Under the Influence (with Jo Piazza) - May 09, 2026


A Sneak Peek of THE PARISIAN HEIST

Hating on the 3-Hour Mom—We'd Never Do This to a Man Why Does the World Hate Ambitious Women？

Episode Stats


Length

15 minutes

Words per minute

178.87

Word count

2,827

Sentence count

235

Harmful content

Misogyny

10

sentences flagged

Toxicity

3

sentences flagged

Hate speech

3

sentences flagged


Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Hey, all. Jo here, and you are listening to Under the Influence. Happy Mother's Day
00:00:11.920 to those of you who celebrate, and just happy weekend for those of you who don't. I wanted
00:00:17.680 to pop into your feeds and do something a little different and a little bit special
00:00:21.440 to celebrate Mother's Day today. Just a reminder that everything you buy yourself today and
00:00:27.260 tomorrow is a Mother's Day present, no matter when it arrives. So if you would love to order
00:00:35.080 the Parisian heist today or tomorrow for you, for your mom, for one of your mom friends that you
00:00:42.160 think would like it, the girl math is that it will essentially be free when it arrives in July.
00:00:48.240 That's how this works. It is a wonderful Mother's Day present. Just send someone the pre-order
00:00:52.980 confirmation and be like, love you today. Love you in July. But I also want to give you a little
00:00:58.460 taste of this book as a Mother's Day or happy weekend present. So this excerpt appeared in
00:01:05.140 Ursula magazine, which is the ridiculously gorgeous coffee table magazine from Hauser and
00:01:12.340 Worth. Everything in it is so beautiful and it is just like so art world sheet. So just a quick
00:01:18.260 set up. We tell two stories in this book. In the modern timeline, it is an all-female feminist art
00:01:25.440 heist trying to take down one of the biggest art-dealing families in the world. We've got 1.00
00:01:32.060 a lot of female friendship and a lot of rich people behaving very badly. Two of my favorite 0.93
00:01:37.040 things. And in the past timeline, we tell the very real story of Jo Van Gogh. She was Vincent's
00:01:43.240 sister-in-law, and when her husband Theo died, she inherited all of Vincent's mostly worthless
00:01:48.740 paintings. No one was buying Vincent van Gogh's at the time. Barely anyone knew his name,
00:01:53.940 and the art critics who did did not love his work. But Jo was tireless in making Vincent a
00:02:00.520 household name. She was tireless in building his brand. And she, singularly she, is the reason that
00:02:08.020 we all know his name today. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
00:02:18.720 I've been watching her for months. I know her habits, her routines. I know she leaves in the 0.53
00:02:24.260 morning to fetch milk for her son, takes him with her to meetings throughout the day. She returns
00:02:28.900 home at night, looking bone-tired and defeated. Her husband Theo begged me to check in on her,
00:02:34.460 to try to protect her. But for months, I only watched. The night I properly meet Jo Van Gogh
00:02:41.060 is the night I save her life. It's late, but I've only just finished with work.
00:02:46.720 When I walk past her apartment, I notice candles burning in the window. As I shift my gaze down
00:02:51.860 from the attic flat, the door to the street opens and a hooded silhouette slips into the entryway.
00:02:57.660 The apartment still burns bright, but it is Jo's tiny figure slowly stumbling over Pagall's
00:03:03.340 cobblestones. I follow in silence. Why is she leaving so late? Joe hesitates at the corner and
00:03:10.720 continues uncertainly up the hill toward the unfinished dome of Sacre Coeur on the Butte
00:03:15.040 Montmartre. It's the time of night when even women like me are usually in bed, the hours when the
00:03:20.920 streets are turned over to stray cats and men intent on bad deeds and harm. A hulking figure
00:03:27.280 emerges from the darkness of a doorway and grabs Joe by the arm. The man is massive and even from
00:03:32.180 a distance, I can tell he's intoxicated. Joe attempts to shove him away, but he slaps her
00:03:37.120 face with an open palm, sending her reeling to the ground. At this time of night, he must have
00:03:42.680 assumed she is a worker like me. No proper lady would be out alone at this hour. He yanks her
00:03:49.040 tiny body into an alley. My heart gallops against my ribs. I glance around for anyone to help her,
