About Sue
Hi, I’m Sue West
In my late fifties, at the height of a successful career, I realised I couldn’t keep going the way I had been. During COVID, when life suddenly slowed and I finally had space to think, I could feel I’d run out of steam. Success still matters deeply to me, but I define it differently now – in terms of meaning, purpose, and how I want the next decades of my life to feel.
That realisation sent me into a period of deep searching. I questioned everything: What do I want my work to stand for now? What kind of life do I want to build from here? Eventually, I retrained as a coach and mentor, and made a deliberate decision to focus on women like me – women in their 50s and 60s navigating big transitions and wondering what’s next.
Why Flourish After Fifty
Once I started practising, the stories poured in. Women who looked “sorted” on the outside shared fears and uncertainties about ageing, work, purpose and identity. At the same time, I was devouring research on modern ageing and talking with experts in the field, and I could see a clear gap between what we know about long, healthy, fulfilling lives and how women actually imagine this phase.
I see the mid and “north‑mid” parts of a woman’s life as rich with possibility and potential, and I’m absolutely passionate about changing the way we experience this stage. The truth is that women are living more years in great health than ever before – but many of our stories about ageing haven’t caught up. Flourish After Fifty grew out of my desire to close that gap.
Today, these insights are the foundation of my coaching, workshops and small group programs. When you work with me, you’ll gain tools and perspectives to navigate life’s major transitions with confidence and clarity. Whether you’re facing empty nesting, divorce, career changes or retirement, we work together to transform these potentially challenging experiences into opportunities for growth, self‑discovery and a life that feels truly your own.
I also believe that we need new stories to help us reconceptualise this phase of life. That’s why I launched the Flourish After Fifty podcast – to share real, nuanced stories of women in mid and later life and to model a more hopeful, expansive narrative about getting older. I’m an avid advocate for positive ageing and for rewriting the script on what life after fifty can look like.
Bringing my “old” and “new” lives together
Alongside Flourish After Fifty, I’ve found a way to weave my “old” academic and leadership life into my “new” one. I run a second coaching practice focused on leadership and academic coaching, working with academics from more than 16 universities across Australia. Life after fifty has not been about slowing down for me; it has been about realigning and integrating everything I’ve learned so far into work that is both intellectually stretching and deeply purposeful. I’ve also had to “tool up” with fresh knowledge and new technical skills to do what I do now, proving to myself that learning and reinvention are absolutely possible well into our fifties and beyond.
If you choose to work with me, my hope is that you’ll feel seen, supported and inspired as you navigate your own next chapter – and that, together, we’ll create a version of life after fifty that feels vibrant, spacious and truly aligned with who you are now.
My credentials can be found here.
