Under the Influence with Jo Piazza

Marketing expert Mara Einstein reveals how modern marketing tactics mirror cult recruitment strategies. When she noticed the eerie similarities between the NXIVM cult and LuLaRoe's business practices, she began researching how marketers manipulate consumers through digital platforms. She breaks down why your late-night shopping sprees are no accident, how AI is making advertising even more deceptive, and why influencers function as "cult light" leaders guiding our purchasing decisions. Einstein, who appears in Netflix's "Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy," also explains why the current social media marketing model is unsustainable and offers practical tools for resisting manipulation in an increasingly predatory digital marketplace. Grab Mara's new book Hoodwinked: How Marketers Use the Same Tactics as Cults here. Join our newsletter community here. Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The myth of the good mother in absolute BS and it has pushed too many women into spirals of shame and guilt for not being "enough." Today we are debunking all of the pseudo science, flawed studies and media archetypes that contributed to the myth of the good mother so that we can talk about the reality of being a mom. Our guest is Nancy Reddy, author of The Good Mother Myth. The conversation also dives into practical steps for sharing domestic responsibilities and fostering more genuine, joyful parenting experiences. Order The Good Mother Myth here. Follow Nancy on substack here. Join our newsletter community here. Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everyone feels shame, but it also feels like a misogynistic construct that is more often placed on women. Nearly a decade ago, Melissa Petro was working as a public school teacher when the NY Post outed her as a former stripper and call girl. The media went wild and she was publicly humiliated and forced to resign from a career she loved. From then on, Melissa has dedicated her life to growing awareness of how sexist shame is weaponized against women to keep us from achieving our goals and knowing our worth. Today we're diving into: Shame as a particularly gendered experience How women face impossible societal standards Parallels between shame in sex work and motherhood The impact of social media on public shaming Get Melissa's book Shame on You: How to be a Woman in the Age of Mortification here. Join our newsletter community here. Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Protecting kids and teens on social media is one of the things I think about all of the time. What are the platforms doing to support parents and is it enough? How can the government do more and what do parents need to know about all of it. Today we're having a candid conversation with Nicole Lopez, Meta’s Global Director of Youth Safety. Nicole shares insights on how Meta is tackling online bullying, sextortion, and the challenges of age verification. Join our newsletter community here. Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode will motivate you in all kinds of new ways. Amidst all of the chaos in our country right now we actually have an opportunity to completely blow up the way we view motherhood, caregiving, women’s labor and ambition. Neha Ruch is leading this revolution. The author of the new bestseller 'The Power Pause,' joins me to explore the outdated stereotypes of stay-at-home motherhood and proposes a new narrative that values career pauses. The discussion highlights the importance of redefining ambition and professional identity and challenging traditional workplace norms that have been shaped predominantly by men. It emphasizes the need for unity among women, advocating for a paradigm shift where career breaks for caregiving are seen as valuable and growth-oriented. We can change the damn world. Here's one place to start. Learn more about Neha and Mother Untitled here. Order The Power Pause here. Join our newsletter community here. Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shari Franke, the eldest daughter of former YouTuber and convicted child abuser Ruby Franke, is on the media circuit right now to promote her new memoir, "The House of My Mother: A Daughter's Quest for Freedom." Journalist and friend of the pod Fortesa Latifi just did an exclusive interview with Shari about Rolling Stone and is here to talk about all the reveals in the book from why Shari thinks family video influencing should be fully outlawed to her mother Ruby's romantic relationship with her co-conspirator Jodi Hildebrandt. Read Fortesa's Rolling Stone piece here. Follow her on substack here. Join our newsletter community here. Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The number one question Dr. Jennifer Lincoln gets asked as an OB-GYN who gives fact-based information on Instagram is "IS THIS NORMAL?"  Because these days it is truly hard to figure out what is. Instagram and TikTok influencers are putting out more misinformation than ever about women's bodies. Dr. Lincoln joins us to dispel myths, provide fact-based advice, and talk about her journey to using Instagram to educate. We're getting into the challenges of finding reliable information, the dangers of social media "experts", and practical tips for making informed decisions about birth plans and reproductive health. Learn all about Dr. Jennifer Lincoln and follow her here. Join our newsletter community here. Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As she approached her fiftieth birthday, Debra Whitman, a globally recognized expert on aging, wanted to delve deeper into why so many Americans struggled to live well as they aged. And she began to wonder what was in store for her own second fifty. Suddenly, the questions she’d been studying for years became personal: How long will I live? Will I be healthy? Will I lose my memory? How long will I work? Will I have enough money? Where will I live? How will I die? Whether you are approaching fifty, into your later years, or caring for someone who is, you’ll find a wealth of wisdom in this episode. Buy The Second Fifty here. Join our newsletter community here. Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do you want more of in 2025? I want more travel, more friend stuff, more adventure. We're digging into all of it with Glynnis on today's episode. I also want money and security and I think it is OK to say those things out loud. We also have special guest Ophira Edut of the Astrotwins, my favorite astrologist, to tell us what the stars have in store for us in the next year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if all of the women in the world just decided to stop helping tomorrow? The world would shut the hell down, is what would happen. One of the things that I've realized about myself is that I am an intensely over committed, pathetic people pleaser. I am always offering to help way more than anyone ever expects.  My guest today, Amy Wilson wants us to recognize this about ourselves. She isn't here to help us fix it, but just to see it. Amy has always been the ultimate helper. She describes herself as a big sister, a girl scout, a faithful reader of teen magazines, a personal assistant and a mom of three. And she's always kind of thought that it was her destiny to be a people pleaser, to put other people first. Until it all got to be too much. You can order Amy's book HAPPY TO HELP here. Join our newsletter community here. Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new year isn't just about resolutions – it's about revolution. Your professional and personal revolution. It's about reclaiming the lead role in your life's story. Today, we're chatting with my very best friend Jackie Cascarano about how she went from lawyer, to working in academia to coaching women through career and life transitions with her business Juno Women's Collective. 🚀 Listen in as we explore the journey of reinvention and finding your true purpose. We talk about succeeding and failing and the ambition trap that far too many women fall into before they even realize what it is they want out of life. Learn more about Juno here. Follow Jackie here. Join our newsletter community here. Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Want to learn about money with a show that is fun and not at all intimidating? If so, I'd like to recommend the Smart Money Happy Hour podcast. It's hosted by two friends who are money experts discussing ALL of the important financial topics we should be talking more about. Hope you check it out.

