Women Mastering Midlife

October is Menopause Awareness Month, and Dr. Sara Berg, an OB-GYN who stepped out of the exam room to build an education and advocacy platform, joins Victoria for a second conversation about where menopause care and policy stand right now.

They begin with the FDA panel on testosterone for women. Dr. Berg explains that the research supports use for low sexual desire once other contributing factors have been sorted out, and Victoria raises the pharmacist concerns about cost and controlled substance scheduling. From there they turn to the long estrogen patch shortage, what it took for it to be acknowledged, and why letters to legislators and agencies can move things faster than most of us expect.

Dr. Berg also talks about preparing for the first Perimenopause and Menopause Hill Day, and previews The Appointment, her new short-form podcast that gives patients the wording to bring hard questions to their doctors, starting with brain fog.

Also in this episode: the difference between brain fog and a mental load that never lets up, adding menopause symptom questions to routine intake forms, Victoria's public comment to CMS on pharmacists and remote patient monitoring, why peptides and unregulated supplements call for caution, cultural attitudes that keep women whispering the word menopause, and how to raise menopause at work without it feeling like a liability.

Timestamps

01:38 Dr. Berg's path from OB-GYN to advocate

05:49 How to read health claims on social media

09:36 The FDA testosterone panel

14:27 The estrogen patch shortage

17:30 Hill Day and writing to your legislators

23:31 Brain fog versus overload

28:38 The Appointment podcast

33:55 Asking your doctor about symptoms

42:01 CMS and pharmacist remote monitoring

48:16 Peptides and supplement marketing

54:08 Menopause Awareness Month

1:02:22 Menopause in the workplace

Links and where to find Dr. Berg: www.selfority.com

Let's Keep the Conversation Going

If this episode resonated with you, please rate, review, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Subscribe to Women Mastering Midlife on your favorite podcast platform to receive weekly conversations that help you navigate perimenopause, menopause, and midlife health with clarity and confidence.

Join the Women Mastering Midlife Community and let's grow stronger together.

Get your FREE guides HERE: www.womenmasteringmidlife.com/freeguides

Share your thoughts and stories on our social channels and tag us @women_mastering_midlife . Let's rewrite the narrative together!

Find more information on our website: www.womenmasteringmidlife.com

Book a FREE 1:1 discovery call to learn more about coaching programs and courses.

This podcast is for entertainment, educational, and informational purposes only. The hosts, guests, and experts featured are not your personal healthcare providers or advisors. The content should not be considered as professional, personalized medical, psychological, or prescriptive advice.

Always consult qualified professionals such as your physician, therapist, pharmacist, or coach for specific concerns and decisions related to your health or lifestyle. Women Mastering Midlife is not responsible for any undesired outcomes resulting from actions taken based on the content of this podcast.

Many women reach perimenopause doing what has always worked and find that it no longer does.

Kristi Bowlby (physical therapist, holistic nutritionist, Pilates instructor, and certified perimenopause and menopause women's health specialist) explains what changes with food and metabolism in midlife, why calories in and calories out are only one piece, and how to build a way of eating that fits a real week. We also talk about her free Thrive Through Perimenopause and Beyond Virtual Summit, where I am a speaker in October.

What We Talk About

When your numbers shift despite doing everything right

Kristi shares her own blood work and continuous glucose monitor data. Her LDL cholesterol, inflammatory markers, and glucose swings changed even though every value stayed in the standard range, and she connects them to falling estrogen and progesterone and a long stretch of stress.

What eat less, move more leaves out

Gut health, liver function, nervous system state, and muscle mass all influence whether food is used to build hormones, muscle, and bone or stored as fat.

Breakfast, protein, and blood sugar

A protein and fiber breakfast can shape cravings, afternoon energy, and 3 a.m. wake-ups. Kristi's starting point is about 0.8 grams of protein per pound of body weight, with 30 to 40 grams per meal. She suggests building up slowly, since digestion and absorption change with age and extra protein can crowd out fiber.

Estrogen, the gut, and hormone therapy

We cover the estrobiome, the gut bacteria that influence estrogen metabolism, and why she describes the research as promising but early. Fiber diversity and a calm nervous system support digestion, and she suggests watching symptoms if you use hormone therapy.

Nutrition on GLP-1 medications

With a smaller appetite, nutrient density, enough carbohydrate, protein, and strength training matter more.

