5 People Who Have Switched Careers (And How They Did It)

Kelly Corrigan, author of Lift and The Middle Place

I worked in nonprofits for ten years, but database entry and meetings gave me ants in my pants. I had always loved to write, though, and when my dad got sick I started jotting down my childhood memories. I had the idea of self-publishing a book that I could give him. But I told my sister-in-law, "I've written something, and I was wondering if you'd read it." She knew a literary agent, and that's how I was published. So I think that's important: You have to speak your dream out loud.