Menopause at Work: Hormones, Leadership & Power in Midlife Careers

Mar 2, 2026

Joanna Strober, founder and CEO of Midi Health who built insurance-covered virtual menopause care after her own perimenopause struggle. She talks about hormones vs. misdiagnoses, hormone replacement and non-hormonal options, how untreated symptoms can erode authority at work, and why normalizing midlife health could unlock leadership and combat ageism.

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INSIGHT

Midlife Hormones Intersect With Peak Career Power

Menopause and perimenopause often coincide with peak career responsibilities, creating misattributed declines in performance.
Joanna Strober frames midlife hormonal shifts as an infrastructure issue for leadership, not a private failing.

INSIGHT

SSRIs Often Prescribed Without Considering Hormones

Many women in their 40s are prescribed SSRIs for depression and anxiety without evaluating hormonal causes.
Strober notes 20% of women in their 40s are on SSRIs and argues medicine rarely tests estrogen-first approaches.

ANECDOTE

Joanna’s Yearlong Search Ended With An Estrogen Patch

Joanna Strober spent a year seeking help after panic, insomnia, weight gain, and anger before finding an estrogen patch that rapidly improved her life.
She describes a near-immediate turnaround: better sleep, mood stabilization, thicker hair, and clearer skin once hormone therapy fit her needs.

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Hot flashes. Brain fog. Sleepless nights. For too long, we’ve mislabeled midlife women’s health as burnout, anxiety, or a loss of ambition. But what if the real issue isn’t performance — it’s hormones?

In this episode of Hello Monday, Jessi Hempel talks with Joanna Strober, founder and CEO of Midi Health, about menopause, perimenopause, hormone therapy, and power at work. Together, they unpack how gaps in women’s healthcare during midlife are quietly pushing talented leaders out of the workforce at the exact moment they should be accelerating.

After struggling to get proper treatment for her own perimenopause symptoms, Joanna built Midi Health to deliver insurance-covered, expert virtual care focused on women in midlife. This conversation goes beyond hot flashes — it’s about workplace equity, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), ageism, health misdiagnoses, and why normalizing menopause could unlock a generation of leadership. Because menopause isn’t a road bump, with the right care, it can be a power surge.

Jessi and Joanna discuss:

The difference between perimenopause and menopause, and why the distinction matters for women’s health at work
Why 1 in 5 women in their 40s are prescribed SSRIs — and how hormonal shifts are often overlooked
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and non-hormonal menopause treatments
The workplace impact of untreated menopause symptoms, including research showing women may lose authority during visible symptoms like hot flashes
How employers can support midlife women through better insurance coverage
Ageism in the workplace — and why women in their 50s may be primed for peak performance
How normalizing menopause conversations can help women reclaim power

Follow Joanna Strober and Jessi Hempel on LinkedIn.

We will be launching the Hello Monday book club soon. If you’re interested in joining, send us an email at hellomonday@linkedin.com and let us know!

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