Hosted by Brian Aquart · 🇺🇸 US · EN-US · 117 episodes
Established thought leaders with verified media credentials.
Why I Left tells real stories from real people about the bold career moves that changed their lives. Hosted by Brian Aquart, the show goes beyond resignations to uncover courage, clarity, and growth in the face of change. Each episode offers honest reflections, lessons learned, and practical insights for anyone considering a pivot, navigating uncertainty, or seeking inspiration for their next chapter. We don’t talk about resignations enough, this podcast makes sure we do.
Brian Aquart hosts Why I Left, a business show with 117 episodes published.
Send a message to the show What happens when the system you helped build no longer reflects the person you have become? Dr. Jessica Herbert knows that question from the inside. She left the same career twice, first to st
Send a message to the show What happens when the life you built still works, but no longer fits? For Kjell van Zoen, that question became impossible to ignore during a conversation about scaling a business in a direction
Send a message to the show Dana T. Weekes had built the kind of career many people work years to reach. As a lawyer and policy advocate, she worked on complex legislative and regulatory issues, represented major clients,
Send a message to the show Some careers do more than give you a job. They give you structure, identity, mission, and a sense of belonging. For retired Lieutenant Colonel Oak McCulloch, leaving the Army meant more than st
Send a message to the show Money is rarely just about numbers. For Kara Stevens, founder of The Frugal Feminista, money was tied to avoidance, shame, family stories, ambition, risk, and the question of what it really mea
Send a message to the show Geoffrey Roche left corporate healthcare after realizing that professional success could not come at the expense of personal authenticity. His decision to step away from Siemens Healthineers ca
Send a message to the show Gretchen Andrew left Google with just $5,000, no art degree, and no clear roadmap. Years later, her work, Facetune Portraits, now lives inside the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum of
Send a message to the show At the height of a successful career in Hollywood, Steven Puri was working on some of the biggest film franchises in the world. The path forward was clear. Bigger titles. Bigger budgets. More r
Send a message to the show She had the career people chase. And still chose to leave. Karlyn Kieffer spent years in television news before realizing the work no longer aligned with how she wanted to live. What followed w
Send a message to the show He had stability, leadership, and influence inside one of the largest healthcare systems in the country. And he still chose to leave. Dr. Adam Carewe is a practicing physician and clinical info
Send a message to the show Aundrea Cline-Thomas spent 15 years as an Emmy-winning journalist in top markets like New York and Philadelphia before making the decision to walk away. Because she realized she was operating f
Send a message to the show Farah Hussain spent more than a decade building a successful career at PayPal. From the outside, her trajectory looked like momentum. Promotions. Influence. Global impact. But internally, somet
Send a message to the show Kevin Schmiegel founded Hiring Our Heroes and helped reshape veteran employment in America. At the height of its success, he walked away. Behind the hiring fairs, White House partnerships, and
Send a message to the show When your boss finds your side hustle, what do you do? Nicaila Matthews Okome received the “We need to talk” email while working at NPR. HR got involved. Screenshots were printed. Her ambition
Send a message to the show Stephen A. Hart left a six-figure corporate leadership role after doctors warned him about the physical toll of chronic stress. What looked like success on paper was quietly becoming unsustaina
Send a message to the show Loneliness at work is rising. And it is a structural issue. In this episode, Tracy Brower, PhD, returns to Why I Left to unpack the growing disconnection inside modern organizations. Fifty perc
Send a message to the show Most people think quitting is the story. It isn’t. Before people leave their jobs, something usually happens first. A pause. A realization. A moment that makes it impossible to keep going the s
Send a message to the show After 100 episodes, one truth stands out. Leaving is rarely about quitting. It is about alignment. In this season five launch, Brian Aquart reflects on what a hundred conversations with leaders
Send a message to the show On the Season 4 finale of Why I Left, Brian sits down with Craig Whitely, better known as Craig the Barber, who shares his inspiring journey from the world of finance to becoming an award-winni
Send a message to the show Brian sits down with Jordana Cole, founder of Ignited LLC. Jordana shares her courageous decision to leave behind a successful corporate career and follow her passion for igniting leadership an
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Why I Left is hosted by Brian Aquart. The show is categorised under business (careers) and has published 117 episodes.
Why I Left has published 117 episodes.
Why I Left regularly covers business, careers, society. It sits in the business category, with a careers focus.
Why I Left is accessible for guests with genuine business expertise. A personalised, episode-aware pitch will still outperform a generic one every time.
Why I Left hasn't explicitly signalled guest openness in recent episodes. That doesn't rule out pitching. your hook just needs to be especially compelling and relevant to their recent content.
Episodes of Why I Left average 46 minutes. a focused format where a clear narrative arc and tight preparation matter most.
Our data rates Why I Left's guest bar at 80/100 (Premium tier). Established thought leaders with verified media credentials. Sign in to PitchCentric to see how your own Pod Score compares against this show.
Methodology. Booking Probability™ blends Listen Score, 30-day Virality, open-to-guests detection, and Apple ratings. Data refreshed every 60 minutes. Listen Score and Booking Probability are calculated by PitchCentric. Last enriched 8 days ago.
