Back to Biz with Katie and Boz

It’s summer! And here on Next Question with Katie Couric, Katie’s celebrating the shortest season with a fun series on books! But not just any books — memoirs!. Katie just finished writing her own memoir (which comes out this October — stay tuned!), so she wanted to spend time with other people who have shared their stories and put themselves on the page. She has a huge range of guests from actors Sharon Stone and Justin Baldoni to business leaders and entrepreneurs like former Xerox CEO Ursula Burns, Sarah Jakes and Amanda Kloots, and the memoir boss herself, Mary Karr. There’s so much to discuss, too: the pain of writing, the revelations of looking back on your life, and the triumphs of TMI. Episodes release every Thursday through the summer. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this special episode of Back to Biz with Katie and Boz, Katie takes the mic solo and shares her conversation with Disney Executive Chairman, Bob Iger. Early on, Iger dreamed of becoming the next Walter Conkrite and landed a job as the local weatherman for a small upstate New York TV station. He soon realized he was better suited behind the camera and began working his way up the corporate ladder at ABC, eventually leading the network’s sports and entertainment divisions. In 2005, he was named Disney’s CEO, ultimately transforming the beloved brand into a global powerhouse through a series of bold acquisitions -- Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm all joined the Disney family during Iger’s tenure. Along the way, he built a reputation for his kindness, integrity, and enthusiastic appreciation of creative talent. He stepped down as CEO in February of this year, assuming the role of Executive Chairman. Soon after, the pandemic hit and the world changed seemingly overnight -- particularly for Disney, a company built on in-person experiences like theme parks, movies, sports, and cruise lines. As Iger helps lead the company through perhaps the most challenging time of its nearly 100-year history, he speaks with Katie about this unprecedented moment along with all the other twists and turns of his remarkable life and career. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this new limited series, Award-winning journalist Katie Couric explores America's voting wars, from the founding of this "more perfect union" to today. What unfolds is a struggle for power — both the fight to keep it and the fight to reclaim it through the ballot. Turnout: It's about so much more than this election. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s that time of the year when students typically descend upon university campuses around the country — moving into dorm rooms, filling up stadiums, cramming into classrooms and swelling small towns to capacity. Unfortunately, that is not the college scene this year. After the coronavirus forced schools to shut down last March, those same institutions are struggling to figure out how — or if — students can safely come back this fall. On this episode of Back to Biz with Katie and Boz, co-hosts Katie Couric and Bozoma Saint John tackle this thorny issue with the presidents of their alma matters, James Ryan of the University of Virginia, a public research school in Charlottesville, and Michael Roth of Wesleyan University, a private liberal arts school in Connecticut. The presidents talk about their fall plans, how much of a financial hit their institutions will take, and how the pandemic — and this moment of racial unrest — could change the higher education system for good.  For more, subscribe to Katie Couric’s morning newsletter, “Wake-Up Call.” Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You don’t have to be a parent to recognize that parenting during COVID is a struggle. When the coronavirus shut down daycare facilities and schools across the country in March, parents became not only full time caretakers, but also teachers, coaches and playdates for their suddenly isolated kids. And working parents — those lucky enough to be able to keep their jobs or work remotely during the shutdown — have had to also find time in the day to do the job that pays the bills. For single working parents, or black or brown parents, that impossible situation, that non-existent work-life balance, is an even heavier burden to bear. But this isn’t new for Christine Michel Carter. In fact, the marketing strategist, working-mom advocate and best-selling author has been “Chicken Little” for the past five years, running around telling everyone the work-life balance sky was falling. COVID just exacerbated the reality. “The world is exposed to the fact that even in married two-income households — unlike mine — women are three times more likely to be the spouse who carries the additional burden of the mental load of just everything that’s going on,” she says. On this episode of Back to Biz with Katie and Boz, co-host Bozoma Saint John talks with Christine about about how to build a better employer-employee relationship, one that doesn’t compartmentalize mothers and fathers, but allows people to bring their whole selves — kids, school mishaps, doctor appointments, birthday parties and all — to the office (or the zoom meeting). Christine and Boz share their own struggles of being a parent in the corporate world, how communities of color are disproportionately affected, and what that so-called work-life balance could look like on the other side of this pandemic. Check out Christine Michel Carter’s book, “Mom AF.”For more, subscribe to Katie Couric’s morning newsletter, “Wake-Up Call.” Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The multi-hyphenate talent Ashley Graham has innovated a career that has spread across fashion, beauty, television, and podcasting. Ashley started modeling when she was just 12, but it wasn’t long before she was breaking boundaries — and changing the face of — the size-obsessed industry, becoming the first curvy model to cover Vogue and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue (among others), to walk Michael Kors, and to land a major beauty contract (Revlon). On this episode of Back to Biz with Katie and Boz, the model, entrepreneur, TV host, and producer talks to her friend Bozoma Saint John about pushing for more inclusivity and fewer labels at every step of her career. “There was always a label kind of looming over me,” she tells Boz. “Nobody wants to be labeled, yet people still put you in a box for who you are and who you stand for and who you’re rooting for and who you’re not rooting for. And all I simply wanted was to just be accepted for who I was.” Boz and Ashley also talk about motherhood, the need for diversity in all industries, and what it has been like quarantining with her family in her hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska. “We must be very abnormal,” she says, “because it’s working!”For more, subscribe to Katie Couric’s morning newsletter, “Wake-Up Call,” at KatieCouric.com. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Back to Biz with Katie and Boz, Katie Couric is on book deadline! While she’s busy writing, Bozoma Saint John sits down for an intimate conversation with her good friend and all around entertainment renaissance woman La La Anthony. La La shares her career journey from radio personality to MTV VJ (hello, “Total Request Live”) to producer, actress, entrepreneur and activist. They touch upon the ups and downs of quarantine life, but also dive deep into the current state of social and racial unrest and its emotional toll. Although the country’s racial injustices are amplified now, it is a reality both women have dealt with their whole lives and now have to watch their children go through, too. La La shares how she is preparing her 13-year-old son Kiyan for the world he has to live in: “We have a 13-year-old Black son and we live in New York City,” La La says. “My son walks around with a hoodie … he plays basketball, he’s in the gyms, he’s on the courts outside. So we tell him ‘this at any moment could be you.’” It’s a deeply personal conversation about their struggles, as well as their hopes for what can change. “There’s still so much work to do,” La La says, “and you don’t stop just because a hashtag isn’t trending anymore."For more, subscribe to Katie Couric’s morning newsletter, “Wake-Up Call,” at KatieCouric.com. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

2020 was going to be a big year for Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky: With a valuation around $31 billion, Airbnb was going to go public on March 31. And then the pandemic hit. Within weeks, Airbnb was gutted and Brian was forced to lay off 25 percent of his staff. “It would have been so easy to just spiral,” Brian Chesky says. “But every moment is a moment for us to be doing something that’s defining, to make us better.” On this episode of Back to Biz with Katie and Boz, co-hosts Katie Couric and Bozoma Saint John talk to Brian about how he quickly pivoted his company and how travel will be forever changed. In the wake of the national anti-racism protests, Airbnb has also had to reckon with its record on discrimination. Brian Chesky shares his regrets on not doing more sooner on race and the steps the company is taking now to make the platform and the company more equitable.  Sign up for Katie Couric’s morning newsletter, “Wake-Up Call.” Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Judd Apatow is a comedy powerhouse in Hollywood. From “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” to “Knocked Up” and “This is 40,” Judd has altered the comedy-making template, finding the funny in relatable and vulnerable (even cringeworthy) characters and situations. But what about the responsibility that comes with that power? In this moment of national reckoning on race, what are leaders like Judd doing to lift up black voices and stories? On this episode of “Back to Biz with Katie and Boz,” co-hosts Katie Couric and Bozoma Saint John talk to Judd about how Hollywood can bring diversity to the big screen, the future of moviemaking — and going — in a social-distanced world, as well as his new movie. “The King of Staten Island,” starring Pete Davidson, is an incredibly personal story (based on Pete’s own life) about loss, trauma, and mental health, which Judd says is perfect for this moment. The movie is available to watch on demand. Sign up for Katie Couric’s morning newsletter, “Wake-Up Call.” Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After Stacey Abrams narrowly lost her historic gubernatorial run in 2018, she did not contest the race. She could have, but instead the long-time activist, lawyer and politician put all of her effort to fighting a broken voting system into ensuring fair elections in the future. “This is not about one politician or one race,” she says. “This is about an infrastructure that’s supposed to serve citizens and it’s not.” On this episode of Back to Biz with Katie and Boz, Stacey Abrams talks about the work her organization “Fair Fights Action” is doing to mitigate the harm of voter suppression and how their helping voters to prepare for November. Katie and Boz also talk to Stacey about her childhood, her love of “Star Trek,” that little VP rumor, and the key difference between the protests happening today compared with the ones that broke out after the Rodney King verdict 30 years ago. Stacey Abrams new book “Our Time is Now” is available wherever you buy books. For more information, follow Katie Couric and Bozoma Saint John on Instagram and sign up for Katie Couric’s morning newsletter, “Wake-up Call,” at KatieCouric.com. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the first woman to helm one of the big three Detroit automakers, GM CEO Mary Barra has learned a lot about creating a more diverse and equitable company. “The mindset people have to have is this is never done,” she says. “I look for the day when it doesn’t need special focus, but I think we’re a long way off from having leaders being very deliberate about creating diverse groups, diverse opportunities.” In this episode of Back to Biz with Katie and Boz, Mary Barra talks with co-hosts Katie Couric and Bozoma Saint John about the letter she wrote to her employees about George Floyd’s murder and the actions GM is taking to move the conversation forward. Barra also talks about the early successes of opening the GM facilities as well as the ways the pandemic has accelerated trends that may forever change the GM automobile. Click here for a detailed list of anti-racist resources.Click here to sign up for Katie Couric’s morning newsletter “Wake-Up Call.” Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Monday, May 25, George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, accused of using a counterfeit $20 at a deli, was killed in police custody. The next day video captured by bystanders, and spread widely on social media, revealed how brutal and inhumane Floyd’s arrest and last living moments — at the hands of a white cop — really were. Since that video’s release, protesters have taken to the streets in at least 140 cities, demanding justice not only for George Floyd, but also for Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and all black lives. On this episode of Back to Biz with Katie and Boz, Katie Couric and Bozoma Saint John speak with Bishop T.D. Jakes, founder and senior pastor of The Potter’s House, and Black Lives Matter co-founder Opal Tometi about what that justice should look like. They discuss the desperate need to not only stop the harm against black people but also repair centuries of damage and why everyone has to step up and speak up for the benefit of all. “This is not a black people’s problem. This an American crisis,” Bishop T.D. Jakes says. “The choice you really have,” Opal Tometi says, “is to be a part of justice or know that you are impeding justice.”  Click here for a detailed list of anti-racist resources.Click here for more information or to support Black Lives Matter.Click here to sign up for Katie Couric’s morning newsletter “Wake-Up Call.” Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How will the pandemic change the way we work, go to school, go out, travel, and experience the world? In this new limited series, co-hosts Katie Couric and Bozoma Saint John set out to understand how this unprecedented moment will change our future. In weekly episodes, Katie and Boz interview CEOs, innovators and thought leaders in industries from tech and media to education and entertainment to fashion and sports, to find out how they are adjusting to — and innovating in —this new world order. Back to Biz with Katie and Boz releases Thursdays during the summer of 2020. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the premiere episode of "Back to Biz with Katie and Boz," co-hosts Katie Couric and Bozoma Saint John set the stage for their forward-looking 10-episode series about how our pandemic present will shape the future of business — from tech and media, to education and sports, to fashion and pop culture. Their first guest is none other than tech and media journalist and podcaster Kara Swisher who offers a big-picture look at the ways the shuttered economy has made Big Tech even bigger — for better and worse. "Any trends that were present have been accelerated and then helped by tech," Kara says. "You could go around from industry to industry. Look at streaming entertainment that people have been using. Look at Netflix — [it's] never had more usage." Katie, Boz and Kara discuss what it means to be an essential worker and why all businesses will have to reassess what "gig work" means. They also talk about the future of education, why TikTok is having more than a moment, and the exciting and hopeful innovations that are bubbling up in tech.For more information on this episode, subscribe to Katie Couric's morning newsletter "Wake-Up Call" at KatieCouric.com. And make sure to follow Katie Couric and Bozoma Saint John on Instagram. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.