Wiser With Age

Tag: career

  • Betty Corwin receives Lifetime Achievement Award for archiving thousands of NYC theater productions


    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Betty Corwin receiving her Lifetime Achievement Award at Sardi’s Restaurant in NYC on November 8, 2017. (Photo/Ellis Gaskell)

    Betty Corwin is going to turn 97 this month, but she says she still feels like a baby.

    “If you feel young, you are young,†says the native New Yorker, enthusiastically.

    This month was an extra special one for Corwin. She received the Special Lifetime Achievement Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women (LPTW) for founding the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive (TOFT) in 1969. In 2001, she also received a TONY Award for her dedicated work.

    It was because of Corwin’s vision, and untiring effort, that TOFT has been filming and archiving video recordings of Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theater productions for nearly 50 years. The archive is located at New York City’s Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts and is open to the public.

    “There are over 8,000 titles now – shows, interviews, dialogues, and over 4,000 are theater productions, and it continues to grow,†says Corwin, proudly. “It’s considered the largest archive of its kind.â€

    What’s perhaps most impressive about her extraordinary feat is that she only began this immense project when she was 50.

    “I got married in 1944, and my husband [a doctor] decided to practice in the country – so we moved to Connecticut,†says Corwin.

    She says it took her forever to get used to life in the country, but she did eventually. It’s there that she had, and raised, her three children.

    After they were grown, Corwin started to commute to NYC to volunteer in a psychiatric emergency room of a hospital. It was while filling out an application for a scholarship that she realized her true life’s calling.

    “I had to write a brief autobiography, and I found myself saying the most exciting time in my life was when I worked in the theater,†recalls Corwin, vividly. “When I was 20, I wasn’t married…I was a production assistant at the theater and script reader for three years.â€

    Because of this revelation, the next morning, she went straight to Lincoln Center and told the head of the drama department her plan to make an archive of all theater productions.

    He asked, “What makes you think you can do this?â€

    Corwin answered, “I can try.â€

    He said, “I’ll give you a desk and a telephone and see if you can get it off the ground.â€

    So, straight away, the unstoppable Corwin started calling foundations in order to get the money to fund her vision.

    “It was two and a half years just to get through the unions — I had to tackle them one at a time,†says Corwin, as if it were only yesterday. “I was persistent. I worked hard for it. Even when it was difficult getting union clearances, I pushed ahead.â€

    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Betty Corwin with the video tape recorders in Lincoln Center in 1998. (Courtesy Betty Corwin)

    She remembered literally walking into the offices of executives, after not getting callbacks, in order to get contracts signed. Sometimes it’d take up to an hour of convincing why the archive was necessary, but she says she wouldn’t leave until she got the signatures she needed.

    “Musicians have a lot of privacy rights. They didn’t trust anyone, or me,†says Corwin. “We finally had all the unions to be able to tape on Broadway, and I had also been raising money throughout…I did that for 31 years – getting up at 5:30am to catch the 7:31 train, and I loved what I was doing. I really did love what I did.â€

    Corwin’s love for the theater began as a young girl. Her parents would take her to see shows on Broadway. It was then that the seed was planted, and she began feeling someone had to preserve these shows. Little did she know that person would be her.

    “I was always a spectator. I never acted,†says Corwin. “When you go to the theater, you’re lost in another world.â€

    She says she also loves theater, because it can shed light on controversial topics happening in the world, like “The Normal Heart†– about the AIDS epidemic – which TOFT got to tape in 1985.

    Her favorite memory of her career was being able to watch a special finale of one of her favorite plays, “A Chorus Line†– which she says is also the longest running Broadway show.

    “The actors emerged from all over the theater,†says Corwin. “The orchestra and audience were in evening clothes. It was thrilling.â€

    What thrills Corwin nowadays is seeing her beloved archive continue at New York’s prestigious Lincoln Center.

    “We have viewers coming from around the world,†she says. “I continue to work for the library, and I’m also on the jury for the Outer Critics Circle…I feel good.â€

    What is her most important piece of life advice that she’d tell her 20-year-old self?

    “Just enjoy life and keep doing what you love. That’s the most important thing – to just keep going.â€

  • Author Bob Brody on “Playing Catch with Strangers”

    Author Bob Brody on “Playing Catch with Strangers”


    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Bob Brody speaking at his book signing for “Playing Catch with Strangers” at the Forest Hills Library on September 16, 2017. (Courtesy Bob Brody)

    In “Playing Catch with Strangers,â€Â an essay published in The New York Times in 2015, Bob Brody writes that he played catch with his father only once in his life.

