Maddy Dychtwald, guest contributor to Caring.com

Maddy Dychtwald is a nationally recognized author, public speaker, marketing executive and entrepreneur. She has spent nearly twenty-five years deeply involved in exploring and forecasting demographic, lifestyle and consumer marketing trends. With her husband, Ken, she co-founded Age Wave, the nation's foremost thought-leader on population aging and its profound business, lifestyle and cultural implications. As a public speaker, she has addressed business, government, and community leaders worldwide. She is the author of Influence: How Women's Soaring Economic Power Will Transform Our World for the Better (Voice/Hyperion, May 2010) as well as Cycles: How We Will Live, Work, and Buy (Free Press, 2004) and an illustrated children's book, Gideon's Dream: A Tale of New Beginnings (HarperCollins, 2009, co-authored with her husband, Ken, and Dave and Grace Zaboski.) Maddy lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband Ken and her two children. To view recent articles and video clips, please visit www.maddydychtwald.com.