Ana Huang spent years living a double life: international relations scholar, Georgetown grad, geopolitical consultant by day, and secret romance novelist by night. She quietly uploaded chapters to Wattpad under a pen name no one in her life knew, and kept writing even as she built a conventional career that would make her immigrant parents proud. On this episode of She Pivots, Ana shares how COVID cracked her life open, how she taught herself TikTok before BookTok was even a thing, and how she built a community of millions one chapter at a time, all while still clocking in at her day job. She talks about the moment she finally told her family the truth, why she said no to major publishers when Twisted Love blew up, and what it means to bet on yourself. Her Twisted series has now sold over 25 million copies, been translated into 34 languages, and is headed to Netflix—and her new book, King of Gluttony, is out now.

You can keep up with Ana Huang on her website anahuang.com, as well as on Instagram and TikTok @authoranahuang.

Episode Chapters:

00:00.200 - Welcome to She Pivots

00:28.879 - Double Life to Literary Sensation

01:58.640 - Ana's Childhood and Cultural Identity

05:55.360 - Early Career and Secret Writing

12:14.520 - Rediscovering Writing During the Pandemic

13:38.026 - The Romance Genre and TikTok Success

24:24.009 - Self-Publishing and Traditional Offers

27:22.480 - Navigating Fame and Fan Expectations

31:16.600 - King of Gluttony and Future Plans

33:03.160 - From Low Point to Launch

34:51.199 - What Does Success Look Like Now?

36:32.692 - Do You Think You'll Pivot Again?

37:24.449 - Reflections on Ana's Writing Evolution

38:11.520 - Podcast Credits

Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a pivot story, leave us a rating (it really helps!), and share this episode with a woman in your life who you think needs a little inspiration.

She Pivots is a podcast created by host Emily Tisch Sussman to highlight influential women voices, share stories of bold career moves, and inspire women with interviews about career reinvention and how personal pivots can redefine professional success.

Join our Substack community! Subscribe here for exclusive content and to connect with other pivoters: shepivots.substack.com

Learn more about the inspiring women in our pivoter community by following us on instagram @ShePivotsThePodcast, and check out our website shepivotspod.com for resources and updates.

She Pivots is proud to be an iHeart podcast.

Support the show: https://www.shepivotsthepodcast.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From child actor to Disney star to pop icon dubbed "Lesbian Jesus," Hayley Kiyoko built a career creating the representation she never had as a half-Japanese, queer artist. In this episode of She Pivots, Hayley opens up about becoming a community's symbol practically overnight while still figuring herself out, and how she moved from leading with fear to leading with confidence and self-love. She also shares how she found her fiancée, Becca Tilley, and reflects on the decade-long journey that culminated in her Girls Like Girls film and album—a project that started with high school heartbreak twenty years ago.

Happy Pride Month, Pivoters!

Girls like girls is out NOW. See it in theatres and check out the companion Girls Like Girls album.

Chapters:

00:00.240 Welcome to She Pivots

00:39.839 Guest Intro: Hayley Kiyoko

01:55.920 Hayley's Childhood

08:12.105 Early Music Career: Joining Stunners

13:26.210 The Birth of "Girls Like Girls"

18:27.920 20GayTeen: Music and Queer Identity

20:27.837 Music Industry Challenges

28:16.883 Hayley's Personal Identity Journey

34:33.599 The Journey to Film Direction

37:16.857 The Power of Representation on Screen

40:00.669 From Low Point to Launch

41:43.024 Do You Think You'll Pivot Again?

43:25.760 Reflections on Hayley's Journey

44:17.600 Podcast Credits

Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a pivot story, leave us a rating (it really helps!), and share this episode with a woman in your life who you think needs a little inspiration.

She Pivots is a podcast created by host Emily Tisch Sussman to highlight influential women voices, share stories of bold career moves, and inspire women with interviews about career reinvention and how personal pivots can redefine professional success.

Join our Substack community! Subscribe here for exclusive content and to connect with other pivoters: shepivots.substack.com

Learn more about the inspiring women in our pivoter community by following us on instagram @ShePivotsThePodcast, and check out our website shepivotspod.com for resources and updates.

She Pivots is proud to be an iheart podcast.

