Breaking Precedent

This special summer episode of Breaking Precedent brings together six investors who are each rewriting the assumptions behind who gets funded. Across venture capital, professional sports, and philanthropy, the conversation traces where the industry's oldest excuses fall apart, and what these investors built instead. Samara Mejia Hernandez talks about building Chingona Ventures around the fastest g...

What happens when culture becomes a form of leadership? This summer, Breaking Precedent is revisiting conversations that feel just as resonant now as when they were first recorded. In this episode, Leah Solivan sits down with Derrick T. Jones, better known as D-Nice, to explore how music, creativity, and shared experience can become infrastructure for connection. D-Nice is a legendary DJ, photogra...

This special summer compilation of Breaking Precedent brings together artists and culture makers who have each broken precedent in a different way. Across Broadway, music, food, visual art, ballet, and memoir, the episode explores how artists sense cultural change before systems have language for it. Rachel Sussman talks about theater that asks hard questions. D-Nice reflects on Club Quarantine as...

What if the healthcare system is not simply broken, but producing exactly what it was designed to produce? This summer, Breaking Precedent is revisiting conversations that feel just as urgent now as when they were first recorded. In this episode, emergency physician and author Dr. Thomas Fisher joins Leah Solivan to examine what the ER reveals about American society, why caring clinicians can stil...

During our summer break, we're revisiting a compilation of previously released episodes about a healthcare system that is at once the most advanced in the world and one of the most broken. Hear Halle Tecco on why healthcare can't absorb its own innovation, Dr. Thomas Fisher on a system that's working exactly as designed, Lynn Jurich on the research gap that overlooked women's bodies, Kevin Caldwel...

What if the real value in a startup is not the code you write, but the learning you earn? Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup and Incorruptible , joins Leah Solivan on Breaking Precedent to talk about the painful lessons behind the Lean Startup movement, why AI does not replace human learning, and how founders can build companies designed to stay mission-driven over time. Eric shares the IMVU st...

What if talent was never the real differentiator, but access was? Paige Hendrix Buckner, CEO of All Raise, joins Leah Solivan on Breaking Precedent for a conversation about who gets access to opportunity, who gets trusted with capital, and what it actually takes to change an entrenched system from the inside. Paige's path runs through education, public service, startups, venture capital, and now A...

What does it take to chase an impossible dream for sixteen years without becoming someone who cannot let it go? Dr. Eiman Jahangir has spent his adult life inside two systems that rarely sit beside each other: medicine and spaceflight. A cardiologist, professor, and commercial astronaut, he applied to NASA five times across sixteen years, was rejected each time, and finally flew with Blue Origin i...

This is a replay of one of our most extraordinary conversations, recorded just before and immediately after Dr. Eiman Jahangir’s journey to space. What does it mean to pursue a dream so relentlessly that you’re willing to rewrite the path entirely? Dr. Eiman Jahangir didn’t become an astronaut through NASA. He applied multiple times, made it to the final rounds, and still didn’t get selected. So h...

What does it take to build institutions that scale without flattening the people inside them? Stacy Brown-Philpot has spent her career inside systems that shape markets, culture, and opportunity, from Goldman Sachs and Google to TaskRabbit, SoftBank, and now Cherry Rock Capital. In this conversation, she traces the throughline from her upbringing in Detroit to leading one of the defining companies...

What happens when the systems that define ownership are designed to exclude most people from participating? Austin Allison, founder of Pacaso and former co-founder of Dotloop, has spent his career inside one of the most entrenched and resistant industries: real estate. From growing up in a household where ownership was aspirational but constrained, to building and exiting a $100M+ proptech company...

What does it take to build something meaningful when the system is designed for most efforts to fail? Rachel Sussman is a Broadway producer known for bringing socially driven, culturally relevant work to the stage, including the Tony Award winning musical Suffs and the play Liberation . Raised in a family immersed in the arts, she developed an early fascination with storytelling, eventually shifti...

What happens when the identity that defined your life suddenly ends? Ryan Nece grew up surrounded by greatness. As the son of NFL Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott, competition, discipline, and excellence were part of everyday life. But living in the shadow of one of football’s greatest players came with its own pressures. In this episode, Ryan shares how those early experiences shaped his perspective on...

