Podcast · Business

The Messy Parts

by with Maryam Banikarim · English · Business

New career advice and messy stories, every Monday. Whether you’re at the top, or striving to get there—you may have noticed the one thing people rarely talk about: how hard it is to achieve success. The Messy Parts is the answer—a podcast where you’ll hear about the twists, turns and pivots that s

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 40 min
Latest: 12 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

12 Oct 2026 · 37 minNew

"This Job Is Beneath Me" — How Being the Secretary for a Billionaire Launched a Global Career

Vote for The Messy Parts! We're nominated for Signal Awards in TWO categories. You can easily vote for us by clicking on the links below. Thank you! Individual Episode - Business: "'Who The Hell Do I Think I Am?' Melissa Ben-Ishay on Running Baked by Melissa While Doubting Herself" - VOTE NOW Shows - Conversation Starter: The Messy Parts - VOTE NOW "I was kicking and screaming, but I didn't have a choice." That's how Maha Abouelenein describes accepting a job as a billionaire's secretary, a r...

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

E62 · 5 Oct 2026 · 41 min
Rosebud Baker on Chasing Her Dreams: “It Gets Worse With More Success"
"If your goal is to feel completed by success, it's gonna get worse and worse the more successful you get." Comedian and former SNL writer Rosebud Baker joins Maryam for a conversation that goes everywhere — sobriety, motherhood after IVF and miscarriage, growing up the granddaughter of Secretary of State James Baker, and a surprise divorce announcement that even Maryam wasn't expecting. Rosebud talks candidly about learning to operate outside of chaos, what burnout actually feels like once y...
E61 · 29 Sep 2026 · 43 min
Jake Barton Designed the 9/11 Memorial. One Photo Still Makes Him Cry.
Jake Barton worked on the 9/11 Memorial Museum for 8 years. One photo still makes him cry: a young firefighter in the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, headed toward the towers, in what turned out to be the last picture ever taken of him alive. Jake joins Maryam on the blue couch to talk about the radical choice at the heart of that museum: letting the people who ran out of the burning buildings speak for themselves instead of being spoken for. And about the messier parts of his own story — an outcast...
E60 · 21 Sep 2026 · 38 min
Aged Out, Broke, Homeless at 50: How Ron King Became “Donkey King”
He ran Southern Living and top Time Inc. titles with no college degree — then got fired, and calls it a gift. What followed was darker: broke, aged out of media at 50, and homeless. Ron King, now known as "Donkey King," rebuilt his life running a sanctuary that rescues donkeys from slaughter — 220 of them and counting. In this episode of The Messy Parts, Ron opens up to Maryam about hitting rock bottom twice, the hustle that built (and rebuilt) his career, and the simple mindset shift — "thin...
E59 · 14 Sep 2026 · 40 min
“The Value of Your Values" — Why Jeff Jones Quit Uber & Left Millions on the Table
Jeff Jones spent his career as one of the most respected CMOs in America — Coca-Cola, Gap, Target — before making the leap to run Uber's global ride-sharing business under founder Travis Kalanick. Seven months later, at the height of Uber's pre-IPO valuation, he walked away from it all: no job lined up, no stock, no plan. On this episode of The Messy Parts, Jeff sits down with Maryam on the blue couch for his first real interview about what actually happened inside Uber during one of its most...
E58 · 7 Sep 2026 · 40 min
Mindy Grossman Worked for Oprah, Barry Diller & Phil Knight — and Says She's Never Been 100% Qualified
Fired at 24. Turned down her dream job at Nike, then took it anyway. Walked into HSN as the eighth CEO in ten years. Mindy Grossman built one of the least likely careers in American business, and in this episode of The Messy Parts she tells Maryam how: leaving college at 19 to move to New York with $1,800, landing her first job by admitting she couldn't take shorthand, buying 2,000 Aeron chairs to prove a broken culture was changing, and converting 30,000 Weight Watchers meetings to virtual i...
E57 · 31 Aug 2026 · 10 min
Sex, Xanax & Naked Beaches: 20 Legends Drop the PR Filter
Behind every legendary career is an unfiltered human truth. In this special compilation, 20 of our most notable guests—including Mickey Drexler, Samantha Bee, Blake Mycoskie, Bonnie Hammer, Kim Hastreiter, Sally Susman, Sari Botton, and Baked by Melissa—reveal what happens when the PR guardrails come down. From Bevy Smith’s show-stopping mandate to "have sex, a lot of it," to surprisingly vulnerable confessions about daily tears, imposter syndrome, and surviving a crisis of confidence, these ...
