the savage surgical menopause impacts on female leaders
October is World Menopause Awareness Month. There isn’t a better time to highlight our very own female founder, Fiona McKay who was featured in OK Magazine in their big health story on HRT and detailing her savage surgical menopause to shine a light on it’s effects on female founders and women business leaders.
Here is her featured exert from the feature below:
Seven years ago, at the age of 42, businesswoman and female founder, Fiona McKay, from Sale, Greater Manchester, began experiencing surgical menopause following a total abdominal hysterectomy…
“At the time my career as a business strategist, leadership expert and speaker was going from strength-to-strength so - I felt as though speaking about menopause would cause setbacks to that success, especially as most of the CEOs who I deal with were men, so I chose not to tell anyone.
Fiona McKay describes her menopause symptoms as 'savage'
“But to say I wasn’t feeling right is an understatement. My body was going through some sort of wholesale shock. I was having dozens of hot sweats a day and the only way I could cool down was lying on the kitchen floor with the freezer door open.
“It was a savage time in my life, and what’s worse, no-one prepared me for it before I had the procedure. And if that wasn’t enough to cope with, 12 weeks later my mother had a severe stroke and shortly after that, my husband was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.’
“I started taking Oestrogen, which immediately helped my symptoms. But after seven years on a bi-weekly patch, I’ve now changed to a daily gel and the dose has been increased to help respond to the challenge of changing and fluctuating symptoms.’
Don't suffer in silence - there is help available
“I knew I had to do something for other women. I campaigned on Parliament Square against HRT medication needing to be paid for on prescription, and I threw myself into researching how menopause-biased feedback and it’s effects on women in the workplace who are going through the menopause - including how there is often a huge stigma around it and that this often led to women passing up on promotions, taking extensive time off and even quitting in some cases.
“Many women are launching new business ventures and raising venture capital and it’s fantastic to see my method helping them soar into the next stages of their careers.”
“Attitudes are changing, but it’s not enough. More needs to be done to equip women.”
"I set up The Menopasue Maze TM programme through my company Lightbulb Leadership Solutions , which works with businesses to achieve great growth, with a special gender-lens focus on supporting women.
Why do female founders and senior female leaders need their own Menopause Career Coach?
“But many senior female leaders want a much more exclusive, discreet and personal service. Many of those leaders are choosing to work with me personally and as The Menopause Career Coach™ and joining my new NOPAUSE™ programme I help them transition or transform this next career chapter in their lives.”
