Kelly Corrigan Wonders

Listener Mary Plisco watched a documentary about a summer camp from the 1970s and came away with a new hero — a woman she'd somehow never heard of, despite a career spent doing work this hero made possible. This one is a letter to Judy Heumann, the so-called mother of the disability rights movement, and a reminder that some of the most consequential people in history did their work quietly enough that you have to go looking for them. The documentary mentioned in this episode is Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution. . https://cripcamp.com/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We can see the menu before we go to the restaurant. We can watch the trailer before we buy the ticket. We can read three years of someone's Instagram before we agree to meet them for coffee. Kelly wonders what all of that preparation is actually costing us — and whether the novelty we keep optimizing out of our lives is the very thing we need the most. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There's a game Cava Menzies plays with her students. She asks each of them to say a word — snowfall, nightmare, dragons — and then she translates it into music on the piano right in front of them. Every time, something magical happens in the room. In the tenth and final episode of our Wired to Create series, Cava — musician, educator, and founding faculty at Oakland School for the Arts — makes the case that music isn't a talent reserved for the few. It's a birthright we've somehow talked ourselves out of using. Please share this episode with anyone in your life who has decided music isn't for them. Check out Cava and her OSA students singing Purple Rain on stage with Coldplay's Chris Martin HERE. This episode was made possible by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation. To learn more, please visit: waltonfamilyfoundation.org. To connect with Kelly and get a list of her weekly takeaways, join Kelly's ⁠free Substack⁠. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This weekend marks what would have been producer Tammy (Tiehel) Stedman's mom's 85th birthday — she passed away in March 2022. All three of the Tiehel sisters eulogized their incredible mom PT but this one, written by daughter Amy, really sums up the way PT lived her life: always on the lookout for the person having a tough go of it, the loner, the one who needed a helping hand. This is a story about taking the time to really notice people and to help make the world a better place, one small, kind gesture at a time. (Previously aired) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There's a body of research that says the clothes you wear don't just change how others see you — they change how you see yourself. Kelly traces this idea from her conversation with Denver high school principal Steve Day back to a foundational psychology study, and lands somewhere unexpected: that identity might be less something you earn and more something you assume. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What if a high school student could spend their day fixing a plane, machining a part destined for a rocket launch, or building a house that a family will actually live in? At the Cherry Creek Innovation Campus (CCIC) in the Denver metro area, that's just a Tuesday. In the ninth episode of our Wired to Create series, Principal Steve Day makes the case that when you stop underestimating teenagers and give them something real to do, everything changes — for the students, for the school, and for the families whose lives are transformed as a result. To connect with Kelly and get a list of her weekly takeaways, join Kelly's free Substack. This episode was made possible by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation. To learn more, please visit: waltonfamilyfoundation.org. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sometimes all it takes is one person asking the right question at the right moment. Listener Christina Bonvouloir was fourteen, grieving the loss of her beloved father, and quietly falling apart — until a gruff Latin teacher with a twinkle in his eye pulled her aside and asked what was wrong. She never forgot it. Neither will you To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a speech to high school graduates, Kelly shared her take on the things only we know about ourselves — and how keeping our internal dialog honest sets the table for a good and happy life. Please share with all the 2026 graduates in your life. (Previously aired) Please join Kelly on her free Substack. https://kellycorriganwonders.substack.com/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There's a version of education that produces brilliant test-takers and has very little to do with learning. Aditya Vishwanath, Stanford-trained education researcher and co-founder of MakerGhat — a nonprofit makerspace network operating in thousands of schools across India — knows that version intimately, and has spent his career building the antidote. In this episode of our Wired to Create series, he and Kelly make the case that what kids need most might also be the thing we've neglected to give them. To connect with Kelly and get a list of her weekly takeaways, join Kelly's free Substack. This episode was made possible by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation. To learn more, please visit: waltonfamilyfoundation.org. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some people teach us things. Others show us how to live. Kelly's cousin Lena writes beautifully about her godmother Linda — painter, cook, creative force — and what it means to be shaped by someone who savors all of the beauty life has to offer. Check out Lena's Substack "Cooking with Littles" https://cookingwithlittles.substack.com/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kelly's cousin Kevin Corrigan has been coaching the Notre Dame men's lacrosse team for decades — and this weekend his team is playing (yet again) for the national championship. In honor of that, we're sharing two clips from Kelly's longer conversation with Kevin about what it really means to lead, what it takes to build something that lasts, and why winning is so much harder than it looks from the outside. Check out Kelly's longer interview with Kevin HERE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deep-dive-with-kevin-corrigan-on-great-coaching/id1532951390?i=1000727017947 To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fred Rogers (aka "Mr. Rogers") looked at television and didn't see it as a danger for kids — he saw it as a door. Sara DeWitt has spent her career walking through it. As Senior VP and General Manager of PBS Kids, she has devoted decades to asking what children's media can be when the people making it are optimizing for something other than revenue. In the seventh episode of our Wired to Create series, Sara makes the case that the right story at the right moment can do things nothing else can — and that the most powerful screen in a child's life might be the one a caring adult is watching alongside them. To connect with Kelly and get a list of her weekly takeaways, join Kelly's free Substack. This episode was made possible by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation. To learn more, please visit: waltonfamilyfoundation.org. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Graduation season is upon us, and if you're a parent in the thick of it, listener Stephanie Wass wrote this for you. It's a small, quiet essay about a game of Uno that somehow holds everything — the pride, the grief, and the very specific ache of knowing the cards are no longer in your hands. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kelly recently appeared on Nora McInerney's podcast called, "It's Going To Be OK" — and the conversation was too good not to share here. Two people with a low tolerance for small talk and a high tolerance for the messy, beautiful, occasionally terrifying truth of being alive, trading the things that are giving them hope right now. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Family Lore is a weekly narrative podcast that celebrates and investigates ancestral mystique. Each episode begins with a guest sharing a fascinating family legend, followed by a historical deep-dive to uncover the truth and meaning behind the tale. Available now. https://link.pscrb.fm/f0281/FLFD To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kids walk into Rediscover Center in Los Angeles with nothing but an idea and leave with something that will last a lifetime. Jonathan Bijur has spent decades figuring out what makes that possible — and what gets in the way. In the sixth episode of our Wired to Create series, he makes the case for the most counter-cultural idea in education right now: that children learn more when adults get out of the way. It turns out the hardest part isn't teaching the kids. This episode was made possible by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation. To learn more, please visit: ⁠waltonfamilyfoundation.org.⁠ To learn more about Rediscover Center visit: https://rediscovercenter.org/ To connect with Kelly and get a list of her weekly takeaways, join Kelly's free Substack. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For Mother's Day, we're sharing the eulogy Kelly wrote for her mom, Mary Corrigan. Mother's Day means something different to everyone — whether you're celebrating today, grieving, or somewhere in between — we're thinking of you. (Previously aired) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's episode is a part of our "About Your Mother" series honoring Every Mother Counts. Bono lost his mother Iris when he was 14 years old. She had an aneurysm at her father's funeral and as he says, he's been singing to her ever since. This is a very special conversation, possibly my favorite interview of all time, made more lovely and intimate by the friendship between Bono and Christy going back many years now. (Previously aired) This series supports Every Mother Counts, founded in 2010 and led every day since by Christy Turlington Burns. Please consider joining us with a donation here. https://everymothercounts.org/donate/ Maternal health is a human right and as Bono says, raising kids takes a village and a mother is a village. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Beth Stelling grew up making people laugh before she knew it was a skill worth taking seriously. It took years of open mics and a lot of hard-won stage time before she found her truest voice. In the fifth episode of our Wired to Create series, Beth talks about the family that shaped her, the speech and debate program that first put her on a stage, the years it took to finally sound like herself in front of a crowd, and what she's learned from helping younger comedians find their way. This episode was made possible by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation. To learn more, please visit: waltonfamilyfoundation.org. To connect with Kelly and get a list of her weekly takeaways, join Kelly's ⁠free Substack⁠. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some people move through the world so quietly and so generously that you don't fully understand what they were doing until they're gone. Courtenay Rudzinski's almost 90 year-old mother was one of those people. This is the essay Courtenay wrote after losing her. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jen G, as we call her in my house, is as special and wonderful as you think she is. She is such a ready learner that she carries around a pen and notebook everywhere she goes. She cares about all the right things and not one bit of the nonsense. She is still, in many essential ways, one of the “Garner girls” from West Virginia. Today's conversation, co-hosted by Christy Turlington Burns, celebrates Jen's mom, Pat (and a little bit, Jen's dad, Billy Jack Garner, who died only 10 days before we recorded). I have loved knowing Jen since we met at The Nantucket Project many years ago and am grateful she could be with us for this series. (Previously aired) This series supports Every Mother Counts, founded in 2010 and led every day since by Christy Turlington Burns. Please join us with a donation here. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jennifer-garner-and-christy-turlington-burns-talking-moms/id1532951390?i=1000654904522 To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At 22, Blythe Harris was hit by an 18-wheeler in downtown San Francisco, pronounced dead on arrival, and spent the next several years rebuilding her identity from a hospital gurney. What she discovered in that long, humbling process set her on a lifelong inquiry into creativity — not the capital C kind that most people assume doesn't belong to them, but the small, daily, five-minute kind that turns out to be one of the most underused tools for mental health we have. Blythe went on to co-found and lead the creative vision of Stella and Dot, a jewelry and accessories company that put flexible income in the hands of tens of thousands of women, and more recently co-authored (with Mallory May) Daily Creative: The Five Minute Habit to Rewire Your Brain. In the fourth episode of our Wired to Create series, Blythe makes the case that every single one of us is more creative than we think — and that the cost of ignoring that might be higher than we realize. This episode was made possible by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation. To learn more, please visit: waltonfamilyfoundation.org. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some teachers don't just teach you things — they show you who you are. Listener Nicole McDermott wrote this the night she found out her high school English teacher, Wendy Marber, had died — a caring educator who never went easy on her students, never stopped believing in them, and somehow shifted the way a teenager saw herself in a single hallway conversation. This one is for every teacher whose belief in a student has outlasted the classroom. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is part of our special 5-part series about moms in honor of Every Mother Counts. Christy and I recently spent an unforgettable Saturday afternoon talking to the singular force of nature that is Spike Lee about his mother, Jackie, who died when Spike was a sophomore at Morehouse College. Spike has 134 directing credits over four+ decades, in each case imploring us to Wake Up. Here's a chance to understand something about the development of this legendary voice. Please share. (Previously aired) This series hopes to raise $100,000 to support safe and respectful pregnancy, delivery and postpartum care in 9 countries through Every Mother Counts, founded in 2010 and led every day since by Christy Turlington Burns. Please join us with a donation here. Maternal health is a human right. https://everymothercounts.org/donate/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jeff Kinney spent eight years working on Diary of a Wimpy Kid almost entirely in silence — no feedback, no applause, no guarantee it would ever amount to anything. He just kept going. In the third episode of our Wired to Create series, Kelly sits down with the creator of one of the bestselling book franchises in history to talk about why the siren song of instant validation might be the enemy of great work, what constraints actually do for creativity, and why making a place — a bookstore, a basketball court in Tanzania, a downtown in a town of 9,000 — might be the most powerful creative act of all. This episode was made possible by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation. To learn more, please visit: waltonfamilyfoundation.org. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Janice Finn Weekes retired from a career in adult training and wasn't sure she was qualified to teach an AARP safe driving course. Her friends set her straight: you don't have to be an expert driver, you have to be an expert trainer. Five years later, she's still showing up — and noticing something unexpected in her classroom. In a scary world, her students have gotten sweeter with each other. Someone finally said it out loud: when we come in here, we want to be the way we used to be: positive, considerate, patient and caring. Janice went looking for a way to keep giving — what she found was that the secret to volunteering is that you always get more than you give. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Funny with a touch of Irish melancholy. That's how actor, director, producer Edward Burns described Molly, his mother, to me and my co-host, Christy Turlington Burns (who has been married to Eddie for 20+ years). In celebration of his novel, A Kid From Marlboro Road, Eddie joined us in studio to talk about childhood, parenthood and grief. (Previously aired) Our About Your Mother series has raised funds to support safe and respectful pregnancy, delivery and postpartum care in 9 countries through Every Mother Counts, founded in 2010 and led every day since by Christy Turlington Burns. Please consider making a donation ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. https://everymothercounts.org/donate With special thanks to Tracy and David at Laughing Man Studios in Tribeca who support this series with pro bono studio time and superb coffee. Got feedback? Have an idea? We love to hear from listeners. Write us anytime — or sign up for our weekly list of takeaways: hello@kellycorrigan.com . Check out our other episodes from the About Your Mother series: Jennifer Garner, Amy Schumer, Bono, Cindy Crawford, Spike Lee, Melinda Gates To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Before there were algorithms and tape submissions and studio approved lists, Allison Jones was sitting in the back rows of comedy clubs — memorizing faces, taking notes, and developing the kind of taste that can't be taught. In the second episode of our Wired to Create series, Kelly sits down with the casting director whose fingerprints are on some of the most beloved comedies ever made — from Freaks and Geeks to Bridesmaids to Barbie — to talk about what she's really looking for when someone walks into the room, why "funny or not funny" is still her most reliable compass, and what gets lost when studio oversight starts to crowd out pure creative instinct. This episode was made possible by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation. To learn more, please visit: waltonfamilyfoundation.org. Allison and Kelly mention writer/director/producer Judd Apatow in this episode. To learn more about Judd, please check out Kelly's previous interview with him HERE. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/going-deep-with-judd-apatow-on-women-collaboration-and/id1532951390?i=1000668137267 To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A listener named Jane Curran was coming in the door from her morning walk when she got the call that her sister had been airlifted to the hospital. She fell to the floor. Her 22-year-old daughter Jessica — a brand new nursing school graduate — took one look at her mother and quietly took over. This is a letter about what it looks like when a child becomes exactly who you hoped they would be, right when you need it the most. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amy Schumer is as sharp a writer as she is a performer. I love her always-on-point work in Life & Beth, Trainwreck and all 44 episodes of Inside Amy Schumer. She's honest in way I wish more people were and you'll hear that in this candid conversation about her mother, Sandra. (Previously aired) Please consider supporting maternal health in 9 countries through Every Mother Counts, founded in 2010 and led every day since by Christy Turlington Burns. You can make a donation here. https://everymothercounts.org/donate To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ed Helms has a well-organized workshop, a banjo, a treehouse he built during the pandemic, and a deeply inconvenient habit of doing his best work at the last possible second. In the first episode of our new series Wired to Create, Kelly sits down with the actor, comedian, musician, and all-around maker to talk about what flow actually feels like, why limitations might be the secret ingredient in all great creative work, and what Owen Wilson taught him about feedback and being vulnerable. This episode was made possible by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation. To learn more, please visit: waltonfamilyfoundation.org. For those who have listened to this podcast and are curious: the correct, traditional term used is nunchaku (Japanese: ヌンチャク), but in English, nunchucks is the most common accepted spelling and pronunciation, often pluralized as "set of nunchucks". ( Merriam-Webster) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As part of our Women of Consequence series, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jane Perlez writes a letter honoring a woman she watched from a distance as a child — a writer who sat on a balcony overlooking a river, filling up legal pads in a curvy scroll, and showed a young girl what one person could accomplish when they refused to be defined by others. Some influences arrive early and never leave. This episode has been made possible by a grant from Ingeborg Initiatives, a social impact platform dedicated to improving maternal health and making it easier to raise a family. To learn more, please visit: ingeborginitiatives.com https://www.ingeborginitiatives.com/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Over the past month, Kelly sat down with five women who are quietly — and not so quietly — changing the world: an entrepreneur, an Olympic champion, a philanthropist, a governor, and a film/television producer. What she found wasn't a set of tidy leadership lessons or a checklist for getting things done. It was something harder to name and more useful to carry — a pattern of thinking that shows up again and again in the people who actually move things forward. This Go To is Kelly's attempt to distill what she learned across all five conversations into a handful of truths worth keeping. Not theory. Not empty inspiration. Just the real stuff, from women who have been in the room and know what it takes to make change happen. This episode has been made possible by a grant from Ingeborg Initiatives, a social impact platform dedicated to improving maternal health and making it easier to raise a family. To learn more, please visit: ingeborginitiatives.com. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Reese Witherspoon has built an empire by betting on one simple truth: when you put women in charge of telling stories, you uncover whole themes that get missed when men are calling the shots—and it turns out to be wildly entertaining. In this fifth and final episode of our Women of Consequence series, Kelly sits down with the actress, producer, and founder of the media company Hello Sunshine, to talk about why she developed the Wild screenplay outside the studio system, what happens when women control the buying power, and why her ultimate goal is to make a lot of women a lot of money. This episode has been made possible by a grant from Ingeborg Initiatives, a social impact platform dedicated to improving maternal health and making it easier to raise a family. To learn more, please visit: ingeborginitiatives.com. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As part of our Women of Consequence series, Kelly sits down with podcaster and author Nora McInerny, who says without hesitation that her life is the product of women. The woman at the center of it all is her grandmother Mary Jane — a ceramicist who lived alone in a one-room cabin in the Minnesota woods, went back to college in her eighties, and moved through the world with a kind of fearless delight that rubbed off on everyone lucky enough to be around her. Nora lost her husband Aaron and her father within weeks of each other, and when the world fell apart, it was Mary Jane she thought of — a woman who had buried two of her own children and still showed up wildly in love with life. This episode has been made possible by a grant from Ingeborg Initiatives, a social impact platform dedicated to improving maternal health and making it easier to raise a family. To learn more, please visit: ingeborginitiatives.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For 16 years, advocates in New Mexico asked for a constitutional amendment to fund pre-K, and for 16 years the answer was no. Then Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham asked a different question: "If we can't agree on a constitutional amendment, what could we agree on?" The senator appropriated $320 million on the spot. Kelly reflects on what she learned from the governor about why the question you ask determines the answer you get and how to find the place where someone can say yes and build from there—because 16 years is a long time to push on a locked door when there's an open door right next to it. This episode has been made possible by a grant from Ingeborg Initiatives, a social impact platform dedicated to improving maternal health and making it easier to raise a family. To learn more, please visit: ingeborginitiatives.com⁠ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham once dyed her hair red, said goodbye to her husband, and went undercover in a nursing home to expose the neglect that no one else was willing to see—much less work to change. That's who she is. She grew up watching her parents navigate an impossible road for her disabled sister — no roadmap, no safety net, no one coming to help — and she has never forgotten what it feels like to be out there alone fighting a system that isn't built for you. She went on to become a two-term governor who moved New Mexico from 50th in childhood poverty to 17th, made it the first state in the nation to offer universal childcare, and launched free college for every resident. Those wins matter enormously but what Kelly really wanted to dig into was how she got there— and what she found was a leader who owns her impatience like a superpower and knows that asking the right question can unlock everything. This episode has been made possible by a grant from Ingeborg Initiatives, a social impact platform dedicated to improving maternal health and making it easier to raise a family. To learn more, please visit: ingeborginitiatives.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As part of our Women of Consequence series, journalist Poppy Harlow sits down with Kelly to read a letter she wrote to her mother Mary, who is turning 80. There is so much in this letter — the leap to Sweden, the PhD, the art museum trips — but what stops you cold is the part about what Mary did when the love of her life died and her children still needed dinner on the table and someone to say it was all going to be okay. That's the one. That's the woman worth knowing more about. Here's to Mary Harlow, and to all the moms who hold it together long after they've earned the right to fall apart. This episode has been made possible by a grant from Ingeborg Initiatives, a social impact platform dedicated to improving maternal health and making it easier to raise a family. To learn more, please visit: ingeborginitiatives.com https://www.ingeborginitiatives.com/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There's a problem with leading with your heart: empathy doesn't scale. One sick child and we open our wallets. A thousand sick children and we change the channel. Behavioral psychologist Paul Slovic has spent years studying this—the more people suffering, the less we feel. Kelly reflects on her conversation with investor and philanthropist Olivia Walton, who figured out how to beat compassion fade by doing something smarter than making the moral case for maternal health. She built a business case: for every dollar you invest in maternal health, you get eleven back. It's about understanding that empathy burns hot and burns out, but when you make the business case, you've built a diesel engine—it just keeps running. This episode has been made possible by a grant from Ingeborg Initiatives, a social impact platform dedicated to improving maternal health and making it easier to raise a family. To learn more, please visit: ⁠https://www.ingeborginitiatives.com⁠. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ever wonder “What should I actually do with my life?” Today we're excited to introduce you to Suzy Welch. As a three-time New York Times bestselling author and the professor behind NYU's wildly popular "Becoming You" class, Suzy has spent years studying the art of decision-making and the pursuit of authentic purpose. On her podcast, Becoming You, Suzy helps you find your authentic purpose in this messy, scary, and altogether beautiful world we share. Find Becoming You with Suzy Welch wherever you get your podcasts. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Olivia Walton went from asking questions as a business journalist to creating solutions as a philanthropist—and she's learned that the best way to fix maternal healthcare in America isn't just a moral argument, it's an economic one. In this third episode of our Women of Consequence series, Kelly sits down with the founder and CEO of Ingeborg Investments and Ingeborg Initiatives, chair of Crystal Bridges Museum and maternal health advocate to talk about why storytelling is the through line of everything she does. It's about understanding that maternal health isn't just about moms—it's the groundwater for thriving families, communities, and economies. This episode was made possible by a grant from Ingeborg Initiatives, a social impact platform dedicated to improving maternal health and making it easier to raise a family. To learn more, please visit: ⁠https://www.ingeborginitiatives.com⁠. Olivia Walton recently wrote an op-ed in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette and in it she announced a moonshot call-to-action for maternal health: a five-year sprint to cut U.S. maternal mortality in half. At a time when far too many mothers in the United States are dying from preventable causes, we believe meaningful progress will require urgency, collaboration, and a willingness to scale what works. We hope you'll take a moment to read Olivia's op-ed HERE. https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2026/mar/11/opinion-olivia-walton-a-five-year-sprint-to-cut-us-maternal-mortality-in-half/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Most of us are still waiting for that one perfect mentor to appear and show us the way. Podcaster Liz Moody decided to stop waiting and start sending emails to strangers instead. The result was a room full of powerful women comparing notes on things nobody talks about out loud, and a philosophy that might just change who you invite into your corner. In this special Thanks For Being Here episode—part of our March Women of Consequence series— Kelly and Liz talk about why the group you're craving probably won't build itself, what happens when women stop holding their cards to their chests, and the one rule Liz lives by that has gotten her a book deal, a husband, and a thriving career: never be the one to say no to yourself. This episode has been made possible by a grant from Ingeborg Initiatives, a social impact platform dedicated to improving maternal health and making it easier to raise a family. To learn more, please visit: https://www.ingeborginitiatives.com⁠ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We carry around this dangerous myth that brave people feel brave—that somewhere out there, women are standing up in meetings and saying the hard thing without their heart rate changing, that courage is a feeling you either have or don't have. Kelly blows up that whole idea by sharing what she learned from her conversation with Olympian Allyson Felix: when Allyson hit send on the New York Times op-ed that would take on Nike and change their maternity policy, she was shaking. There was never a moment she felt ready, never a moment she wasn't scared. It's about understanding that courage isn't a feeling or a personality trait—it's what you do in the moment between knowing what you need to say and saying it. This episode has been made possible by a grant from Ingeborg Initiatives, a social impact platform dedicated to improving maternal health and making it easier to raise a family. To learn more, please visit: ingeborginitiatives.com". To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Allyson Felix has 11 Olympic medals, which makes her the most decorated American track and field athlete in history. But here's the thing—most people know her name because of what happened when she got pregnant. After nearly a decade with her sponsor Nike, they offered her a new contract at 70% less than her previous salary. And when she asked for one thing—protected time to recover from childbirth without performance penalties—they said they wouldn't set that precedent for all female athletes. So, Allyson sat in her daughter's NICU room, watched her tiny baby fighting to come home, and decided to risk everything by going public. In this second episode of our Women of Consequence series, Kelly talks with Allyson about integrity, knowing your worth, and understanding that sometimes you speak up not for yourself but so the next woman doesn't have to fight the same battle. This episode has been made possible by a grant from Ingeborg Initiatives, a social impact platform dedicated to improving maternal health and making it easier to raise a family. To learn more, please visit: ⁠https://www.ingeborginitiatives.com⁠ Link to Allyson's New York Times article. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/opinion/allyson-felix-pregnancy-nike.html Check out our episode with Linda Villarosa which Kelly mentions in this podcast. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/going-deep-with-linda-villarosa-on-being-seen/id1532951390?i=1000633982048 To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Writer Anne Lamott tells Kelly about the "other mother" from her childhood—her best friend's mom who thought she was fabulous when her own parents had concerns. It's about the gratitude you carry for the rest of your life when someone champions the parts of you that feel unseen and how those other mothers—the ones who celebrated instead of shaped—end up changing who we become. This episode has been made possible by a grant from Ingeborg Initiatives, a social impact platform dedicated to improving maternal health and making it easier to raise a family. To learn more, please visit: https://www.ingeborginitiatives.com Link to live Zoom event with Kelly and Anne (March 11, 2026 7pm ET/4pm PT): https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/R5kpMFa1RfiCJtlV7WsGZA?cmid=cb7fa38f-b413-4923-890e-d8c91450e2fb#/registration Anne's event which Kelly mentioned at the top of the show is Unscripted: Good Writing – An Evening with Anne Lamott & Neal Allen, at the Curran Theater in San Francisco (March 17, 2026 7pm) https://us.atgtickets.com/events/anne-lamott-neal-allen/curran-theater/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kelly reflects on a moment from Tuesday's conversation with Laura Modi, founder of the infant formula company Bobbie, who had 48 hours to decide whether to take on thousands of desperate new parents during the 2022 formula shortage or stand by her current customers. Laura went against every growth model and turned the new customers away to protect those who already trusted her—not because of data provided in a spreadsheet or advice from consultants but because she trusted what she knew in her bones.  This episode was made possible by a grant from Ingeborg Initiatives, a social impact platform dedicated to improving maternal health and making it easier to raise a family. To learn more, please visit ingeborginitiatives.com . To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Laura Modi had mastitis five days into motherhood— blistered and bleeding, fever raging—and when she finally turned to formula, she discovered the first ingredient was corn syrup. So, she did what any sleep-deprived new mom would do: she went down a 2 AM research rabbit hole and emerged determined to change an entire industry. In this first episode of our Women of Consequence series, Kelly talks with the co-founder and CEO of infant formula brand Bobbie about what happened during the 2022 formula shortage when she had 48 hours to decide between chasing growth or serving existing customer—and why she raised $70 million to buy a manufacturing facility even though less than 5% of manufacturers in this country are run by women. This is a story about being underestimated, trusting lived experience over spreadsheets, and understanding that when you're not just the CEO but also the customer, you're dangerous in the best possible way. This episode has been made possible by a grant from Ingeborg Initiatives, a social impact platform dedicated to improving maternal health and making it easier to raise a family. To learn more, please visit: ingeborginitiatives.com.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Newly appointed Judge Kristine Burk's investiture ceremony became unexpectedly tender when her 19-year-old son Tyler took the podium. Moving beyond the usual formal speeches, Tyler crafted an acrostic poem for "JUDGE" that revealed the everyday magic of his mom - from her unshakeable belief in second chances, to her instinct for helping strangers in need, to the joyful warmth she radiates to everyone around her. (Previously aired) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You may be familiar with this woman: she wakes up before anyone else, eats standing up, clears the dishes first—and if you told her she was good, she'd believe you, because all of that not resting, not asking, not taking up room, is what goodness looks like—doesn't it? Kelly digs into research showing that the behavior we reward in women—being accommodating, putting others first, never stopping—is actually a clinical risk factor for depression. This episode takes a close look at why many of us are so busy being good that we forget to be whole and the quiet cost of following rules we never actually agreed to. Check out Elise Loehnen's book On Our Best Behavior: The Price Women Pay to Be Good https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/673282/on-our-best-behavior-by-elise-loehnen/ Elise's workbook, co-written with Courtney Smith is Choosing Wholeness Over Goodness: A Process for Reclaiming Your Full Self https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/771811/choosing-wholeness-over-goodness-by-elise-loehnen-and-courtney-smith/ To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kelly sits down with Enneagram coach Courtney Smith, co-author (with Elise Loehnen) of the workbook Choosing Wholeness Over Goodness, to explore the cultural scripts women inherit about how we're supposed to be—and what happens when we start questioning them. They talk about why taking responsibility feels both terrifying and liberating, the difference between being stuck and choosing agency, and how fear keeps us playing roles that don't serve us. It's about the courage it takes to face what you've been avoiding, the surprising freedom that comes from talking back to yourself, and why wholeness might be worth risking everything you thought kept you safe. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Karen Frost held hands with a stranger named Frank at a U2 concert in Chicago—a man she sensed didn't have much time left. They didn't exchange contact information, but she knew what they shared was a soul connection forged through music. Years later, when she faced a cancer diagnosis and began guided imagery to prepare for radiation, something unexpected happened. It's a story about the fleeting connections that never really leave, the mysterious ways people return to us when we need them most, and how someone you barely knew can become exactly what saves you. If you have a story to share, thoughts or feedback, please reach out any time: hello@kellycorrigan.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices