Claim OwnershipThe Messy Parts
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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 shape extraordinary careers. The real messy parts along the way. Host Maryam Banikarim has been through it, so she gets it. Maryam has been a transformative leader across media, hospitality and tech. Her powerhouse resume features more than 20 years in the C-Suite at companies like Hyatt, NBC, and Nextdoor—and she has a vast, influential network to match. On The Messy Parts, she brings you unparalleled access to that network. Deeply honest, vulnerable conversations with Maryam—who is never afraid to ask the questions on everyone's mind. Join us as we get real, unfiltered, and messy.
28 Episodes
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What does it really take to build a career across Saturday Night Live, Broadway’s Wicked, network TV, and music? In this re-release of one of our favorite episodes of The Messy Parts, Ana Gasteyer joins Maryam Banikarim to reveal the messy, unglamorous parts of showbusiness — like rejection, insecurity, and feeling like an outsider. Ana turned those realities into fuel for her creativity, and tells Maryam about the power of radical preparedness in auditions, why naming her goals out loud shif...
Is your path too messy for success? In this episode of The Messy Parts, Maryam talks to Rafat Ali, founder of Skift and one of the most quietly influential figures in digital media. This feels like a personal conversation, Rafat opens up about the parts of his journey most people never hear: stuttering as a teenager, feeling like an outsider in America, breaking down during intense life changes, and rebuilding through resilience. Maryam guides Rafat through the unexpected threads that connect...
How do you turn fun into a career? In this honest, funny, and inspiring episode of The Messy Parts, celebrity event planner Marcy Blum tells Maryam how she went from living on a failed commune in Vermont to organizing lavish celebrations for LeBron James, Kevin Bacon, and countless billionaires, and why “fun” is her most powerful business strategy. Along the way, Marcy opens up about sexism in the culinary world, building her brand without a blueprint, and finding purpose after burnout. It’s ...
Kelly Kopp, is now known as “New York City Kopp,” influencer, photographer, tour guide But at 40 years old, Kelly lost everything—his house in the mortgage crisis, his restaurant job, his health (without insurance), and watched his best friend, Sandy, die of cancer. Sitting poolside in Orlando contemplating how people reach their breaking point, Sandy's death became his wake-up call to "go live." He moved to New York City with just a suitcase, discovered photography, and built a social media ...
Could getting fired be the best thing that ever happened to you? In this deeply personal episode of The Messy Parts, journalist Brooke Baldwin sits down with Maryam to discuss her journey from heartbreak to healing after she was let go from her dream job at CNN. Brooke talks about speaking truth to power, walking through fear, and redefining success on her own terms. The two explore what happens when your identity is tied to your career — and how to rebuild when it all unravels. Whether you’r...
Is your biggest mess also your best teacher? Broadway veteran Michael McElroy tells Maryam about his remarkable journey from rejection at Carnegie Mellon to leading Broadway casts and founding the award-winning Broadway Inspirational Voices. He and Maryam explore how to find purpose after burnout, the power of community and service, and what happens when you finally stop waiting for permission to begin. Michael opens up about identity, faith, and the messy truth behind resilience — reminding ...
Jonathan Merritt was a pastor’s son destined to preach — until he was publicly outed online and his life imploded. When faith, identity, and ambition collide — what do you do? Jonathan knows that question intimately. But through the wreckage came clarity, courage, and an entirely new way of living. In this candid episode, Jonathan tells Maryam how losing community, career, and certainty opened the door to authenticity, spirituality, and a renewed sense of purpose. Whether you’re navigating a ...
At 22, Jaclyn Johnson landed her dream magazine job — until she realized it paid less than her rent. That rejection set off a chain of bold decisions: launching a fashion blog, being sued by a former employer, losing a job she moved across the country to take, and eventually starting her own PR/branding agency. Jaclyn tells Maryam how she turned fear into fuel and turned Create & Cultivate from a side hustle into a brand she eventually sold for $22 million. Along the way, she learne...
Think your biggest breakdown means you’ve failed? Journalist Danielle Belton was hospitalized multiple times for bipolar disorder while she was building her career. In this powerful episode, she opens up to Maryam about a childhood riddled with anxiety, falling into a deep depression after a failed marriage, and drinking tequila at work to power through panic attacks. Danielle hit rock bottom in her mid-twenties and moved home to her parents basement, where she started over and got a job fold...