00:03:53.880 but the streets are empty, the bars and cabarets dark. This man will be able to do whatever he
00:03:58.740 wants with Joe and leave her for dead. Joe screams out in pain, no, stop. My eyes finally land on a
00:04:06.160 shattered wine bottle, the long neck intact, but the bottom a thick, sharp shard. It'll have to do.
00:04:12.720 I slide around the corner. The man is pinning her small frame to the wall and hiking up her skirts 0.98
00:04:17.240 as his thick fingers wrap around her delicate throat. I don't think twice before lunging at 0.84
00:04:22.700 his side with the bottle. He startles and wails in pain as the glass slices into his abdomen.
00:04:29.160 Run, I scream at Joe. 0.88
00:04:31.280 The monster is injured and shocked, his ugly features contorted in fury.
00:04:36.100 Joe manages to slip between him and the wall. 0.91
00:04:38.720 Our eyes meet and she takes off.
00:04:40.680 I spin on my own heel and follow, leaving the brute to bleed out in the alley.
00:04:45.420 The bottle did not make it that far beneath his skin.
00:04:48.140 He will live, unfortunately.
00:04:53.220 My ankle twists on the uneven stones and I collapse.
00:04:57.040 Joe turns at my cry and hesitates before doubling back to help me up.
00:05:00.780 You saved my life, she rasps in disbelief, her gaze darting in the direction of her attacker.
00:05:07.260 Where do you live, she asks in her husky Dutch accent.
00:05:10.980 Can I get you home? 0.71
00:05:12.520 I nod up the hill in the direction we'd come from.
00:05:15.140 That will be impossible. He'll be waiting for us there, Joe shakes her head.
00:05:18.580 But I think I can get you to my place and look at your leg.
00:05:22.740 Together we make it up her stairs into her small and cozy flat.
00:05:26.260 It's only a few rooms. The floors are rough, the wood planks slightly slanting to the south.
00:05:31.680 A thick, dusty curtain separates the sitting room from the hallway leading to the bedrooms.
00:05:36.200 She leads me to a sofa and removes my battered boot with the care of a mother.
00:05:40.340 I look away from her in shame.
00:05:42.580 The sole has begun to peel away, and there's no money to have a new one put on.
00:05:47.100 The madam I work for keeps all of us in fashionable dresses and lingerie, 0.95
00:05:51.080 but walking shoes are an unnecessary expense for her.
00:05:54.740 Beneath the leather, my ankle is red and angry.
00:05:58.400 You'll need to elevate this, and I can bind it, Joe says.
00:06:01.680 When the swelling goes down, we shall put your boot on as tightly as possible,
00:06:04.840 and you should be able to make it home.
00:06:06.940 I can give you some sherry for the pain.
00:06:09.800 Thank you, I say, considering all her features up close for the first time.
00:06:14.220 Her broad face, apple-dumpling cheeks, and strong nose.
00:06:18.100 She's a tiny thing, frail like a baby bird.
00:06:20.820 Purple bruises bloom against the pale white of her neck.
00:06:23.840 I am Joe, she finally introduces herself, as she wraps my ankle in a brightly patterned silk scarf.
00:06:30.520 Claire, I say.
00:06:32.700 My name inspires no recognition for her. I shouldn't be surprised.
00:06:36.840 Theo wouldn't have spoken of me to his wife.
00:06:39.800 Why were you on the streets so late, Claire?
00:06:41.720 I am grateful, but surprised that anyone was awake to find me.
00:06:44.880 I could ask the same of you. Why were you walking so late?
00:06:48.740 Joe glances down the narrow hallway and I hear a muffled wheeze.
00:06:52.700 My boy is sick.
00:06:54.040 I was hoping to reach the midwife's home to see if she could prepare something for his cough.
00:06:58.100 He's barely more than a year old.
00:07:01.160 Vincent, her little boy, named after his uncle the artist.
00:07:05.680 Theo had been overjoyed when Joe delivered his son.
00:07:08.480 I remember him telling me what a gift the boy had been to both of them as his own health declined.
00:07:13.680 I want to give her a more noble reason for my being out so late in the middle of the night, but there is not one.
00:07:19.060 I was there for her, watching for her.
00:07:21.940 There's another truth I can tell her. I'm not proud, but also not entirely ashamed.
00:07:26.300 I was returning home from work. It takes Joe a minute to understand,
00:07:30.160 and I wait for the disgust to cross her face, but it never comes.
