The Story Exchange

The Story Exchange's award-winning podcast showcases the inspiring stories of entrepreneurial women. To mark the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage, our original 3-part series "100 Years of Power" takes listeners on a journey, reliving the bruising battle for suffrage and exploring what happened next. This is women's history like you've never heard it.

Seasoned: Women Culinary Pioneers - Edna Lewis 02/02/2026

Seasoned: Women Culinary Pioneers - Edna Lewis Edna Lewis was a chef and cookbook author whose memories and devotion to the delicious, fresh flavors of her Virginia childhood forever changed the way we think of Southern food. While our previous episodes have focused on women who time may have forgotten – MFK Fisher, Cecilia Chiang, Lena Richard – Lewis certainly holds a prestigious position today in the food community, inspiring chefs and home cooks alike. There's even a postage stamp dedicated to "the Grande Dame of Southern Cooking," featuring her elegant visage. "She didn't look like anyone else. She seemed to be 10 feet tall. It was just a majestic and also quiet presence," recalls Scott Peacock, Lewis's longtime friend, who joins us in this episode. Despite the accolades, it's fair to say that the average person might not know about Edna Lewis, who died in 2006 at age 89. And many more might not realize her influence – not just on Southern cuisine, but on how we source and consume food in general. Her historic Southern recipes focus on fresh ingredients that are in season and local. "Foundationally, her food was brilliant in its simplicity," says chef Alexander Smalls, who met Lewis at Gage & Tolner in Brooklyn, New York. "Long before there was Alice Waters from Berkeley, there was Edna, who essentially brought us to the fields." The episode also features Sara Franklin, who edited the book Edna Lewis: At The Table with an American Original, a collection of essays published in 2018. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/39936410

Seasoned: Women Culinary Pioneers - Lena Richard 11/19/2025

Seasoned: Women Culinary Pioneers - Lena Richard Lena Richard was a chef of Creole cuisine from New Orleans, famous for her shrimp bisque and spicy chicken gumbo. She not only had a cooking school, a cookbook, several restaurants and even a frozen food line (unusual for the 1940s), but she was also one of the first American women to have her own cooking show. Richard "is one of the most profound American women in history," says Zella Parmer of Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana. "It's so much we can learn from Lena Richard." This podcast episode explores Richard's early days as a domestic for a wealthy white family, to her turn as a student at the prestigious Fannie Farmer school in Boston, to her eventual reign as New Orleans' star chef. Far from resting on her laurels, Richard established a cooking school in New Orleans designed to give Black chefs like herself the training and the credentialing to command higher wages. Just as she was truly achieving superstardom, Richard's life was tragically cut short. "We don't really know how far Lena would have gone with everything that she had done, but I imagine had she lived longer, more people would know her story," says Ashley Rose Young, a historian at the Smithsonian and Library of Congress. The episode also features Chef Dee Lavigne of the Deelightful Roux School of Cooking, only the second Black woman after Richard to open a cooking school in New Orleans. (Image credit: Hand-tinted portrait of Lena Richards, via . 2018 copyright by Tulane University. All rights reserved.) /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/39090895

Seasoned: Women Culinary Pioneers - Cecilia Chiang 11/17/2025

Seasoned: Women Culinary Pioneers - Cecilia Chiang In San Francisco, an immigrant restaurateur brings authentic Chinese cuisine to the U.S. via The Mandarin. It's a love letter to her childhood in China, pre-Communist Revolution. On any given night in 1960s San Francisco, you could walk into the upscale dining room of the Mandarin restaurant, and hear the sizzle of pan-fried pot stickers, and smell signature dishes like beggar's chicken or peppery Sichuan eggplant, all of which most Americans hadn't seen before. And in the center of it all, holding court – often amid celebrity guests – would be the owner, Cecilia Chiang. "My grandmother was a quintessential front-of-house host," says Siena Chiang. "They called her Madam Chiang, and she reveled in having the perfect outfit and creating a warm environment and welcoming people of all stripes." But behind the perfect hostess greeting, Madame Chiang had a backstory worthy of a Hollywood movie. Born to a wealthy family near Shanghai, she and her sister escaped the Japanese invasion on foot, eventually immigrating to the U.S. during the Communist Revolution. She opened the Mandarin, introducing diners to Chinese food beyond the stereotypical dishes of chop suey, egg foo young and chow mein. The episode also features Paul Freedman, author of "Ten Restaurants That Changed America" – one of which was the Mandarin. (Photo: Cecilia Chiang inside her award-winning Mandarin Restaurant. By Mike Roberts Color Reproductions, via .) /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/39057190

