Cathy Derksen spent 25 years in medical genetics, in hospital labs and toxic environments. Twenty-five years of trusting the data over her gut.

Then, in one stretch of her life, she blew up almost everything at once: she left that 25-year career and her 23-year marriage, together, with two teenagers watching.

She'd told herself she was staying — in the marriage, in the safety of routine — for her kids. Then she saw what it was actually doing to them. That's what finally moved her.

"I describe it like throwing my life up in the air and reinventing it on the way back down," she says.

She landed in financial planning next, working with numbers and data, but now focused on helping women. A decade of commission-only paychecks in a male-dominated industry, learning as she went. It wasn't wrong. It just wasn't it.

Then, almost by accident, Cathy stumbled into multi-author books — and the scientist who'd spent decades trusting data started trusting stories instead. Today she's the founder of Inspired Tenacity, helping midlife women get published, one chapter at a time.

If you've ever wondered how someone goes from spreadsheets and lab reports to publishing other women's stories, this is that episode.

Connect with Cathy:

🌐 InspiredTenacity.com (free PDF downloads of many of her books + a Zoom accelerator session)

📧 cathy@inspiredtenacity.com

💼 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/cathyderkseninspiredtenacity

📘 Facebook: facebook.com/cathy.derksen.3

📸 Instagram: instagram.com/inspired_tenacity

▶️ YouTube: youtube.com/@inspiredtenacitypublishing