Carl interviews Denise "Larana" Cerreta this week. Larana is author of the new book, "The Dead, The Rose and My Yellow Brick Road" and at age 61 is on her fourth (or is it fifth?) act. In addition to taking off a year to follow a Grateful Dead tour and writing about it, Larana has had a successful acupuncture practice, a very unique cafe, founded a global non-profit foundation and most recently has opened up an apothecary in Canton, Ohio. "I march to my own drum and follow my passions!" she tells us.

Larana grew up in Canton with a very large Italian-immigrant family on both sides. Lots of cousins, great food and holidays were a big part of her childhood. "I didn't realize how special that was until I got older," she tells us. As a teenager, she was always inquisitive and cared deeply for humanity. These qualities were woven into her career paths.

As an adult, she owned a successful acupuncture practice in Salt Lake City. (Fun fact: Acupuncture helps with pickleball injuries!) Larana says she felt privileged to help so many people. She closed the practice when she was 41 and took a leap.  She wanted to do something new and she started a cafe. "With lots of trial and error, I wanted to provide a way for people to eat good, organic food within a community." Larana was a pioneer in the "pay what you can" movement, where customers paid what they felt they should or could. (The CEO of Panera was so inspired by her example that he tried it at Panera with the "Pay What You wish" program in 2010). In 2017, her One World Everybody Eats Cafe received the James Beard Foundation Award for Humanitarian of the Year.

Food insecurity affects 800 million people globally. At the same time she was running the cafe, Larana says her heart opened again and she knew what to do next. She started a non-profit foundation called "One World Everybody Eats" to help others launch their dreams of building community through providing good, organic food. She envisioned One World Everybody Eats cafes to create spaces where people come together, eat in dignity, and form strong bonds that foster an interconnected community. Now (un)retired from the organization, she says they continue to hold inspiring annual summits for the cafe owners around the world.

On a spiritual journey to Santa Fe, Larana decided to change her name from Denise to Larana. "I found my new self," she says. She always wanted to follow the Dead and Company (formerly Grateful Dead) on tour, so she decided to embark on a "Celebration of Life" tour at the age of 57 and give herself that gift. 

Always an inspiring, creative entrepreneur, Larana has now opened Miss Larana's Alchemical Apothecary in downtown Canton. Customers can create personalized skincare and beauty products using organic ingredients and essential oils to blend lotions, lip balms, bath orbs, and more. "I feel like I have an 'Aha!' moment every day. It's important."

Larana's (Un)retirement Advice:

• "I like the lottery theory: Think about what you would do if you won the lottery and then do it! It gets fear out of the way and cuts to the center of what you really want."

• "Don't talk yourself out of crazy ideas that come to you. It can be a good thing."

• "Health is so key! Yoga is really important as we age for flexibility. I also recently bought an electric bike and now ride 20 miles a day. I feel so invigorated!"

• More about Denise "Larana" Cerreta

• Sponsored by How to Retire and Not Die

• Sponsored by Capital Advantage

Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the “I Used to Be Somebody” blog.

Tags:    blog   denise cerrreta interview   larana day interview   chef   author   unretirement   james beard award  

Carl interviews former pro-wrestler Neil Haley, who pivoted to teaching after retiring from the wrestling entertainment world. Turning 50 soon, Neil is now experiencing a "rebirth" with a whole new media career. (I'm perfect for the I Used to be Somebody podcast, he tells Carl.) Neil has had a unique life path and he shares what he's learned from his past experiences as well as his enthusiasm for his new adventures in media now. He has a very popular "Neil Haley Show" podcast/radio show that airs 7 days a week in more than 180 countries and is syndicated in 150+ stations.

Neil grew up in the Pittsburgh area as an only child. His father went to MIT and landed in the corporate world, his mother worked at a university. Neil is 6 ft. 10 inches tall, so his childhood years were not always easy for him. Neil says that being a 6 foot, 4 inches tall high school freshman then was "....not the same as growing up tall today. It was odd to be so tall in the '80's. People didn't accept anyone that was different in those days."

After playing basketball in college, Neil began pro wrestling at the age of 23. He was known as "Neil the Real Deal", "Future Shock, "The Giant Warrior" and others. When he decided to retire, it was not so easy. " You have all these accolades and then it's different," he tells Carl. "Now they have great programs and training facilities for wrestlers who are moving on, I didn't have that." But he did take away some very transferable skills from the experience.

