Some stories don’t just break the silence, they explain how silence gets built in the first place. This week, I’m joined by author Andrea Leeb to talk about her memoir Such a Pretty Picture , an account of surviving childhood sexual abuse, living with complex trauma and CPTSD, and finding a path back to yourself that isn’t linear or tidy but is real. Andrea shares the early moments that shaped her life, the confusing mix of fear, love, and self-blame, and the way adults can miss obvious warning ...
Apr 27, 2026•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 14
Are you selfish? “Selfish” is supposed to be the insult that ends the conversation, especially for women who were raised to be helpful, agreeable, and endlessly available. We sit down with author Kerry Docherty to pull that word apart and rebuild it into something sharper and more useful: self-awareness, honest boundaries, and the courage to admit what you want before you burn out trying to be “good.” Her memoir, Selfish , becomes the jumping-off point for a raw talk about what it costs to keep ...
Apr 21, 2026•45 min•Season 3Ep. 13
Brandy Norwood’s memoir, Phases , is the kind of celebrity memoir that makes you grateful for the music and furious about the machine behind it. My friend Kate and I revisit Brandy’s cultural landmarks like Moesha, Cinderella, and “The Boy Is Mine,” then zoom out to the bigger question: what happens when an industry profits from a “good girl” image and leaves no room for a young Black woman to be human, messy, or still becoming. A big thread is the tension between what Brandy says and what she s...
Apr 15, 2026•1 hr 9 min•Season 3Ep. 12
She graduates near the top of her veterinary class and still couldn't get hired... because she’s a woman! That’s where our conversation with memoirist Linda Rhodes begins and it only gets more vivid, entertaining, and frustrating from there. Linda and I talk about her book Breaking the Barnyard Barrier: A Woman Veterinarian Paves the Way and the reality of becoming a large animal veterinarian in rural Utah when sexism isn’t subtle, it’s stated out loud in job interviews. Linda takes us through t...
Apr 08, 2026•1 hr 8 min•Season 3Ep. 11
Is life destiny or choice? "Drink from the Nile" is a phrase in Egypt that promises if you drink from the Nile river, you’re destined to return. Katya Dunko's memoir, named for this phrase, is her refusal to let destiny be controlled by generational trauma. She broke the chain. We talk about the real story behind her jaw-dropping book: growing up in post-Soviet Ukraine, being stowed away on a train as a child, surviving a decade of opioid addiction, and later fleeing an abusive marriage in Egypt...
Mar 31, 2026•58 min•Season 3Ep. 10
How do you break free of one legacy to cement your own? We’re back with a bite-sized Babes in Bookland mini review of Liza Minnelli’s memoir “Kid, Wait Till You Hear This,” and it’s equal parts warm, jaw-dropping, and quietly devastating. I went in expecting old Hollywood stories and iconic name-drops. I got those... but I didn’t expect a brutally honest look at what fame can cost a family behind closed doors. I talk about Liza Minnelli the performer and cultural force: an EGOT-winning star of s...
Mar 24, 2026•19 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Author Ayana Lage joins the show to talk about Missing Me , her memoir of postpartum psychosis and the long road back. We talk about perfectionism as a coping strategy, anxiety as a lifelong undercurrent, and the exhausting need to be seen as “good” while feeling like you’re failing inside. Ayana shares how she turned hospital journals and medical records into a tightly crafted, nonlinear memoir, how she handled the fear of reviews, and what it means to tell the truth when your story includes yo...
Mar 17, 2026•54 min•Season 3Ep. 8
A memoir can feel like a mirror you didn’t ask for. We opened Christina Applegate’s and found an unvarnished account of survival: a child actor who worked to live, a dancer who prayed with her body, an artist who hid behind “Christina Applegate” until truth demanded center stage. We dig into the fault lines: body image and shame running alongside career highs; Sweet Charity on Broadway as a masterclass in grit after a brutal injury; pay inequity countered by quiet solidarity; and more. Her refle...
Mar 10, 2026•1 hr 5 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Think you know Demi Moore? Think again. My friend, Mackenzie, and I peel back the tabloid myths to trace a far more gripping arc: a child who found safety in hospital routines because home was chaos, a teenager forced to protect herself when the adults failed, and an artist who spent years equating value with a number on the scale while breaking box‑office ceilings and cultural taboos. Guided by Demi’s memoir Inside Out , we connect the dots between early trauma, addiction, codependence, and the...
Mar 04, 2026•1 hr 24 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Ever picked up a buzzy memoir and felt the heart was missing beneath the hype? I sit down with Ryley from the Little Miss Podcast to unpack Elyse Myers’ debut: the charming illustrations, a few resonant lines on anxiety and connection, and the recurring moments where the story stops just shy of reckoning. We wanted the hinge points—the cause, the cost, the change—and too often found stylized vignettes that try to entertain when they should have revealed. From there, we widen the lens to the ecos...
