The Ambition Code

Julie Kellman Reading

The Ambition Code is a premium podcast and conversation series about ambition, identity, career, reinvention, leadership, and the defining moments that shape who we become. Hosted by Julie Kellman Reading, the series features deeply human conversations with remarkable people who have built extraordinary lives across business, culture, creativity, entrepreneurship, leadership, and personal evolution. At its core, The Ambition Code explores ambition as a force that moves through every part of life - how we start, how we rise, how we navigate the unexpected, and how we break through into what comes next. Through honest and powerful conversations filled with humanity, humor, hard-earned experience, and real-world advice, the podcast gives listeners the knowledge and clarity to build momentum and move forward with confidence through every pivot, transition, risk, reinvention, and defining moment in their lives. Built for those entering the workforce, entrepreneurs, creatives, leaders, and anyone standing at the edge of a new chapter, The Ambition Code asks the bigger questions: What would you tell the younger version of yourself? How do you keep moving when the path is unclear? What does your journey teach you about purpose, resilience, legacy, and becoming who you are meant to be? The Ambition Code is a guide to running through open doors, and a bold reminder that your life is waiting for you.

Episodes

  1. 11h ago

    How to Start Before You Feel Ready, and Build the Life You Want with Abby Girvin

    Some people walk into a room. Abby Girvin arrives like sunshine with a business plan. ☀️🔥 She is a force of nature, a professional possibility-maker, and the kind of person who makes you believe you could completely change your life before lunch. In this episode of The Ambition Code, Julie Kellman Reading sits down with Abby, Owner and Agency Director of DDO Artists Agency, for a joyful, hilarious, and wildly motivating conversation about starting before you feel ready, and trusting yourself enough to figure it out along the way. Abby started her first modeling agency at 21. A few years later, she moved to Los Angeles with $500, one connection, and absolutely no interest in waiting for anyone to give her permission to make her mark. Within days, she began working at DDO Artists Agency as an agent. By 27, she owned it. Today, DDO represents more than 2,500 actors across Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Atlanta - and Abby is still leading with the same magic combination of instinct, optimism, courage, and let's-just-make-it-happen energy. Abby opens up about being underestimated as a young woman in the entertainment industry, purchasing a company before she felt fully prepared, and continuing to experience imposter syndrome even after decades of success. She shares how affirmations and visualization helped change the direction of her life, why intuition remains one of her greatest business tools, and how she built a company culture rooted in trust, autonomy, and giving people room to rise. We also talk about taking imperfect action, finding purpose without having every step mapped out, and why some of the most powerful decisions in life begin with one simple realization: If he, she, or they can do it…so can I. In This Episode Refusing to wait for permission to make your mark Being underestimated as a young woman in business Why success does not automatically eliminate imposter syndrome Using affirmations and visualization to create change Trusting intuition as a business and life strategy Growing DDO into a nationally recognized talent agency Building a team through trust, freedom, and autonomy Navigating uncertainty in the entertainment industry Finding purpose without having the entire plan Taking small, imperfect steps that create real momentum Abby Girvin's personal Ambition Code This episode is for anyone who has been waiting to feel more confident, more qualified, more certain, or more prepared before beginning. Abby's story is proof that you do not have to see the entire road. You simply have to take the next step. Come for the career wisdom. Stay for the sunshine. Leave ready to do the thing you have been overthinking for six months. ☀️✨🔥 Thank you, Abby, for such an excellent conversation! More About Abby Girvin and DDO Artists Agency Website: https://www.ddoagency.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/ddartists ✨ The Ambition Code: ✨ Created and Hosted by Julie Kellman Reading Produced by Love + Daydreams Music by @moby.gratis Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ambition-code/id6790585618 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033P0xatKPFsBNimqb32rb YouTube: https://www.YouTube.com/@TheAmbitionCodePod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheAmbitionCodePod Love + Daydreams: https://www.LoveAndDaydreams.com Your life is waiting for you. Let's go! #TheAmbitionCode #AbbyGirvin #DDOArtistsAgency #StartBeforeYoureReady #CareerReinvention #LoveAndDaydreams #WomenWhoPodcast

    How to Start Before You Feel Ready, and Build the Life You Want with Abby Girvin
  2. 11h ago ·  Bonus

