Build Your Own Boat

Can art change how society sees older adults? Meg LaPorte, co-founder of Art Against Ageism, built a nonprofit that uses public art, interactive installations, and creative activism to combat damaging stereotypes about aging — and she launched it in her 50s, during a global pandemic. In this episode of Build Your Own Boat, Meg shares how nearly three decades in aging services journalism and communications gave her the expertise, network, and insight to spot a gap no one else was filling. She and co-founder Jordan Evans — her former student, 30 years her junior — are living proof of the very thing their organization advocates: that intergenerational connection is one of the most powerful forces for dismantling ageism. This episode is essential listening for any mission-driven woman who has wondered whether her experience is enough to build something new — and whether it's too late to start.

Meg LaPorte is the co-founder and president of Art Against Ageism, a nonprofit that uses art and creative activism to challenge harmful stereotypes about older adults and advance positive age beliefs. With nearly 26 years in the aging services field, Meg spent nine years as managing editor of Provider Magazine, one of the leading publications covering long-term and post-acute care. She holds a master's degree in aging services, has taught undergraduate courses on art and ageism, and has worked with organizations including the Greenhouse Project. In 2021, she and co-founder Jordan Evans launched Art Against Ageism, which has since produced large-scale public art installations, the Aging is Living interactive tree project, the Own Your Age photo booth, and a widely shared social media campaign called "Rewrite the Ageist Headline." Meg brings rare depth of expertise — and hard-won resilience — to the intersection of aging, art, and advocacy.

Art Against Ageism is a nonprofit organization that uses public art, interactive installations, and creative activism to challenge damaging stereotypes about older adults. Its projects have included large-scale wheat-pasted portrait installations on nursing home exteriors, the Aging is Living interactive tree installation, the Own Your Age photo booth, and the viral "Rewrite the Ageist Headline" social media campaign. The organization brings art into aging services communities and public spaces to spark conversation, shift perceptions, and make the humanity of older adults visible.

Co-founder Meg LaPorte developed the concept while teaching an undergraduate course on art and ageism in 2018. Her former student Jordan Evans became her co-founder, and the two formally launched Art Against Ageism in 2021, partly in response to the ageism laid bare during the COVID-19 pandemic — including a social media hashtag referencing the deaths of older adults as a desirable outcome.

Yes. Building a nonprofit from scratch requires identifying a market gap, developing a unique value proposition, securing funding, managing operations, building partnerships, and marketing a mission to multiple audiences simultaneously. Meg LaPorte's story is a clear example of nonprofit founding as a fully entrepreneurial act — one that draws on every professional skill she developed over nearly three decades.

Research supports it. Studies have found that entrepreneurs over 50 — and particularly those over 55 — have significantly higher success rates than younger founders. The reasons include deeper domain expertise, broader professional networks, stronger pattern recognition, and better judgment about risk. Meg LaPorte and host Janine Vanderburg both cite this research as a direct antidote to internalized ageism about "starting too late."

Art Against Ageism is funded through a combination of grants (both restricted and unrestricted), individual donations, and earned revenue — primarily through its Own Your Age photo booth, which organizations hire for events and conferences. Meg actively pursues new grant opportunities and is exploring additional earned revenue streams to sustain the organization's growth.

The Own Your Age photo booth is an interactive art installation that Art Against Ageism brings to conferences, events, and aging services communities. It invites participants to creatively "own" their ages — reframing aging as something to claim proudly rather than conceal — while generating conversation and community around positive age beliefs.

Find Meg LaPorte and Art Against Ageism

Build Your Own Boat is a podcast series hosted by Janine Vanderburg — award-winning three-time entrepreneur and anti-ageism advocate — featuring women who have launched new entrepreneurial ventures in midlife and beyond. The series is part of a larger storytelling project that includes a Substack publication and a forthcoming book, all built around one goal: changing the narrative about who entrepreneurs are and making women in midlife and beyond visible as builders of wealth, freedom, and possibility.