Leland Vittert, NewsNation's chief Washington anchor and author of the memoir Born Lucky, joins us to talk about his childhood, his career, and all the unexpected ways he truly was born lucky.

Despite years of bullying and difficulty navigating school as an autistic kid, Leland had one enormous blessing: parents who never gave up on him, never lowered the bar, and never stopped believing he was capable of a beautiful life. The devotion of Leland's father will melt your heart—and make you think about the millions of ways a child's life can be transformed through love, discipline, and grit.

Leland shares moving stories about how his dad refused to quit on him and modeled what character really looks like. We also dig into journalism—his time reporting from Jerusalem, the state of today's media, who to trust, what's broken, and what still gives him hope.

If you've ever felt different, misunderstood, or simply love a powerful father–son story, listen in. This episode will make you rethink what's possible.

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What happens when a no-nonsense entrepreneur decides she's had enough of California's chaos? Elaine Culotti has ideas politicians won't touch.

She is a fearless entrepreneur, farmer, real estate developer, and a potential candidate for governor of California. You may also know her as one of the business tycoons on Undercover Billionaire. In this conversation, Elaine shares her frustrations with California's government and bold ideas for tackling its toughest challenges.

Shaped by decades of experience in real estate, building businesses, and running her own farm, Elaine brings a no-nonsense, working-class perspective to politics. We cover Calforinia's challenges with wildfires, immigration, homelessness and crime. 

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Natasha Sizlo was having a terrible year. Fresh off a divorce, bankruptcy, the end of a passionate relationship, and then the news came about her beloved father's devastating terminal illness. When a friend suggested an astrology reading, Natasha's first instinct was a hard pass. But, Natasha relented, and the reading led her towards a year of magic, the kind of year that turns into a romantic comedy on the big screen and a best-selling book.

All Signs Point to Paris by Natasha Sizlo.

Hire Natasha to be your real estate agent

If you enjoyed this podcast, check out our most powerful and inspiring conversations from the podcast featuring women who've taken bold risks, rebuilt their lives, or spoken the truths most of us keep quiet. These women are brilliant examples of living the life meant for you.

Starting Over, Resilience, Overcoming:

• Nicole Avant on a Mindset of Gratitude and Service

• Bethany Hamilton on Faith, Waves, and Fearlessness: Bethany Hamilton's Unshakable Journey"

• Claire Bidwell Smith, Finding Peace After Grief

• Dara Kurtz, How Dara Crushed Cancer and Changed Her Life

• Annette Ross was Meant for love, after overcoming a tragic accident during the birth of her second child that left Anette unable to walk, Annette went on to create a beautiful life with five daughters and the love of her life

Travel:

• Jeannie Ralston, The Unlikely Lavender Queen: A Memoir of Unexpected Blosssoming

Life Stories and Culture:

• Laura Belgray, author of Tough Titties, on growing up loud, weird, and real

• Kat Timpf, Truth Bombs and Punchlines: Kat Timpf on Humor That Hurts (and Heals)

• Tiffany Shlain on reclaiming time with Tech Shabbats

• Zibby Owens on bookfluencing and being a literary connector

Mental Health

• Lori Gottlieb (Maybe You Should Talk to Someone) on why you really should talk to someone

Serving Others

• Heidi Kuhn, founder of Roots of Peace, on turning grief into global impact

• Dr. Leana Wen, Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health

• Jessica Honegger on Going Scared and Choosing Purpose Over Comfort

Relationships

• Amy Chan, "The Love Rehab You Didn't Know You Needed" and the Psychology of Love

• Eve Rodsky (Fair Play) on burnout, breakdowns, and building a movement

Favorite Quotes from Natasha:

"I just have to go to find everybody with his exact same birth chart because the one has to still be out there."

"Once I started believing, I started seeing."

"To live an authentic life, that's a beautiful thing."

"If it's mentionable, it's manageable."

"Sounds like you're going to Paris. I'll meet you there."

Robyn Fisher really loves ice cream. As a kid, she and her family would have ice cream for those special moments in life – to bond, recover and really savor life. Fast forward to college. Robyn was in the middle of her studies and couldn't find a decent ice cream in NYC. She recalled the fresh gelato she experienced in Italy and realized that while gourmet coffee was taking off, there was a gap in the market for fresh ice cream. This realization set her life path toward the founding of Smitten Ice Cream.

After graduating from business school, Robyn found an engineer willing to work for equity for two years on creating a better ice cream machine, Brrr, a liquid nitrogen machine with six patents and a secret formula for gourmet ice cream.

This led to the creation of the Today Smitten makes every ice cream batch to order. You read that right – nothing is frozen until the customer orders it.

In this episode of I Want Her Job The Podcast, Robyn shares her motivations that led to Smitten and discusses how starting Smitten gave her a life purpose and a job she truly loves. You also will hear Robyn's unforgettable story of selling her first batch of ice cream in 2009 in a San Francisco park while using a Radio Flyer Wagon attached to a nitrogen machine and motorcycle battery held together with a bungee cord. After spending two years on the idea and her entire savings, Robyn gave herself two weeks to test if there was a market for her product. It was the depth of the recession, but instead of giving up or finding reasons why her idea wouldn't work, Robyn tried her idea on a serious budget, tweeting the location of her Radio Flyer ice cream. Robyn's experiment worked, and people showed up, a lot of people. That experiment changed Robyn's life and showed her there was a market for authentic food made with passion.

Today, you can experience Smitten ice cream in five stores in the Bay Area. Beginning in March 2020, wherever you are in the U.S., you will able to give your loved ones the sweetest surprise by making them a unique ice cream flavor. "Spoon me" and "You dumped his ass" are examples of custom ice cream flavors. 

