Kerri Devine is on a mission to make midlife hot. She created the perimenopause and menopause community Hot in Charleston after the pandemic to help women in the Lowcountry feel supported through midlife rebirth and change.
“I started hosting events and fostering conversations about the midlife journey,” she tells Holy City Sinner.
After a career as a marketing executive and time on Wall Street in New York City, she moved to Charleston in 2014 and shifted to a creative career. Devine went back to school for her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing.
“I wanted to use storytelling to help women find their voices,” she says.
In 2022, she founded Midlife Monologues, a theatrical literary event with PURE Theatre. The intergenerational showcase features women artists from every decade and genre, highlighting the arc of a woman’s journey to and through midlife.
Following two sold-out shows last year, the production returns on March 12, 2025.
This year’s show will feature a cast of 20 women, including Found star Shanola Hampton, poet Kate Baer, authors Mary Laura Philpott and Tara Stringfellow, and American Idol winner Abi Carter.
“The show is part play, part pep rally,” Devine says. “It’s an entertainment showcase of a woman’s life—from adolescence to striking out in independence, travel, work, marriage and family—then the midlife pivot and what the next chapter looks like.”
Tickets are on sale now through Charleston Music Hall, ranging from $60 to $350. Doors open at 6 p.m., and the show begins at 7 p.m. Ages 18 and up are welcome. Proceeds will benefit women’s health, adolescent mental health, postpartum mental health and menopause education.
“My goal is for women to feel seen and supported in every phase of life,” Devine says. “I believe storytelling has the extraordinary power to change the trajectory of our lives. I'm inspired by a memoirist whose mantra is, ‘You tell me a story, and somehow I get mine.’ That’s why we’re doing this.”
