 JANUARY 28 • 2021 | 19

W

hen 22-year-old 
Maverick Levy 
started his podcast 
The Best of the Best: Maverick’s 
Guide to Success last August, he 
wanted to help others his age 
learn the basics of everyday life.
By exploring topics like how 
to file taxes, secure a mort-
gage and understand health 
insurance, Levy, who attends 
Michigan State University and 
grew up in Commerce and 
Bloomfield Hills, helps teach 
listeners about the things they 
didn’t learn in school.
He interviews subject-matter 
experts — whom he appropri-
ately calls “the best of the best” 
in their fields — to add back-
ground knowledge and personal 
perspective to each episode.
Now, Levy’s podcast, which 
is in its 22nd episode, has been 
picked up by Los Angeles-based 
DBPodcasts and is charting 
among the top 200 business 
podcasts in the country. 
There was a void, he explains, 
surrounding education in life 
skills that are necessary in adult-
hood to be successful. Through 
his podcast, he aims to close 
that gap.
“I always say there’s no possi-
ble way that within a 45-minute 
interview you’re going to learn 
everything [about that topic],
” 
Levy says. “But you’ll at least 
know the terms that the real 
estate agent or the mortgage 
company are talking about after 
listening to the show. You’ll 
know what to expect and how 
the process works.
”
Each episode sees Levy asking 
the subject matter expert about 
what they wish they knew when 
they were in their 20s about 
their respective fields. He’s inter-
viewed private jet brokers, vice 
presidents of mortgage compa-
nies, rappers and entrepreneurs 
in mental health care, to name a 
few. “It’s just been taking off like 
crazy,
” he describes.

The concept was born when 
Levy, who always wanted 
to start a podcast, made an 
Instagram post asking general 
questions about taxes. He had 
a social media following of 
mostly teens and people in their 
early 20s. One of his followers 
replied that he should start a 

podcast about taxes, and the 
idea clicked.
“It automatically hit me about 
10 minutes after that I can 
transition the idea of doing a 
podcast [about taxes] to teach-
ing things that aren’t taught in 
school,
” Levy explains, “whether 
that’s starting a business from 

the ground up or talking about 
how life insurance works.
”

SUCCESS STORIES
Levy also spotlights individ-
uals on his podcast who have 
extraordinary business success 
stories, diving into their jour-
ney and the steps they took to 
create their brands. He focuses 
heavily on industries either 
growing or remaining steady 
throughout the pandemic as 
well, such as the episode about 
the private jet broker and his 
career path.
Getting a slot on Levy’s 
podcast isn’t easy, though. He 
means it when he says he only 
wants to include “the best of 
the best.” The young entrepre-
neur rigorously vets applicants 
before deciding to do an epi-
sode with them.
“It’s the best of the best in 
every industry so you can build 
a basic level of understanding 
of how these things work in 
reality,” he explains. “
As long 
as you’re the best figure skat-
er in the world and you have 
some information to offer the 
audience, I’m down to have a 
conversation with you so oth-
ers can learn from you and be 
inspired by you.”
In both his podcast and per-
sonal life, Levy, who attended 
Temple Israel, has two values 
that he sticks by: always be 
learning, and lead by example. 
“I’m trying to fill the gap,
” he 
says, “of what’s not taught in 
school but is essential.
”
His long-term goal with the 
podcast is to create a worldwide 
community and platform that 
people his age can go to when 
they need support with every-
day matters.
“I really want to continue to 
be a resource that the younger 
generation can always rely on,
” 
Levy says, “to give them that 
information that they need in 
life to succeed.
” 

New business podcast teaches 
people in their 20s how to be 
successful in life.

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

What You Didn’t 
Learn in School 

Maverick Levy works on his podcast.

COURTESY OF MAVERICK LEVY

“YOU’LL KNOW WHAT TO 
EXPECT AND HOW THE 

PROCESS WORKS.”

— MAVERICK LEVY

