Michelle Maccarone is a 41-year-old New York City playwright, performer, and podcast host who found her creative voice by celebrating the wit and wisdom of mid-century women. Her latest play, "The Leopard and the Lynx," premiered at the New York Theatre Festival in January 2025.

• How her obsession with "Auntie Mame" led to discovering Pat Tanner's real-life story of bisexuality and lavender marriage

• Why she believes people in the 1970s had more freedom to create their own identities than we give them credit for

• The challenge of directing your own writing: "It's just too much, you get stuck in your own head"

• How perimenopause is teaching her not to recognize her own body anymore

• Why she's working on a one-woman show about Elsa Maxwell, the queer party planner who invented the scavenger hunt

• Her philosophy: "Not everyone has to like you and that's okay"

Instagram/Facebook: @vintageoldbiddy Podcast: "Vintage Old Biddy"

Connect With Us:

Website: https://www.thenewmaturity.com

Instagram: @thenewmaturity

Newsletter: https://thenewmaturity.substack.com

Email: heath@thenewmaturity.com

New episodes drop every other Wednesday. Subscribe now so you never miss a conversation that might just change how you see growing older.

This week we welcome Dr. Joe Eviatar, who spent 30 years as a highly respected oculofacial plastic surgeon before experiencing a profound pandemic awakening. At 63, he traded his medical practice for life coaching, launching Best Face Forward Coaching to help clients—particularly gay men—embrace aging with radical self-acceptance.

Episode Highlights:

• Joe's groundbreaking work with AIDS patients suffering from facial lipoatrophy in the 90s

• The pandemic moment when he realized he felt like a "drug pusher"

• Why patients asking to look like celebrities became his breaking point

• The mirror technique: rewiring your brain for self-love in two minutes daily

• Unique challenges gay men face aging without elder role models

• His complete career pivot at 60—from doctor to life coaching certification

• Joe’s six pillars of wellness and finding peace

Discover how a doctor who helped people chase youth learned to champion authenticity, why perfectionism plagues the LGBTQ+ community, and how neuroplasticity can transform your relationship with your reflection.

Connect With Dr. Joe:

• Website: https://www.bestfaceforwardcoaching.com

Connect With Us:

• Website: https://www.thenewmaturity.com

• Instagram: @thenewmaturity

• Newsletter: https://thenewmaturity.substack.com

• Email: heath@thenewmaturity.com

New episodes drop every other Wednesday. Subscribe now so you never miss a conversation that might just change how you see growing older.

Revolutionary artist Miss Peria joins host Heath Brockwell to discuss founding Roblox Music as a genre and creating space for authentic queer expression in digital realms. Since her debut in June 2020, Miss Peria has transformed the gaming platform through her distinctive fusion of hip-hop, disco, and pop.In this episode, Miss Peria shares:

• The influence of London's creative community on her musical development
• How her identity as a trans woman shapes her art while her digital avatar allows her to reach diverse audiences
• Her evolving creative inspirations, from Cupcake to Daft Punk
• Strategies for setting boundaries and navigating digital criticism
• The advantages of aging as a digital artist and "ageless sex robot"
• Her vision for the future of queer digital artistry

Connect With Us:

• Website: https://www.thenewmaturity.com

• Instagram: @thenewmaturity

• Newsletter: https://thenewmaturity.substack.com

• Email: heath@thenewmaturity.com

Follow Miss Peria: Instagram: @MissPeriaMusic Spotify: Miss Peria
Email: heath@thenewmaturity.comThe New Maturity celebrates queer aging with pride, featuring conversations with artists, thinkers, and creators who are redefining what it means to grow older in queer communities.New episodes drop every other Wednesday. Subscribe now so you never miss a conversation that might just change how you see growing older.

This week we journey into the sensory world of fashion publishing with Dennis Golonka, who witnessed Harper's Bazaar's spectacular rebirth under Liz Tilberis in 1992—a transformation that redefined the industry forever. Dennis unveils fashion's Camelot with revelations kept quiet for three decades, from Tilberis's "angel in Chanel" leadership style to her strategic rivalry with Anna Wintour and meaningful friendship with Princess Diana.

• The spectacular rebirth of Harper's Bazaar that redefined fashion publishing

• Inside Liz Tilberis's revolutionary "angel in Chanel" leadership approach

• The strategic rivalry with Anna Wintour that insiders still discuss

• Princess Diana's friendship with Tilberis and their Met Gala moment

• Dennis's evolution from nervous assistant to influential photographer

• How radical trust—not fear—creates truly transformative leadership

• Preserving print's cultural influence in today's algorithm-driven landscape

Connect With Us:

• Website: https://www.thenewmaturity.com

• Instagram: @thenewmaturity

• Newsletter: https://thenewmaturity.substack.com

• Email: heath@thenewmaturity.com

New episodes drop every other Wednesday. Subscribe now so you never miss a conversation that might just change how you see growing older.

