Pride is more than a celebration, it’s a call to action, especially for queer families navigating today’s uncertain political landscape. This week on Hello Monday, Jessi Hempel sits down with Darra Gordon, CEO of Family Equality, to talk about protecting LGBTQ+ families, raising resilient kids, and why visibility and community are more vital than ever.

Darra is a longtime advocate and nonprofit leader who works every day to ensure all families, especially those with LGBTQ+ parents, have equal rights and protections. She’s also a working mom, navigating the same daily chaos as many of us: career, childcare, dinner plans, and existential anxiety about the future.

Jessi and Darra discuss: • How LGBTQ+ families can stay safe and visible in uncertain times • How to raise kids who are proud of their identity and inclusive of others • The joy and strength of queer families, and the role of community in liberation • Why allyship is more than a rainbow flag during June • How everyone, queer or not, can support family equality year-round

Whether you're part of the LGBTQ+ community, love someone who is, or just want to build a more inclusive world — this episode is for you.

Join us for Hello Monday Office Hours, live on the LinkedIn News page this Wednesday at 3PM ET. It’s a welcoming space to keep the conversation going.

What does it take to make a bold career pivot after decades of doing the expected? This week, we’re resurfacing our conversation with the multi-talented Anna Kendrick, whose journey from acclaimed actor to first-time director offers invaluable insights for anyone thinking about making the leap into something new. 

Anna shares the story behind her directorial debut with Netflix’s Woman of the Hour, a true-crime drama. Far removed from the lighthearted films that Anna is known for, Woman of the Hour chronicles the stranger-than-fiction story of a 1970s aspiring actor and a serial killer whose lives collide when they're cast on a dating game show.

Together, Jessi and Anna discuss:

The courage it takes to step out of your comfort zone

How to follow your intuition when making creative decisions

Dealing with imposter syndrome

Learning to lead

What good feedback truly looks like

This episode offers not just a behind-the-scenes look at Anna's latest project but also inspiration for anyone seeking to reinvent their own career. Watch Woman of the Hour on Netflix now, and tune in to hear how Anna Kendrick is embracing the next chapter of her career.

Continue the conversation with us at Hello Monday Office Hours! RSVP here to join us on the LinkedIn News page this Wednesday at 3 PM EST.

It’s easy to feel lost in your career, especially as the world around us keeps shifting. Whether you’re starting over, seeking purpose, or just unsure what your next move is, this episode is for you.

This week, Jessi Hempel sits down with Caroline Wanga, president and CEO of Essence Ventures and co-founder of Wanga Woman. Caroline is a dynamic leader and an unapologetic champion of authenticity. She joins Jessi to share her approach to building a career map – not just once, but continuously throughout your life.

Before leading Essence, Caroline spent 15 years at Target, rising from intern to C-suite executive. Today, she’s focused on democratizing authenticity through her personal purpose, her leadership, and her new memoir, I’m Highly Percent Sure.

Jessi and Caroline dig deep into:

Why your “next right move” may not look like anyone else’s

Why playing with your career map, not perfecting it, leads to clarity

How, and when, Caroline has created her own career maps

The role of authenticity in leadership and life

What it really takes to live and work with personal purpose

Tools and mindsets for building a meaningful career in today’s world

Don’t miss Caroline’s practical wisdom on shaping a professional life that evolves with you.

This episode was filmed live in-studio. LinkedIn Premium subscribers can watch the full video version here.

Want to keep the conversation going? Join us at Hello Monday Office Hours, live on the LinkedIn News page this Wednesday at 3 PM EST.

Debbie Millman and Roxane Gay know a thing or two about building creative lives. Debbie is a legendary designer, writer, and podcast host. Roxane is a bestselling author and cultural critic. Together, they’ve built a partnership rooted in discipline, love, and slow growth. On this week’s episode of Hello Monday, Jessi Hempel welcomes the couple back to the studio to talk about their new book, and what it really takes to live a meaningful creative life.

Their book, Love Letter to a Garden, is both literal and metaphorical. It’s about vegetables, sure. But it’s also about how we learn, how we fail, and how we grow. Debbie shares stories of her journey from struggling gardener to seasoned grower, an arc that mirrors her creative life. Roxane contributes recipes she’s crafted using the produce Debbie grows. 

Jessi, Debbie, and Roxane dig into the kind of growth that takes time, and the work required to nurture it.

They discuss:

• The invisible years behind every “overnight” success

• How to keep going when you fail again and again

• Why your hope must be slightly bigger than your shame

• What it means to save your best energy for what matters most

• The difference between meaningful work and making work your meaning

Continue the conversation with us at Hello Monday Office Hours! Join us here, on the LinkedIn News page, this Wednesday at 3 PM EST.

