For millennial women, Julia Stiles needs no introduction. She portrayed some of our favorite characters growing up – like Kat in 10 Things I Hate About You and Sara in Save the Last Dance – and challenged one-dimensional portrayals of female characters. After two decades as an actor, Julia has taken her talents behind the camera to direct her first film, Wish You Were Here. Listen as she shares how she’s managed to stay grounded despite being a child actor, how she manifested her directorial debut, and why she has no regrets about taking her time to make it happen.

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, shares:

• How growing up in New York City helped her maintain a grounded attitude 
• Her decision to go to college instead of continuing her acting career
• Why Hustlers marked a new chapter of intention for her 
• How being a mom was the best preparation for being a director 
• Advice on how to be confident when you lack skills needed for a specific job

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Unlike MBA grads focused on scaling and selling companies, Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald built Levain Bakery with no intention of selling. Baking was the life plan, the thing they’d do til their hands couldn’t anymore. They embraced slow, sustainable growth for years with no regrets. Then came a compelling offer and a gut feeling that led them to finally take on an investor. Listen as Pam and Connie share how a YWCA brought them together, how a New York Times article skyrocketed their company's success, and why having patience was their greatest tool.

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Pam and Connie share: 

• What they loved about their former colleague and supporter, Anthony Bourdain
• How chance bike ride with an old friend got them a small business loan 
• When they knew it was time to expand to new locations 
• How they navigated tedious problems like meeting with community boards and dealing with frustrated neighbors 
• Why scaling their business slowly was key to their success and when they knew it was time to take on an investor

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In 2015, Laura Coates traded courtroom drama for newsroom deadlines, leaving her job as a Justice Department prosecutor to dive into a journalism career. She was a new mom with no media experience or contacts, but knew she’d regret it if she never tried. Fast forward to today. Laura is CNN’s Chief Legal Analyst, a Sirius XM host, and a trusted voice on today’s most pressing legal stories. Despite her success, it didn’t come without sacrifice. Listen as Laura gets real about the hard conversations she had with her husband – and herself – about prioritizing her professional ambitions over financial security. 

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Laura shares: 

• How she charmed her husband when they first met, despite having a waxed off eyebrow
• Why she found it difficult to financially depend on her husband while figuring out her career 
• How she got her foot in the door in media with no connections, and why getting the second foot in is more important
• Why she never shuts down her kids’ curiosity around current events
• How she’s dealt with big personalities in the courtroom, and on television 

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Laura Modi’s organic baby formula company, Bobbie, thrived during a formula shortage that saw nearly 50% of the nation’s formula supply vanish. As desperate moms searched for alternatives, many turned to Bobbie, leading to massive growth—until the demand threatened the supply. Laura faced a critical decision: continue accepting new customers or pause growth so OG Bobbie babies were taken care of. Laura tells the story of how her bold choice paid off and how Bobbie has future-proofed itself through smart business decisions.

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Laura shares: 

• How growing up in rural Western Ireland taught her hospitality 
• Why it took having a second child to push her to start Bobbie
• How she navigated Bobbie through a product recall just two weeks after it launched
• Bobbie’s recent 15% price cut, and how the company was able to do it 
• Why implementing paid family leave federally would help alleviate moms’ mental health issues 

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When Han Wen got a job at L’Oréal as an entry-level marketing associate, she didn’t even know what marketing was. The interviewers didn’t care. They spent the bulk of the interview talking about her bold outfit, which she got off the sales rack at J.Crew just an hour before. Fast forward to 2022, and Han became the CMO of L’Oréal USA at just 39-years-old. Talk about a full circle moment. Han shares how she made impressions throughout her corporate career, and how she’s gotten really good at listening – even when it might be hard to hear. 

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Han shares: 

• Why her work stint in France was nothing like “Emily in Paris”
• The best lesson she learned about being a people manager 
• What she focused on instead of chasing after titles during her career
• How having kids destroyed any illusion of control, and how it carries into her work
• Why L’Oréal encourages some rule-bending to make great products 

Follow Carly and Danielle on Instagram @carlyanddanielle, and be sure to subscribe the show so you never miss an episode.

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Neha Ruch chose to take an indefinite pause from work after having her second child. She immediately faced raised eyebrows and unsolicited advice. She didn’t bat an eye at her choice. But the reactions got her thinking: why are we riding on outdated stereotypes about moms choosing to exit the workforce to take care of their family for a chapter of their lives? Enter: Mother Untitled, the leading platform dedicated to ambitious women choosing to lean into family life – without shame. Today, Neha shares tips from her new book The Power Pause to help listeners pull it off like pro. 

