Stronger

While millions of women lost or left their jobs in the pandemic, college student Jennifer Ashley Ciballos and her sister Jaelynn, a high school senior, faced a different problem: They had to start working to keep their multigenerational household afloat. For more than a year, they've juggled their studies with long hours at low-wage jobs to pay the rent and other bills. Their story shows the lengths women go to support the people they love – even if it means putting their own dreams on hold. Hosted by Jessica Mendoza and Samantha Laine Perfas.

Leslie Stevenson had been resisting burnout for years. Though she loves being a teacher, the daily grind of blurred boundaries, after-hours demands, and lack of community support had made it harder and harder to stay on. The pivot to remote and hybrid learning only made things worse for her. Now, as the US prepares for its first post-pandemic school year, she's wondering: Is the work still worth it? Hosted by Jessica Mendoza and Samantha Laine Perfas.

When Mariza Rocha lost her job as a utility porter at The STRAT Hotel in March 2020, she turned to her union. Through the organization, she was able to get unemployment benefits and food assistance. And when she was diagnosed with COVID-19, the union fought for compensation for her and others like her. Now she's convinced she wouldn't have survived the pandemic without that community help. In this episode, we see how a support network can be vital in helping people face crises – and find their voice. Hosted by Jessica Mendoza and Samantha Laine Perfas.

The pandemic is not Yarleny Roa-Dugan's first trial by fire. But it's the hardest she's faced by far. A nurse and mother of two, she's come up against everything that parents and frontline workers have been having to deal with. And when members of her own family were diagnosed with COVID-19, she had to care for them while running the household on her own. Despite all that, she's determined not just to survive – but to come out of this period better than ever. Hosted by Jessica Mendoza and Samantha Laine Perfas.

Christine Hudman Pardy had made it. After decades of touring on and off Broadway, she was performing in a nightly show she loved, for a company that paid well and let her go home to her kids. Then the pandemic hit. Her show closed for good – and so did her husband's. After more than a year without work, she's asking herself: What's next? When the odds seem to be against you, how do you keep on dreaming and growing? Hosted by Jessica Mendoza and Samantha Laine Perfas.

The numbers were grim: 2.3 million women pushed out of the workforce between March 2020 and March 2021. A generation's worth of progress in women's workforce participation lost, by some accounts. Women of color hit especially hard. Now, as the U.S. recovers from the pandemic, it's time to look not only at what we've lost, but also at what we've learned. Can we rethink how and when we work to better support women? Hosted by Jessica Mendoza and Samantha Laine Perfas.

Through job loss, burnout, and the pressures of caregiving, women are fighting to win back what they've lost to COVID-19. This podcast follows six women from Las Vegas, one of the hardest hit economies in the U.S. Their stories capture what the pandemic has cost – and what it truly takes to move forward. Hosted by Jessica Mendoza and Samantha Laine Perfas.