How do you change the narrative when the system was never designed to include you? In this episode of Breaking Precedent, Soledad O'Brien joins the show to discuss her illustrious career in journalism, covering critical events from wars to hurricanes, and sharing the humorous contrast between her on-screen cooking segments and her real-life kitchen skills. O'Brien delves into her upbringing as the...

What would it take to make healthcare massively better? In this episode of Breaking Precedent , Leah Solivan sits down with Halle Tecco , founder of Rock Health , to unpack why the U.S. healthcare system remains so hard to change—and what it will actually take to fix it. Drawing from her upbringing in the Midwest, decades of experience across healthcare, investing, public health, and education, an...

What happens when difference becomes a competitive advantage? In this episode of Breaking Precedent, Leah Solivan sits down with Samara Hernandez, founder of Chingona Ventures, to explore how identity, constraint, and culture can shape leadership in venture capital. From growing up in Mexico to building a venture fund in the United States, Samara reflects on how limited resources, discipline, and...

What happens when culture becomes a form of leadership? In this episode of Breaking Precedent , Leah Solivan sits down with Derrick T. Jones, better known as D-Nice,  legendary DJ, photographer, and cultural connector, to explore how music, joy, and shared experience can shape communities and create belonging at scale. From his early days in hip-hop to the global phenomenon of Club Quarantine , D-...

In this episode of Breaking Precedent, the host  Leah Solivan is joined by Lynn Jurich, co-founder and former CEO of Sunrun, to discuss her journey from growing up in Tacoma, Washington to leading one of the largest residential solar companies in the U.S. They explore the challenges and triumphs of scaling Sunrun, including innovative financing models and negotiating with utility companies. Jurich...

In this episode of Breaking Precedent, the host, Leah Solivan interviews Dr. Thomas Fisher, an emergency medicine physician and political candidate. They discuss Dr. Fisher's career, including his experiences growing up on the South Side of Chicago, attending Dartmouth, and his work in emergency rooms. He shares insights from his book, 'The Emergency,' and how it reflects the systemic inequities i...

In the second episode of the brand-new season of Breaking Precedent , Leah Solivan sits down once again with Olympic legend Nastia Liukin — and the conversation hits deeper than ever. They revisit their first encounter and trace the arc of Nastia’s extraordinary career, from the early days in the gym to the unforgiving expectations that come with being one of the world’s top athletes. Nastia opens...

Kicking off a brand-new season and launching our first-ever video episode, Breaking Precedent returns with a powerful conversation between host Leah Solivan and Christina Tosi, founder of Milk Bar. Christina traces her journey from baking cookies with her grandmothers in Ohio to becoming one of the most influential pastry chefs and entrepreneurs in the country. Leah and Christina unpack their shar...

Season 2 of Breaking Precedent premieres November 13 . This season, Leah Solivan returns with deeper conversations that cut to the core of resilience, leadership, and what it really means to stand for something. From Olympians and entrepreneurs to doctors and changemakers, each guest opens up about the battles that shaped them — and the precedents they had to break to move forward. These stories r...

During our summer break, we revisit an episode about resilience, pivots, and transformation. Hear Pete Flint on startup survival, Aaron Holiday on breaking into venture capital, Julie Rice on building SoulCycle, Tamara on her ballet breakthrough, Matteo Franceschetti on sleep innovation, Beverly Parenti on coding in prison, and Windy Chien on creativity through daily practice. Each story reveals h...

During our summer break, we’re revisiting a powerful episode about inherited resilience and the courage to transform beyond expectations. Host Leah Solivan explores the deeply personal stories of seven trailblazers—including Alejandra Campoverdi, Dr. Eiman Jahangir, Anne Miura-Ko, Andy Dunn, Bianca Gates, and Kevin Caldwell—who’ve navigated barriers and redefined their identities along the way. Fr...

During our summer break, we're revisiting a moving episode that celebrates Latino and Spanish-speaking leaders who are redefining identity, power, and belonging. Host Leah Solivan, a Puerto Rican founder and investor, shares the invisible tension of being “not Latina enough” and “not American enough”—a feeling echoed by many first-generation voices in this episode. You'll hear from Bianca Gates, c...