Duologue with Leslie Heaney

Belle Burden’s memoir Strangers has become the book of the year, and one of its biggest wake-up calls is how little Belle, an Ivy League–educated corporate attorney, knew about her own family’s finances. I asked Lacy Garcia, founder of Willow, to come back on Duologue to talk about why that experience is so common, even for smart, capable women, and what every one of us can do about it.

We get into the numbers behind women and financial confidence, how to prepare teens and young twentysomethings with healthy money habits that will carry them into their marriages and partnerships, why talking about money before and during marriage isn’t unromantic, how a prenup can be a framework for honest conversations, and the questions you should be asking about your accounts, insurance, beneficiaries, and more. Lacy also walks us through her Every Woman’s Checklist, which you can find on the Duologue Substack.

Chapters
(00:00:00) Why Strangers struck a nerve
(00:09:20) The numbers on women and financial confidence
(00:13:30) Raising financially literate kids and young adults
(00:38:53) Money conversations before and during marriage
(00:42:02) Prenups as a framework for honest conversations
(00:46:50) Trusts, separate property, and transparency
(00:51:39) Do you know what your spouse earns?
(00:56:25) Takeaways and Every Woman's Checklist

This episode is for informational purposes only and is not financial or legal advice. Please talk with a qualified professional about your own situation.

Thanks so much for listening! If you loved this conversation, please rate, review, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it really does help other listeners find the show. For more from Leslie, including exclusive essays and behind-the-scenes takes on every episode, subscribe to the Duologue Substack.

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Resources
Willow Trust: trustwillow.com

Ready to take the next step? Get matched with a financial advisor in Willow’s network: https://my.trustwillow.com/?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=duologue

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Ovarian cancer affects about 1 in 90 women, there is no screening test for it, and it rarely causes symptoms until it has already spread. For Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, I sat down with Dr. Kara Long, an ovarian cancer surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering, to talk about the discovery that changed everything we know about this disease: the most common and deadliest form of ovarian cancer actually starts in the fallopian tubes, not the ovaries.

Dr. Long walks us through why ultrasounds and blood tests can't catch it early, what the new data shows about fallopian tube removal (salpingectomy) and ovarian cancer prevention, and what the new American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) guidelines released this August mean for anyone who is finished having children, having a hysterectomy, or considering permanent birth control. We also talk about genetic testing, BRCA and beyond, why your family history matters more than you might think, and the real barriers to access. Plus, she shares what every woman should know about preventing cervical, endometrial, and vulvar cancer, including the HPV vaccine, hormone replacement, and the warning signs you should never ignore. Dr. Long has already seen this advice save a life: a woman who heard her speak on the topic took action, and it led to catching an aggressive ovarian cancer in time. As Dr. Long said, if even one or two people hear this and make a choice, it could save their lives. Please share it with the women you love. You could save a life.

Chapters
(00:00:00) Introduction
(00:02:00) Ovarian cancer by the numbers
(00:05:30) Why there's no screening test
(00:07:21) The fallopian tube discovery
(00:12:38) New data and the ACOG guidelines
(00:17:21) Family history and genetic testing
(00:26:23) Does tube removal cause menopause?
(00:28:29) Preventing other gynecologic cancers
(00:38:45) Dr. Long's prevention work
(00:44:50) Women's health and access
(00:49:44) Closing

Thanks so much for listening! If you loved this conversation, please rate, review, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it really does help other listeners find the show. For more from Leslie, including exclusive essays and behind-the-scenes takes on every episode, subscribe to the Duologue Substack.
Follow Duologue with Leslie Heaney:
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Resources
Outsmart Ovarian Cancer: outsmartovariancancer.org
American Cancer Society: cancer.org

Guest photos courtesy of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

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Corey Cook has been planning trips professionally for years, from teen adventures in Morocco to African safaris to the multi-family ski weeks that used to be reserved for the ultra wealthy. Leslie sits down with her old friend (nicknamed Quad since their boarding school days) to find out what a travel advisor actually does, and why so many people are finally using one.

Corey walks through the questions she asks every client before planning a trip, her favorite family and teen destinations right now (Morocco, Portugal, Costa Rica, London, Paris), and why a growing number of Americans are flying to the Alps to ski instead of paying Telluride prices. She also breaks down how to survive the most expensive week of the year to travel, the hacks she uses to get clients into Prague, Budapest, and South America instead of getting priced out of the Caribbean, and the simple rule that guides everything she does for a client: always ask.

Find Corey Cook at Fifi and Hop.