The summit

More than 25 women's health experts, free to attend, with an optional VIP upgrade.

About Kristi Bowlby

Kristi is the founder of This Meal by Design, creator of the Metabolic Health Reboot Program, and host of the Thrive Through Perimenopause and Beyond Virtual Summit. She holds a BS in Human Physiology and a master's in physical therapy, and has more than 20 years of experience coaching patients and clients.

Connect with Kristi

• Register for the free summit: thrivethroughperimenopauseevent.com

• Website: thismealbydesign.com

• Instagram: @thismealbydesign

Let's Keep the Conversation Going

If this episode resonated with you, please rate, review, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Subscribe to Women Mastering Midlife on your favorite podcast platform to receive weekly conversations that help you navigate perimenopause, menopause, and midlife health with clarity and confidence.

Join the Women Mastering Midlife Community and let's grow stronger together.

Get your FREE guides HERE: www.womenmasteringmidlife.com/freeguides

Share your thoughts and stories on our social channels and tag us @women_mastering_midlife . Let's rewrite the narrative together!

Find more information on our website: www.womenmasteringmidlife.com

Book a FREE 1:1 discovery call to learn more about coaching programs and courses.

This podcast is for entertainment, educational, and informational purposes only. The hosts, guests, and experts featured are not your personal healthcare providers or advisors. The content should not be considered as professional, personalized medical, psychological, or prescriptive advice.

Always consult qualified professionals such as your physician, therapist, pharmacist, or coach for specific concerns and decisions related to your health or lifestyle. Women Mastering Midlife is not responsible for any undesired outcomes resulting from actions taken based on the content of this podcast.

Menopause doesn't happen in isolation. It ripples out to the partners who love us, and for many women, that partner is a man with no roadmap for what she's going through. Victoria talks with Simon Salt, a writer, speaker, and certified menopause coach whose work, The Quiet Transition, looks at menopause from the other side of the bed.

Simon shares how it took four years and multiple misdiagnoses before his wife's symptoms were correctly identified as perimenopause, and how that experience shaped the evidence-based approach he now brings to couples and workplaces.

In this episode:

• Why 72% of men say they're part of the menopause conversation, while 72% of women say they had to start it themselves
• Moving from "fixing" to acceptance and grace as a partner
• Building curiosity and vocabulary instead of relying on a partner to educate you
• Why joining OB-GYN appointments matters, and how to do it well
• Andropause, and why men's midlife health deserves attention too
• A University of Michigan study on the emotional and physical labor gap in long-term relationships
• What the "meno-divorce" statistics actually show, and what they don't
• The story behind the name The Quiet Transition
• A simple "easy win" strategy for partners who resist the conversation
• What real allyship looks like in the workplace, from policy to locker-room talk
• Why education about women's health needs to start with our sons

Connect with Simon Salt: www.thequiettransition.com

Let's Keep the Conversation Going

If this episode resonated with you, please rate, review, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Subscribe to Women Mastering Midlife on your favorite podcast platform to receive weekly conversations that help you navigate perimenopause, menopause, and midlife health with clarity and confidence.

Join the Women Mastering Midlife Community and let's grow stronger together.

Get your FREE guides HERE: www.womenmasteringmidlife.com/freeguides

Share your thoughts and stories on our social channels and tag us @women_mastering_midlife . Let's rewrite the narrative together!

Find more information on our website: www.womenmasteringmidlife.com

Book a FREE 1:1 discovery call to learn more about coaching programs and courses.

This podcast is for entertainment, educational, and informational purposes only. The hosts, guests, and experts featured are not your personal healthcare providers or advisors. The content should not be considered as professional, personalized medical, psychological, or prescriptive advice.

Always consult qualified professionals such as your physician, therapist, pharmacist, or coach for specific concerns and decisions related to your health or lifestyle. Women Mastering Midlife is not responsible for any undesired outcomes resulting from actions taken based on the content of this podcast.

Vicky talks with Andrea Giancontieri, known online as The Whiny GYNie, about a condition that affects an estimated one in nine women and still takes most doctors by surprise: lipedema.

Andrea was diagnosed with lipedema after years of being told to eat less and exercise more, even as she trained multiple times a day and tracked every calorie. In this conversation, she explains what lipedema actually is, how it differs from ordinary weight gain and cellulite, why hormonal transitions like puberty, pregnancy, and perimenopause tend to trigger progression, and what conservative treatment (compression, low-impact movement, anti-inflammatory habits) can look like before surgery ever enters the conversation.

