She Pivots

Breion Winston was a basketball star at Rice until she decided to walk away from her final season to move to Tampa and support her husband, NFL quarterback Jameis Winston. Life as the wife of a professional athlete took her from New Orleans to Cleveland and eventually New York. Along the way, she became a mother of two, launched an activewear line, and carved out her own identity in the bright spo...

Some people you’ve known your whole life, but their stories still have the power to surprise you. Lacey Tisch is one of those people for me, a family member whose childhood was deeply intertwined with my own. On this episode of She Pivots, Lacey opens up about a life shaped by medical trauma, a long and complicated struggle with alcohol, and the journey to finally getting sober. We talk abou...

Kelly Corrigan never set out to become a writer. At 36, she was a nonprofit fundraiser, a mom to two young children, and facing stage three breast cancer when she self-published a book for her dying father. That book, The Middle Place, became a New York Times bestseller and launched a writing career that includes four bestsellers and two popular shows on PBS and in podcasting. On this episode of S...

Zoanne Clack is one of the most influential writers and producers in the television industry, having written and produced more than 400 episodes across Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19. But Zoanne wasn’t always just writing about doctors—she was one. She began her career in emergency medicine, working grueling hours as a physician after training at Emory and serving at the Centers f...

As a kid, Michaela Hammond had two goals pinned to her bulletin board: play sports and work in sports. She went on to play volleyball at NYU and build the career in sports she had dreamed about, but eventually found herself sobbing at her desk, wondering if she was really where she wanted to be. On this episode of She Pivots , Michaela talks about letting a dream take a new shape, the power of aut...

Female Quotient founder Shelley Zalis grew up assuming she'd be a stay-at-home mom, just like her own mother. Then a job interview she thought was at an ad agency turned out to be for market research—and she took the job anyway. That accident launched a career that put her decades ahead of her industry, dragging market research onto the internet before most people had email and building a co...

Andrea Virgin didn't set out to become a civil engineer or the leader of a major arts nonprofit. But after the 2008 recession hit her dance company, she traded her pointe shoes for a hard hat and built a new career in engineering—only to face devastating loss when her husband TJ died when their daughter was 4 months old. In this episode of She Pivots, Andrea shares how she rebuilt her life (...

At seventeen, Chelsie Hill was a competitive dancer with her sights set on a career as a professional performer, until a car accident with a drunk driver left her paralyzed and changed everything overnight. Her first question to the doctor wasn't about walking again; it was whether she could still dance. On this episode of She Pivots, Chelsie talks about rebuilding her identity after the accident,...

Mandana Dayani grew up in Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war, in a Persian Jewish family that had been trying to flee since the 1979 revolution. She couldn't play in the park across the street, sirens were routine, and she had a gun pointed at her more than once before she was five. In 1987, her family escaped on a one-day visa, signing away their home and everything they owned to start over in New Y...

In light of Gloria Steinem's passing this week, we are re-releasing our episode with her from earlier this year with a new intro reflecting on Gloria's life and legacy. This episode was recorded in February 2026, and originally released on Gloria's 92nd birthday. It honors her impact on our culture and on the lives of every individual she spent her life fighting for.   Gloria dedicated her li...

Minda Harts grew up working the counter at a Dairy Queen to help cover her family's utility bills, and she climbed her way to the corporate career she'd always dreamed of. But being one of the only Black women in the room wore her down in small ways that piled up over ten years, until she found herself sitting in a parking lot, crying, and neglecting her health despite having "made it." On this ep...

Emily Calandrelli (more widely known as Space Gal) grew up in Morgantown, West Virginia, with no scientists or engineers in her orbit. She chose engineering for the paycheck, discovered a love of science communication along the way, and eventually became the first woman in the country to solo-host a national science show. On this episode of She Pivots, Emily talks about pitching adult science show...

For over two decades, Keli Lee ran talent and casting at ABC and Disney, shaping shows like Grey’s Anatomy , Scandal , and Modern Family while building the industry’s first program designed to get overlooked actors in front of the right people, helping launch the careers of Lupita Nyong’o, Chadwick Boseman, and Pedro Pascal. She created Disney’s first international studio f...

