Work Family Me - Conversations with Maude

Xoli Madlala is the founder of Redefining Menopause Africa, which seeks to amplify the African experience of menopause, the author of The Perimenopausal Globetrotter, a TEDx speaker and a policy advisor who is working on multiple levels from governance to grassroots to change the menopause narrative in South Africa. I'm so pleased to have her voice and experience in these conversations. Take a listen to this conversation (46 minutes) to learn more about:

• Premature menopause and how disorienting that can be
• Privilege in access to nutrition, resources and healthcare
• Creating cultural change for the next generation
• An invitation to consider how menopause was experienced (or not) in traditional cultures
• Symptoms and indicators that we don’t always identify as signs of perimenopause

Below are some of the resources we discussed:

Xoli’s Ted Talk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig0xdlesyvs

Find out more about Redefining Menopause Africa

https://redefiningmenopauseafrica.com/about/

Buy Xoli’s book - https://redefiningmenopauseafrica.com/product/the-perimenopausal-globetrotter/

Black Girls Guide to Surviving Menopause https://blackgirlsguidetosurvivingmenopause.com/our-work

Sign up here to get 4 additional resources to support you:

• Perimenopause phases and timing - check where you are right now
• Indicators of hormonal changes - use this as a tracker and support in conversations with your medical practitioners
• Perimenopause and “Imposter Syndrome” -  4 questions to unpack self-doubt along with some info around hormonal changes and ideas for support. 
• Menopause Experts - this is a list of the guests that spoke to me for this season. They are all awesome and might be helpful for you to connect with. 

Full details about working with me 1:1 are available here. 

Gabriela Ramírez Rey is an Argentinian researcher and communications strategist based in Sweden and has explored perimenopause and menopause through the lens of digital communities, care, and resistance. With over 15 years of experience in journalism, digital strategy, and feminist advocacy across Latin America and Europe, Gabriela joined me in a recorded conversation where we talk about the  intersection of gender, technology, and health and spend some time unpacking…

• Medical blind spots and structural neglect of women's health issues 
• How that neglect shows up both in our individual doctor's appointments and in bigger spaces when we think about technology, funding, resources and in our families and workplaces. 
• Generational silence
• MONEY
• Tech and funding entrepreneurs who are looking at women's health in different ways
• What we can do to RESIST and create change

You can find Gabriela’s thesis via her site here https://www.gabrielaramirezrey.com/ and below are some of the resources we discussed:

​https://www.oneofthegirlshasmoneynow.com/

https://herfirst100k.com/financial-feminist-podcast/

https://www.tamsenfadal.com/

https://www.jessicashepherdmd.com/generation-m-womens-health-book. 

Sign up here to get 4 additional resources to support you:

• Perimenopause phases and timing - check where you are right now
• Indicators of hormonal changes - use this as a tracker and support in conversations with your medical practitioners
• Perimenopause and “Imposter Syndrome” -  4 questions to unpack self-doubt along with some info around hormonal changes and ideas for support. 
• Menopause Experts - this is a list of the guests that spoke to me for this season. They are all awesome and might be helpful for you to connect with. 

Full details about working with me 1:1 are available here. 

This is such a needed conversation in the stress management and the menopause education space. Heidi True and I discuss sexuality, bodies and intimacy in the menopausal transition and beyond - the challenges, the benefits, the practices. Heidi is a certified sex, love and relationship coach, yoga instructor and creative teacher with 20 years of embodiment experience. She holds certifications in both male and female sexuality, pelvic de-armouring and nervous system regulation and works with couples and individuals around their bodies, intimacy and sexuality in midlife and beyond. You can find out more about her here https://heiditrue.com/about/. Listen to our honest discussion to hear more about:

• Redefining sex and the pleasure imperative
• Sexy time as another “to-do” on the list
• What might happen as we stop "accommodating others”
• Vaginal health 
• Being in aging bodies with love and appreciation
• Recognising midlife changes and transitions for men
• What we might want to think about in our 30s!

These are often secret concerns (and sometimes don’t even make it out of our heads) and I am so pleased to be able to share this interview with you as a validation and source of support!

P.S. Dr Lara Briden and Mama Gena (Regena Thomashauser) are the two authors that Heidi mentions. 

Sign up here to get 4 additional resources to support you:

• Perimenopause phases and timing - check where you are right now
• Indicators of hormonal changes - use this as a tracker and support in conversations with your medical practitioners
• Perimenopause and “Imposter Syndrome” -  4 questions to unpack self-doubt along with some info around hormonal changes and ideas for support. 
• Menopause Experts - this is a list of the guests that spoke to me for this season. They are all awesome and might be helpful for you to connect with. 

