Intimacy, Hormones & Fertility with Andrea Johnson, Kristin Kliethermes & Courtney Saye

Even the most powerful alpha entrepreneurs, right, that kick ass. She wants to come home and melt into her man. But when her heart closes, you know what else closes?

Legs.

Her whole body. Yeah. Yeah, her legs. That's right, Chris.

Good job.

It's almost like, you know, when they come to me and they're tearful or think that there's no hope. I know there is. I know that there's so much that we can do and so much that we can change. Change to make them feel good again.

What a great reward to have someone say, you saved my marriage or you gave me life back. There's probably maybe not a more important thing to do for someone.

Every single couple who's come to us in the last two years to prepare for IVF has had success on their first cycle after working with us.

Wow. But a few years ago, Chris and I did two rounds, and there was never a conversation about my health, what I was doing, what I was eating, Chris's health, what he was doing, what he was eating, how we were preparing for it. I have very few regrets in life, and that is such a regret for me. Andrea, welcome to the podcast. You are on my show, but also Chris's show. So we're interviewing you together. I'm so excited about this.

As am I. And the world should know you're a hot girl therapist, and we have to start there. What is a hot girl therapist?

Oh, goodness. A hot girl therapist is a therapist for the woman who carries herself in a way that is very unapologetic. And instead of living her life where she takes the edge off like most people, she leans into the edge and happens to life. And it is one of the spiciest things about what I do is working with firecrackers like this.

Okay, I've got to ask. Are they a firecracker when they come to you and you're refining them, or are they kind of too apologetic and you're turning them into a firecracker?

Most of the time they are firecrackers, but hardened firecrackers. And so they have learned to harden because that's what they've had to do in order to succeed in their life, how they receive love and recognition. It's really coming from a place of lacking trust. And so the way I like to describe it is the women who come to me often have hardened exteriors, but really tender, fragile interiors. And through our work together, we flip that, and so that they actually have such a solid core that they can show up to life softened.

Okay. I feel like you just gave a really great like. Like description. But I want to know more. And number one, I just want to say there's so many people who listen to this podcast that I feel like you just described. I feel like a lot of entrepreneurial women are like that which we are going to dig into, but tell the world exactly what you think makes what you do unique.

Well, really, what I do, I merge two different worlds. So my background is in licensed marriage and family therapy. And so it's very much a systems kind of approach where I'm looking at every single aspect of a woman's life and how they all are in relationship with one another. This other part of my personal journey has been more in the intimacy realm, in love. And what I found is that when I was growing inside of intimacy behind the scenes, and I started applying those principles to business and to the work I was doing with these hot girls, with these ambitious women, and it truly has created such a unique and beautiful blend in order to help them actually simultaneously enrich their business in a way that brings back that just, gosh, I'm so in love with what I do. I'm alive. I can bring my fullness of who I am, and all of that is. Is also happening inside their partnership, and it just feeds, like, this beautiful, harmonious relationship.

Okay, so I actually want to expand on that, because you start out saying, hey, a lot of these women are firecrackers, but they've been hardened by the world, Right? And then you just mentioned intimacy and all these other things. These all correlate what in the world today is hardening them and causing them to need this type of nurturing.

Well, it often starts when they're very young, right? And it's when we learn that certain aspects of ourselves are not acceptable. And so most of the time, as a whole, it's losing their sensitivity to life, losing their emotion. And so what they start to do is instead of learning how to express them themselves really skillfully, they start to squash their emotion and repress. And what becomes repressed becomes depressed. And so these women begin to fragment parts of themselves and almost become a pretzel of who they once were. And it's like, okay, I can be loved and successful if I cut off this part of myself, right? Oh, oh, now I can be loved and successful if I cut off that part of myself. And then, next thing you know, she's just a small shell of herself, but pretending to be this big, successful woman because she so desperately wants to be acknowledged and seen as a success. And so what we start to do is integrate those parts again, really bringing back her fullness. Because when you suppress one part, you're really numbing everything. Right. And this merges so beautifully with intimacy work. Because a lot of times women grow numb. Literally. They'll say things like, I feel dead from the waist down. And so, so much trauma is trapped in the hips and in their lower back. And when we start to really move this emotion, they start to feel sensitive sensation in their body that they haven't felt in a long time. And I help them learn to be with that sensation. After all the years of avoiding sensation because they didn't know how to be with it.

Wow.

I can fully relate to that with friends in my life and in the different things that I have had to just work through. And I feel like a lot of times we can use entrepreneurship as like the perfect place to kind of put it all. Like, we can almost forget about it and suppress and put everything that we have in entrepreneurship until one day, all of a sudden, now we don't even have the business that we want, or we feel numb in our business, or we have a completely. What feels like to us, maybe not others, but like a vanilla business that doesn't feel like us anymore. It doesn't feel like the firecracker business that we wanted. That feels very authentic to us. So, you know, majority of our listeners, Chris, as well, are female entrepreneurs. What role do you think entrepreneurship plays in that? Kind of like the. The covering up of that. Is that something that a lot of people do or causing it? Yeah.

Yeah. Well, two things come to mind when you ask me that. And one is I had just mentioned how they don't know how to be with sensation, and so they avoid when. Well, diving into business is a great avoidance technique.

It's a great way. Makes a great excuse.

Absolutely. It's a great way to channel all of their focus into something they feel like they have control over. But the second thing is their business is a reflection of themselves, their inner world. Right. As within. So without. And so their business feels vanilla and doesn't feel like them because they. They have cut off those parts of themselves. They don't have their full expression and they have no idea how to get it back. And so once we start to bring that full expression back and how to bring that to their business, it. It truly is just. It's like she blooms in every aspect of her life and instead of operating from solely this, this alpha, what I call alpha energy, which is like, I'm afraid to jump out of the plane. I'm doing it anyway.

Right.

Just push through. We learn that oftentimes for women, growth happens in ne next natural step. Right. Which is omega energy. It's what feels good. Can I be in pursuit of my joy? Can I be in pursuit of my desire?

Is that what omega energy is? What does that mean?

Omega energy is immersive. And so when it comes to growth, like I mentioned, alpha being that just like go for it, just bravery full out. Which by the way, we love and don't make that wrong at all. This is why I love working with modern women, because it's the full picture.

Yeah.

But oftentimes she has spent next to no energy in her omega expression, which is immersive. It's reading and connecting to her body and moving from the body. And so that allows her to have just a brand new experience in her life in all aspects and really get to know herself in a way that she honestly never has.

Yeah.

Okay. So a woman comes to you, you're like, you could probably spot it from a mile away. Like, oh boy.

Yeah.

Do they know right away and what are some of the. Like, are they coming to you because they know they're in this and they feel stuck and they can't figure out why. And then what are some of the first things that you do? And I know that you also have a master class that you are going to share with the listeners, which we're so excited about you guys. It's like so amazing that you're gonna get this. But what are some of the things that you first have them do just to understand, like what your work looks like?

Yeah.

Well, when they come in, what this often looks like is resentful of her husband. She feels like she's carrying the load completely. Why can't he just step up, be a true partner? They have next to no sex. And when they do, it's because she feels she owes it to him. So she swallows her no over and over again. More resentment builds in her business. She's irritated with her clients, gets irritated by the questions that they're asking. Why can't they just do it? Just do the thing right. She becomes this hard. Just do it, coach. Well, coaching, I mean, it's not that simple.

