Anne Goldberg, The Savvy Senior
Anne Goldberg, The Savvy Senior
I was born and raised in Sheepshead Bay, a corner of Brooklyn near the beach. Summers were spent at Brighton Beach, with blankets and folding chairs, hot knishes and cold soda. Although, in reality, it was more like cold knishes and hot soda! To us, it was manna from heaven and we didn’t mind the sand that found its way into our mouths, or that the warm foamy soda was spilling out of our mouths. Brooklyn was a small town back then. I took my Barbie doll in her mock black patent leather case and walked to my friends’ apartments or to the candy store that was a few blocks away. I was little, perhaps 6 or 7 years old. And it was safe. I especially remember catching fireflies in the summer. We’d put them in glass jars until their lights faded away and they lay lifeless.
I graduated from Brooklyn College as an early childhood educator and taught 2nd grade for a while until I settled into a 23-year career as an executive recruiter for actuaries. I lived in New York until 1985 when I departed for a nine month adventure solo traveling to 18 countries. I returned to the U.S. in October 1986 and relocated to Florida where I married and had two sons who are the joy of my heart. (Until I had grand daughters. Now, they are the joy of my heart!) I continued recruiting until 1999, sold the business and spent time raising my kids. In 2007 I reentered the workforce, again recruiting, only this time in the green sector. My specialty was Water Resources. Things were going great until everything crashed in 2009.
From there, I had a variety of jobs until one day in 2013, I was out of ideas, disheartened and discouraged. That's when I surrendered. It was a powerful moment in which I let go of the idea that I knew what was best for me. That information lived somewhere else. I paid attention to the signs. It took just under two weeks… six seniors I did not know called and said, “I heard you teach the computer. Can you please help me?” I had not advertised. I never told anyone I was teaching computers to seniors! Clearly, it was my path and so Anne Goldberg, The Savvy Senior was born October 2013.
Over the past 10 years-plus, I have worked with over fifty different senior residences - independent and assisted living, 55+ communities, senior centers and groups from Cutler Bay to Port St. Lucie. While teaching technology, I also developed a longevity curriculum, The Art of Living Longer. I love to help empower seniors with knowledge allowing them to make educated decisions about the health and well-being. Subjects covered a range of subjects from Decluttering Your Brain to Living on Purpose to the benefits of laughter and of eating a diet of whole, unprocessed foods, moving our bodies and, above all, having a rich social circle of close friends. Savvy Seniors know they're old enough to have a past and young enough to have a future and make choices that help them live into that future being sharp and vital and good health.
I like to say that I don’t work for a living… I get to play and have fun every day. Teaching tech to seniors fills me with purpose. My desire is to inspire seniors to know that they are old enough to have a past and young enough to have a future! How can I serve you?