September 24, 2024 • 38 mins
Ever wondered how menopause impacts more than just physical health? In this episode, age enthusiast, community health advocate, and media pioneer Denise Pines shares her incredible journey from the entertainment world to becoming a leading voice in menopause awareness. Denise recounts her transformation after experiencing hot flashes while serving as vice president of the medical board of California, leading her to co-create Tea Botanics and empower women through menopause-focused teas. Her mission is clear: to provide women in midlife with evidence-based information and support.
As menopause gains visibility, thanks to social media and advocates like Oprah, Denise sheds light on the significant challenges still faced in this field. From the difficulty of getting doctors to publicly engage to the shortage of substantial funding from major foundations and corporations, Denise underscores the urgent need for more investment and understanding in menopause research. Our discussion reveals the alarming lack of recent data on menopause, highlighting the pressing necessity for comprehensive research to better support women's health and well-being.
Join us as we explore Denise's impactful advocacy and educational endeavors, including her groundbreaking documentary "The (M) Factor." This film not only highlights the brain changes during perimenopause and the risks of permanent brain decline but also aims to secure more funding for menopause research. Denise shares her vision of transforming "The (M) Factor" from a film into a comprehensive community platform, supporting women, employers, and practitioners. With upcoming screenings and a PBS airing on October 17th, this episode promises to inspire and inform anyone interested in advancing women's health through menopause awareness.
About Denise:
An age enthusiast, longtime community health advocate, and media pioneer, Denise Pines is a trusted resource for women as they pursue midlife wellness. She founded WisePause Wellness, a pro-aging health, education, and workplace platform and co-founder of the FemAging Project which hosts pitch competitions and provides innovators and investors in the health and tech industry sector with research reports addressing innovations specifically designed for women ages 40+. She’s the co-founder and CEO of Tea Botanics and the inspiration behind Hot Flash Tea. Pines is the president of the Osteopathic Medical Board of California and past president of the Medical Board of California and serves on the Board of the Federation for State Medical Board. Pines co-founded Women in the Room Productions and is an award-winning filmmaker producing 12 documentaries including “Birthing Justice” which examines the Black maternal health crisis in America and her next film “The M Factor: Shredding the Silence on Menopause” opens up the conversation on menopause.
Websites:
www.themfactorfilm.com
www.wisepause.com
Continuing Ed for The (M) Factor Film:
www.fsmb.org
MiDOViA LINKS:
Website: https://www.midovia.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mymidovia
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/midovia
Email Us: info@midovia.com
MiDOViA is dedicated to changing the narrative about menopause by educating, raising awareness & supporting women in this stage of life, both at home and in the workplace. Visit midovia.com to learn more.
The information, including but not limited to, text, graphics, images & other material contained on this website are for informational purposes only. No material on this site is intended to be a sub
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Medovia Menopause Podcast, your
trusted source forevidence-based, science-backed
information related to menopause.
Medovia is dedicated tochanging the narrative about
menopause by educating, raisingawareness and supporting women
in this stage of life, both athome and in the workplace.
(00:21):
Visit medoviacom to learn morehome and in the workplace.
Visit Medoviacom to learn more.
I'm one of your hosts, aprilHaberman, and I'm joined by Kim
Hart.
We're co-founders of Medovia,certified health coaches,
registered yoga teachers andmidlife mamas specializing in
menopause.
You're listening to anotherepisode of our podcast, where we
(00:43):
offer expert guidance for themost transformative stage of
life, bringing you realconversations, education and
resources to help you overcomechallenges and reach your full
potential through midlife.
Join us and our special guestseach episode as we bring vibrant
, fun and truthful conversationand let us help you have a
(01:07):
deeper understanding ofmenopause.
Hi everyone, we're so excited tohave our guest on the show
today, denise Pines.
She is an age enthusiast,longtime community health
advocate and media pioneer.
Denise is a trusted resourcefor women as they pursue midlife
wellness.
She founded Wise Paws Wellness.
(01:29):
She's the co-founder and CEO ofTea Botanics and the
inspiration behind Hot Flash Tea.
We have to get some of that.
Pines is the president of theOsteopathic Medical Board of
California and serves on theboard of Federation for State
Medical Board.
Heinz co-founded Women in theRoom Productions and is an
(01:50):
award-winning filmmaker,producing 12 documentaries,
including her next film, the MFactor, shredding the Silence on
Menopause, and we get to openup the conversation about
menopause and her next film, solet's dive right in.
Hey everyone, we are so excitedto have Denise Pines with us
(02:15):
today and we get to talk aboutall things menopause our
favorite topic so let's dive in,denise.
Welcome to the show, thank youfor having me.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah, this is going to be a fantastic conversation.
You have a remarkablebackground, an impressive resume
, and so let's dive in, becauseI know that there's a lot of
buzz about this documentary.
People are curious about it,and I'd love to start off by
just asking you to share withour audience how you got into
(02:52):
the production.
How did you get into producingfilms in the first place?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
So I have actually been in entertainment for maybe
over 25 years now.
I started as a creativeproducer for talk you know talk
TV, talk radio programs and thenthe person who I was working
with got an opportunity toproduce four documentaries with
PBS and that really kicked offmy interest in documentaries and
(03:20):
really finding like that was mysweet spot you could tell a
really great story.
It was fun to unravel anduncover the stories and then to
travel around the country andtell those stories.
So I really found that you knowdocumentaries storytelling was
really where I thought wasreally powerful and you can make
(03:41):
a change, and that where I feltlike I really thrived more so
than you know talk, you can makea change.
And that where I felt like Ireally thrived more so than you
know talk you know talk TV andwe work with lots of celebrities
.
So it was talk celebrity stuff,right.
So this kind of out of the youknow hearing about celebrity
stuff to hearing about everydaypeople's things.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah Well, I'm sure you have met some remarkable
people along the way as well,and that could probably be an
entire separate podcast in andof itself.
I'm sure that there are lots ofstories with that, but I'd love
to hear your story on how the Mfactor came about.
What led to this work?
(04:20):
What you know?
What was there a particularmoment in time and experience
that inspired this work?
What you know?
What was there a particularmoment in time and experience
that inspired this project?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Well, you know, really, it just began with my my
journey.
So my journey in getting a hotflash, and, like most women, I
was caught off guard, had, youknow, little knowledge.
But the difference for me wasthat I, at the time, I was the
vice president of the medicalboard of California, so I had
access to any doctor in my state.
(04:48):
And yet I was prepared at thisstage of my life, and I, you
know, and so this just led medown a path first to solve my
own hot flashes, and so I, youknow, like treating all my
health issues naturally.
So I partnered with my doctorand we co-created a company
called T-Botanics where welaunched a series of teas for
(05:11):
menopause, from hot flashes andnight sweats to brain fog and
anxiety.
And then that led me to talkingto all women and I realized,
like gosh, so many women areconfused, just like the way I
was.
Let me bring all these doctors,since I'm like influential in
my state, together.
You know, one day summit to givewomen evidence-based
(05:34):
information, and we termed itWise Paws Wellness, and I said
it was talking about fem techand everything in the solutions
were for women around periodfertility or parenting, and I
just said, well, we're going tofem aging tech solutions and so
(06:08):
thought about creating aninitiative called the Fem Aging
Project where we could raise thevoice of this woman in research
.
So we released a report duringCOVID.
We released a report about whatshe's thinking about, about her
health and aging, and then wepartnered with one of the
largest angel investmentnetworks in the world called
Koretsu's Forum and starteddoing pitch competitions to
generate more interest in thisarea, to elevate those who were
(06:28):
who did have Femtech healthproducts, and then to meet with
investors and do presentationsfor investors about the
viability of this market and toremove the thought for them that
this market was niched.
