Under the Influence with Jo Piazza

For a long time every novel I read or rom com that I watched contained a lady journalist, or a hard-hitting ad executive. And about two years ago all those characters became influencers. Now about every other novel I read has an influencer character and I don't know if I like it. Today I talk to the journalist and novelist Sheila Marikar about her decision to write influencers into her new book Friends in Napa. I also have a bonus ...

I'm touched out. I say that all the time. Before I became a parent I didn't know that was possible. But once I became a mom my body was no longer my own; it belonged to my children. But I didn't have a way to talk about the feeling of being touched out until I read the stunning book by Amanda Montei of the same name—TOUCHED OUT. There is an expectation gap between what we imagine motherhood looks like and what it actually is and th...

Bestselling author Elle Cosimano (of the famed Finlay Donovan series) was miserable in her job working in real estate. Then her mother offered to care for her children for the summer and take on the physical and mental load of parenting so that Elle could try to write her own book. That moment of receiving permission to do something for herself, completely changed Elle's life and put her on the path to writing her first book, to fi...

On today's Sunday Nice things we have an episode of the podcast Your New Life Blend with my dear friend, soul mate and constant companion Glynnis MacNicol talking all about her new memoir about eating all of the cheese and delicious food and having all of the sex in Paris with host Shoshanna Hecht.

Glynnis MacNicol spent the long stretch of COVID lockdown mostly alone in small Upper West Side apartment, mostly without really touchin...

Renee Reina worked on her PhD in psychology for ten years. Then the pandemic happened and she started making TikToks and podcasts about mom life with her eighteen month old. When that started making money she decided to pursue content creation as a career path instead of what she refers to as a "real job." Why don't we consider what women do online a "real job?" That's just one of the things we are diving into today.

Renee talks abo...

 Sam Dogen offered himself up to me as a sacrificial lamb when he wrote to me and told me that he was the male equivalent of the trad wife.  He was kidding. But Sam is a stay-at-home dad who is the primary caregiver for his children and today we talk about the stigma and judgement he feels for having taken on that role. 

Learn more about Sam and The Financial Samurai brand and content here.

Order a copy of The Sicilian Inheritance he...

Dropping the Sicilian Inheritance true crime podcast into your feeds while she is hot. This show is a gonzo adventure. It is White Lotus Meets Only Murders in the Building and I am Selena Gomez and Nick is Steve Martin and Charlie is Martin Short.

Here is the official fancy description of episode two. Journalist Jo Piazza’s family has been playing a hundred year long game of telephone about the murder of her great great grandmother ...

 I love book influencers! They're my biggest hype people.  And my guest this week is Jordan Moblo, but you might know him better as Jordy's Book Club.

Jordy's Book Club has more than 140,000 followers. That is a lot of influence and clout my friends. And I don't think it's giving him too much credit to say that Jordy's recommendations, really can help an author find new readers.  I love our conversation today because we're really go...

Hillary Wilkinson found the need to take a big look at technology when her children began asking for their own devices. Quickly overwhelmed, she found that the hard and fast rules in other areas of life became difficult to uphold in the digital world. As a teacher and a mom of 2,  Hillary believes the key to healthy screen habits lies in empowering our kids through education and awareness. 

We are the first generation to parent whil...

Is a daily dose of uncertainty exactly what we need? Is embracing uncertainty instead of fearing it the answer to happier and  more curious parenting?

I believe that my guest today is one of the most interesting writers and thinkers talking about social trends and technology's impact on humanity today. Maggie Jackson's new book Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure has shaken up my brain in many new and wonderful ways. To...

Sharing an episode of another podcast Jo is loving: Pop Culture Moms. Andie and Sabrina are toddler moms and best friends of 20 years. They’re taking their obsession with TV and movies to the next level by talking to celebrities, writers and fellow “scholars” of pop culture about what they can learn from the fictional moms they love most. In this episode: Some of the best moms on TV right now are cartoons. We hear from Deena Margol...

It's finally here! The true-crime podcast where I try to solve my great great grandmother Lorenza's murder that The Sicilian Inheritance is based on. DO NOT WORRY there are no book spoilers. These were created to be enjoyed together...companions, not spoilers.

Journalist Jo Piazza’s family has been playing a hundred year long game of telephone about the murder of her great great grandmother Lorenza Marsala. Family members who have g...

Today kicks off our miniseries of women who have switched careers in midlife. My friend Corynne Cirilli used to be a gossip columnist and entertainment journalist with me. After having kids she took a career pause and then trained to be a post-partum doula! We dig into how Corynne decided she was passionate about post-partum care and how she used that passion to make a massive change in her own life after taking a career pause to h...

Why do human beings make terrible decisions? Is it our fault or is technology programming us to be irrational? Let's get into it with Renaissance Woman Amanda Montell, podcaster, linguist and author of the new book The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality. Why do we develop parasocial relationships with influencers and celebrities? Why do people have a baby to save a marriage? We may not have all the answers, ...

Today we're going to talk about two things that we don't talk about nearly often enough—career setbacks and women's ambition.  And these things have way more to do with one another than we might think.  I genuinely believe that our ambition only increases or has the potential to increase after a setback.  That's one of the reasons I wanted to bring on both of today's guests. We will be hearing from business strategist and all over ...

A lot of things get fetishized on Instagram and #farmlife is one of them. Farm life on social media is often portrayed as hazy, beautiful, aspirational leisure. We rarely, if ever, see the hard actual work that goes into farming, the backbreaking labor and the intense costs of maintaining a farm.  We do see a lot of chickens and beautiful blue eggs, but never the dirt under the fingernails or the fields that have failed due to unpr...