About
Hey! I'm Amy, host of Women of Power.
In each episode, I tell the story and analyze the rise of a powerful woman. I read thousands of pages of biographies and dig into interviews to bring you the juiciest stories and most actionable insights.
It's a practical podcast for ambitious women. It's also a fun exploration of business, psychology, history, gender, and the workings of power.
I've always loved reading memoirs and biographies. At Stanford I studied history and technology, and since graduating, I've read 30-50 books a year in my free time. As I grew from engineer to founder & executive of a 25-person startup, I realized that I didn't always resonate with the strategies and motivations of successful men who I read about.
That's why I'm making Women of Power: to explore how influential women have navigated social situations and leveraged their femininity to grow their power. I hope you’re as fascinated and inspired as I am by their strategies.
Listen to the podcast:
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Inspiration
Podcasts that inspired me:
- How To Take Over The World by Ben Wilson
- Founders by David Senra
My favorite biographies:
- The Years of Lyndon Johnson series by Robert Caro (I actually did a podcast episode on LBJ's wife, Lady Bird Johnson)
- Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert Massie
- Anna: The Biography by Amy Odell (listen to my episode on Anna Wintour for the highlights)
- The Power Broker by Robert Caro (it's about a man but the opening chapters on his mother & grandmother are fascinating)
- Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford (spoiler: this guy also had a strong mother)
Recent Episodes
Ep 5: Fei-Fei Li: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI
Stanford professor Fei-Fei Li has been nicknamed the "godmother of AI." She recently wrote a memoir about her childhood in China, struggles as an immigrant in New Jersey, and the curiosity ...
Ep 4: Catherine the Great: German Girl Turned Russian Tsar
We unpack how Catherine, born a minor German princess, won the love of the Russian public and overthrew her husband to become Tsarina of Russia. We also examine how she became one of only 3 Russian r...
Ep 3: Lady Bird Johnson: Attaining Power By Being #2
In this episode, we do something different: we cover a woman whose power was entirely derived from her husband. We discuss how Lady Bird achieved her ambitions by fighting hard for her marriage to th...