THE BIG SHIFTERS

LUCY KELLAWAY, 59

Left financial journalism to become a teacher, and co-founded Now Teach, aged 57

Why did you change? ‘I felt I’d been doing my job for too long. Watching my daughter leave university and start teacher training, it occurred to me that she was being more useful in her first year of working life than I had been in 35 years.’

How has your age helped you? ‘If I give a terrible lesson, I don’t conclude that I’m a worthless human being. My entire self-worth doesn’t hang on this. I also have a lot of experience of real life, which I can share with my pupils in a way the millennials can’t.’

What do you get out of it? ‘Starting something so hard in my 50s may have given me extra wrinkles, but it’s put a great spring in my step. To begin again, training with 22-year-olds, is the most rejuvenating thing possible.’

GEETA SIDHU-ROBB, 51

Left corporate law to become a nutritionist, and founded Nosh Detox, aged 41

Did people doubt your decision? ‘My family and ex-colleagues didn’t understand why I would leave law, especially as nutrition was seen as a “soft subject” and a step down. This got to me, but I had to overlook the noise and know my own mind.’ What kept you motivated? ‘I had just become a single parent, raising three kids under the age of seven, which was by no means easy. Once I decided I needed to work from home, and I had to work as the sole provider for the kids, it was easy to find the drive to be successful. Paying bills is a great motivator!’