When Sophie Shepherd first started, SHE Talks Health back in 2017, she had but one goal – elevating and creating awareness about women’s health, around the world. From the rise in infertility, to epidemically high numbers of chronic illness like Edometriosis, PCOS, and Hashimoto’s, to the intricates of the female libido, irregular and painful menses, impact of hormonal birth control pill and stress and anxiety, SHE Talks Health, empowers women to reclaim their health through learning practical nutrition and holistic lifestyle changes.

“I had gastrointestinal issues from an early age. When I finally made it to a GI specialist at age 16, he diagnosed me with IBS, which is a common diagnosis that doctors use when they can’t find a smoking gun. He prescribed an acid reducer, told me to limit certain foods and that I would likely live like this forever. My IBS never got better with this approach so I just accepted this is the way my life will be,” shares Sophie.

Overcoming obstacles

For Sophie, the idea of SHE Talks Health crept into her life due to health-related hardships and troubles from a young age. Unfortunately, though this would only be the beginning of Sophie’s hardships. A few years later, she found herself in an emotionally abusive relationship. Sophie ended up encountering the many adverse effects of deteriorating mental and physical health. At 22 she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, put on medication and was told “There was nothing else they could do for me” Exasperated with how lousy she felt, she ended up firing her doctor to search for someone who would truly help her.

She says, “In addition to the regular gastric symptoms from my IBS, my hair started falling out, my nails were constantly breaking, I was indescribably cold and had dry skin all the time. I was fatigued beyond description – barely able to move and it didn’t matter if I had had eight or 15 hours of sleep the night before. And if I’m honest, I was also depressed and anxious.”

Eventually though, Sophie’s path crossed with a Functional Medicine Doctor, who managed to get to the “roots of my complicated symptoms,” she shares. He initially put her on an extreme elimination diet & heavy supplement regime aimed at restoring her gut & immune system and after a few months started adding regular foods back to see when and if Sophie would have any reactions.

“I could feel my energy increasing rapidly; my body getting stronger each day; my hair stopped falling out; my nails stopped being so brittle; and I no longer lived infear of nasty reactions to eating. My functional medicine doctor gave me my life back!”

Today, after 10 years and counting of following good health practices, Sophie is in a supportive relationship, has maintained her ideal weight, and doesn’t live in the shadow of her illness anymore and enjoys her peace of mind.

SHE Starts her journey

Soon after Sophie regained her health and confidence, she was working with an event management company. Here she was representing a client who, let’s just say, did not have the same ideology as Sophie when it came to healthy, organic foods. Unhappy with the objective of this campaign, Sophie shares that one night she “pulled out a credit card and paid for my first holistic health coaching education.” She has never looked back since.

In early 2018, while completing her Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner training, Sophie launched SHE Talks Health. The goal of the organization – identifying healing opportunities within the hormone, immune, digestion, detoxification, energy and nervous systems of the body so that optimal health and function can be restored.

Today, SHE Talks Health is globally recognised as an organization on the mission to help millions of women to have better periods, happier hormones, a relaxed gut and balanced moods. Empowering women to be the boss of their own health and lives, the organization helps busy women resolve painful and irregular periods, gut issues and anxiety by using the SHE Health Experience Method. This carefully curated method, an amalgamation of functional nutrition, sustainable lifestyle changes, eating psychology coaching, womb healing and functional lab testing, has proven to help women from all over the planet. While there are many functional medicine practitioners in the market, for Sophie, it’s all about the level of support her team is able to provide to her clientele. “We are integrating coaching, lifestyle science, functional lab work and heart centered holistic nutrition coaching with emotional release activations and body love so that our clients feel better not only physically but emotionally and spiritually too,” says Sophie.

“For the next year, I worked 60+ hours while I went back to school at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition where I was trained to focus on what eating & lifestyle habits best support the individual person rather than the philosophy of one size fits all,” states Sophie.

Menstrual equity for all

Primarily an online platform, Sophie has spread the wings of SHE Talks Health throughout the world. Using free and low-cost social media resources like Instagram and the SHE Talks Health podcast, she educates women how to work with the natural ebb and flow of their cycles so that they can adapt their lives, communication, food choices, and activity level accordingly.

Building on the belief that menstrual equity is important to being a woman and that all menstruators must have the access to safe period products, the SHE Talks Health Organization is involved with various groups through which they donate menstrual products to women in need. Sophie says, “It is insane to me that in 2022 there are still women who don’t have access to these products. We donate to groups that provide menstrual products to women in need. We also provide free education on our platforms (IG, Blogs, Podcasts) and with our brand partners to help women understand their menstrual cycle and get the help they need.”

Today, Sophie looks around her and feels privileged to be a part of such an empowering movement, aimed at uplifting woman-kind. She has noticed how so many women have taken a hammer to the glass ceiling when it comes to using alternative medicine.

In her free time, Sophie enjoys spending time outdoors with her partner. She can often be spotted Skiing, Rappelling, or just walking around in the wilderness soaking in the beauty around her. She also enjoys yoga, for which she makes sure to take out time at least twice a week.

Looking Ahead

Looking to the future, Sophie remains committed to educate and elevate the health of women around the world through the unique blend of coaching, lab testing and emotional support at SHE Talks Health. As for SHE Talks Health, it is all about staying true to their voice, mission and deep desire to help the women of this world. “It’s so satisfying to see these women not only reclaim their health but also transform the way they show up in their lives, the relationships and jobs they get to have as a result of finding their own confidence, power and health,” concludes Sophie.