Under the Influence with Jo Piazza

Latest Episodes:

Pregnancy in the Age of Social Media May 14, 2026

Show notes

Social media has changed pregnancy in a big way. Between picture-perfect bumps, “effortless” births and endless advice, it’s easy to feel like you’re not measuring up. But it’s also made space for more honest and authentic conversations—the parts of pregnancy that aren’t camera-ready.

In this episode, we talk with journalist Fortesa Latifi, author of Like, Follow, Subscribe, and Ayla Woodruff, an influencer and mom with millions of followers, about the realities of sharing your pregnancy and motherhood online, from deciding what to share to curating your feed to protect your mental health.

Featuring Ayla Woodruff and Fortesa Latifi.

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Why Does the World Hate Ambitious Women? May 12, 2026

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There's a very specific kind of rage that comes from realizing that the rules were rigged against you the entire time. As women, we were told that we could have ambition, careers, power, money, independence, all of the things, that we could have it all, but only if we managed to pursue all of it while we also remained endlessly agreeable, attractive, maternal, selfless, accommodating, emotionally available, and completely non-threatening to men. Even if we checked all the boxes, we still weren't gonna get all the things. Today we're chatting about the new book, The Ambition Penalty, with Stephanie O'Connell. Buckle up, this one is a wild ride.

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A Sneak Peek of THE PARISIAN HEIST May 09, 2026

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Happy weekend! Here's a sneak peek of the first chapter of Jo van Gogh's story in The Parisian Heist. Just in case you needed a little taste before getting your orders in. In the past timeline of this book we are telling the untold story of Jo van Gogh, Vincent's sister in law who inherited his hundreds of worthless paintings and dedicated her life to making him a household name. She is the reason you know him so well today.

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Hating on the 3-Hour Mom—We'd Never Do This to a Man May 07, 2026

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A Wall Street Journal headline about a powerful female executive spending “only” three hours a weekend with her kids turned into an internet blood sports. So we unpack why. In this episode, we get into the outrage around Skims executive Emma Grede, the impossible standards put on mothers, and why no one ever asks dads to account for every minute they spend parenting.

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Visit Ballerina Farm With Me May 06, 2026

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What happens when you step inside the internet? In this episode, we head to the Ballerina Farm farm shop in Midway, Utah and the Ballerina Farm Dairy (and get a tour with none other than Daniel Neeleman himself).

Come, watch and listen in real time as the branding does exactly what it’s designed to do: make you believe that if you just buy the gingham tote or the sourdough starter or the beef tallow, maybe your life could look like this too.

Then we go to the dairy. And here’s where it gets complicated. Because behind the prairie dresses and soft-focus Instagram lies a highly technical, data-driven farming operation with robots, trackers, and a whole lot of money powering the dream. It’s not Little House on the Prairie. It’s Silicon Valley with cows.

The reality is both more interesting and less idyllic than the feed suggests.

Also, yes, everything has protein now.

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Art is For Everyone With Liz Lidgett Apr 30, 2026

Show notes

Art has a branding problem.

Somewhere along the way, we decided it was only for rich people, or academics living in their ivory towers

Liz Lidgett is changing that.

Liz opened a gallery right before the world shut down during the pandemic, started putting art on Instagram when no one could leave their homes, and built a following by making the art world feel way more human.

We talk about how to live with art instead of being intimidated by it, how to figure out what you like, why your first piece doesn’t need to be expensive. And why the best art is usually the one you can’t stop thinking about, not the one that matches your couch.

We also detour into perimenopause. Briefly. Promise! Can't stop, won't stop.

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Moving at a Human Pace With Isaac Fitzgerald Apr 28, 2026

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What does it mean to move through the world at a human pace? To ramble and wander and chat up strangers in real life?

This week, we sit down with writer Isaac Fitzgerald to talk about his new book American Rambler and what happens when you decide to walk across America and follow in the footsteps of Johnny Appleseed.

These great American yappers get into the idea that midlife is a second coming-of-age, why wandering might be the antidote to our screen-obsessed lives, and how the definition of “adventure” changes when you’re not twenty anymore. Spoiler: It gets better.

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Money, Marriage, And The Myth of “Having it All — Ask Jo Anything Apr 23, 2026

Show notes

Ask Jo anything this week. We've got a grab bag of audience questions and completely unfiltered responses to things like:

What’s the biggest lie women are being sold right now?
Can you actually “have it all”?
How do you stop feeling like you’re failing every day?
How does it feel to be in your 40s (body, confidence, not giving a f*)
How often do you get Botox?
What’s it like bringing a kid on a work trip?
What do you love about being an author?
What do you hate about being an author (marketing, preorders, all of it)?
How close are you to quitting social media?
What does “enough” look like financially?

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Let's Read Alone Together a Chat With the Co-Founder of Silent Book Club Apr 21, 2026

Show notes

There's nothing I love more than quietly reading. I love it alone. I love it in groups. But I especially love doing it in public, with the rest of the world buzzing around me, all absorbed in their own little worlds. What if the antidote to burnout, loneliness, and the attention economy was… sitting in a room with strangers and reading quietly?

This week, I’m talking to Guinevere de la Mare, the co-founder of Silent Book Club, a global movement that started with one exhausted mom who just wanted to read a single uninterrupted chapter and somehow turned into thousands of chapters in more than 60 countries.

We chat about why reading in public started to feel weirdly indulgent, how phones became the more “acceptable” way to check out, and why focusing on a book will actually bring us back to ourselves. There’s also detours into late-stage capitalism, wealth inequality, and why women keep finding themselves fixing broken systems on their own. Raises hand. Me, me, me.

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Get Outside! The Indoor Epidemic Is Real and It’s Wrecking Our Brains Apr 16, 2026

Show notes

We’ve become an indoor species and it is making us sick and burnt out.

Today we're chatting with Dr. John La Puma about the indoor epidemic and what happens when we spend almost all of our time inside under artificial light and on screens.

We break down what that’s doing to sleep, mood, and focus. Dr. La Puma explains how something as simple as stepping outside each day for 17 minutes can reset your brain, improve sleep, and help you think more clearly.

We also get into kids, screen time, and why the way they're living now isn’t setting them for happiness.

Please listen to this one outside.

Grab a copy of John La Puma'sIndoor Epidemichere.

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