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Media Inquiries: contact Ceci Conway at ceci@vibrantnation.com
Carol Orsborn, Ph.D. Senior Strategist
Carol is an internationally known author and thought leader on issues related to marketing to boomer women, adult development and quality of life. She has provided counsel to more than 100 leading companies in a broad array of industries, including AT&T, Phonak, AARP, Hallmark, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Prudential, The Walt Disney Company and Visa.
She has worked for several marketing companies and co-founded the first initiative by a global PR firm dedicated to helping companies market to the Boomer generation. She is the author of 16 books translated into 15 languages on generationally based issues in work and life, including Boom: Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer—the Baby Boomer Woman (Mary Brown/Carol Orsborn) and The Art of Resilience (Random House).
The founder of Superwoman’s Anonymous, Carol is credited for her groundbreaking work in the 1980s on simplicity for women seeking balance between work and personal life. In the '90s, her book Inner Excellence was among the first business leadership books to make the connection between intrinsic motivation and productivity.
Speaking to and for her generation, she has appeared on Oprah and The Today Show multiple times, and in the pages of People Magazine and The New York Times, among many others. She has spoken and led training and retreats at numerous professional gatherings for such clients as the Associated Press Managing Editor's Convention, Prudential Annuities, PRSA annual conference, Comdata, and more.
Carol received her Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University, studying adult development and ritual studies, including intergenerational values formation and transmission. She has taught ethics and values-driven leadership, serving on the faculties of Georgetown University, Vanderbilt University’s Leadership Development Center of the Owen Graduate School of Management, Loyola Marymount University and the Doctoral Program in Organizational Leadership at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Educational and Psychology.
Vibrant Role Model: May Sarton, Joan Chittister, Maya Angelou, Jimmy Laura Smull and all the women writers and seekers of meaning at midlife and beyond, who demonstrate that in terms of becoming wise, time can be our greatest ally.
Stephen Reily, Founder and CEO
Okay, why did a 43-year-old man start a website for women over 50? Blame his curiosity as an entrepreneur . . . and the strong women in his own life.
A decade ago Stephen co-founded a brand licensing agency (www.imclicensing.com) that develops new products for dozens of the nation’s biggest brands. During one client meeting, Stephen heard a senior brand manager explain that her company didn’t allow her to spend any resources speaking to consumers older than 29 – even though she knew that half of her most profitable and loyal consumers were women over 45.
A light went off – Stephen wondered how long marketers could continue to ignore their most valuable consumers – the fast-growing demographic of Boomer women who represent the healthiest, wealthiest, most educated generation of women in history, yet whose real strengths and interests are often overlooked in the marketplace. After talking to women themselves and conducting his own research, Stephen launched VibrantNation.com as a place where “Vibrant Women” could do online what they do so well offline – connect with others like them. Like some of the “mom” web sites available to a younger demographic, VibrantNation.com is based on the idea that women at a given lifestage gain great value from connecting with other women at their lifestage – especially around the issues unique to their lifestage.
And the women in his life? His grandmother, Gladys Reily, was a civic activist and among the first women ever (at age 56) to win the Times-Picayune Loving Cup, an annual award from the New Orleans newspaper for that city’s most dedicated citizen. Stephen's mother, now 79, was widowed at 57. Since that time, she gutted and renovated a house in the French Quarter, helped reform the corrupt state mental hospitals of Louisiana, nursed patients at a local AIDS hospice, and to this day feeds post-Katrina relief workers. She travels the world, sometimes with her boyfriend; and she never forgets the birthday of one of her five children, three stepchildren, or 24 grandchildren. She is the person that younger women who know her hope to be when they get older.
According to Stephen, “Once you recognize the strength of individual women at this stage of life, you recognize the strength of all women at this stage of life. I’ve always known women over 50 could do anything, which is why I couldn’t understand why the marketplace would ignore them – and why I started Vibrant Nation.”
Stephen graduated from Yale College, summa cum laude, and from Stanford Law School, after which he clerked for Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court. Stephen lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with his wife and three children.
Caroline Roberts Heine, Chief of Staff, Office of the CEO
Caroline joins Vibrant Nation with 15+ years of management experience, focusing largely in the nonprofit sector working in the areas of business and strategic planning, business development, relationship management, communications and marketing, and operations. Before joining Vibrant Nation, Caroline served as president & CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Kentuckiana, an out-of-schooltime organization operating three Clubs in Louisville and Southern Indiana and serving 1,700 disadvantaged youth per year. Prior to her time with the Boys & Girls Clubs, Caroline served as chief operating officer for GivingNet, a national nonprofit organization focused on developing strategies, products, and services for the community foundation field.
Caroline earned a B.A. in Political Science with honors from Butler University and an M.B.A. from the Kenan-Flager Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was named to the Beta Gamma Sigma honorary society.
She lives with her husband (and high school sweetheart), Tim, their two college-age children (when they are home from school), and the world’s most lovable golden retriever, Henry.
