The Applied Empathy Podcast

Aaron is a speaker, writer, activist and transformational coach. His work allows people to examine their unconscious biases, and peel back laters of programming that prevent them from moving through the world with a mindset of love, unity and equality. In our increasingly divisive and fear-fueled world, this kind of work is absolutely essential. In this episode Michael and Aaron discuss a variety of subjects including the proverbial question of why can't we all just get along, how internal healing results in an improved external reality, and the importance of clearing out the past (including that of our ancestors) in order to move forward. Aaron also tells us about his publicly available mediation series, REBOOT, which helps listeners break problematic patterns related to race. We'd recommend checking it out!

Jamira Burley has an impressively long list of accomplishments for her young age including, but not limited to, being named a White House Champion of Change, Forbes 30 under 30, and Essence Magazine Woke 100 women. In this beautifully honest conversation, Jamira speaks about the tragic story that propelled her into a career of activism, the importance of empowering and engaging the youth, and the political issues to watch. She also elaborates on the struggle to stay positive, to continue to watch the news, and to avoid the insecurities of impostor syndrome.

In this episode, Michael grabs time with the lead singer of OK Go (who is also the magical brain behind their insanely cool music videos). Together they cover a wide variety of topics surrounding the creative process. Damian elaborates on his own struggle to be creative inside of set parameters (which ultimately led to his departure from a career in graphic design), contrasted against the boundless energy he found when pouring himself into creative pursuits of his own making. The episode is full of incredible anecdotes ranging from a brief history of his family's relationship with fish sticks, to what it was like to create art inside of a zero gravity airplane, courtesy of a Russian airline.

In this episode Michael chats with Scott Belsky, an entrepreneur and author who currently serves as the Chief Product Officer at Adobe. Together they explore a host of profound topics including the importance of navigating volatility (within both company and career), the less discussed benefits of staying inside of a startup for the long haul, the need to get shoulder to shoulder with your consumer when building a technology product, the essentiality of design, and how happiness is, for some, the byproduct of being "fully utilized".

Lauren Bille is a community builder, social justice leader & entrepreneur. In this episode Lauren touches on the importance of nuance in understanding the complexity of the human experience, on sincerity as a way to move past ego, on the essentiality of telling the truth in order to live authentically, and her future plans to make our world a more open and embodied place.