Support the show: https://www.shepivotsthepodcast.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Sian Proctor grew up the daughter of a NASA hidden figure, with the stars in her sights until a pair of glasses at age fourteen seemed to close the door on her dream of becoming a military aviator. She kept reaching anyway, pursuing a career in geoscience and science communication, coming agonizingly close to NASA selection before receiving a rejection that sent her life in a different direction. In this episode, Dr. Sian Proctor talks about the long, winding road from that childhood dream to becoming the first Black woman to pilot a spacecraft; hitting a low point after a painful divorce; and the unexpected creative awakening that ultimately launched her to space. And once she got there, she did what she's always done: made art.

Chapters:

00:00.360 Welcome to She Pivots

02:10.280 A NASA Legacy and Childhood Dreams

06:30.800 From Science to Education: Finding a New Path

08:09.440 The PhD Journey: Overcoming Obstacles

18:56.148 NASA's Rejection: A Turning Point

25:14.800 An Astronaut on Earth

31:13.840 COVID, Creativity, and Space Postcards

34:54.760 The Winning Ticket: A Fateful Announcement

40:28.440 Training and Launch: A Dream Realized

42:29.800 Creating Art in Zero Gravity

44:59.560 The Transformative Power of Earthlight

46:52.719 Pivoting Again: Professor, Astronaut, Artist

47:57.320 Low Point to Launch

49:51.719 Closing Thoughts

50:57.559 Podcast Credits

Keep up with Space Poet on Instagram @drsianproctor and her website ​​https://space2inspire.art/

Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a pivot story, leave us a rating (it really helps!), and share this episode with a woman in your life who you think needs a little inspiration.

She Pivots is a podcast created by host Emily Tisch Sussman to highlight influential women voices, share stories of bold career moves, and inspire women with interviews about career reinvention and how personal pivots can redefine professional success.

Join our Substack community! Subscribe here for exclusive content and to connect with other pivoters: shepivots.substack.com

Learn more about the inspiring women in our pivoter community by following us on instagram @ShePivotsThePodcast, and check out our website shepivotspod.com for resources and updates.

She Pivots is proud to be an iheart podcast.

Support the show: https://www.shepivotsthepodcast.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From the time she was a little girl, Hayley Paige knew exactly what she wanted to do: design wedding dresses. And she did it. By her early thirties she had a million Instagram followers, a recurring spot on Say Yes to the Dress, and gowns selling in hundreds of stores worldwide.

And then she lost all of it. Her name. Her Instagram. Her right to design. Even her right to publicly call herself Hayley Paige.

What followed was years of fighting in court, broke, locked out of everything she had built, just to reclaim what should have been hers from the start. And when she finally did, she turned that experience into something bigger, founding A Girl You Might Know Foundation and She Is Cheval to make sure other women don't have to go through the same thing.

Chapters:

00:00.120 Welcome to She Pivots

01:29.723 A Childhood Dream Takes Shape

09:55.000 Breaking into Wedding Dresses

13:54.702 Building a Brand on Social Media

17:31.320 Personal and Professional: Wedding and Divorce

20:57.720 The Legal Battle Begins

31:57.080 Rebirth and Reinvention

36:02.400 Buying Back Her Name

42:02.000 Rebuilding After the Fall

45:54.960 Love and Resilience: Hailey's Personal Growth

49:25.920 Low Point to Launch

52:21.880 Reflecting on Hayley's Unique Pivot

53:11.226 Podcast Credits

You can keep up with Hayley Paige on instagram @misshayleypaige, and check out her foundation at https://www.agirlyoumightknowfoundation.org/

Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a pivot story, leave us a rating (it really helps!), and share this episode with a woman in your life who you think needs a little inspiration.

She Pivots is a podcast created by host Emily Tisch Sussman to highlight influential women voices, share stories of bold career moves, and inspire women with interviews about career reinvention and how personal pivots can redefine professional success.

Join our Substack community! Subscribe here for exclusive content and to connect with other pivoters: shepivots.substack.com

Learn more about the inspiring women in our pivoter community by following us on instagram @ShePivotsThePodcast, and check out our website shepivotspod.com for resources and updates.

She Pivots is proud to be an iheart podcast.

