Boomers Revolt

Episode 3: She Made Her First Film At 65

Featuring Melissa Davey
  • Melissa Davey: Leaving a 22-year corporate vice president role at age 65 to become an award-winning documentary filmmaker ("Beyond 60", "Climbing Into Life")

"Perspective is not a feeling. It's a distance. The space between where you are standing and what you are looking at." — Cheryl Becir

Summary
What happens when you spend 22 years in a corner office with mahogany furniture, only to realize you are walking around saying, "I don’t want to die at my desk"? At age 65, Melissa Davey took a sudden detour on a dirt road, pressed a red button on a stranger's website, and completely threw out the script. Today, at 76, she is making her third documentary film. In this episode, we investigate the invisible contract an entire generation signed without looking—and how curiosity is simply a decision to stop the car.
Key Takeaways

  • The Desktop List: Carrying your childhood dreams around like heavy furniture rather than actionable job options.
  • Three Detours, One Afternoon: How skipping a repetitive day at work led to an accidental meeting behind the lens with filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan.
  • The Gut-Check Moment: Processing the ultimate five-second catalyst: "You better hurry up."
  • Reinvention Without Permission: Overcoming familial skepticism to build a brand new creative identity after 60.
Episode Guide & Timestamps

  • [00:01:00] – Defining perspective: The physical distance between identity and career.
  • [00:02:30] – The reality of the C-suite glass ceiling and the lifestyle cost.
  • [00:05:45] – The internal reckoning: Making the list of things left undone.
  • [00:09:15] – The dirt road detour: Spotting M. Night Shyamalan’s micro-budget set.
  • [00:11:45] – Winning the Charity Buzz auction and stepping behind the camera.
  • [00:16:30] – Giving a one-year notice to pursue the acclaimed documentary, Beyond 60.
  • [00:24:20] – Navigating Instagram to find her second film subject, ultra-climber Deirdre Wolownick.
  • [00:29:45] – The final challenge: Reclaiming your voice when the culture demands you disappear.
Resources & Links

  • Watch the Documentary: Beyond 60, Climbing Into Life
  • Connect with the Guest: Follow Melissa's upcoming work at Melissa Davey Filmmaker Portfolio
  • Featured Entity: Learn about the regional impact of the Women's Center of Montgomery County
About your host - meet Cheryl Becir: theboomersrevolt.ca

She is 69. Curious as hell and not done yet.
After decades leading Not-for-profit organizations - challenging systems, and driving meaningful change, Cheryl “retired”… and lasted about five minutes. Now? She’s asking even better questions. With sharp insight, lived experience, and a refusal to play small, Cheryl creates space for conversations that are honest, layered, and deeply human.

This isn’t a retirement project.  This is the next chapter, on her own terms.

What is Boomers Revolt?

This isn’t nostalgia.

This is a reset.

Boomers Revolt is where reinvention gets real in conversations with people who refuse to age quietly, shrink politely, or disappear gracefully. Because here’s the truth no one’s saying out loud: getting older isn’t the end of the story… it’s the plot twist.

Hosted by Cheryl Becir, this series dives into bold, lived experiences at the intersection of identity, relevance, visibility, and unfinished becoming. It’s about chasing what actually matters and finally being honest about what that is.

Each episode taps into a cultural pulse point inspired by iconic songs that help us explore the emotional undercurrent of what it means to: start over (again), question everything (again), and show up fully… with zero apologies. Boomers Revolt digs into real stories of rebellion, reinvention, resilience and talks about what it actually means to grow older in a world obsessed with staying young. Boomers Revolt isn’t about slowing down, it is about knowing exactly when to turn it up.
Reinvention is the new rebellion.

About your host - meet Cheryl Becir:

She is 69. Curious as hell and not done yet.

After decades leading Not-for-profit organizations - challenging systems, and driving meaningful change, Cheryl “retired”… and lasted about five minutes. Now? She’s asking even better questions. With sharp insight, lived experience, and a refusal to play small, Cheryl creates space for conversations that are honest, layered, and deeply human.

This isn’t a retirement project. This is the next chapter, on her own terms.
Website:https://theboomersrevolt.ca
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theboomersrevolt
Email: theboomersrevolt@gmail.com