The conversation moves beyond the clinical picture into the systems that make care harder to access: insurance companies that classify medically necessary surgery as cosmetic, the ongoing estrogen patch shortage, PBM practices that squeeze independent pharmacies, and the mid-year formulary changes that can strip coverage from a prescription that was already approved.

Andrea also shares how she turned a dismissive nickname into a trademarked platform for advocacy, what it's like to testify at a statehouse, and why she believes non-clinicians have a critical role to play in moving women's health legislation forward.

• What lipedema is, how common it is, and why it takes an average of decades to get attention or research funding
• How lipedema differs from cellulite and ordinary weight gain, including the symmetry, texture, and "cuffing" that can signal it
• Why hormonal transitions (puberty, pregnancy, perimenopause, menopause) tend to trigger progression
• Why conventional weight-loss advice can actually worsen lipedema-related inflammation
• The conservative treatment path: compression, dry brushing, low-impact movement, a Mediterranean-style approach to eating, and where GLP-1 medications fit in
• Why plastic surgery is typically framed as a later step, and why insurance so often refuses to cover it
• The estrogen patch shortage: why it isn't showing up on the FDA's official shortage list, and what women can ask about instead
• Oral versus transdermal estradiol, and who is (and isn't) a good candidate for oral options
• What "bioidentical" actually means as a marketing term, and where the confusion started
• The downstream health consequences researchers are now connecting to the post-WHI drop in hormone therapy use
• How Andrea turned a dismissive nickname into a trademarked advocacy platform
• What it's like to testify at a statehouse, and how non-clinicians can move health policy forward
• Andrea's upcoming work on Capitol Hill and what listeners can do to support it

Andrea will be on Capitol Hill on September 22, 2026, lobbying for menopause legislation, and again on September 23 for breast cancer legislation and funding. She encourages listeners to write to their legislators and to make time to meet with the advocates who will be there.

Change.org petition link

Connect with Andrea

• Website: thewhinygynie.com
• Instagram & TikTok: @the_whiny_gynie
• LinkedIn: Andrea Giancontieri — for her political and social advocacy content, including a webinar on preparing written and oral legislative testimony

Let's Keep the Conversation Going

If this episode resonated with you, please rate, review, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Subscribe to Women Mastering Midlife on your favorite podcast platform to receive weekly conversations that help you navigate perimenopause, menopause, and midlife health with clarity and confidence.

Join the Women Mastering Midlife Community and let's grow stronger together.

Get your FREE guides HERE: www.womenmasteringmidlife.com/freeguides

Share your thoughts and stories on our social channels and tag us @misvictoriabyrd. Let's rewrite the narrative together!

Find more information on our website: www.womenmasteringmidlife.com

Book a FREE 1:1 discovery call to learn more about coaching programs and courses.

This podcast is for entertainment, educational, and informational purposes only. The hosts, guests, and experts featured are not your personal healthcare providers or advisors. The content should not be considered as professional, personalized medical, psychological, or prescriptive advice.

Always consult qualified professionals such as your physician, therapist, pharmacist, or coach for specific concerns and decisions related to your health or lifestyle. Women Mastering Midlife is not responsible for any undesired outcomes resulting from actions taken based on the content of this podcast.

Vicky sits down with Ashley Chandler, founder of The Teenage Guide, for a conversation about the shift every parent faces once their child hits middle school: moving from "boss" to "guide." Ashley draws on nearly two decades in education and coaching, along with her own teenage years in the 90s, to explain why the teen years don't have to be something families just survive. They talk about the real skill behind getting a teenager to listen (hint: it starts with listening to them first), why a mother's identity often goes through its own reconstruction right alongside her teenager's, and how to build a friendship-shaped relationship that lasts long after the kids move out.

If you've ever wondered why your once-easy elementary schooler suddenly feels unreachable, or found yourself grieving a version of parenting you're not ready to let go of, this one is for you.

Ashley's path to this work (03:33) — A dual-credentialed educator with 18 years in schools and coaching, Ashley shares what led her to found The Teenage Guide, including her own experience of feeling under-guided as a teenager in the 80s and 90s.

From boss to guide (08:04) — The invisible shift that happens around middle school, why parents feel like they're losing control, and what actually changes underneath that feeling.

