Podcasts about AmeriCorps

This week Charli is joined by Delores Morton of Step Up. Delores is the chief executive officer of Step Up, the nonprofit that guides girls, and those who identify with girlhood, to their success. Under Delores's leadership, Step Up supports high school girls and young women ages 18-29 in becoming confident, connected and career-focused through free mentorship programs.Delores is an accomplished nonprofit executive with more than 20 years of experience designing and leading creative enterprises that make a lasting difference. Since joining Step Up as CEO, Delores masterfully navigated the nonprofit through pandemic challenges to adopt a new 5-year strategic vision and expand Step Up's mentorship programs to girls nationwide. She also unveiled programs and supports for young women ages 18-29, marking the first time the organization offered structured services for those who had already graduated from high school. During her tenure, Delores expanded Step Up's on-campus mentorship model to soon-to-be eight markets nationwide, including reestablishing Step Up's presence in Atlanta and growing to Nashville, Houston and San Francisco. She also secured the organization's first federal funding with a $400,000 grant from AmeriCorps, which enables Step Up to leverage the power of volunteers and bolster its mentor training and engagement infrastructure.Prior to joining Step Up in 2019, she served as vice president for the West region of City Year. At City Year, Delores supported the organization's efforts to improve graduation rates by preparing students with the social, emotional, and academic skills and mindsets to succeed in school and in life. Before City Year, Delores was the chief program officer for Points of Light, where she designed and delivered programs that mobilized thousands of volunteers to meet education, economic opportunity, emergency response and preparedness needs in communities. Throughout her career, Delores has helped Fortune 500 companies drive their philanthropic platforms, including L'Oreal's Women of Worth and Walt Disney Company's Give A Day Get a Disney Day, and was honored by President Barack Obama as a 2012 Champion of Change.A Louisiana native, Delores splits her time between Atlanta and Step Up's headquarters in downtown Los Angeles. She holds an undergraduate degree in English literature and a graduate degree in human resource management.For media requests, speaking engagements, and event invitations for Delores Druilhet Morton, please contact Executive Director of Communications Alissa Zito Cruz at alissa@suwn.org.Find us @EmpoweringPumps on Facebook, LinkedIn,  Instagram and Twitter and using the hashtag #EmpoweringIndustryPodcast or via email podcast@empoweringpumps.com

Today on Ready: Leaders to Know, I sit down with Josh Keller, Communications Director at SEIU Minnesota State Council. Josh grew up in a working-class home in Brooklyn Park, where mutual aid was just what you do. Today, he carries those values into his leadership at the SEIU State Council, where his career has been defined by a single mission: shifting power back to the people.From his early days in AmeriCorps to his leadership in the labor movement, Josh has remained focused on addressing structural racial and economic disparities by building collective power. In today's high-stakes political climate, his work reminds us that unions aren't just about contracts, they are the engine for solidarity and lasting change.

Joe Hagedorn began his career as an Oregon lawyer by representing domestic violence victims as an AmeriCorps legal aid attorney. He then practiced as a public defender and, before becoming a referee/pro tem (temporary judge to assist the work of the court), Joe was a lawyer in juvenile court. Joe and his wife Hau have three boys. Joe is running for Judge of the Circuit Court, 4th District, Position 14 in Multnomah County on the Family Law bench. The election is May 19, 2026.

America doesn't feel like it's debating anymore. It feels like it's detonating. We sit down with Chip Webster, founder of Unity in Service Incorporated, to talk about what he saw after five long RV loops around the United States and why it convinced him the country isn't just politically split, it's socially disconnected. From conversations in RV parks to the simple heartbreak of seeing “No Littering” signs surrounded by trash, Chip argues we've started acting like we're renting the country instead of owning it. That mindset shows up everywhere: how we talk, how we vote, and whether we feel any duty to people outside our own bubble. Then we get practical. Chip lays out a clear framework for responsible citizenship, from voting and respect for law and order to steady volunteerism that puts you shoulder-to-shoulder with neighbors who see the world differently. The biggest idea is universal national service: a one-year commitment after high school, with options that could include the military or civilian programs inspired by the Civilian Conservation Corps. We weigh the promise against today's obstacles, including low participation in AmeriCorps, Vietnam-era lessons about exemptions, and the steep collapse in trust in government. We close with Chip's poem “Microvalidations,” a reminder that big civic repair can start with small human moves: say hello, hold the door, look someone in the eye, and rebuild trust one interaction at a time. If you care about bridging divides, civic engagement, and national service as a path to unity, hit subscribe, share this conversation, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway.Support the showEngage the conversation on Substack at The Common Bridge!

Advocacy for volunteerism can't wait until a crisis hits. Sometimes the crisis arrives without warning, and the relationships you've built with policymakers determine whether your program survives.In this episode, host Tobi Johnson welcomes Kaira Esgate, CEO of America's Service Commissions, to discuss sudden funding cuts that threatened AmeriCorps. Kaira shares how grant terminations and staff reductions halted community projects and upended service members' lives. She also highlights the successful bipartisan advocacy—lawsuits and congressional support—that ultimately restored funding.If your organization depends on public funding or grants, this episode is a powerful reminder: proactive advocacy and long‑term relationships with elected officials are essential to protecting the programs that hold our communities together.Community Resilience – Episode Highlights [00:00] Introduction to Advocacy in Volunteerism[05:19] Kaira Esgate's Journey in National Service[12:50] Understanding AmeriCorps and National Service Landscape[18:05] The Crisis: Funding Cuts and Their Impact[31:24] Mobilization and Advocacy Response[47:43] Ongoing Advocacy and Political Landscape[51:37] Lessons Learned from Advocacy Efforts[01:01:00] Future of National Service and Community ImpactHelpful Links Volunteer Strategy Scorecard™ Volunteer Management Progress Report Volunteer Nation Episode #148 - Nonprofit Advocacy 101 – Yes You Can! Volunteer Nation Episode #149 - Nonprofit Advocacy Strategies – A Checklist Volunteer Nation Episode #150 – Launch a Community-based Advocacy Program in Six StepsAmerica's Service Commissions  Find Kaira on LinkedInIf you are looking to show your support for AmeriCorps during these challenging times, please consider taking one or more of the following actions. Call your Members of Congress using 5 Calls. (There's a free app too!) Email your Members of Congress using the tool from Voices for National Service. Join States for Service, ASC's privately funded policy coalition working to advocate for federal and state policies that improve access to national service and volunteer engagement resources. Donate to ASC's National AmeriCorps Member Emergency Fund.Write an op-ed, submit a letter to the editor, or post on social media. ASC's communications toolkit provides resources for all of these and more. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Volunteer Nation podcast. If you enjoyed it, please be sure to subscribe, rate, and review so we can reach more people like you who want to improve the impact of their good cause.  For more tips and notes from the show, check us out at TobiJohnson.com. For any comments or questions, email us at WeCare@VolPro.net.

In today's episode of Backpacker Radio presented by The Trek, brought to you by Topo Athletic, we sit down with Becca Beckham, trail name Little Bag, a Peace Corps veteran, thru-hiker and all around world traveler. Becca has hiked the Long Trail and PCT, and last year tackled the Colorado Trail, the Tour du Mont Blanc, and the GR20 in Corsica. In this one, Becca shares what it's like growing up in a military family bouncing across the country, to two years in Cameroon with the Peace Corps, to teaching English in France, to landing in the wonderful world of thru-hiking. She shares stories about floating a hippo-filled river in Central Africa, accidentally eating monkey, attending a rat festival, and what it's like to build community from scratch in a new place, over and over again. If you've ever wondered what it looks like to just keep saying yes, this is your episode. We wrap the show with some very big and ungood news for the future of this podcast- hint it involves Chaunce- hint it's probably what you think it is, hint we are all processing it together- hint it's not related to health or anything serious on that level- but yes it's sad and bad. We also share the tragic news about Ian MacLurg, a thru-hiker, Trek Blogger, and Trail Correspondent who recently passed away while hiking the PCT.  On a lighter note- we reveal details of a live podcast happening in Denver in late June, the triple crown of team sports, the funniest terms for boobs, and why Chaunce is looking at her phone all the time during the podcast. Topo Athletic: Use code "TREK15TOPO" at topoathletic.com. Gossamer Gear: Use code "BACKPACKERRADIO" for $20 off LT5 Trekking Poles at gossamergear.com.  OnX Backcountry: Through Memorial Day, use code "TREK70" for 70% off at onxmaps.com  Hyperlite Mountain Gear: Use code "BPRADIO15" for 15% of hyperlitemountaingear.com [divider] Interview with Becca "Little Bag" Beckham Becca's Instagram Time stamps & Questions 00:05:40 - Reminders: Live podcast in Denver on June 26! Listen to our episodes ad-free on Patreon and subscribe to The Trek's Youtube! 00:08:17 - Chaunce's Big News 00:23:11 - Introducing Becca "Little Bag" Beckham 00:24:41 - How did you get into backpacking? 00:25:59 - What was it like growing up in a military family? 00:29:57 - What was it like making friends when moving to a new school every few years? 00:32:35 - Alabama snakes tangent 00:35:16 - How did you get from Peace Corps to the Long Trail? 00:39:08 - What brought you to the Peace Corps? 00:44:15 - What was your day-to-day life like integrating into the community in Cameroon? 00:51:30 - What kind of work were you doing in Cameroon? 00:53:27 - What is bush meat, and what was the wildlife like in Cameroon? 00:57:49 - Did you float a hippo-filled river in Cameroon? 01:03:30 - Do you feel like the Peace Corps prepared you for thru-hiking? 01:06:48 - Have you always been this adventurous? 01:08:23 - Has living a non-traditional lifestyle made it harder to find love? 01:17:15 - How did you come to the decision not to have kids? 01:20:14 - What were your biggest gear fails on the Long Trail? 01:21:25 - What did you learn from the PCT shakedown? 01:28:28 - What was the mud situation like on the Long Trail in a wet year? 01:33:02 - What happened in the gap between the Long Trail and the PCT? 01:39:54 - Did you get norovirus at Crater Lake on the PCT? 01:42:47 - What happened when you discovered you were allergic to Leukotape on the PCT? 01:51:41 - What was your best campsite on the PCT? 01:52:55 - How did you transition back to AmeriCorps after the PCT? 01:54:31 - What is the difference between AmeriCorps and Peace Corps? 02:00:56 - What was it like living in a 15-passenger van with your AmeriCorps team? 02:05:14 - What was it like doing a site visit inside an Idaho prison? 02:13:17 - What was it like installing wildlife-friendly fencing on a Montana ranch? 02:14:58 - How did the government cuts to AmeriCorps affect you personally? 02:20:27 - How did losing your job lead to an epic year of hiking? 02:21:54 - What was it like hiking the Colorado Trail? 02:27:43 - What was hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc like? 02:37:15 - Is the GR20 the hardest hike in Europe? 02:44:25 - Tell us about the pigs tearing a hole in your tent 02:51:18 - Peak Performance Question: What's your top performance enhancing or backpacking hack? Segments Trek Propaganda: Thru-Hiker Who Died on PCT Was Trek Blogger by Kelly Floro The Dark Side of Trail Magic: The Negative Experiences Hikers Rarely Talk About by Peg Leg QOTD:  What's the best/funniest word for boobs? Triple Crown of (team) sports Mail Bag 5 Star Review [divider] Check out our sound guy @my_boy_pauly/ and his coffee. Sign up for the Trek's newsletter Leave us a voicemail! Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes (and please leave us a review)!  Find us on Spotify, Stitcher, and Google Play. Support us on Patreon to get bonus content. Advertise on Backpacker Radio Follow The Trek, Chaunce, Badger, and Trail Correspondents on Instagram. Follow Backpacker Radio, The Trek and Chaunce on YouTube. Follow Backpacker Radio on Tik Tok.  Our theme song is Walking Slow by Animal Years. A super big thank you to our Chuck Norris Award winner(s) from Patreon: Alex and Misty with NavigatorsCrafting, Alex Kindle, Andrew, Austen McDaniel, Bill Jensen, Brad & Blair Thirteen Adventures, Bret Mullins aka Cruizy, Bryan Alsop, Carl Lobstah Houde, Christopher Marshburn, Clint Sitler, Coach from Marion Outdoors, Eric Casper, Erik Hofmann, Ethan Harwell, Gillian Daniels, Greg Knight, Greg Martin, Griffin Haywood, Hailey Buckingham, Jackson Storm, JaredNotFromSubway, Jason Kiser, Jason "The Snail" Snailer, Luke Netjes, Matty in AZ, Patrick Cianciolo, Randy Sutherland, Rebecca Brave, Rural Juror, Sawyer Products, The Saint Louis Shaman, Timothy Hahn, Tracy 'Trigger' Fawns A big thank you to our Cinnamon Connection Champions from Patreon: Bells, Benjy Lowry, Bonnie Ackerman, Brett Vandiver, Chris Pyle, Dakota J, David Neal, Dcnerdlet, Denise Krekeler, Jack Greene, Jeanie, Jeanne Latshaw, Lloyd Harris, Merle Watkins, Peter, Quenten Jones, Ruth S, Salt Stain, Sloan Alberhasky, and Tyler Powers.

There’s a particular kind of business story that you can really only tell about Louisiana. It usually starts with somebody who barely had two nickels to rub together, an idea that almost nobody else took seriously, and a lot of stubbornness. It almost never starts in a glass tower in a major metropolis. It starts in places like a front yard near LSU. Or in a small office somewhere on the way to the oil patch. Both of my lunch guests today are Louisiana people who built something out of, more or less, nothing. One of them runs a national company that has 400 vehicles, 25 offices around the country, and was a Super Bowl LIX vendor. He started it the year after he graduated from LSU. The other one runs a nonprofit in Mid City Baton Rouge that began with one neighborhood kid showing up at his front door asking him to fix a bike. Today it has worked on more than 10,000 bikes, and is the centerpiece of a $2 million renovation of a former church and rug shop on Government Street. Both of these guys are in their thirties. Both went to LSU. And both of them have grown their organizations far faster, and far further, than anybody would have predicted when they started. Corey Rosales is a New Orleans native who came to Baton Rouge for college and then stayed long enough to start a company. He graduated from LSU with a degree in petroleum engineering in 2018. A year later, in 2019, he founded American Safety. American Safety started out as an environmental response and industrial services company. Then COVID happened, and a record-breaking hurricane season happened, and Corey kept saying yes to opportunities. Today American Safety is a multi-division operation – industrial services, environmental response, disaster relief, and transportation. They have 25 offices, more than 400 vehicles, and somewhere between 300 and 500 employees, depending on the time of year. They were a vendor at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, where they moved more than 10,000 people during the event. They’re now the official transportation partner of the New Orleans Saints and the Pelicans. And, as part of their expansion, they recently acquired Baton Rouge–based Dixieland Tours. The President and CEO of American Safety is Corey Rosales. In 2010, Dustin LaFont was a recent LSU graduate, an AmeriCorps alum, and a middle school history teacher in East Baton Rouge Parish. He had grown up biking to school in Houma, and he commuted by bike at LSU to save money on gas and parking. In his spare time he’d sit in his front yard fixing up old bikes. One day a kid from the neighborhood came up to him and asked if he could fix his bike. Then more kids showed up. Then more. The neighbors started calling it “the front yard bike shop.” Dustin made it a nonprofit. After two years of running it on top of teaching, he quit his teaching job to do it full time. That nonprofit is called Front Yard Bikes. It’s now the largest community bike shop in Louisiana. Kids ages 6 to 18 earn credits by learning bike mechanics, welding, gardening, cooking, and cycling safety, and they apply those credits toward a bike of their own. Older kids can move into paid internships and earn job certifications in mechanics. In 2022, CNN named Dustin a CNN Hero. In 2023, City Year gave him their national Alumni Leadership Award. And right now, on Government Street in Mid City, Dustin and three other Baton Rouge nonprofits are in the middle of a $2 million build-out of a place called Youth City Lab – a former church and rug shop they’re turning into a bike shop, a performance stage, a barber shop and library, and a community gathering place for young people. The Founder and Executive Director of Front Yard Bikes is Dustin LaFont. There’s a tendency, when we talk about Baton Rouge business, to look toward the big oil and gas companies, the chemical plants, the institutions on the river. And those are real, and they matter. But the story of Baton Rouge is also Corey Rosales – a kid from New Orleans who came here for college and ended up running a transportation and disaster response company that helped move 10,000 people through Super Bowl LIX. And it’s also Dustin LaFont – a kid from Houma who came here for college and ended up creating a youth workforce development program in his front yard that now occupies an entire renovated block on Government Street. Both of these entrepreneuras are doing what Louisiana, at its best, has always done – they saw a need, they said yes, and then figured out the rest as they went. Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs on the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show by Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez at itsbatonrouge.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can you actually build a meaningful business in a weekend and have it still be running years later?Social entrepreneurship can feel lonely, overwhelming, and undefined, especially when you care deeply about a cause but have no idea how to turn that passion into a functioning business. That's exactly the gap GiveBackHack was designed to fill.Adam Morris pulls back the curtain on the Columbus, Ohio-based organization that gave him his own entrepreneurial start, sharing how a weekend hackathon format rooted in applied design thinking has launched real businesses tackling real community problems. The secret isn't building a finished product. It's getting the right people in a room, surfacing your assumptions, and then actually going out to test them by talking to real people.Adam walks through the stories of participants like Karen, whose research on Black caregivers became the foundation of her nonprofit Pair to Care; Leah, an AmeriCorps volunteer who discovered that a crumpled piece of paper with outdated resource phone numbers was failing the people she served; and Wesley, the rapid-prototyping tech wizard who embodies the "scrappy and fast" philosophy that separates learning entrepreneurs from stuck ones.Along the way, Adam reflects on his own journey launching Wild Tiger Tees, a screen-printing business that employed youth experiencing homelessness at the Star House, and what it taught him about what entrepreneurship actually feels like from the inside.At its core, this episode is about something bigger than business. It's about building authentic human connections, slowing down in an AI-accelerated world, and creating spaces where people feel genuinely heard. GiveBackHack, it turns out, is less a startup event and more a community transformation engine.Episode in a glance00:00 What is GiveBackHack and why Adam cares deeply about it02:42 How GiveBackHack was founded and why it broke from the traditional startup weekend model04:28 Design thinking explained: testing assumptions before building solutions08:30 Karen and Pair to Care: turning research into a social enterprise10:27 Wild Tiger Tees: Adam's own GiveBackHack origin story12:31 Wesley's scrappy prototyping approach and what it teaches us14:03 Leah and Hunger Helper: learning from people experiencing the problem firsthand16:59 The Impact of Rapid Change in Technology19:15 What the best social entrepreneurs have in commonInterested in launching a social enterprise? Reach out to Adam or join his social impact mastermind group for entrepreneurs at the early stages of building something meaningful.

