How Sally Mueller is Helping to Modernize Menopause at Womaness

Have you ever had a conversation with your mother or your grandmother about her experiences with menopause? Chances are, if you're identify as a man or if you haven't neared menopause yet, the answer is "no." I had my first conversation with my mom about menopause after aSweatLife hosted a panel on women's health featuring fertility, women's health and birth control specialists. I learned an incredible amount about her health - and according to Dr. Roohi Jeelani who spoke at that panel - my own future."The clearest indication of when you'll reach menopause is when your mom and her mom did." I had absolutely no idea when that had happened.And that quiet we-don't-talk-about-this-here attitude led to the dearth of products and knowledge being shared as Sally Mueller entered menopause. She went to a doctor at the Mayo Clinic - she lives nearby in Minnesota - who recommended products that looked and felt sterile, medical and boring.She'd spent her career creating products that fit into holes in the market and she felt in her core that this was another big opportunity. Today, not only does Womaness create luxurious skincare for face, neck and body, they're also pioneering products built for sexual health and feminine health for women experiencing perimenopause and menopause."We built a line around the major symptoms of menopause ... almost every women goes through a lot of skin changes during menopause because of the loss of estrogen. So we have seven different skews just in skin and body. Our most famous one is "Let's Neck," which is a neck and décolletage serum which is great with this cooling rolling ball." Mueller explained as she talked through the creams, lotions and potions you can find at Target and on Womaness.com.But another huge piece of Womaness's mission is having the conversations that so many women have had behind closed doors or in hushed tones with doctors, except Womaness is doing it on a really big platform in a really loud voice. The brand's blog, The Ness and Facebook group "The After Party" are there to serve that mission.Let's Neck. The Ness. The After Party. They're great at branding. And that cute and clever language is by design, Mueller told me. She'd worked on millennial brands and didn't see a single reason why the fun she was having in creating the look, feel, and love she was building for those brands couldn't apply to Womaness too.After speaking to Sally a couple of times, I've come to think of Womaness as a really beautiful, accessible suite of products that's also owning "the talk" for menopause. And thank goodness they are. Imagine if no one talked to you about getting your period, and you just had to whisper until you found a friend who had gone through it too.Yikes.References:Find Womaness at Target and on Womaness.comGet the Night Cream that is beloved by women of all agesFollow @MyWomaness on InstagramGrace and Frankie: I had to reference Grace and Frankie when Sally mentioned the vibrator and personal lubricant Womaness created. The protagonists create something similar on the show - obviously, theirs was pretend.