Cindy spent 35 years in skincare and loved every bit of it — the thriving practice, the clients who felt like family. Then perimenopause hit, every test came back normal, and a doctor told her “it’s too late for you” and wrote a prescription for antidepressants. What happened next wasn’t a breakdown. It was an Indeed search, a midlife career change into an accelerated nursing degree in her 50s, and a new mission: making sure no woman gets dismissed the way she was.
ABOUT THE GUEST:
Cindy Ravn is a registered nurse and public health nurse providing reproductive and sexual health care at Planned Parenthood, while still running the nurse-led medical aesthetics practice she built over a decade in the Twin Cities. After her own perimenopause symptoms were dismissed, she trained as a menopause doula, then made a career pivot in her 50s, going back to school to become an RN — funding nursing school with her skincare practice and graduating cum laude. She starts nurse practitioner school this fall, with her sights set on women’s health, and is building The Pause Project, a series of educational talks on menopause, sexual health, skin, and osteoporosis prevention.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
[08:16] The post-COVID symptoms no test could explain — and why she knew it wasn’t “just her”
[09:57] The five words from her doctor that still sting — and how that dismissal became the catalyst for everything
[13:32] The Indeed search that turned a menopause doula certificate into a nursing career
[15:17] How her skincare practice paid for nursing school — no debt, and a built-in social life during the hardest years
[25:31] The honest reality of an accelerated nursing program in your 50s: the confidence she “probably shouldn’t have had,” the tears, and the professor who wouldn’t let her quit
[30:28] Perimenopause misconceptions: why it can start at 35, why it’s “puberty in reverse,” and the symptoms nobody warns you about
[50:34] The financial trade-offs: mission over paycheck, benefits math, and why she and her husband restructured who earns what
CONNECT WITH CINDY RAVN
Website: https://www.cindyravn.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cindyravn/
Facebook: Cindy Ravn Skin and Health —https://www.facebook.com/estheticrefinery
RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
The Menopause Society — provider finder by zip code: https://menopause.org
Dr. Kelly Casperson — You Are Not Broken podcast: https://kellycaspersonmd.com/you-are-not-broken-podcast/
You Are Not Broken: Stop “Should-ing” All Over Your Sex Life by Dr. Kelly Casperson: https://amzn.to/4fpdKjD
The New Menopause by Dr. Mary Claire Haver: https://amzn.to/4gOiIZG
The Menopause Manifesto by Dr. Jen Gunter: https://amzn.to/4hkDjEX
Brain Food / The XX Brain / The Menopause Brain by Dr. Lisa Mosconi: https://www.lisamosconi.com/the-menopause-brain
Dr. Vonda Wright — exercise and bone health: https://www.drvondawright.com/pages/meet-dr-vonda-wright
Alloy: https://www.myalloy.com
CONNECT WITH MOLLY & HER INTENTIONAL RESET
Website: https://herintentionalreset.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/herintentionalreset.co
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61587329908947
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