Podcast Summary: Brooke Baldwin on "Unraveling"

Podcast: All Of It
Host: Alison Stewart, WNYC
Guest: Brooke Baldwin, journalist and former CNN anchor
Date: August 27, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode of "All Of It" dives deep into the themes of job loss, reinvention, and the process of personal "unraveling." Host Alison Stewart welcomes Brooke Baldwin, former CNN anchor, to reflect on her own high-profile firing and the subsequent journey to redefine herself. Together, they invite callers to share how they've navigated seismic life changes, offering a tapestry of resilience, vulnerability, and hope. The conversation balances candid self-exploration with practical advice and encouragement, resonating with anyone at a career crossroads.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Brooke Baldwin’s Departure from CNN: The Unraveling

• Personal Impact: Baldwin describes the visceral emotional response she still feels when reflecting on being let go—fear, messiness, discomfort.
  • Quote: "Even as you talk about that, I can still feel it in my body, you know? Ooh, just the mess, the uncomfortableness, the fear. Yes, all of that is true." (02:06)
• Choice to Go Public: Baldwin explains her decision to use her TED Talk to tell her full, messy truth to inspire others going through similar upheavals.
  • Quote: "I needed to stand up there and take a really deep breath and tell folks, you know what, while it was a beautiful, privileged career I had, I also was sort of unceremoniously let go for really no good reason." (03:17)
  • Goal: "This is what happened to me. You're not alone. This is how I've been getting through it. Let me walk this walk right alongside you." (04:31)
• The Armor of an Anchor: Baldwin candidly discusses how her on-air persona was protected by tangible (makeup, wardrobe) and intangible (CNN’s institutional presence) armor, and how its loss forced her to re-examine her identity.
  • Quote: "I was armored up and it was tangible and intangible...this giant entity that is CNN all around me...that safety net...until I no longer had none of those things..." (07:04)

The Cost of Being a “Yes Person”

• Self-Silencing: Baldwin recognizes her complicity in not speaking up for herself, despite her public voice.
  • Quote: "I own it wasn’t just how I was treated...it was my own complicity in my own self-silencing...I should have spoken up earlier, you know..." (06:12)
• Hustle Culture vs. True Essence: She describes how constant agreement and career ambition eventually cost her integrity by keeping her out of alignment with her internal compass.
  • Quote: "Ultimately, it cost me my integrity. Because I think we either subscribe to, what I would refer to as hustle culture...versus our true essence." (12:20)
  • "Just because you're really good at the thing that you are doing doesn't necessarily mean that is in alignment with your true essence and your true nature." (13:18)

Catalyst for Change: The Trump Era

• Fundamental Shift in News: Baldwin identifies the start of Donald Trump’s campaign in 2015 as the moment cable news' culture changed—less listening, more fighting—and notes how that shift pushed her further from her own values.
  • Quote: "That became the delineation point for me...the way we covered news...fundamentally changed. I never quite felt, you know, needing to interrupt guests, being encouraged to have fights on the air, not really being able to sit in the deep end and listen...And that’s just not who I am." (14:13)
  • "God bless cnn...for telling me to go away...it wasn’t for me anymore." (15:07)

Redefining Identity Outside the Dream Job

• From "CNN’s Brooke Baldwin" to Brooke Baldwin: It's an ongoing process—taking about a year to even begin shedding the brand, with a nudge from Maria Shriver reinforcing that worth isn't tied to an institution.
  • Quote: "It took me a solid year to pull those letters out of my heart and mind...Maria Shriver...said, brooke, you will always be a journalist. You're not a journalist because of the three letters. You're a journalist because you're Brooke Baldwin." (23:03)
• Cleansing the Wardrobe Armour: Letting go of "anchor clothes" was part of detaching from the persona—selling much, donating proceeds, and finding new, authentic style.
  • Quote: "I'm a jeans and a sneakers girl. And it has been so interesting finding my own style now as a professional...that was part of my armor for sure." (24:01)

Embracing the Unraveling

• Reframing Loss: Baldwin urges reframing "unraveling" not as a negative, but as "loosening, unknotting, freeing up"—an opportunity to become anything.
  • Quote: "Don’t let the un fool you. To unravel is to loosen, to unknot, to free up. It's to become anything, to become whatever you want to be." (21:27)
  • On hidden gifts: "Sometimes the universe whispers, then shouts. She knocks, then slams your forehead with a brick. You gotta, like, watch for the signs...it was a blessing. It was a hidden gift." (09:44)

Notable Listener Stories (With Timestamps)

• Caroline, ex-tech exec turned interior designer (08:52):
  • "I just closed a book that I didn’t want to read and started a new chapter at a good, juicy new book."
  • Baldwin: "What I heard is this new phrase I use called a hidden gift...Let's not sugarcoat, it takes a minute. You gotta lick your wounds...But you'll get there." (09:44)
• Peter, ex-Wall Street and designer, now daily money manager (10:49):
  • Found his "true nature" in senior services, helping others—and finally feels he's where he belongs.
• Sena, early-career nonprofit worker (15:30):
  • Job loss was a "blessing in disguise," freeing her for more meaningful, soul-aligned work with a parks nonprofit, even early in her career.
• Ezra, neurosurgeon to actor (16:41):
  • After a celebrated career, he returns to an old creative passion, acting, and finds new fulfillment.
  • "You have to truly believe in yourself and then the path will be carved out ahead of you." (19:10)
• Steve, veteran journalist returning to school (25:38):
  • Instead of fitting into old roles post-layoff, he's learning new approaches, seeking to "figure out what value I bring to a new institution."
  • "It's not trying to fit into somebody else's, you know, idea of what you are." (27:17)

Practical Advice & Memorable Quotes

• On Survival and Privilege of Reinvention:

  • Alison notes and Baldwin confirms that not all have the financial or social cushion to undertake radical change, acknowledging privilege and offering advice.
    • "For some people, they don't have the finances to be able to do this...they may feel stuck, like there is no other option. I just wanna say, like, oof, I see you..." (27:24)
    • Baldwin: Find ways outside employment for fulfillment: hobbies, time with family, books, and "breadcrumbs" on your path. (27:35)

• On Living in Alignment:

  • Baldwin: "Just pay attention, write it down, journal, meditate on it...it's so important to have a sense of self belief because once you make that leap into...your soul work...then the path will be carved out ahead of you." (19:10)

• On Rebirth and Becoming:

  • "I really believe we are all at some stage of unraveling...or reraveling anew...we are born with all the tools...then at some point, we have this frying pan to the forehead moment...that, to me, is a hidden gift." (21:27)

Takeaways

• Job loss and transition, though painful, can be transformational—offering a "hidden gift."
• Identity beyond a career requires deliberate, vulnerable unarmoring.
• Self-alignment—doing what matches your internal compass—may not always be practical but brings fulfillment.
• “Unraveling” is not an ending, but a space for rebirth and possibility.
• Not everyone can reinvent easily, but small soulful alignments—even hobbies—are meaningful.
• Community, sharing stories, and listening are powerful tools for handling change.

Recommended Next Step: Watch Brooke Baldwin’s TED Talk for more on the "unraveling" journey.