Under the Influence with Jo Piazza

Latest Episodes:

Sunday Nice Things: Creation Myth Mar 15, 2026

Show notes

You all loved hearing Helena DeGroot's episode about not having kids so I wanted to drop the first episode of her series Creation Myth here for you to listen to.

The show explores what life's purpose looks like without having children. After the decision not to have kids ended her marriage, 40-year-old Helena grabs her mic to find out: did she make a mistake? We hear from friends and family, and even a total stranger who reveals how he regrets his decision to have a child.

Listen to more of Creation Myth here.

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How Reality TV Changed How We Consume Stories with Survivor's Stephen Fishbach Mar 12, 2026

Show notes

What’s harder: winningSurvivor or writing a novel? According to former Survivor runner-up Stephen Fishbach, it’s writingthe novel by a billion. In this episode we talk with Stephen about his sharp new thriller Escape, which pulls back the curtain on the reality TV machine and the people trying to control the story behind the scenes.

We get into why Survivor is still one of the most powerful storytelling engines on television, how producers turn a chaos machine into narratives and contestants into characters characters, and why reality TV was basically the beta test for the influencer economy we’re living in now.

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Is This Actually a Love Story? JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, the Nineties and Parliament Lights Mar 10, 2026

Show notes

Are you watching Love Story? This week we're chatting with our resident ’90s guru Glynnis MacNicol about Hulu’s depiction of JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette's tragic romance and why that title feels either deeply ironic or just flat-out wrong. We talk about the mythology of John John and Carolyn , the downtown NYC glamour of it all, the slip dresses, the cigarettes (the sweet, sweet cigarette, and the media machine that chewed women up and spat them out.

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Not Having Kids Is Not a Tragedy Mar 05, 2026

Show notes

What if you do not want kids, but everyone acts like you are making a mistake?

This week, we’re talking with Helena DeGroot, creator of the podcast The Creation Myth, about choosing a child-free life in a culture that refuses to believe that choice can be valid. Helena knew early that she did not want children. Her husband said he was on the same page, until he was not. After years of pressure, their marriage ended and she went on a deep, audio-documentary style search for the truth of what she actually wanted, without the noise of strangers, expectations, and the myth that motherhood equals fulfillment.

We get into doubt, identity, the “mother or selfish” binary, and why you can love kids, show up for them, and still not want to be a parent. Also, why the deepest personal stories often become the most universal mirror.

Listen to more of Helena's story on The Creation Myth.

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How Vulnerable Kids Became Clickbait Mar 03, 2026

Show notes

Content featuring sick, sad, or injured children usually performs best online. Let that sink in.

That insane fact is just one of the unsettling realities journalist Fortesa Latifi uncovered while reporting her new book, Like, Follow, Subscribe, a deep dive into the world of kid influencers and the children growing up as brands.

In this episode of Under the Influence, Latifi explores why vulnerable childhood moments go viral, what happens to parent-child intimacy when a phone is always present, and how some kids say they stopped confiding in their parents because private experiences were turned into content.

The conversation also examines the murky legal landscape around child influencer profits, the rise and reinvention of former kid star Piper Rockelle, and the growing fear around AI and deepfakes manipulating children’s images online.

Like, Follow, Subscribe is available wherever books are sold.

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How History Erased Mothers Feb 26, 2026

Show notes

Motherhood makes history, but history keeps trying to erase mothers. In this episode of Under the Influence, feminist cultural historian Elinor Cleghorn discusses her new book A Woman’s Work: Reclaiming the Radical History of Mothering and unpacks how motherhood has been written and rewritten to strip women of agency. From ancient birth rituals and the long, maligned history of midwifery to the Virgin Mary as an impossible maternal ideal and the witch trials as punishment for women who refused the “good mother” role, this is a conversation about why telling the real story of mothering is still an act of resistance.

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Grab Bag: Where Did Love Taza Go? Feb 24, 2026

Show notes

Who was your gateway influencer?

For us, it was Love Taza—Naomi Davis—the Juilliard-trained ballerina (yes, a different one) turned mommy blogger and social star who made New York City look like a candy-coated dream of red lipstick, tiny apartments, and five kids in technicolor. And then she disappeared.

This week’s episode welcomes author Ali Hoff Kosik to talk about her new book Too Blessed to Stress, to dig into some weird Love Taza conspiracy theories, and to explain the correlation between pickleball and Evangelical Christian TikTok.

You’re welcome.

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Sunday Nice Things: Birth With Babylist Feb 22, 2026

Show notes

Jo has been working on a brand new podcast about birth for the past year and she is so excited to share it with you all.

Today we are sharing the very first episode of Birth with Babylist.

In our first episode, we walk through what birth actually looks like, from early labor through delivery. We talk to experienced OB-GYNs and midwives as they break down the stages of labor, what’s normal, what’s unpredictable and what you can prepare for.

And because no two births are the same, real parents share what it was really like for them.

You can listen to all the episodes of Birth With Babylist here.

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Can You Actually Retire Early When You Have Kids? Feb 19, 2026

Show notes

Financial advice for parents usually lands in extremes, either panic-inducing warnings about how expensive kids are, or unrealistic frameworks that don’t account for how life actually unfolds. This week’s guests, Christy Shen and Bryce Leung became well-known after publishing Quit Like a Millionaire and retiring at 30 with over a million dollars invested, but their path started from a place of real financial precarity. Christy grew up in deep poverty, at one point living on just cents a day, which shaped how she thinks about risk, security, and the appeal of financial independence.

Now parents, their new book Parent Like a Millionaire Without Being One turns that framework toward family life, breaking down how to spend intentionally without getting pulled into the high-pressure baby economy. They talk about buying secondhand gear that holds value, building childcare swaps and babysitting co-ops, and leaning on community rather than defaulting to commercial solutions.

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How to Be a Rich Old Lady Feb 17, 2026

Show notes

Close your eyes (not if you’re driving) and picture your old lady life. You wake up when you want. You wear glorious caftans. You’re strong and you’re rich because you built yourself a safety net.

Today we’re chatting with Amanda Holden, the personal finance educator behind the new book How to Be a Rich Old Lady. We get into why women are trained to feel “bad at money,” how that keeps power in someone else’s hands, and what it looks like to take it back. Amanda breaks down her “10-minute missions,” the order of operations for getting financially stable and then secure and how to start investing without turning your life into a spreadsheet. We also talk about financial “influencing,” scammy advice, and the kind of money resistance that hits corporations where it counts without blowing up your future.

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