Hiding in the Bathroom – Details, episodes & analysis

She is the only woman host of a network Sunday morning news show, and even though she's a veteran journalist who has reported from Tehran, Baghdad, Kabul, and Beijing, covered the Iran nuclear deal, the chemical weapons deal in Syria, the reopening of relations with Cuba and been a White House correspondent..when you Google her most of the recent stories cover her baby bump, how she met her husband, and her "first-ness" as a woman moderator.  

That's alright though, because Brennan understands that women's lives are changing, and she's helping us navigate through it all, including this weekend when she sat with five women from Virginia and asked them, "Does President Trump respect women"? 

Hosting Face the Nation every Sunday has forced journalist Margaret Brennan to take a step back from the relentless Twitter driven news cycle and think about the bigger picture. We talk through how to process the news in a healthier manner, how to connect the dots, and how to make sense of the changing lives of women in our politics and our workplaces.

What's the best path forward for digital campaigns? Online fundraising, organizing, and campaigning are fundamental to how we run for office now, but we're rightly nervous. Social media is a hugely powerful tool for candidates and organizing for change, and online fundraising a cash cow that allows normal people to meaningfully contribute to political campaigns when they might otherwise be shut out.

But the entrenched consultant culture in our politics doesn't always have incentives to drive innovation- or the strategies that will have the largest impact. How do we know the supporters we garner on Facebook aren't trolls? As we head into the midterms, Tara and I talk through the path forward for digital strategy and politics.

Learn more about Tara McGowan's work.

Morra recorded this episode with writer, attorney, entrepreneur, founder of #Changetheratio and The List, and feminist thinker Rachel Sklar during the fall 2016 Trump campaign. We talked about sexual predation at work and how to negotiate dealing with predators while advancing in your career.

Our conversation is even more relevant right now, in January 2018.

We talk about the temptation to "grade" severity of your harassment ("it's not that bad"), resisting the temptation to write men off as "handsy" and diminishing outrageous behavior because that's what we've always done. Plus single momming. Rachel Sklar is funny and honest and always, ahead of her time.

Morra also interviews her mother Pamela Aarons about how it feels to be triggered by Trump and #MeToo. 

You might assume a hi pressure, hi tech startup couldn't allow for flexibility. Not so says Werk co-founder Annie Dean: "We can't expect our team to meet our deadlines and innovate at the level we expect them to unless we're taking the time to understand the nuance of their personality. Some people don't want to be in the chaos of the small office all the time. Maybe they need time to breathe."

And don't buy the story that work from home or workplace flexibility is on the wane. It's stronger than ever.

Annie shares her journey scaling a women-run, VC funded startup while staying true to flexible work values.  

I also ask Annie how workplace flexibility can help reduce workplace harassment. You'll want to listen to her answer! And then get her advice on how to manage extremely high performance and a flexible schedule.

Flexible work chips away at the patriarchy in so many ways.  

"If you've been told to shut up, keep talking."

Donna shares great advice on how to get a seat at the table, and then be heard. 

Discussing her four decade career managing legendary political candidates and legendary egos, email hacks and threats from foreign powers, Brazile downloads the evolution of her influence and provides practical tactics for making change and being heard, even if you're a "troublemaker" as she calls herself. "I've gotten kicked off the plane. I've gotten knocked down. I've gotten kicked off the same staircase I've already climbed." 

When in comes to patriarchy, Donna says "we are long overdue for a shift in dynamics." We have overused the male brand of leadership in which everything's a fight (and every sports metaphor has been overused). Patriarchy is "so rooted in our soul you cannot use Round Up" to kill it. To break it we have to break our traditions."

PS: Hiding in the Bathroom is now Patriarchy the Podcast. I explain why in the episode. Let me know what you think!

Mad as hell? Here's the good news: the women across our country. A surge of women have stepped up to run for office. Over 22,000 of them, according to Stephanie Schriock, President of EMILY's List, super smart political strategist.

Curious about running for elected office and what it takes? Stephanie will explain why you're ready. (We promise. You do not have to be Tracy Flick!)

Listen in as we talk politics, Trump, and how introverts toying with public service can tackle their hesitancy and run for elected office. 

We're the ones we've been waiting for!

Katherine Goldstein was on the fast track to a top leadership position in digital journalism, with senior roles at Huffington Post and Conde Nast before she was 30.

Then she had a baby.

I met Katherine when she was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard. Her groundbreaking work on Mothers in the Newsroom (where are they?) is must reading for the moment we're in, as is her thinking on sexual harassment in the news business. 

She'll tell us the story. Have a listen.

"I no longer give anxiety decision making power in my life," says Ashley C. Ford. There was a long time when I just leaned into my anxiety, she says, but now, she can separate the feelings from reality and dive in anyway.

"Anxiety and depression are liars," Ashley says. So how to put them in their place? That's what we share on this podcast. Feelings are not facts.

We also talk about the relationship between class privilege, race, and upbringing in managing mental health. 

PS: My husband says I can't decorate for Christmas until well after Thanksgiving, but Ashley and I disagree. She's starting Sunday after Thanksgiving. I want to as well. Where do you stand? Let me know @morraam on Twitter. 

In this exclusive short excerpt from the new book Hiding in the Bathroom: An Introvert's Roadmap to Getting Out There (When You'd Rather Stay Home) author and podcast host Morra shares her journey from serial job quitter and anxious overachiever to proud hermit entrepreneur.

“I have the dubious distinction, of being an ambitious risk taker who also struggles with anxiety and depression. This has forced me to learn some very helpful coping mechanisms, and I want to share some today with you.”

But first, I told them, there were the panic attacks. That time sophomore year I couldn’t get out of bed for a week...

Listen to the short reading, or read more at ThriveGlobal.com, where this piece is published.