Tilly Ann looked right into the lens. “Lela Bennett is the fifty-year-old founder of New York-based Lela B cosmetics, who made a splash recently with a very sexy ad campaign prominently featuring her gray hair. Ms. Bennett, welcome to the show.”
Lela smiled thinly, but it felt like her face was made of plastic. “Thank you for having me.”
“Can you tell us about the origins of your company? What made you want to start it?”
As Lela jumped to the answer in her head, she realized how much of this led back to Donovan. And he was standing right there in the shadows of the studio, listening to everything. “I was forty-seven and divorced. I’d been a makeup artist for years, and I didn’t know what came next for me, but I really wanted a change. And I wanted to challenge myself to take some chances. I’d made several makeup formulations over the years for clients, and they always loved the products, so I decided that it was the perfect time to put myself out there.”
“I think a lot of women can relate to wanting a change after a divorce,” Renata said.
“I know I can,” Tilly Ann quipped. Everyone knew she’d been married several times.
“How did your decision to go gray fit into that? Did something happen? Because a lot of people look at those photographs, think they’re great, but then wonder why you wouldn’t just color your hair.”
Lela swallowed hard, but sat a little straighter. She was proud about this. She wanted to own that pivotal life moment, even when it had hurt. “It was about two months after my divorce. I ran into an old friend, a man I really liked a lot. A man I really cared about. And he rejected me…”
“I bet he feels pretty stupid right now,” Tilly Ann said, apparently playing the role of comic relief.
“You know, I don’t hold it against him. He had his reasons,” Lela said. “And it did spur me to make a change. My hair was already going gray and I was so tired of schlepping to the salon to have it covered up. The morning after the rejection, I saw my gray sparkle in the light from my bathroom window and I had to ask myself, why was I trying to hide my sparkle?”
Both Renata and Tilly Ann lit up like a Christmas tree, smiling and eyes wide.
“What a fun way to say it,” Renata said. “It sounds like something from a T-shirt.”
“I wish I had the nerve to go gray,” Tilly Ann said. “I’m still holding on to my ash blond for dear life.”
Lela laughed, but she did want to drive this point home. “But that’s the whole point. It’s such a personal decision. And so much of it is decided for us. Society tells us that we have to look young, and that young is better. As women, so much of the value we’re assigned has to do with youth. We’re told when we’re young that it’s the worst thing in the world to get older, and particularly to look older. But then you get to your late forties or you turn fifty and realize it’s all a lie. You don’t feel that different, and so much in life is actually better.”
“What do you think is better?” Renata asked.
“You’re more comfortable in your own skin. You care less about what other people think. The sex can be better, too.”
Both women leaned in closer. “Yes,” they chimed in unison.
“You’ve lost a lot of your inhibitions,” Lela said. “That makes sex a lot more fun.” Of course, she’d only been able to really unleash that on Donovan, but she did genuinely feel that way.
“And what is it like to be this sexy beauty icon?”
“Honestly? It’s very strange. I realize that I’m in those pictures, but deep down, I still see the awkward girl I was in high school or in college. I don’t dwell on it now, but it’s there in the back of my head. I don’t think that insecurity ever goes away when you aren’t someone who turns heads.”
“But you are one of those women now, aren’t you?” Tilly Ann asked.
“Any attention I’m getting now, I hope it helps other women feel good about embracing whatever puts them outside any narrow ideals of beauty. There is so much that can make a person beautiful. Own what you’ve got going on.”
Renata turned to the camera. “Thanks to our guest, Lela Bennett. If you want to learn more about her line of cosmetics, visit our website for a link.”
A long awkward pause played out, and then it was over. “We’re clear,” a voice said.
Tilly Ann and Renata both hopped up out of their chairs and were all over Lela. “We loved having you here. Thank you so much for being a voice for women over fifty,” Tilly Ann said.
“Yes. It’s nice to hear a different perspective on beauty,” Renata added.
“Thank you for letting me say my piece,” Lela said.
Another woman appeared from the shadows of the studio, and reached out to shake Lela’s hand. “Lela, hi. I’m Monica Figueroa. We spoke on the phone. You did a fantastic job today.”
Lela got up from her chair and stepped out from under the bright studio lights. They walked back to the spot near where Donovan was standing, hands behind his back. A production assistant chased Lela down to uncouple her from her microphone.
“We’d love to get you back on the show if we can,” Monica said. “Maybe do some makeup tips with Renata and Tilly Ann? We could even talk about running a viewer contest for a makeover? Fly the winner to New York to meet you and have lunch and get a full makeup tutorial and a bunch of Lela B products?”
