and all the things that I need and it’s just not good for me. So I really do limit how much I’m interacting with bad stuff and I really control my feed. Which you can do. You can shift the algorithm.
Gloria Grace: Absolutely. You can even just on Facebook, you can just follow your friends. There is a friends feed, folks, and you don’t have to be inundated with everything else.
One Takeaway for Women Over 50: Power Up and Give Back
Gloria Grace: So this has been amazing and we’ve covered a lot, but I just want to maybe just boil it down right before I ask you how people can get in touch with you. So if people, the women out there listening to this today could just take one thing from your message, what do you hope that would be?
Suzanne: I think it’s really that they’re not powering down, they’re powering up. And to live in that power and to really take that first month to build clarity around where their energy is best. So try a lot of things, things they’re excited about, things where they can build connection and then consistency. So really figure out that thing that is going to give that consistency to you so that you’re building a community, you’re finding that helper’s high on a regular basis, and you start seeing the impact of your work and then start putting in some things where you’ve got some courage. You go and talk to a college class or you go talk to city council or other things where you’re able to benefit from the wisdom that you’ve inherited over all this time period and you’re able to give it back to your community. So just to live in that clarity and confidence and just that courage. And just know that you are standing on the shoulders of a lot of women who in their midlife have really been the silent engine behind a lot of the social change that has happened. And so we’re excited to have you join us.
Gloria Grace: I love that. And I did like at the very beginning — so if you happen to tune into this podcast towards the middle or towards the end, now go back to the beginning because Suzanne wonderfully mentioned that a lot of nonprofits were started by women. Women really are — and I remember someone was talking about this a while back where they talked about a lot of great change, making a positive difference in our country, has happened from women. Women are the founding mothers. Cokie Roberts came up with that phrase, and I’ve always loved it.
Suzanne: Yeah. And those founding mothers are still with us. I see them every day in the board chairs that I get to work with, the nonprofit CEOs who are in their second act, the volunteers who are running the gala, the giving circles that I see. You know, it’s that quiet activation that happens, like underneath the surface, which really goes back to our very origin story, when Alexis de Tocqueville went back to Europe and said, what’s special about America? It’s this is a nation of joiners. And when they have an idea, they move forward with it and they move forward with speed. And it really was the women who were the quiet group behind that made all those things happen. And we still have those women who are working so hard in communities. And so I encourage folks who are listening to join the army because those women are out there and they need more people, they need reinforcements.
How to Connect with Suzanne Smith and Learn More About Change Making
Gloria Grace: Absolutely. Awesome. So if someone wants to find out more about change making and how to learn more about making a social impact, where can people reach you?
Suzanne: Absolutely. Well, I definitely encourage them to go to Substack and subscribe to our weekly blog, Social Trendspotter. You can also do it on our website and get it in your email box. Whatever works best for you. We also have 13 years archived on that website. So if there’s something that interests you with its movements or some of the things we’ve mentioned, you should be able to find it there. And then I also have my first book coming out called Flywheel, and it actually is about professional change making. And so if you are in the nonprofit space, it is the book for you. It’ll help you kind of give that 101 guide. Whether you’re new to the nonprofit space or you’ve been in the nonprofit space before, it’ll hopefully be a great opportunity for you to learn all the different dimensions of what it takes to do professional change making. So we’ll put that all in the show notes and I look forward to engaging with you guys in this next phase of your journey.
Closing Thoughts: Start Small, Make a Difference Today
Gloria Grace: Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Suzanne. Really appreciate it. Thanks for giving such an important topic time and space.
Suzanne: It’s really been an honor.
Gloria Grace: Well, I do want to thank all of you for listening and for watching today. And I hope you’re encouraged to know that you can go out and make a difference today. It doesn’t have to be huge. Remember, you can just start small. You know, one phone call, one knocking on a door, or just calling a friend and reaching out to an organization that you feel passionate about — and know that you can make a difference. And I love that when Suzanne is talking about this helper’s high — I think that is so good because I know if you are feeling depressed or something, when I’ve experienced that, one of the best ways I’ve found to get myself over it is to reach out and help somebody else. It really does make a difference. So thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. If you’re not subscribed, I encourage you to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Subscribe on YouTube. You can also check us out on newrealitytv.com as well. And until we meet again, I just want you to go out and just make today great.
