During this episode, we discuss how she came to love opera and explore the impact of the word “diva,” including the meaning, the myth, and the potentially harmful impact of that label. We chat about the glamorous and not so glamorous sides of running a jewelry business. Plus, Sara opens up about several deeply personal topics like handling bullies and being victimized in the workplace, being your own self-advocate, and surviving emotional abuse at home. I hope you delight in Sara's story of how ...
Oct 14, 2020•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 89
Alice has participated in two historic flybys, which are billions of miles away. (The irony that I usually walk upstairs to work is not lost on me.) She's now the second guest who has graced this podcast from the space exploration community. Of course, we're going to talk about space exploration in this episode, but we're also going to talk about what has needed to work well among a team of Earthlings for it all to be possible plus the lessons that Alice has personally learned along the way. Acc...
Jul 08, 2020•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 88
Today, we discuss Claire's passion for sustainability, which happens to be a primary value at Hunky Dory. It’s the driving factor behind everything they do at the restaurant. As Claire explains, you don't need to be a scientist to create sustainable, effective processes. Inviting people to Hunky Dory's brand of activism in a non-preachy way is what she and her staff strive to do. We also take on the high and low points of adulting, creating a sense of inspiration by way of her food and drinks, a...
Jun 10, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 87
Kat holds an MFA in Metals from SUNY New Paltz and has over ten years of experience with CAD, 3D printing, and other fabrication technologies. Today, Kat is going to teach us all about 3D printing technology, the medical and educational applications of 3D printing, and digital design and fabrication. All extremely fascinating topics! Plus, we'll learn how she landed her dream job at the intersection of art and engineering. We'll hit on how she navigates some of her work obstacles and manages bur...
May 13, 2020•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 86
Eileen is an avid open source contributor focusing on the Ruby on Rails framework and its dependencies. If you are wondering what that means, don’t stress. We’ll break it down without overwhelming the non-techies among us. Eileen is passionate about scalability, performance, and making open source communities more sustainable and welcoming. While Eileen lives and breathes tech, we covered much more than 1s and 0s in this episode. She describes how she gets into the flow state and her approach to...
Apr 08, 2020•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 85
Dipti believes in theater as a powerful lever for social transformation. From that place, she created HONOUR: Confessions of a Mumbai Courtesan . HONOUR has given Dipti a powerful platform to advocate for women's rights and engage others on wide-ranging issues pertaining to inequity and gender. We talked about how she’s created awareness around feminism and what she’s learned from the women who have been sex trafficked. These are just the accomplishments of Dipti’s creative pursuits. She also ha...
Mar 11, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 84
Before founding Gracias, Deana was co-founder at strategic consulting firm, Agency of Trillions, which was acquired by Indiegogo in 2017. Deana is also an advisor to female-founded, travel startup, Allcall, and co-founder of CO, a co-working space in Rhinebeck built on a co-operative, community ownership philosophy. Deana really takes us to school, today. We take on democratizing cryptocurrency and generating financial empowerment for young women and teens. Oh, and if the terms Bitcoin and crypt...
Feb 26, 2020•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 83
Additionally, Dr. Holt-Lunstad has an adjunct professorship at Iverson Health Innovation Research Institute at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. Dr. Holt-Lunstad’s research is focused on the long-term health effects of social connection. In this episode, we dive into the many areas of Dr. Holt-Lunstad’s work, including the fraying of our social fabric, the impact of social (dis)connection on our physical and mental health, and the current cultural stigma around loneline...
Feb 12, 2020•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 82
Last year she and her husband, Mike, with their band, The Mammals, toured small folk music venues for a month in Australia as a duo with their two kids, organized two community music festivals back in Upstate NY, and recorded a new full-length studio album due out next summer. Ruth is a dedicated folk musician and artist, but also works hard to study, shape, and share the musical, environmental mission of the Ashokan Center as the Director of Arts & Communication. This is where Mike and Ruth...
Jan 22, 2020•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 81
Leah co-founded Soul Fire Farm in 2010 with the mission to end racism in the food system and reclaim the ancestral connection to land for People of Color (POC). As co-Executive Director, Leah is part of a team that facilitates powerful food sovereignty programs - including farmer training for Black & Brown people, a subsidized farm food distribution program for communities living under food apartheid, and domestic and international organizing toward equity in the food system. Leah has been f...
