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Sarah Jane Adams unwittingly made her way into the limelight and is using her iconic status to full effect to promote discernment, wellbeing and empowerment in women.n. She was recently one of 26 women – including celebrities such as ABC Chair Ita Buttrose, radio host Chrissie Swan, comedian Tanya Hennessy and chef Poh Ling Yeow, plus charity workers and one of Priceline’s own pharmacists – to be attired in a black suit from Effie Kats and to showcase their makeup and hair at the Priceline Beauty Runway during the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival. For all the women present, on and off the catwalk, regardless of age, weight or wrinkles, the ‘Beauty Runway for the Sisterhood’, with its soundtrack including Lizzo and Destiny’s Child, brought feelings of being celebrated, valuable and special. This was the objective of Priceline Pharmacy after finding through its own research that only 12 per cent of women over 40 feel accurately represented in society, and that 75 per cent of them feel they are treated differently to women in their 20s and 30s. And who better than Sarah Jane Adams to assist in generating buoyancy, self love, self worth and self empowerment among women? This is because, the antique jewellery dealer by trade, gemmologist, diamond grader, author and unashamed owner of wrinkles, has, by her own account, always trusted her instincts, forged her own path on her own terms, valued and loved herself, and stubbornly refused to be manipulated by anyone in her quest to live authentically. Her rise to fame began when a visitor to her home made a “smartass comment” about the old vintage-style collegiate jacket she was wearing, which prompted Ms Adams to ask her husband to take a photograph of her scowling outside, against a wall. Her daughter posted the photo of her online using hashtags such as #mymumiscoolerthanme #advancedstyle. ‘Advanced style’ refers to blogger and documentarian Ari Seth Cohen’s wildly popular Advanced Style blog, book and documentary of the same name, which capture the style of older women. “He single-handedly is the person who is responsible for changing people’s consciousness about older people,” Ms Adams said. She recounts how Mr Cohen emailed to inform her that he needed to reshoot the photo. The synergy was there as Mr Cohen was in Sydney and able to meet up with Ms Adams for the shoot. “He put the photo on his blog and my Instagram followers increased from 300 to 3000,” she said. Now the 64-year-old has two Instagram profiles: a personal account, @mywrinklesaremystripes, and one for her jewellery and other business, @saramaijewels, with more than 187,000 followers. Ms Adams says she was surprised at the enthusiasm with which she was received, with women revelling in her non- conformist attitude and ability to be totally true to herself and her unique style. Thereafter, posts of herself in her quirky and distinctive outfits elicited even more interest. “I’ve had an incredible life, and in a way this is why this has happened to me – because I really don’t care what people think of me,” she said. “I’ve always developed my persona and learnt the lessons to find out who I am and what’s important in life. “What’s important to me is that women can approach their older years with respect, grace, good health and freedom, and without a huge encumbrance of stuff, erroneous concepts and comparisons with others that make for toxic living and no leeway to live life to the full. “The manipulation that’s going on in the Western world is crazily absurd. Women are made to feel like they’re never good enough, whether it’s their face, body, skin, behaviour or work – whatever they’re doing is never good enough.” According to marketing and concepts of the day, she says, the way to overcome this is for women to spend a lot of money “on all sorts of things they don’t really need, which is ludicrous”. Ms Adams regards with scorn the “big brands” and “big companies” that created the term ‘anti-ageing’. “This is the most ridiculous term because we age from the day we’re born,” she said. “It’s the natural progression of life. To be frightened and to not embrace this process means an unwillingness to embrace life and thereby to live life in a state of terrible insecurity. “Whoever invented this obscene term is a very clever person. It would’ve been a man, I’m sure.” Another protest point for Ms Adams is the current focus on older women BODY & SOUL 57 remaining ‘sexy’. “I don’t have time for some artificial construct to be imposed on me,” she said. “I’m too busy developing and enjoying myself and loving life for that.” In view of such pernicious concepts, the women who follow her, often in the younger age range, appreciate being “shown there’s another way”, Ms Adams says. This other way is all about women knowing there’s “nothing wrong with them”, she says, and therefore not being susceptible to any form of manipulation that attempts to tell them otherwise – and having the confidence to listen to themselves and live out their own style and values in a fun, easy, natural and self confident way. To live this way includes getting adequate sleep and following a vegetarian diet of organic and pure food as “we become what we eat”, as well as getting plenty of exercise through yoga and walking. “The body’s a vehicle and it’s really important in my opinion to maintain that vehicle as best you can, because basically you’re the only person who’s responsible for your body, and for how it is and how it functions,” Ms Adams said. “During menopause, the body does do weird stuff, and I’d say that how a woman responds to this can affect her experience in later years.” Ms Adams’ cleansing regime is simple and based on exfoliating “like mad” and using products, such as A’kin or natural white soap, that are organic and cruelty free. She also moisturises “like mad” with rosehip oil. “I lather it on and always have masses of oil on my skin,” she said. Another reveal is that she has only recently discovered face masks, which she says are an “amazing pick-me-up” because, as a person gets older, their “skin becomes dehydrated and tight”. “I also get irritated because my eyebrows are going grey and straggly, so I bleach them,” she said. “I’m very weird about symmetry. For me it’s just about simplicity.” Asked what advice she feels pharmacy assistants should offer those looking for cleansing and makeup tips in a pharmacy, Ms Adams suggests they inquire as to what the customer’s objectives are. “Not ‘what’s wrong with you?’ but ‘what outcome would you like?’” she said, “and from there to look at various options.” RETAIL PHARMACY ASSISTANTS • MAY 2020