Bucket List Careers

Gill Tietz is a biochemist and former teacher who in 2019 got sober. She has since been documenting her journey online and helping others break free from alcoholism/addiction with her popular podcast @sober .powered, often utilizing her chemistry background to break down the science (and therefore, stigma) of addiction. In this insightful episode Gill shares the details of what scared her straight...

Jamie was an Oxford-educated successful partner at a top NY-based hedge fund when at 35 years old he told his partner, "I just don't want to die and have my headstone say, "Here lies a hedge fund manager." He says it was then that he realized he was after something more soul-fulfilling, quit finance and gave himself 2 years to explore his options. Jamie pursued radio and TV with full force, even c...

Morgana was a Development/Marketing Executive when the pandemic sparked a bold career change. She wanted to become a DJ. But not just any DJ. Her niche is predominantly new age and spiritual music in addition to being an event and sound bath producer. Her mission? To transport her listeners to a completely uninhibited, zen, and awakened state. A yogi and nature enthusiast, Morgana employs an earth...

After graduating from The School of Visual Arts in NYC Jeff Provenzano was your average broke recent grad, except for the fact that he had one thing he couldn't keep off his mind... skydiving, a hobby he had picked up during his freshman year. Soon he moved out to Arizona to live at Skydive Arizona, the largest skydive center in the world, for what he originally intended to be a gap year before fo...

Victoria Victory was a flight attendant with 3 kids in her thirties when she decided to go back to school to become a registered nurse - a bold move inspired by a life-threatening illness in college that had her paralyzed from the head down. Vicky shares how she fought her way back to health and how that experience shaped her mindset and ability to reinvent and relaunch - leaving the airlines to c...

When Chandler Bolt was at the College of Charleston in 2013 he co-authored and self-published a book on time management called "The Productive Person" and discovered the beauty of passive income. He soon dropped out of business administration studies and has since self-published six more best selling books and now teaches other people how to do it. He is the CEO of Self Publishing School and host...

Meredith Goforth had a thriving career as a Bookings Editor for several magazines in New York City when she left the industry to have her three children. They were "Irish triplets," or siblings all born within a year of each other. It was then that she realized the importance of organization for her busy Mom lifestyle, but it wasn't until her friend asked her how she organized her earrin...

EvolveMe was designed to give women in midlife the program Judy Schoenberg and Linda Lautenberg wished they had when they were transitioning careers. Linda returned to full-time work after an 18-year break from a successful career in finance. Judy did the same after 15 years in a national non-profit executive role.  EvolveMe gives women over 40 the structure, community, and tools they need to be r...

Two best friends of 30 years have created a business together out of a passion for healthful living after suffering from invisible illnesses. Their signature product is nonoPASTA™, a gluten-free, adaptogenic superfood. It's pasta that tastes like your beloved wheat pasta, but is gluten-free, corn-free, soy-free, dairy-free, and has added adaptogenic herbs like spirulina, cordyceps, hemp, turmeric,...

Juna Bobby, MD was a successful practicing radiologist specializing in women's imaging in New York City when a major life event, the loss of both her best friend and her mother in a short timespan, brought her to a crossroads in her career.  From her first-hand knowledge of thousands of people's bodies over the years, Juna noticed a pattern. Just three major lifestyle factors were the primary caus...

Designing and creating extraordinary gardens for a living is not what Lucy Berkoff started out doing.  But more than 6 years ago, when her youngest child was just a toddler, she launched her business after a friend hired her to do what she always loved.  Previously a designer at Waterworks before taking a career pause to raise her 4 children, now Lucy creates visually stunning and ecologically bal...

Ed Metzendorf is a self-proclaimed camp geek and it wasn't long before he walked away from a career in software to become a founder of the successful chain of Next Level Day Camps in the Northeast. However, his transition wasn't as unrelated as meets the eye. In 2000, he developed Bunk1.com, a summer camp technology company, which paved the runway for his big leap to doing what he loves most for a...

Exactly one week after graduating from Northwestern Law School, Emily Shaules was diagnosed with fibromyalgia (aka chronic widespread pain). Thereafter her career choices were made in an attempt to adapt to the condition. She left law, moved to her dream city of Asheville, North Carolina, and took up acting. While pursuing an acting career she also became a founder and CEO of an energy bar company...