Full details about working with me 1:1 are available here

Kath Berry (BHSc, MSc, acupuncturist and female health specialist) and I (a women’s burnout prevention and leadership coach) discussed a range of topics around the transition to menopause from confidence to hot flushes and I am so grateful for her time, expertise and amazing metaphors. Kath has a BA in Traditional Chinese Medicine, 25 years of clinical experience, and is the co-author of “Menopause: A Comprehensive Guide for Practitioners”. She speaks on women’s health (find her TED talk here), is a happily divorced mother of two, an avid sea swimmer (find her retreat offers here) and an all around awesome human living in Ibiza. Listen now to hear more about…

• When the coping strategies don’t work any more
• Personalised support plans and support team (and where Chinese medicine might fit in)
• Capacity and priorities 
• The grandmother hypotheses, deflating surfboards, the impacts of COVID and whales (they all makes sense in the conversation I promise)
• A practice to help with dealing with phones all day
• Cancer and HRT
• Identifying inspirations as we transition through menopause a.k.a the gate of life
• The benefits of masturbation in menopause

Sign up here to get 4 additional resources to support you:

• Perimenopause phases and timing - check where you are right now
• Indicators of hormonal changes - use this as a tracker and support in conversations with your medical practitioners
• Perimenopause and “Imposter Syndrome” -  4 questions to unpack self-doubt along with some info around hormonal changes and ideas for support. 
• Menopause Experts - this is a list of the guests that spoke to me for this season. They are all awesome and might be helpful for you to connect with. 

Full details about working with me 1:1 are available here

Midlife is often a time of re-evaluating our relationships and transitioning out of a marriage can be a big part of that. Sharri combines 30+ years of legal wisdom with strategy, nervous system regulation, mindset coaching, and subconscious trauma healing and energetics to guide women through relationship endings and divorce with calm. You can find out more about her here https://www.potomaccoaching.com/about/ and download her “Ultimate Guide To Avoiding the 6 Biggest Divorce Mistakes”  via this link  Ultimate Guide To Avoiding the 6 Biggest Divorce Mistakes

Listen to hear:

• The two emotions that most often show up in decisions around leaving a relationship 
• The role of safety in big decisions and an underestimated practice to calm yourself
• Finances as a factor and costs both ways!
• A different perspective of “staying for the kids”
• Unhooking from patterns of behaviour and conflict
• Stepping back from doing, doing, doing 

Sign up here to get 4 additional resources to support you:

• Perimenopause phases and timing - check where you are right now
• Indicators of hormonal changes - use this as a tracker and support in conversations with your medical practitioners
• Perimenopause and “Imposter Syndrome” -  4 questions to unpack self-doubt along with some info around hormonal changes and ideas for support. 
• Menopause Experts - this is a list of the guests that spoke to me for this season. They are all awesome and might be helpful for you to connect with. 

Full details about working with me 1:1 are available here

This is such a rich conversation about hormones, trauma, neurodivergence, burnout and menopause - all of which feel really relevant in our 40s and 50s! In this episode I speak with Paula Rastrick about:

• “Sensitive nervous systems” and her research into early life stress, adverse childhood experiences, ADHD, AuDHD and Highly Sensitive People and how that can emerge and impact perimenopausal hormonal changes. 
• Seeing menopause as a continuation of hormonal experiences from womb to present moment
• Stress “sensitivity”, hypervigilance and “symptom” variation
• Cyles of anxiety and what often lies behind that
• Social connections (and challenges)
• Expanding and acknowledging context

I am so grateful for this conversation and so pleased for you to have it as a resource. Paula has a Post Grad Certificate in Psychological Trauma, works as an Integrated Trauma Therapist (EMDR, Applied Polyvagal, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy) and Coach and is the author of a book called “Sensitive Women - A trauma informed, neurodiverse approach to hormonal sensitivity”. You can download her free e-book here Hormonal Sensitivity E-Book

Sign up here to get 4 additional resources to support you:

• Perimenopause phases and timing - check where you are right now
• Indicators of hormonal changes - use this as a tracker and support in conversations with your medical practitioners
• Perimenopause and “Imposter Syndrome” -  4 questions to unpack self-doubt along with some info around hormonal changes and ideas for support. 
• Menopause Experts - this is a list of the guests that spoke to me for this season. They are all awesome and might be helpful for you to connect with. 

Full details about working with me 1:1 are available here

Clarissa has a doctorate in neuroscience, is an author on menopause (her book “Beyond Hormones” is available here), teaches mindfulness and qigong and frequently speaks at conferences, podcasts, and summits about women's health and well-being. Clarissa also holds certifications in nutrition, yoga nidra, acupressure and aromatherapy. Talk about a holistic approach! 

Find out more about her here https://clarissakristjansson.com/about

Clarissa and I cover the below (and so much more) in our conversation:

• The difference between brain and mind
• Pro vs anti ageing in mindset and society
• Two things you might notice way before skipping periods and hot flushes
• The quick fix trap 
• Menopause as a moneymaker
• Markers of long term health
• Where to start to find time to change (hint…scroll habits anyone :)). 

