Work-Shaped Life

Episode 15 with Tsilli Pines What'd we talk about? The arc of a career. Earning a living. Side projects. Connecting dots. Professional jealousy. Staying hungry. The importance of timing. Creative Mornings. Design Week Portland. Portland circa 2012. Collaboration and collective success. Design/build. Luck. Staying human. Helping leaders making difficult decisions. The black box of business. Th...

Episode 14 with Michael Bolognino. What'd we talk about? What separates therapy and coaching. Startups at the turn of the century. Competitive swimming. Working at Google. Coaching certification. Experimentation. Getting real about personal budgets. Focus-setting. Believing in your clients. Running a business. The value of structure. Operational design and other lessons from tech. Putting you...

Episode 13 with Kartika Vasavada. What'd we talk about? Social work. Volunteering. Nursing. Compassion from coworkers. Working inpatient versus outpatient. Coping mechanisms. Friends outside of healthcare. Work-life balance. Taking on union duties. Childhood in Michigan. Channeling anger. Stubborn independence. Connecting with patients. Finding joy. What you carry with you. Impromptu sex advi...

Episode 12 with Kayla Dantz.   What'd we talk about? Weaving and photography. Plaid. The nature of memory. Creating and growing a business. Physical art in a digital world. Social media. Technical skills. Meeting like-minded people in college. Internships. Living in New York. The business and the passion. An in-between age. The global market. Explaining what you do to strangers. Finding an au...

Episode 11 with Manon Fisher What'd we talk about? Public utilities, consequential decisions, and tomorrow's lived realities. Identity.  Growing up in San Francisco, Guatemala and Tonga. Travel. Where her name comes from. Van life. The whole individual. Performance-driven organizations. Complex systems. Sharing risk. Recognizing alignment. Siloing yourself. Appreciative inquiry. Mentors....

Guest Sarah Kurtz What'd we talk about? Life transitions. Running. Learning with Bikram in the batting cage on La Cienega. Vinyasa. Guides to living. Mental endurance. Joy and entertainment. Extremely active people. Nursing. Sweating. Locker rooms. Traveling yoga adventures. Choreographing workout playlists. Aging. Great teachers. What the bicep does. Quieting the mind. Breathing. Self-regula...

Guest Hannah Louise Poston What'd we talk about? Identity. Micro-generational mentorship. YouTube. Studying poetry. Making clothes. Beauty and fashion. Architecture. Writing. Working with your partner. Video production roles and responsibilities. Monetizing creativity. Work schedules. Shame freeze. What Roxanne Gay said. The algorithm. Revenue streams. Quakers. Emily Dickinson. Seeking advice...

Guest Matt Newell What'd we talk about? What a corporate attorney does. Choosing a college major. Where advice comes from. Logic. Journaling at Starbucks. Technical writing. Questioning your choices. Good teams. Frogs in boiling water. Cross-country travel. Periodic, stress-induced conversations. Vacation standards in America. Trains that don't stop. Things you don't learn in law sc...

Guest Kimberly Howard Wade What'd we talk about? Youth development. Acting. Trying to make your parents happy. Graduate school. Putting your ego in a box. Ten thousand hours. Giving back. Raising twins. Striving. Becoming Ski Mom. Changing your routine to refresh your perspective. Soul expansion. The Lincoln Lawyer. Systems thinking. Cabinet positions that don't exist. Dan Wieden. Saying...

Guest Katrin Hinrichs What'd we talk about?   Fascination. Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Horses. Assisted reproduction. Grade school goals. Pet care in the 70s. Ideas. Mentors. Doing something no one thought you could. Curiosity. Management. Ethics. Cloning. The difference between corn and oats. Teaching. Three-dimensional jigsaw puzzles. Elementary school classrooms. Trying new things. Liste...

Guest Sam Stanton What'd we talk about? Dropping out of college. Rehab. Port Townsend. Morning coffee on deck. Tinkering with things. Trade school. International travel. Leaning into your 20s. Tugboat cowboys in the oil patch. Sleep schedules. Chasing it hard. Lavender farming. Ferries. Going home at the end of a shift. Self employment. Tangerine orchards. Putting your job on the shelf. What...

Guest: Jen Burkart What'd we talk about? Literacy. Teaching. Dream jobs. Opportunity gaps. Chest puff-up moments. Raising multiple children. Supportive partners. Hobby time. Work clothes. Leadership books we've never read. Managing complex change. Finding focus. Allocating personal resources. The feeling of agency. Searching for Lake Michigan. Powell's circa 1998. Defining the outco...

Guest: Katie Silver What'd we talk about? Executive recruitment. Job seekers. Introverts. Closing a deal. Finding alignment with ethos and values. Enforcing work-life balance. Helping people get unstuck. Building a network. Growing your career. Understanding the market. The art of the possible. Coaching and mentoring. AI. Throwing your resume into the void. Curiosity. Doing more with less. Wo...

Guest: David Gutterman What'd we talk about? Intellectual and emotional capacity. What it is to be human. The liberal arts. Funeral dancing. Sustained community. Learning how to listen and be present. The time horizon. How to finish cooking half-baked ideas. Capitalist frameworks. Fear and powerlessness. Asking better questions. Kathryn Schulz. Changing your mind. Styles of learning. Work-Sha...

Guest: Katie Fine What'd we talk about? The Department of War. Evanston, Illinois. Forensic archeology. The Neolithic period in Greece. The job market. Coffee shop conversations at the Pentagon. Heated Rivalry. Tethers. Losing a parent. The Vietnam War. MIA POWs. Adventure. Loneliness. Research security. Career goals. Identity. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Work-Shaped Life is a prod...

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”  In Work-Shaped Life, people talk about how the path to “what they want to be” is going...and where it’s taken them along the way. Who’s able to build and sustain a career that fits the life they want? How have they done it? And what does that even look like today, in 2026, as the economy falters and the future of work seems less certain than ever? Have y...