In this episode of the Glowing Older podcast, host Nancy Griffin interviews Matt Thornhill, founder and CEO of Cozy Home Community and the advocacy movement Openly Gray. They discuss Matt's career journey from advertising to founding the Boomer Project and his insights into marketing to the 50+ demographic. Matt shares the inspiration behind Cozy Home Community, a middle-income housing solution for boomers, and the advocacy work of Openly Gray to combat ageism. The conversation highlights the importance of embracing aging positively and the innovative approaches to senior living.

About Matt

Boomer Expert • Futurist • Founder of Openly Gray and Cozy Home Community

Matt Thornhill is a nationally recognized expert on consumer behavior and the Boomer generation. After two decades in advertising on Madison Avenue and beyond, he founded a think tank devoted to understanding how Boomers are reshaping industries and society as they age.

His insights have guided Fortune 500 companies and major organizations—from Google, Walmart, and AARP to State Farm, Wells Fargo, and the National Governors Association and have been featured on NBC, CBS, CNBC, TIME, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.

Co-author of the acclaimed business book Boomer Consumer, Matt now leads Openly Gray, a nonprofit advocacy grouptackling ageism by inspiring older adults to embrace aging as a privilege, not a problem. He’s also founder and CEO of Cozy Home Community, developing innovative housing for active older adults.

Key Takeaways

• Boomers have become the next generation of older adults. Ranging from age 61 to 79, next year the first boomers will turn 80. They are going to transform what it means to grow old.
• The 50+ market holds significant economic power, oftenignored by marketers. It takes lived experience to speak to the 50+ market. A 50 or 60-year-old advertising copywriter and art director know best how to talk to a 50- or 60-year-old consumer.
• Forty percent of boomers don't have a spouse or partner – 25 years ago it was 25 percent. Twenty-eight million people live alone. Being single means less income and social security and no caregiver in the home.
• Cozy Home Community is an intentional community of modular-built homes for middle-income older adults. Ten hours a month of volunteer time to the community is a stipulation of the lease. Neighbors serve neighbors. An AI-driven voice matching system establishes connection points between community members.

In this episode of the Glowing Older podcast, host Nancy Griffin interviews Dr. Kenneth Pelletier, a clinical professor of medicine and psychiatry at UCSF, about the science of longevity and the role of epigenetics. Dr. Pelletier shares insights into the importance of healthspan over lifespan, and the impact of diet, stress, exercise, and social support on longevity. He also discusses the potential and limitations of biohacking and the growing field of integrative medicine.

About Dr. Pelletier

Kenneth R. Pelletier, PhD, MD is a Clinical Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine; Department of Family and Community Medicine; and Department of Psychiatry at the University of California School of Medicine (UCSF) in San Francisco; and a Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine and Department Family and Community Medicine at the University of Arizona School of Medicine in Tucson.

At the present time, Dr. Pelletier is a medical and business consultant to the US Department of Health and Human Services, the World Health Organization (WHO), the National Business Group on Health, the Federation of State Medical Boards, the Wild Dolphin Project, and major corporations including Cisco, IBM, American Airlines, Prudential, Dow, Disney, Ford, Mercer, Merck, Pepsico, Ford, Pfizer, Walgreens, NASA, Microsoft ENCARTA, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, United Healthcare, Health Net, the Pasteur Institute of Lille, France, the Alpha Group of Mexico, and the Singapore Ministry of Health. He also serves on the boards of the Rancho la Puerta (Mexico), Nova Institute, Fries Foundation, American Institute of Stress (AIS), American Journal of Health Promotion (AJHP), as a Founding Board Member of the American Board of Integrative Medicine (ABOIM), and as a peer reviewer for the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (JOEM), Annals of Internal Medicine, Health Affairs, and webMD.

Dr. Pelletier is listed in Who’s Who in America and in Who’s Who in the World. He has been featured on ABC World News, the Today program, Good Morning America, Dr Oz, the CBS Evening News, 48 Hours, the McNeil-Lehrer Newshour, CNN, FOX News, and CBS Sunday Morning.

