Q&A: What I Got Right (and Wrong) in My 20s, Workaholism, Love, Purpose, and Career Pivots

The Double Tax: The Price of Being Overlooked and Underpaid with Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman

Women already pay a tax for existing. For women of color, that tax compounds — and Harvard economist and bestselling author Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman has the receipts. In this episode, Denise sits down with the author of The Double Tax: How Women of Color Are Overcharged and Underpaid (and The Black Agenda) to break down exactly how sexism, racism, and classism stack into real financial cost. They cover: The "cost of presentability" — what women spend annually just to look employable, and why the hair tax alone can run into thousands of dollars a year Why the motherhood penalty is real, documented, and getting worse — plus the true cost of raising a child from birth to 18 The corporate pipeline myth, and the research showing what actually changes when Black leaders are in the room Why reparations aren't just a moral argument — they're an economic one, backed by real numbers How companies like Target are learning that abandoning DEI has a real cost, not just a PR one If you've ever felt like you're working twice as hard for half the credit, this episode gives you the data — and the language — to name what's actually happening. You can follow her @itsafronomics You can follow this podcast @toomuchwithdlh and Denise @deniselovehewett Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman is an award-winning Ghanaian-American researcher and writer. She is a postgraduate student at Harvard Kennedy School studying public policy and economics. She is the youngest recipient for a CEDAW Women's Rights Award by the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Her first book, The Black Agenda: Bold Solutions for a Broken System [https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250276872/theblackagenda/]  received widespread coverage from outlets like NPR, ESSENCE, TELEMUNDO, and The New York Times.

Breaking Down the 3 Types of Burnout with Layne Baker and How to Find Your Zone of Genius (BEST OF)

Are you burnt out but don't know why? In this reairing, licensed therapist Layne Baker reveals the 3 hidden types of burnout that people face: burnout from neglect, overburdening, and being under-challenged. Learn the difference between your "zone of excellence" (what you're good at) and your "zone of genius" (what energizes you), plus discover what "eustress" means and why it's the good kind of stress you actually want. In this episode, Denise Love Hewett and therapist Layne Baker break down: The 3 types of burnout most people don't recognize Why being excellent at something can actually burn you out How to identify if you're stuck in your zone of excellence What eustress vs distress means for your mental health Practical tools for managing burnout when you can't change your job Why burnout is actually a signal for personal growth Layne Baker is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California specializing in high-functioning anxiety and burnout recovery. With over a decade of experience, she helps ambitious high-achievers break cycles of overperformance and burnout. Her work has been featured in Women's Health, Self, Parents, BuzzFeed, Newsweek, Success, and Thrillist. Layne's approach to burnout goes beyond prevention - she views burnout as a powerful message that fundamental life changes are needed for personal evolution. Her mission is helping high achievers transition to a more centered way of living that taps into inner wisdom rather than external validation.  You can find Layne at @laynebakertherapy and laynebaker.com You can follow Denise and this podcast at @deniselovehewett and @toomuchwithdlh

Q&A: What I Got Right (and Wrong) in My 20s, Workaholism, Love, Purpose, and Career Pivots

Too Much goes into the mailbag for the very first time. In this listener Q&A, Denise answers five questions that hit close to home — on overachieving young and not stopping to savor it, the fear that slowing down will make everything fall apart, waiting for a relationship before letting your life begin, finding purpose in your 20s by learning what you don't want, and whether 31 is too late to pivot careers. (It's not. Most women start businesses at 40.) Real talk, no filler — and please keep the questions coming. Topics covered: early career boldness · workaholic recovery · hustle culture · life on hold · dating intentionally · finding purpose · career pivots in your 30s · starting over You can follow this podcast @toomuchwithdlh and Denise @deniselovehewett You can find the Magus Deck at  www.worldofthemagus.org

Awe is the Antidote with Dacher Keltner: Why Wonder is Our Best Defense Against Power Corruption (BEST OF)

In this reairing, how does power change our brains, and what can we do about it? In this episode, emotion scientist Dr. Dacher Keltner from UC Berkeley reveals the shocking neuroscience behind power corruption and why awe might be our best defense against toxic leadership. We learn about: The Power Paradox: Why we gain power through social intelligence but lose it once we have it How power literally rewires your brain and shuts down empathy Simple daily practices that activate oxytocin and reduce anxiety Why authoritarian tactics ultimately fail and what sustainable power looks like How one minute of daily awe can change your life Why online life increases hate and reduces human connection by 5-10x Practical strategies for maintaining ethical leadership in toxic environments Dr. Keltner is one of the world’s foremost emotion scientists. He is a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley and the director of the Greater Good Science Center. He has over 200 scientific publications and six books, including Born to Be Good, The Compassionate Instinct and The Power Paradox. He has written for many popular outlets, from The New York Times to Slate. He was also the scientific advisor behind Pixar’s Inside Out, is involved with the education of health care providers and judges and has consulted extensively for Google, Apple, and Pinterest on issues related to emotion and well-being. You can follow him www.dacherkeltner.com and @greatergoodmag You can follow this podcast @toomuchwithdlh and Denise @deniselovehewett Email hello@deniselovehewett.com for any suggestions or to submit questions for advice.

Is College Still Worth It? Inside the NYU Program Beating the 'Job Apocalypse'

In this episode, Denise sits down with Dean Victoria Rosner of NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study — Denise's alma mater — to unpack why traditional higher ed advice is failing a generation entering one of the toughest job markets since 2008, and what one program is doing differently (with a 93% employment-or-grad-school rate within six months to show for it). This episode includes: Why "follow your passion and the rest will figure itself out" might be the worst career advice of the last 50 years How to build transferable skills instead of betting everything on one career lane The phrase "academic advising in the age of the job apocalypse" — and what it says about the state of higher ed right now AI, "cognitive offloading," and what's actually happening in classrooms Why an individualized, interdisciplinary education might be the best preparation for an unpredictable career This episode is for anyone who's ever felt like their degree didn't prepare them for the real world, or who's trying to figure out how to stay valuable in a job market that keeps rewriting the rules. You can find Gallatin at NYU @nyugallatin You can follow this podcast @toomuchwithdlh and Denise @deniselovehewett Victoria Rosner is the Dean of the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study and Professor of Humanities and English. Her books include Machines for Living: Modernism and Domestic Life (Oxford University Press, 2020); Modernism and the Architecture of Private Life (Columbia University Press, 2005; winner of the Modernist Studies Association Book Prize), and The Global and the Intimate: Feminism in Our Time (Columbia University Press, 2012; with Geraldine Pratt). She is co-editor of Gender and Culture, the preeminent book series on literature and gender, published by Columbia University Press, as well as founding co-editor of the web-based archive Pioneering Women of American Architecture, a project that recovers the histories of US women architects born before 1940, and which received the Docomomo 2022 Advocacy Award of Excellence. Rosner’s work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, and the Columbia University Center for the Study of Social Difference.