The Messy Parts

Sojin Lee has built startups, helped scale Net-a-Porter, won fashion industry awards — and watched businesses collapse. In this candid conversation, she opens up to Maryam about public failure, ambition addiction, and choosing love over everything else. From early executive days in luxury fashion to launching ahead-of-its-time ventures, Sojin shares hard lessons about risk, ego, shame, and survival. She talks about losing major cli...

Mickey Drexler built the Gap into a $15 billion empire, created Old Navy, helped redefine J.Crew, and shaped American retail culture. And then? He was fired. No warning. No thank you. Just a card, a sentence, and a door. In this episode of The Messy Parts, Maryam sits down with Mickey to talk about what actually happens when you do everything “right” and still get pushed out. They go deep on instinct vs. pedigree, why big companies...

At what point does a side hustle stop being a hobby? On this episode of The Messy Parts, Marla Aaron tells Maryam the exact moment she realized she could no longer hedge her ambition. What began as a creative outlet eventually became a full-fledged business, but not without years of doubt, rejection, and financial anxiety. In this episode, Marla and Maryam explore the tension between security and risk, why waiting to feel “ready” i...

Is it possible to be successful, exhausted, uncertain, and stuck — all at the same time? In this episode of The Messy Parts, former Pfizer communications chief Sally Susman joins Maryam on the blue couch to get real about fear, ambition, burnout, and what it really takes to grow. From being told she’d never have a career after coming out, to leading Pfizer during COVID, to leaving corporate life behind, Sally shares the messy, huma...

This week, we are looking back at some of the most powerful, hilarious, and vulnerable moments from The Messy Parts. We created this episode with Hark Audio, gathering the standout clips that define what this show is all about: embracing the chaos and finding strength in the struggle.

Whether you are new to the podcast or a day-one listener, this compilation features the wisdom you need right now. We revisit these conversations and ...

We're going back to our first episode: Katie Sturino is no stranger to reinvention—from fashion PR hustler to viral dog-momager to founder of Megababe and author of the new romcom Sunny Side Up. In the premiere episode of The Messy Parts, she joins Maryam to talk about building a self-funded brand, the real struggles behind the Instagram gloss, and how letting the "messy parts hang out" can be your superpower. They t...

What does it really take to build a career across Saturday Night Live, Broadway’s Wicked, network TV, and music? In this re-release of one of our favorite episodes of The Messy Parts, Ana Gasteyer joins Maryam Banikarim to reveal the messy, unglamorous parts of showbusiness — like rejection, insecurity, and feeling like an outsider. Ana turned those realities into fuel for her creativity, and tells Maryam about the power of radical...

Is your path too messy for success? In this episode of The Messy Parts, Maryam talks to Rafat Ali, founder of Skift and one of the most quietly influential figures in digital media. This feels like a personal conversation, Rafat opens up about the parts of his journey most people never hear: stuttering as a teenager, feeling like an outsider in America, breaking down during intense life changes, and rebuilding through resilience. M...

How do you turn fun into a career? In this honest, funny, and inspiring episode of The Messy Parts, celebrity event planner Marcy Blum tells Maryam how she went from living on a failed commune in Vermont to organizing lavish celebrations for LeBron James, Kevin Bacon, and countless billionaires, and why “fun” is her most powerful business strategy. Along the way, Marcy opens up about sexism in the culinary world, building her brand...

Kelly Kopp, is now known as “New York City Kopp,” influencer, photographer, tour guide But at 40 years old, Kelly lost everything—his house in the mortgage crisis, his restaurant job, his health (without insurance), and watched his best friend, Sandy, die of cancer. Sitting poolside in Orlando contemplating how people reach their breaking point, Sandy's death became his wake-up call to "go live." He moved to New York...

Could getting fired be the best thing that ever happened to you? In this deeply personal episode of The Messy Parts, journalist Brooke Baldwin sits down with Maryam to discuss her journey from heartbreak to healing after she was let go from her dream job at CNN. Brooke talks about speaking truth to power, walking through fear, and redefining success on her own terms. The two explore what happens when your identity is tied to your c...

Is your biggest mess also your best teacher? Broadway veteran Michael McElroy tells Maryam about his remarkable journey from rejection at Carnegie Mellon to leading Broadway casts and founding the award-winning Broadway Inspirational Voices. He and Maryam explore how to find purpose after burnout, the power of community and service, and what happens when you finally stop waiting for permission to begin. Michael opens up about ident...

Jonathan Merritt was a pastor’s son destined to preach — until he was publicly outed online and his life imploded. When faith, identity, and ambition collide — what do you do? Jonathan knows that question intimately. But through the wreckage came clarity, courage, and an entirely new way of living. In this candid episode, Jonathan tells Maryam how losing community, career, and certainty opened the door to authenticity, spirituality...

At 22, Jaclyn Johnson landed her dream magazine job — until she realized it paid less than her rent. That rejection set off a chain of bold decisions: launching a fashion blog, being sued by a former employer, losing a job she moved across the country to take, and eventually starting her own PR/branding agency. Jaclyn tells Maryam how she turned fear into fuel and turned Create & Cultivate from a side hustle into a brand she ev...

Think your biggest breakdown means you’ve failed? Journalist Danielle Belton was hospitalized multiple times for bipolar disorder while she was building her career. In this powerful episode, she opens up to Maryam about a childhood riddled with anxiety, falling into a deep depression after a failed marriage, and drinking tequila at work to power through panic attacks. Danielle hit rock bottom in her mid-twenties and moved home to h...

What if everything you were told about building a career was wrong? Financial expert and host of The So Money Podcast, Farnoosh Torabi, gets raw about the messy reality behind her success—from being forced to give up her dream schools to avoid debt, to getting fired twice, to drowning in $300K of business debt that forced her to sell her home.

This isn't another "hustle harder" story. It's an honest conversation ...

Brian Kelly (aka The Points Guy) has been obsessed with credit card and frequent flyer points since childhood. At age 12, his dad challenged him to book a family vacation using only points, and young Brian successfully got his entire family to the Cayman Islands for free.

Fast forward to his twenties, and his credit was ruined. He had to resort to payday loans. As he says, "I was in survival mode." He walked to work becaus...

If you’re job hunting, eyeing a promotion, or just feeling burnt out—this conversation will remind you that your path doesn’t have to be traditional to be powerful. 

From bossy kid to bold career coach, Sam DeMase is redefining what leadership and success really look like—with empathy, authenticity, and purpose. 

In this episode, Sam shares her unconventional journey: from managing 70 people at a fast food chain straight out of NYU t...

What happens when your toxic business partnership implodes and nearly 20 years of work vanishes while you're getting your hair done? Gwen Whiting, co-founder of The Laundress, opens up about the brutal reality behind building a successful brand, selling it to Unilever—and watching everything she created collapse.

In this raw conversation, Gwen reveals how early tragedy shaped her resilience; surviving on credit cards for over a...