From Boardroom To Dj Booth: The Next Chapter Of Tina Woods

Tina Woods never set out to become a DJ. In fact, she laughs when she recalls how it all started: “It was a little bit by accident, to be honest. I wasn’t expecting to become a DJ, it just sort of happened.”

Her own reinvention is quite inspiring. Founder and CEO of Collider Health and Business For Health, Executive Director of the International Institute of Longevity, having spent years in corporate and policy roles, she has since carved out a unique mission: to shape the science and culture of healthy longevity, bringing together researchers, governments, investors, and entrepreneurs to focus on not just lifespan, but healthspan.

And yet, she’s just as likely to be found behind turntables as in a boardroom.

The opportunity to become ‘Tina Technotic’’, the DJ who gets boomers and Gen Z dancing together all night, came after a serious surgery. Severe bunions left her in agony, she dreaded surgery but knew it was inevitable. “Mobility is everything for me. I love dancing, climbin mountains with my husband. I’m energetic. The thought of losing that terrified me.”

Her surgeon, who treated Olympic athletes and professional footballers, reassured her. Still, recovery would mean months off her feet. “I thought: how am I going to cope psychologically?” Then she had an idea. “I’ll learn to mix music. If I can’t dance, I’ll get close to the music another way.”

Her family backed her. For Christmas, weeks before her operations, her three sons gave her DJ equipment. During recovery, she immersed herself in sound, studying artists, learning to mix. She also grew close to Yukari, a 28-year-old Japanese dancer she’d met on the floor. “We had this incredible energy together. We joked about DJing side by side one day.”

By July, just three months after turning 60, Woods made her public debut.

The Longevity Rave

Tina’s first event was part of a series called Longevity Rave (a collective of entrepreneurs, scientists, DJs, and artists who organize raves worldwide, using music, joy, and connection to bring generations together). It took place at Love Shack, a groovy East London venue under railway arches. More than 200 people came: baby boomers rediscovering the dancefloor, tech and science colleagues from Woods’s professional network, and Yukari’s younger crowd.

“It was magical,” Woods says to CrunchyTales. “It started as an experiment. We wanted to show that longevity isn’t just about technology or policy:it’s about joy. Dancing is medicine. Reinvention is medicine.”

Since then, Woods has played sets in London, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami, often alongside speaking engagements at longevity conferences. “It’s funny. I’ll give a keynote on healthspan and ageing, then I’m asked to do the afterparty as DJ,” she says. Longevity Rave has become a fixture, a space where generations mix freely. “It’s about breaking down age barriers. On the dancefloor, it doesn’t matter if you’re 25 or 75. What matters is the energy.”

The Longevity Path

But her midlife is not all gigs and fun. For Woods, the connection between music, creativity, joy and her professional life is profound.

Reinvention is medicine. Dancing is medicine. Joy is medicine. Longevity is about life in those years, not just the years themselves.

Through her role at the International Institute of Longevity, Tina is pushing the boundaries of science, exploring what she calls the Human Exposome, the totality of everything we experience, from the air we breathe to the relationships we nurture, and how it shapes resilience and flourishing.

“This is where longevity is headed,” she says. “Not just biology, but the richness of human life.Our genes are only part of the story. What really shapes our health is how our environment influences gene expression.” Through her research, she argues for upstream interventions, better food systems, cleaner air, reduced stress, to prevent disease before it takes hold.

Having worked in health technology and advocated for prevention over cure, Tina also published ‘Live Longer with AI’, exploring how artificial intelligence can extend healthspan and improve daily life. Yet she insists technology alone won’t deliver the future we want. “Science matters, of course,” she says. “But so do joy, creativity, and human connection. Longevity isn’t just years—it’s the quality of those years.”

She believes the most powerful tools are simple. “Dancing, joy, love, community – these are the real longevity drugs. You don’t need expensive IV drips or endless supplements. The basics work.” That joy, she says, is also creative. Learning new skills, exploring music, even reinventing herself in her 60s has given her vitality. “I will die the day I stop learning. Creativity, playfulness, joy; they’re not optional. They’re essential.”

Living Longer, Living Better

Tina also stresses that movement is the foundation of longevity and joy, but only when it’s the kind you truly love. “Yoga, swimming, tennis, dance. It doesn’t matter what form it takes,” she says, her voice lighting up. “What matters is pleasure. Joyful movement sustains us, it keeps us coming back, and it nourishes the body and soul in ways discipline alone never could.”

But it isn’t just about how we move, it’s about who we move with. Tina points to growing evidence that community and friendship are as essential to longevity as diet or exercise. “We’ve learned that isolation can be as damaging to health as smoking,” she explains. “So investing in our relationships isn’t optional, it’s vital.” Whether it’s through family, friendships, or new circles discovered later in life, she sees connection as a cornerstone of a flourishing second chapter.

Curiosity, too, plays a critical role. “Novelty sparks resilience in the brain,” Tina says. “When we learn something new, we’re building new neural pathways that keep us mentally agile.” She urges women to see midlife as the perfect time to experiment,whether that’s taking up an instrument, learning a language, exploring a new craft, or, as she did, stepping into the DJ booth. 

Above all, Tina reminds us, reinvention is about meaning and purpose. “What lights you up in the morning? What makes you feel alive? When you find that, you’ll find the energy and resilience to thrive, no matter your age.”

Would you take a bold leap like Tina Woods and start something completely new later in life?

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