Then, as a filmmaker, I went.
I got to do a documentary right.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Yes, of course yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
I love it.
I love that you followed everybreadcrumb of your interest to.
You know, go do the things thatlit you up, cause obviously
those are all of those thingsyou mentioned make you excited.
You can tell let's talk aboutthe M factor Like those are
unfamiliar.
Can you give us sort of anoverview of that documentary and
what it explores and how thatall came about, because it's
(07:15):
coming up soon?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
It's coming up soon.
So in the M factor you know wewanted to cover, we wanted first
to start off with a montage ofwomen.
We're familiar with some womenwe're not familiar with, meaning
that they're just patients toshare, like you know.
Here's my experience, here's myexperience, here's my
experience, right, and then wego into talking about the, you
(07:37):
know, the top pieces of theexperience that most women share
.
So one the impact thatmenopause has on the brain.
So a lot of us know LisaMonsconi.
She's an amazing person out ofWeill in New York and she's
written a book recently justabout the brain and menopause,
right Looking at.
She got research dollars tolook at the brain before a woman
(08:00):
goes into menopause, looks atthe brain during perimenopause
and then looks at the brain onceshe hits menopause and some
years after, and that data isfascinating and that is in the
film.
When she talks about that thereal connection between the
brain and the hormone andreproductive system she also
says something that was reallyinteresting in the film.
(08:22):
She also said something thatwas really interesting in the
film and she said that when itcomes to the brain, we go to a
gynecologist around that, butthey don't specialize in brain,
but we go to them for that.
So that just was sort of an ahafor myself about how we need to
wrap ourselves around a more360 care of our bodies.
Right, that we have beenrelying on our gynecologists to
(08:46):
be everything about our health.
Well, that's not whatgynecologists do, right?
Gynecologists really focus fromthe belly button, you know,
down, you know, to the end ofour pubic area, right?
But that we also need theseother wraparound people.
And so, when she said that,that came to light for me.
We try to unpack HRT hormonereplacement therapy.
(09:11):
We bring in the lack of accessthat Black women and Latino
women have and why they sufferwith longer symptoms and more
severe symptoms.
So we bring in women of colorinto the story.
We have patient stories.
We show up patient facing withthe physician so that women
(09:31):
watching can see like this isthe kind of relationship that
you should be experiencing withyour physician.
And if you're not, move on,right.
We talk about sexual, sexualhealth.
We have some interestingreveals around uh, testosterone,
and then we um get into theworkplace.
You know our favorite area,right.
(09:53):
We highlight a company calledgenentech that has done a really
great job in embracing ummenopause in the workplace, from
policy to insurance, to makingsure that their employees and
the employee's family has 24-7access to a health care provider
(10:14):
.
So we want to show what does itlook like when the workplace
shows up for these women.
And then we end with lettingpeople know like these are great
years.
These are years when we havelike this crazy amount of wisdom
.
These are the years when wemake the most money in our lives
.
These are the years where weare the huge decision maker
(10:36):
across our health, for ourfamily, across our finances and
how they're spent.
And this is where we get toreconnect back to that young
self of our hobbies or whateverit was before we started having
children and kind of said, ah,we'll get back to that one day.
This is the time to get back.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Right.
Yeah, I absolutely love thestorytelling piece that you have
real people, real stories, sothat women can relate to that.
I think we do relate tostorytelling, right.
It draws us in, much more sothan just information being
pushed out.
But what I'm also hearing,denise, is that this documentary
(11:17):
is really an aha right.
So we want this to be an aharight.
So we want this to be.
You want this to be an ahamoment, like this is what
menopause is, and this is thereal truth and the real story.
And come here and get this andtake a bite, right, and and
(11:39):
we're going to give youresources, we're going to give
you, like you said, a sneak peekinto a doctor's visit, and this
is what it should look like,because we don't know what we
don't know, right, and we onlyknow what we've been told up
until this point.
So you're really kind ofpulling back the curtain, right.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yes For us.
So we have, you and I.
We've been in this space for along time now.
Right, so we are.
We have so much knowledge, butwe have to realize we are an
anomaly.
We are really an anomaly.
People do not have the basicknowledge, just knowing what the
word menopause really means,let alone current menopause.
(12:20):
So I'm always having to put mybeginner's hat on every time
when I'm talking or meetingpeople.
When I'm with you, I can justcome, we can come right at it,
but we got to recognize everytime.
So that's what this film is.
This film is an introduction tothis topic, to create awareness
(12:41):
and what are the reallyimportant needs for women and
how do we need to get started.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Yeah, and it's much more than just our vaginal
health and our ovaries and ouruterus and right, I mean you
mentioned it, the brainconnection, and I think there is
even an oral health piece inthere, and we don't even think
about that when we're, when wethink about menopause.
So hats off to you.
You may have just answered thequestion, but why now?
(13:07):
Why are we?
Why are you releasing adocumentary on menopause?
Why now?
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I think that we kind of have come into where
menopause is starting to enterthe zeitgeist right, and really
I think who really kicked it offat a higher level there was
obviously, you know, all of theconversation that really was
happening in social media.
It gave women an opportunity tostart talking and sharing
(13:35):
information about what was goingon with themselves and then
that just started to really growand then it started to.
For me, what I saw really wasthe New York Times do articles.
One of their early articles wasaround the menopause boom.
So looking at all of these sortof Gen X companies that were
(13:56):
coming into the space becauseGen X got here and went what,
the what?
Speaker 1 (14:02):
For sure.
You don't have that I'm goingto.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
I'm gonna create one, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do
that right, because you knowthat's that generation, that's
what they do.
Um, and then women.
Then I saw doctors right.
When I first started doing WisePaws in 2019, I really couldn't
get a lot of doctors.
I mean my power, as at thattime, the president of the
Medical Board of California gotme to get them there to the
(14:28):
table but it really was hard toget doctors to come out publicly
and really want a front facewith the public.
They were used to being intheir bubble, of talking to each
other, kind of like the wayNAMS is right, and so it was.
You know, it was really tough,and now you see these doctors
all coming out.
(14:49):
They've created platforms.
You know, women are speaking upabout it.
You've got, you know, mypartner in this project, tamsyn,
speaking up about it.
You've got St you know, mypartner in this project, tamsyn,
speaking up about it.
You've got Stacey Londonspeaking up and you're getting
now personalities that have comeinto the fray, you know, and
the ultimate was Oprah.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Yes, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Oprah, thank you for sure, she changed the narrative.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
She started to change the narrative and we started to
make it be a serious topic, asopposed to this thing that was
fodder in the past, right wherewe ha, ha about it, tease women
about it, make fun and pun aboutit, and we need to remove
ourselves from that it wasinteresting when we wanted to do
this film like I wanted to do athread line of humor, right,
(15:38):
and Wanda Sykes.
I love Wanda Sykes and WandaSykes has some of the best
comedy on menopause.
It's very highbrow.
It's really interesting anddifferent.
And then we thought you knowwhat?
First, we didn't have enoughroom inside the film because
it's an hour.
But second, we thought, no, wedon't need to be funny Because
(15:59):
an hour.
But second we thought, no, wedon't need to be funny.
Thread that through.
You know, maybe the next film,when someone does it can thread
in that Right now we need peopleto be serious about this.
There's not, there's.
This is not a laughing matter,right?
Very serious matter.
This is very disruptive towomen's lives and it alters
relationships for them.
It offers, you know, it alterstheir, could, disrupt their work
(16:23):
and career path.
So this is a very serious thingand we decided not to add
homework inside of it.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Yeah, I'm glad.
I'm glad you didn't.
Kim, you were going to saysomething, yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
I was.
You know I'm thinking about allthe challenges that we face,
like trying to break, break the,you know, the stigma inside the
workplaces that we talk to andeducate, have to educate so much
of what we do, trying to, youknow, get, get funding for it,
(17:01):
get people involved in it.
Like what, what sort of whatwere those obstacles and how did
you overcome them?
Did you have any surprises orahas that you thought, oh man,
this will be easy and it washard?
Or vice versa?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
You know I thought it was going to be easy.
So you know this is my 13thfilm.
I've raised money from the top25 foundations in the world, not
just in the US but in the world, had relationships with
presidents of those entities,from the Kellogg's to the Ford
to the Robert Wood Johnson, likedirect connection, and I could
(17:33):
not get a dollar out of thoseentities because they did not
see this as and the way I framedit is a public health crisis.
They didn't see it.
They did not have prioritiesinside of their giving that
would allow them to support thisfilm and the creation of this
(17:53):
film and toward the outreach.
And so I was like initiallyshocked, going oh, oh, oh, oh,
what am I going to do, right?
So then I went out into thecorporations who have been
funding, you know, organizationslike let's talk menopause,
let's talk about menopause andsome other entities, and what I
(18:13):
realized is no one was givingreal money, right.
10,000 or 25,000, that's notreal money.
I mean, a documentary costs, ona low end, about 800,000, on
the higher end, maybe 1.7million, right?
So that's the standard range ofa documentary.
And here we had zero dollarsand so we put money into it
(18:36):
ourselves.
I mean, this is how much thatwe believed in this space and
believing that, you know, downthe road, the funding would come
in, I will say no, the fundinghasn't really come in.
Yeah, that was definitely ashock that we're talking about
it, but we're not investing in,right?
So that's the reality of wherewe are.
(18:58):
The next is, as we were you know, fact checking doing all of our
research.
Just the lack of research wasunreal to me.
We're operating off of datathat's 12 to 15 years old,
meaning that's the most recentdata, Right?
(19:20):
It made me realize how littlewe really know about menopause,
including treatment options.
I know we have HRT and all ofthis stuff, but when you ask
half of these people physiciansaround like you know exactly how
does it work.
You know exactly what's in it.
These are chemicals, you know.
There's still to me the datamissing just in that, and I know
we had that big research.
That happened in 2002, but whydid we stop?
(19:43):
Why did we just keepresearching, right?
So we have now 22 years of whatI would say significant data
gap around other treatmentoptions and definitely around
women who want to take a morenatural approach.
I don't like all thepooh-poohing around that.
I'm a person who deals with myhealth.
(20:03):
Naturally it works.
We have only been living ashumans off medication for about
100 years and, if I'm going tobe honest, really about the last
50, 55 years.
So for the last million yearsof human existence.
What have we been surviving offof?
We've been surviving off theland, the earth right, the
(20:25):
plants.
So I get really upset whenpeople believe that chemical
drugs are the end all to ourhealth and wellness.
It is absolutely not, I think.
The other thing that was reallyshocking and I wanted to, and
this was one of those12-year-old stats was the use of
HRT.
(20:46):
Only 4% of women were using it.
This is 12 years ago.
Data Couldn't get a recent datapoint.
The Menopause Society justreleased September 10th of this
year, so this month, the latestdata on this and it was alarming
.
Now only 1.8% of women areusing HRT.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
So we're shocked, which is amazing.
Right, I mean right, crazy it'sgone down.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
We need more research to understand why what is that,
right, um, so you know, sothere was, you know, you know, a
lot of aha moments and lack ofresearch.
Um, the difference that youknow the positions, that all,
really, some of them don't agreeon things, right, um, I think
the other thing is just who isthe best expert to tell the
(21:37):
story?
You know there's so many, youknow we call them the menopause,
and there's menopause here,menopause there, right, right,
like, who do we really have,when people started to find out?
Because you know one doctorfriend to tell another doctor
friend, oh, I just gotinterviewed for the impactor,
call him up.
So, like, every doctor feltlike, oh, wow, should be in it.
(22:00):
That was definitely challenging.
Um, and then I would say thestories.
You know we have quite a fewstories.
There was only so many thatreally what I call made the cut.
Yeah, didn't mean thatsomeone's story wasn't valuable.
Um, it just was like how wewere trying to tell the story,
what really made sense.
And then at some point, youknow you kind of have to stop,
right, you got to, and it reallywas the director.
(22:22):
Right, the director is thedecision maker.
And one day she said stop, donot send me another expert, do
not send me another patient.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Wow, it's too much.
right, it's one hour, it's onehour, you'll have to do another
one, although we just said, youknow, funding has been a
challenge, and I find that notsurprising, but surprising,
something that affects not just50% of the population, because
we know that you said it earlier, denise it's not just
(22:53):
individuals that areexperiencing menopause, it's
everyone else around you, right?
Menopause affects 100% ofpeople, so we're talking about
something that is prettyimpactful to everybody on earth
here, and we don't have thefunding, we don't have the
support for it.
So I hope that the M factorreally raises that awareness for
(23:17):
not only individuals, so thatthey have the resources and the
education that they need, butalso it's an aha for
corporations, the private sector, so that there is more funding
for menopause relatedinformation, documentaries,
products, whatever that might be.
Yeah, and research, yes, Ithink the first lady, jill Biden
(23:41):
, just announced another roundof funding from the Pentagon
yesterday.
So for research, which is good.
I haven't read the full pressrelease on that yet, so I'll
have to dig in a little bitfurther.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
That's giving the money now what's that dod?
Speaker 1 (24:01):
oh yes that.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
That's where I'm confused.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
But okay, that's fine we'll take it, but it is odd
dollars right yeah yeah, we'lltake, we'll take it, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Yeah, all the crumbs start to add up.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Yeah, but it's interesting.
It is.
It's curious that's the wordI'll use today very curious.
Yeah, denise, there's a lotthat the documentary covers in
that hour and you've had toreally rein it in.
As you look back now, uh, afterall of the pieces have been put
together and you're able towatch this film, what resonates
(24:41):
with you personally the most?
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Um, I, it resonates with me, I think the brain,
really, that brain conversationwas like wow, it really
factualized it, right, it reallyvalidated that something does
happen to women during theperimenopause years.
(25:05):
Even more shocking is when youcome on the other side of it.
Right, that there are somewomen that come and they get a
20-year-old brain back.
Right, they go in with I don'tknow a 46-year-old brain and
come out with a 20-year-oldbrain.
I thought, ooh, that wasn't me.
That's exciting though.
Yeah, like me, I came back withthe same brain I went into.
(25:28):
The really alarming part was thewomen who have permanent brain
decline.
Wow, yeah.
And what do we do for thosewomen?
Those are the women who show upas dementia on Alzheimer's
later on, right?
So now that we know that, howcan we?
What is this?
What's the secret to the 20year old brain?
(25:49):
Or just, hey, let me just keepthe brain I have.
When I went into this phase, Imean, how do we help those women
who actually deterioratementally?
So that, I think, was, you know, the biggest personal takeaway
of like going.
Yes, you know those momentswhere I can't remember
somebody's name who I've knownfor 25 years and they're
(26:10):
standing right in front of me.
It made that like really honein and say it was very real.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Yeah, wow.
So what's the ultimate goal foryou in this, in this
documentary?
And then what's next in termsof your menopause advocacy Cause
?
I mean, you are got your handsin so many great places of it
and I just love that.
