Dawn Staley helped Team USA’s women’s basketball team win gold at the ‘96 Olympics. It was the highlight of her career. Yet she fell into a depression that was so bad, she didn’t even want to look at a basketball. Nothing prepared her to process reaching such a milestone. She was left asking herself: now what? With a resumé is full of career-highs (hi, 3x national champ), Dawn says the real reward isn’t the trophy – it’s all the work it took to get there. Dawn gets into it all in her new memoir, "Uncommon Favor."

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Dawn also shares: 

How many shoes she has in her collection (sneakerheads beware)

Why she aspired to play in the NBA – instead of the WNBA – growing up 

How the taboo nature of mental health stopped her from asking for help post-Olympics

Why she was insulted when approached for a coaching job 

The one thing she wants to see change for women athletes this year

PS: Dawn’s memoir is out now.

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Melanie Masarin once pitched Glossier’s founder to do a pop-up at a former fried chicken shop. Her response? “I don’t get it, but I trust you.” It was a career-defining moment for her. Because getting approval from the founder meant she couldn’t afford to mess it up. Listen as Melanie shares why being given major responsibilities in her mid-twenties shaped her career. Plus, how it prepared her to start Ghia, the non-alcoholic apéritif that’s now a millennial bar-cart staple. 

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Melanie also shares: 

Her food-centered core memories growing up in the French Riviera 

The money-shock she experienced attending Brown University 

The once-in-a-lifetime chance she had to design the Glossier flagship store

Her journey shifting from founder-to-CEO mode, and the difficulties that come with it

How pivoting Ghia’s launch strategy actually paid off 

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Alice Waters never cared about making money. After more than 50 years in business, she still doesn’t. She opened her restaurant, Chez Panisse, with money that friends and family lent her. They had no expectations of ever seeing it again. It’s no surprise, given she’s sparked a slow food revolution where consuming food slowly and resisting the industrial food system is the name of the game. Some call her the “mother of the farm-to-table movement”. Alice says: it’s just the way things ought to be. 

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Alice shares: 

The visit to a certain European country that changed the trajectory of her life 

How disrupting the traditional hierarchy of kitchens kept Chez Panisse alive

Why she doesn’t care about money – and when she maybe should’ve 

The last thing her mom said to her, and how having supportive parents shaped her career

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Karissa Bodnar once got advice from a peer – she needed real friends, not just “deal” friends. It wasn’t a dig. Entrepreneurship is lonely. And if Karissa was going to make it as a founder, she’d need friends who cared about her and not the number of zeros in her bank account. Karissa sits down with us to share how she found those kinds of friends, the time she got ghosted out of a big investment, and what she really thinks about those beauty influencer trips. 

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Karissa also shares: 

Why she affectionately refers to herself a “dirt road diva” 

How growing up in a small Washington town shaped her entrepreneurship

How the passing of her friend, Kristy, inspired her to start Thrive Causemetics 

The lesson she learned from being ghosted by a potential investor 

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Kristen Kish didn’t grow up dreaming of becoming the first woman of color to win Top Chef—or of one day hosting the show. She grew up in the Midwest as a Korean adoptee and those wins hadn’t crossed her radar. But with a little luck—and a lot of support—she got there. Listen as Kristen shares how one mentor changed everything by challenging her to think beyond day-to-day dinner service and chase a career she never thought was possible.

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Kristen shares: 

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Geri Halliwell-Horner, aka Ginger Spice, practically invented girl power and forever holds a special place in our millennial hearts. In her twenties, she answered a magazine ad and ended up making pop history with the Spice Girls. In her thirties, she felt the pressures of “time lines” and adult-life creeping in. Welcome to the club. Listen as Geri shares how girl power carried her through her post-Spice Girls career.

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Geri shares: 

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Tinx never set out to be known as “TikTok’s older sister.” But five years of real talk on taboo topics – dating in your 30s, botox, and having zero clue what to do in life – makes a name like that stick. Social media and influencing has gotten crowded since Tinx started posting on TikTok during COVID, and she admits she’s been rethinking her relationship to the internet and her business. Tinx shares how she's finding ways to build her career offline, thanks in part to her debut novel, Hotter in the Hamptons. 

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Tinx shares: 

PS: “Hotter in the Hamptons” is out on May 6. 

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Audrey McLoghlin’s peer once compared her to a cockroach that could withstand nuclear warfare. Weird compliment? Maybe. But Audrey says she was touched. She grew up with an alcoholic father and learned early to rely on herself, not a partner, to make ends meet. As a serial entrepreneur in fashion, she’s built her businesses through some of the toughest economic times—think: the Great Recession and COVID-19—proving resilience is her superpower.

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Audrey shares: 

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Before Emily Oster became a go-to parenting expert, she was an econ professor waiting on a tenure decision at the University of Chicago. While waiting, she published Expecting Better, a book that moms-to-be consider to be a parenting Bible. She got rejected for tenure, then spent over a decade believing the book was a “professional mistake”. Parents everywhere beg to differ. Listen as Emily shares how she moved past the disappointment  – and why it actually turned out to be the best thing for her career. 

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Emily shares: 

Follow Emily on Instagram: @profemilyoster

Follow Carly and Danielle on Instagram: @carlyanddanielle

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Erin Burnett flirted with the idea of becoming a CIA agent one day, drawn to the undercover thrills. Instead, she crunched numbers at Goldman Sachs as a financial analyst, then pivoted to be a broadcast journalist. While she never became a secret spy or ran a Wall Street empire, she didn’t let her interests or skills collect dust. Listen as Erin shares how she fused her business knowledge with her world news obsession to land her daily primetime show, OutFront with Erin Burnett. 

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Erin shares: 

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