The Menopause Wake-Up Call Every Millennial Woman Needs to Hear with Lauren Tetenbaum
Show Snapshot:
Many millennial women are sleepwalking toward menopause—unprepared for what's coming during this critical life stage. At 39, reproductive mental health expert Lauren Tetenbaum had a shocking realization—she knew nothing about menopause despite her expertise in women’s health. Now at 40, after interviewing hundreds of menopause experts and everyday women, she sounds a “get ready” clarion call and offers a science-backed playbook for thriving in peri/menopause and beyond with her new book "Millennial Menopause.” Lauren uncovers treatment options for symptoms you thought were "just life now," how to advocate for yourself when healthcare providers dismiss you, and why men need to be part of this conversation. This show is for anyone—no matter your generation—who has wandered the thickets of menopause “dazed and confused.”
Show Links:
Follow Lauren:
Lauren’s Book:
Millennial Menopause: Preparing for Perimenopause, Menopause, and Life's Next Period
Quotable:
Men need to be a part of this conversation. every man knows a woman who will go through menopause… I hope [the book] makes men feel like they can be allies in this journey...I want men to be part of this conversation.
Transcript:
Katie Fogarty 0:00
Welcome to A Certain Age, a show for women who are unafraid to age out loud. I'm your host, Katie Fogarty. What happens when a reproductive mental health expert realizes she knows almost nothing about her own hormonal future? If you're today's guest, you set out to talk to hundreds of experts and advocates and write a book to change how millennial women approach menopause.
Lauren Tetenbaum is a first-generation Cuban American who has dedicated her career to supporting women through life's biggest transitions, combining her backgrounds in law and social work and mental health to help women advocate for themselves in ways that actually work. She joins me today to dive into her new book, "Millennial Menopause: Preparing for Perimenopause, Menopause and Life's Next Period."
As a Gen Xer who stumbled, dazed and confused, through the early thickets of menopause, I plan to press this frank, funny, science-backed playbook for thriving in perimenopause into the hands of my millennial niece and Gen Z daughter, and I think you will too. Lauren has written a total home run, and I cannot wait to explore this book and her career reinventions with her today. Welcome, Lauren.
Lauren Tetenbaum 1:25
Thank you so much, Katie. It's such a pleasure to be here, and it's been so wonderful getting to know you over the course of the year that I've been researching my book. So thank you.
Katie Fogarty 1:35
Well, this book is really phenomenal. I have had so many terrific guests on the show. I've read a number of menopause books, and this book has it all. It is funny. It's got pop culture references. It's totally science-backed. It's a who's who of experts that I'm familiar with. You introduced me to some women I've never heard of. And it's written in a way that really feels so accessible, encouraging, frank - there's a lot of straight talk. It's really terrific.
In the book, you describe sort of an "aha moment" of realizing that you knew next to nothing about menopause, despite your expertise in women's reproductive mental health. And I want to hear: what was the specific trigger that made you think, "Wait, I need to learn more about this now, and others do too"?
Lauren Tetenbaum 2:23
So last year, I was 39 - I just turned 40 in April of this year - and I was invited to a networking event about femtech, women's technology in the healthcare sector. And there were different breakout options, and one was about menopause. And I thought, "Well, that's really interesting. I haven't had any exposure to menopause in my conversations with doctors, my own mother, etc." So I said, "Let me learn, and I'll check it out."
And I met Anne Fulenwider, the co-founder of Alloy, at the breakout session, and I was just simply blown away by her passion, the misinformation that she highlighted had been spread to the entire world following the WHI study, and really all of the passion and dedication from the other women in the room, who were mostly older than I was, who kept saying, "I wish I had known. I wish I had known." And I thought, "Well, we have to be talking about this, and I want to be the one to learn more and tell my peers and clients and friends all about menopause." Once I realized it wasn't just me who didn't know anything, I really dove right in. And here we are.
