I’m a physician, healthcare executive, and Duke-trained integrative health coach. I’m also a woman who hit perimenopause in the middle of a demanding career while parenting two young boys, two dogs, and navigating a long-term partnership.

Over the past five years, a lot shifted at once. I separated, divorced, got engaged, changed jobs multiple times, lost a dog, gained a dog, tried hormone therapy, tried GLP-1s, had surgery, cycled through workout trends, took up knitting and watercolors for sanity, and even dusted off my original Nintendo to get through some days.

None of it happened in isolation. And while each change was manageable on its own, together they created a period where my health, sense of self, and direction all felt unsettled at the same time.

Like many of the people I work with, I spent years not fully connecting what I was experiencing to perimenopause — despite my medical training. I saw countless providers, was told my labs were “normal,” and felt defeated by exhaustion and weight changes that didn’t respond to effort alone.

Over time, I found an approach that works for me most of the time. There is still trial and error, but I know what it feels like to feel like myself again — and I’m deeply protective of that clarity.

That lived experience, combined with years of listening closely to others, studying the research, and working inside complex healthcare systems, is what shapes my coaching today. I see midlife less as a single diagnosis and more as an inflection point — where health, purpose, and direction often shift together, even when life looks “fine” from the outside.

I created StrongHER Years to help individuals make sense of what’s changing and translate that understanding into clear, actionable plans for what comes next.