The "Rise" and Fall of the Girlboss
May 31, 2026 · 2 hr 25 min · 12 segments
**RESTOCK ALERT:** Just in time for your summer vacation, the Banned Books tote is back in stock. **Alt. title:** Katie…
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May 31, 2026 · 2 hr 25 min · 12 segments
**RESTOCK ALERT:** Just in time for your summer vacation, the Banned Books tote is back in stock. **Alt. title:** Katie…
An emerging slice of women who are shifting away from full-throttle careers defy such easy characterization.
They've read Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg.
They've stood on the shoulders of the second wave feminists who fought for their right to work.
60 years on from that fight, they're also beginning to wonder whether all that career pressure they've been under was another way of forcing them into a box.
If they now want something other than more work in exchange for all that work, why exactly is that a capitulation?
Okay, and now I'm gonna have you read a section of the article about one or two women in particular.
Ashley McCreary, for one, used to believe the pinnacle of success would be becoming the vice president of a healthcare company.
Then she became one, helping lead a startup through an acquisition, which enabled her to cash in on her equity.
To Ms. McCreary, whose parents divorced when she was 16, women's financial freedom had always been paramount, and she'd never considered being a stay-at-home mother.
"Growing up, I was like, 'Why would you ever do that?'" she said.
But after having her first daughter during the pandemic, and another two years later, she understood.
It wasn't that she couldn't balance work and family, flag that.
[laughs]
She worked remotely from her home in Louisville, Kentucky, and set work-life boundaries that her colleagues respected.
Whatever, quote, "having it all is," end quote, Ms. McCreary felt she had it, but she didn't want it.
Among other things, the periodic travel her job required now seemed totally unappealing.
"So many of us are told what being successful is, we never really thought about whether we want that or not," she said.
She left her full-time job in December of 2023 and has since been the primary caregiver for her children while building her own coaching service for women going through similar transitions, flag that.
But just because the move was hers to make does not mean it was easy.
Who was she to make that decision when so many women couldn't? "I'm partially really proud that I set myself up to make a choice," she said.
"At the same time, I think to myself, 'Are people judging me for not working? Are people judging me for not having to work?'" In a LinkedIn post last year, flag that-
[laughs]
...
An emerging slice of women who are shifting away from full-throttle careers defy such easy characterization.
They've read Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg.
They've stood on the shoulders of the second wave feminists who fought for their right to work.
60 years on from that fight, they're also beginning to wonder whether all that career pressure they've been under was another way of forcing them into a box.
If they now want something other than more work in exchange for all that work, why exactly is that a capitulation?
Okay, and now I'm gonna have you read a section of the article about one or two women in particular.
Ashley McCreary, for one, used to believe the pinnacle of success would be becoming the vice president of a healthcare company.
Then she became one, helping lead a startup through an acquisition, which enabled her to cash in on her equity.
To Ms. McCreary, whose parents divorced when she was 16, women's financial freedom had always been paramount, and she'd never considered being a stay-at-home mother.
"Growing up, I was like, 'Why would you ever do that?'" she said.
But after having her first daughter during the pandemic, and another two years later, she understood.
It wasn't that she couldn't balance work and family, flag that.
[laughs]
She worked remotely from her home in Louisville, Kentucky, and set work-life boundaries that her colleagues respected.
Whatever, quote, "having it all is," end quote, Ms. McCreary felt she had it, but she didn't want it.
Among other things, the periodic travel her job required now seemed totally unappealing.
"So many of us are told what being successful is, we never really thought about whether we want that or not," she said.
She left her full-time job in December of 2023 and has since been the primary caregiver for her children while building her own coaching service for women going through similar transitions, flag that.
But just because the move was hers to make does not mean it was easy.
Who was she to make that decision when so many women couldn't? "I'm partially really proud that I set myself up to make a choice," she said.
"At the same time, I think to myself, 'Are people judging me for not working? Are people judging me for not having to work?'" In a LinkedIn post last year, flag that-
[laughs]
...
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