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PM Collective - The ART of property management
The ART of property management with Ashleigh Goodchild is a leading platform supporting collaboration not competition through an online community and events throughout the year with one purpose: to create happier property managers. She creates connections for property managers looking to create momentum in their careers and personal life. Join Ashleigh and her guests as they discuss challenges, struggles, mental health, mindset and give advice to property managers and anyone in the industry. To get the support in your property management career, join our PM Collective Facebook and Instagram community.
PM Collective - The ART of property management
What if Your Team's Success Depends on Understanding Menopause?
Claudia Scalisi, a Renaissance Embodiment Coach, shares her expertise on menopause and perimenopause, explaining how these natural transitions affect women in the workplace and offering practical strategies for managing symptoms and supporting team members.
• Women's health topics have historically been kept in the dark, but the conversation is changing
• Perimenopause can last 2-10 years before menopause, which is technically just one day (one year without a period)
• Symptoms like hot flashes, mental fatigue, memory issues, and confidence drops can be mistaken for burnout
• Tracking your menstrual cycle helps identify changes and manage symptoms effectively
• Property managers can schedule high-energy tasks during optimal times in their cycle
• Creating "white space" in your calendar allows for necessary recovery between client interactions
• Workplaces can become menopause-inclusive by implementing policies that acknowledge women's health
• Simple changes like informational posters, supportive teas, and flexible working arrangements make a difference
• Understanding your body's natural rhythms leads to better client relationships and more authentic leadership
• The business case for menopause awareness includes improved retention, performance, and client service
Claudia offers a free downloadable e-book called "Menopause at Work: What Every Team Needs to Know" which includes resources for having menopause-savvy conversations and a symptoms tracker. DOWNLOAD HERE
PM COLLECTIVE - GUIDE AND SHAPE AN ENJOYABLE FUTURE
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So excited to have a very special guest with us today for a topic that is a little bit maybe considered left of center for a lot of people listening, but I promise you that it's going to be relevant for females listening and the males listening, and I have spoken to a lot of people about this topic and everyone has just gone hell yes, can't wait to listen to it. So I know that it's going to be super popular, and joining me today is the lovely Claudia, and I am going to let you introduce yourself who you are, where you're from and what you are all about.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me here, ashley. My name's Claudia Scalise. I call myself a Renaissance Embodiment Coach. It is just a title we all give ourselves title. It was the best way that I could describe the work that I bring into the world. My background is very strong in spiritual practices yoga, meditation, vedic meditation. I moved into female coaching women coaching during the pandemic. I've pivoted my business and, as I went through quite a strong menopause transition, I poured all of my research into better understanding the body through the lens of menopause education, on top of my somatic training, breathwork and yoga, to really understand the hormonal changes happening in the body and the unique needs that the body now has at this time in life and how to turn it around. Which is why Renaissance comes into it. It's rebirthing and reflipping on the script of what we have of aging?
Speaker 1:Yeah, amazing. And I met you at an event that Storm had arranged. We did a series of three wellness events and you know, things happen for a reason and I think there was a reason why you know I had said yes to Storm let's do these three wellness series and happy to sponsor for them, and I learned so much from the session. And for someone who maybe should be perimenopause, I actually just have no education on this because it's not really talked about Yet. When you have a one-on-one conversation with someone about it, they go oh yes, tell me more. So there's absolutely an interest and that's what you talked about at that event. How it is not something that was spoken about and we're really only getting into it now. Why don't you think it was talked about with our mothers or our grandparents?
Speaker 2:I think a lot about female health has been kept in the dark from us for many years, which is a topic for another podcast from us for many years, which is a topic for another podcast. Relational though we are, only what, are we one generation or just gone on to where women are allowed to own property and we're allowed to have autonomy over our body? Prior to then, we were an asset which is really almost unbelievable to think about in 2025, but it was really one generation ago. So anything to do about female health typically had been tested on male bodies, if tested at all, on a human being. So anything to do with hormones or changes in the female body we didn't know about, because one it wasn't talked about and it was kind of hidden from us. And you can unpack why was it hidden. You can go down many different routes.
Speaker 2:I know the one that I believe in, and everything that I'm doing now is about destigmatizing the female body. And before we go any further, I just want to preface that menopause doesn't just happen to women. It happens to non-binary folk, transgender males, anybody who has functioning ovaries. The majority of the people that I speak to identify themselves as women, so I will be speaking to women during this talk, but I wanted to be as inclusive as possible in a topic that is still really new to being spoken about. So, yeah, Okay, amazing.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm going to start off with a very basic question, because this podcast is not just for the audience's education, it's for my personal benefit as well. So I do ask questions that I think that, yeah, that I'm very interested in and that I know others would be as well. But can you explain the difference between perimenopause and menopause? Let's just start with that real simple question to start off with Sure sure.
Speaker 2:The experience is over multiple years. So perimenopause is the lead up towards menopause. Perimenopause can be anywhere between two to 10 years time. There's no specific indicator that now you're in perimenopause, but there are signs. One of the key things that I talk to women about is becoming really aware of their own cycle, having a tracker tracking your menstrual cycle, how many days are in between, how long it is, understanding your own body so that as you start to recognize changes, rather than them just being off the cuff, strange things that are happening to your body you can actually go back.
