Melissa Bell
Thriving in Menopause Expert at Sivako! Coaching
Health, Wellness and Fitness
Education: The George Washington University - Boston University - Questrom School of Business
Chicago, IL, USA
Biography
Melissa is a former DEA Special Agent turned Thriving in Menopause Expert. She firmly believes that midlife and menopause are a time for women to have a Power Surge, not to feel on the fritz.
Passion
I love helping women during all stages of their menopausal journey regain control of their bodies through nutrition, fitness, and mindset work so they can experience great energy, vitality, feel confident and sexy and live the best, most authentic years of their life and fulfill their purpose.
I also enjoy helping businesses and corporations learn to address women's health issues in the workplace, not just pregnancy! I help businesses understand
* how the perimenopause and menopause can affect your employees
* what support and/or changes for the employee might be appropriate,
* how to have a conversation with your employees raising a perimenopause or menopause concern
* provide individual coaching to female employees, and more!
I am willing to travel
More than 100 miles
When it comes to payments
Everything is negotiable
Topics
Best Story
What do you truly know about perimenopause and menopause?
Sadly, for most women the answer is “Not much”. I had so many symptoms when I was in perimenopause (insomnia, heart burn, crazy heavy periods), but I was unaware that they were all related.
I even wore a heart monitor for two weeks because I thought I was having heart problems. I'd been experiencing frequent palpitations, but of course I was "too busy" to get checked out. Then one day I had an incident that scared me enough to go to the doctor. I was doing a 10 minute warm up ride on my trusty Peloton, and my heart rate went through the roof! I'm talking over 200 BPM (I Have a slide with the heart rate monitor data). I wasn't even peddling hard. So I made an appointment, and the cardiologist looked me in the eye and said "well, you are getting older", I was like...uh not much older than I was a week ago, before this happened. So he put me on the monitor and sent me on my way...He NEVER mentioned the palpitations and rapid increase COULD be due to hormone fluctuations or another type of imbalance. Perhaps he didn't even know. Doctors aren't cross trained very well, and most are not super knowledgeable about nutrition, add on top of that the fact that we get 14 minutes with them per appointment on average - it's no wonder so many things get lost in the shuffle...and that is compounded when it comes to women's health.
Origin Story
After I left DEA to stay at home with our son, I found it ridiculously hard to get back into the workplace. I had amazing education, skills and qualifications; I paid for a professional resume but it is was as if I was invisible. Whether it was because of my time "off" or because I was a middle aged woman, I don't know, but I do know for the first time in my life, I wasn't getting interviews. And I knew from talking to my girlfriends that I was not alone. So I decided to start my own health coaching business because that was my second passion. I loved giving advice and helping friends and family achieve optimal health. The idea to focus on menopausal women hit me during my own frustrations with menopausal symptoms, but also because of the fact that society tends to write women off in midlife. As if we are no longer useful. I say no to that, and help my clients realize they are ready for their Power Surge!