How a Health Leader Is Getting Black Women to Talk About Menopause — and Making the Conversation Fun

As a graduate student in public health in the early ’90s, Joy Calloway heard that the National Black Women’s Health Project, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting and advancing the health and wellness of Black women and girls, was having a weekend-long workshop in Washington, DC. Without hesitating, she jumped into her Dodge Omni with a couple of classmates and drove roughly 550 miles from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor to attend.

Already intent on trying to help disadvantaged communities in the healthcare system, her weekend with The Project, as the nonprofit was known — and in particular, meeting founder Byllye Avery, a woman who looked and sounded like her, and even had a short Afro like hers — cemented Calloway’s mission to do work in health equity.

Now, 30-plus years into her “heart’s work,” including in major health systems, community mental health, as interim CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, and executive director of the National Medical Association, Calloway has come full circle: In October 2025, she became president and CEO of the Black Women’s Health Imperative (BWHI), the current name of The Project.

She spoke with psychiatrist Patrice Harris, MD, Everyday Health’s chief health and medical editor and the first Black woman to be elected president of the American Medical Association, about how she plans to continue supporting the health of Black girls and women in her new role — including by encouraging women in midlife to embrace the years-long transition of perimenopause and menopause via BWHI’s Power in the Pause events.

Patrice Harris: It sounds like your passion for health equity is embedded in your DNA. What are your priorities in your new role?

Joy Calloway: Our priority is, has been, and will always be solving the critical health issues of Black women and girls in this country. I sincerely believe that if Black women are healthy mentally, emotionally, physically, socially, spiritually, and financially, then that will set the stage for everyone else to be healthy in those ways as well. Because if you look at the challenges that are facing Black women and girls, those are systemic, right? Health matters to everyone.

PH: Let's focus on your Power in the Pause initiative. That work is so critical and has the opportunity to reshape how Black women talk about their experiences regarding perimenopause and menopause. 

JC: The title Power in the Pause is so powerful, because in many places around our culture — not only American culture, but specifically my focus in Black culture — menopause is not something we talked about. I don't remember talking about it with my mother. And I had a very open, communicative mom. All I remember is a color-coded cloth. Whatever color she had on, she had a little [matching] hand towel on her shoulder to dab her brow when necessary. That's all I had.

Power in the Pause is what I call an “edutainment” event. We bring women together in community with professionals, physicians, sex therapists, mental health therapists, nutritionists, and exercise physiologists. It's a room full of sisters, and we are talking about this thing called menopause.

And what we're looking to do is not only make sure you have good science and good information — in our community, we learn in community. I may listen to what my girlfriend says more quickly or with stronger listening skills than I do to my doctor. So we need to make sure that we are all equipped with good information. Because that's how we learn and engage.

PH: I’d love to come to one of these meetings. What are they like?

JC: The energy in the room — we’re laying it bare. We're talking about it all. And we are not just stopping at hot flashes. Menopause is about whole health. There are so many other things we need to be talking about: brain fog, irritability, mental health.

We need to be talking about the fact that in our study — the largest multifactoral study that has been done on on Black women's experience with menopause — we found that even in a group of women who mostly had at least a bachelor's degree, were mostly insured, and mostly employed, over half of the women felt that they did not have enough information to make decisions about their menopause care.

Four in 10 women said that they are dealing with depression or emotional issues associated with this time of life. A little over half said they felt dismissed and not heard when they’re trying to bring these concerns to their physicians. So in this space — this high energy, open communal space — we're talking about all of that.

We're also talking about interventions to help us move through this period, whether they're naturopathic or more clinical or medicinally based. And we’re pulling back the veil of secrecy, of shame, of “We just don't talk about it. It's just something we deal with.” Unfortunately, I believe Black women carry that more than some of our other counterparts because of cultural reasons; we've got other things to worry about.

PH: We've got to talk about it. And as you say, release the stigma and the shame.

JC: In many cases as Black women, we may have a different experience being listened to and being heard when we go to our physicians or providers. We might get different [responses] around our pain or discomfort tolerance or our resilience, because the strong Black woman trope is out there.

We need to create spaces where we can take the cape off and say, “I cannot have sex with my husband because my vagina is dry. It hurts. And it's a problem.” We need to be in a place where we can have those conversations and joke about having CRS (“can’t remember sh**”). Brain fog is a real thing.

We're in what I consider the prime of life: our forties to sixties. [Menopause starts] earlier than we think, especially in Black women. We're running families, we're running corporations, we're running workgroups and our churches and sororities. And we're having brain fog and CRS and we can't get it together. There are things we can do to help that.

PH: As you mentioned, menopause tends to happen earlier in Black women, and even Black women who are knowledgeable about their health don’t realize when they’re experiencing menopause symptoms like brain fog and anxiety. How are you raising awareness of these issues, and how do you think this can help women?

JC: It is our intention at BWHI to be both a data authority on this issue and also a solutions partner. Right now, menopause is hot. Everybody's talking about it. Halle [Berry] is talking about it. That's great. I love it.

