"Why Getting Older Needs More Heroes" - Matt Hirst

Imagine a world where how old you are didn’t instantly come with a judgment, and where society wasn’t infatuated with being young. Matt Hirst is working to make this dream a reality. He’s challenging the traditional ideas of retirement, aging and what being an “older person” means or what they are capable of, by looking for heroes in the over-50 set. Finding these heroes could be key to solving the problems with aging and transforming what life is like when you’re no longer “young.” Hirst explains that finding a solution is vital not just for how we all experience later life, but with humans set to live longer and longer lives, there's a significant opportunity to transform how society works as a whole. Matt Hirst is a marketing expert, researcher, writer, and venture investor. He is the co-founder of AGEIST, a media platform and research consultancy dedicated to reinventing lifestyles for the over 50s. He is also a Partner at West, a Brand Studio and Venture Fund that specializes in the end-to-end process of designing, building, launching and investing in purpose-driven brands. Matt has spent his career at the intersection of business and culture. He spent nearly a decade at Red Bull in London and Los Angeles where he created and ran some of the brand's most iconic projects in sports and music. He also spent time as Google’s Global Head of Brand Experience. Matt’s work as a researcher and writer has been featured in the Financial Times, The Guardian and The Economist.