Women of a Certain Stage

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...

In this insightful episode of Women of a Certain Stage, host Lauren Chiren reconnects with Dr Kelly Dixon, Associate Professor in Global Health and Wellbeing at UCL and integrative psychotherapist in private practice. Kelly shares her personal journey of discovering the profound impact of cycle awareness—beginning with a pivotal moment at age 24 when a friend noticed her monthly pattern of overwhelm.
With 20 years at UCL conducting systematic reviews and teaching intersectionality, Kelly brings both academic rigor and lived experience to understanding how menstrual cycles shape our emotional landscapes. She reveals how tracking her cycle transformed her understanding of herself, her work as a therapist, and her approach to perimenopause—where many symptoms mirror an extended luteal phase.
This conversation offers a compassionate, evidence-based perspective on working with your body rather than against it, from the monthly cycles of reproductive years through the transition to menopause.
Key Timestamps
[00:01:00] Recording the UCL Disrupted Voices podcast on menopause
[00:02:00] Grand challenges at UCL: seed funding for menopause research
[00:03:00] Bio-psychosocial approach: three essential strands of menopause care
[00:04:00] The power of storytelling and lived experiences in research
[00:05:00] Balancing university work and private practice: the weekly split
[00:06:00] 20 years at UCL: from education to reproductive health research
[00:07:00] The moment cycle awareness clicked into focus
[00:08:00] Age 24: "I felt really small and the world was really big"
[00:09:00] The friend who noticed: "Is your period due soon?"
[00:10:00] Discovering it's not just the week before—it's the whole month
[00:11:00] Building compassion-focused responses to cycle changes
[00:12:00] From paper diaries to iPeriod: 23-33 day cycle variation
[00:13:00] Why she switched apps after US abortion law changes
[00:14:00] B vitamins, alcohol, and managing PMS symptoms
[00:15:00] The pattern: going full blast, then hitting the crash
[00:16:00] How cycle awareness changed her work as a therapist
[00:17:00] Recognizing when both therapist and client are in luteal phase
[00:18:00] Person-centered approach: only working with client cycles when they bring it in
[00:19:00] "It's not just PMS—maybe you're feeling it more"
[00:20:00] The clarity and boundary-setting that comes with luteal energy
[00:21:00] Perimenopause as an extended luteal phase
[00:22:00] Brain fog, irritation, and existential questions in perimenopause
[00:23:00] Why alcohol becomes less our friend during menopause
[00:24:00] What lights Kelly up: Betsy and Winnie the Cockapoos
[00:25:00] Borrow My Doggy: "doggy Tinder"
[00:26:00] Future research: PMDD and premenstrual syndrome systematic reviews
[00:27:00] Contraception decision-making research: currently under wraps
[00:28:00] Taking a life course approach to hormonal decisions
[00:29:00] Three top tips for GP appointments
[00:30:00] Having someone to talk to before and after appointments
[00:31:00] Being open to other possibilities: thyroid, vitamin D
[00:32:00] Using NICE guidelines language with your doctor
...