Karen Wickre on Aging in Place As a Singleton After a Stellar Tech Career
Debbie brings her friend Karen Wickre back on the show to talk about "aging in place" and other things, including being a singleton in her 70s.
They met over 20 years ago when Debbie interviewed Karen, who was editor of Google’s blog, for Debbie's book, The Corporate Blogging Book. Not surprisingly, Google was an early adopter of this new form of communication. They've stayed in touch ever since.
Karen had a stellar career in tech, working at Google and then at Twitter. She retired when she was 65 (she didn’t call it “retirement” back then) and is now an editorial consultant. She lives alone in San Francisco where she's owned her apartment for over 20 years. Now that she’s completed a strategically-planned renovation, she plans to stay there to "age in place."
She is the author of Taking the Work Out of Networking: Your Guide to Making and Keeping Great Connections.
They talk about the power of networking, the importance of connections later in life, especially if you are a solo ager, planning ahead if you want to age in place, and what the definition of home is - beyond location - and how that might change as you grow older.
Debbie shares her thoughts about what and where home is - as she looks ahead.
Mentioned in this episode or useful:
- KarenWickre.com
- her daily Instagram
- Taking the Work Out of Networking: Your Guide to Making and Keeping Great Connections by Karen Wickre (Gallery Books, 2019)
- S1-EP4: Karen Wickre on What You Need to Know About Networking to Reinvent Your Life (March 22, 2019)
- Definition of "aging in place"
- Right Place, Right Time: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Home for the Second Half of Life by Ryan Frederick (Johns Hopkins University Press; 2021)
- How to use design thinking to create a happier life for yourself
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Credits:
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