My Power Move: Natalie Moore
In this occasional series, we talk to women whose lives have been changed by a big career move taken at the right time.
Natalie Moore knew she had to make her life more complicated if she was to find more meaning from work. Her side hustle has since flourished into her best career move. She is the director of Own Your Health Collective, a firm that helps organisations understand the wellbeing of women employees, including how hormonal fluctuations affect their health.
I didn’t want to settle for “a job”
I thought I was on one career trajectory and that having a child would mean a blend of work and life but after much angst, I realised life was too short to simply settle for a stressed life doing a “job”. Having spent years in sales within the packaging industry working with big corporations, I wanted to live with passion and purpose. A few years prior, I discovered a passion for running. I felt miserable in my work and decided to take the plunge and start a business that incorporated my passion for running. The result was Running Fit Box: an inspiring subscription box [containing products and services] for the needs of runners. What I unearthed from this side hustle was a need in others to similarly pursue their passions, but a lack of knowledge about how to do it. They questioned my ability to work, run marathons, have a side hustle and raise my 18-month-old daughter all at the same time, because they couldn’t see how they would be able to do all of that in their own lives. And that is why I decided a running box was not enough to change people’s health and habits. People seemed to want support, guidance and coaching so I studied coaching with the aim of supporting women.
The day I quit was amazing
My work focused on coaching women in all areas of their life. This morphed into supporting women around “whole” health and guiding them to be physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually healthy. But I still felt there was an element that wasn’t being addressed and that was the connection my clients had to their menstrual health. I saw that after years of caring for kids, women nearing 40 were reconnecting with their careers but that their hopes for career growth were impacted by the new challenge of perimenopause and menopause. There was not enough knowledge about what this meant for women, their careers and life at work. It took a few years, but in 2018 I quit my long-term job to become a small business owner. The day that I walked out of my workplace was nothing short of amazing.
The motivation was personal
In 2020, I experienced hormonal changes that impacted both my skin and energy levels. I wondered what I was doing wrong – I ate well, moved my body, meditated, nurtured my spiritual health and I had great relationships. Then I realised that I had never thought about my cycles and the impact they had on my overall health. So I started cycle tracking, learning and educating myself about my body. This, coupled with [business partner] Lisa’s specific interest in this area, led us to focus on helping women learn to work with their biology. Women are not used to talking about their cycles and often period prejudice, shame and judgment are the feelings we have about our cycles. We have been misinformed about what they are and why we have them.
Cycle awareness changed me
There are four distinct phases to our cycle. Women can consider themselves each month as four different women in one. We liken the phases to the seasons of the year: winter (menstruation), spring (follicular), summer (ovulation) and autumn (luteal). It’s through this knowledge that your potential can be truly discovered. The most profound change I have cultivated within my life, is accepting that during my winter phase I will naturally want to retreat within, and the more rest we take during this phase the better the rest of our cycle will be. I now listen to my body intently during this phase and I stop and rest, unapologetically. I take moments to simply be, rather than constantly “doing”. It has also awakened me to how purposefully we can set up the rest of our cycle through intention setting. Only when we stop and just be, can we truly assess where we are in life and where we want to go. The winter phase is the opportune time for this and now each winter phase I look at my life goals, I assess my values and I set my intentions for how I want to live. This is how we can use our cycles to our advantage.
How I did it
Knowing how to create change is the hardest part. I understood that I needed to set myself a goal and then take incremental steps towards my goal. My initial goal was of greater awareness of myself – to learn how to support my whole health at every stage of my cycle. The long-term vision was that my business partner, Lisa, and I could revolutionise women’s health. At separate ends of our 40s, we amalgamated our insights, ready to arm other women.
What I have learnt
The most profound lesson I have learnt is that there are four distinct phases to our cycle and from this I have grown. More generally, my strengths are curiosity and a love of learning – I look at every situation through a growth and opportunity lens. Most of all, I have come to appreciate that all we seek is within ourselves.
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