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For The Love With Jen Hatmaker Podcast

Impossible to Ignore: Norah O’Donnell on Women, Power, and Collective Courage

For The Love With Jen Hatmaker Podcast

Jen Hatmaker

Relationships, Society & Culture

4.66.4K Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2026

⏱️ 57 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Description:What does it look like to strive ardently for justice and equality without losing yourself in the process? Today, Jen sits down with Norah O’Donnell—award-winning journalist, anchor, and managing editor of the CBS Evening News—for a conversation about courage, compassion, and the women who have quietly shaped the arc of American history. Norah’s new book, We the Women: The Hidden Heroes Who Shaped America, uncovers the stories of women who refused to disappear: printers and poets, doctors and intellectuals, community builders and policymakers, women who risked safety, status, and belonging to tell the truth, expand freedom, and insist that dignity belongs to everyone. In this episode, we reflect on what these lives reveal about compassion—not as sentiment, but as action. Jen, Amy, and Norah talk about the indomitable women who made justice visible, who challenged power without losing their moral center, and who built systems of care that outlived them. The conversation also turns inward, as Norah reflects on her own career as one of the most trusted voices in American broadcast journalism, regularly asking hard questions in public spaces and of people in positions of power. This is a conversation about fierce compassion—the kind that tells the truth, draws boundaries, builds community, and refuses erasure. It’s an invitation to remember the women who came before us, and to consider how we might carry their courage forward in our own time. Thought-provoking Quotes: “I think that journalists are doing an incredible job right now under really tough circumstances. But they're bringing to light what the power of the federal government, what the power of state governments and others are doing, and allowing the electorate to be informed so that they can get involved, they can vote, they can be energized, and each of us can be part of this great American democracy.” – Norah O’Donnell “I do believe we need more women in government and more women in positions of power.” - Norah O’Donnell “I’m in the business of information not affirmation.” – Norah O’Donnell “Women have been at the forefront of helping to bend that arc towards justice. Women have crashed through the educational glass ceiling. More women get degrees than men. Women have the right to vote and they do vote in greater numbers than men. So when are we gonna see this tipping point? I keep waiting for that in my lifetime.” – Norah O’Donnell Resources Mentioned in This Episode: We the Women: The Hidden Heroes Who Shaped America by Norah O’Donnell - https://amzn.to/4keE2Hb We The Women Tour  - https://www.wethewomenbook.com/about CBS News | Norah O’Donnell - https://www.cbsnews.com/team/norah-odonnell/ The Six Triple Eight | Netflix - https://www.netflix.com/title/81590591 Mary McLeod Bethune Statue - https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/mary-mcleod-bethune-statue The Declaration of Sentiments - https://www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/declaration-of-sentiments.htm Guest’s Links: Website - https://www.cbsnews.com/team/norah-odonnell/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/norahodonnell/ Twitter - https://x.com/NorahODonnell Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/norahodonnell/ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@norahodonnell?lang=en Connect with Jen!Jen’s Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/ Jen’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmakerJen’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/ Jen’s Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmakerJen’s YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Everybody, welcome to the show.

0:09.0

We're glad you're here.

0:10.0

Welcome back.

0:12.0

My gosh.

0:13.0

We have a great guest today.

0:15.0

All of us know her.

0:17.0

If you have eyes and ears and you've lived on the planet

0:20.0

for any amount of time, you obviously know Nora O'Donnell.

0:25.6

We were just saying, because we just finished our interview with her, she's delightful.

0:29.8

Yes.

0:30.4

Just delightful, like warm and shiny.

0:34.4

And like, I just enjoyed her so much.

0:39.7

We're going to tell you about her book here in just a second that we're talking about, this big kind of three-year project. She has spearheaded,

0:45.2

which was, it's so great and so timely. But I'm, it, it, it looks backward. It's sort of a

0:53.0

historical look. It's some really really important but barely known or never mentioned

0:58.1

or largely erased women throughout these like real touch points in American history,

1:05.5

like going back to the American Revolution.

1:09.0

What do you think of, what's your deal in history? Oh, I love it.

1:12.1

I do too. I love it. I don't know that I always did. Oh, yeah. Um, I mean, the history we were

1:21.0

taught was like, number one, chronologically centered around wars. Yes.

1:28.3

Which I was not very interested in.

1:32.2

And I think the version, especially the version of history that's taught in Texas is through the lens of Texas.

...

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