(00:00) — Family roots and Flint crisis: Medicine in the house, art dreams, and volunteering during Flint's water crisis point Omar toward health.(02:00) — Why physician, not just public health: Leadership and impact pull him to the MD path.(03:30) — Mentors and mission work: Seeing overseas service in Sudan clarifies what medicine can do.(04:55) — Did family help? Inspiration, yes; U.S. application route, not so much.(06:30) — No campus advisor: Upperclassmen guidance and the MCAT becoming the main hurdle.(08:45) — Building focus for the MCAT: First practice test, CARS timing drills, and trusting the process.(11:10) — The 528 mindset: A cousin's daily encouragement keeps him from quitting.(12:40) — Starts, stops, and locking a date: Deferrals end when he commits to a test day.(15:05) — Gap years with purpose: Moving for family, AmeriCorps service with ESL youth and a citizenship clinic.(17:10) — Writing “Why Medicine”: Owning family influence instead of hiding it.(19:10) — A focused school list: 12 applications by location lead to two interviews.(22:05) — Interview prep without advising: Mock interviews with peers, strangers, and SNMA resources.(25:40) — The email that changed everything: A 9-day acceptance and celebrating with his cousin.(27:50) — Choosing a school: Family proximity and finances over DC.(25:40) — Biggest regret: Wishing he'd built stronger study habits earlier.(28:00) — Med school pace: Pomodoro, Anki, and 2 a.m. anatomy labs make it doable.(32:00) — What he'd change: Application and test fees, and using fee assistance.(34:40) — Final words: Stay locked in, believe you belong, and aim high.Omar didn't rush into medicine—even with a nephrologist dad and physician relatives. In high school, moving to Michigan during the Flint water crisis put him in the middle of public health work distributing water, which opened his eyes to health disparities. He wrestled with whether to stay in public health or become a physician, ultimately choosing medicine for its leadership and direct impact. Without a premed advisor on campus, he relied on upperclassmen, peers, and later SNMA for support. The MCAT was his biggest hurdle: a COVID-disrupted prep course, multiple false starts, and a hard reset on discipline and focus. He rebuilt from the ground up—starting with a baseline practice test, CARS timing drills, and accountability from a cousin who insisted he aim high. Gap years followed, shaped by family health needs and an AmeriCorps role serving ESL youth and a citizenship clinic. Omar's personal statement clicked only when he stopped hiding his family's influence and wrote honestly. He applied to 12 schools by location, earned two interviews, and received an email acceptance in nine days. He chose a school closer to family and with better finances. In med school, Pomodoro, Anki—and friends in 2 a.m. anatomy labs—keep him going, and he's candid about application costs and fee assistance options.What You'll Learn:- Turning MCAT overwhelm into a plan: baseline test, CARS timing, and discipline- How to prep interviews without a campus advisor using peers, strangers, and SNMA- Writing an authentic “Why Medicine” even with family in medicine- Making gap years count with service, growth, and purposeful timing- Weighing school choices by location, family, and finances

KQED's Marlena Jackson-Retondo reports from Bellevue Elementary in Santa Rosa. Abrupt cuts to AmeriCorps funding last year impacted the school-based tutoring there. Principal Nina Craig explains how the loss of tutors affected instruction and student relationships, while new AmeriCorps members, Maya Nurse and Elena Zeoli, describe stepping into classrooms with limited time and resources. This episode explores how even a few missed months of literacy support reduces how many students can be served.

