Following Mia Maugé on Instagram is a breath of fresh air—a bright spot in the aging conversation, with all the frank kindness of an old friend and close confidant. In her 50s, fed up with the lack of representation for a midlife woman in the beauty and fashion space, Mia started creating content to rebrand midlife, take the fear out of aging, and make a ‘silver space for the next generation.’
Now 59, she’s a model, broadcaster, and beauty campaigner, challenging stereotypes related to hair texture, colour, age, skin tone, and body type. You can find her on billboards for top brands like L’Oréal Paris, Vichy, Ilia, Glossier, MAC, Netflix, Disney, and more. And you can even spot her as the first black, silver-haired, middle-aged mermaid in Disney’s live action Little Mermaid!
We rang Mia on a video call to talk about her work and passions, where confidence comes from (even on the set of her first modeling gig clad only in knickers), her approach to dating, the surprise of mothering adult daughters, and her aging journey. Her honest truth? There’s no one way to do it well, just the way that is right for you!
Read on for the full conversation with Mia.
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The Decision that Changed Everything
Mia: It wasn’t really a moment [that changed everything] … more of a long thought-out decision to stop dying my hair at the age of 50, having dyed it for 18 years. Not because I didn’t like the color that grew naturally from my scalp, but because I didn’t like how society perceived me. There’s a big difference from somebody who just dyes their hair because they prefer the color. It was deeper for me … a deep rooted fear about the stage I was at in my life. That’s something we really get caught up in. Have we ticked these certain boxes by the time we’re a certain age? I felt like I hadn’t.
I was in publishing, and it became (almost overnight) a digital world. I began to feel irrelevant in the workplace. Employers were looking for young people that knew this whole new world that we were just entering into. And I was in my late forties, single as well. There was this double whammy of pressure for me to hold on to what I felt society deemed valuable … my youth.
Then in November 2016 I had an operation which meant I had to recover for 6 weeks at home. I thought, ‘I’ll just see what happens’ and embraced my silver hair grow-out. And it wasn’t easy, I have to say, but I knew I really liked it. Something clicked in me then and I went on this whole journey. I didn’t expect the unraveling and unpacking that would happen around my own inner ageism. Challenging it, trying to understand it, suppressing the negative talk in my mind around aging. I didn’t expect that, but it lasted. It took me 2 years to grow my hair out, and it was a radical act that was challenging societal beauty standards which shouldn’t be. I was just growing my hair from my head, but that’s how people perceived it. They saw it as a brave thing to do. I think things have changed; during lockdown a lot of women went through that process and came out the other end with their silver hair.
Looking back, it was a big turning point in my life … magic that I could never have imagined would have happened to me.
“Something clicked in me at 50 and I went on this whole journey. I didn’t expect the unraveling and unpacking that happened around my own inner ageism.”
Saying Yes to Unexpected Opportunities
Mia: [In my career] I’d always been in the background, making stuff happen, and elevating other people’s businesses. I felt comfortable there … that was my thing. Cut to 50 years old, I was walking down the road with my full head of silver at that point when I got stopped in the street by a casting agent. She literally stopped her car, jumped out, and ran across the road to me. I thought she was a friend of my daughter’s, but turns out she had been getting requests for models that looked like me. I took her business card and said, ‘Sure, let’s make some magic happen.’ But I didn’t hear from her. At that time in my life, my mindset was to just say yes to challenging things. Just say yes.
I didn’t hear from her for about 3 months, and then got a call saying there was a job. I went. I was on billboards, in print, and everything. It all happened quite quickly. They really didn’t want models per se; they wanted ordinary people. It wasn’t like I was a proper signed model, and I didn’t really give it much thought. I kept the day job, and then in 2020 during lockdown I decided to go public with my private Instagram page.
Being the Representation She Wanted to See
Mia: As a consumer, I was fed up with being ignored by brands. Going into shops or shopping online, and not seeing anybody that looked like me. There was very little representation, if any, of my skin tone, my hair texture, my body type, my generation. So I had a very vague intention to connect with women my age and create a space where we could be visible and vocal and interact. I wanted to see if other people felt the same way.