It's not that simple.

So she resents often members of her team. She feels bored with the things that she's talking about, Stumped in the creation of her content, her marketing, resistant to showing up on social media. I mean, it is the whole gambit, let me tell you. And she usually has trouble sleeping or sleeps a lot, but it's usually the former. And yeah, doesn't just overall doesn't take great care of herself. And sometimes that actually looks like the extreme of working out, not nourishing her body enough. Right. Not necessarily that she's not doing anything to support her body, but sometimes it's just like, over the top.

Why is it over the top? Like, why does it go that route?

Another outlet, something that she can control oftentimes. Well, we know this, Lori, like, working out can be such a. Oh, it's such an alpha thing, by the way.

Right.

You're going in there, you're picking up heavy things, you're putting them down. You feel so powerful when you leave there. And so it's almost like she's doubling down on what has worked before, even though it's not working for her anymore in the way that it once did.

So let me frame this. Maybe it's just because Lori and I are in our 40s, but even if I look at people in their 30s, I'm seeing two trends. A lot of powerful entrepreneurial women getting divorced right now, and a lot of single, awesome, beautiful, powerful women. Women not finding any guys at all. Is this attached to that? And if so, how does it correlate?

100%. And by the way, I think it's close to 80% of divorces are initiated by women.

Wow.

Wow.

Yeah.

I mean, we're seeing our lives and our friendships. It's now that we're in our, you know, mid-ish-40s, we're like, wow. Like, we're. We're watching that happen with all of our female friends.

Yep. And what that is, if we're going to really simplify it, at its core is broken trust. Micro moments of broken trust over time. And that doesn't look like a big, you know, betrayal. That is. You said you were going to do something and you didn't. Even if it's picking up bananas at the store.

And they stack and stack and stack, stack and stack.

And they don't have the skills to clear the debris. Right. Meaning it's kind of like a pool that gets a bunch of gunk in it and they. They never clean it.

It's like hoarders.

Absolutely.

It's like a hoarder house.

Yeah.

Except you're hoarding all the things I did wrong.

Hoarding resentment.

You're hoarding all. All the things I did wrong, babe.

And then we open the door and it's like, absolutely.

Here's the closet of everything. That Chris did wrong.

And we know all of it.

All of it. Yep.

But it, yeah, it's these breaches and trust. And of course it goes both ways. But oftentimes, you know, a woman desires to be in her Omega with her Alpha man, preferably. That's naturally the way things want to go. Even the most powerful Alpha entrepreneurs, right, that kick ass in life, she wants to come home and melt like butter into her man. But if she doesn't trust him to hold her in all aspects, right, then she hardens. Her heart closes. Right. And so when her heart closes, you know what else closes? Her whole body. Yeah. Yep. Her legs. That's right, Chris.

Good job.

It's almost like, you know,

it's almost

like you've been a husband for lots

of years, 20 years.

You know, no couple is exempt from this really. It's how do we actually stay soft and open and vulnerable to our partners and in business when there's hurt involved. Right. And that is true courage and vulnerability. It's like when you don't trust someone to really have you, when you bring your most vulnerable parts to them, you think you want to open again and again and again. It's very hard. So I help women learn to open. It's like, how can we love? Like you've never been hurt time and time again, how can you walk as love and be the thing you're hoping to receive? And then a lot of times that transitions into working with the couple, you know, and men are in this place of feeling so criticized and bogged down and very much in this, like I'm either succeeding or failing. And he'd been feeling like he's failing for a lot of years at this point.

You know, you got a whole closet of proof.

Yeah, the whole closet. I mean, it's stacked with failure. And so really learning to hold her fullness of her open hearted expression, even when it's anger. Right. When she can bring her open hearted expression, no matter what that emotion is, versus venom. And just like tearing him down, that awakens a man like nothing else because he can actually see the impact he's having on her and he will wake right up. Right.

That just made me feel lucky. I never feel like you spew venom at me and I never feel like. What's the word I'm looking for? Like what she just described. I don't feel like I'm doing things wrong and all that. So I feel fortunate.

And I've learned, honestly, I've learned a lot of what you teach throughout the years because My initial reaction years ago was to do that because that's what I kind of watched every woman around me do growing up is, you know, I think that we used to learn what's the fastest way to make someone take action, and it's like, to hurt or manipulate. And so I absolutely. Those tool. Those tools are still in my toolkit, but I don't. I. I know that they don't work. I know that they actually, like, make your partner, like, shut down and push them further away. So, you know, there's always those moments during, I think, fights or when I just feel really weak that that would be the easier thing for me to do. But I've had to, like, learn so many processes that I know you also teach in order to, like, not show up in my relationship that way. Because, you know, I think a lot of women might be listening, like, oh, I don't know if my, you know, partner is even, like, able to be helped. But it is insane how someone shifts when you shift.

Oh, and that systems work at its finest. Right. Oftentimes you can feel like there are 12 aspects of my life that are dumpster fires. We don't even have to address all 12. Let's tweak one and you watch the ripple because it is powerful. And that, to me, creates such hope in the process of, like, we're not doing an overhaul here, baby. The results will feel like an overhaul totally, but we don't have to actually address each thing because there's one common

denominator in the dumpster fire. And you're holding the matches.

Let me.

Let me hold your hand while I tell you this.

Give me those matches, sweetheart.

You mentioned some of the methods and strategies at work. One of them in particular you call feminine strategy. What makes it different from traditional business strategy?

Well, I love that we've been talking about the relational aspect of things because we can relate this directly to. To business and so feminine, which I prefer to call omega, just because people think of different things. But we can actually apply all of this to business. And so what we find when a woman regains her fullness is that she's actually very multidimensional and she is not this one dimensional. Like, this is who I am placed in a box.

Right?

And the mistake a lot of women make, by the way, is they go, oh, that's not my idea identity anymore. This is my identity. And now we've just put you in another box. Right. And so we actually liberate her from all of that and we integrate all of these parts so it's like you are the firecracker. You're the little delicate flower. You are, you know, someone who is loud and big, and you're someone who's soft. She's all of these different things. And so we give her that freedom. And what does a man love more than anything? Variety.

Football.

You know what?

You're right.

Football.

But then variety.

But then close second variety. Right. And so all of the novelty comes back and the range, she becomes like, oh, my gosh, I can play all the notes on the piano. I'm not just down here in alto. Boom. Right?

Yep.

Expecting. And he's expecting the same thing every single day.

Yes, yes. And so when we apply that to business, she begins to bring her fullness to business. And why this is actually a strategy, and it goes against a lot of traditional business strategy, is because we're not niching down. We're dialing up everything. You are so big that you become a category of one. You are the niche, and you can bring this. I am ever evolving. I have a transformational business. My offers, you come in. It's an experience. You stay with me for a lifetime because of who you are inside of my world. This just allows her to lead a move, an umbrella movement. Right. Versus a niche where people are actually on board from a values level. Like, the movement is bigger than she is. People are championing her business and selling it for her because they believe in what she stands for. Interesting, right? And so it's more of an identity transformational approach now. Doesn't mean we don't bring in more specific aspects to business. But this liberates her in so many ways versus getting stuck on who do I need to be and I need to pick one thing. And oh, my gosh, my branding, it paralyzes her. And I'm like, hey, every single one of my offers has their own branding. They're all different vibes. Like, they all have their own essence. And I get to play with that. Like, one's edgy and one's soft and feminine and one's hard. I've got one called Siren and Rebel, and then I've got Human and Je ne sais quoi and all alpha line. Right. They all have their own energy to them. And this feels like true liberation of herself.