    “That summer afternoon, I felt about as happy as I’d ever felt. That’s how it goes when you’re 8 years old and playing catch with your dad,†writes Brody. “But then my father got busy with work, too busy to play catch with me anymore, always leaving early in the morning and returning late at night, and that turned out to be that. He had to do what he had to do.â€

    Although short-lived, that special day ignited a flame in Brody’s life that would never extinguish – one that would continually remind him the importance of having fun and nurturing relationships throughout his life. In addition to becoming a public relations executive and a writer, Brody, now 65, still makes it his joyous duty to play catch with anyone who is interested.

    His memoir, comprised of the many personal essays he’s written throughout his life about family and special moments, is similarly titled, “Playing Catch with Strangers: A Family Guy (Reluctantly) Comes of Age,â€Â and hit shelves this past June.

    “My new book covers my whole life…It’s a celebration,†says Brody. “It’s about my struggle to overcome immaturity. I resisted responsibility for a long time…It wasn’t until I was 35 [when my daughter was born] that I developed a real hard work ethic.â€

    He says his whole life he’d only wanted to be a writer.

    “That ambition took shape when I was 12,†recalls Brody, who ended up writing for his junior high, high school, and then college paper. “My grandfather bought me a New York Daily News subscription so I could read about the Yankees. I appreciated the directness of the language. I really didn’t get serious about writing till I was 18 – in college. Writing for the school paper, I became infatuated with words. I was not much of a storyteller at that point. I was just looking to see what I could do with language. I used to use big words – words that I will probably never use again. I’ve come to recognize short words can be good, short sentences can be good…I like street language too.â€

    He says if he had to do it all over, he really doesn’t know what else he could’ve become.

    “I guess I could’ve become a lawyer, but then I would’ve written about being a lawyer,†says Brody, smiling.

    Born in the Bronx, Brody lived there almost three years before migrating to the suburbs of Fair Lawn, NJ. He was always smitten with NYC, however, as he would often sleep over his grandparents’ house there, and his grandmother would take him to all the museums and concert halls, including Radio City Music Hall.

    At 23, after majoring in English at Fairleigh Dickinson University, he moved to Manhattan. This momentous occasion also led to his proudest career moment at 26 – getting published in The New York Times.

    “I wrote about the time I got mugged five weeks into living in New York City,†laughs Brody, who has since lived in Forest Hills, Queens for the past 40 years.

    Since his big break, Brody’s work has appeared in publications such as The Atlantic, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, and more. He also wrote the book, “Edge Against Cancer,†which profiles 12 athletes who survived cancer and were able to return to competing in their respective sports.

    He says it was when his son and daughter were born that he realized he needed to find another source of income.

    “The only option I considered was public relations, because a lot of it is writing,†says Brody, who has now worked in PR for the past 26 years. “I majored in English, but I never trained for public relations. It was a tough adjustment, because for one, I was used to working on my own. I was used to being a solo act. When you work for a public relations firm, I had to learn how to be a teammate.â€

    At his full-time job, he says his work partly entails writing pitches, ghost writing op-eds, white papers, or memos.

    “My ideal life would be to write whatever I wanted for at least three hours a day, but I think PR is good for me,†says Brody, adding that he usually enjoys writing first thing in the morning. “If I had to write only what I wanted, I might get sick of my own voice.â€

    His first love will always be writing essays though. The very first short story he wrote was about a haunted house when he about 8, and currently, he writes approximately 20 essays a year.

    “I love telling a story that’s going to hit people where they live – make them smarter, or get them excited about something,†says Brody. “If I can write anything inspirational, that’s the holy grail. I also like the sense of control. It’s me and the blank screen. Me and the words, and how I want to tell the story. It’s fun to get published. I write to be read. All these years later, and I still never get tired of it.â€

    He says his five year plan entails writing three more books — the first being called, “Letters to My Kids,â€Â of which he already started an online blog (where he urges others to also write journals to their children), another would be a memoir honoring his deaf parents, and the last would be a memoir about working in public relations.

    “When I’ve written about something, I really feel like I’ve lived it,†says Brody about the necessity he feels to document his life with words. “I think I have much of it there in my new book– and it’s about the people closest to my heart.â€

    There are two pieces of advice about life he’s learned thus far that he would’ve liked to share with his younger self:

    “On family – I wish I knew years ago what family means to me now,†says Brody. “I feel I failed early on to realize the importance of family. In some respects, I’m too late and in some, I’m just on time…and work harder. You have less time than you think. The world is never going to come to you so take nothing for granted.â€

  • Actor Ivonne Coll on playing the matriarch on ‘Jane the Virgin’ at 70


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    Ivonne Coll (Photo\Starla Fortunato)

    Ivonne Coll is not a mother, or a grandmother, in real life, but she plays the role of both on television.

