MYSTIC – They are defined by the years they were born, specifically between 1946 and 1964. They are healthy, wealthy and well-educated and have tremendous power to influence the people, politics and finances of their world. How do these 38 million women, more familiarly known as “baby boomers,” talk to each other to share their most intimate thoughts as if they were girlfriends sitting around a kitchen table drinking coffee?

One woman has spent her last six years reaching out and designing ways for her generation to connect. She gathers information and resources to help them stay educated, informed and empowered and has also created an online forum that allows them to talk to each other about their challenges and triumphs, learning and growing by sharing their personal experiences.

Dotsie Bregel founded the website www.BoomerWomenSpeak.com in 2002, an on line forum where thousands of midlife women offer each other guidance and support, inspiring each other to chase their passions and get the most out of the lives they are living.

“I believe strongly that love and connections heal people,” Bregel’s website quotes her as saying. “There is peace in knowing that others trust me with their stories and I feel comforted when others listen to mine.”

Bregel oversees more than 60 forums that draw together baby boomer women from across the states and even from other countries to discuss emotions and issues that bond them into a generation. They chat about their health concerns, changing career paths and empty nest blues, giving empathy and inspiration that nurtures and strengthens their individual and collective souls. Bregel uses her ever-expanding knowledge of her generation and the network of people she has built to guide and inform the writers that share their thoughts around the clock in cyberspace.

Bregel credits the popularity of her BoomerWomenSpeak site to the fact that it collects a wide expanse of opinions on focused topics. “It’s not like Ann Landers, where it is just her opinion,” Bregel said. “We welcome everyone…there are no red pens to judge your writing skills and even lurkers can learn from the discussions if they are too shy to participate.”

In 2005, Bregel formed the National Association of Baby Boomer Women, developing an abundant membership package that includes an electronic resource library, teleseminars on relevant topics and a caring panel of experts that enlighten and encourage women to grow stronger and more knowledgeable about the challenges they face as they age and seek to rearrange their lives. Topics span from arthritis relief, eldercare support, grand parenting tips and menopause health to financial advice, entrepreneurship tactics, publishing guidance and even direction on finding midlife purpose.

Along this journey, Bregel has become a sought after expert on Boomer women’s issues, publishing newsletters and stories about her experiences, offering her insights on national television shows and radio broadcasts and speaking at seminars and trade shows that focus on her generation of women. She is known for her genuine warmth and endless generosity which embraces, soothes and heals the women she touches. She is praised for introducing strangers, transforming their separate existences into meaningful friendships that support and inspire.

Local New Englanders will have the opportunity to hear Bregel speak at the upcoming Baby Boomer Expo being held on September 14th at the Mystic Hilton. She will be sharing her thoughts on “The Top 10 Trends for Baby Boomers” blended with some interactive exchanges, heart felt storytelling and interesting statistics that promise to enlighten both women and men, as well as those interested in learning more about this influential generation that has always shaken things up.

“As boomers we have always re-invented ourselves as we go through life stages,” Bregel remarked.

As the keynote breakfast speaker, Bregel will be talking about Boomers staying active, living longer, going green and getting organized while they stay tech savvy and connect with others through volunteering and traveling.

Married for 26 years and having raised three children as a professional homemaker, Bregel now uses the skills she learned coordinating school fundraisers and scheduling after school activities. Initiating a group called “The Mothers Connection” at her local church where women gathered to interact with their children and other mothers, Bregel planted the roots that eventually grew into her successful, current career.

“Everything I had done led me to this…prepared me for this,” she said. “Life has changed. The kids have grown. Now I’m living another passion.”

Bregel is living the adventure that she aims to inspire in others. She has re-invented herself, having humbly nurtured her own family to now successfully nurturing thousands of fellow women of her generation.