Today we're going to talk about two things that we don't talk about nearly often enough—career setbacks and women's ambition. And these things have way more to do with one another than we might think. I genuinely believe that our ambition only increases or has the potential to increase after a setback. That's one of the reasons I wanted to bring on both of today's guests. We will be hearing from business strategist and all over hype woman Amanda Wagner about why ambition should never be considered a dirty word. We need to be allowed to be ambitious in all of the things—our careers, our parenting, our relationships and even our gardening if that is our jam. We are also chatting with the author and journalist Amy Shoenthal. whose book The Setback Cycle is all about working through life's inevitable setbacks and coming back stronger than ever. ORDER THE SETBACK CYCLE HEREFOLLOW AMANDA HERE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A lot of things get fetishized on Instagram and #farmlife is one of them. Farm life on social media is often portrayed as hazy, beautiful, aspirational leisure. We rarely, if ever, see the hard actual work that goes into farming, the backbreaking labor and the intense costs of maintaining a farm. We do see a lot of chickens and beautiful blue eggs, but never the dirt under the fingernails or the fields that have failed due to unpredictable weather patterns. We don't see these things because they aren't always pretty and perfect. And social media thrives on pretty and perfect. Today we're talking about what it's really like to be a woman farmer. What it's really like to work your land and what it's really like to depend on your farm for a living. Our guest is Sayer Palmer, a vegetable farmer and a mom who tries to juggle work-life with mom life. This is the beautiful reality of living on a farm, not the dream of it. Follow Sayer here.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who wants to enjoy a little bit of nostalgia this Sunday morning? Join Jo on the magical and wonderful happy-making Stuck in Stonybrook podcast where they revisit our favorite childhood series through a modern (and often feminist) lens. Subscribe to more Stuck in Stonybrook here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do YOU discover new books that you love? I think that people want to read what other people are reading. I think we are desperate for water cooler conversation about books, the kind we used to have before everyone had Stanley Cups. Today we are digging into the world of book influence with Zibby Owens (AUTHOR OF THE NEW NATIONAL BESTSELLER BLANK). Zibby has been at the forefront of getting books to people for the past decade as a podcaster of Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books, as an event planner and content creator and now as a publisher and bookstore owner. She freaking does it all. And today we are digging into it all, including spilling a little tea on how those celebrity book clubs actually work.She's done all of the things. She's been a podcaster, a content creator and event planner. And now she's a publisher and a bookstore owner. This woman lives and breathes books.ORDER ZIBBY'S BOOK BLANK HEREOrder The Sicilian Inheritance here.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Very important topic today in this emergency episode—what the heck is going on with Kate Middleton? We do a deep dive into all the conspiracy theories (and how the Swifties are involved), the specifics of the photo manipulation, why people even give a flying eff and most importantly what this has to do with how we treat women in the media.We also have to talk about how we cover brands, because make no mistake the Royal family is a celebrity brand that is failing spectacularly at their crisis management right now.And of course...the question everyone is asking...is Kate Middleton a tradwife?Here to give us a primer and some incredibly astute commentary is none other than Caro Claire Burke, the only person I actually follow on TikTok.Follow Caro here!And order your copy of The Sicilian Inheritance TODAY right here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"If we weren't so afraid of being old, we could have a vision in our head of what we could be when we are an older woman." — Lyn SlaterIn 2014, Lynn Slater became an accidental icon when she started a fashion blog and Instagram account in her early sixties. The media went wild and all of the stories focused on how she was an older woman who dared to talk about style and fashion and put it out there on the Internet. Lyn rode the influencing wave for nearly a decade before she decided she wanted to take more control of her narrative. As she approached her 70th birthday she began writing her new book How to Be Old. I love this book. I love that Lyn is taking the piss out of everyone that only wanted to describe her as an old woman. And I gained so much knowledge about how now in my forties, I can start to plan for who I want to be in my fifties and my sixties and my seventies. This book is filled with so much wisdom for women of all ages and we talk about all of it on today's episode.Order HOW TO BE OLD here.Subscribe to Lyn's substack here.Order The Sicilian Inheritance here.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gen X is the scrappiest generation and we might just be the generation to change how we think about and treat perimenopause. Today we get to talk to my dear friend Stacy London about perimenopause and perimenopause influencers. When Stacy was going through perimenopause herself advocacy and education for women's healthcare became her new passion and her new business. Stacy has worked her ass off to break through the noise and the b.s. around perimenopause and we are going to get into all of it. ALL OF IT. There is value in age. As Stacy so wisely tells me in this episode: Menopause is Mother Nature's biological fail safe to make you sit up and realize that you don't have an expiration date but the values that you held when you were younger do.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is nothing better than leaving your children and going on vacation with your best friend. My own BF Jackie crashed my reporting trip in Sicily this week (much to my delight) and it reminded me of the importance of both travel and girlfriend time.This does not sound like every other episode of UTI, but I thought maybe you might like to be in a car with us on this weird journey in Sicily.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Social media is incredibly toxic for women and girls. I say this all the time, and sometimes I start to feel like a real conspiracy theorist, like the social media version of a prepper telling you to build a tunnel under your house with lots of canned goods, but it is still something I truly believe. My guest today is Kara Alaimo, the author of OVER THE INFLUENCE (a book, not my substack).It looks at how social media is affecting every single aspect of the lives of women and girls from our parenting to how we date to our careers and our physical safety. But it also gives practical tips about what we can do about it, as users, as creators and as lawmakers to solve a problem that is not just going to go away.You can order OVER THE INFLUENCE (the book) here.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's Sunday Nice Things has everything that you want in a Sunday listen—swingers, the seventies and puritanical Minnesota. From my friends who bring you the Terrible Thanks for Asking podcast comes a new show called Time Capsule: The Silver Chain.This is an 8-episode “true no-crime” documentary podcast that delves into the secret world of partner-swapping suburbanites in 1970s Minnesota. Newsletters from an abandoned safe deposit box set host Paul Ditty on an investigation to learn all he can about The Silver Chain – a suburban Minnesota swing club from the 1970s – and its members.Paul attempts to reach several of the club's members. No one will talk until finally he reaches Carol, one of the club’s founders who eventually agrees to talk. But just as Paul is on his way to Modesto, an email from Carol's daughter changes his course.Subscribe to Time Capsule: The Silver Chain here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices