Second Act Stories

Second Act Stories Annual “Best of” Episode give us an opportunity to re-share a remarkable story from the past year and welcome new listeners by offering a taste of what we do: profile courageous individuals pursuing a more rewarding life in a second act. In the “Best of 2024” episode Scott interviews Amy Siewe, an amazing woman who left lucrative career as a real estate broker to hunt pythons in the Florida Everglades. Amy proudly shares that she’s 5’ 4”, 120 lbs., and captures pythons as big as 180 lbs. by physically jumping on them and wrestling them into submission. We hope you enjoy Amy's incredible profile and tune in for more Second Act Stories in 2025!!!  

Alonzo Bodden is one of the hardest-working and funniest working standup comics on the touring circuit today. He won Season 3 of NBC’s Last Comic Standing; he has four standup specials so far; he’s a regular panelist on NPR’s Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me!; he’s played a bouncer or a security guard in countless movies and TV shows; and he even voiced monsters on the Power Rangers. He’s been around. But before he had anything to do with show business, Alonzo was an aircraft mechanic who got a job working for Lockheed Martin on the F-117 Nighthawk stealth bomber – one of the most advanced top secret aircraft in the world – when he graduated from Aviation High School in New York. At 18, he moved to Los Angeles, started making a lot of money, found himself in the throes of addiction, and wound up in jail. The sound of the cell door slamming shut was his turning point. In this episode, Alonzo shares details about his New York upbringing, his battle with addiction, his path to sobriety (36 years ago!), and how it all l

Fran Tarkenton is unquestionably one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play the game of football. A true legend who rightfully earned his place in the NFL Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame (for his championship career with the University of Georgia Bulldogs), and on the list of the 50 Greatest Minnesota Vikings AND the 50 Greatest New York Giants. In his rookie season in 1961, Fran joined an expansion team called the Minnesota Vikings, and in the first-ever Vikings game he threw four touchdown passes and ran for a fifth, upsetting the great Chicago Bears. At the time of his retirement from the NFL in 1978, Fran owned every significant passing record: 3,686 pass completions, 47,003 passing yards, and 342 touchdowns. Legend. After retirement, Fran became a commentator alongside the one and only Howard Cosell in the Monday Night Football broadcast booth, he landed a job hosting That’s Incredible, one of the biggest sensation TV shows of the 1980s, and he became an early entrant into the software

Bruce and Mira Brach opened Toy Utopia, an independent toy store, on May 27, 2022. Based in Red Bank, NJ, their aim was to create a “magical place that sparks interest, curiosity, imagination and creativity in children and adults.” The business is a leap for both of them. Bruce had managed a landscaping business for over 25 years. Mira was – and still is – a registered nurse. A lifelong collector of vintage toys, Bruce was ready to exit his company. Mira asked him, “What do your really want to do next?” Bruce’s response…open a toy store. And that's what they did together. Click here to learn more about Toy Utopia. And if you find yourself in Red Bank, NJ, we hope you’ll give Bruce and Mira a visit.

Dan Spitz is a true pioneer in every sense of the word. As the lead guitarist of legendary band Anthrax, Dan was one of the innovators who birthed the entire genre of thrash metal music. Anthrax is one of the “Big Four” thrash metal bands, a group that also includes Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer. He sold millions of albums, played on the world’s biggest stages, and saw his music influence legions of acts that would follow. In 1995, as Anthrax continued to reach new heights, something changed. Dan realized his heart was no longer in it, so he quit the band without a plan for what was next. Dan had been exposed to watchmaking at a young age through his grandfather, who owned a jewelry store where he repaired watches in New York’s Catskill Mountains. That childhood experience came rushing back when he stumbled across an ad for the Bulova watchmaking school. The pieces fit together as perfectly as the mechanics of a complicated watch, and Dan enrolled, graduating a four-year program in 18 months. Then he became

