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Alana Kirk, Author of Midlife Redefined

Hi, I’m Alana Kirk— midlifer, brain untangler, and bullshit-cutter-through-er.

As a coach, author and speaker, I’ve helped hundreds of women hit pause on their chaos, figure out what they really want, and go after it with calm, clarity, and courage.

I get the overwhelm, the over-responsibility, and the pressure to keep it all together.  I’ve singled parented, double-jobbed and triple buggied. I’ve been caught in the sandwich years of caring for parents and young children.  I’ve festered in resentment and flourished in my ambitions.

Because women today lead multi-layered, multi-pressured, multi-roled lives…. And the only way to thrive is to clear away the external noise and figure out your internal voice and choices amid the mayhem. 

My work as a coach is specifically done through the lens of the context of women's lives today with all its possibilities and all its pressures.  I write self-support books for women because when you thrive, everyone in your life does better.

My coaching and writing stems from what I wish someone had offered me when I hit my own wall and crossroads. 

I'd love to help you fight for you amid the mayhem. 

 

Hi, I’m Alana Kirk— midlifer, brain untangler, and bullshit-cutter-through-er.

As a coach, author and speaker, I’ve helped hundreds of women hit pause on their chaos, figure out what they really want, and go after it with calm, clarity, and courage.

I get the overwhelm, the over-responsibility, and the pressure to keep it all together.  I’ve singled parented, double-jobbed and triple buggied. I’ve been caught in the sandwich years of caring for parents and young children.  I’ve festered in resentment and flourished in my ambitions.

Because women today lead multi-layered, multi-pressured, multi-roled lives…. And the only way to thrive is to clear away the external noise and figure out your internal voice and choices amid the mayhem. 

I help women dismantle the mindf*ckery holding you back, so you can find more balance, direction and joy in your life.

My work as a coach is specifically done through this lens of women's lives today with all its possibilities and all its pressures.  I write self-support books for women because when you thrive, everyone in your life does better.

I'd love to help you fight for you amid the mayhem.  


Like most women, I’ve worn a few t-shirts in my time. Here are some of them.

Alana Kirk, Coach, Author, Writer, Dublin

Maybe you’re the same. You’re juggling it all and it’s hard, right?    

And that’s because whilst this is the most exciting time to be a woman, it’s also the busiest. 

We have all this extra life expectancy and no bloody time!

Recent decades have seen a seismic shift in the way women live and work. The upshot is that while life now is brimming with potential, it’s also bursting with pressure. For many women, this can feel really hard. And you’re right.  

Which is why I coach through that specific lens. By framing your experiences in the unique context of women's lives today, I help you understand the ‘why’ behind the challenges you face. 

Because context is everything. Then I help you work with the how to find fairness in an unfair system, balance in today’s pressure-cooker context, and confidence in a world that is still learning how to be kinder and fairer to women.

So whatever stage you’re at, I will help you live a better, bolder, brighter life.

Are you at a crossroads, stuck in fear and indecision but wanting to move forward with gusto?

Imagine having the courage and clarity to do that?
To really live the vibrant life you want — one with more fairness, balance and beauty? One where YOU feel in charge. 

Because you can. And you don’t have to do it alone. I’m here to help you reclaim your life.

Better

because you’ll know yourself better, with all your unique strengths, values, quirks and tendencies, so you can start living in response to who you really are, not in reaction to what is expected of you.

Bolder

because you’ll believe in yourself and what is possible for you at this age and stage, whatever that is.

Brighter

because you’ll be backing yourself, challenging self-limiting (or protective) beliefs, overcoming fear, and finding the confidence to create the boundaries and balance you need.

Because the purpose of your life is to really live as YOU - to breathe, thrive and grow. 

Rather than age or live gracefully, let’s age and live powerfully instead.

Alana Kirk, Coach, Speaker about midlife, Writer, Dublin

Like most women, I’ve had my fair share of ups and downs.


I’ve single-parented, double-buggied, triple-jobbed—and lost my mum, my marriage, and, frankly, my sense of self—all within one brutal year. Right as I hit midlife.

That experience sandwiched me, emotionally and literally, between caring for three small kids and my beautiful, dying mum. I wrote about that chapter in the best-selling The Sandwich Years.

But my latest book, Midlife, Redefined: Better, Bolder, Brighter is a self-coaching memoir blending my own messy, magical journey with the stories of my brilliant clients. It’s filled with the tools and exercises I wish someone had handed me when I was stuck in everyone else’s needs and socialised to put myself last. Think of it as your personal (wo)manual for reclaiming your life.

