How "She Pivots" Podcast Makes Space for Women During Women's History Month and Beyond
By: Emily Tisch Sussman
Women’s stories are powerful — they can inspire, motivate, and inform. But too often women’s stories get pigeonholed into either an account of their personal lives or a professional biography. The reality is that our professional and personal lives are deeply intertwined and often, we make professional decisions based on highly personal events.
That’s why I created She Pivots, a podcast dedicated to telling the stories of women who have pivoted due to a personal experience and found success. Here are just some of the incredible stories of women who showcase and celebrate what it’s like to be a woman:
Robin McBride - The Lost Sister and A Wine Empire:
Personal events that shape our professional trajectories can be happy: the birth of a child, or the discovery of a new hobby. Take Robin McBride, for example, one of our She Pivots guests whose reunion with her long-lost sister led to the creation of a wine empire.
“Obviously, finding out that I had a sister was pretty exciting…But definitely life changing. I mean, it's really interesting because it changes your identity…That kind of instantly changes when you have this missing piece that comes into your life,” Robin reflected.
Creating a bond with her sister, Andrea—and discovering their shared love of wine—put Robin on a new path. She joined forces with her sister to create McBride Sisters Wine, which is now the top women-owned winery in the world.
Pinky Cole - Thriving with a Hustler Mentality
But loss can also inspire a pivot. Pinky Cole, CEO and Founder of the multi-million dollar restaurant enterprise, Slutty Vegan, and Season 2 guest, is a perfect example of this. After Pinky’s first restaurant burned down in a grease fire, she hit her lowest of lows.
“So when I lost the [restaurant]…all of that money diminished really, really fast. Then my car got repoed. And then I got kicked out of my apartment. So there was like a domino effect of all of these things,” Pinky told me on She Pivots.
But Pinky is nothing if not tenacious, turning her low point into an opportunity to bounce back even stronger than before. She launched Slutty Vegan as her new venture, and found overwhelming success.
Paula Neira - From the Navy to Fighting for Trans Rights:
Or, take for example Paula Neira, a Season 1 guest and U.S. Navy veteran, who was forced to end her time serving in the Navy to be able to live authentically as a transgender woman. Her decision to leave a career she loved due to her gender identity led to her leadership role in repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Now, as the Clinical Program Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Transgender Health, Paula sees her painful pivot out of the Navy differently.
“This whole process of ending my time in uniform…For decades, I viewed that through the lens of loss and pain. But, it put me on a different path,” Neira said.”Those pivots are really sometimes an opportunity.”
At She Pivots, we’re committed to showing all types of pivots—from when women step back from their intense careers to spend more time with their young children to when tragedy inspires change. While none of us women have the same exact storylines, we can learn from each other, and be inspired by those that have found new opportunities, new joy, and new success in their post-pivot life.
This Women’s History Month, we’re thrilled to continue making space for women’s stories by launching our second season! To hear these incredible stories, tune in to the second season of She Pivots wherever you get your podcasts.
