Cape resident Silvia Hasak, who takes pole dancing and yoga classes to stay fit, has advanced half way through the selection process in New Beauty Magazine's Fab Over 40 competition. The winner will be featured in the magazine and "Hope Votes" will benefit cancer research. This round's online voting ends Thursday, Sept. 2. Her online voting link is: votefab40.com/2021/silvia-hasak  Photo by fashion photographer Don Curry provided by Silvia Hasak.

Silvia Hasak may not leap tall buildings in a single bound but — at 64-years-old — she is a pole dance wonder woman who is a local favorite in a national people choice contest in search of a Fab Over 40 goddess.

Ever since she entered the competition, Hasak’s age-defying beauty and allure has got the attention of the contest’s online voters. She has advanced half way through the selection process in this inaugural Fab Over 40 contest that will feature its winner in New Beauty Magazine — and raise money for cancer research to boot. The contest offers cash prizes, a photo shoot and other goodies to the grand prize winner and benefits the National Breast Cancer Foundation through “Hope Votes.”

“I advance by people voting for me,” Hasak said. “You can cast a free vote every day.”

Breast cancer research benefits when $1 Hope Votes are cast. There is a $10 minimum for Hope Votes, with two-for-one specials offered from time to time.

“I need all of Cape Coral and Southwest Florida to vote for me to win this round,” Hasak said. Her online voting link is: votefab40.com/2021/silvia-hasak  .

What is remarkable is Hasak’s quick rise to the fourth round of competition which, if she wins, will then take her to the quarterfinals. An estimated field of more than 1,000 contestants divided into various groups are competing. With nearly 70 competitors in her group, Hasak presently ranks third. She also is her group’s oldest participant. This round’s online voting ends Thursday, Sept. 2. The Fab Over 40 competition grand prize will be determined when the finals end on Sept. 23. The winner receives $40,000, a two-page feature in New Beauty magazine, and a dream spa-cation in Scottsdale, Arizona.

As something of a lark, Hasak decided to apply about a month ago.

“I came across it in Facebook and decided, ‘What the heck? If they want to give me $40,000, I’ll take it,” Hasak said.

If Hasak wins, the prize money will go towards home renovations, a college savings program for her future grandchild, breast cancer research and “more pole classes.”

“What 64-year-old has a pair of legs like this?” Hasak said. The widow of nearly eight years, does pole and other dancing as well as yoga to keep young and fit. Age is just a number and beauty a timeless expression of inner and outer joy, allure and confidence, she said.

“A happy woman is a beautiful woman,” she said. “I choose to be happy.”

“How many 64-year-old women do you know that are active with yoga and pole dance?” said Hasak, explaining that contrary to popular belief that pole dance is just for strippers it is a legitimate and artistic form of exercise. She only performs in her studio, Pole and Aerial Fitness of SWFL.

“My ‘stage name’ is Sterling Sil,”she said.

“I was 59 when I first walked into a pole studio. The reason — I had made a trip to Barbados and had been widowed for three years. At that point I didn’t think I would date anymore.

“A 33-year-old bartender was hitting on me. I thought, ‘I still have some life in me’ and I wasn’t dead. I thought, ‘What am I going to do?’ When I walked into a pole studio and tried it, I fell in love.”

For the past four years, Hasak has practiced pole dancing, chair dancing, burlesque and yoga to keep fit and enjoy the beauty and artistry of these practices.

“What I want to say is yoga and pole dancing are empowering and when I learn a new move I grow in confidence,” she added.

Whether Hasak wins this contest, she has already won in realizing the potential not just for herself but as an example for other women who wish to realize the Fab Over 40 in their lives.

“Silvia really comes alive as a performer. She has a lot of personality.She is a crowd favorite. What is interesting is that the older women not only inspire other older women. They also inspire much younger women,” said Michelle O’Neill, a co-owner of Pole and Aerial Fitness of SWFL. “When I look at the older women doing this, I think, ‘This is amazing.'”