“I really was tired of the really wanting it, longing for it and it just wasn’t happening.
I wasn’t meeting men. It just wasn’t happening.
So what happened? Why the change of heart at 75?
I have no idea. All I know is that I decided that I wanted to bring a man into my life.”
Welcome to The Modern Age TV!
We are excited to kick off the series with a former boss from my days working at NYU. Mona Kreaden was a very caring boss. She helped me in so many ways personally and professionally. She was always polished, professional…and always single from the time I knew her, and happily so. We lost touch after I left NYU and fast forward 20 years later, we recently reconnected.
Now, Mona is 77 years old and dating! As she dished on the details, I felt like we were 2 teenage girls talking about the new boys in her life. And the more we talked, the more I realized that it was important for others to hear about her experiences and how a change in attitude changed her life and her relationship with men.
“70 put me into a whole different category and I don’t even know if I can explain it.
I felt physically as if I had crossed over a river and that everything about me was back there on the other side.
It’s not that I don’t remember it. I remember it but I don’t relate to it anymore. It’s not who I am.
Who I am now is of course the sum total of all those things, but maybe I’m more free to express a lot more now.”
Her pilates instructor and “dating mentor,” Daisy Sola, was there every step of the way to help Mona do the hard work that it entailed to make her more open to the possibilities of having a relationship, after so many years of not dating. So I also invited Daisy for the interview to give her perspective on Mona’s transformation.
It’s refreshing to know that there is no expiration date on dating, finding love or anything that you want to do in life for that matter! I invite you to listen to the interview and please let us know your thoughts! We welcome comments!
If reading is better and you would like a transcription of today’s interview, please click here.
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ABOUT OUR GUESTS
Recently retired, Mona Kreaden was an organization and program development consultant with extensive experience in the higher education, non-profit and private sectors. She has a broad background in consensus- and community building, teaching, counseling, and networking.
She was a working Board member of The Transition Network (TTN) (www.thetransitionnetwork.org): a nonprofit organization catering to the transition needs of professional women over 50. Mona is a founding member of the TTN-HOME program—an initiative of The Transition Network’s San Francisco/Bay Area chapter for a community of senior women exploring their housing options.
Since returning to NY, she consults with Executive Directors and community leaders on mentoring and program development for 50-80 year olds in their respective communities; and acts as Strategic Advisor to the TTN leadership.
Prior to joining The Transition Network, Mona was Founding Director of New York University’s EQUAL Commission, an NYU initiative to Enhance the Quality of Undergraduate Academic Life (currently known as NYU’s Center for Teaching Excellence).
While working at NYU, she also served as Director of the Returning Adult Program at Gallatin—providing resource and support services for older undergraduate students’ special needs, and co-chaired Black History Month. She continues to serve on the Dean’s Council for the Gallatin School.
During the Camp David Accords in the early 1980’s, Mona acted as Executive Director for the Jerusalem Women’s Seminar, planning and administering seminars and conferences in Israel and Egypt among prominent U.S. and Canadian professional women and their Israeli and Egyptian counterparts to develop professional ties, promote cultural exchange, in order to encourage and facilitate intercultural dialogue and understanding.
Daisy Sola Lespier is a certified Pilates instructor, Watsu Practitioner, and an End of Life Doula (we’ll talk to her about these topics on another episode!). She has taught physical literacy awareness using somatic sequential movement exercises focusing on applied attention, agility and adaptability for 18 years. Daisy is Mona’s Pilates instructor and informal dating mentor :).
