Tenisha Johnson

My journey in menopause and wellness advocacy started completely by happenstance, or what I would say is a divine walk. It's where I'm supposed to be, it's what I'm supposed to be doing. I didn't have big college certifications or anything in this field. It literally came from hard knocks and my own personal experience. I went through the healthcare system not being seen, not being heard, feeling like something was wrong with me and no one being able to give me answers. I didn't even find out that I was in perimenopause until I was literally 2 months away from being in menopause. So I started doing research on my own, searching for different doctors that would listen to me, and then piece by piece, I started sharing that information with other women to help them learn how to advocate for themselves. I wrote a book called Embracing the Milestones: Menopause, the Issue No One Told Me, based on my journey, where I give a lot of tips, scripts you can take with your doctor to advocate, and teach people the tests they need to ask for. My typical day involves lots of phone calls, lots of inquiries, and I'm working to build a network where I can direct people to the perfect nurse practitioner or better doctor office. I'm really trying to build the business from the ground up so that I can have a brick and mortar, a bigger online presence. I'm just entering that part of my journey. What's most rewarding is when I do book signings and events, having women come and talk to me. I'm willing to share my intimate details, so it makes them willing to share theirs, and they feel like, oh my god, I'm not by myself. I get a lot of that, like, I felt like I was so alone in this and I didn't know where to turn to. For me, the focus and the key right now is to build a community, teaching women to advocate, but also building up the community so people don't have to feel alone.