Under the Influence with Jo Piazza

Under the Influence with Jo Piazza

Under the Influence is a deep dive into social media, a place haunted by aspirational marketing where it feels like every other person is a social media influencer trying to sell you something, all while posed in perfect houses that never seem to get messy. And behind this airbrushed perfection is money, so much money. Billions and billions of dollars. Journalist and mom Jo Piazza looks at how we got here, what it all means and how the commodification of every single aspect of our lives is driving everyone (but mostly women and mothers) a little insane.

Episodes

February 12, 2026 36 mins
In celebration of the Winter Olympics (the best thing to ever happen to Peacock) we are bringing back one of our favorite episodes of Committed with professional figure skaters Chris and Alexa Knierim.  These two shared the same dream when they fell in love and got married—get to the Olympics... together. They didn’t let broken bones or a mysterious illness get in their way. Their love story is even better than every Gen X woman's...
Mark as Played
Today’s episode is a grab bag — a hodgepodge of the stories people have been asking me about in my DMs for the past week. First up: the Ballerina Farm raw milk scandal. We break down the failed raw milk tests, the health concerns, and why the internet reacted with such gleeful ferocity. This isn’t really about unpasteurized dairy with cow poop bacteria in it. It’s about influencer perfection and the collective desire to take i...
Mark as Played
Moms drive the majority of household purchasing decisions. Recommendations from mom influencers outperform traditional ads. They even convert better than celebrity endorsements. And yet, they’re still treated like they should be grateful for a free product and an affiliate link. This week we talk with Chelsea Clark, founder and CEO of Momfluence, an influencer marketing agency built specifically around mom creators, about how the...
Mark as Played
February 3, 2026 46 mins
Every January, parents are asked to plan the entire summer for their kids months in advance, spend a lot of money, juggle waitlists, and pretend this isn't a hellscape of doom. In this episode, we chat with journalist Katherine Goldstein about the overwhelming amount of summer planning we all seem to be doing and why so much of it falls on moms. There are a ton of reasons for this that are uniquely American. We have long summers,...
Mark as Played
If you’ve had kids, you’ve probably wondered at some point if you’re a bad mother. I would say this is true for 99.9 percent of us. And the other 0.1 percent is Ruby Franke. On today’s episode of Under the Influence, we're joined by Cut culture writer EJ Dickson to talk about her smart, sharp and wildly satisfying new book One Bad Mother: In Praise of Psycho Housewives, Stage Parents, Momfluencers, and Other Women We Love to Hate....
Mark as Played
January 27, 2026 43 mins
No one is going to check in with you to make sure you're enjoying your life. What if fun—not self-care, not optimization, not doing more—is the thing missing from modern motherhood? This week on Under the Influence, we’re talking about why moms feel guilty for wanting joy, adventure, and pleasure that doesn’t serve anyone else. Our guest is Kelly Conroy, the creator of Your Mom Races Rally (YOMO), who went from feeling invisi...
Mark as Played
There are only a few topics women in their forties can’t stop talking about right now: perimenopause, hormone replacement therapy, and GLP medications. In this episode, we sit down with physician Dr. Mary Brandon for a no-bullshit conversation about what’s actually happening in our bodies—and why so many of us feel like we’re losing our minds. We break down how GLP medications really work (and why many women feel better on them be...
Mark as Played
January 20, 2026 55 mins
Three things are happening in the group chat right now: perimenopause, ICE, and Heated Rivalry. That’s it. That’s the list. And yes, I am late to this particular party because this is a show I have to watch alone, in the daylight, with no children within a one mile radius. So let’s talk about why this Canadian, low-budget, nipples-everywhere hockey romance has basically taken over the brains of American women in this exact moment...
Mark as Played
I’m really excited to introduce you to a new show today. It’s a smart podcast about trashy books: Smart Podcast, Trashy Books, created by my good friend Sarah Wendell. Sarah has been talking about romance novels in a smart, generous, deeply thoughtful way since long before the current romance renaissance. She’s brilliant, she’s an absolute delight, and she has produced more than 700 episodes of this podcast. Typically, Sarah talk...
Mark as Played
Taylor Wolfe, better known as The Daily Tay, has built a massive following online by helping us laugh about the hardest parts of motherhood. In this episode, we talk about Taylor’s new book Just a Busy Season, a brutally funny and deeply honest look at postpartum life, breastfeeding shame, marriage after kids, and how the so-called “busy season” never truly ends. We dig into how she went from a 2009 blogger to running a full-blown...
Mark as Played
January 13, 2026 46 mins
There are so many “most anticipated” lists about what to read this year. We have one book at the very top of ours: The Fountain by Casey Scieszka. Casey is one of our closest friends, and this is the novel we’ve been quietly recommending for years before anyone could actually get their hands on it. The Fountain, out in March, is set in the Catskills and follows Vera, a woman who looks like she’s in her mid-twenties but has been al...
Mark as Played
January 8, 2026 34 mins
January should officially be Women’s Rest and Recovery Month, because after December most of us are sick, behind on work, emotionally fried, and trying to pretend that carrying the mental load of not just our own families but everyone we care about was somehow restful. In this episode, we’re joined by Jackie Oña Cascarano, founder of Juno Women’s Collective, an executive career coach, entrepreneur, and former attorney who works wi...
