Episode 44
Behind the Headlines: Dawn Hasbrouck on Championing Women's Health and Breaking Media Stigmas
In this episode, I’m thrilled to talk with award-winning journalist Dawn Hasbrouck. Dawn opens up about her journey from considering entertainment law to becoming a news anchor at Fox 32 Chicago, sharing what it’s like to navigate a career in media as a woman. We dive into some of the pivotal support she received early on, the mentors who helped her, and the reality of managing work-life balance in a field often described as “eating its young.”
We also dig into how her role in media influences public conversations around women’s health topics like menopause, creating a more open dialogue for others to feel informed and empowered. Hearing Dawn’s perspective on breaking down barriers for women in journalism and her advice for those entering the industry is truly inspiring.
Highlights:
- A Surprising Career Path – Dawn’s journey from a budding interest in entertainment law to finding her true calling in journalism.
- Mentorship and Support – The key figures and advice that shaped her career approach.
- Workplace Realities – How she balances family life with a demanding career and the unique pressures of the media industry.
- Normalizing Women’s Health Conversations – Using journalism to tackle traditionally taboo topics, making space for open discussions on reproductive health and menopause.
- Advice for Women in Media – Dawn’s encouragement for women to advocate for themselves, form strong support networks, and continue paving the way for others.
Call to Action:
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Transcript
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Dr Sameena Rahman (:Okay. All right. Hi everyone. It's me, Dr. Samina Arman, Gyno Girl. I'm excited to bring you another episode on my podcast, Gyno Girl Presents Sex, Drugs, and Hormones. Today, I have a very exciting guest for you to listen to her stories that we're gonna talk about today. She, as I said, is an amazing journalist and a TV anchor, I can't remember the word.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:in downtown Chicago with Fox 32 Chicago News and is going to tell us some great stuff that she has been doing as well as just talk about some of the experiences that she's had. So please welcome Dawn Hasbrook. Dawn, thank you for coming. This is very exciting. thank you. I love it. I'm so excited that you're here. actually, you know, we're
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Thank you. By the way, I love the name of your podcast.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:We've been friends for a while now and also we actually went to college together. So even though we didn't know each other in college, I think you graduated a year after me. yeah. yeah, exactly. So it was, we're at North Carolina, we went to Duke, which is an awesome school. We love our school. wonderful. Yeah. Okay. But so.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yes. Isn't that funny?
But that's how I found you from school connections, you know, which is great. Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:I'm wearing Duke Blue, I just realized. Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:I want to hear all about you for once. I want you, because you're always interviewing other people, asking them everything about what they're doing. But I want to hear about you. I want to hear about how you came to journalism and how you came to become a TV anchor. We always hear about all the things that happen to women as they enter this journalism arena and trying to get into media and all the undertones of sexism that happen.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Including you, yes.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:huh.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:And you can tell whatever you want, but I just want to hear the scoop about what brought you into journalism and where your passion lies.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah, it was kind of a roundabout way. I grew up in Chicago watching the news and I always thought it was cool and back then it was like Diane Burns, Sheryl Burton. And I thought what they did was great but I never thought I could do it. I always loved performing and singing and being on stage but I never thought about television. And then...
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:I decided I was going to go to law school like a lot of the women did in my family and, you know, including my mom. And so that was sort of the track that I took. So even though I was, you know, a singer back in the day and studied here in Chicago, I had some great teachers. I decided I was going to pursue more of the singing, entertainment, law kind of track. So when I was applying to college, I applied to music programs and, you know, one of the great programs was at Duke.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah. Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:And I started with a teacher, a professor at Duke and was singing and was going to be on Broadway track. And I just decided I didn't like the classical kind of track that I was being put on. so around sophomore year, I decided I would do more of the public policy entertainment law track. So was a public policy major at Duke. And we had professors in the public policy program who were journalists.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:One of them was a long time columnist with the Washington Post. One of them was a long time reporter on NBC News. William Raspberry, Washington Post, John Dancy, NBC News. And they were great professors. They'd fly in to teach the class and fly out. And we had to write a lot of papers for them and just a lot of great discussions in a small classroom environment. And I just loved it.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Mm-hmm.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:That piqued my interest. then Duke had this program. It was Duke in LA, Duke in Paris, or Duke in New York. I chose Duke in LA, left for a semester and studied at the University of Southern California in the Cinema Television School. And as part of that program, you had to pick an internship and it could be at an agency, a TV station or something else. So while I was participating in Duke in LA, I interned at K-Cal in LA.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah. Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:and I would go out with reporters. I was like pulling video, like, we need file video of at the time, OJ on the expressway. That was when I was interning. And so I'd like pulled it. I would go up in this big room with all these fat tapes. Everything's digital now. And I'd pull the video that I was told to get and I would run it downstairs and it would like appear on the newscast. And I thought that was so cool. It was like my file video that I picked. And I was like running.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah, yeah!