Speaker 2:There are these symptoms. Is this a sign of what's happening? Am I within the age bracket? Is this a sign of what's happening? Am I within the age bracket so the typical average age bracket anywhere between like 35 to 50. There's a big, big timeframe in there and a lot of women are actually in that timeframe also having young children. So there's a lot of hormonal changes happening from that, not only from the children coming up into age, but also the female is also going through changes. Menopause itself signifies just one day and it's a whole calendar year gone by without a menstrual cycle, so without having a bleed.
Speaker 1:I remember you saying that and I didn't know that at all. I was fascinated by that.
Speaker 2:It's interesting, isn't it? So that's what menopause is. Anything after that is post menopause. What's interesting and this is the most incredible thing about the female body? It is a force of nature, like with the seasons, you can't actually predict. On this day we're going into summer. You can say this is about when it's going to happen. You don't know when the female body is going to start menstruation, but there are happen. You don't know when the female body is going to start menstruation, but there are signs. You don't know when perimenopause is going to happen, but there are signs During the menopause when you might be tracking your period and realize I've gone six months at a period, or maybe I've gone through a year. You may have another bleed and then you'll wait another year. It's interesting that in that timeframe you can still possibly fall pregnant, so it's important to know these, like. Perimenopause can be anywhere in this timeframe 2 to 10 to 12 years. Menopause is just one day. It signifies the 12-month period without a menstrual cycle. Anything thereafter is postmenopause.
Speaker 1:So why do we and are we correct in I'm going through menopause, Because that's quite a common word. I don't use that, but I know people that are listening right now have used it and I've heard them use it. Is that the right wording?
Speaker 2:I think it all is. If you want to be really technical and I just want to preface that so much of female health is overly medicalized so if you are someone that really likes to have labels and it helps you to categorize things in your head, go ahead and use I mean perimenopause and then menopause. Is that, like I said, one year? Anything after is postmenopause. I quite often talk about the menopausal transition or the menopausal portal Just to put an umbrella over it. I find it easier rather than having to remember Are we talking about perimenopause? Because there are perimenopause symptoms but they also translate into menopause and you can still have perimenopause symptoms in postmenopause and you can still have perimenopause symptoms in postmenopause.
Speaker 1:Okay, now, one thing which was not obvious to me and you explained it, and this is obviously on a personal note that I have the Mirena and you, I think, were saying that I'm not able to maybe go through it until that's removed, which I didn't know. I don't know if that was dumb on my part, but I'm only mentioning it because there might be other people that have the same thought.
Speaker 2:Do you know what I spoke about you with my hormone doctor and I asked her that question about even for myself. I am on HRTs. I only went on them because of my bone density. I went through menopause quite young and I wanted to make sure that my bones stayed really strong and I asked her when can I come off it? And she had a chuckle. And then I asked about the Mirena coil too, and she goes. If it's working for you and cognitively, physically, all of the things are working for you in your body you may not need to come off it, unless there was a counter whatever the word is.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to think of reason for you to have to come off it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay. So with a Mirena, if you're on it and it is serving you a purpose right now and you don't have any symptoms that need addressing, you should be fine. I'm not a doctor. No, I do recommend some doctors that can be really helpful, especially at Kingwood Hospital. They're amazing. If anybody wants to go further into that, yeah, Okay, excellent.
Speaker 1:It's good just to sometimes just understand that, because what it does is it provokes the questions that you might want to have with your doctor. You know, and that's why we sort of I mentioned that Now property management's already a high pressure, very highly emotional role. How can menopause or perimenopause symptoms impact performance, confidence and stress management at work? Because we do have a lot of very stressed out property managers.
Speaker 2:I was reflecting on this question and it's a beautiful question, understanding that property management and real estate is predominantly a female heavy role. There's a lot of women in that role. That particular industry, as with most sales, is relational, building You're building up relationships. So, understanding that perimenopause symptoms can cause a multitude of symptoms and physical effects, ranging from the most common known hot flushes, mental fatigue, drop in memory. It also can affect your confidence. One of the things you might be noticing is either a withdrawal from being in big social groups, a short fuse, losing words, stumbling for words. These are all little symptoms that can occur Quite some time. I've heard women ask me like am I going mad or am I having an early onset dementia? And these are. These are warrantable questions because menopause can affect cognitive health if it isn't addressed properly. It's the way that estrogen works through the brain.
Speaker 1:So, in regards to your particular industry, noticing even in yourself, or if colleagues are starting to show these symptoms, I'll talk to you a little later about ways that you can have menopause savvy and inclusive conversations, because it can be still quite a sensitive topic, in particular when we're unpacking the concept about our ideals about aging and what it means for us, but I hope that answers your question, yeah because one thing I find and I don't say this with any offence to anybody listening but quite often, when we're going through the short fuses and the stress and a lot of it in our industry is being related to burnout, and I think that it's just a really incredibly fascinating topic, because it could be a situation that some of the symptoms you're experiencing might not actually be work-related, and so it could be that your body is changing, your hormones are changing, and I would encourage anyone that is going through maybe these symptoms or feeling extra stress at work or whatever, to maybe would the first step be to have bloods done and to check how all your levels are going, because it might be something that you need to sort out in your personal life that's affecting your work life.
