Second Act Stories

Terry is a compulsive gambler who hit "rock bottom" at the age of 30 when he lost nearly $1 million in a 36-hour period in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. But he got himself into rehab, shifted gears from gambling to running and got his life together. This Fall he will run his 16th consecutive New York City Marathon. Terry's love of running extends into his new position/career as Executive Director of the New York Chapter of Back On My Feet. As Terry describes it: "Back on My Feet combats homelessness through the power of running and community support to help our members get employed and housed. Our members run every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 5:30 to 6:30 in the morning. And if achieve a 90% attendance record in the first month, they get into our Next Steps program. That's where the secret sauce is. That's where we really can help overcome barriers to self-sufficiency." DOWNLOAD EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Click here to learn more about Back On My Feet.

From the age of eight, Buddy Rizer wanted to be in radio. He landed his first job at the age of fifteen and rose up through the ranks to actually owning his own radio station in his early 40s. But like many other industries, radio changed. "Deregulation" not "video" killed the radio star (to amend the 1979 hit song by the Buggles). And it sent Buddy on a completely different path into the world of economic development – a profession that he has excelled over the past 11 years. Today Buddy Rizer is the Executive Director of the Loudon County Economic Development Authority. His job is to create jobs and opportunities for the 400,000 residents of Loudon County, Virginia – a county about 50 miles west of Washington, DC. DOWNLOAD EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Eva Levias Andino is a big personality with a compelling back story. She grew up in Cuba and proudly counts herself as a 9th generation Cuban. But at the age of 17 years old she left Cuba with her mother. She married and raised four children living in Puerto Rico and California before settling in Miami, Florida. Her life changed dramatically when her 20-year-old son Paolo invited her to lunch and told her "Mama, I'm gay." Over the next eight years she struggled with this news. But it eventually led her to work with the Yes Institute, an organization focused on suicide prevention and ensuring the healthy development of all youth through communication and education on gender and orientation. What started as a volunteer role turned into a full time position as Director of Development and eventually Chief Financial Officer. At the age of 75, she is now retired but still actively involved with the organization. DOWNLOAD EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Click here to learn more about the work of the Yes Institute.

In this episode, we spend time with Mark Miller, a veteran journalist who has covered the retirement beat for a dozen years. Today, we're talking with him about his new book "Jolt: Stories of Trauma and Transformation." The book tells the stories of people have experienced traumatic events -- the loss of a child, a natural disaster, a life-threatening accident or illness, financial ruin or a terrorist attack -- and bounced back to thrive and grow. I sat down with Mark at his home in Evanston, IL and had a conversation about "Jolt" and what it can tell us about Second Acts. DOWNLOAD EPISODE TRANSCRIPT "Jolt: Stories of Trauma and Transformation" is available on Amazon.com.

In December 2009, Paul Tasner walked into a conference room and was let go from his position as the Senior Director of Operations of a San Francisco-based manufacturing firm. He was 64 years old. He met his wife Barbara and another couple for dinner that evening and proceeded to get "silly drunk." He wasn't ready for retirement. So two years later, he started Pulpworks, a company that designs and manufactures biodegradable packaging replacing the toxic, disposable plastic packaging to which we've all become accustomed to. With his 2017 TED Talk, "How I Became an Entrepreneur at the Age of 66," he's became a poster child (or perhaps "poster senior") of older entrepreneurs. The episode also includes interviews with Dr. Benjamin Jones, Professor of Strategy at Northwestern University who directs the Kellogg School's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative and Barbara Walter, Paul's wife. DOWNLOAD EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Over the course of a 40+ year legal career, Richard Turner served as Governor Ronald Reagan's personal attorney and then as a high-powered trial lawyer. But at the age of 60, he had a series of epiphanies during a month-long sabbatical wandering around the Western United States. And he eventually left the bar and became a nature photographer. And a pretty successful one at that. DOWNLOAD EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Interested in checking out Richard Turner's photography? Click here to visit his website. And here's the photo -- taken at an Idaho campsite during a month-long sabbatical -- that launched his career. The "Richard, this is terrible" feedback offered by a respected portrait photographer motivated him to learn how to take better photographs and ultimately launched his "second act" as a nature photographer. [caption id="attachment_1329" align="alignnone" width="475"] The "little moose/big pond" photo that launched Richard Turner's second act.[/caption]