About this episode

Maryam Mehrtash discusses her journey of reinvention after a layoff, the impact of corporate culture on identity, and the importance of community support and women's health awareness.

Lauren Hall and Lura Forcum host We Made This Political with guest Maryam Mehrtash , a former marketing executive ( Disney, Marvel Studios, 20th Century, and the Paramount+ launch ) who pivoted after a late-2023/early-2024 layoff into writing, Substack ( This Is Not a Memo ), speaking, and authoring her first book on reinvention, leadership, and how systems are failing people. She describes losing her identity after job loss, the pressures of transactional corporate culture, and a heart attack at 42 that she links to compounded chronic stress plus genetic risk (elevated lipoprotein(a)) and elevated LDL; she urges awareness of women’s heart-attack symptoms and Lp(a) testing. The conversation centers on her essay “We Were Never Meant to Do This Alone,” critiquing American self-sufficiency myths, discussing lost “villages,” workplace and policy gaps (childcare, paid leave, healthcare), community-building practices, and potential admin-load relief via AI.00:00 Meet Maryam Mehrtash00:41 From Disney to Reinvention02:20 Layoff and Identity Shift05:16 Heart Attack Wake Up Call13:05 Values Boundaries and Betting on Yourself18:59 We Were Never Meant Alone26:26 Rehumanizing Work and…

People in this episode

Hosts: Lura Forcum, Lauren Hall

Guest: Maryam Mehrtash

Topics covered

• reinvention
• identity loss
• corporate culture
• women's health
• community building
• AI in workplace

Keywords

• reinvention
• identity
• corporate culture
• heart attack
• women's health
• community
• AI
• childcare
• paid leave

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Disney, Marvel Studios, 20th Century, Paramount+

Books & works: This Is Not a Memo, We Were Never Meant to Do This Alone

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