Midlife as adolescence in reverse (12:20) — Ashley's framework for understanding why so many women's mental health dips right as their kids hit adolescence, and why the loss of the "PTA mom" identity deserves more attention than it gets.

Redefining self-care and permission (16:00) — Why self-care isn't about bubble baths, and the very Gen X habit of waiting for someone else's permission to rest.

The one move that gets a teenager to actually listen (32:14) — Ashley's approach to validating a teen's opinion before offering your own, even when you strongly disagree, and why "you shouldn't believe that" backfires every time.

What you actually control as a parent (40:00) — With friend groups and outside influences largely out of a parent's hands, Ashley walks through what's left to work with: how you show up, what you allow in your home, and the example you set.

Building perspective and resilience (43:11) — Why exposure to different ways of living matters for teens' emotional intelligence, and Ashley's take on letting kids struggle enough to find out what they're made of.

The sandwich generation, reconsidered (50:23) — A conversation about the parents' side of adolescence: aging parents, kids preparing to launch, and the identity work happening for women in midlife at the same time.

A generational thread (54:19) — Vicky and Ashley trace the throughline from their grandmothers' limited options to their own "you can be anything" upbringing, and what they hope changes for their daughters' generation.

Ashley Chandler is the founder of The Teenage Guide, where she coaches parents to become guides rather than bosses inside their own homes. A dual-credentialed educator with 18 years of experience across public and private education and adult and teen coaching, Ashley blends neuroscience, behavior change, and communication strategy into practical tools for families navigating the middle and high school years.

Connect with Ashley: Website: theteenageguide.com

• The Confident Connected Blueprint (Ashley's live class)

Have a question about navigating the teen years, or a topic you'd like covered on the podcast? Reach out through Women Mastering Midlife.

Let's Keep the Conversation Going

If this episode resonated with you, please rate, review, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Subscribe to Women Mastering Midlife on your favorite podcast platform to receive weekly conversations that help you navigate perimenopause, menopause, and midlife health with clarity and confidence.

Join the Women Mastering Midlife Community and let's grow stronger together.

Get your FREE guides HERE: www.womenmasteringmidlife.com/freeguides

Share your thoughts and stories on our social channels and tag us @misvictoriabyrd. Let's rewrite the narrative together!

Find more information on our website: www.womenmasteringmidlife.com

Book a FREE 1:1 discovery call to learn more about coaching programs and courses.

This podcast is for entertainment, educational, and informational purposes only. The hosts, guests, and experts featured are not your personal healthcare providers or advisors. The content should not be considered as professional, personalized medical, psychological, or prescriptive advice.

Always consult qualified professionals such as your physician, therapist, pharmacist, or coach for specific concerns and decisions related to your health or lifestyle. Women Mastering Midlife is not responsible for any undesired outcomes resulting from actions taken based on the content of this podcast.

Most women don't think about their brains until something catastrophic happens. A stroke. A diagnosis. A parent who no longer recognizes them. But your brain is quietly sending signals long before that, and in perimenopause, those signals get louder.

In this episode, Victoria talks with Christine Despres, a registered nurse with more than 30 years in healthcare and a certified dementia practitioner who spent much of her career working in hospice and dementia care. That work, combined with losing her mother at 57 and learning she carries the APOE4 gene, is what pulled her toward brain health as the starting point for her coaching practice.

Christine and Victoria talk through what is actually happening to the brain during perimenopause, including research suggesting women can lose up to 30 percent of brain function during this transition, and why symptoms like brain fog, word-finding trouble, and forgetfulness are common but not something to dismiss as normal aging. They walk through the four lifestyle areas the Alzheimer's Association and the US POINTER study identified as having the greatest impact on cognitive decline: exercise, the MIND diet, cognitive engagement, and knowing your numbers.

The conversation also covers genetic testing for Alzheimer's risk, where alcohol fits into a brain-healthy lifestyle, why hormone therapy and brain health is such a contested topic online, and why willpower is not the answer for lasting change. Christine's core message is a practical one: brain health does not require a complicated program. It requires small, consistent shifts that fit into a life you already have.

