Jill’s corner

From Gennev’s Co-Founder and CEO

Today I am attending my first-ever virtual wedding. It has been a long-time coming and I’m very excited for my friends.

There is something magical about celebrating people in their happiness and love. It’s a second marriage for them; and being on my second marriage, I know the profound joy (and gratefulness) one feels when they have been given a second chance.

Whether you are partnered up with someone or not, love happens in many ways. Kids, parents, siblings, friends, pets, adventures, art, food – whatever fills your soul and helps you feel a “connectedness” that brings you joy.

The pandemic has inspired new ways to fill our need to connect. I have regular zooms with my college friends; my aussie girlfriends; my Utah gang; my annual “week of creativity and relaxation” friends. I am so dang thankful for the relationships I have and how they’ve grown deeper in the wake of something that has sadly torn many families and friends apart.

I’m inspired by people like Jeanie Ralston of Next Tribe who keep reinventing reasons for women to connect, support one another, and have a roaring good time.

On February 23, 2021, Jeanie and team are holding their annual Out Loud event, [A Celebration Of The Power And Creativity Of Women Over 45.](https://nexttribe.com/a-celebration-of-the-power-and-creativity-of-women-over-45/?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_unyb_HELIIY6BLu_HyXVJanAuPSBi79VZNoMiaWhNbOspv04SOxjeE2lsA5ru-jJ6Xd-M)

This is not just any zoom gathering of women. There will be music and dancing and celebrity speakers, including actress Fran Dresher; Maya Wiley, the former MSNBC legal analyst and current NYC mayoral candidate; fashion designer Norma Kamali; and Marta Kauffman, co-creator of Friends and Grace and Frankie; and full-disclosure, I'll be there too.

We think of Next Tribe as a sister community to Gennev, because we share a mission to celebrate women, improve your life and help you feel good about yourself.

As my Galentine's Day gift to you, I’d like to offer you a complimentary ticket for the event. Full disclosure, Gennev is a sponsor, but we do not profit from your attendance; in fact, I am purchasing the tickets to support Next Tribe’s mission.

I want you to feel connected to a sisterhood of confident women who want to have some fun. I'll be there, dancing.

If you would like a complimentary ticket and you will attend, email me at jill@gennev.com your first/last name and I will use it and your email to register you.

Happy Valentine’s Day ❤️

Jill


Today I am attending my first-ever virtual wedding. It has been a long-time coming and I’m very excited for my friends.
Whether you are partnered up with someone or not, love happens in many ways. Kids, parents, siblings, friends, pets, adventures, art, food – whatever fills your soul and helps you feel a “connectedness” that brings you joy.

A Valentine's Day To Remember

I’m writing this week’s email from the passenger seat of our SUV complete with cartop-carrier loaded with skis. We’re driving back to Seattle after spending the weekend in Utah, house hunting. Here is the view outside my window.

![Copy of Its Happening CEO Email.jpg](https://media.graphcms.com/Vhny1avRei3PwDbg37Y3)

In March, my husband and I are moving out of the fabulous lake cabin we’ve lived in for the last three years. It’s bittersweet – my friend who owns the house is diving into her dream remodel and we’re so excited for her.

For us, we’re on the hunt for our next home. Will it be along the lakeshores of Seattle, WA? Will it be in the snowy mountains of Utah? Over the past few years, we have had a foothold in each location, and we have a spiritual connection to both.

So, lots of personal change for me; but what's also changing is how women are taking control of their health in 2021.

Kudos to many of you who have booked your annual “menopause appointment” with our telehealth team. Appointments are up 168% from the previous month and we still have room for more.

Just as many of you are changing up life with a membership to HealthFix. We affectionately refer to HealthFix as our “3-month menopause liberation membership”. It doesn't have to be only 3 months – you can be a member for as long as you want concierge access to our team of dietitians, coaches and doctors. But, we often tell women that it takes 3 months of working with our team on lifestyle changes and possibly medication to feel relief and “liberation” from the tight grip of peri or post menopause related symptoms.

