Heather Hurlock, 49: Staying True

We know we’re living longer, but how can we live longer well? As the founding editor of Super Age’s new flagship newsletter, The Mindset, Heather Hurlock is excited by this question and the opportunity it presents to shift the paradigm around what it means to age while cultivating an intergenerational community to share the wisdom that comes with living. In a media landscape that tends to prize hyperbole, nonsense, and grifting, Heather’s approach is one of the secrets to the new newsletter’s astonishing growth. Guided by her former, rigorous training and experience at Rodale, an American publisher of health and wellness magazines, books, and digital properties, she approaches her work in media with deep care and due diligence to share accurate information and empower readers with compassion. 

At the end of the day, we all just need reminders of the basic stuff, the intuitive wisdom we have but the noise often talks over. How this knowledge is shared, though, is the key to connecting with others and building a community that feels empowered to act, rather than scared into action. This mission is one Heather has pursued throughout her expansive career and strives to uphold in her work and life daily. From her work at Super Age to her own self-care practices that feed her mind, body, and soul, Heather embodies what it means to live authentically and wholeheartedly, as a conscientious creator and motivator.

Why rural Pennsylvania?
My husband and I both really appreciate being near the people who grow our food. We know our farmers, and there’s also something really special about how my kids go to the school that my husband went to. There are teachers there who know his mom and his siblings, and I didn’t have that growing up. We’re very much embedded in the community and that’s important.

You’ve had a long career in publishing and journalism. What initially drew you to that space?
I love storytelling and research. I initially thought that I would use those skills more in an academic setting, [but] I got a little disillusioned with the career track that I was on. At the time, I was studying to be an anthropologist and thought I would work for a nonprofit. [But] I got caught up in the idea of the colonial lens: going somewhere else I don’t know a whole lot about, writing reports, suggesting changes, or in any way kind of using my privilege to assume that I may know what other people need.

I started working for a man whose son was doing anthropological work in the Dominican Republic, researching human trafficking. In a strange twist, the son was imprisoned because he sold a boat without transferring a title. His father was trying to understand the political lay of the land, so I was helping him research the area and the history of human trafficking. We started turning it into a book—meanwhile, trying to get his son out of prison, and we did end up getting him out—but through that work, I realized I really enjoyed journalism and investigative reporting.

I was living in Pennsylvania at the time and Rodale Press was an independent publishing company near us [with] an agricultural leaning. They had an experimental farm and were one of the first places that practiced organic farming and did research around how conventional farming depletes nutrients from the soil. I started working for them as a researcher, quickly became research director, and then the health editor for one of their national publications.

What led you to focus on wellness publishing?
I’ve always been interested in how we can take responsibility for our own care. I think that comes probably from my mom and my grandmother, who had their own ways of treating colds and that kind of thing. That started my quest for understanding what’s real and what’s science-backed and is there any legitimacy behind those old remedies. Once I started getting into that world, I had a lot of fun with that. Getting to talk to researchers who were looking into health and nutrition science and unpacking it for people fed this need for me to get to the truth of the matter, which I love to do, and also provide some service for people, because I think there’s so much misinformation out there.

And once I had kids—I mean, that just changes everything about how you feel about how you’re caring for their health and well-being. Being part of the Rodale family of publications was a really incredible experience because of the way they handled health reporting at that time. They had a research library on the campus, librarians we were able to have access to. All of the top experts in the field would come and do talks. It was a very rigorous way of doing health reporting that I haven’t seen anywhere else. I was very lucky to be in that world at that time.

Over the last two decades, have you seen any shifts in wellness publishing and the subject matter that particularly excites you?
I’m really intrigued by the longevity space right now, which is why I feel so lucky to be where I am right now. Just the potential for personalized medicine, even the computing power and AI and how we may be able to diagnose things that may have been misdiagnosed in the past. I think, even with all of these advances, some of the same things are true, though. Even after all these years, it really comes down to: get good sleep, eat good food, nurture strong friendships, have a little practice that helps you with your stress, and move your body. I call what I do service journalism because we all need reminders of the basic stuff, and we need new ways to be reminded that don’t feel patronizing or like work. I get a lot of enjoyment out of just reminding people to drink some water in the morning.

There’s a real overlap between what I was working on at Mindful magazine, in the mindfulness space, increasing your capacity emotionally, mentally, with the work I was doing at Rodale on how to increase your capacity physically. I think what’s happening right now in the health and wellness space for older adults is really fascinating. We know we’re living longer, but how can we live longer well? There’s some incredible research showing just what our bodies are capable of as we age.

