17/06/2026
50 Over 50 Project
Celebrating the strength, wisdom and beauty of women over 50.
Meet Janelle.
My name is Janelle and I am 61 and at a stage of my life where after working for more than 40 years it’s now time for my husband and I to enjoy a different pace of life.
I met my husband here on the Gold Coast when I was 21. I had just moved here from Sydney, he and his family had originally emigrated from Finland when he was a small boy, first living in Sydney and then moving up here in the early 70’s. Together we travelled the world leaving here in 1988 and returning in 1991. We lived and worked in London and also Turkey whilst spending as much time as we could in between travelling in the trusted ‘Combi Van’ across Europe and then several months through Asia on our way back to Australia.
We were married here in 1993 and have a daughter, 30, and a son, 28. This year will be our 40th year together.
We both worked hard, me in the fitness industry and teaching gymnastics and my husband in construction but realised that as a family my profession didn’t ideally fit with family life and young children. So I took myself off to university at 36 as a mature age student and completed a Batchelor of Teaching. Whilst we made this decision based on what was best for our family I realised very quickly that this was what I was destined to do. I was very lucky to secure a permanent teaching position at the school my children attended where I spend the next 20 years. I feel so blessed that I have had an opportunity to enrich and positively influence the students that I was entrusted to teach.
I semi-retired at the end of 2022 and now do some relief teaching but the best bit is I get to choose when!
My husband and I both love to travel and have had some amazing trips both with our children and together and certainly plan to have more but our focus at present is our 2 adorable Westie puppies Pippa, 1 and a half, and Finn, 6 months. They are a handful but bring us so much joy.
Turning 50 and subsequently 60 (where did that time go) has been very interesting. I feel that I am a confident, mature and knowleadgable woman with a great deal to offer but there a definite times where I feel ‘invisible’ which does make me feel sad. So much of our life and who we are is wrapped around our careers that when you step away you need to be prepared that at times you loose your sense of self. I am so fortunate that I have a loving family, amazing friends and the best of both worlds as I still work when I wish to and thoroughly enjoy the times in-inbetween.
My gorgeous son gifted me the photoshoot for my 60th birthday and whilst not something I would have done for myself I enjoyed it immensely and Sumiko certainly made me feel ‘seen’ and perfectly captured who I am.
