Under the Influence with Jo Piazza

In this deeply personal episode, we sit down with extraordinary mountaineer Melissa Arnot, whose achievements include multiple Everest summits including one without supplemental oxygen. But this conversation goes far beyond climbing mountains.Melissa's new book explores the universal struggle many women face: never feeling like we're enough despite accomplishments that prove otherwise. From her tumultuous upbringing to becoming an elite mountain guide while balancing motherhood and relationships, Melissa shares her journey of overcoming the relentless inner critic.This raw, honest discussion resonates with anyone who's ever felt inadequate despite "doing all the things." Like the bestseller "Wild," this isn't just a story about outdoor adventure—it's about discovering what it truly means to be enough in a world that constantly demands more.Join us for a powerful conversation about self-worth, impostor syndrome, and finding peace with who we are rather than what we achieve.Learn more about Melissa and get Enough here. Join our newsletter community here.Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here.Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From wine windows that went viral during the pandemic to churches becoming TikTok sensations, we unpack how influencer culture is changing the way we experience historic and cultural sites all over the world, but particularly in Italy. Plus, we tackle that other burning question: with so many Americans dreaming of escaping to Italy, is it actually feasible? And would those same people just become part of the problem? Is all of it just a social media induced fever dream for most Americans?Listen to Fosca's excellent podcast here and learn more about all of her excellent Italian services here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today on Sunday Nice Things I'm dropping in an episode of the show Too Much Money that I made with my friend Doree Shafrir. The show is a wild ride through the crazy ways that billionaires spend their money. And now that we live in a world with a billionaire ruling class it's a more interesting listen than ever.This episode is about why billionaires love to buy media properties and then ruin them. In this ep we discuss the various billionaires (Jeff Bezos, Patrick Soon-Shiong, Mort Zuckerman, Sam Zell, etc.) who have bought media properties, what happened next, and who suffered (hint: not them!).Listen to all the episodes of Too Much Money here.Join our newsletter community here.Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here.Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The misinformation about birth control and women's rights on social media has reached a fever pitch. The other day I was served a reel telling me that taking birth control will both give me cancer and make me more attracted to my cousin. How can we fix this? With information. Can a report card help save reproductive rights in America? This week, I'm chatting with Jennie Wetter from ePROs Fight Back to discuss their groundbreaking report card grading all 50 states on reproductive health and rights. As the US earns its sixth consecutive failing grade, they break down the current landscape of abortion access, sex education, and maternal healthcare state by state. A crucial listen for understanding reproductive rights at the local level—where the real fight is happening.Jennie is the director of the rePROs Fight Back initiative and leads the creation of the report. She also hosts a weekly podcast that is a go-to resource for keeping up with the devastation happening to reproductive rights.Join our newsletter community here.Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here.Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Professor Katherine Phelps is shattering the stereotype that social media is purely destructive for young girls. After spending a ton of time with these young women and interviewing them about their online habits for her new book Digital Girlhoods she's discovered that social media plays a valuable role in community building and identity formation.Katherine discusses the complex dynamics of online bullying, privacy, and visibility, as well as the broader societal influences that shape young girls' digital lives. Maybe it isn't social media that is failing girls, but our society, our culture and even us.Get Digital Girlhoods here.Join our newsletter community here.Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here.Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today we're talking to Susie Shaw, a mother who bravely shares her journey through the devastating loss of her child, William. Susie recounts the harrowing day William went missing during a family ski vacation and the aftermath of that tragedy. Our conversation delves deep into the challenges of grieving, the dire need for better bereavement support, and the role of grief influencers online, both the good and the bad.You can follow Susie on Instagram here.Learn more about William's Be Yourself Challenge and The Green House here.Join our newsletter community here.Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here.Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Have you ever wondered if you could stop being so neurotic, or become more of an extrovert? Are our personalities set in stone when we are born or can we adapt them over time? To find out Atlantic journalist Olga Kazan set out on a year-long experiment to become more extroverted, less neurotic, and more agreeable.Discover how Olga successfully changed aspects of her personality through simple practices like meditation, social activities, and volunteering. She debunks the myth that personality is "set like plaster" and reveals how our traits can be nudged in positive directions in as little as a few weeks.The conversation explores: How much of our personality is genetic versus changeable The surprising link between happiness and social connection Practical strategies for changing different personality traits Why experiencing difficult times often creates our strongest memories Grab Olga's Book, Me But Better, here.Read her viral Atlantic cover story here.Join our newsletter community here.Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here.Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm a little obsessed with this week's Sunday Nice Things. I am very excited to bring you the CRAMPED podcast. Cramped is one nerd’s quest to find out why we know next to nothing about period pain. Tired of suffering from "death cramps" with no diagnosis for 20 years, Kate Downey has to look for her own answers. What she finds will change how you think about your own body and the medical system. Because having a microphone gets you more answers than having a uterus.In this episode Kate gets sucked down a rabbit hole of "hormone balancing" content on TikTok, and wonders...this whole time, have her cramps just been due to a hormone imbalance? She talks with Alex Sujong Laughlin (Normal Gossip, Defector) about her experience trying to balance her hormones with info from TikTok, and then gets real answers from Dr. Thara Vayali on hormone function, cortisol, and how our hormones ACTUALLY work.Read the transcript for this episode here.Listen to episode one of CRAMPED here.Join our newsletter community here.Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here.Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What if taking a step back from your career wasn't seen as slacking, but actually celebrated? Harvard Business School professor Christina Wallace discusses why we all deserve a season to dial it back at work. She'll make you question how you're measuring your life (spoiler: it's probably not just about that paycheck) and why the "lean in" mindset did women zero favors. We dig into why companies should let employees hit the brakes occasionally, how to tell your boss you need breathing room without getting fired, and why finding a hobby you don't monetize might save your sanity.Read Christina's HBR piece on seasons of stepping back here.Join our newsletter community here.Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here.Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In celebration of the release of Elle Cosimano's latest book Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave we are re-releasing our much beloved interview with Elle about how she blew up her life to follow her dream of becoming a writer. This is a must listen for anyone looking to pivot or make a change right now.Elle was miserable in her job working in real estate. Then her mother offered to care for her children for the summer and take on the physical and mental load of parenting so that Elle could try to write her own book. That moment of receiving permission to do something for herself, completely changed Elle's life and put her on the path to writing her first book, to finding an agent, to publishing a book and then many books and then hitting the bestseller lists.And along the way Elle connected with other women who were also blowing up their lives to switch careers to become authors. Those women inspired her every single day to keep going.This is about women lifting each other up and supporting one another unconditionally. It is about the fear and shame and guilt many of us have about doing something that seems selfish, that is for ourselves.Elle Cosimano has inspired me so much on my own journey and I know that she is going to inspire you.Get a copy of Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave here.Learn more about Elle and buy all of her books here.Subscribe to our YouTube channel for videos of all episodes here.Join our newsletter community here.Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here.Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices