Hi everyone, I'm Hilary Kerr, the co-founder and chief content officer of Who Up Where,

and this is Second Life, a podcast spotlighting women who have truly inspiring careers.

We're talking about their work journeys, what they've learned from the process of setting

aside their doubts or fears, and what happens when they embark on their second life.

Today, it is my great honor to have the amazing Amina Tussaud on this podcast.

As devoted podcast listeners and guessing you are already huge fans of her show,

Call Your Girlfriend, which she has been hosting since 2014 with her friend Anne Friedman.

The pod is for long-distance bessies everywhere and the premise is simple and genius.

They call each other and discuss everything from politics to pop culture and more.

They are unabashedly feminist, which I love, and the podcast highlights their amazing concept,

shine theory, the idea that when one of us shines, we all do, which is the sort of guiding principle

I think we can all appreciate. Most recently, the two wrote a book called Big Friendship,

How We Keep Each Other Close, which hit book shelves on July 14th and details the ups and downs

of their decade-long, long-distance friendship. In addition to the book being an amazing read,

which we get into in this episode, I also think you're going to really enjoy Amina Tuss' career story.

Before she started a pod revolution with a cult following and wrote this incredible book,

she started her career in DC working for a think tank before making the move into digital

strategy and co-founding Teclae Mafia. But we'll get into all of that in a second.

Now, on Second Life, it's Amina Tussaud.

Hi! I'm just going to jump right in. What did you study in school and what did you think you

were going to be when you grew up? Oh, man. I studied political science, economics, and Middle Eastern studies.

I thought probably I was going to work like an international civil service of some kind,

...