Member Q&A with Amy Childester
Amy Chidester is the kind of coworker at Createscape who shows up to the office, keeps her head down and concentrates on her work. It’s only when I noticed a sticker around the office, 💛 4 Ukraine, that I heard an incredible story.
The folks behind the stickers was the team working on the technology for Amy’s company. She was posting them around Createscape to bring attention to Ukrainians’ plight and how we — thousands of miles away in Texas — can help. Interestingly, there was an accompanying QR code. I clicked it, but the website was down. I asked Amy if this was a real fundraiser and she told me that her tech team — the Ukrainian small business running the news and fundraising site on the side — had been dodging Russian attacks that day — making it hard to keep a website online and running.
If this isn’t the kind of coworker you want to get to know better, then I don’t know who is. So check out this Q&A with Amy Chidester and at our next happy hour, be sure to say hello.
Amy Chidester, Createscape member, mom, and an advocate for elderly adults
Createscape: First, how is your last name pronounced phonetically? Is it Chide-ster (with a hard I)? Or Chid-ester, sort of like Chester?
Amy Chidester: The latter, Chid-ester, sort of like Chester, but with a chid, lol.
CS: What is WayWiser.life? What do you do there?
AC: I work remotely for WayWiser.life which is a tech start-up right here in Austin, Texas. It’s woman-led and has a mission to protect the hard-earned assets, financial independence and dignity of people as they age so they can live their best life.
We believe that everyone deserves to be protected. Statistically and fundamentally, in order to be more protected against financial exploitation, people need a village, a team, or as we call it, a “trusted circle.”
Our basic features include a suite of care coordination tools (available in the app store) that lay the foundation to help protect those hard earned assets. Caregivers need help with a variety of complex details and our goals is to help them protect protect the loved ones that are in their care.
CR: What exactly do you do there?
AC: I am the director of strategic aging initiatives. I serve as our subject-matter expert for our teams regarding everything from product to marketing. I’m a certified gerontologist with a 20-plus-year history as an executive in managing senior-living communities in Virginia, where I’m originally from. I love what I do because I get to look at the problems that exist across the long-term care continuum and work to provide solutions to anyone caring for someone else.
CR: Do you work directly with elderly clients/patients as a caregiver — or did you ever? Or are you more on the administrative side of the business?
AC: I’m more on the business side these days. My previous career in senior living and personal caregiving in my own life has given me 25-plus-years of directly working with caregivers, older adults and with the challenges that surround aging. I love people and I love caring for them. Helping develop this type of innovative technology brings me so much joy, especially the fact that I can potentially help out so many people. Caregiving is the backbone of our society.
Working as a senior living executive was a 24/7 position, very demanding, and intensely emotional. After my husband and I had our two girls, I was lucky to be able to transition into the tech industry while still able to help people and use my past experience. I wanted to have the time to be a large part of my girls’ lives as they grow up and WayWiser allows me to do that.
CS: Can you tell readers about the 💛 4 Ukraine fundraiser you’re promoting?
AC: We have a team in Ukraine who were directly impacted by the current war. These are amazing humans. While they’re literally being attacked, they’re working hard to help mankind as well by developing our technology. What a lesson everyone can learn about compassion, right!??!?! Amazing!
CR: Tell us about your family. What do you guys like to do in Austin on weekends?
AC: I have amazing little girls — they’re 3 and a 1 years old. My husband and I were preparing to adopt when we were surprised twice with when I got pregnant. We love parenting, it’s the hardest thing we have ever done, but we do love it and our girls.
We were also loving parents to a rescued English bulldog, but sadly lost her to cancer a few months back. But we are thinking of adopting another bully dog one day :)
We love Austin for music, the outdoors and the people. During the winter freeze last February, and at the beginning of the pandemic, we really saw this compassion as we had friends who took us in with our 4-month-old and 2-year-old, plus our 60-pound English bulldog! (And they had a cat to boot!) Austinites came together during that time period and in a way that we saw as a silver lining.
CR: Do you live near the office? What are some of the reasons you chose our space?
AC: We moved into the east side in 2016 and have really seen it change. We love it and enjoy seeing all the new unique businesses pop up.
We’re so glad the pandemic is finally ramping down some so that we can now share these awesome experiences with our girls.
I chose Createscape because it’s close to home and has the vibe of the East Side.
CR: In what ways do you use Createscape?
AC: We have held a company-wide meeting here, I book studio space for Facebook Live events, and I use call rooms for meetings. I love the various spaces and ease of getting in and out any time as my schedule is always changing.
CS: Tell readers a little bit about your monthly Motivation Monday webinars.
Thousands of caregivers and families that I have worked with in my career and in my personal life struggle with the magnitude of topics and complexity of resources and information. I have had several say, “I work full-time and caregiving is a second full-time job.”
I know the feeling when caring for my father with an acute medical event while starting my career in 2004 as a nursing home administrator. Thankfully I had a supportive boss, which is not the case for every caregiver.