Speaker 1:Yet we're very quick to blame work and not look at our personal life, and I think that that can be a detriment when we don't look after ourselves personally. So I just don't want property managers to be out there saying I'm burnt out, I'm stressed, I'm this, I'm that, without even exploring this option.
Speaker 2:Earlier we were talking about business metrics of success and if we can loop back into that, because I think it will lead us into the rest of the conversation when we consider extractive business models that are prioritised speed, scale and profit.
Speaker 2:When we're talking about supporting this new wave, the phases of life that we go through, we need to really understand our own personal biases, what we hold about ourselves and the way that we've internalized patriarchy, how we've internalized ideals of beauty and value and worth.
Speaker 2:So, through that lens, starting to understand that this new age of leadership, where we've got women like yourself who are interested in opening up these conversations, which is so important are starting to showcase regenerative business models which are based on relationship building. So, whether you are working with a colleague or working with a client, rather than leaning into what can I extract from this, what can I make on this sale, how can I best utilize this business relationship, can I make on this sale, how can I best utilize this business relationship, flipping that script into being what does this relationship need to thrive? Even holding that idea in your mind of what does this need to thrive so that there is a win-win for myself, for the person I'm communicating with for the clients. It's a subtle shift that ripples out into our culture, because that is what we're really talking about is a cultural shift.
Speaker 1:I think that's such what a great question. I just always relate it back to new business and property management and just that simple question what would it take for that relationship to thrive, just between a new client coming to you Like what do they need from you? That's, yeah, that's really amazing, a completely different thing that we're not asking or questioning in any relationships. So, yeah, not as intensely as that anyway, absolutely.
Speaker 2:In relationship building. We were talking earlier about property managers. Potentially I'm taking your words saying that they're stressed or burnt out At this point in our lives, in our society. If we reflect on any initiation practices that we have as a culture, that are rites of passage through our lives, we actually don't have any Right when we could have and there have been models of this in the past, many years ago where a young woman coming of age during her first menstrual cycle is celebrated, she's prepared for it. You might have ever read this book called the Red Tent, which is amazing. It talks about how women of the community would gather to educate the young women who were having their first bleed but what to expect, how to care for their bodies. They were becoming a woman and men had this too. They would go through their first hunt or something like that, where it was a coming of age.
Speaker 2:In our days, the most that we do is pregnancy, where we have baby showers and pregnancy reveal dates, gender reveal dates.
Speaker 2:All of these things are celebrated, but on either side of that, it's as if you don't talk about it, whereas we're really starting to lift up the carpet and see what has been labeled taboo and bring it into the light, because there is so much power there, so much power If we move to the other side of it, where we're moving into perimenopause and menopause.
Speaker 2:Imagine this is my vision for the future.
Speaker 2:Imagine not just women but the entire community recognizing that we're all going to go through different transitions and a woman's power lays in her body. It lays in understanding her own personal cycles. So we don't measure ourselves up against male-centric linear metrics of success or KPIs, but rather understanding we're going to spiral. We're going to come where there's going to be peaks in our month where we're really high which, if you understand your menstrual cycle, this is typically your follicular cycle where you're really high, really wanting to be out there just shining, like you see your most attractive days, the days that you go out and you feel amazing and then, as you start to come down the other side, moving towards ovulation, it's naturally more reflective. You kind of like want to go into yourself a little more and reflect and nurture and self-care. This is regenerative practices. Imagine if we understood that and we took that to business and business models were structured around supporting women, bringing their best, not trying to fit a mold that doesn't fit us. This blows my mind about what's capable for the next generation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so this was the conversation I was having with a few people, and there are people in real estate that actually are doing this. I won't mention her name, but she was telling me how in her calendar she's got little shark emojis. So everyone knows that that's when she's going through a cycle. And we were talking as well about when to do like, for example, one-on-one meetings. When are you doing your staff meetings? When are you out doing your routine inspections? When are you staying in the office? I am incredibly fascinated by that and I don't think there is many people thinking of it, but I thought it like makes so much sense. Like, imagine, as a property manager, you know where your cycle is and you can arrange your whether it's your annual investor audits, it's your face-to-face client appointments, it's your viewings. I mean your home opens your routine inspections whenever you've got to go face-to-face with someone imagine that being on certain weeks of the month and yet we have situations because this isn't relevant just for us with our clients, it's also us with our colleagues and our team, and you might be listening to this and you might have someone in the office that's really grumpy and we just put it down to a bad day or whatever. But you know what, maybe they're just not managing like the. You know, maybe that's the week they need to be working from home and not having any client contact and certainly not doing routine inspections that week. But it's not. It's just not talked about. But I think that that could absolutely change our industry if people start thinking about their cycles and planning their months around it.
Speaker 1:I was originally always talking about it from a daily point of view, where I would have discussions with my clients when I say my clients, I mean the property management community about using your energy on a daily basis where it suits. So you might be a morning person, maybe you're an evening person, but if you are a morning person, there are certain tasks that you would do in the day that will match that energy. But maybe you're an evening person. But if you are a morning person, there are certain tasks that you would do in the day that will match that energy. But maybe you're like. The problem is is in the industry is we just naturally think routine inspections have to be done during the day, home opens need to be done at the end of the day, and somewhere in between we do admin work. But if you really think about it like number one, where are you going to thrive and be the most happiest at what part of the day to have those appointments? But number two, it's also about working efficiently. Like you might be doing a task that's taking you two hours when, if you were doing it at the right time of the day, it might only take you one hour to do because your energy is different.
