Madison has always been called “Moody Maddy” up until this past month. This mom and Bar Manager out of St. Louis talks to us about growing up in the city, being a big craft beer girl, and how she was completely transformed that she didn’t even realize her period was coming!
She celebrated her birthday by going out of her comfort zone and talking to us about her period and what it means to have PMS… or not this month!
We sat down with Madison and talked to her about how she found relief from her emotional PMS!
Check out the Video on Youtube:
To Listen to her podcast, check it out here:
Alice: Hi! Welcome back, everyone. Thank you for joining us. We’re excited to welcome Madison, so she should be joining us soon. Oh, Perfect! She’s requesting to be on and she’s just joining us now. So welcome everyone. Hi Madison! Yey! Welcome!
Madison: How are you?
Alice: Great, how are you doing?
Madison: I’m good. It’s my first time being live if you can’t tell.
Alice: This is perfect! Yeah, this is awesome! It’s your birthday, too, right?
Madison: It is my birthday, I’m 30 today.
Alice: Congratulations!
Madison: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. I’m sorry about all the technical difficulties.
Alice: No! It’s crazy.
Madison: My friends are going to make fun of me, I never update my phone. They said, “One day you’re going to really regret that.” Here we go.
Alice: Hi! Yeah. So I’m Alice, I’m the marketing manager for Jubilance so we just wanted to welcome you. Thank you so much for coming on.
Madison: Hey! I’m really honored to be here. This was something that’s really out of my comfort zone that I wanted to do for myself today. I told myself if I could help a woman or anyone today then that would be the best gift for me for my birthday. So I’m excited to talk with you.
Alice: That’s amazing.
Madison: Yeah.
Alice: What are you going to do to celebrate today?
Madison: You know what? I’m off work so that’s cool.
Alice: That’s amazing.
Madison: I love surprises so I kind of left it up to my family and friends to kinda just plan my birthday. I’m going out for sushi later. I love sushi.
Alice: The best!
Madison: Yeah! Other than that it’s going to be a surprise. So I’m excited.
Alice: That’s amazing. Where are you in the country, Madison?
Madison: So I live in St. Louis, Missouri, Midwest.
Alice: Cool.
Madison: Yeah, I’ve lived here my whole life. I love St. Louis, it’s super diverse, it’s a really, really charming city. There’s a lot of things to do, a lot of history. Me, personally, I love the food in St. Louis. I’m a big foodie, a big craft beer girl, love my craft beer. Yeah, so we have a ton of–
Alice: That sounds awesome.
Madison: Yes, we have a lot of really cool craft breweries. That’s the industry I’m in. I’m a bartender, I’ve been bartending for 10 years now and I’m a bar manager so I love the industry, I love people so it’s great.
Alice: That is so cool!
Madison: Yeah!
Alice: So what kind of beer– Do they export any of the craft beers to other places in the country?
Madison: Actually– So I work at EdgeWild Bistro, we have a couple of beer collaborations with local breweries in town. So we have our own Saison, we have our own German Pilsner. So that’s really cool. We do a lot of collaborations. I do some of our social media as well so–
Alice: Cool!
Madison: Yeah! So I get to plan fun events. We do beer dinners where we’ll feature certain breweries and so we’ll bring in a ton of beer from one place and then we’ll build a dinner around it, so lots of beer pairings, really fun.
Alice: That sounds awesome!
Madison: Yeah. It’s my favorite.
Alice: That’s so cool!
Madison: Thank you.
Alice: I’ve never been to St. Louis, I’d love to go. I’m based out of New York, it looks like a beautiful city.
Madison: Yeah, it is. New York’s– I love the food in New York, too.
Alice: Yeah? Have you been?
Madison: I have. So I’m a really– I’m the biggest Britney Spears fan in the whole world. I love Britney. So I went and saw her last summer.
Alice: Who doesn’t love her?
Madison: Yeah. I went and saw her last summer at Radio City, it was awesome.
Alice: Oh my gosh! I’m so jealous! That’s so cool!
Madison: Yeah, she’s my number one. She’s a really big inspiration of mine.
Alice: That is awesome!
Madison: Yeah!
Alice: That’s great. I think I see the Britney aspect like the high pony, you know? You’re rocking it. Very early 2000s. It’s great. Yeah, this is awesome. Yeah. So I want to start off with some fun questions to kind of get the ball rolling. Lipstick or lip gloss?
Madison: Lip gloss, definitely. Yeah, love it. Love to taste it. Lipstick stains everything, it’s messy, I’m an all lip-gloss girl for sure.
Alice: Perfect. Okay. Reese’s or M&M’s?
Madison: Reese’s, I put it in my popcorn, it’s delicious. Sweet and salty.
Alice: That sounds really good!
Madison: My favorite.
Alice: Tampon or pad?
Madison: Pad. My friends make fun of me. So– so gross, always been a pad girl. You know? No shame.
Alice: So can you talk to me about where you got to, where you are today? So you’re a bar manager and you’ve done it for ten years. What made you start doing that? Are you from St. Louis? Have you always been there?
Madison: Definitely. I am from St. Louis, yeah. I’ve been here my whole life. I’ve always had a heart for serving people. I love helping people, serving people, very outgoing. So I have a really good work ethic, I’ve worked since I was really young, started working I was 13. My first job was Subway.
Alice: Cool!
Madison: But I fell in love with the industry. I’ve always loved the fast pace kind of vibe in my industry. I love my customers, I love the relationships I can build with people. You know, sometimes I’m almost like a therapist for some people and I just love that I can play that role. It’s very, very rewarding for me. And like I said, I love the food, I love the beer, I’ve learned a lot and it’s really fun. People come in and they’re looking for a– they’re looking for a feeling and when they come back to see you on the daily, on the weekly, it’s really special. So I love what I do.
Alice: That’s awesome. What are you looking forward to with this last month of the summer? I can’t believe it’s already flying by.
Madison: I know, it’s so fast. I have a four-year-old son so we’ve had a blast this summer. Yeah, his name is Max. Summer’s the best! You know, the sun, water, swimming. St. Louis has– we get all four seasons so when it gets cold, it’s bitter, it’s freezing so definitely we’re cherishing summer. Just being outside, enjoying the sunshine because before you know it, it’s going to be freezing.
Alice: So do you have any fall traditions? Moving into the fall, I know you’ve been– you’re waiting for it to be cold?
Madison: Yes, honestly, fall’s my favorite. I love fall. I love all things fall. I love the smell, I love the taste.
Alice: Do you have any traditions that you do?
Madison: My mother, my mom, she is a Halloween baby so her birthday is Halloween. Yeah, and her name–
Alice: That’s so fun.
Madison: It’s so fun! Her name is Candy, like Halloween candy.
Alice: That’s perfect!
Madison: It’s so fun. Yeah, so our tradition, we make a big pot of chili every year and we have to eat it with a peanut butter sandwich, that’s our tradition.
Alice: What?! That’s so cool!
Madison: I know, you have to try it, yeah. People are like, “That’s so gross.” It’s delicious.
Alice: That would be awesome. That’s my favorite holiday.
Madison: Is it?
Alice: Yeah.
Madison: I love it, it’s awesome.
Alice: It’s so fun to dress up!
Madison: For sure! Yeah.
Alice: What do you think is your biggest success story to date? You have a son, you’re a bar manager, you make people smile. What do you think?
Madison: Yeah, I would definitely say that I’m an overcomer. I’ve had depression and anxiety pretty much as long as I can remember. But I definitely think your mind is such a powerful thing, it can be your worst enemy or it could be your secret ally. You know, women, we’re so strong and precious and our mental health is so important. I think I’m just a really big advocate for speaking about mental health. So I guess my biggest success story would be that when I put my mind to something I usually succeed and the opposite, you know, when you’re feeling down or, specifically me, my PMS is debilitating, it’s been awful. But when I do put my mind to something I definitely succeed. My biggest example of that would be the birth of my son. So I always told myself that I was going to have a natural childbirth so with no medication, no nothing. I set my mind to it–
Alice: Wow!
Madison: Yeah, it’s okay.
Alice: It’s great that you’re able to talk about mental health because it can be such a taboo subject. It’s something that we really need to talk about, especially as women, because PMS affects everyone. Can you talk a little bit more about your PMS experience? You said– you commented that you’ve had it for years and it’s just been this debilitating thing.
Madison: Absolutely. I’m glad you mentioned that everyone has it. Because for me it was very isolating and I felt alone and a lot of my thoughts, my feelings, I felt like, “Man, I’m such an alien. Why am I feeling this way?” Roller coaster, up and down, so hard to just be stable. I just felt so unstable. So I guess with Jubilance if we want to go there, I am so grateful I stumbled upon an Instagram post and I watched the entire podcast with Alan. Is that his name, Alan?
Alice: Mm-hmm.
Madison: Alan Cash, right?
Alice: Yeah.
Madison: It was an hour long. I was in tears. I was watching him and learning about science and how maybe it’s not just our hormones, and maybe we’re not crazy. And–
Alice: You’re not crazy!
Madison: How groundbreaking that the way your cerebellum is processing sugar could be the culprit here! I mean it blew my mind and I was just like, “I have to try this!” Do you know? I was reading people’s comments and I’m like, “Okay, a trial, let’s try it!” It’s been a month and I– this whole month, I haven’t had PMS and– [sobs] yeah.
Alice: That’s wonderful.
Madison: Yeah, I [sobs] sorry.
Alice: No, we’re so happy it can help you.
Madison: I started my period– it’s was last week and I had to wake up my husband and I was like, “Oh my God, I started my period,” and he’s like, “Okay.” I’m like, “I haven’t had any PMS this month!” I didn’t even know my period was coming!
