The Big Switch

by Laura Breen Galante

Mitch Silver

Mitch Silver ditched a lucrative law career in favor of making people laugh. Even with an esteemed degree from Notre Dame Law School and about 15 years of success in the field, he just wasn’t satisfied with his work life.

“I was a good lawyer, but I was always yearning for something else,” he says. “I just didn’t know what it was.”

Like many career attorneys, Mitch felt the law was a safe and responsible path.

“It sounded prestigious, but to me, it felt like golden handcuffs; I was miserable,” he says.

Following the deaths of both of his parents over a short span of 18 months, Mitch needed a change to lift him out of the depths of grief.

“I had never had loss at that level,” he remembers. 

After a year or so of trying different things – bowling lessons, building robots, you name it – Mitch finally signed up for a stand-up comedy class.

“I used comedy to process the grief,” he says. 

An accomplished piano player who once played on stage with Billy Joel in college, Mitch has fond memories of that experience, which culminated in a standing ovation from an audience of 4,000.

“I think I’ve been chasing that high ever since,” he explains.

Mitch has since braved the mic at Orlando Improv, Tampa Improv, Bonkerz, Stand Up NY, and Broadway Comedy Club, among others. He also toured as an opening act for Mark Price, who played Skippy in Family Ties. 

With the support of his wife and daughter, Mitch now works full-time as a successful comedian and actor.

“It was a journey that I had to go through,” says Mitch, but when he thinks of his former law career, he has no regrets. “It’s like going back to your old elementary school – you’ve just outgrown it.”

Mitch’s focus is firmly on the future, and he’s laughing all the way.

Cori Sinclair

Cori is a later-in-life entrepreneur who turned a fantastic idea into a successful business. 

After graduating from UCF in 2002, Cori sold insurance for about 15 years. But one night, while snuggling with her older daughter in the child’s bed, she took notice of the safety rail she, like many parents, installed to make sure her daughter didn’t roll out of bed at night.

“I realized that the bedrail she sleeps with was really ugly, but her room was really pretty,”     Cori recalls. “I wondered if there was anything out there that could cover it up.”

Cori looked into it but found nothing in the way of decorative bedrail covers, so she decided to create her own.

With two small daughters to care for, it was becoming increasingly difficult for Cori to make insurance sales calls, so she focused her efforts on creating prototypes and delving into the world of manufacturing. Soon, Cosie Covers – a bedrail cover made from soft, attractive fabric complete with an inside pocket – was born.

When Cori launched Cosie Covers in 2017 on Amazon, it yielded good results, but she later decided to partner with an overseas manufacturer to bundle her product with a custom bedrail that fits the cover perfectly.

“I found a bedrail manufacturer, and we worked together to create an alternate bedrail to fit the cover,” Cori explains. She now sells the bundled product on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Walmart, and her own website, CosieCovers.com.

Cori relaunched a new product bundle this past June. “Yes, in the middle of the pandemic,” she laughs. It was a bit hectic at first, as she and her husband were filling orders from their home in East Orlando. “We package and send – we are the fulfillment center,” she says.

And Cori will never forget the day a shipping container full of raw material came rumbling into her neighborhood.

“They brought over this 40-foot ocean container,” Cori says. “They rolled up to the house, dropped the deck, and said, ‘Good luck!’” 

True to her insurance roots, Cori admits she’s not a risk-taker, but she believed in her idea.

“I went out on a limb, and I jumped,”   she says. “And I did it.”

Faye Novick

Have you ever seen the show Your Worst Nightmare on the Discovery Channel?  If so, you might recognize Faye Novick, who played the leading role in the Neighbor from Hell episode, a chilling reenactment about a scorned neighbor who tortures Faye’s character.

Before she was portraying stalking victims on TV, Faye worked in the event business for nearly two decades, planning weddings and bar and bat mitzvahs. She loved the work, but her personal life began to suffer.

“I love planning events, but I was working Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoons,” she recalls.

Faye’s husband, meanwhile, worked a regular Monday-through-Friday job, so they didn’t have much of a home life. That, plus losing three family members in two years’ time, made Faye re-evaluate her priorities.

“It wasn’t a quick decision because I did love the events industry, but it just wasn’t worth it,” she says.

She shifted her focus to acting, which Faye has done professionally for the last 18 years.

“I’m definitely doing a lot more auditioning – not as much acting,” she laughs.

But the auditions have led to some fun projects, appearing in the Disney+ period series The Right Stuff, and commercials for Nathan’s Hot Dogs, and another for Credit Sesame, where she plays a doctor. 

“I’m not a doctor,” Faye grins, “but at least I get to say I played one on TV!”

Faye also sells Mary Kay products, which she says is the most enjoyable career she’s ever had. She loves being her own boss and setting her own schedule.

“The customers are lovely, and the ladies I work with are the most supportive group,” she says. “Everything about it is enjoyable.”