Seasoned: Women Culinary Pioneers – MFK Fisher 11/14/2025

Seasoned: Women Culinary Pioneers – MFK Fisher It’s not a stretch to say that the way we think, eat and write about food can be traced directly back to MFK Fisher. The prolific California writer, born Mary Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher but better known by her initials, was “not a recipe writer,” says her biographer Anne Zimmerman, author of “An Extravagant Hunger.” “She was an eater. She was a sensual person. She enjoyed things. She observed things.” In this podcast episode, we explore the life of Fisher, born in 1908, whose early musings on food while abroad in France turned into a literary career that produced “The Gastronomical Me,” “How to Cook a Wolf” and “Consider the Oyster,” among many others. While many write food memoirs today, she is widely credited as inventing the entire genre. In this episode, we explore Fisher’s backstory, including a marriage that ended with her husband’s suicide, and her insatiable curiosity with the world. “Women’s lives are messy and they’re episodic. There’s reinvention and rebirth,” Zimmerman says. “MFK Fisher, she’s just an onion with the layers. It’s just constantly morphing and shifting.” (Image credit: Janet Fries/Hulton Archive via Getty Images.) /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/39024415

The State of Abortion, 3 Years Since Dobbs 06/20/2025

The State of Abortion, 3 Years Since Dobbs When Roe fell, no one expected abortion rates to rise. Or pills to get easier to access. We talk to two women about leading the resistance, what the future holds, and how to manage fear. Angel Foster is a university professor who runs a shield-law practice out of Massachusetts that providers mifepristone and misoprostol to abortion seekers in all 50 states. Julie Burkhart, recently named to Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2025 list, is a clinic operator who has seen a colleague assassinated and her clinic fire-bombed. Combined, they have helped thousands of women secure safe abortions in the three years since Roe fell. To many listeners, their stories will inspire and provide hope -- although the future is uncertain. Abortion opponents are doubling down with criminal indictments and lawsuits. "They’ll come after us. I’m sure," says Foster. Meanwhile, Burkhart, who's long dealt with intimidation, harassment and violence, shares her thoughts on managing fear. "If we can walk through it, even though it's so frightening and scary and paralyzing, it's okay on the other side," she says. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/37080640

The Making of California Baby 04/08/2025

The Making of California Baby We bring you our fascinating conversation with Jessica Iclisoy, who founded California Baby some 30 years ago. As a new mom, she randomly spotted a chemical dictionary at her local library -- and discovered her son's baby shampoo was loaded with toxic chemicals. "It's one of those things where fate puts things in front of you," she says. Appalled, Iclisoy began an investigation into safer ingredients and ultimately deveped her own baby shampoo. Today, California Baby makes over 200 baby products from ingredients that are grown on its farm in Central California and bottled at its FDA-registered, organic-certified facility in Los Angeles. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/36048315

The Woman Behind the Dating App Match.com 03/28/2025

The Woman Behind the Dating App Match.com The year was 1994. "Friends" had just premiered, Bill Clinton was president, and online dating – if it happened at all – was a sketchy proposition. A startup called Match.com was trying to persuade the romantically inclined that the World Wide Web (as it was then known) was a hot spot to meet potential mates. Fran Maier, who had a background in marketing, joined Match.com to bring a woman's perspective to the burgeoning field. Her first decision? Nix the question about body weight. Listen to our conversation, where she talks about the highs and lows of building Internet companies over the past three decades -- and the big mistake she made with Match.com, that she'd like other women entrepreneurs to learn from. She's currently the CEO of , a baby gear rental platform. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/35901370

