Would you become a professional DJ in your 40s?

I’ve been a huge fan of house music (electronica gender – according to Wikipedia, electronica is refers to music that emphasizes the use of electronic musical instruments or electronic music technology as a central aspect of the sound of the music.) since I was a teenager.

This underground sound became popular in some of the coolest bars in the city and although I was underage, I was able to get into those bars because I was tall and looked 18 and not 16.

These assets allowed me to discover a sound that you didn’t hear on the radio because it never made the top 100 most played songs by radio DJs … and that’s what I loved about it.

As I got older, I still kept listening to house and variations of house music. Most of my music collection is from France and the UK … two countries where the house music movement is very prominent.

I remember as a teenager mixing different songs from different albums in order to create my own custom tracks and I quite enjoyed the long and tedious process, but I never (EVER) thought it was (or could be) a career. Now a days, most DJs I see spinning their tunes at parties or events are usually young men in their early-to-mid 20s. In a few rare occasions, I’ve seen a few women, but it’s very rare and they too are in their early-to-mid 20s.

I was recently flipping the pages of More Magazine when I noticed the story of DJ Sherri Hayden who is 50 (from her photo I would have given her 30-32). Sherri made the decision to leave a 28-year career in retail and venture in the music arena after watching a DJ groove a room full of people at her high school reunion. It’s never easy to start a new career (at any stage of your life), but when you are 30 (with kids), it cannot be easy to jump into a career that is notorious for attracting young men.

Twenty years after Sherry took out $14,000 of her family savings, she’s still deejaying weddings, anniversaries, birthday parties, corporate events while still having time to take care of her kids’ after school activities.

Sherry took a risk when she decided to pursue a career in a different field while raising a family, but twenty years later, her gamble paid off and she’s not only passionate about her career choice, she’s setting an example for women … there is no such thing as a gender-specific job or a age-specific job (okay … maybe there are certain athletic related careers that might not be suited for a 50 year old). I have no doubt that Sherry is a minority in a youth-centric profession and I have no doubt that her kids must be thrilled to say “my mom is a DJ”, but I think the best thing about this story is that Sherry didn’t let fear, uncertainty, family, kids or her gender stop her from going after what she really wanted in life.

It’s true that Sherry made the career switch in her 30s and that decade between 30 and 40 can make a world of difference in terms of ‘the good’ and ‘the bad’ life has to bring … that said many women over 40 take that turning point in their lives to revise their career choices and decide if this is a course they want to stick with or if it’s time to return to school or simply take that long time passion out of the basement and turn it into a viable career or business idea.

The truth is that we’re living longer because we’re healthier and many people choose not to retire at 65 (in fact many countries are considering raising the retirement age to 71). Even if you look at being forty today and retiring at 65 … that’s still 25 years of your life … will you keep the course of action or will you do a 360 after 40 and pursue what really gets you excited?

‘360° after 40′ is a celebration of your first monumental accomplishments after 40 (if you’ve passed 40) or your DESIRED ‘first monumental accomplishments after 40′ (if you’ve not yet added 40 candles on your birthday cake). Thanks for sharing!

Photo by Rodrigo Senna