Jan 08, 2020•46 min•Ep. 80
Megan (aka Megz) has also been a friend and mentor. And as friends, we share a megaton of nerdy intersections. Our conversation takes a winding path, from career talk to being vulnerable and creative. We start things off by talking about how she stumbled into UX Design. Our conversation then switches to showing up in life with raw honesty. With some more twists and turns, we dove into the importance of shedding all our BS and forming strong relationships with people. Feedback seems to be a recur...
Dec 11, 2019•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 79
Meet Jingmai O’Connor. She's a professor at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and PaleoAnthropology (IVPP) in Beijing, China. After completing her PhD, she moved to Beijing, where she has been working for the past 10 years. She became IVPP’s youngest full professor in 2015. Her research explores the evolution of flight in the Dinosauria, the dinosaur bird transition, and the biology of stem-avians (aka flying dinosaur birds). Jingmai is also an advocate for data sharing and equality in sc...
Nov 27, 2019•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 78
Aja believes that a successful community is not made up of individuals working separately, but of individuals working collaboratively on all fronts. Through her work at Good Work Institute, she helps to unite individuals, enabling them to come together and work for the greater good. Today we're going to talk about some of the things Good Work Institute (GWI) is doing like the creation of emerging models of organization. If that term is new to you, don’t worry we’ll get you up to speed. Also, Aja...
Nov 13, 2019•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 77
In her previous roles as executive assistant for a major cannabis brand and as a compliance manager for Humboldt Brothers, a network of medical marijuana production firms in Northern California, she gained expertise in local regulation and state legislation. Seeking to unite her commitment to climate change and regenerative land management, she worked as a research and lab contributor assistant at Hudson Carbon before joining Hudson Hemp. Inspired by a childhood spent on organic farms, Melany is...
Oct 23, 2019•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 76
At her company, Sustainable Energy Economics, she consults on energy policy for local, state, and national governments as well as environmental organizations. Evelyn is also the founder of a project here in the Hudson Valley called Commonwealth Hudson Valley. It’s a web publication promoting a more just, democratic, and sustainable economy in the Hudson Valley and beyond. She also serves on the board of the start-up Kingston Food Coop. She is the co-author of Cool Tools for Hot Topics , a resour...
Oct 09, 2019•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 75
Susie's extensive experience in arts, museums, festivals, and heritage includes roles with Historic Royal Palaces, Artichoke, and Battersea Arts Centre. In 2016, she was producer of London’s Burning, a festival to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London, including London 1666, a 120-metre-long sculpture created by hundreds of young Londoners, which was spectacularly set alight on the River Thames. In 2018, Susie became a Commissioner of Historic England. Susie and I talk ab...
Sep 10, 2019•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 74
Like many women to grace this podcast, Patti is no stranger to burnout. She’s grown Awestruck Ciders as sole owner-operators with her partner and has been adding staff, ramping up production, and impressively increasing sales. Patti’s got some amazing insights from the experience. She’s even implemented a few anti-burnout “rules” that we’ll unpack. Blind spots at work aren’t often discussed. Today, we consider what they are and how to navigate them from Patti’s experience. In fact, blind spots l...
Aug 28, 2019•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 73
After a distinguished legal career spanning more than two decades in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut, Krishna has joined Grace Farms Foundation. She has worked with global leaders and international organizations to identify ways to combat human trafficking in conflict as well as ways to create more transparency in global supply chains. This is part of her work at Unchain. Krishna came into my orbit when I went to see a talk she moderated at Grace Farms. Krishna is so g...
Aug 14, 2019•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 72
Carmen's story as a heretic and change agent at CIA is featured in Adam Grant's bestseller Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World. Carmen is passionate about many things, but namely intelligence analysis, strategic thinking, and the diversity of thought and innovation. In this episode, Carmen and I talk about the culture of the CIA and why she surprised many of her friends in the 80’s with her views. As the self-proclaimed “Analyst of Little Things,” Carmen breaks down what that means and...
Jul 24, 2019•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 71
Sometimes, I unexpectedly bump into a guest at an event, conference, or randomly out in the world. Other times, a friend, like Andrew over at the Sounds and Vision podcast, will suggest a guest because they know who or what will make me geek out - like today’s guest, Katharine. Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist to some and a self-proclaimed Jezebel of climate change. Her research focuses on understanding what climate change means for people in the places where they actually live. (Bre...