For most of his adult life, Henry Rock working in advertising sales representing a wide range of black media . His work brought him in direct contact with a number of inspiring, African-American entrepreneurs and that gave him an idea: what if we could inspire young black males in inner cities to explore entreprenurial opportunites? After relocating to North Carolina, Henry began pursuing this idea with the help of National Urban League and it's local chapter in Charlotte. His TEDx Talk, Creating A New Class of Entrepreneurs, put the wind in his sails to launch City Startup Labs. Over the past decade, the organization has trained over 220 young men and women to get into the startup game. Recently, City Startup Labs has focused on helping formerly incarcerated individuals pursue their business dreams. Now 72 years old, Henry reports he's the happiest he's ever been. "And I owe it to not taking my hands off the steering wheel but not gripping the steering wheel and trying to steer my life but rather allowing my

Mark Greaney is a #1 New York Times bestselling author. His debut thriller, The Gray Man, was published in 2009 and became a national bestseller and Netflix film starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans. He wrote twelve subsequent Gray Man novels that have been released to date. He is also the co-author of seven Tom Clancy novels. His latest book, Sentinel, was released on June 25th, 2024. It is his 25th published work. Before emerging as a top thriller author, Mark spent 20+ years working as a bartender, waiter and midlevel office worker in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. But in his late thirties and after the death of his father, he finally got serious about writing. "I had this amazing epiphany. I was stressed about where I was in life. I didn't have a good position. And I had a lot of social anxiety. I drove a beat-up car. But it came to me one day that I loved to write and I was doing what I loved. And I realized I was successful even if I never got published...And within two years, I was published. And

Sam McKinlay experienced something a lot of people can relate to in work and in life: she spent almost 25 years married… in her case, to a career that was exciting, fulfilling and rewarding. But over time she and the career she once loved grew apart from one another. They fell out of love and split up. Sam faced plenty of adversity over the years: a series of poorly timed recessions in her native England; an initial move to America that landed her in Florida (which wasn’t a match for her); and later the clean break from a well-established career and a leap into the unknown. After dipping her toe in the real estate waters, Sam found her calling. She was able to apply a surprising amount of her PR and marketing experience to launch a new career as a concierge real estate agent. And it worked! In her first year she earned a prestigious “Rookie of the Year” award from her broker. In this engaging episode, Sam walks through the challenges she faced trying to find a meaningful career path early on; her journey thro

Dann McDorman always dreamed of writing and publishing a novel. After graduating from Columbia University, he spent a decade pursuing that dream with little impact. "Not only was I never published, I never heard back from a single publisher. I had zero success." As he hit his 30s, he found his way to a career in broadcast journalism initially working for Fox News but then climbing the ladder as a producer at MSNBC. Starting a family, his dream of being an author was put on the backburner. Today, Dann is the Executive Producer of "The Beat With Ari Melber" that airs weeknights from 6:00-7:00 pm. During the Covid-19 Pandemic and without a daily commute to the MSNBC Studios, Dann had some extra time on his hands. He started thinking about writing again. With his wife’s encouragement, he wrote a full length mystery novel called West Heart Kill. And at the age of 47, his book was published by Knopf Publishing. Dann's advice to aspiring authors and second act pursuers: "Don't give up...Stick with it and don't thin

Amy Siewe is the quintessential embodiment of how passion drives a second act. She left a safe and lucrative career as a real estate broker to hunt pythons in the Everglades. She proudly shares that she’s 5’ 4”, 120 lbs., and captures pythons as big as 180 lbs. by physically jumping on them and wrestling them into submission. This is what pure passion looks like. In this fascinating episode, Amy shares what motivated her to leave a relatively safe career selling real estate to become The Python Huntress. In this wild ride, she shares how she became so interested in snakes, unbelievable accounts of actual hunts, how she built a business out of hunting pythons, why her role is necessary, and which of her two careers is more stressful. Follow Amy Siewe, The Python Huntress, on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Second Act Stories theme music: "Between 1 and 3 am" by Echoes

Second Act Stories has officially defied the odds. We've been nominated for a Webby Award! But our category is stacked with stiff competition: Michelle Obama, Sarah Silverman, TED Audio, Lemonada,  and Slate. We need your vote! We can win this with your help. Here’s how you vote: Go to vote.webbyawards.com Click the search button on the right-hand side of the screen, under the start voting button Type in Second Act Stories Click on our category in the search results Click on our logo to cast your vote All it takes is entering your email address and a password, and then clicking the validate button in the email you receive from the Webby’s. It'll only take a minute. Pretty amazing stuff.

