The False Choice Between Tradwife and Girlboss

Under the Influence with Jo Piazza

Jo Piazza, Influence Inc.

Society & Culture, Kids & Family, Parenting, Personal Journals, Technology

4.3 • 833 Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2026

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why have women been told the only choices are girlboss or tradwife, lean in or opt out, burnout or retreat? We're chatting with author and coach Megan Hellerer about why that binary is so false and so seductive, especially for women who did everything “right” and still wound up exhausted, anxious, and unhappy. Megan shares how she went from Stanford to a dream job at Google to panic attacks on the bathroom floor, and how that breakdown led her to build a different framework for ambition and success. We get into burnout, misalignment, why five-year plans can keep us stuck, and why there has to be a third way for women who want meaningful work, a real life, and something more honest than either extreme. Plus: how Megan’s “directional living” framework helped a young bartender named Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez find her path. Get Megan's book Directional Living here. Join our newsletter community here. ORDER The Parisian Heist here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	McGriddles, a new McDonald's breakfast.
0:02.5	So it's maple syrup infused. It's sweet, then it's savoury, because the sausage, you know, and the cheese and the egg. Oh, it's got the golden archies stamped on it too. Make that make sense. It's hard to put into words, but... Mm. Until 11am, subject to availability, fees apply to delivery orders while stocks last. Now, are all the traitors present? Let's get started, shall we?
0:24.6	From rags to riches. I'm so sick of this. Working like a dog and being treated worse.
0:29.2	Yorkshire to New York. Poor climbers, you and me.
0:32.5	A life dedicated to revenge. Let's make this an occasion to remember.
0:37.0	A Woman of Substance on Channel 4, stream now.
0:40.3	We all love a good meal, but there's no feeling quite like cooking one,
0:44.3	whether it's everyone at yours for a Sunday roast or after-school sausage and mash.
0:49.3	Quick, simple, gone in minutes.
0:52.3	One thing brings it all together. Ah, Bisto. The original gravy. Rich, smooth,
1:02.2	and unmistakable since 1908. When the gravy makes the dish, make the gravy. Ah, Bisto.
1:19.2	Hey all, Joe here, and you are listening to Under the Influence.
1:30.9	I was at a book event the other day, and someone asked me why I thought that Tadwife influencing, tradwife social media accounts, why they were so attractive to seemingly very liberal, very progressive women. And I've talked about this a lot.
1:39.9	I think that this kind of pastoral fantasy, little house on the prairie, adjacent, heavily filtered
1:48.7	content is very attractive to a certain subset of liberal former boss babes because a lot of us are
1:59.8	really burnt out. We're burnt the hell out. So many of us did
2:04.7	all of the things that we were told to do. We were told to lean in. We were told to go to the good
2:09.8	college and get the good job and climb the ladder and act like men in the workplace. And
2:16.5	men certainly didn't evolve to help us with any of that,
2:20.9	nor did corporations. And so so many women who leaned in found themselves doing all of the things,
2:28.3	too many of the things, putting in 150% every day, and then getting burnt the hell out. And when you're faced with an Instagram
2:38.1	feed of just watching heirloom tomatoes grow or baking sourdough, that can feel very soothing. And the
	...

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