The eighth Marie Claire Power Trip returns to Cape Sounio, on the southern tip of Attica, on Friday 9 October. International personalities, scientists and creatives will share the stage under the theme The Long Run: Women, Better With Time, making the case that progress has no age limit.

The annual conference, run by Marie Claire Greece, focuses this year on longevity, one of the most significant and contested debates of the age. The wish to live longer already touches almost every part of life, from medical research and prevention to diet, exercise and technology, as well as how people work and how they spend and invest their time and money. The central question is not only how long people will live, but how well.

For women, the debate carries an added dimension. They have children later, work to an older age and change careers in their 40s, 50s or beyond, leaving them with decades in which to pursue ambitions and plans once thought to have an expiry date. What needs to be done today to enjoy tomorrow, and how to stay healthy, active, creative and present for loved ones, are questions at the heart of this year’s event. So is how to live with meaning and beauty in an uncertain world, where the climate crisis is accelerating and technology is advancing faster than human wisdom. The conference, which brings together prominent figures from Greece and abroad, aims to map a new view of women’s ageing: not as a limitation, but as a chapter of experience, freedom and fresh possibility.

Among the international guests is Emmy-winning actor, producer and director Niecy Nash-Betts. At 56, she is enjoying one of the most successful periods of a career spanning more than three decades. Her work ranges from comedy to dramatic roles, including Glenda Cleveland in the Netflix series Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, and she has turned experience and maturity into a creative advantage.

Italian top model Bianca Balti is also taking part. In recent years she has given her public image a new dimension. Her experience of cancer led to the creation of Mind Your Cancer, an initiative that aims to change how people talk about the disease, prevention, treatment and self-care. Balti’s story opens a conversation about the body, beauty and vulnerability, and about what truly becomes valuable when life changes the rules.

Award-winning Australian author and social philosopher Sarah Wilson brings a different angle. Her work examines how to live fully and meaningfully in an era of climate crisis, political instability and accelerating technology. Longevity concerns more than the length of an individual life. It also concerns the kind of world people want to live in, and the one they will hand on to the next generations.

Age and the visibility of women are also at the centre of one of the more interesting conversations in fashion. Models Stephanie Cavalli, Suzi de Givenchy and Petra van Bremen belong to a new generation who gained or regained leading roles on international catwalks after the age of 40 or 50. Cavalli returned to modelling at 50 and made history by opening Chanel’s haute couture show in 2026, her grey hair part of an image that directly challenges the industry’s stereotypes about age. De Givenchy began modelling at 47 and has since worked with houses including Tom Ford, Giorgio Armani, Schiaparelli and Balenciaga, showing that fashion can find new leading women at any age. Van Bremen, a model, author and advocate of positive ageing, returned to modelling after 40 and champions a philosophy summed up by the title of her book, The Best Time Is Now.

Longevity cannot be discussed without science. Dr Evi Chatziandreou, a physician and public health specialist with a master’s degree and doctorate from Harvard, will try to separate scientific evidence from the noise surrounding the subject. A member of the Healthy Longevity Medicine Society and scientific director of the Nao Longevity Hub, she shifts the focus from lifespan to healthspan: not simply more years of life, but more years of health, independence and quality.

The Greek line-up includes women who have built their own paths of endurance and growth in public life, the arts and creative work. They are writer and historian Lena Divani, journalist Sia Kosioni, actor Katerina Didaskalou and international photographer Mara Desypri. Their talks, ranging from the public voice and the price of exposure to creative reinvention, take longevity beyond the narrow limits of biology. They link it to professional staying power, freedom, self-knowledge and a woman’s right to redefine herself at any age.

In the same spirit, Vicky Kagia brings the experience of a career spanning more than three decades in fashion, television, education and business. Her career keeps evolving and does not obey the traditional expiry dates the industry often imposes on women.

Ultimately, The Long Run is not about a battle against time, but about a different relationship with it. It concerns the health people want to keep, the experiences they still want to have, the second and third acts they can write, and the freedom never to feel it is too late for something new.

The conference starts at midday on Friday, and the discussions will be streamed live on the websites of Marie Claire Greece and Proto Thema. See the full programme.