In this episode, Mary is joined by Dr. Jennifer Todd, a public health physician specializing in women’s and children’s health, researcher on ageism in the workplace, and leadership coach.

Dr. Todd shares her journey from studying women’s health and hormone replacement therapy to discovering just how deeply politics and systemic inequality can shape women’s healthcare and professional lives. Her experiences in public health, federal government, and academia give her a powerful perspective on the challenges women face as they move through midlife and menopause.

Dr. Todd explores the intersection of menopause, ageism, sexism, workplace discrimination, psychological safety, and economic inequality, explaining why a woman’s experiences in the workplace can be dramatically different from a man’s.

Dr. Todd shares practical strategies for navigating toxic or psychologically unsafe workplaces and why being intentional about who you trust at work and listening to your gut are powerful tools.

This conversation is a reminder that menopause is a normal process, women deserve to care for themselves without shame or unnecessary justification, and creating healthier workplaces requires more than asking women to simply become more resilient.

Key Points Covered:

• Ageism in the Workplace: Women can face significant disadvantages as they move through midlife, including discrimination in hiring, advancement, and compensation.

• The Gender Wage Gap: Dr. Todd discusses research showing that women’s earning potential can decline significantly with age while men’s earning potential generally continues to rise.

• Psychological Safety: A healthy workplace requires more than physical safety. Psychological safety, respect, and the ability to work without fear of humiliation or retaliation are equally important.

• Menopause & Workplace Accommodations: Menopause symptoms and requests for flexibility can be misunderstood or even used against women when organizations lack awareness and supportive policies.

• Recognizing Workplace Red Flags: If an employer treats you disrespectfully during an interview, Dr. Todd warns that those behaviors are likely to continue once you are hired.

• Trust Your Gut: Intuition and physical self-awareness can provide important signals when a workplace, interaction, or opportunity doesn't feel safe or right

Connect:

• Email: Jennifer@jtoddwellness.com
• Instagram: @jtoddwellness

Resources:

• Menopause At Work Workshop

Let us know if you're liking the show!

Hen's Den Yoga
A serene and cozy home studio nestled in the Comox Valley offering a variety of wellness classes.

Support the show

Meet the host, Mary, a certified Menopause Doula and Women’s Coaching Specialist. Mary is also a corporate educator, helping forward-thinking organizations foster a menopause-friendly workplace and design policies and accommodations for employees.

Click to learn more https://emmeellecoaching.com/menopauseatwork

Turn your menopause transition into a transformation with the Menopause Intelligence Course (MQ), an 8-module, self-paced learning experience, empowering you to take agency over your health and make informed decisions with your healthcare team.

Connect:

• Instagram @menopausedisruptorpodcast
• LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/maryhelenlee/
• Subscribe on Substack @emmeellecoaching

Disclaimer: Information shared is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not replace medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional.

In this episode, Mary is joined by Heather Debreceni, a shamanic practitioner, soul healer, author, and former law enforcement professional whose journey through chronic illness, trauma, grief, and spiritual awakening led her to a deeper understanding of healing, identity, and living in alignment with her truth.

Heather shares how years of suppressing her needs, spirituality, emotions, and sense of self eventually contributed to a profound personal breaking point. Through Kriya Yoga, meditation, shamanic soul retrieval, and hypnotherapy, she began exploring the connection between her physical experiences, emotional life, spirituality, and the parts of herself she had pushed aside.

The conversation explores menopause and midlife as a potential "great reveal," a period when identities, expectations, and emotions that have been suppressed can become increasingly difficult to ignore. Heather explains how learning to listen inwardly, practice self-compassion, and release the need to control her narrative transformed the way she approached her life and her healing.

Heather also discusses her memoir, The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Housewife, and how her own healing journey eventually became the foundation for helping others reconnect with themselves and explore their own spiritual paths.

Connect:
• Heather's website: Find information about her book, resources, meditations, and ways to work with her. Visit Heather's website

• The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Housewife: A memoir of awakening, healing trauma, and choosing to live a sacred life. View the book on Apple Books

Let us know if you're liking the show!

Hen's Den Yoga
A serene and cozy home studio nestled in the Comox Valley offering a variety of wellness classes.

Support the show

Meet the host, Mary, a certified Menopause Doula and Women’s Coaching Specialist. Mary is also a corporate educator, helping forward-thinking organizations foster a menopause-friendly workplace and design policies and accommodations for employees.