You don't have to be one thing.

Right.

That's really cool.

You know what I'm. What I'm understanding from all of it is just when you, Chris and I always talk about this, and I know when my business is working, when I'M in what you're talking about, because it's like people start coming in and are attracted to you because if you are free in your own life and you give. You're giving yourself permission, people are literally buying that from me sometimes. Like, they're. They're buying your energy. They're buying, like, what to them feels like a. A woman who feels free to express herself. And I think that, you know, even in my friendships, I find I'm way more attracted to women who are like that because I'm like, oh, being around you makes me feel like I can be fully free to express myself without any judgment from you. And so, you know, I believe what you're doing is just like freeing women, which turns them into magnets. Just like, how can you allow yourself to play in all those aspects? And it's. It feels crazy and scary at first, and it never goes away. By the way, I know you know this. Like, I know you and I are both still gonna fully be working on this for the rest of our life, but I love it because I do think it's such an un. Focused on part of people's businesses is like, if you can fully free yourself, it's like people are attracted to you

because they call it authentic.

Yeah.

Or like, wow, you just feel like someone I can approach. Or you're so authentic and you're like, no, that's just years of freeing myself from the prison of everything.

Absolutely. I call it that. Like, I'll have what she's having kind of energy. Right. It really is magnetism. And gosh, I think liberated women who are in the fullness of themselves, they become, like I said earlier, I know it's. It's cliche, but cliches are cliches for a reason. She becomes love. Like, she becomes what women are here to be. Nurturing, radiant love. And a gift that a woman brings to a room is just how bright she shines. So it really is incredible. And the. The other aspect of Omega is self focused, actually. Right. So a lot of traditional business is like, what does your audience want? And do that. Right. This says the content I create. That's for me first. That's my art. That's my expression. I would be posting that and saying these things if I wasn't getting paid a dollar, if no one was seeing it. Right. I do this for me first. First. And allowing her expression to lead so good.

Okay. If someone's listening right now and they're like, wait, this sounds like me. Wait, I think that's me. How do they know for sure that they need you and that they're an ideal client?

If she spends more time in her head than she does in her body, if she's thinking, trying to figure things out, asking why more than just being in her experience, experience in her presence of the moment, she needs to be in my world.

Oh, wow.

Another very specific thing that she can try is the next time she feels hurt, can she make a sound of what that hurt feels like? Not the rage on top of the hurt, but the actual hurt. Can she sound? Because most of the women that come into my world, I ask them to sound, right? They're talking, they're telling me what they feel and I'm saying, what does that sound like? She can't, she, she can't.

Like speechless, Speechless.

Like she. It is way too vulnerable for her to just let her heart break through sound. And that was part of my own journey too, of like just being able to find my voice again. It's all connected, right? So then when you find your sound and you really liberate your voice, I mean, you're gonna be saying all sorts of things on the Internet, right?

So.

But it's really being with the ache of your heart and can you express it from that vulnerable place? And if you can't, then your heart is closed, your body is closed and everything is going to feel kinked up and not in a good way.

So there's two really cool ways to work with you. There's a free way called Human. We got to hear about that. And then there's the investing to be in your world way. Tell us about both of them.

Yeah. I love Human. It's one of my very favorite two part masterclasses that is full of gold. But it's very special, specific and digestible. And anytime someone watches Human, they come back. I'll see them, you know, enroll in Human. And then I get, I get a dm, you know, a day, two days later, and they're like, oh my gosh, this just changed my life. And I'm at this point I'm like, I know, boo, I know, hey, I'm just the messenger. But it's really the foundations of the body and the nervous system. And it meets women who are not yet in their body in a way that they can actually receive it and begin applying it in. In simpler words, it's not so woo woo that you're gonna think this girl's lost it.

Yeah, right.

They can really receive it and apply it with, from the place that they're at.

It applies to the real world that they're in right now.

Yes.

It's really just two very impactful but pretty simple videos.

Yes. It's specific to the nervous system and being able to identify the state your body is in. Because if you can't identify the state your body is in, then you sure as heck can't regulate your body and you don't know how to be with your body. And so what I found is a lot of women who come in and they're stressed and they're high strung and maybe they have urgency in their body. They're like, I've tried meditating. And I'm like, boo, thing. You can't sit still with all that energy in your body.

Right.

So we learn in part 2 the actual regulation tools to apply to the state that you find yourself in that work. So it's very tangible, specific, and applicable to the now.

It's super badass. Where can they get it?

They can get it at the link in my bio on my Instagram. Andrea Johnson at TheAndreaJohnson.

TheAndrea Johnson.

TheAndrea Johnson.

And we'll make sure.

And we're putting it in the show notes. So all you guys have to do is literally scroll down from this podcast and click underneath her name and you can go straight to it. It's super easy, you guys.

Yeah, the second one down. Okay. Then the other half of that question was if they're like, nope, I'm in. I want to work with you. I need help. How do they do that?

I would send them to apply for fem quarters. That is my mastermind for female visionaries. This is where woman meets command. It's being able to really learn how to be in that alpha pursuit of something big. Energy. And also your feminine magnetism. And we have.

It's.

It's very focused on business, but also whole woman. And so whatever the blocks are there, I am trained to find those blocks on a subconscious level so that it's not just strategy implement. Wait, I'm stuck. I can't just do it. I mean, we're actually going to move you forward.

That's really cool. It doesn't have to be one or the other. I love that.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Where did they find that one?

They find that one also at the link in my bio. It's an application for femme quarters.

Perfect. So it sounds like everything good is at. On Instagram @TheAndrea Johnson.

That's right.

All right. Love it.

Well, so grateful for you and thank you so much for coming on you guys. Like they said, just scroll down and you can get everything for Andrea. Thank you so much.

It was awesome.

Thank you for having me.

If you've ever run a business, you know the workplace chaos is real.

I'm talking deadline slipping, someone's out sick, your tech decides to break mid launch, and suddenly you're doing three people's jobs.

Like, I'm totally cool.

I'm fine.

Don't worry about me.

In those moments when you realize you don't need another person, you need the right person. This is a job for Sponsored Jobs

and if I had to hire for

my team right now, I wouldn't just post a job and hope that the right unicorn magically finds it. I'd want someone who understands our pace, can handle the chaos, and has the exact skills we need, whether that's editing, ops, social or customer experience. That's why I'd use Indeed Sponsored Jobs because it boosts your job posts in search results so you can reach quality candidates who actually match what you're looking for, like specific skills, certifications, or even location. And with Sponsored Jobs, you only pay for results. People are finding quality hires on Indeed right now in the minute I've been talking to you. Companies like yours made 27 hires on Indeed according to Indeed Data worldwide, which is wild and also exactly the point when you need the right hire. Sponsored Jobs is the solution. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results when you need the right person to cut through the chaos. This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs and listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves@ Indeed.com podcast just go to Indeed.com podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com podcast terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs.