With permission, I am sharing an email I received from a woman this week that made my heart do flips...

“I have finally gotten up the courage to start on my Gennev journey! There are two reasons I want to do this: one is for my own health, and the other is that my circle of female friends are approaching me about what they need to do about perimenopause. Being in the healthcare field and a scientist, they are turning to me for advice and I want to be able to provide useful resources for them”.

So, it’s happening. Women helping women and women helping themselves. Menopause will always be part of our lives, but it doesn’t have to rule them.

If you haven’t yet found the courage to start your Gennev journey, or you’re not sure whether a [HealthFix membership](https://gennev.com/plans) or an “[annual menopause appointment](https://gennev.com/plans)” is right for you? Send us an email to info@gennev.com with “HELP” and our patient coordinator will confidentially follow up and talk you through the options.

Consider us your partner in health. 

Have a fabulous week...and make it happen!

Jill Angelo, Co-Founder and CEO, Gennev

What's happening? I share news about my personal move; and what hundreds of women are making happen.

It's Happening

As a leader of a women&rsquo;s health company, I rarely share my political views. Gennev is for all women, no matter your political views, your economic status, your skin color, your background, or your love for Grey&rsquo;s Anatomy (just kidding&hellip;but I know that some of you still watch that show).
This week I'm celebrating Kamala Harris as former VP Joe Biden&rsquo;s pick for Vice President!
As I scrolled through my social feeds and witnessed her face pasted everywhere with comments like, &ldquo;hell yeah!&rdquo; and &ldquo;about time,&rdquo; and &ldquo;go Kamala,&rdquo; my moment of anticipation had finally arrived. I was relieved. I wanted her.
Whether or not you agree with my position, seeing a woman in midlife bringing her wisdom to such a powerful position is a win for women! And in my view, our country.
We get places by lifting one another up, not tearing one another down.
Happy birthday to my mom who turned 75 today. I love her. Her optimism and happy attitude is the most infectious thing about her. Of all her life lessons, I live by her advice to &ldquo;be curious about other people; ask them questions about their lives, and by doing so, you won&rsquo;t have to worry about what you contribute to a conversation.&rdquo;
I use that advice every day. I never have to worry about being interesting; I just need to be curious about the other person.
As women, we want to be heard. Weekly I meet with our Director of Health Coaching and our Chief Medical Officer. The consistent feedback I hear is that women just want to be heard. <a href="https://gennev.com/plans">Our appointments</a> run past the 15- or 30-minute allotments regularly, because there is a rich and meaningful conversation between patient and practitioner.
Tonight I went on a boat cruise with a dear friend of nearly 20 years. We&rsquo;ve watched one another rise and fall in our careers, and we&rsquo;ve been by one another&rsquo;s side through it all. In our 40s and 50s, we both find ourselves leading companies in very early stages. Companies we started for the good to women. And the greatest lesson we&rsquo;ve learned through the ups and downs is that we are more capable than we are aware of. Our confidence is starting to show itself, and it feels good. Very good.
And like Kamala, who is emerging at the height of an incredible career and life, we feel powerful.
So, whether you are a Kamala fan or simply a fan of seeing women rise to their potential, let&rsquo;s celebrate one another. We do a lot. We are real. We&rsquo;re beautiful. Sometimes we&rsquo;re raw, but dammit, we mean well.
This weekend raise a glass or mug to being a woman and to the amazing women around you.
Peace out
<img src="https://media.graphcms.com/RwPRti5SDOfVMKahj8qw" alt="" width="285" height="102" />
Jill Angelo
Co-Founder and CEO, Gennev
&nbsp;

"Seeing a woman in midlife bringing her wisdom to such a powerful position is a win for women! And in my view, our country. We get places by lifting one another up, not tearing one another down," says Gennev CEO Jill Angelo.