Robyn's story is the perfect example of having the courage and passion to follow an idea despite the odds or large competitors. Robyn innovated on an existing product, created a unique experience and built a business based on passion, integrity and smiles. If you have dreams of starting your own business, Robyn's story offers plenty inspiration to get you thinking differently about the possibilities.

To contact the show reach out to: contact@meantforit.com

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Guest Co-Host Willow Older, Co-Founder of @today.i.noticed

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Need some inspiration about getting involved with an issue you're passionate about? You'll find plenty in today's interview with Shannon Watts. After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Shannon was devastated. Like many of us, she assumed the horrific tragedy would provoke outrage and change. When legislative and social change didn't appear, and the status quo remained solidly in place, Shannon channeled her outrage and grief by starting a Facebook page for her few dozen online friends. Almost 7 years later, that single page has evolved into Moms Demand Action – a political powerhouse and one of the largest grassroots organizations in the country.

In today's conversation, I Want Her Job The Podcast Host Polina Selyutin and Guest Co-Host Willow Older discuss Shannon's new book, Fight Like a Mother, which is part memoir, part manual, and part manifesto. We talk about Shannon's journey as an accidental activist and find out how Moms Demand Action is changing perceptions and creating unlikely allies in the battle for common sense gun safety legislation. 

Shannon also shares how she manages to rise above cynicism, despite unprecedented rates of gun violence. We learn why "losing forward" is a crucial part of reaching big, long-term goals. And we find out how Moms Demand Action is developing volunteer leaders across the nation.

To contact the show reach out to: podcast@iwantherjob.com 

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Guest Co-Host Willow Older, Co-Founder of @today.i.noticed

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Have you ever wondered what it takes to make a career switch? Or, have you wondered what to do to make that career switch successful – and not a complete disaster? We sat down with a woman who wrote the book on the art of a career transition – literally. Dr. Dawn Graham is author of Switchers: How Smart Professionals Change Careers and Seize Success. She's also a coach for the Wharton School's Executive MBA program and host of Career Talk on SiriusXM channel 132. In today's episode of I Want Her Job The Podcast Dawn answers your top career transition questions. 

Questions discussed include:

Should I go back to school?

How do I pass an interview in a new career track?

How do I know if my job switch is worth it?

Today's episode shares advice from Dawn that is practical and will help you think through your career switch. And with advanced degrees in counseling psychology, her training allows her to understand the fears, doubts or mistakes that can often block us from making the career switch our souls want us to make.

Clarity comes through action, Dawn tells I Want Her Job The Podcast Co-Founder Polina. Learn how Dawn's advice can help you test out the new career role you are considering. Then, hear guidance from Dawn about what to do when you get an interview, how to show your dedication for a new role, and more.

To contact the show reach out to: contact@meantforit.com

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Imagine that you are in a room in Silicon Valley. You think of your electrical engineering degree from Stanford, but you also think of the time you immigrated to the United States with only $43 to your name. Everywhere you look there's men, but you're a woman. And although setbacks are the norm for females in your industry, you're proving yourself to be a force in venture capital. After all, you're on the inside helping Marc Benioff build Salesforce – from the ground up. 

This is the story of Magdalena Yesil. Magdalena and three other extraordinarily strong, ambitious women share their stories in Alpha Girls, the latest book from acclaimed New York Times best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize nominee Julian Guthrie. In Alpha Girls, Julian takes the reader into the rooms where deals, risks and decisions shaped some of Silicon Valley's biggest industries.

The Alpha Girls story is so damn, jaw-dropping good that there was a bidding war for the film and TV rights that included the likes of Amazon, Universal and Brett Ratner, among others. The winner? Female-founded Welle Entertainment. And, with a TV series on the horizon, we can't wait to be taken into the girls' world in a completely new way. But, as always, we recommend you read the book first. It will help you truly savor and dive into the awe-inspiring lives of the Alpha Girls.

In episode 98 of I Want Her Job The Podcast, Host Polina Selyutin talks to Julian about her book. We discuss how the four women featured got on their respective paths and worked their way to becoming "the only" in their venture firms. We also discuss how Alpha Girls has opened a door into venture capital as a path of opportunity for other women. Although it is a highly intense, high-stakes, high-stress and super-competitive space, for those ready and prepared for the challenge, the women known as the Alpha Girls have offered four roadmaps to tremendous success and a chance to shape the future.

Esther Wojcicki is asked about parenting advice – sometimes over 10 times a day! In How to Raise Successful People: Simple Lessons for Radical Results, Esther shares the guiding principles she has used to raise her wildly successful daughters, as well as in her teaching of journalism to students at Palo Alto High School who affectionately call her Woj. Her parenting philosophy can be distilled into a combination of values and practices within an acronym called TRICK, which stands for trust, respect, independence, collaboration and kindness. In her book, Esther drills into each area, explaining why she believes each component to TRICK is critical. She also offers ideas for utilizing her TRICK philosophy with your children, and shares dozens of memorable stories.

There is no doubt the book will be a best seller since Esther has had such tremendous success as a mother and teacher. Each of Esther's daughters have phenomenal career achievements. Daughter, Susan Wojcicki is the CEO of YouTube; Janet Wojcicki is a professor of pediatrics at University of California, San Francisco; and Anne Wojcicki, is the founder and CEO of genetic testing company 23andMe. At the center of Silicon Valley for her entire career as an influential teacher, Esther also is a dedicated community member. With Google famously beginning its empire in daughter Susan's garage, Esther has truly been surrounded by the tech revolution.

Hundreds of Esther's students still keep in touch with her, and as her daughters say in the book's foreword, they often meet former students who say, "You know, your mom really changed my life. She believed in me." Esther has been nominated for national awards for her teaching and thousands of students who went through her program often consider the experience life changing – both for the work they did, and for the respect, autonomy and the bar set by Esther.

