Bucket List Careers

She always had passion for performance, natural beauty and flowers, but it wasn’t until the pandemic that Stephanie Hoover Asher pieced all of her skills together to create her perfect gig. Stephanie’s “The Pretend Flower Show”, born in lockdown, went from zero to 20K plus followers on Instagram in a matter of months. Originally from Southern California, this stay-at-home New York-based Mom and fo...

After ten years of climbing the startup and corporate marketing ladder, Geri Paige Butner decided she needed to jump off, stuff a backpack and take a solo seeker trip to Bali and Vietnam. She experienced a massive awakening overseas and over the next several years shifted her entire personal and professional life to become a business firestarter for women, while enjoying the freedom of being a dig...

Born and raised in the UK, Rob Johnson worked all over the globe as a successful, highly-compensated broker for almost 20 years when he had an epiphany that prompted his life-changing pivot. Fast forward to now, almost ten years later, Rob is a top real estate agent in the luxury market of Greenwich, CT, recently ranked #1 in the state. In this episode, Rob talks about how his experience in local...

The next-level version of you starts in your closet according to Katie Allen, personal stylist and host of the successful podcast “Just Realized”. Katie took a job out of college that felt safe to her, climbing the marketing ladder and getting in the habit of checking boxes: career, car, marriage, kids, house, bigger house. Until a big box got unchecked and she lost her job in the pandemic. Katie...

Born in 1966 without legs, Dave Stevens beat the odds in astounding ways during an era when there were very few accommodations or programs for disabled students. A Motivational Speaker, Teacher, Philanthropist, Athlete and seven-time Emmy Award-winning sports broadcasting professional, Dave is the first person born without legs to play both college football and professional baseball. He made headl...

She worked in every part of the athletic world before Mandy DiMarzo fused her passion for sweat with her love of empowering and championing her community. As a former division one soccer player who later transitioned into distance running and triathlons to keep her competitive juices flowing, she knows a thing or two about pushing the body’s limits. After enduring countless overuse injuries, as we...

Just 21 when he founded Gaeta Sports Management in New York City, Matthew Gaeta became one of the youngest certified agents in pro baseball’s history. Recruited to play for New York University as a catcher, he wasted no time regrouping to find his dream gig after an injury. Today, Matthew is the sole agent of over 80 pro baseball players with contracts at the Major, Minor, and International levels...

In 2012, Shane Sams was a school teacher in Southeast Kentucky. After years of job losses and bad bosses, he was stressed, working too many hours, spending too little time with his family, and tired of working for others. Then a devastating situation with his son made him rethink his life and his family’s future. After months of trial and error, Shane and his wife Jocelyn successfully launched an...

Tammi Pickle found her dream gig helping people fall in love. After initially pursuing psychology, she steered her interest in counseling to matchmaking, joining forces with her mom. Their high-end Hollywood based company, Elite Connections International has been in operation for more than 2 decades, with some 20 offices nationwide and overseas. In her 16 years as a relationship expert, Tammi has...

Jené didn’t start her career with a dream to be an intimate apparel expert. Always a performer, storyteller and strong writer, her first job was in TV news in NY. But after specializing in fashion coverage and eventually landing her own magazine column, Jené discovered what truly “fuels her soul” while on assignment. She saw a need to help women achieve comfort and confidence with the right bra -...

Tracy Wydra pursued finance and then advertising, before getting her graduate degree to begin a career in architecture. But she says her professional purpose - creating a new luxury CBD skin-care line called Winnow - didn't materialize until she teamed up with a longtime friend from her Georgetown University days. They recently launched their premiere product, a luxury level CBD-infused skin cream...

Former baseball player, Chris Vasami believes developing the mental and emotional part of a player’s game is just as important as the physical. His training philosophy not only stems from 6 years of professional play, but also his health challenges. Chris was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2017 and says he fights to be the best version of himself on and off the field every day. With 15 years und...

Lisa Chase decided to open a Brooklyn-style eatery in the NY suburbs after almost 30 years as an accomplished editor and writer for Outside, Premiere New York, Wired, Mens Journal magazines, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Observer as well as Harper Collins and Random House. She says the business model of publishing was falling to pieces, and she did not want to be there when it finally i...

