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In this episode of The Hotflash inc Podcast, journalist Ann Marie McQueen interviews Kristeen Pollock,a a Scotland-based fitness coach, speaker, and podcast host who is helping women finally break free from toxic exercise culture and reclaim their relationship with food, movement, and themselves.

Kristeen gets real about what it was like to live inside the exhausting loop of dieting, restriction, and chasing “perfection” – and what changed. Together they explore the emotional rollercoaster of perimenopause, learning to actually rest, dealing with body image shifts, and how to find your way back to freedom in midlife.

The Hotflash Inc Summit All Access Pass https://summit.hotflashinc.com/hotflash-inc-summit-all-access-pass

Thank you to our Hotflash inc Summit gold sponsor:
MenoLabs – Use code HOTFLASH for 20% off https://menolabs.com

What we explored this episode:
00:06 – Why the fitness industry is toxic and out of touch
00:11 – Body image, disordered eating, and midlife triggers
00:16 – From binge eating to food freedom + exposure therapy
00:22 – Letting go of control + emotional release in perimenopause
00:30 – Doing less, resting more, and embracing the shift

Memorable quote:
"If you can’t do it for 10 years, don’t do it for one day." – Kristeen Pollock

Connect with our guest:
Website: https://kpfitandwell.co/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kpingfit/
Podcast: Keeping it Real
LinkedIn: Kristeen Pollock

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Am I neurodivergent?

In this episode of the Hotflash inc Podcast, host and journalist Ann Marie McQueen sits down with Skylar Liberty Rose – a meditation guide, pro-aging advocate, and ceremony creator – to explore the layered intersection of neurodivergence and perimenopause. The two friends share a candid, nuanced conversation about realizing they may be neurodivergent later in life, how that connects with the hormonal shifts of midlife, and what it means to drop the mask and fully show up.

Sponsored: Thank you to MenoLabs for being a gold sponsor of the first-ever Hotflash inc Summit. Their science-backed probiotics, including the bestselling MenoFit, are designed to support women through perimenopause and menopause. Right now, you can get 20% off with code HOTFLASH20 at menolabs.com.

Highlights:

• 5:30 – Growing up with sensory sensitivities but having no language for it
• 8:00 – The misunderstanding and shame around being an introvert
• 10:00 – Coping with alcohol, masking, and perfectionism
• 11:30 – Perimenopause as “the great unveiling” of truth
• 13:00 – Losing the ability to mask in midlife
• 14:00 – The collapse of executive functioning in perimenopause
• 16:00 – What it feels like to remove long-held coping tools
• 17:00 – Navigating social situations without alcohol
• 21:00 – The relief of realizing you’re neurodivergent
• 22:00 – Pursuing (or not) a formal diagnosis
• 25:30 – On external validation and trusting yourself

Skylar Liberty Rose
Website: skylarlibertyrose.com

Skylar offers personalized guided meditations and custom ceremonies to support women in midlife and beyond. Her work focuses on embracing aging, dismantling anti-aging narratives, and honoring the major (and often invisible) thresholds of life.

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If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a review, drop a comment, and share it with someone who might benefit — and don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show.

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This episode of the Hotflash inc Podcast is hosted by Ann Marie McQueen, journalist and founder of the world’s only reader-supported, research-based platform covering all aspects of perimenopause, menopause, and the midlife transition.

This week's guest is Maryann Selfe, the Zurich-based private banking expert turned women's health investment advocate. After 25 years advising ultra-high-net-worth clients, Maryann became laser-focused on the lack of funding flowing into women’s health – and she’s doing something about it.

Maryann is the founder of Femme Health Alliance, editor of the widely-read Substack The Billion Dollar Blind Spot and author of the forthcoming book of the same name. In this conversation, she breaks down how midlife women represent an invisible economic powerhouse, how both capital markets and healthcare systems are failing to meet our needs – and how that is slowly changing.

Fact check

• Major firms like JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley have introduced menopause-friendly workplace policies, including flexible work and education.
• A 2025 Nature Cardiovascular Research study found women achieved heart health benefits with about half the weekly exercise men required — with even greater mortality reductions, including among those with existing heart disease.
• The $10.7B invested in women’s health in 2024 includes conditions that disproportionately affect women, according to SVB’s 2025 Innovation in Women’s Health report.
• Blackstone and TPG’s acquisition of women’s health med-tech leader Hologic is expected to close in early 2026.

