Interview with Tracey Willingham

Give us your no-fluff bio!

I’m Tracey Willingham, also known as That Hormone Girl™. I help women understand how hormonal shifts affect their confidence, communication, and decision-making. Most hormone conversations stop at hot flashes and supplements. My work focuses on the emotional, relational, and identity shifts that happen during these transitions

My background is in social work, and after years of watching women minimize what they were experiencing physically and emotionally, I realized something big: no one is teaching women how to navigate it all. Our healthcare systems treat us by zones or symptoms, but women are a full ecosystem and many of those zones interact with each other. Now I teach women how to understand what’s happening in their bodies and speak up for what they need in healthcare, relationships, and their work.

Tell us about your business. What do you do and who do you do it for?

Most of the women I work with are asking questions because our hormones are shifting. I help women understand what’s happening biologically while also giving them the language and confidence to advocate for themselves because understanding your hormones is powerful, but being able to speak up about what you need is life-changing.

Through my brand That Hormone Girl™, I teach hormone-aware implementations and advocacy skills for women navigating midlife hormone changes. There’s a huge gap in how we talk about this phase of life. We discuss symptoms, maybe prescribe medication, and then send women back into their lives to figure out the rest. But hormone shifts affect decision-making, stress tolerance, emotional regulation, communication, and confidence. That impacts marriages, careers, leadership, parenting, so pretty much everything in our lives.

I help women understand what’s happening biologically while also giving them the language and tools to advocate for themselves in healthcare, relationships, and work.

What inspired you to ditch the 9–5 or traditional path and go all in as an entrepreneur?

I tried to work with the current system for my own shifting hormones. Meanwhile, I was working in Oncology and was seeing the impacts treatment was having on women’s hormones. I was frustrated that hormones were being treated as something that isn’t a major systemic issue that directly impacts life expectancy and quality of life. So, I added certifications to my social work license and quit my full time job. Scary, but I did it!

We’re talking about one of the biggest biological transitions women experience outside of puberty and our systems are wildly underprepared for the number of women moving through it right now. We have estrogen shortages. Hormone therapy is still being misunderstood or misrepresented. Women prescribed antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications at significantly higher rates than men. And yet women are often told to just “manage their stress” or “get more sleep.” At some point I realized waiting for systems to catch up wasn’t helping women who needed support now. So I built something that could.

What was the hardest BS you had to overcome to get real momentum in your online biz?

Being told I shouldn’t be talking about this. The irony is that the same systems that haven’t fully addressed these issues are often the loudest voices saying people outside of them shouldn’t speak about them either. My response is simple: Women need support now, not ten years from now when research and protocols finally catch up. Until then, there are gaps. And I’m very comfortable helping fill them.

Was there a moment where you almost gave up? What pulled you through?

There are always moments when the pushback gets loud. But then I get messages from women saying things like, “I thought I was losing my mind until I found your work.”When women finally realize what they’re experiencing has context and it is even bigger than just physical symptoms, it is validating and scary. Those messages remind me why this work matters.

How do you stay focused when things get noisy, messy, or uncertain in your business?

I come back to the women I serve and the fact that I am having to scream a little louder for women to hear hormone health is more than just physical symptoms. I get it! There are 100+ symptoms women can be experiencing during this transition. Those can feel like the most pressing. I want women to understand we need to address emotional, relational, and conversational. The internet can be very loud with advice, trends, and opinions. But if I focus on the real experiences women are sharing with me, the direction becomes very clear. My job isn’t to chase trends. It’s to name what women are experiencing and give them language for it.

P

What’s the most game-changing lesson you've learned since starting?

That women are far more ready for honest conversations than people think. When I start asking the questions other hormone coaches don’t, you can see the look of relief on their faces. Validating that burnout, resentment, rage, identity shifts, dissatisfaction with the life I built, wanting something new or different, the sadness, the loneliness ... .all of it, it is real! You are not making it up! That recognition is powerful.

What’s the best piece of real talk advice you’ve ever gotten (or would give)?

Don’t wait for permission to talk about something that clearly needs to be talked about. Difficult conversations commonly feel that way because they cause someone else discomfort. We, as women, have been raised to be concerned about the comfort of others, often at the cost to themselves. I help women start to say what they need to say and to accept that others will need to sit in their own discomfort and we do not own their feelings, thoughts, or words. This isn’t easy work, but practice, validation, and support are what lead women to start feeling better and moving the impacts that directly affect their hormone health out of their bodies!

