4-Quarter Lives

• James R. (Bob) Hagerty: Tell Your Own Life Story – or Someone Else Will

  In this week’s 4-Quarter Lives, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox talks with James R. (Bob) Hagerty, longtime journalist and obituary writer for The Wall Street Journal. After a 40-year career covering business and markets across New York, London, Hong Kong, and Paris, James found an unexpected calling - writing obituaries that capture the richness of lives well-lived. Through more than a thousand obituaries, he’s uncovered what gets remembered, what gets lost, and why we should all take the time to write our own life stories. In this conversation, he and Avivah explore the power of memoir writing—not just for those who come after us, but for ourselves. Why do so many of us wait too long to reflect on our own journeys? How can writing our own stories help us make sense of the choices we’ve made and even shape our futures? And how does storytelling preserve both personal and collective history?James’ book, Yours Truly, makes the case for taking our own narratives into our hands before others summarize them for us.James R. (Bob) Hagerty is based in Pittsburgh and writes obituaries and other feature stories for The Wall Street Journal. Over the past four decades, he also has worked as a reporter, editor and bureau chief for the Journal and the International Herald Tribune in Hong Kong, London, Brussels, Paris, Atlanta and New York. He served as managing editor of The Wall Street Journal's Asian edition and London bureau chief of the WSJ. In addition to his journalism, James is the author of The Fateful History of Fannie Mae (History Press 2012), and Yours Truly, An Obituary Writer’s Guide to Telling Your Story (Kensington's Citadel Press, 2022), a book on how to tell life stories. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of North Dakota.Some Useful Links:* Buy Your’s Truly (Amazon USA)* Buy Your’s Truly (Amazon UK) Get full access to Elderberries at elderberries.substack.com/subscribe

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• Ruben Figueres: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Longevity – The Movie

  In this week’s episode of 4-Quarter Lives, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox talks with Ruben Figueres, co-Producer of the new film ‘Longevity Hackers’. The film follows Emmy Nominated Filmmaker Michal Siewierski (Food Choices, Diet Fiction, Takeout) on a journey to discover the latest research and science breakthroughs in the field of longevity and healthy life extension. Ruben talks about how an increasing number of experts, scientists, researchers and startup CEO’s believe that we are on the brink of being able to dramatically increase human health span and lifespan. He describes where the inspiration for the film originated, and the challenges of producing it over 4 years, featuring interviews with over 70 experts and seeking to present a balanced perspective on the topic. The focus is as much on health-span as life-span and emphasises that 90% of longevity improvements are already accessible to everyone through lifestyle changes. He believes, however, that living to 200 is increasingly realistic, due to exponential technological advancements and AI's potential impact on longevity research. He admits that producing the film significantly changed his own perspective on longevity and health and led to improved personal habits, especially sleep, resulting in better mood, physical state, and mental clarity. Ruben is now working on a second film focusing on inspiring stories of older individuals achieving remarkable feats.‘Longevity Hackers’ came out in 2024 and is currently available on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, and Voodoo in most countries.Entrepreneur, media expert, author and accomplished Ironman athlete, Ruben Figueres brings over two decades of media, business and advertising experience to the table, with his work ranging from fortune five hundred companies to presidential campaigns. Having executive produced hundreds of TV commercials, TV shows and infomercials. Ruben joined New Roots Films as Director of Business Affairs and co-producer of the film "Longevity Hackers". He is also President of the Alario Group, a leading Hispanic advertising agency in Chicago, whichh he founded, and was previously Business Development Strategist for Flowers Communications Group. He has an MBA from Escola Superior d’Administratio i Direccio d’Empreses (Esade) in Barcelona.Useful Links:* ‘Longevity Hackers’ website* New Roots Films website* Businesswire report on Longevity Hackers* Hollywood Reporter on Longevity Hackers Get full access to Elderberries at elderberries.substack.com/subscribe

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• Wake Up!

  Trying to get a short, sharp, shot at why we need to focus on longevity? Try this little conversation opener.Send it to your boss. Or your mother. They probably both need it.Feel free to share, just please cite my name, and the link to elderberries.substack.com And, please. Let me know what you think, answer this 1-question poll:To raise awareness of longevity and its impacts on all of us, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Elderberries at elderberries.substack.com/subscribe

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• Michael and Nancy Hodin: The Global Coalition on Aging