Support the show: https://www.shepivotsthepodcast.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Patricia Delgado: From Principal Ballerina to Tony Award Winner

Growing up Cuban-American in Miami, Patricia Delgado found her love of performance early and spent seventeen years with Miami City Ballet, a decade of that as a principal dancer. But when she faced a series of injuries, she was forced to confront a question she wasn't ready to answer: what comes next? In this episode, Patricia opens up about the physical and emotional toll of stepping away from the only identity she had ever known, how she found her way into choreography alongside her husband Justin Peck, and what it meant to reconnect with her Cuban roots through the Broadway hit Buena Vista Social Club, leading her to be the first Latina to win a Tony Award for Best Choreography.

Chapters:

00:00.200 Welcome to She Pivots

02:54.283 Patricia's Dance Journey Begins

08:43.880 First Introduction to Theatre

17:38.000 Navigating Ballet's Challenges

30:06.560 Patricia's Final Ballet Bow

38:22.079 Buena Vista Social Club

41:53.880 Tony Award Triumph and Its Significance

44:50.480 The Power of Visibility in Choreography

48:20.400 Embracing Change and Future Possibilities

50:22.080 Reflecting on Patricia's Pivot Story

51:22.200 Podcast Credits

You can keep up with Patricia Delgado on Instagram @pattiedeldancer

Don’t forget to tune into the Tony’s this Sunday, June 7th at 8pm on CBS and Paramount+

Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a pivot story, leave us a rating (it really does help!), and share this episode with a woman in your life who you think needs a little inspiration.

She Pivots is a podcast created by host Emily Tisch Sussman to highlight influential women voices, share stories of bold career moves, and inspire women with interviews about career reinvention and how personal pivots can redefine professional success.

Join our Substack community! Subscribe here for exclusive content and to connect with other pivoters: shepivots.substack.com

Learn more about the inspiring women in our pivoter community by following us on instagram @ShePivotsThePodcast, and check out our website shepivotspod.com for resources and updates.

She Pivots is proud to be an iheart podcast.

Support the show: https://www.shepivotsthepodcast.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Heela Yang built Sol de Janeiro, one of the most beloved body care brands, from her dining room, but her path there looked nothing like a typical business plan. After twelve years in corporate beauty following stints at Goldman Sachs and a Harvard MBA, she left New York for Brazil for love, only to find herself pregnant, isolated, and unable to do the work that had always defined her. A single afternoon on a beach, surrounded by women of every shape in a very small bikini she'd been talked into, changed everything. In this episode, Heela shares how that moment became the emotional blueprint for Sol de Janeiro, the cult-favorite brand that launched a craze for mists and body care and built a business around embracing your body and skin as it is, no matter what size or shape.

Chapters:

00:00.160 Welcome to She Pivots

01:36.360 From Korea to America: A Cultural Shift

06:37.279 The Importance of Skincare in Korean Culture

09:16.400 Early Entrepreneurial Ideas

12:13.440 Moving to Brazil: A New Beginning

13:33.559 Pregnancy and Isolation in a Foreign Country

17:41.941 The Pivotal Beach Moment

23:19.000 Building a Brand Around Embracing Yourself

27:50.280 The Power of Being Welcomed, Not Just Accepted

29:10.440 Low Point to Launch

33:24.520 Reflecting on Heela's Journey

34:18.680 Podcast Credits

You can check out Sol de Janeiro basically anywhere you get skincare or body care products– and keep up with what they’re up to on Instagram @soldejaneiro

Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a pivot story, leave us a rating (it really helps!), and share this episode with a woman in your life who you think needs a little inspiration.

She Pivots is a podcast created by host Emily Tisch Sussman to highlight influential women voices, share stories of bold career moves, and inspire women with interviews about career reinvention and how personal pivots can redefine professional success.

Join our Substack community! Subscribe here for exclusive content and to connect with other pivoters: shepivots.substack.com

Learn more about the inspiring women in our pivoter community by following us on instagram @ShePivotsThePodcast, and check out our website shepivotspod.com for resources and updates.

She Pivots is proud to be an iheart podcast.

Support the show: https://www.shepivotsthepodcast.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Victoria Lai has lived several careers in one lifetime: presidential appointee at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, entrepreneur, and now business advisor and nonprofit COO. But her biggest pivot came when she nurtured her passion for making ice cream on nights and weekends while working a serious government job. In this extra sweet episode, Victoria walks us through how a $25 Craigslist ice cream maker and a promise to herself led to Ice Cream Jubilee, the award-winning DC-area business celebrated by Food & Wine, the Washington Post, and Thrillist, and what it felt like to eventually sell the business she'd spent nearly a decade building. She also opens up about her family's Chinese immigrant history and how it shaped both her flavors and her sense of purpose, and why she considers her latest pivot back to mission-driven work the most fitting chapter yet.

Chapters:

00:00.160 Welcome to She Pivots

00:28.360 Guest Introduction: Victoria Lai

01:58.160 Childhood Memories and Family Influences

06:57.320 The Path to Law School and Government Work

10:58.576 Finding Inspiration in New York City

13:02.754 The Birth of Ice Cream Jubilee

26:36.392 Taking the Leap: From Government to Ice Cream

32:46.677 "Ice cream-preneurship"

36:07.043 Achieving Success and Letting Go

39:02.320 A New Chapter: Coaching and Personal Growth

44:18.680 Closing Thoughts and Gratitude

44:40.626 Podcast Credits

You can keep up with Ice Cream Jubilee at their website, www.icecreamjubilee.com

Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a pivot story, leave us a rating (it really helps!), and share this episode with a woman in your life who you think needs a little inspiration.

She Pivots is a podcast created by host Emily Tisch Sussman to highlight influential women voices, share stories of bold career moves, and inspire women with interviews about career reinvention and how personal pivots can redefine professional success.

Join our Substack community! Subscribe here for exclusive content and to connect with other pivoters: shepivots.substack.com

Learn more about the inspiring women in our pivoter community by following us on instagram @ShePivotsThePodcast, and check out our website shepivotspod.com for resources and updates.

She Pivots is proud to be an iheart podcast.

Support the show: https://www.shepivotsthepodcast.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In June 2002, fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Smart was taken from her bedroom at knifepoint and held captive for nine months, enduring abuse that would have broken most people beyond repair. Against extraordinary odds, she survived, and then she decided to step fully into the public eye; not in spite of what happened to her, but because of it. She has testified before Congress, helped author a Department of Justice handbook for kidnapping survivors, and founded the Elizabeth Smart Foundation to dismantle the shame culture that compounds survivors' trauma. In this powerful episode, Elizabeth walks us through the night that changed everything, how she held onto hope during nine months of captivity, what justice looked and felt like after nearly eight years of waiting, and why she believes that being seen is one of the most radical things a survivor can do.

Chapters:

00:00.199 Content Warning

00:10.748 Welcome to She Pivots

01:32.239 Elizabeth Smart's Early Life

07:10.879 The Night Elizabeth was Abducted

12:08.120 Captivity and Torture

17:57.063 Elizabeth’s Will To Survive

20:16.221 A Sign of Hope

22:41.463 Why Elizabeth Didn't Run

26:17.125 The Rescue

28:45.230 The Return Home and Aftermath

35:32.764 Navigating the Justice System

41:01.070 Advocating for Change & Raising Her Children

45:22.942 The Elizabeth Smart Foundation

46:17.746 Low Point to Launch Point

49:26.239 Unasked Questions and Final Thoughts

50:58.725 Closing Remarks and Resources

51:39.187 Podcast Credits

Learn more about Elizabeth’s work at elizabethsmartfoundation.org

If anything in today's episode brought something up for you and you need help, please reach out to someone you trust or visit rainn.org

Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a pivot story, leave us a rating (it really helps!), and share this episode with a woman in your life who you think needs a little inspiration.

She Pivots is a podcast created by host Emily Tisch Sussman to highlight influential women voices, share stories of bold career moves, and inspire women with interviews about career reinvention and how personal pivots can redefine professional success.

Join our Substack community! Subscribe here for exclusive content and to connect with other pivoters: shepivots.substack.com

Learn more about the inspiring women in our pivoter community by following us on instagram @ShePivotsThePodcast, and check out our website shepivotspod.com for resources and updates.

She Pivots is proud to be an iheart podcast.

Support the show: https://www.shepivotsthepodcast.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.