The Curious Middle

Have you ever thought about what it's like to work as a financial advisor? Kristin O'Keeffe Merrick, a money expert with 19 years of professional experience in the financial industry, is a financial advisor at her family-run firm, O'Keeffe Financial Partners. Kristin shares her career path story and why more women should consider financial advising as a career option. We discuss the challenges Kri...

Grief Warrior was born out of Leslie Barber's tragic personal experience—the sudden death of her husband, Steve, at 46 years old. This life-changing event, and the grief Leslie has since endured, led her to found Grief Warrior . The company is dedicated to changing how individuals, companies, and our society at large thinks about and handles grief.  Grief Warrior is both a mission and a movement....

Jenny Rustemeyer, a writer and producer with Peg Leg Films,  shares her career path story and how she ended up as a documentary film producer. Jenny has produced This Mountain Life, The Clean Bin Project, and Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story which won multiple festival awards and took home the Leo for Best Feature Length Documentary. If you want to learn and be entertained at the same time without...

When Brooke Shannon realized the smartphone decision was coming for her three daughters, she felt she needed to wait, and she also suspected she was not aloe in dealing with the mounting pressures and questions surrounding kids and smartphones. Brooke created a website dedicated to waiting on smartphones and support from other families was instant. Today, the Wait until 8th organization, is a plac...

When Alexandra Kenin realized her job was not allowing her to fully thrive, she found a way to combine her love of outdoor exploration with writing and crafted herself a dream career. Alexandra is the founder of Urban Hiker SF, Studio Chief and Senior Editor at Wordsmithie, and author of Urban Trails: San Francisco and Urban Trails: East Bay. In our conversation, Alexandra shares how she made her...

If you have ever wondered why motherhood in the US is so difficult, you don't want to miss this conversation with Caitlyn Collins, Assistant Professor of Sociology a Washington University and author of Making Motherhood Work: How Women Manage Careers and Caregiving. In her book, Caitlyn dives into the ways public policy shapes the lives of mothers in the USA, Germany, Italy and Sweden. By examinin...

Jennifer Justice started The Justice Dept.  with a goal of making women as rich as men. The company is a female-focused advisory, consulting and law firm advocating for female founders, talent, execs and brands. Its vision is, "To accelerate the success of women, women-owned businesses and women -ocused brands to achieve equality and diversity in the market, workforce and workplace as it should be...

Tracy McCubbin is a professional declutterer, but what she really does is help people manage their relationship to stuff. When Tracy realized she had a talent for helping people organize their stuff, she turned it into dCluttefly , a thriving business.   In our part 2 of our conversation with Tracy, we discuss the 7 emotional clutter blocks Tracy discovered   while running her business. Tracy walk...

Tracy McCubbin is a professional declutterer, but what she really does is help people manage their relationship to stuff. When Tracy realized she had a talent for helping people organize their stuff, she turned it into dCluttefly , a thriving business.  Tracy decided to start a service that will help others start their own decluttering and organizing businesses. The $22B storage industry, Tracy's...

Our guest today Katie Fogarty is the   founder of LinkedIn Reboot and Reboot for Business , Katie Fogarty's work helps people transform their LinkedIn profiles, personal brands and career opportunities. Katie's background writing for morning TV news, working for a global PR firm and even for a U.S. Senator has given her a perfect combination of skills to help others summarize their personal storie...

Jessica Jackson is the Chief Advocacy Officer for Reform Alliance, an organization working to reduce the number of people in the criminal justice system by focusing on probation and parole. Jessica previously served as a Human Rights Attorney, Mayor of Mill Valley, California and National Director of #Cut50 . Jessica is also getting attention for mentoring and helping Kim Kardashian with her law s...

A random act of kindness to help   furnish an apartment for someone who aged out of foster care altered the course of Georgie Smith's life. Georgie started receiving requests from others who needed the same type of assistance. When Georgie realized there were no organizations providing this help to set up homes for kids coming out of the foster system, Georgie decided to create a Sense of Home wit...

