Creative Care Council

Actor, advocate, caregiver to her mother

Brandee Evans is the star of the hit TV series "P-Valley" and has been a primary caregiver since 2016 for her mother who has Multiple Sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease.
Brandee arranges her mom’s medical appointments and follow-ups, transportation and meals. She found it initially challenging to relinquish control and entrust the people she’s hired to keep her mom safe. Over the years she has picked up medical and nursing skills, including catheter and wound care and medication management, and takes a lot of pride in training all of her mothers’ in-home direct care workers. Caregiving has been an “exhausting rollercoaster fueled by love” because of the incredible lows and highs; in one hour she has experienced both the worst moment and best moment.
Brandee has seen first hand how keeping her mom at home has extended her life, and wants every family to have the same choice. Brandee considers it an honor to share her and her mom’s experiences with other families and professional care workers, and hopes that bringing awareness to the issue will ensure that other families won’t suffer the same hardships.

Grammy-winning artist, entrepreneur and philanthropist

Caregiving has played a major role in Megan’s life. Growing up she watched her grandmother, who was a teacher, serve as primary caregiver for her great-grandmother, and do it with love, strength and patience.
Megan saw firsthand how caregiving can be a physical and mental commitment that requires people to sacrifice their own needs for the well-being of others, and how care workers can have a positive impact on the lives of people who receive care, and their families. She thinks family caregivers and paid care workers deserve more recognition and support because they do one of the toughest and most underappreciated jobs in the world. She also believes that all families should have access to high-quality resources to provide appropriate care for older adults, disabled people and individuals with illnesses.
These experiences led Megan to pursue a degree in health administration at Texas Southern University and launch The Pete and Thomas Foundation, which honors her late parents by supporting women, children, older adults and underserved communities in Houston and beyond.
Megan wants to help other families with caregiving needs and eventually open assisted-living facilities in her hometown. She hopes to create better environments where people receiving care can feel safe and comfortable while care workers feel supported and empowered.

Actor, director, writer, producer and former caregiver

Bradley Cooper is an actor, director, writer, producer and former caregiver to his late father, Charles J. Cooper, who had lung cancer.
After learning the diagnoses in 2011, Bradley was able to put his life on hold to be by his dad’s side through treatments, medication, pain management and constant interaction with his clinical team. Bradley and his family found themselves organizing rides to and from medical appointments, finding palatable food, and providing emotional support to make sense of everything that was going on.
These caregiving experiences spurred him to start One Family Foundation in 2013 to provide families impacted by cancer access to basic resources and financial support. Bradley believes that everyone should be able to age and die with dignity, and that vast inequities and the lack of access to essential resources can make an already unbearable situation infinitely more stressful. He wants all people to have the care and support that his father did—somebody to walk hand in hand with as they navigate their treatment—and the financial security to have the peace of mind knowing their family's quality of life will be taken care of.

Writer, actor

Seth Rogen, HFC co-founder, actor, producer and former caregiver to his mother-in-law. Seth and his wife, Lauren, were in their early 20s when they began dating and, shortly after, learned that her mother was exhibiting symptoms of early-onset Alzheimer’s. At the time, Seth’s understanding of Alzheimer’s came from Hollywood depictions of the disease: it only affected much older adults, and resulted in forgotten keys, mismatched shoes and being asked the same question again. Lauren’s mom, a teacher for 35 years, did show these symptoms for several years. As the disease progressed, however, she then eventually forgot who her loved ones were and how to speak and dress herself at the age of 60.
The shameful stigma around Alzheimer’s, as well as the extraordinary financial strain that families experience—especially those with more limited resources—spurred Seth and Lauren to start Hilarity for Charity (HFC). Seth believes that the more openly we can talk about Alzheimer’s care, the more we can realize we’re all in this together and figure out a way to transform how we care for one another.

