Don't Pause Your Life: Empower Yourself Through Menopause

About the Session:
This panel will explore the importance of hormones in women’s health and how changes in our 30s and later in perimenopause and menopause impact every system in our bodies. Find out how nutrition, supplements, proper exercise, and hormone replacement can help support our bodies - skeletal, muscular, vascular and more - as we begin to and continue to lose hormones. And lastly, how can we talk about “all this” at work when we fear being branded as lower performers or complainers?

About the Speakers:
Staci West is a strategic communications leader with more than 25 years’ experience across science, technology, energy, and the environment.

She serves as manager of Communications for Bechtel’s role leading design, construction, and commissioning of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant. In that role for nine years, she manages a team of 7 responsible for employee communications, community outreach, digital media presence, and stakeholder relations for the
project.

For more than 15 years, she led and executed national media outreach, integrated communication campaigns, and employee engagement across multiple business sectors for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

She started her career as a newspaper journalist and finds that the drive for the truth and the talent to ask tough questions has led her to questioning, learning and advocating in her own perimenopausal journey.

Staci is a member of the board for the Tri-City Regional Chamber and for the local women's networking group Powerful Connections. She previously has been on the boards of Visit Tri-Cities, American Red Cross,and United Way of Benton and Franklin Counties. She lives in Richland with her husband, Corey, and appreciates the experience of being a stepmom to two
grown “boys” and a stepgrandma.

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Rhonda Bonilla is the Medical Director for Sculpt Wellness of Kennewick and Pasco. She is a nationally certified Family Nurse Practitioner with over 30 years of combined experience in trauma/emergency, immunology, dermatology, functional wellness, and primary care.

She continually seeks to expand her knowledge and understanding of the human body so as to better serve her clients. Not only is she passionate about beauty services like Botox and hair rejuvenation, but she also can evaluate, manage and guide you in hormone therapy, peptides, bio-identical hormones, weight loss plans, thyroid optimization, sleep plans, libido, anti-inflammatory pathways and so much more in the wellness journey.

She serves on the International Board of Directors for Heart to Honduras, a not-for-profit community development agency, and has served on many mission trips to Honduras. She and her husband enjoy traveling, which mostly includes visiting their kids in Texas and Tennessee.

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Emily Nielsen is the founder and owner of Nielsen Integrative Nutrition and a certified nutritionist who specializes in providing a complementary alternative and therapeutic approach to health through nutritional counseling.

She earned a Master’s of Science degree in Nutrition and Integrative Health from the nationally accredited Maryland University of Integrative Health. As a Certified Nutritionist (CN) in Washington State and nationally accredited Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS), her clinical nutrition practice offers a complementary, alternative and therapeutic approach to health and healing via nutritional counseling. Her practice focuses on nutrition education for specific disease states and general wellness, with an emphasis on digestive and gut health. Using a functional approach to assess for core imbalances, she works with clients of all ages to address the root causes of their health concerns and help them restore balance through dietary and lifestyle changes.

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Cheri Montee is an accomplished Human Resources Director with Columbia Ability Alliance and a Columbia Basin chapter Society for Human Resource Management board member with a proven track record in people management. With expertise in Project Management, Staffing, Retention, and Leadership Development, Cheri has successfully navigated the complexities of the HR landscape.

Driven by a commitment to excellence, Cheri believes that a strong work culture is the cornerstone of HR success. Whether collaborating with colleagues or advocating for employees, she consistently delivers results.

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