Sponsorship: We do take on partnerships with aligned companies. Reach out at connect@hotflashinc.com *We do not accept funding from the peptide or pharmaceutical industry.

Highlights include:

• Why so little capital flows into women’s health
• What she means when she says midlife women are “an invisible economy”
• Insomnia trials were done mostly on men
• Women’s health isn’t a trend
• Why this isn’t just “women’s health”
• The missed opportunity in progesterone research
• Why financial return and impact can (and must) coexist

Engage with Maryann Selfe

• The Billion Dollar Blind Spot by Femme Health Ventures Alliance on Substack
• LinkedIn: Maryann Selfe
• IG Femme Health Ventures Alliance

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Journalist and Hotflash inc founder Ann Marie McQueen welcomes Lauren Tetenbaum, aka The Counselaur – a licensed social worker, former lawyer, and author of Millennial Menopause: Preparing for Perimenopause, Menopause, and Life’s Next Period. At 40, Lauren brings a fresh, younger perspective to a conversation that's long left her generation out.

Ann Marie and Lauren dive into what it means to enter perimenopause as a millennial – through the lens of mental health, trauma, hormone therapy, supplements, shame, IVF, and what the next generation (Gen Z) might face. Lauren’s unique background in law, therapy, and women’s rights advocacy makes her a powerful voice in this space. Through her private practice and corporate workshops, she supports women navigating life transitions – including the often-misunderstood onset of perimenopause.

Fact Check:

During this discussion we explore breast cancer risk and hormone therapy, including the distinction between bioidentical progesterone and synthetic progestins. It's essential to understand the difference:

Across the strongest randomized evidence from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), combined estrogen plus synthetic progestin is associated with a 25–30% relative increase in breast cancer incidence – roughly 8 extra cases per 10,000 women per year in the original WHI report. More recent large observational datasets suggest a higher risk with combined therapy, especially with longer-term use. Combined estrogen with bioidentical progesterone (oral micronized progesterone) has not been shown to carry the same level of risk, though more research is needed.

Highlights:

• –Lauren explains why she wrote Millennial Menopause at 40
• How her law and social work background blend in advocacy and therapy
• Why most millennials are still clueless about perimenopause
• “Denial is the first symptom”
• Why personalized care is key
• How millennials are still scared of hormone therapy
• Estrogen-only vs. combined therapy
• Why trauma, mindset, and support shape your perimenopause experience
• What shocked Lauren most while researching menopause
• Is menopause estrogen deficiency or hormone fluctuation?
• Are supplements worth it?
• Why shame and dismissal still dominate menopause care
• Her hope for Gen Z and how they’re different from millennials
• How Lauren personally managed early peri symptoms with the pill
• IVF, fertility, and their possible ties to earlier menopause
• The gaps in medical training and misconceptions among doctors
• How risk is part of all health decisions – and how to weigh it
• Are millennials drinking less? The booze-risk conversation
• Why support matters even when there’s no “official” diagnosis

Where to connect with Laruen:

• LinkedIn: Laurenatetenbaum
• Instagram

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Thank you to our sponsor, Timeline Nutrition – makers of Mitopure™, the first clinically tested Urolithin A supplement that supports cellular energy and muscle strength. Visit www.timeline.com and use the code HOTFLASH for 20% off your first order.

Miriam Putnam is a certified wellness coach, spiritual mentor and freedom-from-stress counselor with more than 25 years of experience in holistic mental health advocacy. Miriam's life’s work was shaped by the heartbreaking loss of her mother, who struggled with mental illness, misdiagnosis and pharmaceutical harm during her own midlife transition.

Their raw and deeply honest conversation explores the intersections of mental health, spiritual health, body health and perimenopause – and what can happen when we begin to question the systems we've trusted. Miriam shares her unique perspective on underlying causes of mental anguish, the danger of holding tight to a diagnosis and how midlife can become a powerful catalyst for transformation and truth-seeking.

If you’ve ever felt like you were losing yourself in perimenopause, or you're supporting someone who is, this conversation will help you feel less alone –and remind you of your strength.

Highlights

• Miriam describes her mom’s shift during midlife
• Underlying physical conditions that can mimic or trigger “mental illness”
• Miriam’s mother’s resistance to pharmaceutical treatment and her spiritual drive
• The brutal toll of grief and loss, especially when unsupported
• How Miriam works with clients to break free from spiritual stagnation and misdiagnosis
• Exercises to strengthen the “mind muscle” and shift out of negative thinking
• Why visualizing your future requires emotional presence and clarity
• The power of remembering we are more than our hormones and diagnoses
• Miriam’s practical approach to staying conscious and spiritually well

Fact check
Cannabis use is consistently linked to psychotic symptoms and disorders. Multiple studies and reviews show a strong and consistent association between cannabis use and psychosis, including schizophrenia-like symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions (Gage & Hickman, 2016); (Pearson & Berry, 2019). Genetic and environmental factors moderate vulnerability. Genetic variations (such as in COMT and AKT1 genes), family history of psychosis, and childhood trauma amplify the risk of psychosis following cannabis use (Radhakrishnan & Wilkinson, 2014); (Quattrone, 2022); (Trotta & Spinazzola, 2025).

A big thank you to Kion Aminos, gold sponsor of the first-ever Hotflash Inc Summit. Kion’s essential amino acids provide a clean, clinically-backed formula to support muscle repair and recovery.
Get 20% off at getkion.com/hotflash.

Guest Info

Miriam Putnam
Website: miriamputnam.org
Instagram:

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Hosted by journalist and Hotflash inc founder Ann Marie McQueen, this week’s episode features Sonja Rincon, founder and CEO of Menotracker, an AI-powered menopause app based in Austria. Sonja is also a lawyer and single mother who built the tool she wished she had when navigating her own confusing and often dismissed perimenopause symptoms.

In this honest and empowering conversation, Sonja explains how she went from being gaslit by doctors to developing a secure, multilingual, research-driven tracking tool that empowers women to identify patterns, advocate for themselves, and share vital data with their healthcare providers.

You'll hear about how Menotracker differs from other apps by protecting user privacy, generating detailed reports, offering translations in over 30 languages and allowing deep integrations with wearables. Sonja also opens up about her own HRT journey and the frustrating road to understanding what was really going on in her body.

If you’ve ever wondered whether tracking symptoms is worth it, or how midlife women can step into their power as their own health advocates, this conversation is for you.

Sponsor Shoutout: Thank you to our sponsor, Timeline Nutrition – makers of Mitopure™, the first clinically tested Urolithin A supplement that supports cellular energy and muscle strength. Visit www.timeline.com and use the code HOTFLASH for 20% off your first order.

Also a big thanks to Kion Aminos, gold sponsor of the first-ever Hotflash Inc Summit. Their clean, leucine-rich amino acid blend is up to 6x more effective than food-based protein, and helps support recovery, strength, and energy – especially under stress. Learn more at getkion.com/hotflash for 20% off your order.

HIGHLIGHTS

• How Sonja’s own perimenopause symptoms led her to HRT and away from SSRIs
• Why her early symptoms were misdiagnosed as stress
• How tracking helped her fine-tune her hormone therapy
• The importance of not giving up too soon when adjusting HRT
• The tipping point: her friend’s promotion was denied due to visible perimenopause symptoms
• Why most trackers fail: lack of reports, language barriers, and questionable data use
• Menotracker’s privacy-first approach
• Why pattern recognition is key for symptom awareness and medical advocacy
• 40+ symptoms available to track and growing through user feedback
• How she taught herself low-code tools and AI to launch the first version
• The power of knowing enough to not be bamboozled by developers
• Offering the app in 30+ languages
• Why Europe is lagging behind in the menopause conversation
• Community-based growth strategy and bringing in experts of diverse backgrounds

Guest info:

• Founder & CEO, Menotracker
• Website: www.menotracker.com
• Instagram:

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In this episode, Ann Marie speaks with Dr Gary Elkins, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Baylor University and director of the Mind-Body Medicine Research Laboratory, in Waco, Texas. Dr. Elkins is the leading researcher in the field of clinical hypnosis for menopause, with more than 25 years of experience and more 100 peer-reviewed publications.