Missy Tannen spent five years teaching third grade and a decade as a stay-at-home mom before she ever thought about starting a company. But when she couldn't find bedding that was high-quality, ethically sourced, and traceable, she and her husband Scott started Boll & Branch out of pure frustration. On this episode of She Pivots, Missy talks about betting the family's life savings on an idea,...

Amanda Kloots has never been able to keep her personal and professional lives separate, which is exactly why her story resonates. She's taken on so many roles: Radio City Rockette, Broadway performer, fitness entrepreneur, bestselling author, daytime TV host, and founder of the wellness brand, Proper. And every pivot she's made was sparked by something deeply personal: a divorce, a new marriage, a...

Amanda Calabrese was a middle schooler at a swim meet when she got her period for the first time. Her team captain told her to figure it out in thirty minutes or she was off the relay. That moment stuck with her all the way to Stanford, where she met her future co-founder Greta Meyer and started sketching what would become Sequel, the first tampon redesign in nearly a hundred years. On this episod...

Dystany Spurlock has been fast her whole life—and is now a She Pivots-sponsored NASCAR driver! This is She Pivots’ first-ever sports sponsorship, because we believe in Dystany’s ability to break records and win. From a Barbie Corvette and go-karts at five, to fighting her way onto the boys' football team in middle school, to setting a motorcycle world record in a sport built for...

For the first time ever, She Pivots is flipping the mic to a man. Flavor Flav joins Emily for our very first "He Pivots" episode to talk about his work as a hype man for women's sports. From sponsoring the US women's water polo team (yes, he got in the pool) to throwing this weekend's three-day "She Got Game" celebration in Vegas for female Olympians and Paralympians the White House snubbed, Flav...

There's one guest Emily brings back every single season: her sister, Carolyn Tisch Blodgett. Carolyn's had one heck of a year: she's Governor of Gotham FC (who won the championship again this year!), and she represents the family's ownership stake in the New York Giants. In this episode of She Pivots, Carolyn dives into what it's actually like to build something as it's happening in real time, the...

Ana Huang spent years living a double life: international relations scholar, Georgetown grad, geopolitical consultant by day, and secret romance novelist by night. She quietly uploaded chapters to Wattpad under a pen name no one in her life knew, and kept writing even as she built a conventional career that would make her immigrant parents proud. On this episode of She Pivots, Ana shares how COVID...

From child actor to Disney star to pop icon dubbed "Lesbian Jesus," Hayley Kiyoko built a career creating the representation she never had as a half-Japanese, queer artist. In this episode of She Pivots, Hayley opens up about becoming a community's symbol practically overnight while still figuring herself out, and how she moved from leading with fear to leading with confidence and self-love. She a...

Dr. Sian Proctor grew up the daughter of a NASA hidden figure, with the stars in her sights until a pair of glasses at age fourteen seemed to close the door on her dream of becoming a military aviator. She kept reaching anyway, pursuing a career in geoscience and science communication, coming agonizingly close to NASA selection before receiving a rejection that sent her life in a different directi...

From the time she was a little girl, Hayley Paige knew exactly what she wanted to do: design wedding dresses. And she did it. By her early thirties she had a million Instagram followers, a recurring spot on  Say Yes to the Dress , and gowns selling in hundreds of stores worldwide. And then she lost all of it. Her name. Her Instagram. Her right to design. Even her right to publicly call hersel...

Patricia Delgado: From Principal Ballerina to Tony Award Winner Growing up Cuban-American in Miami, Patricia Delgado found her love of performance early and spent seventeen years with Miami City Ballet, a decade of that as a principal dancer. But when she faced a series of injuries, she was forced to confront a question she wasn't ready to answer: what comes next? In this episode, Patricia opens u...

Heela Yang built Sol de Janeiro, one of the most beloved body care brands, from her dining room, but her path there looked nothing like a typical business plan. After twelve years in corporate beauty following stints at Goldman Sachs and a Harvard MBA, she left New York for Brazil for love, only to find herself pregnant, isolated, and unable to do the work that had always defined her. A single aft...