CEO Thoughts: It feels good to celebrate women | Gennev

CEO Thoughts: It feels good to celebrate women 

Sleep. We all want more, but rarely get enough.
It&rsquo;s kind of like time. We&rsquo;re always working to improve how we manage it and never feel like we have enough. I&rsquo;m a pretty good sleeper. I fall asleep within 15 minutes of hitting the pillow.
Staying asleep is my issue. I&rsquo;m up twice every night to pee. I&rsquo;m a thirsty person, so I drink a lot of water and have resigned to the fact that I will be up during the night.
The hard part is getting back to sleep. On intense days, my anxiety is on a tear winding me up during the day; it also creeps into my head during my nightly bathroom breaks. When that happens, I can easily subtract 2 hours off my sleep time during the night.
In our Menopause Assessment, 96% of you say that trouble sleeping is in your top 3 symptoms of menopause. Does it wreak havoc on your quality of life?
I bet it does.
In fact, lack of sleep contributes to foggy brain, changing moods, depression, hot flashes, metabolism changes and an overall feeling of blah. On my high-anxiety nights, I can thank my pee breaks for more than just lack of sleep!
That&rsquo;s why we need to solve it.
Seriously, solving the world&rsquo;s sleep problems is likely not going to be accomplished by Gennev. But, I believe we can make progress helping you fall asleep and stay asleep more peacefully.
Last week we launched our line of Gennev Sleep products: <a href="https://shop.gennev.com/collections/sleep-peacefully/products/cbd-oil-for-sleep" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sleep CBD Tincture + Mint</a> for those who want to fall asleep fast. And for those who love your melatonin, we launched <a href="https://shop.gennev.com/collections/sleep-peacefully/products/sleeping-pills-for-menopause" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sleep CBD + Melatonin Softgels</a> for a more restful sleep.
The tincture is my jam, because I like the fast absorption. What's yours?
&nbsp;
Sleep well... Jill Angelo
Co-Founder and CEO, Gennev

In our Menopause Assessment, 96% of women say that trouble sleeping is in their top 3 symptoms of menopause. Does it wreak havoc on your quality of life?


CEO Thoughts: My New Mission is to Solve the Sleep Problem

Raise your hand if you had an epically tough day this week. Mine was today and it was a shit show.
It started with a family member in the ER with appendicitis waiting hours to get into the OR for surgery; then a few appointment scheduling things broke on Gennev.com; next about 2000 women who were expecting their Menopause Assessment results had to wait a bit longer due to yet another technical glitch; then my refrigerator died.
There is nothing like grabbing a steak to thaw for dinner from the freezer and it&rsquo;s already room temperature. I chatted with a friend to cancel weekend plans; I vented to a few women on the team over Slack who lent sympathetic ears; and I texted another friend to help coordinate cars for the post-surgery caravan home.
And then this came in from one of our Gennev patients who uncovered one of the snarly bugs we found in our patient dashboard today (its small, so stretch it to read):
<img src="https://media.graphcms.com/ZlYPnL6RXe1CKajgwk2j" alt="" width="1117" height="177" />
I wanted to cry. She was so thoughtful and helpful. She was a woman helping women.
One woman on my team said to me, &ldquo;&hellip;seriously, we just have to call this one!&rdquo;
That made me laugh.
What gets you through the tough stuff? For me, it&rsquo;s women in my life.
In fact, I think it is time with girlfriends that I&rsquo;ve missed most during the pandemic. Zoom is not good for hugs or weekends away.
Who is your girl group?
How about with menopause or midlife change? Who are the friends you feel comfortable sharing the parts of you that may not be so shiny?
For many women that we support at Gennev, they don&rsquo;t have someone to talk to about loneliness, anxiety, weight gain, painful periods, painful sex, the list goes on.
I was chatting with Stasi Kasianchuk, Gennev&rsquo;s Director of Coaching this week about how hard it is for women to share their midlife challenges for fear of judgement or bringing the other person down. Often, they will use their Gennev Coach as a listening ear and accountability partner.
We need women, so here&rsquo;s an offer: If you&rsquo;d like to bring a small group of friends together virtually for discussion about midlife health changes, the menopause blues, eating better for 7 days, or whatever is challenging you, one of our Health Coaches will facilitate a private happy hour for you and your gang&hellip;on us. You supply the women, topic and drinks; our coaches will facilitate the discussion and offer advice.
Our Health Coaches are Registered Dietitian Nutritionists. And don&rsquo;t let the &ldquo;dietitian&rdquo; title fool you; they&rsquo;re experienced and trained in all types of midlife-topics, including sleep, sex, skin and hair, anxiety and depression, even re-imaging life 2.0.
Let&rsquo;s make August the month for leaning into the women around us that cheer us up. If you don&rsquo;t have any, we&rsquo;ll be that for you.
 Jill Angelo
Co-Founder and CEO, Gennev
P.S. In the spirit of women helping women, if you&rsquo;re struggling with UTIs please check out my friend&rsquo;s company uqora.com and use code GENNEV20 for 20% off your first order. Jenna and team are experts in naturally helping women with recurring UTIs, and they might just be able to help you too.