Danielle Gletow was destined to grant wishes.  After fostering and then adopting a newborn, Danielle found her life calling. A 2013 CNN Hero , Danielle has devoted herself to finding ways to help more than 400,000 children in foster care. Danielle founded One Simple Wish in 2008 with the goal of granting wishes to children in foster care across the country and those who've aged out of foster care....

Heidi Kühn, CEO and founder of Roots of Peace , was raised with a pioneer spirit, love for the earth and humanity. Heidi's commitment to peace was further strengthened during her time attending University of California Berkeley in the 1970's. After a cancer diagnosis, Heidi made a promise to God to help others. Inspired by Princess Diana's commitment to the removal of landmines, Heidi recovered, a...

As President George W. Bush's White House Press Secretary,   Dana   Perino has mastered the art of handling stress. And, if this were a game of superlatives, you could also say she's most likely to be the most prepared person in any room. She also broke a glass ceiling during her time working in the White House, as during her tenure as White House Press Secretary, she was the first female to serve...

There is something you can do one day a week that has the potential to change your life, and it I s a practice thousands of years old with proven wisdom from the beginning of civilization. In this conversation, Tiffany Shlain shares how starting a Technology Shabbat has transformed and enriched her life. Tiffany's new book, 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week, explores how unplugging for...

Lynn Perkins was in a situation parents everywhere face. She was in need of a baby-sitter. It dawned on her that she could leverage her social network to find a sitter for her twin boys. It was during this moment that she realized the opportunity to leverage one's social networks for finding short- and long-term childcare. A natural matchmaker, Lynn recruited three co-founders to join her in this...

We hope you and your family are safe. And for those of you struggling right now, or for those of you who are scared, we hope you are finding the support you need. With the events all around us right now you may be wondering, "Will I still have my job a week from now?" Or, maybe with this extra time to reflect you've been thinking your current role no longer fills your heart. If a career switch is...

Bethany Hamilton is unstoppable. Since losing her left arm at the age of 13 to a tiger shark, nothing has stopped her from living her life to the fullest. When Bethany returned to surfing just one month after losing her arm -- and two years later won a national surf title -- she became an inspiration for millions. The move Soul Surfer  released in 2011, starring AnnaSophia Robb, shares that story....

Robyn Fisher really loves ice cream. As a kid, she and her family would have ice cream for those special moments in life – to bond, recover and really savor life. Fast forward to college. Robyn was in the middle of her studies and couldn't find a decent ice cream in NYC. She recalled the fresh gelato she experienced in Italy and realized that while gourmet coffee was taking off, there was a gap in...

Need some inspiration about getting involved with an issue you're passionate about? You'll find plenty in today's interview with Shannon Watts. After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Shannon was devastated. Like many of us, she assumed the horrific tragedy would provoke outrage and change. When legislative and social change didn't appear, and the status quo remained solidly in place, Sha...

Have you ever wondered what it takes to make a career switch? Or, have you wondered what to do to make that career switch successful – and not a complete disaster? We sat down with a woman who wrote the book on the art of a career transition – literally. Dr. Dawn Graham is author of   S witchers: How Smart Professionals Change Careers and Seize Success.  She's also a coach for the Wharton School's...

Lydia Fenet undoubtedly has a dream job. In her role as managing director and global director of strategic partnerships at the famed auction house Christie's. Lydia's role combines travel, strategy, art and social impact. In addition to living a life full of art and adventure, Lydia has raised more than half a billion dollars for over 400 non-profits worldwide as the leading benefit auctioneer in...

We've all been through heartache and heartbreak, but today's guest on I Want Her Job: The Podcast has made a career of it.   Amy Chan is the Founder of Renew Breakup Bootcamp , a retreat that takes a scientific and spiritual approach to healing the heart. She is also the Editor-in-Chief of JustMyType.ca an online magazine that focuses on the psychology behind love, lust and desire. In our conversa...

Imagine that you are in a room in Silicon Valley. You think of your electrical engineering degree from Stanford, but you also think of the time you immigrated to the United States with only $43 to your name. Everywhere you look there's men, but you're a woman. And although setbacks are the norm for females in your industry, you're proving yourself to be a force in venture capital. After all,  you'...