Heather Pringle, author of the upcoming book The Northwomen: Untold Stories From the Other Half of the Viking World , brings us the incredible story of Gudrid the Well-Traveled! Gudrid was born into the Viking world which worshipped the old Norse Gods and their ways, but she was also born into a modern family that had adopted the hip new religion of the age: Christianity. This gave young Gudrid a unique ability to walk the line between the two religions, which would prove to be a giant stepping ...
Aug 21, 2024•58 min•Ep. 225
Simone Biles has made history once more with an incredible performance at the Olympics, breaking records left and right, wowing us (and the judges) with stunning combinations and flawless execution. The past 8 years, though, her work has gone beyond the gymnastics floor and Simone has become a beacon of hope for abuse survivors and an advocate for mental wellness and self-care. She has changed the fabric and foundation of the sport - and not just gymnastics! All of athletics will never be the sa...
Aug 14, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 224
Special guest Michael Slefinger tells us about gymnast Věra Čáslavská. Her meteoric rise to fame surprised the world, her talent was unmatched, and her charisma charmed the entire world, so why has nobody today even heard of her? Find out why in this week's episode of Broads You Should Know! — A Broad is a woman who lives by her own rules. Broads You Should Know is the podcast about the Broads who helped shape our world! BroadsYouShouldKnow.com YT/IG/FB @BroadsYouShouldKnow & TW @BYSKpodcast...
Aug 07, 2024•44 min•Ep. 223
WELL WELL WELL...looks like Sara was wrong in her last Broad Opinion hot take, but in the the BEST WAY! Chloe Skye joins Sara for a NEW hot take, this time - on VP Kamala Harris being the new Democratic nominee and NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES! The excitement is palpable across so many demographics - the hope, and the belief that change is coming and we will have a WOMAN PRESIDENT elected come November is very real, but it's not a sure thing yet. It's more important than ever that we unit...
Jul 31, 2024•44 min•Ep. 222
Victoria C. Woodhull might be one of the most interesting women we've covered on the pod so far! Her story includes not one, but THREE rags-to-riches climbs, a flourishing career as a medium & clairvoyant, and she was the first woman to not only run for President of the United States, but she also the first woman to own a Wall Street Firm AND the first woman EVER to testify before Congress. As you might suspect, her story is also filled with drama and not JUST within the gossip column she pu...
Jul 24, 2024•41 min•Ep. 221
This week, Sara revisits the story of Shirley Chisholm, a civil rights leader, politician, and the first Black woman to run for President of the United States of America and first woman to run on the Democratic ticket! Learn more about this incredible woman who ran her campaign "Unbought and Unbossed" also displayed a truly remarkable response, particularly by today's standards, when there was an assassination attempt on one of her opponent's life. - A Broad is a woman who lives by her own rules...
Jul 17, 2024•30 min•Ep. 220
In her new segment BROAD OPINIONS, Sara brings us her hot take on what the news media is calling "Biden's Disastrous Debate Performance", how we should feel about it, and what we should do about it with t-minus 4 months until the election. HINT: It's not the take you might think it'll be. PLUS! Sara brings compelling real-time data on the impact trump's time in office has had on the women of Texas, and the other 13 states with abortion bans. HINT: It's worse than you even imagined. CW: sexual as...
Jul 10, 2024•25 min•Ep. 219
Since the age of 10, when she receives her first bicycle, Dervla Murphy dreams of pedaling all the way to India, but her travel plans are put on hold when she becomes caretaker of her mother at just 14 years old. This doesn't stop Dervla from dreaming, though, and when she is released from her caretaker duties 16 years later, her trip to India becomes a reality. Even though it's the worst winter in almost a century, Dervla sets out on Roz, her trusty bicycle with nothing but her passport, a came...
Jul 03, 2024•32 min•Ep. 218
This week, Sara sheds some light on The Invisible Battalion! While Ukrainian women have been defending their country on the front lines for decades, it wasn't until 2018 that they were actually allowed to serve in combat ranks, thanks, in large part, to a massive campaign known as "The Invisible Battalion," led by the NGO Institute of Gender Programs ( invisiblebattalion.org ). The women leading this movement have opened the door for Ukrainian women's rights, and their powerful campaign also giv...
Jun 26, 2024•21 min•Ep. 217
Cornelia Sorabji dreamt long and hard about becoming a lawyer, even though in India in the late 1800's women were just barely allowed to go to University at all, and were NOT permitted to law school or the court system as a whole. Born into a progressive, education-minded family, though, Cornelia was not deterred by these archaic laws - instead she gathers supporters and chases her dreams all the way to Oxford, where she becomes the first woman to study law and the first woman to be admitted to ...
