At 46, I’m questioning a 20-year career—and apparently, I’m not alone. Is creative happiness worth trading job stability with two kids to put through college? These are the kind of thoughts swirling in my head after speaking with three women who made career shifts in their forties. For these ladies, the outcomes were positive. Midlife pivoting isn’t a crisis, it’s a correction—and the realization that midlife is still young is quietly empowering. If you feel stuck in a maybe career, read on.
Yvonne Hemmingsen, Orthodontic RDA to Loan Officer
At 40, Hemmingsen left a 20-year career in orthodontics to enter mortgage lending—with zero industry experience.
She’d become a Registered Dental Assistant out of college, drawn by the flexibility it offered when her three children were young. But by her late thirties, she felt the ceiling.
“I had pretty much reached the pinnacle of where I was going to go,” she says. “I wanted to do something more.”
A neighbor introduced her to mortgage lending. She completed the licensing requirements, switched from a steady salary to 100% commission, and leaned on her husband’s support during the transition.
Almost nothing transferred from dental assisting, except people skills.
“Communication and creating comfort for people went further than I expected,” she says.
Entering the industry in her forties also carried an unexpected advantage: clients assumed she knew what she was doing. Twenty-seven years later, she’s still with the same company. But her role as a mother, she says, “Is the most rewarding job I could ever have imagined.
Candida Wensley, City Planner to Oncology Nursing Assistant
Like her sister Hemmingsen, Wensley knew almost immediately that city planning wasn’t her calling. She took the job out of college with Contra Costa County, made lifelong friends, but felt something was missing.
Medicine had always been her true interest.
“I knew I wanted to help people through difficult situations,” she says. She stayed in planning for nearly two decades, shifting to part-time as her family grew, before committing to a full medical career once her youngest was more independent.
At 41, with a village around her—a supportive husband, a father who did school pickups, and her sister five minutes away providing family meals—Wensley enrolled in nursing school. She studied at softball games. It was a challenging two years, but she made it work.
Wensley has been an oncology nurse at John Muir since 2013.
“If it wasn’t for my family, I couldn’t have done it,” she says. “Maybe if I’d started earlier, I’d be burnt out. I have so much energy and love going to work every day. When you follow your passion, it just doesn’t feel like work.”
Laura Knolle, Financial Advisor by Day, DJ by Weekend
Knolle came home from a solo trip to Las Vegas with an announcement: she wanted to be a DJ at 46. A financial advisor for over 20 years, the last 10 at EP Wealth, serving retirees, seniors, and widows, she’d built a career she loved. But the trip cracked something open.
“I realized I still have so much life in me,” she says. “I’m not too old to try a new challenge.”
Her husband bought her a DJ mixing board for Christmas. She taught herself through YouTube tutorials and an online course, figured out Instagram, and started hauling equipment to gigs. A drum majorette in high school, Knolle had always been musical. What she’d been missing was a creative outlet entirely her own.
She’s played Little League events, elementary schools, and a Walnut Creek community event. “It’s a 180° turn from what I do professionally,” she says. “It pushes me in new ways. Each time is easier, and I’m getting more confident.” Find her on IG: djpmlaura.
While I ponder my own next chapter, I now know what I’d need to make a change: a village of support, courage, and the willingness to make mistakes along the way. Now more than ever, I have the wisdom and capacity to come into my own as a writer, a woman, and whatever comes next.