Alice: That’s how you should always feel! That’s how we want women to feel.
Madison: I’m blown away, I really, really am. It’s been such a life changer for me. I’ve been telling everybody, I literally keep it in my purse and I pull it out and I’ll sit on my bar and I want people to ask me about that and I’m like, “Oh, you want to know about this? Let me tell you! It only has two ingredients!” Because everybody knows Madison doesn’t take medicine. I didn’t want anything that was going to have my hormones changing or anything that could be habit-forming. I just– I don’t even take Advil, I don’t like to take medicine, I’m kind of stubborn. I had a natural childbirth. I wouldn’t even let them give me an IV. I was like, “Don’t touch me!”
Alice: That’s incredible.
Madison: So it’s just for me, it’s not something I would normally do. But the fact that it was two ingredients and completely vegan and just varied– you know, cut dry, like two things, I’m like, “Okay, I can get down with that.” So, Alice, it’s been life-changing.
Alice: I’m so glad Madison! You know, it’s something that people just don’t really talk about, medical professionals just don’t have answers for how to help you. Usually, you go in and they’re like, “Take some Tylenol, take some Motrin.”
Madison: Exactly. Take birth control.
Alice: Yeah! But that’s not the answer here! I’m sure it helps some women, which is great, but–
Madison: Absolutely.
Alice: But we really want this to be like what the pill was in the 1950s. You should be liberated from sex, you should also be liberated from PMS. It just shouldn’t be a problem.
Madison: Amen. [chuckles]
Alice: So we’re so glad it can help you.
Madison: Thank you.
Alice: Yeah. How did you feel when you first started Jubilance? It’s weird to take this pill, it’s like a new supplement that has clinical trials behind it. How did you feel taking it?
Madison: Honestly, I had no side effects. I felt very normal, didn’t– kind of forgot about it, honestly, I took it every day in the morning with my breakfast. Just kind of got into a routine so I wouldn’t forget because I’m not used to taking anything. But I’ve been taking it every single day for the past month. I will not be without it. Like I said, I just– I was kind of waiting when am I going to start feeling the dread, when is you know– it’s just my normal kind– it’s just normal for me. That’s how I live my life and then once my period starts, I’m me again but man, it’s a roller coaster, all right? My name’s Mad– Maddy. My friends call me Maddy, my dad gave me a nickname when I was very young, Moody, he calls me Moody because that’s what– yeah, it’s just me.
Alice: But no longer!
Madison: But no longer! So like I said, my period started and I gave all the credit to Jubilance. I’m like, “This stuff works,” because I’ve never felt like this before.
Alice: That’s great, you have to keep us updated.
Madison: Definitely.
Alice: Keep us in the loop, like how you’re feeling and everything.
Madison: Absolutely.
Alice: Then I just have a couple of other questions. If a woman walked up to you and you had to give her one piece of advice about being a woman, going after what you want, and pushing through like you said, what would it be?
Madison: Hmm. I would say that there’s no win in comparison. I think as women we really are so hard on ourselves and, without even knowing it, we compare ourselves. Especially with social media, you only see the good things and things aren’t always what they seem. I think it’s important to just have a heart of gratitude and be thankful for what you have now. Because somebody else is probably envying what you have. So we just have to stop being so hard on ourselves, and comparing ourselves, and we just need to love ourselves more. I would say if you have the chance to make someone happy, to make someone’s day, to buy someone’s coffee, just do it. Just be kind because people are fighting battles that you really don’t know anything about. If you can make someone smile then do it, and be kind, love each other.
Alice: Thank you, Madison.
Madison: Thank you, Alice.
Alice: Yeah, I just have some fun questions to leave us off with.
Madison: Absolutely.
Alice: What’s the most essential item in your purse, other than Jubilance?
Madison: Jubilance! Jubilance and wet wipes because I have a 4-year-old and he’s messy, and I’m messy, too.
Alice: Perfect! Yeah, that’s awesome! What’s your best pool read this summer or beach read?
Madison: Read? You know what? I wish I had time to read to be quite honest. I miss reading.
Alice: You have a 4-year-old.
Madison: I love reading so I love speed reading, so I love anything devotional or something that’s going to be uplifting. There’s a book called Power Thoughts and it’s just a– it’s just, pretty much, ways to make yourself– to lift your spirits to– positive affirmations. I love books like that, you know, simple little quotes, simple– just pick me ups, anything like that.
Alice: That’s great.
Madison: Yeah.
Alice: Well, happy birthday, Madison! Have the best day!
Madison: Thank you! Oh my gosh, I almost forgot it was my birthday!
Alice: Well, have the best day. Thank you so much for talking to us. Really, let us know if you ever need anything or have any questions, keep us updated.
Madison: Thank you, Alice. Awesome.
Alice: We’re so happy you’re feeling great. See later, bye, Madison!
Madison: All right, thank you, bye-bye.
