Cindy Joseph: Mid-Life Model and Entrepreneur

Occasionally we post about women who have come before us who helped make frank conversations about women’s sexuality possible. Certainly, the way we feel about ourselves affects intimacy. That’s why we want to express appreciation for Cindy Joseph, a model and entrepreneur who redefined beauty in midlife by being an advocate for aging authentically.

In her obituary, the New York Times called her “a model who embraced her age” but before she was discovered on a New York city street by a casting agent at the age of 49, she was a professional makeup artist. She worked with super-models including Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell.

“It was difficult to spend days with these girls and feel good about myself,” she said. “I knew deep down, however, that there was more to attractiveness than shiny hair and big eyes.” Over time, she noticed that “surface beauty was fleeting” and the models were the most beautiful when they were truly enjoying their lives. After that, she was no longer intimidated by what she calls “their package.”

She modeled into her sixties for clients like Elizabeth Arden and Ann Taylor. In 2011, inspired by the realization that every cosmetics company was anti-age, she started Boom! Based on Joseph’s belief that women can look beautiful without looking younger, Boom! offers sheer cosmetics with the goal of burnishing a woman’s features rather than masking them.  

“Aging is really just another word for living,” she wrote. “The concept that aging is becoming less in some way is really the antithesis of what happens. One becomes more and more as life continues. I am always and forever in the ‘prime of my life.’”