No one should have to figure this out alone.

My story

I'm Jo — author, poet,
Mama Bear to four, and a British woman
who never went home.

I moved to Atlanta at 21 for an internship, fell in love, and that was that. Twenty-eight years later, I'm still here — and I wouldn't change a thing.

For years I was the woman who had it all — on the outside. Four sons, a corporate career, a busy life. Busy was my badge of honour. But on the inside? I was drowning.

I was misdiagnosed with depression. My gallbladder came out. Then an ablation. Then autoimmune issues. I was exhausted, gaining weight I couldn't shift, foggy, anxious, and seriously wondering if I was losing my mind.

Turns out it was perimenopause. And nobody had told me. I was furious.

So in 2020, when I was furloughed from my job, I used the time to dig in. I did the inner work — therapy, meditation, sound healing, breathwork. I got curious about what actually lit me up. And I started to write.

Sweary poems about hot flushes. Honest rants about brain fog. Verses about the women we were and the women we're becoming. And somewhere in the middle of all that writing, MenoShine was born.

Because no one should have to go through this alone. And no one should have to pause.