"I learned ideation, creativity, and storytelling from wrestling." After teaching 4th and 5th graders and middle-schoolers, he says, "Teaching was a stretch for me but it was still performing," he observes. He tells Carl that he really enjoyed inspiring his students in new ways.

Neil made the transition to multi-media giant by inspiring his clients with that same zeal. He had learned storytelling and hosting TV shows in wrestling, and took it further with social media, celebrity endorsements, his podcast/radio show, and as a full-on brand agency, "The Media Giant." He plans to keep loving what he's doing and working for a long time. (His father didn't retire until 83.) "Who knows? By the time I'm 80 or 90, that'll be the new 60!"

(Un)Retirement advice from Neil Haley:

• You have to use your transferable skills to move to the next career."

• "Find the right experts to help you."

• "Educate yourself as much as possible and spend some time studying thought leaders."

• "Develop a daily routine. And it's important for entrepreneurs to also schedule an end-of-day time on their calendar!"

• More about Neil "The Media Giant" Haley

• Sponsored by: How to Retire and Not Die

• Sponsored by: The Monkey Creative

• Sponsored by: Capital Advantage
  

Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the “I Used to Be Somebody” blog.

Tags:    blog   interview   Neil Haley   pro-wrestling   Neil the Real Deal   multi-media giant   unretirement  

Carl interviews one of the Founding Fathers of the (Un)Retirement Movement, Richard Eisenberg. Rich spent 40+ years as a personal finance reporter, editor, writer, producer and popular podcast host. He worked with organizations such as Money Magazine, People, Good Housekeeping, Yahoo, CBS Money Watch and most recently with PBS's Next Avenue. Rich just "unretired" in January 2022, and shares some lessons learned about having a second act.


Rich grew up in the New Jersey suburbs. He was always a curious, studious kid, he says. He became editor of his high school newspaper and also worked at the school's radio station. After graduating from Northwestern, he pursued his passion for journalism. "One of the reasons I wanted to be in journalism was because I wanted to be helpful and useful to people in some way." Also interested in pop culture, Rich's first job out of college was as a fact checker for People magazine. Rich's career took him from that position, to becoming a reporter, Senior Editor, then Washington correspondent and Executive Editor for Money Magazine and others.


During his career, he worked remotely and was an early adopter for working with people all over the country, from his home office. "I didn't have any problem with it," he tells us. Now, Rich is still writing a column and hosting a podcast, writing book reviews for People, plus volunteering and pursuing other opportunities such as getting involved in a NYU student program on digital media and book publishing. Carl asks Rich what he's learned in the last 9 months. "I'm still writing, but trying some new things and liking the mix of the two. So far, so good!"

Richard Eisenberg's (Un)Retirement Advice:

•  "Until you're actually in it, (unretirement) you can't know exactly how it will be. Maybe the scariest part will be having a blank calendar with nothing filled in on it. So you'll need to figure out how much you want to fill it up. Some people will want to have stuff every day. Some people may want lots of free days. You have to spend some time thinking about how you want to spend your time."

• "Don't be scared-- realize you are going to make some mistakes. There's really no right way to do it."

•  On becoming too busy: "Saying 'No' to opportunities can make you feel uncomfortable sometimes. There's an adjustment period."

•  "People need to be able to find meaning and purpose in their lives--whether it's part-time work, or volunteering, or spirituality, but they have to have a reason to get up in the morning. Sometimes they're following a passion, or seeing a need, and then finding a way to serve that."

• More about Richard Eisenberg

• Sponsored by: Capital Advantage

• Sponsored by: How to Retire and Not Die

• Sponsor by: The Monkey Creative

Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the “I Used to Be Somebody” blog.

Tags:    blog   interview   unretirement   Richard Eisenberg   journalism   executive editor   People Magazine   PBS   Money magazine  

Carl is excited to interview Dan Rudd, a noted psychologist, Ironman competitor, trainer, poet, public speaker and now a wedding officiant. As a second act, Dan has officiated 35 weddings and 9 funerals. He also was a founding member of the successful "Every Man" meetings and retreats, focusing on men's issues. Right before the interview, Carl taught Dan how to play pickleball for the first time. Dan says, "I like it because you can just start playing,"

Dan was born in New York and moved to Tucson with his family at the age of 3. His mother was in poor health and his father worked seven days a week as a DJ and in Radio to support the family. As a chubby kid, Dan saw himself as not very athletic. After graduation from UC Santa Barbara, he went on to graduate school and became a psychotherapist, focusing on marriage/relationship therapy.