What are you most proud of achieving in your business so far?

Creating a space where women feel validated instead of dismissed. So many women tell me they finally feel like someone is connecting the dots between what’s happening in their bodies and what’s happening in their lives. I use humor, cussing, pushing the agenda to make hormone health gain the recognition it deserves. Women feel that and respond to that! We are more powerful than we either recognize in ourselves or in what society says we can aspire to in our lives!

What’s one book you recommend for anyone serious about growth, business, or mindset?

Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown. The book maps out the wide range of emotions humans experience and how often we simply don’t have the language for them. That matters more than people realize. When women start navigating hormone shifts, they often feel a mix of emotions they can’t quite name. And if you can’t name it, it’s hard to advocate for yourself, set boundaries, or explain what’s happening in your body. Sometimes the most powerful shift is finally having the words.

Do you have any daily habits, rituals, or routines that help you stay grounded + effective?

One of the most grounding things I’ve done recently is join a women’s circle. It’s a space where women are actively growing, supporting each other, and showing up honestly. Being around women who encourage me to reach for my dreams while also letting me show up imperfectly has been incredibly powerful. Highly recommend finding yourself a good female tribe. I have only been in mine for 2 years and it has changed the entire projection of my life. 

What role has social media played in your business success and how do you use it strategically?

Social media plays a major role in my business, but I’m also constantly learning how to keep it from taking over my life. It’s a powerful way for women to find my work, but it’s easy to get pulled into chasing trends for followers, oversharing, or letting the lines between your business and personal life get blurry. I check myself often and remind myself of something important: I don’t need to go viral for the women who need to find me. This might be a slower build than some people expect, but every day the work gets clearer, stronger, and more aligned and that matters more to me than algorithms.

What’s a common mistake entrepreneurs make on social that drives you nuts?

Trying to sound like everyone else. The fastest way to disappear online is to blend in. What makes your business, your thoughts, your persona different from everyone else is what sets you apart. There are TONS of hormone experts out there right now, but no one else is just like me. That’s because my life experience, my jobs, the people in my life have shaped me to who I am, and no one else is quite like me!

What business tool, platform, or system could you not live without and why?

My email list. Social media helps people discover you, but email is where the deeper conversations happen. I don’t want to ever forget how my email being opened by one woman is such a big deal. You took the time out of everything you could do today to read my words and connect. I don’t take that lightly at all!

What’s one truth you wish every entrepreneur knew from day one?

You don’t need a massive audience. You need the right people and specifically, the ones who see themselves in your work. It doesn’t serve you well to have 10,000 followers or people on your email list if 9,999 aren’t invested in your messaging, work, and passion. I would rather have 100 individuals really invested in what I am doing than 10,000 cold individuals just kind of perusing my profile or emails.

What’s coming up next for you and your business?

I’m continuing to expand my hormone-aware platform and my membership community, Speak Up: The Hormone Membership, where women learn how to understand what’s happening in their bodies and advocate for themselves. And my podcast That’s Not Very Ladylike, where we call out the rules women were taught that quietly shape how we experience health, work, and relationships, while being told what we can’t do, and then we do it anyway!

What has real success taught you about yourself or the online space?

That honesty resonates far more than perfection. People are craving real conversations, not curated ones. I am leaning into the power of me from the understanding I am not for everyone. Not everyone will appreciate my humor, my cussing, my language, and that is okay. They need a different support system, and I respect that. I just need to shine my light bright enough for the women seeking someone like me. No personality change required!

Drop some fun facts. We want to know the real you beyond the brand!

• I am obsessed with my dog, Sir Lancelot
• I have been to almost all of the 50 states in the United States.
• I love to sew and quilt, and this year will be my first of leaning into social justice quilting.
• I challenge myself to read up to 150 fiction books a year (I don't always make it, but I LOVE to read)
• I hope in the next 5 years, you will see me living in an RV with my husband traveling the country and touching women's lives as I adventure through my own life!

Where can readers connect with you?

Join my weekly email - Surviving the Hormone Shit Show
https://thathormonegirl.com

My website: https://go.thathormonegirl.com/home

Podcast - find it everywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts
That’s Not Very Ladylike

Instagram: @thathormonegirl