Article 19 is back! After a hibernation, we're ready to bloom again. Listen to Katie and Kristen interview longtime listener, first time caller, Raquella Freeman, as she shares her disability journey with us. While ableism and sexism tried to keep her down, Raquella leaned hard on the voices that lifted her up and is now an advocate for those who follow. At the end of the episode, Katie gives Raquella a unique gift, and Raquella undergoes a surprise metamorphosis. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.    Learn more about web accessibility at Tammaninc.com and document accessibility, and accessibility training and consulting  at ChaxTC.com.     00:00:00,171    Article 19 Intro Recording: Expression is one of the most powerful tools we have. A voice, a  pen, a keyboard.    Eleanor Roosevelt Recording: “The real change which must give to people throughout the world their human rights must come about in the hearts of people. We must want our fellow human beings to have rights and freedoms which give them dignity.”    Article 19 Recording: Article 19 is the voice in the room. (tech Music bed)    00:00:25   Walt Zielinski: So for me, the moment that I realized digital accessibility was something I wanted to learn more about was when it dawned on me that the same sort of fight for gay rights and being visibly queer was sort of the same exact fight being fought for people with disabilities. Accessibility is all about championing people whose voices are inherently, by society, stifled or shut down because they exist outside of the typical space. And when I realized that it was all part of the same fight, that my fight for religious freedom, for queer liberation, was the same as the fight for disability rights, it became very obvious that it was something that I had to pursue in some way.    00:01:23   Rose Bliesner: I was drawn into digital accessibility when I first met people who worked in this space. When I learned that digital accessibility was something that people had careers in and  something that people dedicated their lives to, I was intrigued. I met several accessibility  professionals and learned that they are the most empathetic, most passionate people, and that they really, really love what they do. And so their enthusiasm for their craft really motivated me to educate myself on how to make the world more accessible. And I have loved every minute of it.    00:01:55   Rob Underwood: When I got hired by Chax to remediate InDesign documents for assistive  technologies it was the very first time I realized that digital accessibility was something that I  wanted to learn more about. I've been teaching InDesign for 20 years, but I never knew how to make an accessible document. When I was hired, I was taught the process of document  remediation in small, incremental steps at first. I learned about the importance of headings and document structure. Once we got into color contrast, tables, and the pack checker, I understood the importance of the job we were performing, and how accessibility wasn't a nice-to-have, it was a must. The real aha moment for me was the first time DAX showed us what the documents we created sounded like with a screen reader. For the first time, I could finally grasp how people interact with assistive technology. It was then that I realized that my skillset could provide value to the team and that I wanted to learn everything I could about document remediation. Being part of a team that is at the forefront of accessibility makes me feel good about the work I'm doing. For the first time in my life, I feel like I'm working at a job that gives me purpose.      00:03:07   Taylor Kellar: When I first started working for Chax, I had a very vague understanding as to what digital accessibility meant. I thought that because technology was ever evolving, that  accessibility was something that was already being automatically considered. It wasn't until I  realized that programs that I use as an able-bodied individual, like Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat, have barriers that my coworkers who don't utilize technology in the same way have trouble accessing. What inspires me to learn more about digital accessibility is my co-workers. I feel very lucky that I get a first-hand experience learning tips and tricks on how to make my own content more accessible, and as a world that's primarily online, I think we owe it to ourselves to make content accessible for everyone.      00:03:51   Katie Samson, (cohost): Hello, everyone, and welcome to Article 19. What's up, Kristen?  Kristen Witucki, (cohost): Oh, it's been a minute, Katie. We're, you know, we've taken a little  break, and it's really great to be back with you again and with our producer, Markus Goldman.    00:04:06   KS: Yes, we got the band back together.   KW: Yeah, we did.  KS: We're going to have some great music, some awesome topics coming up in 2026. And we figured we'd start a little bit easy, starting internal to Tammann and Chax.    00:04:20   KW: with our most ardent listener, our loyalist fan, perhaps our only downloader, but  nevertheless, she's been there through it all and a lot more.  KS: So let's bring her in. Welcome everyone to the kickoff of 2026. Article 19. Raquella  Freeman. Hello.  Raquella Freeman: Hi, everyone.  KS: So glad to have you with us.  RF: Long time listener, First time caller. Thank you. So excited to be here and be a part of this  for sure.    00:04:53   KS: Raquella, can you tell our listeners where you are situated right now?    RF: So I am in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It is the heat of winter, which means it's about negative  something out there right now. And I think we're about to have a snowstorm beginning tonight and into tomorrow.    00:05:11   KW: So you mean another snowstorm, right? Another snowstorm. Not the first snowstorm.    RF: Correct. We had our first snowstorm last week, so this will be our second snowstorm, and  it's only the second week of December, so we're doing great.    00:05:26   KS: Wow. Those Wisconsinners, you guys really earn your seasons, I gotta say.    RF: Yes. We spend most of our time in winter, and we really look forward to those three months of summer.    00:05:38   KS: Well, it's so great to have you with us and to kick off what I think is going to be, you know, an exciting year for us. We've got a little bit more flexibility to explore some topics. You know, you're one of our faves. So we had to do the call out first. Kristen, you want to kick us off with a softball question?    KW: Yeah, yeah. Well, Maybe not the softballs, I don't know. Softballs are hard, though. I've  been hit with one. So let's just start at the beginning. If you think about your family, Raquella, and your beginnings, because this is going to sound sort of random, but it all leads to the great pinnacle of you being with us now. When you think back to your, you know, your birth and your early childhood, how do you think your parents would have described those early years and how did they discover or diagnose your disability needs?    00:06:33   RF: That's a fun question. My early years were really complicated. I had health conditions right away. I was born about a month, almost two months early, and this was in the early nineties. So medical practice wasn't what it is today. And I had health complications, spent over a month in the hospital, and they weren't sure you know, what would happen after having a brain bleed. You know, they had no way of knowing what my life would be like until I grew up a little bit. And then as the years went on, my parents tell me that I was a very precocious child, like I was talking circles around them even starting as early as three years old. I could tell you about everything that ever happened and I wanted to tell you everything that I had in my head, but I couldn't sit up. So you had a child who could talk your ear off, but physically I was barely crawling, had limited mobility and couldn't sit up without a lot of support. So they knew something was going on, but the local doctors in my small town that I grew up in didn't know what it was. And they said, Oh, she'll catch up. Don't worry about it. She'll catch up. You know, we were getting older and my parents were like, this doesn't feel like a she'll catch up thing. So they took me to a more advanced doctor in Milwaukee, which is one of the bigger cities in Wisconsin. And they have a great children's hospital there where I met my doctor, Dr. Schwab, who diagnosed me within like a second of meeting me. They said they barely even walked into the exam room and he was like, Oh, so she has cerebral palsy. Like, let's get working on how we can support her and get her the support she needs. And it was him who, you know, helped my parents figure out what my diagnosis meant, started helping me get the medical equipment I needed to get support, get physical therapy and kind of get that process started in my life. And he was also the guy who did all of my surgeries for all of my young years, the surgeries that I've had. And he was great. Like he, he really did change my life. and like help my family and me figure out what the next steps were, but never held me back from anything I wanted to do. Just made sure that I had everything I needed to be successful.    00:08:53   KS: We've talked a lot, Raquella, about just the physical barriers that we have to face as  wheelchair users, navigating winter, navigating a lot of things. How did you learn in those early years and in your own life about all of the barriers, I guess, and then, you know, the ableism that comes with it? Did you start to see signs of that when you were a child, when you were trying to get involved in certain activities, or did it start to kind of creep in, yeah, over time?    RF: It was there pretty early. I think, you know, maybe my earliest memory of it, you know, I  was… In kindergarten, I think when I started to go to school was when I noticed students  treating me differently and people not knowing how to interact with me. Like that's how it began early on. And I had to learn very quickly that like this was going to be part of life for me and how to navigate that space, which I credit my grandmother for. giving me the words to work in those spaces, which because she was the one who told me, hey, people aren't going to understand how capable you are. They might make fun of you, but what's most important is that you just show them that you're just like they are. And then maybe you need a little support. Like she gave me the language to be like, Hey, you know, don't make fun of me. Like I'm good. Like gave me the strength to stop people from putting me down instantaneously and said, no, you have a voice in these spaces to do that. Which is why I think only every year after that moment was I got stronger and stronger in my convictions to not let anybody tell me what I could or could not do whether it was an education or any time in my life. And I just kind of still hold on to those words today. Any time it comes up that someone says, oh, I don't think you can do that. I hear my grandma in the back of my mind going, you can do anything and don't let anybody tell you, you can't.    00:10:56   KS: God bless grandmothers, right?    RF: Absolutely.    00:10:59   KW: Yes, definitely. I can relate to some of that growing into our advocacy self, especially like that late elementary, middle school passage of life when like your whole brain is opening up that you kind of thought about one way and it's sort of more innocent childlike frame of mind suddenly gains depth and complexity and hardship sometimes. And I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit about some of the middle school struggles that you were telling me about before and how they shaped you.    RF: For sure. Middle school, as I'm sure everybody knows, is a tough time for everybody. No  matter where you're from, middle school is complicated and mine was no different. One of the most wild times I had in middle school was during gym, which wasn't my favorite class ever, but it was one that we all had to do. So I would go even though half the time I would spend doing more of a study hall when I couldn't really easily participate in some of the sessions that they had. But one that they always had us do was the presidential fitness test that we did every year, which I couldn't do probably 90% of the presidential fitness tests like well or at all. But the one section I could do was the push-ups section. I have very strong upper body strength. Not so much anymore, but back in my younger days when I used a walker for a majority of my mobility, I would use my arms to move around. So my arms were very strong from carrying my whole body all day. So needless to say, you can put me on the floor and I could do over a hundred push-ups in a minute with perfect form and in like the full style. Like I love doing push-ups and I like felt so good about myself for how good I was at push-ups because every other aspect of gym class I was not good at but I was really good at that. So good that the phys ed teacher actually was like, hey I'm going to use you as my example student for the perfect push-up. of like how to align your body perfectly and how to do it right and for somebody like me whose physical body mostly doesn't ever do what I want it to to have somebody say in this moment your body is a show of like perfection was a big highlight for me. So I did that and it was great. Flash forward to a couple days later, we were revisiting the topic and I was told by that same teacher that he had gotten calls from students' parents, those students happened to be boys in my class, that called and said, hey, you can't be using her as an example because my son was upset. that you were using the girl with a disability to show off the perfect pushup and not them. And so I was told at that point that I was no longer allowed to be the example student because I had hurt feelings of the boys in my class because it was me and not them. That one hurt me. I think that one still hurts me a little bit to this day because I'm in my thirties now and I still remember that moment extremely vividly. I was like realizing that even something as simple as doing push-ups in gym class would lead to somebody in my class doing something like that to show them even though I couldn't do anything else in class I could do that and they didn't  appreciate that I had showed them up in some way.    00:14:37   KW: That's quite an intro to ableism and sexism like in one shot.    RF: Yes, for sure. It makes me sad even to this day.    00:14:45   KS: I mean, talk about teachable moments, not only for the boys, but for the parents and for the gym teacher as well. Who's protecting who in that situation? And, you know, I can't imagine it did those boys any favors in their adult life by learning that lesson. But in a way, as a transition, I would say you are paying it forward in a really cool and awesome way. And I love the work that you do and the service work that you do for young people with disabilities. And we've talked a lot about our camp times during the summer where we go off and explore and have adventures with our like-minded disabled groups. And I wonder if you could talk about some of that work and the advocacy that you do for young people and where it's led for you today in that involvement and some of those lessons that you learned, you know, albeit painful as a child and how that kind of informs your practice with this camp and your service to your community.    RF: So I work with an organization called Wisconsin Youth Leadership Forum. I've been a part  of it in some capacity since 2011 when I myself was a delegate. It changed my life in that  moment. It gave me a new community of people because the theme of the camp is that you're spending a week away from home in a college campus in dorm rooms with other students with disabilities who are high school age and you spend the week learning about advocacy not only for yourself but also for future planning and goals for your career and how to achieve that, and the best thing about YLF is that they also majority of the staff is also persons with disabilities. So you have all students with disabilities, and I would say probably 90% of the staff has some form of disability as well, and we're all just working together, and it's beautiful as a delegate, you get to not only meet more students with disabilities, but you also get to meet and witness staff with disabilities, working hard and doing some really cool things and I think that can be really powerful to see from both sides of not only are you participating in this camp, but people like you are running this camp. I think that just makes it even more powerful. The whole week is about building community, growing together, thinking about your future because most of these kids are one to three years at most away from graduating high school. And so their future is kind of in their hands. Do I want to go to college? Do I want to go straight into the workforce? And whatever their goals are, you know, we're sometimes one of the first people who has them really thinking about it beyond like you know the high school guidance counselor that might just have like their standard script of things that they give every student you know we're really saying no what do you want to do let's let's really talk about your goals and like what do you need what supports do you need to be able to achieve this career that you want whatever that may be and like showing them that the doors aren't closed to anything as long as and there are people out there that can support them and for so many of these kids we've been they've told us like oh i've never really thought about it because nobody asked me or you have some who have really thought about it but they're like i want to do this thing but i don't know how and i don't know who to ask for help and in this seven days together You know, we're talking with these 20 plus students about this and watching them grow and build community with each other. And it's honestly one of the most amazing things that I get to be a part of, not only as a staff member during the week, but I'm also a board member. I'm actually the president of the board at the moment. So I get to really make sure that this organization is successful and continues to grow for years to come because it is truly so important to me because I've seen the impact it can have not only as a delegate, but as somebody who's worked on staff and made connections with young people who I still am connected with today and like, you know, check on them and see how they're doing. And we have past graduates who, you know, are going to legislative meetings or going to talk to their senators or getting careers in spaces where they can use their voice for others with disabilities and knowing that they came through our program and many of them say, you know, I might not have done this legislative talk had I not been in YLF. That was the spark that they needed. And I would say personally for me that that was a spark that I needed back in 2011 as I was getting ready to graduate high school was like the first time that I did advocacy that wasn't just for myself or for like other people in my direct circle where I had met people outside of my small town and realize that there was a whole world of young people and adults doing really great things to better the lives of people with disabilities. And I wanted to be a part of that somehow. Like that's where it really, really clicked in for me that this was going to be a part of my life for the rest of my life.    00:20:08   KW: Well, and that's such a powerful message for people, young people with disabilities or anyone with disabilities to hear and internalize because, you know, I think many, many programs may be well-meaning but might communicate a very different message like, oh, we expect you only in these sorts of jobs or, you know, so that's really powerful that you really absorb what people want to be and are trying to figure out how to help them. When you think about your own journey of getting a job, were there any challenges in getting a job that aligned with your skills and your values?    RF: Yeah. I think the working world is complicated for most people, but like with many things, ableism exists. And I found there to be plenty of ableism when it came to starting my career in the working world. I knew right away that I needed to get a degree because every job that I thought I'd be interested in needed one to like to make that career work. And I knew that I was not only battling for a job in general, but that I had to, or at least I felt, this is my personal feeling, I would say it's not necessarily true for everybody, but personally for me, I felt I needed to be even better than the average person, even at a basic job, because I had to make them forget about my chair. I had to make them see that I was worth the time and the money, regardless of my mode of getting around space. And so I went to school and I did well, and went out and got a job. I mean, I will say my degree probably wasn't the smartest choice if I actually wanted to say it and have somebody understand what it was and give me a job for it. If I'm being honest, it was definitely a liberal arts degree with a name that wasn't helpful. I have technically a community leadership and development degree. Nobody knows what that is, but.    00:22:13   KW: basically... Oh, it does resonate from your camp, though.    RF: It does, yes. The better way to say it is non-profit management degree is what I have. So I started working in non-profit spaces, found my way in through City Year, which is an AmeriCorps program. That was the first, like, quote-unquote big girl job that I had was my City Year job, which was just a sad little stipend that got me moved to Texas, where I spent a year working in a school in San Antonio with sixth graders in English, and it was wild. Those kids were amazing. I loved them. They were why I got up every morning at 4 a.m. and braved wild transit systems to get to them to make sure that I was there for them and it was great, but I had to do a stipend job where I wasn't really making any money and I was just kind of working to exist to kind of start to get noticed in career spaces. It was my first way of finding my way into a role that worked with my degree and paid me to do something. After that, I went into other nonprofit roles that started to slowly see my experience. Most places I worked, I would start at the very, very bottom, you know, and then somebody would recognize that I had a skill and I'd be like, Oh, do you want to move into this next tier? and do other things. And the other answer was always, yes, I want to do more. Yes, I like to do things. Please let me do things. And then I would work my way through. So I kind of learned for a while that that was how my career path was going to go. It was a lot of people not really seeing me, but feeling like, oh, she's got something. There's something there. So let's put her in and we'll see how she does, and see where it goes. You know, I wasn't always ideal and I wanted more for myself, but I think it's safe to say that after, you know, over a decade of really trying to find a workplace that saw me for me and didn't just, you know, throw me a bone because my resume was decent, that finally I realized that I had enough under my belt and had the passion that I needed and applied for. a job at Tamman and Chax and found my way here. I will say I manifested this job in my own way because I loved Article 19 and ChaxChat and just wanted to work here so bad that put my resume out and just crossed my fingers and but we're here today so it's proof that you can manifest your own dreams if you really try hard.    00:24:53   KW: Seriously I mean the story is incredible and let me just back up a tiny bit and you know  when I think about your life compared to mine as a blind person, you know, but both of us  having experienced disability from the beginning is, you know, it's really interesting when I think about you heading into a building or a house and maybe in a lot of cases, they tell  themselves at least that they're grandfathered in, they don't really need to make an accessible building for you or, you know, they think it's for you and not just for everybody. and like that's the challenge but it's so pervasive in our society that many people don't even notice until they're confronted with it and you know but when I think of what your work is which is to you take a document that maybe somebody thought was grandfathered in, and you're stripping away those barriers to the building for someone like me. And I don't know, I'm just really fascinated by your commitment to erasing barriers. And I wondered if you could talk a little bit about how you got into that checks thing specifically.    RF: So I didn't start out as a document specialist. That wasn't where I thought I would end up. but it just so happened that I was working at a non-profit. I was in their development department doing fundraising and things when I overheard them say, hey, we need to start making our documents accessible because, you know, the laws are changing and it's really important that we're doing that. Do we know anybody who can do that on our team? Because we need somebody. And needless to say, I didn't know how to do it, but I was very quick to raise my hand and go, I like to learn. I'll learn, I don't know what this is, but I'll learn how to do this. And that's how I found Article 19 and ChaxChat and started learning how to do document accessibility from nothing and found out very quickly that I loved making documents accessible. That the process of walking through the tags tree and making tags for a document so that it reads in a way that if you can't see it, that it makes sense and you can still understand the information. I thought that was so powerful and so important to be able to do that. And the fact that people didn't recognize that as a thing that was necessary, unless somebody asked for it, like really hit home for me. And that's when I decided I needed to be a part of a company like Tamman and Chax that saw how important that type of work was. So I worked hard and learned as much as I could and I continue to learn to this day and I'm grateful that I'm now part of the Chax family in the way that I can continue my learning and growing and now also help others learn a passion for making documents and the web accessible for people because you don't know what you don't know. I think that's the beauty of the work that we do is not only do we make documents accessible and we know how to do that, but we provide education on how to make those things accessible and to see, you know, when we're teaching classes, that spark that happens. And you can see it finally clicks for the person on the other side of that screen of like, Oh, this is why it's important. Like when we finally say the thing that helps them. really see the benefit of doing the work because it's not always the most glamorous job and sometimes it's hard and a document is complicated and you're spending hours fighting the tags tree, but when you get it  just right and it sounds good and it makes sense and you know that when I pass this off to  somebody they're going to be able to read it and understand it in a meaningful way. It makes me happy. Every time I finish a document and it sounds good I get excited and that's why I love my job so much because I just know that what I'm doing it means something to somebody else besides me.Like whoever is going to read it is going to have a good experience and I played even a small part in that journey.    00:29:05   KS: I love how it's your joy for the work is really infectious. And I think, you know, our listeners would be interested in sort of learning the hard skills and also the soft skills. You talk about like patience and fortitude, like getting through the document. And, you know, I think some of that is ingrained in your personality and, you know, your 100 pushups. And also, you know, thinking about some of those hard skills of like, what did you need to learn in order to become a document accessibility specialist? Did it start with Adobe and then InDesign or did you have to learn a little bit about the design tools first and then get into like the tags tree and sort of what is, I guess, the code at the back end of a document? Because I think, you know, some people just think of a document as a document and they don't really realize that there's a way you can manipulate it. And it's never locked, right? And that whole, like, once you create a PDF, it's locked for good. And, you know, at Chax, we unlock a lot of documents. So yeah, I wondered if you could talk a little bit about that, because you could be without even meaning to planting a seed in a lot of our listeners mind, like, Oh, maybe this is something I can do.    RF: Absolutely.So getting started, I did focus mostly on learning Adobe and the basics of like  what making a document accessible meant in that space.Because I would say still to this day, about 90% of the documents we see on a regular basis are going to be PDFs. You know, we have some source files as well, but my early days, it was very much focused on getting the PDF to be accessible because most of them, even if they were originally created as a Word doc, the final results were PDFs. So starting there is that's usually the gateway.I think, I think it's a, it's a smart way to get your feet wet in the world of accessibility is starting in the PDF. And for me, it was actually Chad's LinkedIn learning course is where I got started. And that went over a little bit of everything. Went over a lot of PDF, a little bit of Word, a little bit of all the basics you need to know. to kind of get started. And I mean, I think the best way to start is create your first tag, you know, watch the video on, you know, where do you find the tag street and what's the process of highlighting the content and creating that first tag. And I think it starts from there is just kind of learning about the heading structure and you know, why headings matter and. and if you can at least give a document some headings and some paragraphs, it's better than it was with no tags. There's a lot more steps to it, but if you can start there and if you find that interesting and you liked the process of that, then you might have a new little career on your hands. And it's definitely something that is so important and meaningful that, you know, it's, if you enjoy it, it's worth doing. I will say, honestly, I've talked to people about the work that I do offhandedly, whether it's my family or friends who ask what I do for work. And I try to explain that I spend my day adding tags to documents that can be anywhere from one page to hundreds of pages long. and that sometimes a document can take me hours or days and I say that story and I tell them how I make a list and it requires a list and a list item and an L body and a label tag and their eyes get big and then gloss over and go And I go, yeah, but it's so satisfying when that list is done and it looks good and it sounds good. And, you know, a lot of my friends go, you have the mind for this. I can't imagine the work that you do every day. And people say to me, I don't think I would enjoy the work that you're doing.    00:33:02   KW: Well, a lot of people don't understand that what a document looks like and what it sounds like can be very different experiences. They think it's very similar. They don't mean to not make it accessible, but they're just like, hey, if I make this font big, then it's a heading. It's like, no. It's a very basic example.    RF: But it's true.    00:33:23   KW: A list needs a list tag, but nobody who looks at a list would necessarily figure that out.    KS: Yeah, it would almost be like going back to elementary school and working in graph paper when you were doing math problems. Like, I always sort of wonder, like, we'll just take Microsoft Word, for example, like, couldn't they have a toggle that you could toggle back and forth and sort of see the tags tree as you're building the document? So it's like, it's built into the software in a sense that there, you're seeing the structure in real time as you're writing it. So it's sort of like the equation is laid out. And then it also brings that awareness. Because I think what all of these software companies did is they tried to make all of these systems look like a notebook, or like a real like you're writing on a pad of paper, right to sort of simulate like, it can be just as good as writing or transcribing or whatever. and disguising all of the tech, wherein the tech is what is so important for the accessibility components too. I sort of was having that thought because oftentimes I feel like in technology, they're just always trying to simulate the real environment in some way. It never quite looks or works. Forget about AI, but just like some of these like old school models that we're still working with. And yeah, I think it would be really interesting to be able to see the back end a little bit more.    RF: For sure. I mean, I just wish looking back that more of these systems thought about  accessibility at the beginning instead of having to be retroactive about it at the end. I mean, I'm grateful that Microsoft accessibility is part of their mantra and they are making steps to make it better and make it more efficient. Um, in terms of accessibility, but I think, you know, one of our biggest. Motto that Chax has to think about accessibility at the beginning, before you even start designing that document is to consider the accessibility within it before you get to the end. Because when you think about accessibility at the end, it can be so much more complicated to implement that accessibility. But if you think about it at the beginning and throughout the process, your whole project becomes more beautiful and easier to make beautiful in accessibility space because there is that misnomer that accessibility means not pretty. That does not have to be the case as long as you're considering it from the beginning rather than having to retroactively correct it at the end.    00:35:57   KS: Yeah, that's really important.I would say you wear a lot of hats at Chax, even though your  title is Document Accessibility Specialist, that you're embedded in the culture and community at Tamman. You help lead the study group. You're also a trainer, you know, an educator. So I  wondered if you could kind of walk through, I guess, like a work week. So, you know, dealing  with clients, getting into documents, because I think a lot of a lot of what you do is building from the strength and that scaffolding that you learned, you know, almost kind of from the nonprofit world where you kind of have to do everything, especially if you're tiny, but mighty.    RF: Right.    KS: And so, yeah. Can you talk us through that work week? or work day, depending on what the day is.    RF: Yeah. Sure. So my average week, I probably spend a good portion of my time doing quality assurance or QA. So I'm working with documents that are provided by our client and I'm adding tags or, you know, working with the team to have tags added to the document. And then we go at the end and we listen to all of our documents to make sure they sound good because sometimes tags can be deceptive. They can look great. But sometimes how they sound isn't always perfect, so you've got to make sure you listen to your documents. So I spend a good bit of my time listening to documents.When I'm not listening to documents, it likely means I am either providing technical assistance in a training for another trainer, or I might be teaching my own training, whether it's individualized for one of our clients, or I'm teaching a drop-in class. And then when I'm not doing those things,it probably means I'm in a book talk or another fun culture-based activity within Tamman and Chax and doing work there as well. So like those are my three main things that I spend my week doing and I love all of them equally and I will say there's more that I could do, can do, sometimes get thrown in to new projects on a whim, but I am not somebody who likes to say no because even now when I have work to do. I like being busy and I like learning new things and like supporting my team as best as possible because all these new things that I can learn just ensure that our work is done well and in a timely manner that I appreciate. Working with the amazing team that we've built, Tamman and Chax, I think just makes that easier too. when I love being able to step away for an hour once a month to go to a book talk. And like, we get to just enjoy each other's company and talk about books. And the fact that that's part of the culture of the workplace is such a beautiful thing. Because not everywhere can you say, oh, it's part of my work day at least once a month to go and talk about a book. Or I happen to run a board game session in the evenings on Monday nights once a week. It's after hours, but I have created an online board game group that we meet, you know, for an hour once a week and play a board game together. It's those little moments that make the work that keeps me busy even extra special because I have a great community of people who care about the work as much as I do, but then we can also enjoy each other's company.    00:39:18   KW: Yeah, I felt so lucky and like a little bit bowled over too, to be honest. Like how did the  entire company, how is everybody such a nice, caring person? And like, you know, we're not all the same, but you know, that I felt very lucky that I've landed among such a great community of people. And I just wondered if there's anything you're looking forward to next year in, well, this year, by the time the podcast comes out in 2026, you know, just like a goal that you have or, skills that you're working on or anything that you're looking forward to? That's fun.    RF: Well, I mean, in general, I'm just looking forward to what next year brings. I think we have a lot of cool plans on the horizon. I'm continuing to work with the amazing collection of clients that I have that consider me their main person and building those connections even further. I am really looking forward to, I'm teaching more drop-in classes in 2026, so I will be taking over a lot of the introductory classes of, you know, how to make a document accessible in Adobe and how to test with a screen reader are some of the classes that I'll be taking lead on in 2026, which feels very special and a great opportunity because, you know, these are classes that Chad and Dax created and have fostered for a long time now and the fact that they're willing to pass these classes along to me feels very, very special and something that I will cherish the fact that I earned their trust to take over these classes and help continue to teach new people in the accessibility space how to make documents accessible is a big dream for me. I'm looking forward to what that will mean for me in the next year. Even if it means doing less quality assurance all the time and more teaching, that's great. It's not something I ever thought I would have as a job. is to do, like, direct teaching to people, even though everybody always told me that I should be a teacher someday. I said I never wanted to have a class full of children that looked up to me, but now I can have a Zoom class full of adults. So I think it's the step in a direction that I didn't expect, but I'm so excited to get started on in 2026.    00:41:25   KW: We're thrilled that we get to work with you every day, every week, and I can imagine, I  haven't talked to Chad and Dax about it personally, but just knowing, you know, how much  you've worked on your CPACC, which is the Certification in Accessibility Core Competencies,  and then the ADS, which is the document certification that Chad and Dax basically helped to  design the exam for. And now that you are one of those crowned with it, you know, I'm sure that they're just over the moon excited about that and that you can help them grow what they've started.    RF: I hope so.    00:42:00   KS: Well, Raquella, thank you so much for coming on the podcast and opening yourself up to all of our questions and being really vulnerable. And I so appreciate it.    RF: I'm so happy to be here.    00:42:13   KS: I know we said at the beginning of the podcast that we were getting the band back together, but I have some news. I am transitioning away from Chax Training and Consulting and Article 19 to take on a new position as Community and Programs Director of the West Collection in Philadelphia. I'm very excited and also a bit melancholy to be leaving all of you behind because this has been...    KW: We'll miss you Katie.    00:42:41   KS: I know, I know it's been such a wonderful year and a half, and I've developed such  incredible friendships and relationships that I know will continue, especially among the three of you, Markus, you two in the back. But I thought, while we're here and while we're in this  episode, it might be a good opportunity to, you know, literally get down on one knee, since I  can't physically, and propose to you, Raquella, will you merry, your skills with the crew at Article 19 and take over as co-host of this podcast.    RF: Wow. I have dreamed of a day like this for years now, since I started listening to Article 19. I would love the opportunity to join Kristen and Marcus on this adventure for sure. Thank you.    00:43:34   KW: We would love it. And it really is the Article 19 pattern. You talk on it for one episode and then all of a sudden you're hosting. Katie and I both went through that. We would love for you to continue our wonderful Article 19 traditions.    RF: I look forward to it. Absolutely.    00:43:49   KS: Awesome. Well, and I, you can't get rid of me too easily. I will be back in any capacity that is needed or whatever. It's a revolving door open door. I don't know whatever we want to call it, but you can't get rid of me.    KW: Yeah, no, it's all a cycle. So we know that you'll. do great things in your new role, and we're really excited to hear about your journey. And always, you're always welcome back. We might even interview you for the next episode. We have no idea what we're doing yet, so.    00:44:16   KS: Awesome. Well, thanks again, and I can't wait to hear the next episode for Raquella and  Kristen.    KW: Thank you so much, Raquella Freeman, for sharing your lived experience and your journey with us. And also, deep thanks to Rose Bleasner, Taylor Kellar, Rob Underwood, and Walt Zielinski for offering their thoughts on accessibility for the episode. Our producer is Markus Goldman, and Katie Samson and Kristen Witucki co-hosted this episode. You can find any of us on LinkedIn.Just hit us up with your ideas or your thoughts about future episodes. Article 19 is a call for others to join us in a bigger conversation around the ADA, accessibility, and access to information. We are working to build the inclusive world every day. And to do that, we need all of us working together and learning together. Thank you so much for listening and being a part of our journey. Take care.       

Alan Khazei joins The Great Battlefield podcast to talk about his career co-founding City Year, which became the model for Clinton's AmeriCorps program, running for US Senate and is currently the Co-Chair of More Perfect, where they're focused on renewing democracy through five pillars including service, bridge building and trusted information.

Career and leadership growth were never meant to be a straight line, and Akua Nyame-Mensah has lived that truth beautifully. From urban planning to AmeriCorps to leading a startup launch in West Africa, Akua's career has moved in seasons, each one building on the last. Now a leadership advisor and facilitator, she helps others navigate their own cycles with greater clarity and less pressure. In this conversation, Akua shares her Leadership Cycle framework and why the messier seasons of leadership are just as valuable as the flourishing ones.

