How TV Exec Simmy Kustanowitz Turned Impractical Experience into Creative Problem Solving

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Simmy Kustanowitz spent the bulk of his career working in television production. From the moment he took a job as an intern for “The Daily Show,” he fell in love with the industry. After college, he climbed the ranks. His first job as an NBC page gave way to a gig as a production assistant for MTV, where he worked on a variety of shows. That’s where he was given his first opportunity to produce TV shows.

With all that experience under his belt, Simmy eventually landed a role as an executive at the newly formed TruTV Network. That’s where things really came together. Not long after he joined TruTV, Simmy became the network executive (or, the network suit) in charge of the rising comedy juggernaut “Impractical Jokers.”

He oversaw that production for several years before leaving the network and jumping to the other side of the equation, working directly for the Jokers’ production company. It didn’t take long for Simmy to become the popular show’s showrunner, the person who had overall creative authority and management responsibility for the show.

In spite of all that success, Simmy felt the need to find a lifeboat. As much fun as TV production was, there were signs that it might not be his long-term career path. He started searching for a career path that would make sense. As he shares in this inspiring episode, the result soon became Clock Tower Innovation, Simmy’s creative consultancy for companies that don’t have time for bloated processes or mediocre execution.

In this episode, Simmy shares details of his path that culminated in his running one of the most successful comedy shows ever to air on TV, how he made the difficult decision to leave TV behind, and what inspired him to draw on all his production experience to launch one of the most unique creative consultancies in the world.

To learn more about Simmy, you can find him on Substack (https://substack.com/@simmykustanowitz), YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5cTuZAeTy_xkQ18iPrGgSg) or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/clocktowerinnovation/)

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His Second Act Began With A Double Espresso

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If you like coffee, you’re going to love Mike Ayar’s second act.

Mike ran a highly successful software company for 24 years. With a niche focus, his organization served pest control companies, an industry Mike describes as “the absolute best service business in the world in terms of recurring revenue.”

In 2002 a private equity company began pursuing the purchase of his company and in 2006 they made him a financial offer “he couldn’t refuse.” After the purchase, he continued to run the company but finally departed in 2009. Mike had “no idea” what he wanted to do next.

A few years earlier, Mike had developed an intense interest in speciality coffee and in particular coffee roasting. Surprisingly, he had never tasted coffee until he turned 45. Waiting for a flight, he entered an airport Starbucks and ordered a double espresso. He was hooked.

Mike took a range of courses and seminars from coffee experts around the country. In 2011, he launched Turnstile Coffee Roasters in Belmar, NJ. The company has grown into a thriving cafe which also offers online coffee sales and wholesale services to other coffee shops and area restaurants. It’s a family affair with his nephew and two daughters actively engaged in the company.

Click here to learn more about Turnstile Coffee Roasters and their seventeen different blends of coffee from Costa Rica, Brazil, Guatamala, Ethiopia, Columbia, Nicarauga, Peru and Indonesia.

 

A Wall Street Trader Bets Big on Acai Bowls

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Andrew Pudalov spent 15 years working his way up the ladder in the competitive ranks of NYC’s financial industry. But the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center changed everything. “I was traumatized. My wife too. We have little kids. I lost good friends. One jumped. I could not believe the towers came down.”

Andrew, his spouse and their young family were ready for a change. So they headed west to Boulder, Colorado with very little idea what was ahead. With zero experience in the retail food industry, Andrew started Rush Bowls a company  that specializes in all-natural acai bowls and smoothies.

Over the past 20+ years, the company has grown to over 50 locations across the United States with another 20 stores in development.

 

The Caregiver’s Journey: Drawing Purpose from Pain

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What would happen if you were suddenly thrust into the role of caregiver for someone you love? Would you have any idea what to do or how to do it?

It’s estimated that as many as 50 million people in the United States are caregivers, a job that virtually none of them trained for.

We all know someone who became a caregiver and had to learn on the fly. Unfortunately, there are precious few resources that can help. Sue Ryan and Nancy Treaster experienced it first-hand. These inspiring women worked together in the software industry before finding themselves facing a similar life challenge: becoming caregivers for their husbands, both of whom were battling dementia.

There was plenty of information about their husbands’ diagnoses. Doctors were happy to provide them with hordes of information about what to expect as the disease progressed, but nobody was there with practical information about how to be a caregiver for someone with dementia.

Their lived caregiving experience gave Sue and Nancy all the training they needed to make sure nobody else would have to figure it out on their own. That’s when they founded the sensationally popular podcast, The Caregiver’s Journey. Each episode features truly practical advice about how to manage as a caregiver. Topics range from self-care to advice for clipping your loved one’s fingernails. They truly cover it all.

The Caregiver’s Journey has since grown to a powerhouse brand that fills a hugely meaningful gap for anyone who finds themselves having to be a caregiver. The organization was recently granted nonprofit status.

In this episode, Sue and Nancy discuss their former careers, their friendship, and their own personal journeys. It’s at times compelling, heart wrenching and funny, but it’s entirely inspirational and helpful.

To learn more about The Caregiver’s Journey, visit them at thecaregiversjourney.org. And look up “The Caregiver’s Journey” on any podcast app.

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Harvard To Home Repair: A Management Consultant’s Unusual Career Pivot

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With an undergraduate degree from New York University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, Jon Malankar joined the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in 2018. He climbed the corporate ladder at this top managment consulting firm and became a partner in his mid-30s.