  In this week’s 4-Quarter Lives, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox talks with Michael and Nancy Hodin. Michael is Chief Executive of the Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA), while Nancy produces events for the Silver Economy Forum as part of the GCOA, while also running her own business as President of H&H Media.Together they discuss the significance of aging, longevity and the silver economy. Michael founded the GCOA 14 years ago, after a 30 year career at Pfizer, He explains its origins, arising from research showing how health and pension systems as well as society generally are increasingly struggling with longevity trends. He outlines its aim, to bring together diverse business sectors to address aging opportunities as a budines development strategy, , and through that focusing on the intersection of public policy, market innovation and healthy aging for GCOA Companies. Nancy, after a similarly long career in media and non-fiction programming, became interested in celebrating the accomplishments of people in their "third quarter" of life. She now leads the Silver Economy Forum as part of GCOA, to bring in cultural/media perspectives to their work.In conversation, Michael, Nancy and Avivah explore the significant disconnect between the economic power of older populations and how businesses/marketers do not target them. For example, 70% of US disposable income is held by those 60+, but only 2% of advertising dollars target the 55+ demographic. Many business are still not strategically planning for this reality and sectors from finance and tech to transportation, housing and travel are as yet failing to tap into the huge market potential of the older age demographic. The aim of the Silver Economy Forum is to raise awareness and drive action on aging-related opportunities across sectors and focus government and global institutional decision makesrs on aligned policy changes By combining policy/data insights with storytelling and popular cultural references, the objective is to shift perceptions on aging even as the market opportunity for businesses is addressed Together Michael and Nancy organise an annual gathering to discuss aging economy opportunities, bringing together policymakers, businesses and cultural figures. They see growing interest from countries like Saudi Arabia and Uruguay adding to the OECD countries from Japan, Italy and Finaland to the U.S. and UK while the UN Decade of Healthy Aging provides a valuable global framework through to 2030.Michael Hodin, Ph.D. is CEO of the Global Coalition on Aging, Managing Partner at High Lantern Group, and a Fellow at Oxford University’s Harris Manchester College. He has spoken internationally on the topic of aging, including at G20, APEC, Davos, and the World Knowledge Forum (WKF). He is also a blogger on Medium.  In previous careers Mike was Legislative Assistant to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and a Visiting Scholar at Brookings Institution, on U.S. Foreign Economic Policy. He was a senior executive at Pfizer for 30 years, where he created and then led its International Public Affairs and Public Policy operations and served on Management Boards for a number of its businesses. Mike is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and from 2010-2013 was Adjunct Senior Fellow with a focus on population aging. In 2013, he was invited to lead a Members’ Roundtable with the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging. He was a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Ageing, and he sits on the Advisory Board for the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging, as well as many other Boards. Mike holds a BA, cum laude, Cornell University, M.Sc.in International Relations from The London School of Economics and Political Science, and M.Phil and Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University.Nancy Jackson Hodin is a strategic content producer, designing specifically for selected distribution platforms and clients. Her work in broadcast, cable, experiential media, the web, live events, and digital signage strives to go beyond the conventional. Since 1986, Hodin has owned and operated her own production services company, H&H Media, Inc. Currently H&H Media is working with the Global Coalition on Aging, producing live and virtual global events on the Silver Economy. Other recent projects have included a ground-breaking video website, First Comes Fashion, a digital platform that was first to live stream fashion runway shows from around the world and produce original content to complement the shows. In addition, under The Clarient Group, Hodin partnered with major real estate developers to create broadcast and advertising signage businesses in mixed use properties, with The Time Warner Center in New York City as their inaugural project. Hodin has a BA from Dartmouth CollegeSome Useful Links:* Global Coalition on Aging website* Silver Economy Forum website* H&H Media Inc. website Get full access to Elderberries at elderberries.substack.com/subscribe

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• Brian Clark: Entrepreneurship in the Longevity Economy

  In this episode of 4-Quarter Lives, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox talks with Brian Clark, Founder of the midlife personal growth newsletter Further, of the marketing services business Longevity Gains, and serial digital entrepreneur. They discuss how, after selling his hugely successful digital business Copyblogger in 2018, Brian took time out from his serial entrepreneurship to travel and reflect on his future direction. He recognised how often men struggle silently with midlife transitions, and how men’s voices were lacking in the longevity space. He describes his career to that point and how the content marketing principles he had developed during that time remain powerfully relevant for educating and engaging older consumers. He also recognised how slow many businesses have been to recognise and adapt to the demographic shift of older and more affluent consumers. He outlines how, recognising the need for more male voices discussing both the personal and the business aspects of longevity and midlife transitions, he launched two projects. Further is a newsletter focused on the 50+ audience, providing resources for Gen Xers who reject the idea of a “golden years” retirement and seek to start location-independent businesses to live and work from anywhere as part of their “unretirement” lifestyle. Additionally, Longevity Gains is a service to educate and advise marketers and entrepreneurs on the huge opportunities of the longevity economy.Brian Clark is a writer, traveler, and serial digital entrepreneur. He’s the founder of the pioneering content marketing website Copyblogger, the midlife personal growth newsletter Further, and of Leading Expert, an educational community that provides smart strategies for location-independent business owners. He’s also co-founder of Digital Commerce Partners, a content marketing and SEO agency for digital business owners.Brian has started 13 businesses in the last 27 years, either solo or as a co-founder. The first one failed, but every company since has yielded higher revenue, profits, and happiness. He began publishing online in 1998, and by 1999 had his first entrepreneurial success thanks to an understanding of the emerging commercial internet. He went on to launch two additional successful businesses using purely online marketing and digital infrastructure, attaining even greater success. In 2006, he started a one-man website called Copyblogger, which quickly evolved into an influential digital trade magazine for the content marketing industry. The company created software-as-a-service, web hosting, WordPress themes and plugins, courses, and conferences. It’s been the dedicated service to the Copyblogger audience that has been the catalyst for the multimillion dollar tools, training, and service company Brian headed up as CEO, until his sale of the business in 2018. This level of success, plus Brian’s early adoption of online content to fuel startup companies, makes him a recognized pioneer of the now $44 billion content marketing industry.Useful Links:* Brian’s newsletter: Further* Longevity Gains website Get full access to Elderberries at elderberries.substack.com/subscribe

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