The Danielle Robay Edit

The Danielle Robay Edit

Danielle Robay is known for her signature interview style—open-hearted and razor-sharp. Dubbed "The Queen of Questions", she created the bestselling card game and podcast Question Everything and is the co-executive producer (alongside Reese Witherspoon) and host of Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club. A Gloria Steinem Fellow and mentee of Larry King, she carries on a legacy of curiosity and connection, having interviewed icons from Taylor Swift to Malala Yousafzai across more than 8,000 hours of conversation that inspires possibility and sparks change.

Shop the Danielle Robay Edit

What’s your go-to icebreaker question when you’re meeting someone new?

I love to ask people for the story behind their name. And I don’t just mean people named Cricket, Tuesday, or Sailor. Every Ben, Mike, and Jane have such memorable stories too. For example, there are a lot of Danielles, but only one is named for the prettiest girl in my mom’s high school. 

I also like to ask people what they would give a TED Talk on if they had to get onstage in ten minutes. People have the most surprising expertise and don’t often get an opportunity to flex it, so it’s a subtle way to put people at ease by letting them show off a bit. Plus you usually learn something weird/cool! 

You really do everything!  Can you break down everything you're juggling right now?

absolutely…enormous coffee not pictured:  

• Question Everything — Before Question Everything was a card game it was a podcast, and it still is! I’ve done over 200 podcast episodes full of interviews with and for dreamers, doers, and beautiful minds. 

• Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — I also host the podcast Bokkmarked, for Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club. Writers are my rockstars so to be able to sit down with authors and have conversations about their words is the best part of my week! 

• AT&T x Tribeca’s Untold Stories Initiative — This is an amazing collaboration that supports emerging filmmakers with $1.2 million and incredible mentorship to help artists get their stories on the big screen.

• Branded content + partnerships – Think of me as a mini marketing engine: story, strategy, and distribution. I approach partnerships like an agency, not a billboard.

• Live Event Hosting and Speaking – I have been doing a ton of hosting for female-centered events like Hello Sunshine’s annual conference Shine Away and Create & Cultivate, the country’s largest conference for women in bsuiness. Being together in person is the best… IRL > URL 

• Founder & CEO of the Question Everything card games –I built these card games around a simple idea: charmed are the curious for they shall have adventure! Curiosity is wildly underrated as a tool for making everything better. (and no one talks about it)! The Girl’s Night In deck is my first drop in 3 years… just in time for Women’s History Month!

It’s a lot, but it all ladders up to the same place, curiosity and connection! 

What’s something people don’t realize goes into prepping for a great celebrity interview?

That celebrities are humans like you and me, just with better clothes. Because they know there’s heightened interest in everything they say, they’re sometimes more guarded. My job is to make them feel safe enough to show up as themselves. 

My prep begins with the same question every time: What can this person teach me that no one else can? That question shapes everything, and it serves as my lighthouse through the interview ensuring I stay the course.  I then build the interview like a song—an easy intro, a crescendo into something emotional, a catchy bridge, a callback to the beginning, and a strong ending that leaves the audience feeling something. And just like a great song, it was a great interview if you leave feeling something.

You’ve worked with Reese Witherspoon and with E! , what have those experiences taught you about interviewing?

Reese taught me to go for it. When she talked about starting Hello Sunshine, she said she saw a gap in the marketplace and thought, why don’t I build the thing I wish existed? That question changed how I think about creating. If there’s something you want to see, it’s up to you to make it. If you’ve been longing for it, likely other people are waiting for it too.

E! taught me that miracles are real. The way I got that first job was the most full-circle, decade-spanning story involving rejection, cross country travel, a spa receptionist, and giving myself the grace to figure things out and be patient with the process. It taught me to trust the timing of your life, so long as you show up trying and you always have enough time to be good to people. 

Is there an interview moment you still think about — in a good or funny way?

Interviewing Gloria Steinem was a surreal experience. She talked about women becoming the heroes of their own lives. When she said that, I realized how in the past I’d look at someone else’s career or life and think, “how did they do that?!”…as if everyone else was issued a secret handbook and told not to give it to me. What Gloria reminded me is this: there is no handbook and I don’t actually need one, I can be my own hero. Everything we need is already inside us. We can do ANYTHING we put our minds to, the tricky part is giving ourselves the permission to try.

What’s exciting you most about what's next?

I’m really excited about expanding the Question Everything universe beyond the podcast into IRL rooms through the card game. This Girls Night In deck is for girls like me who would rather spend the night on their couch with great company than in line at the club (but feel free to bring the deck with you while you wait in line at the club, you’re going to have a lot of time to kill).

The questions were crafted to bring out hilarious stories + meaningful connection. Dialogue is how we build community and community is how we thrive—how we build businesses, friendships, families, and fuller lives. Sometimes all of that starts with one really good question.