You may have seen me on TV shows like What Not To Wear, Today, Access Hollywood or Rachael Ray. I've been a fashion stylist for a long time. I like to think it has always been my job to help people deepen their sense of self: Self-esteem, self-worth, self-love, self- acceptance, to be able to see themselves in a new light. But while I was busy doing my job, something started to shift in me. I stopped being able to find my light.

Around the age of 47, my body started to ache. ALL the time. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t remember words like pencil or orange. I’d cry constantly. My skin (and nether regions) dried up like the Sahara. I was always itchy. I suddenly had cystic acne and gray chin hair. I was anxious and grumpy. My period stopped (which saved me a ton in tampons) but it came with the realization and grief that I could not (even if I wanted to) have children. My jaw line disappeared. My waistline disappeared. My hair and nails got brittle and weak. And then I started getting really hot. I looked like I’d taken a shower, fully clothed, talking to someone about something I’d forget mid-sentence! What in the deepest depths of Hell was happening to me? I didn't know. Because nothing and no one prepared me for menopause. 

If I'm being honest, I thought it was optional. Turns out, not so. We teach people about every stage of their hormonal health except for this final frontier. We would never let kids out into the world without some understanding of puberty or pregnancy or even infertility but THIS? THIS WE DON'T TALK ABOUT? Try as I might, I'm completely confounded by this. Without any tools to manage menopause, how could I see it for the opportunity it really is? As a medical condition, menopause remains understudied, leading many of us to doubt our (entirely real) feelings as “being crazy” and dismiss our physical and emotional feelings. But these feelings are not trivial. We should never deny that what we are experiencing merits discussion and care. Not only does it merit both, it merits solutions and education.

But I want to let you in on a secret: menopause can be hard but it isn't hopeless and you aren't helpless. I co-founded this company to make the State of Menopause easier for us: to manage and understand, to endure and enjoy, to transform and transcend who we were to become who we are. And if you ever need to vent? I'm here. Email me at heystacy@stateofmenopause.com.