Speaker 1:So I think that your cycle and what you're talking about is absolutely relevant on that monthly scale and then tuning that in to a daily where's my energy sitting at what part of the day? I think we should all be reflecting on that. It's, yeah, I find I don't have a cycle, so for me, I just I'm the same all the time, so it's not actually as relevant for me. But because I've got a 16 year old daughter, I have been paying more attention to it because she is incredibly hormonal. I know exactly when those tears are going to be coming, when she feels ugly, when she is doubting herself, like she is like your textbook, 16 year old textbook and we all know where she's at, based on her symptoms and yeah, and that's, I think, probably where the interest has come more because I just see it so obviously in her, where for me it's not something, that is, I'm not really affected by it because I'm not a I feel like I'm not an emotional up and down person either.
Speaker 2:That's probably not the right way to say it, maybe but I'm getting a look from you that's like well, actually that's probably not the right way to say it, but what's, what's beautiful about you just said, is that you are a mother of a 16 year old young woman who is entering into a relationship with her body and becoming self-aware. I don't have my own children, but what I understand about stepping into embodied eldership which is what I talk about is having enough self-awareness that we are comfortable expressing our vulnerabilities and it might just be with close circle before we feel comfortable doing it in the public space that when others can see. Wow, you know what I'm feeling especially. I'm talking in relationship to your daughter.
Speaker 2:Mum is talking to me about how she feels a bit low this week and I'm watching her self-care in this way and I can see mum's shining this week and I'm watching her self-care in this way and I can see mum's shining this week and I can see what she's doing to support that. Even from the food that you eat, the exercise regime that you have, how you speak about yourself, how you dress, we are mirroring how to be in best or better relationship with ourselves, possibly than what we were taught by our mothers and definitely more than what they were taught by their mothers. So it's a generational passing of the torch. When you know better, you do better.
Speaker 1:So we are walking talking examples of the leadership model that we're discussing yeah, Well, I feel like I do a really good job of yeah, well, I feel like I do a really good job of avoiding her at certain times of the month and I just let her hibernate, I don't go near her, she's yeah, she gets really, she's really full on, like sometimes. I remember there was a time where it wasn't that long ago, must have been a couple of months ago, and I was just in the car and she just gets out the car and I'm not bullshitting her, she just gets out the car, she looks to me and she puts her hands down and she starts screaming and she goes. I am just so angry right now and I didn't know what to do. I didn't even know where it came from. Like we just had a nice drive home. She feels it so much.
Speaker 1:And then one thing that I've learned from my partner is not to try and fix. Just let it be. And I didn't say a word and I said you know what, mill, go inside, have a nice bath. And then my mum was coming over to babysit and I was like texting her, saying just be real gentle, real gentle with this one today. But yeah, with this one today. But she, yeah, she, just she just feels it Now as as a mum. I think that there's a lot of people listening that might naturally go she's a brat, how dare she be like that? And and get angry towards that. And I've really had to learn not to be angry at that. It's. It's not who she is, it's just how she's feeling right now and I just really, I just, yeah, I have to monitor it. So it's been such a massive learning curve.
Speaker 2:It is, isn't it? Yeah, kudos to your daughter. She sounds incredible. You know, I think there is so much of our culture that has suppressed and rejected rage. Rage is freaking powerful. She doesn't reject it, I can tell you right now.
Speaker 1:I love that about her. I mean.
Speaker 2:Think about our age group. How often do we yell? And because we're deemed like I don't want to seem out of control, or anger is bad. No, emotion is bad, it's a label we give it, Same with your thoughts. What are you making your thoughts mean about you? Whereas if we have a healthy output for the rage and the anger it turns into like steely focus. You know it helps us to really push through resistance and on the other side of that is probably a relaxation, because she's expressed it or anybody's expressed it.
Speaker 1:So well done for you for holding space on that. I think that's one thing I definitely see with younger people is that we, like I'm more concerned at a child that holds it in and doesn't release it, and that's why I know she will be fine in whatever she does, because she's very good at verbalizing and talking. You know her truth and yet, like you said, having space when she's angry or happy or sad, um, it's one thing that I've had to teach the school system with her, when there was a moment where I actually said to the teacher listen, the her personality traits are exactly what I need her to have when she's an adult, when she's a young 20 year old. This is exactly. I don't want to dismiss her, I don't want to push you know what's the word to Repress it. Yeah, I don't want to repress it because it's really hard sometimes to have a 16 year old who is very confident and truth and loyal in what she says and very direct. But I don't want to because I know that's going to make a fabulous leader one day.
