Back in the spring, Sarah was featured on the cover of her hometown magazine, Paducah Life. As part of that cover story, she sat down with fellow Paducah native Chef Sara Bradley. They talked about leaving Paducah, coming back, and how they have worked to integrate personal and professional choices.

You can see a video version of this interview on YouTube.

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In Celebration of Award Winning Podcaster Sarah Stewart Holland (Paducah Life Magazine)

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TRANSCRIPT

Sarah [00:00:07] This is Sarah Stewart Holland.

Beth [00:00:09] This is Beth Silvers.

Sarah [00:00:10] You're listening to Pantsuit Politics.

Beth [00:00:12] Where we take a different approach to the news.

[00:00:14] Music Interlude.

[00:00:29] Hello. Thank you so much for joining us today. Everyone on our team observes the Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S. And so we are taking this week off to be with our families. We hope that wherever you are and whatever you celebrate, you are getting some good time filled with rest and that you are surrounded by lots of love as we are this week. So instead of talking about Headline news or big current cultural stories, we're going to do something different today and share a conversation that Sarah had last spring with Top Chef runner up chef Sarah Bradley. Both of the Sarah's grew up in Paducah, Kentucky, and then they left to pursue career goals and they came back to raise their families and begin new chapters of their professional lives. So the two of them sat down together for Paducah Life magazine to talk about those journeys.

[00:01:19] And this week, as many of us are traveling to hometowns, we hope that this will be a fun and relevant conversation for you. Don't forget to check out our fan gift guide for the Pantsuit Politics fan in your life as we head into the Thanksgiving holiday. I know for me, the pressure to complete my gift giving is on. And so we've tried to make that easy for you and fun, and so at least put the link for that in our show notes. And we appreciate all of your support. I do want to make sure as we are in the Thanksgiving season that I say thank you for listening. Thank you for spending time with us. Thank you for allowing us to continue to do this work. And for all the ways in which you make it possible and better. And without further ado, Chef Sarah Bradley and our own Sarah Stewart Holland.

[00:02:01] Music Interlude.

Sarah [00:02:09] So thanks for doing this interview I roped you into.

Sara Bradley [00:02:10] Thank you. I was driving over here and I used to live like your house is just a couple blocks from where I grew up. And now I just live a couple of blocks even farther. And I was like, I wonder if Sarah, like, when she moved away, did she ever think she's going to come back? Did you plan to come back here?

Sarah [00:02:30] That's a very good question. Now, 18 year old Sarah would have told you absolutely not. I'm getting out of here. I'm never coming back. Just like I think every 18-year-old says when they leave their home town.

Sara Bradley [00:02:39] Did Sarah also?

Sarah [00:02:39] Yes, that makes sense. Synchronicity on the never coming back. I went to [inaudible]. I went to WCL. I think at a certain point when I was in D.C. because I still really wanted to run for office, I got there and realized I'm not going to want to run to be a representative from Maryland or Virginia. That's not what I want. That's not who I am. That's not what I want. I do want to run in Kentucky. So I guess at that point I started thinking like, okay, I'm going to go back to Paducah. And then when we started talking about having kids, that's when I was like okay. Because by that point I had worked enough around people who were having kids as staffers, having kids in D.C., and I was looking around going, this is not what I want. I do not want to have to get on a list for the Congressional daycare center five years in advance. I lived in a third floor walkup. I didn't know exactly how that was going to work with a child in a stroller in this tiny apartment. And Nicholas worked all the time, weekends, early in the morning, late at night. And I thought, no, I'm ready for the next phase of life and I do not want that phase to take place in Washington, D.C..

Sara Bradley [00:03:50] I never thought I was coming back. If you ask my parents, they will tell you of all of our children we thought that this one--

Sarah [00:03:58] This was definitely not coming back.

Sara Bradley [00:04:00] Was not coming back to Paducah. I don't know. I think Paducah is very different than it was 20 plus years ago.

Sarah [00:04:07] A hundred percent.

Sara Bradley [00:04:11] How old are you talking about when you lived in D.C.?

Sarah [00:04:14] I graduated from undergrad, so I'd been 21 that year we spent in North Carolina. I had Griffin when I was 28. So like 22 to 27 is when we were there.

Sara Bradley [00:04:26] At 22 years old I had no clue what I wanted. I still was like trying to figure that out. So wasn't even really probably until-- like and then I worked a few more years and I finished up college and then I went to culinary school. And so when you were turning 27, I was just starting to probably professionally think about cooking in that 26, 27. You're a little bit older than...