Click to learn more https://emmeellecoaching.com/menopauseatwork

Turn your menopause transition into a transformation with the Menopause Intelligence Course (MQ), an 8-module, self-paced learning experience, empowering you to take agency over your health and make informed decisions with your healthcare team.

Connect:

• Instagram @menopausedisruptorpodcast
• LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/maryhelenlee/
• Subscribe on Substack @emmeellecoaching

Disclaimer: Information shared is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not replace medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional.

In this solo episode, Mary challenges dismissive medical narratives and frames perimenopause/menopause as a neurological, psychological, physiological, as well as a spiritual awakening.

Inspired by discussion of “starseeds” by several intuitives including several of her own spiritual teachers, Mary explores menopause through two parallel lenses: a spiritual lens (heightened intuition, sensitivities, synchronicities, purpose) and a biopsychosocial neuroscience lens (estrogen-driven changes affecting mood, cognition, sleep, stress response, and identity).

Mary describes menopause as an Ayurvedic “great reveal” that drops long-used coping strategies, forces authenticity, and can catalyze creativity. She defines starseeds as a modern spiritual belief, an identity framework and encourages holding it lightly, integrating insights into purposeful, responsible life choices.

What is your great reveal? Perhaps this album, a creation by Mary using SunoAI to enhance her lyrics, will inspire you to seek and find yours?

00:57 Starseeds Introduction
01:37 Two Lenses of Menopause
03:47 Great Reveal Begins
05:11 Signs of Awakening
09:23 Gen X Starseed Idea
11:42 Starseed to Service
12:47 Grounding Practices
15:20 Symptoms and Gut Clues
17:10 Discernment and Integration
22:56 Service and Purpose
25:23 Starseed Defined and Cautions
28:09 Metaphor and Closing

Resources:

• This is Maryia on YouTube
• Alexandra Wenman
• Kirsty Gallagher
• Sonia Choquette, The Good Vibe Tribe
• The Great Reveal on Spotify

Let us know if you're liking the show!

Support the show

Meet the host, Mary, a certified Menopause Doula and Women’s Coaching Specialist. Mary is also a corporate educator, helping forward-thinking organizations foster a menopause-friendly workplace and design policies and accommodations for employees.

Click to learn more https://emmeellecoaching.com/menopauseatwork

Turn your menopause transition into a transformation with the Menopause Intelligence Course (MQ), an 8-module, self-paced learning experience, empowering you to take agency over your health and make informed decisions with your healthcare team.

Connect:

• Instagram @menopausedisruptorpodcast
• LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/maryhelenlee/
• Subscribe on Substack @emmeellecoaching

Disclaimer: Information shared is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not replace medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional.

In this episode, Mary welcomes Sandra Bargeron, PA-C, CAA, an anesthesia clinician and brain health expert with more than 22 years in medicine and over 10,000 anesthesia cases. Sandra shares why preparing for surgery should involve more than medical clearance, and why the brain's neurological resilience may play a major role in how we respond to anesthesia and recover afterward.

The conversation explores the overlooked connection between menopause, hormones, anesthesia, surgical stress, and brain health. Sandra explains her Neurologic Stress and Recovery Index (NSRI), how sleep, metabolic health, medications, lifestyle, and previous neurological injuries can influence resilience, and why women in perimenopause and menopause may need more attention before and after surgery.

Connect:

• Website: https://beyondbrainhealth.com/

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/beyondbrainhealth

• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/sandra-bargeron

• YouTube: https://youtube.com/@sandebphd

Resources:

• Beyond Brain Health: https://beyondbrainhealth.com/

• Neurologic Stress & Recovery Index (NSRI): https://surveys.beyondbrainhealth.com/NSRI-live

• Break Through Anesthesia Fog by Sandra Bargeron: https://beyondbrainhealth.com/book

• NSRI Evidence & Research: https://beyondbrainhealth.com/nsri-evidence

Let us know if you're liking the show!

Hen's Den Yoga
A serene and cozy home studio nestled in the Comox Valley offering a variety of wellness classes.

Support the show

Meet the host, Mary, a certified Menopause Doula and Women’s Coaching Specialist. Mary is also a corporate educator, helping forward-thinking organizations foster a menopause-friendly workplace and design policies and accommodations for employees.

