Hi everyone I'm Hillary Kerr the co-founder and chief content officer of

who what 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 on the show, I'm speaking with the Emmy-nominated showrunner

of the with a big imagination and a love of comedy.

She took cartooning and drawing classes and watched SNL religiously.

She got her bachelor's degree in Fine Arts at Cornell and after graduation moved to New York to get an MFA in painting at the Parsons School of Design.

In New York, her world opened up and she began a career in animation. Soon she realized that what she loved about storytelling was actually the writing aspect.

So she moved away from the art side and set her sights on comedy writing.

She landed jobs at VH1's best week ever, the late show with

David Letterman, and the Colbert Report, where she worked for six years. In 2014 she

made the jump to work in narrative television with Tina Fay and Robert

Carlock on the Netflix series The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. By the end of the

show's four seasons and an interactive special, Meredith started to think about what kind of show

she would want to make. She realized that she wanted to illustrate what it was like to be a woman in her 40s,

combined that with her comedy chops and her love of early 2000s pop groups

and Girls Five Eva was born.

Over the last four years, she's shepherded the show through ups and downs as the show fought for renewal,

eventually switching to Netflix for its third season. Throughout, Meredith has maintained the show's

blistering joke pace and beloved, odd, yet so relatable

...