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Neha shares: 

• The importance of her gap year in India and what it did for her self-trust
• Why she couldn’t find the peace and purpose at work that she got from motherhood
• How stay-at-home-motherhood has been wrongfully labeled as a “luxury”
• The percentage of women who stop working because of high childcare costs 
• Financial levers couples can pull to make room in the budget for a future pause 

Neha’s Instagram: @motheruntitled

Neha’s book: The Power Pause: How to Plan a Career Break After Kids – and Come Back Stronger Than Ever

Carly and Danielle’s Instagram: @carlyanddanielle 

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Alice Milligan left home at 19 to escape a dysfunctional family life. Her peers went to college right out of high school. Meanwhile, Alice spent ten years getting her college degree while working full-time to support herself. She had no choice but to be resilient, independent, and patient. Decades later, and faced with choosing between a dream job or staying near her husband awaiting a liver transplant, Alice shares how the patience she cultivated as a young woman guided her choice.

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Alice shares: 

• Her deep cut bagel order (cinnamon raisin fans, rejoice)
• The strong women in her life who helped her navigate leaving home 
• Why working in HR in her early career served her well throughout her career
• How she rationalized her choice of remaining close to her family or taking on her dream job 
• How Morgan Stanley prioritizes women feeling financially empowered – and how the company’s new marketing initiatives reflect that  

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She’s an icon, she’s a legend, and she is the moment. Connie Chung is the trailblazing veteran broadcaster who worked her way up from being a copy-girl at a local news station to anchoring one of the most popular nightly newscasts, CBS Evening News. To get there, she had to make it through the “boys club” of the 70s newsroom. Think: Mad Men, but news. She says it could’ve been worse. But she made it work by being just as confident as they were.

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Connie shares: 

• The impact of growing up around four strong-willed sisters  
• How she defied the racist and sexist stereotypes men had of her
• Her biggest regret of her career and how she reconciles it now 
• Why getting fired from CBS Evening News proved to be serendipitous
• A cameo from her husband, Maury Povich. Yes, that Maury

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Welcome back to a new season of 9 to 5ish. We’re kicking things off with Jessica Alba and Lizzy Mathis, two best friends and co-hosts of the show “Honest Renovations” on The Roku Channel. There are plenty of home renovation shows out there. But theirs highlights the importance of mom having their own space to recharge. As moms of three kids each, they learned that the hard way. 

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Jessica and Lizzy share: 

• Their friendship origin story and why Lizzy lied to Jessica about her age for years
• How they took the jump from being friends to becoming co-hosts of a show 
• Why surface-level friendships don’t last in business partnerships 
• The burnout of filling others’ cups before their own, and how they fixed it 
• Tips on dealing with the highs and lows of the holiday season 

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Early in her career, Sharon Price-John literally put pen to paper and wrote what she dubbed her “price values.” AKA: the qualities that guided her in work and life. She reasoned that if she had time to write a grocery list, she could take a second to define what was important to her. Although her price values have inevitably evolved as she got older, Sharon shares that defining her values made the path to achieving her goals a lot clearer.

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Sharon shares: 

• The brownie points she scored from her kids being a toy company exec
• Why she follows the age-old advice “love what you do” 
• What influenced the changes to her “price values” list
• How she managed to bring Build-A-Bear its three most profitable years ever after COVID
• The difficulties of succeeding a founder-led business, and how she overcame them

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Through her twenties and thirties, comedian Jenny Slate couldn’t find peace. By all accounts, she was succeeding. She earned a spot on Saturday Night Live, and became recognizable through her on-screen appearances next to actors like Amy Poehler and Nick Kroll. But she still felt stuck in a cycle of self-criticism and a pressure to always be on. Then she became a mom and it all clicked. Listen as Jenny shares why becoming a mom made her feel less desperate to get jobs, please others, and “perform her tricks”. 

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Jenny shares: 

• Why living in Massachusetts instead of Los Angeles is helpful for her creative work
• What traits her parents were most concerned about in her upbringing
• How leaving Saturday Night Live led her to a major learning about success 
• Why perfection isn’t worth aiming at, and how she unlearned doing that  
• How the unconditional love she feels for her kid helped heal her own inner child
• A skimm of her new memoir, “Life Form”

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