Last week, I sat down in my stylist’s chair expecting the usual small talk—vacation plans, weekend updates, simple catching up. But when I mentioned that my upcoming podcast guest was a board-certified OB-GYN specializing in perimenopause and menopause, the appointment shifted entirely.
For the next two hours, the mirror in front of me became a confessional. We talked about what it actually feels like to navigate perimenopause and menopause in your 40s and 50s:
Sitting in meetings or leading a team and suddenly losing a word, losing a train of thought, or feeling like your once-sharp edge is slipping.
Trying to show up as a high-performing leader on three hours of fractured sleep caused by night sweats and sudden midnight anxiety.
How long it often takes women to realize these aren’t signs of “burnout” or “aging out,” but traceable, treatable hormonal shifts.
How finding the right medical support and Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) felt, for my stylist, like turning the lights back on in her own life.
That salon chair isn’t the only place these quiet, intense conversations are happening. They are taking place in private phone calls between friends. Where they’re not happening? At work.
Millions of women are reaching the zenith of their career potential while navigating an intense, invisible biological transition, and most don’t feel properly supported.
When a senior female leader quietly steps back, turns down a promotion, or resigns, her exit interview almost never says “perimenopause.”
As Dr. Sarah Berg shared during our conversation, women rarely feel safe telling their manager, “I’m struggling with menopause.” Instead, they use socially accepted scripts: “I’m taking time to be a caregiver,” or “I’m ready for a new chapter.”
Behind closed doors, some women feel so overwhelmed by unmanaged symptoms that they describe it as “blowing up their lives” just to regain a sense of control.
And here is the tragedy of how corporate America misreads this moment: When women leave quietly, employers mistake a temporary biological shift for a permanent loss of skill.
Managers assume she is “no longer interested in the role” or “doesn’t have the drive anymore.” In some cases, women are pushed out or performance-managed right at the moment they hold the most institutional wisdom, leadership experience, and strategic value.
This misunderstanding is creating corporate America’s $26.6 billion blind spot: The Menopause Penalty.
This isn’t an isolated issue affecting a small corner of the workforce. The scale is staggering:
Over 75 million American women are currently in perimenopause, menopause, or post-menopause. Every single day, 6,000 more women reach menopause.
Women aged 45–55 make up 20% of the U.S. workforce.
2 in 5 women have considered leaving or changing their jobs specifically due to unmanaged menopause symptoms.
Mayo Clinic research reveals that menopause-related symptoms cost the U.S. economy $1.8 billion in lost work time annually, ballooning to $26.6 billion per year when medical costs and lost productivity are combined.
While 11% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women (an all-time high), only 11% of U.S. companies offer dedicated menopause health benefits.
What struck me most about my podcast guest, Dr. Sarah Berg, is why she decided to step away from her thriving 15-year clinical practice as an OB-GYN to focus on closing the information gap of the menopause transition, corporate education, and policy advocacy.
As she put it plainly:
“There’s only one of me to every 30,000 women going through menopause, and that math doesn’t math.”
We cannot solve a national workforce crisis one 15-minute clinical appointment at a time. Last week, Dr. Berg took this conversation straight to Capitol Hill, briefing lawmakers during the Menopause Policy Imperative briefing. She, along with her co-participants, argued that educating physicians, securing research funding, and establishing workplace support policies are not just compassionate moves; they protect leadership pipelines, reduce long-term national medical expenditures, and save lives.
Data shows that organizations actively supporting midlife women perform 30% better financially.
Whether you are navigating this transition yourself, managing a team, or supporting friends and colleagues who are in the thick of it, we get to decide what the next chapter looks like. We don’t have to accept the old script that midlife means quietly retreating, second-guessing your capability, or pausing the very bold moves that would fulfill you.
We can demand better care, advocate for better policy, and insist that our workplaces treat midlife health with the dignity, funding, and strategy it deserves.
Dive into the full episode to learn how to stop the menopause transition from stalling your bold move👇.
I sit down with board-certified OB-GYN, certified menopause practitioner, and founder of Selfority, Dr. Sarah Berg. Together, we dismantle the shame, isolation, and silence surrounding the menopause transition in the workplace so you can take back control, release the self-blame, and get the clarity and tools you need to regain your health to make your bold moves.
You’ll learn:
Dr. Sarah Berg’s Bold Move: How leaving the security of a 15-year clinical practice to found Selfority started as a realization in her medical office and crystallized during a trail-running retreat in the Oregon woods.
Common and uncommon menopause and perimenopause symptoms and why sudden mood disruptions, including perimenopausal rage, are biological events—not personal or professional failures.
How bringing education directly into organizations protects female leadership pipelines and why companies that support women in midlife perform 30% better financially.
Practical advice for bringing perimenopause and menopause-related questions to doctor visits, knowing when it’s time to “break up” with your provider, and managing care across multiple specialists.
The two non-negotiable daily habits you can start right now to protect your energy, reclaim your vitality, and power your next bold moves.
If you’re on the go, listen to this episode, “The “Menopause Penalty”: Is Midlife Biology Stalling Your Bold Move? with Menopause Practitioner & Board-Certified OB-GYN Dr. Sarah Berg” on your favorite podcast app, including Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music, Pandora, and more.
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