Firestarters with Shannon Watts

Juliana Stratton is the Lt. Governor of Illinois and a candidate for the U.S. Senate. Juliana is also a mom, a caregiver, a Chicago South Sider, and a fighter for the people of Illinois. Alongside Governor JB Pritzker, she’s spent the last decade working to make life more affordable and expand opportunities for the middle class, and now she’s ready to bring that blueprint to Washington. In this co...

Oona Metz is a Boston-based psychotherapist with over 30 years of experience supporting women through the emotional, psychological, and identity shifts of divorce. She is also a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker, a Certified Group Psychotherapist, and her practice is focused on individual adults and group therapy. She specializes in working with women+ who are in transition. She is also...

Dr. Maria Sophocles is a board-certified OB/GYN and a Menopause Society Certified Practitioner. She is a nationally recognized thought leader in menopause and female sexual function, and a frequent panelist and speaker for women’s health advocacy, investment, and policy. She is also the author of The Bedroom Gap: Rewrite the Rules and Roles of Sex in Mid Life (available on February 10th), which of...

Thank you Marcus Flowers , Lisa Schreiber NBC-HWC, Author , Maximilian Hardy , dcdiversity , Caroline Pompizzi , and many others for tuning into my live video with Daniel Biss ! Join me for my next live video in the app. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shannonwatts.substack.com/subscribe

Jennifer Wallace is an award-winning journalist and bestselling author who explores the power of mattering in everyday life. Her first book, Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic — And What We Can Do About It , was a New York Times Bestseller, an Amazon Best Book of the Year, and a Next Big Idea selection. Her forthcoming book Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and P...

Mikala Jamison is an award-winning journalist, the creator of the bestselling Body Type newsletter, and a health and culture writer for outlets like The Atlantic and The Washington Post . She has worked as a certified group fitness instructor and trained as a competitive powerlifter, and also created the body-image focused live storytelling show, The Body Show. In this conversation, we discussed h...

Malynda Hale is a multi-hyphenate content creator, award-winning actress, and singer based in Los Angeles who uses her voice and platform to drive meaningful conversations around activism, justice, and human rights through digital media and storytelling. During our conversation, Malynda and I discuss her spiritual journey, how activism and faith can go hand in hand, and how she handles the blowbac...

Society often telegraphs that there is just one way to experience grief, but widow, cancer survivor, and author Lisa Keefauver wants us to know that grief can and should be allowed to be experienced in multiple ways. During our conversation, Lisa shared some of the insights from her book, “ Grief is a Sneaky B***h: An Uncensored Guide to Navigating Loss, ” including something she refers to as “the...

We’ve been talking about imposter syndrome, specifically in the workplace, this week. I was grateful to talk with Dr. Amy Diehl and Leanne Dzubinski, the co-authors of “ Glass Walls: Shattering the Six Gender Bias Barriers Still Holding Women Back at Work .” Together, they share with us the six gender bias barriers and how they are affecting women every single day across all industries, as well as...

Soraya Chemaly is an award-winning writer, activist, and director known for her influential work on feminism, gender justice, and women’s rights. She is the author of the critically acclaimed book Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger (2018), which explores how women are socialized to suppress anger and the transformative potential of channeling that emotion constructively. Her work in exam...

Katherine Clark, the highest-ranking woman in Congress, has made supporting American families a cornerstone of her congressional career. From championing policies like universal childcare to supporting paid family leave to providing affordable healthcare, Democratic Whip Clark is dedicated to creating policy that will ease the financial burdens and daily challenges facing people across the country...

In her new biography, Lorissa Rinehart delivers the first-ever detailed account of the life of Jeannette Rankin, the first American woman to serve in Congress. “ Winning the Earthquake: How Jeannette Rankin Defied All Odds to Become the First Woman in Congress ” shows how Rankin’s determination, moral conviction, and savvy ultimately resulted in a cultural and political seismic shift in the US. Co...

I had the great opportunity to chat with Jessica Mackler, president of EMILYs List. EMILY’s List has been working for 40 years to elect Democratic, pro-choice women up and down the ballot all over the country. They’ve elected more than 1,800 women in the time that they’ve been doing this work. These elections are more important than ever. Tune in to learn how YOU can get involved in getting more w...

