If you visit any coffee shop across the UK right now it wouldn’t come as a surprise to you to see someone hovering above their table trying to capture the perfect brunch shot.
It might be slightly more shocking to look up and find a 68-year-old woman worrying about camera angles and lighting, but for Suzi Grant this is just an ordinary day.
The former reporter and TV presenter turned healthy living expert began her own blog and Instagram channel in 2013 and hasn’t looked back since.
The Brighton-based blogger told the Mirror: ‘There’s this outdated notion that, as a woman, when you reach “a certain age” you have to disappear, but as I’ve passed all these dreaded milestones, I’ve embraced ageing. I want to grow old positively, naturally and certainly not invisibly.’
Suzi Grant, 68, is part of a new, older, generation of Instagrammers taking the platform by storm
The Brighton-based blogger started back in 2013 after being encouraged by her godchildren. She began by interviewing people out on the street and finding out their stories
Suzi is doing anything but hiding, sharing glamorous photos of her adventures at home in Brighton or abroad in countries like Jaipur with the hashtags ‘#greyhairdontcare’, ‘#wrinklesaresohotrightnow’ and #kissmyage’.
Her blog, entitled Alternative Ageing, combines fashion with friendly advice on natural anti-ageing techniques and lifestyle choices like detoxing and the 5:2 diet.
Although her life now revolves around fashion and healthy eating, it wasn’t always this way.
A turning point for Suzi came 25 years ago when her mother Mariana suddenly died aged just 62 from a heart attack.
‘Mum was overweight, verging on alcoholism and took no exercise, but it was still a massive wake-up for me,’ she said.
‘As a woman in my 40s I was increasingly aware of every wrinkle, and the hours and lifestyle weren’t doing me any favours, so I decided to prioritise my health and try a different tack.’
As a journalist Suzi had enjoyed years of hard drinking and chain smoking but she quickly gave it all up and spent the next three years training to become a nutritionist.
She said: ‘There’s this outdated notion that, as a woman, when you reach “a certain age” you have to disappear, but as I’ve passed all these dreaded milestones, I’ve embraced ageing. I want to grow old positively, naturally and certainly not invisibly’ (Pictured in Jaipur)
On top of her sudden lifestyle change, she decided she needed to find a new scene as well, and moved from London to Brighton in 2000.
She said: ‘I’d just turned 50 and was tired of the same staid black uniform people seemed to wear in London – and suddenly I felt irrelevant. Brighton’s liberalism was a complete epiphany for me.’
In 2003 she published her first healthy lifestyle book, and wrote two more before her godchildren convinced her to start a blog.
She started out by interviewing people out on the street, finding her inspiration in the roller-blading 70-year-olds, grannies with brightly-coloured hair and people skinny dipping in the sea.
She told the Mirror: ‘I’d spent my life interviewing people, so had no shame, and uncovered the most incredible tales – it was like digging into a new layer of my home town and its people.’
Suzi is doing anything but hiding, sharing photos such as this one with hashtags including ‘#greyhairdontcare’ and #kissmyage’, and blogging about topics such as the menopause and the 5:2 diet
It wasn’t always easy but after being interviewed by Instagram her follower count shot up to just over 11,100 – and amazingly, more than half of them are under 30.
Although previously feeling burnt out from the hours of carefully curating content for her blog and Instagram page, Suzi now feels younger than ever thanks to her new hobby.
She added: ‘My mind’s significantly sharper now than it was five years ago, and by walking the talk of the advice I give out, I feel healthier now than I have for decades.
‘I just want to spread my message – to embrace ageing, to inspire people to make positive, small changes, not to aspire to some unrealistic portrayal of how you should be. It’s nothing short of a privilege to know I have over 11,000 people wanting to hear my thoughts, and something I’m immensely proud of.
‘Instagramming and blogging are my way to stand up, and to inspire others to live their lives to the full, however old you are.’
She added: ‘We’re like a secret tribe – women over 50 who don’t want to be invisible, who love music, festivals, and take good care of themselves. I can’t believe I’m two years off 70 – I don’t feel it, and I hope I don’t look it.’
In 2003 she published her first healthy lifestyle book, and wrote two more before her godchildren convinced her to start the blog. Now she has more than 11,000 followers