You're like there's a needthere, I'm going to go fill it.
There's a need there, I'm goingto go fill it.
Yeah, right.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Right?
Well, we know you get up at 4am, denise, so you have to in
order to get it all done.
Yeah, you know one I have tosay.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I do play hard.
I mean I travel.
I have to say I do play hard.
I mean I travel extensively, Iget together with my friends and
my family.
So I'm not that I'm a I'm areally intense work person, but
(27:05):
I'm a really intense play personas well.
So, in terms of what we havegoing on, I mean we have
screenings now around the USthat are about to jump off.
The first one, the very firstscreening I'm doing in two days
in San Francisco for a privateclub like a you know, like one
of these like you know kind ofclubs, and then we sort of
(27:27):
really kick off everything veryearly October.
But now we have screeningswe're coordinating in South
Africa and Canada and the UK,new York, australia and even
Lithuania Great.
But the biggest achievement forthis film is turning this film
into a continuing medicaleducation credit for physicians,
(27:47):
for physician assistants, nursepractitioners and dentists.
Yes, you can receive creditstowards the renewal of their
medical licenses and peoplelistening can go to F, as in
Frank S, as in Sam M, as in MaryB, as in boyorg, and they can
(28:13):
find the webinar there.
We're going to be posting a bigwebinar October 17, for all of
those disciplines and at thevery end of that, they'll get
their certificate right away.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Great.
I love that because my husbandis a dentist, so that oral
health is obviously a big topicin our house as it relates to
menopause as well.
So I'll send him there.
And it's exciting.
I mean, that's a hugeaccomplishment for the, for our
audience, who doesn't reallyunderstand that process.
Bravo, I'm clapping.
(28:43):
You know that that is important.
And and it's important, Denise,because not only is it hard
work to get those CE credits Iknow the process that you have
to go through but, um, it reallyencourages physicians, dentists
, nurse practitioners, PAs, totake the time to watch.
(29:05):
You know it really encouragesthat and entices them to do that
.
And then, on the other, side youknow how important this
information is, so bravo withthat.
Is there anything else, denise,that we haven't asked you about
?
The film that you wish we had,that you'd like to share with
our audience?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
I would just say you know sort of things like to stay
, you know, I think, for womento look at what's happening with
their state.
So in our state I'm really, youknow policy is going to have to
force a lot of the changes inour health care system just
because of how the health caresystems are set up.
And we just recently passed thebill here called AB 2270, which
(30:09):
is recommends not requires, butrecommends physicians and nurse
practitioners and PAs to getmenopause, mental health and
physical training, and it saysif you have 35% of your patient
population is over the age of 40, we recommend that you get this
kind of training.
That's a good step right.
We have another bill called AB4870, which is requiring
insurance providers to cover,including Medicaid, to cover
(30:33):
menopause treatments.
So these are the things that weneed to really get our states
going, while the federalgovernment is trying to pass
laws that also encompass thisbut encompass other things
across all the states.
But we can start with our eachof our states.
(30:53):
We can start with each of ourstates to do this, and now is
the time right.
Now is the time you want to goand meet with your
representative to get them tostart drafting a bill, because
as they go into the Januaryseason, that's when they start,
like you know, reviewing thebills and they go start going
through the floors, and all thatfor people who know how bills
(31:16):
actually get passed.
We're also looking to make theM Factor a community platform
and resources for women.
I realized in doing this thatthere's not really one space you
can go and like engage withpeople and get a lot of
information in like sort of onedestination.
(31:37):
So we are looking to make the MFactor a community platform for
women, employers andpractitioners, and that platform
right now is just the M Factorfilm dot com, but I think we'll
go to just it saying the nfactor.
But that's, I would say, theone thing that we're doing.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Yeah, it goes beyond just the film, right, it's
providing those resources andeducation and platforms beyond
the one hour that you're goingto watch the documentary, and I
love that.
And it is being built out.
Just the audience knows it's awork in progress, right, denise?
It's, it's unfolding as wespeak.
(32:19):
So keep going back to thatwebsite because it will be
different Two weeks than it istoday.
Radically different, yes, yes.
But for those that want to seethe film um, they can go to the
m factor filmcom.
They can look for screenings intheir local area.
(32:39):
It will be aired on pbs onoctober 17th, so everyone can
watch it on october 17th on pbs.
We'll put all of this in theshow notes as well.
But before we sign off andbefore we let you go, we do like
to have a little bit of funwith Rapid Round and get to know
Denise a little bit better.
(33:00):
So let's have a little bit offun, shall we, I think I know
the answer to this, but you'regoing to start.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
I'll start, though.
Do you like a movie or a bookfirst?
Speaker 1 (33:15):
A book, okay, ah, because you just work on films.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
all day long, love reading.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Yeah, what's your favorite book to start a
curiosity?
Or maybe just what are youreading now?
Speaker 2 (33:26):
That's a little bit of pressure there.
What's your favorite book?
I'm reading the Other.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Black Girl right now.
And what is that?
Fiction, nonfiction.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
No, there's a film on it um on Hulu right now.
Oh.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
I had no idea.
Okay, great, another one to addto our list.
Yes, all right.
Well, we just had dinner withyou last week, so maybe I know
the answer to this.
But sweet or savory?
Speaker 2 (33:53):
I'm going to go with savory.
I'm going to go with savory.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Okay, all right, you can't stop the chips, but you
can stop the cookies, becauseI'm the opposite of that.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
I like salty too.
Okay, home cooked meal ortakeout.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Oh takeout.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
You have some pretty good food where you are.
So, I don't blame you on thatone.
The last question that we have,a little more serious what's
the best piece of advice thatyou've ever received?
The best piece of advice thatyou've ever received?
Speaker 2 (34:32):
The best piece of advice.
You know, this was aninteresting question because I
have gotten so much advice Askfor and not ask for.
You know how that goes.
What really is what I lead withand almost everything that I
pursue that's new is it justtakes one person to say yes,
(34:52):
right.
So you know, I always keep thisin the back of my mind.
It keeps me persistent, itkeeps me disciplined when I
might get frustrated For example, just you know, raising the
money for this film, when I gotout of the nose I went.
I just need someone to say yes.
I just need someone to say yes.
I just need someone to say yes.
And when we think about this,for everything we do right in
(35:14):
our career, um, you know, evenin our educational pursuits you
just need one person to say yesI love that.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
So, looking for the yes right, keep looking for the
yes don't and don't be afraid toask which is what right you
have to ask to get the no.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
So you also have to ask to get the yes, because the
answer is already no, if youdon't ask right exactly yeah
Speaker 2 (35:39):
that's really really good advice for anyone some
advice is always leave a tip atthe hotel every day, ah, the
room experience will elevate.
And so I left that.
But it wasn't until one of theTV shows that I worked on.
(36:00):
The guy would always ask whatwas the best advice you ever
received.
And one day I was watching andone of the celebrities said
leave a tip, your experiencewill be amazing.
And so I always kind of leftthe tip.
But sometimes I would saidleave a tip, your experience
will be amazing.
And so I always kind of leftthe tip, and sometimes I forget
to leave a tip.
But I am so hyper-consciousLike I can literally leave a
room and go oh shoot, I didn'tleave the last day's tip.
(36:21):
But I tell you, the experienceis always elevated when you do
it.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
I love that because you know what.
It never dawned on me until youjust said that I always leave a
tip the last day.
Right, it's checkout day.
You leave your tip on thecounter.
But I have always asked myhusband, like what about
everybody else that has helpedin this room through the whole
week?
Like who gets it today right?
(36:48):
Who's been here all week?
