Middling Along

Join me this time for a joyous conversation with Karen Arthur: Karen is a fashion creative, host of the Menopause Whilst Black podcast, speaker, model, writer, and dropper of truth bombs!  We talk about how her anxiety and depression during perimenopause prompted her departure from a long teaching career. We move on to unpack how three years of therapy, a lot of unlearning, and her dedication to l...

Join me today as I chat to women’s health coach Kate Rowe-Ham about her journey to founding the Owning Your Menopause app.    Kate started out offering free workouts on Instagram to time-pressed parents after struggling to find the time to work out following the birth of her third child. The build up of (what she now knows were perimenopause) symptoms - serious joint pain, night sweats, panic atta...

My guest on today’s episode is Sally Mueller, CEO and founder of the Womaness brand with her co-founder Michelle Jacobs. Sally talks about her own journey through menopause, and her dawning realisation that with her understanding of the retail industry she could create some much more appealing options than the lacklustre products recommended by her own doctor at the time. We talk about why and how...

This time we welcome photographer Jenny Smith who followed her long-held dream of working as a photographer after the birth of her son following IVF treatment. Several year later, after muddling through with a range of perimenopause symptoms, it was a moment of sheer rage - over something as silly as chicken wings - combined with a lucky moment listening in to a podcast, that led her to realise sh...

In this episode I chat to writer, blogger, influencer and content creator Gabrielle Blair, aka Design Mom herself, from award-winning blog DesignMom.com, about her new book 'Ejaculate Responsibly: A Whole New Way to Think About Abortion.' After writing a (deliberately provocative) stream of Tweets in 2018 on why men are responsible for 100% of unplanned pregnancies which (of course) went viral, Ga...

In this episode of the podcast I speak with Coral Short (they/their) - a somatic therapy practitioner and performance artist. After some persuading on the part of their partner, Coral decided to celebrate their menopause transition with a menopause party earlier this year. We talk about why rituals and celebrations like this are such an important way of breaking through the stigma around menopause...

Join me as I chat to Jo Moseley, who describes herself as a ‘joy encourager, midlife adventurer, and beach cleaner’. Jo came to stand-up paddleboarding at the age of  fifty-one and has built a reputation as a speaker, magazine contributor and as host of The Joy of SUP – The Paddleboarding Sunshine Podcast.  In 2019, she became the first woman to paddleboard coast to coast, raising funds for 2Minut...

My guest this time is Angelika Buettner, a professional fashion and beauty photographer, who gradually became disillusioned with the lack of representation of older women in the shoots and campaigns she was working on, and decided to do something about it. The result, her seven-year labour of love, is the stunning book entitled 'I AM: Celebrating the Perfect Imperfect' which features the nude port...

Join me this time as I talk to Sam Evans, co-owner, with her husband Paul, of Jo Divine - an online store selling skin-safe sex toys and irritant-free lubricants. (Content warning, there will be sex chat!) From the earliest days of Jo Divine (featuring the Trolley of Love, tune in to find out about that...) to her starring appearance in the famed Davina documentary on menopause (and the subsequent...

Join me this time as I chat to Heather Jackson, one of the co-founders of GenM (the menopause partner for brands). Heather talks us through her own perimenopause experience, including a scary episode where she genuinely thought she was having a heart attack, she reveals how utterly unprepared she was for perimenopause and why that in turn inspired her and Sam Simister to create GenM. As Heather ri...

Join me this time as I chat to Bethan Thomas (no relation!) - who is one half of Hot Tea Mama - we talk about founding and growing the company with good friend Kate, initially with teas to support pregnancy and nursing mamas, but then more recently expanding the range to support those experiencing perimenopausal symptoms. We cover Bethan's fascinating journey to become the first non-Chinese person...

In this episode I'm joined by menopause specialist and founder of Oxford Menopause, Dr Katie Barber, to bust some menopause myths and misconceptions. Join me as Katie walks us though some of the most common of them: including being told we're 'too young' to be in perimenopause, that we can't be in perimenopause because we 'still have periods' or 'the blood tests seem fine'...we also talk about und...