What if everything you were told about building a career was wrong? Financial expert and host of The So Money Podcast, Farnoosh Torabi, gets raw about the messy reality behind her success—from being forced to give up her dream schools to avoid debt, to getting fired twice, to drowning in $300K of business debt that forced her to sell her home. This isn't another "hustle harder" story. It's an honest conversation about the fears nobody admits: waiting for permission that never comes, taking re...
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. Fast forward to his twenties, and his credit was ruined. He had to resort to payday loans. As he says, "I was in survival mode." He walked to work because he couldn't afford the subway fare. His boss had to give him a raise ...
If you’re job hunting, eyeing a promotion, or just feeling burnt out—this conversation will remind you that your path doesn’t have to be traditional to be powerful. From bossy kid to bold career coach, Sam DeMase is redefining what leadership and success really look like—with empathy, authenticity, and purpose. In this episode, Sam shares her unconventional journey: from managing 70 people at a fast food chain straight out of NYU to building a business that empowers women to ask f...
What happens when your toxic business partnership implodes and nearly 20 years of work vanishes while you're getting your hair done? Gwen Whiting, co-founder of The Laundress, opens up about the brutal reality behind building a successful brand, selling it to Unilever—and watching everything she created collapse. In this raw conversation, Gwen reveals how early tragedy shaped her resilience; surviving on credit cards for over a decade; why her career path was not marriage; and the devastating...
Job opportunities in her industry faded away slowly and then all of a sudden. So Emma Rosenblum committed to her side hustle and found a way to pivot into a new career altogether – she wrote a book. A literary agent rejected it as "too mean,” but she found a way through. Then, when her manuscript accidentally leaked to her real-life community (the location of the book) with real residents' names still in it, the small-town drama was intense. Now a full-time novelist obsessively checking...
Tony Awards, Grammys, a Pulitzer Prize, Emmy Awards. Next to Normal, If/Then, Hell's Kitchen, and NY State of Mind. Tom Kitt traded a Wall St. job offer (and paycheck) to follow his passion, a life making music, but that decision didn't come without great cost. He spent five years developing his first Broadway show, "High Fidelity," and it closed after just 10 days, sending him into months of depression and self-doubt. In this raw conversation, Kitt reveals how creative heartbreak became his ...
Feel like you're on the “wrong” path? Negin Farsad (comedian, filmmaker, writer, actor, and activist) went from steady job as a NYC policy advisor to chasing laughs on lonely standup stages across the country. As one of the few Iranian-American Muslim women in comedy, she’s built a career blending sharp political satire with deeply personal storytelling—using humor to tackle racism, sexism, and Islamophobia. From touring conservative towns with The Muslims Are Coming! to hosting F...
Ever feel like everyone else has it figured out while you're drowning in chaos? Sarah Personette's journey through Facebook, Twitter, and now Puck as CEO reveals the messy reality behind big-name success. She shares brutal truths about workplace bullies who wanted her gone, the isolating loneliness of leadership, and making gut decisions that horrified her father. From losing student elections repeatedly to navigating public failures at major tech companies, Sarah exposes how kindness became ...
What do Prince, The Secret, and Colleen Hoover have in common? They all worked with Judith Curr to publish their books. Judith's career has been quite a trip: from selling her brother's engine block to a junk dealer in a very small Australian town. to selling Dior to pharmacies door-to-door, to revolutionizing book publishing—founding Atria Books, discovering tomorrow's bestsellers today, and now steering HarperOne into uncharted territory. From Sydney to New York, Judith has made a car...
Irina Novoselsky landed her first CEO gig at just 32 years old. She’s now CEO of Hootsuite, a social media management platform with 16 million users in 175 countries. Even though her career has been a rocket ship, she’s had a lot of messy parts and pivots that’s shaped who she is and how she operates. That includes being out of work for months at a time and really questioning whether she was ever going to get a job again. If you’ve ever felt like you were on the wrong path entirely, this epis...
Discover the real story behind Another Tomorrow with Vanessa Barboni Hallik, who left Wall Street for a mission in sustainable luxury fashion. In this candid interview with Maryam Banikarim on "The Messy Parts Podcast," Vanessa reflects on career pivots, making meaning from hardship, starting a business during COVID, and how purpose and authenticity drive her leadership. If you’re looking for a boost of inspiration, lessons for entrepreneurship, or an inside look at sustainable fashion, this ...
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