We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Yvonne Marchese a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Yvonne, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I suppose I’ve always been a risk taker. As a kid growing up in El Paso, TX, I had dreams of moving to New York City to become an actress. In my mid twenties I made the move! I sold everything I owned and drove across the country without an apartment or a job lined up. Within a month of moving I found a great roommate, a job and was cast in an off-off Broadway show. I was living the dream. I spent close to 10 years in the city auditioning, performing and working at a lot of survival jobs. I met my husband on a national tour and we had our first child when I was 35 years old.

Becoming a mother changed me. I lost interest in pursuing an acting career. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I became a worrier. I became cautious. I thought my time to explore and take chances was over.

When I was 40, the 2008 recession happened and I was laid off from a job I had just started. I was pretty devastated. I felt like I had no future.

That layoff was pivotal. I woke up the morning after and decided to become a photographer. I was lucky enough to have support from my husband and some wiggle room left on my credit card so I bought my first real camera and enrolled in a program to learn the ins and outs of photography.

There I was a rank beginner at 40! I made lots of mistakes and learned something new at every photo session.

Photography saved me. I finally felt passionate about something like I had about acting. I eventually found a survival job after the layoff and I started my photography business as a side gig working for many years until I could go full time. I love being a photographer.

And yet… I still felt like something was missing. My forties were filled with health challenges and when I looked in the mirror I didn’t recognize the older woman looking back at me. I felt like I was meant for more, but I didn’t know what that was. I was exhausted. I was having trouble concentrating. I was hitting the snooze button every morning and then scrambled to get the kids fed, dressed and off to school. I was angry. I felt stuck.

When I was in my late forties, I had a revelation. I realized that I needed to start taking better care of myself. I started reading a lot of self help books and listening to podcasts. Inspired by Mel Robbins’ book, The Five Second Rule, I made a decision to try a new morning routine. I set my alarm clock across the room, so I couldn’t hit the snooze button and I got up an hour before my kids needed to be up so I could meditate and exercise. I committed to doing this new morning routine for 30 days just as an experiment. It wasn’t easy at first, but after a few weeks I noticed I was feeling much better. My oldest child even noticed and told me I seemed to be “happier”. He didn’t even know I’d been trying this new routine.

That’s when I truly started to feel hopeful about my future and I realized that much of my problem had been because of the trash talk in my head about getting older. Because I was feeling better and had more energy, I started to get curious and hopeful about what I might do when I was in my seventies and eighties.

That’s when I got the idea to do a podcast about midlife reinvention. I wondered if other people were limiting themselves because they were feeling “too old” to go after a dream. I thought it would be great to interview people who had felt that way, but had found their way past feeling stuck.

I didn’t pursue the idea of starting a podcast at first. I had a lot of reasons to wait. I was a busy mom with active kids, after all. I needed to focus on building my photography business. Also, I didn’t know the first thing about producing a podcast and I didn’t have the money to pay someone to edit for me. In the end, I realized that while those concerns were valid, the real thing stopping me was ME. I didn’t feel “qualified” to host a podcast. I felt like I needed to be an expert of some sort and questioned why anyone would listen to “little old me”. I had a huge case of imposter syndrome!

The podcast idea simply wouldn’t go away. It nagged at me for 2 years!

In the meantime, I pivoted my photography business towards doing branding photography for entrepreneurs. I was reading a lot of books about branding and entrepreneurship in an effort to understand how to best serve my clients. That research led me to read Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence-and How You Can, Too by Gary Vaynerchuk. At one point in the book he fleshed out the idea that it wasn’t necessary to be an “expert” in order to talk about a topic. I realized then that I could do the podcast from the point of view of someone on a journey and I’d be telling other people’s stories anyway. I didn’t need to be an “Expert” or have a special degree. That’s when I decided to take the risk and produce the podcast. It has been an amazing experience… not because I’ve achieved some huge success, but because of who I had to become in order to get it done.

In June of 2020 I launched The Late Bloomer Living Podcast and it changed my life! I’m almost 55 years old and it’s one of the best risks I’ve ever taken. Here are some of the outcomes I’ve experienced since starting the podcast.
– I’ve met new friends who started as podcast guests.
– I have loads of energy because I’m doing something I love.
– I have more confidence in my ability to take on challenges.
– I hosted an online summit and started an online community for women called “Midlife Uprising”
– I’ve been a guest on many podcasts and online summits to talk about how we can rethink aging.
– I’m a published author and contribute articles about midlife musing to Kuel Life
– I’m a roving reporter for a weekly livestream talk show called Good Morning Entrepreneurs where I talk about late life entrepreneurship
– I co-host a monthly livestream show called “Salty Sisters”
– My photography business is thriving with almost no direct marketing efforts on my part.
– I bought myself a new pair of roller skates to celebrate 3 years of podcasting and I’m learning how to roller dance!

Whatever you dream of doing I want to assure you that you’re not too old and it’s never too late and baby steps will get you there. Start today! Your future self will thank you!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m a podcaster, speaker, professional photographer, mom, wife and serial pivoter.

At the age of 48, I realized that I had bought into a story about getting old that was adversely affecting my health and relationships.

Changing my story about aging inspired me to start the Late Bloomer Living Podcast and the Midlife Uprising Community where I am on a mission to redefine society’s ideas on aging and exploring how to live a life by design at any age.

I believe that stories can change lives… maybe not in an instant, but in laying the seeds of possibility. I work every day to embrace big, scary, beautiful change and believe it’s never too late to pursue a dream.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Producing a podcast means that you need to build an audience, so I have had to embrace putting myself “out there” on social media even though I have always been reluctant about it. Even with my background as an actress, I found getting in front of the camera to be extremely uncomfortable.

Here’s the thing… My mission is bigger than my discomfort or my fear of looking foolish. I have slowly built a following on Instagram and in Clubhouse. It’s all about consistency and taking chances.

A couple of years ago I finally did my first Instagram reel and much to my surprise, I had fun doing it! If you had told me 3 or 4 years ago that I would be doing silly reels I would have laughed in your face.

I do it now because I’ve realized that it’s part of my journey to continue challenging myself to do things that are uncomfortable. The cringe factor is huge, but I’ve learned to have fun with it and just keep putting stuff out there to see if I’m communicating my message clearly. I try to keep it fun for myself so it’s fun for my audience. It’s become a game for me to look at the results of each post and let it inform me if I’m on the right track with my messaging.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Two layoffs and a pandemic have led me to where I am now. The first layoff in 2008 led me to pick up a camera and start doing photography as a side gig. The second layoff several years later convinced me it was time to commit to being a full time photographer. I now consider myself to be unemployable and I have started to embrace my identity as an entrepreneur.

I made the decision to start my podcast in December of 2019. I didn’t know how I was going to fit it into my busy schedule, but I was determined to start. When Covid 19 reared its ugly head in March of 2020 I couldn’t work as a photographer. I saw that as my opportunity to dig in and learn everything I needed to know about podcasting. I built a website and launched the podcast in June.

I have come to look at obstacles as learning opportunities.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://latebloomerliving.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/latebloomerliving/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/latebloomerliving
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvonne-marchese-85111751/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfiTxGUiWThacEpBFKOvoKQ
• Other: I’d love to offer your readers my free, downloadable “Wave Making Midlife Meditations” https://bit.ly/MidlifeMeditations