    Coll, otherwise known as Alba, plays the matriarch of her alternate reality home on The CW’s “Jane the Virgin.† There, the Puerto Rican actor plays the Venezuelan grandmother of Jane (Gina Rodriguez), and the mother of Xiomara Villanueva (Andrea Navedo). Her main goal as head of that household is to try and steer Jane in the right direction. 

    “What I like about the show is how they portray Alba is that she is still sensual,†says Coll, adding that her character is also courageous and intelligent. “A lot of times abuelas are shown as always having an apron on and asking if you ate, but Alba is a dynamic woman who has a boyfriend and makes mistakes in life. The creators allow me to sing and dance – those are the opportunities that this show has allowed me to express.â€

    In a way, the now 70-year-old actor is going back to her roots. At 20, while studying psychology at the University of Puerto Rico, Coll won the Miss Puerto Rico title, and in the same year, 1967, she represented Puerto Rico in the Miss Universe pageant – both of which required her to display her talents of acting, singing and dancing. Upon seeing her performing skills, a producer in Puerto Rico gave Coll her own variety show. But at 26, Coll decided it was time to move to Hollywood.

    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Ivonne Coll in 1967 (Courtesy Ivonne Coll)

    “My mother couldn’t understand why I was leaving Puerto Rico, because I was so successful there, but I knew my calling was somewhere else,†says Coll. “I knew I had to study the craft of acting. I didn’t care about fame, or making it, or becoming a star, I wanted to become a working actor – that was my goal.â€

    Little did she know, she says, that according to the standards of Hollywood, she was already considered “too old.â€

    “But I didn’t know that, and when I was told about it, I didn’t care,†says the determined Coll. “I just thought, ‘Let me keep on growing and doing my craft.’â€

    It was around this time in her life that she often didn’t have money for food or to buy bottled water, but nothing, not even not having money, would be an obstacle to accomplishing her dream. When she needed diction classes to make her spoken English clearer, she instantly thought of a creative solution.

    “I would clean the room for free lessons,†says Coll, laughing at this memory. “It was joyful. I never thought that I was struggling. I never thought I was paying my dues. It was a joy to do that work to get that session.â€

    Shortly after, by a chance situation, she was hired to play the “redheaded singer, Yolanda†in Francis Ford Coppola’s, “The Godfather II,†which hit theaters in 1974.

    “It was around 2 or 3 in the morning, and Al Pacino came on the set to do the kissing scene, and that’s what it did it for me,†recounts Coll about the exact moment she confirmed she wanted to dedicate the rest of her life to acting. “As he walked to Fredo, watching the way he transformed. I thought, ‘How did he do that?!’â€

    It was then that she started to train even harder.

    “I studied acting techniques for seven years, with Lee Strasberg, David Alexander, and Lucille Ball – who gave an eight-week workshop in Hollywood,†says Coll, adding that Ball was very strict and committed as a teacher.

    Throughout her career, Coll has starred on Broadway in “Goodbye Fidel,†and played Lady Macbeth in “Lady Macbeth,†and acted in the films, “Lean on Me,†and “Walking the Dead,†and has countless television credits, including “Switched at Birth,†and “Glee.†Yet no matter how many years and projects pass, she still calls her mother her biggest inspiration, role model and hero.

    “It’s all for Puerto Rico and my mother,†says Coll about Rosita Mendoza who was a celebrated hairstylist in Puerto Rico. “I think I inherited all my talent from my mother…Later in her life, she would be training – her talent for teaching is my talent for coaching others. That’s my mother – I’m so lucky. The last thing she saw me in was in Puerto Rican Parade in New York City when I won the Lifetime Achievement Award [in 2015]. She saw it on TV, and a week later she died.â€

    Coll admits that as her recurring role as a mom in the television series,“Switched at Birth†was dwindling down, she started thinking about gracefully bowing out of show business and returning to her island home.

    “I didn’t think there would be more roles for me,†says Coll. “As I’m doing the paperwork needed to wrap up, I get the audition for this role at Jane the Virgin.â€

    Not taking it seriously, she first told her agency she’s busy doing jury duty.

    “I was so confused, because the role was in Spanish in English, and the audition was the next day!,†says Coll.