In this episode, I chat to Louise Lewis, whose own experiences of stress and burnout earlier in her career now inform her approach to helping stressed out, frazzled women (I'm sure many of us can identify with that!) reclaim their energy and restore calm through nutrition and lifestyle changes. We cover the effects of stress and the stress hormones on our bodies, the impact of the last two years o...

Join me as I talk to Mona Eltahawy, journalist, activist and author. (Note that there is liberal use of the F word throughout - as Mona herself proclaims, profanity is one of the ways she claims her power!)  We discuss her last book "The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls" - including why it is so critical we stop teaching girls to express anger. Here's one of my favourite quotes from the bo...

Join me this time as I chat to Sam Rice, author of The Midlife Cookbook and The Midlife Method as we talk all things food and nutrition. We discuss food strategies for dealing with 'nutritional "shoulds" overwhelm', how meal planning is one of the best things you can do to help set yourself up for success, and her favourite 'food hacks' for those of us who feel like we struggle to find the time to...

My guest this time is Rachel Hope, who walked away from the high life in Dubai, her job, and her marriage, to start over at 50. Unfortunately for her, her initial false start - combined with the surprise appearance of a menopause she decribes as "hell on wheels" - meant that her glorious reinvention took some time coming. Her experiences however did lead her to setting up Soul Sisters Community, a...

My guest on this episode is a well-known voice in the UK menopause community and a hero to many (though she'd be far too humble to accept the accolade I'm sure): Diane Danzebrink. She and her campaign, #MakeMenopauseMatter have been instrumental in changing the dialogue around menopause, and campaigning for better education - in schools, in workplaces, and yes, for our GPs too.  She talks about ho...

In this Episode, I chat to writer Elizabeth Joseph about navigating perimenopause with humour, and a lot of trial and error via natural/alternative/complementary therapies and products aimed at menopausal midlifers. You name it, she's tried it so we don't have to: from cold water therapy to sound baths, mouth taping to EFT tapping, cacao ceremonies to RTT (rapid transformational therapy), Elizabet...

Join me as I chat to Mona Smith, who overcame years of chronic back pain when she discovered powerlifting at the age of 50 - despite not being a 'gym person'. Not only did she start competing, but in the space of two years had managed to win her first Commonwealth medal. It was really heartening, and perhaps a little surprising for me at least, to hear about how inclusive and welcoming the powerli...

The one is not to be missed! Join me as I chat to Kate Moryoussef about how she came to be diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 40, joining a 'Lost Generation' of women who were not diagnosed in childhood, but instead spent years believing they were somehow 'broken' or 'failing' because they were unable to do what other women seemed to do effortlessly. We talk about the damaging stories this causes w...

Join me as I talk to Dr Mridula Pore, the CEO and co-founder of Peppy Health, a mobile app which aims to transform digital healthcare in the areas of infertility, pregnancy, the early days of parenting, and most interestingly to us, menopause. We discuss how Peppy supports users, her journey to founding the company, how she sees health-tech democratising access to health care and support, and how...

Siobhan Daniels is a retired BBC journalist and pro-age campaigner, part of the retirement rebellion. Almost two years ago she gave away her non-essential possessions, bought a motorhome, and started her solo travels around the UK. Not long afterwards, the global pandemic hit, and her plans came to a dramatic halt.   I catch up with Siobhan to talk about why she decided to rebel against the stereo...

In this episode I chat to Emma Bardwell, registered nutritional therapist and co-author of The Perimenopause Solution, written with menopause specialist Dr Shahzadi Harper.    The book is designed to be easily accessible, and evidence-based, with a really nice bullet point summary at the end of each chapter to refer back to, and a whole chapter helping the reader to 'eat to beat their symptoms'.  ...

Maybe midlife has you pondering a change of direction and you want to start something new? Or maybe your career path suddenly feels a bit...meh? Join me as I chat to career and confidence coach Ekua Cant, author of 'Be your No 1 Cheerleader', about how examining our values can help us dig into what we want, and how to build 'positive mental muscle'. We also discuss the need for women to shout abou...

Join me as I chat to all-round awesome GP, Dr Beth Thomas, who also happens to be my sister-in law!   We discuss how best to talk to your GP (and what to do if you feel that you're not getting anywhere); different types of HRT and risks vs protective benefits (especially regarding breast cancer); the difference between body identical and bio identical HRT; how to assess your osteoporosis risk; how...