Dr Sameena Rahman (:huh.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:scripts into the anchors. So it was just really cool internship. And I just happened to go out with a reporter one day when he was on a story and he was like, have you ever thought about doing this? And that's when I was like, huh, I did. But, and he was like, you should, you could. Cause he just saw how energetic I was about it, I think. Maybe. So I always think about him. He's retired now, but then I came back that summer and interned at WGN here in Chicago. And I told my parents,
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah, that's your... Yeah, you probably saw the spark in your eye.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:think I want to do this." And they were like, you don't even have a degree in that. You need to go to grad school. So there was a reporter here, Muriel Claire, who's now retired. And I would hang out with her on her stories. And she's like, this business eats its young. Don't do it. But she was like a really strong supporter. And she's like, you're determined. So I'll write your recommendation for graduate school. And so she did. She was one of the people that wrote the recommendation. So I enrolled at Medill at Northwestern and got a master's degree. And I like during that time.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Wow.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:was assigned to go to DC and be on Capitol Hill as a reporter. And that just started the whole thing. So I was like reporting in grad school and for a radio station and a TV station and got a big resume taped together at the end of that and sent it out to 50 stations across the country. And I said, I'll move anywhere. And I got my first job anchoring the evening news, which was unheard of Monday through Friday in Savannah, Georgia. Yeah, so that was the first year.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:I didn't even know that either. Wow. Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:and then I did three years in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And then I did another contract in Hartford, Connecticut for three years, then Boston for three years, and then I came back here, because I always wanted to get back to Chicago. So that was the journey, the beginning. Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:that's awesome. Wow. I love it. I love it. I love that you had so much support in that as well. Although, you know, so funny. Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:It's crazy though, but I got here, yeah, I got back here like 15 years ago.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:OK. And you've been with Fox 32 since? they're wonderful. It's interesting, because when you said that the one reporter said that they eat their young here, that's so common for women to hear in some of these professions, right? Like, I hear it in nursing. Obviously, we hear it in medicine. It's something that I guess we can't ignore, the fact that who's eating the young? Is it the other reporters, like the other female reporters, as at the top?
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Everywhere.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yes.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah.
Yeah, well, you what I have noticed? It's just you have to have a really thick skin to work in television for one. And then if you're the young person, you're just seen as the young person. Like you don't know anything. You got to pay your dues and all of that. And so I think that's kind of what the warning was. And yeah, when she said this business eats its young to what she just meant by that is I think that you it's just a really hard time. You know, our business, no matter how smart you may be,
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah. Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:is really about, you know, paying your dues and also, I just think, being strong and constantly having to tell people, especially as a woman, that you know what you're talking about and that you know, you know, because, you know, it's in every business and it has to change, but it has not yet and in many regards.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yes.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Right. Right.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:I was going to ask you, do feel like the climate's changed at all?