This week on Sustainability Now!, your host, Justin Mog, is excited to once again, bring you another vital youth voice in sustainability! Tune in to meet Keionna Spalding, a Purdue Global University S.T.E.M. Sustainability Major based right here in Louisville. She is 27, and in year 3 of her BS in Environmental Science with a focus on Sustainability. Keionna has volunteered with organizations like Louisville Metro Urban Forestry and the Louisville Nature Center. She's also a member of the Louisville Climate Action Network and Kentucky Waterways Alliance, and is an Environmental Educator with our Louisville Metro Solid Waste Department through AmeriCorps. In this free flowing conversation, we take a deep dive into Zero Waste strategies and the Circular Economy concept; the insanity of landfills and how we can mitigate the use of landfills in our society; and the meaning behind her personal motto, “Mitigating Human Behavior in Favor of the Planet.” Keionna will be speaking on zero waste as part of a student panel at the April 14th Bluegrass Greensource 2026 Sustainability Summit at the University of Kentucky. Learn more at https://bggreensource.org/sustainability-summit/
 As always, our feature is followed by your community action calendar for the week, so get your calendars out and get ready to take action for sustainability NOW! Sustainability Now! is hosted by Dr. Justin Mog and airs on Forward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and repeats Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. Find us at https://forwardradio.org The music in this podcast is courtesy of the local band Appalatin and is used by permission. Explore their delightful music at https://appalatin.com

The Mt. Adams Institute has announced that it will dissolve and cease operations effective December 31st, 2026. The Southwest Washington nonprofit provides educational and career opportunities in the outdoors through partnerships with agencies such as the U.S. National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service. It pairs young adults and U.S. military veterans with internship opportunities in outdoor resource management roles, ranging from trail maintenance and construction to environmental education.   Around 95% of its budget came from contracts with federal agencies and through AmeriCorps. Though the loss of federal funding wasn't the only factor in the organization’s decision to dissolve, the budget cuts initiated a ripple effect that left the organization facing layoffs and other financial strains. It’s one example of a wider reaching fallout for nonprofits in the wake of federal funding cuts across the U.S. Mt. Adams Institute Executive Director Aaron Stanton joins us to discuss how the loss of federal funding has impacted the organization's work.

NCDA's Diversity Initiatives and Cultural Inclusion (DICI) Committee introduces a series of discussions that support graduate students in career counseling programs and other new workforce and career development practitioners. This episode is the first in the Career Practitioners of Tomorrow (CPT) series. It introduces the L.E.A.D. (Legacy, Equity, Advocacy, and Development) approach for career professionals to navigate changes in the economy that affect the career development profession.Speakers:Moderator - Denise Felder, Workforce Equity Advocate, and Associate Director of Career Services at the University of Minnesota's College of Education & Human DevelopmentDr. Nina Talley, Director of Career Development, University of South FloridaDr. Natasha Barnes-Gwynn, Owner of I.O.U. Consultation, LLC, and Clinical Faculty with Southern New Hampshire UniversityDenise Felder (she/her) is a career coach, writer, and keynote speaker with 20 years experience encouraging individuals and challenges systems to address disparities in education and employment. Her unique background in journalism, career and college readiness, and higher education have encouraged and informed youth and adults in Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs, AmeriCorps, TRIO, community colleges, universities, and numerous workforce development and community organizations. Denise is a past president of the Minnesota Career Development Association, a Certified Poverty Awareness Coach, an Offender Job Retention Specialist, and a YWCA Racial Justice Facilitator. Her professional development includes participation in the Equity Works Leadership Institute at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, the Josie R. Johnson Leadership Academy with the Twin Cities African American Leadership Forum, and completion of the Equity and Diversity Certificate program (ECHO) from the University of Minnesota's Office of Equity and Diversity. Her consulting business DeniseMpls Career Services (https://denisempls.org) is based in Minneapolis, MN, operating in cyberspace, and living in the hearts of many.Dr. Nina L. Talley is a higher education leader with 25+ years of experience in career services, workforce development, and student success. She has directed multimillion-dollar workforce initiatives, developed AI-powered coaching frameworks, and worked extensively on career and leadership in tertiary education. Her expertise lies in integrating technology and student-centered design to improve persistence, retention, and outcomes.Dr. Natasha Barnes-Gwynn, CCC, NCC, FCD-I is a Clinical Professor at Southern New Hampshire University. She also serves as a career consultant through her private practice, Increasing Our Understanding (I.O.U.) Consultation, LLC. Dr. Barnes-Gwynn is a newly appointed board member for the Council of Accreditation and Related Educational Programs.ResourcesCPT Project for Session 1: Social Mobility & Economic DisparitiesCareer Practitioners of Tomorrow Guide https://bit.ly/NCDA-DICI-CPT Contact Career Practitioners of Tomorrow: https://forms.gle/Y4oTKiL4kpdiisF69 

Some things are true whether we talk about them or not. Iowa has one of the highest cancer rates in the country. The people most affected by it are often the last ones to hear about it. And the systems that were supposed to catch it early — the clinics, the screenings, the outreach programs — are losing funding right now, quietly, in ways most people won't notice until it's too late. This episode is about all of that. But more than anything, it's about people.About This ConversationCorey sits down with Jason Semprini — a public health economist, a lifelong Iowan, and somebody who has spent his career translating complex data into something that can actually change how communities live. What started as a conversation about economics turned into one of the most honest, grounded discussions about health, place, and power that The Healthy Project Podcast has ever had.This one isn't for researchers. It's for anyone who has ever wondered why their community looks the way it does — and whether anybody in power is paying attention.What We Get IntoThe cancer rate nobody's talking about: Iowa ranks among the highest states in the nation for cancer. It's not a fluke. It's not a bad data year. It's consistent, it's climbing, and it's being driven by a specific set of cancers shaped by where people live and what surrounds them. Jason breaks down what the numbers are actually showing — and why the story is more complicated than any headline has captured.Agriculture, jobs, and the health trade-off nobody wants to say out loud. Iowa's ag economy is the backbone of this state. It provides livelihoods, identity, and community for generations of Iowa families. It is also, according to clear and compelling research, contributing to adverse health outcomes, including cancer. Jason doesn't flinch from that tension. Neither does Corey. Because pretending it doesn't exist isn't protecting anybody.What happens when the money disappears? Pop-up mammography clinics. Free screenings. Community health workers are going door to door. These programs exist because some people don't have a regular doctor — and for them, a pop-up clinic isn't a backup plan, it's the only plan. When federal funding gets cut, these are the first programs that feel it. Jason shares what colleagues on the ground are experiencing right now. It's not abstract. It's hitting real people in real communities today.Prostate cancer, Black men, and what the system keeps missing. This part of the conversation hits close to home for Corey — founder of Save the Homies, a prostate cancer awareness initiative through My City My Health. It's not always that Black men in Iowa are getting prostate cancer at higher rates. It's that they're getting diagnosed later. The navigation to quality care is broken. The trust isn't there. The access isn't there. Jason connects this to a framework about biology and health systems colliding — and why fixing it requires more than a screening event.The real cost of data we're not using. One of the most practical takeaways in the whole conversation: collecting health data you're not acting on isn't neutral. It costs money, it burdens patients, and it pulls resources away from interventions that would actually move the needle. If your organization is drowning in surveys nobody reads, this part is for you.What a job well done actually looks like. For Jason, success isn't a published paper. It's a policy change. An updated screening guideline. An insurance expansion that took twenty years to become the Affordable Care Act. The work is long. The patience required is real. But the outcomes are lives — and that's the only metric that matters.About Jason SempriniJason Semprini is a public health economist and researcher whose work focuses on cancer, health policy, and the systems shaping health outcomes across Iowa. A lifelong Iowan, Jason's path to this work ran through AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps, and the University of Chicago — where he developed the research and economic skills he now applies to the most pressing health challenges facing this state. His work sits at the intersection of data, policy, and real community impact.Find Jason on LinkedIn explore his research.If This Episode Hit For You — Here's What To Do NextShare it. Send this episode to somebody in your life who needs to hear it. A friend, a coworker, someone at your church, your health department, or your organization. The more people who hear this conversation, the more it can do.Subscribe to the Live. Work. Play. Pray. Newsletter This is where Corey goes deeper every week — health equity, the social determinants shaping our communities, and the stories that don't always make the headlines but absolutely should. Written for real people, not just professionals. Free to subscribe.

Karen Peditto shifted from photojournalism to working in food systems and eventually farming. Karen describes how smartphone cameras changed the photojournalism landscape, how social anxiety pushed her away from traditional reporting, and how AmeriCorps at a Pittsburgh food bank led her into food policy, access, and program management. Eventually, she joined Wagner Farm, using communication and education skills to support a modern diversified growing operation and public learning.▬▬▬▬▬ Resources ▬▬▬▬▬Karen Peditto: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenannbullock/Mike Peditto: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpeditto/Episode with Mike: https://open.spotify.com/episode/62nCCV2jjKlid5n17sk4pKUSDA: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/What%20is%20Organic.pdfWagner Farm: https://glenviewparks.org/facilities/historic-wagner-farm/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cacklemedia/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cacklemediaX: https://x.com/CackleMediaLLCYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CackleMediaLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cacklemedia/Support the pod when signing up for Descript / SquadCast: https://get.descript.com/transferableskill▬▬▬▬▬ Timestamps ▬▬▬▬▬00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro00:28 Early Farm Mornings01:05 Photojournalism Dreams02:02 Smartphones Change Everything06:40 Ethics and Privacy Lines09:05 Still Taking Photos11:22 Anxiety and Career Pivot13:11 AmeriCorps and Food Studies15:59 Food Bank Disillusionment20:22 Farm Stand Program Impact24:44 Quitting and Farm Truck Foods28:15 Eggs and Food Education29:11 Egg Yolk Truths29:36 Label Marketing Myths30:57 Ethics And Flavor32:39 Why Local Food Struggles35:07 CSA Explained37:22 From Mom To Farm Job41:01 Inside Wagner Farm44:03 Garlic Lesson Moment45:05 Talking To Strangers47:24 Why Wagner Farm Rocks49:34 Flower Field Wins52:36 Baking Dreams Ahead54:31 Final Thanks And Wrap

For many students, alternative career pathways are the key to unlocking systemic barriers and breaking through rigid environments that keep economic mobility out of reach. Salvatrice Cummo sits down with Jesse Diaz, the Director of Market Development Los Angeles at Propel America to unpack how to build more equitable career opportunities. As a first-generation Latino college graduate and lifelong educator, Jesse brings a powerful personal journey—growing up in Boyle Heights and navigating nontraditional pathways from athletics to nonprofit leadership. Together, they dive into the challenges young adults face in building stable careers, the impact of rising college costs, and the barriers that marginalized communities often encounter. Join us to discover how reimagining career pathways can create more equitable opportunities and build a stronger, more inclusive workforce for the future. You'll learn: Why alternative career pathways—like tuition-free, debt-free training and apprenticeships—are critical for both economic mobility and meeting urgent workforce needs. How mentorship, wraparound support, and innovative community partnerships transform the lives of students grappling with systemic barriers. How educational institutions and community organizations work together to address obstacles keeping marginalized communities out of the workforce. Why it is imperative to challenge conventional views about the connection between education and employment. About the Guest: Jesse Diaz is Propel's Director of Market Development, Los Angeles. He is a proud Los Angeles native from the working-class neighborhood of Boyle Heights. He graduated from Roosevelt High School as a scholar-athlete and went on to pursue his passion for football, earning his Bachelor's at Doane College. Although an injury ended his playing career, it led him to discover his passion for education and supporting our youth facing systemic barriers. Jesse went on to serve as AmeriCorps member with City Year San Antonio igniting his desire to become an educator. He returned to Los Angeles and later earned a Master of Science degree in Sport Administration as a graduate assistant coaching Division 2 football at Eastern New Mexico University. Most recently, he served as a Student Support Specialist with SIATech Academy South, an Independent Studies High School. Engage with us: LinkedIn, Instagram & Facebook: @PasadenaCityCollegeEWD Join our newsletter for more on this topic: ewdpulse.com Visit: PCC EWD website More from Jesse Diaz & Propel America LinkedIn: @Propel America & @Jesse Diaz Instagram: @propel.america Facebook: @PropelAmerica Website: https://www.propelamerica.org/ Partner with us! Contact our host, Salvatrice Cummo, directly: scummo@pasadena.edu Want to be a guest on the show? Click HERE to inquire about booking  Find the transcript of this episode here Please rate us and leave us your thoughts and comments on Apple Podcasts; we'd love to hear from you!

Kennedy Hermsen was chosen as a Beck's Player with Heart because of the dedication and passion she demonstrates on and off the court. She is involved in basketball, National Honor Society, and AmeriCorps, and takes pride in being part of a team while serving as a role model for younger players and fans. Through NHS and AmeriCorps, Kennedy actively gives back to her community. She helps high school seniors complete FAFSA forms and scholarships, assists with senior meetings, and supports her school counselor wherever needed. Growing up on a farm, Kennedy understands that agriculture is more than just crops and livestock. It is a process that requires patience, attention, and dedication to help feed the world and provide quality products for families everywhere. Kennedy plans to attend Kirkwood Community College to study to become an X-ray technician, continuing her passion for helping others in the healthcare field.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episode 234: The hosts start with a question that most of us eventually confront: What happened to the person we used to be? The one who believed big problems had solutions, that institutions could be improved, that effort and empathy would move the needle. Drawing on a Washington Post column about former AmeriCorps volunteers who now describe themselves as more world-weary than hopeful, the conversation explores how early civic energy changes over time. Is that shift a healthy move toward realism? Or does it signal something more troubling? Kyte argues that the real danger isn’t maturity or pragmatism. It’s cynicism. He draws a sharp distinction between hope and optimism, suggesting that while optimism expects specific outcomes on a preferred timeline, hope is steadier and more durable. When expectations collide with institutional inertia, corruption or slow progress, disappointment can harden into distrust. And once distrust becomes a default posture, it seeps into everything: careers, communities, politics, even personal ambition. Rada pushes the discussion into familiar territory for many listeners, asking whether we “settle” as we age. If childhood dreams fall away, does that mean we’ve compromised? Or have we simply recalibrated? Kyte responds that healthy ambition focuses on effort and craft rather than external validation. The goal isn’t recognition or medals — it’s meaningful engagement.

Ryann Fapohunda, Director of DEIB and Director of Specialists at Beauvoir, The National Cathedral Elementary School (DC), reflects on her journey from AmeriCorps literacy tutor to school leader and the values that guide her work. She discusses fostering belonging in early childhood education, supporting faculty through inclusive leadership, and navigating the dual roles of equity practitioner and team leader. Ryann shares how she builds community with families, cultivates age-appropriate conversations around identity, and leads with authenticity, transparency, and care. She also reflects on mentorship, motherhood, and the importance of sustaining educators so they can show up fully for students. You can find some related NAIS resources from this episode by visiting nais.org/membervoices.

Click here for edited transcript (pdf format)According to the Trump Administration, nonprofits and philanthropic foundations are “terror-supporting organizations.” Peaceful protestors are “terrorists.” Violent mobs are simply tourists having a picnic. And the masked gunmen they've deputized are hard-working joes just trying to do their jobs.As we recall how Dr. King and his colleagues used non-violent civil disobedience to end legal segregation, host Rusty Stahl discusses how nonprofit workers, activists, and protestors, can challenge the reality-distorting propaganda we face today.It's a new year, and it's a new season of your Fund the People Podcast! We're glad you're here. We've got tons of incredible guests, ideas, research, stories, and examples to inspire and help you invest in the nonprofit workforce in your sphere of influence.We publish new episodes every Wednesday morning on all podcast platforms – so keep your eyes peeled and your ears open!Links related to this episode:Dr. King, AmeriCorps, & Nonprofit Work - with Michael Smith, AmeriCorps" (Season 4 Bonus Episode, January 2023, 46 minutes)One Year of Trump. The Time to Act is Now. While We Still Can. M. Gessen, The New York Times, January 19, 2026. (Paywall).Other exciting FTP announcements and podcast info:New Publications:Article: New article by Rusty in The Nonprofit Quarterly: SOS - Nonprofits Need Funding for Staff Operating Support. Based on the new funding concept that we shared a few months back on LinkedIn. Take a look. We'd appreciate if you share it with your colleagues on linkedin or elsewhere, and tag Fund the People and Rusty Stahl. You can email him if you have feedback, questions, and ideas: rusty@fundthepeople.org.Blog Post: New post by Betsy Leondar-Wright on the Center for Effective Philanthropy blog! It's about the FTP report she wrote called Long-Haul Grantmaking. Read the blog post. And find the report here. You can watch a recorded webinar about the report.Webinar Series:This year we'll introduce a conversational webinar series about the power and potential of the nonprofit workforce - and how to address the existential crises confronting us.February: We'll kick things off on Thurs., Feb. 12 at 1-2 pm ET / 10-11am PT. This free session will feature data from Mounting Pressure, the latest research from the Center for Effective Philanthropy on U.S. nonprofits and foundations in the current political context. Our guest will be Elisha Smith Arrillaga, CEP's Vice President of Research.March: We'll continue in March with a discussion of the Staff Operating Support (S.O.S.) funding concept. Rusty will share the idea and invite your ideas, questions, concerns, hopes, and discussion. Data and additional speakers TBA.To ensure you get the registration information, make sure you're on our mailing list. Go to fundthepeople.org and click on Connect in the main menu and sign-up!Podcast Updates:Format of Episodes - This season we're making an effort to make episodes in the public feed more compact and tightly edited, so you get the information you need faster and more easily. We're aiming for episodes on the public feed to average about 30 minutes (down from around 55 minutes).Podcast Video - We are adding video to the show! A video version of our public episodes will be posted on all platforms that support video podcasts. This will be rolled-out gradually as we sort out the technical aspects of adding video.Patreon:Extended Episodes with full interviews AND bonus content are now published and available only on the "premium" version of the show on Patreon. These extended episodes will likely average closer to 55-60 minutes, and feature more discussion about our guest's lived experiences, more of their expertise on tangential topics, and more rants and responses from your host.Video Versions of these extended episodes are already available on Patreon! There are four episodes already up on the patreon site, with lots more to come!

Welcome back and happy New Year! We hope 2026 has been everything you hoped for thus far and to bring you into the weekend, we have a great show with some of our favorite moments from this past week! To kick it off, we welcome Kyle Clower, the Executive Director of Serve Wisconsin, which oversees both the Wisconsin Chapter of AmeriCorps, but also has information on so many opportunities to volunteer in your community. He discusses the mission of the organization, how AmeriCorps is for people of all ages (yes, Seniors, too!) and how you can be of service on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which is a National Day of Service in this country. Next, it's time for the premiere of a new game here on the show: Take It or Leave It! We introduce Senior Producer Tucker to the world and we try a game where Greg voices his opinion on things, even if he hasn't watched, read or heard of them! Finally, we wrap up the week, international-style with This Shouldn't Be A Thing - Smokin' In The Boys Room Edition. As always, thank you for listening, texting and calling, we couldn't do this without you! Don't forget to download the free Civic Media app and take us wherever you are in the world! Matenaer On Air is a part of the Civic Media radio network and airs weekday mornings from 9-11 across the state. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! You can also rate us on your podcast distribution center of choice. It goes a long way!

