Back for Season 2 with a new name, and this one is built for the woman who has already scaled past her own ceiling. The season treats women's leadership as something durable and structural, not a moment to celebrate one founder at a time, and it puts the whole arc on the record: scaling, exiting, and what comes after the win. Expect founders, operators and investors talking plainly about the parts that usually stay private, studied at scale rather than told one success story at a time.

What if the only thing standing between you and your next chapter is the belief that the ship has already sailed?

In this episode of Women I Want You to Know by Andrea L. Johnston™ Podcast, Andrea sits down with Jennifer Pate, a producer, author and former casting director whose career has been one reinvention after another. Jennifer danced professionally in her late teens, moved into casting and built her own company, stepped back to raise her kids, then co-created the Webby-winning web series Jen and Barb Mom Life and co-wrote the book The Mothers of Reinvention. Today she produces film and television, including The Runarounds on Amazon Prime and the feature Driver's Ed.

Jennifer and Andrea trace a path that refuses to run in a straight line. Every chapter handed her something the next one needed, and she is candid that not all of it worked. The through line is reinvention, the willingness to shed an old version of yourself when it stops serving you and to ask "why not me" instead of "why me."

The conversation lands well beyond career advice. Jennifer talks about the invisible labor women carry at home, the Gloria Steinem quote that reframed how she sees stay-at-home mothers and why comparison is the thief of joy. She and Andrea make the case that the work done inside the home is real, valuable work, that women in their 50s and beyond get to define this chapter on their own terms and that a circle of women you can be honest with is closer to oxygen than luxury.

This episode is for the woman who thinks the ship has sailed, who stepped back from her career and wonders if there is a way back in and who is ready to stop measuring her chapter against everyone else's.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why "why not me" beats "why me" in every reinvention
• How Jennifer turned a mommy and me class friendship into a Webby-winning series
• What The Mothers of Reinvention teaches about shedding old versions of yourself
• Why staying home with her kids was never a step backward
• How the skills from one career quietly fund the next
• Why comparison is the thief of joy and what to do instead
• What Gloria Steinem told Jennifer about stay-at-home mothers
• Why the invisible labor of the home is real and valuable work
• How women in their 50s and beyond can define this chapter themselves
• Why you belong at any table you are invited to
• What a circle of trusted women does for your longevity

Timestamps

(0:00) Introduction

(0:46) Do I really belong on this show

(2:39) Pausing a casting career for motherhood

(6:43) Building Jen and Barb Mom Life

(7:51) Writing The Mothers of Reinvention

(9:05) The invisible labor women carry home

(12:14) Becoming a film and television producer

(18:10) Comparison is the thief of joy

(22:54) Women deserve the choice to decide

(25:06) Why women need circles of girlfriends

(28:28) Closing gratitude and call to action

Episode Resources
Jen and Barb Mom Life: http://jenandbarb.com
Jennifer Pate, USC School of Dramatic Arts Board of Councilors: https://dramaticarts.usc.edu/about/board-of-councilors/jennifer-pate/
The Mothers of Reinvention (book) https://www.amazon.com/Mothers-Reinvention-Reclaim-Identity-Potential/dp/1593156839

Produced by ⁠UNFLTR

What does it take to walk away from a successful corporate career and build a multi-million dollar movement in seven months with no map?

In this episode of Women I Want You to Know by Andrea L. Johnston™ Podcast, Andrea sits down with Mary Corcoran, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Save America Movement, the cross-partisan organization she launched with Steve Schmidt to slow the rise of authoritarianism and renew American democracy. Mary calls herself a recovering corporate executive. She spent a career in communications and marketing, the kind most people spend decades building, and then left it behind after watching a gap open up that no one was filling. What she traded was comfort. What she gained was a first-time founder's education, learned in real time and at full speed.

Mary and Andrea unpack the strategy underneath the movement, and it maps directly onto building any business. Mary breaks an overwhelming mission into its parts and reaches her audience through three things: the message, the medium and the messenger. She makes the case that trusted local voices outperform polished national campaigns every time, that a nurse, a member of the clergy or a veteran in someone's own community will move people in a way that linear television never will. For any founder deciding where to put limited dollars, the lesson is to build around who your audience already believes, not around your budget.

This conversation goes well beyond politics. Mary talks about leaning on a career and a life's worth of network to build something high stakes and high risk, why she had to shed the fear of being publicly wrong, and how she keeps an organization agile without letting it tip into chaos. She is candid about the all-encompassing reality of founder life and the discipline it takes for a woman to carve out time for her family inside it. Her closing ask is one any time-poor founder can act on: if you have five minutes and a phone, you have enough.

This episode is for the woman who is building something no one has built before,who is tired of sitting on the sidelines and is ready to act on a big mission without a roadmap.

In this episode, you'll hear:

• Why leaving a successful career costs comfort, and why that discomfort is also the benefit
• How Mary built a multi-million dollar nonprofit in seven months by leaning on her network
• What the message, the medium, and the messenger reveal about reaching any audience
• Why trusted local messengers outperform polished national campaigns every time
• How breaking an impossible goal into parts keeps a team from burning out
• Why being willing to be wrong and pivot is the hallmark of a successful founder
• How Operation Liberty in Los Angeles became a pilot before scaling to other cities
• What it means to stay agile without becoming completely chaotic
• The three actions any founder can take in under thirty minutes
• Why every dollar counts, whether you give five or five hundred

Episode Resources

• Save America Movement
• Save America Movement on YouTube
• Save America Movement on Substack
• Connect with Mary Corcoran on LinkedIn

Timestamps

(0:00) Welcome and intro to Mary Corcoran
(1:17) Leaving a corporate career behind
(3:05) Defining the Save America Movement mission
(6:17) Setting big goals without burning out
(7:52) Message, medium, and messenger explained
(11:29) Engaging communities beyond the screen
(12:44) Leaning on your network as a founder
(16:58) Inside the Operation Liberty program
(21:24) Being willing to be publicly wrong
(27:45) Three actions in under thirty minutes
(31:03) The women running for office now