Coming at you live from Iceland to encourage you to book that friend vacation in 2025. Or better yet ask your husband to give it to you as a Christmas gift. We spend so much time planning our kids play dates and their activities that we forget to do these things for ourselves. No more. We cannot be our best selves without taking time for ourselves. Let's talk about the joys of me time, of friend vacations and doing absolutely nothing in a new place while I soak in a hot spring on a black lava beach. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we're taking a deep dive into the world of a 16-year-old TikTok star who wants to change the industry as we know it and ensure that the next 20 billionaires are females under 25. Sloane Price is wildly ambitious in ways I couldn't have imagined possible when I was a teenager. And today we're talking about her business plans, the ways that brands and agencies take advantage of teen girl influencers (plus how she wants to fix it) and why the teenage influencers today are the future of celebrity marketing. You can follow Sloane on TikTok here. Join our newsletter community here. Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we're dropping an episode of We've Got Issues in your feed that's been getting a lot of attention. We all want a village, or so we say? But where is it? How do we find it? How do we keep it? And once we get it will we actually be happier? You can binge all the episodes of We've Got Issues here. Join our newsletter community here. Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's way too easy for social media to make us feel like crap. But the things that shame us or guilt us, or make us want to throw our phones across the room often say more about our own demons and trauma than they do about the influencers themselves. Today we're joined by journalist Fortesa Latifi who went down a rabbit hole of jealousy looking at one influencer's birth pics. We're also diving into the exquisite stupidity of push presents and whether or not you should feel guilty about wanting to go right back to work after giving birth. Follow Fortesa's Substack here. This is her article about Pookie's birth. Join our newsletter community here. Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who lands the cover of the far-right version of Cosmo, a profile in Glamour magazine and another in The New York Times within days of each other? Ballerina Farm does. I'll bet you thought it was Cher. Let's dive inside the Ballerina Farm media blitz with Glamour reporter Stephanie McNeal who spoke to Hannah Neeleman for her rebranding "I AM NOT A #TRADWIFE" press tour. We're asking questions about whether or not a social media brand can appeal to everyone in our polarized world and whether rebranding herself as an entrepreneur instead of a housewife is the ultimate flex. Read Steph's Glamour piece on Ballerina Farm here. Order Steph's book Swipe Up For More here. Join our newsletter community here. Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Sunday! We are dropping a new show in your feed today. This is Basket Case (LOVE THE NAME). Where do you go when your own thoughts are unsafe? Basket Case, a series hosted by Nicole Kelly (NK), decodes the kaleidoscope of mental health and uncovers how our brain contorts our reality through original reporting, tender conversations, and deeply personal explorations. On this episode, Bertranna’s autism makes her obsessed with finding the Truth about neurodiversity.  You can binge all of Basket Case here. Learn more about NK here. Join our newsletter community here. Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Behind every powerful woman… are more powerful women taking justice into their own hands. That is currently more true than ever. When I saw Suffs the musical the other day I found myself sobbing in the bathroom with complete strangers and I simply had to talk about it with the magical Nikki James who portrays the inimitable Ida B. Wells in this Broadway masterpiece. SUFFS brings to life a complicated chapter in the ongoing battle for the right to vote: the American women’s suffrage movement. In the seven years leading up to the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, an impassioned group of suffragists—“Suffs” as they called themselves—took to the streets, pioneering protest tactics that transformed the country. They risked their lives as they clashed with the president, the public, and each other. A thrilling story of brilliant, flawed women working against and across generational, racial, and class divides, SUFFS boldly explores the victories and failures of a fight for equality that is still far from over. Join our newsletter community here. Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Hannah Neeleman, the founder and CEO of the brand Ballerina Farm appeared on the cover of Evie magazine, the MAGA-friendly lady magazine that claims to be an alternative to traditional media’s abject feminism. If we had any questions about the Neeleman family’s political leanings (I didn’t) then this answers them for us. On the cover Hannah is posed seductively in a prairie field whilst milking a cow in a pristine linen dress. The magazine, which is cleverly designed to looks exactly like other recognizable women’s brands like Vogue and Elle, touts MAGA-friendly headlines like THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING SEXY: Why Society Needs Aspirational Beauty.  Here to talk about all of it is NYT bestselling author of A Well-Trained Wife, Tia Levings. Join our newsletter community here. Pre-order EVERYONE IS LYING TO YOU here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices