A Conversation with Helen Hirsh Spence, Ageism & Longevity Specialist and Founder of Top Sixty Over Sixty

"Aging is the ultimate triumph of living," says ageism & longevity specialist, Helen Hirsh Spence. Helen is a later-in-life Canadian entrepreneur, speaker and age-equity advocate. She also is a leader navigating the demographic shift; TEDx and global speaker, author; age provocateur & mindset shifter; older & multigenerational workforce expert; and founder of Top Sixty Over Sixty.

Top Sixty Over Sixty is a social enterprise advancing age inclusion, longevity literacy, and healthy ageing across workplaces and communities. Helen consults with businesses, communities and individuals to help them become age-ready for their longer lifespans.

Her TEDx talk on embracing a longevity mindset was among the most viewed globally the month it aired. Helen urges us in the Talk to reject the longstanding negative perspective on aging and, instead, to embrace our later years as a time filled with growth, promise and opportunity.

Top Sixty Over Sixty advances longevity literacy by providing the tools and training to eliminate age bias and promote age diversity. Top Sixty drives success by resetting thinking, unlocking potential and leveraging the talent of all generations.

"We provide consulting, speaking and training to businesses. We help reframe the age narrative, address age biases and myths, and leverage the talent of the multigenerational workforce. Through coursework, training and coaching, we show mature adults how to renew and reinvest their knowledge, skills and experience to reinvent themselves with purpose.

Created in 2017, Top Sixty Over Sixty focused on older Canadians and encouraged them to reinvent themselves to meet new work and entrepreneurial challenges. Top Sixty Over Sixty continues to evolve. It works with progressive businesses and organizations to maximize efficiency, innovation, and prosperity. We offer practical guidance on how to engage an ageing workforce and create stronger sales opportunities for ageing customer segments.

We do this in four ways:

• We motivate and re-skill older adults by introducing an entrepreneurial mindset.
• We help employers transform their multigenerational workforces into innovative, intergenerational teams.
• We advise businesses on how to attract and retain a diversely aged workforce.
• We show progressive businesses how to avoid age-bias in their branding, hiring, and communications.

Top Sixty Over Sixty provides original and curated resources of interest to businesses and organizations, as well as individuals. These include a monthly newsletter, The 360, blogs and online resources. Events and workshops are held as programming and demand dictate."

Helen's book, ReSet: Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life, reframes longevity as a triumph—not a burden—and offers a bold roadmap for thriving in a century-long life. It challenges the outdated notion that age is merely a number and introduces a richer understanding of what it means to grow older this century. It exposes the hidden architecture of ageism—in our policies, workplaces, media and even our own thinking—and dismantles the myths of inevitable decline. Most importantly, it moves from insight to action.

Through self-awareness, values alignment, purpose discovery, and an entrepreneurial mindset, readers learn how to redefine their personal brand, cultivate optimism and spot new opportunities for growth and contribution. This is a roadmap to living longer and better, shifting mindsets from viewing aging as decline to viewing it as a time for new growth.

Helen is helping us learn how to enjoy our "longevity bonus," since we generally are living two to three decades longer than our predecessors. Every day is a gift! Use it well!

Learn more:

https://www.topsixtyoversixty.com/

TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwhOQRduE7c

Age sense/ newsletter on LI:

https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/age-sense-7377782746225582080/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/helen-hirsh-spence-a029a010/