The Messy Parts

Saturday Night Live, Wicked, American Auto, Sugar & Booze, many lifelong friendships, and close family relationships are just a few of Ana's string of incredible accomplishments. It turns out none of it was easy.  As she says, "It's not for the faint of heart." Even though creating and preforming for a living is "intoxicating and beyond fun" it's also "miserable and challenging."

In this episode, Ana talks about how she gets over rejection in one night; how she's felt like an outsider her entire life (and used that to her advantage); why her best auditions were the ones where she was incredibly prepared and left everything on the table; how learning not to be afraid to talk about her own goals and aspirations seemed to make everything feel and work better; and the way the life balancing system she learned from none other than Martin Short helps to put everything in perspective for her.

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What happens when you try nine different schools and still don't know what you want to do? Vicki Freeman, co-founder of the Bowery Group, shares her winding journey from serial student to successful restaurateur. After searching for her purpose through child psychology, fashion photography, film school, and art history, she discovered her calling was right under her nose - in the restaurants where she'd been working to pay the bills. Her story is about the power of persistence, recognizing opportunities when they appear, and how sometimes the thing you're "just doing for now" becomes your life's work.

Show Notes: 

Guest: Vicki Freeman – Co-founder, Bowery Group (Five Points, Cookshop, Vic's, Shukette, Hundred Acres)
Follow Bowery Group on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-bowery-group/posts/
Follow Vicki on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vicki_freeman/?hl=en

Topics Covered:

• Going to nine schools while searching for her calling
• Working in restaurants as a "means to an end" while pursuing other dreams
• The Ralph Lauren breakthrough moment at age 19
• Her "looking up at the sky" epiphany in SoHo and the phone call that changed everything
• Opening Vic's: sudden success and devastating failure after one year
• Learning the business side at Columbus Bakery with ARC
• The innovative approach to raising money for Five Points (selling shares vs. big chunks)
• Building community through restaurants: being there for neighbors after 9/11 and during COVID
• The Shukette transformation: backing chefs and shared vision
• Working with your spouse in business: the challenges and magic
• Current challenges facing the restaurant industry post-COVID

Mentioned:

• Cookshop, Vic's, Shukette (Bowery Group)
• Missy Robbins (Lilia, Misi)
• Jonathan Waxman
• Russ & Daughters
• Ralph Lauren Restaurants

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What happens when you choose the "safe" path and it nearly kills your soul? Debra Martin Chase went from Harvard Law School to becoming the first Black woman producer with a major studio deal. In this episode of The Messy Parts, she shares her journey from corporate lawyer to Hollywood trailblazer, including the near-death experience that made her quit law, the weekend of initiative that launched her film career, and why Vernon Jordan told her she was "too old to start over." It's a masterclass in reinvention, taking risks, and betting on yourself.

Guest: Debra Martin Chase - Producer, Entertainment Executive, Broadway Producer 

Follow Debra on: 

• Instagram: https://tinyurl.com/bdhyj35x 
• LinkedIn: https://tinyurl.com/36zh39tz
• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0153846/ 

Notable Productions: The Princess Diaries, Cinderella, Cheetah Girls, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Equalizer, A Strange Loop (Broadway), The Outsiders (Broadway), Purpose (Broadway)

Topics Covered 

• Harvard Law School
• USC Film School
• Vernon Jordan
• Nina Shaw 
• Frank Price (Columbia Pictures)
• Doug McHenry (producer)
• Nina Jacobson (Disney executive)
• Pearlena Igbokwe (Universal Television)
• Denzel Washington
• Whitney Houston
• Marc Platt (Broadway producer)
• David Stone (Broadway producer)
• Michael Dukakis campaign
• Princess Diaries
• Cinderella (Rodgers & Hammerstein)
• Cheetah Girls
• Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
• The Equalizer
• Disney/Universal Television
• A Strange Loop (Broadway show)
• The Outsiders (Broadway show)
• Purpose (Broadway show)
• Wicked (Broadway show)
• SA Cosby (author)

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Kass and Mike Lazerow sold their company for nearly $1 billion—and felt completely numb. In this episode of The Messy Parts, they share the brutal reality behind entrepreneurial success: kids struggling, health failing, friendships lost. Together with Maryam, they explore what radical transparency actually looks like when you strip away the corporate mask. It's a conversation about the hidden costs of achievement, the messiness of working with your spouse, and why showing your failures might be the most powerful leadership tool you have.

