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PODCAST

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff Recovery & Reinvention

Savan Kong | Job Loss Recovery & Career Stories

What happens to your identity when your job disappears? Life Between Titles is the podcast for anyone navigating career transition, job loss recovery, and the hard work of career reinvention — told through honest, human stories. Whether you are between jobs, titles, or directions, Life Between Titles reminds you that the in-between is not the end. It is where transformation begins. Hosted by Savan Kong, a former federal employee and product executive who has lived through layoff, reinvention, and

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All Episodes

01:14:17

Danielle Frank on Career Pivots, Breaking Off an...

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff... ·

2026/04/21

Career transition, reinvention, and second chances don't always look the way you expect. Danielle Frank calls herself a veteran of pivots: New York to LA in her late twenties, a toxic PR firm she quit in three months without another job lined up, twenty-two years in the wine and spirits industry she thought would be temporary, an engagement she broke off in her late thirties because she wanted children and he did not. In this episode of Work Unscripted, Danielle walks through what it takes to

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01:19:33

Jerry Glavy | Retired Marine General, 39 Years. On...

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff... ·

2026/04/14

Jerry Glavy flew Marine One. He carried multiple presidents into Buckingham Palace, military bases, and cities across the world. Then he pivoted into cyber and space operations and retired as a Lieutenant General. Now he's in the in-between. This is a Work Unscripted conversation about what a career like that actually looks like from the inside, and what happens when it ends.In this episode:• What it's actually like to fly the President of the United States• How he went from Marine

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01:10:32

Dr. Jordan Swanson on Pediatric Surgery, Building...

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff... ·

2026/04/07

Dr. Jordan Swanson holds the Linton A. Whitaker Endowed Chair in Pediatric Plastic and Craniofacial Surgery at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia — one of the top-ranked children's hospitals in the country. He reconstructs the faces of children born without ears, children whose skulls do not grow with their brains, children with cleft lips and palates. He builds what is missing. He restores what was taken. In this conversation, Savan and his Lakeside School classmate go deep on what it actually

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01:26:29

Nate Sexton on Going Pro, Sexton Firebird, & Building...

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff... ·

2026/03/31

Nate Sexton is a professional disc golf legend, Innova athlete, and one of the top three ambassadors in the history of the sport. In this disc golf career deep dive, Nate breaks down exactly how a career in professional disc golf actually works, what it costs, and what it takes to stay relevant across multiple decades.About the GuestNate Sexton is a professional disc golfer based in the Pacific Northwest. He turned pro in 2004, competed full time alongside Paul McBeth, won the PDGA Sportsmanship

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00:20:44

LAID OFF: A Year After the Pentagon. The Story I've...

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff... ·

2026/03/27

Unemployed for a year after leaving the Pentagon. This is my raw story. I spent nearly a decade inside the Department of Defense across three administrations, holding a title nobody had ever held before, doing work I genuinely believed in. When I left, I thought I'd be fine. Everybody told me I'd be fine. I was not fine.----⁠Buy Me a Coffee to Support LBT----This is the story I've been sitting on for a year. The deferred resignation program that got dangled in front of me and yanked back

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01:12:19

From Seattle Emcee to The Halls of O'Dea High School

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff... ·

2026/03/24

What happens when the guy hyping up 70,000 fans at Husky Stadium is the same guy quietly mentoring high school boys in downtown Seattle? That's Dave Mazzeo and his story is one you won't forget. Dave is the Alumni Director at O'Dea High School and one of Seattle's most sought-after independent MCs. In this episode, we get into what it really takes to balance two careers that couldn't look more different on paper, why showing up for people IS the job, and what 25 years at one

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00:52:19

Left Booking.com to Build a One-Man Empire: Here's...

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff... ·

2026/03/18

Andy breaks down how he walked away from a dream job at Booking.com, moved his family to a town of 1,200 people in Oregon, and built a six-figure content creation business with nothing but a phone and a refusal to be perfect.————————————————————ABOUT ANDYAndy is a stay-at-home dad, UGC content creator, and one-man agency operating out of rural Oregon. A former Booking.com market manager who traveled three weeks a month, Andy pivoted to full-time dadhood after the birth of his twin boys — and

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01:13:11

You’ve Been Thinking About Prison Food (And...

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff... ·

2026/03/14

Career transition, reinvention, and second chances don’t always look the way you expect. Aaron Brooks spent 30 years in government service — 6 on Navy submarines, 20 in federal corrections — teaching people how to cook, lead, and rebuild.In this first episode of Work Unscripted, Aaron breaks down what it actually takes to feed a crew underwater, manage a kitchen inside a federal prison, and earn the respect of men who have absolutely nothing to lose. This is not a story about punishment. It’s a

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00:04:41

Cooking for Submarines and Prisoners | A Navy...

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff... ·

2026/03/10

What is it like to cook on a Navy submarine… and later cook inside a federal prison?In this first clip of Work, Unscripted, Savan Kong talks with Aaron Brooks, a 10 year Navy submarine veteran and 20 year Federal Bureau of Prisons employee who has spent his career cooking in some of the most unusual environments imaginable.Aaron shares stories from life on submarines, the chaos of cooking for hundreds of sailors underwater, and the surprising psychology behind running a prison kitchen.One of his

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00:14:54

I Talked to 22 People After They Lost Their Jobs....