Ed Cunningham knows a thing or two about career pivots. He's worn many hats throughout the years as a professional football player, ESPN sports commentator, filmmaker, and now host of the podcast “Let’s Huddle”. In this episode Ed shares insightful stories from on the playing field and off. He played center for five seasons in the NFL for the Arizona Cardinals and the Seattle Seahawks and prior to...

A COVID-related near-death experience catapulted entrepreneur Daniel Snead into a career pivot. Daniel jumped from running a successful international network marketing business to founding Best Bet Skills Academy, where he helps students and young adults develop the social trades skills they need to create the life of their dreams. In this episode, Daniel offers valuable insights into how young pe...

Lauren DeFranco started her career in journalism at WFSB TV in Hartford, CT where she was an assistant to THE Gayle King (Oprah's bestie!) Lauren then landed at Channel 7 Eyewitness News in New York City, the top local station in the country, where she was a reporter in the field for 14 years. In this episode, we get to hear a behind-the-scenes perspective of what it's like to be a local TV report...

Alex Patterson started out in corporate law at Davis Polk in New York City and then quickly jumped ship to be in-house counsel for the global obstacle course company Tough Mudder, which at the time was newly founded. After 5 years there, working in various positions, Alex felt ready to take his big leap. He knew he wanted to stay in the ticketed experiential space with a physical element like Toug...

In the 11 years Joanna Rein has been running Soggy Doggy she’s been approached many, many times to sell, or take on private equity investment in order to expand. Despite the temptation, she says she’s remained committed to holding on to her pet products business and operating it as a low volume/high margin enterprise.   It's a structure that’s given this mom of four the flexibility she prioritizes...

Dr. Brian Giordano was told not to bother applying to medical school because he wasn’t “pedigreed enough” and while he suffered from imposter syndrome early in his journey, this successful NY-based orthopaedic surgeon has built a booming sports medicine practice focusing on achieving peak performance and resilience to injury.  He’s an Assistant Professor and founder of the Hip Preservation Program...

Growing up in the 80s and with over 20 years of experience in corporate marketing Chris Clews knew two things very well – 80s pop culture and business. So he combined the two and created “What 80s Pop Culture Teaches Us About Today’s Workplace”. He specialized in building brands, leading them through transition and spearheading sports sponsorships with NCAA Basketball, PGA, MLB, International Socc...

To kick off 2022, in her first ever “solo” episode, Christa gets personal.  Along with highlights and reflections on guest wisdom from the first year of her show, Christa previews what’s ahead for the podcast, talking details about guests booked for the beginning of ‘22 and for the first time answers listener questions about her “why'' in moving from TV news anchor to podcast host.  Hosted by Simp...

Jaymee Sire currently hosts Food Network’s first and only podcast “Obsessed”, the culmination of her nearly 20-year career in TV and media. With most of her experience in sportscasting around the country, she helped launch and anchor the morning installment of ESPN’S SportsCenter. But Jaymee had always cultivated other passions.  She was into cooking from a very young age and had started slowly pu...

Sports was Doug Rifenburg's world from birth. His father Dick was an All-American with Michigan's vaunted football program, he played for the Detroit Lions and became a pioneering sportscaster in Buffalo, NY. His mother founded one of the first NFL cheerleading teams. Doug himself was a three sport athlete in school, including football at University of Buffalo and in addition to working for 25 yea...

Kate Velasquez is a lifelong foodie, fitness lover, and chef with an expertise in recipes that promote better digestion and gut health. It all began after having kids, when she felt the need to adjust her eating habits to get back to her pre-baby fitness. Kate read extensively about cooking for weight loss and experimented with different methods until she found a formula that worked. Since then, s...

Jeremy Casebeer is a 6 foot 5 pro beach volleyball champion from Santa Barbara CA. Married to a Brazilian volleyball star, they spend half the year living and training in Rio and are the only two in the world currently able to compete in pro tours in both the US and Brazil. But at the top of his game in 2019 when Jeremy won his first AVP tournament, he had an "a-ha moment" which he detai...