Where Are Our Make-Over Subjects Today?

Editor’s note: There have been some real success stories among people who have had Career Make-Overs. Here we check in with a few of them.

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Back in July, Peg Heglund, 68, desperately yearned to return to the work force. She found her leisure-filled life as a retiree monotonous. Problem was, the Seal Beach resident wasn’t sure what type of work she wanted to do.

But after undergoing a Career Make-Over with Texas-based counselor Helen Harkness, Heglund’s biggest problem has become finding a free moment in her busy schedule as founder and owner of Back to Work, a growing job-placement service for seniors.

“Out of the [make-over] has come a whole different career, life and adventure,” Heglund said.

Heglund had known only that she wanted to do something that might benefit her 55-and-older peers.

During the make-over process, Heglund took assessment tests, received counseling advice from Harkness and spoke at length with Deborah Russell, senior program coordinator for economic security and work issues at Washington-based AARP, formerly the American Assn. of Retired Persons.

Through these steps, Heglund hit upon her new career goal: to launch a job placement firm that would match employers with talented seniors. She researched employment firms, met with agency owners and set up a Web site, https://www.recareering.com.

She decided to specialize in administrative, light-industrial and home-health positions and purchased database software so she could create a registry for her service. And she set her fees: Seniors could register with her service for $25 a year; employers could sign up with her for $300 and up.

After the story ran, Heglund said, she received calls and e-mail from many seniors and employers. A Huntington Beach filmmaker also contacted Heglund; she’ll be featuring the retired nurse and her new business endeavor in a documentary. Then a representative from 2Young2Retire.com interviewed Heglund and posted her story at https://www.2young2retire.com/pegeglund.htm, generating more inquiries from seniors across the country about Heglund’s new business.

“Every day brings a new twist, a new development,” she said.

“Before, I’d been feeling really stymied and disappointed. But now, because I’m meeting so many new people, I’m feeling stimulated emotionally, spiritually and intellectually.”

Heglund has set several new goals for herself. She’s drafting contracts, questionnaires and other employment-agency-related documents.

Once she fully establishes her business, she said, she’ll look into licensing and franchising possibilities for Back to Work, because people in other states have inquired about setting up similar agencies in their communities. She also hopes to expand her Web site and develop an eye-catching business logo.

And, she confides, because of all the long hours she’s putting into her business, she’s hoping to eke out just a little leisure time.

Michelle Posey

Last year, Michelle Posey rang in the new year with a heavy heart. Her Cleveland apartment and possessions had been destroyed in a fire. She quit her job, moved to Los Angeles and took a $9-an-hour job as an arts and crafts counselor at a children’s camp while looking for better-paying full-time work. What she’d do, she wasn’t sure. Her savings were running out, and so were her options.

A Career Make-Over session with psychologist, author and lecturer Wayne Dyer helped her get back on track.

Dyer encouraged her to focus her job-hunting efforts only on what would bring her the greatest sense of fulfillment--unusual advice, some might think, for a woman who needed to find work fast. But it proved sound.

Posey’s top career choice (in addition to her sideline work as a reiki, or healing touch, master) was in events planning. Dyer told her to go for it--to visualize herself as a planner, making good wages. She sent out resumes, visualized and networked. Then she visualized some more.

The following month, a special-events coordinator position opened up at a church she had recently joined, Agape International Center of Truth in Culver City. Posey applied, interviewed and landed the job, nearly doubling her salary.

Ironically, after starting at the new job in late October, she learned that one of her duties would be to book Learning Annex lecturers at the church’s facilities. One of the featured speakers in February will be Wayne Dyer.

Coincidence? Posey doesn’t believe in them.

“This is very meaningful for me, because on Dec. 30, a year ago, I didn’t even have a toothbrush,” she said. “If something like this can happen to me, out of the rubble of a fire, it can happen for other people too.

“There’s a wonderful sense of peace for me now. The feeling that comes with doing what you really enjoy doing.”

Sam Adu-Ampoma

At the time of Sam Adu-Ampoma’s profile in October 1999, Adu-Ampoma had just been laid off from his job as a computer analyst. He had hoped to get into a full-time music industry job, perhaps as a producer.

“I’ve made some headway, little fits and starts,” Adu-Ampoma said.

Last January, he landed a $70,000-a-year job as a business analyst for a Culver City health-care firm. But he remained focused on his music dreams. In March, he met with Owen Sloane, a well-known entertainment lawyer who had been interviewed for Adu-Ampoma’s make-over.

Sloane advised him about the music industry and encouraged him, Adu-Ampoma said. Adu-Ampoma also has been receiving songwriting coaching from a colleague, Deedee O’Malley.

After consulting with Sloane and O’Malley, Adu-Ampoma revised his goals: He intends to focus on his performing and songwriting and put aside for now his aspirations to be a music producer.

“These two people are very key to my growth,” Adu-Ampoma said. “I can’t stress how important having a mentor is, having someone who believes in you on your side.”

Michele Gampel

More than anything, Michele Gampel wanted to earn a good living at her craft, wardrobe styling. But she was willing to pursue other interests, too, including public speaking and writing about fashion.

After her make-over ran in December 1999, Gampel was presented with several career opportunities.

She was interviewed about fashion on KFWB radio, asked to write an article about jewelry for Privilege.com, invited to write pieces for 1st Hold, a Hollywood trade journal, and referred for some styling work by Madeline Leonard, a booker at the Cloutier Agency in Beverly Hills, who’d been interviewed for Gampel’s make-over.

Gampel also landed a commercial job and did some editorial work for Shape and Muscle & Fitness magazines.

“I feel very blessed that the people I have connected with have been professional, kind and fun to work with,” she said. “My goal for this year is to find an agency to represent me. If I have an agent, and am teaching and writing, I should be able to make it. Life is good.”