Writing & Speaking

Ideas grounded in the realities of longer lives.

Duanni writes and speaks about caregiving, longevity, and the systems we need to support longer lives.

Her perspective is grounded in more than a decade of hands-on aging life care leadership and broadened by her experience as a founder, startup advisor, and investor in solutions for healthier lives and more resilient communities.

Through essays, talks, workshops, podcasts, and panels, she brings these perspectives together through Aging by Design, a framework for enabling human flourishing in later life.

Speaking in practice

Short-form ideas drawn from frontline experience.

Talks & Workshops

Four core topics.

Aging by Design: Building the Infrastructure for Longer Life

A keynote on why longevity without infrastructure can lead to crisis—and how six interconnected systems can help individuals, families, communities, and institutions prepare intentionally for longer lives and enable human flourishing in later life.

The Caregiver Crisis: Where Love Is No Longer Enough

Drawing on more than a decade of aging life care leadership, a candid and practical talk about the realities families face as care needs grow—from recognizing when help is needed to navigating the emotional, financial, and human costs of caregiving.

Longevity Economy

A forward-looking talk for business leaders, founders, investors, and innovators on the gap between extending lifespan and building the products, services, technologies, communities, and care systems people need to thrive across longer lives.

From Crisis to Design

Most families plan extensively for education, careers, homes, and retirement finances, yet wait for a health or caregiving crisis to plan for later life. This talk reframes aging as something we can design for—moving from reactive crisis management toward intentional preparation.

The operating foundation

Aging by Design is not theoretical.

Duanni Hurd’s Aging by Design framework is grounded in direct operational experience—founding Starlight Caregivers in 2013 and operating on the front lines of aging life care for more than a decade.

Her writing and speaking draw on extensive experience advising families through medical, legal, financial, and caregiving transitions. That perspective keeps the framework connected to what people actually encounter when systems must work together in real life.

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Media & Appearances

Interviews, talks & conversations.

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PodcastYouTube

Mar 2026

How to Win Clients in a Human First Industry

Hosted/Published by: First Builders

Duanni's Role: Guest appearance

Former AMD executive Duanni Hurd explains why technology alone is not enough. In healthcare and other service industries, trust is earned through empathy, culture, and how you respond when things go wrong.

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PodcastYouTube

Jun 2026

Before the Crisis: Planning Ahead for Caregiving Needs with guest Duanni Hurd

Hosted/Published by: Breathing Spaces FC

Duanni's Role: Guest appearance

In this episode of All Things Caregiving, hosts Cyndi Mariner and Cindy Gum welcome Duanni Hurd of Starlight Caregivers in Los Altos for an important conversation about preparing for the caregiving journey before a crisis occurs. Duanni shares the concept of “aging by design” — encouraging families to think proactively rather than react in moments of overwhelm. From understanding the types of support you or your loved one may eventually need to building a care budget and creating a care plan ahead of time, preparation can make all the difference.

CareCommunityFinancialLegalMedicalSocial Support

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PodcastYouTube

Jun 2026

Aging by Design: Protecting Your Family from Cognitive Crises | Duanni Hurd

Hosted/Published by: 340B Pulse

Duanni's Role: Guest appearance

Duanni Hurd, founder of Starlight Caregivers, breaks down how organizations can integrate high-tech systems thinking to empower caregivers and drastically improve long-term aging outcomes. Care team continuous improvement is the ongoing, systematic effort to enhance the delivery and coordination of patient care by shifting from reactive crisis-management to proactive, data-informed strategies. For most families, aging care begins with a sudden emergency a severe fall or an unexpected cognitive decline. Suddenly, you are thrust into a complex medical system, forced to make life-altering decisions. But deploying caregivers isn't the same as truly coordinating care. When organizations simply check off tasks without analyzing the underlying health data, they leave families vulnerable to the next inevitable crisis.

Social Support

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PodcastYouTube

Mar 2026

The Reality of Building in Healthcare

Hosted/Published by: First Builders

Duanni's Role: Guest appearance

Duanni Hurd, former AMD executive and tech leader, left the semiconductor industry to found a healthcare company rooted in compassion and innovation. Healthcare operates 24/7 and so did she. She opens up about the realities of launching a care focused business without a clinical background and the resilience it required.

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PodcastYouTube

Mar 2026

Empathy Meets Execution: Duanni Hurd on Shifting from Hardware Executive to Scaling Home Care

Hosted/Published by: First Builders

Duanni's Role: Guest appearance

Duanni shares her unconventional path from global hardware and graphics companies during Silicon Valley’s golden era to founding and leading a concierge home care organization serving aging adults and people with disabilities across the Bay Area. Drawing from her experience at Acer, ATI/AMD, and multinational OEM environments, she reflects on how lessons in execution, cross-functional alignment, and resilience translated into building a 24/7 healthcare operation from the ground up.

Care

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Practical guidance