How I Reinvented My Career at 42 - And Made It Work
I didn’t have a five-year plan. I had a broken phone, a silent inbox, and a pit in my stomach I wouldn’t wish on anyone.
At 42, I found myself standing in the middle of a life I no longer recognized. The marriage? Over. The identity I’d built over two decades in fashion - styling private clients, working Neiman’s floors, living in the world of luxury retail? I was outgrowing it fast.
I wasn’t lost. I was empty. And there’s a difference.
I didn’t know where I was going. But I knew I was done asking for permission.
Reinvention isn’t a trend. It’s a war.
Starting over in your 40s isn’t cute. It’s brutal. People stop seeing your potential and start seeing your past. They want to put you in a box and keep you there - especially if you’ve already had “your shot.”
But here’s the truth: experience doesn’t expire. It sharpens you.
“I never wanted to be someone’s favorite. I wanted to be respected.”
I didn’t have a business plan when I got into real estate. What I had was a $3.2M listing from a client I’d styled years earlier and the guts to say “yes” before I felt ready. I studied my ass off. Shadowed a top producer. Watched every single showing. Took notes like my life depended on it - because it did.
I learned by doing. By failing. By showing up when no one knew my name and staying late when no one cared.
And I kept going.
Everyone wants the glow-up. No one wants the rebuild.
People love to talk about reinvention like it’s a makeover montage. New job. New wardrobe. Clean slate.
That’s not how it works.
Reinvention is ugly. It’s crying in your car after a showing. It’s clients not calling you back. It’s choosing between gas and groceries some weeks while you build something no one can see yet.
But it’s also power. Real, earned, battle-tested power.
When I started over, I didn’t know I’d sell a $28.5M estate one day. I didn’t know I’d become the go-to advisor for high-net-worth clients or find myself negotiating with hedge fund executives in the same zip codes I used to daydream about.
I just knew I wasn’t done.
Here's what I learned:
You don’t need approval. You need momentum.
Start before you feel qualified. Confidence doesn’t come from waiting - it comes from action.Let them underestimate you.
They’ll catch up eventually.Your past doesn’t define you. But it does arm you.
Everything I learned in fashion - how to read people, how to walk into a room, how to deliver under pressure - made me a lethal force in real estate. Use what you’ve lived.Don’t ask for a seat. Build your own damn table.
I never wanted to be someone’s favorite. I wanted to be respected.
Final word?
Reinvention isn’t for the faint of heart. But if you’re sitting there thinking it’s too late - let me be the proof that it’s not.
I started over at 42 with instincts, experience, and a chip on my shoulder. Now? I move multimillion-dollar deals, work with elite clients, and still show up to my own open houses - because excellence isn’t something I outsource.
If you’re rebuilding too, don’t count yourself out.
You don’t need a perfect plan. You need to decide you’re not done.
– G
