From the founder
“Transformation isn’t just about reaching new heights; it’s about discovering the depth of your own potential. Growth is a journey inward as much as forward, where every step reveals a part of you that was always meant to shine.”
Faculty
Meet Anne van Leynseele
Anne van Leynseele, founder of Rarified Life and author of Preferment, leads all eight weekly live sessions of the Preferment course.
Last updated: November 2026
Who teaches the Preferment course?
The Preferment course is taught by Anne van Leynseele, who founded Rarified Life and wrote the book the course follows. Her career spans film and television production, Fortune 100 digital strategy, public service, and farming, which is why Rarified Life says she is not teaching a theory but showing you how to run your own reinvention.
The course page puts it simply: she has lived four reinventions. That matters for a course about life after a career, because the material comes from someone who has repeatedly left one identity and built the next, rather than from someone describing the process from the outside.
Anne van Leynseele’s career at a glance
Film and television
Built and sold a production company in Los Angeles film and television.
Digital strategy
Advised Fortune 100 companies on digital strategy across three continents.
Public service
Served as an Attorney Advisor in the Obama Administration.
Policy
Helped write the legal framework for recreational cannabis in Washington State.
Agriculture
Co-owns an award-winning chocolate farm on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Author
Wrote Preferment, the book the 8-week course is built on.
In her own words
From Chapter 5: Embracing the Currents of Change
“Water, in its essence, teaches us the most profound lessons on transformation and resilience. It adapts, flows, and even carves its path through solid rock, not by force but through persistence and patience.”
Find Anne on LinkedIn, see the course curriculum she teaches, or go back to retirement transition coaching with Preferment.
Common questions
- Who teaches the Preferment course?
- Anne van Leynseele, founder of Rarified Life and author of Preferment, leads the eight weekly live sessions. She built and sold a Los Angeles film and television production company, advised Fortune 100 companies on digital strategy across three continents, served as an Attorney Advisor in the Obama Administration, and co-owns an award-winning chocolate farm in Hawaii.
- Is it too late to start life over after 50?
- No. Anne van Leynseele, who teaches Preferment, describes having lived four reinventions, moving from film and television production to digital strategy, government legal work, and chocolate farming. Starting over after 50 is less about erasing your past and more about choosing what you carry forward into the next chapter.
- How is Preferment different from other retirement coaching?
- Preferment is a named framework taught live by its author over eight weeks, using her book as the workbook, in six modules from Identity to Launch. Anne van Leynseele has lived several career reinventions herself. Other retirement coaching may be 1:1, workshop-based, or self-paced; compare formats in this site’s retirement coaching guide.
- What is Preferment?
- Preferment is the framework Rarified Life offers as an active, purpose-driven alternative to traditional retirement for high achievers redesigning life after 50. Rarified Life describes it as research-backed. It is taught through an 8-week live course and through Anne van Leynseele’s book of the same name, which serves as the course companion text and workbook.
- Where is Rarified Life based?
- Rarified Life’s about page lists Edmonds, Washington and a mailing address of PO Box 1174, Captain Cook, Hawaii 96704. Anne van Leynseele also co-owns an award-winning chocolate farm on the Big Island of Hawaii. The course page does not state whether sessions are online or in person, so confirm that through the contact page.
Start with the free presentation
Watch Rarified Life’s free presentation for accomplished women in their 50s and 60s. If it resonates, the 8-week Preferment course is the next step.