    Once there, she asked the producers what kind of Spanish dialect they wanted. They said Venezuelan, which was a very easy transition from her native Caribbean Spanish.  

    “God decided that role was for me no matter how much I didn’t take it seriously,†says Coll. “When they called me to go to network, I turned off my phone, and I didn’t hear they cancelled the audition. So I went. And at the moment the casting director came in, and she said, ‘Abuela, we’ll see your tape.’ They didn’t answer until the next day. We were in parking lot when I got it. I was screaming in the car. It’s been a great ride.â€

    She says working on “Jane the Virgin†has been one of her most special experiences, because her co-stars have become like true family.

    “It’s also the first time three Latinas are in a mainstream show, and now we have it in ‘One Day at a Time,’†says Coll about the Netflix series she will soon guest star on – reuniting her with Rita Moreno, 85, who played the “Glam-ma†on “Jane the Virgin.â€

    Looking back now to when she once heard she was “too old†at 27, Coll laughs.

    “I just produced and co-wrote a short and I’m acting in it,†she says. “It’s about two women – one is a principal, and one is a yoga teacher and married to a Harvard professor…I want to put [Latinas] in charge like we are in real life…Producers feel it won’t sell, but it will sell, because it represents the face of North America.â€

    What advice would she tell her 20-year-old self at her age now?

    “I wouldn’t change anything of what I did really…Go with your gut feeling. God lives in you. I was not aware that I was doing that. Be more aware of what moves you, because that will inform how your life will be.â€

    “Alba, to me, has been a gift of love from God that came at a time I was about to retire. Isn’t it incredible?,” says Coll. “You can plan, but God has other plans, and His plans are better than yours.â€

  • Career coach and TEDx Talk speaker says to reinvent and believe in yourself

    Career coach and TEDx Talk speaker says to reinvent and believe in yourself


    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Boomer reinvention coach, John Tarnoff (Photo/Travis Price)

    For the majority of his life, John Tarnoff says he “was all over the place.” Growing up in New York, he thought he wanted to be an architect, a journalist, a lawyer, until one summer he ended up working as a production assistant after his freshman year at Amherst College, and it captured his imagination.

    In the 1990’s, he worked as a film studio executive and producer for MGM, Columbia, New Line and Warner Bros. He then transitioned to technology. Tarnoff co-founded a startup which used computer animation to make online avatars for customer service applications for clients such as Sprint.

    “Coming out of that, I hit a wall – that’s where the reinvention comes in,” says Tarnoff.

    Reinvention has been part of his brand ever since then. During the unstable economic times of the early 2000’s, Tarnoff decided to go back to school for a masters in spiritual psychology. He was 50.

    Today, at 63, he is a professional development coach, a graduate professor at Carnegie Mellon, and in the process of writing a book called ‘Boomer Reinvention: How to Create Your Dream Career After 50,” coming out in 2016. He is also a speaker about issues facing generations and has more than 24K Twitter followers.

    Tarnoff, who ended up dropping out of grad school, because he was eager to work, highly recommends going to school later in life.

    “Older generations sometimes feel like they are too old, but it was better than going to school at 20,†says the coach and educator. “You are doing it for the right reasons. You are going because you know exactly what it is you want to do.â€

    Why did he decide to study spiritual psychology?

    “Because you learn to find the answers inside you,” he says. “It’s an approach of psychology that stresses personal responsibility and getting out of the blame game. I think we all need to get help and support, but the primary motivator in any direction in our personal life and careers needs to start deeply inside ourselves. What is it that we can do to make a difference?”

    Tarnoff jokingly said in his 2012 TEDx Talk, that he’s had 18 jobs over 38 years – moving around every 2.1 years (from film production to education), and he’s been fired 39 percent of the time. But none of that time has been a waste. He says each of his jobs has only gotten better.

    “My favorite job is the one I’m doing right now…I live a pretty virtual life,” says Tarnoff, about his typical day at his home base in Los Angeles. “I just got back from Atlanta speaking about how the world has changed since just 20 years ago. I’m back and forth from my home office and Carnegie Mellon office, always looking for places to write.”

    He says writing his book and engaging with his students is really inspiring him right now.

    “I love engaging with them each year with the launching of their careers in the entertainment business,” says Tarnoff. “They have so much energy and so much to offer. Then, I also work with people who are 30 to 40 years older. They’re at a stage which used to be the end of their career. Today, things are different. Not only are there economic differences, but spiritual issues – they are wanting to continue to live fulfilling lives and being engaged in the economy and society. I think for my generation, the idea of retiring and separating yourself is largely over. Even for people who have saved enough money, they don’t want to slow down or stop. You’re seeing more of these people engaged in encore careers and social entrepreneurship. I think that’s fantastic!”