Terrifying Weather Events, Part 2: Enter the Protesters 09/23/2024

Terrifying Weather Events, Part 2: Enter the Protesters In 2003, a deadly heat wave hit Paris, causing the death of over 15,000 people. It was one of the first weather events where scientists could use data to show climate change was to blame. Since that time, we've seen an increasing number of deadly natural disasters, from Hurricane Katrina to Hurricane Harvey, to the 2018 California wildfires, all irrefutably linked to climate change. In this episode, we talk to the activists who say not enough is being done by politicians and big corporations to slow down the warming. We follow Marlena Fontes of Climate Families NYC to this year's "Summer of Heat" protests, where she is arrested. She was galvanized into action five years ago, by a heat wave that hit New York City right as her son was born. "It was definitely part of my postpartum experience, looking at my baby and then thinking about what was happening in the world," she says. And we hear from protestors including legendary actress Jane Fonda, who wants justice. "We have to fight," Fonda says. "If enough of us fight, we're going to win."Lastly, we look at the upcoming U.S. presidential election and how the candidates plan to address (or not address) climate change. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/33170207

Terrifying Weather Events, Part 1: Climate Changes Lives 09/20/2024

Terrifying Weather Events, Part 1: Climate Changes Lives On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina tore into the Gulf Coast with gusting winds of 175 miles per hour – and a storm surge of 26 feet. Lisa Dyson, who had spent her childhood summers near New Orleans, had just earned her PhD from MIT when the news broke. After witnessing the devastation, she was motivated to dedicate her scientific career to working on solutions to the climate crisis. Dyson is now the founder of Air Protein, a startup (with $100 million in backing) that makes nutrient-dense food in a lab setting. She takes us on a tour of her Oakland, California, facility. We also speak with meteorologist Bernadette Woods Placky of Climate Central, who tells us why, exactly, extreme weather is happening more. "We have to speed up the solutions and slow down the warming," she says. "Our future really isn't determined yet." /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/33140902

Our Pig Podcast: Touring Wild Harmony Farm 06/24/2024

Our Pig Podcast: Touring Wild Harmony Farm Oink, oink! We head to Wild Harmony, a family-owned farm in Rhode Island that raises livestock -- its signature product is organic pork -- in a regenerative way that's designed to benefit the environment. "Our pig production is really special," says Rachael Slattery, who co-owns the farm with husband Ben Coerper. "They're not stressed, they're not hungry all the time. They're healthier, happier animals." The couple raises their Berkshire pigs from piglets to porkers using rotational grazing and cover cropping. The regenerative farming methods help restore soil health and reduce the impact of climate change by keeping carbon in the ground. The end result? Delicious pork preferred by James Beard award-winning chefs. "Having one of our pork chops is just an out-of-body experience," Slattery says. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/31867142

How Do We Deal With Bad Air Quality? 04/29/2024

How Do We Deal With Bad Air Quality? For this special report, we head to Salt Lake City, Utah -- a nature lover's paradise that periodically has the worst air quality in the world. We talk to expert Kerry Kelly, a University of Utah professor who has been studying the toxic dust that's been lofting off the vanishing Great Salt Lake. The lake is disappearing due to climate change, drought and diversions of water for agricultural use. Kelly has invented air quality sensors and protocols for dealing with poor air quality. She recently received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation, which she'll used to help high school athletic teams figure out when to practice outdoors and when to reschedule games. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/31031298

Meet Mary Claire Haver, a Top Menopause Influencer 03/12/2024

Meet Mary Claire Haver, a Top Menopause Influencer Menopause is having a moment on social media -- and it's about damn time. We talk to the hugely popular Dr. Mary Claire Haver, a board-certified OB-GYN and nutritionist, about the lack of adequate care and attention for older women's health needs. And we ask Haver, founder of the Galveston Diet and ThePauseLife.com, about her surprising rise to TikTok fame. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/30339458

