We are highlighting baker-turned-author-turned filmmaker Beth M. Howard during Women’s History Month for her documentary PIEOWA: A Piece of America. It’s screening all over the country and helping to spread the message that pie has the power to heal, bring people together and make the world a better place.
Available also on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube
Since its debut, The Women’s Eye website’s goal was to build an incredible community of women who create positive change in the world. These women continue making history; building communities; and finding new ways to improve people’s lives.
So in honor of this momentous month, we are inviting back several guests who continue to raise the bar on their own goals and dreams.
Beth M. Howard is our special guest on this episode of The Women’s Eye Podcast with host Stacey Gualandi. The author—best known as The Iowa Pie Lady—is now an award-winning documentary filmmaker with her first film PIEOWA!
“I knew nothing about filmmaking. I started this when I was 61. I’m 63 now, so I always like to tell people because it’s never too late to do something new and take on a new career. I had to learn everything…plus, I was so passionate about the subject, you know, pie!
It made me stretch and grow. I’ve written four books; I don’t need to write another book. I was like, ‘Okay, I want to try something new, something I haven’t done before and learn something, and I definitely learned a lot.”
— Filmmaker Beth M. Howard
We first met Beth in 2014, then again in 2018 to talk about her popular books. Now, the self-described “pievangelist” is sharing the “story of pie, the outsized role it plays in Iowa’s and America’s culture, and the ways this humble pastry can unite us” in her film.
She says that its subject of “community building and kindness” is more important now than ever.
“Being out there with the film in real life is practicing what I’m preaching. It’s like, ‘Here we are,’ coming together in community, like-minded, with a subject we can all agree on.”
After dozens of sold-out screenings in Iowa last year, Beth is now traveling the country screening her film, and feeding moviegoers with a slice of pie, of course.
and Will Farrell seated way back/March, 2026
She recently had back-to-back viewings in Beverly Hills. She also spent Pi Day judging a KCRW PieFest Contest, with none other than fellow judges Will Ferrell and Roy Choi!
Register’s annual great bicycle ride across Iowa/ July, 2023
But the one quote from her film that still resonates every time she watches PIEOWA is from one Iowa man featured near the end of the film.
“He says it just so succinctly. He said, ‘If everyone would just do one thing to help somebody else, the country would be in far better shape…’ That’s what I think this film demonstrates; it’s that it’s not that hard to be the change you want to see in the world.”
For Beth, she hopes the film also leaves people with this message—you’re never too old to learn something new and be successful at it.
“How come I had to wait till I was 63 to see this much success? It’s kind of crazy,” jokes Beth.
Join us for this episode of The Women’s Eye podcast, proving that if you bake it—I mean, make it—they will come.
For more information on Beth, all of her books and where to see her film PIEOWA (and why you never drive with a meringue pie!) check out:
Websites: theworldneedsmorepie.com
bethmhoward.com
IG: @theworldneedsmorepie
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY BETH M. HOWARD.
matching the first 3 digits of pi, the mathematical concept
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