All women are NOT created equal. Ovaries aside, the packaging is rarely the same. Although we sort of start out the same: cute, cuddly, and soft, genetics and time play a cruel game of craps with our bodies.
Although once upon a time, literally in another century, when the number "5" came after the number "3" in my age, I was a svelte and leggy size 10 with the confidence that comes with unsuspecting youth, believing that this was the body I would get to keep forever.
In 2007, after twenty years as a successful television producer came a 6 month writers strike. With time on my hands and a mortgage on my back I decided that maybe I should consider what else I could do with my life. I wasn't getting any younger and the entertainment business eats its young and spits out its old. The prospects of finding a job were about as likely as finding a natural blonde in Beverly Hills so I decided to reinvent myself by combining my creativity and passion for clothes which were increasingly difficult to find in my size.
I started with the fact that here was precious little out there that fit my changing body and lifestyle. No one was paying attention to the boomers, in entertainment or in fashion. I knew what my contemporaries were interested in wearing, just like I once knew what they were interested in watching. Clothing manufacturers seemed to be focused on making clothes for my daughter and didn't seem to really care about real women with their original body parts and increasing numbers of "icky bits" so I bought a sewing machine, sketch paper and fabric and went to work.
So, day and night I sketched and I sewed. I threw a lot in the bin, but I kept at it, and at it, and at it. Partners came and went. Investors came and went but the clothes started to look good. Stores started to order them and people started buying them. So here I am, 53 sitting at my desk starting a whole new life and new career.
Each day is exciting, the learning curve is steep and I have had to find all sorts of new ways to eat humble pie, but I love it. I am doing something I believe in, pursuing dreams and I figure -- worse that can happen -- I land on my derriere again. I realized that in your 20s you get hired for your potential, in your 30s for your skill set, in your 40s for your track record and then in your 50s you have to get in touch with your new potential.
The only thing you can sell is the potential of your vision. I knew I wouldn't be making the money I did before and that I wouldn't have the same kind of title. But I did know that finding new potential in myself at 50 would give me a new lease on life which would me more valuable to me then the money and the title. I had to be willing to fail and replace the word pride with potential. I couldn't look back at what I used to do but only ahead at what I was setting out to do. I wasn't going to look over my shoulder or compare myself to my competition because all of that is meaningless if you are driven by passion and believe in what you are doing.
You need to know the business sector you're going into. Your advantage is that you're standing on a mountain of experience. When you get on a horse, if you look down where you are now, you'll fall off. You have to look at where you want to go and that's how you jump over the fence. You have to be fearless and get ridiculous. Nothing is impossible.