Welcome to the Civic Media Spotlight! We kick off with the Matenaer on Air show with Greg Bach. Kyle Clower, executive director of Serve Wisconsin, joins the conversation to break down the impact of AmeriCorps across the state. He talks about how these programs work, why service matters, and the many volunteer opportunities available for Wisconsinites looking to get involved. Milwaukee-based singer-songwriter Trapper Schoepp sits down with Teri Barr for Max Ink Radio to talk about turning real-life stories into songs. The conversation weaves through surprising connections between Wisconsin, Elvis, and Bob Dylan, and dives into how Trapper crafted these unique, story-driven tracks. Lucas Molloy, one of the organizers behind the Wisconsin Beer and Cheese Fest, stops by to preview the event on Civic Media Mornings. He shares what attendees can expect from the brewers and cheesemakers, some impressive cheese-related stats, and even schools Jamie on the fine art of pretzel necklaces. Chad Holmes talks with Mandela Barnes, one of the Democratic candidates for governor. The discussion covers Barnes' background, priorities, and his vision for Wisconsin as the race continues to take shape. To learn more about these shows and all of the programming across the Civic Media network, head over to https://civicmedia.us/shows to see the entire broadcast line up. Follow the network on Facebook, BlueSky, YouTube, X, and Instagram to keep up with Civic Media!

In the second hour, we welcome Kyle Clower, the Executive Director of Serve Wisconsin, which oversees both the Wisconsin Chapter of AmeriCorps, but also has information on so many opportunities to volunteer in your community. He discusses the mission of the organization, how AmeriCorps is for people of all ages (yes, Seniors, too!) and how you can be of service on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which is a National Day of Service in this country. For Audio Sorbet, we highlight a local business in Wisconsin and today with speak with Hellcat Tattoo Co. in Madison! We discuss their history and how they support their neighborhood and community. And we're wrapping it all up today with This Shouldn't Be A Thing - Monkeying Around Edition. As always, thank you for listening, texting and calling, we couldn't do this without you! Don't forget to download the free Civic Media app and take us wherever you are in the world! Matenaer On Air is a part of the Civic Media radio network and airs weekday mornings from 9-11 across the state. Subscribe to the podcast to be sure not to miss out on a single episode! You can also rate us on your podcast distribution center of choice. It goes a long way! Guests: Kyle Clower, Mikayla Thompson

 In Ohio, roughly one in four students is chronically absent—missing 10 percent or more of the school year. Behind those numbers are complex challenges that go beyond the classroom, and the solutions are often found outside the classroom, too. In this episode, Communities In Schools of Ohio CEO Adero Robinson discusses how his non-profit organization works in partnership with dozens of public schools to address the root causes of absenteeism and many other issues, building relationships with students and families and creating lasting supports that help more young people succeed.  LEARN MORE | For more information about Communities in Schools of Ohio or to support the non-profit's work, visit ciskids.org Click here to see which schools CIS of Ohio is partnering with this school yearClick here to see the results from the organization's work in Ohio schools last yearClick here to learn more about the Community in Schools modelConnect with Adero Robinson directly to explore opportunities to partner and to see more CIS data by emailing arobinson@ciskids.org SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS | If you'd like to share your feedback on the Public Education Matters podcast, including your ideas for what you'd like to hear about - or talk about - on future episodes, please email educationmatters@ohea.org. SUBSCRIBE | Click here to subscribe to Public Education Matters on Apple Podcasts or click here to listen on Spotify so you don't miss a thing. You can also find Public Education Matters on many other platforms. Click here for some of those links so you can listen anywhere. And don't forget you can listen to all of the previous episodes anytime on your favorite podcast platform, or by clicking here.Featured Public Education Matters guest: Adero Robinson, Communities in Schools of Ohio Executive Director & CEOAdero Robinson is the Executive Director and CEO of Communities In Schools of Ohio (CIS), part of the national Communities In Schools network dedicated to surrounding students with a community of support so they can thrive in school and beyond. With nearly 30 years of nonprofit leadership experience, he leads efforts to connect students with caring adults, community resources, and evidence-based supports designed to overcome barriers to success. Under his leadership, Communities In Schools of Ohio currently serves 46 schools across six cities, providing whole-school and individualized services such as academic assistance, behavioral interventions, family engagement, enrichment, and attendance support. For the 2024–2025 academic year, in 52 schools across the state, CIS of Ohio supported more than 24,000 students and 12,700 families. For the 2,800 students receiving intensive, one-on-one support—91% of seniors graduated, and the majority made measurable gains in attendance, behavior, and academics.Robinson began his career as an AmeriCorps member with City Year Columbus, serving as a tutor and mentor in Columbus City Schools, and later held leadership positions with City Year Columbus as Chief of Staff and Executive Director. His career also includes roles with the Columbus Compact Corporation, United Way of Central Ohio, the Columbus Urban League, and Battelle for Kids, where he advanced education, community development, and youth success initiatives.He has received several community awards, including the City Year Comcast Leadership Award, and has completed leadership programs with the African American Leadership Academy, the Ray Miller Institute for Change and Leadership, Bank of America Emerging Leaders, Stanford University's Designing Social Systems program, and City Year LEAD. Robinson holds a BA degree from Denison University and an MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management. He is married to Tracy Robinson and is the father of four children and three stepchildren. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, Netflix, music, coaching youth basketball, and practicing karate, holding a second-degree black belt through the United Fighting Arts Federation.Connect with OEA:Email educationmatters@ohea.org with your feedback or ideas for future Public Education Matters topicsLike OEA on FacebookFollow OEA on TwitterFollow OEA on InstagramGet the latest news and statements from OEA hereLearn more about where OEA stands on the issues Keep up to date on the legislation affecting Ohio public schools and educators with OEA's Legislative WatchAbout us:The Ohio Education Association represents nearly 120,000 teachers, faculty members and support professionals who work in Ohio's schools, colleges, and universities to help improve public education and the lives of Ohio's children. OEA members provide professional services to benefit students, schools, and the public in virtually every position needed to run Ohio's schools.Public Education Matters host Katie Olmsted serves as Media Relations Consultant for the Ohio Education Association. She joined OEA in May 2020, after a ten-year career as an Emmy Award-winning television reporter, anchor, and producer. Katie comes from a family of educators and is passionate about telling educators' stories and advocating for Ohio's students. She lives in Central Ohio with her husband and two young children. This episode was recorded on November 3, 2025.

Dr. Kiko Suarez is a dynamic leader in higher education and workforce development, best known for his pioneering work in apprenticeship models and educational innovation. Currently serving as Chief Impact Officer and Head of Partnerships at Reach University, he also co-hosts the “Apprenticeship 2.0” podcast, where he discusses strategies for aligning AmeriCorps, apprenticeship frameworks, and career pathways—highlighting, for instance, Colorado's integration of AmeriCorps with registered apprenticeships. A former European academic turned American changemaker, he's also delivered the TEDx talk “Our Inner ‘E,'” exploring identity, entrepreneurship, and self-discovery—underscoring his belief that personal growth fuels educational transformation. Dr. Suarez's contributions on Ed Up Insights would draw from his deep experience building partnerships, scaling apprenticeship solutions, and inspiring a mindset of innovation in educators and students alike—making him a valuable voice in the conversation around reshaping higher education for the future.

We're excited to bring back a powerful Money Tales conversation with Cicley Gay. In this encore episode, we revisit Cicley's journey from scarcity to abundance. As the founder of The Amplifiers and now Chair of the Board of Black Lives Matter's Global Network, Cicley's insights into money, mindset, and meaning are as relevant today as ever. Whether it's the bag-lady syndrome or the fear that money will vanish no matter how much we earn, Cicley's story reminds us that personal awareness is the first step toward a healthier financial mindset. As the visionary founder of The Amplifiers, a pioneering social enterprise at the intersection of cause and communications, and Chairwoman of the Board for the Black Lives Matter, Cicley brings a wealth of expertise to the forefront of social justice initiatives. She embarked on her civic service journey by participating in two terms in AmeriCorps, then assumed a pivotal position as the founding director of STAND (Students Take Action for New Directions), where she empowered students by educating them on the ramifications of federal budget allocations on under-resourced communities. Cicley's unwavering dedication to uplifting marginalized communities is shown through her decade-long commitment to catalyzing change at The Women's Sports Foundation. In her roles as the founding director of GoGirlGo! and later as the National Director of Education and Alliances, she tirelessly spearheaded initiatives aimed at expanding access to physical activity for millions of young women in under-resourced areas across the nation. Her passion for mentorship and empowerment further propelled her to serve as the Director of National Initiatives at the National CARES Mentoring Movement, where she played a central role in establishing a multi-million-dollar national mentoring initiative for children, earning the financial support of the U.S. Department of Juvenile Justice. Cicley's impact extends beyond her professional achievements. She has been recognized for her outstanding contributions, receiving accolades such as the President's Volunteer Service Award from the Obama Administration in 2013 and the Catalyst Award from the Global Center for Social Change through Women's Leadership in 2015. Additionally, Cicley is a proud member of the inaugural class of WEI (Women's Entrepreneurship Initiative) and has been honored as one of Georgia's 40 Under 40, awarded a SPANX Red Backpack grant for Women's Entrepreneurship, ATL+ most powerful women in Atlanta in 2024 and 2025 and one of SUCCESS magazine's 50 Women of Impact in 2025. She holds an honorary Doctoral degree from Trinity International University. Her greatest accomplishment was winning “Mom of the Year '' as a mom to three sons. Cicley often says, “I spent decades intentionally preparing my sons for the world, I am now focused on also preparing the world for my sons.” Take Action and Make a Difference Learn how leadership, mentorship, and thoughtful philanthropy can create lasting impact—for yourself, your community, and the world. If you'd like to explore ways to align your personal or professional goals with impact-driven strategies, including charitable giving and philanthropic planning, connect with an Aspiriant advisor here. Subscribe to Money Tales on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube Music for more stories and practical tips on purpose, money, and making a difference.

