We recently connected with Lyn Hogrefe and have shared our conversation below.

Lyn, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

The truth is that hormone health is not taught in medical school. Doctors have told me for 13 years that they have had only 4 hours of hormone education in medical school, no formal education in nutrition and no education provided in medical school on the value of supplements. If you think about this for just a minute, it should become apparent that we are indeed a country of dis-ease in women aging beyond 35. So my Happy Hormone Cottage educates and empowers women in this arena of hormone health so they can make the most informed decisions for their bodies. Our motto is, “Get Tested, Get Treated, Get Better.”

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My Story: In 2004, I was teaching inner-city sixth grade when I developed a 2 pound fibroid tumor in my uterus that I named Bob. As you can imagine, Bob created several health issues for me, not the least of which was the hemorrhaging from the sheer size of this fibroid tumor. I hung on as long as I could until the end of the school year when I went in and had a hysterectomy. Right before surgery, my surgeon asked me if I wanted to keep my ovaries or have them removed. I did not have any idea at that time that my ovaries were my little hormone factories. All I knew was that ovarian cancer was known as the “silent killer” that I wanted nothing to do with. So I told him to take my ovaries and the rest is history! My husband, Jeff, was a pharmacist who knew what was going to happen. I would gain the requisite 40 lbs after surgery, become irritable and fatigued, and my libido would wane. Being nine years younger than me, this struck terror in his heart, so he flew to Houston, Texas to learn to become a compounding pharmacist. When it was time for me to return to my OBGYN for my post surgery visit, Jeff went with me and he and Dr. Frank had a conversation. At the end of it, Dr. Frank said to Jeff, “OKay, Jeff, your wife, your cause. I will sign this prescription for compounded BHRT (bio-identical hormone replacement therapy) for you.” Jeff went to a pharmacist friend’s compounding lab with the prescription approved, made my bioidentical hormone creams, and I began to use them. By the end of the summer when school returned, I was running circles around my teacher friends who were all in their mid 30s. I had energy, libido, great sleep and I knew I was on to something. That something was PROGESTERONE and no one knew about it. I discovered that hormone health is not taught in medical school. In fact, for the past 13 years, doctors have told me that they have had 4 hours of hormone education in medical school. 4 hours! And zero education on nutrition; and zero education on supplements. So no wonder our country is a country of dis-ease for women aging beyond 35 years old. So after I finished my 30 year teaching career, I decided to open up a safe space where women could come to be heard and validated, educated and empowered for their best health naturally. I officially opened my little stone cottage in the heart of Centerville, Ohio, on August 21, 2009, and I called it the Happy Hormone Cottage. Women showed up! They begin to tell their friends and family, who told their friends and family and we just exploded! Today we have a Happy Hormone Cottage in Mason, Ohio and an Integrative Hormone Center (IHC) and compounding lab in Centerville, Ohio, that also houses our IHC for Men Center and our own line of supplements.
I’m most proud of the fact that over the course of 13 years, we have grown from an educational space to a medical facility with a Medical Director, and 5 nurse practitioners. I developed step one consultations, that are the portal into our facility and where prospective clients get an hour of time with one of my patient consultants ($25) to learn about our program, to share their story and to get their questions answered. I, myself, offer free small group zoom sessions 4 times a week for women to come together to share their story, get their questions answered and proceed with our program, if they choose. These are called “Hormones 101 with Lyn” and are very popular. One can sign up at happyhormonecottage.com.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Since Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (bhrt) is not taught in medical school, our doctors are not familiar with it. My truth is that what we are not familiar with or educated in, we often fear. This is the same with our doctors when women go to them for help with sleep issues, fatigue, depression and anxiety, low libido, hot flashes, brain fog or a plethora of other issues that signify a hormone imbalance but the doctors brush these off as aging issues. They offer women, especially those aging beyond 35, an antidepressant drug or a drug for sleep, or they say, “I’m sorry. There’s simply nothing I can do for you. You just have to live with it.” This simply is not the truth. So because of my own journey with hormone imbalance caused by my fibroid tumor and resulting hysterectomy, and my pharmacist husband saving me, I filled a niche with my Happy Hormone Cottage. Today we have helped thousands of women eradicate their symptoms caused by a hormone imbalance through the use of plant-based powders that are customized and compounded in our on-site compounding lab for each woman, based on amazing testing that provides a 15 page report. We have done this for 13 years IN SPITE of the initial resistance by our doctors. We have had to overcome great odds with standard of care, big pharma and the media discounting bhrt and, in fact, publishing propaganda and perpetuating untruths to keep this arena of natural hormone balance confused and muddy. In addition, the FDA finds ways to shine the light on compounding labs in hopes of shutting us down. You can refer to the NASEM REPORT for more details. My Happy Hormone Cottage and Integrative Hormone Center has thrived in spite if this systemic push back.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Over the past 13 years as the founder of my Happy Hormone Cottage and growing it from an educational facility to a medical facility, I have learned that the most effective strategy for growing my business is very simply word-of-mouth. It is always been this way. Although I have spent money on marketing through TV, radio, print media, billboards and Digital Marketing… The best source for me has always been when women talk to other women and highly recommend us. Several years ago, I realized this when I learned that men were talking about the Happy Hormone Cottage and the help we gave their wives and partners. This blew my mind! First of all, that men talk (!) but when they get together, they talk about their wives (and sports!) Even today, when I ask women how they heard about us, I do get the typical responses referring to google search and social media but the overwhelming majority of women say, “Oh! A friend of mine recommended me.” This has been most impactful.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.happyhormonecottage..com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/happyhormonecottage/
• Facebook: https://www.Facebook.com/centervillehappyhormonecottage
• Twitter: https://www.Facebook.com/HappyHormoneCottageMason
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCNr4OuGyLXxFb-76jl0c9FQ