With less than 2,000 signatures needed to make the total 200,000, I felt it was a great opportunity to re-release Diane's Episode for any of you who may have missed it and to get those signature numbers up! I will leave the link right here to sign the petition - please do if you haven't already .

The word ‘menopause’ was not used in Donna’s household growing up, even when her mother underwent a hysterectomy. But Donna knew. Donna Klassen, co-founder of Let's Talk Menopause, dedicates herself to providing a platform that educates, destigmatizes, and offers vital community support surrounding menopause.  

She and I may have different experiences of Menopause but we both come at it with the same heart and a desire to ensure nobody feels isolated or alone during this deeply nuanced life transition. 

Diagnosed with estrogen-positive breast cancer at 52, Donna's journey into postmenopause was accelerated following a double mastectomy and an oophorectomy. As she grappled with symptoms like hot flashes and brain fog, she was met with a notable absence of guidance from her medical community. Drawing from her tenure as a clinician and director at The Motherhood Center of New York, where she witnessed the transformative power of community in areas like infertility and postpartum depression, Donna is passionate about championing menopause and ensuring it's understood and supported by all.

In this episode we discuss attitudes, progress and legislation in the US compared to the UK just as the bill for the Menopause Research and Equity Act 2023 was going to Congress.

Donna is all about the very simple but powerful, ‘and’. Nothing need be one or the other, it can be many things and this is especially true when it comes to menopause symptoms and, in fact, this whole life phase which is a time of vulnerability and opportunity. She encourages us all to put ourselves out there and ‘Go Big!’

You can find Donna on the website and on social media as @letstalkmenopause and I believe even at the time of release, you can still fill out a form HERE that allows you to write directly to your member of Congress and leads to the website letstalkmenopause.org 

You can handpick your Menopause Therapist right HERE

When I started this podcast, I was thinking of women of a similar age to me who were going through the Menopause Transition. I soon learned there are many types of Menopause, all equally significant and rarely spoken about. The list includes surgical menopause, early menopause, premature menopause and trans menopause.

Today, I have the privilege of being able to share a trans male menopause story. 

Tate Smith is an award-winning trans activist, consultant, and speaker, passionate about trans male visibility, educating others and debunking common myths surrounding trans people. Tate's accolades include being named one of Attitude Magazine's 10 LGBTQ+ Trailblazers To Watch Out For In The Future, and in 2022 he was selected as a LinkedIn Top Voice, and nominated for PinkNews' Community Role Model.

I was so delighted to meet Tate to hear his deeply personal, often challenging experience which he tells with candour, charm and humour, no mean feat given the level of vulnerability he opens himself up to. There are so many avenues we could have ventured down as there is so much to talk about - isn't there always?! We had to discuss testosterone and its effects - bear in mind here Tate's end game but also listen out for the potential benefits - we also touch on male privilege and insights he has gained having presented female for 19 years and now living as his true, male self. 

His menopause symptoms will be familiar to many of you and, as he says, "we're all in this together". 

You can find Tate as @tatemichaelsmith on IG, and Linked In and at https://tatesmith.uk

Go to Real Menopause Therapy HERE

I hope you have a peaceful and joyful holiday period and I look forward to seeing you in 2024.

Julian wants to bring Menopause out of the darkness and he's well placed to do so as founder of Propaganda Agency and chair of Gen M. 

We start our conversation with some of Julian's working background because, whilst interesting in its own right, it gives some context to how and why he does what he does today in the 'Menosphere'.  We get a little bit of the history of make-up as we know it today, his former company Illamasqua and I tell you, he is a visionary. 

It's easy for those of us who are in this space to simply demand the highest quality solutions to Menopause symptoms but Julian offers an alternative perspective and one that really got me thinking. We still need to reach so many millions of women who remain unaware of what is happening to them in Perimenopause and some of them are scared. Awareness must come first. Of course none of us want to be taken for a ride as a consumer but his view is good food for thought. 

Julian shares with us how he became such a champion of the underdog that is Menopause and the real emotional trigger that encouraged him along this path. It is a story which many of you may find deeply upsetting and is one that you will know if you have heard of David Salmon. It is truly heartbreaking and still needs to be told so nobody else may suffer the same. 

Julian talks about how men can help, how brands are innately powerful in our society and how women don't need to be told what to do: "A Choice. That's what women need, a choice."

You can find Julian @Julian Kynaston on Linked In 

Click here for Real Menopause Therapy Sign Up Here For Free

This is possibly one of the most important episodes yet because of the information, passion, honesty and balance that Catherine offers.

Catherine initially built her career in finance, working for an investment bank. When she 'met' Perimenopause, she soon realised that brain fog had no place in her life as she needed to be switched on at all times and function at a high level. She began to puzzle out what was going on.

