Stefanie Faye Frank is a neuroscience researcher. She specializes in translating complex scientific concepts into real-world language to help people find new ways to use their talents, discomforts, failures, and challenges as pathways to growth and evolution. In other words, she helps people Pivot by transforming negatives into positives.

Pam Paydos is a beloved Connecticut-based entrepreneur and restaurateur. When everything shut down, restaurants were the first and most visible industry to pivot. In Pam’s case, it was even trickier. Her current restaurant is a bistro and bakery, designed around a small-town ambience and community tables in a very tight space. She didn’t have the systems or staff to do take-out. But almost a year later, Popover Bistro and Bakery remains a pillar of the community.

Hana Jung is the founder of Re:Boot Experiences, a set of programs designed to help people stop being machines, and start being human, again. When COVID hit Hana was already in the midst of personal tragedy and family emergencies. You’ll hear how being a first generation child of immigrant parents shaped Hana’s philosophy on life, how she previously Pivoted away from a miserable career in corporate America, and what it means to Re:Boot your life.

Sandra is the Director of Drama for the College of the Albemarle in North Carolina. Tasked with finding a way to safely put on a theatrical production in the middle of a pandemic that even shut down Broadway, Sandra turned to the obvious solution: puppets.

Dr. Deborah Gilboa is a practicing family physician. She is also an expert on resilience. In this conversation she teaches us what resilience is, how some individuals and organizations were able to successfully pivot in response to the stress of 2020 while others were not, and what you can do to stop stressing and build resilience.

Stuart MacDonald is a rare bird. He’s a magician, but he’s really a character actor who happens to be a magician. When the world went into lockdown it wiped out the live event industry. Unlike most Pivoters this season, Stuart did not immediately turn to virtual in order to salvage his career. In fact, he hung up his magic act and started searching for a normal 9-5.

Carolene Méli spent 10 years traveling the world with Cirque du Soleil as the Head of VIP Events and Concierge, until COVID wiped out the global live entertainment industry and Cirque declared bankruptcy, eliminating 3,500 jobs overnight. This is her Pivot story.

What pivot have you made in your life or career? How resilient are you? Do you have the capacity for existential flexibility? Here’s to your next Pivot.

Show up with kindness and offer the gift of connection. How they choose to receive or reject that gift is not for us to predict.