Dawn Hasbrouck (:It's changed in that, you know, women are getting a lot stronger and not standing for certain things. you know, I just told this story to someone recently just about like, you know, having a kid and being on TV is difficult because you're, you know, you're pregnant on TV and then you come back and all of a sudden they think you're brain dead. You know, you had a kid, you didn't lose brain cells.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:And so, you I've seen instances where you're covering all these hard news stories, you know, the breaking news, top of the newscasts, and then you have a kid and you come back and they're like, we'll give you the fluff. That sometimes happened, you know, back in the day. That does not happen as much anymore at all. Because I think women are standing up for a lot of things. But yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Interesting. Great. Because all that media commotion happened with, I was just looking up a book about her Megyn Kelly, when she went through all that stuff. How did that sort of interplay with, because you were working at a Fox News workstation at the time,
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah, I don't even remember a lot of that. A lot of those things kind of all, there have been so many stories and yes, exactly. For us, it doesn't really impact, what happens nationally does not impact us locally in that regard. Fox 32, even though it's an owned and operated station, is very separate from the network. And so we have our own ideas. We, especially in this newsroom, are a newsroom of a lot of Chicagoans.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:blown up on. Right.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:the day to day. Right. Right.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yes, absolutely.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:too. So you know, there's only so much you can get past us. You know, so that's kind of nice. And, and I've always felt here, I had my second child here. So I've always felt, you know, supported and, and that's been great. And so, you know, my kids have essentially grown up with people here. And so I think as a woman, I feel respected, but I also, you know, know what other women go through other women in the newsroom. And I'm very,
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yes.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:And that's really good.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:I'm very aware of what goes on. And so I find myself talking a lot to, you the women in the newsroom who are younger, just about how to navigate things and yeah, because Muriel was great at WGN, but those those kind of relationships are few and far between because as I said, this is a really tough business and not everybody is always looking out for you. And I think I was just lucky to have someone like her. And that's that wasn't always the case in all the newsrooms I've been in.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah, to have to be heard too, right? Like it's.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:and
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:because everybody's trying to protect their job, as you know, in every industry. It's not unique, you know?
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Right. All right. And I'm sure it's similar to like how like when people watch Grey's Anatomy and they ask me about like, that how it really is? You know, and I watched the morning show and I'm like, is that how journals
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:We tie, I get asked about the morning show and I get asked about being Mary Jane. I don't know if you ever watched that. Realistic. Yeah. Yes.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's realistic. I mean, there's elements of truth there. Even when raising them, there's not catastrophe happening every five seconds or whatever. And yeah, there's these inner workings of people having relationships or whatever. But obviously, it's overdramatized. But interesting.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think it's important to just cheer on women. mean, my general manager now is a woman and I'm like so excited about that. It's great, yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And I mean, I think it goes to show like, you know, obviously we've done some segments because, you know, we all know that menopause is having that people are saying it's having its moment. But I think it's a real movement among, you know, Gen Xers and millennials who are going through some of period menopause stuff that, you know, it's kind of like we're experiencing this and we're not just going to lay down and suck it up and take it like.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Mm-hmm.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yes. Yes.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:like generations before. And so I think it speaks volume to the fact that you've actually gotten, you know, people to come to your station and talk on these issues that are so relevant for women, especially women in the midlife who are experiencing these dramatic, you know, changes. Like what inspired you to do that?
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah, you know, you know what it is, I think that women are talking about it more, you know, we should start there. Women just have not been comfortable, I think, talking about it just from what I have determined and found. And what I've noticed is I just happen to be lucky and have some great close girlfriends. And so when people start talking about it in our circles, then everyone else is like, wait a minute. That happened to that happened to me and blah, blah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:See you in your sleep. Right.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Mm-hmm.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Right. Wait, it's normalized, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:And so I think in Halle Berry, you know, talking about what happened to her and her experience and being misdiagnosed and it was actually menopause, I think those kinds of things help. So when in just your circles, you start talking about it and kind of swapping stories, and it's not just the hot flashes and things like that, it's other things that people might think are small or unrelated.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Right. Right.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Right. Right.
Right. Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:And then when you start talking about it with other women, you say, OK, this is happening. And it's happening to everyone. And so when I am as a woman in the newsroom, I can bring it up in our meetings. Every day we have a 2 o'clock meeting and say, hey, this is something that we really should talk about. And then it helps to have other women in the newsroom who are saying, yes, that happened to me. Let's do it. And so that's why I've been allowed, I think, to do it, or at least encouraged to.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Absolutely.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Thank
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah. Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:That's fun. Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:And I just think as women, just have to, as you said, speak up. And it's not just, you know, we have to speak up about everything. And as we speak up more, then the things can get covered and women can get the help that they need, you know?