If you've ever had that moment where

you're ready to start the business and the idea will not leave you alone, but then you hit that wall where you don't actually know how to set it up, this is for you. When you're ready to start your business. It's not just about filing paperwork. It's about building your real business identity from day one. And that's exactly what Northwest Registered Agent helps you do. Your business identities, everything that makes your business legitimate and professional, from public records and compliance to your website, email and phone number. With Northwest Registered Agent, you don't just form a business you start with a complete foundation built for priv credibility and growth. Northwest Registered Agent has been helping small business owners and entrepreneurs launch and grow business for nearly 30 years. They're the largest registered agent and LLC service in the US with over 1500 corporate guides. Real people who know your local laws and can help you and your business every step of the way. When you form your business with Northwest, you get a complete business identity. You also get access to thousands of free guides, tools and attorney drafted documents to help you run your business with confidence. No upsells, no selling your data. Everything is built and managed in house under their privacy by default promise. Sign up for a free account and manage your business with lawyer drafted operating agreements, bylaws, resolutions, membership certificates, bills of sale and more all in one place, all at no cost. And when you're ready for more, you can add domains, email addresses, phone numbers and services any time. Don't pay hundreds of or thousands of dollars for what you can get from Northwest for free. Visit northwestregisteredagent.com free and start using free resources to build something amazing. Get more with Northwest registered agent@northwestregisteredagent.com forward/earfree

Kristen, welcome to the Earn your Happy podcast and the Chris Harter Show. We get to interview you together. Yeah. Thank you so much for coming on.

Thank you all so much for having me me.

So we have gotten to spend some time with you. You are at our VIP weekend mastermind and I got to chat with you for a while last night at dinner which was so much fun because you have an incredible business that I, being a human being is very interested in. And everyone who has a lot of

money, what a good market. If you're a human being, you need her.

I know. If you're a human being, you need her. So you are doing an incredible job of helping men and women balance their hormones and figure out what peptides are good, good for them and what doesn't work out in the world because they're, I mean in the world of social media and Instagram and Tik Tok. Oh my God, I am getting so inundated with all the noise.

It gets confusing.

It's like the dos and the don'ts. So what do you think is kind of the first step for somebody who is interested in, you know, getting on a health journey that you could help them with?

And can I add my little nuance to this? There's so much noise out there. Not what's kind of the first step. What is the first step in order to Avoid all the confusion.

Yeah, that's a great question. So I think the first step is to not ignore that something's off in your body. Because I think a lot of people just, you know, are like, oh, well, this is normal, or this is just a certain phase of my life, or whatever it is. So the first thing is trusting your body and knowing that there is something actually that needs to be addressed and then finding someone who will actually listen to you. So whoever that may be, but finding someone who will know that there's a deeper root cause to your symptoms, and they need to start to explore that.

Let me expand on that a little bit. You said knowing that there's something that your body needs. Except in the second breath, you said, not just accepting that's normal. The problem is we don't know what's normal or what's normal. One day you're told, oh, you're just getting older and that's the way it is. And then next day you're told, oh, anti aging. So somebody listening right now might be like, well, I think it's just because I'm 45 or 55. So what are some specific things? Is it like all of a sudden you're not sleeping well, or you sleep well but you're not rested, or you've got no sex drive? Like, what are some of the top things you should be listening to that you don't have to accept as normal?

There's, I think a lot, you know, think of symptoms as, like, little whispers that our body tell us things of fatigue, not waking up, rested, of course, not falling asleep. Well, staying asleep. Waking up at that 2 to 4am timeframe.

Hit me.

Yeah. Yeah. Anxiety, weight loss, resistance. So maybe there was a time that you could lose weight by doing X, Y, Z. And now all of a sudden you're doing that and it's not working anymore. Bloating is not normal. So any type of, you know, food sensitivities that you. And now all of a sudden you have a food sensitivity and you're like, where is this coming from? Acne, skin issues, thyroid problems, hormone imbalance, autoimmunity. I mean, like, the list goes on and on.

Those are really good examples because that helps somebody say, oh, wait, okay, I am feeling that I don't have to accept it. Maybe I should reach out. So let's say they reach out. What is step two? If step one is admitting that, hey, something's off and it doesn't have to be, what's step two? When they come to you, what's the very first thing you do with them.

So typically we do labs.

Okay.

I like to look at labs to see what is happening in your body. They do an intake form, of course, to list out what symptoms they have. So that way we have a tracking matrix, as in, okay, this is how you're feeling right now, but then in three months, six months, you know, down the road, what are those symptoms looking like? So step two would be getting labs to figure out exactly where you're going.

And now Lori and I get quarterly labs, so obviously we know what labs are. But for anyone listening that's heard that term, but they don't know what it is. Would you explain what are labs? What does that look like?

Yeah, I do a couple of different labs. We do blood work first. That is going to look at your liver, your kidneys, your hormones, your thyroid, some inflammatory markers. Those are going to give me just a surface level of what is happening. If we want to get a little bit deeper, then we need to do some functional labs, which is more of like, stool tests, urine tests, and even saliva cortisol tests.

All right, so you're take my blood and you're going to make me poop for you?

Yes.

This sounds very intimidating so far.

Yeah. I've never been more obsessed with poop.

I'm sure it can tell you a lot. I'm so curious how you got, like, what got you into this? What makes you really passionate about it? What are you seeing out there?

So I've been in conventional medicine for a very long time, and I kept having the same pattern happen. Women and men would come to me and they would be dismissed or they would just be given band aids of being on some type of medicine or even the things that I was doing for them, of the hormone replacement therapy, and you know what I thought was optimizing them, and they still were not feeling well. And I was like, what in the heck am I missing? Like, there's got to be more to this. And so I started to dig a little bit more and found functional medicine. And that is when I really started to dig deep into finding the root cause of people's symptoms and looking at what your body is actually doing, as in the imbalances, not just the disease process.

It's so crazy. I think so many women, especially in their 40s, and if we think about our moms and what they were going through in their 40s and 50s, that maybe we just thought, like, oh, they're being a little crazy. I've talked to so many girlfriends who Were like, maybe our moms just really didn't have any support around hormone hormones or generation.

They just had to raw dog it. And everyone's like, stop being a. Yeah, it's so true.

And so for you, what are some of the things that you really see improve? Like, if someone comes to you and they're like, I. I don't know, is this me? Am I crazy? Like, kind of tell me who your exact ideal clients are and how much of a difference you have seen happen on the other side of. Of getting them some treatments.

Absolutely. Gosh, there's so many. A lot of women come to me and they have anxiety, they hate their spouse. They don't want, you know, any type of intimacy, of course. And so then it's causing problems in their marriage. The brain fog is just. They can't find the words to do their job. I mean, I've had people literally say that all of a sudden their jobs are being, you know, difficult for them because they can't find words all of a sudden. And so there's just this stigma that, okay, this is part of life. You know, you're taking care of your kids, you're in a career, your parents are probably aging, so now you're doing all of these things, and you're just supposed to keep pushing through and not really pay attention to your health. And so when they come to me and they're, you know, tearful or think that there's no hope, I know there is. I know that there's so much that we can do and so much that we can change to make them feel good again. And what I mean by good, it's not just you're happy. It's like you're waking up rested. You have energy to do whatever you need to do throughout the day. You're present and enjoy your life again. I've saved marriages. I mean, people have literally told me, you saved my marriage. Like, there is. And so it's just. There's a lot more to it than just, you know, getting labs and. Okay, here you go. Good luck.

