Turning 40 and Finding Your Voice

Wize Otero is a fellow podcaster based in Pennsylvania who found his voice - and his life’s purpose - when he hit record on his first podcast episode at age 44. Wize faced some really tough stuff in his 30s, and found himself very angry, self medicating and headed down a dark road. But once he accepted that he was angry and that he had no control over these things, he was able to reach out for help and change the course of his life.

Guest Bio

Born and raised in Brooklyn, but now residing in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, Wize Otero works at the local casino as a Table Games Dealer for the past 7 years. He started podcasting in 2020 after being furloughed from his job. Since then, he’s started a production company, launched an Internet Radio Station and started doing voice over work.

Meet Wize

Wize Otero had an exceptionally challenging decade in his 30s. At 31, he lost his wife in a tragic car accident. She was the one who had introduced him to self development, including The Secret and Abraham Hicks. He thinks it was her way of preparing him for what was to come.

Some months later, he received a Facebook message from his sister, who he hadn’t seen since he was a kid, asking him if he was her brother. They reconnected and she flew him to Puerto Rico to reconnect with his dad and two brothers as a Father’s Day surprise. Wize made the trip and reconnected with his dad who he hadn’t seen in 25 years, plus his two younger brothers. His father died in his sleep the morning after Wize arrived.

Then he lost one of those brothers to a drug overdose and one of his brothers on his mom’s side to illness. He lost an uncle who helped raise him and an aunt who encouraged his entrepreneurial spirit. It was all too much and Wize started to spiral. He was angry, self-medicating and didn’t care about anything.

Amidst all this, one day he received a message that said it was time to change his life, so he started reaching out for help and started to build a career. He even joined a dating website. His life started to improve, which he knows came from accepting that he was angry about things he had no control over. He knew the anger was only hurting himself and hindering his growth. This drove him to therapy. He knew that there was no one else in his orbit who had been through what he went through, so there was no advice a friend or family member could give. His situation called for a professional situation where he could share what’s going on and not be judged.

A friend told him, “it’s time,” and helped him create a profile on Match.com where he met his now-wife.

Stuck in My Mind

The pandemic lockdown came with a furlough from his job as a blackjack dealer in a casino. Now that he was home, he went back to an idea he had been tossing around for a couple years: starting a podcast. He had the equipment from an earlier almost-foray and one day he just pressed record. He called it the Stuck in My Mind podcast because he had been stuck in his mind for so long.

The day he pressed record and started his podcast, Wize felt like he had finally found his voice. He was 44 years old, furloughed and didn’t know what his purpose was. But when he pressed that button, he found he was able to express himself. He found it therapeutic to be able to share what was bothering him. And then he decided to add guests so he could interview and interact with other people. He enjoys talking to people about how they overcame obstacles in their life.

He started off rough but kept going, kept building his knowledge and skills. He went from potential guests turning him down because his show was too small to potential guests now reaching out to him to ask to be on the show. One marker of his success was when Bob Doyle, a participant in the movie The Secret, reached out to be on the show. Wize has been a fan of The Secret since it came out and was blown away that this man would want to be on this show he started from nothing.

Now, two years after launching his podcast, solidly in his mid-forties, Wize finally feels like he knows why he’s here and where he wants to go. He knows what he’s here to do. He wants to use his voice to reach people with stories that will impact their lives. He’s branching out into public speaking, which is another purpose-driven extension of the lane he’s chosen to work in.

Sponsor

The Forty Drinks Podcast is produced and presented by Savoir Faire Marketing/Communications

Stuck in My Mind Podcast

Wize on Instagram

Wize on Facebook

Steph’s appearance on Stuck in My Mind Podcast

Tell me a fantastic “forty story.”

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