Bucket List Careers

Timothy Gordon has a unique dream gig as an internationally recognized appraisal authority. He has been evaluating works of fine art, valuables and collections for over 25 years, having personally appraised millions of items of celebrities, high-profile collections, notable museums, and national parks. He has been a featured appraiser on the PBS production of Antiques Roadshow in Collectibles, Decorative Arts and Tribal Art.  The E...

Brian Fryer, aka “Coach Fryer”, played baseball professionally for the San Diego Padres for 8 years before he experienced chronic injuries and decided to make his big career pivot to network marketing. However, he did not find immediate success. In fact, in his first four years of network marketing Brian didn’t earn a single dollar in profit! He sought business mentorship, took courses, and eventually found great success, but then ...

Graze NY Founder Shari Ivler always had a creative eye. She went to art school at Syracuse University and worked in NY fashion for many years at Anthropologie, Hugo Boss, Juicy Couture and Bloomingdales doing styling and merchandising.  But despite her success, Shari developed an aching feeling she was destined for something else. A mother of 2, Shari decided to transfer her skills from fashion to food when, after years of impressi...

Co-Founder of Vengo Labs, Brian Shimmerlik had an entrepreneurial spirit from the start of his career that took him through several successful professional transitions. He started out in in finance in New York City at JP Morgan, but after 6 years ventured out to craft his own dream gig. Unsatisfied in banking, Shimmerlik enrolled in business school at NYU.  With no time to get to a store one night, he realized he wanted access to p...

What does it mean to hit 100 episodes of Bucket List Careers? Since its launch in January 2021, this podcast has featured a variety of insightful interviews unpacking each guests' path to professional purpose, with a focus on highlighting steps to achieving your coveted dream gig.  In this special episode, Christa talks frankly about what she's learned so far on her podcasting journey and handpicks the best nuggets of wisdom from h...

Life and career coach Dara Astmann has found her Bucket List Career by helping fellow moms discover what is on their own Bucket Lists. As a part-time Ad Sales Executive at Paramount, Dara spent her non-working days as a mother to her two young children. Once they entered full-time school, Dara knew that she wanted to use her newfound free time to follow her other passion. This involved empowering mothers to make themselves a priori...

The Little Blazer Company came to life after Ria Morgan left her fast-paced career to become a mom and raise two beautiful daughters, Mila & Sofia. Ria always loved fashion that blends old with new and her staple go-to look was always the classic tweed blazer with jeans. After searching everywhere for her daughters to have a similar option in their wardrobe, she was uninspired by the choices available. 

Elyce Jacobson is a vegan chef that has had many passion-fueled career pivots over the years. In her mid-twenties she had an insatiable desire to leave the corporate world and become a chef and entrepreneur. She worked her 9-5 while attending culinary school at night. That was the beginning of a successful and intriguing trajectory that included several food businesses over the years from catering to cafes, the most well known of w...

After rising in the ranks of banking management in New Jersey for over 20 years, Leila Karlsen made her career pivot to become an independent gourmet coffee shop owner.  The idea germinated while taking afternoon breaks from the bank at a local establishment.  Leila loved the atmosphere, community, and of course - the coffee.  She was chatting with the owners one day and that very conversation changed the course of her career path ...

A former elementary school teacher and mother of 4, Liz Woods created Ryemarkable Moms (a play on words involving her hometown of Rye, New York) to remind us that we are surrounded by real, authentic moms who are doing everything they can to make the world a better place. Ryemarkable Moms documents positive, inspirational stories of Rye Moms on social media. She also leads an educational online membership platform that offers month...

It's never easy to pull off a mid-career pivot to start a new business of your own, but Chris Gargano knew his years in the world of professional sports combined with experience as a sports journalist had primed him for a meaningful second act as Founder of The Gargano Leadership Group. He was a reporter, anchor, producer and executive producer at various broadcast affiliates around the country before moving on to content man...

Lauren Porat is the owner and founder of YogaSpark, a hot power yoga studio with locations in New York City and Westchester County, NY, however she started her career on Wall Street in investment banking and investor relations. A major pivot! Unlike many Bucket List Careers guests, Lauren never found any of her career choices to be unfulfilling. She loved working in finance and loved working on her first startup Urban Interns - per...

A champion bodybuilder, personal trainer and comedian for the past 20 years, Andrew Ginsburg has trained clients privately in the morning, and performed stand-up comedy at night.  The New York City-born author of “Pumping Irony: How to Build Muscle, Lose Weight, and Have the Last Laugh” laughs throughout this episode and says he’s “just another Jewish comedian” but his unique career experience in bodybuilding and perso...

What are you refusing to settle for in 2023? By setting intentions instead of New Year's resolutions, we can create positive change in our lives that is more progressive, achievable and sustainable. We can also adjust our tasks and goals as needed throughout the year if something isn't working. Being flexible will help ensure that you never fail and “jump ship”, you just “adjust your sail” and keep moving forward. What we are not c...

With the failure rate for New Year’s resolutions estimated to be 80%, with most people giving up by mid-February, there’s a high likelihood you may have already hit a wall of discouragement.  Whether your resolution was to hit the gym, start that new YouTube channel, or find your dream job, many of us who resolve to change and fall short are left to question "what went wrong"? In this conversation, life coach and master o...

For over 25 years Ali Cocco spent her career surrounded by brilliant and charismatic sales leaders and had the opportunity to represent global media brands like MTV, Discovery, Comedy Central, Paramount, TLC, and Nickelodeon, to name a few. But at a certain point in her trajectory, Ali became restless and wanted something more, a business of her own that made more sense for who she had become at that point in her life. Ali turned t...

Stephanie Capuano was a PR professional with over 15 years of experience in pharmaceutical, fashion and beauty sectors across offices in New York, San Francisco and London when she decided it was time to create companies of her own. Using her marketing and consumer insights, the California native founded 31st State in 2017, an award-winning clean skincare company and the only natural and vegan skin care brand for Gen Z guys. Being ...

Bridget Johns grew up on a farm in rural western Pennsylvania, but always had an innate wanderlust which led her to unique career experiences and travel.  She spent most of her career in retail, running the Ralph Lauren Home license business in Western Europe followed by roles at Tiffany & Co., L'Oreal and Links of London. However, her love for gift-giving and curiosity about consumer psychology eventually led her to start her own ...

Genevieve Piturro led a successful career as a television marketing executive in New York City for more than a decade when a little girl’s question (“What are pajamas?”) changed the course of her life forever. At that pivotal moment, Genevieve decided to jump off the corporate ladder and began delivering pajamas and books to children in shelters. In 2001, she founded Pajama Program, which has been recognized nationwide for both its...