    You Might Also Like: Morning Brew Daily

    Introducing JPMorgan Has Historic Q2 & New York Temporarily Bans Data Centers from Morning Brew Daily. Follow the show: Morning Brew Daily #889: Welcome Ray and Kyle! Today, the guys break down a flurry of bank earnings yesterday, including a record-setting quarter from JPMorgan. Next up, what Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said about inflation in congress and what the latest CPI data says. Then, New York temporarily bans data centers and the most expensive dinosaur fossil ever sold. Finally the headlines you need to know heading into hump day.  Get 10% off using MORNINGBREW10 at altrarunning.com/morningbrew  Get tickets for our trivia tournament! https://caveat.nyc/events/the-morning-brew-trivia-tournament-2026-07-30  Grab tickets to our Performance Revue show! https://www.morningbrew.com/events/brew-performance-revue-2026?utm_campaign=performance_revue_2026&utm_source=mbd Subscribe to Morning Brew Daily for more of the news you need to start your day. Share the show with a friend, and leave us a review on your favorite podcast app. Listen to Morning Brew Daily Here:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.swap.fm/l/mbd-note⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to team@podroll.fm.

    You Might Also Like: Morning Brew Daily
  3. 2d ago

    Welcome to The Ambition Code | Your Life is Waiting For You

    What does ambition look like when the career, life, or future you thought you understood suddenly changes? In the first episode of The Ambition Code, creator and host Julie Kellman Reading shares why she created the podcast - and why ambition is about far more than professional success. Julie explores the question at the heart of the series: How do you get from seeing the life you want to actually building it? She reflects on the open doors that shaped her career, the childhood business that first revealed her entrepreneurial instincts, and the moment decades later when enormous changes in both her personal life and the entertainment industry forced her to reconsider what came next. Drawing on everything she had already learned as an executive producer, storyteller, entrepreneur, and creative leader, Julie began building again - launching Love + Daydreams, creating a line of yoga mats, learning new platforms and technologies, joining The Media Machine podcast, and ultimately creating The Ambition Code. This episode is a powerful reminder that starting over does not mean starting from nothing. Every experience, skill, risk, failure, breakthrough, and version of yourself comes with you into your next chapter. In this episode: • How to move from imagining a future to creating one • Recognizing the opportunities that could change your life and making the choices to go for them. • Rebuilding when your career, industry, or personal life changes • Using everything you already know in a completely new direction • Why ambition is not always a straight climb upward • Beginning again - even decades into your life or career • Finding the courage to run through the next open door The Ambition Code is a premium conversation series about ambition, identity, career, reinvention, leadership, and the defining moments that shape who we become. Whether you are entering the workforce, making a career change, rebuilding after a difficult chapter, pursuing an idea, or standing at the edge of something new, this show is designed to give you perspective, clarity, practical wisdom, and momentum. Because your life is waiting for you. The Ambition Code is created and hosted by Julie Kellman Reading Produced by Love + Daydreams.  Music by @Moby.Gratis Please follow, like and subscribe to hear deeply human conversations with extraordinary people about how they built their lives, navigated change, and kept moving forward.

    Welcome to The Ambition Code | Your Life is Waiting For You

About

The Ambition Code is a premium podcast and conversation series about ambition, identity, career, reinvention, leadership, and the defining moments that shape who we become. Hosted by Julie Kellman Reading, the series features deeply human conversations with remarkable people who have built extraordinary lives across business, culture, creativity, entrepreneurship, leadership, and personal evolution. At its core, The Ambition Code explores ambition as a force that moves through every part of life - how we start, how we rise, how we navigate the unexpected, and how we break through into what comes next. Through honest and powerful conversations filled with humanity, humor, hard-earned experience, and real-world advice, the podcast gives listeners the knowledge and clarity to build momentum and move forward with confidence through every pivot, transition, risk, reinvention, and defining moment in their lives. Built for those entering the workforce, entrepreneurs, creatives, leaders, and anyone standing at the edge of a new chapter, The Ambition Code asks the bigger questions: What would you tell the younger version of yourself? How do you keep moving when the path is unclear? What does your journey teach you about purpose, resilience, legacy, and becoming who you are meant to be? The Ambition Code is a guide to running through open doors, and a bold reminder that your life is waiting for you.