Dr. Maya Shankar

10/20/2025

On this week’s A Slight Change of Plans, I sit down with Malala Yousafzai to talk about her new memoir, Finding My Way, and the quiet, often complicated process of becoming — of navigating who the world expects us to be, who our families raised us to be, and who we’re still uncovering within ourselves. It’s a conversation full of honesty, reflection, and quiet strength. ❤️

Sign up for Maya's free newsletter here: changewithmaya.com.It’s been more than a decade since Malala Yousafzai, then a 15-year-old student and advocate for ...

06/11/2025

What an absolute joy it was to be in conversation with the former New Zealand Prime Minister at ! She spoke about her memoir "A Different Kind of Power" and how she believes that there is space for empathetic, kind leadership at the highest levels of government. ✨

(PS Jacinda is incredibly down-to-earth and very, very funny IRL 🥹 + as you'll see, we bonded backstage over the challenge of putting on fake eyelashes in a video for my sister ❤️)

05/28/2025

In my latest free newsletter, I discuss happiness (with research from psychology professor Sonia Lyubomirsky) and how we can think differently about it.

✨Read the full post here: https://changewithmaya.substack.com/p/on-being-happy-with-your-life-vs

03/24/2025

You can read my post about the science of defiance here. Cheers to learning how to say NO :)

A bootcamp in Defiance 101

03/24/2025

I've launched a free newsletter and my first two posts are out! You can sign up at changewithmaya.com. I'll share the latest science on navigating the big changes in our lives, personal reflections, insights from my conversations on A Slight Change of Plans (with some BTS:)), updates on what I'm reading and watching, etc. I hope you'll sign up and that you enjoy it!

07/25/2023

My TED talk is out today! It's called "Why change is so scary and how to unlock its potential." You can check it out at go.ted.com/mayashankar

My deepest gratitude to Corey Hajim for being the *best* curator and for helping me condense my life's work into 10 mins, to Anne Morriss for being a life long friend, and to Florence Williams and Christine Ha for their generosity in letting me share their stories with you. AND Itzhak Perlman for changing my life.

I'd appreciate if you could share this talk far and wide with anyone you think might be going through a hard time and needs a bit of hope -- or someone who is looking for ways to reprocess what they've always been through. I really poured my whole heart and mind into it ❤️ xoxo M

Unexpected change like an accident, an illness or a relationship that suddenly ends is inevitable -- and disorienting. With a heartfelt and optimistic take on life's curveballs, cognitive scientist Maya Shankar shares how these challenging moments can inspire transformation, offering three questions...

03/06/2023

Wanting to be liked is totally normal, but what happens when our livelihood depends on it? Comedian Hasan Minhaj knows all too well that it can make doing what you love a little… complicated.

On A Slight Change of Plans, Hasan talks to me about grappling with the psychological consequences of popularity and how this has made him question his future career in comedy. I found his wisdom really powerful: https://youtu.be/bg46j8vLi-M

10/03/2022

I’m honored to welcome civil rights icon Ruby Bridges to A Slight Change of Plans for our Season 5 premiere.

At six years old, Ruby Bridges became the very first African-American student to desegregate William Frantz Elementary, an all-white school in Louisiana. Ruby was not only the first, but the only Black child attending the school that year.

I, like so many of you, had read about Ruby's story in my history books growing up. But it wasn't until our conversation that I came to understand what it was like for Ruby to experience this through the eyes of a six-year-old. No one told her what was happening or why. She didn't know about the desegregation efforts happening in her city or why armed federal marshals showed up at her doorstep that first day to es**rt her to school.

It would be years before Ruby would put all the pieces together and fully appreciate her role in shaping the future of civil rights in America.

This week on A Slight Change of Plans — when a six-year-old changes the course of history.

Civil rights icon Ruby Bridges shares what it was like to be the first African-American student to attend an all-white elementary school in Louisiana in 1960.

09/15/2022

Lessons from a Grief Therapist with Julia Samuel

Julia Samuel is one of the world’s leading grief therapists. She joins Maya to talk about why it’s important to engage with our grief, and offers strategies ...

07/11/2022

On our ✨ Season 4 Finale ✨ of A Slight Change of Plans, a Theranos whistleblower shares her powerful, and deeply personal, story with all of us today.

Erika Cheung, a former scientist at the now infamous biotech company, realized early on that the company’s proprietary technology was not delivering accurate blood results to patients, but when she raised her concerns to company leadership, she was silenced.

Erika decided to not only quit her job at Theranos, but also to report the company to government regulators. This carried huge personal risk — she had signed an NDA when she first joined the company, and so she feared litigation or criminal charges from Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani. But Erika saw no other option…

Listen today as Erika shares the story of all she had to lose, but why she chose to do the right thing anyway.

Erika Cheung’s first job out of college was as a scientist at the now infamous biotech company, Theranos.

03/07/2022

We have a return guest this week on A Slight Change of Plans! So many of you heard "The Life-Changing Diagnosis" last year, when Scott was roughly 2/3rds of the way through treatment for Stage 4 bone cancer. At that time, he reflected on how his self-identity was changing in the midst of his diagnosis and treatment. Listeners fell in love with Scott and I get letters all the time asking how Scott is doing.

Today, I’m thrilled to share that Scott’s scans show no evidence of cancer, and he’s back home adapting to life. We connected again recently to pick up where we left off and explore how Scott’s identity continues to change since undergoing successful treatment. Scott is one of those guests who really brings out the best in me. We ventured into so many fascinating philosophical spaces, and I hope you find the conversation as enlightening as I did: https://www.pushkin.fm/episode/life-on-the-other-side-of-treatment/

02/28/2022

A Slight Change of Plans is back! On today’s episode, the story of a blind amateur chef who becomes a renowned Master Chef and redefines what independence means to her along the way: https://www.pushkin.fm/episode/a-blind-cook-becomes-a-master-chef/

Christine Ha developed a rare neurological condition that caused her vision to rapidly deteriorate and left her legally blind by age 24. She had to relearn how to navigate so much in her life. Even making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich — which had once been so straightforward for her — now felt like a daunting task. She wondered if she’d ever cook again.

But (spoiler alert), Christine did cook again and even went on to win Season 3 of the hit reality TV show MasterChef. Hear her story this week on the show.