219. Are Women Forced to Choose Between Andy and Miranda?

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In the final episode in this series of conversations around Devil Wears Prada, Julia speaks with Maryam after they watch the second film together. Unlike the earlier conversations in the series, this episode shifts away from Miranda Priestly herself and towards Andy — and what her character reveals about confidence, ambition, self-worth and the stories women continue to tell themselves as they lead.

Maryam reflects on Andy as someone who is no longer an intern, no longer inexperienced, and yet still behaves as though she must constantly prove she deserves to be in the room. The conversation explores how many women carry old narratives about themselves long after they have developed the capability, instincts and judgement to lead confidently.

Together, Julia and Maryam discuss the trap many women find themselves caught in: the fear of remaining too uncertain and over-accommodating, while also fearing becoming hard, untouchable or emotionally distant in order to succeed.

The conversation also revisits many of the tensions explored across the wider Devil Wears Prada mini-expedition. Does excellence inevitably create pressure? Can ambitious women avoid becoming emotionally extractive leaders? What happens when stress simply gets passed down organisations? And how do women lead without reproducing the same cultures that exhausted them?

A central theme in the episode is the emotional complexity of leading. Julia and Maryam reflect on loyalty, validation, psychological safety, female friendships, and the importance of recognising the quieter people who often hold organisations together behind the scenes.

Returning once again to Miranda Priestly, the episode asks whether the real challenge for women is not choosing between Andy and Miranda, but refusing both models altogether.

This final conversation brings the mini-series full circle. What began as a discussion about Miranda Priestly becomes something much larger: a reflection on ambition, identity, authority, burnout, confidence and the possibility of finding another approach to leading.

About the Guest:

Maryam Parsha

Maryam Pasha is a Storytelling strategist, producer and curator. She is co-founder of XEQUALS Studio, a creative studio dedicated to telling stories that can create a just, sustainable and joyful future. Projects include TEDxLondon, the Climate Curious Podcast and THE HERDS London.

As a storyteller and coach she has worked with hundreds of speakers, including philanthropists, Nobel-prize-winning academics, business leaders, technical experts, activists and students. She has helped organisations to raise over a $1.5 billion to fight climate change, worked on talks that have been viewed over 25 million times and supported activists who’ve successfully changed the law in England to protect girls from child marriage. Earlier this year she joined the Palestine Comedy Club as an Exec Producer, is on the board on Climate Spring and a visiting Fellow at Oxford University.

About the Host

Julia Middleton

Julia Middleton is the host of the Women Emerging podcast and a best-selling author of “If that’s leading, I’m in” as well as two previous books: “Leading beyond Authority” and “Cultural Intelligence”. She is deeply committed to helping people from all backgrounds to find their own approach to leading. In 2020, Julia launched Women Emerging and in 2022 she lead an expedition of 24 women to find ‘an approach to leading that resonates with women’. She now leads expeditions with women all over the world based on 4Es methodology, discovered in the first expedition.

Prior to that, Julia was founder and, for over thirty years, Chief Executive of Common Purpose, which grew to become one of the biggest leadership development organisations in the world.
Julia is also an Ambassador for the Aurora Prize based in Armenia, on the boards of Alfanar Venture Philanthropy in the Arab World and Equality Now, which operates globally, and on the Advisory Councils of Fundacao Dom Cabral in Brazil and Synapse in Pakistan. Born in London and brought up in New York, Julia was educated at French Lycées and graduated from the London School of Economics. She is married, with five children and lots of grandchildren.