What do you do when the career you’ve spent 17 years building suddenly disappears? When bestselling author Andrea Mara was made redundant from her job in financial services, she had a choice: find another “sensible” job or take a chance to build something new.

In this episode, Andrea shares the story behind that life-changing decision and how an unexpected redundancy gave her the time to discover whether writing could become a career.

Today, she’s one of Ireland’s bestselling crime authors, with multiple hit novels and All Her Fault adapted into a major TV series.

We talk about the reality of changing careers in your 40s, forging a new career while raising three children, overcoming self-doubt, and why the biggest risks are often the ones worth taking.

We also chat about:

• why redundancy became the turning point she never saw coming
• the career coach who helped her stop searching for another “safe” job
• the realities of life as a full-time author
• where the ideas for her bestselling psychological thrillers come from
• the long journey from All Her Fault becoming a bestselling novel to a Sky TV adaptation
• why success is often far less glamorous - and far more hard work - than people imagine

Whether you’re dreaming of changing careers, writing a book, or simply wondering if it’s too late to start again, Andrea’s story is a reminder that sometimes the biggest setbacks become the beginning of something even better.

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