He joins Hotflash inc to explore the groundbreaking science behind hypnosis for hot flashes, its surprising effectiveness (up to 70% reduction!), how it works in the brain, why it matters for breast cancer survivors, and how hypnosis may also support sleep, stress, and other midlife symptoms. They also discuss Evia, the self-hypnosis app built on Dr. Elkins’ research, and the critical importance of hjaving non-pharmaceutical options for symptom relief.

Support shoutout Thank you to our sponsor, Timeline Nutrition – makers of Mitopure™, the first clinically tested Urolithin A supplement that supports cellular energy and muscle strength. Visit www.timeline.com and use the code HOTFLASH for 20% off your first order.

Thank you to KION for sponsoring the first-ever Hotflash inc Summit. Their aminos is a clean, science-backed essential amino acid supplement that gives your body what it needs to build and repair muscle. It's sugar-free, vegan, non-GMO, and most importantly, third-party tested. Try it for yourself at getkion.com/hotflash for 20% off your first order.

Highlights

• How hypnosis became part of NAMS (now The Menopause Society) guidelines
• Research showing hypnosis reduces hot flashes by 70%
• What hypnosis is and what it definitely isn’t
• What happens in the brain during hypnosis
• The “triple fallacy” and misunderstanding physical symptoms
• Comparing hypnosis to hormone therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
• How hypnosis helps improve sleep and calm anxiety
• Why hot flashes are a physiological issue, not a psychological one
• What to expect: when and how hypnosis starts to work
• The power of daily practice and support from others
• Addressing misconceptions about hypnotizability and intelligence
• What the research says about empathy, creativity and hypnosis
• The mind-body connection and the experiential system
• How hypnosis taps into the subconscious (without the woo)
• Dr. Elkins on consulting for the Evia app and why it matters
• Future research: hypnosis for sleep and psychedelic states without drugs

Guest Info – Dr. Gary Elkins

• Website: www.garyelkins.org
• Book: Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy: What You Need to Know
• Handbook: Handbook of Medical and Psychological Hypnosis
• Evia App: https://www.eviamenopause.com

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Welcome back to the Hotflash inc podcast, hosted by journalist and founder Ann Marie McQueen – the only reader-supported, evidence, expert opinion and human experience-based platform dedicated to all aspects of menopause and midlife. Today’s guest is Jennifer Block, an independent investigative journalist based in the United States. who reports on medicine, health, science and power. In this episode, Ann Marie and Jennifer explore the rising tide of estrogen-focused messaging in menopause care – and how it might not be as organic or evidence-based as it seems. Jennifer has just published three major articles — in The Free Press, The British Medical Journal and on her Substack Unpopular Science — that connect long-suspected dots between pharma-backed advocacy, conflicts of interest and the shifting tone around hormone therapy. Together, these pieces paint a picture of an industry-backed campaign influencing policy, public opinion, and clinical guidance. If you’ve been wondering why estrogen is suddenly everywhere, this is the conversation you’ve been waiting for.

Sponsor Shoutout: Thank you to our sponsor, Timeline Nutrition – makers of Mitopure™, the first clinically tested Urolithin A supplement that supports cellular energy and muscle strength. Visit www.timeline.com and use the code HOTFLASH for 20% off your first order.

Also, thank you to our friends at Bonafide. Visit hellobonafide.com and use code SUMMIT20 to receive 20% off your first month of any Bonafide subscription product.

Highlights

• How Jennifer’s recent reporting was sparked by the FDA black box warning change
• The behind-the-scenes forces pushing for estrogen’s big comeback
• Why the “menopause awareness movement” isn’t as grassroots as it seems
• What Jennifer uncovered about the industry ties behind the Menopause Society
• Why many doctors may not be aware of their own industry entanglements
• How these dynamics affect everyday women making decisions about HRT
• What informed consent really means in this climate
• The importance of journalistic scrutiny in medical debates

Fact check:

• Addyi (flibanserin) offers a modest benefit for certain premenopausal women with HSDD (hypoactive sexual desire disorder), averaging 0.5 to 1 additional satisfying sexual event per month compared to placebo.
• Compounded hormones typically do not carry standardized FDA boxed warnings or package inserts. These customized medications are exempt from federal labeling regulations, meaning key risk information may not be included.

About Jennifer

• Website: www.jenniferblock.com
• Substack: Unpopular Science

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