Reinventors Hall of Fame

“The cure for boredom is curiosity. But there is no cure for curiosity.” I’ve certainly lived this quote. I can say that I have never been bored because my curiosity has ridden over most all my other needs and emotions. I drove my parents crazy with the “What’s that? Where are we going? How was this made? Why do we do it this way?” questions; having to be quieted with the typical parental answer of, “Because.” I have spent my whole life living outside of the box, trying to figure out why things have been done one way and why couldn’t they be done another way. Read Loretta Lowell’s story here

I’m 46 and well into my second life. (I’m beginning to wonder how many I’ll have.) My first life was a fairy tale. It unfolded much like my mom’s and her mom’s, and that of Cinderella. …The happily ever after lasted ten years, until I was laid off three times in three years….Then, I divorced my prince and learned to surf. Read the full story here

Facing my 50th birthday, I decided I wanted a goal that was both fun and challenging going into my golden year. I wanted something that I would always remember. I found all three.
I entered the 2008 Mrs. Oregon International Pageant. A platform-based program (mine happens to be alcohol and drug abuse prevention and treatment), this was an ideal opportunity to promote my lifelong commitment to reduce underage drinking and impaired driving. …The woman ahead of me was forty, fit, and had not given birth to children. The woman who came after me was, at a mere twenty-three year of age, younger than my youngest child. Read Debra Gilmour’s story here

I’m a mountain woman now. Before, I was a city girl. Not so long ago, I had a close group of friends and a wide social circle. Now I’m a stranger. I used to own a sweet, two-story Tudor; these days I share a one-room log cabin with two 21-year-olds. Before, I worried—about the economy, politics and society in general. Now, since I seldom see the newspaper and don’t have a TV, news of the world seems a distant concern. It does not rise above the vistas, the crisp air, or the dramatic, craggy mountain peaks across the road. My journey from the lakes of Minneapolis to the mountains of western Wyoming was the result of wanting—desperately—to shake things up in my mid-life.Read Liz Ward’s story here

I decided it was time to be done with being sick. I wanted to get my body back to being healthy and in the best shape ever. Read Ellie Weis’s story here

When I was younger, I never would have believed anyone who told me that I’d one day be rescuing child slaves in West Africa – or for that matter, take into my care more than 200 former street children in Vietnam, or travel to a remote jungle area to find a legless baby whose parents had tried to kill her in a family suicide pact, or visit a brothel for teenage prostitutes in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. For most of my adult life, my idea of “travel” typically entailed a drive to Target or to visit my parents, who lived a good five minutes away, in the house where I grew up in Neosho, Missouri. Read Pam Cope’s story "here""http://www.more.com/2009/4896-she-rescues-child-slaves

I am a handbag designer from Portland, OR, and I turn 50 this year. I have been designing handbags and building my business, Designs by Jayne, for 3 years. My previous 15 year career was working as a registered dietitian and health educator setting up corporate employee health promotion programs. I became a full time stay-at-home mom when my third child was born. In July 2000 our middle son, Max, was diagnosed with AML Leukemia. He was only seven but he will always be my biggest hero because of the way he faced his greatest challenge and ultimate death. Read Jayne Dearborn’s story here

Whist trying to hold down a full time job and care for our aging mother, I (KK, right) realized that one or the other was going to have to go by the wayside, as I became mediocre at both in my attempts. Had my sister, Sally (left) not given me an unequivocal, “Yes” when I asked her to come home from LA to help me, God knows where I’d be now…in an institution perhaps with The Ancient One as my roommate? We brought our two half lives together as we began our live-in caregiving duties and realized early on that we were going to have to do something to maintain our sanity. We thought, “Let’s be comediennes, because the only way to get through this is with humor.” That’s how The Midlife Gals began. Continue reading.

Banga-bang-bang (pause) thump thumpa thump BANG. This was no drum solo – it was the sound of my heart hooked up to the EKG machine in my doctor’s office almost two years ago. My concern about my arrhythmia was growing. From a few blips and stops here and there over the years, it had become worse and now occurred most of the day, even waking me from sleep. I decided to go into the doctor’s the day I was driving my young son to school and nearly passed out at the wheel. It could not go on. Read Marianne’s story here

When I turned forty, my identical twin sister looked years younger than me. The shock triggered a surprising second career. Chrissy had always been the savvy, fashion-minded one who could sew beautiful clothes and apply makeup flawlessly. She pursued computers and a technology career, I worked with troubled families as a social worker. It turned out that although the world saw us as “identical”, we really were – as we always knew – very different, indeed.To maintain the improvements in her appearance, Chris occasionally underwent microdermabrasion and glycolic peels. I, on the other hand, did practically nothing. One day, we were no longer “identical.” I said to her, ‘Come on, let’s look ourselves in the mirror.’ I was shocked at what I saw. Her face was smooth and mine was wrinkled. Her skin seemed tight and mine sagged. I felt like she’s the beauty queen and I’m the crone. I began researching skin care and scrutinizing treatments. Read the full story about how Sue Dolan became an expert in natural skin care here

I am passionate about fashion, style, and color. That’s why I make my living as an image consultant. What you don’t know is that fashion also helped me reclaim my sanity.The sudden loss of my beloved 17-year-old son, Scotty, in an automobile accident, happened around the same time as my divorce after 23 years of marriage and three very serious surgeries. As you can imagine, I was devastated and despondent. Read the full story here-

Recently, when I was visiting my forty-eight-year old sister, Kathy, in the suburbs of Texas, I was surprised when several of her friends called hoping to see me before I headed back to Costa Rica, where I’ve been living for the last six months. Although I was flattered, I didn’t understand their enthusiasm to see me again. I’m just a 46-year-old woman who ditched her high-paying job as an event producer in New York City and moved to Costa Rica to write a novel. Of course, I also had to learn Spanish, navigate jungle life, scorpions, and potholes, and find a new way to earn income, but my past reinventions had prepared me well. I knew that any big change would come with even bigger challenges, and that I would have to find a way to overcome them. Read the full story here

I’m 45 now, but not too long ago I graduated from Harvard Business School (okay, it was 16 years ago, but it feels like yesterday!). I was on the business fast-track selling designer water to supermodels at Fashion Week in New York City. But when I got married and was expecting my first baby, I realized the corporate mommy-track was not for me. What’s a smart, successful, driven MBA to do when (3) babies arrive? I had absolutely no clue, Read the full story of how a Harvard MBA reinvented herself as a famous matchmaker here