At 28, a friend invited Dan to participate in a triathlon at Donner Lake, taking on the swimming portion. Dan says his first thought after finishing was, "This is fun!" He eventually went on to participate in 200 triathlons and 8 Ironman competitions. More amazingly, Dan didn't compete in his first Ironman until the age of 51. "I've never been a frontrunner, but I have great endurance," Dan tells us with a smile. He says he met many good people who became friends while competing. No surprise, Dan also still trains and coaches athletes.

Dan semi-retired at 70, moving into a physical therapist's office and learning more about sports psychology. Now 75, Dan says he's retired. "I want to focus more on my inner world. The inner world is about checking in with yourself, becoming more mindful and not worrying about the past or future." Dan has two grown sons and lives with his wife Amy in the Sacramento region. He enjoys adventure travel, family, gardening, learning Spanish, meditating daily and officiating weddings. "I don't feel like I have to reinvent myself right now, I know there will be something else eventually!

Dan Rudd's (un)retirement advice:

• "The winner is the one who has the most fun!"

• "Be more kind than you need to be--to yourself and others."

• "Do what you love, do what brings you light."

• "Now you have the time to do what's important to you!"
   

• Sponsored by The Monkey Creative

• Sponsored by Capital Advantage

• Sponsored by How to Retire and Not Die
  
   

Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the “I Used to Be Somebody” blog.

Tags:    blog   interview   Dan Rudd   psychotherapist   ironman   wedding officiant   unretirement   ironman competitor   

Carl interviews Teri Fahrendorf, who left her high-tech career to become one of the first few women brewmasters in the craft brewing industry in the U.S. She says she's never been cut out for the "cubicle life" and left her well-paying job to forge a new path in the craft brewing industry. She is also the founder of the Pink Boots Society, a network for women in brewing. Teri has a tendency to forge ahead, always willing to follow her intuition to a meaningful life.

Teri has German roots, growing up with her siblings in Wisconsin. She says her parents provided an upper middle-class life until the Oil Embargo of 1973. Her father quit his job and suddenly the family's income level plummeted during her teen years. She says this experience shaped her outlook on life. "Always have a side hustle. Act like you could lose our job at any time." (It is interesting to note that many of our guests had a similar childhood experience that shaped their lives.) "I learned to be an entrepreneur at a young age," Teri tells us.

She attended the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire, studying management information systems with an emphasis on COBOL programming. During college she started experimenting with making wine, but she was to follow that passion later. After graduation, she dove into the world of high tech. Over the years she began to hate it. She started home brewing on the side. In 1988, she quit her job as a programmer to attend the Siebel Institute of Chicago, where she earned a degree in brewing technology and then began her new career at Golden Gate Brewing Company in Berkley.

During her time at Golden Gate, Teri was in an accident, when boiling water caused severe damage to her legs and feet, needing surgery and skin grafts. Following that experience, Teri began speaking all over the country to brewers about promoting safety within the industry. She has also worked for Triple Rock Brewery as Head Brewer, then moved to Oregon to work for Steelhead Brewing Company. During her tenure there, she won many awards for her creations.

After 19 years in brewing, she decided to take a road trip to visit other brewers, traveling to 73 breweries across the country. While meeting some of the women in the business, she realized there was no network for connection. Teri founded the Pink Boots Society in 2008. The organization has grown from 35 members to over 2,500 members today. As the organization grew, Teri began to make an (un)retirement plan for her next creative act in life.

Today Teri lives with her husband in Portland. She started Rain Dragon Studio to pursue her passion for pottery and also to meet other artists and travel to art festivals to expand her network. Teri continues making connections and expanding her world. " I'm working at what I want, when I want!"

Teri's advice for (Un) Retirement:

• "It was important to me to have a plan in place before I (un)retired. Otherwise, I'd just be taking trips all the time."

• "Listen to your intuition--it will steer you towards your best future."

• "Keep yourself challenged, interested and excited!"

• "It's important to find new friends and tribes. When you're working, you don't necessarily have time to develop friendships."

•  More About Teri Fahrendorf: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teri_Fahrendorf

•  Teri Update: http://www.terifahrendorf.com/

•  Sponsored by: How to Retire and Not Die

•  Sponsored by: Capital Advantage

Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the “I Used to Be Somebody” blog.

Tags:    blog   unretirement   brewing   craft brewing   beer   first woman   travel   pottery