Feb 27, 2026•54 min•Season 3Ep. 5
What does it mean to move shame back where it belongs? We dive into Gisele Pelicot’s A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides—a memoir that confronts sexual violence, courtroom language, and public accountability while fiercely protecting the survivor’s right to joy. I trace Pellicot’s path from the shocking discovery of years of drugging and assault to the rare choice of an open hearing and the powerful moment when all fifty-one perpetrators were found guilty. Along the way, we sit with hard q...
Feb 23, 2026•21 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Can you hold two truths at once? I sit down with author and sociologist Deborah J. Cohan to explore her memoir, Welcome to Wherever We Are , a clear-eyed look at psychological abuse, loyalty, and the quiet heroics of caregiving. From the first moments, Deborah names what so many experience but struggle to articulate—gaslighting, threats, verbal assaults, and financial control—and shows how a child’s devotion to her father can coexist with a fierce need for boundaries. As we trace the book’s path...
Feb 18, 2026•46 min•Season 3Ep. 3
What if the high you’re chasing isn’t love at all, but the thrill of uncertainty? On pub day, we sit down with author Amanda McCracken to unpack limerence (the obsessive, anxious fixation that can masquerade as romance) and how naming the pattern helped her trade fantasy for reciprocity. We connect the dots between anxious-avoidant dynamics, social media ambiguity, and the dopamine hit of anticipation that keeps us hooked on “what if.” Amanda shares how purity culture shaped her choices, why “sa...
Feb 10, 2026•1 hr 3 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Are you living your most authentic life? Mortality has a way of cutting through noise. My friend, Cara, and I open season three with Alua Arthur’s memoir Briefly Perfectly Human and ask how getting real about death can help us live with more honesty, tenderness, and courage today. Cara shares first-hand insights from death doula training, and together we map the terrain so many of us avoid: grief that won’t be rushed, hard choices families face, and the practical steps that turn love into action...
Feb 04, 2026•1 hr 4 min•Season 3Ep. 1
How far could you go if you believed in yourself? Katherine Johnson’s memoir My Remarkable Journey is more than a space-age origin story; it is a study in how confidence, education, and community can shape history. Early on, the memoir reads like a love letter to learning. Katherine’s parents, one generation removed from slavery, push her toward college with sacrifices and a father’s mantra etched in memory: “You’re as good as anyone, but no better.” The book also shows how mentors matter. She h...
Dec 31, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 27
Ready for a holiday watch that actually holds up? We close the year with Jackie and Danielle from No More Late Fees and dig into why Nancy Meyers’ The Holiday still hits. It's a rom-com where self-respect is the twist, friendship is the anchor, and charisma beats swagger every time. We trade Blockbuster memories for sharp analysis then get into what really matters: characters that feel real and show major growth. Is Iris and Arthur’s bond the film’s best relationship? When he tells her to stop a...
Dec 24, 2025•1 hr 12 min
Does love need words? I sit down with anthropologist and author, Danilyn Rutherford, to explore Beautiful Mystery , her memoir about raising Millie, a luminous daughter who communicates beyond speech, and the radical shift that happens when language stops being the measure of a life. We trace her craft journey and discuss how Danilyn brings an anthropologist’s eye to family life, reckoning with the field’s history around eugenics and capacity while arguing for a social definition of personhood: ...
Dec 16, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Season 2Ep. 26
How do you honor the ones you love? Our guest, author and maker Ashley Russell, brings her grandmother, Wanda’s, kitchen back to life with a cozy, retro-modern cookbook that feels like a hug and reads like a memoir. We dig into how a granddaughter turned a private archive into a public heirloom, complete with tattoo-style illustrations, candid photos, and DIY food shots that celebrate mess and memory over perfection. Ashley walks us through gathering 300 recipes and shaping a tight, test-driven ...
Dec 10, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Season 2Ep. 25
What does it take to keep becoming? We dive into Michelle Obama’s memoir with a candid, hopeful conversation about where identity starts, how it stretches, and why purpose, not pageantry, changes lives. Becoming is more than a political memoir; it’s a field guide for growth when the ground shifts under your feet. From a tight-knit South Side home to Princeton lecture halls and the relentless spotlight of the White House, we follow the real work behind “Becoming”: respecting kids as full people, ...
Dec 03, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Season 2Ep. 24
If belonging feels like love, purpose, and family… how do you tell when it’s actually something darker? In this episode, we sit with the hard truths behind Bethany Joy Lenz’s memoir Dinner for Vampires. Through the quiet metaphor of a “meal” that slowly turns devouring, Joy reveals how a search for purpose and belonging can be manipulated by those who feed on vulnerability. We explore the slow erosion of identity, the psychological grip of coercive groups, and the courage it takes to push back f...