Women must have the information they need to center themselves in the conversation about their health, take control of their health, and know when to partner with a provider and with whom so that they can get the support that they need. And to use the tools and medications — whatever you determine with your provider [is best] — to have the confidence to use those things.

Can we not be excited about this moment in our lives? Yes, there are some things that aren't cute about it that can be challenging. We can work on those things. But we also have an opportunity to change our mindset, right? Folks say that as you're moving through this period of your life, on the other side of this are sexual experiences that don't won't end in pregnancy. How about that? There's a freedom to that.

Usually at this time of our lives, we are well supported, well educated, well informed, and well surrounded. I feel better about myself and how I show up in the world now than I did in my twenties. I probably weighed less and had stronger hair then, but I feel better about who I am today.

PH: You're educating women on questions to ask when they go in for medical counsel. But we know there’s a lack of expertise in this area. And by the way, just 3,000 U.S. physicians are certified by The Menopause Society, and there are about a million physicians in this country.

JC: I’m less concerned about a physician who has specific or additional training in menopause than I am about [having] a physician who hears me when I come in the door, who doesn't dismiss me or say it's in your head, trying to blow it off. So that's the first thing: You're the expert in medicine, I'm the expert in Joy's body and Joy's health. So let's work together to get Joy to a place where she wants to be and where she believes that she can be, and where you believe clinically that I can be.

The second piece is: We are educating women on the questions to ask and giving them practice at our Power in the Pause events to ask the questions right there in a community of 150 or 300 people, with clinicians present, in an informal, fun, upbeat manner.

We’re also educating physicians about our study and moving through some of the myths patients expect to hear: “Well, you're fully insured, you're well-degreed, you're in whatever percent tax bracket.” All of these good things, and yet, too many folks are still saying, “They don't hear me. I'm being dismissed. They just want to throw a pill at me. And maybe that's not the ride I want to go on.”

And it's not just about hot flashes. We can't separate our mental and emotional health and wellness from our physical. They go together. Our bodies keep score of the emotional challenges that we have. If I feel like I’m having brain fog or some other, dare I say, cognitive challenge, what is that doing for my esteem? What does it mean when sex is no longer enjoyable? What does it mean that I don't feel good about my body?

What does it mean that some of us still unfortunately put so much value on our ability to reproduce? What about our sisters who were not able to reproduce? And now they're at a point where the clock is seriously ticking. All of those things matter.

PH: We are always future-focused, and we should be future-focused. But we need to enjoy the present. What kinds of conversations are you having with Black women about how menopause can take years? We don't want to just say, “Suffer and get through this.” 

JC: So yes, we are excited about what's to come. But I also want to have an abundant life right now.

I focus on Black women and girls. We know how to bring some comedy and levity into a situation. I literally had forgotten the term CRS until two days ago. I asked a girlfriend of mine about something and she texted me, “Girl, you know, I got CRS. What are you talking about?” And I cracked up.

And another thing I just love about us and how we show up: Have you ever seen so many fabulous fans? “Boots on the Ground” helped us out a little bit. I can dance with [my fan] and I can get myself together, right? It's those small things that we need to focus on to enjoy. And I think this also gives us the opportunity to return to community.

We make it fun and lively to talk about these things and create well-informed and educated community, because we know we're going to share outside the doors.

PH: This is such important work. How are you all expanding this so that more African American women know what questions to ask when they go to their healthcare providers — and therefore get good care?

JC: This is where support comes in. Support helps us turn real world data into real world change. It helps us produce more Power in the Pause events around the country.

Part of my role is helping the world see the full picture of the Black Women's Health Imperative. And that means making sure I say all Black women and girls. As a community health person coming to the table, I said, “Well, where's the event that has childcare and some vouchers and some gift cards, so we can encourage our sisters who are more challenged by whatever situations they may find themselves faced with to be here, too?” Because menopause is going to happen whether you're making $15,000 a year or $15 million a year.

We’re reenvisioning our Power in the Pause events so they are for every part of our market of Black women. So part of it is getting ourselves in different places around the country, and also partnering with companies and organizations, because we’ve got to be able to fund this.

PH: What do you hope the future of perimenopause and menopause awareness and treatment look like for Black women and women in general?

JC: I want us not to be afraid, uninformed, depressed, or in the doldrums about this experience. It is a privilege to be in this period of my life. I have friends who did not get here, as do we all. So just to change that mindset, to start talking about the excitement and the beauty of experiencing this [life stage] in community.

In other cultures — our previous culture included — both the onset of menses and menopause were communal celebrations because you're going to another level of womanhood. You now become a wise woman and an elder, and you have the responsibility and the privilege of guiding younger women.

I want to bring those things and bring joy into this experience. That's what I want to see. I want to see providers understand this is at the heart level. They understand it clinically and educationally. But understand it at the heart level. It's about more than just the hot flashes and dry vaginas. There are so many parts to this thing. And we want our providers to be open.