Katie Fogarty 4:24
Yeah, and the book is really a roadmap to perimenopause, to menopause. It is putting information into the hands of women so they don't have that moment of thinking, "Oh, my God, I know absolutely nothing." But yours is really - it's more than simply a roadmap. It's more than a guidebook. It's a rallying call for a very specific generation to wake up and get ready.
As I shared, the book is fun. It's a pop culture romp through a lot of millennial references - Mary-Kate and Ashley, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I loved the early AOL account references because nothing puts you in a generation faster than hearing "You've Got Mail" and the dial-up modem and all that stuff. It's really fun. But why was it so important for you to make the language and content so resonant for millennial readers?
Lauren Tetenbaum 5:00
Sure. So that's how I am and who I am. I am authentic. I'm relatable, and I'm no bullshit. And I think that shines through - my clients, my therapy clients tell me that all the time. They appreciate my direct approach, but I'm also an optimist, and if there is a problem, I want to be part of the solution and collaborate with others to figure something out, especially for women's issues that need and deserve more attention and support.
And I really wrote it in my most authentic voice. I am a pop culture girlie. I love all of the boy band music and all of that, and I felt like I wanted it to reflect my true self. So it really is my soul out there in print, and I hope it's helpful for my generation.
Katie Fogarty 5:39
Yeah. I mean, it's full of science and expert advice, but it's actually fun to read, which means it's actually going to get read, and that's why I think this book is going to do so well. The last time I had this reaction to reading a menopause book, it was Tamsen Fadal's "How to Menopause," which went on to hit the New York Times bestseller list. So we hope for good things for this book, because it is readable, fun and it sort of marries everything, it pulls in everything that one needs to know.
I love that you said that you're a pop culture girlie - that definitely shines through in the book. But we are the sum of all of our influences, our life experiences. You bring a millennial end to this topic, but you're also a first-generation Cuban American. That's like, I think one of the first lines in your bio that I read on your website. How did cultural attitudes towards menopause and aging in your family and sort of the Cuban American culture influence how you created this book in any way, or did it not?
Lauren Tetenbaum 6:43
That's such a great question. I grew up in a family where it felt like we talked about everything openly. We talked about sex, puberty. It wasn't a hush-hush, hidden topic in my own family. My mom was the one born in Cuba, but I grew up in New York City. We've always been very open, but we never talked about menopause. And it occurred to me at 39 that I knew nothing about my mother's own experience. I knew nothing about my grandmother's own experiences, and I was able to ask them. Both of my grandmothers recently passed away, actually, at 94 and 97, and I was able to ask about their experiences, which was a really cool opportunity, and women need to be talking, because there's so much power in us coming together and sharing stories.
And I don't think that the Latin American culture necessarily played a role in my upbringing. But the more research I've done, it seems like cross-culturally women are not talking about menopause, and again, they need to be.
Katie Fogarty 8:08
Yeah, I would agree with that, and it's interesting. When the book is obviously called "Millennial Menopause," it's very generation-specific in some ways, but in other ways, it's absolutely universal across generations. And so this idea that it wasn't talked about in your family is very common. I have no knowledge of my own mom's menopause experience, my grandmother's at all - it certainly wasn't mentioned. My aunts, who are still alive, aren't talking about it necessarily. And I've heard that from my cousins. They're like, "Tell me more, Katie," because, like, "I'm not hearing it from my own moms," because it's not something they talk about.
My mom is having some memory issues these days, and when I ask her, it's just not something that she's able to share, and it's because of what's going on with her right now. But the idea that you were able to connect with your grandmothers and ask them is so rich and so interesting, and so for women who are listening to this, who are thinking like, "Well, I'm not a millennial, how does this relate to me?" This book is something that you should be handing to your daughters and your nieces and the women in your life that you care about coming behind you chronologically. But I honestly think that anyone who's really interested in this topic would learn a lot from reading this book, no matter what generation they fall into.