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Right.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Right, negative symptoms. Yeah, because that one article was almost two years ago now that went viral, like women are being misled about menopause, was the most, in New York Times, it was the most downloaded article, I think, that year on New York Times. And I think it speaks volumes to like, women are misled about menopause, and this is why, and this is what the deficiencies are from like a structural perspective and also from like a patient perspective, right? So I think it's really important that, you know,
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Hmm
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Wow.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Wow, yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:this is happening and you're critical part of the movement in your Chicago's. That's wonderful.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah, yeah. And I think the way to get more media to cover it is to just really bombard maybe the women in the newsroom. There's a new study or there's a conference here, like we knew about. And I think the women in the newsroom would wake up and say, hey, we need to cover this. But we don't always get sent that information. And so we don't necessarily know what's happening. And I always encourage people, send the press release. Let us know so that we can get this stuff covered.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah. Yeah. Right.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Great.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah. Yeah, that's an important point because I get asked that a lot. you know, how do we get people, how do get the media's attention on this? You know, and, and yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:You have to tell us. And then oftentimes, there might be breaking news and we can't cover it, but we could at least zoom or do something and talk about it at the very least. That's important. Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
women going into menopause by: Dawn Hasbrouck (:Mm-hmm.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:It's, it is!
Dr Sameena Rahman (:are just not even being introduced.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:And as a woman, I'm still learning about it. And I've just learned all the different age groups that you can go through menopause and the things that can start you early in menopause. And you always assume it's an old people problem and it may not necessarily be. I've learned that, but there are constantly things that I'm learning and I'm a woman. And then I go into the UPS store to return something and the woman's apologizing to me because she's sweating and so hot. And she's like, the menopause. And I'm like.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah, right.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:do you know about this, this, and this? And I end up talking to the woman working in the UPS store for 20 minutes just about all of the things that are available that she didn't know about that I learned because I've been talking about it with you when you were on for a segment and then just anecdotally and just reading about it. It's just amazing.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:That's one. Yeah. Nah. Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:and rainy.
Yeah, but that's how the word of mouth spreads like that, right? And then eventually people start saying like, this is something I can get treated for or something that, you know, that I'm.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah, yeah. And I just want to have more of those open sessions. So it's great that you're doing a podcast. I just think women just need to talk about it more. Even if you're not going through it, you might eventually be. And it's just good to be armed with information. Why not?
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah, to even understand what hormones do to your body. People don't have that kind of concept because they're doing their thing all the time and unless something is dysregulated, you don't even know. Like, it's the hormones that are really deprived. Or maybe it's because I've been on birth control, suppressing my natural hormones. Whatever the case may be, some of these symptoms come up that are very similar across your life. When we talk about the genital urinary syndrome menopause, people experience that when they're lactating. People experience that on birth
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Right.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:know, fertility, all the things. And I think it's just, you know, it's just not a midlife woman's problem, you know, like it's, right. And true to point is that I think, you know, like how do you feel like the men in your life, like whether or not it's sons, know, friends, whatever, like I think that's a really important thing to think about because.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Right. Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:It's kind of funny, I've mentioned it to people, including in the newsroom, the men in the newsroom or male friends, none of them, not one flinches. All of them are like, yeah, yeah, I know. And they could be husbands or guy besties or whatever. It's not like they looked at me like I had two heads and said, really? That's what happens. All of them knew what women deal with.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah. Our sons are mom. Right. Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:So it's not like, well, at least the men I know, it's not like they're wondering what menopause is. Everyone's well aware because they've experienced it in some capacity, whether it's a sister or mother, know, whatever. And so I think that helps, that men know. And so when I did the segment on our newscast, that's how I started. I said, men and women need to talk about this and learn about this, because I think it helps if they can understand it.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:All right.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Right, right.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:You know, my co-anchor, when I told him we were going to do it, he was like, yeah, my wife is dealing with that. You know? He's like, I'll tell her. Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah, yeah, it's nice. It is, it's like, yeah, it's a systemic thing. so I think, you know, like rage, actually, funny, rage is one of the big things that like I always hear from patients. Like I'm feeling all this rage and anger that I don't know why. And I was talking to someone yesterday and I was like, you kind of wonder if like, if the midlife Karens are really just untreated pyramids.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah, that's funny.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Because that rage, you know, in the view of systemic racism that they've dealt with, you know, that they've learned about their whole life and how to be racist, like they're just putting it out there. But, you know, I think it's interesting in terms of the different experiences people have. you find that, like, that men want to hear, like, do you think that they want to hear more about it? Like, or how they can help navigate, you know, what their...