Nov 19, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Season 2Ep. 23
How can you reclaim your truth and your power? We’re diving into Horse Barbie, Geena Rocero’s radiant and illuminating memoir that shows her journey from a one-room home in Manila, Philippians, to trans pageants, from the perfume counter at Macy’s to New York fashion sets, and from private, suffocating, fear to a TED Talk that reframed transness as power. Along the way, we discuss her father’s complicated love, her mother’s unwavering belief and reflect on what can spark when the people who matt...
Nov 12, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Season 2Ep. 22
What if home isn’t a place you find, but a place you build step by step? I sit down with author and family physician, Brittany Penner, to unpack Children Like Us: A Métis Woman's Memoir of Family, Identity and Walking Herself Home , her powerful Métis memoir about identity, adoption, and the radical work of healing. From being carried out of the hospital by a social worker to navigating a white Mennonite upbringing, Brittany traces how the Sixties Scoop shaped her beginnings and how lineage stil...
Nov 04, 2025•56 min•Season 2Ep. 21
What a treat! This month's Bonus Episode: What Lies Beneath is available for all! No subscription required :) PLEASE if you have not watched the movie, do that first and then listen to this episode! My friend, Priscilla, stops in for a deep dive into why this psychological thriller still stings: Michelle Pfeiffer’s nerve and nuance, Harrison Ford’s brilliant portrayal, and Robert Zemeckis’s love letter to Hitchcock that uses mirrors, windows, and water to make the ordinary feel unsafe. We unpack...
Oct 28, 2025•58 min
What if the phrases you hear in a workout could actually carry you through the hardest chapters of your life? My friend Suz and I sat down with Emma Lovewell’s memoir, "Live Learn Love Well", and followed the thread from the bike to real-world resilience: family roots on Martha’s Vineyard, the ache of divorce, the shock of loss, and the steady return to self through movement, mindfulness, and self-respect. We talk about why “progress, not perfection” is more than a punchy motto—it’s a practical ...
Oct 22, 2025•50 min•Season 2Ep. 20
A crowded waiting room where no one speaks. That image frames my conversation with author Amy Gallo Ryan, whose memoir You May Feel a Bit of Pressure captures the invisible weight of infertility. Its medical routines, social silences, and the way hope can both carry and cut. We dig into why she wrote the book she couldn’t find, how ten years of drafting and revising turned chaos into story, and what it means to share the truth when the truth isn’t tidy. Amy walks us through the physical and emot...
Oct 15, 2025•1 hr•Season 2Ep. 20
What does it feel like when your voice is taken from you? In Britney Spears' groundbreaking memoir "The Woman in Me," we finally hear directly from the pop icon herself after years of silence enforced by a suffocating conservatorship. Reading this memoir alongside my good friend Lizzie was a profound experience. Britney's story isn't just celebrity gossip; it's a stark warning about how easily a woman's autonomy can be stripped away under the guise of "protection." While she was creating chart-t...
Sep 24, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Season 2Ep. 19
What happens when a woman refuses to remain nameless? Chanel Miller's extraordinary memoir "Know My Name" transforms her painful journey from sexual assault victim to powerful advocate with unflinching honesty and surprising grace. In this deeply moving discussion, my friend, Becca, and I explore how Chanel reclaimed her identity after being known only as "Emily Doe" in the highly publicized Stanford sexual assault case. Beyond the headlines that focused on her attacker's swimming career, we dis...
Sep 10, 2025•1 hr 26 min•Season 2Ep. 18
What happens when we confront the ways we've perpetuated stereotypes? Kaila Yu joins me to discuss her raw, unflinching journey from pin up girl and import model to memoirist. Kaila's memoir "Fetishized" emerged from the aftermath of the Atlanta spa shootings, forcing her to reckon with her own relationship with Asian fetishization. With remarkable candor, she reveals how she initially welcomed the attention that came with being an "exotic" Asian American woman after feeling invisible during her...
Sep 03, 2025•49 min•Season 2Ep. 17
What defines beauty, and who decides if we're worthy of love? In this deeply personal conversation about Alison Landa's memoir "Bearded Lady," my friend, Misty, and I explore the profound struggle of living with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), condition that causes excessive body hair growth, and the lifelong journey toward self-acceptance. Allison's story begins in childhood when her mother, rather than filling a prescription that could help manage her condition, simply teaches her to sha...
Aug 20, 2025•1 hr 17 min•Season 2Ep. 16
Do our pets make us better people? My friend, Priscilla, and I think so! We chat about this idea and more as we discuss Dr. Amy Attas’ memoir "Pets and the City: True Tales of a Manhattan House Call Veterinarian." When Dr. Amy Attas found herself unexpectedly fired from a prestigious Manhattan veterinary clinic, she did something revolutionary—she launched the city's first full-time veterinary house call practice. What began as a professional setback blossomed into a groundbreaking career that h...
Aug 06, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Season 2Ep. 15
