Mika Brzezinski Shares Biggest Misconceptions About Working Women Over 50: ’60 Is the New 40′

Morning Joe’s Mika Brzezinski opened up about “breaking misconceptions” of women who are over the age of 50.

“I think of the concept of 60 when I was 30, and the concept of 60 now,” Mika, 57, told Politico in an interview published on Friday, October 25. “I would say 60 is the new 40. Now we are seen and accepted and pulled upon as wise and capable.”

“We are leading. We are making money. We are spending money. We are at our wisest. And we have, at this time in our lives, the least amount of f–ks,” she added. “That makes us much more valuable than at 50, 40, at 30 and 20. Everything is coming into place for us so that we can use the attitudes, the wisdom and the experience that we bring to the table to be effective for ourselves and for our fellow women. And we’re doing it.”

Currently, the broadcaster is leading the Know Your Value movement, bringing women from around the world together to help them recognize their value in the workplace and beyond.

In the past, Mika explained that she learned her value when her now-husband, Joe Scarborough, asked her to be a part of Morning Joe.

“Joe talked me into doing this show that became Morning Joe, and we ran around the country, booking politicians and thought-leaders to create an incredible product out of nothing with zero budget,” she told Tuck in May 2015. “About a year into it, we both got deals. I’d be in the car with Joe and I’d hear him talk to our boss, dropping F-bombs all over the place. ‘I’ve got to get the money I deserve,’ he said, but I told him I was worried they would be mad at him for talking like that.”

“Six months later, we compared deals and Joe was making 14 times more than me. He did a great job standing up for himself while I was cringing,” Mika revealed. “I didn’t understand that there was a version of that I should’ve been doing for myself. Instead, I was just saying, ‘A contract? Thank you!’ Even at 40 I had done this time and time again. Every contract I got, I just thanked them and never asked for more.”

Mika said that, eventually, she had a chat with her boss and “he fixed things” after an “authentic, real, tough, powerful conversation that led to the change.”

“It’s all about business — it’s MSNBC’s business to get a good deal for them, but it’s my business to get a great deal for myself,” she said.

Mika and Joe, 61, got married in 2018. She was previously married to Jim Hoffer from 1993 to 2016, and they share daughters Emilie and Carlie Hoffer. As part of Know Your Value’s “50 Over 50” celebration this month, Mika sat down with Brooke Shields, who started the hair company Commence for women over 40.

“I was so shocked by how universal this feeling was. Your children start to leave, you’re over 40, and all of a sudden you’ve got one foot in the grave, and people are counting you out, and they’re not telling you or appreciating your value,” Brooke, who shares kids Rowan and Grier Henchy with husband Chris Henchy, said.

“I started to really get to know these women, they wanted to go into this age, this next third of their life I call it with power and agency and belief in their individual selves and their differences and be proud of them. So [in addition to a need], there was an emotional reason why I started the company.”