In this special Thursday bonus episode, we’re returning to Jessi Hempel’s conversation with Suzy Welch, a professor at NYU Stern School of Business, business advisor, and three-time NYT bestselling author. Suzy’s latest book, Becoming You, came out this week, in which she synthesizes her wildly popular NYU course of the same name.

In conversation with Jessi, Suzy shares her insights on the importance of values, authenticity, and personal growth. She emphasizes the need to align our professional lives with our deepest values and aptitudes to achieve true satisfaction and happiness.

Suzy and Jessi discuss:

The importance of living an authentic life

How values shape our career decisions

The role of authenticity in finding career satisfaction

Navigating the tension between personal and professional values

This episode is a must-listen for anyone trying to find fulfillment and live authentically at work and beyond.

How do you live well when life falls apart? Suleika Jaouad has a powerful answer. In this deeply moving episode of Hello Monday, host Jessi Hempel sits down with Suleika Jaouad, bestselling author, speaker, and cancer survivor, to uncover what it truly means to live well in the face of uncertainty. From her fight with leukemia to her remarkable creative journey, Suleika has learned to turn adversity into art, and pain into purpose.

Her latest work, The Book of Alchemy, is a soulful invitation to embrace creative practices that help build resilience, joy, and connection, even in our darkest moments. Jessi and Suleika dive into topics that challenge conventional ideas of success and encourage listeners to live more intentionally. 

They discuss:

Why curiosity and play can be powerful daily rituals

How a 100-day journaling challenge sparked a creative breakthrough

What it means to redefine productivity through values like kindness and bravery

The healing power of deep friendships and chosen family

How creativity helps us process adversity and transform it

Continue the conversation with us at Hello Monday Office Hours! Join us here, on the LinkedIn News page, this Wednesday at 3 PM EST.

If you have found your way here right now, you are most likely at a turning point in your career, maybe in your life. Layoffs are a challenging and often unexpected part of our careers. In today's episode, Jessi Hempel dives deep into the emotional and practical aspects of navigating layoffs. Whether you're facing a layoff yourself or supporting someone who is, this episode offers valuable insights and actionable advice.

Tune in to gain valuable insights and support for navigating your career journey during challenging times.

We’ve been taught to chase fancy job titles and large salaries, but what if we aimed for moral ambition instead? In this week’s episode of Hello Monday, host Jessi Hempel sits down with historian and best-selling author Rutger Bregman to explore moral ambition: the idea that the core metric of a successful career should be the positive impact we have on the world.

Rutger’s new book, Moral Ambition: How to Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference, calls on all of us to rethink what we’re really working for. If you’ve ever felt like there should be more to your job than climbing the ladder, this conversation is for you.

Jessi and Rutger dive into:

This episode is a call to action for anyone who wants to do good—and do it well.

Join the conversation at Hello Monday Office Hours! We’ll be live on the LinkedIn News page this Wednesday at 3PM EST. Bring your questions and your curiosity; we’d love to hear what moral ambition looks like for you.

Age bias is everywhere: online, at work, even in the stories we tell ourselves. Ashton Applewhite wants us to see age not as a limitation, but as a source of strength. In today’s episode, Jessi Hempel sits down with the anti-ageism activist to unpack the hidden ways ageism shapes our workplaces, and how we can push back.

Ashton is a leading voice in the age equity movement. She’s the author of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism and founder of the Old School Hub, a resource center filled with free tools to combat age bias. In this conversation, she shares practical strategies for navigating ageism at work, whether you’re feeling “too old,” “too young,” or just underestimated.

Jessi and Ashton discuss:

• Why age has less to do with competence than we think

• How internalized ageism holds us back, and how to recognize it

• What managers can do to build age-diverse teams

• How to tell your story in a way that challenges bias

• Tips for job seekers facing age-based assumptions

• The power of language in shaping workplace perceptions

Continue the conversation with us at Hello Monday Office Hours! Join us on the LinkedIn News page this Wednesday at 3 PM ET. 

Have you ever been the only one at the table? Maybe the only woman, or the only person of color, or simply the only one with a different perspective in the room? It can feel isolating, but it doesn’t have to hold you back. In fact, it can actually be your superpower. 

In this week’s episode of Hello Monday, Jessi Hempel sits down with Angela Chee to unpack how to embrace being an “only” and turn it into a powerful asset. Angela is media and communications coach and author of The Power of the Only. She speaks from her many years of experience as a TV news anchor, where she was often the only Asian American and the only woman in the room. 

Angela and Jessi discuss:

• How to identify external and internal barriers, and how to break through the internal ones

• The importance of personal development in owning your voice

• Why some environments aren’t worth your time, and when to walk away

• How to thrive when you’re the only one at the table

Continue the conversation with us at Hello Monday Office Hours! Join Jessi and Senior Producer Sarah Storm live on the LinkedIn News Page this Wednesday at 3 PM EST.