Click to learn more https://emmeellecoaching.com/menopauseatwork

Turn your menopause transition into a transformation with the Menopause Intelligence Course (MQ), an 8-module, self-paced learning experience, empowering you to take agency over your health and make informed decisions with your healthcare team.

Connect:

• Instagram @menopausedisruptorpodcast
• LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/maryhelenlee/
• Subscribe on Substack @emmeellecoaching

Disclaimer: Information shared is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not replace medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional.

In this episode, Mary is joined by Nicole Johnston, an executive and leadership coach, TEDx speaker, author, and founder of Innate Power, to explore workplace leadership, visibility, confidence, and the often-unspoken challenges women face during menopause.

Nicole draws on 30 years of experience in major consumer brands including Procter & Gamble, Kimberly-Clark, Hershey, and Newell Brands, where she witnessed women being diminished, sidelined, and overlooked despite their experience and capabilities. She now helps women understand the unwritten rules of corporate environments, communicate their value, build stronger personal brands, and step into leadership without shrinking themselves.

The conversation explores why women can be over-mentored but under-sponsored, how an “Atta Girl” folder can protect their accomplishments and strengthen career conversations, and why personal brand is ultimately shaped by how other people perceive your value.

Nicole also discusses menopause in the workplace, the importance of removing shame from the conversation, asking for support, and giving yourself permission to use new tools and strategies when your needs change. She shares how openly acknowledging brain fog helped her maintain credibility rather than hide what was happening.

Connect:

• Innate Power on Instagram— Nicole Johnston's leadership coaching and professional work.

Resource:

• Taboo Topics: Things Women Should Talk About But Don't — Nicole Johnston's book, available in hardcover, paperback, and audio formats.

Let us know if you're liking the show!

Hen's Den Yoga
A serene and cozy home studio nestled in the Comox Valley offering a variety of wellness classes.

Support the show

Meet the host, Mary, a certified Menopause Doula and Women’s Coaching Specialist. Mary is also a corporate educator, helping forward-thinking organizations foster a menopause-friendly workplace and design policies and accommodations for employees.

Click to learn more https://emmeellecoaching.com/menopauseatwork

Turn your menopause transition into a transformation with the Menopause Intelligence Course (MQ), an 8-module, self-paced learning experience, empowering you to take agency over your health and make informed decisions with your healthcare team.

Connect:

• Instagram @menopausedisruptorpodcast
• LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/maryhelenlee/
• Subscribe on Substack @emmeellecoaching

Disclaimer: Information shared is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not replace medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional.

In this episode, host Mary is joined by obesity medicine physician Dr. Laure DeMattia to explore the complicated relationship between obesity, body image, food, and menopause.

Dr. DeMattia shares her deeply personal journey from struggling with body image and binge eating from a young age to becoming a physician specializing in obesity medicine.

Together, Mary and Dr. D unpack why women's bodies can be particularly vulnerable to weight changes during puberty, pregnancy, perimenopause, and menopause, and why the traditional "eat less, move more" approach can leave women feeling frustrated, ashamed, and blamed.

The conversation challenges the idea that weight is simply a matter of willpower. Dr. DeMattia explains set point theory, discusses how the body can defend a particular weight, and explores why treatments such as GLP-1 medications and bariatric surgery can be legitimate tools for treating obesity rather than "cop-outs." She also emphasizes the importance of looking beyond the number on the scale and focusing on health, energy, confidence, and other non-scale victories.

Dr. DeMattia also introduces her practical CHEF framework from her book, The Four Food Cues, helping people understand their individual relationship with food through Craving, Hunger, Energy, and Fullness.

Connect:

• Learn more about Dr. Laure DeMattia and her work: https://drdemattia.com/

• The Four Food Cues by Dr. Laure DeMattia — available on Amazon

Let us know if you're liking the show!

Hen's Den Yoga
A serene and cozy home studio nestled in the Comox Valley offering a variety of wellness classes.

Support the show

Meet the host, Mary, a certified Menopause Doula and Women’s Coaching Specialist. Mary is also a corporate educator, helping forward-thinking organizations foster a menopause-friendly workplace and design policies and accommodations for employees.

Click to learn more https://emmeellecoaching.com/menopauseatwork

Turn your menopause transition into a transformation with the Menopause Intelligence Course (MQ), an 8-module, self-paced learning experience, empowering you to take agency over your health and make informed decisions with your healthcare team.