So I don't know why it didn'tdawn on me to do that, but that
is great advice.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
So I'm gonna do that next time I travel.
A lot of takeaways from thatadvice.
You know, leaving a tip, itcould be a lot of different
kinds of ways to leave tips thatmake your experience better.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Yes, agreed, denise, we're so excited for this film.
Of course we are.
Yes, great, denise, we're soexcited for this film.
Of course we are.
We're all about menopause, butwe're so thrilled that you kept
looking for that.
Yes, thank you for continuingto look for the.
Yes, we wish you really goodsleep over the next month,
because you've got a busy monthand we're looking forward to
(37:28):
seeing the screening and takingpart in some of those panels.
So, audience, go check it out,the mfactorfilmcom, and, until
we meet again, go find joy inthe journey.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Thank you Bye everyone Bye-bye.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Thank you for listening to the Medovia
Menopause Podcast.
If you enjoyed today's show,please give it a thumbs up,
subscribe for future episodes,leave a review and share this
episode with a friend.
There are more than 50 millionwomen in the US who are
navigating the menopausetransition.
The situation is compounded bythe presence of stigma, shame
(38:08):
and secrecy surroundingmenopause, posing significant
challenges and disruptions inwomen's personal and
professional spheres.
Medovia is out to change thenarrative.
Learn more at medoviacom.
That's M-I-D-O-V-I-A dot com.
Welcome to the Medovia Menopause Podcast, your
trusted source forevidence-based, science-backed
information related to menopause.
Medovia is dedicated tochanging the narrative about
menopause by educating, raisingawareness and supporting women
in this stage of life, both athome and in the workplace.
(00:21):
Visit medoviacom to learn morehome and in the workplace.
Visit Medoviacom to learn more.
I'm one of your hosts, aprilHaberman, and I'm joined by Kim
Hart.
We're co-founders of Medovia,certified health coaches,
registered yoga teachers andmidlife mamas specializing in
menopause.
You're listening to anotherepisode of our podcast, where we
(00:43):
offer expert guidance for themost transformative stage of
life, bringing you realconversations, education and
resources to help you overcomechallenges and reach your full
potential through midlife.
Join us and our special guestseach episode as we bring vibrant
, fun and truthful conversationand let us help you have a
(01:07):
deeper understanding ofmenopause.
Hi everyone, we're so excited tohave our guest on the show
today, denise Pines.
She is an age enthusiast,longtime community health
advocate and media pioneer.
Denise is a trusted resourcefor women as they pursue midlife
wellness.
She founded Wise Paws Wellness.
(01:29):
She's the co-founder and CEO ofTea Botanics and the
inspiration behind Hot Flash Tea.
We have to get some of that.
Pines is the president of theOsteopathic Medical Board of
California and serves on theboard of Federation for State
Medical Board.
Heinz co-founded Women in theRoom Productions and is an
(01:50):
award-winning filmmaker,producing 12 documentaries,
including her next film, the MFactor, shredding the Silence on
Menopause, and we get to openup the conversation about
menopause and her next film, solet's dive right in.
Hey everyone, we are so excitedto have Denise Pines with us
(02:15):
today and we get to talk aboutall things menopause our
favorite topic so let's dive in,denise.
Welcome to the show, thank youfor having me.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
I'm excited.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah, this is going to be a fantastic conversation.
You have a remarkablebackground, an impressive resume
, and so let's dive in, becauseI know that there's a lot of
buzz about this documentary.
People are curious about it,and I'd love to start off by
just asking you to share withour audience how you got into
(02:52):
the production.
How did you get into producingfilms in the first place?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
So I have actually been in entertainment for maybe
over 25 years now.
I started as a creativeproducer for talk you know talk
TV, talk radio programs and thenthe person who I was working
with got an opportunity toproduce four documentaries with
PBS and that really kicked offmy interest in documentaries and
(03:20):
really finding like that was mysweet spot you could tell a
really great story.
It was fun to unravel anduncover the stories and then to
travel around the country andtell those stories.
So I really found that you knowdocumentaries storytelling was
really where I thought wasreally powerful and you can make
(03:41):
a change, and that where I feltlike I really thrived more so
than you know talk, you can makea change.
And that where I felt like Ireally thrived more so than you
know talk you know talk TV andwe work with lots of celebrities
.
So it was talk celebrity stuff,right.
So this kind of out of the youknow hearing about celebrity
stuff to hearing about everydaypeople's things.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah Well, I'm sure you have met some remarkable
people along the way as well,and that could probably be an
entire separate podcast in andof itself.
I'm sure that there are lots ofstories with that, but I'd love
to hear your story on how the Mfactor came about.
What led to this work?
(04:20):
What you know?
What was there a particularmoment in time and experience
that inspired this work?
What you know?
What was there a particularmoment in time and experience
that inspired this project?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Well, you know, really, it just began with my my
journey.
So my journey in getting a hotflash, and, like most women, I
was caught off guard, had, youknow, little knowledge.
But the difference for me wasthat I, at the time, I was the
vice president of the medicalboard of California, so I had
access to any doctor in my state.
(04:48):
And yet I was prepared at thisstage of my life, and I, you
know, and so this just led medown a path first to solve my
own hot flashes, and so I, youknow, like treating all my
health issues naturally.
So I partnered with my doctorand we co-created a company
called T-Botanics where welaunched a series of teas for
(05:11):
menopause, from hot flashes andnight sweats to brain fog and
anxiety.
And then that led me to talkingto all women and I realized,
like gosh, so many women areconfused, just like the way I
was.
Let me bring all these doctors,since I'm like influential in
my state, together.
You know, one day summit to givewomen evidence-based
(05:34):
information, and we termed itWise Paws Wellness, and I said
it was talking about fem techand everything in the solutions
were for women around periodfertility or parenting, and I
just said, well, we're going tofem aging tech solutions and so
(06:08):
thought about creating aninitiative called the Fem Aging
Project where we could raise thevoice of this woman in research
.
So we released a report duringCOVID.
We released a report about whatshe's thinking about, about her
health and aging, and then wepartnered with one of the
largest angel investmentnetworks in the world called
Koretsu's Forum and starteddoing pitch competitions to
generate more interest in thisarea, to elevate those who were
(06:28):
who did have Femtech healthproducts, and then to meet with
investors and do presentationsfor investors about the
viability of this market and toremove the thought for them that
this market was niched.
Then, as a filmmaker, I went.
I got to do a documentary right.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Yes, of course yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
I love it.
I love that you followed everybreadcrumb of your interest to.
You know, go do the things thatlit you up, cause obviously
those are all of those thingsyou mentioned make you excited.
You can tell let's talk aboutthe M factor Like those are
unfamiliar.
Can you give us sort of anoverview of that documentary and
what it explores and how thatall came about, because it's
(07:15):
coming up soon?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
It's coming up soon.
So in the M factor you know wewanted to cover, we wanted first
to start off with a montage ofwomen.
We're familiar with some womenwe're not familiar with, meaning
that they're just patients toshare, like you know.
Here's my experience, here's myexperience, here's my
experience, right, and then wego into talking about the, you
(07:37):
know, the top pieces of theexperience that most women share
.
So one the impact thatmenopause has on the brain.
So a lot of us know LisaMonsconi.
She's an amazing person out ofWeill in New York and she's
written a book recently justabout the brain and menopause,
right Looking at.
She got research dollars tolook at the brain before a woman
(08:00):
goes into menopause, looks atthe brain during perimenopause
and then looks at the brain onceshe hits menopause and some
years after, and that data isfascinating and that is in the
film.
