Then came the appointment that changed everything.

A routine GP visit. A doctor who had already decided what was wrong before I'd finished speaking. Mood-related, she said. Not perimenopause.

I pointed out that the IUD she recommended contains a synthetic progestin — not bioidentical progesterone — and the two are not the same thing. I was told I was wrong. I explained that progesterone has far broader effects than uterine protection alone. I was told that was untrue.

"I'm the doctor. What would you know?"

I sat in my car afterwards — not upset, not doubting myself — but completely furious. Because I knew enough to push back. I had the knowledge. And I was still dismissed.

If this was happening to me, it was happening to a lot of women. And it was. Every woman I spoke to had a version of the same story — different symptoms, different doctors, same pattern of being dismissed or oversimplified.

That was when I went back to study. I trained in nutrition, menopause and holistic health coaching And I built Age With Power around what I had come to see so clearly: that midlife is not just a hormonal shift. It is a system-wide transition.

Unless you understand how those systems interact — hormones, thyroid, metabolism, nervous system, energy production — you end up treating fragments instead of what's actually driving the problem.

That is the work I do. Not because women need more advice — but because they deserve to finally make sense of what's actually happening in their bodies.

Originally from Australia, now living in the United States with my husband, three teenagers, two cats and dog. Happiest outdoors — skiing, sailing, at the beach, or at a table with really good company and food.