(00:00:00) Intro and welcome, Corey's "Quad" origin story
(00:03:00) From travel blog to travel advisor, Corey's background
(00:05:00) Best family and teen destinations, Morocco, California, dude ranches
(00:14:00) Costa Rica, London and Paris for teens
(00:18:00) The case for Portugal, Lisbon, Porto, the Douro Valley, Madeira
(00:21:00) Budget friendly picks, Vietnam, Thailand, Montenegro and Croatia
(00:23:00) Ski trips, Telluride versus skiing in Europe
(00:26:00) Ski and city combos, the Dolomites and Venice, Japan
(00:28:00) Surviving holiday travel pricing
(00:31:00) South America for the holidays, Argentina, Cartagena and Baru
(00:40:00) Insider tips, booking direct, always ask, hotel preferences
(00:45:00) The questions Corey asks every client before planning a trip
(00:46:00) Corey's pricing model and making travel advising accessible
(00:49:00) Corey's favorite trip ever, African safari
(00:50:00) Outro and teaser for a future couples travel episode

Thanks so much for listening! If you loved this conversation, please rate, review, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it really does help other listeners find the show. For more from Leslie, including exclusive essays and behind-the-scenes takes on every episode, subscribe to the Duologue Substack.

Follow Duologue with Leslie Heaney:
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Ariel Lawhon's new novel, The Pirate Queen, is out now, and it brings Grace O'Malley, a sixteenth century Irish noblewoman who became a legendary pirate, mother, and rebel, roaring back to life. It's the same instinct that shaped Ariel's earlier novels Codename Helene and I Was Anastasia: find the real woman that history left out, and let her tell the whole story.

In this conversation, Ariel tells me how she stumbled onto Grace's story at four in the morning, why she structures her novels around the maiden, mother, and matriarch phases of a woman's life, and what it actually takes to write women who get to be complicated at every age. We also get into her writing process. She's a self-described plotter who wrote her first novels in fifteen minute windows while raising four sons, and she keeps a running file of future book ideas, cleverly titled Possible Book Ideas, where stories can sit for over a decade before their moment finally arrives. She gives us a first look at what's next too: a Western she's calling Lonesome Dove, but for women.

The Pirate Queen is available now wherever books are sold.

(00:00:00) Welcome and introduction to Ariel Lawhon
(00:04:38) Growing up off-grid in Taos, New Mexico
(00:09:23) Her first novel and the friend who introduced her to her agent
(00:11:52) The email she sent with only a third of a manuscript
(00:14:08) Finding Judge Crater's story by accident
(00:16:33) Research and source material, and being on her sixth novel
(00:23:34) How every book idea has found her by accident
(00:25:51) The Frozen River and her 13-year-old file of Possible Book Ideas
(00:28:05) Plotter vs. pantser: writing in stolen time while raising four sons
(00:30:21) On inspiration: "the muse has to find you working"
(00:32:41) Why she's drawn to women with verve
(00:35:06) Writing older, more complex women into fiction
(00:37:29) Discovering Grace O'Malley at 4 a.m.
(00:39:49) Balancing Irish folklore against the English historical record
(00:42:02) The letter to Queen Elizabeth I and the meeting itself
(00:44:23) What The Pirate Queen is really about
(00:46:48) Teasing the next book: The Devil's Rope

Thanks so much for listening! If you loved this conversation, please rate, review, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it really does help other listeners find the show. For more from Leslie, including exclusive essays and behind-the-scenes takes on every episode, subscribe to the Duologue Substack.

Follow Duologue with Leslie Heaney:
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Follow Ariel Lawhon:
Website
Instagram

Pick up The Pirate Queen wherever books are sold!

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Surviving 9/11: my friend of over thirty years, Tim Grant, is speaking publicly for the first time about what happened to him that morning. Tim was on the 105th floor of the South Tower at the World Trade Center — one of only a handful of people who made it out from that floor and above. In this conversation, he walks me through that day minute by minute: the heat and fireball when the first plane hit the tower next door, his decision to leave his desk immediately rather than wait for instructions, and the more than one hundred flights of stairs he descended, which grew far more crowded and much slower once the second plane struck his own building while he was already partway down, around the 60th floor. He also describes his desperate attempt afterward to reach his fiancée from a payphone with no cell service working. Twenty-five years later, Tim opens up about what came after — the funerals, becoming a father, and how that morning has shaped the way he's lived every day since.

(00:00:00) Intro
(00:03:31) Tim's morning on September 11th before anything happened
(00:07:09) Feeling the heat from the first plane hitting Tower One
(00:09:55) Tim's decision to leave his desk immediately
(00:13:08) Descending to the 78th floor with Rob and Tom
(00:18:00) The second plane hits Tim's own building
(00:25:01) Reaching the bottom and the devastation outside
(00:44:03) Life after 9/11 — funerals, family, and moving forward
(00:47:58) Tim's message on what he wants us to remember

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