Amethysta Herrick and Starre Vartan are the dynamic duo behind the Gender Juices vodcast.
Amethysta Herrick, Ph.D. brings a unique viewpoint founded in science, informed by psychology, and vivified by spirituality. Her educational background includes Molecular Biology with an emphasis in human genetics, and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry with an emphasis in experimental design and data analysis.
Ami’s strength lies in taking a holistic view of every topic, searching for common threads that underlie political agendas that affect us all. Her writing and videos are engaging, warm, and authentic. Using stories from her own life and analogies to bring the scientific down to Earth, Ami values truth over ego – a rare and compelling trait in today’s world of sound bites and social sabotage.
In her spare time, Ami enjoys making music on the electric guitar and lever harp, playing cozy video games, and reading with her cat Sapphire purring in her lap.
Starre Vartan is a science journalist, author, and leading voice on health and the female body. For more than 15 years, she has translated complex research into clear, compelling stories that dismantle myths about women’s health, hormones, and physiology—and replace them with science-based evidence.
Trained as a geologist and biologist at Syracuse University, and with an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University, Starre brings scientific rigor and narrative precision to her work. She has reported on women’s health, hormones, immunity, longevity, neuroscience, and evolution for National Geographic, Scientific American, The Washington Post, CNN, Aeon, New Scientist, Wired, and other leading outlets. Her work focuses on what the science actually shows about female bodies—rather than what medicine and culture have long assumed.
She is the author of The Stronger Sex: What Science Tells Us About the Power of the Female Body (Seal Press/Hachette, 2025 in the US, Atlantic Books in the UK), a myth-busting examination of women’s biological strengths across the lifespan. The book was named one of Library Journal’s Best Science Books of 2025. Its release sparked broad international attention, with essays and features appearing in the Washington Post (syndicated globally), Boston Globe, Live Science, Jezebel, the Globe and Mail, Stylist, Ms. Magazine, and more—helping move conversations about female endurance, immunity, and hormones into the cultural mainstream.
Before becoming a full-time journalist, Starre worked as an environmental geologist, giving her firsthand experience with research, data, and scientific systems. She is also a seasoned media presence, having appeared on live morning television in New York City, NPR affiliates, podcasts, vlogs, panels, and public talks—she is known for a voice that is informed, engaging, and science-forward.
Born in Sydney and raised between Australia and the U.S., Starre is a dual citizen of both countries. With Gender Juices she aims to help listeners and watchers understand hormones across the life cycle—from puberty to menopause and beyond—without shame, jargon, or fear.