Sara Bareilles Truth-Telling and Art That Heals | Women in Entertainment Podcast

Sara Bareilles has always known there’s a difference between writing songs because it’s fun, and writing songs because it’s how you make it through the day. In this episode, Sara opens up about the pivotal moments that shaped her path: a high school experience that shut her down creatively for years, the loneliness of studying abroad in Italy that revealed music as a lifeline, and the slow-build grind of open mics, MySpace hustle, rejection, and eventual breakthrough.

From there, Sara reflects on the “left turns” that kept her career expansive, especially her move to New York and the leap into musical theater with Waitress, a decision she says she was naive enough to say yes to before fully understanding the scale of the commitment. She also shares why vulnerability is her favorite quality in people, how anxiety can blur into intuition (especially for women), and why speaking the truth out loud can be “medicinal.”

The conversation circles grief and the profound power of comedy, too, including Sara’s time on Girls5eva.

Listen to learn:

- How music became Sara’s coping mechanism and career compass

- What rejection taught her about identity as an artist

- Why Waitress changed everything (and what she didn’t know going in)

- How she approaches vulnerability, anxiety, and intuition

- Why grief can create connection and performance can become catharsis

The Women in Entertainment Podcast presents thoughtful conversations with leaders across entertainment from film and television, to media and gaming, and everything in between; as we talk about what it takes to make your mark in the industry, lessons these incredible people have learned along the way, and how they have found their way in an ever-changing environment.

With in-depth conversations and pre-submitted listener questions, each episode provides candid advice for navigating today’s entertainment industry, giving listeners an inside look at how key players got their start, and guidance for building the necessary toolkit to bring careers to life in film, TV, music, theater, graphics, writing, animation, and beyond.

Listen on Spotify: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/5AfPfPQ...

Listen on Apple Podcasts: ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

Listen on Audible: ⁠https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a85...

#SaraBareilles #WomenInEntertainment #Waitress #Broadway #Songwriting #WomenInMusic #GriefAndHealing #Vulnerability #Girls5eva #ComeSeeMeInTheGoodLight #CreativeProcess #MentalHealthInTheArts