Wait - What Do You Do Again?

Media ethics scholar Whitney Phillips has spent nearly 20 years studying the darkest corners of the internet, starting in 2008 when her little brother trolled her into visiting 4chan. In her words, she studies “the hell.” Meghan and Whitney get into why humans have always told scary stories and what our monsters reveal about us. (The word “monster” comes from the Latin for “to reveal.”) They trace...

Why do vampires scare us, attract us, and somehow keep winning us over? For our spooky season series, Meghan DeFord talks with Dr. Karen Winstead, professor of English at The Ohio State University, who teaches courses on vampires and monsters. They cover two centuries of vampire stories, from Bram Stoker’s Dracula to Twilight, Interview with the Vampire, What We Do in the Shadows, and Ryan Coogler...

Why was a woman in early modern Scotland twelve times more likely to be accused of witchcraft than a woman in England? How could a dead cow land you in court, and what did the Puritans carry across the Atlantic to Salem? For spooky season, we’re re-releasing one of our favorite conversations ever. Dr. Mikki Brock is a Professor of History and head of the History Department at Washington and Lee Un...

Why does horror keep putting the danger inside the house: the basement, the attic, the nursery, the baby monitor? Film scholar Dr. Dahlia Schweitzer, professor and chair of Film and Media Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) and author of Haunted Homes , joins Meghan DeFord for a spooky season conversation about what haunted house movies reveal about family, gender, race, money, an...

What’s haunting you, draining you, or getting scarier the longer you avoid it? To kick off spooky season, Meghan is turning the haunted house into a life audit. We’re talking ghosts from the past that still get a vote, goals that might need a funeral instead of another plan, energy vampires with way too much access to you, and the things we avoid because we’re afraid of what we’ll find when we fin...

What if the way we think about concussions, burnout, and even nervous system regulation is too simplistic? Natasha Wilch is a physiotherapist, entrepreneur, and founder of Symphony Brain Performance, a nationally recognized brain health clinic, as well as the creator of Concussion Nerds, an international education community helping clinicians better understand and treat brain injury. In this conve...

How do you meditate when your brain won’t stop thinking? This beginner-friendly introduction to meditation dispels common myths and offers a simple guided meditation for busy minds. Meghan explains what meditation actually is, why you don’t need to empty your mind, and how mindfulness can fit into everyday life (even if you only have two minutes) The episode ends with a short guided practice featu...

"You don't find your purpose. That's clickbait." Suneet Bhatt, author of Making Sense of Purpose and creator of the Rutgers course Find and Evolve Your Purpose, is making the case for why purpose isn't a destination, it's a practice. In this episode, we get into what it actually takes to build a life that feels as good on the inside as it looks on paper: the difference be...

Is it imposter syndrome or are you just waiting for permission? In this solo episode, host Meghan DeFord breaks down the real difference between imposter syndrome and permission-seeking, why they get treated like the same thing, and why that mix-up keeps high-achieving women stuck. Meghan opens with a tribute to Dolly Parton, who passed away on August 25th, and looks at how Dolly's life — leav...

Brooke Kaplan has run seven marathons and is training for her eighth in Berlin this September, while managing Type 1 diabetes on every single mile. For Brooke, that means constantly reading her body mid-run: is she spiking, dropping, fueling too early, too late, running too hot, too cold. Some runs end with her sitting on a curb for twenty minutes, waiting for a low blood sugar to pass before she...

After 20 years in philanthropy, I learned that asking for what you want isn't just about the ask. It’s about finding the right people, listening well, building real relationships, knowing the value you bring, being clear about why you’re there, and then actually saying what you want out loud. In this solo episode, I’m sharing six lessons from two decades of asking people for money that apply f...

After nearly 40 years as one of New England's top employment attorneys, Charla Stevens knew exactly what burnout looked like from the inside because she lived it. In this episode, Charla joins the show to unpack what it really takes to build a healthier workplace, from why so many wellness programs miss the mark to what happens after an HR investigation closes. We talk about: Why "leave y...