This week we explore how getting older might actually mean getting better with Richard Faraino, whose life chronicles New York's most pivotal moments. From fighting on the frontlines of the AIDS crisis as both a medical librarian and ACT UP activist to his stunning midlife career pivot into horticulture, Richard now creates spaces of beauty in Battery Park's gardens for 12 million annual visitors—a poetic evolution for someone who once fought to distribute life-saving medical information.

• Richard's journey from medical librarian to ACT UP activist during the AIDS crisis

• Finding love through "The Back Room," an early digital dating service, despite policies against dating HIV-positive men

• How his pattern of seeking solace in gardens evolved into a second career

• Creating Battery Park's stunning gardens and their impact on 12 million visitors annually

• The psychological liberation of abandoning external validation in midlife

• Why embracing change becomes easier—not harder—as you age

• Richard's philosophy on genuine community impact versus performative activism

Connect With Us:

• Website: https://www.thenewmaturity.com

• Instagram: @thenewmaturity

• Newsletter: https://thenewmaturity.substack.com

• Email: heath@thenewmaturity.com

New episodes drop every other Wednesday. Subscribe now so you never miss a conversation that might just change how you see growing older.

This week we explore a radical alternative to traditional living with filmmakers Michael Bullock and Michael Cukr, creators of the groundbreaking documentary "Dream Homes." Currently exhibiting at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Triennial, their film takes us inside three LGBTQIA+ intentional communities reimagining what "home" can mean in America today—not as utopian experiments hidden from society, but as active laboratories creating practical models of care, mutual support, and collective living.

• How these communities differ from separatist LGBTQIA+ communes of previous generations

• Miss Major's House of GG—a sanctuary offering rest for trans women by a pioneer who created the first safe spaces for trans sex workers

• Lupinwood's approach to structure through formal house meetings and clearly defined responsibilities

• Ten Cups Farm's revolutionary collective parenting model ensuring adults never run on empty

• The radical concept of rest as luxury systematically denied to marginalized people

• How these communities respond to prejudice with understanding rather than anger

• The documentary's unexpected urgency after Trump's election and what it means for queer communities

Connect With Us:

• Website: https://www.thenewmaturity.com

• Instagram: @thenewmaturity

• Newsletter: https://thenewmaturity.substack.com

• Email: heath@thenewmaturity.com

New episodes drop every other Wednesday. Subscribe now so you never miss a conversation that might just change how you see growing older.

This week we're joined by Susan Aberth, renowned author of "The Tarot of Leonora Carrington" and Bard College's preeminent scholar of occult art history. In our most downloaded episode of 2025 so far, Aberth delivers an intellectual rollercoaster—seamlessly connecting practical queer survival wisdom with revelations about the mystical underpinnings of American culture that will forever change how you see The Wizard of Oz.

• The brutal realities of estate planning for queer couples

• How homophobic relatives can legally erase queer lives after death

• The Emerald City's secret Masonic origins revealed

• Why men in early 20th century America flocked to rituals where they could wear makeup

• How Los Angeles became the epicenter of queer mystical culture

• The surprising connection between physics and what we call "supernatural"

• Aberth's prediction for humanity's next evolutionary leap

Mentioned in this episode: "Sci-Fi, Magic, Queer LA" exhibition and "The Tarot of Leonora Carrington"

Connect With Us:

• Website: https://www.thenewmaturity.com

• Instagram: @thenewmaturity

• Newsletter: https://thenewmaturity.substack.com

• Email: heath@thenewmaturity.com

New episodes drop every other Wednesday. Subscribe now so you never miss a conversation that might just change how you see growing older.

This week we welcome Douglas Friedman, the renowned photographer capturing America's most breathtaking interiors for Architectural Digest and Vogue. At 52, Friedman embodies creative reinvention—thriving in Manhattan's art world, Marfa's desert expanses, and amid his 150-year-old Long Island restoration project.

Episode Highlights:

• Douglas's radical career pivot at 27—leaving David Fincher's film crew to travel Southeast Asia

• The $10,000 in traveler's checks that changed everything

• Finding patience and presence before the era of "constant input"

• The decade-long Marfa love affair that everyone thought was crazy

• Why his friend Martha Stewart at 80+ is his ultimate role model

• The philosophy of the "high value day"—creative exhaustion vs. burnout

Explore how abandoning Hollywood transformed his artistic vision, why at 52 he's designing swimwear, restoring historic homes, and launching diverse creative ventures, and how his unconventional desert home "ringed by mountains" reshaped his identity.

Connect With Us:

• Website: https://www.thenewmaturity.com

• Instagram: @thenewmaturity

• Newsletter: https://thenewmaturity.substack.com

• Email: heath@thenewmaturity.com

New episodes drop every other Wednesday. Subscribe now so you never miss a conversation that might just change how you see growing older.