00:07:34.500 I want to hear about her boy. I want to hear about her. I miss Theo in ways I should not,
00:07:39.300 but I cared for him much more than I should have. Whenever we spent time together, he confided in me.
00:07:44.560 Not all of my customers want to talk, but many do. They pay for the conversation,
00:07:49.180 camaraderie, and care as much as they pay for other things.
00:07:53.360 Many times talking was all Theo wanted to do when we were together.
00:07:57.080 He longed for a woman's opinion about Joe before they married.
00:08:00.400 He was desperate to be a good husband to this woman he was completely enchanted by.
00:08:06.620 Theo's child coughs again in his sleep and it echoes down the hallway.
00:08:10.180 Tell me about your boy, I say to Joe.
00:08:13.160 His name is Vincent, named for an uncle who has also passed.
00:08:16.560 He's the sweetest angel I could have asked for.
00:08:18.960 When he stares at me, I see the eyes of an adult, and I'm certain he'll grow up to be a great mind.
00:08:23.400 I feel he is smarter than I am.
00:08:25.580 Then I'm sure he wouldn't want you wandering through the streets of Montmartre at witching hour, I say with a gentle smile.
00:08:30.820 No, I should not have gone, but that cough.
00:08:33.440 I was not prepared to be doing this alone.
00:08:36.840 I'm sorry for your losses.
00:08:39.080 Thank you.
00:08:40.100 It hasn't been easy for me.
00:08:41.960 My husband was a good man, but very ill at the end.
00:08:45.640 She stands and walks down the hallway to open a door and peek inside at her sick child
00:08:50.720 When she disappears, I allow myself to look around
00:08:53.960 Barely an inch of wallpaper is visible between the many, many paintings hung from floor to ceiling
00:08:59.600 More canvases crowd every available surface, leaning against the walls and the furniture
00:09:04.540 I even see some stacked beneath the couch
00:09:07.400 Most are signed with a single name
00:09:10.020 Vincent
00:09:11.240 I know Theo's brother was an artist, not a terribly successful one, and that Theo worked
00:09:17.080 as his dealer. Vincent also visited the brothel when he came to Paris, but I never spent time
00:09:22.000 with him. He preferred the older and more domineering women. They always complained 0.98
00:09:26.740 about how he would lecture them, about how by visiting them he was giving the fallen women
00:09:30.880 the opportunity for redemption through the cycle of sin and forgiveness.
00:09:35.900 He was a subject of great mockery among the ladies. I also saw him once late at night at
00:09:41.140 Café du Tambourine, my friend Augustina's restaurant. She feeds us once the paying
00:09:46.040 customers have retired. By the time I arrived that evening, Vincent was quite drunk, sitting
00:09:51.720 in a corner, sketching, and staring into the depths of a glass of absinthe. I noticed how
00:09:57.980 the other patrons sat far from the sturdy, broad-shouldered man. It was well known among
00:10:03.080 the other prostitutes that he rarely bathed and that his smell was often repulsive. The 0.72
00:10:09.360 Sherry is doing its job, taking away the pain in my ankle. I manage to stand when Joe returns.
00:10:14.960 I should go. Are you sure you're able? She asks, clearly concerned. I am, I say, though I know it
00:10:20.820 will be difficult to walk back to my quarters. She helps me with my coat and takes both my hands
00:10:25.560 in hers. They're so tiny and fragile, soft and unmarred by labor. Thank you for what you did
00:10:30.720 tonight, Claire. You saved my life. Perhaps I have now fulfilled my duty to Theo. I could leave and
00:10:36.640 never see her again. I meet her eyes with a warm smile. I'm happy I was there when you needed me,
00:10:42.060 and thank you, Joe. It was wonderful to meet you. I mean that more than she knows.
00:10:49.180 I stay away from her for about a week after that, and then finally return to the apartment to bring
00:10:54.000 back the scarf she bound my ankle with. Joe welcomes me in for a bit of tea, but she's agitated.
00:10:59.620 Her hands tremble as she pours me my drink. Are you bearing up? I ask her. No, I cannot say that
00:11:04.960 I am. I just returned from a most difficult meeting. With whom? No, I'm sorry. I don't mean
00:11:10.620 to pry. It's fine. You're not overstepping. I don't have anyone else to talk to here in Paris.
00:11:16.020 Theo had many friends, but I'm afraid I did not have many of my own besides my brother and his