Tell us about Super Age and your current role as the founding editor of the new flagship newsletter, The Mindset.
After my last job, I was starting my own nonprofit publishing company because, for one, I think that media does have a role to play in helping heal our communities, creating communities of care. The way that we have to do that, as media organizations, is to unhook from the fear-based, journalistic model that our entire media establishment is built on, which uses fear to drive clicks and drive revenue and has gotten us into a world of mess. The idea I was founding my nonprofit on was to create a media company that uses compassionate motivation—gratitude, curiosity, awe—and to help people understand how it feels to be motivated by those things. As I was researching those kinds of concepts and media, I stumbled across an organization called Optimism, and the first thing that came up was “Building a Brighter Web,” which was very intriguing. I noticed they had a position available for an editor at the time for this new publication called Super Age. I did a little digging around and discovered everything [AGEIST and Super Age founder] David’s been building and started having conversations around what they were looking for and found a lot of overlap with what I was trying to build. 

So I joined the team, and now we’re digging into how people can use their minds, their mindset, to shift their behaviors and increase their capacity—their physical shape and well-being, their mental capacity, and their creativity. Really kind of pushing into the edge of what’s possible for human beings without putting pressure on people to be perfect. This is the compassion piece. Not to be superheroes or never be satisfied with where we are, who we are, but really get very clear on what lights us up, that kind of inner spark, and recognizing that, and using that information to inform our well-being as we age. What’s exciting about Super Age is that we’re finally providing a platform that taps into people’s collective wisdom as they age. There’s a kind of a newfound excitement for the wisdom of aging. We’ve been in this kind of paradigm of age erasing for so long, but what it has done is diminish the value that people—and I want to say, especially women—have and bring during the latter half of their lives. I think that we’re really trying to shift the idea that aging is a march to the end or a wind down. It’s such a rich time! A process of renewal.

One of my goals is to connect a multi-generational community together around this concept of the wisdom of aging because whether you’re in your 20s or you’re in your 70s, you’re aging—because aging is living. So, what does that mean on a continuum? How can we have cross-generational conversations that help the wisdom that does come with age filter down to people who are looking for their roadmap to ageing well? We’re hearing from people, some who are in their 70s, who are like, “This is me! I’m 70 years old, and I ski regularly,” or “I just hiked the Grand Canyon” to 30-year-old men and women who are saying, “I want to make sure that I can hike the Grand Canyon when I’m in my 70s. What do I do now?”

It’s a huge responsibility any time you’re serving content to people around their health and their well-being, their mental health and mindset. We’re taking that very seriously. I have it in the back of my mind, the kind of rigor of Rodale, and how do we deliver all of this information in a way that serves the very wide audience that we’re pulling in and does so responsibly? Part of what we’re doing right now is building our team of advisors; we’re having lots of meetings with different people in the space, trying to call in the folks who we trust and we know we’ll be relying on over the next months and years to help us create this kind of roadmap for people. And when we have questions come in that we don’t know the answers to (or there aren’t answers to yet!) to be very clear about that. We’re already at over 50,000 subscribers in just over six weeks. There’s definitely a large opportunity for this platform. People want to find something that cuts through the noise.

I’m a very cerebral person. I’m also compassion-forward and a little geeky, wonky, academic-forward. And David is always reminding me, “It’s got to be cool. We got to make it cool.” So I feel like we’re a great balance in that way, because he’s got so much energy. He’s tapped in, and he has talked to so many people—he’s been in this particular space for so long—and is helping make sure that we’re not getting too mired down in the research, which I tend to do sometimes, but keeping it approachable and fun and cool.

What does “super aging” mean to you?
It’s living boldly, your most authentic life in a way that calls the people and the experiences to you that help you live your best life. I think it’s grounding in gratitude while acknowledging that you’re capable of a whole lot more than you think you are, and recognizing when you have self-limiting beliefs that may keep you from leaning into things that are meant for you.

Do you feel like you approach your work, and life in general, from a different place than, say, 20 years ago?
Oh my goodness, yes! You know, when I was interviewing for this position [at Super Age], they asked me, What’s one of your weaknesses? I said: earnestness. And they were like, Well, that seems to be a positive. But I think it’s something that can cause me to have some blinders on or some tunnel vision. If I look back at my life, I was always very determined and trying my best to seek out truth—if there is such a thing. I mean, there is! But I credit my mindfulness practice—actually, my meditation practice—in helping me expand my rigid thinking and my rigid way of being in the world. That alone has allowed for a little more grace and a little more equanimity through all the things that life throws at me.

I’m a mom of teenagers. We’re living in this world that’s more and more complex by the day. I think what’s changed for me the most is my ability to not cling so hard to my perspective as being right. As a journalist, you are trying to get to the truth in order to make sure that what you’re writing about and what you’re sharing with people is reliable. So, it’s such an important part of the journey of the writer and the journalist—that kind of seeking of truth. Unhooking from that need in my personal life has been freeing and really helpful.

You mentioned your meditation practice. If you don’t mind sharing, when did you start and what inspired your practice?
I guess now it would be about 16 years ago. I started when I had my first baby girl. I think most parents are confronted with things about themselves that they didn’t even know were there, when you first have kids. For me, I remember feeling [this] upwelling of just frustration and even kind of embarrassment, you know, when my child was acting in a way that I was like, Oh my gosh, here we go again. I had never considered myself short-tempered or any of those things, and I really wanted to find a way to make sure that I wasn’t putting that on my baby. So I dove into some research, and I found a book about mindfulness for parents, and it helped so much.

