John Leland has a distinguished 30-year career in journalism and is still going strong! A graduate of Columbia College, he worked as a senior editor at Newsweek and editor-in-chief of Details magazine before joining The New York Times in 2000. Fascinated with youth culture he wrote the best sellers, “Hip: the History”, and “Why Kerouac Matters.”

In 2015, he made a major transition writing a series for the Times in which he followed six people age 85 for one year. It was a project that transformed his understanding of old age and inspired him to write another New York Times Best Seller. “Happiness. is a Choice You Make: Lessons from a Year among the Oldest Old.” John shares some of his lessons with Growing Bolder’s Marc Middleton and Bill Shafer.