Second Act Stories

Ted Bahr's career in magazine publishing and trade show management spans 35+ years. He held senior management positions at publishing giants Ziff-Davis and Miller-Freeman before launching his own firm, BZ Media. When he sold BZ Media in 2017, he returned to an early passion: the collection of psychodelic, rock poster art. Ted launched the world's first art gallery to focus on this narrow niche of...

Brian "Q" Quinn is one of the stars of the massive hit TV show, Impractical Jokers . Currently in its 10 th season on truTV , Q and lifelong friends Sal Vulcano and James "Murr" Murray (a fourth friend and member of the show, Joe Gatto , departed from the show last year) "compete to embarrass each other," with hilarious results. It's wildly popular because it doesn't force you to think, and it's g...

Michael Strahan is an NFL legend. He spent his entire 15-year Hall of Fame career as a defensive end for the New York Giants . A five-time All-Pro, Strahan appeared in seven Pro Bowls, he accumulated 141.5 career sacks, he held two NFL sack titles, and he was a key member of the NY Giants team that won Super Bowl XLII against the New England Patriots in 2008. Following his NFL retirement, Michael...

Greg and Pam Ayers were living the good life in Salt Lake City, Utah. They were living the American Dream...senior management positions with  significant salaries, a nice home and two young children. But the loss of a close friend caused Greg to question his own life and ask "Am I really making a difference in the world?" And the couple decided it was time for a change. Both Greg and Pam quit thei...

Michael Clinton is a uniquely-talented individual. A former president and publishing director of Hearst Publications (which includes Cosmopolitan, Esquire, O The Oprah Magazine, Redbook and Woman's Day), Michael is also an accomplished photographer, marathon runner, philanthropist, author and private pilot. When he finally decided to step down from his publishing career, he was looking for advice...

At the beginning of each year, we at Second Act Stories like to take a look back at the incredible interviews we shared and pick one episode that truly exemplifies the surprising, inspiring and eye-opening nature of a fascinating career change. This "Best of" show gives us an opportunity to re-share a remarkable story, and it welcomes new listeners by giving them a good taste of what we do here: p...

Tylan Bailey had a tough home life growing up. He had more than his fair share of adversity, which brought him to no fewer than 14 schools by the time he was ready to graduate from high school. In spite of such a profound lack of stability, Tylan created his own stable environment by focusing on his education. Tylan's lifelong dream of becoming a teacher was sidetracked when he found himself in a...

Deborah Kase Lillian always loved hats. She played dress up with her mother's and grandmother's hats as a child. And she always loved rummaging through thrift stores to find unique hats. But it was the combination of an earlier move to Paris and her 60 th birthday that convinced her to go back to school to learn the amazing craft of hat making (or millinery) late in life. In 2020 in the middle of...

Adam Carolla is a bona fide comedy legend with a seemingly endless number of credits to his name. He co-hosted the " Loveline " radio show with Dr. Drew Pinsky; his own number-one morning radio show, which replaced The Howard Stern Show, was syndicated to a wide range of markets; he created and hosted " The Man Show " with Jimmy Kimmel; he's written a number of books , two of which were New York T...

Dr. Peter Rork was a highly-successful, orthopedic surgeon in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. But at the age of 59, he unexpectedly lost his wife Meg and grief took hold of him. He quit his work. He stopped eating. And he and his dog Doyle retreated to a remote vacation home in Montana for three months. At the urging of a concerned friend, Peter refocused his life on animal rescue. He is the founder, presi...

Veda Semarne grew up loving everything about education. So much so that she earned a PhD in Art History from Yale University and entered the workforce as an academic, with every intention of finding a full-time, tenure-track position and living her life in and around higher education. But after spending a few years teaching classes at institutions such as Trinity College in Hartford and C.W. Post...

Cody Keenan started working in the White House at the age of 28 and rose up to the role of Chief Speechwriter for President Barack Obama. In terms of his chosen profession, he was at the top of the mountain at a very young age. But after eight years, the Obama Presidency ends. What does he do next? After the White House, Cody has accomplished a lot. He has collaborated with Barack Obama on his bes...