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff... ·

2026/03/05

Job loss, layoff, career transition, unemployment — after 20 raw conversations with real people, host Savan Kong discovered that bouncing back has nothing to do with your resume and everything to do with your identity.What he heard completely changed how he thinks about job loss, reinvention, and what it really means to rebuild after something major happens in your life. No networking hacks. No resume tips. Just five honest, human truths — told through real quotes from real people who've been

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01:25:41

Oxygen Mask First, Danielle Luhmann on Sacrifice,...

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff... ·

2026/03/01

What does it look like to pursue ambition without abandoning your identity or your familyIn this episode of Life Between Titles, I sit down with Danielle Luhmann, a lawyer turned therapist, mom of three, entrepreneur, and endurance athlete who has reinvented herself multiple times without burning her life down in the processWe talk about sacrifice and the anxiety of choosing the unknown, how to train for big goals without disappearing from your family, and why taking care of yourself is not selfish,

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00:05:00

25 Episodes Later, What I’ve Learned About Career...

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff... ·

2026/03/01

I tried recording a polished version of this update four or five times.It was terrible.So here’s the real one.Since launching in October, Life Between Titles has grown into something bigger than I expected. We’ve published over 25 conversations with people navigating career pivots, identity shifts, burnout, reinvention, and the quiet struggle of being between chapters.The mission has always been simple. Talk about the in between. The part people usually struggle with in silence. And it’s working

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01:24:36

The Reset: Matt Kelly on Burnout, Fatherhood, and...

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff... ·

2026/02/25

Matt Kelly hit a point where he had to admit something out loud, he was in his own way.After a decade in high pressure enterprise sales, constant flights, thousand dollar dinners, whiskey until 3 a.m., and living the persona the job demanded, the bill showed up in his body and his mind. He was run down, not sleeping, not healthy, and stuck in survival mode. Matt owns it with zero excuses, the problem was me, so he chose a reset.We talk about what it looks like to step back for your family, how

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01:24:18

Creative Grit and UX Design with Tim Salazar

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff... ·

2026/02/05

What happens when immigrant parents want stability, but you want to create? Tim Salazar, a first generation Filipino American, joins Life Between Titles to talk about growing up between Northern California, Eastern Washington, and Seattle, chasing film and writing dreams in Los Angeles, and doing whatever it took to stay afloat. We get into his pivot into UX through library school at Pratt, what early UX looked like in the era of massive waterfall specs, and the lessons we both took from Amazon,

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01:16:47

Finding Your Leadership Vision with Vance Cooper

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff... ·

2026/01/13

In this episode of Life Between Titles, I sit down with my friend Vance, a Philadelphia based healthcare leader with 15 years of experience, plus a PhD in corporate leadership.We talk about why Philly shapes leaders differently, how environment influences who you become, and what it looks like to be intentional about the people you surround yourself with. Vance also breaks down the difference between your job and your work, why self assessment is the starting point for real growth, and how

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01:33:43

Finding Worth Beyond Work with Andrew Merchant

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff... ·

2026/01/07

What happens when the path you were taught to follow no longer fits the life you are living?In this episode, Savan sits down with Andrew Merchant for a deeply honest conversation about identity, depression, fatherhood, and choosing family over prestige. Andrew shares what it was like growing up in rural Alabama, building a marriage that started young, navigating undiagnosed depression, and stepping into the role of a stay at home dad in a household shaped by neurodivergence and intentional

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00:07:31

The Job Search Process is Broken

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff... ·

2026/01/05

Starting 2026 unemployed and wondering what you are doing wrong?Hundreds of applications. Resume rewrites. LinkedIn Premium. Interview coaching. And still nothing moves?This is not about working harder.It is about understanding why the job market changed and how to change your strategy with it.If this sounds like you, you are not broken.The system changed.Hashtags#JobSearch#LifeBetweenTitles#Unemployed#CareerAdvice#JobSearchTips#2026Goals#ProfessionalGrowth

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01:22:14

Betting on Yourself with Jen Tran

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff... ·

2026/01/02

This is the last guest episode of the year, and I wanted to close out with a conversation that tells the truth about career transition, the parts that rarely make it into the highlight reel. Jen Tran takes us back to her first General Assembly UX class where she looked left, looked right, and realized most people in the room would not make the switch. Out of about 20 classmates, she saw only three successfully transition.Jen shares what it felt like to bet on herself in her mid thirties, with doubt,

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01:27:05

Growth Starts With Feedback with Tré Wright

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff... ·

2025/12/17

In this Life Between Titles conversation, Tré Wright breaks down what makes feedback sustainable, inviting it, receiving it without defensiveness, and building the muscle through small, consistent habits. We also talk about routines that reduce job search burnout, why community matters when the world feels heavy, and how coaching helps people find clarity, accountability, and a more authentic identity at work and at home.#LifeBetweenTitles#Leadership#FeedbackCulture#Coaching#CareerGrowth💡 Support

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01:27:14

Inside the Machinery of Public Service with Jason...

Life Between Titles: Career Transition, Layoff... ·

2025/11/30

In this episode of Life Between Titles, Savan talks with Jason Briefel about the unseen world of federal leadership, policy, and workforce reform. Jason shares a decade of experience representing senior executives across government, describing how agencies struggle to invest in their own leaders, why civil service systems remain outdated, and how culture often outweighs structure. He also opens up about the emotional toll of long job searches, the pressure of living with his parents as a married

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38 results

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