Russell Brent learned how to knit from his mother at seven. But he put away his knitting needles at a young age after hearing the phrase “boys don’t knit.”
In his mid thirties, Russell started knitting again — making baby gifts for friends. And he found he really enjoyed it — “it was easy…it was meditative.” His hobby grew into a new vocation and today he is the owner and proprietor of Balzac and Company, a yarn shop in Ocean Grove, New Jersey.
Detroit native Scott Weiss grew up in a family that emphasized formal education, but by his own admission, he was not a particularly good student. Scott attended Michigan State University, which was more a means to make money than to gain an education.
After graduating, Scott made his way to Atlanta, landed a job with Turner Broadcasting and by the age of 34 he was an executive vice president who launched the CNN Airport Network and often worked directly with Ted Turner. At this stage, Scott’s bosses sent him to a communication training workshop at Speakeasy that changed the course of his life.
Because of his experience, Scott left Turner and joined Speakeasy, a move that slashed his salary by two-thirds, but that added much needed purpose to his life and his career. Today Scott continues to lead this organization that profoundly impacts people’s lives.
Click here to learn about Speakeasy.
More information about Scott Weiss and his book DARE: Accepting the Challenge of Trusting Leadership is available at this link.
Nita Novy grew up in the small town of Courtdale, Pennsylvania (population 400). But via a series of unusual events, she made her way to the Broadway stage at the age of eight acting alongside Ethel Merman in Gypsy. She was later cast in “The Sound of Music,” appearing in the production’s first national tour and also on Broadway.
After getting a degree from Duke University, she returned to New York City and enjoyed a successful career as an adult actress. But as she and her husband Richard started a family, the theatre started to lose it’s cachet and she sought a new creative outlet.
Her new path began when she made her three-year-old daughter a small, furry hat. When she came home from school that day and opened her lunch box “there were five orders inside.” That ultimately led to her to a new career in fashion design and the launch of Nita Ideas with thriving retail stores in Milburn and Asbury Park, New Jersey.
Click here to check out more of her amazing designs.
For 31 years, Joe Gladstone worked as a math teacher in Syosset, New York. “I loved teaching, loved the kids, loved math, loved Syosset High School, loved my department. We had a bunch of people that we all grew up together. We were a family. It was marvelous.”
But in 2001, things changed when a new chairman of the Math Department arrived. “He micromanaged everything and had the personality of a piece of paper.” So Joe quit teaching and decided to pursue his other passion…the theatre.
Joe had been involved in community theatre for 20+ years in a number of different roles. But over time, he gravitated to the position of stage manager. Stage managers serve as the right hand to the director, overseeing sets, props, lights and sound and calling all technical cues during performances.
Today, he travels the country working as a freelance stage manager, primarily partnering with a wide range of opera companies. “It’s so emotional when the curtain goes up and the audience gives you a standing ovation.”
We’re hitting a major milestone – the 100th episode of the Second Act Stories podcast.
Over the past two-and-a-half years, we’ve met and profiled some amazing people. Many are pursuing not-for-profit work. Some have started a new business. And others have turned a hobby into a full-time pursuit. But pretty much across the board, all of them are a heck of a lot happier in their new roles.
Looking back at the 100 episodes, we’ve pulled together 6 key takeaways on second acts:
1. Find What Feeds You
2. For Inspiration, Look Back To Your Childhood
3. Expect Barriers – Lots of Them
4. Trauma Often Triggers A Second Act
5. There Are Leapers And There Are Planners
6. You’re Never Too Old To Make A Change
And to offer proof points for each takeaway, we’ve shared short interview segments with Chris Donovan, Nasim Alikhani, Cathy Heying, Anne Moss Rogers, Mary Robinson and Susan Goldfein.
Sit back and enjoy our Second Act Masterclass. And as a special bonus, we’ll also introduce you to Scott Merritt who will be joining the Second Act Stories podcast as a co-host later this year.
Today’s episode comes from Woodinville, Washington and our interview with Jerry Riener and Jennifer Sullivan. Jerry is a sergeant for the Woodinville Police Department. Jennifer is a journalist having worked for both the Seattle Times and KOMO-TV, the ABC news affiliate in Seattle region.
Like many couples, they found love, got married and started a family together. But unlike most couples they also started an amazing winery called Guardian Vineyards while holding down two very-demanding, full-time jobs. They started small — producing just 350 cases of wine in 2007. Fourteen years later, they are now producing 10,000 cases of high-quality, wine per year.
Grab a glass of your favorite wine, sit back and enjoy Jerry and Jennifer’s second act story.
Robert Brace grew up in London — the eldest son of a single mother who emigrated from Ghana. His family expected him to pursue a traditional career — a lawyer, accountant or doctor. But at the age of 15, he fell in love with the world of dance earning scholarships to the London Contemporary Dance School, Alvin Alley American Dance Theatre and the Dance Theatre of Harlem. To support himself during his early years in New York City, he became a personal trainer on the side — earning $7 per workout.
After a decade in professional dance, he opted to become a full time minister with the Churches of Christ. But the transition proved difficult. And with a wife and a new-born child, he reluctantly went back to personal training — this time earning $18 per workout.
Success came when he finally opened his own personal training practice, Brace Life Studios. And his big break came when he teamed with comedian Mark Malkoff for a YouTube video focused on helping Mark get “six pack abs in 28 days.” That eventually transitioned into the Brace Life Studios “28 Day Challenge.”
Today Robert has a full roster of celebrity clients that pay up to $225/hour for a one-on-one session with him.
Nasim Alikhani is the owner and executive chef of Sofreh, an amazing Persian restaurant in Brooklyn, New York. The restaurant opened in 2018 to rave reviews from The New York Times, Food & Wine, Saveur and The Food Network. The restaurant is consistently booked weeks in advance.
Sofreh is Nasim’s first restaurant and she launched it at the age of 59 after nearly two decades as a stay-at-home mom. But it hasn’t been an easy road. It took Nasim and her husband Theodore seven years build the restaurant in a brownstone that they purchased and renovated.
Melody Lynch fell in love with the ballet. She started dancing at 3 and made it in the professional ranks by the age of 15. She continued ballet studies at Butler University and after graduation landed a position with the North Carolina Dance Theatre where she worked for several years.
But her passion was for performance rather than teaching. And realizing that a dancer’s career span is limited, she made the leap to law school. She has been a practicing attorney for the past 14 years at the Lowndes law firm in Orlando, Florida.
She keeps her hands in the arts serving as chair of her local philharmonic orchestra and via her 7-year-old daughter’s love of dance.
We sit down for a face-to-face interview with Kimberly B. Cummings. Her first book, “Next Move, Best Move: Transitioning Into A Career You’ll Love,” debuts on June 9th 2021.
Kimberly is a career and leadership expert who heads up her own consulting practice called “Manifest Yourself.” We reviewed the book in advance of the interview and asked about a number of intriguing passages and chapters of “Next Move, Best Move.”