Yeah. What a great reward to have someone say, you saved my marriage, or you gave me life back, or, you know, I mean, like, I thought everything was over from an energy standpoint, and now I'm happy again. Like, there's probably maybe not a more important thing to do for someone short of saving their life. And in some cases, it probably is saving their life. So we've done this really fun thing with our functional doctor in the past when he's been on the show called Smash or Pass. Are you familiar with the game?

Yeah.

Okay, awesome. We want to do that with you and get your fast take on some of the trends that are out there right now. So you want to do the first one? You want me to do the first one?

You can do the first one.

All right, first one. Creatine for women. I feel like the whole world is pushing creatine on everybody right now. Smash or Pass? And why?

I would say smash.

Okay.

You know, muscle is longevity. So women need muscle mass and creatine is going to help keep our, you know, feed our muscles and keep us strong. So that. That's a. That's a yes.

And I'm hearing some really cool cognitive benefits to it too. Is that true?

Yes, I think that, you know, whenever we work out and we have muscle mass and then it just benefits every part of our body and then longevity, we don't have to worry about potentially falling and breaking a bone one day. So yeah, definitely a benefit.

Okay. Testosterone treatments for women.

Yeah, we know dudes need it, but what about for women?

Big smash.

Okay, tell me all the reasons why.

Well, testosterone is the most abundant hormone in a woman's body, just as it is a man's.

Interesting.

And I know most people don't think that just like men have estrogen, but. And so it helps. It's a calming hormone. So it helps with irritability, anxiety, depression, it helps with our energy, a libido, brain fog, our sleep, and long term benefits. It actually helps prevent Alzheimer's, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis. So it's not just a. In this moment, yes, there is the symptom benefits, but it is long term.

Also going to help you follow up to that question. Pellets or self injections, which one's better and why?

So.

And maybe tell people what pellets are.

Yeah, yeah. Okay, So a pellet is a. It's made out of yams. And it looks like. I always tell people it looks like rabbit food. So very, very small. Just like it sounds, a pellet. There are different doses and there's estrogen and testosterone and different doses based on a number of things. Your weight, your symptoms. And for women, it is put into the fat tissue of your booty. And for men it's put in the fat tissue of your flank. So you numb the area, make a small incision and push the pellets in. And then it's absorbed through cardiac output. So it's not time released, it's just as your heart beats, it pulls it into your System?

Yes. Slowly over maybe 90 days or whatever, right?

Yeah.

For a woman, it's usually 12 to 14 weeks. And for men it's usually 6 to 16 to 18. I do have some men who can go six months once they've been on it for a long period of time, that can push it out a little bit. If you work out, you can burn through it a little bit faster.

But I do injections twice a week on myself. What's better? Pellets. Injections. Why?

So I have a personal preference towards pellets.

Yeah.

Whenever I went through training, they always would talk about, let's try and do what's bioidentical. So what our body is already mimicking and shots aren't. Shots are synthetic. And so just for the whole process of how I try to think in general is let's support and do what your body's already doing and optimize it. Instead of continually giving you something that you're, you know, is synthetic and your body does. It doesn't make.

So it's more of a bioidentical product. When you go the pellet route with the kind of the. I know you said it's not time release, but kind of as opposed to like a mini spike and trough. Spike and trough a couple times a week.

And I've seen. I'm sorry, I was gonna say, have

you seen differences or share what you're gonna share too?

Yeah, the.

The people that I've seen on shots that have come to me, they have more of a spike and a crash. And so then that gives you kind of like that roller coaster. Whereas the pellets tend to give you a little bit more of an even kill because it's meant to mimic your endocrine system, them. So that's just why it's my preference.

Okay, so here's the next one. Smash or pass GLP1s. Not for extreme weight loss, but for, like, daily maintenance, making it easier to stay fit.

I'm gonna say a smash. But caveat. You have to do the foundational work. You can't just allow a GLP1 to be kind of a, you know, crutch or a band aid approach. So that means you still have to work out. I see so many people on GLP1s and they don't work out, and so they lose muscle mass and then they think they're losing weight. Well, you're just losing your muscle. So you have to work out. You have to continue to eat the correct amount of protein for your body. But it does. I Mean, it helps decrease inflammation, and so it can be beneficial for more than just weight loss else.

I. I love that you. Everything that you talk about, it's like, okay, we can do this, and it's helpful, but you also still have to do these very foundational things. So for you, I know even last night we were chatting about, like, wanting to support the whole system that you're doing. So, so many people go into places and which, this is not a bad thing, but they just go in, they get their stuff, they leave. They don't necessarily have that support. They don't have the access to be able to, you know, talk to someone frequently. What do you think is the best, the best way for a person to get set up on this system? Like, what is your ideal way of bringing someone to their most optimized version of themselves?

That's a really good question. You have to have someone who looks at you as a whole, so not just looking at one piece of your body and thinking that, oh, well, if we get your hormones fixed, we can ignore everything else, or we get your thyroid fixed and we don't have to pay attention to anything else. They all pull and talk to each other. So hence why I do like to start with people's gut, because they do. It's the foundation. So you get your gut balanced, well, then the hormones you use, the GLP1s, the everything else is going to be optimized a little bit better. You may not need as much the medication you're on. You may not need that anymore at all. Not always, but sometimes. So I think that getting that foundation is most important and then finding, you know, the accountability of someone to not only help you figure out what your body needs, but what that process looks like step by step to get you optimized.

And I know you. You have versions of doing that for people who are interested to actually get the whole picture and come to you and figure it all out altogether. And so that. I think that's where I love what you're doing, because it's really going to be the entire. You're going to make sure everything's dialed in.

Yes.

And you have the support.

Yeah. And that is what I am passionate about, is looking at every person individually. We are not cookie cutter, you know, and we shouldn't be treated that way. And so when you can look at, okay, what are your symptoms? What are, you know, what is your lifestyle? What are your current routines? What is your current stress level? And then we can build a protocol and a picture for you that helps Optimize those or makes little tweaks in, you know, your morning routine or your evening routine or whatever it may be to really help you thrive.

I love that. All right, we have a couple more. How about multivitamins? Might sound like a funny question, but there's just so many out there. Do we think taking multivitamins, Are we injecting vitamins? Are we wearing vitamins? Like, what's a good. What do you think is a great alternative? Not alternative. What do you think is great for.

Yeah, is it or is it real?

I know I'm like, do I have to do. Because I feel like there's a middle of. This is not black and white sometimes. Then I'm gonna have to do a pass.

All right. Why?

Because a multivitamin, while it does have a lot of nutrients in it, and it is an easy thing for people to be like, oh, I just got me a multivitamin. Well, what is in it? How much is the dose in it? What does your body actually need? Does it need a little bit more of one of the things in it and less of something else? So you're still just kind of throwing noodles at it. You know, it's like you're not really figuring out what your body needs. And so people will be like, well, I'm on all these supplements. It's like, well, they're not working. Either your body's not absorbing them, or it's not the right dose for you. So.