Jun 19, 2024•32 min•Ep. 216
Today, Colin A. Borden brings us the tale of Verity Lambert - the founding producer of Doctor Who! As an aspiring young writer and director, Verity kept running into the glass ceiling, being told time and time again that there wasn't any more room for another woman. Verity kept at it, though, and when an accident on set means someone has to step in to keep the show together, Verity meets the challenge with aplomb and leaves an indelible impression on the studio department head. Later, when he's ...
Jun 12, 2024•28 min•Ep. 215
The Broad, the Myth, the LEGEND! We all know her name, but do you actually know her story? To start with, did you know that wasn't really her name?! Joan was born into a war-torn France at a time when French hope was greatly diminished. How on earth does a thirteen-year-old farm girl travel across dangerous, disputed territory, win an audience with the Crown Prince of France, inspire the entire French army and restore the hope of France, when it would have seemed statistically impossible? And wh...
Jun 05, 2024•50 min•Ep. 214
This week Sara brings us one of her personal heroes and feminist icons, the incomparable and prolific - bell hooks! Growing up a segregated Kentucky, Gloria Jean Watkins witnessed firsthand the wake of destruction wreaked by what she would later dub the Imperialist-White-Supremacist-Capitalist-Patriarchy. She spent the rest of her life in a fight against it as a writer, teacher, scholar, intellectual, cultural critic and author, and in Sara's opinion, is the the architect of a modern feminism th...
May 29, 2024•48 min•Ep. 213
When Cnopus goes to invade Erythrae he calls on an oracle to provide some wartime guidance. This oracle advises he put a Priestess of Hecate from Thessaly in charge of his army. Chrysame is sent forth from Thessaly and she immediately sets to work devising one of the most epic strategies of 11th Century BCE using none other than her Hecate-given knowledge of animals and poisons. So epic, in fact, that her name appears in Polyaenus' Stratagems in War - one of the only women even mentioned in it. ...
May 22, 2024•12 min•Ep. 212
In 1908, when Winston Churchill shoots his mouth off about women during an election cycle the suffragists in town are not having it, and Mary Moloney puts on her boots, grabs her dinner bell and becomes Churchill's greatest nightmare: A silencer of his voice. Mary rings her bell for a whole week during by elections in Dundee Scotland, following Churchill wherever he goes, winning crowds over in droves and drawing large press attention. Does he ever apologize? Does he win the election or does Mar...
May 15, 2024•18 min•Ep. 211
Chloe joins Sara this week to talk about the laugh of the century: Why men can't figure out why a woman thinks bears are less dangerous than them and how deeply upset they are about it. They cover this latest viral TikTok, as well as the latest in women's rights in the US, the temptation of protest voting, Nikki Glaser's brilliant roast of Tom Brady, Challengers and the most recent, female-led True Detective season, beloved by many and unjustly crapped on by the one person who probably should ha...
May 08, 2024•36 min•Ep. 210
This week, Chloe Skye returns to bring us the story of Beate Gordon! When Beate's Ukrainian-born Jewish parents fled Russia in the 1920's, eventually landing in Japan, Beate fell in love with the Japanese people and culture, but WWII leaves Beate in the US, separated from her parents and unable to contact them. Beate uses her incredible ployglot skills to become a translator, eventually working her way onto Douglas MacArthur's team and to the very table where his team was writing the new Japanes...
May 01, 2024•21 min•Ep. 209
This week, Sara brings us the story of Kadambini Ganguly, the first woman to graduate college, first woman admitted to an Indian medical school and the first female medical doctor in India! Her work wasn't limited to medicine, either. A champion for women's and worker's rights, Kadambini's socio-political impact on India was undeniably incredible. — A Broad is a woman who lives by her own rules. Broads You Should Know is the podcast about the Broads who helped shape our world! BroadsYouShouldKno...
Apr 24, 2024•31 min•Ep. 208
Mary Baker Eddy did not have things easy. As a young girl, she was plagued with fits and ill health and then later much family tragedy made life even harder to bear. Mary found much comfort, though, in the scriptures and her study of them and this love of the the Bible would lead to her becoming one of the only women in modern history to have formed a major religion: Christian Scientists! Learn more about Mary's incredible story of resilience and the grassroots work she did establishing Christia...
Apr 17, 2024•33 min•Ep. 207
When Anna Grigoryevna Snitkina showed up on the doorstep of Fyodor Dostoyevsky to serve as his stenographer, helping him complete his next deadline, she had no idea that that life was about to change big time. What follows is an unusual courtship and unexpected happiness for both of them, despite Dostovesky's significant challenges, physical, familial and otherwise. Their resulting marriage seems to be almost the opposite of the Tolstoy's, and yet much like Sofia Tolstoyana - Anna clearly was re...