"Raise your hand if you had an epically tough day this week. Mine was today and it was a sh*t show. What gets you through the tough stuff?" asks Gennev CEO Jill Angelo. "For me, it’s women in my life."


CEO Thoughts: Today was a tough day

Regularly I complain to my husband about how lousy I&rsquo;m feeling.
Monthly I have terrible cramps. Like really painful. Like I have a soccer ball in my lower abdomen that makes me think it&rsquo;s a giant fibroid or tumor. I&rsquo;m bloated and I look pregnant.
He comments, &ldquo;Heaven forbid you check in with a doctor to make sure you&rsquo;re ok.&rdquo; He adds, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like you know any qualified women&rsquo;s health physicians or anything.&rdquo;
He has a point. I run a <a href="https://gennev.com/plans">women's health company with knowledgeable experts</a>.
I am guilty of not doing anything to help myself feel better when I&rsquo;m in pain or suffering through the woes of perimenopause.
My excuse? I don&rsquo;t want to overreact to something that&rsquo;s probably just &ldquo;normal.&rdquo; This way of thinking is the very thing that we&rsquo;re trying to change at Gennev!
When people ask me who our biggest competitor is, I respond, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s women doing nothing.&rdquo; Because that&rsquo;s what we often do when we&rsquo;re not feeling good, or we&rsquo;re experiencing some embarrassing symptom that makes us feel old or ashamed: Nothing. Except suffer.
Besides we&rsquo;re busy.
But too busy for ensuring that we&rsquo;re healthy and able to thrive? To take care of those we love? To rock it in our jobs? Be happy and feel positive about our bodies?
With this email, I&rsquo;m outing myself and am pledging to change my ways. And if this sounds familiar, I challenge you to change yours.
It&rsquo;s been 6 years since I&rsquo;ve had a pap exam, and equally as long since I&rsquo;ve had a mammogram. I run, I swim, walk, ski, eat healthy and am fortunate to have good genes for muscle mass. But when it comes to leveraging the expertise of health professionals in my life for the big stuff, I just don&rsquo;t do it.
Is it fear? Perhaps. It could be fear masked by &ldquo;I&rsquo;m too busy&rdquo; or &ldquo;it&rsquo;s probably not anything&rdquo; or &ldquo;if it were really serious I wouldn&rsquo;t be able to get out of bed.&rdquo;
At Gennev, we often hear from women that they want to wait until they REALLY need to meet with a doctor or work with a health coach. That it&rsquo;s not &ldquo;necessary&rdquo; until they&rsquo;re REALLY sick. But what&rsquo;s that magical line in the sand that makes it REALLY necessary?
It&rsquo;s true that GenX and Boomer women don&rsquo;t really have a calendar of check-ups to follow when it comes to managing our health in midlife. Companies like Gennev need to change that, and we&rsquo;re working on it.
But, I think we need to become better at owning our health. Making time for appointments, checking in with our close friends on whether they&rsquo;re paying attention to changes in their bodies and their moods, and simply making sure that they&rsquo;re doing OK.
Here's my challenge for you: ask two friends how they're doing...how they're REALLY doing. By helping them feel heard, I hope it motivates you to take action for your health. Check in with a doctor (<a href="https://gennev.com/plans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">we've got one for you at Gennev</a> if you don't have one), or challenge yourself to work with a health coach for 3 months. Start simple and see how great you can feel.
I, for one, have booked an appointment with a Gennev provider for starters. I need to be heard by someone who gets me. I hope you'll do the same.
 Jill Angelo
Co-Founder and CEO, Gennev

Why don't women get help when they're suffering? Gennev CEO Jill Angelo understands — she does it too — we're busy, we're embarrassed, we're not sure we're hurting "enough." She's committing to getting the help she needs and encouraging others to do the same.