• Why women account for roughly 75 percent of memory care residents, and what that statistic actually reflects
• The four lifestyle factors the US POINTER study found move the needle most for cognitive decline: exercise, nutrition, cognitive engagement, and knowing your numbers
• What the MIND diet is, how it differs from the Mediterranean and DASH diets, and what a 2025 study found about its impact on cognitive decline
• Why brain fog and forgetfulness in perimenopause are signals worth listening to rather than symptoms to push through
• What genetic testing for the APOE4 gene and P-Tau involve, and how to think about whether testing is right for you
• Where alcohol fits into a brain-healthy lifestyle, and how to think about risk versus reward instead of an all-or-nothing rule
• Why hormone therapy and cognitive health is such a divided conversation online, and what the evidence currently supports
• How cognitive engagement works, including specific ways to build novelty into a life that is already full
• Why willpower is not a reliable strategy for long-term change, and what to focus on instead

• 00:00 Introduction to Christine Despres and her path from dementia and hospice nursing to brain health coaching
• 05:10 Why 75 percent of memory care residents are women
• 12:13 What brain fog and forgetfulness actually signal in perimenopause
• 13:24 The US POINTER study and the four habits that move the needle most for cognitive decline
• 16:39 Where alcohol fits into brain health, and the concept of joy span
• 21:18 The difference between telling someone what to do and coaching them toward lasting change
• 25:37 How to build cognitive engagement into a life that already feels full
• 31:22 The MIND diet explained: what to eat, what to limit, and why consistency matters more than perfection
• 35:38 Genetic testing for Alzheimer's risk, including the APOE4 gene and P-Tau testing
• 38:27 Hormone therapy and brain health: why the research feels contradictory and how to navigate it
• 43:01 Christine's closing thoughts on shifting from willpower to identity-based habits

Christine Despres is a registered nurse with more than 30 years of experience in healthcare and the founder of The Wellness Navigator. She is a board-certified health and wellness coach and a certified dementia practitioner. Christine spent much of her nursing career working in dementia and hospice care, including 15 years as director of nursing at a skilled nursing facility. After losing her mother at 57 and learning she carries the APOE4 gene, which raises Alzheimer's risk, Christine shifted her focus toward helping midlife women protect and strengthen brain function through lifestyle change.

• US POINTER study, Alzheimer's Association
• Dr. Lisa Mosconi's research on the perimenopausal brain
• The MIND diet
• BrainHQ (cognitive training platform used in the POINTER study)
• Recode program, Dr. Heather Sandison and Dr. Bresnan
• Amen University brain coaching program
• Dr. Kerry Burnight's concept of "joy span"

Let's Keep the Conversation Going

If this episode resonated with you, please rate, review, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Subscribe to Women Mastering Midlife on your favorite podcast platform to receive weekly conversations that help you navigate perimenopause, menopause, and midlife health with clarity and confidence.

Join the Women Mastering Midlife Community and let's grow stronger together.

Get your FREE guides HERE: www.womenmasteringmidlife.com/freeguides

Share your thoughts and stories on our social channels and tag us @misvictoriabyrd. Let's rewrite the narrative together!

Find more information on our website: www.womenmasteringmidlife.com

Book a FREE 1:1 discovery call to learn more about coaching programs and courses.

This podcast is for entertainment, educational, and informational purposes only. The hosts, guests, and experts featured are not your personal healthcare providers or advisors. The content should not be considered as professional, personalized medical, psychological, or prescriptive advice.

In this solo episode, Victoria steps away from interviews to share something personal: at 46, after 15 years out of the workforce, she is heading back to school for a non-traditional PharmD. She talks openly about how a change in her marriage made returning to work a financial necessity rather than a choice, what it has felt like to job hunt after over a decade at home, and why credentialing has become the missing piece between her pharmacy license and the clinical women's health practice she has been building through Women Mastering Midlife.

This one is unscripted and a little winding by design. Vicky wanted to document the process in real time, doubts included, in case it helps someone else who is standing at the edge of their own reinvention.

