‘Work In Progress’ Host Sophia Bush Wants Women To Ask For What They Deserve

Sophia Bush fans know her from hit TV shows like “One Tree Hill” and “Chicago P.D.,” but her latest role isn’t on screen. She’s hosting “Work in Progress,” a new Cloud10 podcast, and she’s interviewing some of her favorite people.

The actress spoke to International Business Times ahead of the Create & Cultivate Small Business Summit Presented by Mastercard. Bush was at the New York City career conference on Oct. 19, right in the middle of National Women’s Small Business Month, to chat with women who have their own enterprises. In addition to hosting “Work in Progress,” Bush is also invested in Detroit Blows, a female-owned dry bar in Michigan. She told IBT all about her new podcasting gig and revealed her best advice for female small business owners.

IBT: Why was now the right time to start Work in Progress?

Sophia Bush: I think it was a long time coming, and for many years, people were telling me that I should do this. I guess there's always the reality that you've got to feel ready. For me, in particular, after some great conversations I had on podcasts last year, I think looking at the data that was sent my way about the impact of those conversations, I thought, "Okay, maybe there's really something to what everyone's been saying I should do." So we started meeting about it in the spring and started recording at the top of the summer and had about 30 interviews done by the time we launched in September.

It just has been such a joy. And the fun of it for me, really, is that it's a space to be as deeply curious as possible. And then I get to spend my privilege. I get to pay forward the fact that I have Gloria Steinem's cell phone number in my phone. I can share the access to some of these incredible people, who I know thanks to my job and my political and social work.

IBT: So how did it come about? Were you approached by Cloud10, or did you go looking for a podcast team?

Bush: It was actually the folks at Cloud10 who brought me the impact and impression data from two podcasts that I did, one of which they were producing and one of which they had a hand in helping out with. They just said, "Look what's happening. When you have conversations like this, look what happens."

That was really a light bulb for me because so many of us experience versions of imposter syndrome or fear about, "Am I any good at this?" Or, "Is anybody really going to care?" For me, I wanted to make sure that if I was going to do something, it would serve a purpose. And it was pretty incredible to see the potential broken down into data. I think there's something about data that makes me feel safer, strangely, about issues in the world. And I realized that that feeling applied to my own ability to have these conversations as well.

IBT: How do you go about choosing your guests?

Bush: Honestly, it's really been about making sure that I can have conversations that I can share with people, that are akin to some conversations I had with some of these guests in private, that have been so impactful for me that I really have wanted to share them. And then additionally, we put together a dream list of 200 people we wanted to interview. And so far, not a single person has said no. It's been really amazing, and I'm just excited for what's to come.

IBT: How are you adjusting to being the one asking the questions?

Bush: Honestly, I love it because I ask a lot of questions in my life. I'm a very curious person, and I really want to understand how systems work, especially before I go out and advocate on behalf of organizations that are working to make them better. So it's a natural curiosity for me. It also puts the journalism degree that I was working toward in college to good use, and it really just feels like the most natural extension of who I am as a person rather than what I do at work. This is such a personal project and a passion project, and it just flows.

IBT: What has been your biggest challenge so far in starting this podcast?

Bush: Honestly, it hasn't felt like a challenge. It's just felt like a joy. I think that the one hindrance, really to any of this creative work, in any of the verticals that I dip in and out of, is really just about time. Twenty-four hours in a day don't seem to be enough. If we had the 36-hour day, I think life would be so amazing. But c'est la vie, that's not how it works.

So for me, it's really figuring out how to continue to do it all, how to make schedules work and how to meet people where they are. I really do prefer to interview people in person. I've ever only asked to do one satellite interview so far. And that commitment to being in the room with people definitely takes work, but I also really think that it's worth it.

IBT: How do you hope your podcast impacts listeners?

Bush: I really just hope that it can be a gathering place, not just for my guests and I, but also for our listeners, to learn from each other and perhaps to widen our perspectives a bit. It's been such an incredible thing to get feedback from people who say, "This really opened my eyes to this issue. This topic, this episode helped me have a conversation with my family that I didn't know how to have. This episode helped me get real about what I needed to do to prioritize my mental health." Truly, it's the most meaningful feedback I've ever had on any project I've ever done. And that's the goal, I think for me, is just to be creating a deeper and more caring sense of community in myself and for my listeners.

IBT: You're about to speak at Create & Cultivate's Small Business Summit. So what is your best advice to women in small businesses?

Bush: I think we really need to start digging in our heels and learning to ask for what we deserve. I had a meeting recently with a friend of mine who runs a fund because I asked him to come in and give some advice to a female founder that I'm working with on a new project. And he said something to me as we were discussing our business plan and what we're thinking about doing. He said, "You need to look at what you're thinking about raising and quadruple it." He said, "Women, by and large, that I meet with, under raise and they say, 'We can do this. We can be scrappy. We can prove that we can do it all.'" And he said, "Men just don't do that, and you shouldn't do it either. This is a really good idea, and you deserve to have it supported in a way that will actually allow you the runway to execute on it."

It was such an impactful moment, and it's one of the many exchanges I have in my life that makes me so grateful for the good male allies that I have in my community… It was just a really impactful kind of "aha" moment because I thought, "Oh wow, isn't it interesting that we have, by and large, as women, been cultured to be jugglers, to do way more with [way less]." I'd like to see us begin to create new pathways for ourselves and for our communities to do it differently. So I really want women to advocate for what they deserve and for what they're worth.

While at the Create & Cultivate Small Business Summit Presented by Mastercard, Bush recorded her first live podcast episode with Stacey London. New episodes of "Work in Progress" are released on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.