BRAG and Americorps Senior Volunteers

Lesley Logan welcomes back personal coach and former NASA engineer John Mollura for a powerful conversation on confidence, fear, and self-trust. Together they break down why so many high achievers feel stuck—and how it's not about time management but the fear hiding underneath. John shares how to quiet your inner critic, lean into a curious 'seeker mindset,' and rebuild trust in yourself one small promise at a time.  If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:How fear of failure kept John from setting goals or making plans.The “two-by-four” life moments that forced him to realign his purpose.Why photography revealed a deeper coaching calling after years in corporate life.Why true confidence begins with keeping the promises you make to yourself.Why fear drives the “big three” — perfectionism, procrastination, and overthinking.Episode References/Links:John Mollura's Website - https://www.johnmollura.comJohn Mollura's Free Resources - https://www.johnmollura.com/freestuffEpisode 119: John Mollura - https://beitpod.com/ep119The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks - https://a.co/d/0DUsv01AmeriCorps – https://americorps.govBrand Builders Group – https://brandbuildersgroup.comGuest Bio:John Mollura (pronounced muh-LAURA) is a personal coach and speaker who knows what it's like to feel stuck—despite a resume that says otherwise. For fifteen years he led test operations for NASA missions as a literal rocket scientist before becoming a multi-award-winning photographer, with work featured by National Geographic. But behind the achievements and titles, he battled self-doubt, perfectionism, and the fear of taking the next step. John didn't just break free—he built a framework for lasting change. Through a powerful blend of science, storytelling, and strategy, he doesn't just inspire—he equips people with the tools to take action, build confidence, and create real momentum. Get ready to move from hesitation to action, from fear to confidence, and from stuck to unstoppable. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:John Mollura 0:00  The root of people's lack of confidence is they're not showing up for themselves. Because here's what happens, is we're lying to ourselves. We say I'm going to wake up and go to the gym, or this is the year I'm going to start eating healthier, or I'm going to floss my teeth every night. Like, pick a commitment you've made to yourself. If we continually break these commitments time and time again, well, guess what? Our brain recognizes I can't trust me.Lesley Logan 0:28  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 1:10  Hi, Be It babe. How are you? Oh my gosh. Okay. We have a blast from the past, an amazing person, that every time I hear him speak, I'm just like, yes, yes that, yes this, yes, that, oh, say that one more time. So you guys are gonna want to repeat this. This is an episode on perfectionism, procrastination, overthinking, confidence, fear. It's really good stuff. And our guest is John Mollura, and I'm really, really excited. And if you haven't heard from him on episode 120 I highly recommend, after you listen to this one, go listen to that one, and just see how far people come in such a short period of time, we think three years is a long time, and it's like, you know, like, it isn't, it happens quite quickly. So anyways, you're amazing. John's amazing. This episode is for you. Here you go. Lesley Logan 1:57  Be It, babe. We have a blast from the past, and like the past, I cannot believe that it's I can't believe how long this podcast has been on, because it feels like I just got started, and I'm like, still getting my groove, but John Mollura is our guest today. He was from Episode 120, oh my God, okay. John Mollura, in case people haven't been with us since Episode 120, can you remind them? John Mollura 2:16  And you should go back and listen to all those if you have not.Lesley Logan 2:21  Well, they're gonna have to. Because I think we're gonna share, what I'm excited about is to share a journey. Like, whenever I have a guest back on, it's like, we get to, like, see where you are, and people get to go, oh, wow, behind like, you don't see behind the scenes very much, and you don't like, we just think, like, things just happen, and the light switch just turns on, and everything works out. So tell everyone who you are and what you're rocking at now.John Mollura 2:45  Hey, everybody. So second time guest here on the Be It Pod with my good friend, Lesley. And fun fact is I actually live right up the road from her hubby's parents in the first State of Delaware. Lesley Logan 2:58  It's really hilarious. John Mollura 2:59  Right? Small world, small world. So what I am up to? I am a personal coach, and no one is more surprised to see me in that position than me. Lesley Logan 3:08  I don't know. I had to be really honest. We'll go on with your because, but I just want to say, like, your talk, (inaudible) like, three years ago, about imperfection was so good, like, to me, you were like a coach over a photographer. But anyways, tell everyone why you're more surprised.John Mollura 3:28  Yeah, and I'm talking like, longer than, like, the time you and I have been buddies, but like, just throughout my entire life, dude, I, like Forrest Gump-ed my way through, like, never really had a plan, and I came to realize the reason why I never had a plan is because if you didn't have, like, a plan and a target and goals, guess what, you could never fail. And I was so afraid of failure, like I never wanted to, you know, put my name on something, be like, this is what I want to do. So that is why I say I've, -like, Forrest Gump-ed my way through. And I I'm surprised I'm here, because it was never the plan, because I never had a plan. Lesley Logan 4:05  This is so fascinating. I think people just freaking like, were like, caught, like that, like, caught, you know, because you just said, If you don't have a plan, you can't fail. And I'm afraid of failure. And I think there's a lot of people who have been just like, it's a lot going on, it's really hard to make decisions in this time, like, you know, and it's like you can do that for so long, and at some point, like, there's a calling that you have, the universe is going to force you to do it. Do you feel forced?John Mollura 4:38  So I like to call them two by four moments, Lesley, and these are those moments in life where the universe, or God or who, whomever you believe, is kind of orchestrating all this. If you're not paying attention enough, they whack you upside the head with a two by four. And you find yourself in these situations where it's like you're just forced into these changes, and you know you don't have to answer the call, but the price you pay is that you just have this just spiritual discontent with inside of you, and that is such a yucky and exhausting feeling.Lesley Logan 5:13  Yeah, it really is like, and I think anyone listening like, I can think of times when, like, I feel like I got hit by a back truck, and then you're like, why didn't you tell me before the Mack truck came? And then you look back and you're like, there was a little flashlight right there, and then there was this like thing over here. You ignored those so I had to hit you with a Mack truck to get your attention.John Mollura 5:37  Yeah, yeah. There is a story that I like to tell when I'm doing like a small group, and it's like people are like, you know, they they end up at the pearly gates, and they're like, God, why didn't you save me? And that is like, what are you talking about? It's like, I sent, I told you to leave the house before it flooded. I sent you the news report, and you didn't listen. And then when you climbed on your roof. I sent you a boat, saying, hey, get in the boat. And you said no, and then I sent a helicopter, like, what else do you want? So we don't, we don't pay attention to these signs all along the way.Lesley Logan 6:10  We're expecting it to say, John, this is for you. Like, Lesley, this is yours. And the truth is, is that, like, you know, we all get choice. That's what we were given. We were given this choice to listen or to not to listen, and those choices have consequences. So if you choose not to listen, you get hit by a two by four, hopefully before you drown. Hopefully, hopefully you pay attention before you drown. So, tell, can you take us back to some of the two by fours that kind of shoved you this way? John Mollura 6:40  Yeah. Yeah. So, so my my career again, like starting back with my career after I graduated engineering school from Penn State in like 2001 shout out, Nittany Lions, we are, is I ended up working in the space program. Right?Lesley Logan 6:58  Yeah, which is so badass. It's like the, I mean, it's what every kid grows up to wanting being an astronaut, you got to do that without going to space. But, like.John Mollura 7:06  Space Cadet, yes, astronaut, no, but I did get to work with them, and the reason why I literally fell into that job was because I lost out on an internship with Disney in college and taught rock climbing for the summer, and that actually was what bubbled me to the top of the guy who hired me, who was former Special Forces and he said, Hey, look, I'm like, why'd you pick me? Like, I had, like, a decent grade, other than my shining personality and, you know, rapier wit, why did you pick me, Skip? And he said, I don't need another, you know, gosh darn egg head on this team. I need someone I can send out into the field and not get me or themselves killed. He said, you're smart enough. So again, like, you know, I wasn't planning on ever being a rock climbing instructor, but I was offered the jobs I know other options. That's what bubbled me to the top, where I worked in the space and defense industry for 15 years, leading test operations for NASA and working with elite military units, and a big two by four moment came in 2009 right after our first child was born, where, like, I really felt like I wasn't going to be a good dad, just because, you know, my past trials and traumas. And then right after that, one of my best childhood friends intentionally overdosed and passed away, and I was I was a mess. I was an absolute wreck. And, you know, I can remember thinking, Well, maybe he got it right. Maybe I shouldn't be here. And for whatever reason, I said the Serenity Prayer like it popped in my head.Lesley Logan 8:41  Isn't it funny how we all know that prayer, we all know, like, if that prayer is like, right there, it's like, so like, like, we're, I feel like we're born with it, like it's so good.John Mollura 8:49  Yeah, yeah. And for those of you, you know, here's a variation I love is, you know, accept what is, let go of what was, and have faith in what will be, you know. And like, as soon as I finished it, I felt this warm sensation and like, you know that that's when I found, like, true religion and freedom. But it wasn't like all unicorns and rainbows and stuff like that. It was quite the opposite. It was where, like the proverbial scales fell from my eyes, and I realized what an a hole I was in life to protect myself. So that started me on this journey of faith and getting my, you know, just seeing how the world saw me, and I built up this like superhero exterior, but really just to protect the wounded person inside. And as I really came to terms with that and started healing, I started realizing that, wow, this job that I have, like you said, which is, like every kid's dream, like, you know, former 80s kid, like you we grew up watching Star Wars and, you know, all the things like that. I was like, this job isn't satisfying me. This isn't this isn't where I'm supposed to be. I'm good at it. I'm world class at it. But, man, I'm just not happy.Lesley Logan 9:58  Yeah, yeah, that's what Gay Hendricks would call from The Big Leap, he would call, like, your zone of excellence, but not your zone of genius. And, like, It's uncomfortable to be in the zone of excellence for a long time. People think you're weird, but like, you just don't like, you're like, I this, I can do this in my sleep, but it's not challenging me. It's not making me feel satisfied. John Mollura 10:19  Right? Yeah, that's not bringing life into me. So I went and, you know, did the responsible thing, and as a now father of three, and got another higher paying job in engineering, and was even more miserable and out of alignment. Lesley Logan 10:32  Just wanted to make sure. John Mollura 10:34  Yeah, just wanted to make sure this is definitely not for you. So almost, almost eight years ago to the day. We're recording this in early April, on April 7th of 2017 was when I walked away from corporate life and turned my side hustle photography in my full time gig. And it, you know, it was filled with a lot of ups and downs. You know, I had the opportunity, like National Geographics featured my stuff. I photograph my Grammy winners, like all the cool things, but it never really took off. Right? So here, you know, we're already up to two, two by four moments. There's, you know, the death of my friend and my spiritual awakening. You know, realizing this, like, dream career wasn't serving me. So if you're counting along, that's two, two by fours to the head, I don't catch on real quick. And then, actually, our initial conversation, and I looked it up, was in January of 2022, shout out, Brand Builders.Lesley Logan 11:34  I know, I know. Oh my God, that is, that is, I mean, we met, I guess, that is crazy. This podcast has been on for a long time.John Mollura 11:42  Yeah, and it wasn't even about the podcast that was about a webinar. You had this like, zany idea to be like, Hey, does anybody want to talk about imposter syndrome? I'm like, What's that? So I, like, Googled. I'm like, Oh my God, that's what I had even like as I was getting, like, letters of commendation from the military, like I felt like I didn't deserve it, and I was like, one screw up away from, like, failing and like everyone seeing I was faking it. So during this photography career, as the photography was starting to slow down, that came into my life, that came into my path, and then that turned into a keynote, and then the keynote turned, you know, into another keynote called elite level confidence. And that started getting traction. Meanwhile, my photography business is going down, right?Lesley Logan 12:30  Yeah, I'm going to challenge you on that second two by four. I think that the second two by four is a door, like a bridge or just like a guide, because I think, like, you would never have been in the room that you were in. So I feel like, maybe there's a second, two by four. And just like, hey, this photography thing is a beautiful hobby, and you're really good at it, and it's another zone of excellence. But like, they're, we're calling you over here. But I just think, like, I think, like, the everything happens for a reason, and you were in that room because of photography, you know, or maybe there was something inside you that was like, calling you to go for more, and maybe you knew about this coaching thing sooner. But I think, like, I wonder, like, would you have gone from engineering to elite level coaching? Like, you know what I mean? Like, I.John Mollura 13:14  Right, I mean, it all falls together. You know, when you're looking back at the path, it's like, oh, that makes sense. But yeah, in the moment you're like, what the heck it's going on here? Lesley Logan 13:23  Yeah, so okay, I remember, because I get your emails, I remember when you're like, oh, I'm not doing this for I'm closing my studio. And I was like, wow, I hope he's not going back to engineering. I'm so happy you're not. But you know, like, I was just like, oh, because I've been in this world long enough and like, it's really, it is really difficult to whatever your passion is, whether you're a photographer, listening or not, like one of my dear friends, like she makes her magic happen as a photographer, but it is you absolutely can get paid for your passion, but you also have to remember, it's still work, you know? And if it's not, if it doesn't serve you and your family, then it's not serving you, and you have to, like, change it. So, okay, how did you be it till you see it, from photographer to coach, because that I feel like, you know, like, how did you address that? How did you come to terms with your heart? How did you tell your family? How to tell people that I feel like people get stuck on like that, but what are people gonna say? What? How do I explain why I changed again?John Mollura 14:20  Yeah, and that was a lot of internal dialog when I was like, oh man, I'm starting to feel this, this just spiritual discontent again. And I'm like, I've wrestled with it. I'm like, are you kidding me, John, like, like you already had, like, a dream everybody wants. Like, you worked in the space program. You literally worked with astronauts and fighter pilots. Like, how cool is that? And then I did photography again. A lot of people like that. They're like, my dream is to be a photographer full time. And I'm like, oh, no, this isn't really filling me up anymore. So that was something I really wrestled with, Lesley, like, like, I didn't want to tell my wife, who's been on this, like, roller coaster with me, like, because I was embarrassed. I'm like, what is wrong with me? Why am I just such a like, you know, then all the negative voices start, right? It's like, you're a malcontent. You're never going to be happy, you know, all the things and but what I realized, what I really leaned into, was the truth of the matter, was, especially after Covid, because the photography I did, like headshots, portraits, things like that. So I was always working with people, and I saw such a change in people's demeanor. Like, I get it. Being photographed is not anyone's favorite pastime, really. But, like barely.Lesley Logan 15:31  I love it, but I'm weird. John Mollura 15:33  Right. Yeah, there's a very small percentage of people, but you know, every photo shoot would start the same. Good luck getting a good picture of me. And it's like, okay, yeah, that before, but there was something different, especially after Covid, where people just had this just lack of confidence in themselves. So I started realizing, like I was doing coaching sessions with people, just to get them comfortable being in front of the lens of the photo shoot they paid big money for.Lesley Logan 16:02  That's insane. I can totally see that 100%, yes.John Mollura 16:06  Yeah. So that's, that's what I really started leaning into. So my first coaching program that I came up with a couple years ago was called Authentic Men of Action. Because, you know, Rory Vaden, who actually brought us together through his Brand Builders was, he always says, you're best suited to serve the you that you used to be. And I'm like, God, I was a mess. So I thought, let me create this program to to work with men, to really help them take action and get after what is important to them and best serve people that are in their lives. And again, it kind of took off. But then, like, women started reaching out, like their girlfriends and wives, and they're like, Hey, can, like, we get in on this? And I'm like, okay, you know, cue all the limiting beliefs, you know, tripping up like, Oh, you gotta know what to say. You're gonna know how to help people. John Mollura 16:52  Almost like, you know when to, like, hit the button. You're like, okay, here they are. Like, just come at me.John Mollura 17:01  Yeah, yeah. And my wife's like, she's like, you know, you're a father to two daughters, you're a great husband. Like, why don't you just see how it goes, John, and quit over thinking this. Like, okay, so yeah. Then I opened the coaching up to the women, and then the keynotes started. Were with which turned into elite level confidence, you know? And it's just been a beautiful progression of just listening and seeing what the need is, and then answering the call and not letting those limiting beliefs stop me. Lesley Logan 17:24  Yeah, I think it like it takes, in the ideal world is like each time you get to know yourself and what you want more, and that each time you be it till you see it, like the space between hearing and limiting beliefs and still taking action, ideally, gets shorter. Like, I actually don't think that you they just go away. John Mollura 17:55  They never go away. Lesley Logan 17:56  I think if you're not a narcissistic, egotistical sociopath, like if you are, they never go away. You just recognize it. You're like, Oh, I know this station. I can actually just turn it off. Like, thank you. You know, like, I get to, I get to turn that off now, and I think that's so interesting. I also, like, was want to highlight, like, I do think that there's a massive confidence problem, and no one is like, you know, the coaches I've worked with, because I worked with a lot, since I'm in the fitness world, there's a lot of people who are like, you are, like, creating fitness programs so women feel confident. And the truth is, as my coach, is correct, no one is actually Googling how to get more confident, right? Like they're Googling, like, weight loss or whatever, but what they are wanting, the byproduct is confidence. Now that we've on the other side of Covid, I do think there's a lot of people who reckon, who are like, defeated, you know, and, and because, especially people our age who, like, you know, graduated, like, went to college in 2001 graduated to the recessions, you know, then once we started getting our legs under us, then Covid hit. Like, it kind of can feel like, if your evidence is every few years you get knocked down, you may as well stay in a safe place which doesn't make you more confident, it makes you have some dissonance, and that is where a lack of confidence comes from. So I do think that more and more people are needing it and even more aware, but they're using the word imposter syndrome and and other things to to describe it. Okay, you've done speeches before because, like, you had, like, you've had the career with, with space and all that stuff. But like, what was it like to give your first keynote under this, like, this iteration, this, like, next level, this, be it till you see it version of you?John Mollura 19:40  Yeah, one of my coaches told me something that really resonated with me, and now I share it with with my clients that want to, like, do keynote speaking. They said the best thing you can do to reduce the nerves is not to focus on yourself, because if you go out there with this mindset of, like, Oh my gosh. I need to, I need I need to, I need to not forget any lines. I need to hit my marks on the stage. I need to. I need to just, just, just, just crush this like, that's when it goes completely sideways, yeah? Because it's all inward focused. So being switching the mindset of like, okay, I'm gonna go out here. I'm well rehearsed. I've done the preparation that I need to do, and I'm doing that not so I look awesome, but so I can best serve everybody that's out in the audience. So the first time I gave that talk, you know, I did like the rotary thing, where I talked to rotary groups and get my legs under me and refined it. The first official time I gave it was to a group of people that had just completed a year of service with AmeriCorps, and they were transitioning out of that volunteer space. And now, you know, going a lot of them going back into whatever organizations they helped with, but also taking this knowledge and going forward, and they and they've changed, during these years of service.Lesley Logan 21:06  Yeah. Who they were when they started is a very different person, you know. John Mollura 21:10  Right, right. So I partnered up with AmeriCorps because they were, the leadership realized that when people would leave, they were they they didn't, they were kind of rudderless, because they weren't the same person going back to their lives they had before. So they brought me in to speak to them. And is a very beautiful thing about like ways we can sabotage ourselves with, with just, you know, whether it's it's perfectionism or having this kind of lone wolf mentality, building walls in our relationship, you know, focusing on, like perfectionism that leads to procrastination and overthinking and all the things it was helping them see and just be aware of these, these things that will pop up.Lesley Logan 21:55  Yeah, yeah. I sorry to hit you off. I think like understanding how we sabotage ourselves is one of the biggest things we could ever do for ourselves. So you mentioned perfectionism, lone wolf. What are some of the other like ways we can we can sabotage ourselves because we look at it as like it's happening to us, but really we're doing it to us.John Mollura 22:17  Yeah, yeah, yeah. So and that, that's where you know, my newest free resource that I've is on my website for people, it's The Six Leverage Points for Success, and it talks about, you know, creating legacy for yourself, like, how to honor this future you that is out there. You know, how to build your confidence. And we'll, we'll chat about here in a moment, about, like, the like, the real reason, like, why a lot of folks' confidence is lacking, talking about the ways that we can put more structure into our relationships, because people don't like to say, I'm going to put boundaries up, because that seems, you know, like they're keeping everything else. Like, no, it's not about putting walls up around. It's about putting walls up, but then putting some gates in with some quality guards that are there.Lesley Logan 23:05  Yeah, yeah. There's a lot of freedom in a boundary that people don't see it like they see it like as a cement wall. And it's like, well, it's actually just like, a guideline of how you can treat me in this situation. But okay. John Mollura 23:16  Yeah and then helping people understand the value of like focus, because so often when we're on these journeys, like, what are we doing? We're looking to that person over there, and then we're looking at their Instagram account, and then we're, you know, next thing, you know, you're completely side you know, you've spun yourself into the ground because you're looking at everybody else instead of keeping your eyes ahead. And then then finally, talking about helping people get into action. So that that's, that's kind of, those are kind of the ways that I've realized people have been sabotaging themselves. Like, okay, this is what they are, heads up, because awareness is so powerful. Yeah.Lesley Logan 23:52  Yeah, yeah. I mean, like, I I think, like, every time I think, like, something is like, not working, I can actually, if I just, like, take a moment after being upset about what's not working, so, oh, I actually tried to this by myself, or I guided this, like, focusing on, like, where my marks are. Where am I doing this, as opposed to, like, how is this impacting them? Why is this the thing that they need? Like, I can see, like, where I, like, got inwardly focused and sabotaged myself when really, like, I know the answer. And I guess what the cool thing is, you can actually pivot. You can actually just make changes once you're aware. But you have to be aware of these things to see them, yeah.John Mollura 24:34  Yeah and there and there's, there's, there's another component to that, which I found is really powerful, is that it's not just being aware, then it becomes very important that we're not judging ourselves with our awareness. Because when you're judging yourself and you're aware, like, I call that like, that's where the critic lives. Like, these are the people that have had their hearts stomped on, and they're like, never, this is never gonna work. This won't work. No one will want it like that's being judgmental and aware. Where we want to be is we want to shift into, like, what I call being the seeker mindset, which is where you're aware, but then you use, I know, one of your favorite words, which is curious. When we're aware and curious, man, that's where beautiful things happen, right? Yeah, that's where, like, we're a seeker, and we're like, this is where I want to go. I'm not really sure how I'm going to get there, but I'm going to start embracing this journey and seeing what resources and people I have that can help me get to there. And spoiler alert, that there is probably going to shift a little bit, but at least you're going towards that with awareness and curiosity.Lesley Logan 25:34  Oh, I love that you called out the judgment, because I think we can. It's so easy for us to like then be aware oh, here I am being my lone wolf and like, just like, continue going down the judgment zone, which is not where creativity nor confidence can live, by the way, like, judgment and gratitude can't live in the same place. Like, so yeah, it's a whole, it's a whole, those energies don't coexist very well. Okay, so can we talk a bit about confidence? Because, like, I do think, like, I find, first of all, I'm always shocked that people think that people like you or I struggle with confidence. And I think, like, it's really hilarious because, like, I just personally think that they see in us what they want for themselves. And so there's a projection that's happening, and us just doing the thing scared shitless. Like, like, it's what they think is confidence, and really it's like, well, I'm not going around with a sign on my shirt saying I'm scared shitless while I'm doing this, but also I am doing this because I know that if I do this sooner than I think I'm ready, I'm gonna get feedback, and when I get feedback, I can get better. Like, that's actually and then confidence is a byproduct, like, can we because I feel like people have a misinterpretation of what true confidence is. John Mollura 26:51  Right, right. So what confidence is, you know, the definition is a belief in yourself, a belief in your abilities. And I'm going to start this with a question. If I ask you, or most people, I'm sure your listeners are, listeners are all lovely, wonderful people, if I ask you or your listeners, like, when you make a commitment to somebody, like, do you show up to that person you've made the commitment to? Right? Like, pretty much 100% right? What if I tweak that question and said, How good are you at showing up when you've made a promise just to yourself?Lesley Logan 27:31  See, this is interesting, because this is where, like, I'm really good with myself, but I also know that, like, the time, I'm the first born, firstborn daughter, first born grandchild. There's like, the upholder in me is real. Like, if I don't have to tell anyone to do something, I'm going to do it. But that is also where perfectionism lives, so I have to be very mindful of that. Of like, am I doing it because I'm trying to be perfect, or am I doing it because I, like, I said I would do it so. But I actually know from studies that like the most people listening, they don't, they don't keep it to themselves. They keep it for everyone else but themselves.John Mollura 28:08  Right, and that and that right, there is the root, from all the research I've done that's actually the root of people's lack of confidence, is they're not showing up for themselves. Because here's what happens, is we're lying to ourselves. We say I'm going to wake up and go to the gym, or, I mean, this is the year I'm going to start eating healthier, or I'm going to floss my teeth every night. Like, pick, pick a commitment you've made to yourself. If we continually break these commitments time and time again, well, guess what? Our brain recognizes I can't trust me.Lesley Logan 28:44  Oh, there. It's, that's it. That's confidence. It's the ability to trust yourself. John Mollura 28:50  Right. Right? Right? Lesley Logan 28:53  That's so good, yes. John Mollura 28:55  Right, and people, when we're when we get into this headspace of, like, why can't I just do the thing like, why can't I start working out? Why can't I start this business? Why can't I have this critical conversation with somebody? They're like, what I don't understand, what's wrong with me? I work with them all the time that they say this and I say, what's causing it is, obviously the root is, you're not keeping promises to yourself on whatever it is, but because you keep your promise to everybody else, your brain kind of short circuits, because it's like, wait a minute, I do keep my promises. And it's like, no, you don't. So there's this like, weird dichotomy going on in your head, as they say, the only way to rectify that is just start keeping promises to yourself and start giving your brain a new set of data to work with, instead of this old set of data that that you with these promises that you've broken to yourself.Lesley Logan 29:47  Okay, yes to all that, because we get we allow our phones to get new data all the time. We allow scientists to give us new data. We allow so much grace for people to bring in new data and yet for ourselves were like, no, I'm gonna go on that old operating system, like.John Mollura 30:04  Yeah, you're like, working on a Commodore 64. Lesley Logan 30:06  Yeah, oh, yeah. Wait, so this is a funny example. So we've, we got a used car, car of my dreams. It's used, and it is amazing. It is a 2015 that has more technology than my 2020 does. And we, but we were like, Bluetooth-ing to it, which is kind of amazing for a 2015, car to have Bluetooth, right? Kind of amazing. And we're like, oh, it's skipping. I wonder how we update this thing. And it's got, you guys, it has a DVD player. Okay? Car has a DVD player. I didn't know. I was like, oh, it's got a CD player. Were people playing CDs in 2015? No, it doesn't connect to the internet, so it cannot update its system. Like, cannot. I'm gonna have to find some dude, I'm sure it exists here, who, like, can change an operating system. Well, at least that part of the car, right? I'm sure it exists where I live. But it cannot change. However, if we look at that, like, since 2015 how much has technology changed? How much have you changed? How much have you learned about yourself, and if you're still operating off the 2015 version of you, that is going to that is not going to be fun and also going to cause a lot of issues, because the whole world has updated 10 years.John Mollura 31:16  Right. Yeah. And the beautiful thing is, it might sound daunting, like, oh my gosh, I don't want to have to, like, reinvent myself. And how am I going to keep promises to myself? You know, I haven't done the thing that I said I was going to do. How am I going to even start doing it now? And I say, the beautiful thing is, about your brain is it doesn't recognize the magnitude of the promise you keep to yourself, like it doesn't recognize the difference between the promise of like, I'm going to climb Mount Everest or I'm going to floss my teeth every night. All it's doing is kicking the block saying, done, done, done, done, and then eventually you're going to hit, like, a critical mass where you're like, wait a minute. I'm just kind of doing things that I said I was going to do that's wild, because that's the beauty of taking small, consistent actions.Lesley Logan 32:08  Yeah, yeah. It's like, I love that you brought that up. We think we need, like, some sort of big goal to get going. And really, if you are not already consistently hitting things you say you were gonna do that is, like, a recipe for disaster. Like that is a self-sabotage in itself. Like it is, like, if you are, like, wanting to, like, just make sure you put another sabotage. You'll put a goal on. You'll put a habit on. Like, if you don't go the gym every day, you're like, I'm gonna go the gym five days this week. I don't even need a crystal ball to tell you that you won't. It is impossible to go from never putting your gym bag in the car, going to the gym, hitting the red lights, getting out, knowing where the equipment is, to get in a decent workout, to get the dopamine high that makes you want to go back again. Like it doesn't work. If you live in my town, every other day there's a new construction site. So you don't even get to go the same route, you know, so like, but you have to make it small so it's attainable. That's where you know that perfectionism stuff lies, because then people are like, well, if it's not, if I don't do it, if it's not all or nothing, then it's not worth doing. Like, how do you talk to yourself about doing a small thing? What did you do? John Mollura 33:19  Right. And a lot of that comes down to like that, like, you hit the nail on the head, where people are like, well, I don't have time to get in my hour long workout, so I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it tomorrow, because, you know, I strive for excellence, and I if it's not done right, it's not worth doing at all, which I say, time out. Like, what's better? 45 minutes of exercises, and maybe you don't do the squats and the overhead press for another set or zero? Like, it's perfectionism. This, this kind of all or nothing mentality, and I call these the big three, Lesley, there's perfectionism, there's procrastination, and then there's overthinking, right? Those are three big things that just derail us from doing the things that we want to do, or the things we say are so important from us. And the good news is about these three, perfectionism, procrastination and overthinking, is they all have the same root, like we don't focus on perfectionism because we really care so much about whatever it is. We don't procrastinate because we suck at time management. That's the story we tell ourselves. I'm just bad at time management.Lesley Logan 34:31  Yeah, we're not, because there's plenty of proof that you've, like, nailed some things on time, like. John Mollura 34:35  Right, right. We don't overthink because, you know, it's just so important to us that we think of every considerable contingency. The root of procrastination, perfectionism and overthinking, it's fear, and if we get a handle on fear being the root of procrastination, perfectionism and overthinking, now we can get honest with ourselves. We can start telling ourselves the truth of what am I so scared of?Lesley Logan 35:03  Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's the question of the day. John Mollura 35:08  Yeah. And it, and it goes back to when we first started here. I said I never came up with a plan, because if you don't have a plan, you can never fail, right? You never, you can never miss your target. So it's the same with procrastination or perfectionism. We find, I bet, if we're honest with ourselves, a lot of things we procrastinate the most on or get, you know, tangled up in perfectionism and overthinking are the things that are probably the closest to our heart and perfectionism, procrastination, overthinking are so convenient ways to hide because if you procrastinate for long enough, you never do the thing. And you can never fail. You try to keep making it perfect, which, spoiler alert, perfection doesn't exist, everybody. Excellence does not perfection. We never have to do the thing. And the reason why these are usually so coupled to the things that are so important to us is because one of our greatest fears as humans, I mean, like we're social creatures, right? One of our deepest fears of everybody is just the way we're wired, is to be kicked out of the tribe, the village, the clan, whatever it is. So a lot of times we resist most putting the things out that show the most of us, because we don't want people to reject us, reject what we're doing, because that taps on a very primal fear.Lesley Logan 36:37  Yes, oh, I mean, I mean, so much so, like, I remember not wanting to put out a YouTube video. My husband's like, you should be on YouTube. It's like, you know, 2014, I was like, no, no no, because people are gonna hate it, and they're gonna wonder, who they who am I to do this? There's other people who in my industry who have been teaching longer, and they should have the time. And he goes, I don't know who those people are. I don't care. You need to be on YouTube. And I remember being so scared, and I did the thing because I had to do it kicking and screaming with him, and no one actually got mad. And I was like, oh, then what am I actually afraid of? You know, like I was afraid of being kicked out of, like, the industry, like people would think that I'm some narcissist who thinks she knows everything, and really, what I do get instead, because I did it, is that people love how I show things imperfectly. I'm quite honest and candid about where I am. I'm very direct, and I'm I invite them to go there's actually, like, your body's gonna look different doing this. And so because, because I was, because I should have as me and focus on like the person viewing it, versus like me, it actually turned out to be the best thing I could ever done, because it's so much more authentic. And what I was afraid of didn't happen. In fact, I got brought into the community more, you know, like, and that's but, you know, here's the thing, it is true that whatever you want to do, you might get kicked out of your tribe. You might. There are, there are people who are assholes, and then probably, if you ask yourself, like, do I really, like, want to be in this tribe, not being my authentic self the and you know what I mean, like, I so you're gonna get a two by four to the head, is really what's gonna happen. But your tribe might come with you. You'd be surprised, like, how many people were like, Whoa, John or Lesley really did the thing. And I'm, I'm inspired by them, they actually might join in.John Mollura 38:31  Yeah, there's, there's a quote by CS Lewis that I absolutely love. You know, the dude who wrote The Chronicles of Narnia is he says friendship is born that moment that someone says, Wait a minute, you too? I thought I was the only one. Right? Lesley Logan 38:50  Well, John, I could talk to you forever about confidence and imposter syndrome. I really do love this topic. I'm so freaking glad this is what you're doing, because your journey has brought you here. And one of the reasons I wanted to have you back on the pod is, like, I think people get so hung up on like, well, I said I was going to be the photographer, so I've got to be the photographer. I made that switch. And the reality is is like, that could have just been the first next step for you. And so I really wanted people to see, like, what can happen. Look what can happen in three in three years. Like, that's kind of insane. Like, it sounds like a long time. It's not a long time. I can't believe this podcast has been this long. I feel like I just started it. So even though. John Mollura 39:36  That's really hitting you deep, isn't it? It's like the fifth time you mentioned.Lesley Logan 39:36  I know I might.John Mollura 39:36  Let's unpack that, Lesley. Lesley Logan 39:36  Well, here's what it is. The unpacking is, I actually don't think I'm getting older. I think I'm the same age I was when I moved to Vegas. Like I, actually, we moved here in June of 2020, so in two months, this will have lived here for five years. And It shocks me every day, because I feel like we just moved here. And so when things like this happen, or I meet my friend's kids I haven't seen a few years, I'm like, oh I have gotten older, and, like, not that I'm scared of getting older. That's not it at all. It's just that I actually haven't noticed that. I haven't noticed how much time has flown. And I think one, it's good to notice it, because you can celebrate all that you have done in the last three years. It's kind of epic, right? And then two, time is always going and so what are we doing with that time? You know, if you are procrastin on something, I hope that the five times I mentioned, like, how long it's been, you realize, if you were with us on episode 120 and you still haven't done the thing you wanted to do, like, this is your sign. John Mollura 40:37  Yeah, here's your two by four. Lovingly swung by Lesley and John. Lesley Logan 40:41  Yeah, yeah. I mean, like, I think that's really the unpacking. It's like, I hope that people who have have listened from that episode on have either noticed their sabotaging moments or are going, oh my goodness, it has been three years. Okay. What can I do today? You know, like, what can I do to be it till I see it today? Like, that's what I hope. Let me get this, anyways, we're gonna take a brief break and we can find out where people can find you, follow you, work with you. John Mollura 41:08  Super duper. Lesley Logan 41:10  Hi, John. Where do you hang out? Where can they take your group or your coaching or watch a keynote? Where's it all happening?John Mollura 41:18  Yeah, so they can go to johnmollura.com J-O-H-N-M-O-L-L-U-R-A dot com, and there is a fun little button there that says, schedule a free call with John. And it is truly that. It is a free call with me, because I just love to chat with people and see where they're at. It's not a sales call. It's just, I love having conversations with people about that. So johnmollura.com they can also download the free resources, the six leverage points for success that I talked about, and they can also get my Elite Level Confidence Blueprint. So there's actually two free resources there. They are under the free stuff tab, creatively titled, but yeah. Just love to connect with people. I post regularly on Instagram, little daily things there my thoughts and musings, and sometimes there's just funny stuff or bloopers. So, John Mollura on Instagram.Lesley Logan 42:09  I love it. Okay, you have given us so many things. And obviously those freebies sound like a Be It Action Item all in themselves, but what bold, executable, intrinsic or targeted steps can people take to be it till they see it? John Mollura 42:19  Right. So when you face these decisions, moment to moment, minute to minute, hour to hour, day to day, when you hit those decision points, you need to ask yourself, is what I'm going to do or not do going to cause me to be a hero to the future you? Is it when I meet the future you in the future, is it going to be standing there like downtrodden, tired, disappointed that we didn't go after it, or when you meet the future you, is it going to just like high five you and give you a big hug and say, thank you for honoring me, thank you for doing the thing in that moment.Lesley Logan 42:19  Oh, I love that. Oh, that's so fun. John Mollura 42:38  Yeah, super deep. Lesley Logan 42:48  That's great. I think that's such an impactful way to explore the fear, too. Yeah, guys, how will you use that tip in your life? Make sure John knows. Make sure you share it with the Be It Pod. Also share this episode with a friend. You know those friends who like keep overthinking the thing or procrastinating send it to them, they will only notice at this moment that why you're sending it to them. But like, you know, sometimes people need to hear it from someone else in a different word or just a different time, and so that's how we actually all rise up. We need to do it together. That's what makes your sandbox with your boundaries a more playful place, because everyone is understanding where that's coming from. So thank you for listening. John, thank you for being here. Fun to catch up with you. It's so good. We'll have to, we have to see each other in real life at some point. But, you guys, you know what to do. Until next time, Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 43:54  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 44:36  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 44:41  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 44:46  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 44:53  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 44:56  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/be-it-till-you-see-it/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This week on Sustainability Now!, your host, Justin Mog, takes you upriver to visit Payne Hollow on the Ohio (https://www.paynehollowontheohio.org/) with five wonderful guests who are all actively involved in protecting and restoring this ecological and cultural gem: Board members Stacey Burkhart, David Wicks, and Joe Wolek, along with Americorps members Anthony Lamb and Julian Rodriguez. Payne Hollow on the Ohio is a Kentucky non-profit established in June 2022 with the goal of sustainably preserving Payne Hollow up in Trimble County while protecting and promoting the legacy of Harlan and Anna Hubbard. The central mission is to stabilize the existing structures, document the property and natural history, to celebrate the homestead's evident beauty, creativity, and innovation, and build a foundation for a safe and inspiring future for Payne Hollow and the community it inspires. Payne Hollow will demonstrate the remarkable example the Hubbards set for those who choose to live off the land in ecological consciousness. Check out the Payne Hollow video “No Theories to Prove” and peruse the Payne Hollow strategic plan and ecological overview at https://www.paynehollowontheohio.org/projects. You can also watch a series of short videos of Americorps members reading poems they created as a Payne Hollow activity at https://www.facebook.com/reel/3406715469460124 The Americorps members are helping Payne Hollow build it's visitor infrastructure and you can see some photos of that work at https://www.facebook.com/paynehollowontheohio/posts/pfbid0kHs48y6tPxF7cjPEM5xB8iBcqEBMLfHDnGmKitXxMrE5t1REE3Gg8HSXHBmikJCfl?rdid=j5fF9YOIlEzSXhVC Join the Payne Hollow on the Ohio contact list and keep up with the work through six newsletters a year by going to https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/sl/DJM8rNd As always, our feature is followed by your community action calendar for the week, so get your calendars out and get ready to take action for sustainability NOW! Sustainability Now! is hosted by Dr. Justin Mog and airs on Forward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and repeats Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. Find us at https://forwardradio.org The music in this podcast is courtesy of the local band Appalatin and is used by permission. Explore their delightful music at https://appalatin.com

