The Treasure Trove

Female Substack Story Tellers 50 and Beyond

The Treasure

I’m a huge fan of Substack for all the opportunities the platform affords, but above all else, what I value the most are the stories that could only be told by older women, women fifty and beyond. These stories require their knowledge, their experiences, and their ability to educate and move us. These stories are profound in their understanding of the human condition, told from the perspective of what it is to be a woman living in a patriarchal society.

Where else would you read about two seventy-something women cooking a meal on a portable stove in the Nevada desert to feed thirty other homeless people living in vans?

There are also wonderful newsletters founded by women for lifelong learners who want to develop their technical and/or entrepreneurial skills, or be well-informed about what’s going on in the world.

Here are some of the amazing newsletters written by women that I’ve discovered and read over the last twelve months.

Pro-Ageing

Stella Fosse is in her early seventies and is the creator of Creative Crones with Stella Fossse, where she celebrates the power and wisdom of older women, writing about their creativity, power, health and sexuality. Her book Rock On: Power, Sex and Money After Sixty was nominated for the best non-fiction book with a Pro-Ageing theme at the Advantages of Age Awards 2025. For an incredibly thought-provoking post about how ageist-biased questions in a major research study might adversely affect the participants, go to First, Do No Ageist Harm. For a wonderful post about how, for Stella, her sixties were a grand adventure in which she achieved the ‘quasi-nirvana of not giving a flying fig. go here.

Rose Rouse is the editor of Advantage of Age and co-founder, together with Suzanne Noble. Advantage of Age is a UK social enterprise created to challenge the media narrative around ageing. Photographer Mish Aminoff inspires us with her story. After viewing an exhibition of portrait paintings at The National Portrait Gallery together with Rose, they were struck by how the representation of older women seemed dispirited, physically defeated and crushed, ‘as if weighed down by their years and experience.’ Mish created six portraits that conveyed an alternative narrative to ageing, exhibited at the Advantage of Age 2025 Awards Ceremony.

Debbie Weil is the 74-year-old founder of [B]old Age with Debbie Weil. When I first came onto Substack, I did not expect to find many women near my age, so I was very excited when I discovered Debbie! She has been publishing on Substack about ‘the foreign land of the old’ for the past two-and-a-half years, confronting the big questions about identity, purpose, ambition, grief and more. She has recently added a No Guilt [B]old Women Book Club to her arsenal, where memoirs are discussed, and authors are invited as guests.

Surviving & Thriving

Ros Barber writes in her newsletter How To Evolve about her experiences of domestic violence and how No One Knew I Was in an Abusive Marriage Including Me. The similarities between what Ros experienced and my own experiences made me gasp as I read her post. I agree with her, we need to write our stories, so younger women can learn from our naivety and recognise the signs, the red flags signifying abuse potential, and run a mile in the opposite direction.

Homelessness

Kris Pavek is a 71-year-old woman sharing her experience of living in a van in the United States. She is on the Empty Van Mission. Her ongoing stories and photographs are inspirational, heartbreaking, informative, and unforgettable.

Education

SUBSTACK TRAINING

Sarah Fay, PhD is the founder of Substack Writers At Work. Here you will find everything you need to set up on Substack. If you are new to Substack, the New To Substack Pathway is your beginner’s guide. There are instructional articles with voiceovers, for example, Post Less On Substack and live recordings of podcasts, for example, Best of the Substack Live! Podcast. Wherever you are on your Substack journey, help is at hand right here.

SOLOPRENEUR TRAINING

Veronica Llorca-Smith started her newsletter, The Lemon Tree Mindset, from scratch with zero subscribers. Two years later, her newsletter has transformed into a community of writers, creators and solopreneurs. If now is the time for you to turn your passion into a sustainable business and lifestyle, then The Lemon Tree Mindset is for you. This is where you will find a framework to build your digital business organically.

A GOOD DOSE OF CRITICAL THINKING

I have only just discovered Neela’s WorkmanShit and I’ve joined the list of fans who recommended her. My two favourite posts are The Surprising Link Between Drug Dealers and Tech CEOS and What Peter Thiel’s Nvidia Exit Really Means: And why this time might actually be different to every other bubble warning you’ve ignored. They are both scary as hell and you should read them! I can’t wait for the next post.

The Writers

Top of my list is Marylee Pangman, Author. Marylee is such a beautiful writer and I’ll be one of the first to buy her book soon to be published called Whispers of Echo Canyon. Check out Thanksgiving at Echo Canyon to get a taste of the warmth and intimacy that her writing invokes. Yes, I’m a fan! Marylee has just launched a new newsletter called The Ongoing Track. This track ‘is about imagination, intimacy, and reinvention. As a life.’ It’s about the real-time, story igniting that women over 55 are living through. What an exciting journey ahead for all who will be participating on this adventure with Marylee.

I have discovered another extraordinary writer. Her name is Emma Tourtelot. Emma sent me a copy of her book No One You Know, which will be published in January 2026. You ca learn more about 51 year-old Emma here. I am up to Chapter 17, 69 more to go! The book is written in the first person and there is a dual narrative—mother and teenage daughter Indie. The story unfolds around the theme of grief and loss. Indie’s best friend died in an accident and it happened right in front of Indie. I lost one of my daughters, and this book speaks to me on so many levels. I am completely enthralled.

If you would like to know about my novel, you can check it out here.

I’ll be eighty-four next Sunday and I‘m so looking forward to another year on Substack while I write my seccond novel! I look forward to catching up with every one of the remarkable women above and sharing more posts with my subscribers and followers.

Till next time…