Ahead of National Family Caregivers Month, Oak Park AI Strategist Turns Her Mother's Dementia Into a Guide for Working Caregivers
In "Boo, How Do I Get Home?", Anita Charlot shares the AI system she built, "an extension of my brain," that carried her family through dementia. Pre-orders open October 28. The PDF edition releases November 3, her mother's birthday.
OAK PARK, Ill. — October 28, 2026 — In the winter of 2020, Anita Charlot's phone rang. Her mother, then 86 and still driving herself everywhere, was at a gas station in a snowstorm. She had one question.
"Boo... how do I get home?"
It was the moment she knew something was wrong. That question is now the title of Charlot's new book, "Boo, How Do I Get Home? A Daughter's Guide to Caregiving, Letting Go, and Building the System That Held Her Up." Pre-orders open today at boohowdoigethome.com. The PDF edition releases November 3, her mother's birthday.
The book arrives as the country marks National Family Caregivers Month in November. The Caregiver Action Network set this year's theme as "Care Connects Us." November is also National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month.
"Caregivers Month is when the country stops to notice the people doing this work," Charlot said. "Most of them are doing it between meetings, after shifts and in the middle of the night. I want every one of them to know they don't have to carry it alone."
Charlot advises business leaders on putting AI to work. When caregiving arrived, she used the same skills at home. She built a care board covering her mother's medical, logistical, emotional, and financial needs. She turned to AI at 11 p.m., when she was scared and couldn't call anyone, to understand what dementia was doing and to prepare for doctors' appointments and hard family conversations. She also built Donna, an AI chief of staff that holds reminders, emails, and details so she doesn't have to rely on memory. The book shares that system, along with the AI prompts she wishes she'd had that first winter, and a firm line on what AI should never decide.
"AI is an extension of my brain," Charlot said. "When you're caring for a parent and working at the same time, your head can't be the only place everything lives. I wrote the book I needed that first winter, so the next daughter or son doesn't have to build that system from scratch at the kitchen table at 11 p.m."
She is far from alone. About 63 million Americans, nearly one in four adults, now provide ongoing care for a family member, and about 6 in 10 also hold a paid job, according to the AARP and National Alliance for Caregiving's "Caregiving in the U.S. 2025" report. Nearly 13 million provide unpaid care for someone living with Alzheimer's or another dementia, according to the Alzheimer's Association's 2026 Facts and Figures report.
The book is part memoir, part working guide. It follows the caregiving journey from the first signs through the move to assisted living, and the discovery that the move doesn't end the calls. It just changes their shape. It also takes on what Charlot calls the hardest truth: some things can't be fixed, and the work becomes holding everything around them.
"I'm a problem solver. I've built my whole career on finding the way through," Charlot said. "Dementia taught me that some problems don't get solved. You build a system strong enough to carry them, and you let other people, and the right tools, help you hold it."
Charlot's mother, now in her nineties, was a hairdresser for more than 50 years and known for her derby hats, one in every color. She still calls her daughter by her childhood nickname: "Hey, that's my baby. Hey, Boo!"
For Event Planners And Employers
Charlot speaks to employers, associations, and community groups about supporting the caregivers already on their teams. Talks and workshops include:
- Preventing Caregiver Burnout with Practical AI (employer workshop)
- Carrying Two Lives: Practical AI for Working Caregivers
- When Your Memory Needs a Backup: AI Routines for Working Through Menopause
Charlot is booking caregiving-month programs for November and caregiver-support sessions for 2027. Booking information is at anitacharlotspeaks.com.
Availability
- Pre-order ($27): signed paperback (U.S. only, shipping in late November), the PDF edition on November 3, and the Build Your Board caregiving workbook delivered right away.
- Pre-order with live Q&A ($47): everything above, plus a live group Q&A with the author on Friday, November 20, at 7 p.m. Central.
- Digital edition ($19): PDF edition and workbook, available worldwide.
- Pre-orders close November 18, 2026. Kindle and paperback editions will follow on Amazon.
About The Author
Anita Charlot is an AI adoption strategist and the founder and CEO of Relationship Architect Academy LLC. This Chicago-area AI advisory firm helps leaders put AI to work in their organizations. She is a Certified AI Solutions Architect and AI Consultant, a Business Relationship Management Professional (BRMP®) and a Prosci®-certified change practitioner, and the creator of the R.A.I. Framework™.
She taught AI workshops at National Black AI Literacy Week in 2025 and 2026, spoke at BRMConnect 2026, and led a caregivers workshop at the Oak Park Public Library. A 14-year U.S. Army Reserves veteran, she built her business while working full time and serving in the Reserves, and has run it while caring for her mother since 2020. She is also the author of "Your First 30 Days with an AI Teammate." She lives in Oak Park, Illinois.