Speaker 1:And so it was probably two months later. The school emailed me back and said we see what you mean. Now we had a conversation with her about a situation with a teacher and you were absolutely right Like we were managing her the wrong way. We didn't give her space to speak and have that conversation, which a lot of schools don't do these days and I don't know if you're in schools teaching or coaching, but this would be an incredible topic for teachers in high schools to learn and understand, like I mean, I know that today we're talking about it more from a business point of view and now I've mentioned it from a a business point of view and now I've mentioned it from a mother's point of view, but imagine if our teachers in the schools understood this for their students Absolutely, who are in that prime time. Like that's really where we need the education to be.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. You know if I can digress and we'll come back to this, so hold me to it if I forget. When I went through my own conception loss and then early onset menopause, I really needed to pull back from being of service. My business was at a peak. I was an ambassador for a global brand. My yoga school was firing on all cylinders. When that all happened, everything unraveled. I lost my worth and my sense of purpose because you just think that one day I'm going to be a mom. And even though I went to uni, I did all the things backwards. I went to uni, traveled, started a business and then, at this peak, I wanted to have kids and then I left it too late.
Speaker 2:You don't actually I don't think we're taught in a culture how to deal with grief, and it doesn't have to be grief of a lost one. It can be grief of a life that you thought you would have, Could be a partner, passing away your own life. For me, not being able to have children, what did that mean for me? Now, I don't fit in my culture. Everyone around me has got babies and pregnant and I couldn't handle the space and I sat in contemplation for a really long time and allowed myself to hit rock bottom and sat with whatever came up for me from my nervous system my own personal outdated ideals and beliefs about a woman's value and her worth and, really looking at things that I was thinking and asking myself where did that come from? Is it mine? Do I believe it, do I want that in my future? And in almost like witnessing, witnessing the dialogue in your head and the cultural beliefs that you have gives you an opportunity to either identify with it or choose something else. And this comes with a price, because you do no longer fit into the mold. But we're not meant to. That's the liberating thing. You are meant to evolve and change and just because life shows you something different, our responsibility to ourselves is to lean into that.
Speaker 2:We were talking earlier about feeling interested. Lean into it. What is possible? What if? What if? This is part of your miraculous becoming so when I sat with that, I realized that my purpose is, whatever I make it, and I am very mothering and I'm very passionate and I'm in service to the feminine. I'm a mother to many and I have been a mother to many and if I hold space for other women to be able to have these self-reflective conversations and then move into a different position of leadership where they then go and teach their daughters. Wow, that would never have been available for me if I had my own children. I'd be focused on them. So I just wanted to share that with anybody that is going through life changes, career changes. There is something so miraculous about learning to be with the grief, sitting with it and then allowing yourself to evolve from that.
Speaker 2:So in talking about moving into a space of like teachers, understanding this, there is so much opportunity. I took a hiatus from teaching to nurture myself through my own intense menopause transition and I've recently come back out when you and I met. There is a wide opportunity there. I call myself a menopause mentor. I call myself a renaissance embodiment coach. I'm a menopause champion. I'm a champion for women re-evaluating their position in the world because we're allowed to and we're meant to. Yeah, so yeah, opportunities to speak to teachers. Imagine young women not feeling awkward, feeling awkward and being in a position where they can speak in circle. What's it like getting your period, how do you manage bad PMS or how do you use a tampon? You know, you've just got to figure out on your own, unless your mum teaches you and even then, like you know, normally we learn from our friends, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and let's flow on with the opportunity I think the opportunity for workplaces to be having these conversations, can you? There's a lot of businesses that are run by males. How do you feel it would be like? How, how could we bring up the topic appropriately HR approved, which we're both not HR experts, but I'm sure that there's, you know. I guess that's probably what people worry about is how can businesses approach this topic? Bring someone in like yourself to the team to help them understand yeah, I mean to understand. You know what's going on. But equally for the stereotypical male business owner, how can they sort of, you know, I don't know how I'm trying to say it, but just bring it in so it's all like it's not awkward Any tips there?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I want to highlight that there are so many resources available, which I have in this e-book that I was telling you about.
Speaker 2:I've designed this beautiful e-book called Menopause at Work what Every Team Needs to Know, and it's full of tips menopause savvy conversations to have with your team, how to introduce it to the team and a list of resources of all the different links around Australia and around the world that help you to create menopause friendly policies, menopause in the workplace policies.
Speaker 2:We also need to open that up to menstruation menopause and reproductive health therapies. So it's not just taking time off for fertility, but understanding that different phases of a woman's life she will need different support. It doesn't mean that she's defective. It means that we're starting to understand how to utilize this rich resource that we have within our bodies. So, in saying that, when we're thinking about inclusive workspaces, it is fantastic that that word inclusivity has started to get so much momentum about it with our LGBTQ community much momentum about it with our LGBTQ community. How can we talk about inclusivity and diversity without bringing into the conversation menopause, when every single human being with functioning ovaries will go through menopause at some point in their life and women make up how much percent of the workforce.
Speaker 1:Well, a lot in property management, a lot.
Speaker 2:Exactly so would you say. It could be anywhere between 60 to 80% in property management.
Speaker 1:More even.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So how could any leader dismiss that conversation, especially when you are talking about future proofing your organisation and making it more attractive to people who want to come and work for you, because there are others out there that are doing it and they'll take your team.
Speaker 1:They'll take your staff. And I'm very aware, when I approach that question, I use the word without making it awkward. And, as I said that, I was thinking to myself it's not awkward, we're making it awkward, and the fact that I even said it like that is like, well, why, ash, why are you even suggesting that it's an awkward conversation? I think I realized that as I was saying it out loud. But I love the words that you use, I love the word inclusive, I love the word future-proofing, and you're right.
