EP 497: All the Cool Girls Get Fired: Reinventing Your Career After 40

HerMoney with Jean Chatzky

Jean Chatzky Her Money

Investing, Entrepreneurship, Business

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 15 October 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Have you been laid off, or are you worried you might be? This week, Jean is joined by Laura Brown (former Editor-in-Chief of InStyle) and Kristina O’Neill (former Editor-in-Chief of WSJ. Magazine), authors of the bold and unfiltered new book, All the Cool Girls Get Fired: How to Let Go of Being Let Go and Come Back on Top. Both women hit the top of their industries… and then got let go. Now, they’re helping other women, especially Gen Xers and those over 40, navigate layoffs, ageism, financial uncertainty, and the terrifying-but-liberating process of starting over. In this episode, we talk about: Why getting fired has nothing to do with your worth, and everything to do with changing industries How to handle that first day post-layoff (what not to sign, how to negotiate your severance) Smart money moves to make immediately, whether or not you have an emergency fund Tips for negotiating with credit card companies, cutting spending fast, and finding bridge income Choosing your next path: freelancing vs. going back to corporate Why women in midlife should challenge the shame and secrecy around job loss And the launch of their new community: The Cool Girl Network Resources: 💼 All the Cool Girls Get Fired — Buy the book 📲 Follow @allthecoolgirlsgetfired on Instagram and TikTok 🧠 Join our private HerMoney Facebook group: HerMoney Private Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:12.7	question every donor is asking. How can I make the biggest difference right now? With shifts in
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0:56.3	wherever you get your podcasts.
0:59.7	300 sensors. Over a million data points per second. How does F1 update their fans with
1:07.1	every stat in real time. AWS is how.
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1:27.5	AWS is how leading businesses power next level innovation.
1:41.5	But one thing that it does give you is that beat, that one beat which we all have to think about,
1:43.0	was that really making me happy?
1:44.1	Did that make me feel less happy? Maybe I want to be happy more. Maybe I want to be creative more. And maybe the thing that is your dream when you're a kid, maybe you can't necessarily jump to do that because you've got all these responsibilities. But maybe you can allow your mind to follow that a little bit more and be like, okay, what makes me distinctive?
2:06.5	Hey everyone, welcome to Her Money. I'm Gene Chatsky. If you've been listening to this show for a long time, you know we love a good transformation story. And today, we've got, actually,
	...

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