Women of a Certain Stage

In this episode, Lauren welcomes Dr. Peter Greenhouse, a pioneering sexual health physician and menopause specialist who brings decades of clinical experience, a background in comedy, and an unflinching approach to the conversations no one else is having about perimenopause.
Dr. Greenhouse's unique journey—from performing comedy at Cambridge with future greats like Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, to revolutionizing integrated sexual health services, to becoming a sought-after menopause lecturer—gives him a perspective unlike any other doctor. Married to a world expert in menopause and having spent years listening to women's stories, he's learned that the most important symptoms of perimenopause are often the most overlooked.
This conversation challenges conventional thinking about when perimenopause starts, what the first symptoms really are, and why cognitive decline—not hot flashes—is often the earliest and most career-damaging sign. Dr. Greenhouse also tackles the uncomfortable truths about midlife divorce rates, sexual health in older adults, the devastating impact of misdiagnosis, and why estrogen affects literally every system in your body—from your vocal cords to your ACL rupture risk.
With humor, humanity, and hard science, this episode will change how you think about the menopausal transition.
Key Points Covered:
• Cognition Comes First: The first symptom of perimenopause isn't hot flashes—it's cognitive decline. Brain fog, forgetfulness, and reduced mental sharpness often appear years before temperature regulation issues, directly impacting work performance and leading many women to believe they're "just depressed."
• Perimenopause Starts Earlier Than You Think: While textbooks say perimenopause begins 5 years before menopause (mid-40s), Dr. Greenhouse regularly sees women in their late 30s with clear perimenopausal symptoms—especially if their mothers had early menopause. Some women experience a 15-year menopausal transition.
• The Misdiagnosis Cascade: Women go to their GP with joint pain, get MRIs showing nothing wrong. Then palpitations lead to ECGs. Then migraines lead to scans. Years pass with multiple specialists investigating separate symptoms while no one connects the dots to perimenopause—causing reactive depression from feeling like everything is falling apart.
• Estrogen's Jaw-Dropping Effects Throughout the Body:
Athletes: Women are 8x more likely to rupture their ACL than men, with most ruptures occurring on the day of menstruation or mid-cycle estrogen drops
Asthma: 25% of all hospital admissions for near-fatal and fatal asthma occur on the day of menstruation due to reduced rib flexibility
Opera singers: Have it written into contracts that they don't perform the week before their period because they lose half an octave off the top of their range
Warm-up time: Female athletes need to warm up 3x longer before exercise when menstruating due to reduced joint flexibility

• The Mid-40s Perfect Storm: Age 44 marks the peak age for divorce, highest rates of certain STIs in women, and highest female suicide rates—all correlating with the cognitive dip of early perimenopause when women are most likely to be misdiagnosed and given antidepressants instead of HRT.
• Blood Tests Are Useless for Perimenopause: Unlike premature menopause (which shows up in blood work), perimenopause blood tests are completely normal. The only blood test needed is thyroid function, as hypothyroidism can mimic perimenopause symptoms.
• Antidepressants Are the Wrong Answer: When women present with cognitive decline and resulting reactive depression, antidepressants flatten mood, joy, and creativity without addressing any...

In this episode, Lauren is joined by Tracey Robertson, a menopause coach and corporate legal PA who transformed her darkest moments into a mission to support other women through perimenopause and menopause.
Tracey shares her raw and powerful story of hitting rock bottom at age 45—leaving a successful corporate career in London, experiencing crippling anxiety and depression, and sitting in a park in the rain because she couldn't bear to go home. Despite having access to private healthcare at Harley Street, blood tests, and multiple doctors, no one identified that she was in perimenopause. It wasn't until her personal trainer suggested HRT that Tracey's life began to change—feeling better within 15 hours of her first patch.
This conversation explores Tracey's journey from that breaking point to becoming a certified menopause coach through Women of a Certain Stage, building workplace support programs, and helping other women avoid the isolation and confusion she experienced. Her story is a testament to resilience, the power of lived experience, and the importance of creating communities where women can be heard and supported.
Key Points Covered:
• The Breaking Point: How perimenopause manifested as severe anxiety, depression, inability to perform basic work tasks, and suicidal thoughts—all while doctors missed the diagnosis despite regular blood tests and private healthcare access.
• HRT as a Lifeline: Tracey's experience of feeling improvement within 15 hours of starting HRT, emphasizing how life-changing appropriate treatment can be when hormonal imbalance is the root cause—not just anxiety or mental health issues.
• Misdiagnosis & Inappropriate Treatment: Being prescribed anti-anxiety medications that made symptoms worse, undergoing CBT, and the dangers of treating perimenopause symptoms as purely psychological without addressing hormonal changes.
• Finding Purpose Through Pain: How watching Davina McCall's menopause documentary and recognizing herself in other women's stories inspired Tracey to become a coach—determined that no one else should go through this alone and searching for support groups that didn't exist in London.
• The Power of Listening: Learning through menopause coaching training that simply being heard and having space to process emotions can be transformative—practice clients experienced significant changes just from having someone listen without judgment, including a 36-year-old client who felt angry and let down by her body.
• Building Workplace Support: Creating menopause support groups in her law firm, bringing in medical experts like doctors from Menopause Care (Dr. Andrews) and nutritionists, organizing coffee mornings and Q&A sessions, and working to establish group coaching programs in corporate environments.
• From Quiet Introvert to Confident Coach: Tracey's journey from being too anxious to speak in large groups to now delivering presentations and running support sessions—proving that you don't need to be loud or extroverted to be an effective coach. Starting with breakout room confidence and building to full presentations.
• The ADHD Connection: Exploring the intersection between ADHD, perimenopause, and how hormonal changes can unmask or exacerbate neurodivergent traits—a growing area of interest for future support work, particularly relevant as both her sons are being assessed for ADHD.
• Practical Menopause Plan Tools: Implementing simple but effective strategies from coaching training like drinking more water, using sensory anchoring (lavender rollers for stress management), decluttering for mental clarity, and creating personalized menopause plans that address individual needs.
• Live Learning Matters: Why Tracey...