In addition to sharing her philosophy for raising independent, kind and community-oriented children, Esther's book feels like a handbook for global citizenship. She firmly believes that kindness, finding ways to help others and the quality of our relationships are at the forefront of a happy life. 

In our conversation, Esther shares how tragedy and other intense difficulties  during her childhood influenced her parenting philosophy. We discuss why using TRICK with children and in schools leads to radical results and learn hands-on tactics for using TRICK in your family. Esther is a brilliant example of the impact one teacher can have, and the joy of living a life of purpose.

When Casey Clark's national tour of Les Misérables ended after nearly two years, and it was time to find a new job, Casey realized she tired of living the ups and downs that come with professional acting. As she shares in today's show, professional actors often face long stretches of unemployment – filling in gaps with survival jobs and temping in various roles to pay the bills, sometimes for months, or even years.

One fateful day, Casey went on an interview that she thought was about singing coaching, and ended up being asked to teach speaking voice instead. Casey quickly fell in love with voice coaching and the opportunity to help women amplify their own voices. This session eventually led her to co-found Vital Voice Training.

Around the same time Casey started voice coaching, she read a book called Half the Sky, which left her feeling angry at the depth and enormity of problems facing women in our world. The combination of entering the voice coaching world, and wanting to help women, convinced Casey her mission was to help amplify the voices of women who were helping other women. In the 95th episode of I Want Her Job: The Podcast, Host and Podcast Co-Founder Polina Selyutin discusses with Casey how voice coaching works, tips for improving public speaking skills and much more.

If you enjoy this show, please share it with a friend!

To contact the show reach out to: podcast@iwantherjob.com 

Fran Hauser's career history makes one thing very clear: She's a powerhouse. Having served as president of digital for the Style and Entertainment Group at Time Inc., Fran oversaw digital business for PEOPLE, InStyle, Entertainment Weekly and others. She also served in other senior roles at Time Inc., including as general manager of Time Inc. Interactive. And before that worked at AOL as vice president and general manager of AOL Movies and Moviefone.

Now, Fran serves as a startup investor and advisor for companies including HelloGiggles, Meditation Studio and The Wing. Impressively, 18 of the 20 companies in her portfolio are founded by women. Fran's passion for empowering female businesswomen can also be seen in her volunteer activities. She serves on the board of directors for GlobalGiving; as a special advisor to Girl Be Heard; and as an advisory board member of 92Y Women inPower and Rent the Runway's Project Entrepreneur.

Last year Fran published a book every modern career woman needs on her bookshelf, The Myth of the Nice Girl. In it, she guides females to believe and understand that it's possible to me ambitious and likeable; that you can make decisions firmly and collaboratively; and that you can give feedback directly and kindly. In short, it offers advice for getting the career you love, without becoming a person you hate.

 "After years of self-discovery, building a successful career, and paying close attention to what worked – and most importantly – what felt right for me, I ultimately came to see that I didn't have to sacrifice my values or hide my authentic personality in the name of achieving success," Fran writes in her book.

In today's episode of I Want Her Job: The Podcast, Fran joins hosts Polina and Brianne to discuss the disease to please, her model for setting boundaries, strategies for speaking up more in meetings, and the importance of including men in your network. We also discuss ways to add fences around your time, some of her favorite sources for inspiration and exciting trends in the digital landscape. We hope this interview leaves you feeling empowered and emboldened to achieve the career you love, that also allows for you to be the truest version of yourself.

Sharon Coleman is on a mission to bring comfort to those going through cancer treatment. The inspiration for her business came through her own struggle with cancer. She endured extensive treatments when she was diagnosed, and two years later had undergone surgery, radiation and many, many hours of chemotherapy treatments. 

The experience inspired her to create a curated care package gift box business called Lemon and Honey Gifts. Each box is made with love and an understanding of what people going through treatments need and want. If you've ever been in the position of not knowing what to do or say when a friend or family member is diagnosed, Sharon's packages packed with comfort are a place to start.

In today's episode of I Want Her Job: The Podcast, Sharon shares how she started her business and opened her Shopify store, without any previous technical e-commerce skills, as well as how she learned to navigate the dozens of new issues that would pop up each week. She also shares the resources that helped her start and grow her e-commerce business, which is helpful for anyone looking to launch her own business. Plus, Willow Older, a writer/editor and friend of the I Want Her Job team, joins Polina Selyutin as co-host on this very special show.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/meant-for-you/id1036108112?i=1000661332590Are you living a psychologically rich life? In this episode we discuss what it means to be psychologically rich and how you can generate more richness. In "Life in Three Dimensions: How Curiosity, Exploration, and Experience Make a Fuller, Better Life", Shigehiro Oishi, Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago,  shares his research and the ways leading a psychologically rich life can transform how you prioritize your days and goals.

As Shige shares, "a  psychologically rich life is a life filled with diverse, unusual, interesting experiences that change your perspective; a life with twists and turns; a dramatic, eventful life instead of a simple and straightforward one".

For those of you who feel that something is missing from your lives, or that your dreams and goals don't fit with societal expectations, this conversation is for you. Shige Oishi has given us the language and concept for living our lives in search of experience, adventure, learning and connection. 

