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 the world, including Peter Frampton, Sting, Derek Trucks, and Brian May.

But Rick didn’t find success on YouTube until he was in his mid-50s, following the viral success of a video he posted of his 8-year-old son Dylan demonstrating his perfect pitch. In fact, he didn’t even launch his channel until he was 54.

Prior to his YouTube success, Rick taught music at the college level, he held private lessons (by his estimation, he taught more than 12,000 lessons), he was a music producer and engineer. In this episode, Rick shares his journey from childhood, when he first played the cello, to the classrooms of upstate New York, to his experience working in the music industry, to the incredible success he enjoys today as one of the world’s most well-respected experts on “Everything Music.”

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Andrew Levine Podcaster

Andy Levine is the creator and host of “Second Act Stories.” A fascination with storytelling and second acts, triggered the launch of this podcast. He lives in Ocean Grove, New Jersey about five blocks from the Atlantic Ocean. He manages a specialized marketing firm for his day job. He is always on the lookout for a good story and has traveled to Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Virginia to conduct face-to-face interviews with podcast guests.

Scott Merritt is the co-host of “Second Act Stories.” He’s always had a natural curiosity about people and the paths they’ve followed to find success. After developing concepts for other podcasts focused on people and their careers, Scott was invited by Andy, a former colleague, to join “Second Act Stories.” A native of New York, he is now based in Atlanta, Georgia.