I Said No to Taylor Swift: A Career Shift That Changed My Life | #191

Have you ever faced a life-changing crossroads where you had to choose between your career and your heart? In this episode of the Second Act Success Career Podcast, host Shannon Russell shares a deeply personal story about the day she said no to interviewing Taylor Swift — and why that pivotal decision changed the course of her career and life.

From working as a television producer for major networks to choosing motherhood and entrepreneurship, Shannon reflects on the moment she realized her dream had evolved — and why it's okay for yours to evolve too.
 Tune in to hear how trusting your instincts, even during difficult moments, can lead to a more fulfilling second act.

Key Takeaways:

• It's okay to outgrow the dreams you once chased.
• Priorities shift as we move through different seasons of life.
• Defining success on your own terms leads to a life of greater purpose.
• How one brave decision can spark an entirely new career and identity.
• Why permission to pivot is the greatest gift you can give yourself.

Whether you’re contemplating a career change, starting a business, or simply wondering if it’s time for a second act, this episode will inspire you to trust yourself — and take the leap.

SHOW NOTES:

https://secondactsuccess.co/191

Shannon's book- Start Your Second Act - https://startyoursecondact.com

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Transcript

Second Act Success Career Podcast

Season 1 - Why I Said No to Taylor Swift: A Career Shift That Changed My Life | #191

Episode - #191

Host: Shannon Russell

Transcription (*created by Descript and may not be perfectly accurate)

​[00:00:00] 

Hey there. Welcome back to the second Act Success Career podcast. . I have a confession. I said no to Taylor Swift. Yep. You heard it, right?

I walked away from Taylor Swift. 

Are you ready to quit your nine to five job and start a business of your own? Well, you're in the right place, my friend. Welcome to the second Act Success Career podcast. I am your host Shannon Russell. I am a former television producer, turned business owner, career transition coach, and boy mom. My mission is to help you produce your best life.

This podcast will teach you how to get from where you are now to where you want to be, and how to build a business that fits your life and lights you up. Let's get started.

Hey, there. I am your host Shannon Russell, career transition coach, business mentor, and author of Start Your Second Act. And I'm also a fellow woman who has learned that sometimes life and [00:01:00] career don't always follow a straight line, and honestly, I think that's a good thing. I want to share a personal story, one that shaped my journey in ways that I never could have expected, and it starts with Taylor Swift. Years ago, I was a television producer working in Los Angeles and New York City. I had worked for over a decade to get where I was producing for major networks, working on red carpets, interviewing celebrities, really living my dream job, my dream career I had set out to be.

A television producer working in the entertainment industry since I was a little, little girl 

I talk about my career in television and how I transition into entrepreneurship and being a career and business coach. In my new book, start Your Second Act, how to Change Careers, launch a Business, and Create Your Best Life. And I want to dive into this story that a lot of people keep asking me about.

One day I was producing an [00:02:00] entertainment news show in New York City and we were given the opportunity to produce an interview Taylor Swift, at an event. I was very excited and believe me, I've interviewed countless celebrities over my career, but I had been following Taylor since she first came onto the scene she has been someone I've just enjoyed following her career, and so to get this opportunity to go and meet her, interview her for my show was just a real honor and such an exciting treat. But I was eight months pregnant and I had a three-year-old at daycare, and for some reason on that day I had to make the decision of producing this interview or getting home in time to put my son to bed. Because I don't wanna miss bed, bath, dinner, all of that. I wanted to see my son after a really long day in the city.

 This day kind of was like [00:03:00] no other, other than the fact that T Swift was at the center of my story. It was kind of this last minute decision. What do I do? Do I stay and interview her or do I get home to my baby boy?

In that game time moment, I chose the bus, I chose my son and I said no to Taylor Swift. It was in that moment of me rushing down the Manhattan streets, getting my subway, taking the subway across town, running through the Times Square subway station in my heels, eight months pregnant.

I got very emotional and it was that stress. Oh no, I waited too long. The bus is going to leave without me. Why did I do this? Oh no, I should be going to the interview. How can I put this on my team? The guilt of leaving them and not pursuing this opportunity and what if I missed the bus and then everything is ruined?

But I ran. I made the bus and I went home to my [00:04:00] son. I write about this in my book because it really is a turning point for me.  It was that day that really changed the trajectory of my career and my life.

It was in that moment that I realized. Something had shifted within me and I didn't care about the celebrities I met or the experiences that my career allowed. My priority was my son and the baby in my belly. 

It was that realization that I worked my entire life to get to this point in my career, and I didn't want it anymore. I had accomplished that dream, and now my dream was being that mom. This might sound crazy to people that I walked away from getting to meet and interview Taylor Swift, 

 Looking back, I do regret missing that opportunity, trust me. But in the moment, it was what felt right and it was [00:05:00] what I needed to do. And I. Truly believe that that moment in that decision changed and pivoted, , the rest of my life moving forward because it was because of that, that I started thinking about what I could do for my second act and how I could take my skills and experience and start something else.

So I'm forever grateful for that decision I made, even though I can feel jealous now that my team got to go and meet her, and I did not, my point being is that I had realized that I had achieved my dream. I lived it. I got to have these experiences. But it's okay. That priorities shift 

 If you've ever had a crossroads like that where you feel maybe pulled in two directions, sometimes in those cases. It's something subconscious that just makes you choose which direction to go in. But regardless, when you feel that way, it's very overwhelming.

It's very isolating. It's very lonely [00:06:00] and stressful. That feeling of guilt and that feeling of, gosh, I'm so lost right now. How am I going to get to the other side? Well, I've been there and it was definitely not an easy road to figure out what that next path was, but I was able to figure it out and now I can look back and say, wow, I don't think my life would have changed so drastically if I went and met her, because at the end of the day, what is she going to say?

