Reframing Age as a Strategic Advantage

Speaker. Founder. Advocate for smarter workplaces and age-inclusive culture .

Barbara's Kit

From One Hundred to Zero

Before launching SecondActWomen in 2018, Barbara applied for more than one hundred roles, landed five interviews, and received zero offers.

The message was clear. Experience was being misread, misunderstood, and missed.

That moment became a strategic pivot, not a setback. A former shopping center marketing director and broadcast media business development leader with an award winning track record, Barbara built what she could not find. She founded SecondActWomen and later The House of Middlescence, and began speaking nationally about the business cost of overlooking experience and visibility in the workplace and in culture.

What started as personal frustration evolved into a broader platform. Today, her work sits at the intersection of age, workplace culture, and measurable business results.

Barbara’s Age-Positive Career Highlights

  • Founder of SecondActWomen, a global community of more than 24,297+ women and allies

  • Influencer in Aging by Next Avenue

  • Featured in Forbes, MarketWatch, Fast Company, CBS Colorado, and the Denver Post

  • Named one of Colorado’s Top 25 Most Powerful Businesswomen

  • Named Top 10 Leaders in Diversity by the Denver Business Journal

  • AARP Executive Council member for Colorado

  • Speaker at Microsoft, Hyatt, Frontier Airlines, and Colorado Startup Week

  • Mentor for the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce and the Denver Business Journal

  • Creator of The 40+ Lab insights and strategy arm of the company

Ready to Book a Presentation Now
Barbara Brooks Speaker Kit
Barbara brooks speaking with curly hair and glasses standing at a podium speaking into a microphone during a presentation at Marriott Melville on Long Island, with an audience listening.
Barbara Brooks speaking to an audience attending a conference titled BizLifeCon, with a woman speaking on stage. The stage has plants, a lectern, and a large screen displaying event information and a woman with a megaphone.

What Drives Her

The stories she’s told by women over 40, and others living under the weight of age bias.

Following her mother’s lifelong example of giving back, it’s Barbara mission to spark real dialogue about age and reframe how we see women 40+ in work and in life. She believes experience is not something to soften or sideline, but something to leverage and celebrate.

Through SecondActWomen and her Living Agefully philosophy, Barbara champions visibility, relevance, and contribution at every stage. Living Agefully is not about resisting age. It is about owning it, building with it, and leading with it.

Blending humor, data, and real talk, she helps individuals, teams, and leaders think bigger, lead smarter, and collaborate across generations.

About SecondActWomen

Our second act deserves a standing ovation. And because of that, SecondActWomen was founded in 2018 as a pro-aging community and movement to amplify women in middlescence and beyond through curated events, age-friendly content, and deep conversations that challenge age bias and celebrate life.

Women over 40 walking together outdoors to BizLifeCon SecondActWomen event, smiling and connecting in a casual community setting.
Get to Know SecondActWomen

Let’s Work Together to Inspire Change and Action

Speaking Overview

Barbara’s not in to fluff.

But she does do fun while guests engage.

And yes, that’s an old-school Pac-Man game Barbara’s father gifted her as a child.

Barbara Brooks speaking at a client event, smiling while holding a small box on stage in front of a presentation screen.
Ready? She's waiting to work with you.