How My Menopause Experience Inspired Me to Start My Own Company

I’m an entrepreneur, a mom, a wife, and a woman who has always empowered women in business for over 30 years—and not all in that order. I believe that each stage of our lives propels different areas where we place our energy, time, and commitment the most. In this season of my life, my experience has propelled me to pour myself into Bossa Bars, the third company I’ve founded.

Bossa Bars are energy bars specifically designed to support women’s changing cravings and symptoms through the most challenging stages of menopause. Before spending my time growing Bossa Bars, I’d dedicated my time and energy to helping other women grow multimillion-dollar companies and also growing and selling my own.

The secret sauce to each chapter of my career is rooted in the same premise: understanding how to listen and act on my intuition.

How My Product Came to Life

I was 55 years old when I started experiencing perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms.

I faced sugar cravings, weight gain, and feeling out of control in my own body. I lacked confidence, and it felt so out of character. I have spent most of my adult life and career helping others build their confidence, but there I was, feeling so out of place on my own.

Like many other people who were trying to get back to themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic, I started in the kitchen. I would bake brownies and cookies for my two young adult sons, and in one of those baking sessions, I had my eureka moment.

I became highly aware of how I was coping with this new stage of my life. I was comforted by baking and eating sweets, but if I wanted to start feeling good in my body again and regain my confidence, I also knew that I had to start speaking to my symptoms. My moment of inspiration took me down a rabbit hole of how food could be used to support menopausal women better.

I spent a lot of time researching, and I landed on the powerful benefits of a plant-based diet and ingredients like maca.

Today Bossa Bars include ingredients like organic maca (to balance hormones, anxiety, and energy levels), spinach and kale (which can ease hot flashes, night sweats, and drastic weight gain), and cacao nibs (known to reduce inflammation).

And in those first few days, before Bossa Bars were available to the public, I combined ingredients in my own kitchen and shared them with friends who also needed support through their menopausal symptoms.

I didn’t think that I was starting a company at first. I simply knew that I was taking my symptoms into my own hands and trying to support myself through this journey in the best ways I could.

Change for the Better

As I started sharing my homemade bars with loved ones, I also realized a common trend: the bars were conversation starters.

When I shared why I started making them and how their ingredients supported women, I learned more about the women in my own life and how they were personally impacted by menopause.

I saw a lot of the loneliness and otherness that I had experienced when my menopause symptoms first kicked in. I also saw how talking about our menopause journeys helped that loneliness dissipate. They weren’t alone. I wasn’t alone. I was so far from alone that my friends started encouraging me to take these bars to market so that other women could feel as supported as we did.

And when I did and the circles of conversations started getting larger and larger, I realized that we were onto something. Women didn’t want to just listen to a conversation around menopause; they wanted to be a part of it. They wanted to bring other women along so that they could also feel supported and empowered.

Growing Bossa has allowed me to continue building community and empowering women, as I’ve been doing throughout my entire career. It’s encouraging me personally and encouraging Bossa’s ethos now too.

Menopause is indeed a life-changing time. It took building an entire company for me to realize that the changes aren’t for the worse, they can be for the better.