NYC Home |  NYC Events | Caring Collaborative | Special Interest Groups | 

Transition Peer Groups | Workshops | Committees  |Volunteering| Newsletters |Member Directory

The fall is a great time of year to make a Fresh Start and follow a dream! It's never too late, as the NY Times series demonstrated, to go BIG as we refresh after a long, hot summer. Is it time to finally pick up tennis, travel to Bali, write a book or start a new career or business?

We want to feature Women's Connection members who are making a Fresh Start. Tell us about your ideas and plans for your fabulous future that are inspiring and motivating to others. (Email your idea to nyc@womenconnecting.org, put "Fresh Start" in the subject line and we’ll be in touch.)
Here's some Fresh Starts to get you moving:

Victoria Weill-Hagai

Victoria Weill-Hagai, long-time NYC chapter member and fine artist, is singing again on stage after 4 long years. You can hear her Saturday, October 26, and on subsequent dates, at Parnell’s at 350 E 53rd St. in Manhattan. How did she get there?

“I sang all the way through school and college,” Victoria recalls. “After college, I had to make a choice to study art or singing. I'd had no lessons in either one. I chose art and pretty much didn't sing again for 50 years.

I am a figurative painter and I usually work in oils. I have also made "paintings" using combinations of craft techniques, like weaving, woodcarving, needlepoint, macramé, crochet and more. And I also make beaded jewelry. I showcase all my art on my website.

But after my husband died, I stumbled across a group of singers in a restaurant who followed a piano player. I was entranced. The restaurants they sang at kept going out of business, and I kept losing and having to find them again! Anyway, they finally settled in a space that is still going and I went as an audience member for many years. 

I noticed was that most of the singers were old band singers, but most were not professionals, just audience members who wanted to sing and were very entertaining even when they sang off key. The audience was very kind and welcoming. I thought this is the path not taken, and something I could do in my later years.

I very much admired one of the singers who, it turned out, was also a teacher. He agreed to take me on. I didn't know if I even had a voice left after 50 years. The big difference is that I am now an alto when before I was a soprano. I'm learning so much from the lessons and from performing. It's all a very deep and wide experience.”

Aside from finding Victoria on several Women’s Connection committees, look for her at Parnell’s, where there is no cover or admission charge, but reservations are recommended.

Jackie Krauss

It took me a few years to know when I was ready to retire. Most of my family who are younger than me had already done so. When I asked them how you know when you are ready, they said "you'll know". I never understood what they meant until I experienced it myself. For me 70 was the right time. 

A year before, I had connected with a friend who was involved in a horse farm in upstate NY teaching horse behavior as part of her social work job. She was in partnership with a horse whisperer type who had a company called Reimagining Horsemanship. I was curious and wanted to learn more. I never thought I would be so drawn to horses but after several introductory sessions at the farm, I was hooked, not to ride but to work with horses in some way.

So after retirement in June 2023, I began looking for opportunities to work with horses. I found a therapeutic riding stable called GallopNYC in Forest Hills Queens and saw they trained volunteers to be side walkers and horse leaders providing therapeutic riding for children with disabilities. I completed their training and volunteer there as well as at another stable in upstate NY. 

I do other volunteer work at DOROT and Friendly Voices. And for myself, I do line dancing twice a week (anyone want to join me?), exercise at Silver Sneakers and make greeting cards to test my unknown artistic side. And thanks to a referral from a TTN (now Women’s Connection) LI member, I now have more women friends which I knew I needed as I start this phase of life.

I hosted a retirement/birthday party for myself last June. I felt excited about my new life adventure of retirement. I loved what I did in my work but did not want to do it anymore. I have not thought about work AT ALL, since retiring. My life is now fulfilling, fruitful, fascinating and overall fabulous!  

Cora Hoberman

I joined TTN (Now Women's Connection) when I was 70 years old and I had just moved into Manhattan from Long Island. It was a new start for me which led to meeting new people, making new friends and joining many new groups of varying interests 

Now , many years later and approaching my 85 th birthday I am experiencing a new fresh start. I have just completed my book entitled “One HUNDRED AND FIVE YEARS YOUNG” . This book is focused on my mother Fran, who lived a very long fulfilling and active life, while residing independently in her New York City apartment. 

My purpose in writing about Mom was and is to shine a light on her ability to age so well; to maintain her continued curiosity and passion for life throughout all her years.

Read more about Cora and this inspiring story on GoodReads and on Amazon where you can also purchase her book.

Jill Abel

I have been attempting to put myself out there and build a new future since my husband died suddenly last year (2022). It hasn’t been easy because we did everything together. We were scheduled to move into a condo in Westchester but now I had to find an apartment on my own and move all while grieving my loss. My children live abroad. But somehow, angels showed up to help and a sympathetic building super and staff welcomed me warmly to my new home!

Since then, I joined The Transition Network  (Now Women's Connection) , Weight Watchers and have signed up for synagogue events. I belong to Quest, a lifelong learning program, which has saved me and given me a place to go with no pressure on attendance. I now firmly believe in angels who have also helped me learn to manage my money and guide me in general.