00:11:19.760 wife. I fear I've exhausted them with my troubles. I'd love to hear more about the meeting you had.
00:11:25.780 She sucks in a deep breath. It's all worthless. Everything my husband left me. All these paintings 0.99
00:11:31.460 by his brother. Theo had such faith in Vincent, I assumed I could sell these and build a comfortable
00:11:36.060 life for myself. She's sobbing now. I reach over to place my hand on hers. Some days I wish I'd
00:11:42.180 thrown them in the seine and spared me the trouble of having to stumble around them in here. These
00:11:46.420 paintings killed my husband, the stress of them, and the stress of caring for Vincent.
00:11:50.680 His brother was also ill? My throat tightens around the question I already know the answer to.
00:11:55.940 Very much so. Also brilliant, I think. Oh, I don't know anything any longer.
00:12:01.140 A sob shakes her body.
00:12:02.640 In loving my husband, I had no choice but to love his brother.
00:12:05.560 They were a pair, more bonded tightly than we would ever be.
00:12:09.580 And I have to love these paintings as much as Theo did,
00:12:12.300 because in loving them, I can keep him alive.
00:12:16.180 I stand and make my way over to the wall to stare at a painting
00:12:18.700 of a lone peach blossom struggling in the wind.
00:12:21.620 I think this one is beautiful, I say.
00:12:24.040 Jo stands next to me and lifts her finger to trace the delicate bows of the tree
00:12:27.220 and the blossoms that appear so real they could fall off the canvas and into the palm of your hand.
00:12:32.840 When I first saw his work, I thought they were such strange things.
00:12:35.820 These paintings are supposed to make you feel many emotions all at once, he says.
00:12:39.700 That's what Theo always told me art was supposed to do.
00:12:42.340 For him, he said it often felt like listening to a great symphony.
00:12:45.820 The colors are like two melodies in counterpoint.
00:12:49.280 Do they make you feel that way?
00:12:51.980 I wish they made me feel more.
00:12:54.080 I want to.
00:12:55.800 Theo wanted me to.
00:12:58.220 I close my eyes and I can hear Theo's voice.
00:13:02.300 You would think it would make me jealous, picturing him with Joe,
00:13:05.540 but it wasn't like that between us.
00:13:07.720 I believe we had both a business relationship and a friendship.
00:13:10.680 Nothing truly romantic.
00:13:13.060 Will you stay in Paris, I ask?
00:13:15.540 We cannot.
00:13:16.740 It isn't just the money that's quickly running out
00:13:18.780 or the unhealthy air in this apartment in this city
00:13:20.800 that is bad for little Vincent's lungs.
00:13:23.240 As a widow, I don't have many options to make money.
00:13:27.020 She pauses, embarrassed for me because she's clearly thinking about my line of work.
00:13:31.620 We all do what we need to do, madam. Do you have family you can return to?
00:13:36.300 It is an option, though I do not want to return as someone who needs looking after.
00:13:40.500 Thinking about it fills me with dread and exhaustion, she sighs.
00:13:43.800 She's revealing so much, but I can't say that I'm surprised. People want to talk.
00:13:47.440 They're desperate for an ear.
00:13:49.220 I should have planned better. We should have planned better.
00:13:52.460 My son and I need so many things.
00:13:54.340 joe sits in front of the fire shivering as she gets closer to the flames
00:13:58.780 we're nearly out of wood she says her eyes glassy with tears and melancholy
00:14:03.920 they finally land on a canvas of a vast golden wheat field under a dark turbulent sky it gives
00:14:10.480 me a feeling of both isolation and unease she picks up the painting so it's at eye level and
00:14:15.840 walks over to the fire her eyes flash with fury and fear as she stares into the dying flames
00:14:20.920 Perhaps I should just burn all of them for heat.
00:14:27.260 And that is the first Jo Van Gogh chapter of this book. 1.00
00:14:32.420 She was a badass. 1.00
00:14:35.480 She was a mother just trying to support her family.
00:14:39.120 And she is the reason that Vincent Van Gogh is famous.
00:14:42.560 She is the reason that so many of us know his name today.
00:14:46.220 And I'm so excited for you to read the rest of this book.
00:14:48.320 The Parisian Heist. Get your orders in today, and I'll be sharing a lot more with you
00:14:52.380 in the next few weeks. Have a great weekend, y'all.
00:15:18.320 Thank you.