'Unladylike' is Back! Q&A with Podcast Host Cristen Conger

Unladylike blends unforgettable storytelling, fact-finding, and shameless advice. The show explores what it really takes to choose your choices – big or small, public or private, inside or out. Whether it’s birth control, Botox or becoming Big Freedia, Unladylike and host Cristen Conger are on a mission to stay curious, build empathy and raise hell.

We spoke with Cristen on the occasion of the launch of the latest season of the show!

Cristen is the creator, host, and executive producer of Unladylike. Her accidental podcast career began in 2009 when she launched Stuff Mom Never Told You and co-hosted it through 2016. She's also the co-author of Unladylike: A Field Guide to Smashing the Patriarchy and Claiming Your Space, which Kirkus Reviews called “a must-have feminist survival guide for the Trump era.”

When she’s not making Unladylike, Cristen’s probably bingeing Real Housewives with her rescue maltipoo, Brewster.

Q&A with Cristen Conger

EarBuds: You've been in the podcast game a long time. How has it changed since you started the show?

Cristen Conger: Three words: money, money, money. Yes, the craft has evolved, the voices have (somewhat) diversified, and the reach has expanded, but from my vantage point, the biggest change has been on the business side. When I started podcasting at HowStuffWorks (now iHeart) a thousand years ago in 2009, nobody really knew what it was or how long it would last, and advertisers wanted nothing to do with these non-radio shows. Now, it’s a rapidly consolidating billion-dollar pipeline to Hollywood, and for more on that, I highly recommend Laura Mayer’s fabulous podcast Shameless Acquisition Target.

For me personally, one of the biggest changes since I started is my parents finally understand what I do for a living!

EarBuds: How do you come up with topics and source interviewees?

CC: My first stop for topics and interviewees is always the audience: What kinds of topics have folks requested lately? Have any social media posts popped off in the comments? Listener requests and feedback are responsible for many of Unladylike’s most popular episodes, including How to Be a Bad Mom, How to Fall in Love with Herpes, and ADHD All Grown Up.

I also keep a giant Google Doc of potential episode ideas, sources, and guest pitches that catch my eye day to day. But to me, Unladylike shines brightest when it’s actively listening back to the audience.

EarBuds: Tell me about the decision to change the cover art. (I love both so much).

CC: It’s a new era for Unladylike, and changing the cover art was a way to signal that to both listeners and to myself, honestly. My longtime co-host Caroline Ervin left podcasting altogether earlier this year, the show moved from Stitcher to Starburns, and I’m challenging myself to try new approaches, lean more into the audience, and allow myself to start all over again in certain ways.

Designer Jill Petracek did an amazing job reimagining the Unladylike aesthetic for the new art.

EarBuds: You decided to open up the latest season of the show with a two-parter on conspiracy theories. Why this and why now?

CC: I’d been researching women, gender, and conspiracy theories for a while, and what I found so fascinating/alarming was how much of today’s antifeminist, anti-trans, antivax, antiabortion backlash is rooted in the same venn diagram of conspiracy beliefs and gender panic.

So, when I was thinking about how to bring the show back when the world is on fire, conspiracy theories provided a framework to meet the moment.

EarBuds: How was "falling down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole" affected other aspects of your life? Do you view regular things differently?

CC: I didn’t get into this on the podcast, but it’s definitely given me a new layer of perspective on my own childhood and upbringing. I’m an ex-evangelical homeschooler steeped in purity culture and, as I’ve now learned, a lot of right-wing Christian conspiracism. (And should that be my next podcast?)

More importantly, though, it taught me that in the same way conspiracy theories rely on overly simplistic explanations for complicated events, I’d initially been looking for an overly simplistic answer to today’s conspiracy culture gone wild. For one thing, as I learned from TikTok misinformation researcher Abbie Richards, the fundamental questioning and pushing back against the powers that be is part of a functioning democracy. And as she explained, the antidote to conspiracy-mongering isn’t myth-busting. It’s relationships. It’s trust-building. It’s so, so much bigger and systemic than hitting back with #facts.

EarBuds: Do you have a dream guest? Who is it and why? Think BIG.

OK, Unladylike isn’t a celebrity gossip pod, but go with me here. It’s Miss Flo herself, Florence Pugh. If it takes the “Don’t Worry Darling” press machine to bring the tabloid masses to the pod, so be it.

EarBuds: Why is a podcast the best medium to share your message?

CC: Because there’s no other long-form medium as portable, personal, and powerful as podcasts. And it goes both ways. I’ve learned as much from listeners as they’ve hopefully learned from me, and that’s a magic I don’t take for granted.

Thank you to Cristen Conger for answering these questions for us! We hope you’ll check out the latest season of Unladylike. Find it here.