Apr 10, 2024•35 min•Ep. 206
Sophia Tolstaya never got a lot of fame or credit for all her accomplishments, in fact, she is generally reviled as famous Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy's b*tchy wife, but she was a brilliant talent and bright businesswoman herself. In fact, without her, Leo's work likely would never have been circulated so widely and successfully, nor would Leo have even been able to write such brilliant books - his characters draw inspiration from her, and her feedback deeply shaped the books and the mind of th...
Apr 03, 2024•38 min•Ep. 205
Before Bram Stoker wrote Dracula, even before Edgar Allen Poe wrote his Tell-Tale Heart, the genre of gothic horror was brought forth out of the incredible mind of a 21-year-old woman name MARY SHELLEY. Mary had already suffered quite a bit of loss in her first 21 years and her connection to death, grief, and the existential human story created not only the first novel of its' kind, but what would also become one of the most quintessential horror novels of all time. Listen now to hear the full s...
Mar 27, 2024•27 min•Ep. 204
This week, Sara brings us the story of Alexya Salvador, the first transgender pastor in Brazil and all of Latin America, and the first transgender person to adopt a child in Brazil. As a young child, Alexya found great solace and belonging in the Catholic Church, so much so, that she entered seminary to begin a path to priesthood. But as her studies progressed she uncovered deeply held core teachings that made her feel like a criminal just for being gay. Alexya's story is one of overcoming the g...
Mar 20, 2024•25 min•Ep. 203
This week, Sara brings us Sarah Winchester! When Sarah Winchester inherits the vast fortune of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company she decides to spend her fortune warding off the vengeful spirits of the victims of the Winchester rifle and builds the Winchester Mystery House - known widely as one of the most famous supernatural/haunted places in the US. But is that the real story? Listen now to hear the TRUE story behind the legend of Sarah Winchester. — A Broad is a woman who lives by her own...
Mar 13, 2024•31 min•Ep. 202
This week, Sara brings us the Mongolian Warrior Princess, Khutulun Khan! Her remarkable battlefield prowess was only eclipsed by her mad skills in the wrestling arena. This Princess-who-would-be-Khan (Great-great Granddaughter of Genghis Khan and cousin of Kublai Khan) wrestled & defeated hundreds of men to avoid arranged marriage. She helped her father Kaidu hold onto his massive territory, but does she inherit her father's mantle when he dies? You'll have to listen to find out! — A Broad i...
Mar 06, 2024•21 min•Ep. 201
We're wrapping up Black History Month with the story of Carrie Johnson! During the 1919 race riots of Washington D.C., Carrie and her dad were holed up at home trying to stay out of trouble, but when white policemen barge into their home and their .38 rifle hits and kills one of the detectives, Carrie and her dad are carted off to jail and put on trial for first degree murder - a capital crime. What follows is a strange series of events that is not particularly well documented, or at least the r...
Feb 28, 2024•34 min•Ep. 200
Continuing our celebration of Black History Month, guest Amelia Hammel brings us one of the most iconic Black Broads in American History - Harriet Tubman! Born into enslavement, Harriet Tubman suffered great at the hands of her "owners" including, one night as a six-year-old, taking at hit to the head by a metal tub. This skull cracking moment would forever change her life - instilling her with a god-given mission to help free as many enslaved people as she could. What follows is a lifetime of n...
Feb 21, 2024•33 min•Ep. 199
We don't know much about the life of Alice H. Parker, except that the cold New Jersey winter annoyed her enough that she invented the first natural gas heater and "zoned heating" - the foundational technology for modern HVAC systems! Listen now to hear more about her groundbreaking invention, and what we know about this woman who created perhaps the greatest creature comfort humanity has ever known! #blackhistory #blackhistorymonth #blackwomen #blackinventors — A Broad is a woman who lives by he...
Feb 14, 2024•16 min•Ep. 198
This week, Sara brings us Constance Baker Motley - The first black woman to try a case before the Supreme Court, to serve in the NY Senate, to be elected Manhattan Borough President, to be appointed to a Federal Judgeship and to be promoted to Chief Judge. This powerhouse Broad was the role model for many of today's most prominent women of color in the Judiciary branch including Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and Vice President Kamala Harris, and it's NO WONDER! Constance not only wrote the brief...
Feb 07, 2024•43 min•Ep. 197
This week we revisit the story of Yu Gwan-sun! Raised in a Japan-occupied Korea, Gwan-sun only knew life where her Korean culture was being oppressed and destroyed, but when she turned sixteen, armed with her education and mad love for her country she stands up for Korean Independence. Her story is one you won't want to miss! Special guest Earl T. Kim joins us to help shed light on this epic Korean history. — A Broad is a woman who lives by her own rules. Broads You Should Know is the podcast ab...
Jan 31, 2024•32 min•Ep. 196