24 Aug 2026 · 40 min
The Points Guy Couldn't Get His Own Credit Card: Then He Made $28 Million at 28 Years Old (Replay)
Brian Kelly (aka The Points Guy) has been obsessed with credit card and frequent flyer points since childhood. At age 12, his dad challenged him to book a family vacation using only points, and young Brian successfully got his entire family to the Cayman Islands for free. In this episode, Brian tells Maryam about the reality behind his meteoric rise: ruined credit, toxic friendships, launching The Points Guy as a side hustle, becoming a multi-millionaire at 28 years old - and the loneliness t...
E56 · 17 Aug 2026 · 36 min
The Truth About Burnout No One Wants to Hear | Laura Mayer
"I don't believe in burnout." That's Laura Mayer, podcast industry veteran and author of Tryhard, explaining why she's never really taken a break: not after a complicated pregnancy, not after quitting a stable executive job at ABC News, not ever. In this candid conversation with Maryam, Laura traces her try-hard tendencies back to a childhood spent tracking her mother's alcoholism, unpacks the false choice between "lean in" hustle and burnout culture, and explains why she walked away from a s...
E55 · 10 Aug 2026 · 38 min
Samantha Bee: Your Dream Job Will Suck. Do It Anyway.
"Even your dream job sucks." That's not cynicism — it's the most useful career advice Samantha Bee has. On this episode of The Messy Parts, she tells Maryam what 12 years at “The Daily Show” and running “Full Frontal” actually taught her: that no one hands you management training before you're leading 75 people, that public setbacks feel enormous and matter less than you think, and that the comparison game — "looking in other people's food bowls" — is where careers go to stall. Her rule for a...
E54 · 3 Aug 2026 · 42 min
No Plan, No Fear, No Quitting: Julie Gaines on Running NYC’s Coolest Store & Giving MS the Finger
She dug through filthy sub-basements in the Bowery looking for discarded restaurant ware — and built one of New York's most beloved stores. Julie Gaines, co-founder of Fishs Eddy, joins Maryam on the blue couch to talk about 40 years of messy parts: the husband who cheated and left for Florida (then Thailand), the three CEOs who didn't work out, and the MS diagnosis she now calls a "dignity thief." Julie doesn't sugarcoat any of it. She's blunt, she's funny, and she's still working through it...
E53 · 27 Jul 2026 · 41 min
She Got Cut From Pro Basketball in Sweden. Now Megan Griffith Runs Columbia's Best Team Ever.
"They cut me from that team." That's how Columbia women's basketball head coach Megan Griffith opens this episode of The Messy Parts — and it's just the beginning of her story. Megan tells Maryam about growing up a Chinese American kid in a homogeneous Pennsylvania suburb, playing for four different coaches in four years as a student at Columbia, and deciding to pursue a professional basketball career across Finland, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Megan gets candid about identity, belonging, ge...
20 Jul 2026 · 38 min
Why Selling TOMS Destroyed Blake Mycoskie’s Mental Health (And What Saved Him)
What really happens after a founder sells their company? Blake Mycoskie built one of the most recognized brands in the world at TOMS — and hit rock bottom the moment he walked away. In this episode of The Messy Parts, Blake talks candidly with Maryam about founder identity, the mental health crisis hiding behind big exits, and why more money and more success never made him feel like enough. He also shares the advice he'd give every founder in their 20s and 30s, what Ted Turner told him before...
E52 · 13 Jul 2026 · 43 min
NYT Writer Susan Dominus: "I Couldn't Risk It"
She's a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine, a Yale lecturer, and one of the most celebrated journalists working today. So why does Susan Dominus still feel like she's figuring it out? In a candid conversation with Maryam, Susan gets into the imposter syndrome that nearly stopped her from calling herself a writer, the sibling rivalry that quietly shaped her ambition, and the career regret she wishes she could go back and fix. Plus: what AI has changed about her reporting, why she thin...
6 Jul 2026 · 49 min
Gary Vee: Forgiveness, Fear, and the $540 Million Mistake (Replay)
In this re-release of one of our favorite episodes, Gary Vaynerchuk opens up to Maryam about fear, self-esteem, forgiveness, AI, leadership, and what he believes is a growing crisis of “late adulthood.” Gary shares why so many professionals feel stuck — not because of burnout, but because of insecurity and unresolved resentment. He breaks down his philosophy on kind candor vs. radical candor, why fear is the real career killer, and how over-coddling may be delaying independence for an entire ...