I’ve always been driven by social justice. As Deputy Director of UNICEF Ireland and Director of Fundraising and Communications at Barnardos, I saw firsthand the ripple effect when women are supported -how lifting women up lifts entire families and communities. But I also saw how the weight of invisible labour, over-responsibility, and impossible expectations can hold women back, both in their personal lives and in the systems we live and work in.

I want women to thrive in today’s world, not just survive it. Because, let’s be honest, sometimes that’s exactly how it feels. All the care, the effort, the work we put in - and yet it can feel like we’re often running on empty.

I know coaching is so transformative because it changed everything for me. Twice.

The first time was after my daughter’s birth, when I stepped off a career path that had once defined me.
The second was when my marriage ended and my future felt like a blank page.

Coaching didn’t erase the pain, but it helped me rebuild stronger, clearer, and on my own terms.

Today, I’m a Women's Life and Leadership Coach, speaker, and best-selling author.
And my mission is simple: to help women find better balance, direction and joy in their lives

In your time with me, you get to focus entirely on you.
We’ll uncover what lights you up, what weighs you down, and what you need to live a life that feels Better, Bolder, and Brighter.
Because you deserve nothing less.

Coaching is an investment in you

 

Not you as a mother, daughter, wife, partner, sister, friend, colleague, or career person.

You. Just you.

Radical, isn't it? Are you ready?

As well as my main coaching options below, my next overseas coaching adventure Soul & Spice is to Marrakesh in November 2025.

 Learn more ➝

Let's Do This
Alana Kirk, Coach, Speaker about midlife, Writer, Dublin

Maybe you are at a crossroads, stuck in fear and indecision but wanting to move forward with gusto?

Imagine having the courage and clarity to do that?
To really live the vibrant life you want — one with more fairness, balance and beauty? One where YOU feel in charge. 

Because you can. And you don’t have to do it alone. I’m here to help you reclaim your life.

Alana Kirk, Coach, Author, Writer, Dublin

My Services

Alana Kirk, Coach, Author, Journalist, Speaker

1:1 Coaching

Breakthrough Empower Hour

This is what I need
Alana Kirk Book, Midlife Redefined

12 Week 1:1 Programme

My Redefined Life - Better, Bolder, Brighter

This sounds right.
Alana Kirk, Coach, Author, Journalist, Speaker

Group Coaching Programme

The Balanced Life Blueprint

Next group begins on September 8th, 2025

Ooooh! This is for me
My Coaching Process

In my years of coaching, I’ve developed a game-changing process. I call it Know Yourself > Believe in Yourself > Back Yourself. 

 

By working through these three stages, you learn to: 

  • connect to who you really are, not who you’re told you should be
  • make decisions and plans based on what’s right for you. Not the patriarchy, your mother-in-law, or the Instagram perfection police
  • run your days rather than be run down by them

Our coaching together is bespoke to you and your situation, and gives you skills that last a lifetime.  

This process is underpinned and nourished by the values I bring to my coaching. 

♥️ Be compassionately curious

Curiosity is core to my work as a coach but also to the ways I support women to be curious about themselves. Compassion means we aren’t judgemental or critical but curious in a championing way. It is core to Know Yourself.

♥️ Be boldly authentic 

To hear and to be heard, and connect to the inner voice - to the real version of you and your ambitious heart’s desires. It is core to Believe in Yourself. 

♥️ Keep evolving

Leading a better, bolder, brighter life means learning, adapting, course correcting, overcoming, and dancing between self-acceptance and self-improvement. It’s core to Back Yourself. 

♥️ Be real

My goal is for you to learn to live as you, not the version you were told to be. This is the goal of combining Know Yourself, Believe in Yourself and Back Yourself.

♥️ Ambitiously advocating for equity

My work is about empowering you to take radical responsibility for your own investment and input so you can have a balanced and equitable life in all the roles you play.

 

As a coach, speaker and author, I love what I do. Talking about this work for warrior - sometimes wilting - women is my happy place. Here are a few recent conversations I’ve had:

These are some kind words from some of the women who have trusted me with their adventure of stepping into their own lives.

"As a result of Alana’s coaching, I have been able to give myself the permission to live my life more in line with my values; in the way I enjoy it most and at the pace that I prefer. I would recommend it to anyone, man or woman."

 
Sally (41)

 

"The whole experience felt so empowering, and I learned how to prioritise myself without any feelings of guilt. It’s a good way to reflect on what you’ve done throughout your life to date….I realised I’m proud of myself!
Alana’s coaching was a milestone on my life’s journey, to help me define and articulate my vision of a good life for me and created a roadmap as to what I had to do to get from here to there!”
Jan