When you board a plane, flight attendants greet you with practiced smiles and seamless service. But there’s a lot of mental and emotional labor that passengers don’t see. Missy, a Hawaii-based flight attendant, takes Anita inside her world and shares stories from her close to five years on the job — from managing unruly passengers to dealing with medical emergencies. Travel journalist Natalie Compton also shares her reporting on the financial precarity some flight attendants face and how understanding more about their reality has changed the way she approaches air travel.

Meet the guests:

- Missy is a Hawaii-based flight attendant who is using only her first name since she's not authorized to speak on behalf of her airline

- Natalie Compton is a travel reporter for The Washington Post

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Dig deeper:

Natalie's reporting on the financial precarity of early-career flight attendants

Natalie's reporting on flight attendant training

Please note: This episode originally published on June 19, 2025.

When Chris Mosier became the first openly trans athlete to qualify for Team USA in 2015, he catalyzed policy change for trans people in sports. Now, more than a decade later, his legacy is beginning to unravel. Chris talks to Anita about how sports have affirmed him as a trans person and why they’ve become a battleground for trans rights. They also discuss the assumptions that underpin many of the bans on trans athletes in the U.S. and solutions that Chris says could make sports better for all athletes. 

Meet the guest:

- Chris Mosier is an eight-time Team USA athlete who wrote the forward to and conducted interviews for the recent book “Fair Game: Trans Athletes and the Future of Sports” 

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You can read the new International Olympic Committee's policy on gender here.

American men are in a friendship recession. Compared to a few decades ago, five times as many men have no close friends. So what’s going on? Anita talks with Mark Pagán, creator and host of the podcast “Other Men Need Help,” about what makes close friendships among men so fraught — and what we can do about it. They talk about everything from why Mark loves secret handshakes to his ongoing journey of making himself say the hard stuff out loud.

Meet the guest:

- Mark Pagán is the creator and host of the podcast "Other Men Need Help" and writes the substack "Other Men"

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Please note: This episode originally published April 17, 2025.

Each week on How To!, award-winning journalist Mike Pesca tackles a listener’s question – on topics ranging from travel and finance to health and relationships – with help from world-class experts who actually know what they're talking about. Think of it as eavesdropping on someone else's therapy session, without the co-pay or awkward silence. 

And today, we’re sharing their recent episode on “How to Emigrate as a Throuple” featuring the legendary sex and relationship advice expert Dan Savage. As the U.S. political climate shifts, Dan’s yearning to relocate his polyamorous family to Europe. He knows how to navigate complex relationship dynamics, but the leap to untangling international immigration law feels intimidating and technically out of reach. And that’s where How To! steps in with the help of an expert immigration lawyer. At a time where relationships and politics are becoming even more intertwined, this is a must-listen conversation.

And for more interviews like this, make sure to follow How To! on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And tell them we sent you.

When B. Chionne first heard about sugar dating in college, she was intrigued — what if in exchange for her time and attention she could earn enough money to pay her bills? She ended up dating sugar daddies on and off for about a decade. B. tells Anita about what the sugar dating life looks like and how years of exchanging companionship for financial support reshaped the way she thinks about money, power and intimacy. Plus, a researcher shares insights into the sugar daddy perspective and broader trends in sugar relationships.

Meet the guests:

- B. Chionne is a digital content creator and former sugar baby

- Lauren Cormier is a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at the University of New Brunswick who studies human sexuality and relationships

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Rebecca Auman is a witch. That’s not an insult — it literally says “head witch” on her LinkedIn profile. Rebecca has been able to read people and pick up on energy and vibrations for as long as she can remember. But as the daughter of a Methodist minister growing up in the South, she was encouraged to turn away from that intuition for a long time. She tells Anita about the long and winding road to reclaim her magic and how she has turned her gift into a service for others.

Meet the guest:

- Rebecca Auman runs her own witchy business offering tarot readings and intuition training, and she hosts the podcast “Voices in the River”

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Black horror writer Tananarive Due fell in love with the spectacle of horror when she was a little kid. But it was only after she was well into her horror writing career that she discovered that the genre can provide not just entertainment but healing. Tananarive talks to Anita about why she believes horror can help folks process real-world fears and trauma, using her most recent award-winning book “The Reformatory” as a case study.  

Meet the guest:

- Tananarive Due is an educator and the author of several horror novels, including "The Reformatory"

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Nearly 40% of Americans say digestive troubles disrupt their daily lives. As the daughter of a gastroenterologist, that’s a statistic Anita can’t ignore. She joins forces with neurogastroenterologist Dr. Trisha Pasricha to bust poop myths, explain what's actually normal and explore the surprising science behind the gut-brain connection.

Meet the guest:

- Dr. Trisha Pasricha, physician, researcher, medical journalist and author of "You've Been Pooping All Wrong"

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Soph Myers-Kelley and his mom, René Myers, have always been close. As of five years ago, they also share a diagnosis: the connective tissue disorder Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Soph and René were diagnosed one year apart – Soph was 25; René was 60. EDS explained symptoms they’d both been experiencing for decades, including waking up with jaw or shoulder dislocations and having chronic pain.The two talk with Anita about how their diagnoses began a new chapter of their lives, including the decision to move in together last summer.

Meet the guests:

- Soph Myers-Kelley is a medical librarian at East Carolina University

- René Myers is Soph's mom and a retired educator

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Please note: This episode originally published February 20, 2025.

Food and sex have been deeply intertwined in our cultural imagination for millennia. Anita talks with a cultural historian who has combed through centuries of sex and food chronicles to understand what makes that connection so strong. Plus, Puerto Rican chef Manolo López shares a Valentine’s recipe and his favorite sexy food.

Meet the guests:

- Rachel Hope Cleves is a historian, a professor at the University of Victoria and the author of “Lustful Appetites: An Intimate History of Good Food and Wicked Sex"

- Manolo López is a Puerto Rican chef and storyteller

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