I’m the executive director and a marine biologist with the Coastal Watershed Institute, a small environmental nonprofit located on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. The organization is dedicated to protecting and restoring nearshore marine and terrestrial ecosystems through scientific research and local community place-based partnerships.
After a frustrating career as a marine scientist with the state, I decided to invest in myself in the things I felt were the most important professionally. 
I also recently went back to school – I’m in the PhD program of the biology department of the University of Victoria. I am fierce about mentoring and supporting women in the field – the obstacles in front of them are worse than ever. It’s a work in progress. We continue to raise awareness about our core issues, but many of the gender barriers are still very much present in the political, funding and publishing arenas. We’ve had over 100 students work on our projects, most of whom have gone on to professional careers in the field.
At 50, we older workers are just getting our professional wits about us. We finally KNOW things. We’re the most valuable professional asset an organization can have.