Jul 10, 2019•1 hr•Ep. 70
If that wasn’t enough, Jana is a writer, too. She will be releasing her first book, Wild Beauty , in July. (I’ve seen it, and it’s gorgeous.) In this episode, we talk about art curation versus creation as well as Jana claiming her artistic confidence through Captain Blankenship. Plus, we discuss how Jana navigated the intersection of career, family and honoring the different parts of herself, including the tiny chemist. At a young age, Jana started making potions. She eventually developed a sens...
Jun 26, 2019•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 69
As a single mom, Whitney bravely took on the risk of being an entrepreneur and has never looked back. Whitney is a successful entertainment industry executive-turned-cannabis storage designer who's spearheading her quickly growing startup. Inspired by a lack of stylish, safe cannabis storage systems and a total disdain for storing plant medicine in a shoe box, Whitney decided to produce a product for cannabis users. Using her brand, she is positively redefining the image of cannabis users, too. ...
Jun 12, 2019•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 68
I’ve been so fortunate to have some really, really kickass guests! Kelly Lyndgaard, who you met in episodes 30, 56, and 57, nudged this one along. Kelly’s become a mentor, sponsor, and a dear friend to me. So, it was an honor to turn the host reigns over to her, while I moved on over to the hot seat. In this episode, you will hear us cover a lot of ground. I think Kelly compiled 2 years of questions! We will talk about neuro-fatigue, coaching, what my superpower would be if I could have one, mak...
May 22, 2019•2 hr 7 min•Ep. 67
After many years of illness and being sick (since she was a child), Mary was diagnosed at 43 with Celiac Disease. And yes, she was thrilled with finally receiving a diagnosis. In this episode, she opened up about her experience with healing as well as her 27-year career as a practicing psychotherapist before her homemade crackers took on a life of their own. Mary talked about the process of starting Mary’s Gone crackers, including her many failed attempts at getting the cracker dough just right....
May 08, 2019•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 66
The Lava Mae goal: to deliver hygiene and to reconnect people experiencing houselessness with their dignity. Doniece began Lava Mae after learning there were 16 shower stalls and about as many toilets for San Francisco's 7,500 houseless men, women, and children. Think about that math. It just does not work out. In this episode, she talks about how her idea became reality in such wonderful detail. In the five years since launching Lava Mae, 14,000 Californians have been served. Lava Mae is expand...
Apr 24, 2019•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 65
With over 25 years of experience as a medical malpractice attorney, Heather has been consistently named one of the top 50 female lawyers in Pennsylvania. Additionally, she advocates, she mediates, she anchors content, and she stars as a legal talking head. I’m stoked about her book, The Elegant Warrior: How to Win Life’s Trials Without Losing Yourself . Heather gathers up all of her lessons from the courtroom and shows readers how they can use their complaints, discoveries, questions, and object...
Apr 10, 2019•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 64
As PelotonU’s Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Sarah and the organization are committed to ensuring working adults can earn a college degree on time without a mountain of debt. We explore the challenges, or straight-up barriers, that exist for these adults who want to continue or go back to school. As Sarah says, “Picture going back to school right now with nothing else changing in your life.” Yes, you will learn about PelotonU and its innovative, competency-based learning initiative. You...
Mar 27, 2019•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 63
Diane was also the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby in 1970, where she rode a horse called Fathom. These days, Diane runs her own business doing equine sales, which almost seems like a horse and rider matchmaking service. If that wasn't all enough, she worked with author Mark Schrager on the upcoming book about her life called Diane Crump: A Horse Racing Pioneer’s Life In the Saddle. In this episode, Diane and I talk about all things equine and horse racing. Yes. All. The. Things. This ...
Mar 13, 2019•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 62
I first met Sharon when she gave a talk at Woodstock BYO. That’s when I learned about her passion for the zero/less waste movements. There was so much more I wanted to ask this thought-provoking, social entrepreneur. Not only is Sharon passionate about reducing waste, she is also passionate about entrepreneurship. She recently condensed all of her business knowledge into a book called The Magic of Tiny Business . I ripped through the book in one afternoon and loved it. I'm not the only person wh...
Feb 27, 2019•1 hr 40 min•Ep. 61
Saundra got her start working her way up through amateur night at the Apollo Theater ( yes, that one ). She's been a touring member with artists like Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Victor Wooten, Mavis Staples, and Low Cut Connie. She's recorded with artists such as Amy Winehouse, Moby, Karen O (of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and Lady Wray. Saundra has also written her own music, has had a solo career, and makes up one half of the group, Saun and Starr (who are signed to Daptone Records). Saundra has ...
Feb 13, 2019•2 hr 5 min•Ep. 60