Filmmaker, former caregiver to her mother

Lauren Miller Rogen is a screenwriter, director, producer, and philanthropist, whose life has been touched many times over by Alzheimer’s. Throughout her early 20s, Lauren cared for her mother, who was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease at just 55 years old. Lauren, whose maternal grandparents both had dementia, noticed something was amiss at her college graduation when her mom repeated a story a couple times throughout the weekend. Lauren’s dad initially cared for his wife alone, and was very adamant about not burdening Lauren and her brother. Eventually, the family sat down and had the difficult but important conversations about how to navigate care for Lauren’s mom. Ultimately, Lauren’s parents moved to a duplex close to her, with her dad on one side and her mom on the other side with a set of full-time caregivers over eight years.
Lauren understood that most people—especially young people thrust into caregiving situations—could not afford such a set-up, which spurred her and her husband to found Hilarity for Charity (HFC), to provide grants for other young caregivers and activate the next generation of Alzheimer’s advocates. Since then, Lauren and the HFC team have brought significant awareness to Alzheimer’s, raising millions of dollars to fund emerging leaders in prevention-focused research and award free, professional in-home care to families in need of respite and support—all while using humor and hope to engage people. If there is one thing Lauren wants people to remember, it’s that Alzheimer’s doesn’t have to be sad or scary when you’re fighting against it. You can come to an HFC event and have fun, but also do something for Alzheimer’s.

Journalist, long-distance caregiver

Richard Lui, journalist and news anchor for MSNBC and NBC News and long-distance caregiver for his mother and late father who had Alzheimer’s.
Richard spent seven years as a caregiver for his late father, who developed Alzheimer’s disease, while still working a demanding schedule. Richard was ready to walk away from his dream job to care for his dad when he learned that his boss, a family caregiver herself, worked with him to shift the job from a eight hours a day, seven days a week commitment to a three-day-a-week part-time position. Richard would fly Monday mornings to California after he would get off work on Sunday nights.
Before being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Richard’s father showed signs of memory loss when he couldn’t remember some of his siblings' names during a family gathering. As the disease progressed, Richard helped cook, bathe, feed and manage medication and doctor’s appointments for his father. Richard also hired direct care workers and coordinated family caregiver schedules, which he still does now for his mother.
Richard drew from his caregiving experience for film and book reporting projects, including Sky Blossom (2021), which focuses on student caregivers in Latino, Black, Asian, Native, and White American military families. His second film, Hidden Wounds, digs into mental health and caregiving and launches in May 2023. His first book, Enough About Me, was published by HarperCollins Zondervan in 2021, focused on the unexpected power of selflessness and his caregiving experience.
In addition to serving on the Caring Across Generations Creative Care Council, Richard is an ambassador for caregiving for the Elizabeth Dole Foundation’s Hidden Heroes campaign, AARP, Alzheimer’s Association, and the BrightFocus Foundation.

Actress, writer, producer, caregiver to her father

Yvette Nicole Brown is an Emmy-nominated actress, writer, producer and full-time caregiver for her father, Omar. She considers it a joy to care for her father, who has dementia and lives with her, and makes sure he eats, is comfortable, entertained and makes it to all of his medical appointments.
Yvette first noticed something amiss in 2011 when her father got lost while driving to meet her at a family member’s house. He was disoriented even though he had driven to the house countless times before. Yvette’s paternal grandfather had Alzheimer’s so she realized that her dad was going down the same path. As the disease progressed she chose to step in as caregiver and relocated her father to Los Angeles in 2013. However, she struggled to manage care responsibilities with her 16-hour days on the set of NBC’s hit prime-time sitcom “Community.” In 2014, she made the painful choice to walk away from the show after five seasons. Yvette eventually was able to find a balance between caregiving and her career and returned to acting with series regular and recurring roles on numerous shows including A Black Lady Sketch Show for which she received her Emmy-nomination and the film Avengers: Endgame.
She hopes that sharing her story will encourage a more kind, altruistic world, and raise awareness of the resources available to caregivers.

Actor, model, singer, mental health advocate and volunteer caregiver

Yves is a musician, songwriter, actor, activist and caregiver to various communities in New York City. He has volunteered for the last eight years as a cook, cleaner, meal preparer, server and volunteer at a senior center and shelter in New York City. The most challenging aspect of his time there has been learning to maneuver and respect the space of someone who doesn’t feel worthy enough to receive love and care. Yves has also trained and worked with rescued and abused pitbulls at the city’s Animal Care Center.
A longtime activist, Yves fights for Black liberation and more equitable care. He believes that everyone, at some point in their lives, will either need care or facilitate care for someone else.
Yves is a proud queer, mixed race 28-year-old man from Flatbush, Brooklyn.