Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel

Every life is, at some point, touched by grief and sorrow. But some people seem to be handed an unthinkable amount of loss. Bozoma Saint John, best known as a marketing expert with stints at several top companies, is in that group. She’s channeled her experiences into a beautiful meditation on perseverance through love and loss called The Urgent Life. In this episode, Boz joins Jessi to share the...

In this episode, Jessi sits down with friendship expert Kat Vellos to learn all about how friendship works in adulthood. Spend 27 minutes with our show and learn: what we owe our friends, how reciprocity works, and how social media can complicate the whole process. Also, we’ll get some fresh approaches to cultivating new friends - especially when there’s a screen between us. Follow Kat Vellos on L...

Systemic issues can feel impossible to change, but there’s hope. Today’s episode is focused on making changes from within large systems. Our guest is Judge Victoria Pratt, Executive Director of Odyssey Impact, and a former Chief Judge of Newark Municipal Court. She shares the story of how she used a four-part approach to procedural justice to transform her courtroom into a place that could both pu...

It’s a holiday here in the US and we’re taking the day to recharge. Enjoy this episode from the Hello Monday archives, featuring workplace psychologist Adam Grant. He explains the secrets behind his wildly productive work life, shares how he manages his time and talks through how much of his time he gives away to help others. Later in the episode, Caroline Fairchild explores listeners' tips on how...

Sure, we’re a show about work. But we’re all more than our jobs, and it benefits our personal and communal experiences to practice mindfulness and connection. Who better to teach us than Dr. Deepak Chopra? Today, Jessi sits down with Dr. Chopra to learn more about Royal Yoga - the subject of his new (93rd!) book, Living in the Light: Yoga for Self-realization.  Follow Deepak Chopra on LinkedIn. Ex...

We know that voices convey power. There is a direct relationship between the sound that comes out of our mouths and the way we get treated. Today’s guest is Samara Bay, the author of Permission to Speak: How to change what power sounds like, starting with you. On today’s episode, we’ll learn how our voice stories are formed, why it’s important to check our own voice biases, and how to embrace the...

The news is often bleak, especially recently, and that could complicate our plans for a pragmatically optimistic year. Thankfully, we have psychology professor and researcher Jamil Zaki in the virtual studio this week to share some invigorating findings from his work running Stanford’s Social Neuroscience Lab. In this episode, he and Jessi talk about trust and how it’s changing. We learn more abou...

What if conventional wisdom on perfectionism - that it’s something to be fixed or overcome - were wrong? That’s the thesis behind Katherine Morgan Schafler’s new book, The Perfectionists Guide to Losing Control. She sits down with Jessi to walk us through a different way to manage perfectionism. Learn how to accept who you are and how to manage life’s biggest challenges. Follow Katherine Morgan Sc...

This year, we’re cultivating informed optimism. Curiosity and flexibility live at the heart of this journey. In other words: we need to employ a growth mindset and prioritize willingness to learn rather than accept our intelligence as a static thing. To help us set the tone for the year ahead, we’re turning back to one of our all-time favorite interviews. In this episode from the Hello Monday arch...

In 2023, we’re going all in on making a case for optimism. Optimism is the promise that we have agency, and it’s our own belief that we can exercise that agency in any given moment to create better circumstances for ourselves, better solutions to our most intractable problems, better lives for the generations who will follow us. Sometimes, optimism demands change. For our first new episode of the...

We’re gearing up to host a big year of conversations about optimism. But before that, we need to rest and recharge. Where better to turn than Octavia Raheem, author of Pause, Rest, Be: Stillness Practices for Courage in Times of Change. In this conversation from the Hello Monday archives, Octavia talks with Jessi about the transformative power of rest and how best to incorporate it into our lives...

Lisa Congdon began her career as a visual artist when she was 39 years old. Prior to that, she had a whole separate career in education. In this episode from the Hello Monday archives, host Jessi Hempel talks to the artist and illustrator about what it’s like to be a late-bloomer, and gets Lisa’s advice on starting in a creative field.  Follow Lisa Congdon on LinkedIn and explore her art here. Fol...

What can thirty minutes with a pen and paper, away from our tech, do for our imaginations and our planning? Author Gina Bianchini says it will change our lives. In this conversation with Jessi Hempel, Gina, the author of PURPOSE: Design a community and change your life, shares her journey to purpose and her tips for making meaning in our own lives. Follow Gina Bianchini on LinkedIn and order her n...