A Seaweed Startup in Maine's Chilly Waters 11/07/2023

A Seaweed Startup in Maine's Chilly Waters We head to Maine to talk with Briana Warner, the founder of Atlantic Sea Farms, now the largest producer of farmed seaweed in the country. She specializes in kelp, a type of nutrient-dense seaweed that's good for the environment, too. "When you're adding it to the water and it's sucking up that carbon from the ocean, and then you pull it out of the ocean, you're actually removing that carbon from the ocean," Warned explains in this podcast. Her company works with nearly 30 partner farmers, most of whom are lobster fishermen, to harvest over over a million pounds of kelp a year. And it's delicious, too. Pinterest and Whole Foods named it one of the hottest food trends. CREDITS Hosts: Colleen DeBaise and Sue Williams Sound Editor: Nusha Balyan Production Coordinator: Noël Flego Mixer: Pat Donohue, String & Can Executive Producers: Sue Williams and Victoria Wang Music: Universal Production Music /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/28541444

We Talk to Judy Woodruff, Acclaimed Journalist 10/26/2023

We Talk to Judy Woodruff, Acclaimed Journalist We're all about powerful women, so we bring you our interview with Judy Woodruff, the iconic journalist and the longtime anchor of the famed nightly news show, the PBS NewsHour. We had a long conversation about her decades-long career, plus she tells us about the blatant sexism that women in media used to face, and what she's up to now (spoiler: she's never retiring.) Photo by PBS NewsHour via Flickr. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/28431464

Afghan Women: 'We Are Not Fragile' 08/14/2023

Afghan Women: 'We Are Not Fragile' It's been two years since the Taliban took back control of Afghanistan. We talk to women -- some who fled, some who stayed back -- about what life is like now. Many of the women expressed frustration that the media often portrays them as victims when they see themselves as fighters. While the Taliban seeks to erase them from public life, we want to give them a platform to speak their minds. These women want you to know: There is still hope in all the fear, and glimmers of defiance in the midst of brutal oppression. These are stories of Afghan women like you haven't heard before. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/27747264

Savoring Indigenous Cuisine 05/09/2023

Savoring Indigenous Cuisine The power of ancestral foods is on display at Owamni, winner of the 2022 James Beard Award for best new restaurant in the country. Owners Sean Sherman (a.k.a. "The Sioux Chef") and Dana Thompson have created a "de-colonized" menu that exclusively serves Native foods, from lake fish to rabbit to bison. There's no wheat flour, cane sugar or dairy, as those ingredients were brought here by European settlers. The experience is part of a larger trend called "food sovereignty," or the right of Native Americans to have culturally appropriate food, raised sustainably. We check out the restaurant, perched above the swirling waters of the Mississipi, and take a walk at a tribal community farm where many ingredients are sourced. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/26785440

Anxiety Tech: Gadgets to Chill You Out 04/19/2023

Anxiety Tech: Gadgets to Chill You Out Anxiety is on the rise, especially among women, so what can we do about it? If you don't have time to meditate or take a yoga class, some new technology products promise near-instant stress relief. We look at Moonbird, a handheld device that teaches you how to breathe; Apollo Neuroscience, a wearable that subtly vibrates and helps you sleep, recover or focus; and Tripp, a digital psychedelic experience served up via virtual reality headset. (And bonus: All of these companies have women founders.) Can the burgeoning field of anxiety tech help remedy our racing thoughts and sweaty palms and intense feelings of panic? We find out in this episode. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/26588859

Water Women 12/01/2022

Water Women With climate change causing more intense storms, flooding and drought, we talk to female scientists with innovative ways to get us out of this mess. Against a backdrop of thunder, we share the story of Paige Peters, who was studying at Marquette University in Milwaukee when a superstorm in 2010 caused raw sewage to seep into people's basements. She has invented technology to treat wastewater at lightning speed -- handy during storms -- and dubbed her company Rapid Radicals. Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, N.Y., Brittany Kendrick is working on Hydronomy, her solution to the lack of clean drinking in countless U.S. cities. Her solar-powered invention literally sucks moisture from the sky. In this podcast, learn about the water crisis and how women are fighting back. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/25185912

Eat More Crickets (Especially If Chocolate-Covered) 11/14/2022

Eat More Crickets (Especially If Chocolate-Covered) Did you know that crickets are considered a "perfect" protein -- and that eating insects could help save the planet? We talk to Claire Simons of 3 Cricketeers, a Minneapolis cricket farm that supplies edible insects to restaurants, food companies and consumers. While there is still an "ick factor," Claire says more people are interested in trying crickets, which can be raised far more sustainably than other sources of protein, particularly beef. Not only do cricket farms require a fraction of the land, feed and water, but the insects themselves emit virtually no greenhouse gas, a big contributor to climate change. In this episode, hosts Colleen DeBaise and Sue Williams sample chocolate-covered crickets and interview Claire about her inspiring statup story. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/25001757

We're Talking Beer (as an Agent of Social Change, Of Course) 08/10/2022

We're Talking Beer (as an Agent of Social Change, Of Course) Crack open a can with us and listen while we share the story of Jacquie Berglund, who sarted Finnegans back in 2000 as the first beer company in the world – that we know about – to donate 100 percent of its profits to charity. We love women entrepreneurs who give back, and she is a great example of how one person can make an incredible difference in this world. Proceeds from Finnegans go to the Food Group and fight hunger and food insecurity. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/24014001

The Moments That Made Urban Farmer Mama K's Career 07/27/2022

The Moments That Made Urban Farmer Mama K's Career The little girl who grew up in the public housing projects of New York City becomes an urban farmer, helping establish community gardens around the city and founding Rise & Root farm for the BIPOC community in Hudson Valley. Listen to the remarkable tale of Karen Washington, who fans and food activists now refer to as "Mama K." We share the poignant moments of her long and illustrious career. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/23872119

Her Fashion Brand Empowers Women in Guatemala 04/07/2022

Her Fashion Brand Empowers Women in Guatemala We hear so many stories of immigrant families making the painful decision to leave their homes and cross the border... but what if there were more economic opportunity in places like Guatemala? We talk to social entrepreneur Ruth Alvarez-DeGolia, who came up with the idea of fashion brand Mercado Global. She connects hundreds of women sewers in Guatemala to major fashion retailers (Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, Levi Strauss. As a result, women artisans make about $14.50 a day, far more than the average $2 a day, and are able to send their kids to school and provide for their families. Listen to the inspirational story of how Mercado Global came to be. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/22709828

Giving Up Cardiology for Public Health 03/25/2022

Giving Up Cardiology for Public Health There's been an incredible uptick of interest in public health since the Covid-19 pandemic. So we wanted to talk with a woman (and CNN Hero) who's had a long and widely admired career in public health. We wanted to ask: What's it like to work in public health? Dr. Roseanna Means, who created Health Care Without Walls to care for Boston's homeless women, recounts how work with refugees in Cambodia forever influenced her life. "I wanted to do something that involved social justice and something that's going to be more meaningful," she said, telling us she ultimately decided to give up a prestigious cardiology fellowship as a result. "I thought they were going to take my stethoscope and break it in the public ceremony." For anyone considering a career in public health, it's an inspirational story. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/22569149

Healing With Animals 11/04/2021

Healing With Animals Come with us to Winslow Farm in Massachusetts, where owner Debra White runs a tranquil animal sanctuary that also happens to double as a place of healing for people, too. Hear Debra's inspiring story, starting from when her father was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease when she was a young child and she needed to be his hands and voice. Today, visitors come to Winslow Farm to spend time with the horses, llamas and even an African tortoise named George. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/21052019

