5 Fascinating 2nd Act Career Stories with Andy Levine [Podcast]

Podcast #183 – Andy Levine of Second Act Stories Podcast Shares His 5 Best Stories

Description:

This week is a different kind of episode. I am a big fan of the Second Act Stories podcast. I met Andy Levine who produces the Second Act Stories podcast even before he launched it. He came to me for some advice on getting it launched.

Andy interviews some really interesting people who have made some really interesting pivots. He produces an episode every other week and he interviews just about everyone in person, which has an issue during this pandemic. I want you to hear some of these stories.

Andy has picked out his top 5 stories from his 70 plus episodes. I will play a clip from each and Andy will give you some background. I will provide a link to the full episodes for each in the show notes.

Andy’s bio:

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 California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Virginia to conduct face-to-face interviews with podcast guests.

Make sure to check out the Career Pivot Community.

Now on to the podcast…

5 Stories from Second Act Stories Podcast

Cathy & the Crankshafts: Social Worker Learns To Fix Cars For Working Poor

“But then it was like the voice of the universe, God, however you choose to name it. It was just like my God swears so…forgive my language but it was just like, “Dumbass. The door is opening. Walk through it. I am opening the door. Walk through it.”

Telephone Repairman Follows His Dream: Designing Women’s Shoes

“It was a two-day course over a weekend, by this European shoe designer, his name was Aki Choklat. I said, “You know, I’m gonna take this?” I’m gonna bring my designs down and show him. I wanted to get some sort of critique from him.

So, the first day of class was just drills in design, drills, and drawing, and all this other stuff. And at the end of the day, he pulled me aside and he says, he goes, “You were born to do this.” He goes, “There’s…” If I choke up throughout this, I hope.

Andy: No problem.

But he said, you know, “You were born to do this.” He goes, “You have to go for a master’s,” and the only place they offered masters are in Europe.

A Midlife Shake-up: Stay-At-Home Mom Pursues A Year Of Public Service

I felt that I was watching my children pursue their futures, my husband pursue his career, friends choose their path, and I really felt like I was on the sidelines watching. And that kinda hunger inside of me for something more really came to the surface. And when my dad passed away, I think I found myself in a funk and I knew that that was my turning point. I knew that I needed to do something. So, it happened that about maybe a couple weeks before my 49th birthday, I had this idea that what if I didn’t have to find the final destination? What if I gave myself this year of exploration and I would discover new passions instead of going back to old ones.

And so, I was gonna use this year and commit to doing 50 public service projects. I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone, try some new things, and really shake up my life.

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A Dream Deferred: How A Banquet Waitress Became A Doctor At 45

And I remember still very clearly the moment, but where I was holding Arielle, my daughter and telling her, you can be anything you wanna be when you grow up. And I thought this kid’s gonna look back up at me one day and say, “So you wanted to be a waitress all your life?”

So my next therapy session, I said, “Cathy, you know, God, it’s just, it’s a shame I can’t become a doctor.” She said, “Yeah, yeah, that’s too bad.” And I said, “Well, wait a minute, why can’t I? Don’t say it’s too bad. I can.”

Goodbye Accounting…Hello Acting: Meet Ancestry’s “Lederhosen Guy”

When I was a kid when I was in high school, I wanted to be an actor. You know, did the school plays and really loved theater. I would go and see anything that I could. When I got out of high school, I took some acting classes and I really thought I was going in that direction. But then life happened and I ended up being an accountant.