Many professionals are changing course deep into their careers—and it’s paying off.
As a teenager, Joseph Liu was convinced he wanted to become a physician. But just a few weeks after starting medical school, he realized he was heading down the wrong path. He dropped out, worked in brand management and eventually moved to London to join the global communications team for Häagen-Dazs ice cream.
But after his father passed away, he began to question his professional path once again. Ultimately, he transformed his personal experiences with reinvention into a thriving coaching and consultancy practice. The American expatriate has now spent more than 10 years helping professionals navigate career changes, often to better align with their personal brand.
“I can feel it,” Liu says. “I’ve been doing this long enough to where I can look at somebody, and I can kind of tell if they’re excited or not with the work that they’re doing after a few seconds of talking with them.”
Today, Liu offers workshops and webinars for hopeful yet discouraged workers all over the world. He also hosts the Career Relaunch podcast, which features more than 100 episodes exploring stories of professional reinvention.
His whole purpose is to help people find more meaningful work, sometimes after they’ve spent decades in a different field.
“I cross paths with executives who are 20 to 30 years into their [careers], and the question I always ask at the start of my workshops is, ‘How many of you are thinking about making a career change?'” Liu says. “And depending on the group... it’s over half [who] are thinking about it.”
Ultimately, leaving a career you have worked hard to build can be challenging. There are many obstacles and internal hangups to overcome. But, Liu says, “making a change doesn’t mean that you couldn’t finish what you started. It means you chose not to finish what you started.”
Some things to consider include the timing of a career change, as well as your financial situation. Can you be patient? Can you afford it? But if you ask yourself the hard questions and do some planning, you’ll likely find that a reinvention is worth it.
“It’s rarely straightforward and it takes effort and time, and typically longer than people expect it to take,” Liu says. “I have learned, though, that those people who have made the effort to pursue more meaningful work have generally found it to be absolutely worth it. They find their work more fulfilling. They feel energized by their jobs. They’re proud of what they do. And they’re excited about the contributions they’re making to the world.”
People change careers for many different reasons, from a desire to work remotely or achieve a better work-life balance to earning more money or pursuing a more fulfilling career. But, no matter the cause, there are plenty of inspiring examples of professionals who’ve made a major switch.
Chris Donovan
Chris Donovan was in his 50s and had worked as a telephone repairman for 25 years when he decided to pursue an unlikely passion: designing women’s shoes. He had just beat early-stage prostate cancer, and began to feel like he was wasting the years he had left. He had long doodled elegant women’s shoes in his free time and, with the encouragement of his family, he decided to take a chance.
After first attending a design class in New York City, Donovan enrolled in a year-long master’s program at a top fashion school in Italy. It was a stretch, but Donovan says he was even willing to sell his house to make it happen—although it thankfully didn’t come to that. His life was never the same again.
He won a contest through the TV show Project Runway (design guru Tim Gunn was especially impressed), and has since launched his own shoe line, Chris Donovan Footwear. The label offers a full range of women’s shoes, from breathtaking pumps to casual flats. And Donovan isn’t looking back.
“As far as I know, you have one life here, and life is about experiences, and do what you feel is really important,” Donovan says. “I never ever thought I’d be able to pull this stuff off. If you asked me this 20 years ago, I would never see myself here. And I suddenly realized I’m much stronger than [I thought].”
Sangeetha Gopalakrishnan
Sangeetha Gopalakrishnan was living every math-and-science kid’s dream as an electrical engineer, working as a team leader in the flashy tech industry. Her job was her life, but after 16 years of semiconductor chip design, the long hours, high pressure and nonexistent work-life balance took their toll, manifesting as health problems.
Doctors told Gopalakrishnan to spend more time outdoors and, at first, she did so in her free time. Soon, though, Gopalakrishnan had fallen in love with nature and hiking. Then, during the pandemic, she “discovered painting.”
As the pandemic eased, Gopalakrishnan spent a few years hiking in the California wilderness and painting on weekends before working up the courage to march into her boss’s office. She announced she was leaving. Her company offered a six-month sabbatical to encourage her to stay, but when she came back, she knew it was time to move on for good.
Gopalakrishnan is now a full-time oil painter and women’s group leader. She hosts regular hikes and meetings, helping women connect with the outdoors like she did. Out in nature, she paints landscapes that inspire her, then sells the creations through galleries and her online store. And she’s now healthy.
“I was too scared to do anything else. I did not know anything else. I had been a math-science nerd all my life... but I knew this was not what I wanted,” she says. “To me, it’s the best decision I’ve made. Absolutely no regrets.”
Lauren Laffer
Finding more fulfillment doesn’t always mean doing creative work. After helping build a fan blog into a fully functioning country music website with corporate backing, writer and editor Lauren Laffer hit a wall. Perks like interviewing stars and attending concerts were great. But being on call for breaking news 24/7, making minimum wage with a lack of growth opportunities and being away from family were not.
After six years, she decided to leave the position she had helped create. Laffer moved back to the area where she grew up to join the University of Tampa and has risen through the ranks to become associate director of admissions.
At first, the transition was rough. She felt a bit like a “zombie,” she says, and she did have a few moments of FOMO (fear of missing out). But rather than helping “rich people get richer,” she says, she’s now helping deserving students find their way to a quality education.
There’s room to grow, she can travel but still be near family and, maybe best of all, she can enjoy country music again.
“It’s been really great, and I’ve got great leadership now.... They really invest in us, and I think that’s really helped develop my skills,” she says. “I really like not having to watch an awards show religiously and write every single thing that happens. I get to enjoy that stuff again, instead of having to work through it.”
Image courtesy of Prostock-studio/Shutterstock
This article was first published in the January 2026 issue of SUCCESS Digital Edition. Get FREE your copy here.
