“My partner and I sold our company
in 2014,” says Scott. “After that I looked
around for another financial services position,
and I came to the conclusion that it just wasn’t
happening in San Francisco.” Fortunately, on-
the-water services certainly do.
“Another captain called and got me
thinking about joining [the boating indus-
try], getting my captain’s license and taking
that route. It was a growing industry,” Scott
says. “You have to have a certain number
of hours, a certain number of days on the
boat and things like that. I had all of that; it
was an easy transition for me to turn it into
a professional license.”
Scott got his Merchant Marine Credential
(Master, 100 Ton) from the United States
Coast Guard in 2016, at age 49, and is now
a full-time captain, working on a freelance
basis with S.F. Boat Support and other char-
ter boat services and growing a private ferry
service. “The funny thing about this whole
thing is, I look back and think, ‘Shoot, I
should’ve done this 20 years ago,’ ” he says.
ALLISON
QUISTGARD-SCHERER
Ten days before the birth of her first son,
Allison Quistgard-Scherer woke to discover
that half of her face was paralyzed. “I knew
what it was, because my cousin had Bell’s palsy
before I did,” she says. “It was really a difficult
time. We never really realize how much we
take our faces, or our looks, for granted.”
As Quistgard-Scherer began to navi-
gate her next steps, she found herself drawn
toward the familiarity of her career in tech.
After all, this was a field within which she had
bounced around for well over a decade, work-
ing for companies like Oracle, and ultimately
landing the role of vice president of sales for
Ethan Lynn Consulting.
But a decade later, at age 47, she gave it
all up.
“My paralysis played a huge role in my
internal need to make a change,” she says.
“Even though I knew I would make a fraction of what I was earning, technology felt
empty to me. I needed to be hands-on —
literally.” And so the mother of two — now
single — went back to school to pursue a
career as an esthetician.
“It’s a crazy time to change, you know?
Divorced single mom. It’s expensive to live in
Marin,” Quistgard-Scherer says. “I would get
myself up early, make a hot breakfast, and say,
‘OK, you guys, Mom’s gotta go to school,’ and I
would leave for my school and the t wo of them
would ride their bikes together to theirs.”
Her advice to those looking to make
a change? “Do it now. Life is short. Time
flies by. And the one thing we can’t get
back is our time.” But we might find sur-
prises: along with a reinvigorated career,
Quistgard-Scherer has regained 75 percent
of her facial mobility. sprigandglow.com
EDWARD GAMBLE
The Great Recession marked a proverbial —
and unwanted — fork in many career paths.
But for Edward Gamble, the ensuing road-less-traveled delivered him into a far more
fulfilling reality.
Gamble had been working in money jobs
for decades, first as a branch manager and a
credit analyst in the banking industry, then
moving to mortgage for 17 years with positions at lauded outfits like Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac. In 2008, Gamble was a wholesale rep for JPMorgan Chase & Co. — until
he wasn’t.
“I took a job as a sales rep for a company
for a little while, but I wasn’t happy there,”
he adds. “I was talking to a friend who was
a police officer in San Francisco, and he was
like, ‘ Why don’t you try this?’ ”
And so Gamble applied to the San
Francisco Police Department, after which it
immediately shut down hiring for three years.
But as a means of getting his foot in the door,
Gamble opted to work as a police services aide
(“Those are the people at the window who
take reports about your stolen wallet and that
kind of stuff”) for the interim.
Finally, in 2012, at age 49, Gamble was
accepted into the academy.
“I was doing push-ups and sprints with
21-year-olds,” Gamble says. “From there, I
went through field training, probation, got
assigned to a station. I went to another sta-
tion; then I got the opportunity to become a
crime scene investigator, and I jumped on it.”
Gamble has now been in CSI for more than
two years and is about to be certified in that
role. “I feel like I make a difference, if not daily,
on a weekly basis.”
JENNIFER CHAPIN
For Jennifer Chapin, coloring outside the
lines has long been a natural way of life — but
even she didn’t anticipate a career in cannabis. Chapin is the co-creator of Kikoko,
a line of cannabis-infused teas — each bag
precision-dosed to pharmaceutical standards — which she founded alongside friend
and business partner Amanda Jones.
“We set out with a very audacious goal:
to honor Jan and help our girlfriends, and
millions of other women, get off their pharmaceuticals,” she says. Jan was a mutual
friend of the co-founders, and her battle
with cancer inspired Kikoko; while her prescribed doses of medical-grade cannabis
were effective, they came with a high that
was often debilitating. “Jan planted the seed
and also got me up a pretty steep learning
curve,” Chapin says.
But Chapin’s true professional pivot came
in early 2015, when the then-51-year-old set
aside a self-funded startup called Mindful
Play Media to dive headfirst into the marijuana industry. MPM was just the latest
venture in a winding career path, which
included the creation of an events company,
a gaming company and Cynthia’s Sisters —
an organization with aims to educate female
lawyers in the Democratic Republic of Congo
— along with providing career consultations
for women.
“One life lesson I’ve learned is to be
flexible,” Chapin says. “I had no intention
of going into the cannabis industry, but the
more I learned, I just realized that we could
be part of destigmatizing this plant, helping
people recognize it as the powerful medi-
cine that it is.”
Today, Kikoko offers four specialized
teas, each crafted to meld herbal remedies
with varied dosages of THC and CBD (can-
nabidiol). The company’s website brims with
information, detailed research and answers
to just about any relevant question.
“I’m so grateful that I’ve had this opportunity to create this company with Amanda, and
to exercise all the things I’ve studied and I’ve
tried to teach,” Chapin says. “I feel like it’s all
coming together now, and it’s just a magical
time. It’s a gift coming true.” kikoko.com m
