The Pain Gap

Dr. Deborah Heiser is an applied developmental psychologist, TEDx speaker, and founder of The Mentor Project, whose work redefines what life after 40 looks and feels like. A researcher, professor, and award-winning author, Deborah has spent her career studying aging, depression identification, dementia, and the emotional milestones of midlife—including the one most women are never prepared for: me...

Erin Gallagher is the CEO and founder of Hype Women , a bestselling author, and one of LinkedIn’s Top 100 Creators and DEI voices. A lifelong advocate for women’s empowerment, Erin’s new book, HYPE WOMEN: Breaking Free from Mean Girls, Patriarchy, and Systems Silencing You , is a rallying cry for authenticity, healing, and collective liberation. Her mission is to empower women to stop shrinking, s...

Dr. Aviva Romm is a Yale-trained physician, midwife, and herbalist whose work bridges science, story, and the soul of women’s health. A bestselling author and board member of Every Mother Counts, she’s spent decades challenging the idea that “being a woman is a diagnosis.” In this episode, we talk about how burnout and bias collide inside medicine, why one in four women is on antidepressants, and...

Aubrey Hirsch is a writer, illustrator, and NEA Literature Fellow whose work, featured in  The New York Times, TIME,  and beyond, explores gender, justice, and the body. We talk about surviving gun violence and how healing is “exhaustingly repetitive,” why the language of trauma often shows up as images, and how comics can turn rage into research-backed advocacy. We also get tactical abo...

Dr. Arianna Sholes-Douglas is a board-certified OB-GYN, founder of TULA (“balance” in Sanskrit), and author of The Menopause Myth . We decode perimenopause starting in your 30s, how dropping estrogen rewires the brain (hello, rage/brain fog/sleep chaos), and why these shifts are biochemical—not character flaws. We delve into a practical approach to an integrative plan that combines hormones, nutri...

Dr. Sameena Rahman is an OB-GYN, menopause & sexual medicine specialist, and the force behind Gyno Girl. We unpack perimenopause beyond hot flashes, how vasomotor symptoms connect to heart and brain health, why South Asian women carry outsized cardiac risk, and why antidepressants are prescribed far more often than hormones. We also break the silence around sexual pain, recurrent UTI...

Abigail Leonard is a journalist and author who blends intimate storytelling with sharp policy analysis. In her new book, Four Mothers , she follows first-time moms in Finland, Japan, Kenya, and the United States through their babies’ first year, revealing how culture and policy shape birth, postpartum care, mental health, and a mother’s sense of self. Abigail’s work feels urgent for our community....

Elaine Lin Hering is a globally recognized facilitator, writer, and speaker who has worked on six continents, helping people and organizations develop the skills we often lack: effective communication, collaboration, and conflict resolution. She has taught executive education at Harvard, Dartmouth, Berkeley, and UCLA, and has even served as the Advanced Training Director for the Harvard Mediation...

In this powerful episode, physician, medical director, and advocate Dr. Bayo Curry-Winchell shares her harrowing birth story, how she was dismissed in her own hospital, and the mission it launched: to make U.S. healthcare believe women, especially Black women, the first time they speak. We unpack why America’s maternal mortality crisis persists, how bias shows up at the bedside, and what concrete...

Shannon Watts is someone who has forever changed the conversation around gun violence and what it means to be a woman on fire. She is the founder of Moms Demand Action, the grassroots movement she launched from her kitchen table the day after the Sandy Hook tragedy. What started as a single Facebook post quickly grew into the largest women-led, volunteer-driven organization in the country, now par...

Jackie Piasta is a nationally recognized Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner and certified Menopause Society Practitioner. Jackie has dedicated her career to filling the gaping holes in how we care for midlife women, from revamping the menopause curriculum at Vanderbilt University to training over 150 clinicians through her mentorship program. She's also the founder of Monarch Health, where she’s re...

Brittany Brathwaite, Kimberly Huggins, and Tesiah Coleman are the founders of Kyndred, a revolutionary new health platform transforming care for Black women and gender-expansive people. Together, these leaders are not just exposing what is broken in the system. They are building something radically better. With backgrounds in reproductive justice, trauma-informed therapy, nursing, and health equit...

