Under the Influence with Jo Piazza

So many women are exhausted by carrying more of the household labor, both the visible chores and the invisible work no one talks about. In this episode Jo and Nick sit down to map out how it really happens in their own home. They talk through who does the laundry, who puts it away, who manages school forms and grocery runs, and who gets stuck with the trash. And then there is bedtime, the nightly...

The world loves to tell parents—especially moms—that kids and creativity can’t co-exist. Writer M.M. De Voe thinks that’s B.S. and so do I. M. founded Pen Parentis to help writers keep creating after they have kids. In this conversation, we get into what really happens to creativity when you add a baby to the mix: the productivity spurts, the guilt, the comparisons, the shame. And why community mi...

Patagonia isn’t just an outdoor brand. It’s a company that has quietly shaped how we dress, how we think about the planet, and how business can act in the world. Today we're talking to New York Times reporter David Gelles about his new book Dirtbag Billionaire, tracing Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard’s journey from dirtbag climber to the creator of a brand with outsized cultural influence. Grab a...

Stephen and Bret—aka the Broadway Husbands—have spent their careers lighting up the stage, from The Little Mermaid to Billy Elliot. But their most moving performance is the life they’ve built together as husbands and now as dads. In this episode, they join Committed to share their story: how they met in sobriety, fell in love over Christmas parties and theater trips, and eventually tied the knot w...

What happens when your peak career years collide with your peak fertility years? Journalist Danielle Robay shares her unfiltered story of freezing her eggs—the painful parts no one talks about, the aftermath, and what she wishes she’d known before she started. Listen to Danielle's Podcast Question Everything here. Join our newsletter community here. ORDER EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our l...

We’ve been sold the myth that entertaining means a spotless house, endless cooking, and perfection. Dan Pelosi—aka Grossy Pelosi—believes the opposite. His new cookbook Let’s Party shows why the best gatherings come from embracing imperfection, celebrating the everyday, and keeping food joyful and easy. In this episode, Dan shares why a good menu is really about confidence, why dips are the little...

Today, we are sharing my recent interview on the Webby Award-winning daily podcast Totally Booked with Zibby. Hosted by Zibby Owens, Totally Booked delivers interviews with the best, buzziest, and underrated authors to share work that’s truly worth your time. For more episodes, follow Totally Booked with Zibby on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. New episodes are released dail...

Most of us don’t know how to put on a duvet cover without swearing, let alone clean a dryer vent before it catches fire. Enter Casey Finn, creator of The DIY Playbook, who has spent over a decade proving that anyone can take control of their home. In this episode, she breaks down the hacks that actually work, the real price tags behind renovations, and why the least sexy chores are the ones that s...

This week’s episode is part back-to-school survival guide, part summer highlight reel, and part investigation of parenting double standards. We reflect on the chaos and joy of crisscrossing the country on book tour with three kids, what we learned about road-tripping as a family, and why hiking with toddlers is best done with candy. Also why do dads traveling with kids get treated like heroes whil...

Five years ago, I was a new mom recording a podcast in my closet, wedged between a toddler and a baby who wouldn’t sleep. For the past few months I had been exhausted, leaking milk, hating my husband and endlessly scrolling Instagram, wondering why my messy, chaotic life didn’t look like the linen-clad perfection of the moms in my feed. So I decided to start reporting on the world of mom influence...

When Kate Strickler started Naptime Kitchen in 2015, it was just a way to share the meals she cooked while her baby slept. Now it’s a thriving brand, a sold-out book tour, and a must-follow for anyone who wants real-life motherhood content that’s actually doable. We talk about the evolution of Instagram, reframing how we talk about work with our kids, and the small, practical changes—like showerin...

My friend Kristen is a woman in her fifties who has never lost anyone close to her. So her decision to embark on the journey of becoming a death doula could at first seem like a strange one, but when you get to know her it makes perfect sense. Join Kristen as she tackles the universal experience of death with humor, honesty, and sincere introspection. Through personal stories, interviews, and her...

We live in a culture of more. More toys. More shoes. More jumpsuits buried in the back of the closet. But what happens when you try to break free from the endless cycle of buying, decluttering, and buying again? This week’s episode takes you inside a self-proclaimed “low-buy summer,” a real-world experiment in owning less and living with more intention. The first half features Diane Boden of Minim...

