Last night, after a late Board meeting and work day that had already consumed roughly 12 hours of my life, I got in the car to drive home and apparently my brain, instead of requesting silence decided:

“You know what we should do? Start a podcast.”

Why THAT felt like the logical next step after an entire day of budgets, staffing conversations, policy discussions, emails, decisions, and human interaction is honestly beyond me.

Most people finish a long workday and think: “I should rest.”

My brain said: “You should create a second job that requires microphones.”

So there I was, driving home in the dark, somewhere between professional exhaustion and complete delusion, voice to texting my best friend with what can only be described as the least formal business pitch in modern history.

I think my exact strategy was:

1. Have thoughts

2. Feel passionate

And somehow… she agreed. Her exact response was “I am 1000% in!”

Which honestly raises concerns about both of us.

But the truth is, I think the idea came to me in that moment for a reason.

Because after a full day inside leadership spaces, making decisions, solving problems, carrying responsibility, navigating hard conversations, I realized how many of the most meaningful conversations happen after the official work is over.

The drive home. The decompression call. The “Are you still awake?” text. The voice memo that starts with: “Okay wait, I have a thought…”

That’s where the real stuff lives.

The conversations about ambition and exhaustion. About leadership and identity. About parenting and friendship and how strange it is to reach midlife and realize you’re simultaneously the most capable and most tired version of yourself you’ve ever been.

And maybe that’s why “podcast” suddenly felt like a good idea at 8:30 PM after a Board meeting.

Because there’s something deeply comforting about creating space for honest conversations in a world that increasingly feels polished, filtered, optimized, and performative.

Also, if I’m being fully transparent, I hear that one of the biggest tells of a woman in her 50’s is that we are either about to:

• start a podcast,

• learn Mahjongg (I took care of that at approximately age 12)

• get very into sourdough,

• or abruptly decide to throw away everything we own.

This may simply be my version of that.

So now here we are.

I hope you’ll be rooting for me and my girl Robin Camarote as we lean into this new endeavor with the confidence of people who still occasionally have to text each other, “What time did we say we were meeting for dinner”, as we discuss “content strategy” while also reminding our children to submit missing assignments.

And honestly? It’s been unexpectedly joyful and scary. Because if there is one thing I know, Robin is one heck of an accountability partner (I mean she’s done both an Ironman and Hyrox in the last 2 years!)

Because maybe adulthood isn’t about becoming less curious. Maybe it’s about finally giving yourself permission to try things before you feel fully qualified.

Even after a 12-hour workday. Even when it sounds ridiculous.

Sometimes the best ideas arrive in the car ride home after the longest days.

Or at minimum, the funniest ones do.