Please share this episode with a frriend and follow us on Instagram at @meantforyoupod

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Get Shige's book 

if you enjoyed this podcast, consider our podcast with Nicole Avant on gratitude and our series on Narcissism with Dr. Ramani:

• Nicole Avant on Gratitude, Service and her Mother's Legacy
• Dr. Ramani's Advice on Suriviving a Divorce with a Narcissist
• Dr. Ramani's Guide to Naricissism at Work
• Dr. Ramani's Guide to Dealing with Narcissists

Topics Discussed:

05:07 - The the three pillars of a happy life 

14:13 - How narrating your experiences enriches the experience

20:12 - A psychologically rich day involves a wide range of emotions

22:18 - Happiness used to be good luck and fortune, but now happiness is personal success

25:41 - Happiness is more like a batting average

32:03 - Happiness is not the intensity but the frequency of positive emotion

36:13 - As we age, curiosity and, and exploration wane, and how to balance it

39:09 - psychological richness mindset can help deal with difficult life situations

Advance warning, Lori Gottlieb's new book, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, is very likely to send you to therapy to deal with issues that may be holding you back. The book combines Lori's own relationship crisis – a surprise break up, which sends her to a therapist– along with the lives of four of her clients who are also dealing with a range of personal issues. And while each person in her book has their own challenges, from dealing with a terminal cancer diagnosis to pursuing only toxic relationships, Lori emphasizes that we should not minimize our struggles just because we feel they don't compare. She suggests that we should not apply a hierarchy of pain. While not always immediately life-threatening, when layers of pain are revealed it likely connects to one of the four concerns we all must face at some point – death, isolation, freedom and feeling meaningless.

The way Lori threads together the stories of her clients and herself, will leave you fully absorbed as you turn each page. At times the book feels like a TV series, which shouldn't come as a surprise considering her career path began in film when she worked as a writer on ER. And now, bringing her career full circle, Eva Longoria recently optioned Maybe You Should Talk To Someone as a television series.

In today's episode of I Want Her Job: The Podcast it will become evident to you that Lori has found a profession that combines her clinical psychology degree, along with her knack for helping clients. Through her book and her writing, we hope you will find that Lori also can help you! And if you can't afford a therapist, or find the time to see one, we also discuss with Lori other ways to identify patterns and thoughts that could be holding you back.

For more on Lori Gottlieb, be sure to follow her "Dear Therapist" advice column for The Atlantic. In each piece she shares gripping stories of people dealing with difficult situations to drive home fundamentals of identifying negative patterns, as well as tips for how you can make life changes that stick. She expertly breaks down concepts in a way that can make it much easier to remember and apply her advice to your own life.

To contact the show reach out to: podcast@iwantherjob.com 

As the founder of LinkedIn Reboot and Reboot for Business, Katie Fogarty's work has helped people transform their LinkedIn profiles, personal brands and career opportunities. And with a background writing for morning TV news, working for a global PR firm and even for a U.S. Senator, Katie's experience in public relations and journalism has given her a perfect combination of skills to help others summarize their personal stories on their LinkedIn pages. 

In today's episode of I Want Her Job: The Podcast, Katie shares the benefits of making a LinkedIn profile page that displays the best of what you have to offer and explains why you should give your presence on the social network more attention.

Topics discussed:

• Easy ways to start engaging on LinkedIn
• Ideas to build stronger connections via the platform
• Ways to improve your visibility.
• Three mistakes people make on LinkedIn 
• Future trends on the platform, why LinkedIn is "a conversation" and Katy's favorite tools for running her personal business.

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To contact the show reach out to: podcast@iwantherjob.com 

Christina Ramirez was on an assignment at UC Santa Barbara 13 years ago when she came up with the idea for eco-conscious toothbrushes. Today her Plus Ultra Bamboo Toothbrushes are sold in more than 320 retail stores in 22 states, including Whole Foods and Amazon. She also has her sights set on expanding into other eco-conscious products.

In our conversation Christina shares how wise advice from her stepmom encouraged her to leave a job that had left her feeling miserable for an out-of-the-mold job that would bring her long-term happiness. The wise push, Christina says, gave her the confidence to walk toward her ultimate business dream. But her dream didn't come without a lot of hard work and tough lessons. We talk about the ups and downs she faced when starting a new business – from flying to China to find manufacturers, to a tough lesson in quality control when her first lot of 5,000 toothbrushes were damaged.

We also talk about all the steps Christina took even before facing the production hurdles to bring her idea for a bamboo toothbrush to life. She had a goal: She wanted to create a product sold at Whole Foods. So, she applied for, and was hired for, a job as a cashier. Then, for 6 years she did everything she could to move up in the company. And although she says she didn't make enough money to even buy a car, she was happy to be working among like-minded peers while learning about the business. Christina shares how she pitched her idea for bamboo toothbrushes to Whole Foods, and how she got the green light from the company's buyers on a category call. And then, since she didn't even have a product yet, she shares the day-and-night hours it took to research, develop and manufacture the product shed dreamed about.

If you've ever wanted to build a business, we think you will love Christina's inspiring story. And we've got a good feeling it will give you that boost you need to pursue your very own business dreams. 

Other Topics Discussed: 

• Finding a job that serves your soul
• Manufacturing in foreign countries
• The reality of the time commitment in starting a company
• Outsourcing
• The problem with old school toothbrushes. (In 2018, more than 50 million pounds of toothbrushes ended up in landfills.)

To contact the show reach out to: podcast@iwantherjob.com 

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How often have you wondered: Why am I doing this? Why do I want this? Why am I experiencing this?

What if you had the chance to discover your "why" during a yearlong opportunity — before you kicked off your career? That's exactly what Abby Falik has created for individuals during a gap year between high school graduation and college entrance with Global Citizen Year. She is the founder of the organization, which also helps students stretch themselves, learn about new cultures and languages, and also gain priceless experiences and memories. Students of Global Citizen Year stay with host families in Brazil, Ecuador, India and Senegal, and work as apprentices in local organizations.