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I connected quickly with women, a few thousand followers and connections. And then I got scouted to do modeling. An agent wanted me to sign … very different to being stopped in the street. It wasn’t just me being a smug lady on the sofa (like my first job). I panicked a little bit. I was very camera shy and uncomfortable in front of the camera, and I didn’t know if I could do it.
But I very quickly had a word with myself. “You’ve been complaining about a lack of representation. You have the opportunity to do that. You better say yes.” So I did, and very tentatively stepped into that world. And I found that beyond my own self-imposed boundaries … my comfort zone … was purpose.
Developing Confidence Later in Life
Mia: I’m not body confident … I never have been. I always wore a sarong on the beach. I’m the friend that would cover up. Then one of the first jobs I got (at 54!) was a lingerie shoot. They were like, “Can you wear your underwear and dance for the self tape in your underwear?” And I thought, “Well, I’ve got nothing to lose. If I don’t get it, that’s fine. I’m just gonna roll with this.” So I did a little dance in my underwear in my bedroom, sent the video off, and left it with the universe. Of course, I got the job. I was so nervous on the day I didn’t sleep the day before. You can imagine how overwhelming it was. I had not done a lot of work before this, and I was in a space where all the models were younger than me.
But I just went for it, and actually really loved it. It was like the most liberating, euphoric experience. I just got in the zone, forgot everybody was there, enjoyed the music, and enjoyed my body like that for the first time ever, I think. Afterwards I thought, “Damn, this is gonna be on billboards! I may never get a boyfriend now!” It felt huge at the time.
I’ve never felt more confident than I do now. In terms of who I am, and the purpose that I have. I hadn’t realized that I’d never given purpose much of a thought when I was younger. But subconsciously with all the jobs that I’d ever done, the draw had been purpose. I’d never done anything as a strategic move, for better money or whatever, but I’d always wanted to make change.
What I’m doing now is just for a different purpose. It requires me to be upfront, whereas before I was just in the background. There’s much more personal growth in it. All those experiences and transferable skills I acquired over the years pulled together in this moment and allowed me to step into the spotlight, knowing I actually do have the goods. I know I can do this.
That’s where the confidence comes from … having those layers of experience and knowledge, being able to make informed decisions about things, being purpose driven. Beyond any stupid insecurity that I might have, it’s far more important to me that there is this representation so that young women in their 40s don’t have to struggle in the same way I did.
“Beyond my own self-imposed boundaries… my comfort zone… was purpose.”
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40s to Now—Perspectives on Aging
Mia: Wow. [In my 40s] I was just caught up by what society had told me my entire life about aging. It was undesirable. You know the language around products in the beauty industry: anti-aging, anti sagging, anti, anti, anti. Like it’s something to be fought, to be in combat with. How unhealthy is that for your mental well-being? And that’s where I was.
I was also perimenopausal much of my forties without being diagnosed and having very little knowledge about it. I was having all these horrendous symptoms, but not connecting the dots. I was also a single working mom on a low income. There was a lot going on in my 40s, and then throw in this whole aging thing. I just bought into the fact that my youth was something I needed to cling onto … that my value was tied up in my youth.
My whole journey of self care really happened after 50. When I was 50, I stopped dying my hair. And when I began to talk about that, I started talking about all the other great things about this time in life. I began to think, “Listen, I’ve got friends that died in their 40s. I’m lucky to be here.” I spent my 40s clinging on to my youth and thinking about what I was losing; thinking that my kids are growing up, I’m losing them. Everything felt like a loss. And then I just realized, “You can’t continue like this. There are things that you need to be grateful for.”
I just started practicing being grateful just for being alive. We don’t know what’s around the corner, but there will be a physical decline. There are less years ahead than there are behind. There’s no time to be wasted. You have one shot at a good, joyful, peaceful life, and there’s this small window to really find it. I’m in that now.
The Meaning of Aging Well
Mia: There is no one way of aging well. We’ve all got different ways of dealing with things and different things that we struggle with. It’s just about focusing on the positives and not feeling pressured by society to go either way with any decision that you make … and also to make any decision about self-care. Whether it’s to dye your hair or something else, make sure it’s based on self-love and not self-loathing. Because it makes you feel better, like your best self … not because society has told you your gray hair is ugly. It’s a different mindset. You do you, in the way that makes you feel your best.
This can look like just finding joy in the everyday. My mom’s in her 80s and she’s really struggling. Her mobility is going. It’s really overwhelming. And I have conversations with her, like “Mom, you really have to just find the joys that are in your daily life.” It might just be a phone call to a loved one, but just make sure you look for the joy. That’s a whole new phase that I’m going to have to deal with at some stage, so it’s really important to intentionally find your joy. Whatever age you are.
“There’s no time to be wasted. You have one shot at a good, joyful, peaceful life, and there’s this small window to really find it. I’m in that now.”
The Joy of Adult Children
Mia: The toughest bit of being a mother for me was not really the teenage years… that was challenging in itself … but the letting go bit post-teens when they’re transitioning into independent adults. I’ll never forget the first time they got an Uber on their own. I thought “This is my precious cargo!” It just blew my mind that they were in the car with a stranger. I really felt like I was losing them. I missed their chubby little hands that relied on me, when every word I said was gospel. Some of that is probably tied up in me being a single mom, too, but we are just so close. I get tearful when I think about it. It was a real moment, not a period of gradual detachment, that I had to deal with. I found that so hard. I might have found it easier had I known the joys of having adult children.
I haven’t actually lost them. It’s a joy to watch them be individuals and have opinions. They truly are my best friends, my biggest supporters. They are just my everything. One of them, particularly the older one, will still come and sit on my lap and have a cuddle, but she’s fiercely independent at the same time. There are times they need me still, but I was surprised by the joy and pride of seeing them be individuals. You don’t really think how beautiful it can be, because you’re probably just worried, thinking about how bad it could be. And then you get there, and it’s like one big exhale … once you get there.
Maintaining Friendships & Creating New Ones
Mia: That’s another unexpected beauty of being this age … the long friendships. There is a real, strong sense of his sisterhood at this time in life that I hadn’t really considered. I have a friend that I have known for 55 years … that’s like family. It’s a piece of my history, and we’ve been through it all together. She knew my mom, and my dad who passed away. Her dad’s passed away now, and he was like my second dad. When my dad passed away, he was there for me. We moved into the same block of flats when we were 4, lived in and out of each other’s homes, and went to the same school. It doesn’t get closer than that. We speak regularly and go for Sunday walks. If there’s a period where one of us is traveling and we don’t see each other, we just pick up where we left off. It doesn’t require a lot of effort or nurturing, necessarily. It’s a very natural friendship that I value hugely, and I didn’t have a sister, so I guess she’s kind of like my sister.
There are two others in that same friendship group that are still alive, who I’ve known since we were about 13. Time and life get in the way of actually seeing each other, but we catch up on a regular basis. They have grandkids (myself and my 55-year friend, we don’t have grandkids yet), so they’ve bonded around that. That’s their focus. And when we see each other, it’s just like no time has passed.
New friendships … I have so many! I’ve met some incredible women through Instagram, now connections that I’ve made in real life. I didn’t realize how easy it would be to make friends at this time in life.
This is so cheesy, but [if you’re looking to make new friends], be authentic, and just be real. Go with your instinct. That’s another thing that’s come at this time in life. You’ve made mistakes that you’ve learned from, and you know where to find the red flags. That’s a big player in this time of life … being able to gauge situations and understand people’s motives. But also think about what you project … that’s equally important. People will be drawn to you, so you need to be authentic and true to yourself.
“There is a real, strong sense of his sisterhood at this time in life that I hadn’t really considered.”
Dating at 59
Mia: My approach … sit at home and wish. No, I’m joking. I’m hopeful that I will meet somebody. I just can’t get my head around apps … I’m very much about energy, connection, how you carry yourself, and what you have to say. So, somebody who’s not classically or conventionally ‘good-looking’ I may well be drawn to based on how he walks into a room. Maybe it’s kindness, or swag, or whatever it is. And it’s been my experience that a lot of people of my generation are not that savvy with how they present themselves on apps, and therefore I might be swiping past my Mr Dreamboat. Apps also lump everybody over 55 in the same category, clumping everyone together as if we’re a monolith. It doesn’t make any sense. So apps are not gonna work for me.
