Nancy Irwin started her life again at the age 42. Born in Atlanta, she was trained as an opera singer and, though she loved it, 
felt her voice wasn’t good enough for a full time career. On a dare, someone told her to try stand-up comedy. She took that dare, moved to New York, and successfully performed in front of audiences for 10 years at famed clubs like The Improv.
“Then I heard Hollywood was looking for more blondes, so I headed to L.A. to seek out my fame and fortune,” she quips. She got an agent and continued with a very successful career, performing with the likes of Jerry Seinfeld and Ray Romano. But she got bored. “When you’re a comic, you work 30 minutes a day. I had to find something else to do with myself, so I began volunteering at a shelter for abused teenagers [Children of the Night in Van Nuys],” she recalls. “I absolutely fell in love with it. It woke up the healer in me and, in turn, allowed me to heal from my own sexual abuse as an adolescent”
Irwin soon realized that her calling was not in the performing arts, stroking her own ego, but in helping others. “It hit me, ‘This is the real world.’ These kids are attempting suicide and trying to pass their GED’s. I can really do something in this field,” she remembers.
In 1999, at the age of 42, Irwin left show business, enrolled in school part-time to earn her doctorate, and worked during the day as an executive assistant. “I worked full time for a brilliant business man and went to school in the evenings and on weekends. It was a lot of work, but it was so worthwhile for me. Plus, my boss taught me a lot about business, sales and marketing, skills which I utilize today,” she states.
In November of 2003, the day after receiving her degree, Irwin opened her own practice in Los Angeles, where she specializes in hypnotherapy and standard talk therapy. “I treat all kinds of issues from sexual abuse and dysfunction to weight management and smoking cessation,” she notes. Her clients include celebrities, comics, pro athletes and adolescents. She still volunteers for Children of the Night, treating young people in need for free. Her biggest passion, however, is working with sex offenders. “I found that the best way to help sex abuse victims is to treat the perpetrators, who are also victims of some kind of abuse,” she says. She admits that her work is very controversial and may offend some people. Her response: “That’s fine, but in order to effect social change, the issue needs to be dealt with and discussed.”
Irwin has just published a book, “You Turn: Changing Direction in Midlife,” a collection of stories about people who have made life altering changes after the age of 40. In our next installment, we will delve into the book and how it was inspired.
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