• Why Victoria is enrolling in a non-traditional, asynchronous PharmD program for already-licensed pharmacists
• The financial and personal circumstances that made returning to work necessary at this stage of life
• What job searching looked like after 15 years out of an employer setting, including the ageism and sexism she encountered along the way
• Why she leaned into health coaching and integrative wellness rather than practicing pharmacy after stepping away in 2011
• How her path through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and the Integrative Women's Health Institute shaped her coaching philosophy, particularly around behavior change and disordered eating patterns
• What credentialing could open up: working alongside cash-pay physicians, supporting between-visit care, and building toward a clinical women's health pharmacist role
• How two decades of guideline changes, new technology, and a completely different testing and onboarding process make this a different kind of pharmacy school than the one she left
• Balancing school with parenting two daughters, ages 15 and 17, without giving up the availability she has valued as a stay-at-home parent
• An update on her upcoming book, Women Mastering Midlife, which blends podcast guest wisdom with her own experience and closes with guided reflection questions
• Why she is choosing to see this stage as building on who she already is rather than starting over or reinventing herself

Victoria reflects that this chapter is not a rebirth or a reinvention. It is simply the next version of who she already is, built on the same intelligence that got her through pharmacy school the first time.

• Learn more about Women Mastering Midlife: womenmasteringmidlife.com
• Women Mastering Midlife, the book (coming soon)
• Connect with Vicky on LinkedIn

This episode includes personal reflections on divorce, financial pressure, and career transition. It is not intended as financial, legal, or medical advice. If you are navigating a similar transition, individual circumstances vary, and it may help to talk it through with a trusted financial advisor, attorney, or healthcare provider.

Let's Keep the Conversation Going

If this episode resonated with you, please rate, review, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Subscribe to Women Mastering Midlife on your favorite podcast platform to receive weekly conversations that help you navigate perimenopause, menopause, and midlife health with clarity and confidence.

Join the Women Mastering Midlife Community and let's grow stronger together.

Get your FREE guides HERE: www.womenmasteringmidlife.com/freeguides

Share your thoughts and stories on our social channels and tag us @misvictoriabyrd. Let's rewrite the narrative together!

Find more information on our website: www.womenmasteringmidlife.com

Book a FREE 1:1 discovery call to learn more about coaching programs and courses.

This podcast is for entertainment, educational, and informational purposes only. The hosts, guests, and experts featured are not your personal healthcare providers or advisors. The content should not be considered as professional, personalized medical, psychological, or prescriptive advice.

Most of us associate menopause with hot flashes, sleep disruption, and mood changes, but rarely with our eyes. If you've noticed your vision blurring at the edges, your eyes feeling drier than they used to, or found yourself holding the menu a little further away, there may be a real physiological explanation, and it's one that almost never comes up in menopause care.

In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Neda Gioia, OD, CNS, FMCP, an optometrist and certified nutrition specialist who founded Integrative Vision, a practice built around treating eye health through a whole-body lens. She is a fellow and former president of the Ocular Wellness and Nutrition Society and trained in functional medicine through the Institute for Functional Medicine. Dr. Gioia brings both a research background and personal experience to this conversation. Like many of us, she has navigated her own perimenopause transition while working to bring more awareness to a topic she feels has been left out of the menopause conversation for far too long.

We talk through what's actually happening with dry eye in midlife, the role estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone play in different parts of the eye, why so many women suddenly need reading glasses in their 40s, and what the current evidence does and doesn't support when it comes to hormones and vision. Dr. Gioia is candid about where the research is strong and where it's still catching up, and she offers a grounded, non-alarmist way to think about being proactive with your eye health at this stage of life.

In This Episode, We Cover

• Why hormone receptors exist throughout the eye, from the cornea to the retina, and what estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone each appear to do in ocular tissue
• The difference between correlation and proof when it comes to hormones and eye symptoms, and why the research gaps in women's health extend into ocular health as well
• Why hormone therapy is not a guaranteed fix for eye conditions, and why some data suggests certain forms of estrogen may worsen dry eye
• What dry eye disease actually is, according to the current clinical definition from the Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society (TFOS), and why it's considered more than an annoyance
• The role of the meibomian glands, tear film composition, and why untreated gland dysfunction can become permanent
• The nutrients most connected to eye health, including omega-3 status (and why estrogen affects your body's ability to convert plant-based omega-3s into the DHA your eyes need), B vitamins, taurine, and the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin
• Why sleep, including undiagnosed sleep apnea in women, is an underappreciated risk factor for both dry eye and glaucoma
• What presbyopia actually is (it is not the same as near or farsightedness), why it happens, and why it can feel sudden even though it develops gradually
• The research connecting a shorter lifetime duration of estrogen exposure to increased glaucoma risk, and why Dr. Gioia believes eye screening guidelines should be more personalized for women
• Why she believes eye complaints deserve a place on standard menopause symptom checklists and intake forms
• One practical takeaway for advocating for your own eye health, starting now

Key Takeaway

Your eyes are not separate from the rest of your body. Hormonal shifts, nutritional status, inflammation, and vascular health can all affect your eyes from front to back. Being proactive with routine eye care, even without complaints, is not about fear. It's about staying in the driver's seat of your own long-term health.

