Jill Loris

I attribute my success to honesty, resilience, and the ability to turn personal experience into something that helps other people feel seen. I have never been interested in presenting a perfect life or a polished version of aging. My work is rooted in the truth that most people carry complicated stories, private struggles, insecurities, grief, self-doubt, and moments when they wonder if they are still becoming who they are meant to be.

Through Old Cow Media, life coaching, writing, the Aging Out Loud podcast, and speaking engagements, I try to create conversations that are real enough for people to recognize themselves in. I believe vulnerability is powerful when it is paired with purpose. I do not share personal experiences simply to tell my own story. I share them to remind others that their past does not have to define them, their age does not have to limit them, and their hardest chapters can and should become part of the wisdom they use to move forward.

Much of my success comes from my willingness to say what many people feel but are afraid to admit. Aging, confidence, reinvention, caregiving, loss, health, identity, self-worth and even love and sex as we age, are deeply human subjects. When people feel that someone is speaking honestly about those experiences, they trust it. They lean in. They feel less alone.

I also believe success comes from service. My goal has always been to build something larger than myself. Old Cow Media is not just a platform. It is a community and a conversation that challenges people to reject shame, embrace growth, and see aging as a continuation of possibility rather than a disappearance. That sense of purpose is what keeps me moving forward and it comes across to people around the world who follow Old Cow Media and the Aging Out Loud podcast.

The best career advice I have ever received was not that failure does not exist, but that believing success is optional is not really an option. I grew up in a family where resilience was not a slogan. It was a way of life.

My father who lived in his car at one point and my maternal grandfather who lived on the street at 13, clearly both faced major obstacles and setbacks, including their periods of homelessness, and yet they went on to become self-made, successful entrepreneurs through determination, discipline, and relentless work. Of course, they failed over the course of their lives but to them that was not an obstacle. It was a time to start again and try to do things differently, better, using the lessons they learned from the failure. That attitude shaped the way I understood ambition. Failure was never treated as something to fear or as a reason to stop. It was something you worked through, learned from, and used as fuel.

In my family, the focus was always on action. If you had an idea, the question was not whether you could do it. The question was how you were going to do it, what needed to happen next, and whether you were willing to keep going when it became difficult. That mindset taught me that success is rarely about having a straight path. It is about persistence, problem-solving, and refusing to let temporary setbacks become permanent limitations.

That advice has stayed with me throughout my career. It reminds me that meaningful work and success require courage, consistency, and the willingness to keep moving forward before the outcome is guaranteed. For me, that is where real success begins.

My advice to young women entering my industry or any industry for that matter is to build your work around something you genuinely care about. Passion is not just a nice quality to have. It is what allows you to be authentic, honest, and consistent when the work becomes challenging.

In any field that involves communication, leadership, or influence, people can feel when you truly believe what you are saying. That sincerity is what makes you persuasive. It is what makes you credible. Not everyone will agree with you, and that is okay. The goal is not to please everyone. The goal is to build trust by standing firmly in your values and speaking from a place that is real.

I would also tell young women not to settle too quickly or shrink their vision for the sake of faster success. There will be moments when the easier path looks more practical, especially early on when money, recognition, or support may not come right away. I experienced that myself. In the beginning, I did not make much money from this work, but I stayed committed because I believed deeply in what I was building.

That belief made the challenges worthwhile. When your work is connected to purpose, you are much more likely to keep going through uncertainty, rejection, and slow growth. Success may take longer that way, but it is also more meaningful because it is built on something honest.

Conversations around aging, longevity, wellness, and vitality have finally moved into the mainstream. People are more open than ever to discussing what it means to age well, live longer, feel better, and remain visible and engaged throughout every stage of life. That openness has created a powerful opportunity to reach a global audience and to help reframe aging as something more expansive than decline.

At the same time, the biggest challenge is the amount of misinformation in the space. There are so many unrealistic “anti-aging” claims that promise people they can reverse time, avoid aging altogether, or fix their insecurities through quick solutions. That kind of messaging can be harmful because it often feeds fear instead of confidence. It can also be costly to people chasing the "never aging look" of youth.

A key part of my work is helping people cut through that noise. I believe in being honest. Yes, we can make choices that help us look better, feel stronger, stay connected, and live with more energy and purpose. But we cannot stop the aging process, and I do not think we should build our lives around trying to disappear from it. My mission is to help people approach aging with more truth, dignity, confidence, and self-respect. Aging well is not about chasing youth forever. It is about learning how to keep living fully and to finally believe that youth is the only thing worth living for.

The values that matter most to me, in both my work and my personal life, are honesty, decency, kindness, and care. I also value tolerance, although I believe tolerance should be the starting point, not something we praise as exceptional. At the most basic level, all people deserve to be treated with respect, humanity, and fairness no matter his or her race, religion for example, or age.

Integrity is especially important to me because we live in a time when honesty and decency can feel increasingly rare, whether in media, politics, business, or everyday interactions. I try to lead from a place of genuine care and facts whether it be about the vitamins and eye cream or something more serious like living with your own debilitating disease, or with a partner who has dementia, without hidden agendas or performative motives. At my core, I believe people can feel the difference between work that is driven by ego or just wanting to make money and work that is driven by purpose.

That does not mean financial success is unimportant. It matters, especially when you are building something and trying to sustain it. But I did not begin this work because money was the goal. I stayed committed because I believed in the mission because I experienced things that should not happen to people whether they are 25 or 85. I believed people needed a more honest, compassionate, and empowering way to think about aging, identity, and the later chapters of life. I think people across the board need more kindness and respect. This is true in the work I do and the message I send and it is true in my everyday life.

For me, both professional and personal success only feel meaningful if they are connected to integrity. I want my work to help people feel more seen, more hopeful, less alone, healthier in mind and body, and happier where they are now. That requires care, honesty, and a deep respect for the people I am reaching on my global platforms: Old Cow Media and Aging Out Loud, and for the people connected to me personally.