Some obstacles are real; money, time, health, caregiving. Others only feel real. In this episode, I break down an exercise I use with my coaching clients to separate the two: write down every roadblock standing between you and your goal, then sort them into real and perceived. Real roadblocks need real responses - more resources, more support, a longer timeline. Perceived roadblocks need something...

Jeremy Swick was born in Guatemala City during the country's 36-year civil war, raised in Wisconsin, and went on to work at both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame before founding his own media company, Swick Media. He's been a historian, archivist, museum curator, podcast host, entrepreneur, rugby player, and social media strategist — somehow, every chapter ma...

You've done everything "right." The degree. The career. The promotions. The relationships. The house. The life that looks great on paper. So why does it sometimes feel like you didn't choose all of this? In this solo episode, Meghan explores the difference between the life we build and the life we actually want. Drawing on the work of Jane Fonda, Brené Brown, and her own experien...

You did everything right. The career, the promotions, the money in the bank. So why does it still feel misaligned? Kristin Gallatin used to measure success in dollars — until her husband's motorcycle crash and later cancer diagnosis forced her to rebuild her entire definition of a good life. She went from running three businesses, full-time caregiving, no time to stop — to selling the house, g...

Ever wonder why the goal you were SO excited about three weeks ago is now sitting untouched in your notes app? You're not lazy. You're not undisciplined. You just built a system for a version of you that doesn't exist yet. In this episode, Meghan unpacks the difference between goals built in isolation and goals built around your real, current life. She shares the coaching questions she...

Amanda Reece spent more than a decade living with debilitating pain before finally being diagnosed with cervical cancer and stage 4 endometriosis. After years of being dismissed by doctors, questioning her own intuition, and simply trying to survive, Amanda rebuilt her life from the ground up. In this conversation, we explore what healing really looks like, why manifestation isn't about wishfu...

Do you feel ready but stuck, like you just can't figure out where to start , even when you know you're capable of more? In this solo episode, Meghan breaks down why most women who feel stuck probably aren't stuck at all. They're disconnected. In this episode, Meghan covers: What it actually means to be disconnected from yourself and why it's so common for driven women The three...

Sarah Hubbard thinks most networking advice is completely backwards. If the word "networking" makes you think of awkward small talk, forced elevator pitches, and collecting business cards you'll never use, this conversation is for you. Sarah is the author of The Intentional Networker and shares a refreshing approach to building meaningful professional relationships that doesn't r...

"I'm just not ready yet." I used to say this all the time — and it felt responsible and true. But most of the time, it was just fear masquerading as preparation. In this episode of Wait — What Do You Do Again?, I'm talking about why waiting to feel ready is one of the most typical ways smart, kickass women stay stuck. We're breaking down why confidence doesn't come before...

What happens when the career that looks perfect on paper no longer feels right? In this episode of Wait... What Do You Do Again?, Meghan DeFord talks with Bianca Riemer, a former top-ranked equity research analyst at Morgan Stanley who left high finance to become an executive coach and pranic healer. Bianca Riemer spent a decade thriving in the fast-paced world of Morgan Stanley before realizing s...

In this episode, we meet Pearl Cicci, somatic health coach and founder of The LIT Rave, for a conversation that completely redefines what it means to feel good. Pearl shares how she incorporates her work as a dietitian and nervous system educator to help people get “LIT” from the inside out by building the capacity to feel, move, and create in a way that actually feels aligned in the body. We dive...

What do bad dates and bad marketing have in common? More than you think! In this episode, Meghan sits down with brand strategist Hunter Myers, founder of Verdure Design Co. , to unpack why so much marketing today feels transactional, pushy, and disconnected… and what to do instead. From “bro marketing” tactics to customer experience breakdowns, this conversation explores why businesses that focus...

What does leadership look like in a world obsessed with productivity, performance, and perks? In this episode, Meghan talks with Coco Rogers about her journey from naval officer to entrepreneur, the leadership lessons she kept from the military, and the toxic workplace patterns she had to unlearn. Coco shares her CARE framework, which stands for Clarity, Authenticity, Recognition, and Empathy, and...