A veteran journalist on the inherent power of age
What surprised Sheila Solomon about turning 72? “Not feeling it,” says the award-winning journalist, from her home in Chicago.
Through her work and her life, Solomon is redefining aging. She pursues that mission as the host of Aging Rewired, a podcast from AARP’s Senior Planet. The podcast features older adults who use technology to challenge expectations. Solomon wants people to know that no matter your age, “the sky is still the limit.”
Growing up, Solomon fed her natural curiosity by reading every book she could get her hands on. She says she always knew her life would revolve around reading and writing.
A self-described curious, independent, and stubborn person, those qualities served Solomon well in navigating newsrooms as a young Black woman in the 1970s. Through the years, she regularly watched talented colleagues leave newsrooms after being passed over in favor of white journalists. Nevertheless, Solomon remained determined, but it wasn’t just her nature that kept her in the room.
“Why would you think that I couldn’t?”
At age 35, Solomon was diagnosed with a rare, incurable, and potentially fatal illness. She had been divorced the year before and moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, with her young son. Luckily, symptom management worked, allowing her to return to her career.
Work gave Solomon something else to focus on besides her illness. She started to earn promotions. Still, she couldn’t shake the memory of her colleagues who left journalism behind.
“It’s always better to be on the inside than the outside,” Solomon says. “Sometimes if you stay in the place where you’re hurting, not only does it help you change, it helps them change, too.”
Eventually, an opportunity arose; the media outlet where Solomon worked sought a diversified staff and asked her to interview candidates. Thus began her accidental, but rewarding, recruiting career.
Years later, in 2002, Solomon moved to Chicago, where she took on the role of staff development editor at the Chicago Tribune. It was the largest newsroom she’d ever worked in, with hundreds of journalists. She had a major opportunity to increase diversity and improve the minority staff experience.
Solomon left the paper more than a decade later, and she now works as a podcaster and strategic alliances manager at podcast production company Rivet360. The ripple effects of her decisions have evolved newsrooms nationwide.
Today, Solomon relishes the freedom of being 72. She says she expected to have slowed down by now, but since her last illness-related surgery, she is pain-free for the first time in decades. She finally enjoys moving through the world. Why stop now?
Solomon can now work as much as she pleases, though she feels compelled to prove the stereotypes of aging wrong. When others doubt her ability to work, she responds: “Why would you think that I couldn’t?”
To hear Solomon’s work, check out the Aging Rewired podcast, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or seniorplanet.org/podcast.