The patriarchy is getting a rebrand. From tradwives to “soft girl” culture, conservative influencers are using the language of feminism to sell women a polished version of submission. In this episode, Dr. Nicole Mason, the policy expert who coined the term “she-cession,” explains how this messaging is pulling women out of power and why the left still doesn’t have a strong counter-narrative. The co...

This week I am bringing back one of my favorite episodes of Too Much Money, the show I created with Doree Shafrir of Forever 35 about the ridiculous sh*t that billionaire do with their billions. This one is a delight. What’s the gift that keeps on giving and giving and giving? Immortality of course, and it is the eternal brass ring that so many billionaires are trying to get their grubby hands on....

Sleep is not a luxury, a reward, or a wellness trend. It's a biological necessity. In this episode, writer and sleep coach Lindsay Scola shares her journey from high-functioning burnout to a late-in-life narcolepsy diagnosis, and why she's helping others rethink their relationship with rest. The conversation explores why traditional sleep advice often fails, how the sleep industry profits from our...

Sometimes the only thing that gets you through real life is diving headfirst into someone else’s dumpster fire. This week we’re talking about the celebrity memoirs that make you so happy you're not famous! From Ione Skye’s steamy Gen X nostalgia to Mariah Carey’s perfectly chaotic brilliance, we unpack the stories that stick with us, the confessions we wish more people would make, and why every wo...

Rain on your wedding day is supposed to mean good luck, but for Allison and John, it meant they were about to have the worst year of their lives. From John experiencing a life-changing set-back in his career, to Allison losing her beloved mother to a rare neurological disease, their time as newlyweds was anything but peaceful. But in the inaugural episode of the podcast, John and Allison dissect h...

What happens when filtered faces look more real than real ones? This episode dives into the strange collision of plastic surgery, social media, and AI. Why are celebrities suddenly confessing to nose jobs and boob lifts? And how is the algorithm shaping what we think we’re supposed to look like? We talk to top plastic surgeon Dr. Jonathan Zelken about what’s actually possible—and what’s pure fanta...

What if the entire wellness internet—bee venom facials, jade eggs, raw dairy—could be traced back to one woman? Gwyneth Paltrow didn’t just win an Oscar and marry a rock star. She built Goop, turned luxury wellness into a global machine, and maybe even helped create the Maha influencer pipeline. Journalist Amy Odell, author of the brand-new biography Gwyneth, spent three years and 200 interviews u...

So many of us are wondering why our government is not working for us today. Why our representatives are so ineffectual - simple bills that would protect so many vulnerable children from lead exposure like The Lead Paint Right to Know Act get stuck in committee and never brought to the floor for a vote regardless of the fact that it passed the assembly with the largest margin yet: 106 to 40. You're...

If you’ve said the word perimenopause anywhere near your phone lately, you’re probably being served a firehose of hormone hackers, estrogen patch evangelists, and protein-powder miracle cures. I hate most of these influencers and their content. But I also love that we’re finally talking about what’s happening to our bodies. In this episode, I talk to OB-GYN Dr. Kim Einhorn founder of The Menopause...

Today, we're diving into the untold history of four women who risked everything to fight fascism in WWII Italy. Author Suzanne Cope joins Jo to talk about her new book Women of War, which profiles badass resistance fighters who smuggled weapons, organized underground strikes, and wrote radical newspapers while the men were often hiding in the hills. These women didn't wait for permission to lead—t...

Unladylike is an absolute delight. Host Cristen Conger dissects the myths, messes, and media shaping modern womanhood—and un-womanhood. From bisexual imposter syndrome to tall girl therapy, gun culture to birth control backlash, she gets into it all—backed by deep research, sharp interviews, and just enough unseriousness to demystify the uncanny valley of 21st-century patriarchy without doomspiral...

There are very few influencers who can actually influence me these days, but Grace Atwood is one of them. And that's because I trust her. The business of influencing has changed a lot and Grace has been navigating those changes for 15 years. From Blogspot to Substack, affiliate links to brand deals, she’s built a full-fledged media brand by being transparent, trustworthy and having impeccable tast...