Lauren Tetenbaum 9:23
Yes, no, I totally agree. And yes, it's menopause-specific and millennial-specific, but it's really a conversation about women's health and access to healthcare on multiple layers of our society. So whether you're post-menopausal or in your 20s, it's absolutely worth reading and sharing and talking about, because if you're years away from or past menopause, you still need to know how to refer people you love to the right specialists. You still need to know how to have conversations about women's reproductive health with the men in your life. You still need to know how to navigate health issues in the workplace, and I cover all of those topics. So yes, it's about menopause, but just generally about women's health and our reproductive rights.
Katie Fogarty 10:00
Yeah, absolutely. The book is really wide-ranging. It's got 15 chapters. It ranges, as you shared, from menopause and mental health, menopause and sex, menopause at work, but you also have some fun chapters on menopause in the media and menopause and men. I loved seeing that inclusion. Thank you. Our partners, fathers and brothers need to understand our experience. Walk us through what readers can expect in that chapter.
Lauren Tetenbaum 10:18
Well, I expect readers to hand over that chapter to the men, and I really, sincerely hope they do. I have so many wonderful friends who are men. I have the most fabulous brother who is super supportive. My father is an amazing feminist, and it can be awkward to talk about certain things, but I am a firm believer that men need to be a part of this conversation, and every man knows a woman who will go through menopause no matter who they are in their life.
And so I hope that it makes the topic less scary, which I want that for every reader. And I hope that it makes men feel like they can be allies in this journey, whether it's helping research the right healthcare providers or funding research into this topic, whatever it is. I want men to be part of this conversation, and I don't want it to be just a quote-unquote "women's issue."
Katie Fogarty 11:11
100%. I had the great pleasure of being in Dallas, Texas a few weeks ago for the annual Let's Talk Menopause Menopause-a-thon, and there were, I think, 150 people in the room. It was sold out, and there were probably only five men, and I was delighted to see them there. And I learned later from the event organizers that two of the men had bought tickets for their wives. One had flown across the country with his wife as an anniversary gift, which totally knocked me out. I thought, "That guy is amazing. I love that this is on his radar. He's prioritizing this." And somebody else was there because he knew his wife was struggling, and he wanted more tools for both of them.
And I thought that was really marvelous, because menopause intersects with so many spheres in our lives. It affects our body, our sex life, our sense of self, our brain, our mood and all that kind of stuff, which impacts the people we share our lives with. So I thought that was terrific.
When we come back from this quick break that we're heading into, Lauren, I want to talk a little bit about this notion of how menopause maybe affects our sex life, because that also affects our romantic partners. We'll be back in just a minute.
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Katie Fogarty 14:31
Lauren, we're back from this quick break. When we went into it, we were talking about how menopause impacts the men in our lives for a variety of reasons, but if we have romantic partners that are men, they can be impacted by the changes to our body and our libido and our sense of pleasure with sex. You have an entire chapter on this. Did you learn something new when you wrote it? Was there anything in it that surprised you?
Lauren Tetenbaum 15:00
Yes and no. Of course, I learned a ton. For one, I knew very little about what happens to our vaginal tissue and how important estrogen is in that - the genitourinary symptoms of menopause. So I learned that treatment option, and I learned so much.
What I wasn't surprised by was sort of the fatigue and loss of identity that women in midlife were facing as they approached menopause, or were going through the menopause transition. And the reason I say that I'm not surprised is because that's what I see a lot in my clients, in my therapy clients. The women I work with are experiencing anxiety, depression, stress, the heaviness of the mental load, whether they're caring for children, caring for elderly parents, and trying to care for themselves, and frankly, sex tends to get lower on our list of priorities because we are exhausted, and I'm using the "we" as a collective, because it is just so, so common among women in their 30s, 40s, 50s.
And it was really illuminating to learn that there are treatment options for hypoactive sexual desire disorder for women, which no doctor has ever taught me about. And then it was illuminating to learn all about, as I said, the biological shifts that happen to one's body, for which, again, there are so many treatment options. So I really want women and their partners, but really women, to know that you don't have to accept a low libido or an inactive sex life as just a part of your life right now. There are so many layers to having a sex drive, but let's work on it, because you deserve to have pleasure and certainly no pain, as you explore that side of yourself.
