Winston Churchill once said: “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”
When we are young, there’s often an overarching feeling that we need to have your life sorted, including our success, by the time we’re 40. And for some 20-somethings, it’s even by the age of 30.
But, as many of us know from experience, this is not the case – because life doesn’t stop when you hit 40. In fact for many people, including men and women, life begins (it’s cliched, but the truth.)
Take these six celebrities who only really got their big break after they turned 40:
1. Vera Wang
Wang, 65, started off as a figure skater, then in the 70’s worked as a senior fashion editor for Vogue. But she found real success at the age of 40, when she started her own wedding dress label Vera Wang. Now one of the world’s best known designers, Wang has made wedding dresses for Ivanka Trump, Chelsea Clinton and Sharon Stone.
2. Julia Child
Julia Child wrote her first cookbook at the age of 50. Mastering the Art of French Cooking became a best seller and landed her a cooking show in America. By the time she was 60, Child had five cook books and had filmed numerous TV shows including Julia Child and Company.
3. Harland Saunders
Better known as 'Colonel Saunders' the man who invented Kentucky Fried Chicken, didn't hit real success until he was 65. In 1952 Saunders made the decision to franchise KFC. Twelve years later he would sell it off for $US2million.
4. Martha Stewart
At the age of 41, household name Martha Stewart got her first big media break. She released her first cook book Entertaining. That led to eight other cookbooks in the 80's and spawned what is now her home-making and cooking empire.
5. Laura Ingalls Wilder
At 65, Laura Ingalls Wilder published her first book Little House. It went on to become an autobiographical series, bestseller and the basis for the hit TV show Little House on the Prairie.
6. Henry Ford
Ford was 45 when he created the model T car and revolutionized transport.
Who else should be added to the list?