E51 · 29 Jun 2026 · 50 min
"My Parents Would Have Rather I Been a Prostitute.” How Ayesha Nurdjaja Became a Celebrity Chef & Built NYC’s Hottest Restaurants
What happens when you walk away from the career everyone expected you to have? Chef Ayesha Nurdjaja was on a path toward law school, working at a prestigious law firm and doing everything “right.” But something was missing. In this episode of The Messy Parts, Ayesha shares with Maryam how she left a promising legal career to pursue cooking, even when her parents stopped speaking to her and everyone around her thought she was making a huge mistake. She opens up about growing up in Brooklyn, di...
E50 · 22 Jun 2026 · 37 min
She Kept Hearing "No." At 60, Sari Botton Finally Found Her Audience.
"No just means not right now." That's the philosophy that kept writer and Oldster founder Sari Botton going through decades of rejection before building one of Substack's most beloved magazines — at age 60. In this episode of The Messy Parts, Sari gets honest with Maryam about the messy middle: the identity searching, the failed attempts, the mean girls that never quite went away, and the moment she finally stopped contorting herself to fit someone else's story. She also shares the writing st...
E49 · 15 Jun 2026 · 44 min
Bonnie Hammer Gave Her Boss the Finger. It Changed Her Career.
Bonnie Hammer ran 10 networks and two studios at NBCUniversal — but her career didn't start in a corner office. It started cleaning up dog poop on a kids' TV set. In this episode of The Messy Parts, Bonnie gets radically honest with Maryam about the moments that actually shaped her career: being passed over for the top job at NBC, negotiating her way into her own studio, saying yes to WWE when every instinct said no, and building one of the most collaborative cultures in a notoriously cutthro...
E48 · 8 Jun 2026 · 40 min
Ed Sheeran, Pizza Rat & Getting Hacked: Rick McGuire on Running Subway Creatures and Loving New York
What does it take to build one of New York City's most recognizable social media brands — from scratch, in secret, while working a day job? Subway Creatures founder Rick McGuire tells Maryam the whole story: from working at VH1 and MTV while quietly building Subway Creatures on the side to Pizza Rat, Ed Sheeran, and a very public account hack that brought him to tears and nearly took everything. Rick gets honest about the chaos of entrepreneurship, learning to value your own work, and why New...
E47 · 1 Jun 2026 · 40 min
"I Don't Know How to Balance All of This": Faherty Co-Founder Kerry Docherty on Business, Marriage, and Choosing Yourself
Kerry Docherty is a co-founder of Faherty, the surf lifestyle brand she built alongside her husband, his identical twin brother, and her mother-in-law. But behind the sun-soaked brand was a woman quietly carrying the weight of secrets — from childhood, from marriage, and from a business that nearly broke her. In this episode, Kerry opens up to Maryam about growing up in an Irish Catholic household where hard things went unspoken, what it really means to work with your spouse, the emotional af...
E46 · 25 May 2026 · 43 min
She Was Called “Dumb.” Now Assia Grazioli-Venier Invests Millions in Women’s Health.
What if the hardest parts of your life were actually setting you up for something bigger? Assia Grazioli-Venier’s story is a powerful reminder that your worst moments don’t define you — what you do next does. In this episode of The Messy Parts, Assia shares with Maryam her journey through dyslexia, cancer, infertility, and major career pivots — and how she turned every setback into fuel. She opens up about building a venture capital fund, why women struggle to raise money, and what she wishes...
E45 · 18 May 2026 · 47 min
Her Mother and Grandmother Said Nothing. Belle Burden Broke the Silence.
Belle Burden was raised in a family where you simply did not talk about the messy parts. So when her husband left without explanation during COVID lockdown — and then asked her to tell people it was amicable — something in her snapped. In this episode, the New York Times bestselling author of “Strangers” tells Maryam about the moment she chose radical honesty over a managed narrative, and why that single decision changed everything. Belle and Maryam explore the eerie parallel between how betr...
E44 · 11 May 2026 · 46 min
Bevy Smith Climbed the Ladder, Looked Around — and Jumped Off
What does it take to walk away from a six-figure career with no plan, go broke, and come out the other side with a Bravo show, an Amazon Prime series, and a Broadway stage credit? In this episode of The Messy Parts, the one and only Bevy Smith tells Maryam about growing up in Central Harlem, cutting her teeth in luxury fashion advertising, landing at Vibe and Rolling Stone, and then walking away from all of it to start over — completely sure she was making the right call. Find out what caused...