Dr. Pelletier is the author of 15 major books including the international bestseller Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer; Holistic Medicine: From Stress to Optimum Health; Longevity: Fulfilling Our Biological Potential; Healthy People in Unhealthy Places; Stress and Fitness at Work; Sound Mind – Sound Body: A New Model for Lifelong Health; The Best Alternative Medicine: What Works? What Does Not?; Stress Free for Good: Ten Scientifically Proven Life Skills for Health and Happiness; New Medicine: How to Integrate Conventional and Alternative Medicine for the Safest and Most Effective Treatment and Change Your Genes – Change Your Life: Creating Optimal Health with the New Science ofEpigenetics.

Key Takeaways

• Epigenetics is a relatively new science, developed in the last 15 years. Epigenetics are all of the influences that determine our health, wellbeing, and life expectancy after the sperm and ovum unite.
• Epigenetics plays a crucial role in determining health and life expectancy – 95 % of health, illness, and life expectancy are due to factors other than our genes. The role of diet, stress, physical activity and social support significantly influence genetic expression.
• There are no longitudinal studies for biohacking. Don’tgo into the periphery and engage in questionable practices. Sort hope from hype.
• Equal criteria for evaluating the outcomes of alternative and conventional medicine must be applied; both should be held to the same rigorous scientific standards to ensure their acceptability and effectiveness.

In this episode of the Glowing Older podcast, host Nancy Griffin interviews Michael Clinton, founder and CEO of Roar Forward. They discuss his book Roar Into the Second Half of Your Life, and the concept of New Longevity. Clinton shares insights on reimagining life after 50, the importance of health span over lifespan, and the evolving role of age inclusivity in society and business. The conversation also touches on the impact of ageism, the significance of travel, and the need for continuous learning and personal growth.

About Michael

Michael Clinton, in partnership with Hearst, is founder and CEO of ROAR Forward, a business-to-business intelligence, insights and content platform. ROAR Forward’s primary focus is the new demographic segment of individuals aged 50+who are redefining the second half of life in their careers, passions and lifestyles. ROAR Forward offerings include the ROAR Report with proprietary data and research, bulletins, seminars, workshops, along with original content and events that shed light on the dynamically changing market demographic of individuals aged 50-plus who now comprise 35% of the population.

Clinton serves on the board of The Stanford Center on Longevity and is a globally recognized speaker about the New Longevity. In December 2023, he was named to Estee Lauder’s first-ever Longevity Collective, a curated group of influential experts and global pioneers in longevity science and lifestyle. Clinton’s best-selling book, ROAR into the second half of your life, now in its fourth printing, is the springboard for ROAR Forward. As a contributing writer for Esquire, Men’s Health and Oprah Daily, Clinton frequently covers the topic of the new longevity movement. In 2024, Men’s Health named Clinton “the pivot pioneer” in a feature about the 5 men leading the longevity conversation.

In May 2019, Clinton was named senior media advisor to the CEO of Hearst after 21 years at the company. Previously, he was president of marketing & publishing director of Hearst Magazines and was a member of the board of directors of Hearst Corporation. Prior to that, Clinton was executive vice president of Condé Nast Publications.

Key Takeaways

• The New Longevity is about reinventing, reimagining, and rethinking the second half of life. Healthspan plus Wealthspan equals a great Lifespan.
• The acronym for ROAR is, the R, the reimaginationprocess. O own your numbers. A the action plan, a program that we call life layering, and the final R is your relationships, reassessing the people around you in the second half of life.
• The huge population of 50-plus impacts company and brands strategies, marketing and advertising, society and culture and infrastructure. Thirty five percent of the US population is currently 50 plus, with 60 million people 65 or older, growing to 80 million by 2040. To put into perspective, 100 years ago there were only seven million people over 65 in the US.
• Advertising needs to be age inclusive. Imagery and messaging in advertising reinforces ageist thinking, which becomes self-imposed ageism.