Slate Careers

Getting past "and what is it you do?" to "how do you do it?" and "why?" These episodes, drawn from across the Slate network, dive into how to live while making a living.

Business
1
Working: Writer Anne Lamott’s Difficult Persona...
The Bird By Bird author discusses her new book about love, her proclivity for deeply honest memoir writing, and some of her go-to advice about writing and publishing.
49 min
2
Well, Now: How a Former Surgeon General Took on...
Even surgeon generals get sticker shock. Here are Jerome Adams’s suggestions for how to fight back.
40 min
3
Working: Interviews That Get to the Point
Death, Sex & Money host Anna Sale shares her strategies for conducting interviews about things that really matter.
45 min
4
Death, Sex & Money: A Tarot Reader Explains Why...
North Carolina-based witch Rebecca Auman helps Anna through a rough patch. Then she explains why it’s so hard for some of us to make sense of our own inner voices.
39 min
5
Working: How Fact-Checking Can Improve Your Fic...
Novelist Julia Hannafin and ecologist Adam Rosenblatt talk about Julia’s new novel Cascade and its commitment to scientific accuracy.
45 min
6
Working: A Clarinetist Finds His Flow State
Anthony McGill, principal clarinetist for the New York Philharmonic, explains what it’s like to both perform and take in the beauty of the orchestra simultaneously.
45 min
7
What Next: How Young Is Too Young to Work?
Child labor laws are changing—in different directions, in different states.
22 min
8
Working: How to Be Both a Critic and a Creator
NPR host Linda Holmes explains how her work as a professional pop culture critic impacts her work as a novelist, and vice versa.
43 min
9
Working: Creator Mode vs. Editor Mode
21 min
10
Slate Money: How to Escape the Invisible Factory
Author Cal Newport explains how we ended up in Slack hell — and how to free ourselves.
36 min
11
What Next TBD: The Psychological Toll of Mars
We know how to get to space. But what happens to our minds when we’re there?
21 min
12
Working: How a Magician Designs Original, Mind-...
Award-winning performer Joshua Jay explains how he’s able to live up to his own very high standards.
42 min
13
Working: How to Curate a Small Town Art Museum
Sun Valley Museum of Art curator Courtney Gilbert discusses the unique challenges and thrills of serving a small community.
43 min
14
Death, Sex & Money: A Former Pro Climber On End...
After years of scaling cliffs for a living, Mason Earle was diagnosed with ME/CFS, commonly called chronic fatigue syndrome.
57 min
15
Working: From Corporate Job to Broadway Playwright
46 min
16
Decoder Ring: Why Stylists Rule the Red Carpet
Avery Trufelman and Melissa Rivers on what the fashion police hath wrought.
38 min
17
Death, Sex & Money: Who’s Driving Your Uber?
Rideshare drivers in the Bay Area tell stories about their lives and their work.
29 min
18
Working: An Acting Coach’s Tips for Beginners a...
48 min
19
Working: Getting Paid On Time
15 min
20
How To!: Rethink Retirement
Brad Stulberg on embracing a massive change.
34 min
21
Working: How to Make a “Fair” Crossword Puzzle
45 min
22
Working: How TV Host Carla Hall Stays Authentic...
39 min
23
Well, Now: Is it Burnout? Or, Do You Have a Bus...
Chronic stress creates inflammation in the brain–leading to anxiety, inability to focus and difficulty sleeping. One neurologist says the way to fix it is by curing our ‘busy brains.’
34 min
24
Working: How to Write Every Day and Stick to It
43 min
25
Working: A Biography With Very High Stakes
45 min