I do get out, but I’ve yet to find someone compatible. Single men my age often seek younger women, so the pool is very small. I do feel a little bit in despair around that, if I’m honest. I’ve been single for a very, very long time … far longer than I care to mention! I’ve met people over the years, but nobody that has felt like mine. That’s what I want. I’m still hopeful. I have put things in place for me to have a fulfilled life without somebody. A lot of women in their 40s and 50s and 60s have been in touch with me saying how important it is for us to be content and to put things in place in our lives so that we don’t need somebody to feel whole. It would be an enhancement … the cherry on the pie … to have that somebody.
But it would also be an adjustment! I love the idea of being married, and then I think about the reality of being answerable to somebody at this time in my life. I would have to be 100% sure, and that my adoration was reciprocated at the same level, for me to make those adjustments and allow somebody in. It’s about being so connected with somebody that you want to accommodate them. The thought of sharing my home with somebody … I’m used to it being my space. I definitely don’t want to be in a situation where I have to really work at it and where demands are made that I’m not prepared to adhere to. It is a big ask, but I do hope I meet somebody with the same mindset as me.
Advice for Single Women
Mia: For women that are struggling with being single, I would say two things. Position yourself to feel fulfilled in life. Find your joys! For me, I’ve learned to just be comfortable going out on my own. I will happily go to a hotel bar, chat to the bartender, have a drink, and connect with some strangers. Eating out on my own, no problem. That doesn’t phase me at all now, but there was a period where I would have been self conscious. And, find characteristics that you look for in a partner in your friends so that they are spread around your social group. Find people that you share interests with. It’s about just positioning yourself well and making sure that your life is joyful and fulfilled.
“Position yourself to feel fulfilled in life. Find your joys!”
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The Importance of Self-Care
Mia: Self-care wasn’t even a thing really for my generation and when I was a young woman. That was something for very privileged, wealthy people. I went through my 20s having a really good, fun, carefree period, then trying to find a partner to have babies with. And then my 30s were about family and being a mom. We were still on a limited income, and self-care wasn’t a thing for me. It felt like a huge indulgence.
But I didn’t realize then that self-care can be a daily thing. Even now, in my busy life, the one thing I always have time for is my nighttime skincare routine. That is my zone-out, meditation moment to reflect on the day. When do you ever hold your own face, or look into your eyes in a mirror? Your skincare routine is the only time that you do that. It’s nurturing and nourishing and honoring of where I am in this moment. It makes me very present. I make sure I spend at least 15 minutes just taking care of me and having a little check in with myself. That’s my non-negotiable in terms of self-care. If I’ve done nothing else … no mat work, no gym, no ‘me time’ … that is my saving grace.
Words to Live By
Mia: I loved Maya Angelou. I was lucky enough to meet her and James Baldwin and spend an evening with them … incredible. She has a quote about being a rainbow in somebody’s cloud. It’s cliche, but I’ve always treated people how I’d like to be treated. I think that’s a fundamental human thing that we should all have. And since we’re talking about it, one more quote from James Baldwin that I love is: “The place in which I’ll fit will not exist until I make it.”
I remember when my kids were born my best friend’s mother, who was amazing to me when I was growing up, said, “Make sure you enjoy it, because the time flies so quickly.” It was so true.
In the Next 10 Years …
Mia: I’d like to slow down at some point. I’m really enjoying life now. I feel very energized, very focused, very passionate about what I do, but I do realize that there will come a time when that changes. I’d love to meet somebody to go on the next part of the journey, the next chapter with me. 100% would love that. That’s the only thing that’s missing actually in my life … the right guy. I have this fantasy of living in rural Italy or the Caribbean with a donkey sanctuary and land, with my love and my grandkids coming to visit. That’s where I’d like to be.
“There is no one way of aging well. You do you, in the way that makes you feel your best.”
Mia is a model, broadcaster, and beauty campaigner. Fed up of the lack of representation for a midlife woman in the beauty and fashion space, Mia launched content with inspiring, relatable and age positive messages, driving to create a ‘silver space for the next generation.’ Now, at 59, Mia is a role model for all generations. She encourages gratitude for the ‘midlife years’, and inspires audiences of all ages to embrace, celebrate and consciously understand the beauty of aging by approaching it with vitality and zest; challenging stereotypes related to hair texture, colour, age, skin tone, and body type.Follow her on Instagram here!
