Model and stylist, Melinda Brady, and most recently the creator of YouTube channel Embrace Age, talks to us about ageing naturally and embracing the years, rather than trying to hold them back.

Iwas married once. I lived in a beautiful house with my husband, one child, two dogs, three cats and a guinea pig. Now I am divorced (I don’t know why I can’t just be ‘single’ again, but apparently it doesn’t work like that) and I live completely alone. I had been married almost 25 years when the heartbreaking decision to leave my husband was made. Approaching 45, I felt decidedly middle-aged, not very attractive, and thought it quite unlikely that I would ever again meet anyone who might be interested in me. Which goes to show just how wrong a girl can be.

Dorrie Jacobson shot to internet stardom with the creation of her blog Senior Style Bible. The 85-year-old retired Playboy Bunny, model and make-up artist fed up with the portrayal of mature women in the media and fashion magazines, and wanting to create a platform that celebrated older women and offered a more modern approach to fashion and ageing stylishly.

Ahummingbird’s nest was swaying precariously on the tip of a slender cactus branch on our front porch. I looked at it and then went to say something ridiculously optimistic to my husband – Look, honey, a hummingbird is bringing new life our way. But, given the diagnosis he’d finally gotten from the doctor that morning, I myself wouldn’t have believed what I was saying. Deep inside I didn’t feel like anything new was heading my way at all. Deep inside I was afraid that my husband’s Parkinson’s disease, like the hummingbird’s nest, was too heavy for the branch.