Nobody pays it forward quite like Guillermo del Toro. In his two most recent projects, Cabinet of Curiosities and Pinocchio, both with Netflix, he made it a point to showcase and protect the voices of his artistic collaborators. It’s the most recent evolution of his commitment to nurturing talent and community. In this conversation with Hello Monday’s Sarah Storm, he offers insights into his visio...

Ever feel the pang of impostor syndrome as you move through your career? Us too. Thankfully, we know Dr. Lisa Orbé-Austin. Lisa is one of our most popular guests, and our resident expert on impostor syndrome. She and her husband, Dr. Rich Orbé-Austin, are the authors of a new workbook: Your Unstoppable Greatness: Break Free from Impostor Syndrome, Cultivate Your Agency, and Achieve Your Ultimate C...

In this episode from the Hello Monday archives, Jessi talks with coach, business professor, and author Dorie Clark. They talk through making a good Plan B, staying willing to learn, and why you shouldn't wait for things to seem dire before planning for what might come next. Follow Dorie Clark on LinkedIn and visit her online. Follow Jessi Hempel on LinkedIn and order her debut memoir. Join the Hel...

If you’ve recently been laid off, see a possible layoff coming, or know someone who is affected, we made this episode especially for you. You’ll hear other Hello Monday listeners talk about past layoff experiences - how it affected them, what they learned, and where they got to. Then, we present an in-depth conversation with Andrew Seaman, LinkedIn’s Managing Editor for Jobs and Career Development...

Actor and author Christopher Rivas has written a lyrical, literary, and emotional new memoir: Brown Enough: True Stories About Love, Violence, the Student Loan Crisis, Hollywood, Race, Familia, and Making It in America. He joins Jessi to talk about the complexity of identity, our cultural obsession with “fairness,” and what it’s like to navigate this world in a brown body. Follow Christopher Rivas...

Need help working with a difficult colleague? From time to time almost everyone does. Maybe we’ve even been one before. (No judgment - we’re only human!) To figure out how to get along with even the most challenging coworkers, Jessi sits down with Amy Gallo. Amy’s an expert in conflict, communication, and workplace dynamics, and the co-host of Harvard Business Review’s hit podcast, Women at Work....

Humor can be a powerful tool for talking about uncomfortable things. It sometimes allows us to cut closer to the emotional truth of an issue, or stay in conversation about it longer. W. Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz have embraced humor to combat racism (yes, you read that right) in their new project: DO THE WORK!: An anti-racist activity book. They join host Jessi Hempel for a frank and funny convers...

Tunde and sam first partnered up at Stanford’s d.school to share their wisdom of “creative hustle” in a class that equally drew participants from Stanford’s student body and the nearby community of East Palo Alto. Now they share their creative inspiration and instruction with an even wider audience in their newly released book - Creative Hustle: Blaze Your Own Path and Make Work That Matters. They...

We’re heading toward the end of 2022, and yet there’s still an incredible lack of diversity in most C-suites. When you look at which startups get funded, the problem is even worse. CNBC’s Julia Boorstin sits down with Jessi to discuss her research into this, and her new book, When Women Lead, which focuses on women-led startups, and what we can all learn from their experiences.  Follow Julia Boors...

In this favorite from the archives, Luvvie Ajayi Jones, the author of Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual, joins Jessi, to share her framing mechanisms for taking on fear. She advises us on how to know ourselves deeply, how to use our voices with authority, and how to take meaningful action. Follow Luvvie on LinkedIn and check out Professional Troublemaker here. Follow Jessi on Link...

This week, we’re doing things a little differently. Guest host Leah Smart interviews Hello Monday’s own Jessi Hempel about her new memoir, The Family Outing. From the guest chair, Jessi shares what she’s learned about identity, the bonds of family, and what gifts await on the other side of the courage to live out loud. Follow Jessi Hempel on LinkedIn and order her debut memoir here.  Follow Leah S...

Dr. Laurie Santos teaches people how to be happier. She’s the host of the Happiness Lab podcast on Pushkin, and the creator and teacher of Yale’s most popular class, known on Coursera.com as “The Science of Wellbeing.” She sits down with Jessi to share her journey with the science of happiness, what many people misunderstand about how joy works, and how we can each increase our own happiness.  Lea...