Aldea Communications and Happy@Home
In Spanish, aldea (pronounced all-day-a) means “small village.” Founded in 1993 by Susan Estrada, a nationally recognized pioneer in Internet commercialization, Aldea Communications was established with the vision of helping the Internet grow into today's global village.
Aldea's Mission
Aldea's mission is to explore and investigate new technologies that use the Internet and broadband for the health, safety and entertainment of society. We also strive to provide fun, exciting jobs and a healthy work environment where learning, curiosity, listening and courtesy are hallmarks.
Happy@Home Approved Testing
Happy@Home Approved is dedicated to product reviews and buyers’ guides for aging-in-place tech. We test products and services and for those products that
a) do what they say they are supposed to do, and
b) have a direct positive impact on aging in place
get a review placed on the website. This is a similar review model to Good Housekeeping.
Our Staff
Susan Estrada
is president of Aldea Communications and leads the efforts for Happy@Home Approved ™. A “middle” boomer, she is a graduate of the UCLA School of Engineering and has worked in the communications industry for her entire career. She has an Aging in Place certification (CAPS) and loves to play with gadgets and gizmos. She has a passion for finding great technology solutions for everyday problems and sharing that knowledge with others. She also embraces her silver hair which she’s had since was 16 years old.
Chris McLaughlin
is a technician in the Happy@Home lab. A true gadget hound, Chris works with vendors to obtain products, then sets up and tests them in our lab. He also supports our at-home testing volunteers. He’s having a blast working with older adults and teaching them about the great technology available for aging-in-place. In his spare time, he is a videogame addict and raises geckos.Megan McLaughlin
is an outreach specialist for Happy@Home. She works with Approved product companies and others who want to advertise with us. Megan loves to work with people and get things done right. Her no-nonsense attitude makes her a favorite with customers. In her spare time, she does the GL but no T since it is bad for your skin.