Life, Deconstructed

Christina Wallace is a Harvard Business School lecturer, serial entrepreneur, and self-described ‘human Venn Diagram.’ She joins us to go in depth on her new book “The Portfolio Life,” a thought-provoking takedown of our outdated concept of work-life balance, with deeply practical advice on how to build a life that, in her words, is bigger than a business card.   *Why having a ‘solid career p...

She's a globally successful singer-songwriter, musician and composer who sings in Hebrew, Arabic and French. Riff Cohen's music doesn't fit neatly into any one category - it's been described as modern Middle Eastern  Rock or Algerian folk,  but it's also the kind of sound that blends influences so vividly, it's better to just listen instead of label. She was born to parents of...

This week we’re bringing you more distilled advice from the talented and inspiring women on the show, who’ve all opened up and shared candid reflections about how they got to where they are, and what they figured out along the way. And that’s really at the core of these conversations: getting a peak behind the curtain at the winding, often unexpected paths that lead to success. For some of the wom...

This week we’re continuing to highlight some of our favorite words of wisdom from the incredible women on the show - this time, sharing the best advice they ever got, and the best life lessons they ever learned. You’ll hear from women from all kinds of industries, from fashion and design, to tech, security, journalism, law, and film. They share their insights on fear and failure, work culture and...

A special episode of Life, Deconstructed, as we start to pull together some of our favorite anecdotes and insights from the incredible women on the show. As always, our conversations are with fascinating women from all kinds of fields and backgrounds: from an ex-CIA operative, to tech CEOs, fashion founders and award-winning journalists and producers. They each had their own unique, winding, often...

Adeena Sussman has had a pretty intense five years: co-authoring two bestselling cookbooks with Chrissy Teigen, getting married and moving to Tel Aviv, and writing her first solo (and wildly successful) cookbook, Sababa, named a Best Fall 2019 Cookbook by the New York Times, Bon Appétit, and Food & Wine. But finding her lane - and success - didn't come overnight. It came ou...

This week Michelle Morgan takes us inside her path into marketing, branding and strategy - how she found a space to create real impact and find personal meaning in her work. It started out with ditching the pre-med track in favor of the fashion closets at glossy magazines she always dreamed of; but following more of what she calls 'conscious decisions' led her to working on high-profile, inclusive...

Chama Mechtaly was born and raised in Casablanca, Morocco, to Arab Muslim parents. But in middle school she discovered her dad's family secret, hidden even from her mom: his Jewish roots. It changed the course of her life - setting her on a path of trying to understand her country's true history, as well as her own. She's channeled it into incredible work aimed at healing rifts between Jews and Mu...

Her designs are raw, purposefully imperfect - and endlessly elegant. Back in 2012, feeling lost and a bit heartbroken, a (boring) one-day wax carving class set Rosh Mahtani on a completely new path. She ended up founding Alighieri, a jewelry collection inspired by Dante Alighieri's 'Divine Comedy.' Less than 5 years later, the business had an annual growth rate of 500% and...

To say Mariam Wardak has an unusual life story is a bit of an understatement. Born to a family with a prominent legacy in Afghanistan. Raised as a boy by her father until the age of 3. School in America. And a short trip back to Kabul that ended up changing the course of her life. She's since played a major role in her country — from the National Security Council to founding Her Afghanistan, suppo...

Starting at the ripe age of 3 years old, Kirin Sinha thought she'd be a dancer - and took it so seriously her mom had to tell her to take it down a level. When an injury put a sudden end to her dream, she ended up at MIT, imagining life as a professor. Instead she started a national nonprofit for young girls, Shine, before founding the groundbreaking augmented reality startup Illumix. Th...

Brooke Goldstein is a powerhouse attorney, an award-winning filmmaker, a founder, and mom. Soon after settling on human rights law, she founded the nonprofit Children's Rights Institute, followed up by The Lawfare Project. You can find her lecturing at law schools across the country, or analyzing and debating on major TV networks - unapologetic about her views. We caught up on how making a do...

When we watch and think of movies, it's all about the actors, the celebrities, the directors. The people less talked about are the producers behind the scenes - the ones problem solving and quite literally making it all happen. Anahid Nazarian is one of those names. For over 30 years she's collaborated with Francis Ford Coppola; her screen credits include The Outsiders, The Godfather Part III, and...

For over 12 years, Jane Ferguson has lived in the Middle East, reporting for CNN, Al Jazeera and now PBS from some of the most dangerous conflict zones in the world. Inside the civil war in Yemen; one of the first on the ground in rebel-held Syria; in and out of Somalia and Afghanistan - and a long way from her childhood in Northern Ireland. An award-winning journalist and journalism professor at...

Brigid Kaelin's story is unlike any other we've heard so far on the podcast. She's a musician, composer, and coach, who commands over 10 instruments and has played with people like Elvis Costello and opened for Loretta Lynn. But she never thought of music as a serious enough career. After a stint at CBS News that included a bad run in with Bill Cosby himself, it was her mom's cancer that ended up...

Nadia Ellis grew up in a religious, tight-knit community in Milan, at once under a microscope, and also an outsider. Several times she picked up, packed up, and started her life anew. Her path? Going from a PhD in discourse analysis - learning the art of persuasion - to hosting her own vegan cooking show shot across Italy. We chat about having the courage to always try new things, keepin...

Paula Galperin has spent 16 years in retail, at big-name brands from Aritzia, to Target, to Urban Outfitters. That's where she's now Head of Merchandising, and helping guide the company through one of the toughest times in the history of the business. She joins us from Philadelphia on how the concept of management has changed, her journey so far, and why learning to let go of the 'perfec...

In 2014, Sara Just was brought in to run one of the most storied newscasts, in one of the country's most storied institutions – NewsHour on PBS. As Executive Producer she's revitalized the show, presided over double-digit growth, and led the team through the shocking passing of co-anchor Gwen Ifill in 2016. She came in with 25 years of experience at ABC News, along the way picking up 16 Emmys...

Alexandra Waldman has been a fashion editor in Tokyo, a writer in Paris, and a financial marketer in Moscow. But it was in 2015 in New York that her life changed, and took on a whole new path filled with personal meaning. She co-founded Universal Standard, a line of beautiful, quality clothing ranging from size 00 to 40. Their first collection sold out in just 6 days - and since then, th...

Tina Sharkey isn't someone you can sum up too briefly. She's spent over two decades building brands, businesses, and platforms, from iVillage, later sold to NBC, to AOL, and Brandless, which kicked off with a $300 million investment. She's a seasoned entrepreneur, investor, board member and mentor, whose name shows up on big-name lists like the ‘Top 100 People Transforming Business,' and the &nbsp...

Patricia Sexton spent a decade in banking, from Wall Street to Singapore to Tokyo, racking up a roster of major clients. 6:30am on the trading floor, making the kind of money to support the sort of New York lifestyle you see in sitcoms. But her path to fulfillment meant saying no to a coveted job at Goldman Sachs, leaving it all behind, and - wait for it - interning at a TV news station in Mongoli...

Amanda Gunawan was born in Indonesia and grew up there until the age of 6, when her family had to abruptly flee the country. She ended up following a creative itch into architecture, and at just 26 co-founded the high-end architecture & design firm OWIU, leading massive projects from the U.S. to Asia. She opens up about being shaped by her unusual childhood, her recipe for figuring out her ide...

Miri Eisin was born in California, raised in Israel, and spent 20 years in the military - serving as Deputy Head of the Combat Intelligence Corps, and retiring as a full colonel. In each position along the way, she was the only woman in the room - and the very first woman to do her job. She later also became the first woman in the country's history to serve as foreign media advisor to the prime mi...

Emmy-award winning journalist and filmmaker Yael Lavie has covered some of the biggest events of our lifetimes, from 9/11 on the ground in New York City, to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, and the Arab Spring. In a funny and emotional talk, she explains why her life path was forever changed by her sister smoking a joint, why she had to twice pull herself away from 'chasing bul...

By age 29, Daphny Bravo had climbed quickly through the executive ranks at Macy's, promoted 8 times in 9 years and managing $300 million dollars in annual retail sales. On paper - a major success straight out of business school. But it took her body shutting down, a hurricane, and ultimately pregnancy to confront what she knew deep down: she wasn't in the right place, and 'success' wasn't exa...