When she talks about that thereal connection between the
brain and the hormone andreproductive system she also
says something that was reallyinteresting in the film.
(08:22):
She also said something thatwas really interesting in the
film and she said that when itcomes to the brain, we go to a
gynecologist around that, butthey don't specialize in brain,
but we go to them for that.
So that just was sort of an ahafor myself about how we need to
wrap ourselves around a more360 care of our bodies.
Right, that we have beenrelying on our gynecologists to
(08:46):
be everything about our health.
Well, that's not whatgynecologists do, right?
Gynecologists really focus fromthe belly button, you know,
down, you know, to the end ofour pubic area, right?
But that we also need theseother wraparound people.
And so, when she said that,that came to light for me.
We try to unpack HRT hormonereplacement therapy.
(09:11):
We bring in the lack of accessthat Black women and Latino
women have and why they sufferwith longer symptoms and more
severe symptoms.
So we bring in women of colorinto the story.
We have patient stories.
We show up patient facing withthe physician so that women
(09:31):
watching can see like this isthe kind of relationship that
you should be experiencing withyour physician.
And if you're not, move on,right.
We talk about sexual, sexualhealth.
We have some interestingreveals around uh, testosterone,
and then we um get into theworkplace.
You know our favorite area,right.
(09:53):
We highlight a company calledgenentech that has done a really
great job in embracing ummenopause in the workplace, from
policy to insurance, to makingsure that their employees and
the employee's family has 24-7access to a health care provider
(10:14):
.
So we want to show what does itlook like when the workplace
shows up for these women.
And then we end with lettingpeople know like these are great
years.
These are years when we havelike this crazy amount of wisdom
.
These are the years when wemake the most money in our lives
.
These are the years where weare the huge decision maker
(10:36):
across our health, for ourfamily, across our finances and
how they're spent.
And this is where we get toreconnect back to that young
self of our hobbies or whateverit was before we started having
children and kind of said, ah,we'll get back to that one day.
This is the time to get back.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Right.
Yeah, I absolutely love thestorytelling piece that you have
real people, real stories, sothat women can relate to that.
I think we do relate tostorytelling, right.
It draws us in, much more sothan just information being
pushed out.
But what I'm also hearing,denise, is that this documentary
(11:17):
is really an aha right.
So we want this to be an aharight.
So we want this to be.
You want this to be an ahamoment, like this is what
menopause is, and this is thereal truth and the real story.
And come here and get this andtake a bite, right, and and
(11:39):
we're going to give youresources, we're going to give
you, like you said, a sneak peekinto a doctor's visit, and this
is what it should look like,because we don't know what we
don't know, right, and we onlyknow what we've been told up
until this point.
So you're really kind ofpulling back the curtain, right.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yes For us.
So we have, you and I.
We've been in this space for along time now.
Right, so we are.
We have so much knowledge, butwe have to realize we are an
anomaly.
We are really an anomaly.
People do not have the basicknowledge, just knowing what the
word menopause really means,let alone current menopause.
(12:20):
So I'm always having to put mybeginner's hat on every time
when I'm talking or meetingpeople.
When I'm with you, I can justcome, we can come right at it,
but we got to recognize everytime.
So that's what this film is.
This film is an introduction tothis topic, to create awareness
(12:41):
and what are the reallyimportant needs for women and
how do we need to get started.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Yeah, and it's much more than just our vaginal
health and our ovaries and ouruterus and right, I mean you
mentioned it, the brainconnection, and I think there is
even an oral health piece inthere, and we don't even think
about that when we're, when wethink about menopause.
So hats off to you.
You may have just answered thequestion, but why now?
(13:07):
Why are we?
Why are you releasing adocumentary on menopause?
Why now?
Speaker 2 (13:14):
I think that we kind of have come into where
menopause is starting to enterthe zeitgeist right, and really
I think who really kicked it offat a higher level there was
obviously, you know, all of theconversation that really was
happening in social media.
It gave women an opportunity tostart talking and sharing
(13:35):
information about what was goingon with themselves and then
that just started to really growand then it started to.
For me, what I saw really wasthe New York Times do articles.
One of their early articles wasaround the menopause boom.
So looking at all of these sortof Gen X companies that were
(13:56):
coming into the space becauseGen X got here and went what,
the what?
Speaker 1 (14:02):
For sure.
You don't have that I'm goingto.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
I'm gonna create one, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do
that right, because you knowthat's that generation, that's
what they do.
Um, and then women.
Then I saw doctors right.
When I first started doing WisePaws in 2019, I really couldn't
get a lot of doctors.
I mean my power, as at thattime, the president of the
Medical Board of California gotme to get them there to the
(14:28):
table but it really was hard toget doctors to come out publicly
and really want a front facewith the public.
They were used to being intheir bubble, of talking to each
other, kind of like the wayNAMS is right, and so it was.
You know, it was really tough,and now you see these doctors
all coming out.
(14:49):
They've created platforms.
You know, women are speaking upabout it.
You've got, you know, mypartner in this project, tamsyn,
speaking up about it.
You've got St you know, mypartner in this project, tamsyn,
speaking up about it.
You've got Stacey Londonspeaking up and you're getting
now personalities that have comeinto the fray, you know, and
the ultimate was Oprah.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Yes, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Oprah, thank you for sure, she changed the narrative.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
She started to change the narrative and we started to
make it be a serious topic, asopposed to this thing that was
fodder in the past, right wherewe ha, ha about it, tease women
about it, make fun and pun aboutit, and we need to remove
ourselves from that it wasinteresting when we wanted to do
this film like I wanted to do athread line of humor, right,
(15:38):
and Wanda Sykes.
I love Wanda Sykes and WandaSykes has some of the best
comedy on menopause.
It's very highbrow.
It's really interesting anddifferent.
And then we thought you knowwhat?
First, we didn't have enoughroom inside the film because
it's an hour.
But second, we thought, no, wedon't need to be funny Because
(15:59):
an hour.
But second we thought, no, wedon't need to be funny.
Thread that through.
You know, maybe the next film,when someone does it can thread
in that Right now we need peopleto be serious about this.
There's not, there's.
This is not a laughing matter,right?
Very serious matter.
This is very disruptive towomen's lives and it alters
relationships for them.
It offers, you know, it alterstheir, could, disrupt their work
(16:23):
and career path.
So this is a very serious thingand we decided not to add
homework inside of it.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Yeah, I'm glad.
I'm glad you didn't.
Kim, you were going to saysomething, yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
I was.
You know I'm thinking about allthe challenges that we face,
like trying to break, break the,you know, the stigma inside the
workplaces that we talk to andeducate, have to educate so much
of what we do, trying to, youknow, get, get funding for it,
(17:01):
get people involved in it.
Like what, what sort of whatwere those obstacles and how did
you overcome them?
Did you have any surprises orahas that you thought, oh man,
this will be easy and it washard?
Or vice versa?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
You know I thought it was going to be easy.
So you know this is my 13thfilm.
I've raised money from the top25 foundations in the world, not
just in the US but in the world, had relationships with
presidents of those entities,from the Kellogg's to the Ford
to the Robert Wood Johnson, likedirect connection, and I could
(17:33):
not get a dollar out of thoseentities because they did not
see this as and the way I framedit is a public health crisis.
They didn't see it.
They did not have prioritiesinside of their giving that
would allow them to support thisfilm and the creation of this
(17:53):
film and toward the outreach.
And so I was like initiallyshocked, going oh, oh, oh, oh,
what am I going to do, right?
So then I went out into thecorporations who have been
funding, you know, organizationslike let's talk menopause,
let's talk about menopause andsome other entities, and what I
(18:13):
realized is no one was givingreal money, right.
