How It Is

It’s where you drop your bag and kick off your shoes, but home can be lots of places—and mean a lot of different things, too. Phoebe Robinson shares her newfound domestic bliss as a first-tim...

Mementos. Memories. What helps us remember where we’ve been, and what does that say about where we’re going? LinkedIn head of diversity Rosanna Durruthy left Harvard without a degree, and exp...

What happens when where we are becomes unbearable? And what, exactly, is waiting on the other side? Fatuma Hussein describes her escape from Somalia’s brutal civil war and her new mission hel...

Sometimes the thing we didn’t see coming leaves us reeling, in the best possible way. Roller derby star Sarah McKemie shares her story of being an uncertain college student when a gang of rol...

Adventure can mean going around the world—or simply deciding to take a chance on yourself. Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg describes how traveling to faraway places showed her that a true connection t...

Kelly McCreary, our new host for Season 3 of How It Is, introduces us to the theme of Journeys: five new episodes all about Adventure, Unexpected Encounters, Escape, Souvenirs, and Home. Join...

Before she became Maria on Sesame Street, Sonia Manzano was a girl who grew up without access to books or a sense of what reading was—until one moment on the subway opened the door to a world...

In the wake of her father’s death and her husband’s terminal cancer diagnosis, Nora McInerny learned something new about grief: It’s a whole lot more complicated than just being sad. This is ...

Hashtag activism sometimes gets a bad rap, but comedian and disability rights advocate Maysoon Zayid explains that for some people, the internet is the only way to make their voices heard. Th...

In our Season 2 finale, we tackle some big questions: How can we put our values into practice every day? What does it mean to live a life of value? Gen. Ann Dunwoody, the first woman to achie...

If there’s one thing we never have enough of, it’s time. So how can we be more mindful of it -- appreciating each moment without losing momentum? Relationship expert Eve Rodsky shares her gro...

As we get older, it’s easy to forget how much we need play in our lives, even (perhaps especially) when we’re going through tough times. This episode may help change that. Artist Shantell Mar...

Work: Is it just something we do, or is it something that defines us? Maybe it’s a little of both. Activist and former head of Planned Parenthood Cecile Richards explains how she found her li...

No matter how much money we have (or don’t have), it shapes our identities in profound, surprising, and sometimes uncomfortable ways. Author Roxane Gay tells us why she won’t compromise on ge...

Executive Producer Reese Witherspoon and our host, Diane Guerrero, introduce season 2 of How It Is, a series of stories from 15 different women. This season we're talking about values. Y...

You wanted more? We got you. We're going to share a few extra stories from your favorite "How It Is" storytellers from Season 1. Today: Jenny Yang, the comedian and founder of the Comedy Come...

You wanted more? We got you. We're going to share a few extra stories from your favorite "How It Is" storytellers from Season 1. Today: Activist and the co-founder of Alianza Nacional de Camp...

You wanted more? We got you. We're going to share a few extra stories from your favorite "How It Is" storytellers from Season 1. Today: Gabrielle Union tells us about how she stays open to ne...

This is our season finale. We end on a powerful note as Lena Waithe breaks down the importance of giving zero f**ks; author Glennon Doyle reflects on raising boys and changing the world; and ...

Freedom is a journey, not a destination. What is the work we need to do to become free, and what are we trying to get free from? In this episode, On Being host Krista Tippett drops some serio...

Who is allowed to speak? Who gets to be heard? In this episode we’re talking about how we find our voices and speak out. Mónica Ramírez, Alianza Nacional de Campesinas co-founder, makes sure ...

The issues that matter most are never simple. Journalist and Jezebel founder Anna Holmes discusses the online outrage culture that drowns out nuance (and her own role in creating it); writer ...

Anger can be destructive — but it can be constructive, too. This episode explores the range of women’s anger and features a chorus of women’s voices on what anger means to them; #MeToo founde...

Executive Producer Reese Witherspoon and our host, Diane Guerrero, introduce the first season of How It Is, a series of stories inspired by the global conversation around #MeToo. You will hea...

Reese Witherspoon's production company, Hello Sunshine, is coming out soon with its very first podcast. You'll hear women tell their own stories, in their own words. In this teaser, Reese tel...