Katie Fogarty 17:01
Lauren, you interviewed hundreds of women for your research for this book, and I know that you work with women every week as you just shared in your psychotherapy and mental health coaching practices. Beyond this exhaustion and the sort of the sense that our sex life and maybe our own pleasure and interests get sublimated to the needs of our family, our career, our aging parents, what are some other common themes that emerged as you listened to women talk about this life stage?
Lauren Tetenbaum 17:28
It did often boil down to women tend to put themselves last on the priority list. When you hear the tales of women seeking treatment for menopause-related symptoms, which they didn't even realize were menopause-related, you hear the efforts that go into it, and the women that I interviewed really said it took me so many doctors and so many referrals, and they only start down that path when they're absolutely suffering, because before that moment, they're taking care of everybody else. They're making the appointments for their kids, the dentist, the annual physicals. But if their back hurts or they're having low libido or they're feeling fatigued, they tend to tell themselves, "This is just my life now and I have to suck it up."
And then it doesn't help that often their healthcare providers are saying the same, and I wrote this book to show women that you don't have to wait until you're suffering to get help, and that you really deserve to put yourself higher up on the list, and especially when it comes to preventive care and optimizing your health now so that you're not getting the osteoporosis, etc. That's something that we all really need to prioritize.
Katie Fogarty 18:50
This notion of putting yourself higher on the list is a theme that I hear again and again from guests that come on the show, particularly doctors who really want to encourage women to go in search of help from the right doctor when they begin to experience symptoms. I've had pelvic floor experts on the show. I've had an expert on female-related hair loss on the show. When I ask these women when patients should be coming in, when patients are arriving, they share that patients are arriving after they've seen five, six, seven doctors before and have been dismissed. So it is an uphill battle sometimes to connect with the right care provider.
In your research, in all your different conversations that you've had with a variety of experts, where would you - beyond people reading this book, which I want them to do - where would you direct women to find the help that they need and deserve?
Lauren Tetenbaum 20:00
Certainly The Menopause Society - it's available online menopause.org - and they provide a directory of all kinds of providers, whether they're MDs or LCSWs, like I am - licensed clinical social worker - and the directory shows who's a member of the society, which means you have access to a wide variety of continuing education and training resources. And they also show who is a Certified Menopause Practitioner, which is usually a prescriber.
And it's not the only place to find a healthcare provider who's well-versed, but it's certainly, in my opinion, the best starting point, because even the most educated, well-intentioned healthcare providers among us are not trained in menopause, and they don't know what they don't know, and they often have misinformation at their fingertips, or they've been taught a certain way about hormone therapy or about menopause in general, and it's something that collectively, we're all working on. Organizations like Let's Talk Menopause are advocating for change. I know that many doctors and nurse practitioners are advocating for better training, and that's something that we as a collective unit need to be doing as well, because our generation - we all need more comprehensive support from providers who actually know the current data and research.
Katie Fogarty 21:17
That connecting with the right trained specialist is so, so key. I would say that also getting your mindset in gear that you deserve better healthcare and that you deserve to have an end to your suffering is a second part of it, and this is an area that you're an expert in. You are a licensed social worker. You're an experienced mental health advocate. You have women come in your practice all the time.
For a listener who might need some tools for sort of thinking through how to be vulnerable or open themselves up or recognize that they deserve more, how would you coach them to think through their own physical care?
Lauren Tetenbaum 22:00
I love this question, and I see that women struggle with advocating for themselves all the time in all kinds of situations, whether it's at work and asking for the maternity leave that actually they are entitled to and very much deserve, or whether it's at home. And we're conditioned in our culture to not rock the boat, right? Women are told, "Oh, don't be a bother. Don't be aggressive, just kind of suck it up and keep going."