  Tiffani Evans' life changed completely on August 24, 2021. That's when her 8-year-old son PJ was killed in gang-related, gun violence in the Washington, DC region. Emerging from the dark days that followed his death, she helped form the "Strong Azz Mothers," a group of area women who lost children to gun violence. The organization focuses community attention on the problem but also serves as a strong support group. According to Evans, "It's a sorority that we never asked to be in. But we're in it so we try to support each other. Nobody understands this like we understand it." With the help of the DC Theatre Lab, the group performed a play titled "Turning Pain Into Purpose: Say My Son's Name" to a packed auditorium. The Strong Azz Mothers were profiled in an amazing article by Washington Post Reporter Jasmine Hilton (which is how we first heard of the story). Tiffani has most recently taken on a new role working in the Prince George's County School System as a "violence interruptor." Her message to students

Rachel Humphrey was a trial attorney who was certain she would spend her entire career in front of judges and juries and eventually retire in a courtroom. After relocating from Virginia to Atlanta with her husband, she took a job at a firm where she represented clients in the hospitality industry, and that sparked a passion she didn’t know she had. The hospitality industry was interesting to her, and she thought that becoming involved with the associations that help the industry might be a great next step, but she had no real business experience at all. Prompted by the unexpected departure of the nanny who took care of her children, Rachel decided to leave her job to be there for her young family. This also allowed her to do some serious soul searching and figure out what would come next. A serendipitous conversation with Cati Stone, then the executive director of Komen Atlanta, opened Rachel’s eyes in ways she never could have imagined. As fate would have it, and what Rachel didn’t know, was that Cati happen

Mike Drak worked as a banker in Toronto for his entire professional career. When he was laid off at the age of 59, he  received a sizeable severance from his employer. Telling his spouse "Contessa, we hit the lottery," he was initially ecstatic to be retired. But he quickly faced "Retirement Shock," a term that he coined to describe how tremendously unhappy he was in the year that followed. He missed helping people and the structure/routine of working at the bank. And he felt a loss of purpose. "Before my purpose was to go to work, get paid and then use the money to support my family. And that was taken away from me." Mike's research suggests up to one-third of all retirees suffer from "retirement shock." He decided to educate others on the non-financial challenges of retirement by writing three books: Victory Lap Retirement, Retirement Heaven or Hell and Longevity Lifestyle by Design. The final book can also be downloaded for free from Mike's website at www.longevitylifestylebydesign.com. Two years ago, M

Stuckey’s is a legendary and iconic thread in the fabric of Americana. Founded in Eastman, Georgia in 1937 by WS “Sylvester” Stuckey, Sr., Stuckey’s grew into a roadside empire by the 1970s, with 368 stores in more than 30 states. Part of the charm that made Stuckey’s so iconic were its ubiquitous billboards, more than 4,000 of them, which were dotted along U.S. highways. Stuckey’s was an inextricable part of what became known as “The Great American Road Trip.” Fast forward to 2019, Stuckey’s was on life support. The brand had gone through hard times, and its former stand-alone locations, still identifiable by their teal blue roofs, were now relics of a bygone era. Some were abandoned and boarded-up; others became home to less-than-savory businesses. By this time the brand had changed hands multiple times and become an unprofitable line item on a bigger company’s balance sheet. But Stuckey’s was about to experience a surprising rebirth. In 2019, former Georgia legislator Stephanie Stuckey, a practicing attorn