In high school and college, Nicole swam,That was all before she knew that privacy was her jam!Nicole was in the pilot program at AmeriCorps,At the ACLU, she served as the Tech and Civil Liberties Director!

Improve Your Tomorrow provides mentorship services to about 1,000 students at Stockton Unified School District, transforming struggling students into leaders prepared for college. But funding is uncertain under the second Trump administration. Improve Your Tomorrow, like many mentoring and tutoring programs in K-12 schools, relies partially on federal grants through AmeriCorps — funding that President Donald Trump has proposed entirely eliminating. Guests: Nicole Davidson, program manager, Improve Your Tomorrow at Stockton Unified School District Lasherica Thornton, reporter, EdSource Read more from EdSource: 'Fewer children are able to thrive': California AmeriCorps programs adapt to funding uncertainty Subscribe: Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube Education Beat is a weekly podcast. This week's episode was hosted by EdSource's Emma Gallegos and produced by Coby McDonald.

Green River, Utah (population 900) can be seen as a waypoint in the desert with more hotel rooms than residents. Or it can be seen through the eyes of locals like Maria Sykes. She's the director and co-founder of Epicenter, a nonprofit in Green River that focuses on housing and fosters creativity and art in the community. Maria did not grow up in the region, instead she came by way of Americorps, and in the 16 years she's lived in Green River, she's contributed to its vibrancy, livability, and iconic neon signs.

Jonathan Hunger is the author of Agitate!, a revealing memoir of how he was able to overcome his fears by the example of Frederick Douglass. Jonathan is a native New Yorker who grew up primarily in New Jersey. He attended the University of Maryland for his undergraduate degree, and soon after spent a year working on construction as part of AmeriCorps with Habitat for Humanity. Following his term of service, he attended The College of New Jersey where he received his Master of Arts in Education, and spent the next ten years working in public schools in New Jersey and Maryland. After realizing that teaching was ultimately not the right fit for him, he returned to graduate school to pursue a career in international relations. Surprisingly, however, instead of finding work in international affairs, Jonathan ended up in a park ranger trainee position with the Department of the Interior at the Frederick Douglass Historic Site in Washington, DC. and it was this experience that inspired him to write his first book. Jonathan lives in the Baltimore suburbs with his family.

Lisa Bari, Vice President of Policy and Partnerships at Innovaccer, shares how public health departments can become better prepared to use AI by addressing their underlying data infrastructure; Angela Davis, Project Coordinator with the Montana Office of Rural Health and Area Health Education Center at Montana State University, explains how they developed a statewide AmeriCorps program grounded in health to address the population health needs of the highly rural state; a new ASTHO State Health Policy Update describes the legislative changes taking place across the country as a result of recent changes to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP); and on Wednesday, November 19th, ASTHO will close out its Public Health Nursing Learning Lab Series with a session on Public Health Nursing Workforce Culture. Innovaccer: How State and Local Public Health Leaders can Promote AI and Data Governance Montana State University: Montana State helping launch statewide AmeriCorps program for community health ASTHO Health Policy Update: States Seek Policy Guidance Beyond ACIP Vaccine Recommendations ASTHO Webinar: Public Health Nursing Workforce Learning Lab - A Series

In this Agents of Nonprofit conversation, I sit down with Maya Hemachandra, an interim executive and veteran fundraiser, to unpack the uncertain and rapidly changing landscape facing nonprofits in 2025. Together, we explore how nonprofits can transform crisis into opportunity through collective advocacy, adaptive leadership, and a renewed commitment to community-driven collaboration.Topics We Cover:The state of widespread funding cuts and instability in nonprofits in 2025 How advocacy can drive systemic change and protect vulnerable communitiesThe real-world impact of AmeriCorps funding cuts and grassroots legal actionUsing technology as a light, invisible amplifier for nonprofit efficiencyAffordable fundraising and CRM tools for small organizationsThe rise of AI in nonprofits—its promises, pitfalls, and privacy concernsThe power of fractional talent and interim executives during transitionsMaya's “magic wand” wish: a united, collaborative philanthropic sectorTo Learn More and connect with Maya:Maya's WebsiteInterim Executives AcademySupport the show

Darrah Fox Bach is the restoration programs senior manager at the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana.Darrah cultivated her love for the outdoors in her native San Francisco, where environmentalism flourishes and Saturdays were devoted to hiking. She moved to Louisiana to study at Tulane University, and stayed for an AmeriCorps position with the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL). When a job opened up at the non-profit advocacy group, she came aboard full-time.One of the programs Darrah manages is an oyster shell recycling program that collects the shells from restaurants in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Volunteers then turn them into oyster reefs–”living shorelines” that serve as habitat for baby oysters and also reduce erosion and protect cultural heritage sites. After listening to Darrah's interview, stay tuned for a bonus preview of our conversation with Rashida Ferdinand, the Executive director of Sankofa Community Development Corporation in the Lower Ninth Ward.After Rashida earned her master's degree in ceramics, she considered moving to New York for its energy and professional opportunities. “But I wanted to also be in a warm environment, physically and culturally,” she says. “Being around blue, purple, yellow houses. Being around my family. My grandmother was getting older. So it was a no-brainer.” She moved back home to New Orleans in 2001.Rashida had grown up in the Lower Ninth Ward, a former cypress swamp that had become a working-class district with one of the nation's highest rates of Black homeownership. As a child, she heard adults reminisce about the crawfish that used to live in the gullies, about the neighborhood's informal bartering system, and about keeping their doors unlocked at night.Then, four years after her return, Rashida's neighborhood made national headlines. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the city's levee system failed, and the low-lying Lower Ninth Ward took the biggest hit. Thousands of homes were inundated or leveled. Residents fled to their rooftops for rescue. The death toll exceeded any other part of the city. When Rashida finally saw the neighborhood again, she says, it looked like “a shell of nothing.”Thanks for listening to A Peace of My Mind's podcast. For photos, videos, and additional content, visit our website and follow us on Instagram.

