Changing the Conversation About Wellness and Womanhood

When I started Coffey Talk, I wanted to create a space for stories that remind us we’re not alone. Not the polished, perfect stories but the ones that live in the quiet spaces of real life. The ones that make us nod and say, “Same.”

Talking with Melissa Maikos reminded me how powerful those conversations can be. She’s built her life around movement...as a former college athlete, a sports broadcaster, and now a fitness instructor. But what I love most about her story isn’t her strength; it’s her honesty. She’s using her voice to normalize conversations about body image, aging, and perimenopause — topics our mothers and grandmothers rarely said out loud.

Growing up, so many of these experiences were treated as off-limits. You didn’t talk about menopause. You didn’t admit to struggling with body image. You didn’t say you were exhausted or anxious or feeling “off.” You just pushed through.

But here’s the thing - silence doesn’t build strength. Connection does.

When we share the messy middle, we give other women permission to breathe. To see themselves in our stories. To know that what they’re feeling isn’t strange or shameful. It’s human.

That’s what Melissa is doing with her growing community of women navigating midlife. She’s taking humor and honesty, 2 things that shouldn’t have to compete, and turning them into a movement. She’s saying, “Let’s talk about it.” Let’s talk about hot flashes, mood swings, and the brain fog that makes you forget why you walked into a room. Let’s talk about how strength training at 49 feels different than it did at 29, but no less powerful.

We can laugh about it. We can cry about it. But we don’t have to hide it.

Changing the narrative doesn’t mean shouting louder. It means speaking truth with kindness. It’s inviting others into the conversation instead of pretending we’ve got it all figured out. It’s realizing that community is the cure for feeling isolated in our own lives.

That’s the story I want to keep telling not just through Coffey Talk, but in every space where women gather. Because when we start talking about what once felt off-limits, we stop feeling like we’re the only ones going through it.

So here’s to the conversations that start with honesty and end with hope.