Connect with Dr. Neda Gioia

• Website: integrativevision.com
• Instagram (practice): @integrativevision
• Instagram (education): @drnedagioia

Let's Keep the Conversation Going

If this episode resonated with you, please rate, review, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Subscribe to Women Mastering Midlife on your favorite podcast platform to receive weekly conversations that help you navigate perimenopause, menopause, and midlife health with clarity and confidence.

Join the Women Mastering Midlife Community and let's grow stronger together.

Get your FREE guides HERE: www.womenmasteringmidlife.com/freeguides

Share your thoughts and stories on our social channels and tag us @misvictoriabyrd. Let's rewrite the narrative together!

Find more information on our website: www.womenmasteringmidlife.com

Book a FREE 1:1 discovery call to learn more about coaching programs and courses.

Disclaimer

This podcast is for entertainment, educational, and informational purposes only. The hosts, guests, and experts featured are not your personal healthcare providers or advisors. The content should not be considered as professional, personalized medical, psychological, or prescriptive advice.

Always consult qualified professionals such as your physician, therapist, pharmacist, or coach for specific concerns and decisions related to your health or lifestyle. Women Mastering Midlife is not responsible for any undesired outcomes resulting from actions taken based on the content of this podcast.

Money is one of the topics women are least prepared for and most affected by, especially during the transitions that tend to cluster in midlife: divorce, widowhood, career changes, and retirement planning that suddenly feels urgent. On this episode of Women Mastering Midlife, Victoria talks with Phil Weiss, CFA, CPA, and founder of Apprise Wealth Management, about building financial independence before a crisis forces the issue.

Phil's path into this work started long before his CFA or CPA credentials. When his mother was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer, he discovered that his father had never handled the family's finances, and he stepped in to negotiate with creditors, catch up on bills, and make sure his mother's care was covered. That experience shaped the practice he has built since: helping women understand and manage their money well before a health or life crisis makes it unavoidable.

This conversation covers the practical and the emotional sides of money: how retirement income actually works, what gets overlooked when parents age or a marriage ends, and how a values-based planning process called life planning can change the way you think about both your money and your time.

• Why money is treated like a taboo subject, and how that silence shapes women's financial confidence
• The shift from accumulating money to spending it in retirement, and why that shift is harder than it sounds
• Asset allocation versus tax location, and how account type affects what you actually keep
• The retirement expenses most people don't plan for: healthcare, housing modifications, and long-term care
• Financial and emotional considerations for women navigating divorce or widowhood
• The sandwich generation squeeze: caring for aging parents while raising your own kids
• A simple framework for budgeting that doesn't require obsessive tracking
• Life planning: a process that starts with your values, not your account balances
• How childhood experiences with money shape financial decisions decades laterl

Spending money you saved can feel harder than saving it. Phil describes this as a "retirement paycheck." After decades of saving, many people freeze when it's time to draw that money down, even when the numbers clearly support spending more.

Account type matters as much as account balance. A traditional 401(k), a Roth IRA, and a taxable brokerage account are all taxed differently. Understanding what Phil calls "tax location," not just asset allocation, can meaningfully change what you keep in retirement.

Divorce has a tax dimension that's easy to miss. Splitting retirement accounts evenly by dollar amount can leave one spouse with a much larger future tax bill if the accounts are different types (Roth versus traditional). This is worth raising with an advisor before assets are divided.

A written plan protects against the moments no one wants to think about. Access to accounts, passwords, wills, and care preferences for aging parents are logistical details that become urgent and stressful without preparation.

Life planning starts with values, not numbers. Through a process built on three reflective questions, Phil helps clients identify what actually matters to them before building the financial plan around it. The goal, in his words, is to help people avoid regret, not sit in it.

Phil Weiss is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Certified Public Accountant (CPA), and Registered Life Planner, and the founder of Apprise Wealth Management. He began his career in 1987 as a tax professional at Deloitte and Touche, later worked as an equity research analyst covering oil and gas stocks, and built a practice centered on long-term investment strategy paired with values-based life planning. A significant portion of his client base is women navigating major life and financial transitions.

