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How to Be Anything

How to Be Anything

Written by: Anything & Everything Podcasts
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About this listen

How to Be Anything is a documentary-style podcast that profiles people with unusual, surprising, and wildly specific jobs. From puppeteers to tower climbers to scientists who search for dark matter underground and in space, each episode explores how people end up in jobs no one tells you about in school—and what it’s like to build a life doing something most of us have never heard of.


This isn’t a self-help show or a career coaching podcast. How to Be Anything is for the job-curious, the creatively restless, and anyone who likes eavesdropping on someone else’s weird path through life. It brings a literary, documentary sensibility to work and identity.


The show is created and hosted by journalist Emily McCrary, and it blends deep curiosity and narrative storytelling to explore the stories that go beyond job titles.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily McCrary
Careers Economics Personal Success Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Bonus: I Used to Be A Weed Courier
    Sep 24 2025

    Laney spent two years cycling across New York City as a courier, delivering weed and gummies straight to people’s doors. Along the way, she met eccentric characters: a man with a hallway full of newspapers, a woman with a house full of disco balls, and a musician diagnosed with Parkinson's who used weed to play his instruments. The job was exhausting, risky, sometimes scary, but also filled with surprising moments of connection. In this bonus episode, Laney shares how cycling 13+ miles a day changed the way she saw the city, and herself.


    We're a bootstrapped, indie podcast, so please text a friend and share your favorite episode. Every download helps. Don't forget to rate and review and tell us what you really think. Those go a long way too.


    To learn more about the show and our guests, visit howtobeanything.com

    Find us on Instagram: instagram.com/howtobeanything

    See pictures of our guests and get a behind-the-scenes look at the podcast on our Substack at howtobeanything.com.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    14 mins
  • 10. How to Teach Dogs to Find Cancer
    Sep 10 2025

    On September 11, Dr. Cindy Otto cared for the search-and-rescue dogs working the pile at Ground Zero—an experience that changed the course of her career. Today, she leads the Penn Vet Working Dog Center, where dogs are trained to climb ladders, sniff out explosives, and even detect cancer in humans (and dogs!). In this episode, Dr. Otto shares how dogs learn to separate the “signal from the noise” in complex human blood samples and why their supernoses are helping scientists build new diagnostic tools. It’s a story about resilience, science, and the extraordinary bond between humans and dogs.

    See pictures of our guests and get a behind-the-scenes look at the podcast on our Substack at howtobeanything.com.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Show More Show Less
    23 mins
  • 9. How to Be a Doctor in the Arctic Circle
    Sep 3 2025

    What does it take to be the only doctor in a remote Arctic village, where polar bears roam and lab results arrive by plane—if the weather allows? In this episode, Dr. Jen Pond shares her journey from practicing medicine in a mud hut in India to working at the world’s highest ER at Everest Base Camp, and now serving an Inuit community in Nunavut. She reflects on the extremes of remote medicine, the lingering effects of colonialism on Indigenous health, and the mental strength required to practice in such environments. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to trade a suburban clinic for the edges of the world, this conversation will open your eyes.


    We're a bootstrapped, indie podcast, so please text a friend and share your favorite episode. Every download helps. Don't forget to rate and review and tell us what you really think. Those go a long way too.


    Find us on Substack: howtobeanything.com

    And on Instagram: instagram.com/howtobeanything/

    See pictures of our guests and get a behind-the-scenes look at the podcast on our Substack at howtobeanything.com.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Show More Show Less
    23 mins
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