Women older than 40 today are mothers, daughters, executives, friends, business owners, wives and lovers.
Statistics show they’re also beautiful, healthy, active, empowered and happy with who they are, maybe for the first time in their lives.
Lillian Williams, one of 10 finalists in the MORE/Wilhemina 40+ Model Search contest, said attitude is everything, and she wasn’t there at age 20.
It took turning 40 to give her the confidence she needed to accept who she was, embrace her life choices — mistakes included — and feel good enough about herself to believe she could enter a modeling competition.
“At 20, you’re immature and you don’t know what life is about. Now, I’m not going to be influenced by what other people think,” Williams said.
The Costa Mesa resident is one of three California women in the annual nationwide model search sponsored by MORE Magazine and Wilhemina Models that began late last year.
Williams is a dental assistant in Newport Beach and a regular reader of MORE magazine, a publication geared toward women older than 40.
Lois Johnson, beauty and fashion director of MORE Magazine, said each of the more than 15,000 readers who entered the contest are winners.
“This is a community of intelligent, highly evolved women who are taking charge of their lives and enjoying being 40 and over,” Johnson said.
“Right now, most readers say that while they would enter a model search, they might not have ever considered that in their 20s.”
Women today have a different attitude, Johnson said, coupled with the fact that women are learning to take exceptional care of themselves by working out, not baking in the sun anymore, whitening their teeth and paying special attention to skin care.
After seeing the ad in the magazine for the model search, Williams and her sister joined more than 400 women at the open audition in September at the Talbots store in South Coast Plaza.
Williams filled out an application, had her hair and makeup touched up by experts, and posed for a professional photo that she submitted with her application.
Everyone there that day helped her feel comfortable and at ease, Williams said, enabling her to step out of her comfort zone and try new things, like talking more about herself.
Once she was selected as a semifinalist, she was required to submit a two-minute video in which she had to talk about herself and her life.