Melissa Davey was a senior, corporate executive turning 65 and facing a key decision point in her work life -- Do I stay or do I go?  At the same time, an odd series of events resulted in her winning a charity auction to spend a day on a movie set with director M Night Shyamalan. Shadowing Mr. Shyamalan for a day put her on the path to becoming a filmmaker. She completing her first feature film in...

Paul Mecurio has achieved a level of success in comedy that budding comics only dream of. He's a writer on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert; he was a founding writer on The Daily Show, for which he won Emmy and Peabody Awards; he hosted a one-man Off-Broadway show called "Permission to Speak with Paul Mecurio"; he's hosted shows on Comedy Central and HBO; he had his own comedy special; and he's...

Brian Noyes was an art director for 30+ years with top publications like The Washington Post, Smithsonian, Architecture and House & Garden . He loved his work. But he also loved baking. And he regularly took week-long courses at schools like the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY and L'Academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, MD. After the September 11th attack, he decided to buy a weekend...

Jeff "Skunk" Baxter is a rock and roll legend. He was the founding lead guitarist in Steely Dan, and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Doobie Brothers. As a hired gun, he's played with a who's who of music royalty, including Linda Ronstadt, Donna Summer, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Dolly Parton, Carly Simon… the list goes on and on. From the time he...

John Tarnoff is a non-traditional, career transition coach. A veteran of Hollywood, John was fired 7 times over the course of his lengthy career in entertainment. At age 50, he decided to go back to school and earned a master's degree in spiritual psychology. Pivoting to a focus on people and career counseling, he eventually wrote " Boomer Reinvention: How To Create Your Dream Career Over 50 ." He...

Steve Lewis is objectively one of the most creative people on the planet. So much so that pure creativity is what motivates him; money just isn't part of the equation. That doesn't mean he isn't successful. He is. Very. But his success is a byproduct of executing his incredible creative vision.   Steve originally wanted to be a professional musician – a goal he achieved by the age of 14 – but a bo...

Adam Simon was a partner in Echo Street Capital Management, a successful hedge fund in New York City. While he enjoyed the challenge of the work and it's financial rewards, the demanding 80+ hour per week schedule was wreaking havoc on his personal life. So in 2017,he quit and focused his attention on reconnecting with his family. As the Covid-19 crisis began, Adam, his wife and their two children...

Referring to someone as a rock star usually means they're excellent at what they do. Dave "The Beast" Spitz is a rock star lawyer in south Florida. Sure, he's a really good lawyer, but he's also an actual rock star. Prior to going to law school in 1996, Dave played bass for the legendary band that invented heavy metal: Black Sabbath. His journey through the music industry also included playing wit...

Arrelious Benn was a star football player at Dunbar Senior High School (Washington, DC) and the University of Illinois. He entered the NFL draft after his junior year in college and was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. His NFL career with Tampa Bay, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Jacksonville Jaguars spanned seven years, twice the league average. But it is also included two ACL tears, a frac...

Leah Gorham spent 16 years working as a nurse, helping patients while she also helped an industry known for a shortage of talent. Even as the COVID-19 pandemic surfaced and spread, causing workloads and stress levels to skyrocket for first responders, Leah took it in stride. Although healthcare workers were widely recognized for being profoundly affected by the pandemic, it wasn't until she was at...

Chih Lin and Mike Dorsey were trained as engineers and worked in the oil & gas industry in Houston, Texas. But both were miserable at work and decided they needed to make a change. They launched a company called "Dumpling Dudez" and turned their attention to teaching small groups of people the art of dumpling-making. They started in April, 2019 and had a successful launch. And when Covid-19 shut d...

Anna Vocino has an impressive IMDb resume dotted with comedic acting roles, sketch comedy appearances on shows including the Lance Krall Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live, and professional narration work for a number of TV series and documentaries. She has risen to the top of the voiceover industry, lending her vocal skills to an endless array of video games and TV commercials, and she's even the female...

Josh Cohn worked as top, derivatives lawyer for a series of well-respected, law firms. He commuted by train to New York City everyday from the affluent suburb of Rye, NY. But at the age of 66, he was increasingly bored with the work and planned to retire from the legal field. He came home one night, cracked open a beer and ended up watching a city council meeting on a local, cable-access channel....