Online Community Gives Active Women Over 50 A Place To Feel Alive

Texas writer Jeannie Ralston couldn’t find “her people” online so she created a place for them.

By Joy DiazJune 27, 2017 1:14 pm,

NextTribe.com was created by Texas writer and “super-mom” Jeannie Ralston to give women in their 50s a place to talk about the latest chapter in their lives.

Ralston says she created the site after her son went to college, and she took to the internet for some advice.

“I went online to kind of look and see what kind of comfort I could find, and I started looking at all the options for women my age, and I didn’t like it,” Ralston says.

She says it was difficult to find online resources that matched her spirit.

“What I did find, I felt like they were treating me like I was really fragile, or really prissy, or on the edge of going on life support,” Ralston says.

She says the kind of 56-year-old women depicted in the articles she saw online were not representative of her “people.” So she created something that was.

“My friends and I, we still feel like we’re 29 inside,”Ralston says. “We talk the same way we did when we were 29, we laugh about the same things, and I just wanted online that kind of reflected that,” 

Ralston says humor is the key to making it through whatever life throws your way.

“Our mission is to offer information and inspiration with a healthy dose of irreverence,” Ralston says. “Anything can make you laugh. Your husband ran off with a younger woman? You got to laugh about it. You run off with a younger woman? You got to laugh about it.”

Stories for the publication include advice on wearing faux-leather leggings and dating again after the end of a long marriage. Whatever the topic, they all have a common theme – encouraging women going through an unfamiliar phase to be bold.

“This is a time when you can take some big turns in your life, and with your experience and with some freedom, you can make it happen,” Ralston says. “Join the tribe.”

 

Written by Lila Weatherly.