Jacqueline Perez,

Age-55

Creator of Kuel Life

– as told to The Silver Women

Women who inspired you as a young girl?
Lucille Ball, Debbie Reynolds, Shirley Jones… a great many of the wonderful women I saw light up the big and small screen. From a very young age, I wanted to be an actor – to sing and dance on stage and screen. I admired and copied the likes of those beautiful ingenues who played the leading lady. Ironically, I was never cast as such; always getting the comedic or character-actor role. In hindsight, those were WAY more FUN to perform.

Through my decades!

20’s: THE CHECKLIST DECADE
What a blur. This decade was busy checking off boxes. Do you know what I mean?
Graduate from college √
Get first job √
Meet boy √
Get Graduate Degree √
Get married √
Move across country √
Start ‘career’ √
It seems surreal to me now, but that’s my viewfinder of this time. I wasn’t very introspective. I wasn’t particularly directed. But, boy, oh boy, was I busy. I got a lot of stuff done.

30’s: THE RISK-TAKING DECADE
I started this decade by jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, twice. That stunt pretty much set the tone for my 30s. I left the safe haven of Corporate America and a steady paycheck to start my own Marketing/PR agency. I was running loose in San Francisco during the dot-com bubble years, and it was intoxicating. At the apex of it all, my husband and I shut down our agency, stored all our belongings, and took-off to see the world. Mind you this was PRE smart ANYTHING. We carried FILM…. in a lead encased bag, for protection. I spent an entire year without anything that required electricity. No phone. No computer. No social media. No blow dryer! That year was life-altering. The lessons I learned from the world, the people in it, my reaction to it all, and my husband were and continue to affect me each and every day. I rounded out the end of this decade with my greatest, scariest, and biggest risky achievement – I had a son.

40’s: THE CRASH
What’s that adage? What goes UP must come DOWN? Well, I tell ya. I came down with a thud. This was a tough decade for me. A miscarriage. A divorce. A toddler. A crappy economy. My answer? I started training in martial arts. Kicking and punching stuff seemed to keep me sane, and I figured it was a ‘healthier’ choice than anti-depressants. Although I don’t know a lot of people, who have had cracked ribs and broken bones from Wellbutrin. I kept at it, day in and day out, and before I knew it (o.k., it took about ten years), I now can say I am a Third Degree BlackBelt in TaeKwonDo.

50’s: MY PASSION PLAY
I’m 50% into this decade, so it’s a bit premature to label it, but label I did anyway – that’s the marketer in me. Thus far, this has been my favorite period of time. I know who I am and what I want. I have the time, support, and smarts to go after it. I feel centered. I finally became an ENTREPRENEUR. After a lifetime of providing support and guidance to others, I took the plunge with Kuel Life. I live and breathe this endeavor and wouldn’t want it another way. I harken back to my teen years, where everything was either the BEST or WORST thing that could happen. Entrepreneurship is very similar. The difference is me. I am way more steadfast and able to let those moments of exuberance and devastation wash over me and make room for the next. One of my favorite highlights of my 50s thus far has been re-discovering performing. I was a stage kid growing up. I had almost forgotten the joy and excitement I derive from performing. Luckily, over the last few years, I have been able to sing and dance, once again, in front of an audience. I’m in a different, healthy, relationship, with a man. Unmarried but we live together, and it works. My son is almost 17 and is a kind; thoughtful, high-emotional IQ’d individual. I have clarity about what my Second Act is all about.