All right, last fun one. The tanning peptide. I think it's called melanin or something like that. There's like a melanin one, melanin two. Smash or pass?

I'm gonna say pass. Okay.

Why?

Oh, gosh, I have so many people that want that.

I know, but this is why. This is why we're asking a question.

Like, we want to be tan.

I know. Okay. So I've had a few people that have actually used it, and I don't know if they've actually gotten a true benefit from it. So it's almost as if it was probably a waste of money and time. Injection, but. And I think there's also, you know, sunlight matters.

So you're saying they stayed pretty pasty?

Yeah, they stayed pasty.

All right, well, listen, if somebody is sitting here and they're like, okay, she is talking about everything that I need right now, how should they reach out to you? How should they find you? How do they know if you're the one they should work with?

Absolutely. So they should find me on Instagram at Kristen Lee Wellness and if, even if they just want to have a chat, I'm open to hopping on a call or just talking in the DMS to see if I'm a fit. For sure, they can always take my quiz. That is going to help them figure out what's really draining them.

This quiz is actually good. Explain what it is.

So it's a eight question quiz and you pretty much tally up 1, 2, 3. If you have or ABC I guess it is. If you have mostly A's then it tells you this and so or B's this and some little tips to help support. So is it your adrenals? Is it your hormones? Are you just burnt out? And then it gives you some ideas even though we know all of those are interconnected.

But no, I'm gonna take the same because sometimes I have stretches where I'm so tired I'm like, have I burnt out my adrenals or am I just working too hard? I'm tired. Liz is just normal tired this week.

Yeah, maybe a little bit. All of it.

Yeah. Okay, so they can find that quiz

where in my bio and Instagram link

and name your Instagram again.

Kristen Lee Wellness and of course we're

putting all this in show notes.

We're so grateful for you for coming on the show. Thank you so much for coming.

Appreciate it.

Appreciate y'.

All.

Starting something new isn't just hard, it can be terrifying. I remember right before I launched my first business and even this podcast thinking, is this really the right decision? What if this totally bombs and nobody listens? What if no one buys anything and the doubt got super loud? But choosing to do it anyway was one of the best decisions of my life. And having the right tools underneath you helps that jump feel a whole lot safer. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e commerce in the US from brands just getting started to household names. And it's what I trust with glossy with hundreds of ready to use templates, Shopify helps you build a beautiful online store that matches your brand's style. It's packed with helpful AI tools that write product descriptions, page headlines, and even enhance your product photography, which saves you so much time you can tackle everything in one place. Inventory, payments, analytics, and more. No juggling platforms, no tech overwhelm. And if you're wondering, what if I get stuck? Shopify's award winning 24. 7 Customer support is always there to help. Plus that iconic purple shop pay button gives you the best converting checkout on the Planet helping boost conversions and turn more carts into real sales. It's time to turn those what ifs into with Shopify today. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.comhappy go to shopify.comhappy that's shopify.com happy.

You know, I talk a lot about

how powerful sleep is for our skin, for our mood, for our hormones, literally everything. But if I'm being honest, winding down at night hasn't always been easy for me. My BR literally loves a 10pm strategy session all by myself as soon as my head hits the pillow. That's why I've been so intentional about creating a nighttime ritual. And lately OCS Dream Collection has been such a beautiful part of that. Their Dream Night Serum and Dream Night Cream are clinically tested, powered by bioretinol and designed to reduce the visible effects of stress on your skin while you sleep. So you can literally say good night to dryness, dullness, wrinkles and loss of firmness. And I'm especially excited about their newest launch, the Dream Bioretinol Body Serum. It's a full body overnight treatment with bioretinol, red seaweed, magnesium and lavender that visibly firm, smooths and deeply hydrates while also creating this incredible sense of calm before bed. I am obsessed with the smell. Lavender is one of my favorites. And because skincare is self care and choosing products that work while you sleep, that's the kind of efficiency that I am here for in this season of my life. So give your skin a rest with clean, clinically tested skin care from osea. And right now we have a special discount just for our listeners. Get 10% off your First Order site wide with code EARN@OSEAMALIBU.com O S E

A Malibu.com Courtney welcome to the podcast. You are on the earn your happy show and you're on the Chris Harder show and we're so excited that you are back.

Yeah, I'm so excited to be here.

I was gonna say it's more like welcome back. You're actually like becoming our resident fertility expert at this point.

True story going on.

So let's actually jump off there. It's been about six months or so since you've been on the show.

What?

Give us an update in your business. What's changed, what's gotten better and what's exciting you right now compared to last time?

Yeah, great question. So we are growing all the time, but what's changed is that I've really noticed how much impact we're able to have in Couples that are getting ready for IVF cycles. When I started this practice, it was about helping clients, couples figure out how to get pregnant naturally. And we started having more and more couples that were coming to us getting ready for ivf. And I noticed in our data that, like, shocking statistics that every single couple who's come to us in the last two years to prepare for IVF has had success on their first cycle after working with us.

Wow.

So we are working with a lot more couples that are getting ready for IVF and starting to talk about some partnerships with clinics. And that's. That's really exciting to me because it shouldn't be one or the other. Right. Like, you shouldn't have to decide. And if we can reach people who have decided that IVF is their path and help them get their body ready, it's. It's really exciting.

Wait, this is really exciting because instead of being an alternative to ivf, you are now also a compliment to it. So that when they make that investment, because a lot of times the investment's not covered, and a lot of times it's a big, scary investment, they can go into it more confidently saying, at least I know I've gotten expert guidance on doing everything I needed to to maximize this upcoming investment.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's almost like a little. You can't call it an insurance policy because we can't guarantee, but it is, you know, if you can invest a few thousand with us to save 2, 3, 5 rounds of IVF, that investment is huge. And your time and your money and your body, all the things.

I don't know what people pay these days for it, but it was about 25 grand around every time that we did it. You give or take.

Yeah, I. It was around there. I can't remember exactly what it was.

The point is, there's a lot of money at stake. You want to get it right.

I'm. I actually, him and I have talked about this. I. I'm so upset that when I went, they never told me anything that you share. And, you know, for everybody listening, I'm so good with it. Now. You asked me, you know, how I feel about talking about this topic. I'm so at peace with it. But a few years ago, Chris and I did two rounds, and there was never a conversation about my health, what I was doing, what I was eating, Chris's health, what he was doing, what he was eating, how we were preparing for it. It was just like, you know, keep trying until we get something. And there was never anything that we could Be doing. It was just like, do it again, do it again, do it again. And I have, like, I have very few regrets in life, and that is such a regret for me because I wish that I could go back and have known that to make it count. Because energetically, it's not just about the money too, which that is very insane for most people. Energetically, it's like, it takes such a toll on the woman and the man, but such a toll on the woman. So I'm so grateful for the work that you do. I'm actually going to send some people to you that I'm thinking of right now. So tell me what you think is, like, driving these results that you're having right now.

