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Conversation with Vickie Bottelson now live!

Meet Vickie Bottelson, who we are fortunate to catch as she makes a significant life pivot. An actor and singer from an early age, Vickie also worked at Disney in children’s content. When the internet blew up in the 1990’s Vickie was right there to ride the wave, and as all waves do, it crashed into the shore. She then went on the road for six years to perform and ended up living in Nashville. She hit a pothole and returned to Los Angeles to work for MySpace until she was downsized, which led to her current position as the Marketing and Events Manager at Lake Arrowhead Village. She is in the middle of figuring out her next move, and she has great stories to tell about her process in deciding which of the terrific opportunities she will accept.

Conversation with Rees Erwin now live!

Wanting to be an Architect, you head off to school, but the university you attend doesn’t have the curriculum, and you find yourself studying engineering. Money runs out, and on a long drive home, you decide to enlist in the Coast Guard. These two events are just part of the Pivots, and Potholes Rees Erwin experienced. In the Coast Guard, he was aboard one of only two Coast Guard ice breakers, and after traveling to the Arctic and Antarctica for years, Rees left the “don’t ask don’t tell don’t pursue” military returning to college and obtaining a BA in art. In college, he supported himself with work in the hospitality industry, and a new pivot took him to Los Angeles as a Concierge for the Beverly Wilshire hotel. There were many other pivots Rees took in life, which all led to his designing a home that he built for himself. Join us and learn what it takes to sleep when you’re on a 24-hour roller coaster ride for months!

Conversation with Corey Mesler


Corey MeslerWhat does or does not make you a writer? Corey Mesler has a unique perspective on being labeled a writer. Learning how to be a bookseller (he credits wife Cheryl) when you mispronounce a well-known author’s name, write for years and realize it isn’t great work, and learn how to live with agoraphobia. All of this and more is part of a light-hearted rollick as Corey discusses his life.

Read more about Corey here.

Conversation with Dan Dubelman

The first Pivots and Potholes podcast has launched. Join the conversation as Dan regales us with tales from the road of rock n’ roll, being held hostage in the Hollywood industry, and performing with Willie Nelson at Farm Aid. A fun romp through an interesting life.

Read more about Dan here.

pivots and potholes

About Pivots and Potholes

In December of 2019, I was planning my move to New York the following Spring. I had been accepted at NYU for my master’s and was excited about the new possibilities: Then—Covid. The  Pivots and Potholes podcast was born from the process I went through to determine if I needed to scrap my plan entirely or make tweaks during this pause to facilitate my forward movement in the same direction. The first step of my process is to reach out to friends and colleagues who have expertise that can be helpful. Pivots and Potholes will host published writers, singers, musicians, film producers, data analysts, systems security administrators, artists, and other professionals. These individuals offer a unique perspective into making life decisions they encountered when evaluating relationships, career choices, addressing addictions, seeking help with emotional or psychological challenges, food choices, dealing effectively with other people, and myriad other life decisions. Example of a situational Pivot and Pothole Pivots and Potholes will help you better understand how to effectively evaluate your life challenges and put a new life plan together to navigate previously tricky situations and then execute it to achieve your goals. Join us as we discuss the unexpected benefits, funny stories, and difficulties faced, which all led to a new chapter of life.

Defining Pivots and Potholes

I define Pivot as a full stop of a life plan that you are working towards requiring a re-framing or creation of an entirely new set of goals. Pothole I define as those occurrences which jolt us in some visceral manner bringing our awareness to a, possibly, unknown issue with our forward trajectory: It is a pause that allows us to evaluate and recalibrate our journey.

Example of a situational Pivot and Pothole

Everyday each of us make large and small decisions that impact our life. Some of those decisions are easily made because there is a limited number of logical choices. For example: A previous decision was made to eat more healthy meals, while making your shopping list you have to decide if you want to purchase processed snack foods or a healthier option. Clearly this is an easy decision, though it might be challenging to follow through.

An example of a decision that requires more mindfulness: You are headed into the office (pre-quarantine days) and are reviewing the tasks for that day. As you contemplate what you need to accomplish there is a realization that one task will require interfacing with a colleague who has been quite difficult. You have tried numerous ways to navigate the interaction but have not had much success. The encounters leave you depleted energetically and emotionally. Is this the day you decide to quit (Pivot) or examine the situation to determine what you still need to learn from this person (Pothole). Hopefully, you would not quit but you have hit this Pothole repeatedly and have yet to progress towards resolution. What do you do?