In this dynamic conversation, host Lauren is joined by Carey Peters, who shares her incredible 20-year entrepreneurial journey from being a professional actress to co-founding a multi-million dollar coaching business.
Carey opens up about her initial, unsteady start as a coach, realizing her first training didn't teach her how to coach effectively. She discusses the turning point where she committed to learning both coaching and online marketing (including direct response copywriting), which led to her first six-figure year. She details the explosive growth of Holistic MBA (HMBA), which she co-founded with Stacy, with the mission of providing business training for people who don't naturally identify as business-minded.
The episode provides a rare look at the operational challenges of scaling a business past the $3 million mark. Carey emphasizes the vital need for a defined business operating system for founders who are talented marketers but lack operational expertise. Finally, she shares candid details about preparing a personal-brand business for sale and the importance of a strategic buyer in an eventual exit.
Key Timestamps
[00:04:00] Carey's 20-year entrepreneurial journey, beginning with a voice asking, "Are you ready for a ride?".
[00:05:00] Her background as a working actor for 15 years and never having seen herself as a business person.
[00:07:00] Starting coaching as a "side gig" and the realization that her initial training was great for personal growth but not for coaching skills.
[00:10:00] The shock of hitting her first six-figure year as an entrepreneur, breaking her perception of what she was capable of.
[00:11:00] The pivot: learning direct response copywriting and online marketing to build her coaching business.
[00:13:00] How a "failed" money program launch led her to business partner Stacy and the idea for Holistic MBA (HMBA).
[00:15:00] The foundational concept of HMBA: business training for people who don't particularly like or identify with business.
[00:16:00] HMBA's rapid growth: hitting $500,000 in the first year (2010), then scaling to over $3 million before hitting a plateau.
[00:18:00] The necessity of a business operating system (and the reference to the book Traction) to scale past the founder's capacity.
[00:19:00] The "crossroads" for charismatic founders between $1 million and $5 million: becoming an operator or stagnating.
[00:24:00] The process of selling HMBA to a strategic buyer and the surprising fact that their near-$10 million business was built almost entirely through organic marketing.
[00:46:00] Final words of encouragement: you can build a business without a traditional background; it just takes tenacity, resilience, and heart.
Key Takeaways
The crucial difference between personal growth-focused coaching training and the market-ready skills needed for a sustainable business.

Why learning direct response copywriting was the single biggest skill that launched her to a six-figure income.

The $1 Million to $5 Million crossroads: why founders must transition from being just a marketer to becoming an operator to scale.

The essential need for a Business Operating System to manage complexity and grow past the "founder's capacity."

Key insights on building a business for a strategic exit, including the unexpected role organic marketing played in their multi-million...