Apprise Wealth Management: apprisewealth.com

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This podcast is for entertainment, educational, and informational purposes only. The hosts, guests, and experts featured are not your personal healthcare providers or advisors. The content should not be considered as professional, personalized medical, psychological, or prescriptive advice.

Always consult qualified professionals such as your physician, therapist, pharmacist, or coach for specific concerns and decisions related to your health or lifestyle. Women Mastering Midlife is not responsible for any undesired outcomes resulting from actions taken based on the content of this podcast.

What does it actually look like to support women through menopause at work, and who is responsible for making that happen?

In this episode, I sit down with April Haberman, CEO and co-founder of MiDOViA, a workplace menopause support organization working with employers across the United States and drawing on best practices developed in the UK and Australia over the past decade. April was in the room when Washington Governor Bob Ferguson signed an executive order directing state agencies to develop menopause workplace accommodations, and she gives us a clear-eyed breakdown of what that order actually requires, who it covers, and why the for-profit sector should be paying close attention.

We cover a lot of ground in this conversation, from the practical (what do workplace accommodations look like in a road construction crew versus a corporate headquarters?) to the systemic (why are women visiting seven or more doctors before getting care that should be straightforward?). We also talk about the barriers that keep women from speaking up at work, the role of pharmacists like me in closing the access-to-care gap, and why April believes broad organizational training is more important than any single policy change.

If you have ever minimized your symptoms at work, wondered whether your employer is legally required to support you, or felt like the healthcare system is making menopause harder than it has to be, this one is for you.

In This Episode:

• What MiDOViA does and why April and her co-founder Kim Hart saw an unmet need in the workplace four years ago
• A breakdown of Washington State's executive order on menopause workplace accommodations: what it mandates, who it applies to, and what comes next
• Why accommodations look different across industries, from office environments to construction sites to research labs
• The connection between access to care, workplace support, and women's long-term financial stability
• Why pharmacists are positioned to bridge the menopause care gap and what billing barriers stand in the way
• The role of symptom-tracking apps and wearable data in helping women advocate for themselves at medical appointments
• Practical steps women can take right now to plant seeds for menopause support within their own organizations
• What is happening legislatively across the country, including Philadelphia, Illinois, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maryland, and California

About April Haberman:

April Haberman is the CEO and co-founder of MiDOViA, a menopause-in-the-workplace organization partnered with accredited menopause-friendly workplace programs in the UK and Australia. With a background in PR, marketing, nonprofit health education, and sexual and reproductive health, April brings a uniquely cross-sector perspective to organizational culture change. MiDOViA has worked with more than 600 menopause-friendly member organizations and nearly 200 accredited employers. Learn more at midovia.com.

Resources Mentioned:

• MiDOViA: midovia.com
• Washington State Women's Commission
• Washington State Governor Ferguson's Executive Order on Menopause Workplace Accommodations
• Natural Cycles app (perimenopause tracking feature)
• Oura Ring (wearable health tracking)
• The Balance docuseries

If this episode resonated with you, please rate, review, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. Subscribe to Women Mastering Midlife on your favorite podcast platform to receive weekly conversations that help you navigate perimenopause, menopause, and midlife health with clarity and confidence.

Join the Women Mastering Midlife Community and let's grow stronger together.

Get your FREE guides HERE: www.womenmasteringmidlife.com/freeguides

Share your thoughts and stories on our social channels and tag us @misvictoriabyrd. Let's rewrite the narrative together!

Find more information on our website: www.womenmasteringmidlife.com

Book a FREE 1:1 discovery call to learn more about coaching programs and courses.

menopause in the workplace, perimenopause workplace accommodations, Washington state executive order menopause, menopause policy employers, MiDOViA April Haberman, menopause friendly workplace, women's health at work, midlife women workforce, menopause legislation United States, pharmacist menopause care, perimenopause symptoms at work, women mastering midlife podcast

This podcast is for entertainment, educational, and informational purposes only. The hosts, guests, and experts featured are not your personal healthcare providers or advisors. The content should not be considered as professional, personalized medical, psychological, or prescriptive advice.

Always consult qualified professionals such as your physician, therapist, pharmacist, or coach for specific concerns and decisions related to your health or lifestyle. Women Mastering Midlife is not responsible for any undesired outcomes resulting from actions taken based on the content of this podcast.