Second Act Stories annual “Best of” episodes give us an opportunity to re-share remarkable stories, and welcome new listeners by giving them a good taste of what we do here: profile people who have made major life and career changes to pursue a more rewarding life in a second act career. We’re selecting two “Best of 2023” episodes to share with you. Andy Levine selected his favorite interview conducted by co-host Scott Merritt in the past year,  and Scott is reciprocating this week. Scott's pick for 2023 is “Sweeter Days Ahead: How Baking Transformed Janie Deegan's Life.” In 2009, Janie Deegan returned home from college with a serious alcohol and drug problem. Eventually, she found herself homeless and living on the streets of New York City. Fast forward to today...she is the owner of "Janie's Life Changing Baked Goods," a thriving business with three, NYC bakeries and booming e-commerce division. At the center of her success is the "pie crust cookie" -- essentially a baby pie that comes in five, different fl

Second Act Stories annual, “best of” episode gives us an opportunity to re-share a remarkable story, and welcome new listeners by giving them a good taste of what we do here: profile people who have made major life and career changes to pursue a more rewarding life in a second act career. We’re selecting two “Best of 2023” episodes to share with you. Andy Levine gets to select his favorite interview conducted by co-host Scott Merritt in the past year. And Scott gets to reciprocate next week. Andy’s selection for 2023 is “Everything Rick Beato: The Unlikely Launch of a 54-Year-Old YouTube Star.” Rick Beato is one of the most successful YouTube stars in the world. His channel, Everything Music, has 3.5 million subscribers and is approaching 600 million views. Among the different types of videos Rick posts are his Top 20 Countdowns, What Makes This Song Great?, and his Rants on all things music. Rick also has an incredible series of long-form, sit-down interviews with some of the most acclaimed music artists in

Donald Loftus had a difficult upbringing in Cleveland, Ohio. His father left him and his two sisters at a young age. His mother worked at Sears and struggled to make ends meet. From grades 1-8, he was a C student. But in 9th grade, his world changed when a class trip brought him to New York City. His class saw four Broadway plays that weekend and it completely changed his life. He graduated from Cleveland State University with a degree in theatre and business. Following a first job at The May Department Store Company, he rose up the ranks of the luxury beauty industry eventually serving as the US President/CEO of P&G Prestige, Cosmopolitan Cosmetics, Sanofi Beauté and Gianni Versace Profumi. But the theatre was now in his blood and he wrote plays every morning from 4 to 7 am before heading off to a demanding job in the c-suite. After retiring from Corporate America in 2018, he has pursued playwrighting on a full time basis. More than 200 productions of his work – a mix of full-length plays, one-act plays

Patrice Meagher had a lucrative career in real estate. For 15 years, she worked in New York City as an Executive Vice President at CBRE, one of the world's largest, corporate real estate firms. But like other working parents, she struggled with the challenge of balancing her work life and raising a family of four children. A specific pain point in her career -- returning to work after maternity leave and breast pumping milk for her new child. Like many new mothers, she was told to pump in the bathroom which she describes as unhygienic, embarrassing and not sustainable. "For me, breast pumping at work was by far the single-most, inefficient thing I did as a working mom. I knew there had to be a way to make it easier."  In March, 2020, she left CBRE and founded MilkMate so that other mothers wouldn't have to choose between family and career due to the challenges of breast pumping at work. Collaborating with engineers, patent attorneys and other experts, the company created an FDA-approved, multi-user breast pum

The moment Patty Forehand opens her mouth, you know she’s from the deep south. And with that comes a certain set of preconceived notions. If she opens her mouth in front of a microphone on a comedy club stage, those notions are immediately blown away, and the results are hilarious. It’s funny once the F-bombs start flying and you realize she’s not the stereotypical, retirement-age, “proper southern lady” society expects when they see her, but it’s even funnier when you hear that her material is funny. Really funny. It gets even more interesting when you realize that she’s relatively new to comedy. This standup comic, who’s been crushing rooms all over the South, has only been doing it for the past few years. She decided to experiment with comedy after she retired from a 31-year career teaching in an elementary school. And the results speak for themselves; Patty found her calling. But she also says that teaching was a calling, and she worked an entire career in a Georgia elementary school. So why, when most ot