Each journey is not only complex with responsibilities at every corner, but there are also emotions in the mix. No one is ever really ready for an event to take place that negatively impacts our loved ones or ourselves. But, we can try to learn and do things that we can relate to when the s*** hits the fan, so to speak. My Motivation Mondays are quick, 5 to 7 minute snippets about a topic in caregiving that is relevant to real life events, dates and deadlines.
I like to give real and trusted resources so that people can learn to trust the information. They don't have to spend hours scouring the internet or on the phone for answers. They can go as deep or shallow into the topic as they want and can get help fast — at any time,
One of our initiatives that helps out so many people on a daily basis is our Caregiving is Tough, Facebook support group for caregivers. It’s a place where caregivers can go to unite and support each other, ask questions, discuss topics or just vent. A lot of professionals are using our page as an extension to their in-person support groups because they can access us 24/7, right on their handheld device.
CS: Can you tell readers about other campaigns you’re working on now or any that are coming up?
AC: Yes, we also have a beta users group on Facebook where we connect to those users who are new and want to give feedback surrounding our features and platform. On our website we share tools that I help create to assist caregivers on their journeys to include a blog, an estimator of functioning for older adults, a trusted advisor network that provides advice to our customers, monthly webinars, as well as a smart list that can assist caregivers with helpful links and places to go for important information.
CS:You helped develop a Caregiver Guide at WayWiser.life. Can you tell readers about it?
AC: The Caregiver Guide was developed as a tool for caregivers to answer a few basic questions. Their answers help determine where their loved one is functionally and what they can do to help them stay as independent as possible. The health care industry, when helping families determine if someone can live alone or not, rely on activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). Our ADLs consist of things like ambulation, transferring from a chair or bed, etc. As well as toileting, eating, and more.
Our IADLs consist of things like financial management, the environment, calling for help, meal preparation, plus managing a variety of other tasks. It’s believed that the less an individual needs in these categories, the more independent they can live. But there are caveats and high-level description of to help point caregivers in the right direction when they need help. For example, where to start when they first notice mom or dad is not doing as well living on their own as they used to. It can also be utilized as a planning tool for when and if someone might need an assisted living or other senior living services.
CS: And what is your SmartList?
AC: The SmartList (download here) is a compilation of links, resources, and trusted entities that provide information on all of the documents and topics you may come across during your caregiving journey. Our goal is to release more tools to help caregivers themselves live simpler and less stressful lives.
CS: You’re a co-author on some gerontology studies. Can you talk a little bit about those?
AC: Sure! I worked with clinicians and a team of staff at a continuing care retirement community to test touch screen computers and an activity-engagement platform designed for dementia residents. It was incredibly insightful — and moving — to see how these older adults received such positive outcomes from the study.
It was also exciting to find some clinically-promising statistics as well. I consider myself extremely lucky that I have the opportunity to work for WayWiser.life and to help build innovative technology so that caregivers everywhere can have more positive impacts on people.
CS: You moved to Austin in 2016 from Virginia Beach. What made you decide to leave the East Coast and move to Austin? Do you have family in Texas? Or did you just want to try something new?
AC: My husband and I planned our wedding in Sicily in May 2016. Around the same time, he was laid off from a global shipping company that he was with for nearly a decade. So we took our wedding and honeymoon trip to the Amalfi Coast, Italy, and thought about what to do next.
There, we decided that we didn't want to keep moving for jobs, we wanted to move for happiness and our interests and then find work. So we chose three cities and said whomever can find a job first in one of those cities, we’ll move there. So it happened to be Austin and we have not regretted it one bit. My husband is from Utah and I am from Virginia, so Texas is right in the middle of our extended families, which makes visiting for holidays easier.
CS: What is your favorite part of Austin?
AC: The music, unique businesses, and the FOOD! So. Much. Great. Food.
CS: Your oldest is only 3 years old, which means what you did when you got here is a lot different than what you do these days. What kinds of things do you like to do now?
AC: We have always loved the breweries in the area. To name a few favs: Blue Owl, Zilker, Meanwhile, Lazarus, Live Oak, Jester King (Edit note: Guys, they have mini goat walks!!), and (512) Brewing Company.
Our littles love some of these too, especially Jester King's goats and flowers and Meanwhile's spacious yard and Live Oaks open space. Our favorite restaurants are Juiceland, Easy Tiger, Ramen Tatsuya on 6th, Cooper's, La BBQ, Vera Cruz (which our littles love their agua frescas so much) and Quickie Pickie.
Our favorite music venues are Scoot Inn, Mohawk, Stubb's, anywhere the Heartless Bastards, Thievery Corporation or American Aquarium play! We love the local festivals. Both our littles loved UtopiaFest as the first festival we took them to together and it was a super friendly crowd. The only thing different with concerts these days after having kiddos is that it is just a challenge to stay awake late enough for the action to start, LOL.
Written by Riki Markowitz