Abby was once the type of student she hopes to inspire. She was attending college at Stanford when she realized that she was longing for more than the life that a traditional model of education provides. She wanted more out of her education that simply listening to professors in lecture halls. Taking action, Abby left traditional education behind and spent a year in Brazil working and traveling. After coming back to Stanford after this life-changing journey, she noticed she gained confidence and maturity, which she credits as an advantage that altered the course of her life. On this trip Abby had discovered her own "why" and her vision for her lifelong work was born.

But before Abby realized her vision, she worked in a nonprofit — managing, building and creating ideas — and then attended Harvard to obtain an MBA that would help her create Global Citizen Year.

In today's episode, we discuss the exciting trends in education and how our perceptions and expectations of higher education can (and should) change to create better accommodations for how we live. We also learn what inspires Abby's work and why she hopes the model of taking a "bridge year" will soon become the norm for most students in the United States. Then again, maybe we should all consider a bridge year — whether we're entering college or beginning year 15 of our careers.

Beth Comstock is the former vice chair of GE and a corporate director of Nike. Her accomplishments include building GE's Business Innovations and GE Ventures, as well as overseeing the reinvention of GE Lighting. Prior to her role as vice chair she served as chief marketing officer of the company. And before that she had another dream job as the president of integrated media at NBC Universal, overseeing the company's digital efforts, including the early formation of Hulu.

While Beth has built an incredible career, she's also made some tough decisions in the process of doing so. We're all lucky enough live vicariously through her, with the opportunity to learn more about her journey and the decisions that led her to career success in her new book out today called Imagine It Forward.

In it, Beth shares her story, documenting the ups and downs of working at GE and NBC during a time of tremendous growth. But, Beth will tell you she also wrote this book to help those out in the middle of their career. It's for those who want to make change happen, but feel they need permission to do so, whether through others or from themselves.

In today's episode I am joined by I Want Her Job founder Brianne. Together, we talk to Beth about inspiring change, the importance of embracing tension and conflict, how to navigate gatekeepers and more.

We hope you enjoy today's conversation. You can also visit I Want Her Job dot com for an online version of today's interview.We rely on word-of-mouth to help our community grow and would love if left a review of our podcast on iTunes and subscribe to future episodes. You can read more interviews on I Want Her Job dot com, where you can also sign up for our newsletter. And if you have ideas for future guests, we're just an email away.

Filmmakers Courtney and Ted Balaker discuss their latest documentary surrounding the mental health crisis among Gen Z.  Their film based on the  book, The Coddling of the American Mind, by Jonathan Haidt   and Greg Lukianoff, was made to spark critical discussions, including conversations across college campuses.

We discuss the alarming trends in Gen Z's mental health, the role of social media, and the impact of educational environments that often prioritize emotional safety over intellectual freedom and critical thinking.

Please listen to this enlightening discussion that will alert you to concerning Gen Z cultural trends.

Please share this episode with a friend!

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• Follow our Substack
• Emal us thecuriousmiddlepod@gmail.com

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Links from conversation

• The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a aGeneration for Failure  by onathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff 
• Ted and Courtney's film Company
• Little Pink House
• Can we take a Joke

If you're a parent, chances are you know about Dr. Laura Markham. And if you don't, allow us to introduce her and her parenting advice that could be life-changing for you and your family. Dr. Laura is the founding editor of AhaParenting, a blog 130k+ subscribers strong. As a parenting expert she's been interviewed for thousands of articles by publications including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Real Simple, Newsday and Parents magazine. In addition to her blog, she shares critical parenting advice in each of her weekly emails, aimed to help you build stronger and deeper bonds with your children. After all, we are mightily convinced she just may be a modern-day Mary Poppins.

In today's episode Dr. Laura shares her philosophies on raising kids with empathy and connection, as well as ideas for building stronger and more trusting relationships with your children. She walks us through a scenario on how to deal with temper tantrums, tips on managing technology with kids and more. We also discuss how putting in the work now to build loving and trusting relationships can ripple toward the future, creating an output with lasting effects.

Yardena Shwartz, an award-winning journalist and Emmy-nominated producer, joins us to discuss her book, Ghosts of a Holy War. Yardena's book focuses on the 1929 Hebron massacre, allowing us to see the shocking parallels between the historical events of 1929 and the October 7th massacre in Israel. Hebron, an ancient city with archeological finds going back some 5,000 years, is in the controlled territory of both governments. For thousands of years, Hebron has had great religious importance for both Jews and Muslims.

Despite Yardena's credentials, and her book's relevance to the current news cycle, "Ghosts of a Holy War" book has been largely ignored by mainstream media and literary circles. It is not a stretch to assume that the historical information revealed in this book goes against the dominant stories in mass media, that seek  sources that support their simplified oppressor and oppressed narrative. 

As history repeatedly shows us, if we don't understand the past, we are doomed to repeat it. The misinformation leading to the 1929 massacre, and the way the massacre was interpreted by the world, is a repeat of what we have seen since October 7. We have seen denials of the recorded atrocities on October 7, misinformation and marches praising the violence as glorious resistance. How can we end the cycles of violence in the region if we don't understand the root causes? It feels like we are trying to cure cancer by taking an Advil and screaming about the pain. Yardena's book shares the historical root causes of the cancer of violence that has plagued the region since 1929.

Yardena's book also recounts stories of friendship and muslim families that protected their neighbors. The Jewish families and students in Hebron were not prepared for the violence because they lived peacefully and happily with their neighbors. In 1929, just as today, misinformation from leaders with bad intentions, fueled horrifying fury, and religiously driven violence. 

We hope that more people decide to learn the history of the region through credible journalists and historians, instead of repeating dangerous misinformation and lies. For the sake of every innocent child, please make time to find the historical truth. 