I think you are kind of hitting on it, right? Like, these IVF clinics that the couples who find us are avid researchers. They're professionals, they're running brands, they're really smart people. And so they find the best IVF clinic they can. Some of them travel from out of state to go to the best IVF clinic they can get to. And these doctors are really good at what they do. They're trained at getting your body ready for retrieval, handling the embryo and doing the transfer. Right. That's where their training is. As far as like, well, what's going on in my body? Or what should I do? The more progressive ones will say, like, eat a Mediterranean diet or maybe take some CoQ10 or vitamin D. And that's about as far as they go with that. They'll run some basic tests. For most of our couples, they don't really have a lot of answers except like, maybe she's getting a little older. It's low amh. They don't have a lot of answers. And so that. That's where the gap is. It's like, they're really good at doing ivf. They're not good at getting your bodies as ready as possible for success. Both his on sperm quality and the woman's on getting her body ready for a successful retrieval and then ready for implantation at the transfer. And that's where the big gaps are. I don't know if I want to share all this yet, but I've got a vision for the next five years and really finding a really good progressive reproductive endocrinologist in California. And I want to partner with them and open a clinic where we bring this into the clinic. Because over the last 20 years, success rates at the best clinics in the country have plateaued because the technology. Look, they may continue to innovate, but it's it's gotten as good as it's going to get over the last 20 years. So you're like 60 to 70% success rates for upload transfers. But what they're missing is this piece of the all the interconnected systems in the body and getting you ready. So if we have couples that come to us at different states, if they're getting ready for a retrieval, we'll have both partners work on it. If they've got good embryos already, we'll just focus on the woman. But that's the missing component.

Okay, so let's dive a little deeper into that. What do most clinics miss before IVF that make or break success? So people listening can, like, really understand what those components are.

Yeah. So when I say the interconnected systems in the body, when they're running tests, they're really focused on the reproductive system. They'll do a semen analysis, make sure your tubes are over. Like, this is a part of a fertility workup.

Right.

Your tubes are open. Day 3 Hormones Are you ovulating? Hey, nothing's wrong. Or, hey, you know, we have these two things. They're not looking at your metabolic processes. How are things like your thyroid working? At a deep level, they might scratch the surface with it, but nowhere near deep enough. They're not looking at your gut, your detox pathways, your mitochondrial health, your cellular health. They're not looking at your micronutrient status in your body. And all of these things work together. Usually it's not one thing. People are so trained in today's world, in Western medicine to say, like, what's the problem?

Like, tell me, what's the one thing to solve?

How do I fix this? What's the one thing? And give me the pill for it. And it's like, usually it's three to five major root causes that are all intertwined. So we have very scientific based protocols that we put people through based on what comes back on their labs. And there's patterns that look similar for people, but it's a mixture of all of those things. And those systems play a huge role in our ability to conceive and carry. And that translates to IVF too.

How do couples decide when it's time to maybe consider working with somebody like you and consider IVF versus just trying naturally over and over and over again?

I think that that's okay. So I have like my perfect view of the world, which is like, when you're planning your wedding, you come and see what's going on in both of your bodies and get yourself ready so that you don't go through all of the pain. Right. Or you.

So it's never too early.

It's never too early. But that is like 2% of our clients.

Yeah.

Because nobody thinks it's going to happen to them. Everyone's like, I'm healthy. I take care of myself.

Oh, that was me.

Yeah. A lot of our clients are, you know, like, like, like you guys, they are running a business. They know how to eat healthy, they know how to work out. They're like, I'm not gonna have a problem with this. And so they go like, you go down the rabbit hole. And then it's like, the next step is, you know, the next step's Letrozol or Clomin. Then you're like, I'll try the iui. I'll try again. And you just, you get stuck on this, this pattern of, of going down that path. You were asking though, like, keep trying naturally versus ivf. I think that's a, that's a personal decision.

Right?

That is like, it's a combination of factors for most of our clients. Some of them want our help in making that decision when they come to us. And I tell them, because we get a lot of clients who've been through a couple failed cycles before they find us. And they're like, should I try naturally or go back to IVF after I work with you? And my take is that A, it's a personal decision, but B, how much emotional bandwidth do you have? Like, let's go through, let's see what's actually going on in your body. Let's work through these targeted protocols throughout the program. And usually about month four in our program is a good, it's a good place for people to either go into a cycle or start trying naturally. And then I tell them, like, have a conversation between the two of you after everything you've been through. Because people are battle wounded when they get to us. Most of the time they've been through a lot. And it's like, do I have, you know, five months of trying naturally in me before I make the, the choice to go over to ivf, or do I just want to try it for a couple more months and then we're going to go into IVF to, you know, short circuit that living in two week window situation and knowing that once you've done the work with us, regardless of which path you're going, you've put your body in the best possible place for success.

It's funny because you had mentioned you Know, people like you who come in, blah, blah, blah, you know, Lori and I are hard driving entrepreneurs and I think we asked you this the last time we had you. But for those of you that didn't catch that episode, is there a correlation between really hard driving entrepreneurs and professionals and having trouble versus maybe people that aren't as hard driving?

Yes.

Yeah. And so I would say a couple of things about that. You could, people will say like distress play a big role in infertility or you know, trouble with, with IVF cycles. It does, but it's not as simple as saying like it's just the stress of running the business and that you're in fight or flight or you're, you're busy running around. I think the, the difference between like go do breath work and go do yoga and like go to acupuncture, which all those things are great by the way. Like we know they're helpful. Helpful to reduce stress loads. The key for us is helping our clients set themselves up to become more cellularly resilient to stress. So what's actually going on in your body that is making it harder for you to be resilient to the stress that you have in your life because you're not going to get rid of it. Right. Like the, these couples we work with love their careers. Some of them have older kids. Like the stress isn't going to go away regardless of what you're doing. And so how do we help you become more resilient at a cellular level to stress? And that's the work we do with these, these labs and targeted protocols.

What in our environment do you think is working against us right now?

Oh, everything.

What should we be doing?

Yeah, gosh, like at a starting point it's. So there are, there are a lot of chemicals in most people's homes that are leading to the simplest way to say it is like fake estrogen in the bodies. You know estrogens and so like plastics in the kitchen, using the microwave a lot. You know, cookware, like nonstick cookware is a big one. Cleaning products are a big endocrine system disruptor. So those are some of the low hanging fruit things that we do.

Everything we use every single day, we're all screwed.

Yeah, yeah, it's, it's, it's everywhere. So the goal isn't perfection, but it's like how can we, you know, when we talk about toxic load. Because it's stuff in your house, it's stuff in makeup products, it's stuff in the hair products that women, women Put like, I think it's 189 chemicals a day on average on their bodies. How can you reduce that as much as possible while not trying to be perfect? Because you're never going to live a toxin free lifestyle. So we focus on like, can you change out the cleaning products? Can you switch to like cast iron for cooking instead of the non stick stuff? Can you stay away from plastic, like soft plastic bottles as much as possible? And then you know, can you buy organic food and clean food as much as possible? And it's not about perfection, but it's about your, your body. If you think of it like a rain barrel, your body can take in so many toxins. We have a detox system in our body, but eventually it starts spilling over. And when it spills over, you've got symptoms like infertility or recurrent miscarriage, that's a part of it. And so reducing that toxic burden as much as, as, as possible as a

part of the work.

A follow up to that question. Birth rates in the US Birth rates, especially in Japan are alarming. All over the whole world they're going down and down and down and down. Is that because of the stuff that you're describing being so prevalent in our daily life or is it a sign of something else? Like people are less interested in having kids or, you know, which, which is it? Or is it both?

