Like many good ideas, Deb Neuman came up with her latest business venture while sitting around with a group of girlfriends, all of whom were in their late 40s and early 50s. Wine may have been involved.
“We were talking about life at our age, comparing notes about family and careers and menopause,” said Neuman, known among many things for her work at the University of Maine’s Foster Center for Student Innovation and for hosting the Back to Business program on WVOM radio; she’s now an on-air DJ on WABK. “There’s not a lot of conversation about menopause. How are we supposed to be feeling? I mean, at least we know something about it — when my mother went through it, you didn’t talk about it at all. Today, it’s definitely not your mother’s menopause.”
“Not your mother’s menopause” became the key phrase in Neuman’s new venture. Inspired by the lack of dialogue surrounding the “change of life,” Neuman started a blog called, appropriately, Not Your Mother’s Menopause, recruiting a group of 50-something women to write about everything from financial planning and careers to love and family. And hot flashes. That too.
After launching the blog in September 2013, Neuman decided to find a way to promote her site and have a little fun in the process. She wanted a product that would be more unique than a T-shirt or a tote bag or other typical promotional items.
“I started thinking, ‘What would be a fun thing to give to a friend on her 50th birthday?’ I wracked my brain,” said Neuman. “Then, ding, it hit me: an emergency kit for menopause. And I knew just the person to help me put it together.”
Neuman contacted Brewer-based Gregg Stewart, an acquaintance she had worked with before, who has a business putting tiny emergency or survival kits into sardine cans — his site includes emergency kits for most of the New England states, for zombie apocalypse survival, and even romance in a can.
By April, the Menopause Emergency Kit was up for sale. The can contains 20 items hand-picked by Neuman to help with the many symptoms and problems menopause-age women run into. There’s a moist towelette, for hot flash relief; tweezers, for those random surprise facial hairs that pop up; an emery board and Blistex, for lip and nail emergencies; and lots of other little goodies.
“Gregg is an expert at sourcing items that will fit in the can, so we miraculously were able to get it all in there,” said Neuman. “He seals the cans using the last sardine canning machine in America … it’s a really unique product.”
Neuman hopes her site and her emergency kit will help women in their 40s and 50s have more conversations about menopause and life post-menopause.
“We are realizing that we become our best around midlife,” said Neuman. “It’s a different experience for everyone. If we can link women with good articles and good resources and make it fun, then the site is doing its job.”
The Menopause Emergency Kit is available for $12.95 locally at Chapel Hill Floral and Rebecca’s in Bangor, at the Winter Harbor 5&10, the Boothbay Railway Village, Merchants on the Corner in Presque Isle and at Kokadjo Camps; it’s also available on Amazon.com and through notyourmothersmenopause.com.