Something that buoyed me in the past has been doing stand-up comedy. Yes, I know that came out of nowhere but it’s true. I am renewing this passion by taking courses and going to open mics. I am Mrs. Maisel, but times have changed and middle-aged Jewish women are not in vogue when it comes to the comedy world. So I am trying to create a character called “Bitchin Bubbie.” (More on that as she evolves!)

I am almost 70 and have struggled some to support my kids in the past. I have thought about taking a part-time job but prefer not to work now and would like to travel. I am going to Costa Rica this summer and thrilled to also be going to Oregon with a woman who was my sponsor in Overeaters Anonymous 45 years ago!

What else can I tell you? I like pilates and boxing, which is very invigorating and not boring. I am often afraid of being on my own but I know I have the wherewithal to persist and be happy.  Now you know my whole life except that I do NOT want to end up in Florida because I love NY. It was always my happy place.

Nancy Gold

I must be a serial fresh starter – if there is a need, be part of the solution, not part of the problem has always been my motto.

When I moved part time to Florida, I found that all the 3.5 tennis players were already in leagues so I had no one to play doubles with. What to do? Well, the first step was to join a group tennis lesson at the local courts, scope out good players and give them my personal card. I told them that I was starting a tennis group. If they were interested in playing doubles, to please give me a call or email. Voila! Nancy Gold’s tennis group started. There were a few bumps along the way but it has been 5 years now and my co-partner and I regularly organize 3 courts for 12 people three times per week. The one rule we have is that once the schedule is set and you have to cancel, you need to find your own sub or risk making 3 other players mad. No emergency manicures!

When my husband passed away, I realized I needed to meet more people in my community in Florida. When I was sitting around the pool, people were always talking about food. Now I am not a good cook but I am a very good appreciator….and I could learn how to cook better. We all could. So I hatched the plan of starting a cooking school featuring local people (yes, we have a few men chefs) to teach 10 students (also local residents) how to cook a special dish. For $15 all ingredients are included and you learn how to make stromboli, chicken piccata, Mexican casserole or my favorite, Sex In A Pan. We have had 5 classes already. All were sold out! We have 5 more classes for the spring. The classes were sold out within a half an hour of opening our email address. We have waiting lists! Plus we are already planning next year’s program. The goal of getting better known, of learning how to cook better and the ultimate goal of mixing people up has been a total success! I jokingly told my co-coordinator, we could franchise this!

Bottom-line, if you see a need and you can benefit from filling it, jump in. There will be a few bumps along the way but if not now, when? Do not sit on the sidelines of life. What we are doing is not a dress rehearsal, it’s the real thing.

Claire Berger

Since 2020 I’ve had more than enough time for self-reflection. Time spent in lockdown, alone or in an anxious bubble of family members certainly gave me pause to do an emotional inventory of sorts. When so much day-to-day normalcy is stripped from my life, what is left to embrace and appreciate?

Mid-pandemic, I decided to leave everything familiar. I left my west coast home, my steady income and many people I loved, including my adult son and a large circle of friends, and moved across the country from Los Angeles to Brooklyn in a bold attempt at reinvention.

Once I settled into my new Park Slope home, a cozy garden apartment in my daughter and son-in-law’s brownstone, I became a loving neighbor, babysitter, snack cabinet and sleepover pal in my granddaughters’ lives. We have what can be described as both a traditional and offbeat living arrangement. I’m so happy to be here and to have the opportunity to be a part of their everyday.

Once I settled into my new role as live-in grandmother, I launched my career as a freelance writer and landed fabulous clients, including Italian Culinary Adventures. In addition to creating their web site, newsletters and assorted marketing materials, I also have the good fortune to cohost their 2022 culinary trips in Modena Italy, our first-year hosting guests.

Throughout my first year as a New Yorker, I started writing Enough IS Enough. It’s my interactive memoir culled from sixty-six years of a very unpredictable, semi glamorous, intermittently tragic, often hilarious life. Whether conversations about Enough take place in a community center, a cozy window seat, through Zoom or inside someone’s head, my wish is that this collection of essays serve as kindling to spark self-reflection and inspire discussion about the concept of Enough in all aspects of our lives. For more information about my writing, please visit my web site, claireberger.com.

Loretta Lurie

Plan B came by a combination of a friend, and a career counselor.  A dear friend of mine lost her husband very suddenly about 6 years ago. When she decided it was time to start going through his belongings, she asked me to help. One thing led to another, and we ended up going through the entire house…every drawer, every closet, every bookshelf, and every cabinet. What I realized was that I loved doing it and I was very good at it. I also came to understand that I could show her how to organize her cabinets, closets and files in a manner that she could continue after I left. Setting up those systems was something I didn’t go in to do but realizing it helped me to think about “organizing” being my Plan B.

As I was looking for a job during the Pandemic, I started working with a career coach. She helped guide me to the decision to start my own organizing business. In late 2021 I launched Organized by Loretta. It has been an amazing experience and as the company is growing, I continue learning and enjoying it more. 

If you are interested in seeing what I did please check out organizedbyloretta.com, my Facebook page and my Instagram page. Love to hear what you think and if you need any help with organization and decluttering please keep me in mind. And if I can provide any advice and encouragement as you contemplate your dream and next BIG transition, be in touch. Trust me. It’s never too late to make a Fresh Start!