Who is this guy? Why a 40+ man started an online community for 50+ women

Hot Conversation

As VibrantNation.com approaches our first year anniversary, it’s high time I give a definitive answer to the question I get most often about the site: “Who is this Stephen Reily? And why did a man in his forties start a site for women 50+?”

On the surface, the question is rooted in understandable curiosity. After all, we women 50+ have figured out that most young, male marketers would much rather be dreaming up commercials for their peers centering around something to drink, scantily clad models and unpleasant body sounds.

The underlying question is more to the point: “Can I trust this man?” and even more pertinently: “Can I trust this site?”

To give these questions the answers they deserve, I’ve got to turn the calendar way back. Seven years, in fact: that would be a full five years before I had the good fortune of meeting Stephen at a marketing industry event.

Seven years ago, I had just received my second career doctorate from Vanderbilt, intending to build a bridge between social scientists and marketers. It was the adult development scholars who had recently discovered that the women at midlife and beyond of our generation were actually growing in their power rather than becoming marginalized, as in generations past.

But where were the marketers, brand managers and CEOs? They were illogically putting all of their investment dollars into younger age brackets with a fraction of the spending power of women 50+. That’s where.

“When young, male marketers start taking us seriously, we’ll know we’re making real progress,” I remember remarking to a colleague at the time. She simply laughed, but I wasn’t kidding.

Fast-forward to 2008. Despite the fact that I was now co-chair of the first initiative by a global PR firm to specifically target the Boomer consumer, I was still on the hunt for signs of that young, male marketer. Frankly, after years of hearing younger marketers, male and female – say things like “I know how to market blue jeans to Boomer women because my mother’s in the demographic — and my mom prefers elastic waistbands,” I was starting to lose faith.

Word of Stephen had reached me in advance of our first encounter, as his serious effort to launch the first large-scale website targeted exclusively to women 50+ had begun registering on our firm’s radar. I’d been told by savvy women in our practice group that he was smart, ambitious, well-respected and that he had that most galvanizing of assets: “investors.”

They were right. Stephen had immersed himself in original demographic research and retained top advisors in the social networking and Boomer marketing worlds — a number of whom were women 50+. He had become convinced that there was as big and vibrant a marketplace for women at midlife and beyond as had already proven to be true of the marketing-to-mom sites, one of the larger of which, www.cafemom.com, was founded by two young men, Andrew Shue and Michael Sanchez.

At last, seated at the same table at the marketing conference, there he finally was: the fortysomething man with impeccable marketing credentials and a serious interest in the women 50+ demographic.

“I’m obviously not in the demographic myself,” he said, a very good beginning. “But I believe the business community is missing out on the greatest marketing opportunity of our time because they’re stuck in stereotypes of women 50+ from the past.”

Over the months, as we continued the conversation that ultimately resulted in my joining on as senior strategist for the site, I came to trust Stephen as a marketer, businessman and visionary. He is the kind of smart and tough that a savvy woman 50+ can respect. And a year and one half later, I am convinced more than ever that Stephen is the real deal.

Because of Stephen, we who are in the women 50+ demographic can now enjoy the benefits of our vibrant, expanding community. Moreover, our growing numbers on the site have demonstrated to the world that far from the marginalization experienced by generations of women past as they aged, our members are a force to be reckoned with. In fact, we should all be proud of Stephen Reily and the role VibrantNation.com is playing in making sure marketers, politicians and the media take the power and potential of women 50+ seriously.

So yes, it’s unusual that a young, male marketer would take an interest in this demographic. And from my mouth to God’s ears — may he be but the first of many.