Valarie Jacobs is a futurist. She’s built her career capturing and understanding signals, curating and editing those signals to provide a thesis on trends and conveying and implementing strategies to help companies adapt, morph and evolve into the future.

Remember when everything became organic? She helped companies understand that trend and change their product mix, brand strategy and supply chain to stay competitive and compelling in the face of changing consumer demand.

She’s now helping people understand trends, desired outcomes and how to work backwards to lay a strategy and a map that guides you from where you are to where you want to go.

Enter: Backcasting.

Valarie joined me in NYC for an At Home At Work and an intimate conversation on understanding the future and feeling confident and empowered to get there.

This is WORK Conversations with Valarie Jacobs. Watch full episode on YouTube.

Today’s unsolicited advice is about underrated leadership skills. Listening is my #1.

We are in a time of work where people are reticent to lead. Either they’re not good at it, don’t think it’s worth the headache, or no one ever taught them how to strive for it.

We talk about why leadership it’s important and the subtle skills that help people, teams and projects succeed at work.

This is WORK Unsolicited Advice.

The Net / Net today is about job hugging.

Blitz recap:

Last summer was quiet quitting

Then we moved to quiet crushing

Now we are outright hugging

This is like having a teenager. Defiance turns to angst turns to remorse / insecurity.

Job hugging is real, it’s happening and as consumer uncertainty mounts and the year end layoffs arise, it will only be more prevalent.

It feels like we are in a time of clinging to what we hold or know to be true.

This reminds me of this Wilson Phillips Song. Does anyone remember this music video? I always wanted to have hair like the short blonde.

Survive and thrive when the job market feels impossible.

Watch the full episode on YouTube.

In 2023 Daniela and I were in Boston for something at Barstool - I can’t remember what exactly. It was spitting snow like it does in the Northeast.

I had on my favorite winter hat and got a like from Shit That I Knit. This is how I met Christina Pardy.

I liked her instantly - she’s a Masshole. Sweet, gritty, creative, earnest and motivated. I had her come to Barstool and we talked about her company and her vision.

I was on here the other day and saw a post from Christina about selling STIT. It was vulnerable and honest. She talked about her mom, lifting weights, skipping the wine and reimagining her future.

I think people shy away from talking about the end of things - like there’s something shameful about it. I wanted to have this conversation with Christina to give light and space to the things that don’t work out

Christina joined WORK to lay it all out. This is our conversation.

Watch the full episode on YouTube.

We have an announcement. We are restructuring the podcast. Starting very soon WORK will be getting published more than once a week with multiple different segments. Stay tuned! 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of WORK, Erika is joined by Kelly Bensimon - former model, Real Housewife of New York, author, and now one of New York’s top luxury real estate brokers - to discuss how reinvention, resilience, and fearlessness have defined her career. Erika also reflects on Gen Z dipping into retirement savings, Jamie Dimon’s advice to step outside your lane, and David Ogilvy’s timeless lessons on owning your shortcomings.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of WORK, Erika is joined by Summer, Noah Tannin, and Alice Hu. Summer decodes Gen Z and Gen Alpha slang, Noah talks about the chaos of creative work at Food52, and Alice explains how astrology helps navigate eclipse season, Mercury retrograde, and career transitions.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of WORK, Erika takes on the state of work and the future of women’s sports. She unpacks why today’s job market feels impossible—from AI-written applications colliding with AI-driven hiring systems to Gallup’s finding that fewer than one in five employees are satisfied at work. With quiet quitting evolving into quiet crashing, she asks what leaders can do when culture is defined by the worst behavior they’re willing to tolerate.

Then the conversation shifts to a breakthrough moment for women’s lacrosse. Erika sits down with PLL VP Rachel DeCecco and players Sydney Black, Ally Mastroianni, Lizzie Colson, and Izzy Scane to talk about the league’s first full season in 2026, how they balance day jobs with professional play, and what it means to build a new era for women’s sports.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of WORK, Erika reflects on lessons from the Work Like a Girl event in Boston and why optimism may be the most powerful leadership skill. She then unpacks viral business stories, including the Applebee’s executive who went on to become CEO of IHOP and eventually bought Applebee’s, and Brian Chesky's (Airbnb CEO) reminder that the future waits for no one. Erika also breaks down the surprising stat that three in four Gen Z workers bring their parents into job interviews.

Later, Jack Fischer, from the finance team at Food52, joins to share insights on building trust, challenging executive assumptions, and the importance of financial transparency at work. Finally, journalist and photographer Nadja Sayej discusses her career in the gig economy, the decline of traditional journalism, navigating celebrity culture, and how she’s building a creative legacy on her own terms.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of WORK, Erika breaks down the $270K fraud scandal at Food52 and what it reveals about company blind spots. She also tackles Gen Z’s pacifier trend, the rise of quiet cracking as the new quiet quitting, and why overused phrases like “pushing the envelope” miss the mark. She also shares the traits that truly make employees successful—and why focusing on helping others might be the ultimate career advantage.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.