It's Never Too Late to Change Your Mind

I was chatting to a school mum the other day when she said something that really stayed with me.

"I wish I'd chosen a different career."

Without even thinking, I replied, "Who says you can't?"

She laughed, almost as though the idea of starting over or shifting direction was entirely ridiculous. But after we parted ways, I couldn't stop thinking about our conversation. At what point did we decide that the career paths we chose in our twenties had to be a life sentence?

Somewhere along the way, many of us absorb the belief that once we have built a career, we must stick with it. We stay because we have invested years of hard work, because we have built a reputation, or because changing direction feels irresponsible, and perhaps even a little selfish.

But I don't believe that for a second.

In fact, I think one of the greatest privileges of getting older is that we get to know ourselves so much better. The woman I was at twenty-five is not the woman I am today. My values have shifted, my priorities have evolved, and my definition of success has completely changed. So, why shouldn't my career evolve too?

The Turning Point

For nearly twenty years, I ran a successful marketing agency. I absolutely loved helping businesses grow, and I thrived on the strategy, the creativity, and the commercial success of it all. It was a career that gave me opportunities I will always be grateful for.

Then, something happened that quietly changed the course of my life. I decided to volunteer as a mentor with the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women.

At the time, I thought it would simply be a rewarding way to give something back. What I wasn't expecting was how profoundly it would change me.

Throughout my marketing career, the vast majority of my clients had been men. Suddenly, I found myself mentoring ambitious female entrepreneurs from all over the world. Of course, we talked about business growth and strategy, but our conversations quickly went so much deeper. We talked about confidence, purpose, identity, family, and the quiet doubts that creep in when you are trying to build something meaningful.

These conversations were honest, human, and deeply personal, and I loved every single minute of them. For the first time, I realised how powerful it was to combine commercial strategy with personal transformation. Helping someone grow a business is incredibly rewarding, but helping a woman grow as a person while she builds her business? That felt entirely different. It lit a spark in me that I hadn't experienced before.

Permission to Evolve

Looking back, that experience didn't change my direction overnight. Instead, it gave me permission to acknowledge a feeling that had been quietly growing inside me for years: I wanted my work to have a different kind of impact.

This wasn't because my old career was wrong, but simply because I had changed.

This is an experience I see so many women go through in their forties and fifties. We spend years building careers, raising families, proving our capability, and ticking the boxes of what we thought success was supposed to look like. Then, one day, we find ourselves asking a very different question.

It is no longer, "Can I do this?" but rather, "Do I still want to?"

Those are two very different questions.

If you are feeling this way, you are far from alone. Research suggests that around one in three people aged 45 to 54 expect to change careers before they retire, and more than half of us admit to staying in roles we no longer enjoy. That quiet nudge telling you that something needs to change is not unusual, and it certainly isn't a midlife crisis. Perhaps it is simply the moment you start becoming more entirely yourself.

Designing Your Next Chapter

Today, through Ignite, I am fortunate to do work that feels completely aligned with who I am. I still bring twenty-five years of commercial strategy into every coaching conversation, but now, I also get to help women think bigger, trust their own judgement, and challenge old stories.

I help them design careers and businesses that reflect who they have become, not who they thought they were supposed to be.

If there is one thing I have learned on this journey, it is this: changing your mind is not a sign that you have failed. It is a sign that you have grown.

So, if you have found yourself wondering whether your current career, your business, or this version of success still fits, don't dismiss that feeling. Listen to it, explore it, and give yourself permission to be curious. You don't have to blow your life up tomorrow, but you are absolutely allowed to ask the question.

There is no deadline for becoming the woman you are meant to be, and it is never too late to change your mind.