E43 · 4 May 2026 · 41 min
Joanna Coles: The Career Advice Feminism Never Gave You
Joanna Coles built one of the most storied careers in media — from editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan to running The Daily Beast. So when she says feminism got it wrong, people listen. In this episode, Joanna challenges assumptions about ambition, motherhood, and what a successful life actually looks like. She reveals why curiosity — not ambition — drove every major career move she made, what she wishes someone had told her at 28, and why the "have it all" conversation has been missing its most ...
2 May 2026 · 34 min
Rapid Response: The "Most Stressed" Wellness CEO, with Calm's David Ko
Today we're dropping something a little different into your feed: a conversation from our friends at the Rapid Response podcast. Maryam was a guest on the show recently with host Bob Safian, but in the episode you’re about to hear, Bob sits down with David Ko, the CEO of Calm — the mental health and wellness app with more than 180 million downloads — right as he's announcing he's stepping down. Ko unpacks why he made the call, what the relentless pressure of the C-suite really does to a perso...
E42 · 27 Apr 2026 · 38 min
Parul Somani Was Holding Her Newborn When the Doctor Called with a Cancer Diagnosis. Then Came the Layoff.
Parul Somani was 31 years old, holding her one-week-old newborn, when her phone rang. It was her breast surgeon. On a Saturday. She knew it wasn't good news. What followed — cancer treatment, chemotherapy, a layoff she never saw coming, and a years-long search for work that actually meant something — would have broken most people. Instead, it rebuilt her. In this episode, Parul tells Maryam about growing up with immigrant parents who kept their struggles private; following the prestige path a...
E41 · 20 Apr 2026 · 40 min
Finley Wanted to Be a Supreme Court Justice. Until One Class Changed Everything.
What does it take to walk away from everything you thought you wanted? Artist C. Finley knows. She was pre-law, headed for the Supreme Court, until one semester cracked her wide open and changed the entire trajectory of her life. Today she's a renowned muralist, large-scale painter, and the force behind the Every Woman Biennial — but the path here was anything but straight. In this episode of The Messy Parts, Finley gets honest with Maryam about identity collapse, creative risk, inconsistent ...
E40 · 13 Apr 2026 · 40 min
From Fax Boy to CEO to Billion Dollar Sale: Patrick Steel Was Terrified (But Showed Up Anyway)
What does it take to walk into a failing company with zero experience and turn it around? Patrick Steel — former CEO of Politico — did exactly that. In this episode of The Messy Parts, Patrick shares with Maryam how he navigated multiple career pivots: from the Clinton White House to investment banking to leading one of Washington's most powerful media brands. We cover imposter syndrome, recovering from public failure, why no task should ever be beneath you, and how relationships — not creden...
E39 · 6 Apr 2026 · 43 min
“Flooded with the Feeling of Sudden Death” Shelley Huff on Panic Attacks, Bankruptcy, Getting Fired, and Life After the Title
What happens when a high-achieving executive loses everything — and has to start over? Shelley Huff spent decades climbing the corporate ladder, from merchant at Walmart to Fortune's Most Powerful Women list, to CEO of Serta Simmons Bedding. Then came bankruptcy, betrayal, and a firing she never got to say goodbye from. In this raw and honest conversation, Shelly opens up to Maryam about panic disorder in the workplace, the identity crisis that follows job loss, the grief nobody names when ...
E38 · 30 Mar 2026 · 39 min
Paper Magazine’s Kim Hastreiter Wasn’t Satisfied. So She Built Her Own Amazing World.
This is the world Kim Hastreiter built: Paper Magazine. Stuff. Joey Arias. Salvador Dali. Barbara Streisand. Nora Ephron. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Andy Warhol. Keith Haring. Bill Cunningham. Soho Weekly News. Michael Musto. Sex Pistols. Michael Stipe. Larry Kramer. And on and on. She is one of one, a cultural trailblazer in New York City and beyond. In this enlightening conversation, Kim gets honest with Maryam about the moments that shaped her — the art world that wouldn't let her in, the...

About The Messy Parts

The Messy Parts is a English business podcast from with Maryam Banikarim. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: with Maryam Banikarim
Language: English
Category: Business
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 40 min
Latest episode: 12 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1804155142

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