Chip Conley, 65, only watched a few episodes of the sitcom, “The Golden Girls.” But Mr. Conley, who co-founded Modern Elder Academy (M.E.A.), which offers retreats and courses that encourage embracing midlife and beyond, never forgot the lifestyle it depicted: four 50-plus women living together in a Miami home, for better or for worse.
Sure, the women had their squabbles, but they supported each other. “What I appreciated about it was the independent living,” said Mr. Conley, the author of “Learning to Love Midlife,” “Wisdom at Work,” and others. “It showed women as having agency with camaraderie and a certain sauciness.”
Now Mr. Conley wants to make the kind of companionable co-living depicted on that show mainstream, with shared rental homes for his school’s acolytes.
Mr. Conley started the Modern Elder Academy with Jeff Hamaoui and Christine Sperber in 2018, with a mission “to reframe aging” by envisioning it as a time for personal transformation. Today, it offers days-long workshops on topics such as “Cultivating Purpose” and “Navigating Transitions” online and during stays at its two spalike campuses in Baja California, Mexico, and Santa Fe, N.M.
M.E.A.’s definition of “elder” is expansive. Generally, the founders consider it to be the second half of life, or the 50s, 70s and beyond. Since M.EA.’s founding, more than 7,500 people have taken its seminars.
