midlife. unmasked

The Workplace Blind Spot: Menopause, Misinformation, and Building What Should Have Existed All Along

In this episode of Midlife: Unmasked, I’m joined by Kacy Fleming, anaward-winning workplace well-being strategist and CEO and founder of TheFuchsia Tent, to explore one of the most overlooked drivers of women’s healthand career trajectories: menopause in the workplace.   After more than two decades in biopharmaceuticals, Kacy personallyexperienced firsthand the confusion and fragmentation of menopauseinformation—leading her to create The Fuchsia Tent, a community-centeredplatform designed to provide clarity, connection, and credible guidance forwomen navigating midlife. Her work bridges storytelling, evidence-informedstrategy, and organizational design to help companies better support and retainwomen in mid-career and beyond.   We talk about the gap between information andunderstanding, the real impact of menopause on professional identity andperformance, and why workplaces are unprepared for a transition that affectshalf the workforce—with a focus why menopause is not just a health issue—but aworkplace, leadership, and retention issue   So please join as we jumpright into this amazing conversation

Season 2 TRAILER

Welcome to Midlife: Unmasked. I’m your host, Robin Austin—nurse researcher, educator, and someone navigating midlife right alongside you. Season Two goes deeper. There’s a decade in women’s lives where everything starts to change— sleep, focus, energy, mood, work, identity— and yet, no one really explains why. We call it “normal.” But normal doesn’t mean harmless. This season explores what I call The Missing Decade— the years when early signals are dismissed, symptoms are minimized, and women are left to figure it out on their own. Through evidence-based insights, expert conversations, and real stories, we name what’s been missing: language, context, and a whole-person understanding of midlife health. This isn’t about quick fixes or trends. It’s about clarity. Patterns. Truth. New episodes drop biweekly, with companion essays on Substack to go even deeper. If you’ve ever wondered, “Why didn’t anyone tell me this?”— you’re in the right place. Because when we name it, we can change it.

Episode 19: Menopause Without the Madness: A Whole Health, Evidence-Informed Path Forward

In this episode of Midlife: Unmasked, I’m joined by Dr. Laura Sandquist, DNP, APRN, A-GNP-C, IFMCP a Whole Health Advanced Practice Nurse with more than 12 years of experience in functional medicine and women’s hormone health. Dr. Sandquist helps bring much-needed clarity to one of the most confusing stages of women’s health: the menopause transition. Today’s menopause landscape is crowded with advice, trends, and supplements—many promising quick fixes, but few grounded in evidence. In this conversation, Dr. Sandquist helps us cut through the noise and focus on what actually matters. Drawing from integrative health, functional medicine, and whole-person care, she explains how women can build a practical, personalized plan that supports hormone health, energy, and long-term well-being—without becoming overwhelmed by the endless stream of wellness advice online. Together, we explore how to better understand the changes happening in midlife, how to make informed health decisions, and how to move beyond being sold the “next best thing” toward sustainable, science-informed care. If you’re navigating perimenopause or menopause and looking for clear information, realistic strategies, and care that respects both the science and the individual, this conversation is for you.

Episode 18: Menopause and Health Disparities with Dr. Yamnia I. Cortés

Menopause does not occur in a vacuum. It is shaped by biology — but also by culture, environment, structural inequities, and lived experience across the life course. In this episode of Midlife: Unmasked, I sit down with Yamnia I. Cortés, PhD, MPH, RN, FAHA, FAAN, director of the CortésMenoLab and a national leader in menopause and cardiovascular health disparities research. Dr. Cortés’ work bridges sociocultural, behavioral, environmental, and biological science to better understand why midlife health outcomes differ — particularly for Latinas and other marginalized women. We explore: * What is often overlooked when we talk about menopause and cardiovascular risk * How early life experiences shape menopause symptoms and heart health decades later * The critical connection between reproductive aging, sleep, and cognitive decline * Culturally grounded, community-engaged interventions that actually work * Why menopause must become visible in health policy and workplace conversations This episode expands The Missing Decade conversation by asking a crucial question: Who has been missing from the data? Because menopause equity is cardiovascular equity. And midlife health is public health. 🎧 Listen now.

Episode 17: The Midlife Reset: How Lifestyle Medicine Transforms Hormones, Energy & Metabolic Health with Andie Otto

Midlife health is often reduced to prescriptions or quick fixes—but real, lasting change happens upstream. In today’s episode of Midlife: Unmasked, we explore lifestyle medicine as one of the most powerful—and misunderstood—drivers of health during perimenopause and beyond. I’m joined by Andie Otto, founder of Nourished, LLC, a lifestyle medicine coach specializing in metabolic health, perimenopause support, and coaching for individuals using GLP-1 medications. Andie breaks down how evidence-based nutrition, behavior change, and whole-person coaching can support hormone balance, gut health, energy, and long-term well-being—especially during physiologic transitions that traditional care often oversimplifies. We talk about: * What lifestyle medicine actually means in real life * How to support metabolic health during perimenopause * Navigating GLP-1 medications with sustainable habits—not extremes * Why plant-forward eating and small, consistent shifts matter more than perfection If you’re navigating metabolic changes, adapting to a GLP-1 medication, or simply seeking more vitality through food and lifestyle, this conversation offers clarity, tools, and encouragement for the road ahead. https://nourishedservices.com/~nourith7/