10,000 or 25,000, that's notreal money.
I mean, a documentary costs, ona low end, about 800,000, on
the higher end, maybe 1.7million, right?
So that's the standard range ofa documentary.
And here we had zero dollarsand so we put money into it
(18:36):
ourselves.
I mean, this is how much thatwe believed in this space and
believing that, you know, downthe road, the funding would come
in, I will say no, the fundinghasn't really come in.
Yeah, that was definitely ashock that we're talking about
it, but we're not investing in,right?
So that's the reality of wherewe are.
(18:58):
The next is, as we were you know, fact checking doing all of our
research.
Just the lack of research wasunreal to me.
We're operating off of datathat's 12 to 15 years old,
meaning that's the most recentdata, Right?
(19:20):
It made me realize how littlewe really know about menopause,
including treatment options.
I know we have HRT and all ofthis stuff, but when you ask
half of these people physiciansaround like you know exactly how
does it work.
You know exactly what's in it.
These are chemicals, you know.
There's still to me the datamissing just in that, and I know
we had that big research.
That happened in 2002, but whydid we stop?
(19:43):
Why did we just keepresearching, right?
So we have now 22 years of whatI would say significant data
gap around other treatmentoptions and definitely around
women who want to take a morenatural approach.
I don't like all thepooh-poohing around that.
I'm a person who deals with myhealth.
(20:03):
Naturally it works.
We have only been living ashumans off medication for about
100 years and, if I'm going tobe honest, really about the last
50, 55 years.
So for the last million yearsof human existence.
What have we been surviving offof?
We've been surviving off theland, the earth right, the
(20:25):
plants.
So I get really upset whenpeople believe that chemical
drugs are the end all to ourhealth and wellness.
It is absolutely not, I think.
The other thing that was reallyshocking and I wanted to, and
this was one of those12-year-old stats was the use of
HRT.
(20:46):
Only 4% of women were using it.
This is 12 years ago.
Data Couldn't get a recent datapoint.
The Menopause Society justreleased September 10th of this
year, so this month, the latestdata on this and it was alarming
.
Now only 1.8% of women areusing HRT.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
So we're shocked, which is amazing.
Right, I mean right, crazy it'sgone down.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
We need more research to understand why what is that,
right, um, so you know, sothere was, you know, you know, a
lot of aha moments and lack ofresearch.
Um, the difference that youknow the positions, that all,
really, some of them don't agreeon things, right, um, I think
the other thing is just who isthe best expert to tell the
(21:37):
story?
You know there's so many, youknow we call them the menopause,
and there's menopause here,menopause there, right, right,
like, who do we really have,when people started to find out?
Because you know one doctorfriend to tell another doctor
friend, oh, I just gotinterviewed for the impactor,
call him up.
So, like, every doctor feltlike, oh, wow, should be in it.
(22:00):
That was definitely challenging.
Um, and then I would say thestories.
You know we have quite a fewstories.
There was only so many thatreally what I call made the cut.
Yeah, didn't mean thatsomeone's story wasn't valuable.
Um, it just was like how wewere trying to tell the story,
what really made sense.
And then at some point, youknow you kind of have to stop,
right, you got to, and it reallywas the director.
(22:22):
Right, the director is thedecision maker.
And one day she said stop, donot send me another expert, do
not send me another patient.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Wow, it's too much.
right, it's one hour, it's onehour, you'll have to do another
one, although we just said, youknow, funding has been a
challenge, and I find that notsurprising, but surprising,
something that affects not just50% of the population, because
we know that you said it earlier, denise it's not just
(22:53):
individuals that areexperiencing menopause, it's
everyone else around you, right?
Menopause affects 100% ofpeople, so we're talking about
something that is prettyimpactful to everybody on earth
here, and we don't have thefunding, we don't have the
support for it.
So I hope that the M factorreally raises that awareness for
(23:17):
not only individuals, so thatthey have the resources and the
education that they need, butalso it's an aha for
corporations, the private sector, so that there is more funding
for menopause relatedinformation, documentaries,
products, whatever that might be.
Yeah, and research, yes, Ithink the first lady, jill Biden
(23:41):
, just announced another roundof funding from the Pentagon
yesterday.
So for research, which is good.
I haven't read the full pressrelease on that yet, so I'll
have to dig in a little bitfurther.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
That's giving the money now what's that dod?
Speaker 1 (24:01):
oh yes that.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
That's where I'm confused.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
But okay, that's fine we'll take it, but it is odd
dollars right yeah yeah, we'lltake, we'll take it, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Yeah, all the crumbs start to add up.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
Yeah, but it's interesting.
It is.
It's curious that's the wordI'll use today very curious.
Yeah, denise, there's a lotthat the documentary covers in
that hour and you've had toreally rein it in.
As you look back now, uh, afterall of the pieces have been put
together and you're able towatch this film, what resonates
(24:41):
with you personally the most?
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Um, I, it resonates with me, I think the brain,
really, that brain conversationwas like wow, it really
factualized it, right, it reallyvalidated that something does
happen to women during theperimenopause years.
(25:05):
Even more shocking is when youcome on the other side of it.
Right, that there are somewomen that come and they get a
20-year-old brain back.
Right, they go in with I don'tknow a 46-year-old brain and
come out with a 20-year-oldbrain.
I thought, ooh, that wasn't me.
That's exciting though.
Yeah, like me, I came back withthe same brain I went into.
(25:28):
The really alarming part was thewomen who have permanent brain
decline.
Wow, yeah.
And what do we do for thosewomen?
Those are the women who show upas dementia on Alzheimer's
later on, right?
So now that we know that, howcan we?
What is this?
What's the secret to the 20year old brain?
(25:49):
Or just, hey, let me just keepthe brain I have.
When I went into this phase, Imean, how do we help those women
who actually deterioratementally?
So that, I think, was, you know, the biggest personal takeaway
of like going.
Yes, you know those momentswhere I can't remember
somebody's name who I've knownfor 25 years and they're
(26:10):
standing right in front of me.
It made that like really honein and say it was very real.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
Yeah, wow.
So what's the ultimate goal foryou in this, in this
documentary?
And then what's next in termsof your menopause advocacy Cause
?
I mean, you are got your handsin so many great places of it
and I just love that.
You're like there's a needthere, I'm going to go fill it.
There's a need there, I'm goingto go fill it.
Yeah, right.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Right?
Well, we know you get up at 4am, denise, so you have to in
order to get it all done.
Yeah, you know one I have tosay.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I do play hard.
I mean I travel.
I have to say I do play hard.
I mean I travel extensively, Iget together with my friends and
my family.
So I'm not that I'm a I'm areally intense work person, but
(27:05):
I'm a really intense play personas well.
So, in terms of what we havegoing on, I mean we have
screenings now around the USthat are about to jump off.
The first one, the very firstscreening I'm doing in two days
in San Francisco for a privateclub like a you know, like one
of these like you know kind ofclubs, and then we sort of
(27:27):
really kick off everything veryearly October.
But now we have screeningswe're coordinating in South
Africa and Canada and the UK,new York, australia and even
Lithuania Great.
But the biggest achievement forthis film is turning this film
into a continuing medicaleducation credit for physicians,
(27:47):
for physician assistants, nursepractitioners and dentists.
Yes, you can receive creditstowards the renewal of their
medical licenses and peoplelistening can go to F, as in
Frank S, as in Sam M, as in MaryB, as in boyorg, and they can
(28:13):
find the webinar there.
We're going to be posting a bigwebinar October 17, for all of
those disciplines and at thevery end of that, they'll get
their certificate right away.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
Great.
