‘I felt spat out’ says, Eleanor Mills when made redundant from the Sunday Times. But it opened new doors – and happiness

When Eleanor Mills left the Sunday Times she’d worked for for 23 years, she felt like she’d been pushed off a roof. Who was she without the big job that had given her a cloak of power? It was only when someone said “Change is difficult, but you’ll be alright” that she started to relax.  She says, “It’s like the tide going out, sometimes there will be a big wave which knocks you over but the general direction will be better.” This gave her permission to find it tough. To endure. It was such a relief. After a lot of thinking and talking she decided to be the change she wanted to see in the world. Noon was born out of her desire to help women find a new path through midlife and beyond, to change the narrative. 

Midlife is when those dreams we had when we were young – but put aside to earn a living or raise a family – can finally be revisited. It’s never too late to be what you wanted to be.

Eleanor Mills is an award-winning editor, writer and broadcaster. She worked for The Sunday Times for 23 years as Editorial Director, Editor of The Sunday Times Magazine, and as a columnist and interviewer (interrogating everyone from Mikhail Gorbachev to Sheryl Sandberg and Theresa May). As Chair of Women in Journalism (2014 – 2021) she argued that the media must be a true mirror, not a distorting lens, which is what happens if decision makers are not diverse. She is a trustee of the Society of Editors, a board member of Reporters Sans Frontiers and her publications include Cupcakes and Kalashnikovs: 100 Years of the Best Journalism by Women, published by Hachette. She is working on her first novel and lives in London with her husband and two teenage daughters.

www.noon.org.uk