Recycling Fashion's Cast-Offs 10/13/2021

Recycling Fashion's Cast-Offs Jessica Schreiber is fascinated by trash. And in New York City, where she runs a fashion recycling startup, there is plenty of it. In 2016, Schreiber left the agency to launch Fabscrap, a nonprofit that heads directly to the city’s world-famous fashion industry to pick up and resell textile cast-offs — yards of cotton, strips of wool, pieces of luxurious silk, linen and leather. As commercial waste, the scraps aren’t eligible for the city’s residential recycling programs, and, more often than not, end up in landfills. “That to me was unacceptable,” she said. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/20799632

Women Scientists Get Respect (At Last) for Covid Vaccines 07/13/2021

Women Scientists Get Respect (At Last) for Covid Vaccines We feature the story of BioNTech's Kati Kariko, who may just win the Nobel Prize for her heroic effects despite years of setbacks. The podcast includes the song "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," written by Eddie Schwartz, published by Round Hill Music and performed by Pat Benatar. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/19795337

Revisiting 'Instead of Building a Wall...' 06/09/2021

Revisiting 'Instead of Building a Wall...' To our listeners: The migrant crisis is once again in the news with Vice President Kamala Harris's first foreign trip in office to Guatemala and Mexico. We originally released this podcast in March 2019 but we’ll share it again today. Kate Curran's School the World provides much-needed schoolhouses for children in Central America. Podcast description: We hear plenty of talk about "build the wall." We hear much less about why caravans of migrants are leaving Central America to come to the United States. In this podcast, we talk to Kate Curran of School the World, a Boston-based social entrepreneur who is going to the heart of the crisis and trying to make life better for families in Guatemala and Honduras. Her organization builds schoolhouses in Central American villages where illiteracy rates are high and poverty is rampant. If you want to be inspired about how one person can make a difference, give this podcast a listen. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/19413659

The Women in AI Are Talking 05/11/2021

The Women in AI Are Talking We sit down with three female founders who are running AI startups -- and they tell us exactly what it's like to be a woman in artificial intelligence. "Nobody took us seriously, not a single person," says Davar Ardalan, founder of IVOW, who has been rejected by investors 350 times. "It's incredibly demeaning." At a time when billions of dollars are going into AI startups, and the pandemic has caused a digital transformation in nearly every industry, it could not be more important to get women and people of color involved in AI so their perspectives can inform technology. But bias and sexism and racism in the AI field persist. We share these women's stories in an effort to raise awareness of the obstacles faced by women in AI. But at the same time, we also want to encourage women and girls to chase their startup dreams, especially in such a game-changing industry. Guests include Ardalan; Sheffie Robinson, of Shamrock Education; and Carolyn Rodz, of Hello Alice. The episode features music created by women in AI, including Taryn Southern and Holly Herndon. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/19054016

Ugly Sexist AI 05/04/2021

Ugly Sexist AI Trust us, you don't need to be a techno-nerd to understand this podcast. We look at how women are faring (or not faring) in the exploding field of artificial intelligence. And if you don't think you use AI, think again. "You use AI in lots of invisible ways," says expert Meredith Broussard, such as every time you use a search engine or when you use facial recognition to unlock your phone or when you tell your home assistant to play the latest Taylor Swift album. The problem -- and this is disturbing -- is that decades and even centuries of bias are embedded in that AI technology, because of the limitations of the humans who built it. We look at how sexism and racism have wormed their ugly way into the AI we're using... and what we can do about it. Guests include Broussard, author of "Artificial Unintelligence," and Davar Ardalan, founder of AI startup IVOW. /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/18961499

A Podcast for Horse Lovers 12/22/2020

A Podcast for Horse Lovers Horse lover Lynn Hummer was horrified to learn that that thousands of unwanted horses, including healthy trail horses and former racehorses, are sent each year to auction houses, where “kill buyers” purchase them. In 2005, she went online to buy a pregnant pony -- saving the animal from the slaughter house -- and experienced firsthand the magic of its foal being born. After that, Lynn created Pregnant Mare Rescue to save as many horses and their babies as she could. Come with us on a virtual journey to Lynn's ranchette in Central California to learn more about her inspiring work. If you love horses, this is a podcast for you. Read more of Lynn’s story here: /episode/index/show/thestoryexchange/id/17284592

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