I love that because my husbandis a dentist, so that oral
health is obviously a big topicin our house as it relates to
menopause as well.
So I'll send him there.
And it's exciting.
I mean, that's a hugeaccomplishment for the, for our
audience, who doesn't reallyunderstand that process.
Bravo, I'm clapping.
(28:43):
You know that that is important.
And and it's important, Denise,because not only is it hard
work to get those CE credits Iknow the process that you have
to go through but, um, it reallyencourages physicians, dentists
, nurse practitioners, PAs, totake the time to watch.
(29:05):
You know it really encouragesthat and entices them to do that
.
And then, on the other, side youknow how important this
information is, so bravo withthat.
Is there anything else, denise,that we haven't asked you about
?
The film that you wish we had,that you'd like to share with
our audience?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
I would just say you know sort of things like to stay
, you know, I think, for womento look at what's happening with
their state.
So in our state I'm really, youknow policy is going to have to
force a lot of the changes inour health care system just
because of how the health caresystems are set up.
And we just recently passed thebill here called AB 2270, which
(30:09):
is recommends not requires, butrecommends physicians and nurse
practitioners and PAs to getmenopause, mental health and
physical training, and it saysif you have 35% of your patient
population is over the age of 40, we recommend that you get this
kind of training.
That's a good step right.
We have another bill called AB4870, which is requiring
insurance providers to cover,including Medicaid, to cover
(30:33):
menopause treatments.
So these are the things that weneed to really get our states
going, while the federalgovernment is trying to pass
laws that also encompass thisbut encompass other things
across all the states.
But we can start with our eachof our states.
(30:53):
We can start with each of ourstates to do this, and now is
the time right.
Now is the time you want to goand meet with your
representative to get them tostart drafting a bill, because
as they go into the Januaryseason, that's when they start,
like you know, reviewing thebills and they go start going
through the floors, and all thatfor people who know how bills
(31:16):
actually get passed.
We're also looking to make theM Factor a community platform
and resources for women.
I realized in doing this thatthere's not really one space you
can go and like engage withpeople and get a lot of
information in like sort of onedestination.
(31:37):
So we are looking to make the MFactor a community platform for
women, employers andpractitioners, and that platform
right now is just the M Factorfilm dot com, but I think we'll
go to just it saying the nfactor.
But that's, I would say, theone thing that we're doing.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
Yeah, it goes beyond just the film, right, it's
providing those resources andeducation and platforms beyond
the one hour that you're goingto watch the documentary, and I
love that.
And it is being built out.
Just the audience knows it's awork in progress, right, denise?
It's, it's unfolding as wespeak.
(32:19):
So keep going back to thatwebsite because it will be
different Two weeks than it istoday.
Radically different, yes, yes.
But for those that want to seethe film um, they can go to the
m factor filmcom.
They can look for screenings intheir local area.
(32:39):
It will be aired on pbs onoctober 17th, so everyone can
watch it on october 17th on pbs.
We'll put all of this in theshow notes as well.
But before we sign off andbefore we let you go, we do like
to have a little bit of funwith Rapid Round and get to know
Denise a little bit better.
(33:00):
So let's have a little bit offun, shall we, I think I know
the answer to this, but you'regoing to start.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
I'll start, though.
Do you like a movie or a bookfirst?
Speaker 1 (33:15):
A book, okay, ah, because you just work on films.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
all day long, love reading.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Yeah, what's your favorite book to start a
curiosity?
Or maybe just what are youreading now?
Speaker 2 (33:26):
That's a little bit of pressure there.
What's your favorite book?
I'm reading the Other.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Black Girl right now.
And what is that?
Fiction, nonfiction.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
No, there's a film on it um on Hulu right now.
Oh.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
I had no idea.
Okay, great, another one to addto our list.
Yes, all right.
Well, we just had dinner withyou last week, so maybe I know
the answer to this.
But sweet or savory?
Speaker 2 (33:53):
I'm going to go with savory.
I'm going to go with savory.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
Okay, all right, you can't stop the chips, but you
can stop the cookies, becauseI'm the opposite of that.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
I like salty too.
Okay, home cooked meal ortakeout.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Oh takeout.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
You have some pretty good food where you are.
So, I don't blame you on thatone.
The last question that we have,a little more serious what's
the best piece of advice thatyou've ever received?
The best piece of advice thatyou've ever received?
Speaker 2 (34:32):
The best piece of advice.
You know, this was aninteresting question because I
have gotten so much advice Askfor and not ask for.
You know how that goes.
What really is what I lead withand almost everything that I
pursue that's new is it justtakes one person to say yes,
(34:52):
right.
So you know, I always keep thisin the back of my mind.
It keeps me persistent, itkeeps me disciplined when I
might get frustrated For example, just you know, raising the
money for this film, when I gotout of the nose I went.
I just need someone to say yes.
I just need someone to say yes.
I just need someone to say yes.
And when we think about this,for everything we do right in
(35:14):
our career, um, you know, evenin our educational pursuits you
just need one person to say yesI love that.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
So, looking for the yes right, keep looking for the
yes don't and don't be afraid toask which is what right you
have to ask to get the no.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
So you also have to ask to get the yes, because the
answer is already no, if youdon't ask right exactly yeah
Speaker 2 (35:39):
that's really really good advice for anyone some
advice is always leave a tip atthe hotel every day, ah, the
room experience will elevate.
And so I left that.
But it wasn't until one of theTV shows that I worked on.
(36:00):
The guy would always ask whatwas the best advice you ever
received.
And one day I was watching andone of the celebrities said
leave a tip, your experiencewill be amazing.
And so I always kind of leftthe tip.
But sometimes I would saidleave a tip, your experience
will be amazing.
And so I always kind of leftthe tip, and sometimes I forget
to leave a tip.
But I am so hyper-consciousLike I can literally leave a
room and go oh shoot, I didn'tleave the last day's tip.
(36:21):
But I tell you, the experienceis always elevated when you do
it.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
I love that because you know what.
It never dawned on me until youjust said that I always leave a
tip the last day.
Right, it's checkout day.
You leave your tip on thecounter.
But I have always asked myhusband, like what about
everybody else that has helpedin this room through the whole
week?
Like who gets it today right?
(36:48):
Who's been here all week?
So I don't know why it didn'tdawn on me to do that, but that
is great advice.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
So I'm gonna do that next time I travel.
A lot of takeaways from thatadvice.
You know, leaving a tip, itcould be a lot of different
kinds of ways to leave tips thatmake your experience better.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Yes, agreed, denise, we're so excited for this film.
Of course we are.
Yes, great, denise, we're soexcited for this film.
Of course we are.
We're all about menopause, butwe're so thrilled that you kept
looking for that.
Yes, thank you for continuingto look for the.
Yes, we wish you really goodsleep over the next month,
because you've got a busy monthand we're looking forward to
(37:28):
seeing the screening and takingpart in some of those panels.
So, audience, go check it out,the mfactorfilmcom, and, until
we meet again, go find joy inthe journey.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Thank you Bye everyone Bye-bye.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Thank you for listening to the Medovia
Menopause Podcast.
If you enjoyed today's show,please give it a thumbs up,
subscribe for future episodes,leave a review and share this
episode with a friend.
There are more than 50 millionwomen in the US who are
navigating the menopausetransition.
The situation is compounded bythe presence of stigma, shame
(38:08):
and secrecy surroundingmenopause, posing significant
challenges and disruptions inwomen's personal and
professional spheres.
Medovia is out to change thenarrative.
Learn more at medoviacom.
That's M-I-D-O-V-I-A dot com.
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