Carl Katz didn’t wait until midlife to reinvent himself. He spent his whole career doing that.
Katz is a trained attorney who got his start at a D.C.-based law firm. He’s been senior in-house counsel at a major wireless corporation. Co-founder of a digital advertising agency. COO of two craft breweries. University guest lecturer. Not-for-profit board member. Partner in a software company. Dad, husband, consultant, silver medalist at the 2022 Great American Beer Festival.
But now, Katz just wants to rock.
It stemmed from a “bucket-list” idea he and seven other friends came up with just a year ago. Learn an instrument (none have ever played.) Study for six months. Assemble in the spring and rock-out.
Only he and the drummer stuck with it. But they found new players at the adult band program at a “School of Rock” franchise near his home in Tustin Hills, California. Katz is the lead singer and resonates joy even when he’s just talking on speakerphone about taking the stage with his bandmates, with no illusions of stardom or even securing paid performances. “We’re never going to get a legit gig,” he laughs.
But that’s beside the point. For Katz, it’s about the magic of collaboration—different instruments coming together like a “team sport” to create something greater than the sum of its parts. “When you’re sitting on the edge of the stage, and people are looking at you, singing along—it’s total connection, and it feels incredible.”
Katz is so inspired by his midlife foray into music that is planning to open his own “School of Rock” location. The performance-based music education program for kids has 300 national locations and bills itself the “number one childhood education franchise.”
It’s not just a business decision for Katz—it’s a chance to make his next career move, maybe his final one, into a meaningful encore.
“If you’re in your 50s, you probably have one more at-bat,” he says, citing the appeal of being his own boss, the scalability of a subscription-based model (students pay a monthly fee to play), and the thrill of helping kids discover the joy of music.
“I don’t want to wait until I retire to do something that’s truly fun,” he says.
Coming in the final installment of “Rocking the Second Act”: From a retired college chancellor who escaped Zoom hell by playing piano, to a big tech attorney rediscovering joy in a 90s cover band, to two longtime friends building a creative clubhouse for grown-up musicians—this final chapter celebrates the power of music to heal, reconnect, and rewire what midlife can look like.