Monica Lewinsky is an activist, podcaster and producer.  At the age of 24, Lewinsky, a White House intern, found herself in the eye of a global scandal. She was subjected to a mass public shaming -  losing her livelihood, her anonymity and the future she had once imagined for herself.

Now, 51 Lewinsky has garnered a new generation of admirers, who with the advent of social media and shifting cultural tides, have rightly reinterpreted the shocking way she was treated. Her podcast, which launched earlier this year, is called ‘Reclaiming’ and features interviews with guests who are in the process of reclaiming their own narratives, just as she was forced to do. She joins us to talk about her experiences with shame, her perfectionism and why the pain she went through has given her purpose.

Elizabeth and Monica answer YOUR questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

✨ IN THIS EPISODE:

00:00 Intro

01:32 Early Life and Career

03:12 Reclaiming Her Narrative

06:17 Reflections on Turning 50

11:19 First Memory of Failure

18:40 Struggles After the Scandal

23:12 Navigating Post-Scandal Job Search

23:58 The Fragility and Vulnerability of Public Scrutiny

25:03 Media Obsession and Public Perception

25:59 Surviving the Media Onslaught

27:16 Reflections on Love and Power Dynamics

30:22 The Impact of Betrayal and Somatic Therapy

35:50 The Handbag Business Venture

40:12 Lessons Learned and Final Thoughts

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com 

All episodes in June are brought to you by @arlalactoFREE - all the taste, easier to digest. Listen to our bonus episode brought to by ArlaLactoFREE with Vicky Pattison here: https://link.chtbl.com/VickyPattison 

🌎 Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code [howtofail] at checkout. Download Saily app or go to to https://saily.com/howtofail ⛵

I have an upcoming one-off show at Cadogan Hall on 21 Sep for my new novel One of Us. Full show details here: https://www.fane.co.uk/elizabeth-day

Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan  

Mix Engineer: Matias Torres

Studio Engineer: Gulliver Tickell

Assistant Producer: Suhaar Ali

Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.  

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