Jumble & Flow launches to empower women in midlife

Homepage Featured, Work life and finance

Chicago — After two years in “soft launch” mode, Jumble & Flow announces its official launch in October 2021, during Menopause Awareness Month.

Bloomberg reported earlier in 2021 that menopause-related products and services make up a $600 billion market opportunity. With the oldest millennials turning 40 this year, Jumble & Flow founder Amy Cuevas Schroeder believes the women-in-midlife industry is just getting warmed up.

Jumbleandflow.com’s readership has grown organically to 50,000 monthly pageviews in fall 2021. The woman-owned independent media company and lifestyle brand is on a mission to redefine life for GALs (Grown-Ass Ladies) who aspire to live healthy, meaningful lives in their middle-ish years.

“The exact age of midlife is open to interpretation,” says Jumble & Flow founder Amy Cuevas Schroeder, 45. “But one thing is certain. ‘Over the hill’ is so over and done with.”

Cuevas Schroeder was inspired to start Jumble & Flow by her undiagnosed perimenopause as well as the jumbles of working full-time for a tech startup while raising twins, one of whom has special needs. After several doctors dismissed her telltale perimenopause symptoms (night sweats, insomnia, etc.), Cuevas Schroeder sought an outlet to vent her frustration. When she couldn’t find the space she was looking for, she decided to create it instead. Women in this phase of life are all-to-commonly confused about where to turn for resources, something Jumble & Flow aims to rectify.

While perimenopause is a keystone topic, it’s far from the only thing Jumble & Flow covers. The site covers topics ranging from changing careers, pregnancy over 40, the health benefits of cannabis, weightlifting after menopause, and much more.

About Jumble & Flow’s founder and serial entrepreneur Amy Cuevas Schroeder

Jumble & Flow isn’t Amy Cuevas Schroeder’s first entrepreneurial rodeo. At 19, she started Venus Zine in her Michigan State University dorm room and built the company into an internationally circulated magazine based out of Chicago. The magazine featured then–up-and-comers like Sleater-Kinney, Joanna Newsom, Zoe Kravitz, and Sarah Silverman, as well as legends like Missy Elliott, Yoko Ono, Kathleen Hanna, and Sinead O’Connor.

*Venus Zine* featuring Zoe Kravitz (left) and Missy Elliott (right)

Venus staffers included dozens of creative talents just getting their start, including The Jungalow’s Justina Blakeney, Elle editor Melissa Giannini, Severance author Ling Ma, and journalists Margaret Wappler and Marisa Meltzer. Schroeder eventually sold the business to an independent publisher before it was repurchased and eventually folded (read the true story in this 2010 Chicago Reader exposé.)

After Venus — and in the midst of the economic downturn of 2009 — Amy moved from Chicago to Brooklyn to start a new chapter. Over the next six years she worked for Etsy, NYLON, HarperCollins, Girl Scouts of the USA, West Elm, among other companies during a time when many fellow journalists transitioned to “content” roles. Cuevas Schroeder met her husband, had twin girls through IVF, and returned to the Chicago area in 2015.

Jumble & Flow plans for growth and funding in 2022

Jumble & Flow intends to expand in 2022, with plans to create a women’s health and wellness tech product and other brand development projects to be announced. Similar to how she built Venus, she’s assembled a small but mighty team of creatives — several of whom wrote for Venus, and others she worked with at Etsy and other companies post-Venus.

Schroeder believes the menopause awareness movement is just getting started and that Jumble & Flow is entering the midlife media arena at a pivotal pioneering moment. “Many women don’t know what perimenopause is yet. Gen X women are largely leading the way right now, by struggling their way through it,” Schroeder says. “Millennials are next, and a whole new generation of women is going to be ready to tackle the common frustrations of midlife, including perimenopause and ageism in the workplace.”