Vibrant role model: "My sister-in-law’s mother, Marg Campisano. At the age of 70, Marg is still working in her dental practice, practicing Bikram Yoga, starting to run again after having to take a several-year hiatus due to an injury, cooking for and entertaining her extended family on a regular basis, wearing 3-inch wedge heels, and being actively involved in the lives of her grandchildren, who call her by her first name. Did I mention she looks fabulous to boot?"
Marilyn Bryan, Operations Manager
Marilyn has been in the publishing world for 18 years. The first 10 were at her sister’s magazine Glass Patterns Quarterly, which she helped build into the world’s leading stained glass hobbyist magazine, with subscribers in 52 countries. Marilyn then turned to internet, book, and CD-ROM publishing at TechRepublic, a CNET Networks company [now owned by CBS Interactive]. Most recently, she managed operations for the company’s publishing division.
Marilyn studied at Berea College and graduated with a B.A. in English from the University of Louisville, earning university and departmental honors.
She lives with her husband and two cats (Kitty Cat and Spare Cat) and beams with pride for her college-student son.
Number 8 of 11 children, Marilyn feels lucky indeed to have six remarkable sisters who share in her determination to live vibrant lives until the bitter end.
Vibrant role model: Katherine "Kitty" Davis, who turned 50 almost twice! Marilyn says, "Kitty was a beloved neighbor who was always ready to go and do and learn. She was alive when the Titanic went down, yet she stayed interested in and embraced modern culture. When I took my laptop over to her house, Kitty marveled at the internet and sent her first email (to her son, in California). Impressed by the technology, she told me, ‘Kid, I was born before my time.’”
Cara Reynolds, Content Manager
Cara has been a writer and editor for such innovative media companies as Lucasfilm, Creative Publications, Classroom Connect, and CNET (now CBS Interactive). Most recently, she worked as multimedia editor for TechRepublic.
She received her M.A. in English from the University of California at Irvine and her B.A. from the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines.
Online, Cara enjoys following technology, media, environment, education, travel, and pet news. Offline, she lives in New Albany, Indiana, with her husband and their spoiled miniature rabbit, Indy.
Vibrant role models: "My grandmother, Encarnacion Evangelista, who ran a successful family business well into her 80s and encouraged all her children and grandchildren to pursue accomplishment and self-expression. My friends Sue Rostoni and Dyane Mohr, vibrant, caring Boomer women with a finely tuned inner compass for 'the things that matter' and who never stop growing and embracing new adventures. And the women of VN, too many to list here. On any given day I'm usually enthralled with a different member from the one I was in love with the day before. It's hard not to fall in love with VNers - they're just so darn smart."
Beth Blakely, Community Manager
Writing, editing, and publishing have always been at the core of Beth's career. She fell in love with writing as an editor for the college newspaper at the University of Louisville, where she earned a B.A. in Communication. She immersed herself in creativity when she served on the marketing team at the Kentucky Center for the Arts, and then she taught software classes for New Horizons Computer Learning Center.
Bitten by the technology bug, Beth moved on to spend nearly eight years writing, editing, and engaging members for TechRepublic. Most recently, she served as the company's product manager, developing features for the site and moderating its forums. She joined the Vibrant Nation staff because the lure of learning from the site's colorful membership was simply too much to bear.
Beth lives with her husband, vibrant six-year-old daughter, and a Yorkie-Poo named Tara. If she's awake, she's online, and participates in a number of social networking sites.
Vibrant role model: Her mother, Sarah Metcalf, whose integrity, work ethic, and artistry have served as inspiration. Sarah's quilts, green thumb, and sweet honesty have her "sewn up" as Beth's nomination for Mother of the Year, every year.
Frances Houston, Marketing Assistant
Frances Houston earned a B.S. in Marketing from the University of Alabama and joined the Vibrant Nation staff full-time after a marketing internship here post graduation.
She is originally from Mobile, Alabama, but has found a new city to call home.
Frances has a passion for travel. One of her greatest experiences was studying abroad for a semester in college in Florence, Italy. The experience was, as the Italians love to say, "La Dolce Vita."
Vibrant Role Model: Her grandmother, "Gigi," who spent a lifetime giving - from volunteering to caring for her 29 grandchildren.
Susan Lee Ward, Editorial Director
Susan Lee Ward is a composite created and managed by the Vibrant Nation staff to represent themselves and the Vibrant Woman. VibrantNation.com is about its community and not any one person, and we believe that placing a single staff member in front of our community could distract our visitors and readers from the real subject at hand - them. That said, we know that faces and names can better represent the individuals behind Vibrant Nation than a disembodied title. Since we couldn't invent a typical Vibrant Woman (there being no such thing!) we created the composite Vibrant Woman, representing a summation of what our members tell us about themselves. Susan Lee Ward is managed by the all-woman Vibrant Nation editorial team: Marilyn Bryant, Cara Reynolds, and Beth Blakely.
