A Different Kind of Women’s Content
I'm afraid that blogging on "women's content" might bring out the bitch in me. After a Fray poster linked to the wowowow.com Web site in response to Rachael's Shine comments earlier this week, I cattily e-mailed my fellow XXers about Wowowow's co-founder Mary Wells, whom I have never met. I said, "she is probably a creative genius and model for women in the work place. but this helpful list of service providers (limousine drivers on St. Tropez and doctors in South of France) ... posted for fellow Mediterranean habitués makes it really hard [for me] to like her." I'm sure I was a bit jealous—not of the glam lifestyle, as frankly I would find her A-list activities exhausting—but I may have negatively overreacted to Wells' unrealistically glamorous bio photo.
With a Diane Sawyer kickoff on Good Morning America (Disclaimer: I once worked as a producer for Primetime Live when Diane was one of the show's anchors), Wowowow, a Web site for women over 40, launched a month ago. I am firmly in the site's target demographic, having been "over 40" for 18 years. In addition to posts written by the five over-50 Wowowow founders, Liz Smith, Joni Evans, Peggy Noonan, Leslie Stahl, and Wells (Liz Smith's memorial tribute to her lifelong friend Gov. Ann Richards is touching, but left me wondering if they had been a couple), we hear from their impressive group of women friends: Joan Ganz Cooney, Judith Martin, Candice Bergen, Lily Tomlin, Marlo Thomas, and, in a bit of women's-content overkill, The View co-host Whoppi Goldberg. These dames are all innovators, stars in their fields, and potential role models for my cohort of women now attempting to grow old elegantly.
Wells was already famous when I was in high school in 1966 for having the brilliant idea for Braniff Airlines to paint their silver plane exteriors in orange, yellow, and red. Which brings me back to her bio photo. Botox aside, Mary Wells' online portrait is so art directed and expertly lit that the talented, accomplished former CEO, though beautiful, doesn't look like a real woman of any age. As a TV producer, I quickly learned the value of a good lighting director when filming older-than-40 correspondents. But as part of my aging-gracefully agenda, I have been working on being less judgmental and more compassionate. And so I must note that Wells' photo reflects her particular history. After a lifetime in advertising, why not give herself awesome lighting? In her sneakers, I probably would, too. Also, reading her bio, I see she's a widow and may well have collected those French medical contact numbers because someone in her family was very ill, and I regret my snotty e-mail remark.
Wells calls her new venture "a rare and exciting place to meet and talk to women who know the answers." I'm glad to see the former copywriter "helps women with problems to overcome them." She's already helped me.