In the face of adversity, Beverly Marshall-Luney choses curiosity over comfort. She didn’t just change careers. She changed the story she believed about what was possible later in life.
More than a dozen years ago, we met Beverly Marshall-Luney at a crossroads. After decades climbing the corporate ladder, a series of devastating health setbacks forced her to ask a simple question: What if the best part of life was still ahead?
“I broke an ankle, I broke a knee, I broke a wrist. I had a blood infection. All within like a 4-year period,” Marshall-Luney recalls. “That’s really when I started to recognize that quality of life really is centered about healthy lifestyles.”
As she rebuilt her health, Marshall-Luney rediscovered a little girl’s dream inspired by visits to her local library.
“I was in a National Geographic book visiting someplace that I could only dream of,” Marshall-Luney remembers.
It was at that moment that she made the decision that changed everything. She walked away from the career that had defined her—and toward a future she couldn’t yet see.
“I kind of knew where I was going, but I didn’t know how to get there,” Marshall-Luney said.
Where she was going was everywhere. To the places she’d first discovered in the pages of National Geographic nearly sixty years earlier. She didn’t just change careers. She changed the story she believed about what was possible later in life
“I don’t live in a spirit of fear, which means that instead of trying to connect to a travel agency and walk and move up the ranks, I wanted to be the boss from the very beginning,” Marshall-Luney said.
“I had to pull that strength from myself and I had to encourage myself. I had to say that this is not my last rodeo. I’ve got a whole bunch of living to do and I need to be able to get out there and do it.”
In 2014, Marshall-Luney founded Platinum Tours International—not just to show people famous landmarks, but to immerse them in cultures, histories and human connections. Her signature “Where in the World is Bev?” adventures have taken travelers from Egypt to Machu Picchu, the Holy Land, Nepal, Greece, Africa, and countless places in between.
“I never wanted to go anywhere and just take a picture in front of the Eiffel Tower and say, ‘Look, this is where I went,'” Marshall-Luney said. “I want to hear about the architect. I want to hear about how and why they did what they did. I want to talk to the people.
It’s a journey that has lived up to her dreams.
“I couldn’t ask for more. And I love traveling with the people that go with me. I love the fact that my groups are multicultural, multi-age groups.
“They’re my friends, they’re my fun, they’re the ones that literally will say to me, ‘Oh, but God, look at this. Look at what we’re seeing and doing together.'”
Every journey eventually ends. But the memories never do. At home, every room, every shelf, and every wall tells another story.
“I could walk in my home in the complete dark and if one picture was moved, I would know it,” Marshall-Luney said. “Because every single thing in here has a significant and a valuable, place in my heart.”
Years ago, Beverly Marshall-Luney admitted to lying about her age. But today surrounded by family, friends and fellow adventurers, she’s stopped lying about her age—not because the number matters, but because it doesn’t.
“I confessed I’m 77,” Marshall-Luney says. “What’s it like being 77? I don’t know. It’s nothing but a number. I don’t think that we should be defined by the number of times we go around the sun.”
Bev’s next adventure takes her and her travelers to Mallorca, Spain, to witness the first total solar eclipse there in more than 120 years. A magical moment they’ll share forever.
“We have six singles that are going that don’t even think that they’re going to be singles because they’re going to be a part of a unit,” Marshall-Luney proudly shared.
It’s a unit that reminds us all that growing older isn’t about counting the years. It’s about continuing to collect experiences worth remembering.
