Billions Rising

Can games help us unlock our inner genius? If so, that could lead to increased self-reliance in a variety of ways. Our guest is Nolan Bushnell.Nolan Bushnell - BrainRushVideo game pioneer Nolan Bushnell is best known as the creator of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese. As the founder of BrainRush adaptive learning games, he is fueling their mission to unlock the genius in each of us through smarter learning. He believes that adaptive games make learning faster, more fun, and more fulfilling.Each game engages your brain in rapid-fire practice that adapts to your exact needs, so learning is maximized during every second of play. This is geared to help passionate teachers help students become more creative. BrainRushes automatically differentiate so every student can thrive. Their games are customizable, and teachers can pull from the vast library or create their own, complementary to lessons, and Common Core aligned.Everything from vocabulary to multiplication to dissecting a frog comes in the form of a BrainRush. And the library is growing all the time because anyone can create and share BrainRushes.Nolan's latest book is Finding the Next Steve Jobs: How to Find, Hire, Keep and Nurture Creative Talent.Please share this episode of Billions Rising’s Self-Reliance Radio with your friends.

Everyone fights their own unique battles in life, winning or losing to some degree. But some fight bigger fights than others -- like the ravages of war, violence and poverty -- and still manage to thrive and fend for themselves. Our guest is Zainab Salbi, Founder of Women for Women InternationalZainab Salbi is a humanitarian, women's rights activist, founder and former CEO of Women for Women International and author of If You Knew Me You Would Care. This book is an illustrated journey of women in developing countries who have overcome tragedy and adversity to find hope and empowerment.Salbi founded Women for Women International, a nonprofit that gives business and leadership training to women in warn-torn countries, and served as CEO from 1993 to 2011. The organization's belief is that lasting change can only come through both knowledge and resources. But her humanitarian and activism journey doesn't end there. Born and raised in Baghdad Iraq, Salbi is a global force on the issues of women's rights and female empowerment.

Is it possible to make a difference and still make a profit? Yes, according to our guest, green business profitability expert and best-selling author Shel Horowitz.Shel Horowitz, Green and ProfitableShel has been involved in environmental and social change movements his whole life. He is the publisher of Green and Profitable and the author of numerous books. His eighty book, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet, was a #1 Environmental category bestseller on Amazon, and has made the category bestseller list at least 30 times.Shel’s e-book, Painless Green: 111 Tips to Help the Environment, Lower Your Carbon Footprint, Cut Your Budget, and Improve Your Quality of Life-With No Negative Impact on Your Lifestyle, shows consumers easy and affordable ways to go green. His Down to Business webzine was one of the first business publications to have a regular section on sustainability. Shel was still a teenager when he started doing publicity and marketing for grassroots environmental and community organizations with zero promotional budget. There wasn’t even money available for stamps, so he hand-delivered press releases on a three-speed bicycle. Trained as a journalist, he first became aware of the power of the news media when a local paper refused to print meeting notices he wrote for a controversial group—but gave extensive news coverage to its refusal. Now, for over thirty years, he’s helped businesses, nonprofits, and community groups identify their key message and get it out to the public with little or no expenditure.Please share this episode of Billions Rising's Self-Reliance Radio with your friends.

What kind of hope do you offer others? Our guest is Lily Yoseph, founder of Tangible Hope.Lily Yoseph, Tangible HopeAfter living on three continents and exploring a number of careers, Telile “Lily” Yoseph found that her life’s purpose and passion lay in her own backyard— the small community in Kofele, Ethiopia where she was born in 1963.After high school, Lily moved to the Netherlands and then Los Angeles, California. Yet in the years away from her family, Lily had experienced some difficult times and still had not found what she called her “life’s purpose.” So in 2008, after 25 years away from home, Lily returned to Ethiopia.Knowing that she could not help everyone, Lily made the decision to help one family in a way that would immediately and concretely improve their lives. She chose a family with eight children and had a house built for them. It was during the construction of that home that Lily met Ubo, a seven-year-old girl who stayed at home doing domestic chores to help her family rather than going to school. “One day, I took her picture and showed her the photo,” Lily says. “She smiled and said, ‘I didn’t know I’m that beautiful.’”That encounter touched Lily deeply. She says, “I made a decision that day to do all I could to make sure that no girl would grow up without knowing how beautiful she is or having the opportunity to go to school.” After arranging to support Ubo’s education herself, Lily flew home to California and, with the hope of creating opportunities for more girls like Ubo, established Tangible Hope Foundation—a nonprofit that runs on a shoestring budget out of her one-bedroom apartment.Please share this episode of Billions Rising's Self-Reliance Radio with your friends.

Why aren't there more women and girls working in industries that allow them to change the world? Our guest is Cassidy Williams, and she is doing her part to change the equation.Cassidy Williams, AdvisHerCassidy Williams is a computer programmer and computer science senior at Iowa State University, scheduled to graduate in May 2014.She has worked at a variety of companies including Intuit, Microsoft, and General Mills and plans to work on the front end in web or mobile development.She co-created AdvisHer to help other girls get started in the STEM industries (science, technology, engineering, and math). The online community leverages the power of pipeline programs to advise, advocate, and accelerate women in STEM related jobs around the world.The project won a hackathon as part of British Airways' UnGrounded -- the first innovation lab in the sky, designed to connect industry leaders and creative minds for the purpose of tackling challenges that affect the next generation of global innovators. Cassidy was a member of Team Altitude, who were assigned the challenge of how to foster women in STEM positions... on one flight from San Francisco to London.She is also a public speaker and has addressed audiences at events like the National Center for Women & IT Summit, the U.S. Department of Labor's Diversity in Tech event, the IINSPIRE (Iowa-Illinois-Nebraska STEM Partnership for Innovation in Research and Education) conference, TEDxDesMoines, and even at the United Nations.