    He says one of the most common challenges his clients face is figuring out what they want, or should be, doing next.

    “Many times, we figure out there are many things we are going to do and life is an evolution,†says Tarnoff. “I think this is particularly true for millennials. Businesses are changing too fast…Now the problem is how figuring out how can we contribute – how can we help someone out, help solve a problem? We can figure out what we’re good at by trying to help others out. I tell my grad students, all you have to offer is your willingness to learn and willingness to serve. Having a service mentality will lead you to discover what it is you’re good at.â€

    What is one piece of important life advice that you would give your younger self with the wisdom you have now?

    “Believe in yourself more. Particularly in those moments that you really want to just give up. In your deepest darkest moment, that’s when you have to double down and believe in yourself and take the leap of faith. ‘Leap and the net will appear,’†says Tarnoff. “I think young people are thinking, ‘I can’t do that. What if I make a mistake?’ You should be making mistakes regularly. Fail often, and fail big. When you’re older, you can still make mistakes and recover well. Life is all about lessons.â€

  • Former CEO of Telemundo now a leader for Hispanic films and students

    Former CEO of Telemundo now a leader for Hispanic films and students


    A woman with short hair wearing red necklace.
    Jim McNamara (Courtesy Hispanic Scholarship Fund)

    Jim McNamara says he was often the only “gringo†in the room who knew Spanish.

    He was born and raised in Panama City, Panama and left for the first time to attend Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida in 1972. Today, he resides in Miami, where he is the chairman of Pantelion and Panamax Films, as well as the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.

    “My dream was to be a golfer,†says McNamara, 60. “I went to college with a golf scholarship.â€

    However, life had other plans for McNamara.

    “Through a series of events, I was befriended by Arnold Palmer – ‘the god of golf,’ he says. “He helped me get more focused, and I got into the sports industry.â€

    One of McNamara’s first jobs was representing athletes and promoting sporting events.

    “I quickly learned I was not a good agent,†he says. “I was transferred to the television division. I didn’t know anything, but I was searching for something I could be good at.â€

    He says he worked his way up the ranks, and then got a job at New World Entertainment, an American independent motion picture and television production company. After five years learning the media ropes, he got a job as CEO of Spanish-language television network, Telemundo.

    “I immersed myself in it,†says McNamara. “We really transformed Telemundo from a buyer [of programming] to a producer. I’m very proud of it.â€

    He says after that experience, he decided he really wanted to give back to the Hispanic community that was truly meaningful. That’s what brought him to serve on the board of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund – a non-profit organization which provides scholarships and pre-college support services to Latino students – and where he’s been serving for the past 10 years.

    “Our message is, ‘Don’t let the cost of college get in the way.’ Now I’ve become aware of what this means to the future of the U.S.,†says McNamara about the organization. “I truly think we are serving the country, and the U.S. Hispanic population directly, with the scholarships and directly informing parents and students.â€

    He goes on to say that he believes with the growing number of Hispanics in the U.S., every American company should hire Hispanics to make up 17 percent of their workforce.

    “It is in their best interest that the entire Hispanic population mirrors the entire U.S. population in education as well,†says McNamara. “We need to address this issue.â€

    Meanwhile, on the work side, he says he also has started producing movies for the same market. “Instructions Not Included†was the first bilingual success in mainstream U.S. theaters in 2013,  “Cesar Chavez” (2014) was the first bio pic about one of the most influential Hispanics for labor rights, and he’s looking forward to the equally inspirational story-plots of “Spare Parts†and “Aztec Warrior†in 2015.

    “It’s a fight between good and evil, and lots of special effects,†says McNamara about “Aztec Warrior,†starring Luis Guzman and Eugenio Derbez.

    He says he’s grateful for each phase life has granted him.

    “The sports job was the PhD, the events taught me how to sell, and best of all was Telemundo,†says the good-natured businessman. “The experience came in not knowing about Spanish television. I learned if you really commit, and I mean commit, you can really do anything. It opened up a lot of doors.â€

    And he adds he’s really grateful that his parents had always wanted him to learn Spanish, despite his initial resistance.

    “Be open to all ideas, and before you make up your mind. Take the time to learn a little about it, before you decide,†McNamara advises to youth.

    My advice to parents, especially Latino parents:

    “Do not let your kids not learn Spanish. There is a lot of peer pressure to not speak Spanish, but you’ve got to insist. English will take care of itself.â€