And when it comes to menopause care, just healthcare in general, I would say, "What would you tell a friend?" If a friend said to you, "I can't sleep and I'm struggling with my mental health and all of these things," surely you would say, "Okay, I think we should go to a qualified doctor. Maybe I'll go with you if you need a friend." And I would encourage you to do that for yourself, and sometimes that does mean getting external support from a friend, from a loved one, from a therapist or coach, literally in the room. Sometimes, right? Women can feel better if they go to a doctor's appointment with someone who is there to support them. That's A-okay.
But I think it just comes down to women reminding themselves that they're not a bother by asking questions and they deserve answers.
Katie Fogarty 23:16
And I think your book does a great job also, of beyond offering that kind of coaching, it reminds me a little bit of Dr. Sharon Malone's book "Grown Woman Talk," where she gave a great sort of landscape picture of why women today truly need to be their own primary care doctor. Yeah, you are working with other doctors as your support system because they went to medical school, but like, you and only you are in charge of your health. And your book talks a lot about kind of the landscape that we are existing in, in our current health systems, some of the patriarchy that's embedded into the systems, and some of the failings of our systems in terms of where research dollars have been and what's available to women, and we really do need to both educate ourselves and then advocate for ourselves if we really want to get healthcare that we deserve and need.
So how do you think - like, I don't want to ask you to be a mind reader, although maybe I am right now, because I think my parents are Boomers. I'm Gen X, my daughter is Gen Z, you're a millennial. How do you see this willingness to advocate changing over the different generations? What are you hoping that a millennial reading this book will do and say, and how might it be different for my daughter, who's about to turn 25?
Lauren Tetenbaum 25:00
Great question. And of course, we are all operating under the changing landscape politically in terms of what women have access to, but that being said, all the more reason to be loud about our needs. And I think that over the course of the generations that you described, from the Boomers through Gen Z, I think women in general have gotten more comfortable being loud, being assertive, which is a beautiful quality, of advocating for their rights.
When Boomers were growing up, I mean, women didn't even get the right to vote until 1920 and that was really only white women. Women weren't getting credit cards or divorces until the 1970s. So think about how much has changed, right? And I think that we as a generation of millennials have gotten increasingly comfortable with just discussing sort of taboo or perhaps personal topics. We've seen that with fertility struggles, with maternal mental health, with all of the above. And so I think that as we are more open about our needs, as we're progressively more comfortable with advocating for what we need to meet those needs, I think it will only get better, but we have to keep at it, and we can't take for granted the rights that the generations before us fought for when it comes to healthcare and beyond, especially as many of those rights are slipping away.
Katie Fogarty 26:21
And we need to - which is just maddening and infuriating and a topic for another show - but when we think about specifically how menopause is going to impact millennials, which is an enormous generation. There's like so many women coming behind us who are going to be impacted by this. This book is an incredible resource.
So Lauren, I want to switch gears for a minute now and talk about the intersection of menopause and career. You have an entire chapter on this, and I want to also talk about your own career, because we love a good career reinvention story on A Certain Age pod and you have worn many marvelous career hats along your journey to 40. But let's start off with the career impact, or potential career impact, of women who are entering perimenopause, experiencing menopause at peak career moments. Walk us through the learnings from your chapter on how menopause can impact women's professional lives.
Lauren Tetenbaum 27:14
Sure. One of the main themes that I heard from women who had been through the menopause transition was that they felt like they were losing their minds. They felt like they were not recognizing themselves, and when that is in the workplace, women feel like, "I have to quit. I can't do my job anymore. I will just take a step back, or a pay cut, or whatever it is." And going back to the idea of needing to assert yourself and ask for what you need, hearing that made me so sad, because I wondered, "Well, what if they were able to get their needs met and get treatment options and get flexibility at work to go to doctor's appointments or exercise or whatever it is, instead of effectively being pushed out of the paid workforce?"