Speaker 1:Having the conversation without having to bring in that word menopause or awkward, et cetera, that's what makes it awkward. And if business owners, regardless if they were male or female, um approaching it to say I'm am, you know, deeply committed to future proofing our organization with an inclusive culture, and we are going to um, you know whether they, you know, bring yourself in, whether they have training, the space, provide information, provide information, that would make it, I mean, that sounds pretty good. I feel like inclusive and future-proofing makes it sound like, yeah, it's business, this is a great topic.
Speaker 2:I love that you've brought this up. Can we lean into that a little bit more? I want to put in there that using the word is so important because you know you could have, you have the opportunity to take a sick day, but you're not sick, you don't have a flu, you don't have a headache. You're actually needing some time. Maybe you need to have half a day. You don't need a long time. It could be that you need to work from home because the symptoms are really intense or you're lacking in sleep, so can we just do some office work?
Speaker 2:Yeah, when we have written into policies the word menopause, it educates the team that it's okay to use that word. It starts to really destigmatize it. The same as there could be anything to do with fertility, anything to do with reproductive cycle, it's really taking the body out from behind the shadows and it is about reshaping the face of business, moving forward from here. Do we want to continue doing business in a way that is so I don't know, in a sense, that it's so clinical and linear. Can it be more cyclical?
Speaker 2:It's an experiment. What if we looked at it as an experiment? What if our workplace talked about menopause and changes inside a cycle. What if we had a day where we had an opportunity to do a workshop on our own cycles and understanding? Okay, for a month I'm going to track my cycle. When have I got the most energy? When don't I? What's occurred? You could even look at the cycles of the moon. I know a lot of us feel quite high when there's a full moon and when there's a dark moon we might be a bit more reflective, even if you're not aware of it happening, and in property management weird shit always happens.
Speaker 1:Everyone's on the Facebook groups going. It must be a full moon coming up, you know. So we talk about it. Yeah, but in a different context. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Imagine if you just have those see it as an experiment. What if we did this? How would that be? Like it just breaks down the walls.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think that'd be an incredible. I mean, and if anyone listening to this does this in their workplace, I would love to have some feedback of how it went down, because I think that it would be fun as well, like it's a great team building exercise and it would just be interesting. I mean, at the end of the day, this is a benefit to the person, the employee, it's a benefit to the business owner, it's a benefit to your clients. I mean, everyone wins.
Speaker 2:When you've worked this out, Absolutely, absolutely, and especially when you're working in an industry where relationships are everything. I've got memories of when I was younger, watching in the 80s. Friends of my parents and the women in business had the shoulder pads and women got into the arena by becoming equal as men, equal to men, but they weren't equal as women. They had to leave the woman, the feminine, her intuitive wisdom and cyclical nature at home intuitive wisdom and cyclical nature at home show up with a set to be equal as men. We don't need to play that way anymore Our foot's in the door. We can start to push the door further open, start talking about what's really happening for us. We could even shift the gender pay gap. We could shift everything by bringing our whole selves into the arena, unapologetically, unashamedly, because we are carving a new way forward for that generation.
Speaker 1:The whole world is shifting right now and that's the beautiful thing about doing it and you've spoken about in the past bringing women into that leadership position and just identifying that and, yeah, using it to your advantage. It's just a conversation that's not been had.
Speaker 2:No, I remember what I wanted to say relationship building so you can show up how you think you should be, professional, held together all the rest of it. But are you being authentic? And I don't think we can take for granted how intuitive people are. They may tell you that they're not, they don't believe in all that woo, but people will know how you make them feel, even if you're smiling. If you show up and you're not authentic, you're unable to really bring your full presence to yourself, how you're feeling and cater for what you need in that moment and really bring your presence to another person. People will sense it and I think that's the real metrics of success.
Speaker 2:Is what does this relationship need to thrive? I want to loop back into when we're looking at our cycles. I understand that not all of us can choose to remove ourselves from situations when we're having an off week, or if you're in a even I said off week we've got to really mind our language but when you're having a week where you don't feel your best? But here is the interesting thing what if you just create more white space around your calendar so that after periods of social interaction, you have more downtime to regenerate your own energy, and that might be going for a walk in a park, it could be doing a meditation in your car, it might be knocking off to a yoga class for a lunchtime yoga practice to reconnect to yourself. That way you are catering for your needs, and this whole concept of regenerative practices start from the self, which is everything that I talk about in all of my work is identifying the relationship you have with yourself.
Speaker 2:Where are you hiding from yourself? We talk about shadow work and really understanding things in your own life that you have decided to put in exile or not own up to under the carpet If they're starting to come up, which naturally happens in perimenopause. A lot of the teachers that I've lent into talk about perimenopause and the time of moving into menopause is where we really start to take a really good look at our lifestyle practices to date. Have you drunk a lot of alcohol? Have you been a recreational drug user? Have you smoked? How have you spoken to yourself? What is your internal dialogue like?
