Copyright MSNBC
The women on Forbes and Know Your Value’s 2025 “50 Over 50” U.S. list are proving that age is not a limit—it’s leverage. Know Your Value founder and “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski had the honor of celebrating the extraordinary women who made this year’s list on Tuesday, marking the fifth year of the groundbreaking collaboration honoring women redefining success at every stage of life. At HSBC’s New York City headquarters, the energy was electric as honorees gathered to toast their collective impact — women doing their most innovative, influential work at 50, 60, 70, 80 and beyond. The crowd included current and former listees, including Planned Parenthood CEO Alexis McGill Johnson, Mattel’s Global Head of Dolls Jamie Cygielman, activist and podcaster Monica Lewinsky, Bogg Bag founder Kim Vaccarella, Guggenheim Partners Chief Investment Officer Ann Walsh, among many others. The celebration served as both a milestone and a movement — proof that women are leading the way in every field, and that success doesn’t have an expiration date. “Five years ago, when we launched this list, it started as a really simple, powerful idea,” said Brzezinski, founder of Know Your Value. “That women’s stories don’t just stop at 50. Ambition, the search for innovation, the search for happiness, for family, to have an impact — it doesn’t have an expiration date.” Brzezinski reflected on how her “50 Over 50 “initiative has shifted the cultural conversation around aging. “There is not a tight window of time where you have to fit everything in before the clock runs out,” she said. “The ‘50 Over 50’ movement shows that you don’t need to have it all figured out by the time you’re 30. Hell no, you don’t.” That message — that life can expand, not contract, with age — resonated deeply in the room. “Mistakes are building blocks,” Brzezinski said. “Life does not move in one direction or on anyone else’s schedule. Time is not a trap. It’s not a deadline. It’s a canvas for your greatest designs that are still yet to come.” A highlight of the afternoon was Brzezinski’s conversation with Huma Abedin, vice chair of the 30/50 Summit, and Maria Shriver, the face of this year’s “50 Over 50” Impact list. At 69, the journalist, author and brain health warrior brought both wisdom and urgency to the stage, reflecting on her lifelong advocacy for women’s health — and her mission to challenge cultural narratives around aging. “I’m so honored to be in the company of such extraordinary women,” Shriver said. “It’s so inspiring, and I’m so in awe of what everybody’s doing.” Shriver has long used her platform to spotlight issues often overlooked in women’s health — particularly in brain research. Her work involving the discovery that women are at a higher risk for Alzheimer’s, prompting her to open the Cleveland Clinic’s Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement Prevention Center. Shriver spoke candidly about the importance of reframing how women think about their bodies and their worth. “I want women to know that they’re in the driver’s seat when it comes to their health,” she said. “I’m very pro-aging, because I’m doing it in real time — and the alternative, I’m not down for. We should be proud of our age, proud that we’re cooking on all cylinders, and be unapologetic about it.” Her goal, she explained, is to change how women relate to aging — to see it as a time of expansion, not decline. “My 60s were beyond my imagination,” she said. “I wish somebody had told me that.” Shriver also emphasized the need for systems — from healthcare to workplace culture — that truly value women’s lived experience. “Women’s health has been under-researched, underfunded, and undervalued for too long,” she said. “We need to look at women’s health as a whole. You can’t talk about brain health without talking about heart health, hormone health, or mental health. It’s all connected.” During the event, Abedin also shared her own reflections on turning 50 — and on stepping fully into her power. “I was agnostic when I turned 20, I was ambivalent when I turned 30, I had some complicated feelings when I turned 40 — and 50? Spectacular,” she said. “I am confident and resilient and strong and successful and all of those things. It was OK to want more — and I want more, and I will have more.” That spirit of sisterhood — women celebrating one another, lifting each other, and redefining what’s possible — was the thread running through the event. Brzezinski also reflected on how much has changed since Know Your Value and Forbes launched its inaugural list in 2021 — and how much more work there is to do. “This room — this energy — is what happens when women own their stories and keep writing new ones,” Brzezinski said. “At 50, 60, 70, 80 and beyond, you are proving that the best is not behind us. It’s right now — and it’s still ahead.”
