About

Welcome to Menofati, and to Tamale’s world of menopause.

I feel incredibly grateful to even be writing this letter.

Menofati began during a time when I felt as though I had lost a large part of myself.

I worked as a nurse for more than seventeen years, most recently as a hospice nurse. The work was deeply meaningful, but after a year and a half, it had also taken a real toll on me. I eventually decided to walk away and devote more of my time to the things I had hoped to pursue after moving to the country- becoming a bigger part of our business, which my husband, Anthony, started fifteen years ago, writing, creating art, and finally telling some of the stories I had carried with me for years.

I began writing a memoir about an event in my life that completely redefined who I am. But as the months went on, the deeper I dug, the sadder, angrier, and more hopeless I became. I was spending so much time living inside the most painful parts of my past that I could feel myself disappearing into them.

At the same time, menopause had reached an entirely new level.

There was the depression. The loss of desire. The sudden lack of interest in socially engaging with anyone. The mood swings, sleep deprivation, nausea, itching ears, weight gain, and the unsettling realization that my body appeared to be slowly transforming into a Tootsie Roll with a spare tire securely fastened around the middle.

Some days, I wanted to dig a very deep hole in the earth, climb inside, and disappear for a bit.

And then came Tamale.

Although, truthfully, Tamale had always been there.

She lived in the dark little crevices of my brain long before menopause ever arrived. She carried the strange stories, uncomfortable truths, inappropriate thoughts, and absurd observations I had collected throughout my life. But it took this particular season- the exhaustion, sadness, hormonal wreckage, and complete loss of direction- for her to finally step forward.

A few weeks ago, I stopped working on my memoir and decided to shift gears.

I turned toward Tamale instead.

And I am so glad I did.

Creating her has brought me more joy than I knew I was still capable of feeling. She has given me a place to put all of the ridiculous, painful, lonely, infuriating, and completely unhinged parts of this experience. Somehow, by drawing them, writing them, and laughing at them, I have started to feel more like myself again.

Looking back, it is funny to realize that I may have been preparing for Tamale for years.It began with a request from my husband, Anthony, that I draw him a book for Christmas. I made the first one, and somehow it became an annual tradition- something our entire family now looks forward to every year. Those books gave me a place to unleash my stories completely uncensored: every strange observation, family moment, inappropriate thought, and ridiculous detail that had been living inside my head.

I have to admit, I may laugh harder at them than anyone else.

Now I create stories every year for Anthony and for my girls. In many ways, those books became my first storyboards. Tamale is simply the next evolution of something I have always loved doing.

The biggest difference is that I am now taking those storyboards and bringing them to life with the help of AI. The stories, concepts, characters, designs, humor, and creative direction are mine. AI allows me to create the images more quickly than I ever could on my own- although “quickly” may be generous, because it can still take hours to get a single scene exactly right.

Then there is the writing, editing, timing, music, and everything else that goes into making the final story feel like Tamale.

It has become incredible therapy for me.

I feel lighter. I feel happier. I feel more like myself- even while switching thyroid medications, moving from estradiol gel back to the patch, and currently operating on sleep deprivation.

But hey, more material, right?

The way women have responded to Tamale has brought tears to my eyes. Every message saying, “This is me,” or “I thought I was the only one,” has felt like a giant hug.

What began as a way for me to find my way back to myself has somehow become a place where other women feel seen too.

That is what I hope Menofati can become for all of us.

A place where we can laugh at what is happening to our bodies and brains without pretending any of it is easy. A place where women can feel understood, find useful resources, share their stories, and know they are not alone.

We are all in this strange boat together.

We have one another.

We have humor.

We have Tamale.

And somehow, we are going to make it through.Thank you so much for joining me and becoming part of this wild, growing community of women. I truly cannot tell you how much it means to me that you are here at the beginning of this adventure.

With love and hormonal solidarity,

Lisa

Creator of Menofati and Tamale