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yes. Yes, I didn't think about that. That's kind of funny, though. Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:I do, especially, yeah, especially the ones who live with a woman daily. I think they do want to learn about it. And I know, just in some of them that I've talked to, that they've learned, even from the segments that we've done, they've learned so much about it. And even people that I work with have learned about it and have taken that information and gone to ask their doctors about it or told their wives or their girlfriends to ask their doctors about it.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Thank
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Thank
Dawn Hasbrouck (:and have come back to me at work saying, I got this, this, and this, or I feel so much better. And these women are much older than I am and just never got the help. And so I think that that's great that at least in my little circles, I've heard of women who are helping themselves, just based on information. So that's nice. But I do believe the men are relaying that as well. Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah. Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Mm-hmm.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah, and it's really the power of media, right? Do you ever think about how much power you have in the media? I mean, obviously now we have social media, which is another aspect, when you think about why women stopped being treated for menopausal symptoms in 2002, it was all the media outlets that said, hey, HRT causes cancer, HRT causes cancer, HRT, and without explanations or without these general blanket catchphrase statements.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:It was.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Mm-hmm.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:And it's really the power of media. How do you use that, I guess, to your advantage and stuff? I think that you've already been doing it with me.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:By having these segments on and fortunately I'm allowed to come up with ideas and execute them, because sometimes it's not the case. You come up with ideas and they're kind of pushed off. But at least here I've been allowed to do segments that I think are important and that helps and that is powerful. then on the other hand, you are combating the people who are
kind of giving medical information on social media that isn't true. So that's tough too. And I know you probably get frustrated by people who are diagnosing themselves on TikTok or Google. That's tough too. And so at least in our arena, we can have people on who are experts to talk about these things. But that's the trade off though. On social media, it's not always the case. So yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah. That's really, yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:It's not always the case. What do you think about workplace environments? There's a lot of emphasis now. I get asked even, how can I make my workplace environment friendly for perimenopausal and menopausal? Is that something that you're seeing too? Are people saying, should we have cooling agents here? Should we have like?
Dawn Hasbrouck (:No, I haven't. have not experienced that. You know, I was, I had my first child, not here at the station, he's 16, but my second one I did have here. And I remember, like I had nursed them both for a year, but with the second one, it was a struggle. I was trying to find a place to have some privacy and nurse and they ended up in pump rather, and they ended up putting me all the way upstairs. We have two levels here.
in somebody's random office where I could like close the door. And they just kind of dedicated that to me. And, you know, and then I did a morning show, which was five hours long, and you have to pump at some point. So I literally had to make arrangements to get breaks in the newscast so that I could leave the desk to pump, right? Things have changed. And because I was very pushy after the fact, because during the time it was tough, I was pushy about how that was needed.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:And so now we have a wellness room that has a nice recliner and a sink and a fridge for all the women here who have to pump, you know? And then they're used to giving breaks in the newscast, which never was the case, which is nice. But, you know, I don't think people think about those things, you know, in our industry, they weren't. And then also what the viewers say. I used to get like crazy emails about my appearance.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:No. No. I don't know.
that's great.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Because you know the things that happen when you are pregnant and then after when you're a nursing you expand And so, you know people are asking like did you get worked on did you you know crazy emails and And those are things that like I don't think people realize you know happens at least in a newsroom environment So I I don't think that we are a
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:You know, I understand all of the workplace issues that women have but we don't have that here because I think enough of us have come along or at least I'm part of that that have said listen, we need these things in place. So a lot of women on air women have had babies a couple at just in the past three years, no three people here and they all have had the wellness room at least and you know, people are aware.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Great. See, that's change. I mean, that's huge.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:I used to pump in the back of a live truck with my first child. Like, you know, the big live trucks you see with the Fox or the CBS on, I would have to pump in the back of those with him. You know, so I think times have changed, but it's still difficult. I'm not gonna lie. It's still difficult for women who've just had a baby to come back to work and have to be in a live truck all day, you know, and not have a place to pump, you know.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah. Yeah. my God. Lord. Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah. Yeah.
