Confessions

Building your life after college is an emotional game of "choose your own adventure." Our listener is just about to graduate, and while her dream has been to live in New York City and pursue a career in fashion journalism, her family just bought a home far away from Manhattan. She's faced with a choice: Stay with her family and find a remote job or spread her wings and leave home to live the city life she's always dreamed of.

Our guest Caroline Vazzana is a fashion editor, stylist, and the author of "Making it in Manhattan,” which you can purchase here. Her website, a space dedicated to sharing her journey, career advice, and eclectic style, is also titled Making it in Manhattan.” You can listen to her podcast here.

Follow Mia Lardiere and Julee Wilson on Instagram: @mialardiere and @missjulee.

Cosmo Confessions is made in collaboration with editaudio. If you’d like to submit an anonymous confession to be featured in a future episode, send us a voicemail or send us an email at [email protected]. 

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​​Opening up a relationship can be a very fulfilling and exciting choice for a couple. In this instance, our listener and their partner opened up their marriage sexually but agreed to draw a boundary: no catching feelings. Still, her spouse fell in love with someone else and it nearly ended in a divorce. How should they build their relationship back after major trust was lost?

Our guest Zachary Zane is on IG and Twitter as @zacharyzane_ and you can read the ‘BOYSLUT’ zine on Substack and read his Navigating Non-Monogamy column on Cosmo. Pick up your copy of ‘Boyslut: A Memoir and Manifesto’ on Amazon. He mentioned the book ‘Polysecure: Attachment, Trauma and Consensual Nonmonogamy’ by Jessica Fern. 

Follow Mia Lardiere and Maxwell Losgar on Instagram: @mialardiere and @maxwelllosgar. 

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Is it helpful or nosy to give your friends unsolicited financial advice? In this episode, our listener is sick of their friend borrowing money to pay their electric bill when Miu Miu shoes are sitting in their closet and their credit card is maxed out. All we know is that setting boundaries with your bestie gets sticky when money is involved.

Our guest Tiffany "The Budgetnista" Aliche, America's favorite personal financial educator is on Instagram and TikTok as @thebudgenista. You can listen to her podcast ‘Brown Ambition’ here. Her book, ‘Get Good With Money: Ten Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole,’ is available to buy on Amazon.

You can learn about the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act here. 

Follow Mia Lardiere and Rachel Torgerson on Instagram: @mialardiere and @racheltorgs. 

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Here’s a word that might send a shiver down your spine depending on your luck in this lifetime: in-laws. Yeeeah. I’ll give you a minute to unclench. While your in-laws might make Thanksgiving a royal headache or send you unsolicited articles about your parenting choices, they probably haven’t launched a full-blown smear campaign against you…to your own husband. And if they have, well, you’ll relate to this listener.

Call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 if you are in distress and need confidential support. 

Dr. Sasha Hamdani is on Instagram and TikTok @thepsychdoctormd. You can order her book ‘Self-Care for People with ADHD’ on Amazon and download Focus Genie here.

Follow Mia Lardiere and Madeleine Reeves on Instagram: @mialardiere and @madeleinefrankreeves. 

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Becoming a parent is a daunting adventure for many, and social media often magnifies its challenges. Our listener shares that after witnessing the primal scream of under-resourced parents (read: mostly mothers) on Instagram during the pandemic, she is more afraid than ever about becoming a mom. The stats validate her concerns: As of 2016, women spend about four hours a day on unpaid work, compared with about 2.5 hours for men according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. How is our listener to keep an open mind about becoming a parent when every part of her is feeling closed off?

Our guest Elaine Welteroth is an award-winning journalist, TV host, and author of the instant New York Times bestselling book "More Than Enough," which won the 2020 NAACP Image Award for outstanding literary work. Her popular new advice column “Ask Elaine” appears in The Washington Post, exploring how to navigate pivots in life with more ease and less angst. You can catch MaterniTea on Elaine’s Instagram. Apply for a “No” Grant from Pure Leaf here, and learn more about Elaine’s doula Kimberly Durdin and Kindred Space LA here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

At Cosmopolitan, we’re famous for keeping your secrets and for getting to the bottom of your most burning questions. From toxic in-laws to friends with messy finances to having a crush on your coworker — Confessions is a safe space to talk out all the gory-but-helpful details of getting through life's weirdest stuff.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.