Inside the Perimenopause Industrial Complex

How an alliance of tech startups, MAHA operatives, and actual medical experts made millennial women the new face of hormone therapy. Lisa Schrenk didn't know it yet, as she trudged down a dirt trail last August, but her life was about to change. She'd set out late the night before with her hiking group, scrambling up Virginia's Old Rag Mountain in darkness. They reached the peak in time to watch the sun rise over the Blue Ridge range. Afterward, the women snapped photos. In one, Schrenk gazes out over the horizon, her long dark hair pulled into a ponytail. The image is deceptively triumphant. In reality, she had been contemplating suicide. Schrenk, a longtime IT specialist for the federal government, had started setting aside belongings for friends and family, organizing her financial affairs, and clearing out her office.