It's a strange moment to be talking about imposter syndrome when so many of the people running things appear utterly unburdened by self-doubt. In this episode, Kari and Lisa are joined by returning guest Charlotte Callahan — songwriter, actor, performer, and frontwoman of the all-female band, The Deffades, back from the Season 2 fan favorite Barbie in the Real World. Together they dig into the research behind imposter syndrome, the confidence-gap data that will make your jaw drop, and why Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani argues it's not a syndrome at all. It's a scheme. If imposter syndrome were cured by qualifications, most women would already be immune. Instead, many are still questioning themselves while watching audacity get rewarded as if it were expertise. If you've ever wondered whether you belong in the room, this conversation may leave you asking a different question entirely.

If this episode lands for you, you might be ready for a room full of women who get it. Join Kari and Lisa at the Best Chapter Yet Retreat, September 18–20 in Portland, Oregon, for two and a half days of connection, reflection, laughter, and the chance to spend time with women who are done shrinking themselves to make everyone else comfortable. Details and registration at [link].

Find Kari and Lisa:

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In this episode of The Things We Know, Kari Morin and Lisa Callahan make the case that fun isn't something you earn after you've crossed everything off the list — it's a genuine biological need, and the science backs them up. Drawing on the research of Dr. Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute for Play, and author Cyndie Spiegel's concept of microjoys, Kari and Lisa explore what actually happens to women who lose their relationship with play, why high-achieving women are especially vulnerable to fun deprivation, and how to find your way back even when the muscle feels completely gone.

They explore:

• What play deprivation actually looks like — and why it's not a character flaw

• The science that makes joy a requirement, not a luxury

• Why microjoys are always available even when life is heavy

• How to reclaim fun when you can't remember what you'd even enjoy anymore

If you've been serious and responsible and available to everyone around you for a very long time — this is your permission slip.

And since Kari and Lisa talk about how joy is better shared, join them at the Best Chapter Yet Fall Retreat, September 18–20 in Portland, Oregon — two and a half days to exhale and remember what it feels like to be in your own life lightly. Spots are filling — grab yours here.

Find Kari and Lisa:

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In this episode of The Things We Know, Kari and Lisa unpack a phrase they've both been saying more often lately — "I'm too old for that" — and ask what it actually means. Drawing on Ashton Applewhite's TED Talk on ageism, they explore how much of what women experience as "getting older" is learned cultural conditioning rather than anything inevitable. Then they get specific: naming what they're genuinely done with, and refusing the idea that desire, ambition, reinvention, and visibility have an expiration date.

In this episode, Kari and Lisa talk about:

• Why ageism — not aging itself — is what makes getting older hard

• How women are taught to edit themselves before life actually requires it

• What they're done with: people pleasing, performing, overriding their gut, staying in relationships out of habit

• Why reinvention, risk, and wanting more aren't just for younger people

• What gets clearer, easier, and more honest as you get older

• The difference between what you've outgrown and what you've been told to give up

Featured resource: Ashton Applewhite, Let's End Ageism (TED Talk) https://www.ted.com/talks/ashton_applewhite_let_s_end_ageism