How to Be Anything

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.

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.comAnd on Instagram: instagram.com/howtobeanything/

Tower climbers risk their lives to keep your phone signal working—and most people don’t even know the job exists. In this episode, climber Brendon King shares what it’s really like to scale a steel tower swaying like a spaghetti noodle, nap in a harness suspended 300 feet in the air, and discover cell antennas hiding in fake cactuses and church steeples. It’s dangerous, breathtaking work that powers nearly everything we do.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.comAnd on Instagram: instagram.com/howtobeanything/

When an aspiring journalist took a day job as a butler for Philadelphia’s ultra-rich, he found himself serving Michelin-star meals, running dry cleaning, and accidentally spiking the water with zucchini. In this bonus episode, Max Ufberg shares the strange, funny, and sometimes uncomfortable realities of working behind the scenes for the one percent. The experience gave him an education in class and work. Today, he’s a senior editor at Fast Company, but he still remembers what it felt like to answer the bell.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.comFind us on Instagram: instagram.com/howtobeanything

In this episode of How to Be Anything, forensic artist Melissa Cooper takes us inside the delicate, high-stakes work of sketching criminals, missing persons, and the unidentified—sometimes from nothing more than a witness’s memory or a bare skull. She shares how she balances compassion with precision, guiding people through painful recollections to capture the face they’ll never forget. From age progressions to postmortem reconstructions, Melissa reveals the surprising mix of artistry, psychology, and science that powers her work. Plus, hear the story of a single sketch that helped catch a suspect within days.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.comAnd on Instagram: instagram.com/howtobeanything/

To celebrate the launch of How to Be Anything, we threw a party, complete with cake, drinks, and a telephone where guests could call in their funniest, cringiest, and most unforgettable job stories. In this bonus episode, you'll hear everything from a woman trying to make a call on her shoe, being trapped in a junk truck with a SoundCloud rapper, to the world’s most committed Panera brownie fan. It’s hilarious, heartfelt, and a reminder that every job—no matter how ordinary—comes with a story worth telling.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. See photos from the HTBA launch party at howtobeanything.com/p/my-friends-a-rapperFind us on Instagram: instagram.com/howtobeanything/cX26oLveN5wqoOo5XWnM