What can we help you find?

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.…

Mark Greaney is a #1…

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 thi…

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 ove…

Sam McKinlay experie…

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 h…

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 s…

Amy Siewe is the qui…

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 a…

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,  …

Second Act Stories h…

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 valid…

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 wit…

Rachel Humphrey was …

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 o…

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, w…

Mike Drak worked as …

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 tha…

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, w…

Stuckey’s is a leg…

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-alo…

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 hav…

Second Act Stories a…

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 200…

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 ha…

Second Act Stories a…

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…

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…

Donald Loftus had a …

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…

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 …

The moment Patty For…

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 relativ…

Robert Markowitz was a criminal defense attorney in Palo Alto, California. But the work caused him a great deal of stress and he started developing all sorts of physical ailments. So he quit and heade…

Robert Markowitz was…

Robert Markowitz was a criminal defense attorney in Palo Alto, California. But the work caused him a great deal of stress and he started developing all sorts of physical ailments. So he quit and headed to Mexico to escape the job he hated. When he finally returned to the United States, he was 37-years-old, broke and living with his mother back in his boyhood home in New York. Going through the help wanted section of The New York Times, he came across an advertisement for a company that would train you to be a clown. So he became "Bobo, The Clown" and he started performing at children's birthda…

After growing up in what he describes as the ghettos of Daytona Beach, Royce James spent a decade working as a financial advisor, ultimately reaching the elite level of working with high-net-worth ind…

After growing up in …

After growing up in what he describes as the ghettos of Daytona Beach, Royce James spent a decade working as a financial advisor, ultimately reaching the elite level of working with high-net-worth individuals. In spite of that success, he was frustrated by the fact that very few of his clients followed his advice. He knew it was time for a career change, but to what? And was he crazy to leave the security of a solid career for a huge unknown? One fateful day, looking down at the highway from the Tampa skyscraper where he was working, a revelation struck. Royce saw a line of police vehicles wea…

Sergio Raynal was at the top of his game. With a staff of 25+, he was responsible for KPMG’s real estate and hospitality consulting for Pacific Asia and the West Coast of the United States. Woodwork…

Sergio Raynal was at…

Sergio Raynal was at the top of his game. With a staff of 25+, he was responsible for KPMG’s real estate and hospitality consulting for Pacific Asia and the West Coast of the United States. Woodworking was always a hobby and a way to relieve stress from his high-pressure job. But it became a “side hustle” and eventually a full-time pursuit following a falling out with the management team at KPMG. “The reward is the sense of accomplishment and creation. That's what I like about working with my hands. I'll sometimes be bone tired. I feel every ache and pain but at the end of the day ther…

We hope you enjoy this ‘From the Vault’ episode, which reintroduces one of our favorite guests: Noa Shaw. Noa Shaw has led a hard life. Drugs and alcohol took hold of him at an early age. And he h…

We hope you enjoy th…

We hope you enjoy this ‘From the Vault’ episode, which reintroduces one of our favorite guests: Noa Shaw. Noa Shaw has led a hard life. Drugs and alcohol took hold of him at an early age. And he has struggled as both a drug addict and drug dealer for most of his adult life. But eight years ago his life took a turn for the better when he wandered into a SoulCycle studio that was just opening up in Los Angeles. SoulCycle is a fitness company that is the gold standard in cycling workouts. After his first workout, he was hooked. For three months, he attended every day – sometimes two workout…

We hope you enjoy this 'From the Vault' episode, which reintroduces one of our favorite early guests: Cathy Heying. While working as the Director of Social Justice at St. Stephen’s Church in Minneap…

We hope you enjoy th…

We hope you enjoy this 'From the Vault' episode, which reintroduces one of our favorite early guests: Cathy Heying. While working as the Director of Social Justice at St. Stephen’s Church in Minneapolis, Cathy Heying observed a continuing problem among the working poor in the church’s neighborhood: A poor person’s car would break down and they would not have the money to repair it; Lacking dependable transportation, he/she would be unable to get to work and lose their job; Unable to pay the rent, they would become homeless. She initially thought: “Somebody really should do something …

Jonathan Bahlatzis spent 15 years in corporate America,  11 of which were spent working as an engineer for GE. He rose through the ranks and took on leadership roles that gave him all the trappings o…

Jonathan Bahlatzis s…

Jonathan Bahlatzis spent 15 years in corporate America,  11 of which were spent working as an engineer for GE. He rose through the ranks and took on leadership roles that gave him all the trappings of success. But even with all that safety and security, he had a passion he needed to follow. In 2016 – in the midst of his GE career – Jonathan launched Kopis Designs, an artisan blade company where he designs and hand crafts beautiful knives and blades. Kopis’s tag line is “Form, fit, and function for every day carry.” A successful Kickstarter campaign established a following for Kopis …

Tracy Bonham built a reputation as a "badass rocker" with "Mother, Mother," a powerful anthem that made it to #1 on Billboard's "Alternative Rock" charts. The song and her "The Burdens of Being Uprigh…

Tracy Bonham built a…

Tracy Bonham built a reputation as a "badass rocker" with "Mother, Mother," a powerful anthem that made it to #1 on Billboard's "Alternative Rock" charts. The song and her "The Burdens of Being Upright" album were nominated for two Grammy awards and led to arena tours with Aerosmith and the Blue Man Group. But in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down live music across the world, Tracy launched Melodeon in 2020. The new enterprise is aimed at teaching a younger audience she lovingly calls "young music enthusiasts." Inspired by Sesame Street, Electric Company and School House Rock, she…