“I just tried being myself”: Melinda French Gates on her career as a philanthropist, businesswoman, and global advocate for women and girls October 21, 2026 Few people in history have done as much to advance women’s power and influence as Melinda. It’s common knowledge, for example, that she’s already spent decades transforming lives all over the world through the long-lasting impacts of her philanthropy. Yet in recent years she’s also been working to make even… Read More »“I just tried being myself”: Melinda French Gates on her career as a philanthropist, businesswoman, and global advocate for women and girls

“I live for the slower seasons”: Kerry Docherty on her career as a writer and cofounder October 7, 2026 In her memoir Selfish, Kerry brings readers through a deeply honest journey of unlearning as she examines some of the long-ingrained beliefs and behaviours that shaped her identity. “Somewhere along the line I decided to be the [one] who was always fine,” she writes. “I wouldn’t burden anyone with my needs or wants. I’d be better… Read More »“I live for the slower seasons”: Kerry Docherty on her career as a writer and cofounder

“I’m just going to make it happen”: Erika Burke Rossa on her career as a director September 23, 2026 Erika is precisely the kind of multi-hyphenate I’m always eager to learn from. Over the years, she’s built an expansive career which has included everything from dancing at Juilliard and working as an actor to earning a graduate degree in social work. Most recently, she’s made her feature film directorial debut with the star-studded Rain Reign—a… Read More »“I’m just going to make it happen”: Erika Burke Rossa on her career as a director

“I’m still refining this”: Tajja Isen on her career as a writer September 9, 2026 Longtime readers will know just how often I like to ask about mentorship during these conversations. You can imagine my delight, then, at discovering Tajja’s forthcoming memoir, Tough Love, which is dedicated to the topic. As she explains, the book is about “my chronic habit of falling into intense, complicated relationships with authority figures, and how I eventually learned to… Read More »“I’m still refining this”: Tajja Isen on her career as a writer

“I continue to be surprised”: Téa Obreht on her career as a writer August 26, 2026 Few writers have entered our cultural consciousness with Téa’s velocity. In a single year, for her debut novel, she simultaneously claimed the Women’s Prize for Fiction as its youngest-ever recipient and ranked as a finalist for the National Book Award. If you’ve read her work, it will be easy to understand why. I was delighted, when we spoke, to… Read More »“I continue to be surprised”: Téa Obreht on her career as a writer

“I’m someone who thinks in seasons”: Stefanie O’Connell on her career as a writer August 12, 2026

“I set out to define my own values”: Helen Betya Rubinstein on her career as an author and writing coach July 29, 2026 Helen’s forthcoming book Feels Like Trouble emerges from two decades spent working as a professor, writing coach, and author. In it, she examines how standards of literary excellence can reinforce existing hierarchies of power. What exactly, in other words, is being privileged through the ideals of ‘good writing,’ and whose values does… Read More »“I set out to define my own values”: Helen Betya Rubinstein on her career as an author and writing coach

“I wake up excited”: Sophie Grégoire Trudeau on her career as an author and mental health advocate July 15, 2026

“I knew I would need to be my own safety net”: Alissa Wilkinson on her career as a movie critic and author July 2, 2026 It’s often challenging, when writing about larger-than-life figures, to offer an unexplored take on their history due to the volumes upon volumes that have already been written about them. Yet with her latest book, Alissa has accomplished precisely that with her fresh perspective on the life and work of Joan… Read More »“I knew I would need to be my own safety net”: Alissa Wilkinson on her career as a movie critic and author

“I didn’t figure it out till I was 40”: Candice Wuehle on her career as a novelist and cultural critic June 18, 2026