I've been that woman. That's why I do this.

It didn't happen all at once.

At forty-five, I was building something I was proud of. A career that had taken years of showing up, earning trust, and doing good work. And then, quietly, something started to shift.

Not all at once. There was no dramatic moment. Just a slow, creeping sense that I wasn't quite myself anymore. The sleep that had always come easily stopped coming. My focus flickered. My confidence, which had never been something I worried about, started showing up unreliably. I sat in rooms where I used to feel certain and heard my own voice as if from a step behind.

I saw doctors. Most of them were kind but hurried. One told me I was just in a busy season. Another, when I started connecting the dots myself, shrugged and said, "I don't do menopause." I cycled through remedies, filled journals, and tried to out-discipline what I now understand was a biological transition. Spoiler: biology is not impressed by discipline.

Eventually I made a decision I never expected to make. I stepped away from my career. Not because I wanted to. Because I didn't think I could keep pushing through.

It wasn't until I started putting the pieces together, reading, researching, comparing notes with other women, that I understood what had actually been happening. I was in perimenopause. And nobody had told me. Not my doctors, not my mother, not anyone.

Once I had the language, everything looked different.

Nobody told me.

Becoming a Menopause Doula wasn't a plan. It grew out of a thousand dead ends and one conversation I still think about. A woman said to me, "If I'd known this was perimenopause sooner, I would have handled everything differently." I felt that sentence in my bones.

A doula doesn't diagnose or prescribe. She accompanies. She helps you understand what's happening, navigate your options, and feel less alone in the process.

That's what I couldn't find when I needed it most. So I became it.

What I believe

I believe this is a life transition, not a medical condition. That most women are navigating it without language, without support, and without anyone telling them that what they're feeling makes complete sense.

I believe the silence around this isn't accidental. We watched our mothers push through without talking about it. We work in cultures where showing any sign of slowing down feels like a risk. We've been taught, directly and indirectly, that this is a private matter to be managed quietly.

It doesn't have to be that way.

A bit about me.

I'm an ICF certified life and leadership coach and career strategist based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I'm also the co-host of The Empowered and Embodied Show, a podcast for women navigating midlife on their own terms.

I'm a contributing author to Confident You: The Raw Conversations, where my chapter, You're Not Behind, You're Becoming, shares the framework I built from my own experience navigating this transition.

I've been featured on CBC Manitoba and in the news. I speak to organizations across Canada about the intersection of perimenopause, performance, and workplace culture.

If any of this sounds familiar, you're in the right place.

The Midlife Gathering is a community for women navigating this transition with honesty, real information, and the company of women who actually get it. It's where the conversation Louise couldn't find when she needed it most is happening now.

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