Typically, February is a challenging month. Most of us are ready for winter to be done. Meanwhile, winter throws its weight around and lets us know it’s still in charge.

But this February was different. A few months before, I had enrolled in Steve Harrison’s National Publicity Summit. My debut book, Gray Divorce: My Life Rewritten, was published in November 2025, and the Summit offered the opportunity to be in front of dozens of producers across TV, radio, podcasting, and print media seeking guests and experts to interview.

The Summit included several training sessions to learn how to write a succinct pitch before meeting with the producers. During the training, all participants heard each other’s pitches and began learning more about the books they had written.

Then we participated in six sessions, each lasting about 4.5 hours, in which we pitched to producers in a 2-minute format. It was like how I imagine speed dating to be, but for authors. It was a little intimidating going in, though we had received excellent advice on how to get our pitches to the best possible version.

What quickly became apparent was that the producers were all rooting for us and our stories, even when our topics weren’t what they were looking for. I hadn’t known what to expect and was pleasantly surprised.

And the participants? I was amazed by the passion each person had for telling their story. Our books and topics varied greatly, although they were all non-fiction. What many of us had in common, however, was our age – many of us were in our 50s and 60s.

Nearly every day, I see someone share a post on LinkedIn about their experiences looking for work as a mature adult. Ageism, unfortunately, is very much alive and well, and it’s disheartening to see the real struggles that those of a certain age face when looking for work.

And yet, here was an experience that perfectly showcased the amazing talent companies miss out on when they choose to turn candidates down for being ‘overqualified.’ For two weeks, I watched the virtual rooms filled with enthusiastic, committed, well-spoken people from all walks of life, who demonstrated a willingness to take a chance, to learn something new, to put themselves out there, and to chase a dream that had likely been on hold for decades, while building their professional careers and raising families. When we have a strong belief in our abilities and surround ourselves with inspiring – and aspiring – individuals, we automatically raise our energy to new heights. As an introvert, the whole experience was exhilarating and exhausting, but oh-so-inspirational. Who are you surrounding yourself with?