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If you enjoyed this episode, you may like these conversations:

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• Dumisani Washinton, Pastor, CEO and Author of Zionism and the Black Church
• Soviet Anti-Semitism with Izabala Tabarosky,
• Arab Israeii Muslm Activist and Stanford MBA Sophia Khalifa
•  Erin Molan Fearless Reporter and Advocate for Humanity

Oftentimes the answers we are searching for can be found within us. And this was certainly the case for Sadie Lincoln, the co-founder (along with her husband, Chris) and CEO of Barre3, a bar-based fitness program with more than 130 locations worldwide. Barre3, which is part of a robust $30B dollar fitness industry, is a business that is spiritually aligned with how Sadie desires women to treat their mind, soul and bodies. Barre3's classes encourage its participants to do what feels right for them. Instead of vigorously working to copy instructor-led moves, it's a place that encourages and fosters individuality.

In today's show, Sadie shares with us how her unconventional upbringing in Eugene, Oregon, by a group of four women who were best friends that she affectionately calls her "aunties" shaped her future. She details how this upbringing shaped her path and ultimately, influenced the way she now runs Barre3—tapping into the collective wisdom of her tribe of employees, members, franchisees and her own inner wisdom. In fact, it was this intuition that led her from a great managerial role at 24-Hour Fitness in San Francisco where she worked for a decade learning about the industry from different angles, to a bold move to Portland with the goal of starting a business and finding the community she craved. Other topics discussed include her franchising philosophy and selection of applicants, as well as her managerial practices that help her run such a grand and successful business.

If you enjoy today's show with the brilliant Sadie, please share with a friend, and please leave a review us on iTunes. As always, if you have ideas for future shows, you can reach us at podcast at iwantherjob.com.

If you love thoughtful conversation and inspiring other women, then today's podcast is for you.

Anne Devereux Mills is the founder of the Parlay House, a salon-style gathering of more than 500 women in the San Francisco Bay Area. Members of the group meet once a month to connect, learn and inspire. Each meeting features a discussion on an interesting topic. The goal of Parlay, Anne says, is to change the framework of reciprocity by putting women in a place to pull fellow women forward, rather than creating a setting where women have a more transaction-like "you help me, I help you" interaction.

Another goal of Anne's is to create a level playing field for all ages and professions saying, "If you talk [to another person] about what you do, you miss the commonalities." At a recent event, she shares that many women opened up about their eating disorders, depression and other big topics. 

Anne also serves as chair of the board of a public company and serves as chief strategy officer of Lantern, a San Francisco-based startup that uses technology to create mental wellness programs that reduce stigma and improve access to lower cost for mental health treatment. She also is the executive producer of The Return, an Emmy-nominated film that focuses on our criminal justice system and the impact of the "Three Strikes" law. And as part of her passion for social justice issues, Anne worked as a key member of the team that helped pass California's Proposition 36, which was a part of California's "Three Strikes" reform.

While she was working toward these accomplishments, Anne built her career while raising two daughters as a single mom in the New York area. Before her current roles, Anne served in C-level positions at various advertising agencies, including BBDO, TBWA\Chiat Day and LLNS, focusing on health care. In episode 53 of I Want Her Job: The Podcast, Editor and Host Polina Selyutin talks to Anne about she of the practices that have led to her success, personal sacrifice, the life-changing events that led her from New York to San Francisco and the inspiration for Parlay House.

Happy 4th of July! In honor of the holiday, we are speaking with Erin Loos Cutraro, the founder of She Should Run. Erin founded She Should in 2008, a bi-partisan organization dedicated to increasing the number of women running for political office. if you just decided to run or are just exploring, through an incubator, research, events and campaigns, She Should Run offers community support and many other resources.  We learned so much from this show, and hope you will enjoy it and be inspired to run for an office or encourage someone you know to run for one of the 500,000 elected offices across the US.  As you ll hear on this show, when women run for office, they actually win at the same rate as men!

How do you define success? It's a question Courtney Martin asked herself and others while writing her book, The New Better Off: Reinventing the American Dream, which attempts to help all of us think about redefining our measures of success. She encourages us to "reject the tired narratives about success" because our motives and lives will change when we shift our focus, instead, to community.

"The New Better Off most succinctly is realizing that our quality of life is more determined by the quality of our relationships than by our own individual achievements as we've historically thought about it," Courtney says. "It's more about meaning, relationships, community and fulfillment – as opposed to status and stuff."

The book asks questions many of us have asked ourselves, and it challenges what many of us have come to accept as the status quo. One of our favorite lines in Courtney's book is: "I don't want to get a good job, a house with a white picket fence, 2.5 kids and then just go to sleep." Host Polina Selyutin speaks with Courtney about this desire for meaning, purpose and community in our lives and a fear of where the traditional path can lead us in episode 46 of I Want Her Job: The Podcast.

Other topics of discussion include how the traditional 9-to-5 job structure created in the '50's for those without caretaking responsibilities simply doesn't work in the world we live in today. (For example, by the year 2020 it's estimated that half the workforce will be freelance, she cites.) 

We also discuss her decision to put community first by living in a co-housing community in Oakland, Calif., where individuals practice radical hospitality by dining together weekly, sharing homeownership activities and helping one another. And if you aren't the co-housing type, Courtney shares ideas on how similar principals of community housing can be easily integrated into our lives – from hikes with family and friends to group dinners. After all, Courtney says, the relationships in our lives are the things that make us the happiest.

As a book lover since childhood, Cherilyn Parsons longed to be a part of the literary community. So, she risked her security, job stability and comfort for her dream of starting a world-class book festival in Berkeley, California.