“I went to grad school out of spite—to learn how to beat developers at their own game.” From that first thunderclap, author-organizer Ru Colvin takes us on a deeply Detroit journey that stretches from their grandmother's migration from York, Alabama to the east side blocks of Jefferson Chalmers, where “we grew up around the water” and a school culture that was “very Black—we sang ‘Lift Every Voice' every morning.” Colvin threads memory and movement: a violin at Cass, Black Planet-era fan fiction, Wayne State in Obama ‘08, then the dissonance of working downtown as foreclosure swept neighborhoods—“they called it a comeback while my family lost our home in 2014.” That rupture births purpose: corporate book clubs turn to street-level facilitation, AmeriCorps in the East Side Solutionaries, and the mantra “our communities are up to us.” They name names—Land Bank tours full of non-Detroiters, bedrock power reshaping blocks—and still insists on possibility, writing a house's autobiography in Home and imagining “liberation zones” in gardens where a family home once stood. With Khary,they honor teachers like Ms. Green who kept their pen alive. Along the way, Colvin reframes planning as protection, storytelling as strategy, and memory as infrastructure: “Translating what people say into something we can use.” Detroit is Different is a podcast hosted by Khary Frazier covering people adding to the culture of an American Classic city. Visit www.detroitisdifferent.com to hear, see and experience more of what makes Detroit different. Follow, like, share, and subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and Sticher. Comment, suggest and connect with the podcast by emailing info@detroitisdifferent.com

More law enforcement agencies in the Midwest are working with ICE. The director of the state's largest agency has resigned. And an AmeriCorps program in Waterloo is back up and running.

In this episode of the All About Nothing podcast, Barrett Gruber speaks with Donny Supplee, the head of the United Way of Kershaw County. They discuss Donny's extensive experience in community service, the evolution of the United Way's mission, and the impact of local initiatives such as food pantries and literacy programs. Donny shares insights on the challenges faced by nonprofits, the importance of volunteerism, and the role of AmeriCorps in supporting community efforts. The conversation highlights the significance of transitional housing and the broader picture of homelessness solutions, emphasizing the need for empathy and community involvement.AmeriCorpsMeet The Staff - United Way of Kershaw CountyUnited Way of Kershaw CountyBarrett Gruber | LinktreeThe All About Nothing: Podcast | LinktreeClick here for Episode Show Notes!As always, "The All About Nothing: Podcast" is owned and distributed by BIG Media LLC!Check out our network of fantastic podcasts!Click Here to see available advertising packages!Click Here for information on the "Fair Use Copyright Notice" for this podcast.Mentioned in this episode:BIG Media LLC Copyright 2025This Podcast is a product of BIG Media LLC and Copyright 2025 Visit https://bigmediallc.com for more from BIG Media LLC!BIG Media LLCZJZ Designs - Halloween PrintsCheck out FIVE all new Halloween Prints, from ZJZ Designs!ZJZ Designs

"Every community has different values, and every community should have different choices. And that's why local food is so important so that local communities and local farmers can decide what's most important to them and how they want to connect the people who grow our food with the people who are seeking nourishment." —Andy Naja-Riese "The health of our Farmers Market is really dependent upon the health of our farmers." —Tanner Keys   Wonder why local food sometimes costs more, or if it's really worth the effort to shop there? The real story behind farmers' markets is more complicated—and more important—than you might think. Andy Naja-Riese, CEO of the Agricultural Institute of Marin, and Tanner Keys, Cooperative Agreement Manager for the Islands of Remote Areas Regional Food Business Center, have spent years on the front lines of food access. Their work in California and Hawaii gives them a unique view on what it takes to make local food affordable, how certification and regulations shape what you see at the market, and why these markets matter for everyone. Listen in for honest talk about food prices, local farming, organic rules, food as medicine, and how farmers' markets are working to make healthy food available to all. You'll get practical insights, real solutions, and a fresh look at what's possible in your own community. Meet Andy: Andy Naja-Riese brings 17 years of experience in community food systems, public health, and food equity programs & policy. As Chief Executive Officer, he leads AIM's major programs, partnerships, strategic planning, advocacy, and fundraising, including a capital campaign for AIM's Center for Food and Agriculture in collaboration with AIM's Board of Directors. Andy joined AIM in 2018 after spending 10 years working for the Federal government, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service.  Andy is currently the Co-Chair of the Marin County Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) Collaborative, serves on the Steering Committees of the Marin Carbon Project and Marin Community Health Improvement Plan, sits on the National Farm to School Network's Advisory Board, and represents AIM on the California Food and Farming Network & Food and Farm Resilience Coalition. He received the 2022 CVNL Heart of Marin Award for Excellence in Leadership and the 2023 Farmers Market Champion of the Year award from CAFF. He earned his master's degree from the T.H. Chan Harvard School of Public Health and his bachelor's degree from Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.  He lives with his husband and dog in Sonoma, where he enjoys backyard gardening, cooking farmers market hauls, eating bagels, and enjoying Northern California's natural beauty Website Facebook X Instagram LinkedIn YouTube   Meet Tanner: Tanner Keys grew up in an agricultural community & lifestyle that has instilled a passion for food & land. He has served in various roles with the Hawaiʻi Good Food Alliance (HGFA) beginning in 2022, helping the organization in its beginning years and later leading a project of HGFA, the Hawaiʻi Farmers Market Association. Before that, he served as the Team Leader to the FoodCorps Inc., an AmeriCorps program, from 2019 to 2021. Tanner has a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Oregon, and it was his service in the Peace Corps (Timor-Leste ʻ16-ʻ18) that led him back to the path of supporting agriculture & food security. LinkedIn Connect with Hawai'i Good Food Alliance Website Instagram Facebook   Connect with NextGen Purpose: Website Facebook Instagram LinkedIn YouTube   Episode Highlights: 01:16 Geography and Food Access: How Location Changes Everything 06:13 Comparing Coasts: East vs West Market Experiences  10:38 Organic vs Certified— What “Certified” Really Means  16:53 Hawaii and California's Diversity  23:40 Making Markets Accessible  27:55 Permanent Market Dreams: Building for the Future  33:57 Are Farmers' Markets Expensive? The Real Price of Local Food   Resources: Podcast S5 Ep 27: AIM— Preserving the Farmer's Market for Everyone with Andy Naja-Riese Part 2S7 Ep1: Boosting a Healthy, Accessible Local Farm-to-Table Revolution with Andy Naja-Riese Part 2

Nadine Menendez, wife of former New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, has been sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for colluding in her husband's corruption schemes. Meanwhile, New York City is launching the Civic Corps, a new AmeriCorps-style program that pays residents to work in community service roles. Plus, WNYC checks in with high school students on how they're coping after the first week of New York's statewide cellphone ban. Finally, Federal agents arrested dozens of people at a food processing plant in Central New York last week. WNYC's Jimmy Vielkind reports on how the raid became a critical moment in the immigration debate.

Quinn Mendelson is Conservation Program Director of Rocky Mountain Youth Corps, a nonprofit that trains young adults to do conservation work in the "outdoor classroom" of New Mexico's landscapes. Not only do they learn skills like trail building, watershed restoration, and wildfire mitigation, but they also receive training that helps them to get jobs—as well as less quantifiable but just as important life skills like getting along with each other, finding their own authentic voices, and being in nature for long periods. The program has been going for three decades, and has led many of its alumni into fulfilling conservation careers.  TIMELINE   3'27 what the corps is all about 4'18 conservation skills, professional skills, life skills 5'52 example of a river project 6'59 so good for young people to have these outdoor opportunities 7'33 adjusting to outdoor work 9'30 people slowing down in the wilderness, and building self-confidence  11'31 paying living wages so the they can recruit from all demographics 13'50 bonding with people for life, and a tight alumni base, and those people work in every related field 15'43 the projects themselves, some using Bill Zeedyk techniques 18'13 showing the young people to see the big picture 18'46 creating a blueprint for post-fire restoration 19'52 coming back for additional years of work 21'12 relationship between the Corps and the surrounding communities  22'54 the connection between this work and regenerative agriculture 24'54 young people with an ag background, or wanting to get into ag through learning conservation work 26'10 learning about soil is central to all the work they do 27'36 as Corps alumni take their place in agency and roles of responsibility, this could change how policy is shaped  28'13 the way people are talking about fire now has evolved a lot in the last few decades 28'57 using beaver biomimicry 29'19 restoring firefly habitat in Chimayó, NM  31'06 people coming back to see the work they've done in future years 32'38 other similar corps all over the US 33'07 there are fewer than 100,000 young people doing this work; there should be millions 33'51 scholarships for higher education 34'20 dream job for a young person 35'32 this is part of Americorps 37'27 Quinn's work on therapeutic ranches 39'01 this is so much about hope for him and the org 40'43 potential careers 43'05 the need for an educated conservation workforce is and will continue to be great 44'37 what kinds of knowledge each generation is given 46'33 passing the torch to younger generations 48'02 working easily with partners, and providing labor for projects   

In this episode, I am joined by Chester W. Spellman, President of CW Spellman Consulting and former National Director of AmeriCorps. Together, we explore his 25-year journey in nonprofit leadership, the lessons he's learned about building sustainable organizations, and the importance of aligning mission with strategy in a rapidly changing world. We also dive into Chester's experience leading at the national level, his reflections on servant leadership, and the ways he helps organizations stay resilient while pursuing long-term impact. Listen to this conversation on sustaining vision, guarding against complacency, and leading with purpose in every season of your career.

Send us a textDr. Max Klau is a consultant, author, speaker, and Integral Master Coach based in Boston, Massachusetts.  He received his doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2005 with a focus on civic leadership development.  He served as the Chief Program Officer at the New Politics Leadership Academy (NPLA) from 2016-2024.  NPLA is focused on bringing more servant leaders into politics, and Max designed leadership programs that have graduated more than 2,500 servant leaders to date.  Previously, he was the Vice President of Leadership Development at City Year, the education-focused AmeriCorps program.  He is the founder of the Center for Courageous Wholeness and his second book, Developing Servant Leaders at Scale, will be published in August 2025. He lives outside of Boston with his wife and two children.A Few Quotes From This Episode“One of the reasons our world is so divided is because we're divided from ourselves.”“We've hit the limits of how much change we can make without getting serious about owning our shadow.”“If we don't confront the shadow, it controls us from beyond our awareness and shows up in the systems we lead.”“Service turns pain into power when we use the gifts of our struggle to serve others.”Resources Mentioned in This Episode Book: Developing Servant Leaders at Scale by Max Klau Book: Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness by GreenleafBook: Abundance by Ezra Klein & Derek ThompsonBook: The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph CampbellOrganization: Inner Development Goals Podcast: Living Myth with Michael MeadeAbout The International Leadership Association (ILA)The ILA was created in 1999 to bring together professionals interested in studying, practicing, and teaching leadership. Plan for Prague - October 15-18, 2025!About  Scott J. AllenWebsiteWeekly Newsletter: Practical Wisdom for LeadersBlogMy Approach to HostingThe views of my guests do not constitute "truth." Nor do they reflect my personal views in some instances. However, they are views to consider, and I hope they help you clarify your perspective. Nothing can replace ♻️ Please share with others and follow/subscribe to the podcast!⭐️ Please leave a review on Apple, Spotify, or your platform of choice.➡️ Follow me on LinkedIn for more on leadership, communication, and tech.

Friday, June 6th, 2025Today, the Trump-Musk feud explodes on their social media platforms as Musk calls for Trump's impeachment and threatens to release information about Donald and Epstein; CDC's top Covid vaccine advisor resigns after RFK Jr says he'll remove it from vaccination schedules; a federal judge orders the reinstatement of the AmeriCorps program in 24 states; Trump reinstates an expanded travel ban that includes 19 countries, he also blocked international students from studying at Harvard and settled a six hour long lawsuit with himself in Texas; Trump officials delayed a report of farm trade data over deficit forecasts; the Supreme Court sides with a straight white woman claiming reverse discrimination; four states petition the FDA to lift abortion pill restrictions; and Allison delivers your Good News.Thank You, HomeChefFor a limited time, get  50% off and free shipping for your first box PLUS free dessert for life! HomeChef.com/DAILYBEANS.  Must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert.Thank You, Native PathGet up to 66% Off, free shipping, and a 365-Day Money Back Guarantee at nativekrill.com/dailybeans.MSW Media, Blue Wave California Victory Fund | ActBlueCheck out Dana's social media campaign highlighting LGBTQ+ heroes every day during Pride Month -  Dana Goldberg (@dgcomedy.bsky.social)Guest: John FugelsangTell Me Everything — John FugelsangThe John Fugelsang PodcastJohn Fugelsang | SubstackJohn Fugelsang (@johnfugelsang.bsky.social) — BlueskySeparation of Church and Hate by John Fugelsang - Pre-order John Fugelsang LIVE Saturday 06/07 - The Good Karma Arts Festival - "An Evening with John Fugelsang and Frank Conniff" - Laughing Stock Comedy Club, Grantville, PAGuest: Congresswomen Julie Johnson (TX 32)Julie Johnson for Congress@repjuliejohnson on Bluesky StoriesTop CDC covid vaccine adviser quits after RFK Jr. ended recommendations | The Washington PostThose from the countries on Trump's travel ban say they're confused and angry about what comes next | NBC NewsTrump Pushes to Restrict Harvard's International Students From Entering U.S. | The New York TimesBonus 155: The Six-Hour Settlement | Steve VladeckTrump officials delayed farm trade report over deficit forecast | POLITICOSupreme Court sides with woman claiming anti-straight job discrimination | The Washington PostFour states petition the FDA to lift abortion pill restrictions | NBC NewsJudge Orders Reinstatement of AmeriCorps Programs in 24 States | The New York TimesGood Trouble Senator Rick Scott, the Voldemort of Medicare fraud, is accepting applications for internships! So if you have a lot of experience in Medicare fraud, you should definitely apply. Internships - U.S. Senator Rick Scott | Senate.govProton Mail: free email account with privacy and encryptionFind Upcoming Demonstrations And ActionsSat June 14 10am – 12pm PDT AG is hosting NO KINGS Waterfront Park, San DiegoDonation link - secure.actblue.com/donate/fuelthemovement250th Anniversary of the U.S. Army Grand Military Parade and CelebrationSchedule F comments deadline extended to June 7th Federal Register :: Improving Performance, Accountability and Responsiveness in the Civil Service50501 MovementJune 14th Nationwide Demonstrations - NoKings.orgIndivisible.orgFederal workers - feel free to email me at fedoath@pm.me and let me know what you're going to do, or just vent. I'm always here to listen. Check out other MSW Media podcastsShows - MSW Media, Cleanup On Aisle 45 podSubscribe for free to MuellerSheWrote on SubstackThe BreakdownAllison Gill on Social Media Substack|Muellershewrote, BlueSky|@muellershewrote, Threads|@muellershewrote, TikTok|@muellershewrote, IG|muellershewrote, Twitter|@MuellerSheWroteDana Goldberg on Social Media BlueSky|@dgcomedy, IG|dgcomedy, facebook|dgcomedy, danagoldberg.com, Twitter|@DGComedyShare your Good News or Good TroubleMSW Good News and Good TroubleFrom The Good NewsWhite Squirrel WeekendKid in the CornerWhistleblowerAid.org/beansReminder - you can see the pod pics if you become a Patron. The good news pics are at the bottom of the show notes of each Patreon episode! That's just one of the perks of subscribing! patreon.com/muellershewrote Federal workers - feel free to email me at fedoath@pm.me and let me know what you're going to do, or just vent. I'm always here to listen.Share your Good News or Good TroubleMSW Good News and Good Trouble Check out other MSW Media podcastshttps://mswmedia.com/shows/Subscribe for free to MuellerSheWrote on Substackhttps://muellershewrote.substack.comFollow AG and Dana on Social MediaDr. Allison Gill Substack|Muellershewrote, BlueSky|@muellershewrote , Threads|@muellershewrote, TikTok|@muellershewrote, IG|muellershewrote, Twitter|@MuellerSheWrote,Dana GoldbergTwitter|@DGComedy, IG|dgcomedy, facebook|dgcomedy, IG|dgcomedy, danagoldberg.com, BlueSky|@dgcomedyHave some good news; a confession; or a correction to share?Good News & Confessions - The Daily Beanshttps://www.dailybeanspod.com/confessional/ Listener Survey:http://survey.podtrac.com/start-survey.aspx?pubid=BffJOlI7qQcF&ver=shortFollow the Podcast on Apple:The Daily Beans on Apple PodcastsWant to support the show and get it ad-free and early?Supercasthttps://dailybeans.supercast.com/Patreon https://patreon.com/thedailybeansOr subscribe on Apple Podcasts with our affiliate linkThe Daily Beans on Apple Podcasts

DOGE places AmeriCorps staff on administrative leave, Google in the hot seat for its search engine monopoly, 'Sinners' dominates the box-office with $45M on opening weekend, and lab-grown chicken nuggets make its way in rotation. NewsDOGE comes for AmeriCorps staff in Washington and across the countryThis week in science: Drumming crabs, lab-made nuggets and LSD without the trip'Sinners' is a box-office winner, making $45 million on its opening weekendThe Justice Department is about to make its case for a Google breakup. Here's what to know Follow @PodSaveThePeople on Instagram.  

Did you know Donald Trump plans to eliminate  Head Start the preschool program? Did you know he gutted Americorps? Have you heard what he did to the National Weather Service? Rachel Maddow rounds up stories that would be huge news in normal times but may have slipped by unnoticed by many Americans in the shadow of Trump's daily wrecking ball spectacle.