“[I was at] my gynecologist’s office,” says Kristin van Ogtrop, author (“Did I say that out loud? Midlife Indignities and How to Survive Them” (https://amzn.to/3effm1a), literary agent, and former Editor-in-Chief of Real Simple magazine. “My enthusiasm for daily life had diminished. I was having an annual exam and I said,’ I’m depressed or going through perimenopause or need a new job’. She said, ‘Maybe all three.’” Up until that point, van Ogtrop had been a high-flying editor in the magazine publishing world who had worked her way through some of the toniest jobs in the industry--beginning at Premiere, then to Vogue, Travel & Leisure, and then to running Real Simple for 13 years. “The reason I loved [Real Simple] was because it was the first time I’d worked for a magazine where I was the reader,” she says. “The demos were basically me: busy working mother[s]...who had great full lives and needed ways to run [them] smoother.” Since Van Ogtrop grew up with a mother who was a home economics major, she knew how to make a casserole and hem a skirt--valuable skills she imparted to her harried readers. What was not so fun: when Real Simple got caught up in corporate spin-offs and industry-driven down-sizings. “Time Inc. was a public company [and there] was great pressure,” Van Ogtrop says. “[‘For] creative people [like me] in the company…[it] felt like every day you died a little inside.” After she left, Van Ogtrop became a business Goldilocks, trying on various new careers, but struggling to find her path. “One benefit of reinventing in middle age,” she says, “is not to be embarrassed to be the dumbest person in the room. I know I’ve accomplished something...in my last life and in my mid-fifties I don’t care if I look like an idiot.” Tune in to see where she ended up and how she did it.
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#226 How to Hire a Virtual Assistant and Reimagine Time For You (Kristy Yoder)
#225 Her Reinvention Took Her from NASA to Podcasting (Izolda Trakhtenberg)
#224 When Healing from Your Childhood Trauma Leads to Radical Self-Awareness (Poonam Bhuchar)
#223 How to Reinvent Yourself as a Writer – and Actually Make Money! (Rebecca Weber)
#222 When Your Reinvention Takes You From Entrepreneurship to the Corporate World (Barbara Viteri)
#221: World Menopause Day: A Special Conversation with Michelle Jacobs (Co-Founder, Womanness)
#220 Reinventing After Reaching the Top of the Mountain (Shelley Paxton)
#219 90% of Entrepreneurs Fail: Why You Should Reinvent Through a Franchise (Kim Daly)
#217 Reinventing from a Stable Career to Fill a Need Gap (Sharon Linder)
#216 From Stay-at-Home Mom to Addiction Recovery Maven (Felicia Montiforte Kleinpeter)
#215 Her Health Crisis Led her to Start a Nonprofit at 27 (Donna Cryer)
#214 When Covid Forces You to Pivot – and You Thrive (Sarah LaFleur)
#213 Reinventing How Women 50+ Are Seen in the Fashion Industry (Stephanie O’Dell)
#212 She Wrote the Guidebook for Midlife Reinvention (Joanne Lipman)
#211 The Secret to a Successful Reinvention (Katie Fogarty)
#210 What to Do When You’re Bored With Your Job (Shilpa Kulshrestha)
#209: He Decided to Start a New Business – Every Year! (Sean Castrina)
#208 Taking Her Reinvention Story to the Stage (LeeAnn Marie Webster)
#208 Reinventing Your Relationship to Uncertainty (Jill Griffin)
#207 My Reinvention Took Me from Poverty to the White House (Rebecca Contreras)
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