Once she realised what was happening and that it was normal, it was a huge relief and opened up the headspace to investigate how to support herself on a practical level, through this transitional time. This ultimately fuelled her passion to bring awareness to Menopause today and in essence, this is why and how this podcast began in the first place: to help women with their personal puzzle and to bring relief, knowing their experience is normal and shared by many others.

Catherine talks sense, real sense about symptom management as well as the broader picture of respecting one another's freedom of choice. And yes, we even discuss the recent NICE guidelines on CBT and HRT - we dare to go there! :-)

"There's no magic bullet to Menopause because of the individual nature of the experience."

Catherine O’Keeffe is a Menopause Workplace Consultant, founder of Wellness Warrior, and creator of the Menopause Success Summit. Catherine is the author of the best seller All you need to know about menopause. She helps organisations implement a comprehensive menopause strategy that leads to meaningful change. She’s helped hundreds of companies choose support over silence including Workday International, StateStreet, Department of Health, Sainsburys, and Microsoft. Catherine is on a mission to shatter the menopause taboo, for good.

You can find @Catherine O'Keeffe on LI and @wellnesswarrior.ie on IG

Access Real Menopause Therapy HERE

Jodie Patterson sees herself as a Starfish - she has the ability to stretch far and wide and reach people as she does so. At 53, she has perfected the art through many careers, self-grown businesses, 5 children (currently spanning 30 - 14 years of age), volunteer work, art and a vibrant life of travel and friendships. 

Jodie is a Native New Yorker who grew up on the Upper West Side in a creative neighbourhood and an actively Black family. She comes from a long line of activists and entrepreneurs and continues this lineage with many successes along the way, clearly drawn towards women with strong voices who inspire, she embodies these qualities too.

'The Bold World' is one of the most striking and memorable books I have ever read. I cried, I laughed, I resonated and learned. It is Jodie's story of her life so far and the transformation of her family both immediate and extended. When her son, Penelope, came to her aged 2 and said, "Mama, I'm not a girl. I am a boy." it blew her world wide open. In this book, she shares just how. I am not letting go of my own copy but I am giving it out to everyone I know and you should too. 

This episode is not all about Menopause. It is about identity, creativity, community, freedom, curiosity, transition and transformation and how all of it is an inside job,

"We can be who we are from the inside out."

You can find Jodie on IG @jodiepatterson and https://jodiepatterson.com and you can find "The Bold World" wherever you choose to get your books. If you are in the UK, you may have to be a little more patient for it to arrive but it is well worth the wait :-)

Selene Yeager is an elite athlete who started professionally competing at 40. She's also a Health & fitness writer who lives what she writes as a NASM certified trainer, USA Cycling coach, Pn1 certified nutrition coach, pro licensed off-road racer, and All-American Ironman triathlete and content creator for Feisty Media. 

Selene is grounded and into her own zone and power, Post Menopause. But it didn't start off like that. Perimenopause was a deeply confusing time to her because, like so many of us, it caught her unaware, She lost muscle seemingly overnight, her joints started aching like never before and her sleep became unusually erratic. She is keen to share as much information about this time of life as possible and to make sure that we all do the same in order to take the shock, confusion and fear out of it. We must share all the information from night sweats to vaginal dryness and everything in between. 

In this episode we discuss the changing landscape of elite endurance sports - spoiler alert: more mature women are competing and they're winning! We talk about new studies emerging on women that are relevant to hormonal health, muscle health and brain health and one that has just dropped on low carb availability: could you be sensitive to carbohydrate deprivation? Is intermittent fasting or low-carb dieting not feeling good to you? And why should we exercise after all? 

You can find Selene on IG @FitChick3, on https://seleneyeager.contently.com and if you haven't found it yet - listen to Hit Play Not Pause, you're in for a treat.

Dr Colette Haydon oozes French charm and is wonderfully frank and easy to talk to. She gives real, raw insights into how menopause was for her and feels it is crucial to be honest with those who ask - especially when it comes to the question, "How long does it last?"

At 64, she still has symptoms from time to time so what does she do about it?

Colette gives a great explanation of how night sweats and disturbed sleep create anxieties and additional symptoms, she talks about the crucial role of therapy for her in dealing with these anxieties when she felt she couldn't do so in her usual way and she shares The Secret of Beauty.

Having worked as a pharmacist and consultant for major brands in the cosmetics industry, she set up her own range of skincare in her late 50's. Colette explains why your favourite moisturiser has stopped working for you and how to bring joy to your daily skincare routine, "It's a moment with yourself. It's just lovely."

You can find Dr Colette Haydon on IG @lixirskin and on her website lixirskin.co.uk and her products are available at Sephora, John Lewis, Selfridges, Liberty, Harrods and many more.