Dr. David Clarke is the President of the Association for the Treatment of Neuroplastic Symptoms and a board-certified gastroenterologist. Dr. Clarke has spent decades uncovering the hidden link between emotional trauma and physical illness. We unpack what neuroplastic symptoms are, real, brain-generated conditions triggered by stress, trauma, and repressed emotions, and why women are disproportion...

Dr. Wilson is a leading scholar and creator of Womanist Bioethics, a groundbreaking framework that confronts how traditional bioethics has failed Black women. At its core, Womanist Bioethics centers the lived experiences of Black women, who, across nearly every health indicator, suffer and die at higher rates not because of biology, but because of systemic devaluation. Dr. Wilson calls this what i...

Terry Chang and Dr. Ulrike Kaunzner are the founders of Two Moons Health, a wellness company on a mission to demystify hormonal health and bring natural, evidence-informed care to women navigating PMDD, PMS, and perimenopause. Terry brings deep experience from the legal and business world, while Ulrike blends Western medicine with a holistic approach rooted in science and compassion. Together, the...

Erin Erenberg is the CEO  and Co-Founder of Chamber of Mothers, the Founder of Totum Women, an IP Attorney, and a fierce advocate for maternal rights. She has spent her career building successful ventures and championing systemic change for mothers across America. Through Chamber of Mothers, she’s rallying the collective power of 85 million moms to demand better, affordable childcare, paid fa...

Sahaj Kaur Kohli is an award-winning therapist, mental health educator, and founder of Brown Girl Therapy, the first and largest mental health community for adult children of immigrants. You may know her as the advice columnist behind Ask Sahaj in The Washington Post, or as the author of the powerful book But What Will People Say. In this episode, Sahaj unpacks the deep intersection of mental heal...

Marcella Hill is a hormone educator, fearless truth-teller, and advocate for women waking up to their own power. You might know Marcella from her viral posts on perimenopause and hormonal health, but we’re going even deeper today. We’re talking about the healing potential of psychedelics, including mushrooms and MDMA. Yes, the taboo topics we were raised to fear, but that are now emerging as tools...

Femtech pioneer and Clue co-founder Ida Tin joins us to explore the intersection of technology, equity, and women’s health. Ida shares the story behind coining the term “femtech” and how she helped shape an entire industry to address the overlooked needs of women and people with periods. We discuss the founding of Clue, the systemic barriers that prevent innovation in reproductive health, and why...

Caitlin Horrigan is the Senior Director of Global Advocacy at Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Caitlin is the definition of a powerhouse. She has spent decades on the frontlines of reproductive rights, shaping U.S. policy at home and abroad. We’re talking about the state of reproductive rights in 2025, what’s happening post-Roe, how U.S. foreign policy impacts women and girls worldwide, a...

Sally Mueller is the co-founder and CEO of Womaness, a groundbreaking brand revolutionizing menopause care with innovative, accessible products and much-needed education. After a long and successful career at Target and building powerhouse brands, she found herself in menopause without even realizing it. Her symptoms were dismissed, her options outdated, and the space completely neglected. Instead...

Dr. Corinne Menn is a board-certified OBGYN, Menopause Society Certified Practitioner, and a leading voice in menopause and women’s health. As a 23-year breast cancer survivor, BRCA carrier, and early menopause patient, Dr. Menn has dedicated her career to advocating for women, especially cancer survivors and those at high risk, who are too often dismissed by the medical system. In this episode, s...

Eve is from @Gemma _Talks, the viral digital series that breaks down reproductive rights, gender justice, and public health in the most engaging way possible. Along with her co-founder, Pari, who is currently on maternity leave (which we, of course, deeply respect!), Eve is on a mission to educate, advocate, and cut through misinformation about abortion, contraception, and gender equality. In this...

Dr. Seema Desai is a speaker and credentialed executive coach specializing in performance and well-being. Her work helps ​high-performing, ambitious leaders thrive at work by nurturing their well-being and building deeper connections at home.  Desai draws on her cultural background and experiences with Imposter Phenomenon, postpartum depression and being a working mom to bring empathy and com...

Dr. Felice Chen is a board-certified acupuncturist and herbal medicine expert who seamlessly blends Eastern and Western medicine to offer holistic, long-term healing solutions. Raised in Hong Kong, Dr. Chen grew up surrounded by traditional Chinese medicine, but her journey into the field wasn’t linear—initially immersed in Western medical studies, she ultimately found her calling in a practice th...