Ambition 2.0

When Dr. Anne-Marie Slaughter was asked to serve as the first female Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. State Department, it was her dream come true. She left her tenured position at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and commuted weekly from Princeton to Washington D.C. to work under then Secretary of State and current presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. But between the grueling hours, a rigid work schedule, and raising two teenage sons back in New Jersey, Anne-Marie was struggling. As much as this was a dream job, she knew her family needed her at home. She ultimately left the State Department after two years to return to a full workload at Princeton. 

Anne-Marie wrote about the difficulty of women achieving work-life balance in her widely read 2012 Atlantic article “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All”, which became one of the magazine’s most read articles in its history. She continued this conversation with her book Unfinished Business: Women, Men, Work, and Family, which is now out in paperback. Anne-Marie is now the President and CEO of New America. On the podcast Anne-Marie tells us about her first job in academia at age 30, what's changed since she published her Atlantic article and how to foster equity and balance from the policy level to our relationships.

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Journalist Jessica Bennett and her friends were all creatives striving for professional success in New York City. But some subtle (and not so subtle) bouts of sexism in the workplace were getting in the way of their hustle. So they sought refuge by creating a feminist fight club - a group of New York women in creative fields who meet once a month to share advice, vent, and support each other through their careers. Jessica’s penned her difficult workplace experiences, hilarious tips, and other useful advice for women in the workplace in her new book Feminist Fight Club.

Jessica is an award-winning journalist and critic who writes on gender issues, sexuality and culture. She is a feature writer and columnist at The New York Times and her work has also appeared in Newsweek, where she began her career as a staff writer. On the podcast, Jessica discusses her early days as a crime beat reporter, who a bropropriator is, and why women should support other women.

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Yesi Ortiz has been called 'The Voice of LA' and man, does she know how to use that voice. Her dream was to work at Los Angeles' Power 106 radio station, and after enrolling in broadcasting school, she worked at all costs to make her dream come true -- that meant commuting from Long Beach to Las Vegas, taking a radio job in Mexico, and fighting big egos along the way. In 2006, through sheer talent and drive, Yesi realized her goal, and she's now Power 106's midday host. But what makes Yesi even more of a Girlboss is what she's accomplished outside of work. Off the air, Yesi is a single mother to her six children. She adopted them from their biological mother, Yesi’s sister, when she was just 25 years old. On the podcast, Yesi discusses developing a work ethic at her uncle's supermarket, how she suddenly became a single mother to her six children, and how work can be a haven.

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Musician Yuna was already an accomplished singer and songwriter in her home country of Malaysia when she moved to Los Angeles six years ago. She always had her sights set on making it in the music world in the United States, which meant having to restart her career from scratch. Yuna worked hard, stayed true to her values, and lived by her mantra 'undersell and overperform.' Now, she's selling out venues around the world and collaborating with greats like Pharrell and Usher. On the podcast, Sophia and Yuna talk about forgoing career expectations, the subjectivity of sexiness, and her newest album Chapters.

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When Grace Bonney moved to Williamsburg in 2003, she noticed a DIY design culture in Brooklyn that wasn't being covered in design magazines. So she covered it herself with Design*Sponge, a blog which originally highlighted the creative design aesthetic we now know as Brooklyn chic. Since its founding in 2004, Design*Sponge has transformed into an expansive lifestyle website, which The New York Times called the “Martha Stewart Living for the Millennials.” On the podcast Sophia and Grace discuss finding your crowd, managing employees remotely, and Grace's new book In the Company of Women.

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Model and Transgender activist Geena Rocero understands the power of speaking your truth and taking control of your narrative. At 17 years old, Geena immigrated from the Philippines to the U.S. to pursue a modeling career. Over the next 12 years, she modeled for brands like Target, Rimmel, Cover Girl, Marriott Hotels and Macy’s, but she didn’t feel like the people around her knew her full story. So when Geena turned 30, she courageously ‘came out’ at her TED talk as trans to bring more visibility to the transgender community. Since then, Geena co-founded GenderProud, an advocacy and media production company that produces media to elevate justice and equality for the transgender community. On the podcast, Geena discusses her first job as a transgender beauty queen, seeing the 'F' on her driver's license for the first time, and the challenges facing the transgender workforce today.

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If life is all about the journey, then Melissa Biggs Bradley is doing things right. The founder and CEO of the boutique travel agency and website Indagare has traveled to over 100 countries, six continents, and can rattle off hotel recommendations at the drop of a hat. Prior to Indagare, Melissa worked at Town & Country magazine for 12 years and launched Town & Country Travel which was nominated for a National Magazine Award for General Excellence by the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME). On the podcast, Melissa recounts her long childhood plane rides to Australia, gives us some trips for traveling on the cheap, and tells us about her incredible #girlbossmoment.

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Hollywood glamour can seem unattainable, but Cassandra Grey puts that glitz within reach with Violet Grey. The luxury beauty company curates the top makeup products in one space. Every product on their website and in their gorgeous Melrose store is rigorously vetted by their prestigious Violet Code, a group of magazine editors, makeup artists and designers who rank their favorite brands. Sophia and Cassandra discuss Cassandra's hippie days in Asheville, North Carolina, the challenges of merging content and commerce, and the brilliant marketing strategies of Beanie Babies.

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Money can be one of the hardest things to discuss with friends. That's exactly why Sophia talks to her good friend Alexi Wasser on this week's special episode of Girlboss Radio. The two of them tackle some of our biggest questions when it comes to finances. They go deep about finances when it comes to feminism and relationships, and they even open up about their own money struggles with each other. 

This episode of Girlboss Radio is in partnership with Prudential. Prudential solves investment, insurance and retirement challenges, helping individuals, organizations and communities reach their goals. Sophia is teaming up with Prudential and their 4.01K Race for Retirement, which is on September 17th at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles.

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Tyler Haney has always been #DoingThings. The founder and CEO of Outdoor Voices was always an athlete, but the neon, black, and mesh apparel on the market, along with its competitive mentality, stopped resonating with her. Tyler realized what inspired her to stay active was completely different; she enjoyed a balanced, fun, and freeing approach to exercise. So she created Outdoor Voices, an active lifestyle brand that believes in freeing fitness from performance, and embracing activity with ease, humor, and delight. On this week’s episode Tyler tells Sophia about building a makeshift office from a bunkbed, traveling with her dad to a textile and mill convention in Utah, and the importance of building communities through activity.

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