Kelly Corrigan Wonders

In honor of the midterm elections, Kelly sits down with Heather Gerken, a longtime constitutional law professor and election law expert who went on to become dean of Yale Law School. Heather later stepped away from academia to lead the Ford Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic organizations in the country. She spent her career studying elections before giving up tenure to put her ideas int...

We all have things we do to help us manage grief. Today's episode is a look at one of the ways that Kelly handled the loss of her beloved dad, Greenie. In the year following his death, she wrote and sent emails out into the ether - to connect with him in a small but very meaningful way. (Previously aired)

Journalist and author Amanda Ripley cuts through the noise with a startling fact: America is on track for its lowest murder rate since 1960, yet most Americans believe the opposite. Kelly shares insights from Amanda's Substack " Unraveled ," examining how we've become so disconnected from reality, why conflict entrepreneurs profit from our fear, and what it would look like if media corrected our b...

With the midterms approaching, Kelly wanted to sit down with someone who actually knows how government works — from the inside. Former US Senator Jeff Flake spent 18 years in Congress: twelve in the House and six in the Senate, and he’s no longer running for anything, which means he can say what he really thinks. Recorded at the Aspen Ideas Festival, this conversation goes places most political in...

Kelly shares a moving piece by her friend Susannah Meadows about the complex relationship she had with her father. Originally published in The New York Times and titled "What My Dad Gave Me," Susannah writes with unflinching honesty about the gifts she received from her father—some welcome, others less so—and how their relationship transformed in his final years. From awkward silences and missed c...

When someone admits they're struggling at 2 AM, should they have to wait until morning to talk to another human? Kelly shares her TED stage conversation with Dr. Allison Darcy, creator of Woebot, an AI therapy tool used by over 1.5 million people. From questions about who profits when we share our deepest fears to whether perfect AI responsiveness might make us reject messy human relationships, th...

She left an abusive relationship while pregnant, moved into a shelter system built for a hundred women she’d never met, and still found a way to finish her bachelor’s degree, texting an assignment to her professor from the delivery room. Kelly closes out the Can Do Moms series with Briana, a graduate student now working toward a career in public policy — trying to close the distance between the pe...

Kelly's cousin Kathy Corrigan Zentgraf honored her mother Lena Natale Corrigan in this incredible talk.

Kelly and her longtime friend Jennifer Wallace, the New York Times bestselling author known for her work on mattering, are taking their ongoing conversation on the road. Jenny makes the case for mattering, Kelly makes the case for making and creativity, and the two sit down together to find where those ideas actually meet. Thanks to the Walton Family Foundation, they’re bringing the whole thing to...

She spent a decade in uniform, searched for signs of life on Mars, and once calmly aided soldiers wounded in combat. Then, at 40, she found herself living in her car, pregnant, with nothing left but the will to start over. Kelly talks with new mom Cortney in the 3rd episode of our Can Do Moms series, about what happens when a person built for crisis finally meets one she can't out-strategize. They...

A letter from Kelly to honor the many special nurses who have provided care to her and the people she loves. (Previously aired)

Andy Laats thought parenting was a complete alphabet—he did A through M, his wife Liz handled N through Z. After she died of ovarian cancer, he learned he'd underestimated the N through Z work, and then discovered there was a whole world beyond language he never even knew existed. In this Go To episode featuring Andy's TED talk from Kelly's curated session on AI and family life, a CEO learns what...

Kelly talks with Ariela, a mother of two in Massachusetts who was told by a doctor, just three days after giving birth, that her newborn son was slowly dying. He was diagnosed with a rare metabolic disorder, rushed to Children's Hospital, and spent 22 days in intensive care. It was a crisis that reshaped her family's finances, her older son's sense of normal — and one she is still navigating every...

Jody Weverka wrote this sweet eulogy for her Auntie Marge - a woman who made everything from crafts to meals to gardens to family life better for everyone. (Previously aired)

A Maasai girl grows up milking cows at dawn, walking ten kilometers for water, sleeping eight to a bed, surrounded by 38 siblings and five mothers who all knew her name and sang her song. Then she leaves for the city—chosen husband, three children, a laptop, shoes with zippers. Kelly shares Ndinini Kimesera Sikar's TED talk about living in two worlds and the question that haunts her: what do we pr...

Chelsea wakes up before 4:30 AM, drives a school bus through rain and mud, and still finds a way to give her sons the kind of stability she lacked growing up. Kelly opens a new four-part series, Can Do Moms with a conversation about what it actually takes to raise good kids on very little sleep and even less margin for error. They talk about the community that shows up when family can't, the quiet...

Quite often, it’s hard to know how to properly show up for a friend who’s going through a tough time - that is, until you’ve been through the experience yourself and can relate more fully. This is Kelly’s letter to friends who have lost a parent and also to those of us who feel we could have shown up for someone in a better way. (Previously aired)

What does it take to truly see someone before they're gone? Kelly shares an essay she wrote for an evening celebrating awe, reflecting on attention as a practice—learning to notice in wild places with a guide who insists you look closer, then bringing that same discipline to a quiet room where it matters most. (Previously aired)

Why do so many of us sit in silence next to a stranger, certain a conversation would go badly, when the data says otherwise? Kelly talks with behavioral scientist Nicholas Epley, author of the new book A Little More Social , about the small, quiet decisions that keep us more isolated than we need to be—and what happens in the rare moments we choose to reach out instead. We're airing this conversat...

Kelly shares a listener's story that perfectly captures what Thanks For Being Here is all about - honoring the people who matter most, whether they're still with us or have moved on. Tracy Hargan's beautiful toast to her 80-year-old mother Janet shows us why these tributes are so powerful and needed. Through the toast given at her mom's birthday celebration, Tracy reminds us all to speak our love...

For almost 90 years, Harvard has been tracking the same group of men to answer one question: what actually leads to a long, happy life? Kelly digs into the findings, which point again and again to the same surprising answer — not money, not IQ — but the quality of our closest relationships. She connects it to research on chronic pain, a study on personality change well into old age, and a simple t...

Why do we still treat music like a luxury, given everything we now know about what it actually does for the human brain? Kelly talks with music educator and composer Cava Menzies and hearing surgeon and neuroscientist Dr. Charles Limb about the strange, powerful territory where sound meets the mind—the growing evidence that hearing loss may be tied to cognitive decline, and the case that music its...

Kelly reads a birthday letter from her lifelong friend Mary Hope McQuiston to her father Bob, who is turning 90. Instead of throwing a surprise party, Mary Hope decided to honor her dad by collecting the lessons he's taught her—one for each decade he's lived. What unfolds is a portrait of a life well-lived, told through stories about elaborate pranks, deep friendships, showing up when it matters,...

Kelly follows up on her conversation with Susan Cain (author of Quiet and Bittersweet ) with a song that captures the same ache of longing they talked about. It's a small tribute to the things we're all still waiting for, featuring a haunting, original song, Someday , by her friend — musician and NYU professor Mike Errico. Mike's book that Kelly mentioned is: Music, Lyrics, and Life: A Field Guide...

Author Susan Cain , who first reframed introversion for millions of readers in Quiet , turns her attention to something even more universal: the strange, aching beauty of knowing that everyone we love, we will someday lose. Kelly talks with Susan about why sorrow might be one of the most uniting forces we have — and what changes in us once we stop running from that truth. They also discuss Susan's...