No kidding. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, you know, I think that there's so many issues that come up in this period of menopausal period too, that women just don't get addressed. was a study, I think last year that showed like there's $1.8 billion lost a year because of perimenopausal issues, like people leaving the workforce, the brain fog, like, you know, cognitive distress. Yeah. It was like in
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Was this a recent study?
Dr Sameena Rahman (:think it was in March.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah, I saw something recently that was talking about women and work and menopause, but I wasn't able to see what the study was. But I'm sure it does affect women, especially if you're going through the hot flashes or the yeah, the brain fog.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:you
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah. Yes.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Right. The brain fog. Or the ups and downs emotionally too, like the people have. Like it's you know, think. But I think that's something to consider. Like people have to really consider the workplace environment for women as we go through these systemic changes.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yes. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But I think it's great that women are talking about it more. That's the start, I think, to getting everybody to accept it. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah. And you're hearing more about it in your circles, said, like people are trying to know what are some of the things they're saying? Like are they surprised?
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Mostly I've heard about, you your podcast is sex, drugs and hormones. I hear about all of those issues. The hormone discussion, I think people are more open to hormones nowadays, at least in the circles that I've been in and listened in. And then no one ever talks about the sexual issues, you know, and I'm sure you hear more about that in detail.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:you
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Sure.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:But when you're just talking to your girlfriends, they still have to be close girlfriends for people to even fess up about that. And so I think it's good that women are talking about it in those circles. But those are the kinds of things that I hear about mostly, how it affects that.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah, yeah, it's
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah. And it seems like people are, they're looking for help.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And that's why I texted you when one of the moms I was talking to, she's much older than me, but she was telling me about all these things and like the shot I asked you about that she got. And I had never heard of that. And so of course, I always want information. So I texted you about it to ask because, you know, I think women hear about the typical things, you know, estrogen, progesterone, you know, all of that, but they don't hear about these
Dr Sameena Rahman (:health and finding in the race.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Right.
Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:shots, the pellets that are kind of at least new to me, something new that women are talking about. And I just don't think women are being given all of these options unless they ask about it. So those are the kinds of things that I hear about how they're just finding out about these things and asking. Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Right. Enough.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Right. And I mean, some of these things are open because of the lack of, know, from a medical perspective, like the lack of therapies that were given in the past, right? Like, so, you know, pellets, for instance, I've talked about before, like, it's not our first line because they're not FDA approved and they're not, you know, people get super physiologic levels of testosterone that can be dangerous to their overall health and like, you know, cause voice changes and clitoral... Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Mm-hmm.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:I say.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:gosh.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah, they actually did a whole thing at the menopause conference on the voice and how it's like an indicator of health in perimenopause. And some of it is related to the fact that there's estrogen and progesterone receptors in the larynx. And so some people notice that there's these changes that happen in their voice, like deeper, the frequency changes. And, you know, there is a role with hormone therapy in that. And then the opposite is when people get too much of like, say, testosterone and they start sounding like men.
because their voices have become.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:So your voice changes again. My boys' voices are changing, but it has nothing to do with that. They're just becoming little adults, but the women have to deal with that. Okay, great, later in life.
