Be There in Five Kate Kennedy

This week, Kate interviews podcast listener and NFL WAG Haley Pepper, who shares her experiences with a lot of BTI5 adjacent topics, like pageants, Bama sororities, and being in a relationship with a professional athlete. She discusses the misconceptions and realities of this lifestyle, including the lack of job security, the high expenses, and the pressure of constantly moving and adapting, along with the challenges of motherhood. Enjoy!

This week, Kate is joined by NYT bestselling romance author Carley Fortune (Meet Me at the Lake, Every Summer After) to discuss her latest book, dropping on May 7th, This Summer Will Be Different. They discuss Carley’s former "RomCom job" as an editor at Refinery29 Canada and her pivot to becoming a romance writer, the importance of strong female friendships and real experiences represented in literature, and why Prince Edward Island may be the next hot vacation spot. They also touch on literary tropes, Carley’s journey of writing through early motherhood, and how her own life has shaped her storytelling. Then, Kate can't help but fangirl that Meet Me at the Lake has been optioned by Archewell Productions, so she asks if she's met Meg, among other things. No spoilers - Enjoy!

This week, Kate crowdsources stories about attempting to, getting away with, or getting caught consuming age-inappropriate content as a kid and reads brave and inspiring stories from pop culture champions who fought for lyrics that weren’t clean and movies only suitable for ages over thirteen. From tales from the locked-and-loaded thumbs on the ‘back’ button of the remote control to the trials of the photocopiers and/or printers of the lyrics to “What’s Your Fantasy,” to the tribulations of those who fantasized about being “rubbed the right way” in their Genie in a Bottle era, this episode has something for everybody. If you have a story to share, email podcast@bethereinfive.com with the episode title in the subject line. Enjoy!

First impressions of Taylor Swift's 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department. See Kate and her sister Kelly's live reactions in 4 parts on patreon.com/bethereinfive if you're in the crowd and screaming MORE!

This week, a magical marvel of a solar event stuns the world, and Kate and Caroline can’t be bothered to go outside. Instead, they take a look into their mirrored furniture and do some self-reflection, such as why we always think the current version of ourselves participating in lightning-fast trend turnover is “timeless.” They also discuss various topics like avoiding popular movies and tv shows that will bum them out, fast furniture, SoulCycle music, etc. At one point, Kate goes on a rant about the marketing of a denim company that works overtime to remind her she probably hates her body post-baby, and they also spend quite a bit of time going through the Cupcakes & Cashmere archives on the Wayback machine. Enjoy!

This week, Amanda Montell (linguist and bestselling author of Cultish) is back on the pod for the first time since the LuLaRoe deep dive. This time, they’re discussing Amanda’s new book (out April 9) called The Age of Magical Overthinking, which explores our cognitive biases and the power, disadvantages, and highlights of magical thinking. Broadly defined as the belief that one’s internal thoughts can affect unrelated events in the external world, the book (and this episode) examines topics like celebrity worship, manifesting babes, therapy speak, toxic relationships, weaponized nostalgia, conspiracy theories, and other categories where our inner mental gymnasts are doing the most to justify our behavior. Enjoy!