The MiDOViA Menopause Podcast: Real Talk on Hormones, Work, and Wellness for Midlife
April Haberman and Kim Hart
57 episodes
7 hours ago
What if menopause isn’t the end of something—but the beginning of your clearest, most powerful self? We sit down with Dr. Mindy Pelz—best-selling author of Age Like a Girl—to explore how declining estrogen rewires the brain and why that shift can upgrade focus, confidence, and purpose. Instead of treating symptoms like flaws, Mindy shows how depression, rage, anxiety, and brain fog are signals pointing to a life that needs new boundaries, better fuel, and deeper connection. We unpack estroge...
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What if menopause isn’t the end of something—but the beginning of your clearest, most powerful self? We sit down with Dr. Mindy Pelz—best-selling author of Age Like a Girl—to explore how declining estrogen rewires the brain and why that shift can upgrade focus, confidence, and purpose. Instead of treating symptoms like flaws, Mindy shows how depression, rage, anxiety, and brain fog are signals pointing to a life that needs new boundaries, better fuel, and deeper connection. We unpack estroge...
What if menopause isn’t the end of something—but the beginning of your clearest, most powerful self? We sit down with Dr. Mindy Pelz—best-selling author of Age Like a Girl—to explore how declining estrogen rewires the brain and why that shift can upgrade focus, confidence, and purpose. Instead of treating symptoms like flaws, Mindy shows how depression, rage, anxiety, and brain fog are signals pointing to a life that needs new boundaries, better fuel, and deeper connection. We unpack estroge...
Tired of hearing that retirement means retreat? We sit down with Lustre co-founders Erica Baird and Karen Wagner to flip that script and show how midlife can be a launchpad for purpose, community, and power. They walked away from high-profile careers, hit the same identity shock so many of us feel, and built a modern space where women design what comes next with confidence and style. We dig into the big shifts that happen when the calendar clears and the title disappears, and why a yes-first...
Start with the lived experience, not the label. We sit down with gender-affirming menopause educator and advocate Lasara Firefox Allen to reframe menopause as a human transition that deserves respect, nuance, and choices. From the first hot flash to postmenopausal clarity, we map the terrain for trans, nonbinary, and gender-diverse people who are too often erased by narrow clinical language and outdated protocols. Lasara shares how dysphoria and euphoria can shape the menopause arc, why “hor...
Menopause doesn’t clock out when we clock in—and ignoring that truth is costing organizations billions while pushing experienced talent to the margins. We sit down with Rachel Hughes of Alloy Women’s Health to unpack how symptoms like brain fog, sleep disruption, and hot flashes intersect with deadlines, shifts, and team dynamics. Through relatable stories and clear data, we map the ripple effects of untreated menopause—from presenteeism to turnover—and show why treating it as a workplace iss...
Menopause doesn’t have to mean white‑knuckling through sleepless nights, brain fog, and a maze of appointments. We sit down with Dr. Taylor Hahn, a board‑certified OBGYN and certified menopause practitioner, to map a clearer path: ask better questions, build a care team that truly engages, and use lifestyle medicine as a force multiplier for relief. Instead of cramming everything into a rushed visit, Dr. Hahn shows how to prepare a sharp symptom list, lead with your top priority, and confiden...
Menopause isn’t experienced equally—and the differences are too big to ignore. We sit down with Dr. Kudzai Dombo, OB-GYN and Director of Advocacy and Outreach at Alloy Health, to explore why Black women often face earlier menopause, longer and more severe symptoms, and far less access to effective treatment. Drawing on the SWAN study’s decades of data, we connect dots between evidence, everyday experiences, and the systems that shape both. Dr. Dombo shares her own perimenopause story—misdiag...
Menopause shouldn’t feel like a mystery you have to solve alone. We sit down with Dr. Corinne Menn—board‑certified OB‑GYN, certified menopause practitioner, and cancer survivor—to clear the fog around estrogen, perimenopause, and modern, evidence‑based care. From the infamous Women’s Health Initiative to today’s safer formulations and smarter timing, we separate risk from rumor and show how context—age, route, dose, and goals—changes the story. We dig into the “window of opportunity” for men...
What if stress isn’t the villain but the spark—and the real unlock is how extraordinary you decide to feel? We sit down with stress resiliency coach and former Microsoft leader Dat Tran to explore a fresh, human approach to burnout, anxiety, and midlife pressure. Dat shares how a car accident and cascading changes forced him to rebuild from the inside out, and why the turning point wasn’t stress reduction—it was expanding capacity. Together, we unpack a powerful yet simple formula: resilienc...
Menopause doesn’t pause at the office door. It shows up in sleep loss, hot flashes, brain fog, anxiety—and too often, in silence. We wanted to break that pattern. So we sat down with Dr. Joanne Armstrong, VP and Chief Medical Officer for Women’s Health and Genomics, and benefits leader Carmilla Tan to unpack how CVS Health scaled a menopause support strategy across retail stores, call centers, pharmacies, clinics, warehouses, and corporate teams—without losing the human touch. We talk candid...