Mark as Played
January 6, 2026 44 mins
January feels like a real dumpster fire so far. It's supposed to feel like a reset, but instead it feels chaotic and messy and exhausting. Today we are zooming in on why the urge to fix everything at once backfires every time and why the smallest changes are often the ones that actually stick. We're joined by Under the Influence tidying guru Tyler Moore, aka Tidy Dad to walk through his five-to-ten-minute approach to tidying just...
Mark as Played
January 1, 2026 45 mins
We’re kicking off the new year by talking about something we both love and hate: “resolutions.” Or, more accurately, a list of what we don’t want in our lives in 2026. With bestselling author Glynnis MacNicol, we get into why this week is useful for taking stock, even if you refuse to “manifest” anything, and how writing things down (by hand, in a real planner) can make your brain take it more seriously. We talk about setting boun...
Mark as Played
In this heartfelt conversation, Dr. Florencia Segura shares her personal journey of losing her daughter Rosie to Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC). She discusses the lack of awareness surrounding SUDC, the role of social media in her grieving process, and how she keeps Rosie's memory alive. Dr. Segura emphasizes the importance of research and community support in understanding and preventing SUDC, while also navigating t...
Mark as Played
What does friendship actually look like in the messy middle parts of midlife, when time is scarce, energy is finite, and relationships have to earn their place? This episode with journalist Anya Kamenetz explores how friendships change in your forties, why many people feel lonelier even as they crave deeper connection, and what it really takes to build rich, sustaining friendships as an adult. Read Anya's story and subscribe to ...
Mark as Played
December 23, 2025 39 mins
Traveling with kids is not a vacation. It’s work. It’s labor. It’s also one of my absolute favorite things to do. In this episode I talk about how we actually make it happen as a family, from taking my “lumpy babies” to Sicily to hauling three kids through London while one of them pukes all over an Uber and then immediately asks for sushi. I’m joined by my family travel guru, writer and travel journalist Regan Stephens, founder of...
Mark as Played
Today I'm dropping an interview that I did with the Love-ly⁠ podcast into our feed. This week on Love-ly, Mehak sits down with bestselling author, journalist, and podcaster Jo Piazza, widely considered one of America’s sharpest observers of women, motherhood, and the influencer economy. Together, they unpack the increasingly visible and controversial world of “trad wives”—women who embrace and promote full-time homemaking on socia...
Mark as Played
December 18, 2025 34 mins
The trad wife trend has finally hit its ceiling. After years of algorithm-friendly homemaking, the movement is showing the cracks in its seams. The performance is shifting. The ambition underneath is no longer hiding and that reveal says everything about where the culture is headed next. Brands like Ballerina Farm and Nara Smith are now openly embracing the CEO role instead of pretending domestic perfection happens without childc...
Mark as Played
December 16, 2025 41 mins
Holiday joy is supposed to feel cozy and magical. Instead, a lot of women spend December simmering with quiet (or not so quiet) rage. Let's dig into why the holidays can feel especially brutal for women in midlife, and what our hormones, our brains, and the unpaid mental load of the season have to do with it. Her guest is Dr. Kim Einhorn, an OB GYN and founder of the MP Collective, a personalized menopause and perimenopause practi...
Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    Two Guys (Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers). Five Rings (you know, from the Olympics logo). One essential podcast for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Bowen Yang (SNL, Wicked) and Matt Rogers (Palm Royale, No Good Deed) of Las Culturistas are back for a second season of Two Guys, Five Rings, a collaboration with NBC Sports and iHeartRadio. In this 15-episode event, Bowen and Matt discuss the top storylines, obsess over Italian culture, and find out what really goes on in the Olympic Village.

    iHeartOlympics: The Latest

    Listen to the latest news from the 2026 Winter Olympics.

    Milan Cortina Winter Olympics

    The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina are here and have everyone talking. iHeartPodcasts is buzzing with content in honor of the XXV Winter Olympics We’re bringing you episodes from a variety of iHeartPodcast shows to help you keep up with the action. Follow Milan Cortina Winter Olympics so you don’t miss any coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympics, and if you like what you hear, be sure to follow each Podcast in the feed for more great content from iHeartPodcasts.

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

    Betrayal Season 5

    Saskia Inwood woke up one morning, knowing her life would never be the same. The night before, she learned the unimaginable – that the husband she knew in the light of day was a different person after dark. This season unpacks Saskia’s discovery of her husband’s secret life and her fight to bring him to justice. Along the way, we expose a crime that is just coming to light. This is also a story about the myth of the “perfect victim:” who gets believed, who gets doubted, and why. We follow Saskia as she works to reclaim her body, her voice, and her life. If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team, email us at betrayalpod@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2026 iHeartMedia, Inc.