In this game-changing episode of Women of a Certain Stage, host Lauren sits down with Laura Mzhickteno, a copywriting expert with a decade of experience helping coaches, authors, and speakers translate their expertise into clear, compelling messages. If you've ever stared at a blank Instagram post wondering "how do I say this?" or felt paralyzed by your own messaging, this conversation is your permission slip to start imperfectly.
Laura shares her journey from attending random webinars on fish-catching (seriously) to building a thriving copywriting business. She reveals why messaging clarity comes from working with clients—not from hiding in your hole trying to make it perfect first. With refreshing honesty about her own six-figure student loan debt and the ROI crisis in traditional education, Laura explains why coaching certifications are becoming the new degree alternative.
This conversation tackles the fear of "being too salesy," the chicken-and-egg of getting client feedback to create messaging, and why marketing at its best is simply spreading important messages to people who need them most. Lauren and Laura explore how coaching expands our vision from "just making it through the workday" to building second acts that matter.
Plus: Laura shares the three things you must communicate clearly, why your Instagram bio matters more than you think, and the perfect gift-under-the-tree analogy that will change how you think about sharing your work with the world.
Key Timestamps
[00:01:00] Meeting years ago: learning storytelling secrets as a "fledgling menopause trainer"
[00:02:00] The unglamorous answer: a decade of training, practice, research, certifications
[00:03:00] Common hurdle: everyone knows what to say but not how to say it
[00:04:00] Three things to communicate: problem, result, different approach
[00:05:00] Message refinement happens with clients, not in isolation
[00:06:00] Patterns in client feedback reveal your real messaging
[00:07:00] Why avatars with names/ages miss the point—it's about attributes
[00:08:00] Laura's decade in coaching/author/speaker marketing
[00:09:00] When Laura's parents were shocked: "You could get a car for that!"
[00:10:00] Coaching becoming mainstream: "Yeah, my team needs coaching"
[00:11:00] UK university fees vs. US six-figure student loan debt reality
[00:12:00] Six years of time + six figures of debt = terrible ROI
[00:13:00] Degrees don't make you workplace ready—just entry level
[00:14:00] Certification programs: fraction of cost, ready to do meaningful work
[00:15:00] Retraining as personal trainer: made same money as corporate career
[00:16:00] Four grads gathered in Boston to support each other's event
[00:17:00] Don't wait for perfect—feedback loop only happens by doing
[00:18:00] But also: don't try to tackle too much too fast
[00:19:00] The chicken-and-egg: getting feedback to create messaging
[00:20:00] Start with the platform you're most comfortable with
[00:21:00] Practice clients inform what to say on social media
[00:22:00] Monthly scheduling stress lifted: planning 3-6 months ahead
[00:23:00] Getting in early: 10-15 minutes can propel business forward
[00:24:00] Coming into Menopause Coach Diploma to help each person individually
[00:25:00] Not everyone wants to be a six or seven-figure coach
[00:26:00] Understand how things...

In this crucial episode of Women of a Certain Stage, host Lauren speaks with Fiona Clark, Australian journalist, medical publisher, and founder of the Menopause Research & Education Fund (MREF). Fiona pulls back the curtain on the menopause landscape, revealing why doctors are openly arguing on social media, how a £15 trillion market is driving commercialization, and why the UK's National Institute for Health Research has allocated just 0.3% of funding to menopause—despite it affecting 100% of women.
With a degree in anatomy and physiology and 20 years in medical publishing, Fiona experienced firsthand how fragmented and under-researched women's health truly is. After spending COVID evenings interviewing menopause experts and repeatedly hearing "the studies haven't been done," she founded MREF with Dr Vikram Talaulikar and Diane Danzebrink to fund the research that no one else will.
This conversation tackles uncomfortable truths: discrimination in emergency rooms, the 2,004 women who must take HRT to prevent one case of dementia, why toothpaste doesn't belong in the "menopause aisle," and how peak brain function occurs at 55-60—precisely when we're losing women from the workforce.
Key Timestamps
[00:01:00] Fiona's background: anatomy, physiology, mainstream publishing, then medical journalism
[00:02:00] COVID interviews with experts: "The studies haven't been done"
[00:02:30] Founding MREF with Vikram and Diane 18 months ago
[00:03:00] Meno Wars: Why doctors are arguing publicly on social media
[00:04:00] Women live 25% longer in chronic illness than men
[00:05:00] Misinformation, disinformation, and conflicting "truths" from medical professionals
[00:06:00] Everyone has an opinion about women's bodies—from birth to death
[00:07:00] Two polarized views: "snowflake" vs "you'll be demented in a wheelchair"
[00:08:00] Going to the GP prepared: symptom trackers and knowing your options
[00:09:00] When your GP says "I don't believe in HRT"
[00:10:00] Fiona's A&E experience: 185/120 blood pressure dismissed as alcoholism
[00:11:00] Rosacea mistaken for drinking—prescribed thiamine, no BP advice
[00:12:00] Two years arguing with GP to increase blood pressure medication
[00:13:00] Medication reviews: contradictions from the same prescribing doctor
[00:14:00] Two women in their 80s/90s: one on HRT, one not—both living well
[00:15:00] Pauline Mackey on dementia: realistically, HRT is neutral
[00:15:30] 100% go through menopause, 20% get dementia (19% of men too)
[00:16:00] What makes that 20% vulnerable: vasomotor symptoms, sleep disruption, BP, cholesterol
[00:16:30] 2,004 women must take HRT to prevent one case of dementia
[00:17:00] Mike McClung on osteoporosis: identifying women at risk pre-menopause
[00:18:00] Lauren's background: psychology, personal training, sports therapy, nutrition
[00:19:00] The intersectionality between lifestyle and genetics/DNA
[00:20:00] International Menopause Society 2025 theme: lifestyle
[00:21:00] Bone mineral density peaks in late teens/early twenties
[00:22:00] The commercialization of menopause: only just beginning
[00:23:00] US 50+ market: $15 trillion; menopause market: $600 billion
[00:24:00] Menopause toothpaste: no different from the one next to it
[00:25:00] America as research powerhouse—and current...