Mariella Frostrup leads celebrity guests at HELLO!’s Changemakers breakfast

Coming together to champion women and the progress made in highlighting female health in midlife, celebrities and businesses joined HELLO! for an empowering and insightful breakfast panel event at London’s stylish Langan’s Brasserie.

Held during World Menopause Month, stars including broadcaster Mariella Frostrup, actress Glynis Barber and TV presenter Cherry Healy, gathered at our Changemakers Breakfast where we celebrated businesses who have supported people affected by menopause and perimenopause in the workplace.

The panel event, hosted by HELLO!‘s Sophie Vokes-Dudgeon, paid homage to our on going partnership with Wellbeing of Women on their Menopause Workplace Pledge, launched in 2021. The charity has been saving and changing the lives of women, girls and babies through ground-breaking research for 60 years.

The event was also a moment for us to honour some inspirational Changemakers: the Chair of Menopause Mandate Mariella Frostrup, Wellbeing of Women’s Janet Lindsay, Marks & Spencer’s Corporate Affairs Director Victoria McKenzie Gould and Lifestyle Coach and former Olympic Triple Jumper Michelle Griffith Robinson.

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Mariella says of being named a Changemaker: “It’s a huge compliment, very flattering indeed. Everyone likes to be celebrated, and it certainly doesn’t happen often enough. But also to be celebrated in something that I’m so passionate about, which is the whole area of women’s health.”

On women in the workplace, she adds: “It’s not just about one phase of your life; we have a working world that’s entirely built around men’s career experience and career line and it’s really high time now in the 21st century that we tackle that, because women aren’t stepping away from work. All of the data supports the fact that economically, companies that empower their female workforce do better financially, so it’s a no brainer.”

“It’s imperative to support women going through menopause at work, because when a woman reaches her forties and fifties she’s at the peak of her professional powers.”

Mariella is determined to help improve the 40 plus health check for women, which the Menopause Mandate is currently campaigning for. “We’re hoping that the government will agree it’s crazy that when you go to the 40 plus health check, the one thing that isn’t mentioned is menopause – which is most likely to contribute to things like osteoporosis and heart disease. I think there’s so much that still needs to be done. Most of it is just absolute common sense.”

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HELLO!‘s Changemakers breakfast began with a relaxing and de-stressing ‘rapid tapping’ session by Poppy Delbridge, which put the room in a positive state of mind to discuss change. Panelist Nadia Alibhai, Osteopath and founder of Back 2 Well-Being, shared her insights on the subject, revealing how her company incorporates menopause awareness into its daily life – their staffroom is a calm space with plants and the chance for staff to practice breath work together.

Victoria McKenzie Gould explained how M&S provides a supportive menopause network to its staff and has even designed more breathable menopause-friendly uniforms with hot flushes in mind. Global make-up artist Ruby Hammer, who started her beauty business in her own second act, spoke about how women in midlife can gain confidence with their appearance advising, “Dress for comfort with as much style as you can manage”.

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Guests listened to Wellbeing of Women’s Janet Lindsay, who says of being named a Changemaker: “It’s so exciting. I’m just really proud of the work that Wellbeing of Women has done, with the support of Hello Magazine and also BUPA, to have over 3000 organisations now signed up to our Menopause Workplace Pledge.

“Now we’re moving into small and medium businesses and we’ve created a whole toolkit of resources for them. I’m very excited to be launching those today.” 

“I think it’s important to support everybody in your workplace – but there’s a big gender pay gap, there’s a big gender health gap, and we need to make it easy for women to be able to go to work, thrive and really fulfil their potential, and they can only do that if the workplace makes it easy for them. Whether it’s menopause, menstrual health issues, baby loss, miscarriage… we just need to make sure that the workplace works for women.”

Another of HELLO!‘s Changemakers, Michelle Griffith Robinson, spoke passionately about diversity in the menopause, telling us: “For me, it’s really important for me to have the representation out there. Why am I out there championing women? Because I’ve got two daughters, Black girls, and I don’t want them to go through the same experience I had with my mum, where everything was like, ‘Just get on with it, undercover, there’s nothing wrong with you.’

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“I don’t want that. It’s time for us to stand up and represent ourselves, but that happens when brands start to recognise we are somebody, too. I’m a Black woman, a proud Black woman. Let me share my different experiences because that’s where the disparity lies sometimes.”

To others going through the perimenopause and menopause, Michelle advises: “Communicate what you need and question everything. Ask your supervisor, ask your manager, ask your husband… there are days where you just want to burst out crying – communicate that however you choose to and get the support that you deserve. 

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“On my own personal journey, I’m surrounded by fantastic doctors, but I sat there five or six years ago thinking, ‘Hold on, I’m feeling a little bit out of sorts. I’m feeling old, I’m putting on weight around my middle, what’s going on?’ So I chose, because of my mindset, to go and find out what is going on with me. When my libido hit the floor, my husband said, ‘Mich, is everything all right between us?’ and I was like, ‘Matt, I think so’. I then had to start Doctor Googling myself.

“My libido was low, brain fog was off the chain, and now I’m feeling in a place where, actually ladies, I’m kicking ar**. I feel great about myself, but that’s because I’ve chosen to invest in me and say no along the way to a lot of things as well.”

Everyone who attended the breakfast got a special goody bag which included: AcuPips Ear Seeding Kit For Women 40+ , Nutrition Geeks Lion’s Mane Focus+ , Starpowa Hair, Skin & Nails , Eko Botanicals Makeda Radiance Botanical Oil , Kollo Health Premium Liquid Marine Collagen and Liquid Meno Support.