Speaker 2:All of these things come up for reconciliation around this time in our lives, which is one of the aspects of looking at mental health. There's mental health in the scientific realm, where we look at the different hormonal structures and what the brain needs, but what the nervous system needs? How do we decompress a stressed nervous system so that we can take the stress from the body and move it out of us or metabolize it, as opposed to just stress management, which is realigning, reshuffling your papers around, moving things, but actually processing that work moving on. So there's this fresh slate which is capable for all of us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I feel like this is really where a big where it's complicating things, because you've got menopause, you've got mental health, you've got burnout, stress, age, like it's merging into one and it's making us blame the easiest of those, don't you think?
Speaker 2:I love that. I quite often would talk about the inconvenient truth. Yeah, yes, that's a perfect word Blaming, naming, shaming. Earlier you asked me a question about minerals and things that we can do to support ourselves.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we had a question on our Instagram, so I put a question out. One question was the ages, which we talked about, and the second question, yeah, was vitamins and minerals to help support. Even if we're not necessarily, yeah, maybe right in the thick of it, it's probably not going to hurt us and obviously we know that, like I'm not a doctor, you're not a doctor, but sort of are there any that would be beneficial for us to take? Absolutely, let's go through them. Absolutely, get a pen.
Speaker 2:Do you want to hear what I would say to a woman who is in business and to any woman doesn't matter if she's in business or not who is starting to recognize that she's in that age group? It would be that, to start noticing your cycle, start tracking your menstrual cycle. I have a downloadable and it's free perimenopause symptoms tracker on my Instagram page. It's also in the ebook that I'm telling you about. Whether you use mine or you get a free one from online, start tracking your menstrual cycle. Start recognizing your peaks and troughs in your month. Start working and aligning yourself with that.
Speaker 2:That's the first step. Start recognizing which foods you're eating, because, as you go through this, the hormones in your body and we quite often think about estrogen and progesterone, but there's a whole gamut in there everything to do about your hormones in your gut which lean in towards satiety and hunger testosterone in there as well. So there's a whole lot when you start to understand how these are shifting. They're not only sex hormones, they're related to your gut health. So foods that you may have tolerated and loved before are now giving you heartburn, yeah, or are now starting to make you feel sleepy after you eat them.
Speaker 1:I also have one of my girls. She had always ate almonds and all of a sudden she got an almond allergy. It's weird.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, there's that. There's also looking at what kind of in this particular case, are they organic almonds or are they grown in large-scale factories and farms and different chemicals used on them? So it's multi-layered and multi-faceted. But if we strip it back to what the human body needs at this time in life, start to schedule in more white space into your calendar and get used to having these periods of silence and quiet. Have time for reflection so that, as you might find that, as different memories start to come up and you get triggered by certain things, rather than just bypass them, push through or carry on, you have an opportunity to ask yourself where did that come from? What does that need from me? Inside my work, I will take people through the journey of meeting their younger selves and reconciling with that, and it's so powerful, it is so powerful to do that. When you do that, you can bring through all the exiled parts of yourself and take the wisdom from the pain rather than just push it away. You learn you can also time bend and go to your future, highest, best self and reconnect with that wisdom and draw that into your present moment. That way you aren't looking outside of yourself. You start to trust.
Speaker 2:The food that I'm eating today is different to what I ate last week. I need to bring in more fresh fruit and vegetables. In terms of diet, you want to look at starting including cruciferous vegetables. Broccoli these are your Brussels sprouts, these are your leafy green vegetables. If there is one thing that I can pass on about diet and again, I'm not a nutritionist, but I've been working in this field for so long from my own health conditions too, working in this field for so long, from my own health conditions too I want you to consider perimenopause as a phase of inflammation in the body Subtle, low-grade, potentially chronic if you already have preceding health conditions.
Speaker 2:Reason being estrogen is like the cushioning agent in the body. It softens the joints. You've got estrogen receptors all through your brain, your eyes, your ligaments, your skin. It's what keeps everything juicy and viscous. As estrogen starts to decline, the body goes into this inflammatory space, which is why it's so important to make sure we're eating foods phytoestrogen foods important to make sure we're eating foods phytoestrogen foods. This is also needing to be monitored by a doctor. If you have any pre-aliments or history of cancer in the family I'm not a doctor you need to go and speak to somebody about this. But then you're also including foods like flax, which is very high in phytoestrogen, so you're supplementing already prior to moving into the late stages of perimenopause menopause. You're already starting to understand and educate yourself about what you need in order to support the changes you're going to go through.
Speaker 1:And I think gut health, yeah, is a really important part. I know that I am working with a nutritionist and it was something as simple as not having that morning coffee as soon as you wake up and having something to eat and then having the coffee afterwards and the way that they she describes it is from Jess from Happy Healthy Nutrition and she also so it was like it wasn't about not having the coffee, it was just about can you have it at 10 o'clock and have something to eat first?
