Roar with Danielle Davies: Women, Culture & Impact

In this micro episode, I share my impressions of my conversation with Dorrie Papademetriou of MudGirls Studios. One story stays with me: a man walking up to her fashion shoot and asking, "What about me?"

Most of us see hard things and file them away under, "What can you do?" Dorrie answered that. Instead of only giving, she built a way for women to give to themselves. She didn't have a giant plan. She had an idea, and she kept going.

Listen to the full conversation in episode 502: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3KN39HuFsu9rUAmASR7P03?si=UqYCQiDtTk2N3sNj0dmuiA

About us:

Hi, I'm Danielle, host of Roar with Danielle Davies: Women, Culture & Impact. I write, talk, and podcast about women womening—navigating ambition, culture, and all the stuff in between—via deep convos with women making an impact. Roar features conversations on women's advocacy, women and culture, and the cultural impact of women who refuse to stay quiet. New episodes every Tuesday—with mini episodes each Thursdays—in the spring and the fall. Listen wherever you get podcasts.

This conversation is about social activism you can hold in your hands. Dorrie Papademetriou founded MudGirls Studios, a nonprofit in Atlantic City that turns clay into a second chance.

For 10 years, MudGirls has trained and employed women rebuilding their lives after homelessness, abuse, and poverty. A real job, a real paycheck, and a real skill.

MudGirls' 10th anniversary fundraiser, Making Hope Out of Clay, is Oct. 21 at Stockton University Atlantic City. Tickets and donations: https://www.mudgirlsstudios.org/hope-out-of-clay-event-2026

In this conversation, we talk about:

• The question on a fashion shoot that changed her path

• Why a paycheck matters more than a craft class

• Putting women before the bottom line

Also in this episode: a trailer for Cultureful with JessLin.

Show: https://open.spotify.com/show/2AGk0YkQUoBjoRqXvjn5O7 Playlist:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4sirq2eZzIaD8uR11WxTZQ

About the guest: Dorrie Papademetriou is the founder andexecutive director of MudGirls Studios.

https://www.mudgirlsstudios.org/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/dorrie-papademetriou-b3241348/

About Us: Roar with Danielle Davies is about women womening, about how culture shapes us and how we shape it right back. Danielle Davies is a journalist, keynote speaker, and host of Roar. Listen at www.listentoroar.com or wherever you get podcasts.

Welcome to Season 5 of Roar with Danielle Davies. A few things are changing this season, and in this short episode I walk you through all three.

First, micro episodes. Every Tuesday you'll get the full conversation. Every Thursday, a short episode like this one highlights what we talked about, so you can decide whether to go back and listen to the whole thing.

Second, a new name. Roar is now Roar with Danielle Davies: Women, Culture & Impact. There are a lot of Roars out there. But we're in a pretty furious moment of being women, and we're roaring, so the name stays. It just got a little longer.

Third, the Roar Questionnaire. At the end of every episode, each guest answers the same set of questions, inspired by the Proust Questionnaire and the version James Lipton made famous on Inside the Actors Studio. They start simple ("What's your favorite word?") and end up pulling together what Roar is all about.

Missed Tuesday's episode, where Amy Stone interviewed me about what Roar is all about? Listen here:

If you're enjoying Roar, please follow, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Tag us anywhere. We respond to everything.

About the podcast: Roar with Danielle Davies is about women womening, about how culture shapes us and how we shape it right back.
About the host: Danielle Davies is a journalist, keynote speaker, and host of Roar.
Continue the conversation: Listen at www.listentoroar.com or wherever you get podcasts.

In 2017, I ran for local office. I lost that race, but I also I walked away wondering if there wasn’t a better way to fight for women than what I'd just spent all this time doing. Seven years later, I started a podcast to answer that question.

I sat down with my friend Amy Stone for her show, Creator Showcase, part of the UnMuted Creator Network, where she profiles women building things in independent media — podcasters, video creators, newsletter writers. On her show, you don't just get the résumé version. Amy asks why you actually started, and what's kept it going.

In this episode, I get into why the name Roar is inspired by the novel Circe, what actually makes someone a fit to be a guest, and how the show's changed across five seasons.

What You Will Learn

• Why Danielle started Roar after running for Cape May County Freeholder in 2017, and why she realized elected office isn't the only way to advocate for women

• The real origin of the name "Roar" — inspired by Madeline Miller's novel Circe, which reframes the mythological "monster" as a woman responding to violence done to her, and the pet lion that came with it

• What actually qualifies someone to be a guest on Roar: not just being an inspiring, successful woman, but doing something that specifically improves other women's lives

• How the show's format has evolved, including the shorter "in-between" summary episodes Danielle introduced heading into Season 5

• The moment Danielle knew the show was working — a guest ending an episode by saying, unprompted, "this is why we roar"

Key Takeaways

• Being inspiring and successful isn't the bar for a Roar guest — the differentiator is doing something that specifically makes life better for other women, not just "everyone"

• Roar was born out of Danielle's own experience that political office is a powerful way to advocate, but far from the only one

• The show started less than two years ago as a 5-episode trial season and is entering Season 5 in October 2026

• Roar's audience isn't only women — it's anyone interested in how culture shapes women's lives, and how women are working to reshape that culture back

• Hearing directly from guests and listeners that the show resonates is what has kept Danielle going through a slow, iterative build

Resources Mentioned

Creator Showcase, hosted by Amy Stone, part of the UnMuted Creator Network — the show this episode originally aired on

Circe by Madeline Miller — the novel that inspired the show's name

listentoroar.com

Guest Info

Amy Stone hosts Creator Showcase, part of the UnMuted Creator Network, a series spotlighting women doing the work of being creators in independent media, as well as The Art of Imperfect Adulting.

Roar with Danielle Davies

Hi, I'm Danielle, host of Roar with Danielle Davies: Women, Culture & Impact. I write, talk, and podcast about women womening—navigating ambition, culture, and all the stuff in between—via deep convos with women making an impact. Roar features conversations on women's advocacy, women and culture, and the cultural impact of women who refuse to stay quiet. New episodes every Tuesday—with mini episodes each Thursdays—in the spring and the fall. Listen wherever you get podcasts. 

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Hi, I'm Danielle. I talk about women womening: navigating ambition, culture, and all the messy stuff in between.

On Roar, I interview women who are making life better for other women. This season's conversations cover women's advocacy, women's experiences, and the women changing culture from the ground up. Season 5 starts Tuesday, October 6, with a new conversation every Tuesday and a short takeaway episode every Thursday.

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listentoroar.com
Instagram: @roarwithdanielledavies