Living Your Best Encore: Adriane Berg

I'm thrilled to welcome Adriane Berg to Living Your Best Encore! A true powerhouse and one of the most influential thought leaders in the aging longevity, Adriane is also a passionate travel enthusiast and lifelong adventurer.  She brings decades of expertise as a veteran radio and TV host, an Emmy Winner, an author, a speaker, podcaster, and an advocate for vibrant living at every stage of life.

With an impressive career in broadcasting and a background in law, finance, and journalism, Adriane has dedicated herself to reshaping the way we think about aging. Through her acclaimed books, dynamic keynote speeches, and The Ageless Traveler Podcast, she inspires people to see aging as a time of opportunity, adventure, and personal growth.

Adriane will share her invaluable insights on what it takes to follow your dreams, cultivate resilience, and keep pushing forward.

I'm honoured to feature her voice in this series, and I know her wisdom will greatly resonate with our Booming Encore community.

- Wendy Reichental

What was your previous job/career, and how many years did you dedicate to it? Would you be open to sharing your age?

I've had a long and checkered career with overlapping businesses and jobs. I've been a radio and TV show host since 1988 and a podcaster for at least eight years. But who's counting? I was "discovered" by a radio scout for WMCA (the Good Guy's station). When this station was sold, I went on to WABC, a 50,000-watt station. Westwood One syndicated my show nationwide.

My breakthrough as an on-air host came after authoring one of the first books on the psychology of money called "Money Think." It's still on Amazon (along with a dozen books I've written since). From there, I went on book tours and appeared on Good Morning America, The Oprah Show several times, and Regis and Kathy Lee. Eventually, cable TV came around, and I hosted a show which won an Emmy for my hosting. It was called "IRS Tax Beat," sponsored by the IRS and Excedrin headache pills. You can't make this stuff up.

By the time I hosted the CNN show, I was 40 years old. Fifteen years later, things fell apart. I was now considered too old to be acceptable as a television host, and one of my radio sponsors went to jail for a Ponzi scheme. I decided it was time to retire, but I couldn't.

For the past 22 years, I have been a consultant to companies that want to reach the mature market, meaning sixty-plus, and created a podcast, "Generation Bold: The Fountain of Truth About Aging." During Covid, I was appointed the Executive Director of the Kitalys Institute for Delaying and Preventing Age-Related Diseases. I learned from geroscientists how to increase healthy longevity and realized that my life could be longer than I thought.

At age 75 (I will be 77 in September), I decided to fulfill a lifelong dream: to be a travel journalist. I started a new podcast called "The Ageless Traveler" and a company called Ageless Tourism to elevate the level of understanding and service for the sixty-plus traveler. I'm also heavily involved with the United Nations as the International Federation on Aging representative and hosting a show called "On the Ground" for the Global NGO Executive Committee, on which I am the Board.

What sparked your current journey—whether you're still working, enjoying retirement, or embracing a "second act"?

All my journeys were sparked by finding (or stumbling into) a bigger canvas on which I could play, make a difference in the world, and still do what I love. The spark often came to me during self-reflection, sometimes pain or necessity.

For example, my love of travel sparked at age eleven when I fell into a depression after my dad died suddenly. I went to school with a living father and came home to a dead one. There were no protocols or remedies for childhood depression in those days. My Mom got me into Jewish Federation Camp, going to Israel in the summer of 1959, a pivotal year. Because no plane could fly directly from NYC to Tel Aviv, we stopped in Paris for a week and Amsterdam on the way back. We also made a friendship trip to Yemen. I was never depressed again.

It is a big world, and travel takes you out of your situation—something I believe is a catalyst for fighting loneliness and depression in old age, just as it was for me as a child. The Global Coalition on Aging published a recent study, "Leveraging Travel as a Catalyst for Healthy Longevity." But I knew that already.

What was the defining moment that led you here?

Although I practiced law in NYC for 35 years, there was a defining moment when I became unbound from the drive to be a lawyer. It was the day I told my Mom about my Emmy hosting the CNN show. She said, "Does this mean you won't be a lawyer anymore?" That's how strong the ethic of being a lawyer, doctor (better), or accountant (not as good) was in my family. Even an Emmy was not as important. With Mom's words, I realized how silly these judgments are, and I have made my own definitions of success since then.

Today, that success means unlimited travel. I have been to 127 countries and am still counting. But it was not until age 73 that I figured out how to pursue that love and give back to others. At age 73, I was deciding again how to "reinvent" myself. I attended Chip Conley's Modern Elder Academy and resolved to do "something in travel." That ended up being "The Ageless Traveler" podcast and all the free eBooks and articles on a mission to ensure we overcome our barriers to travel. Our motto is "Never Stop Traveling."

What is one powerful lesson you learned later in life that you wish you could have whispered to your younger self?

I would tell my younger self, "If you want something, tell someone. And if you are a little lucky, you will tell the right person. If you don't know the right person, tell everyone!" I was often ashamed to show that I wanted things that I thought were beyond me or to show that I had a need. This is a mistake I don't make anymore, but many young people do.

For example, when my show ended on CNN, I wanted to become the host of another show. I waited to hear from the producers, but the invitation never came. My husband suggested I go into the NYC studio and meet as many people as possible, even in the cafeteria. Of course, I never did; they never knew, and I never got it. I could repeat this for so many missed opportunities in my life.

I would tell my younger self, "Make your own luck by stating what you want and making sure there is something in it for someone else as well." "The more people that can benefit from what you want for yourself, the more successful you will be, no matter what your mission."

Please complete this sentence: The thing I value most about where I am in life right now is...

What I value most about where I am in life right now is that I am alive! Seriously. I never thought I would live past the age of fifty. Very few people in my family ever have. There were four funerals in my family before I was five years old, and death was a constant threat. My dad's death hit me hard just as I was becoming a pre-teen. When I turned fifty, my eyes opened to the possibility of a longer life if I took better care of myself. I value my health and energy, my curiosity fueled by the belief that there are more years to come, and my zest. I admit I am exhausting to be around.

I value my husband's patience with my incessant travel, work, and damn high energy. People say that when you have a life-threatening disease, you value your time on the planet more, enhancing your openness to adventure. Thank heaven, I never had such hardship. But my dad's death had the same effect. I need to make each moment count. I am intolerant of wasting time. My favorite motto is: "Will everyone who says it can't be done get out of the way of the people who are doing it."

Adriane Berg is a unique voice in the world of aging, connecting professionals to break down silos between aging and travel. Together with The World Tourism Network, Adriane spearheads the Age-Friendly Tourism Designation for hotels, cruise lines, tour operators, and tourist boards. She hosts The Ageless Traveler, a popular Podcast to encourage lifelong travel for better aging.

Her work has earned her the JourneyWoman Solo Travel Wisdom Award 2024 and a nomination for the International Silver Economy Award  2024. Adriane won an Emmy for hosting IRS Tax Beat and the Mature Media Award for her podcast, Generation Bold: The Fountain of Truth about Ageing.

Adriane is also the host of On The Ground, the podcast of The Global NGO Executive Committee of the United Nations; an appointee to the UN Representatives of the International Federation on Ageing and a member of the Committee on Aging-NY. From 2020- 2022, she served as the Executive Director of The Kitalys Institute, a non-profit organization devoted to healthy and equitable longevity.

For more information on Adriane Berg, please visit her websites: https://www.adrianeberg.com/, https://www.agelesstourism.com   https://www.agelesstraveler.com