Reframe Your Retirement and Climb Into Life Beyond Sixty with Melissa Davey (Episode #121)

Dr. Lynn Hellerstein of Vision Beyond Sight speaks with Melissa Davey, documentary filmmaker, producer and director, to talk about how at age 65, she decided to quit her long corporate career and follow a childhood fantasy of becoming a filmmaker. Having produced the multi-awarded documentaries Beyond Sixty and Climbing into Life, Melissa is about creating hope and challenging the way people think about aging, confirming we are still relevant as we age. Turning 75 now, she inspires all of us to realize that retirement is just reframing, and regardless of our age, we can overcome our fears in the pursuit of new goals, and take baby steps to accomplish them.

Check out Melissa’s documentaries! Beyond Sixty presents ordinary women above the age of 60 with extraordinary stories and achievements. Climbing Into Life is the story of Dierdre Molownick, a never an athlete who, upon the inspiration of her children who loves extreme sports, conquered the vertical cliff face of El Capitan.

🔊 Click here and tune in to the show now to explore:

• What prompted Melissa’s drastic change at the age of 65?
• Retirement is just reframing.
• How Melissa planned on becoming a filmmaker right after retirement
• Melissa’s first film, Beyond 60 – a documentary about the stories of ordinary women above 60
• The story of Paula, the oldest American woman at the time who sucessfully swam the English Channel
• Stories of women that make you ask, “What’s next for me? If they can do it, I can do it.”
• Melissa’s second film, Climbing Into Life – story of Dierdre Wolownick, non-athlete who climbed El Capitan
• Overcoming fears – getting over the fear by getting into it
• Taking baby steps for anything new that you try
• Melissa’s project about aerialists in the circus aged over 50
• “Just do it and go as far as you can.”
• Finding opportunities through community when you get older
• How to reach Melissa and watch her film’s trailers

About Melissa Davey:

Melissa Davey, age 74, retired from a lengthy corporate career in 2016 to pursue her second act and dream of becoming a filmmaker.

Melissa began her early career in Legal Services pursuing Chapter 766 compliance and advocacy for disabled children. As a Paralegal, Melissa represented more than one thousand individuals before the Social Security Administration and was a national substantive law trainer for the Legal Services Corporation.

In 1994 Melissa was recruited to the for-profit company, Genex, headquartered in Wayne, PA, to build their Social Security advocacy program. As the Vice President of Social Security and Managed Disability for 22 years, Melissa sat on the company’s executive team and worked throughout the United States to bring services to the disability insurance marketplace.

At age 65, after a day on the set with a famous Director, she decided to take a risk and left her career to jump into the unknown.

Pursuing her dream of becoming a filmmaker became a reality in late 2018 when Melissa completed her first film, Beyond Sixty, a feature length documentary about women over the age of sixty. During 2019 Melissa’s film was accepted by and screened at 8 film festivals throughout the United States and Canada, winning awards and confirming that it is never too late to learn something new.

The film was picked up by a Distributor in late 2020 and had a Spring, 2021 release date. The film is currently available on most streaming platforms (AppleTV, Prime Video, Vimeo, Vudu, Google TV, YouTubeTV) including international airlines, Library streaming as well as Cable OnDemand.

Melissa recently completed her second documentary, Climbing into Life, the story of Dierdre Wolownick who is the mother of Alex Honnold (Free Solo).  The film has been accepted into thirteen film festivals so far and has won several awards so far.

Connect with Melissa Davey:

Website | LinkedIn | X

Instagram: Melissa Davey | Beyond Sixty | Climbing Into Life

Facebook: Melissa Davey | Beyond Sixty | Climbing Into Life

“I have never thought about just retiring in the true sense of what people think retirement is. I remember sitting there as I was looking at the calendar and saying, ‘Woah.’ Here I am, 65, there was no push for me to leave. I was not in an ageist corporation. I had a really big job, loved it. But it was more of a question to me. Is this it? I used to joke at the office with my colleagues about not wanting to die at my desk. I said it a lot. It would just come flying out of my mouth. I realize that at one point, I think I was telling the truth, and what I was really saying was I don’t want this to be it. I don’t want this to be the end.” – Melissa Davey

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