Find Out How Vanessa Williams and Others Are Aging with Power and Purpose

At The Sunday Paper, we’re on a mission to change the way society thinks about—and talks about—aging. That’s one of the reasons why Maria interviewed more than two dozen thought-leaders and visionaries about aging well for our latest aging summit, Radically Reframing Aging: Today’s Groundbreakers on Age, Health, Purpose & Joy (think of it like a free master class in aging well!)

The Radically Reframing Aging summit ended last week, and over 60,000 people worldwide have joined us for this extraordinary series on redefining aging for a happier, healthier, more fulfilling life! If you were unable to attend the summit, or maybe you missed a session, it’s not too late to still get access to all of the event recordings HERE (available until November 11).

And the best part, as a Sunday Paper reader, you can enter code SUNDAYPAPER to receive 20% off. A portion of all proceeds will be donated to The Women's Alzheimer's Movement. So sign up HERE!

Here's a snippet of what Vanessa Williams had to say about how she've finally been able to settle into her own worth, her own uniqueness.

MARIA SHRIVER: Vanessa, What’s an idea about yourself that you’ve shed? I’ve known you for a long time. And who you are today, what did you have to shed to be who you are today?

VANESSA WILLIAMS: “It was always a fight to be considered for who I am—my intellect, my talent. There was a constant fight to prove all the time.

Maybe that was me trying to be an overachiever. Maybe it was having two parents as educators who achieved a lot.

Yet at age 58, I’ve finally been able to settle into my own worth, my own uniqueness, and not worry about the labels people put on me. OK, yes, I was a Miss America in 1983. That’s my past. That was a story. But it doesn’t have to be part of my DNA. Letting go of all that—of what people perceive me to be—and sitting in to who I am and what I want to do, took a while to shift. I mean, again, I’m 58!

The upside was that people expected so little of me because I was labeled as a beauty queen (and a scandalized beauty queen at that!), that any time I had any kind of success—be it music, or theater, or television, or film, or whatever—people would always say, ‘Oh, I didn’t know she could do that.’ Oh, well, she can. She can! I’ve lived with that un-expectation for so long that now there’s a new generation that knows me as an achiever. And I don’t give a damn about everybody else who labels me.”

As a Sunday Paper subscriber, you can enter code SUNDAYPAPER to receive 20% off. A portion of all proceeds will be donated to The Women's Alzheimer's Movement.

Question from the editor: What is an idea about yourself that you've shed? Let us know in the comments section below!