Paula Wise
Paula Wise is the founder of Transition with Paula and the creator of the CPD-accredited Menopause Support Officer (MSO) Certification—a structured workplace capability designed to help organizations respond effectively to menopause as a workforce issue, not a wellbeing initiative.
With over two decades of experience across employee benefits, healthcare systems, and workplace training, Paula brings a unique combination of operational insight and program design. Her work sits at the intersection of employee wellbeing and organizational performance—particularly where menopause is impacting retention, confidence, and day-to-day capability.
Recognizing that most organizations lack the internal structure to respond appropriately, Paula developed a scalable model that equips trained, in-house Menopause Support Officers. These professionals are able to navigate sensitive conversations, recognize patterns without stepping into clinical territory, and implement practical workplace adjustments within clear HR and legal boundaries.
In addition to certification, Paula supports small and medium-sized enterprises through outsourced menopause support solutions—providing immediate access to structured guidance, practical tools, and consistent workplace response.
Her work is grounded in one principle:
menopause is not a personal issue to be managed privately—it is a workforce reality that requires a structured, organizational response.
Through this approach, Paula helps organizations retain experienced talent, reduce misinterpretation risk, and build workplaces where women can continue to perform at their highest level.
• Accredited Certified Menopause Support Officer Program Creator (CPD Quality Standards)
• Emotional Regulation and Emotional Intelligence Coaching Certification
• Certified Professional Coder (CPC)
• Associate Degree, Human Development & Social Behavioral Science
• Certified Menopause Doula
• Emotional Regulation & Emotional Intelligence Coaching
• Led literacy support for African women in Italy, teaching reading and writing to English-speaking women from countries such as Nigeria and Liberia who had not had access to formal education, helping them build confidence and independence over three years.
What do you attribute your success to?
My success comes from something my father taught me early: ‘Nothing beats a failure but a try.’ But more than persistence, he taught me to reflect—to stop, reassess, and return with a better approach every time. That discipline of learning, adjusting, and trying again has shaped how I build and lead today.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received was this:
stop explaining the problem and start building the solution.
For a long time, I focused on helping people understand menopause—why it mattered, what women were experiencing, why it needed attention. But understanding alone doesn’t change anything.
The real shift came when I stopped trying to gain agreement and started creating structure—something organizations could actually use. That’s when the work moved from awareness to implementation.
It taught me that insight is valuable, but execution is what creates impact. And in any field, the people who move things forward are the ones who build what others are still talking about.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don’t build your work around awareness alone—build it around application.
Understanding women’s health is important, but it’s not enough. If you want to create real change, you need to understand how organizations function—how decisions are made, how performance is measured, and how support is implemented.
The women who make the greatest impact in this field are not just informed—they are able to translate that knowledge into structure, systems, and action.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest challenges in the menopause space right now is that awareness has outpaced implementation.
Organizations increasingly recognize the impact on their workforce, but many lack the structure to respond in a way that is consistent, appropriate, and aligned with workplace boundaries. This creates a gap between intention and action—where support is needed, but uncertainty around risk, responsibility, and scope prevents meaningful progress.
The opportunity lies in moving beyond awareness into structured capability. Workplaces don’t need more conversation alone—they need clear, repeatable frameworks that enable appropriate, supportive responses within defined parameters.
This is where the role of a trained Menopause Support Officer becomes critical—providing internal capability to navigate conversations, recognize patterns without crossing into clinical territory, and implement practical adjustments with confidence.
The future of this space is not awareness alone—it is the integration of menopause into workplace systems in a way that is normalized, sustainable, and professionally governed.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values that guide my work and life are integrity, responsibility, and respect for people’s lived experience.
Integrity means being clear about what I do—and just as importantly, what I don’t do. In my work, that shows up as maintaining clear boundaries, especially in spaces that can easily become personal or clinical.
Responsibility means building work that can be trusted and applied consistently, not just delivered in theory. I believe if something is worth doing, it should be structured in a way that others can rely on.
And respect means meeting people where they are—without judgment, assumption, or oversimplification—while still holding a professional standard.
These values shape how I work, how I lead, and how I support others.
Locations
Transition with Paula
Menifee, CA