It's always something, I mean seriously. But at least we're talking about it. Yeah, yeah, I think that's important. So that's good. But how do you think we as media people can better spread the word about paraminopause, menopause, you know.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah, mean, everything you're doing is great. feel like we should, you know, like getting the right information is really important too. Cause like, like you said on social media, there's so much misinformation and it is an industry now where like people think they can make a lot of money off of menopausal women, right? Like there's a lot of like platforms that have opened up a lot of supplement industry groups of like now or companies have now opened up and
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Mm-hmm.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:You know, when you have this whole like dearth of treatment for so many years, so many decades where women weren't getting treated, it's like, you know, it's a vulnerable population. And so now people are, there's a lot of people monetizing off of it, I guess. But I think that, you know, there's good ways and bad ways to get through it. And hormonal therapy is part of our toolkit, but it's not, you know, a magic bullet. I mean, I can tell you from my experience, like I'm still trying to navigate like how to get through perimenopause. And it's not like, I don't know the options. It's just.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Mm-hmm.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah, figuring out the right ones.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:you know, it's like an acceptance. Like, okay, I'm not going to be the same as I was like 10 years ago, right? Like I just have to be comfortable with sort of a new ground that I'm going to start and try to optimize my health with because
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:You know what I find too outside of all of that is part of paraminopause and menopause is the weight gain. And I look around and I know a lot of women who are going through it and they're just like, can't lose weight, can't. And that alone, I wish that we could better educate women about the weight gain and how to stop it. the answer might be hormones in that case, but.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yes.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yes, right.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:There are also things that you and I have talked about you can do like the kimchi and the kombucha and you know, things that are good for your gut.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:in the fiber, right, gut health and the 30 grams of protein, pushing protein per meal, trying to get weight training. Weight training is so important for all of that in terms of building that muscle mass and that lean muscle mass. But it is, mean, know, it's the best part. Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:But it's the stomach, the stomach fat we all notice, you know? Like I wish that we could learn more about that.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah, and that's like all mediated by insulin resistance, which, you know, estrogen helps to control insulin resistance and control visceral fat. When you lose it, that's where the fat accumulates. so even though for a lot of women, know, menopausal hormone therapy might help, they're what they're already doing, like optimizing, you know, but I think the biggest thing is like, if you get control over those hot flashes, those night sweats, those vasomotor symptoms, you can then reduce that for those patients.
I think that is pretty much like the evidence is clear on that we can improve people's quality of life, but also maybe reduce that if they are experiencing phase and motor symptoms. But it's not always like the magic bullet for everyone trying to lose weight either. I think what is coming close to what I like these GLP-1 agonists are really amazing if you can get the approval from those those azembics and the semaglutides.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Now what is that?
okay. Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:are really like, you for patients who, you know, are, have a BMI over 30 and also, you know, diabetes, pre-diabetes, you know, stuff like metformin might be benefit, but, you know, pushing protein, watching what you're eating, you know, that Mediterranean diet, I think all of those are really important. You know, people need to watch alcohol too. Like, I think that's something that, you know, we don't think about, but it's, yeah, and so I think it's something to really consider, but.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:especially later in life. Well, one thing that I noticed and I try to talk to people about this all the time, just as a woman to other women, and I think I've influenced a lot of the women in my circle, is I've cut out a lot of things. And I learned that because I had a friend who was like, let's do Whole30 together. And that was just watching what you eat and cutting things out. But for all of that, I had cut out dairy. But during Whole30, I cut out sugar.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:and I feel like it's changed my life. Yes, I will get dessert at a restaurant. Yes, I will still have something sweet if I want to, but I don't at home. It's little things like that. It's all moderation and it's help. Those kind of things help women, men too, but sleep.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. It's all motivation too, right? yeah. And sleep, sleep and stress, like we can't under emphasize the fact that like, if you're not sleeping that good seven continuous hours are not reducing your stress levels. Like you're not going to get, like I had just talking to a patient this week and she is on everything and she's doing everything, but her life is all in chaos because
She's in the middle of this renovations and this and then, and I'm like, you know, until we control some of these factors, nothing I give you is gonna really be like, you know, the cure for you. And there's no panacea, but we have to work on everything, right? So it's like a part of a toolkit, like we always say.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah, yeah, that's true.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:It's little things like that, know, stopping the chaos, asking for help, which I've not always been good at doing. You know, I have a girlfriend that I grew up with here in Chicago that I talk to every day, multiple times a day. And, you know, I'll say, I don't have someone to pick up, you know, the youngest child. Like, you know, my help work can't do it today. And she's like, why didn't you ask me? We don't always want to ask for help. We're just trying to figure it out.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah, we have too much on our shoulders.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:too much. And then yes, what you said about sleeping, we just have to do better about rest. And so I've tried to do that. I try to tell my kids to, but dealing with two teenage boys, mean, they're not always, now that you've seen all those memes where they're putting me to bed, literally, I go to bed before them. Like, as a mom, you just have to surrender sometimes.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yes.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:They don't want to They don't want to
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah, me too. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. No, this is my slave year. Yes, absolutely.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:I have to deal with you guys tomorrow, so I'm gonna go to bed. You guys stay awake. But I think just in 2024, women are just more open as talking about all those things.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:And it's great because I think the communication is, you that's the first aspect. And I think that's why all these like retreats and all these things that are really popping up, I've really been successful because women like to be in their groups, you know, commiserating, having that camaraderie and I think that it's very beneficial for them.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:I agree, yes, it's good. We're making progress here.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:And it's good for your brain, Like part of cognitive fitness and trying to reduce your risks of dementia is having those social connections. So I always say like, okay, well, don't lose your social connections because at some point, you know, as we age, you know, we don't have any magic bullets for preventing dementia at this point, right? So we need to kind of...