Founders of NoBaked Cookie Dough Megan and Jimmy Feeman are young Bucket List Career rockstars. In 2017 Megan left her gig in the country music industry in Nashville to start selling the wildly popular cookie dough dessert she concocted in her own kitchen, joining forces with her husband Jimmy, whose business background helped round out their team. It began as an online store with pop-up shops at...

Peter Hubbell is an advertising industry entrepreneur and founder of Apply:you , WORKshops℠ that apply Madison Avenue branding and differentiation techniques to help college graduates market their way to their first real job. He has held top positions at many of the world's leading ad agencies, notably Saatchi & Saatchi where he was a member of the Global Board running General Mills' international...

Dr. Ciara Sivels is a nuclear engineer, elementary school math mentor, and almost pastry chef who became the first black woman to earn a PhD from University of Michigan in nuclear engineering. She now works at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), with a focus on radiation studies. Ciara is one of four female scientists featured in “Not the Science Type", a new docuseries that...

Once Amy Chmelecki set foot on a drop zone and experienced freefall for the first time at age 18, she knew she could do nothing else but skydiving for a career. She moved from New York to Arizona out of college and never looked back. Since 1998 Amy has made over 19,000 skydives and flown over 4000 hours in the tunnel. Her accomplishments include 5 world titles, 10 national titles, 20 world records...

Kerry Roberts left her successful corporate career as a packaged goods exec with a singular goal: to make clean eating simple and tasty for all. When a friend came to her with a shelf-stable smoothie concept, she knew it could be a game-changer for moms like her trying to fuel their families well, but lacking the energy to invest in a clean eating routine. Their new organic smoothie delivery compa...

Justin Sherman kicked off his entrepreneurial career journey as a DJ in his early teens and has never stopped grinding, despite personal challenges. A life-long lover of all things baseball, he played competitively while pursuing degrees at Westchester Community College and SUNY Purchase and also began working privately with local young athletes. His enthusiasm for coaching and the game soon grew...

Mark Reid is a self-described "Bama" boy who never went anywhere growing up, but had an affinity for studying maps and wanting to see the world. The first in his family to graduate college, Mark went to Japan to teach English in 1997, which led to an MA from FSU in Religion with stints in Europe, Vermont, South Florida and South Korea. After reaching professor status, he then decided to go to law...

Tracy Nathanson is the dynamic founder of Pace of Mind Therapy an innovative psychotherapy practice that combines walking or running outdoors with talk therapy. Tracy is herself an avid runner, having completed several marathons, and is a licensed psychotherapist. Pace of Mind Therapy combines her two passions, moving out in the fresh air and empathic talking and listening. Tracy was formerly in t...

A model turned aesthetic/cosmetic nurse, Emma Snowball-Robinson founded her own practice, PURE Medical Aesthetics based on her experience in the beauty industry combined with her passion for health. In the 1990’s she had the opportunity to work with some of the world’s most accomplished photographers, from Patrick Demarchelier to Arthur Elgort, which helped her learn the aesthetics and contours of...

29 year old pet welfare activist Julian Javor formed Pet Rescue Pilots to help foster his belief that every pet should have the chance to know a loving forever home. Julian began flying shelter pets in 2017 after receiving his Commercial Pilot’s License. Since then he regularly spends his weekends flying up and down the Western U-S from Southern California to Washington state and even into the Wes...

Sometimes a Bucket List Career is a culmination of many pivots from totally different industries. Christine Meyer was in real estate, banking, insurance, personal training, interior decorating and even owned a fencing company before she realized her calling as a life coach. A founding member of the Forbes Coaches Council, and the author of the new book, "Keep It Simple, Smartypants", Christine’s m...

Gina and Vincent Centauro found their calling after they transitioned from their family contracting business to form Rescuing Families, Inc. The married couple spearheads home renovations with the help of family and volunteers in Long Island, NY at no cost to disabled families. Gina, a licensed contractor, interior & landscape designer, has devoted her life to caring for her sister Dina, who is de...