Guests: Kass and Mike Lazerow -- Entrepreneurs, Investors, Authors

https://kassandmike.com/

Follow Kass and Mike on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kassandmike and LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kassandmike/ 

Topics Covered:

• Personal stories of failure, discomfort, and growth
• The hidden cost of success
• Working with your life partner
• The parenting paradox
• What "radical transparency" actually looks like in practice
• The emotional and cultural risk of telling the full truth
• Creating a work culture where "messy" is normalized
• Why leaders are still afraid of vulnerability
• The power of being honest before the outcome is clear
• How storytelling can be a leadership tool—not just a communications tactic
• The difference between transparency and oversharing
• When to hold back (and how to do it without losing trust)

Mentioned:

• Kass & Mike’s book, Shoveling $h!t: A Love Story
• Mark Benioff (Salesforce CEO) 
• Gary Vaynerchuk 
• Phish (band) 
• eToro
• Northwestern University 
• Buddy Media 
• Golf.com

Further Reading:

• Radical Candor by Kim Scott
• The Power of Vulnerability – TED Talk by Brené Brown
• Psychological Safety in Teams – Google’s Project Aristotle – Research on why speaking up matters at work.
• The Tell by Amy Griffin
• Articles about Cambridge Analytica
• Dying for Sex documentary

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Email us: [email protected]

To stay up to date with The Messy Parts and get all the behind-the-scenes content, follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube.

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Cindi Leive has shaped the media world—from her tenure as Glamour's editor-in-chief to co-founding The Meteor. In this intimate conversation, she joins Maryam to talk about losing her mother young, surviving the “command and control” culture of Condé Nast, and building something new from the ground up. They explore the messy parts of starting over, raising kids in a digital age, the loneliness epidemic, feminism under fire, and why collaboration always wins. Cindi shares the lessons she’s learned (and is still learning) on how to stay hopeful, stay human, and rewrite the rules without losing your why.

Show Notes: 

Guest: Cindi Leive – Journalist, Editor, Co-founder of The Meteor

Follow Cindi on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cindi_leive/?hl=en

Topics Covered:

• Her lifelong passion for magazines (and what 17 Magazine meant as a kid)
• Growing up with a single mom scientist—and losing her at 19
• Compartmentalization, grief, and building self-sufficiency
• What Condé Nast taught her (and what she had to unlearn)
• Leaving Glamour at its peak for something riskier
• How The Meteor began in Gloria Steinem’s living room
• Feminist storytelling in a fraught media landscape
• Raising resilient kids in the age of AI and loneliness
• Lessons in entrepreneurship, imperfection, and asking for money
• Why joy and collaboration matter more than perfection
  
  

Mentioned:

The Meteor (feminist media collective)

Night of Solidarity, a Meteor special

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Katie Sturino is no stranger to reinvention—from fashion PR hustler to viral dog-momager to founder of Megababe and author of the new romcom Sunny Side Up. In the premiere episode of The Messy Parts, she joins Maryam to talk about building a self-funded brand, the real struggles behind the Instagram gloss, and how letting the "messy parts hang out" can be your superpower. They talk all things Ozempic, Oprah, body image, revenge-fueled motivation, and working with family. Katie also opens up about her purpose: helping women stop feeling bad alone—and start feeling powerful together.

Show Notes: 

• Guest: Katie Sturino – Entrepreneur, Author, Founder of Megababe
• Follow Katie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katiesturino/?hl=en
• Follow Katie on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@katiesturino

Topics Covered:

• Why revenge is her greatest motivator: "Success is the ultimate revenge"
• Moving to NYC and relentlessly pursuing her dream job at Chanel
• Making her dog Toast Instagram-famous and recognizing unexpected opportunities
• Starting 12ish Style blog after discovering the power of body representation
• Creating Megababe: solving problems no one talks about (thigh chafe, boob sweat)
• Working with family: benefits and challenges of business partnerships
• Writing "Sunny Side Up": transforming pain into a romcom after 9 years
• Meeting Oprah and sparking a national conversation about weight stigma
• The messy reality of entrepreneurship that podcasts don't share
• Dreaming big without limits and trusting your gut

Mentioned:

• Chanel
• Dolce & Gabbana
• Megababe Products
• Toast (her famous dog): DogMeetsWorld
• 12ish Style blog
• "Sunny Side Up" (her novel)
• Today Show
• Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution
• Target
• Weight Watchers
• Ozempic
• Ina Garten’s book, Be Ready When Luck Happens
• The Longest Table

Send us Fan Mail

Email us: [email protected]

To stay up to date with The Messy Parts and get all the behind-the-scenes content, follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a rating and review on Apple or Spotify or where ever you get your podcasts.

Thank you for listening.

Whether you’re at the top, or striving to get there—you may have noticed the one thing people rarely talk about: how hard it is to achieve success. The Messy Parts is the answer—a podcast where you’ll hear about the twists, turns and pivots that shape extraordinary careers. The real messy parts along the way. Host Maryam Banikarim has been through it, so she gets it. Maryam has been a transformative leader across media, hospitality and tech. Her powerhouse resume features more than 20 years in the C-Suite at companies like Hyatt, NBC, and Nextdoor—and she has a vast, influential network to match. On The Messy Parts, she brings you unparalleled access to that network. Deeply honest, vulnerable conversations with Maryam—who is never afraid to ask the questions on everyone's mind. Join us as we get real, unfiltered, and messy.

Send us Fan Mail

Email us: [email protected]

To stay up to date with The Messy Parts and get all the behind-the-scenes content, follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a rating and review on Apple or Spotify or where ever you get your podcasts.

Thank you for listening.