Although there had been a book festival in her home region, the San Francisco Bay Area, more than a decade prior, there wasn't one when Cherilyn decided to take a chance and begin her efforts. And even though she had no prior experience in event planning or the literary world, she did have one very important skill on her resume – fundraising.

"I had no experience in event planning," she says. "I did not know the literary world. I had no money to start with. But I thought, hey, let's do the book festival."

And so, with a background in nonprofit fundraising, most recently at the Center for Investigative Reporting – Cherilyn thought she could apply her experience to help launch a large-scale book fest. And although it wasn't easy, she made it happen. Now in its third year, the 2-day Bay Area Book Festival draws more than 50,000 attendees and 300 authors for events and panels spanning 9 city blocks in Berkeley.

In episode 43 of I Want Her Job: The Podcast, Host Polina Selyutin discusses with Cheryl how she took her idea to launch, the ups and downs along her path and the personal sacrifices she made to make her dream come true. Read (and listen) on to learn why book festivals are such powerful forums for connecting authors and book lovers, as well as what it takes to create, fund and manage large-scale public events.

• Setting The Scene: Cherilyn's love of books began in her childhood. "I always devoured books," she says, " … I always wanted to be a part of the book world."
• Making The Leap: "I had no experience in event planning," she says. "I did not know the literary world. I had no money to start with. But I thought, hey, let's do the book festival."
• Starting From Scratch: While Cherilyn did have a wealth of experience in fundraising for established nonprofits from prior roles, when it came to raising money for a brand new gig, it was "a completely different ball game." Often asked, "Who else is funding you?" nobody wanted to step up to the plate to be first in line for an event with no track record. "It was really, really difficult and humbling," she says. "I was used to doing this and raising funds."
• The Power Of Partnerships: Cherilyn aimed her focus on building partnerships for her first year of her journey. She worked tirelessly to network to gain buy-in from potential partners. To her, a partnership – even without a financial tie – was just as important as funds for the credibility it would help establish for the festival. "I had to build the partnerships in order to have the credibility that showed other people were involved – and believed – in the festival before others would believe in it financially," she says.
• The First Wins: Through her work, Cherilyn found launch partners in UC Berkeley and the San Francisco Chronicle. "Credibility is essential," she says. "Everyone looks at who else is involved to know if they should get involved."
• It Just Takes One: After getting one donor, Cherilyn then leveraged that support to pitch many more donors.
• Facing Fear: When Cherilyn quit her job to pursue her dream of launching a book festival in the Bay Area, she knew her personal credibility – and her future – was on the line. "I made it up as I went along," she says. "I mean, honestly, there were nights when I was crying on the floor of my little home office, because someone had said 'no' to funding and people didn't trust me."
• The Power Of Books: Cherilyn feels books are a solitary, sacred and intimate space. At festivals, book lovers and authors have the opportunity to get out of the solitary and join together in discussion. "It's a very deep communion – a book – between the reader and the writer," Cherilyn says. " … There is something really magic about the private experience of reading, and then the public experience of coming together to share this." She says she loves how festivals contain, "All these people loving books together."
• Becoming A Leader: Cherilyn's goal is for the Bay Area Book Festival to become one of the leading book festivals in the world. Because the Bay Area is so innovative and progressive, she wants the book festival to reflect the spirit and innovation of the region. Additionally, she wants it to maintain a strong international focus, saying that it's important to hear voices from around the world.
• Did You Know: An impressive 70% of book buyers in the United States are women.

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Eugenia Cheng has built a "portfolio career" combining her passions for math, piano and education. Eugenia has a PHD in Pure Mathematics and is a Scientist in Residence at School of the Art Institute in Chicago. As part of her portfolio career, Eugenia also performs as a concert pianist and is a published author of two books about math. Eugenia also works to develop math training materials and curriculum, she does research in math within higher dimensional category theory, and she writes about math for media publications. Eugenia has built her career by finding ways to use her talents and work to help others. Eugenia suggests we build our careers by finding what we are really good at and then finding how to use our talents in the best possible way to contribute to society.

Eugenia has a talent for showing how math relates to our world, and in describing the beautiful and mysterious intersections of math, science and art. We talk with Eugenia on how she got on her path and how playing the piano was her refuge when she was frustrated with the confinements of her school years. Eugenia offers suggestions for encouraging kids to enjoy math ( there is some great advice for those of us who have math phobias), we talk about Eugenia's latest book, beyond infinity, and Eugenia's thoughts on how math, science and art are spiritually related. Eugenia stepped away from a conventional tenured academic path to create a career where she could user her strengths and interests. Eugenia's thoughtful and analytical approach to creating a career that allowed her to contribute more to society, applies to those of us trying to find work where we can also use more of our strengths. We think you will love this conversation abut how to combine different interests, including Eugenia's thoughts on the concept of  infinity, how "drunk cooking" and math are similar and how you can stretch the possibilities within your career.

If you love writing, blogging, photography, creating content — and having control of your future while developing your own business — we think you will enjoy hearing how Lauryn Evarts created her blog and brand, The Skinny Confidential. When Lauryn started blogging 6 years ago, she was broke and miserable working in a bartending job. Today, With six employees, Lauryn is running her own business. 

In today's episode of I Want Her Job: the Podcast, we talk to Lauryn about how she engages with her audience, her mindset for setting goals and dealing with criticism. She also shares how she chipped away every day at the goals she made for her blog. "Every day when I laid my head on the pillow I had built The Skinny Confidential in some small way," she says. 

Now as a professional blogger, Lauryn shares some practical advice for what it takes. "If you can't deal with criticism probably being an influencer is not the way to go," she says. But if you can? Well, we think the upside could be that it's your dream job.

