Second Act by The Experience Exchange
Most career conversations are about the climb. This one starts where that story ends.
You’ve achieved the title, salary and now you’re in the room you’ve always wanted to be in, and somewhere along the way it stopped being enough, or stopped feeling like yours.
That question you kept pushing aside starts getting harder to ignore.
So what actually comes next?
Hosted at The Experience Exchange, a private workspace and community for professionals working on their own terms, the evening starts with a panel discussion and moves into a light community mix and mingle.
What We'll Unpack:
What does your second act actually look like, and who gets to define it?
Does age shape what's possible, or is that a story we've accepted too quickly?
How do you rebuild identity when your title no longer introduces you?
What does a portfolio career, an independent practice, or a pivot actually look like when no one prepares you for it?
Meet the Panelists
Michael Velten (Host) | Founder, The Experience Exchange & Velten Advisors After four decades across Big Law, Big Four, and global financial services, including senior roles at Goldman Sachs, PwC, and Deloitte Southeast Asia, Michael turned 60 and chose to start fresh. He founded both Velten Advisors and The Experience Exchange, a private members' workspace in a conserved shophouse on Ann Siang Road, built for professionals who have outgrown corporate life. He hosts The Experience Exchange Podcast, where experienced leaders talk about reinvention, judgment, and what meaningful work looks like beyond the first career.
Naeema Ismail Clark | | Founder, The Reset Practice Naeema spent more than 30 years building and leading across communications, marketing and brand strategy in Asia. She joined a then-scrappy Singapore agency as its 12th employee, built its communications arm, and later led the Singapore business through its transition into a global network. After 17 years in one company, she stepped away to build a more intentional next chapter. Today, she is Founder of The Reset Practice and Singapore CEO of The Marketing Room. Her perspective on reinvention comes from living the harder questions herself: what remains when the title disappears, and how do you build a second act that actually feels like yours.
Aki Taha | Founder, TalentStories Aki built and led talent teams at Netflix, Uber, and Google across the US and Asia before leaving to build on his own terms. Now, through TalentStories, he writes a weekly newsletter and runs a community that guides mid-career executives through the shift from job security to career security: how to stop renting a career and start owning it, and how to navigate that career in a world that no longer gives you a map. He is one of the clearest voices on what a portfolio career looks like in practice.
Audrey Chia | Founder, Close With Copy Audrey is a conversion copywriter and content strategist who works with founders and growing companies to build brands that convert. She has built a LinkedIn following of 70,000+ organically, served 150+ clients across 8 countries, and hosts The AI Marketer's Playbook podcast. Her work sits at the intersection of positioning, messaging, and AI-powered content systems. She brings the perspective of someone who left corporate, built in public, and figured out the brand clarity piece the hard way.