 If we had met and she saw my big belly and said something cute, like I'd always have that story to be able to tell my kids. Like, oh wow. Taylor touched my belly and said, oh my gosh, how far along are you? Are you having a boy or a girl? You know, like that would've been a great conversation.

I. But that doesn't have the impact on my life moving forward. For some reason, me getting home that night and being able to pick up my son, make him dinner, play with him, give him a bath, put him to bed, do those mom things, is what [00:07:00] I needed to do. Feeling the little, baby, to be in my belly.

At that time made me want that for him as well. It was when I realized, gosh, I'm being pulled in all these directions and I'm missing so much, and I don't want to miss these moments with my kids. Those are the moments that are more important to me than the celebrity of it all.

if you can relate to that feeling of. Being pulled in both directions and that, , unsure feeling about the future, you are allowed to feel that way and it will become clear, but it really is weighing those feelings and having that conversation with yourself of what is.

Important to you at this juncture of our life. I talk about it a lot here on the podcast, but we choose our careers when we're 20, that era of our life, that is so very different than now. So it's okay for it to not feel aligned to your life at this stage. 

It's okay [00:08:00] to appreciate what you've done and then step into what is yet to come.

This is the heart of the message I want to share with you today in this episode because as women, we are really taught that success looks a certain way. And that it's about titles and salaries and promotions and all of these things, but life has chapters, and with each chapter, our personal definition of success can change and it should evolve.

 Our priorities at 22 are going to be different than they are at 32, 42, 52, 62, and sometimes it might be. That really big moment in your life like it was for me, I was riding that commuter bus home on the way to daycare, and my team was texting me photos of them with Taylor on set, and I felt numb.

 I wasn't jealous then. I am now, but I wasn't jealous then. I was in a place of [00:09:00] peace. I'm going home to my son. that was a dream in itself for me. Maybe you have a moment where you choose a certain direction and then you start down that path and you either feel like, whew, this is what I'm supposed to be doing.

And it's that sense of clarity, and that's wonderful. Or you might start down that path and say, whoa, whoa, whoa. What am I doing? This does not feel right. And then you go back and you pivot to where you were and maybe you try the other path. Either way, you're testing out what is meant to be for you at this stage of life, because that is the key, is knowing what matters to you most at this season of your life.

 We go through these shifts, career shifts, identity shifts, priority shifts, but we need to normalize that shifting and pivoting is normal and it's okay. We're not our parents and grandparents generation where you choose a [00:10:00] role and you stick with it until retirement and that's it. That's your story.

No, we get to choose our own path and our own story, and we get to start that second act. We get to choose what else we want to do in this one life we're given. So when I chose my son over Taylor Swift in that moment, I wasn't giving up anything. I was pivoting. I was rewriting what success looked like for me.

you can do the same eventually I made that bold, really scary decision to leave my television career altogether, and I started my first business and I became an entrepreneur. I reinvented myself. Several years later, I did it again and I started a second business.

 I became a career and business coach, and now I help other women make those empowered transitions too. Women like you. I've seen firsthand through my own [00:11:00] experience and that experience of my clients that I've worked with and the experience of the women who I interview here on the podcast to all show you that it is possible, and if we can do it, you can do it too.

Here's what I want you to take away from this episode. Three things. Number one, it's okay to change your mind and move into a different direction. Number two, it's okay to outgrow your dream. There's nothing wrong with that. Number three, it's okay to want something different right now.

That's when we challenge ourselves, when we start that new adventure and we say, what else can I do? Such a big empowering question to ask ourselves and then take those action steps to achieve it.

my friend, give yourself that permission to pivot, to follow your heart, to find the flow in those decisions that you [00:12:00] make, and redefine what success looks like at this stage of your life for you. And that might mean changing careers, starting a business, writing a book, starting a podcast, going back to school, or just simply slowing down.

And being with your kids, being with the ones you love, but you get to decide what your next chapter, your second act looks like because you are the producer of your life and it's time to produce this one life your given so that it truly fulfills you. I produced my life that day when I ran from my office down the streets of Manhattan, to the subway, to the bus home, to my baby.

I may not have produced Taylor Swift for an interview for my television show, but I produced my life stating that my priority was my son in that moment. If this story resonated with you and you're feeling like it's your [00:13:00] time for your own second act, I urge you to go pick up my new book, start Your Second Act.

It's available on May 7th on Amazon, Barnes and Noble. Anywhere you pick up books, there is a paperback, a hardcover, an ebook, and an audiobook. Go to start your second act.com to grab the book now inside the book, you'll learn more about my career transition story, those of my clients and other successful women who have made the pivot.

And you'll also learn all of the strategies that I teach my clients on how to make a decision, make a plan, figure out what's next for you, and how to actually take action. I think The best part of the book is at the end of each chapter, I have prompts and questions and kind of workbook style exercises for you to really start thinking about what else you want to do in life and how you can get there.

So head over to start your second act.com [00:14:00] now to pick up your copy of Start Your Second Act. I am so proud of it.

Thank you for listening to the podcast and for allowing me to share a little piece of my story with you today. And as always, remember your second act starts now. Go produce your best life. 

 I'll see you next time for a new episode of the second Act Success Career Podcast.

Thank you for joining us. I hope you found some gems of inspiration and some takeaways to help you on your path to second act, success. To view show notes from this episode, visit second act success.co. Before you go, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss a single episode. Reviews only take a few moments and they really do mean so much.

Thank you again for listening. I'm Shannon Russell. And this is second act success.