What Really Happens in Media, Publishing, and Entertainment with Carrie E. Pierce

On Here’s What We Know Podcast with Gary Scott Thomas, meet Carrie E. Pierce—an accomplished writer with over 20 years of experience, who started her creative career in the film industry, working behind the scenes with makeup and special effects. But her heart always belonged to storytelling, and today, she’s writing children’s books that tackle big emotions with grace, honesty, and a whole lot of Southern charm.

In this episode: Carrie’s journey from film sets to writing

Why her children’s books tackle big emotions like grief and fear

The hilarious pitfalls of Southern dialect + voice-to-text (spoiler: bald peanuts)

A surprisingly thoughtful tangent about lizard people

What it really takes to get through the hard parts of writing (and life)

Pulling back the curtain on the darker corners of the entertainment industry, where exploitation often hides in plain sight

Carrie shares the deeply personal inspiration behind her book Becoming Billy

Reflections on societal issues—from high-profile scandals shaking up entire industries to the quest for authenticity

And when it comes to protecting our kids? We get real about the moral responsibility we all share in pushing back against hypersexualization