Speaker 1:You know, it's just those simple things, and that was definitely about gut health. And because she talked about how, quite naturally, we you know, if you're in your forties, you go back to, well, when I was in my twenties I could eat whatever I wanted, and so then, naturally, we go well, I'll just do what I did in my twenties. But that's not the way it works. You're completely different now. Oh my gosh, you have to, you have to, yeah, you, you have to be doing things appropriate for your hormones and all of that now. And I just, I just yeah, it was something that was obvious, but when she just described it to me, I was like, yeah, of course, why am I trying to have this diet that I had? Cause it worked for me when I had my first baby. Like, that's not the way it works these days. So it's so much, so much more. So I mean, I think that the I'm just conscious of your time, but I think, overall, what I want the message to come across as just because highly female orientated profession, obviously a lot in this 35 to 50 year old age gap I want people to recognise the fact that there are a lot of things like burnout, mental health, et cetera, that we're very quick to blame in the workplace, and I would love more people to explore this topic a bit more. If they can do it in the office as a team, I think that's incredible.
Speaker 1:Or if they want to do it as a personal journey, I think it'd be really interesting for them to explore by, like you said, just identifying and tracking your cycle. It could involve going to the doctors, it could involve working with a nutritionist or just focusing on your gut health, all of those things and getting yourself right on a personal level, because you are going to be the best you know employee, business owner, property manager to your clients, you know mum or dad to your children. Once you personally are healthy and happy, then everything else will just fall in place, and I'm a big believer of that and I just I think that, yeah, the conversation today, I just love the topic and I'm so thankful for your time and the fact that people like you exist. Like I didn't even know before meeting you, there was such a coach that works with that, and if that's what I can bring to the industry to say there are people like yourself who can help I'm probably putting words in my mouth, but I guess there's a personal coaching, there's team coaching Can you talk to me about?
Speaker 1:Like if someone wanted to approach you and get some support. What does that look like? What does your coaching look like individually or as a team?
Speaker 2:I love that. I love that Tailored. It's tailored depending on what's in front of me. My background leans strongly into somatic and nervous system support, so there is a multifaceted approach to health and well-being. The way that I look at it from the lens that I have is understanding the relationship you have with your own body and your own identity, where you fit into life, when we can understand how we feel about ourselves. So if anybody out there is listening and thinks, oh, putting more white space in my calendar, that means I'm not being productive, but your body's craving craving some extra time. That's what we unpack.
Speaker 2:Where is the resistance? Where did it come from? Is it yours? Is it something you've learned from it? Has it been told to you by someone in the industry? Are you measuring yourself up against something to fail because it's not who you really are? How do we tap into your unique gifts so that you can thrive?
Speaker 2:In regards to team building, it's very much about somatic understanding. So when you can bring yourself into emotional coherence, you become a safe space for others, and I think that is what's really woefully missing in our day and age is a space where our nervous system, our senses, actually feel like we belong. We're not just a square peg trying to fit into a round hole and wondering why we don't fit in. Creating a safe and this could be a team leader holding space for their team and understanding how to regulate their nervous system, recognising the signs and symptoms of stress before they become burnout yeah, how to have healthy conversations that are inclusive.
Speaker 2:May I add in, in terms of team environments, how helpful it can be to have on the back of toilet doors signs and symptoms of perimenopause so that you can read about it, or have it in the kitchen so everybody can see it. What a great, simple idea to do. Yeah, what about in the kitchen having menopause supportive teas, things that are ashwagandha based or ginger and chamomile, or in the fridge having alternative milks? All these beautiful things that you can bring in that are supportive, that people can learn about, and having this inclusive conversation. I think they're really important.
Speaker 1:I love those tips. They're wonderful. I know that, even if you're having a staff meeting but you're looking at healthy options and not necessarily always having the donuts or the cakes and it could be even as simple as that as a business, having that as your priority Yep.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're fantastic. We can go into it so much more, but we've been talking for so long I know.
Speaker 1:And do you know what? Like, we've got 10 questions which we probably didn't go into it, which is wonderful because I do love the conversational style and it's been so beneficial. Last off, if you can just tell us about, did you say those are downloadable? Yeah, can you tell us about that? And so I'll make sure that I include that link for everyone to access.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I created an ebook and it's free for your listeners. It's all about menopause in the workplace what teams need to know. It's free for your listeners. It's all about menopause in the workplace what teams need to know. It's providing an overview of the four stages of the menstrual cycle, so understanding what menopause is. So the questions you asked me earlier. It goes through how to have menopause-savvy conversations, this inclusivity, this inclusive nature about it. It also has opportunities to learn about self-help tips, different food groups. There's a whole sheet of resources in there as well. It would be considered an icebreaker, an opportunity to have menopause awareness in the workplace, and there is a downloadable perimenopause symptoms tracker so that people can have the opportunity to track their own symptoms. I think that's where it all starts. You know, ashley is really starting to understand our bodies, our own rhythms, and being okay with bringing that to the forefront.
Speaker 1:So good. Thank you so much for your time. I can't keep on sort of you know, repeating it, but it's just a fascinating topic and different to what people are hearing, so relevant and, yeah, very, very thankful for your time. So I'll make sure that everyone has access to that ebook and please reach out to Claudia if you want to have a chat about her coaching and her services as well, if you think that'll be beneficial for your team. Definitely for these. You know one of the ladies I spoke to. She, I think, had 40 females in her team and was telling me about a few issues and I was like I know exactly who you need in your next staff meeting. So I just think that it's yeah, it's just a perfect conversation and I'm very thankful for your time and I'll definitely talk to you soon.
Speaker 2:Thank you, ashley for having me have a great day, how'd.