But the bureaucratic burden of working for a large consulting firm with Fortune 100 clients and a strong desire to be more plugged in to his local community (“I felt like a nomad in my hometown”), Jon yearned to be his own boss. After a year of exploration, he opted to become a Mr. Handyman franchise owner in Long Branch, New Jersey. Despite no experience in home repair work, Jon is successfully managing four teams of repair professionals.

According to Jon, “Owning a very local, present, visible, tangible small business really filled up the scorecard for me.“

Prescription For Change: A Doctor Pursues Her Passion For Fashion

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Since her mother taught her to sew at the age of eight, Vanessa Gavin always wanted to be a fashion designer. Throughout high school, she made her own clothes experimenting with different colors, fabrics and patterns. But in college she opted to study biology, went on to get her masters in public health and finally got a degree in medicine.

Now Dr. Vanessa Gavin-Headen, she spent the next 25 years in a rewarding career as a family physician in Long Beach, California.

Dr. Vanessa and her Valmasi medical scrubs for curvy women.

It was during the Covid-19 pandemic when health professionals started wearing medical scrubs again that Dr. Vanessa returned to her fashion dream by creating a tailored product for “curvy women” in healthcare. Her new company, Valmasi, offers medical scrubs for females with a comfortable fit across the breasts, waist, hips and thighs.

Click here to learn more about Dr. Vanessa and Valmasi.

Valmasi medical scrubs are designed to fit curvy figures, ensure comfort and ease of movement.

 

Mad Men 2.0: Advertising Veteran Helps Launch “Geezer,” New Agency For 50+ Market

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Brent Rivard had a long, successful career in advertising, working for major ad agencies in New York and Toronto. But as he entered his 50s, Brent faced an industry that is focused on youth in both it’s work and it’s staffing. The average age of an individual working in advertising is just 29 years old.

Teamed with two advertising executives also in their early 50s, he is in the process of building a groundbreaking agency called “Geezer.” The new company is different from traditional agencies in two major ways:

  • Geezer is focused on serving the 50+ market (the most lucrative segment of the population);
  • The agency is staffed by seasoned veterans – all with 25+ years of experience in the advertising profession.

According to Brent, “Ageism is a big problem in the advertising agency world and we need to do something about it.”

Click here to learn more about Geezer and their unique approach to advertising.

All Eyes on Justin Farmer: Veteran WSB-TV News Anchor Launches a Second Act in Public

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Justin Farmer is one of the most recognizable people in Atlanta. He spent 17 years as the evening news anchor on WSB-TV, Atlanta’s top-rated news station, and one of the biggest local market news stations in the country. News was a Farmer family business; Justin’s father, Don Farmer, was an ABC news correspondent, a founding CNN anchor, and later the evening news anchor on WSB in Atlanta, a job he held until 1997. Ten years later, Justin landed the same job, at the same station.

But let’s rewind: this all meant that Justin grew up with an inside track to history. While he graduated from Boston College with a degree in political science, his family legacy and several internships at WSB naturally led him to broadcasting. His first TV job was as a sportscaster in Albany, Georgia. But a life in TV news is nomadic, and Justin moved from market to market before eventually landing back home in Atlanta and working for WSB. In 2007, he finally landed at the anchor desk.

Everything was going well until the early 2020s, when in the span of 14 months, Justin lost both his biological parents and his beloved WSB co-anchor, Jovita Moore. This series of traumatic losses caused him to rethink what he wanted from life. He challenged himself to do something different, and his passion for investing and wealth management emerged as his new career goal.

It wasn’t an easy path. Studying for the Series 65 – Uniform Investment Adviser Law Exam, is a full-time job itself, but Justin climbed that mountain around his very high-profile full-time job. He passed the first time he took it. Then, on November 26, 2024, he signed off from WSB-TV with three hilarious words and launched Exit Wealth, a private investment firm that works with ultra-high-net-worth individuals.

Our interview with Justin happened just weeks after he embarked on his second act. In this episode, Justin shares his history in TV news, some of the fun stories that are always part of live TV, his painful turning point, the thought process behind leaving what appears to be a “cushy” job, and the mountains he had to scale to make his second act a reality.

Learn more about Justin by Googling his name and learn more about Exit Wealth by visiting their website.

Second Act Stories theme music: “Between 1 and 3 am” by Echoes

Sparking Climate Conversations Across the USA: Kathleen Biggins’ Second Act

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Kathleen Biggins is a prime example of an ordinary person doing extraordinary things.

The genesis of Kathleen’s second act began in 2006 when she was asked to attend the Garden Club of America’s National Legislative Conference in Washington on behalf of her local garden club. That’s where her education about climate change began and ultimately led to the formation of C-Change Conversations. The organization is dedicated to helping people across the political spectrum understand the science behind climate change.

Kathleen and her colleagues have made presentations to 21,000+ individuals across 33 states. To learn more about C-Change Conversations, you can visit their website at www.c-changeconversations.org.

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Best of 2024: Leaving Real Estate To Hunt Pythons In The Everglades

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Second Act Stories Annual “Best of” Episode give us an opportunity to re-share a remarkable story from the past year and welcome new listeners by offering a taste of what we do: profile courageous individuals pursuing a more rewarding life in a second act.

In the “Best of 2024” episode Scott interviews Amy Siewe, an amazing woman who left lucrative career as a real estate broker to hunt pythons in the Florida Everglades. Amy proudly shares that she’s 5’ 4”, 120 lbs., and captures pythons as big as 180 lbs. by physically jumping on them and wrestling them into submission.

We hope you enjoy Amy’s incredible profile and tune in for more Second Act Stories in 2025!!!