Your Creative Midlife

Sometimes the first step in your midlife creative journey is to look back at the things you loved as a kid. For Lela Goldstein, it was building on her love of paper, images, colors and patterns that led her to explore the world of collage. As she approached retirement, she discovered collage as an ideal creative outlet: with “just scissors and paper and glue and something to put your images on,” c...

The popular Shanty Cruise offers a unique experience for visitors and locals alike—evoking the spirit of long-ago ship crews who sang these working songs as they hoisted sails and weighed anchor. For anyone exploring creative pursuits in midlife or retirement , it’s a reminder that it’s never too late to join in something joyful, musical, and community-driven. Betsy’s conversation with the singers...

Lynn Savarese, a Harvard-trained lawyer, discovered her love of photography when she took a beginner's photography class at Manhattan’s 92nd Street Y. Soon after, she volunteered to photograph taxidermied birds at the American Natural History Museum, bringing her own materials and artistic viewpoint to the project. Lynn’s astonishing presentation of the birds led to her first solo exhibition,...

Your Creative Midlife – Nantucket Edition Your Creative Midlife is visiting Nantucket for special episodes this summer. Nantucket is a beautiful wedge of sand 30 miles off the coast of Cape Cod. Just 14 miles long and 7 miles wide, it has a storied human history—from early Indigenous people to English settlers to becoming one of the wealthiest towns in the mid-1800s at the height of the whaling in...

Dan Moretti is a lawyer in New York City who is finding success as a playwright.  During COVID, Dan started writing one-act plays, which have since been produced by New York theater workshop groups with professional actors.  His plays draw inspiration from his own life experiences, including his background as a lawyer. Dan tells about the inspirations for his work, how his attorney training helps...

After a 33-year career as a pediatric dentist, Manhattan-based Dr. Deborah Pilla took on a challenge that rewards her love of art and of learning:  becoming a docent and a school programs guide at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her work with children in her dental practice makes her a natural for engaging students during museum tours.  She also has her own arts practice, which she views as an imp...

They met in tap dancing class in NYC as young theater hopefuls.  Marriage, babies and a move to the suburbs followed.  But they never lost their love of theater.  Now, post retirement, they are finding their way back to the stage.  Kathleen Mahan is now a director and theater arts teacher working with both kids and adults.  And after years of involvement in local theater, Steve has re-entered the...

For anyone who regrets quitting their music lessons when they were little and assumes it’s too late to go back, please listen to Elena Rahona talk about founding the New York Late Starters Orchestra, modeled on a similar one in London.  “Late starters” are people who want to resume playing their childhood instruments, are learning a new instrument, or have never played before.  Late Starters ensem...

Extended Version of Episode 2 Graham Broyd thought he’d write down the stories of his adventures as a 20-year-old from the UK hitchhiking across the United States, stories he’d been telling friends for decades.  Through a series of improbable events, Forbes publishing discovered him, and the result is Graham’s forthcoming book, "Backpack Jacket Surfboard." We talk about Graham’s experien...

After many turns as a marketing and media entrepreneur, Cherie Corso turned her energy and talent to abstract painting, with great results. Just two years in, she’s exhibiting her canvases, making sales, and even donating a few to charities for auction. She shares her latest project, The Pulse of New York: she took canvases to all five boroughs, where people on the street would interact and leave...

Graham Broyd thought he’d write down the stories of his adventures as a 20-year-old from the UK hitchhiking across the United States, stories he’d been telling friends for decades.  Through a series of improbable events, Forbes publishing discovered him, and the result is Graham’s forthcoming book, "Backpack Jacket Surfboard." We talk about Graham’s experience working with the Forbes edi...