💌 Inside This Week’s After Party - First Edition

Welcome to the After Party!

🍸 Opening Toast

From the desk (actually dance floor!) of Robyn Cohen:

Welcome to The After Party.
Not the polite, wrap-it-up kind — I’m talking about the one where the lights dim, the shoes come off, and the real conversations begin.

This is where the women over 40 gather — the ones with stories, scars, power, and playfulness. The ones who’ve lived through heartbreaks, breakthroughs, pivots, promotions, and seasons of reinvention.

We are not an afterthought. We are the after party — the part worth staying for.

Here’s why this space exists — and why it matters to me so d*mn much.

I turned 40 in 2013. I didn’t wake up that morning with a manifesto or some crystal-clear vision of reinvention. But something shifted. Quietly at first — like a hum under the surface. A knowing. A current of energy that felt grounded but electric. Fierce but intentional. Something that whispered: You’ve made it through too much to keep playing small.

The truth is, I’d been carrying a lot. The weight of expectations. The ache of infertility and unanswered prayers. The push and pull of ambition and burnout. I’d built things, lost things, fought for things, and stayed silent when I should have roared. And yet, I’d never felt more awake — more aware of who I was becoming than ever before.

Since that birthday, my life has taken more turns than a disco ball.
There have been years when I felt unstoppable — building businesses, speaking on stages, helping women rise. And there have been seasons where I could barely get out of bed, navigating grief, financial stress, family dysfunction, and a deep reckoning with what I thought life “should” look like by now.

But through every twist, every pivot, every plot line I didn’t see coming, one truth refused to let go of me: I’m not done. I’m just getting started.

And I know I’m not the only one.

That’s the pulse of The After Party.
It’s not just about bouncing back — it’s about breaking through. It’s about celebrating every scar as a symbol of survival, every shift as a spark of evolution, and every woman over 40 as a force of nature.

Because here’s the thing: life after 40 isn’t a quiet fade into the background — it’s the real glow-up. The part where we stop editing ourselves for comfort and start living unapologetically. Where our power deepens, our joy gets louder, and our stories get even better.

This isn’t the end of the party — this is the part worth staying for.

The After Party is for every woman who’s felt overlooked, underestimated, or told that her best years are behind her. Newsflash: they’re not. The good stuff — the real stuff — is happening now. And it’s time we celebrated that, together.

Each week, I’ll share truths, inspiration, stories, and spotlights that honor our lived experiences and encourage us to keep growing, glowing, and going after what’s next.

Let’s raise a glass — to us.
The ones rewriting the rules and refusing to fade quietly into the background.
We are not fading.
We’re shining louder.

And I’m so glad you’re here for it.

🔥 Truth Bomb

You don’t outgrow your fire — you finally learn how to aim it.

There is something sacred about a woman in her 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond who knows herself. Not just the highlight-reel version, but the real version — the woman who has been humbled and hardened and healed, often all in the same season.

We don’t walk into rooms hoping to be liked. We walk in knowing we belong.
We don’t perform for validation. We stand rooted in value.
And that fire? It’s still in us — but now it’s focused. Clear. Directional.

Here’s what no one tells you about aging:
You don’t lose your power — you inherit it.
You stop wasting energy on people who don’t see you. You stop over-apologizing. You start saying yes to what fuels you and no without guilt.

This is what power looks like when it’s lived in.
This is what happens when the filter drops and the real woman shows up.

So here’s your truth bomb for the week:
Whatever dream you put down, pick it back up.
Whatever fire you dimmed, turn it all the way up.
You didn’t miss your moment. This is it.

💫 Mirror Talk

“She’s still got it — because she never lost it.”

Take a moment today to look in the mirror and see her.
The woman who’s lived a thousand lives in one body.
Who’s survived, shifted, redefined, and reclaimed.

You don’t need to become someone new.
You just need to see who you already are.

🌟 The Guest List

Viola Davis — Icon. Storyteller. Truth-teller.

If there’s anyone who embodies The After Party, it’s her.

Born in poverty in Central Falls, Rhode Island, Viola grew up in a household filled with pain, dysfunction, and struggle. She speaks openly about the trauma of her childhood — living in rat-infested apartments, going to school hungry, enduring racism and violence — and yet somehow, she never lost her voice. In fact, she found her power through it.

In her memoir Finding Me, she writes:

“My elixir? The breaking point.

That was the moment where I took my power back.

I stopped being a mystery to myself and started living my truth — out loud, without shame.”

Viola didn’t “arrive” in Hollywood the way others did. She carved her way in — role by role, truth by truth, tear by tear. She became the first Black actor to win the “Triple Crown of Acting” — an Oscar, Emmy, and Tony. But more than that, she became a symbol of what’s possible when a woman claims her story instead of hiding from it.

Why we love her?

Because she reminds us that we don’t have to be perfect to be powerful.
We just have to be real.

🎁 Party Favors

• 📚 Book to Read: Finding Me by Viola Davis. One of the most raw, powerful, and cathartic memoirs ever written.

• 🎧 Listen (or Watch): Aspire with Emma Grede — A podcast designed to help you build the life of your dreams.

• 📸 Try This: Take a mirror selfie today and post it with the hashtag #AfterPartyGlow — no filter. Just you. Fully seen. Fully celebrated.

• ✍️ Journaling Prompt: What is one fire in you that you’ve been dimming? Why? And what would happen if you let it burn again?

📣 Last Call…

Before we turn the lights up...

What if this next chapter isn’t your second act — but your real debut? Hit reply and tell me one thing you're doing for yourself this week — no guilt, no justification. Just joy.

You’re on the list because you’re a woman who gets it.
If you loved this week’s After Party, forward it to someone who’s just entering hers.

Want to unsubscribe? You’re always free to leave the party — but we’ll miss you!

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Until next week,