Kelly Corrigan Wonders

Ed Helms, actor, comedian, and serious bluegrass musician, talks about finding creative flow, last-minute adrenaline, and why limitations spark invention. He shares how workshops, kids’ crafts, and iterative performance fuel making. Fun stories include Owen Wilson’s feedback trick and why structured film sets suit his brain.

Jane Perlez, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and podcast host, reads 'Dear Marjorie,' a tribute to a writer who inspired her as a child. Short, vivid memories paint a portrait of balcony routines, legal-pad drafts, and a life lived on her own terms. The conversation touches on education, defiance, quiet partnerships, and the small domestic details behind big literary work.

A compact roundup of patterns Kelly noticed across five influential women. Short takes on using underestimation as fuel, treating lived experience as strategic data, and reframing questions to change outcomes. Quick points on acting before feeling brave and how empowering women benefits everyone.

Reese Witherspoon has built an empire by betting on one simple truth: when you put women in charge of telling stories, you uncover whole themes that get missed when men are calling the shots—and it turns out to be wildly entertaining. In this fifth and final episode of our Women of Consequence series, Kelly sits down with the actress, producer, and founder of the media company Hello Sunshine, to talk about why she developed the Wild screenplay outside the studio system, what happens when women control the buying power, and why her ultimate goal is to make a lot of women a lot of money. This episode has been made possible by a grant from Ingeborg Initiatives, a social impact platform dedicated to improving maternal health and making it easier to raise a family. To learn more, please visit: ingeborginitiatives.com. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As part of our Women of Consequence series, Kelly sits down with podcaster and author Nora McInerny, who says without hesitation that her life is the product of women. The woman at the center of it all is her grandmother Mary Jane — a ceramicist who lived alone in a one-room cabin in the Minnesota woods, went back to college in her eighties, and moved through the world with a kind of fearless delight that rubbed off on everyone lucky enough to be around her. Nora lost her husband Aaron and her father within weeks of each other, and when the world fell apart, it was Mary Jane she thought of — a woman who had buried two of her own children and still showed up wildly in love with life. This episode has been made possible by a grant from Ingeborg Initiatives, a social impact platform dedicated to improving maternal health and making it easier to raise a family. To learn more, please visit: ingeborginitiatives.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A story about a 16-year stalemate unlocked by asking a different question that led to $320 million for pre-K. A look at how rephrasing prompts progress in politics, parenting, and building projects. Practical examples show finding the place someone can say yes and using impatience constructively to invite collaboration.

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham once dyed her hair red, said goodbye to her husband, and went undercover in a nursing home to expose the neglect that no one else was willing to see—much less work to change. That's who she is. She grew up watching her parents navigate an impossible road for her disabled sister — no roadmap, no safety net, no one coming to help — and she has never forgotten what it feels like to be out there alone fighting a system that isn't built for you. She went on to become a two-term governor who moved New Mexico from 50th in childhood poverty to 17th, made it the first state in the nation to offer universal childcare, and launched free college for every resident. Those wins matter enormously but what Kelly really wanted to dig into was how she got there— and what she found was a leader who owns her impatience like a superpower and knows that asking the right question can unlock everything. This episode has been made possible by a grant from Ingeborg Initiatives, a social impact platform dedicated to improving maternal health and making it easier to raise a family. To learn more, please visit: ingeborginitiatives.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A daughter reads a birthday letter that traces a life of risk and reinvention, from a bold move to Sweden to returning to school for a PhD. There are vivid memories of museum trips, nightly family dinners, and choosing experience over material things. Most moving is the account of steadying a family through grief while grieving in private.

They unpack why compassion fades as suffering grows and how empathy can burn out. They explore reframing maternal health as an economic investment with an 11-to-1 return. They discuss behavioral economics, framing effects, and practical reframes that pair moral stories with financial arguments to win policy and sustain change.

Suzy Welch, three-time NYT bestselling author and NYU professor who teaches decision-making, joins to explore self-authorship and purpose. She contrasts inheriting life stories with actively writing your own. She celebrates the growth and joy that comes from doing things that scare you.