I think it's both. I think that more people are. Well, I don't know if it's less interested, but I think more people wait. And so if you haven't done the work with a team like ours to extend your reproductive longevity and you're starting at, you know, 36 or 39 years old, you are maybe dealing with poor egg quality. There's stuff you can do about it, but they, no one's to your point, no one's telling you how to do those things. So I think that's a part of it. And I think you, you have to have a lot of knowledge to try to avoid toxins in this world that we live in or reduce them as much as possible. And the average person just doesn't, you know, have all of that information about how to reduce their toxic load as much as possible.

What is a question you wish more people were asking you?

Yeah, because you know how we don't know. Like we don't know what we don't know as humans. Like what should people be coming to you asking?

Yeah, so I think what people should be asking is what can I do to improve my fertility and extend My reproductive longevity. Because I think the thing that I get a lot from clients is, oh, my gosh, I'm freaking out. I went and had some tests done, and my AMH is low, and they're trying to shove me into an IVF cycle or they did a few. And with low amh, a lot of times you have poor retrieval.

What's amh?

It's a measurement of your. It's a measurement of how many eggs you have left is the easiest way to think about it. But it's a point in time measurement. And so at a lot of fertility clinics, they will talk about it as, like, your AMH is low. I have a new gal who's in her 20s. Your AMH is low. Like, your only option is donor eggs because they have a hard time with IVF cycles, and it's gonna. They'll say it's gonna fall off until menopause. But we find that there are underlying root causes that cause low AMH prematurely, like inflammation, like stress on the body in all of these areas we've been talking about. So that's what people come to us with a lot. Like, I went and they said, my AMH is low, and I, you know, I'm screwed. And instead, I think people need to be stepping back and saying, what can I do to take control of my fertility? Because there is so much power on this journey. Once you have the right answers and the right plan and the right support and path, you have so much more power than you've been led to believe.

That's really powerful for people to hear and you know firsthand because you see it all the time.

Yeah.

Like, you will have people who feel hopeless come to you.

Yeah.

And you're able to turn things around and put the power back in their hands.

And I think.

I think that out of everything for anybody listening, because whether you have dealt with this, are dealing with this, you probably will know someone who is. And I think it's so easy to go on Instagram and hear another sad song story. Let me tell you, when I was going through all the IVF stuff, it was like, you're just inundated with how hard it is instead of, hey, there's a lot that can be done. So that's what I love about what you share, is there's so much that can be done that you're probably not doing. So when should somebody reach out to you? Is it before or after IVF or during or. What's the. What's the best thing?

Yeah. So if you know your Path is going to be ivf. We do have clients who want to go get pregnant naturally and we help them too, all day. But if you know your path is going to be ivf, ideally, once you're like close to making that decision, it's a great time to work. With us, we have an accelerated pace program that's at least 90 days is an ideal amount of time to do this work, ideally 120 days. So four months, which, you know, if you start that process, it takes a while anyway. And so with four months before they want to go into a retrieval, ideally, or if they've got. There's a lot of people who come to us with frozen embryos. Four months before you're going to do your transfer is the right time to start doing this work.

From an entrepreneur's journey. You used to be a cfo, you used to do numbers and now you're a fertility expert.

Still going to do a number?

Yeah, I guess, I guess counting sperm counts, Right? I guess the CFO background was good. Real quickly, like, explain that gap for us. Why did you switch from one expertise to another?

Yeah. So it was, you know, kind of my own personal health journey that led me to functional medicine. I had a lot of symptoms in my life that started when I was young and got worse and worse and worse over, you know, the decades into my 30s. A lot of it was gut stuff, skin headaches, and it was just doctors were like, everything looks fine. You know, I did every workup possible with every specialist possible and there was never an answer. And then I found functional medicine and I like bawled my eyes out for two hours when I got my first functional labs back because I'm like, this all makes perfect sense. This is exactly what's been going on in my body and it's been going on for a long time. And so I worked through. It was probably 5, 5ish, months of protocols and I felt 65 to 70% better, which, look, none of us are going to feel like we're 12 again, but if you can feel even 30% better, you're doing good. So I decided to blow up. I was working at venture capital backed startups as a cfo, fun career, met a lot of celebrities in la. It was, it was awesome. But I had this internal knowing. You call it spirit, call it God, call it whatever you want, that I needed to learn this work and build a business around it. I'm an entrepreneur at heart because I was like, if I didn't know this and I thought I was really up to speed on fitness and food and health. And that was a big part of my life. And I didn't know anything about this then. There's a lot of people out there that don't know it. And so the further I went down that path, I went through a functional medicine certification program, and then I started digging deeper on the hormonal piece of things. And I spent some time praying and realized, you know what? Like, I need to build a practice that focuses on fertility because I had my own really tough fertility journey between our kids. I had a loss at 17 weeks and then a couple years of they, you know, unexplained infertility and failed treatments. Never got any answers or support over there. And I'm like, this was there all along. This was a part of that problem. And I can be that light to women and couples who are on that journey who don't have any support. I think it's so funny when clients will go, can I work with you? And I'm like, listen, I've built a practice of the best of the best women on my team who have been doing this for a decade to two and a half decades. We all work together, but I learn from them every day. I am here to spread the word that this stuff works. And I have built a team of people I learn from every day that are doing the one on one work with our clients.

It's so cool because at the core, entrepreneurs just create solutions for problems that they wish existed. Right. And that's what you did.

Yeah.

That's really cool. So how can people get a hold of you if they're like, okay, I need this help. Where should they go?

Yeah. So we're pretty active on Instagram. The handle is courtneylsay. You can check out our website. It is Functionalfertilityclinics.com and we can put a freebie in the show notes if you guys.

Yeah. And give it a shout out as well.

Yeah. So we've got a video that's about an hour long that people love. It walks through exactly what this method looks like, especially for people who've never had any exposure at all to functional medicine and have been going down the conventional fertility treatment route. They're like, okay, I hear what you're saying, but I don't. I don't know what you're saying. Like, I hear you talking and this sounds interesting, but I don't get it. This video goes into exactly how we work with our clients to take them from, you know, unexplained infertility or failed treatments to bringing their baby home in their arms. And so we could give you guys that link and put it in the show notes.

Okay.

Amazing.

We are going to add that all in the show notes for you. I'm so grateful for you. Is there any last thing you want to share with anyone?

I think I kind of said it when you asked, like, what do I think people should be asking? And it's that you really do have a lot of power on your fertility journey. I tell women I like end up in tears with them all the time because I have so much passion about this work and feel so blessed to be able to do this work with so many couples. You shouldn't be losing hope. If you're in your 20s, 30s, and early 40s, and you've been told you have, you know, hardly any AMH or you've had five failed cycles, it's not the end of the road.

And you've.

You've got a lot more. There's a lot more hope left that you may not even understand how to tap into yet.

I love that. I'm so grateful for you and all the work that you do. I know that you being on this podcast and you going around and being on other podcasts and just your Instagram page and everything that you do, it's going to help so many people. So I'm so grateful for you and you guys. We are linking everything up of hers in the show notes so you can go and grab that. And I know it's been a game changer for people.

Courtney, you are amazing, and we just really appreciate you coming on multiple times to be able to get people up to speed on this because a lot of people struggle with it.

Yeah.

Thanks for having me. Glad to be here.

Thank you.