Wide Open with Ashlyn Harris

This week on Wide Open, Ashlyn sits down with Olympic hockey player Jackie Pierri to talk about identity, resilience, and life beyond the rink. Jackie opens up about growing up in Montclair, playing boys hockey, building a career across North America and Europe, and using her platform to push for better conditions in women’s sports and for climate-conscious change.
They also talk about the emotional weight of honoring her late father, the burnout of fighting for basics in sport, and how her values have shaped both her engineering career and her athletic journey
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You may know Abigail Thorn as Philosophy Tube on YouTube or as Sharako Lohar on House of the Dragon; she is a British playwright and actress. Today, Ashlyn is inviting her to get Wide Open about her acting process. They also discuss how her background in philosophy shapes what she brings to the screen, and they talk about what life in America is like and what it has taught her about extending compassion to friends and neighbors in new ways.
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You might know Sam Gordon as that little girl who went viral for outrunning all the boys on her tackle football team. She was just nine years old when her dad posted that video, and fourteen years later Sam has matured into a powerful advocate for women’s sports. In her career, she’s already co-founded the Utah Girl’s Tackle Football League and played D1 soccer at Columbia University. Now she’s professional football player with the Salt Lake Wildcats all while pursuing a law degree. Sam talks to Ashlyn about why it’s so important to be a multihyphenate in sports and life, what it’s been like to grow up as the face of a women’s sports movement, and the opportunities tackle football can bring to women on and off the field.
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Director, writer, producer, and comic creator Carly Usdin joins the show to talk with Ashlyn about their long career as a storyteller and the importance of making sure queer stories keep being made. Ashlyn tries to get the scoop on Carly’s upcoming film, “Courtside,” a gay basketball rom-com set to feature several WNBA players. Plus, Ashlyn and Carly discuss all things women’s sports, identity, and the new wave of joy in queer film and TV.
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Roku’s Director of Content, Publicity and Talent Relations Nicole Wilcox joins the show this week to give a peek behind the curtain into how, why, and when certain stories get told in film and television. Nicole knows what it takes to bring a project into the world, build excitement around it, and make sure everyone is represented on screen. Ashlyn and Nicole discuss the art of documentary filmmaking and why accessibility to media matters. Plus, they dive into what it took to get Ashlyn’s documentary, Game Changers: The Ashlyn Harris Story made and what it’s like to have it out in the world.
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