Ida Tin is founder of Clue, the world's fastest growing period tracking and fertility app. Ida shares why she is so committed to using technology to empower women with more knowledge and control of their bodies and for family planning. Ida is on a mission to help women become more aware and "friendlier with their bodies". Hear how Ida founded Clue and and about Femtech, an emerging area of technology addressing women's health. As Ida says "Within Femtech alone there is so much unmet potential. Everywhere we look we see needs that women have that are not being addressed where technology can play a role." Prior to founding Clue, Ida had a business leading motorcycle tours around the world. Listen to hear how Ida's background and early interests in women's health evolved into her role as founder of Clue.

When it comes to understanding our government, we often find ourselves asking, "What would Sharon say?" So we did. We invited Sharon McMahon, America's favorite government teacher and the force behind @SharonSaysS, to help us unpack why civics education in the U.S. has been defunded, sidelined, and under-taught for decades.

Sharon shares eye-opening insights about a troubling reality: many students graduate with little more than a single semester of civics, leaving them unequipped to understand how their government actually works. This lack of knowledge isn't just an educational failure  it's a civic crisis. When citizens don't understand the basics of how power is structured or how change happens, we risk not only disengagement, but also a national security vulnerability and a weakening of our democracy itself.

How can we make America better if we don't understand how America works?
How can we expect meaningful progress if the next generation doesn't grasp the role of local elections or how laws are made?

When people aren't educated about their own system of government, cynicism grows. Trust erodes. And disengagement becomes the norm—followed by frustration and the belief that everything is rigged.

We dive into the case for rebuilding a consistent, nationwide civics curriculum—and the enormous challenge of doing so in a country where education policy is decided by 50 separate state boards and over 14,000 local school boards.

This conversation matters. Please listen, learn, and share with your community!

Quotes:

"We have under-educated our citizens for existence in a very complex democracy."

"We need to understand the problem before we can make meaningful change."

"The civil rights movement didn't just happen because a bunch of members of Congress were like, what the right thing to do?" 

-Sharon McMahon

"How are we supposed to make America great again if we don't understand how it works?" ----Polina Rubin

Zoom In:

• 06:49 Why aren't people saying in government that maybe we should prioritize civics education

• 08:10 The United States has an incredibly decentralized education system compared to other democracies

• 13:27 Whether the federal government should be involved in curriculum decisions is hotly debated

• 20:37 Elimination of Department of Justice or Department of Education could negatively impact students

• 23:23 Thoughts on the costs of education in the US compared to other countries

• 29:31 Every other developed nation takes far more steps to abate childhood poverty than we do

• 31:51 If you have two parents, you're more likely to not be in poverty

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In episode 32 of I Want Her Job: The Podcast, we speak with Lauren Collins, staff writer at The New Yorker, and author of When In French: Love In A Second Language. The book, which is a memoir of falling in love, learning a new language and adjusting to a new culture, was recently selected as a "Notable Book of 2016" by The New York Times. And it's easy to see why.

With plenty of humor and fascinating details on linguistics and French culture, in the book Lauren recounts her journey of learning and adjusting to a life in France. In her interview, she shares the story of the one decision that changed her life. Weeks before her 30th birthday, Lauren decided to shake things up, requesting to work for The New Yorker from London. It was during this fateful trip that, in a decidedly American way, Lauren walked over and introduced herself … to her future husband!

Eventually moving with him to Paris, When In French chronicles the cultural adjustments and clashes of living in a new country. Listen in to hear more about Lauren's journey, details on her sought-after job at The New Yorker and more.

Felena Hanson was just another woman working from home when she came up with a brilliant idea. While working at home for eight years, she missed having a sense of community and often time struggled to focus. The options in the market at the time, while uber-hip and high tech, were lacking an environment that felt beautiful and clean to her. She realized she was craving a coworking space designed by women, for women, so Felena embarked on creating what she couldn't find.

And now, five years later, Hera Hub is the first international coworking and shared office space for women (though open to men as well) from Washington, D.C. to Stockholm, Sweden. And although the company specializes in providing inspired spaces for women to work from, the company also hosts training sessions on planning, accounting and other business services – providing continuous support and advice for its members. They also offer an endless supply of coffee and wine! After all, Felena says, in Hera Hub spaces women are truly trying to help one another.

"I wanted to create something that was bigger than myself, and bigger than the city that I'm in," Felena says. " … It's an ecosystem of support, collaboration and community."

In episode 31 of I Want Her Job: The Podcast, Editor and Host Polina Selyutin speaks with Felena about launching a business, making mistakes and building a community.

Judy Robinett's story begins in Franklin, Idaho. As a young girl who was bullied during junior high, Judy felt uncomfortable at social events, which she would often arrive late to and leave early from. Until her 40s, she felt shy, awkward, not good enough, not cute enough and not educated enough.

Today, however, Judy's life paints a different picture. As a well-known and highly respected investor and advisor, she is known as the woman with a titanium Rolodex. If you're curious about how she made the leap from insecure young woman to confident businesswoman, then you will want to hear episode 30 of I Want Her Job: The Podcast.

In today's show, Judy shares how an attitude of, "Keep your head down; work hard; and wait your turn," turned into advice worth tossing. She read Dale Carnegie's How To Win Friends And Influence People and immediately realized that it was actually those leaving early on Friday to socialize at the golf club were the ones getting ahead at work. After reading this book, she began to make intentional choices in how she interacted with others.

This fresh outlook aids Judy to this day. When she meets someone new, Judy immediately begins looking for ways she can help, which she explains further in her step-by-step approach in her book on networking – How To Be A Power Connector. In today's episode, Editor and Host Polina Selyutin discusses the art of connection with Judy and tips that can help you develop your own titanium Rolodex.