I started with some focused meditation practices, just connecting with my breath and feeling my body in the moment, creating a little space for myself to allow big emotions to rise and pass, and that was just incredibly helpful for me and my kids. And now my husband is also a meditator. My kids aren’t yet, but, you know, we’ll see. You know, life is hard. It gets harder. I lost both of my parents and those were some of the most difficult years of my life, caring for them toward the end. My kids need me more and more. You know, I feel like as teenagers, you think that maybe they’re going to not need you as much, but I can tell they need me even more right now to be a solid presence for them. [Meditating] has been the most helpful thing that I’ve ever done.

Along with your meditation practice, do you have other mindfulness practices that you reach for?
I have a regular yoga practice. I have a Pilates practice. I swim—swimming is kind of like a meditation practice for me. And I—I guess you’d call it forest bathing. I have a spot that I go to once a week, and it’s just this gorgeous spot by a lake. It really helps me reset for the week. I usually do it on Sunday. The kids call it “mom’s church.” It’s essential time. When I first started going and doing that, I [didn’t go] for very long. After a little while, I could feel the kind of pull of, Oh, I have something to do. I have all these things that need to get done, I should finish up. And so, for a while, my entire practice was just feeling what it feels like when I’m trying to rush myself and letting that be true without acting on it. Now, I just go once a week with whatever I have with me at that time and sit with it, and it’s really helpful.

You mentioned one daughter. How many kids do you have?
I have two daughters. I have a 16 year-old and a 13 year-old.

As the mother of two women and given your career background, what would you tell other women who are entering positions of power in their career? Any advice on how to lead?
Find and lift up other powerful women. Those around you or who inspire you. Connect with them, reach out to them. I think there is an amazing movement right now of women supporting women that we all need to contribute to and keep going so that our daughters see it and become a part of it.

Can you tell us how music has and continues to play a role in your life?
I think one of the threads throughout my life and career has been trying to connect people, connect with people, whether it’s through journalism or music. Music has been one of the most brilliant ways that shows up in my life. The music community that I’m a part of in Philadelphia is incredible. We play original songs; we’re not a cover band. So these are people who [show up and] are taking their time to come out and hear original music and support the arts—it’s an incredible moment of reciprocity.

Songwriting itself is something I just do, even in times when I’m not playing in a band or playing out. I have a songwriting group that will trade songs, listen to each other’s songs. Sometimes there’s a prompt that we’re writing to, that kind of thing. For me, it’s about community. I feel really lucky to be able to be a part of the community that I’m part of and to play music for the people I get to play music for.

How do your daughters feel about your music playing?
Oh, they love it. Right now, I generally play at benefits and things like that, and we have just, again, an amazing community of people who lift up events like that. The one we just played is called the Red Corner Benefit. This family moved to Pennsylvania from California, and they were part of the Bridge School program out there, and their goal was to start a benefit concert in Pennsylvania in that vein. And so they did. I want to say it’s almost 15 years ago now. They put on this benefit/show and all of the proceeds go to one family whose child is dealing with pediatric cancer.

It started out and was, like, 70 people in a tent. Now it’s 4,000 people in multiple stages and hundreds of volunteers, and they raise thousands and thousands of dollars for a different family every year. The child is usually there, and they bring them up on stage, and there’s tons of kids there. And my kids got up and sang with me at the last one. It really—it’s one of the most beautiful events because it brings our community together. You know, I live in rural Pennsylvania. We have a mixture of the American community here. It’s a melting pot of people, even though it’s rural. We’re not that far from Philadelphia and Reading and Pottstown, and so we just have all sorts of different people with different perspectives out this way, and it can get a little contentious at times. And it’s moments like that [at the benefit concert] where everyone is in one spot, it doesn’t matter who you are. We’re all there for an incredible reason, and it’s pretty beautiful.

Outside of your own musical career, what are you listening to these days?
I love my local music scene, so I listen to a lot of local musicians. There’s this one woman, Carsie Blanton, who I absolutely love. There’s another band called Hezekiah Jones who I really love. They’re kind of like noir-folk.

Favorite song? (Tough question, we know.)
Carsie’s song After the Revolution is one of my favorites right now.

What are your three nonnegotiables in life?
Three things I need in my life: I need coffee. (I have one cup every morning. It’s part of my morning ritual that includes yoga and meditation.) I need my silent time at the lake. I need my time in nature (and I should caveat that there also needs to be water nearby). I need my family time for sure.

Editor’s Note: Some answers have been condensed and edited for clarity and length.

Connect With Heather: Instagram (@heatherhurlock)

Sign up for Super Age’s newsletter: The Mindset