Danielle Becker has a degree in graphic design and had a successful career in the fashion district of New York City, designing for brands like Hanes and Aeropostale and then as an Art Director at Macy's and Bloomingdales. But in 2017 Danielle left to pursue her own dream gig. Her business, Lefty’s Right Mind, was initially graphic design focused and then the “Aha!” moment came when a friend asked her to hand paint her bridesmaid's denim jackets for her wedding. The custom jacket concept catapulted her young company and soon she had customers asking her to paint all sorts of designer goods. Danielle's  craftsmanship skills are still her differentiator and Lefty’s Right Mind is experiencing year-after-year success in the bespoke, hand crafted market! Hear more about this founder's recipe for success!

Patricia Gallardo started her professional journey working for Revlon in product development before becoming a financial journalist at CNBC.  She had a successful career as a segment producer and booker before taking a career pause for motherhood, but the idea for a unique beauty brand had been lingering in the back of her mind for nearly two decades. When Patricia saw her 50th birthday on the horizon, she said, “it’s now or never.”  Together with long-time friend Saima Rathor, Gallardo set out to fill the white space she found in the beauty industry by launching EpicLight Beauty, specializing in skincare-driven makeup products for women her age. Now EpicLight Beauty is gaining a massive following with Gen X women and was recently chosen to be included in gift bags for the Oscars!  Listen in for insightful and honest "never too late" takeaways on becoming an entrepreneur at any age.

Timothy Gordon has a unique dream gig as an internationally recognized appraisal authority. He has been evaluating works of fine art, valuables and collections for over 25 years, having personally appraised millions of items of celebrities, high-profile collections, notable museums, and national parks. He has been a featured appraiser on the PBS production of Antiques Roadshow in Collectibles, Decorative Arts and Tribal Art.  The Emmy Award nominated program has nearly 8 million viewers per episode. Tim's career is one-of-a-kind and he loves what he does, so he makes a perfect Bucket List Careers guest! Listen in to this week’s episode of BLC to hear about his fascinating career path and some of the items he’ll never forget!

Brian Fryer, aka “Coach Fryer”, played baseball professionally for the San Diego Padres for 8 years before he experienced chronic injuries and decided to make his big career pivot to network marketing. However, he did not find immediate success. In fact, in his first four years of network marketing Brian didn’t earn a single dollar in profit! He sought business mentorship, took courses, and eventually found great success, but then hit another roadblock when corporate closed their doors. Fast forward to today. Coach Fryer now has an online coaching business teaching aspiring network marketers how to find their next client on social media, teaching people how to be genuine with their marketing and grow six-figure businesses from home!

Graze NY Founder Shari Ivler always had a creative eye. She went to art school at Syracuse University and worked in NY fashion for many years at Anthropologie, Hugo Boss, Juicy Couture and Bloomingdales doing styling and merchandising.  But despite her success, Shari developed an aching feeling she was destined for something else. A mother of 2, Shari decided to transfer her skills from fashion to food when, after years of impressing friends, family, and guests in her home with beautifully crafted charcuterie boards, she asked herself, “Why don’t I make this a business?” In 2018 she started Graze NY, a boutique catering company in Bedford NY — specializing in food "graze" boards, small bites, gift bags and baskets. At the time, there were not many businesses like hers. But, even now with more competition, she is still carving her own path, impressing customers, and most importantly, loving what she does!

Co-Founder of Vengo Labs, Brian Shimmerlik had an entrepreneurial spirit from the start of his career that took him through several successful professional transitions. He started out in in finance in New York City at JP Morgan, but after 6 years ventured out to craft his own dream gig. Unsatisfied in banking, Shimmerlik enrolled in business school at NYU.  With no time to get to a store one night, he realized he wanted access to products when and where he needed them.  It was then that he developed the vision for Vengo, soon after entering start-up competitions, appearing on Shark Tank and winning millions in seed money to revolutionize the vending machine industry.  Since 2012 Vengo Labs has deployed thousands of sleek, wall-mounted high tech machines with vibrant digital screens offering convenience and entertainment to people on the go.  But while navigating the pandemic, Vengo pivoted once again.  Listen in to hear more on Brian's fascinating career twists and turns and how he and his partner morphed the business model to become more scalable and profitable as a Digital Out-Of-Home (DOOH) software company, now powering 27,000 screens across the country at gyms, colleges, bars/restaurants and retail stores!

What does it mean to hit 100 episodes of Bucket List Careers? Since its launch in January 2021, this podcast has featured a variety of insightful interviews unpacking each guests' path to professional purpose, with a focus on highlighting steps to achieving your coveted dream gig.  In this special episode, Christa talks frankly about what she's learned so far on her podcasting journey and handpicks the best nuggets of wisdom from her guests, boiling down what it takes to pull off a successful career pivot that enables you to monetize doing what you love!

Life and career coach Dara Astmann has found her Bucket List Career by helping fellow moms discover what is on their own Bucket Lists. As a part-time Ad Sales Executive at Paramount, Dara spent her non-working days as a mother to her two young children. Once they entered full-time school, Dara knew that she wanted to use her newfound free time to follow her other passion. This involved empowering mothers to make themselves a priority and to help them rediscover what is possible for their future. In this episode Dara explains how she transferred two decades of experience in media and sales to her bigger purpose - allowing women to assess what works for their family while finding something they enjoy doing today (which is often quite different from their career aspirations in their twenties). She focuses on helping others recognize their own values and passions so that they can get out of the daily monotony and claim purpose and excitement in their own lives!

The Little Blazer Company came to life after Ria Morgan left her fast-paced career to become a mom and raise two beautiful daughters, Mila & Sofia. Ria always loved fashion that blends old with new and her staple go-to look was always the classic tweed blazer with jeans. After searching everywhere for her daughters to have a similar option in their wardrobe, she was uninspired by the choices available. Discovering a clear gender bias with limited choice for young girls, the concept of The Little Blazer Company as a gender-neutral option was born. Ria created a range of beautifully made blazers that are fun and easy to wear, while recognizing individuality by enabling and encouraging self-expression and the freedom of playfulness for all children.  Ria’s is an empowering narrative and in this conversation she shares how she pulled off launching a business at 40, while juggling all the daily commitments of a stay-at-home parent and securing substantial investment as a sole founder, without a background in retail or design. 

Elyce Jacobson is a vegan chef that has had many passion-fueled career pivots over the years. In her mid-twenties she had an insatiable desire to leave the corporate world and become a chef and entrepreneur. She worked her 9-5 while attending culinary school at night. That was the beginning of a successful and intriguing trajectory that included several food businesses over the years from catering to cafes, the most well known of which was her restaurant Skinny Buddha Organic Kitchen with multiple locations in NY for more than a decade. She has since transitioned to the next chapter of her career as a private chef, educator and vegan consultant, helping individuals that want to add more plants to their plates and restaurants that want to add more plant-based recipes to their menus. With this work, she hopes to play a part in the changing landscape of plant-based cuisine that is currently taking place throughout the culinary world!