What happens when you outlive your ovaries? Dr. Kelly Casperson, board-certified urologist and award-winning author, joins us to unpack the truth about menopause and hormones in her characteristically honest, evidence-based approach. Kelly challenges the outdated narrative that hormones are dangerous, walking us through why the 2002 Women's Health Initiative study has been widely misinterpreted. "The paper is free online," she explains, "and it says breast cancer does not reach statistical s...
Senator Lori Urso of Rhode Island takes us behind the scenes of America's first-ever workplace menopause legislation in this powerful conversation about leadership, advocacy, and breaking barriers. Drawing from her personal journey through menopause that nearly derailed her career, Senator Erso reveals how she transformed her struggles into groundbreaking policy change that's now serving as a model for other states. The conversation moves seamlessly between deeply personal revelations and st...
Have you ever found yourself staring into the mirror wondering "Who am I now?" Michele Heffron, transformational life and divorce coach, joins us for a profound conversation about the identity shifts that occur during midlife transitions. Michele shares how menopause often becomes a catalyst for deeper questioning about relationships, purpose, and fulfillment. "We get to this certain point in time and there's all these shifts taking place not only in our bodies but in who and how we're showi...
Testosterone isn't just a male hormone—it's a vital life force that gradually declines with age, affecting everything from muscle mass to mood. This eye-opening conversation with Lisa Lounsbury, founder of New Day Wellness, explores the reality of male menopause (andropause) and its profound impact on men's health and relationships. Unlike female menopause, andropause sneaks in gradually, making it easy to mistake hormonal changes for normal aging. "Men might confuse this loss of hormone wit...
Strength training isn't just about looking good—it's about living well for longer. Linda Goos discovered this truth decades ago when she began her first strength program at age 17, experiencing mental benefits that far outweighed the physical ones. After 20 years in marketing at Microsoft, she returned to her passion with a crucial mission: helping women in midlife build and maintain strength to preserve their independence and vitality. Linda founded Studio Bloom with a clear understanding o...
Menopause isn't just your mother's journey anymore. Today's conversation with Lauren Tenenbaum, author of the upcoming book "Millennial Menopause: Preparing for Perimenopause, Menopause, and Life's Next Period," challenges everything you thought you knew about this life transition. Did you know perimenopause symptoms can start in your 30s? Despite being well-read and passionate about women's health, Lauren found herself at 39 realizing she knew nothing about the next phase of her reproductiv...
How do hormonal changes during menopause affect your mental health? This question has remained largely unaddressed in conventional healthcare, leaving countless women struggling to understand why they suddenly feel like strangers in their own minds and bodies. Psychotherapist Kim Crispeno joins us to shed light on this critical intersection. As co-founder of the Aftermath Agency, Kim's approach to mental health during menopause emerged from her own personal journey and professional expertise...
What if the journey through menopause offered not just physical challenges, but a profound opportunity to heal your relationship with your body? In this illuminating conversation with Trisha Wilkerson, certified health and nutrition coach and trauma-sensitive yoga teacher, we explore how midlife becomes a crucial crossroads in women's relationships with themselves. Trisha shares her personal evolution from disordered eating to becoming a compassionate guide for women struggling with food and...
Melissa Ashley, founder of Women in Work US and the Menopause Mandate, joins us for a compelling conversation about workplace support through every stage of women's lives, especially menopause. She shares her journey of recognizing that while companies focus on reproductive health, they often neglect supporting women through menopause, despite this demographic making up approximately 20% of the US workforce. "There's not a lot that's really targeted to C-suite executives in the HR and benefi...
Weight gain during menopause frustrates countless women—but what if there was a science-backed solution that addressed the underlying hormonal shifts? Michelle Cardel, Chief Nutrition Officer at Weight Watchers, takes us on an eye-opening journey through the world of GLP-1 medications, debunking myths and revealing surprising truths along the way. Originally developed for diabetes management, these medications have revolutionized weight management by targeting the biological drivers of hunge...
The modern menopause experience doesn't have to be shrouded in confusion, isolation, and suffering. Melissa Oliveira and Stacey Ulacia co-founders of HotPause Health, are on a mission to transform how women navigate this significant life transition by creating what they call "the Baby Center of menopause.” Born from their own frustrating perimenopause journeys during the pandemic, HotPause Health launched in August 2024 to fill a critical gap in women's healthcare. They identified ...
The MiDOViA Menopause Podcast: Real Talk on Hormones, Work, and Wellness for Midlife
What if menopause isn’t the end of something—but the beginning of your clearest, most powerful self? We sit down with Dr. Mindy Pelz—best-selling author of Age Like a Girl—to explore how declining estrogen rewires the brain and why that shift can upgrade focus, confidence, and purpose. Instead of treating symptoms like flaws, Mindy shows how depression, rage, anxiety, and brain fog are signals pointing to a life that needs new boundaries, better fuel, and deeper connection. We unpack estroge...