And there are so many things that employers can do to facilitate getting access to those things. They can start with educational offerings, which a lot of survey takers indicated that they would really appreciate, and it really is about opening the door for women to thrive at midlife, which certainly benefits everybody, including the company's bottom line.
Katie Fogarty 28:19
Yeah, absolutely. I think you've really put your finger on it when you say educational resources is a great place to start, because as an employer, we don't want to put women on the back foot and make it seem like if you're having hot flashes at work or sort of word-finding challenges or brain fog that is impacting your performance, sometimes, if you raise these issues, there's concern that women are going to be penalized. We already have the deck in some ways stacked against us. There is a gender pay gap. There is gendered ageism at work, and to identify yourself as both, both a woman and an aging woman, which is what menopause implies. I know people are leery, but I think the education is such a key component to this, because speaking only personally, when I went through perimenopause, I didn't even know I was in perimenopause because it wasn't on my radar and I was having volcanic mood swings and just a lot of sort of mood instability. It was weird. In a horrible phase, I felt like my brain had been hijacked.
And the good news about entering menopause is I got my brain back. That roller coaster ride ended. There are other things you have to worry about - osteoporosis, cardio impacts, tissue decline, blah, blah. But my brain came back to me. Thank goodness. Had I known that this was a finite period of time, I would have approached it with a lot more peace. I was wondering, like, "What is wrong with me?" And so I think even just like bringing the good news to women that if you are experiencing some of these symptoms, there is nothing wrong with you. And yes, go get a great doctor. Yes, share with people in your life, but at the very least the bottom line, know that you will move through this and get through the other side. And I think that message is so valuable.
Lauren Tetenbaum 30:17
Yes, I agree, and I see a lot of similarities in the transition into motherhood, because so many women, when they don't have access to quality postpartum care and a good amount of paid leave, etc., they similarly feel like, "I can't do this anymore," right? "And I don't recognize myself." And what if we reminded them that this is temporary, that there are supports available, that maybe there are some changes to schedule or whatever it is that can be made to help them along, then they can thrive, right? And it's the same thing with midlife women. We shouldn't be just leaving the workforce or giving up or feeling like that's our only choice when it's not. There are so many things that can be done to support women along their journeys.
Katie Fogarty 31:02
Yeah, education is so key. I love this. Thank you for sharing that, Lauren. I think the link between the postpartum years and menopause, to me is so clear now that I've been through both of them, and what I used to say to myself when my kids weren't sleeping through the night was "this too shall pass," and it did. But we want to help women have support while they're going through it.
So let's talk a little bit about your career specifically, because you have worn a lot of career hats, which I think I mentioned in the opening. You've got a background in both law and mental health. You started at UPenn, where you were teaching sex ed as a student. You went and got concurrent - I can't believe this - JD and Master's of Social Work at the same time. You practiced immigration law, both in the US and the UK, and now you've pivoted to private psychotherapy practice and work as a mental health and women's health advocate. Plus you are now an author. I'm not even going to list all the boards that you're on, because we would be talking till tomorrow. And you're, of course, a mom, which is a job unto itself.
So I'm curious: what role, if any, did aging play in your interest in evolving your career over the years? What do you think drove you to make these pivots and evolutions?
Lauren Tetenbaum 32:27
Well, I think that, like many of the women who I interviewed who said that post-menopause, they had very little patience for BS, I think that I embraced that sort of rhetoric earlier on, and I would say that becoming a mom really helped me embrace that line of thinking. And I was only 31 when I became a mother. And I'm privileged in many ways, but I felt like I wouldn't kind of take the BS anymore from the corporate structures, from the bosses that gave me a hard time for taking parental leave, things like that.
And I think that when it comes to aging and really discovering who you are and who you want to be, I felt that I wasn't in the careers or the career at the time that was my most authentic self, and I decided to be an entrepreneur, which I didn't think I ever would be, and really lean into my own true values and just go out there and continue to help women in the best way that I could, which has always been at the heart of my professional ambition, but now I get to do it on my own terms.