CEO Thoughts: Why don't I take better care of myself?

Today we&rsquo;re celebrating a milestone.&nbsp;
We have reached the milestone of 50,000 women having completed the Gennev Menopause Assessment.
50,000 women contributing their data to understand their health and well-being. 50,000 women contributing to new education called the Menopause Journey Map. 50,000 women supporting innovation in women&rsquo;s health as we begin to bridge the research gap that&rsquo;s existed for too long.
But is it enough?
Not by my standards.
Of the 50,000 women in the Gennev Menopause Assessment data, less than 15% are Black women or women of color. And this lack of representation furthers the inequities for them in healthcare.
That brings me to today. It&rsquo;s Juneteenth. How many of us who are not Black really understand and embrace how meaningful June 19th is?
June 19th is Emancipation Day and commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. It&rsquo;s the final day in which all slaves were freed, even though it came two full years after President Abraham Lincoln declared all enslaved people free.
In a year when racial tension is extremely high, Juneteenth is set to be a day that I, as a white woman, will take on with new meaning. I&rsquo;ve been wrestling with my role, with Gennev&rsquo;s role, in the change that&rsquo;s required to take on racial injustice.
Beyond steeping ourselves in anti-racism education to the point of discomfort, there remains an immense racial gap in women&rsquo;s healthcare.
Black women die 2&frac12; times more often than white women during childbirth. And when it comes to menopause, there&rsquo;s no data supporting the symptomatic differences between women of different races.
Does it matter that we explore that? You bet it does. Information drives change. Until we do the research and we educate ourselves on why menopause may affect women differently, we&rsquo;re not creating an equal society. We&rsquo;re not changing the course of racism. We&rsquo;re not advancing and personalizing healthcare for women.
<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/berenicemagistretti/2020/06/19/fembeat-gennev-releases-a-menopause-journey-map-to-help-the-38-million-women-in-the-us-manage-menopause-symptoms/#697179bd3b67" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Forbes published an article on the Menopause Journey Map today</a> and its role in advancing women&rsquo;s healthcare during menopause. My dream is that the next article published doubles-down on new learning around racial differences in menopause and access to care. And it doesn&rsquo;t just expose the problem, but presents solutions for what we&rsquo;re doing about it.
I&rsquo;m pausing to honor Juneteenth and thank the 50,000 women who have helped us create a new benchmark for menopause understanding. The stark contrast of the two reveals the great amount of work that lies ahead and our work at Gennev to fulfill our mission to empower ALL women to take control of their health.
 Jill Angelo
Co-Founder and CEO, Gennev

Today we’re celebrating a milestone. We have reached the milestone of 50,000 women having completed the Gennev Menopause Assessment.


CEO Thoughts: How Can 50,000 Women Make a Difference? | Gennev

CEO Thoughts: How Can 50,000 Women Make a Difference?