Connect:

• Instagram @menopausedisruptorpodcast
• LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/maryhelenlee/
• Subscribe on Substack @emmeellecoaching

Disclaimer: Information shared is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not replace medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional.

In this Goddess Journey meditation, we explore the symbolic energies of the 8/8 Lion's Gate and the August 12 South Node Solar Eclipse. Rather than asking you to strive for more, this practice offers something far more courageous: permission to slow down, soften, and receive.

As the Year of the Fire Horse and the Universal Year 1 invite bold new beginnings, this meditation reminds us that every beginning first requires space. Before something new can enter, something old must be released.T

Whether you connect with the symbolism of astrology or simply appreciate it as a beautiful metaphor for personal reflection, this meditation is an opportunity to pause, breathe, and trust the unfolding of your own journey.

Journal Reflection:

• What feels complete in this season of my life?
• What am I ready to release with gratitude?
• Where have I confused constant doing with my worth?
• What would it feel like to trust life enough to receive?
• If I rested without guilt, what might become possible?

Continue Your Goddess Journey

If this meditation resonated with you, subscribe so you never miss a new episode in the Goddess Journey Meditation Series, where we explore the intersection of women's wisdom, nervous system healing, science, and spirituality.

Let us know if you're liking the show!

Support the show

Meet the host, Mary, a certified Menopause Doula and Women’s Coaching Specialist. Mary is also a corporate educator, helping forward-thinking organizations foster a menopause-friendly workplace and design policies and accommodations for employees.

Click to learn more https://emmeellecoaching.com/menopauseatwork

Turn your menopause transition into a transformation with the Menopause Intelligence Course (MQ), an 8-module, self-paced learning experience, empowering you to take agency over your health and make informed decisions with your healthcare team.

Connect:

• Instagram @menopausedisruptorpodcast
• LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/maryhelenlee/
• Subscribe on Substack @emmeellecoaching

Disclaimer: Information shared is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not replace medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional.

In this episode, Mary welcomes functional medicine practitioner Cindy Dupuie, who shares her deeply personal journey from experiencing early menopause after a stressful divorce to becoming one of the leading voices helping women understand the root causes of hormonal changes. Together they unpack why menopause is about far more than hot flashes and why estrogen influences nearly every tissue and organ in the body.

The conversation explores the principles of functional medicine, emphasizing how hormones, digestion, inflammation, the microbiome, and metabolic health are deeply interconnected. Cindy explains why declining estrogen can contribute to digestive problems including acid reflux, food sensitivities, constipation, SIBO, leaky gut, and poor bile production, while also discussing how hormone therapy may support long-term brain, heart, and bone health beyond symptom relief.

Mary and Cindy also discuss the current barriers women face in today's healthcare system, the importance of becoming educated advocates for your own health, and why individualized care—not one-size-fits-all medicine—is essential for thriving throughout midlife and beyond.

Whether you're navigating perimenopause, menopause, or simply want to understand how your body changes with age, this episode offers practical insights, empowering perspectives, and hope for building a healthier future.

Connect:

• 🌐 A Living Balance https://alivingbalance.net

Resources Mentioned:

• Dr. Mark Hyman — https://drhyman.com
• Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM) — https://www.ifm.org
• Dr. Ben Lynch — https://www.drbenlynch.com
• Dirty Genes by Dr. Ben Lynch — https://www.drbenlynch.com/dirty-genes/
• Seeking Health — https://www.seekinghealth.com
• Dr. Tim Spector (ZOE) — https://zoe.com/learn/author/tim-spector

Let us know if you're liking the show!

Support the show

Meet the host, Mary, a certified Menopause Doula and Women’s Coaching Specialist. Mary is also a corporate educator, helping forward-thinking organizations foster a menopause-friendly workplace and design policies and accommodations for employees.

Click to learn more https://emmeellecoaching.com/menopauseatwork

Turn your menopause transition into a transformation with the Menopause Intelligence Course (MQ), an 8-module, self-paced learning experience, empowering you to take agency over your health and make informed decisions with your healthcare team.

Connect:

• Instagram @menopausedisruptorpodcast
• LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/maryhelenlee/
• Subscribe on Substack @emmeellecoaching

Disclaimer: Information shared is for educational and entertainment purposes only and does not replace medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional.