Onwrd

The world is moving at breakneck speed, and as you've probably become aware….our lives are more and more relying on our data. We rely on this data, but have little ability to utilize them in the manner we use our physical possessions (loaning, renting, upgrading, etc.) Digital ownership is an important field to understand as more and more of our lives go online. In this episode, we talk with Shira Stember, the Chief Operating Officer of Snickerdoodle Labs. Snickerdoodle is developing core infrastructure to ensure all internet users can benefit from the amazing private, secure and transparent digital future we need to retain human rights and protect our sovereignty. As we spiral into a future that exists in more virtual spaces, digital ownership is fundamental to our individual and collective sovereignty. Learn More: - Website: https://www.snickerdoodlelabs.io/ - Snickerdoodle LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/snickerdoodlelabs/ / - Shira's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shirastember/ - Shira's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Shira_LES Snickerdoodle's Twitter: https://twitter.com/YoSnickerdoodle

Given the pace of development over the last century, and the amount of investment in carbon-based economy, flipping the switch to renewables over night is, unfortunately, not realistic. In this episode, we connect with Hitesh Juneja, a globally recognized innovator who is applying his business acumen, and activating his network to evolve antiquated energy technologies while simultaneously increasing access to who can participate in and benefit from energy creation and distribution operation. Hitesh and his team are creating a cleaner, greener, more just energy and economic system that's being implemented today. LEARN MORE: - Website: https://solaroil.io/?a=InfluencerLink - Video Overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg6483aWVkA - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hitesh-juneja-future/

Our governance structures and processes are stuck in the 1960s. If we don’t act in short order to upgrade our operating systems, we are going to find ourselves in the dustbin of history. Innovators like Myron Ragsdale & Lynn Roosevelt Wiggins join us today to share the tools and their creativity applied to improving our democratic processes. ** Around the 3min mark, Lynn revised the stat, he revises his fact: African American turnout fell by 765k votes in 2016--not the 1.2 M voters mentioned.** - Learn more about InfoVote: https://www.linkedin.com/in/myron-ragsdale/https://www.forbes.com/sites/annefield/2021/02/25/entrepreneurs-goal-boosting-black-millennials-civic-engagement/?sh=6e33b1f71455 - Download the App: https://infovoteapp.com/ - Connect with Myron: https://www.linkedin.com/in/myron-ragsdale/

In recent years, we have seen an influx of innovative and bold experiments in redistributing the wealth accumulated by various institutions, organizations and entrepreneurs. These experiments fly under different flags - universal basic income, corporate social responsibility - social impact bonds, unrestricted granting, stimulus checks, gifts, social impact, etc. Some of these are making big impacts, some of these are perpetuating existing problems, some of these might be inviting new problems, and some of these giving practices just might be the key to the more just, equitable, accessible future so many of us strive to bring about. To help us make sense of the emerging giving practices, we are joined by Susan Hairston - a titan in the field of philanthropy, an elected official and a business owner. For more information, check out: - https://susanhairstonconsulting.com/ - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanhairston/ - IG: @councilwomanhairston - Twitter: @HairstonSusan

In this conversation, we connect with Aviv Shalgi, founder of Solar Simplified, an exciting example of win-win-win thinking applied to the energy industry. By matching renters, homeowners, and small businesses who care about the environment and want to save money on their electricity bill with local solar farms through an easy and transparent signup process, Solar Simplified is making renewable energy accessible to all. It’s entrepreneurs like Aviv who are creating the “new normal” we’ve all been talking about for the last year. This type of win-win-win system design should inform how we approach the myriad of system disconnects we seek to mend in the months and years ahead. Learn More at www.SolarSimplified.com

As we race into the greater recession, or depression, and the rules and tools we have taken as constant disintegrate, we are presented with an amazing opportunity - to invent systems that are stronger, more just - to shift our understanding of what value is and how it is transferred and to reimagine what governance means in a global, and digital context. Today’s guest lives on the vanguard of community, currency and governance. Through her work and life, she forwards possibilities of a more liberated future and helps leaders bring their audacious visions to life. In this episode, we ask some big questions and explore exciting solutions with Grace Rachmany of DAO Leadership. Learn more: - Website: www.daoleadership.com - Twitter: @RebeccaRachmany - Suggested reading: www.economicprinciples.org/Why-and-How-Capitalism-Needs-To-Be-Reformed/

By intentionally designing our processes and systems to reward the behaviors we want, we can more quickly create the outcomes we seek. Times are changing, and the time is ripe to re-establish, reinvent and rejigger the processes we rely on to move the world forward. Today we connect with Pool Together, a decentralized finance protocol that is creating healthy savings habits, and breaking bad fiscal management by providing upfront incentives and removing psychological and technological barriers to good, longterm individual financial hygiene. Pool Together is one exciting example that serves as a model of how simple tweaks can support big behavioral shifts towards a more sane, stable and sustainable future. To experience how Pool Together is creating healthier saving habits go to your App Store and download a Status wallet, then click 2 times to find Pool Together and begin to experience the benefits of a no-loss lottery! Learn More: Website: https://www.pooltogether.com/ Twitter: @PoolTogether_

When it comes to housing, the challenge we face is not an imbalance of housing supply and demand, but a gross misallocation of our housing resources. How many homes do you have? How many empty rooms are in your home(s)? On your street? In your city? Map this fact on top of a growing elderly population, with low to high needs for support - everything from grocery shopping, to companionship, to homecare sertvices. Many times, our seniors find themselves land rich and cash poor. Between the abundance of rooms and the growing needs of the people in those homes, an elegant, win-win-win solution is emerging. Home shares. Today I sit down with the founder of SHARE California, an organization that matches individuals needing housing with housed senior needing varying degrees of support. SHARE uses high tech and high touch to deliver a shockingly nimble approach that is producing BIG results Learn more: Website: https://sharesonomacounty.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SHARESonomaCounty/

Before we were mandated to stay isolated, many of us struggled with a lack a connection - to self, our culture, our families, our friends, our purpose and environments. This lack of connection is at the root of many of our mental health challenges, that present as anxiety, cutting, bullying, school shootings, depression, obsession, addiction, suicide and the myriad of other mental health challenges me, you and our neighbors battle daily. As the mental health conversation becomes more important, psychologists, therapists and self-care practitioners are beginning to understand the importance of cultural compatible interventions to better serve the populations they seek to support. One example that I am particularly excited about is the use of hip-hop to help youth understand, expand, express to erect a better future. Today we are in conversation with the founders of Rhythmic Mind, a Hip-Hop Therapy organization, serving teens and Transitional Age Youth in the greater Bay Area. Learn More: - Instagram: @rhythmicmind1 - Donate: www.rhythmicmind.net/donate - Music: www.rhythmicmind.net/gallery - Newsletter: bit.ly/33RpaHN

At the root of many social problems communities face the world over, at any scale, lay finances. Our financial services are inefficient, obfuscated and inaccessible. To respond to the pains and constraints we face regarding accessing and using money, a growing cohort of social innovators are building more accessible, fair and transparent financial services. Today, we learn about a completely decentralized capital market, built on the Ethereum blockchain, called "Maple Finance." Maple lays the groundwork for crypto banks by giving DeFi users access to bond funding fast at low cost, and creating a flexible suite of lending tools for loaners and borrowers. Learn More: - Website: https://maple.finance/ - Twitter: @maplefinance - Medium: https://medium.com/maple-finance - App: Maple.Loan

What does ownership mean in a digital age? As our lives move more virtual, answering this question becomes very important. Questions of authenticity, of history, and of piracy. Blockchain technologies inherent transparency, veracity, and decentralized, baked into the infrastructure, make it uniquely applicable to the facilitation of managing, transferring and interacting with your digital possessions. And, of course, you guessed it, someone is out there making that possible right now. These blockchain projects support a growing universe of something called NTF’s, and I quote, “Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique, digital items with blockchain-managed ownership. Examples include collectibles, game items, digital art, event tickets, domain names, and even ownership records for physical assets.” Today I am talking with the creator of one of the largest marketplace for buying, selling, and discovering rare digital items. I present Devin Finzer, creator of Open Sea. Learn More: - Website: https://opensea.io/blog/guides/non-fungible-tokens/ - The Non-Fungible Token Bible: https://opensea.io/blog/guides/non-fungible-tokens/ - Twitter: @OpenSea / @dfinzer

Great work places inspire hope, foment change and are fertile grounds for creative thinking. Great work places and organizations are too far and few in between. Enspiral is changing that by ensuring their clients and partners are practicing effective patterns of collaboration. As we start this next decade, societies around the world seem to be at an inflection point, and new solutions are needed to the new challenges we face. Old tools and tricks are no longer sufficient. That is why Enspiral, a network of people working on stuff that matters, with the mission to support people to do the same, strives to make work more humane, more collaborative and more sustainable. By approaching our work, our passions and one another in novel ways, new solutions can be uncovered, new possibilities unleashed and new patterns created. In this episode, I chat with John Gieryn, Catalyst at Enspiral to explore the what, how and why of the work of Enspiral. Learn more: Website - https://enspiral.com/ Twitter - @enspiral / @CoopChange LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/enspiral/

There is a rising suit of tools that allow people the world over to begin doing things with their money that has previously been impossible. As blockchain tools begin to grow up, we are seeing a creative explosion of possibilities as people begin to program money. One tools that we have mentioned a few times in recent episodes is DAI. D.A.I. DAI is a tool from the company, Maker. DAI is a dollar backed token that lets holders of this token make steady and passive gains. rDAI, an offshoot of DAI, was built to give people a chance to automatically allocate accrued interest to a recipient of your choice. In short, this tool makes it possible to accrue and contribute interest from your cash assets. A very exciting use case of rDAI is being forwarded with charitable ends, and today I am stoked to sit down with Victor of rTrees, a tool that sends your accrued interest to a charity that plants trees. This is just the latest example of how blockchain tech is being used and experimented with to create a more sane, just and sustainable economy. Learn More: - Website: rtrees.dappy.dev - Twitter: @rTreesDapp - Medium: https://medium.com/@victorrortvedt

The economy is rapidly evolving - we just had the highest highs, followed by unprecedented volatility. This combined with the fact that we enjoy a global workforce, interconnected by interdependent central banking systems, makes all of us vulnerable to the ebbs and flows of economic whims, worries and wonders. In this new economy, workers are more mobile, transitory, have more options and incur more risk than we have become accustomed to. this means we need new tools to support the workers, consultants, freelancers, distributed teams, service providers and vendors who make the important work we do possible. Luckily, a cohort of entrepreneurs are focusing on solving the problems related to supporting the emerging workforce operate in alignment with the realities of modern life. Today I am talking to Paul, founder of Sablier. This tools makes possible real-time payments (i.e. you to get paid for each interval of work you perform). This means no more waiting around for the 1st and 15th! Sablier is the latest DeFi service, currently being forwarded to create a more just, sane and sustainable economy. Learn More: - Website: https://sablier.finance/ - Twitter: @sablierhq - Twitter: @PaulRBerg - LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/PaulRBerg/ - Medium: www.medium.com/sablier

Marshall McLuhan once wrote, "We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.” Consider how the internet has shaped reality in less than a quarter century. While human’s are great at creating tools, we have a shockingly poor ability to understand the implication of our tools when the world takes hold of them. I share all this as context as we enter the unknown and race to build tools to solve today’s problems. I continue to find hope and inspiration in the burgeoning blockchain space. People unconstrained by borders, regulations, and technological barriers - building tools to solve some of the largest most fundamental challenges society faces. But as McLuhan warns us, we create tools, then the tools create us. So, today I am excited to enter into a conversation with a blockchain platform that is building their tools with humans at the center - carefully considering the implications and impacts of their tools, not simply building fancy functions and mind boggling buttons. Today we’re in conversation with Status. Status is a completely open source community, created by contributors all over the world. Developers, designers, creators, educators, hobbyists, enthusiasts, and more – everyone has free and open access to add, edit, review and contribute to the platform. Status strives to be a secure communication tool that upholds human rights, enables community money, forwards community law and through privacy, preserves culture. Join me as we continue our journey, learning about social innovations with Jonny Zerah of Status Learn More at: - Twitter: @ethstatus - Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/3Exux7Y - Website: http://status.im/ - Download the App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=im.status.ethereum

Sustaining the important work of non-profits is vital to solving the challenges society faces that the "free market" is not incentivized to solve. Innovative solutions that lower the threshold for who can be a philanthropist, and that provide a dependable source of funding for our non-profit partners can fundamentally change how non-profits operate and help them focus on impact, increase their risk tolerance and avoid spending so much damn time throwing fundraisers and justifying their overhead expenses! To solve the problems our communities face, we need non-profits to innovate, and the current financial and regulatory infrastructure hinders this. Luckily, a new application, Give Together, is providing the infrastructure that can dramatically change how we donate, and how nonprofits can generate funds. Give Together is a DeFi project bore out of the belief that non-profits are important, that philanthropy is important and that your personal wealth can work for you and your favorite charities, it doesn’t have to be either or. Join me as we continue our DeFi journey with Lucas Kohorst! Learn More at: - Twitter: @GiveTogetherApp - Website: https://givetogether.app/ - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucaskohorst/

In the face of this, a new bread of entrepreneur is emerging with the aims of decentralizing financial services and increasing the transparency, autonomy and validity of economic systems. The movement goes by the name, DeFi (as in decentralized finance). To realize this vision of decentralizing central banks and their bevvy of obfuscated services, a new relationship with data is required. The new relationship with data finds its foundation in blockchains, and it is now time to begin taking this technology serious. In the coming weeks, I am taking a deep dive into the exciting world of DeFi as this will likely be the first space that blockchain technology begins to impact the masses, and improve society en mass. Today I sit down with the lead of Zero Collateral, a protocol for decentralized lending. Through this platform, which is built on the Ethereum blockchain, anyone has the opportunity to become a lender or borrower. This is a way for people to secure short-term loans and be the collateralized of these loans. This model has the potential to decrease the financial burden of short-term loans, decrease the barriers of accessing a loan, and allowing anyone with capital to provide a safe loan, make some interest on their money along the way. Learn More at: - Twitter: @Zer0Collateral - Website: https://zerocollateral.com/ - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-berkun-47a61a10b/

Media has always played a pivotal role in shifting the patterns we seek to change. New stories help cultures shift behaviors, patterns and potentially bring about long-sought-after changes. So how can we shift the narratives around some of our most entrenched social ills? Two innovators are working on that. In this episode, we meet Eric Ortiz, a journalist, and Chaumtoli Huq, a lawyer and much more. These two have created a newsroom unlike any other and are striving to elevate the stories of the most marginalized. In this conversation, we hear the how, why and what of this bottom-up approach to shifting narratives. Learn more about these innovators and their efforts: Law @ The Margins - lawatthemargins.com/ Community Based News Room (CBNR): https://lawatthemargins.com/category/community-based-news-room-cbnr/ CBNR: Help Us Tell More Social Justice Stories - www.gofundme.com/f/community-based-news-room Chaumtoli Huq - www.linkedin.com/in/chaumtoli-huq-57399517/ Eric Ortiz - https://www.linkedin.com/in/erictortiz/

Over 80% of our health outcomes are determined by things doctors can't fix. In this episode, we meet a doctor has dedicated his life to to addressing the health needs of some of our most in need and vulnerable by taking a unique approach to healthcare. Through his journey, this doctor has improved health outcomes for his patients, and many more, by securing funding and implemented much of SF’s housing for the homeless. In this episode, we learn Dr. Bamberger's holistic approach to serving his patients, and about how he is making an impact in his role as Assistant Director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative. Learn more about Dr. Bamberger: On twitter - @drjoshbamberger UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative -https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2019/05/414396/new-benioff-homelessness-initiative-turn-research-action Recent Forbes Article - https://fortune.com/longform/can-san-francisco-be-saved/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Communities around the globe are experiencing unprecedented challenges in housing their residents, and social innovators are applying their creativity to solving the challenge. In this episode, we explore one potential solution that is elegant and complex: community land trusts. Helping us unpack CLT's is Cassandra Ferrera, a radical real estate professional who is applying her passion and prowess to implementing housing equity solutions in Northern California. She is a board member of the CommonSpace CLT and a force to be reckoned with! Learn more about Cassandra & CLTs below: Cassandra - cassandraferrera.net CommonSpace CLT - www.commonspaceclt.org The first CLT in the US - ltroots.org/what-is-a-clt Housing Innovation Network - groundedsolutions.org CLT Documentary - www.arcofjusticefilm.com SonomaIntersections.org

John McAfee is a visionary, mogul, fugitive, presidential candidate, entrepreneur, a true one of a kind. In this episode John and I discuss why he is running for President of the USA in 2020, love, literature, arrest records and more. Twitter: https://twitter.com/officialmcafee

Cell phone ubiquity is inhibiting us all from communicating and connecting in the ways we strive to be with one another. It has reached a fever pitch and I am more aware of their negative effects now more than ever. Leaving aside the impact of these devices on our youth (e.g. cyber bullying), our cultural addiction to these devices is getting in the way of our ability to have our basic needs met - feeling acknowledged by others and being connected to something larger than ourselves. Luckily, an emerging cadre of social innovators is working to remove social media and phone over-usage and replace it with human connection - that incredible tool that helped us survive millions of years and make astonishing advances. In this episode, I sit down with Alex Simmons of Yondr, a company working to create phone-free spaces for artists, educators, organizations and individuals. Learn more about Alex & Yondr at www.overyondr.com

In a world of increasing decentralization (think Social Media, WikiPedia, AirBnB, Lyft, #MeToo) one arena has not yet been decentralized - finance. That being said, citizens the world over are all too aware of the negative impact of the current financial system, driven by centralize banks. Thus, social innovators the world over are working furiously to build a better built financial system - one imbued with transparency, security and opportunity for all to access. In this episode I sit down with Ryan, a.k.a. Fishy Guts, of PirateCoin, a promising cryptocurrency that has built one of the most private currencies around. You can accept this currency here: https://pirate.black/merchants ! Learn more about Ryan & PirateChain at @PirateChain, @2ndOldest & https://pirate.black

Creativity, autonomy, localism, and customization are just a few of the dominant trends of the 21st Century, so it is no surprise that we are seeing the rise of 3D printing. As more maker spaces, teen centers, science clubs and libraries getting a hold of these relatively inexpensive home-based custom manufacturing machines, we are seeing more and more creative and impactful applications of these small devices. But these small tools, trinkets, and toys being printed have their limitations due to the size of the printers. Not for long. In this episode, I sit down with Samantha Snabes, founder of re:3d - a company that is taking an inovative approach to the development and deployment of industrial-sized 3D printers. Learn more about re:3D & Samantha at: @samanthasnabes @re3Dprinting & re3d.org

Across the globe, liberal democracies are facing grave challenges. And should some of these nations fall, what will replace their democratic institutions? If we are not actively creating what comes next, we are likely to revert to one of the governing systems the 20th Century has already proven faulty (e.g. Socialism and Authoritarianism). This is the problem Paola Santana and her team at Social Glass are attacking in an extremely innovative and realistic way. Social Glass is building the tools to help governments evolve to a more effective, efficient and responsive version of themselves. In this conversation, Paola and I go from the meta to the micro as we explore her vision. This conversation will leave you wanting more, so make sure to follow Social Glass' ongoing work via: Twitter: www.twitter.com/thesocialglass Instagram: www.instagram.com/thesocialglass Medium: www.medium.com/@socialglass Website: www.Social.Glass

We have more communication tools than ever before, yet our ability to communicate with one another seems to be deteriorating. Is it the medium or the message that is becoming harder to navigate? Communication is the most powerful tool we have to solve and resolve our problems. But look around, there is a pandemic of toxic communication, inhibiting productive communication. In the eye of this worrisome storm, I sit down with Anthony Law, the founder of Gaugr. Anthony and his team are working to evolve our ability to communicate beyond the binary, past the troll and get us back to a place of healthy interactions - interpersonally, professionally and globally. Learn more about Gaugr & Anthony at: @gaugr_ & Gaugr.com

“Water is fluid, soft and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.” – Lau Tzu No doubt, water is a powerful force...but, Mr. Tzu, how do we ensure we continue to have good water?! Globally and locally, water issues are on the rise. Whether our community faces issues related to drought, pollution, or conservation, we all rely on this resource for our daily personal and professional pursuits. So how do we avoid the tragedy of the commons when it comes to water? In this episode, I sit down with two water systems experts, one in the private sector and one from the public sector, to learn how we can build a more healthy, sustainable relationship with our life source - water. Learn more about my guests, Ryan Pedrotti of Sonoma Water & Tyler Judson of Weeks Drilling & Pump at: sonomawater.org , @sonomawater & weeksdrilling.com

As natural disasters and their impacts grow by the year, the rebuild efforts become more complex and important. Many times, natural disasters set the stage for opportunists to come in and perpetuate the unsavory aspect of capitalism. Luckily, many social innovators are dedicated to changing the disaster aide paradigm to one that leverages the opportunities presented in post-disaster contexts to increase community resiliency. In this episode, I talk to Will Heegaard, Founder and Director of The Footprint Project - a social venture dedicating to helping disaster-ravaged communities leapfrog the existing energy infrastructure by leveraging developments in green technologies. Learn more about The Footprint Project and connect with them at: www.footprintproject.org or @FootprintPrjct

Our health system tends to focus on drugs, diseases, doctors, and disorders, yet it is our daily habits and community that have a far greater impact on our health outcomes than the healthcare conversation tends to acknowledge. In this episode, I sit down with a revolutionary non-profit who is changing how health and community can connect to create better outcomes for all - insurers, individuals, those battling illnesses and those interested in food. We discuss inspiring trends, developments, and initiatives that can shift the US' healthcare model and improving health outcomes, today. Learn more about Ceres and connect with them at: https://www.ceresproject.org or @CeresCommunity

Entrepreneurship is at an all-time high. More creative risk-takers are bucking traditional employment and creating their own jobs, pursuing their passions and solving major problems at every scale, on every continent. But, becoming an entrepreneur is tough, and even tougher for those who the economy has historically left behind. Luckily, there are business savvy leaders with giants hearts, big visions, and enormous commitments leading efforts to ensure everyone has the opportunity to change the world, make a living and create good jobs. In this episode, we talk to Elizabeth Gore and learn how she and her colleagues are increasing opportunities and the ability for entrepreneurs of all stripes to succeed. Learn more about Elizabeth's incredible work and current efforts at: www.helloalice.com | @ElizabethGore | www.linkedin.com/in/emgore/

Our educational systems are out of date and in dire need of an upgrade. Luckily, there are many people working hard to shift the educational paradigm. In this episode, we meet two innovators who are changing the how education is delivered now, and for years to come. We discuss inspiring trends, barriers to shifting educational outcomes and the existing initiatives and models that are improving educational outcomes globally and locally. Learn more about these two and support their work by clicking the links below: > Arnaud St. Paul - http://give.si > Jen Klose - https://twitter.com/CRAjklose

In this episode, I sit down with two entrepreneurs who are changing the fashion and beauty space business model - shifting from a culture that monetizes exploitation to one that is capitalizing off empowering. We discuss the state of the industry, inspiring trends, barriers to shifting culture and the existing products and business models that Malia and Stephane are forwarding. Learn more about these two and support their work by clicking the links below: > Style By Malia: http://stylebymalia.com/ > Kreyol Essance: https://www.instagram.com/kreyolessence/

Poverty in the USA has been stuck at 12% for the last 40 years. In recent years, cities have been dedicating more and more resource to fighting homelessness, yet the problem is only getting worse. While there are a lot of mysteries about homelessness, one things is clear, it is on the rise. And this flies in the face of the dramatic increase in money being spent in the private, public and social sectors trying to solve this problem. In this episode, I sit down with Akash Kalia, a social innovator that has taken an innovative approach to solving his communities homelessness crisis. Learn more about Akash and his great work at https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/5533052-181/santa-rosas-palms-inn-housing & https://www.linkedin.com/in/akash-kalia-cta-8b18a14a/

While the social sector and private sector operate on different playing fields, they impact our shared reality. So how can we bridge this divide to ensure the great work of social innovators has the same opportunities to scale as the next Pepsi, Facebook or GoPro? A breed of financial services firms have risen to the challenge. Through their innovative approaches, they are forwarding the future of sustainable capitalism. Join Casey Johnson of rsfsocialfinance.org and I as we explore the state and future of impact investing.

Diversity is innovation. Innovation requires creativity, and creativity is bore from the alchemy of blending of multiple perspectives, possibilities and individual people. While individuality is powerful, it is even more impactful when mixed with the individualities of others. But how can we learn to embrace our differences? DE&I (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives are being conducted at organizations of all sizes around the world to address just this. In this episode, I talk with Juan Lopez, a national DE&I thought leader, and explore how he is fostering innovation through his DE&I efforts. Juan is the founder of Amistad Associates, a management consulting firm with an extensive background working with private and public sector organizations to create hospitable work environments that value, manage, and practice diversity. Learn more about Juan at amistadassociates.wordpress.com

Democracy could use a reboot. A systems upgrade. We are in the middle of the 21st Century, and many basic democratic structures are way out of date. Voting is one of the most obvious examples. In today’s episode, I talk to Jeffrey Stern of Votem, a mobile voting platform designed to securely cast votes in elections across the globe. Votem is one of many social innovators helping shift our democratic institutions into the digital age by improving the accessibility and security of the sacred right to vote. Learn more about Votem at votem.com. For more information, connect with @sternJefe & @Votem.

When was the last time you fixed a leaky sink? Built a fence? Rewired your lighting? If you are like me, the answer is “Never!” We rely on skilled tradesmen and women to fix-it, and make our cars, homes, offices and vital infrastructure all better. But it’s becoming more difficult to find this skilled labor. Letitia Hanke, CEO of www.arsroofing.com, was struggling to find talent to service her clients until she found an innovative solution to solving her labor-shortage problem. Listen to Letitia's story of innovating in the trades and impacting the lives of tomorrow's entrepreneurs and social innovators.

What if you didn't have to wait two weeks, or in some countries, a month to receive your paycheck? What if you could show up to work on Monday morning without a dime, and have enough money to buy lunch by 12pm? Payday advances/loans have been a long-time scourage on wage workers, but in the age of digital money, ubiquitous tracking and a rapidly evolving workforce, why are we still stuck in the payment paradigm from the Industrial Ages? Euros Evans, CEO of www.Etch.Work discusses his audacious effort to bring real-time payments to an employer near you.

Many problems our communities face are massive in scale, and the organizations fighting them are tiny in comparison. That being true, there are some behemoths out there. Large Philanthropic foundations who give millions upon millions of dollars away every year to remedy social issues. In this episode, I sit down with Dolores Estrada, the Director of Grants Management at the www.CalEndow.org, and discuss where and how this enormous foundation is funding social innovation and reaping a big ROI.

The largest hotel company owns no real estate. The largest taxi companies own no taxis. The trend of decentralizing systems is creating a more resilient and flexible world. In this episode, I sit down with Piers Ridyard, CEO of www.RadixDLT.com, who is creating a platform for anyone to build decentralized tools to solve big problems and provide better services as we race towards an ever-shifting future.

The scope of our rigid regulations and the diverse constituents occupying dynamic, radically changing societies are currently in painful juxtaposition. Luckily, Vinay Gupta, founder of Mattereum, Hexayurt Capital, and Ethereum, is working on making legal structures more flexible, enforceable and scalable to the VUCA times we live in. Learn more about Vinay at https://medium.com/@leashless.

AI, E-health records, telemedicine, the list goes on. So much innovation in the health space, so many exciting developments...but what is the problem health innovators are trying to solve? Dr. Cahana is a global health expert and practitioner with a systemic solution to the fissures of our global health systems.

Data breach after data breach, hack after hack, our personal data is all over the internet, and is at risk of being compromised. What can we do to change how our digital identities and information is accessed, used and abused by organizations who rely on our data to provide services? David Siegel, a web pioneer, futurist, writer, thought leader and CEO of The Pillar Project (www.pillarproject.io), is working tirelessly to change the personal data paradigm.

The "why" and "what" of the Onwrd podcast. I am your host, Daniel Weinzveg. Please join me on an inspiring journey as we talk to the humans working hard on the innovative projects and that are improving our global community.