Under the Influence with Jo Piazza cover art

Under the Influence with Jo Piazza

Under the Influence with Jo Piazza

By: Jo Piazza
Listen for free

About this listen

 Under the Influence is a deep dive into social media, a place haunted by aspirational marketing where it feels like every other person is a social media influencer trying to sell you something, all while posed in perfect houses that never seem to get messy. And behind this airbrushed perfection is money, so much money. Billions and billions of dollars. Journalist and mom Jo Piazza looks at how we got here, what it all means and how the commodification of every single aspect of our lives is driving everyone (but mostly women and mothers) a little insane.Jo Piazza Parenting & Families Relationships Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Moms Drive the Economy. So Why Are They Still Underpaid?

    Moms Drive the Economy. So Why Are They Still Underpaid?
    Feb 5 2026
    Moms drive the majority of household purchasing decisions. Recommendations from mom influencers outperform traditional ads. They even convert better than celebrity endorsements. And yet, they’re still treated like they should be grateful for a free product and an affiliate link. This week we talk with Chelsea Clark, founder and CEO of Momfluence, an influencer marketing agency built specifically around mom creators, about how the mom-influencer economy really works and why it continues to undervalue women’s labor even as it explodes. We get into why moms chronically undercharge, how the lack of transparency mirrors other female-dominated industries, and the uniquely brutal experience of having your work publicly judged every day while also parenting. Learn more about Momfluence here. Join our newsletter community here. ORDER The Parisian Heist here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    49 mins
  • Why Planning Summer Has Become a Nightmare

    Why Planning Summer Has Become a Nightmare
    Feb 3 2026
    Every January, parents are asked to plan the entire summer for their kids months in advance, spend a lot of money, juggle waitlists, and pretend this isn't a hellscape of doom. In this episode, we chat with journalist Katherine Goldstein about the overwhelming amount of summer planning we all seem to be doing and why so much of it falls on moms. There are a ton of reasons for this that are uniquely American. We have long summers, very little paid time off, a culture that expects constant supervision, and a childcare system that’s mostly private and wildly expensive. Put all of that together and summer often ends up being more logistical nightmare than break. Katherine also pushes back on the idea that kids need nonstop structured programming to have a “good” summer. She talks about why the pressure to optimize every week is exhausting, and about what happened when her family opted out of the camp scramble and tried something totally different. Follow the Double Shift substack here. Join our newsletter community here. ORDER The Parisian Heist here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    46 mins
  • From Momfluencers to MILFs: Who Gets Labeled a Bad Mother

    From Momfluencers to MILFs: Who Gets Labeled a Bad Mother
    Jan 29 2026
    If you’ve had kids, you’ve probably wondered at some point if you’re a bad mother. I would say this is true for 99.9 percent of us. And the other 0.1 percent is Ruby Franke. On today’s episode of Under the Influence, we're joined by Cut culture writer EJ Dickson to talk about her smart, sharp and wildly satisfying new book One Bad Mother: In Praise of Psycho Housewives, Stage Parents, Momfluencers, and Other Women We Love to Hate. “Bad mom” is one of our culture’s favorite labels, and EJ pulls back the curtain on where it came from, how it evolved, and who it’s actually attacking. We talk about why the moral panic tends to land on women (and especially women of color), and how the modern parenting advice industry and influencer economy keep moms perpetually off-kilter. We also get into Mommie Dearest and maternal mental illness, the pressure to perform “good motherhood,” and why even the most self-aware among us still find ourselves blurting out, “I don’t usually give them this much screen time.” This one is a lucky, a permission slip to stop chasing impossible standards and let ourselves just be moms. Order One Bad Mother here Join our newsletter community here. ORDER The Parisian Heist here. Visit our lovely sponsors here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    42 mins
No reviews yet