I think you’re going to get so much value from this one. 

Sign up here to get 4 additional resources to support you:

• Perimenopause phases and timing - check where you are right now
• Indicators of hormonal changes - use this as a tracker and support in conversations with your medical practitioners
• Perimenopause and “Imposter Syndrome” -  4 questions to unpack self-doubt along with some info around hormonal changes and ideas for support. 
• Menopause Experts - this is a list of the guests that spoke to me for this season. They are all awesome and might be helpful for you to connect with. 

Full details about working with me 1:1 are available here

Natalie is a licensed acupuncturist, author, and holistic health educator with a background in biomedicine, 20 years of experience in the field of Chinese medicine and a particular interest in menopause, midlife, and healthy aging. She has edited and co-authored “Menopause: A Comprehensive Guide for Practitioners” a textbook designed to help practitioners of Chinese and East Asian medicine support their clients through menopause. 

Natalie offers holistic menopause and healthy ageing coaching with a yangsheng twist. More about her here https://hsnholistic.com/about. Also, as a listener you get 50% OFF her online course “Embracing Menopause”. Just hit the link and use the discount code EMBRACE50 EMBRACE MENOPAUSE course.

Listen now to hear more about:

• Symptoms vs transitions
• 2 reframes on tea
• The thing to always look for in recommendations
• Guidance around a traditional Chinese medical approach 
• The benefits of acupuncture 
• Reclaiming excitement!

Download these 4 additional resources to support you:

• Perimenopause phases and timing - check where you are right now
• Indicators of hormonal changes - use this as a tracker and support in conversations with your medical practitioners
• Perimenopause and “Imposter Syndrome” -  4 questions to unpack self-doubt along with some info around hormonal changes and ideas for support. 
• Menopause Experts - this is a list of the guests that spoke to me for this season. They are all awesome and might be helpful for you to connect with. 

Full details about working with me 1:1 are available here

Dr. Maria Luque is a renowned fitness expert, menopause coach, former health science professor, and proud Air Force veteran. With over two decades of experience, she is deeply committed to empowering menopausal women to become stronger, healthier, and embrace a life full of adventure. Holding an M.S. and Ph.D. in health sciences, as well as a range of certifications, including Certified Health Education Specialist, ACE Certified Personal Trainer, and NASM Women's Fitness Specialist, she combines her expertise with a passion for transformation. Dr. Luque is the founder of Fitness in Menopause, a company dedicated to helping women navigate the challenges and rewards of midlife. 

Maria and I covered so much - we discuss all of the below and more!

• Body image, identity and mental health as spices in the menopause soup
• Belly fat and body composition
• The “fitness crisis” you might experience
• ONE thing you need to add to your training now
• Overtraining and the practice of ease
• Fasting and mixed messages

Do 10 squats as you listen to this one! 

Sign up for Maria’s newsletter here -: https://www.fitnessinmenopause.com/newsletter

Check out her website: www.fitnessinmenopause.com   www.drmarialuque.com

Download these 4 additional resources to support you:

• Perimenopause phases and timing - check where you are right now
• Indicators of hormonal changes - use this as a tracker and support in conversations with your medical practitioners
• Perimenopause and “Imposter Syndrome” -  4 questions to unpack self-doubt along with some info around hormonal changes and ideas for support. 
• Menopause Experts - this is a list of the guests that spoke to me for this season. They are all awesome and might be helpful for you to connect with. 

Lastly - full details about working with me 1:1 are available here

Kate is an ICF accredited Holistic Life Coach, Certified Menopause Doula and yoga teacher, a She Recovers Coach and an Addictive Behaviours Specialist coach and mentor, the author of two books and the founder of Love Sober and Love Sober Podcast.  She has supported women in their midlife from all over the world to  get off the hormonal rollercoaster and build happy, confident alcohol free-lives. ​You can find out more about her here. Kate Baily

This is a HOT topic and a conversation I am so grateful for. SO many nuggets of goodness here around mindset, context, behaviour and tools! Listen now to hear:

• How “gray area” drinking may not be serving you right now
• Some links between feminism, parenting and the wine times narrative
• The “perfect storm” our livers and lives are handling
• Shifts in social identity and community
• The power and practice of holding our boundaries for ourselves
• Some practical ideas to create change 

Download these 4 additional resources to support you:

• Perimenopause phases and timing - check where you are right now
• Indicators of hormonal changes - use this as a tracker and support in conversations with your medical practitioners
• Perimenopause and “Imposter Syndrome” -  4 questions to unpack self-doubt along with some info around hormonal changes and ideas for support. 
• Menopause Experts - this is a list of the guests that spoke to me for this season. They are all awesome and might be helpful for you to connect with. 

Want to work with me? You can see full details here