Sharon Malone, a leading OB/GYN and women’s health advocate, has written a book titled “Grown Woman Talk: Your Guide to Getting and Staying Healthy,” a medical yet easy-to-read book that includes simplified versions of stories that tell us what really goes on in the bodies of women, in particular, African American women.
From a medical perspective, Dr. Malone shares a practical guide to aging and health for women who have felt ignored or marginalized by the medical profession.
When it comes to women’s health, patients are routinely left feeling unheard, lectured during what should have been an opportunity for her to tell her doctor what is really going on, she is often ignored, shamed, and uninformed by the very medical community they turn to for guidance. As a practicing OB/GYN in the nation’s capital for more than three decades, and currently as chief medical adviser of Alloy Women’s Health, Dr. Malone has served women across the city from all walks of life and seen firsthand the negative effects of a healthcare system that has become ever-more impersonal, complex and difficult to navigate.
Dr. Malone believes that empowerment, more than anything, is what women need to take back their well-being and become their own best health advocate. In “Grown Woman Talk” (Crown Hardcover), which went on sale on April 9, she offers tools to every woman who has ever felt marginalized or overwhelmed by their healthcare experience. Her teaching in this book will give readers the agency that can, quite literally, give them life.
Part medical handbook, part memoir and part sister-girl, cheerleader, “Grown Woman Talk” is filled with useful resources and real-life stories, which I personally find very intriguing. I’m reading her book to prepare for our interview. These stories are meant to break the silence that surrounds women’s health, which in my humble opinion, her book not only highlights the current data around women’s health issues, but it also places that data in a helpful context, offering readers informed insights to take into their next doctor’s appointment.
As I read this book, my imagination is running wild! It felt as though I was in a series of seminars and workshops, with Dr. Sharon Malone teaching, bringing in people from her personal life and from her life as an OB/GYN when needed. Then she leads the lecture, but at times, she will even bring in medical statistics, other doctors, and hospitals. She keeps it moving, and it is extremely interesting!
Dr. Malone addresses the most common conditions women older than 40 deal with — perimenopause, menopause, aging, chronic stress, cardiovascular disease, weight gain, sexual health — while arming patients with an essential understanding of the next phase in their health journey.
Dr. Malone will be my radio show guest this Friday, to talk with me about what she wants women to do in order to live better, age better, and get better medical treatment. “Grown Woman Talk” is designed to help women identify the power they have and how to use it to chart a path to improve their health outcomes and to thrive.
Continued early praise includes this statement by former first lady Michelle Obama, who said, “In Grown Woman Talk, Dr. Sharon Malone offers straightforward advice on how to structure your healthcare experience, manage your personal health, understand menopause, and so much more. For Dr. Sharon, this isn’t just about how to live longer; it’s about how to live healthier — and happier.”
Others championing the book are Linda Goler Blount, president and CEO of the Black Women’s Health Imperative, and Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, executive director of the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center at NYU School of Law.
Lyndia Grant is a speaker/writer living in the D.C. area. Her radio show, “Think on These Things,” airs Fridays at 6 p.m. on 1340 AM (WYCB), a Radio One station. To reach Grant, visit her website, www.lyndiagrant.com, email lyndiagrantshowdc@gmail.com or call 240-602-6295. Follow her on Twitter @LyndiaGrant and on Facebook.