Today I had the great honor of talking with Joanna Schroeder , co-author of the book “Talk To Your Boys: 16 Conversations to Help Tweens and Teens Grow into Confident, Caring Young Men.” In our current climate, this conversation and this book is more important than ever. Take some time to watch the replay of our conversation above. Connect with Joanna: Buy the Book | Instagram | Substack For women...

Check out my conversation with Jennifer Gerson , a reporter for The 19th News and point person for the new organization’s new newsletter about all things perimenopause and menopause. Jen and I dove into many of the medical, cultural and generational aspects of middle age during our Substack Live. Watch the replay above and follow The 19th to sure you have all the information you need to live a lon...

“Your job isn’t what makes you interesting, your hobby is.”- Karen Walrond Check out my conversation with the delightful Karen Walrond , author of the brand new book In Defense of Dabbling: The Brilliance of Being a Total Amateur . For her book, Karen tried out seven new hobbies — everything from pottery to surfing to piano playing — to show readers how to do the same. She even provides a list of...

I loved getting to talk with Anna Gifty , an award-winning researcher and writer and doctoral student at Harvard Kennedy School studying public policy and economics. We discuss her new book, The Double Tax: How Women of Color Are Overcharged and Underpaid , which offers a critical analysis of systemic economic inequities and insights into why it's disproportionately expensive to be a woman—especia...

Please check out the replay of my conversation with Rebecca Minor, LICSW about her new book Raising Trans Kids , the essential guide for parents, families, and educators committed to creating a world where transgender and nonbinary youth can thrive. With compassionate insights, evidence-based research, and practical advice, this groundbreaking book provides the clarity and reassurance needed to na...

( I write at length about many of these ideas in my new book, “Fired Up: How to Turn Your Spark into a Flame and Come Alive at Any Age,” out now. Order this week and get enrolled for free in Firestarter University , a year-long, online course starting in the Fall.) Check out my conversation with Stacy London , host of Prime Video show Wear Whatever the F You Want and mid-life advocate. Our convers...

( I write at length about many of the ideas below in my new book, “Fired Up: How to Turn Your Spark into a Flame and Come Alive at Any Age,” out now. Order this week get enrolled for free in Firestarter University , a year-long, online course starting in the Fall.) Check out my conversation with Dr. Jessica Shepherd , a board-certified OBGYN and menopause expert. Our conversation ranged from the i...

“You can’t burn what is already on fire.” Meggan Watterson , a feminist theologian with master's degrees from Harvard Divinity School and Columbia University’s Union Theological Seminary, is a bestselling author and founder of the REDLADIES, a spiritual community focused on studying ancient Christian texts that were excluded from the New Testament. Her new book, The Girl Who Baptized Herself , exp...

“One of the metaphors that I use is imagining guilt is a faulty check engine light on your car dashboard.  Your car has just been serviced, the oil is changed, everything's fine, but the stupid light just keeps going off. It doesn't actually give you any meaningful information, so you can ignore it. You can just say it's broken. Guilt is not a moral compass.” Pooja Lakshmin MD is a clinical psychi...

“My definition of defiance is being able to act in alignment with your values, especially when there's pressure to do otherwise. It's not just for the brave people, extraordinary people, superheroes. It's available and it's necessary for all of us to really learn this skill." Dr. Sunita Sah is a physician turned organizational psychologist whose research has reshaped how we think about advice, bia...

Jessica Yellin , founder of News Not Noise , about the nudge that helped her take the leap to leave one career and embark on a new one. We also talk about the inevitable blowback you’ll get when you begin to do things differently, and why it’s important to remember that all blowback is predictable, but it’s not personal. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscriber...

(I write at length about many of the ideas below in my new book, “Fired Up: How to Turn Your Spark into a Flame and Come Alive at Any Age,” out now. Order this week get enrolled for free in Firestarter University , a year-long, online course starting in the Fall.) I was thrilled to talk to author and historian Sharon McMahon on Substack Live about how to take the next fiery step, why blowback is p...