Is it too soon for me to feel hope that there is meaningful change ahead?
I love certainty, but if I had to trade the certainty of our former status quo for the hope of a coronavirus vaccine, jobs returning, and racial justice in policing, healthcare, education, investment, job creation &mdash; and more &mdash; I would trade it in a minute.
Anytime you get in a place of vulnerability, you change. Our country is at a place of extreme vulnerability. But I have hope. Does that make me naive or privileged to have hope? I don't know.
But I see change. I see growth. Personally, I&rsquo;m working on getting vulnerable to make myself and Gennev an agent of change in improving health access for all women &ndash; and focusing special attention on Black women and women of color, who always bear an unequal share of the burden.
When women get vulnerable and share how they&rsquo;ve pushed through it, I find that so healing. It makes my weaknesses normal; it makes me aware of them and something to grow from. It gives me hope to see how others have made it to the other side.
On Wednesday, I had the honor of <a href="https://youtu.be/6Yi3G04G0Qo" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interviewing Amy Schmidt, podcaster, author and CEO of FearlouslyFacingFifty</a>. June 10th was the official launch of her new book Cannonball. If you want a dose of hope, buy her book. She graciously shares her journey coming into her 50th birthday, and the personal growth and struggles it took to get her there.
In the past week, I&rsquo;ve found my hope by asking women of all backgrounds and skin colors how they&rsquo;re doing. By reading books on anti-racism. By talking about the tough stuff with my team in our morning coffee talks. By listening to Amy share her story.
Growth takes hard work. But I&rsquo;m finding hope in all the people around me who are diving in and taking it on &mdash; educating themselves, making room for others at the table, keeping quiet to let marginalized voices be heard. Helping to share the burden that&rsquo;s too long been shouldered by Black people &ndash; Black women especially.
Here&rsquo;s my challenge to you: seek out your hope. If that means reading books on the topic. If that means getting into nature. If that means marching in the streets and raising your voice (and wearing a mask). Whatever that means, I challenge you to seek it out.
We&rsquo;re at our best when we have hope.
 Jill Angelo
Co-Founder and CEO, Gennev
&nbsp;

"Anytime you get in a place of vulnerability, you change. Our country is at a place of extreme vulnerability. But I have hope."

CEO Thoughts: Is it too soon to have hope?

Yesterday I met Jennifer Ferguson, Founder and CEO of Handful. I was so touched by her mission that I decided to write my Friday email about her company.
Handful is an active wear company, specializing in bras. Really comfortable bras.
I first experienced Handful when my running group of six women purchased matching pink bras to wear on a bachelorette run for a friend who was getting married (the bride-to-be wore white).
Little did I know about the woman behind the company &ndash; or the incredible mission she was undertaking to support cancer survivors, frontline workers, and anyone who needs a bra in all shapes and sizes.
That was 10 years ago.
Yesterday Jennifer joined us for our weekly webinar titled The Business of Supporting Women.
Handful has moved beyond creating comfortable bras that go from &ldquo;wake up to worn out&rdquo; to also supporting breast cancer survivors. From diagnosis through treatment and beyond, breast cancer survivors are eligible for a lifetime 30% discount on all Handful bras and activewear through their Breast Friends Forever program.
During the webinar, Stasi Kasianchuk, Gennev&rsquo;s Director of Health Coaching interviewed Jennifer and me about being in the business of supporting women.
Jennifer &ndash; from a supportive clothing perspective, and me &ndash; from a health and wellness perspective.
We all want to feel comfortable inside and out, and together our companies focus on women feeling good about themselves; feeling like they can move; knowing that they are supported.
Jennifer and I believe in this so much that we joined forces with a few other women-owned companies to create a special offer for women while building our companies.
Starting today, we're pooling products and services from each of our organizations for one lucky winner. It&rsquo;s worth $600. If you&rsquo;re up for entering to win a special health, wellness, and fashion treat, go to our Instagram and enter to win.
The winner will be announced on Friday May 22nd.
So there you have it. Women supporting women and some fun free stuff all in one.
Have a fabulous weekend!
 Jill Angelo
Co-Founder and CEO, Gennev
&nbsp;
P.S. Use code GENNEV to get 20% off a Handful purchase.&nbsp;

"We all want to feel comfortable inside and out; our companies focus on women feeling good about themselves; feeling like they can move; knowing that they are supported." Jill talks with CEO of Handful, Jennifer Ferguson.


CEO Thoughts: The Business of Supporting Women

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News mentions, CEO corner, and press releases | Gennev

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Ready to take back control of your health in menopause? Talk to a menopause specialist ob/gyn or nurse practitioner and get real answers to your menopause questions