I didn’t ever want a full-time job, I’m supposed to be retired,” said Suzi Grant.

She did retire ten years ago but her break from the daily grind did not last long.

“Four years later I was bored out of my mind,” she said.

“My godchildren told me to look at blogging and Instagram, so I did.

“It started as a hobby, but it encompassed everything I had loved all my life.”

As well as being a keen follower of fashion, Suzi had enjoyed a successful career in television and radio before becoming a nutritionist when she was 50.

Joining Instagram, she soon found that her years of being comfortable in front of the camera and learning about healthy living had left her with many of the skills it took to be successful on the social media site.

Suzi said: “It was like a duck to water and it’s now turned into a full-time job.

“I have a fantastic following and half of my Instagram following are actually under 40.”

She admitted she is “fanatical about my grid” – the three column display by which photos are displayed on the app.

But this makes total sense given her site revolves around style, featuring a series of images of the social media star in a range of colourful outfits.

A brief scroll through her page also reveals she is partial to a headscarf.

Suzi said: “Look good, feel great, that’s my message.

“Youngsters follow me and say, ‘I hope I’m like you when I grow older’. It’s the ultimate compliment.”

But you will not find her clamouring over fast fashion or the latest releases.

“I don’t pose in designer clothes,” she said, “It’s all about saving money and saving the environment – while looking stylish – and it seems to be working.”

Suzi’s Instagram following has nearly reached 30,000, and she says her fans are also enamoured with her home town.

“My followers love seeing Brighton, wandering through the Lanes, and the city looked amazing last Christmas – the best it ever has, I think.

“They also love my dog.”

Barely a day goes by without Suzi doing something towards her new-found career, leading her friends to question why she continues to work so hard.

Suzi tells them she is doing what she loves, and “it keeps my mind busy”.

But she issued a stark warning to any aspiring video bloggers looking to crowbar their way into the industry.

She said: “An important message to anyone who wants to go into vlogging; it takes three to five years to become successful.

“I spent years plying my craft, learning about photography and editing videos.”

But she achieved a breakthrough when Instagram featured her “as an older woman”.

“I got thousands more followers from that,” she said.

“If you have a niche and develop a loyal following, you can become very successful.

“I was just doing my hobbies which I have had all my life, it was all very natural for me. My normal life lends itself to it well, I like going to gigs and festivals.”

But what is it that has prompted tens of thousands of people to press their thumbs on the blue “follow” button on her home page?

“It’s because I’m older and I’m not dressed in grey, I don’t look like a woman of my age,” Suzi explains.

“I’m into colour and style, I’m authentic, what you see is me.”

This is something she said she wanted to see more of on social media. In her own words, “good Instagrammers keep it real”.

But she said the current coronavirus outbreak was changing audience habits.

Suzi said: “People are realising some things are distasteful. Everyone is thinking very carefully at the moment.

“You have got to offer something to your audience, it’s not all ‘me me me’.

“I get comments saying, ‘you make me feel happy because you are always smiling’.

“I always reply and say, ‘I don’t feel like that at the moment’. But I’m going to do my best to keep everybody happy.

“It’s a time to focus on the positive things. The movies you have not watched, the outfits you have not worn.”

Suzi is not just seeking online dominance.

She recently released her third book, Alternative Ageing: How To Stay Looking And Feeling Younger For Longer, to help spread her message.

The message is that growing older in the conventional sense was “not inevitable”.

“We don’t all need to sit down and watch day time television,” she joked.