Katie Fogarty 33:32
I think there's also the testament to the power of putting yourself into new rooms because you shared at the top of the show that you wound up at a femtech conference based on sort of your interest and curiosity around the work that you do, and you heard Anne Fulenwider say something that kind of like blew your mind and opened up your thinking and curiosity around menopause. I'm actually having Anne on the show in a couple of weeks. I'm really excited, because I'm a fan of her company and what she's bringing to the world, and I've been able to interview almost everybody else on the team. Dr. Malone, who's the Chief Medical Advisor of Alloy, has been on the show twice, and I've interviewed Rachel Hughes and Monica and Anne's coming on in a few weeks.
So the reason why I love that you share that story is that it reminds me a lot of creating this podcast. I launched a podcast, and it's taken me to incredible places over five years. I never could have seen - you walked into that room and it caused you to question what was going on with your own healthcare, and months later, you have a book. So I always say you don't have to know how things are going to end to get started. And for anyone who's listening to the show like there is so much power in putting yourself into new zones, new rooms, new conversations, because you can and will be surprised by where life takes you.
Lauren Tetenbaum 34:54
Absolutely, and you will also connect with so many amazing people along the way. It's been such a pleasure to be in this space. I'm getting to meet brilliant, passionate women like yourself who have similar interests and values and also can teach you so many new and interesting things. So it's really a fun journey, whatever that looks like for you, but I do think it's worth just taking a chance on something. Yeah, a baby step and see where it takes you along the path.
Katie Fogarty 35:23
So Lauren, before I say goodbye, what is your biggest hope for the conversation around millennial menopause? How would you love to see it evolve over the next few years? What do you think is sort of the change that most needs to happen?
Lauren Tetenbaum 35:38
I really hope that the conversations around menopause get normalized. It's been very interesting to be connected to Gen Xers in this space, who are openly talking about it. And yet, when I tell people millennial menopause is the topic of my book, and even the title, there's still this nose wrinkle and, "Oh, well, I don't want to talk about menopause" or, "Well, we did an article on women's health last year, so we're done."
I've been getting that kind of pushback, and that's sort of the whole point of the book, right? That we need to be talking about women's healthcare all the time. We need to not be afraid of the word menopause. We need to not distance ourselves from the idea of aging. Aging is a gift. It does come with other consequences, but that's, again, the point of the book - let's learn how to age powerfully, right? And I just really want people to feel optimistic, curious and excited about this next chapter of life.
Katie Fogarty 37:15
Lauren, where can people continue to follow your work? Find you? I hear you're doing a lot of fun book tour stuff. Where can they learn more about following your work?
Lauren Tetenbaum 37:25
So all of my book events and other engagements, etc., are on my website, thecounselor.com - but counselor L-A-U-R for Lauren - also on Instagram at @thecounselor, and the book is available for pre-order. It will be available July 15th at all major booksellers.
Katie Fogarty 37:50
Thank you so much, Lauren. The book is "Millennial Menopause: Preparing for Perimenopause, Menopause and Life's Next Period." Thank you for coming on the show today.
Lauren Tetenbaum 38:00
Thank you. I love this conversation.
Katie Fogarty 38:35
It is so fun to talk to a debut author. I could talk to authors all day long. I love when somebody has a vision for a story, for a guide, for a playbook for sharing information that's going to make a difference in people's lives. It was totally a treat to hang out with Lauren.
This book, "Millennial Menopause," and every single book that is talked about on A Certain Age podcast is available over on our indie bookshop on the indie bookseller, bookshop.org. You can head to bookshop.org and search for A Certain Age, or you can come hang out over on Instagram at @acertainage.pod. I've got links in my bio to everything - our newsletter, our website, this show and our bookshop. So add this to cart. Hand it to the Gen Z, the millennial, the Gen Alpha women in your life, because this is something that's going to change the way they menopause.
Thanks for sticking around to the end of the show and as always, thank you to Michael Mancini for composing and producing our theme music. See you next time and until then, age boldly, beauties.