Work Appropriate

Everything is interesting. That idea has guided the tremendously popular Culture Study newsletter, and it’s at the heart of the Culture Study Podcast, where host Anne Helen Petersen and the smartest people she knows answer listeners’ questions about the nooks and crannies of contemporary culture, from “why are clothes like this now” to “what’s the deal with F1?”

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From terse Slack messages to Zoom happy hours, the culture of remote workplaces can be frustrating to navigate. But it can also be an opportunity to experiment, to build friendships... and to have an annual retreat in an exotic location! Chase Warrington, head of remote for Doist, joins host Anne Helen Petersen to answer listeners' questions about how to create a healthy and enjoyable work culture when there's no water cooler to ga...

If all my coworkers are younger than me, am I still relevant? How can I stay motivated and engaged until retirement, when I've been working so long and it still feels so far away? Should I tell my boss I'm struggling at work because of menopause? Debbie Millman, educator, artist, and host of the podcast Design Matters, joins host Anne Helen Petersen to answer all these questions from listeners in the later phases of their careers.

We wanted to tackle some of the most complicated management questions that listeners sent in, so host Anne Helen Petersen turned to our favorite management experts, Melissa & Johnathan Nightingale of the Raw Signal Group. Whether you’re suffering from micromanaging, a boss who loves to hear himself talk, or way too much work in too few hours-- we’ve got some suggestions.

• Listen to Melissa's fantastic advice on our previous episo...

We've done episodes on pivoting careers, on starting over, on starting a new job-- and now it's time to talk about the absolute slog that is searching, applying, and interviewing for a new job. Phoebe Gavin, career coach and founder of Better with Phoebe, joins host Anne Helen Petersen to give listeners advice on getting through the slog and landing the job you want.

• Need advice about a sticky situation at work? Fill out our for...

Are hiring managers checking out your Instagram stories? Is it okay to tweet about the NSFW writing you do on the side? Should you expose the idiots who send vitriol to your company's inboxes? The intersection of work and social media can be a messy place. Rachel Karten, social media strategist and writer of the Link in Bio newsletter, joins host Anne Helen Petersen to answer listeners' questions about when online problems become I...

We usually create Work Appropriate episodes around a theme, grouping similar questions together. But over time, we've amassed a collection of questions that are, shall we say, unique. Greta Johnsen, host of WBEZ's Nerdette, joins host Anne Helen Petersen to answer this cornucopia of singular submissions.

• Need advice about a sticky situation at work? We're here for you. Head to www.workappropriate.com and ask away-- or you can em...

So your company put out a statement about its commitment to DEI (or DEIB, or IDEA, or whatever your workplace calls it)-- now what? Efforts to make workplaces more diverse, equitable, and inclusive can often get bogged down by the processes and culture that made the efforts so necessary in the first place. Sameera Kapila, product designer and author of Inclusive Design Communities, joins host Anne Helen Petersen to answer listeners...

Sometimes the job is fine, the pay is fine, the schedule is fine, but you still feel stuck. It's a miserable feeling, like no matter what you do, this is going to be your life until the end of time. Josh Gondelman, pep talker extraordinaire and our first three-peat guest, joins host Anne Helen Petersen to offer some glimmers of hope to listeners who feel woefully, hopelessly stuck.

•  Need advice about a sticky situation at work? ...

Of all the roles you can have at a workplace, "intern" is one of the most vulnerable. Alice Wilder, writer of the Starting Out newsletter, joins host Anne Helen Petersen to answer listeners' questions about how to get taken seriously as an intern, how to justify paying interns when you think they don't add much to the company's bottom line, and how to make an internship program worth everyone's time.

• Need advice about a sticky s...

Ifeoma Ozoma joins host Anne Helen Petersen for a much-requested episode about the trials and tribulations workers face in the tech industry. From overwork to the nebulous "culture fit," we answer listeners' questions about when the start-up hustle is no longer worth it.

• Read CNN's profile of Ifeoma Ozoma and her work from December 2022
• Need advice about a sticky situation at work? Head to www.workappropriate.com and tell us abou...

Is considering diversity in hiring actually reverse racism? What if advocating for my colleagues of color means I lose my job? What do I do if I think my colleague doesn't like me because I'm a white guy?  Garrett Bucks, writer of The White Pages and founder of The Barnraisers Project, joins host Anne Helen Petersen to answer questions from white listeners struggling with issues of allyship and social justice at work.

• Need advic...

As the saying goes, death is a part of life. So why are workplaces so ill-equipped to provide employees with compassionate and expansive bereavement leave? Dina Gachman, author of So Sorry For Your Loss: How I Learned to Live with Grief, and Other Grave Concerns, joins host Anne Helen Petersen to answer listeners' questions about dealing with grief at work.

• Need advice about a sticky situation at work? Head to www.workappropriat...

What do you do when your job is burning you out, but you can't really *care less* about it? When children need teachers and vulnerable populations need social workers and hospitals need nurses-- how can you walk away? Dena Simmons, founder of LiberatED, joins host Anne Helen Petersen to answer listeners' questions about how to make caring professions more sustainable.

• Follow @CrookedMedia on Instagram and Twitter for more origin...

A sneak peek of the first book from Crooked Media Reads, Mobility, by Lydia Kiesling. Mobility is a gripping coming-of-age story about navigating a world of corporate greed that's both laugh-out-loud funny and politically incisive. The novel tracks themes of class, power, politics, and desire throughout the life of its compelling main character, Bunny Glenn. 

Vulture called Bunny Glenn “a complicated heroine for the ages, a striver ...

Lydia Kiesling, author of Mobility, joins host Anne Helen Petersen to answer listeners' questions about the amorphous intersection of parenting and work. We’re talking about big, philosophical questions about fulfillment, passion, and even division of ambition with your co-parent.

• Pre-order Mobility at crooked.com/mobility, and be among the first to read it when it comes out August 1.
• Follow @CrookedMedia on Instagram and Twitter...

Rebecca Cokley, program officer for the Ford Foundation's first-ever U.S. Disability Rights program, joins host Anne Helen Petersen to answer listeners' questions about navigating the workplace while disabled. From advocating for accommodations, to giving yourself a pep talk during a relapse, to saying "no" to work travel while immunocompromised-- Rebecca shares the wisdom that comes from lifelong personal experience.

• Need advic...

There's a persistent idea that when you finish high school or college, you pick a career and then do that one thing for the rest of your life. But what if you get a few years, or even decades, in... and you hate it? Can you pivot? Ailsa Chang, host of NPR's All Things Considered joins host Anne Helen Petersen to answer listeners' questions about making a change.

Need advice about a sticky situation at work? Head to www.workappropria...