Late Bloomer Living Podcast

EP 61: Charlene Lam - Grief, Grit, Grace

When Charlene Lam’s mother passed away unexpectedly at age 66 from a stroke she found herself unmoored.  As an only child, she was tasked with having to sell and empty her mother’s dream home.  Charlene had a background working with makers, artisans and designers to help them curate and sell their creations. Now, faced with a lifetime of collected, precious items that had been important to her mother she found herself feeling overwhelmed and unable to let go of anything.  That’s when she asked herself, “OK, if I was to do an exhibition about my mother, which 100 objects would I choose?”

EP 60: Bruce Wilhelm - The Path to Leadership

Bruce Wilhelm was in his late twenties when he was given the responsibility of running a successful tree service business that his father had built. He took on the challenge even though he didn’t feel ready.  After successfully growing the business he’d been given for many years, he made the decision to sell the business when he was 42.  He struggled with that decision, because he felt responsible for his employees' livelihoods, but he knew his personal growth waited for him on another path.  Many years later, he has discovered a passion for helping others develop their leadership skills.   

EP 59: Jessica Abel - The Dark Forest

Jessica Abel is an award-winning cartoonist, illustrator, and writer, and is the chair of the  Illustration program at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.  In the past few years, she has evolved to become founder of the Autonomous Creative where she works with ambitious mid-career creative pros and businesses to help them stop grinding and carve out the deep focus needed to finish—and launch—the game-changing work they want to be known for.  In this episode we explore the messy middle of the creative process and how that relates to the messiness of a midlife reinvention. 

EP 58: Julie Holly - Becoming the Next Version of Yourself

Julie Holly started off her career as a public school teacher after graduating early from college.  She thought she had it all figured out and was on her way to a “successful life”, until life threw some “smack downs” her way.  She pivoted to a real estate career for some time before deciding that she really wanted to pursue a childhood dream.  Allowing herself to pivot and follow her instincts has prepared her for the next leg of her journey in which she’s combined teaching, writing and real estate investing into a new mission that is filling her with energy and purpose. 

EP 57: Wendy Deacon - Permission to Play

Wendy Deacon is a master of PLAYtime!  She left a successful corporate career and took some time to think about what she truly wanted to do next.  She ended up writing a book which has since led her to establish a company called DestinationU with the mission of empowering women to identify and create the lives they truly want to live.  She also leads the Inspiring Your NEXT Community! which is a community of women over 40 who are going after their next adventure and prioritizing playtime.  Do you want to explore more but need ideas or are unsure where to start? Do you feel like there must be more fun out there?

EP 56: Deena Baikowitz - Talk to Strangers

Deena Baikowitz started doing stand up comedy when she was 50 years old! As a coach, she helps professionals develop new business and career opportunities through strategic networking, branding, and marketing.  Deena brings her signature fireball energy to every space and every audience. Her happy place is in a room full of people – both virtual and live.  A turn of events during the Covid shutdown meant that she had to relocate from her beloved home in New York City to Toronto where she’s been isolated for 7+ months.  As an extrovert with an expertise in networking the lack of direct human connection has been a distinct challenge for Deena, but she’s learned a little something about herself along the way and she’s keeping her options open as she navigates a life she didn’t plan on.

EP 55: Julie Carrick Dalton - A Bumpy Yet Worthwhile Journey

At 51, Julie Carrick Dalton has finally found her stride.  Her debut novel Waiting for the Night just launched in January as a Most Anticipated 2021 Book from CNN, USA Today, Parade, Newsweek, and Buzzfeed, and was an Amazon Best Book of the Month. She’s also a brand new organic farmer.  She bought a tract of forest that was in danger of being timbered and developed and managed to preserve 92 acres of forest and built a small farm from scratch all while writing her book and raising four young kids.  She acknowledges it’s been a bumpy journey, but well worth facing the hard work, mistakes and rejections along the way. 

EP 54: Broc Edwards - The Search for Midlife Mastery

Broc Edwards has some questions about mastering midlife, starting with how do you do it?  At the age of 50 he started a new podcast called, “Midlife Mastery” to explore that question and look for answers.   In this conversation we talk about the quest and what it means to age with purpose and curiosity.

EP 53: Stephanie Mojica - Wanderlust

Stephanie Mojica wanted to travel for the longest time.  She had a career as an award winning reporter, but after some time in that career she realized she wanted more control over her life and her schedule.   She started several side hustles to explore what else she might do, eventually establishing an online business coaching people to write their own books as thought leaders.  Once she had a solid online business, she started getting curious about being a digital nomad.  Some major life events inspired her to finally take the leap.  We talk about how she gathered the courage to pursue her dream and how it’s working out so far.

EP 52: John Flaherty - It’s Been a Year!

It’s been a year!  This is episode 52.  That’s 52 weeks of midlife reinvention stories out in the world!  For this special episode, I’m talking to John Flaherty, my husband.  John is a classically trained actor who is slightly obsessed with Shakespeare, music, motorcycles and classic cars.  He teaches theatre and directs the classical productions at Sacred Heart University, and is also the Operations Manager for Hannes Precision Industries, a manufacturer of precision screw machine parts.  This year he worked on a project with our kids to renovate and revitalize a 1974 VW Bug Super Beetle that was about more than car restoration.  We had a little sit down to discuss our concurrent projects with all the challenges, pitfalls and wins involved.