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yes. Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah, I'm known as the organizer because I'm always trying to get women together, you know, and you know, my friend said yesterday, she was like, you're just such a good. What does she say you are? You're such a good matchmaker as in getting the women, all the women together who are from different walks of life, you know, in all different groups, some moms from school, some childhood friends, and I, I, I mix them all sometimes, you know, like, let's just go all go eat.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:That's really good.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:feel like worlds are colliding. Like all the ones. Yeah, that's great. That's great.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah, let's just eat. So that's kind of fun. And I think we should all do that. It takes some work sometimes, but I think it helps to get our brain cells working and talk to people who just don't have the same upbringing that you do or the work experience or whatever. And you can just talk about things that women talk about. You don't have to have that kind of stuff in common. Yeah, so that's great.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yes.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah, absolutely.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Absolutely. Exactly. Well, I want to be cognizant of your time, But let's give one last piece of advice for women listening or anyone listening. In terms of you're in this situation, how do you find the help you need? how do you get what you need to? Because my tagline is, I'm here to educate so you can advocate. How do you get yourself to the point where you can advocate for yourself?
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Mm-hmm.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:I find a lot of patients, it takes them a long time to get to a point where they're going to be like, this is about me, I'm going to advocate for myself. this is real self care, I'm going to take care of my own health. Right? Like how do you, what person do you need meet?
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Yeah.
I think the best thing you can do is talk to someone who you trust, who might be older or might have just been around longer in your industry, whether it's work or life, and bounce it off of someone. I think it's really important to not, and sometimes I'm guilty of this when it comes to trying to deal with kids and moving parts, but I think as far as my career goes or my health, I always bounce it off of someone.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Mm-hmm.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:And then that gives me the courage to stand up for myself. So often before I make a decision, I'm asking someone else. So if it's work related, I'm calling someone else who has done it longer than I have, and I don't say I know it all. I've been doing this 25 years, but I still call. I called my former co-anchor this morning, because I have to make some decisions, and I bounced it off of him. And he's like, if I were you, blah, blah. And so it's nice to hear it.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:All right.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
Yeah.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:even if it's just confirming what you already thought, it helps to bounce things off. That's definitely my number one. And then I think women just have to take the leap and speak up for themselves more. And sometimes if they're new in something and don't feel like they kind of have enough credibility to do that yet, get someone else to do it for you. But do it. Because the only way that you're going to be able to look out for yourself is to speak up for yourself.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Right.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Mm-hmm.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:And if you don't do it, you're harming the next woman that comes after you. You gotta do it for yourself and for the people who come after you. You know, I think that's important. And as women who are already there, make sure you reach back and pull somebody up that's behind you. That is so important and we have to continue to do that and that is literally the only way that women will continue to take over the world.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah. that's so. Yeah. that's great. Yeah, absolutely.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Yeah.
All right.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Right. Yeah. And there's more seats at the table. So yes, absolutely. There's a great way. We're going to rule this world. All right. Well, thank you so much for being on my podcast today. Guy and Girl Presents Sex, Drugs and Hormones. I appreciate all your insight, all your experiences you've had. It's very important for people to hear about. Yeah. Thank you so much.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Because we are. We run the world.
Dawn Hasbrouck (:Well, thanks for having me on. You're doing great work.
Dr Sameena Rahman (:Remember, I'm Dr. Sminaraman Ganagurul. I'm here to educate so you can advocate for yourself. So please tune into my next episode next week. Yay.
