All without starting over

Let’s cut right to it: one day you wake up in your 40s, look around at the job you worked so hard to land, the career you built with grit, matcha, and degrees, and late nights answering Skpe messages (ugh did you just age yourself) on your phone while reheating your coffee for the third time…and you think: This can’t be my forever like what the heck?!?!

And no it’s not because you’re dramatic. And no it’s not because you “can’t hack it.” And ABSOLUTELY NOT because you’re ungrateful (gtfohwtbs): you worked your tail off for this life.

It’s because you finally have had the wake up moment (and honestly, the audacity) to say: “Just because I can do this job doesn’t mean I want to build my whole life around it.” Le boom.

Welcome to your power decade. I know you’re so glad to be here!

And yes to all the haters: you can change careers in your 40s without starting from scratch.

Let me show you how to do it the right way.

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Before we get tactical, let’s bust the biggest 40-something career change myths

Because if no one told you this before, let me be that girl for you today:

Myth 1: You need a new degree
99% of the time? False. Your experience > another $48,000 program. Period.

Myth 2: You have to start at entry-level
No ma’am. Not today, Satan. You don’t go from running budgets and teams to fetching coffee because you want a better work-life balance that allows you to finally actually drink that coffee in peace with (maybe hear me out, a donut).

Myth 3: “It’s too late”
Your 40s come with leadership instincts, boundaries, wisdom, and receipts. It’s actually the best decade to pivot.

Myth 4: Nonprofit/mission-driven experience doesn’t translate
It translates better than you think, especially into people ops, program leadership, policy, consulting, and org development roles.

Myth 5: Staying for “good benefits” is noble
So is joy. So is time with your family. So is thriving.

You didn’t come this far just to clock-in and coast.

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How to Change Your Career in Your 40s (Without Burning Your Life Down)

These are the steps I take my clients through inside The Career Reset, my private career coaching service for professional women.

BTW: none of it is theory- this shit is for real-life working-women-with-a-mortgage strategy.

Step 1: Reconnect to what lights you up

When’s the last time you asked yourself what you want not what’s practical or “makes sense on paper”?

I have my clients move their bodies, shake off the mental clutter, then go decade by decade:

• When did you feel proud?
• When did work energize you?
• When did you feel like the best version of yourself?

Stop letting 22-year-old-you decide your whole career storyline. She did great but she doesn’t pay these bills.

Step 2: Identify your top values (present-day ones)

Not aspirational values. Actual ones.

Is it flexibility?
Impact?
Wealth?
Autonomy?
Peace?
Creativity?

Your next career should match your real life NOW and not your LinkedIn bio.

Step 3: Do your “career joy inventory”

We go through your last 5 roles and pull out:

• Tasks that energize you
• Responsibilities that drain you
• The impact you care about

This is how you pivot into something aligned instead of being in a “different but still miserable AF” new seat.

Pivoting isn’t scary. But pivoting into the wrong thing? That’s terrifying.

Step 4: Define your life design

Your career supports your life: not the other way around. That’s just girl math 101.

Where do you want to live?
How much do you want to earn?
How do you want your days to feel?
Where does family fit? Travel? Rest? Purpose?

This isn’t career planning. Not really. It’s actually building the architecture of your life. Like the one you’re living in NOW. See how I keep mentioning for you to plan for this version of you?

Step 5: Translate your skills into roles that fit your next level

This is where the magic seriously happens (and to be so for real it’s my clients’ fave part of the proces).

We match:

-your values
-your lived experience
-your joy inventory
-your life design

…to industries and job titles you actually want.

No, starting at the bottom. No “going back to school just in case.” FUCK THAT.

I did this myself after years in global health — degrees, recognition, big mission — and still knew I wanted a career built on joy, flexibility, and impact.

You can do the exact same thing too.

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If you’re scared you’re “too late,” read this

You are not behind. At all girl. You are arriving at the most self-aware, self-honoring, self-respecting season of your life.

The only wrong move now?
Settling. Just don’t do it.

Your ambition didn’t expire. Your dreams didn’t age out. And you are not starting over: girl, you are bouncing forward.

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Ready to build a career that fits your life and not the life you squeeze around your career?

Here is your next step*

You don’t get extra credit for muscling through this on your own.

If you’re tired of rewriting your resume at 10PM, crossing your fingers with every application, and trying to logic your way into a career shift, it’s time to try a smarter approach.

In a Career Clarity Discovery Call, we’ll cut through the overwhelm and get grounded in what you actually want, what’s been getting in the way, and the most strategic path forward into a role that honors your talent and your life.

No pressure. No scripts. No “shoulds.”

Just a deep understanding of what you want next, identify what’s working and what’s not, and a plan built for the woman you’ve become, not the one you were when you still drank $1 vodka.

→ Book your Career Clarity Discovery Call

Because the right support doesn’t weaken you: it accelerates you.