Podcasts about gates scholar

Meet Greg Nance   Greg Nance grew up in Kitsap and is on a mission to pay it forward for the next generation of Kitsap kids. He is a youth mentor, distance runner, and nonprofit leader recognized by President Obama. Greg grew up in a middle class union family on Bainbridge Island and worked as a landscaper, house painter, and firewood splitter. The son of a social worker and public defender, Greg learned the value of hard work and community service around the dinner table. His Mom spent over 20 years as a nursing home social worker ensuring seniors across Kitsap have access to quality care and are treated with dignity. His Dad was a Seattle Seahawks beer vendor before helping unionize the Seattle Public Defender to ensure everyone, including the poor and marginalized, are provided effective legal representation as guaranteed by our constitution. He grew up idolizing his grandfathers: Grandpa Charlie, a Marine who fought at Iwo Jima; and Grandpa Kick, a Navy Seabee who fought at Okinawa. WWII cut both their educations short so they stressed the gift of public education and the importance of lifelong learning. Greg attended Kitsap K-12 public schools and graduated from Bainbridge High. He played baseball, basketball, and football across the peninsula and excelled in track and debate. During his senior year at BHS, he was the 3A Washington State Debate Champion and proudly represented Team USA as 1 of 5 All-American debaters at the 2007 World Championships in Seoul, South Korea. Following competition, Greg loved telling debaters from Pakistan, Scotland, and Japan about the peninsula west of Seattle that he was lucky to call home.     Congressman Jay Inslee nominated Greg to the United States Military Academy at West Point in December 2006, but he decided to attend UChicago after earning a scholarship. He was elected Student Government President at UChicago and was named Washington State's 2010 Harry S Truman Scholar — the Presidential Memorial to Public Service. In 2011 he earned a full ride to Cambridge University where he studied Management and innovation as a Gates Scholar. Despite early successes, Greg also struggled. Following the loss of his beloved Grandpa Charlie, Greg battled depression and began self-medicating with alcohol at age 16. He tried to quit drinking a hundred times before finally getting sober on December 29, 2011. Now sober for over 4300 days, Greg loves sharing lessons learned while working to help young people build resilience and compassion. Greg recently completed a 3,156 mile run from the Atlantic to the Pacific for youth mental health (read the Seattle Times recap). He is the CEO of Run Far Foundation, a nonprofit building youth resilience coast-to-coast. He founded Dyad Mentorship and Moneythink, organizations that helped students earn over $27 million in university scholarships. President Obama recognized Moneythink as a “Champion of Change” at the White House on March 15, 2012. He has been working to protect Puget Sound since 1995. His 6th grade science class raised and released salmon eggs (the chum salmon now returning from the Pacific are 7th generation). He represents Kitsap on the Citizens Advisory Group for the Hood Canal Coordinating Council, our region's Lead Entity on salmon recovery. He is working to mobilize the next generation of environmentalists to save our salmon and protect Puget Sound. Greg is a frequent speaker at Kitsap public schools because he loves inspiring kids with adventure stories like running 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents. He became the first person to ever run 86 miles — and climb 14,410ft. — from Puget Sound to the summit of Mt. Rainier. Greg's running career peaked in 2016 when his beloved Seattle Seahawks named him “12 Ambassador” and featured his ultrarunning in TV commercials (watch here). Greg now proudly represents Kitsap as State Rep — he's working for working families, like the one he grew up in. Let's work together to Fix our Ferries, Protect Puget Sound, and fully fund public schools so the next generation of Kitsap kids can grow up happy and healthy!  

Robert Kim Henderson, a recently-minted psychology PhD from Cambridge and prominent essayist, had a troubled childhood. A victim of child abuse, he was shuffled through the foster care system, then finally settled in a family in a working-class California town, only to become a child of divorce. At 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Airforce, and went on to earn his BA from Yale and become a Gates Scholar at Cambridge.  His debut book, Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class (Gallery Books, 2024), delves into his unstable childhood and the ways in which elite Americans misunderstand the nature and challenges of class differences. In this conversation, Rob digs into his book and its implications, discussing the nature and history of American poverty, the prominence of "luxury beliefs," a term he coined to describe counter-productive beliefs on sex and politics meant to showcase affluence, and why his message has been so poorly received in elite circles, including a discussion of why and how it was excluded from the New York Times best-seller list. Along the way, he delves into pop culture, gives reading recommendations, and more.

Robert Kim Henderson, a recently-minted psychology PhD from Cambridge and prominent essayist, had a troubled childhood. A victim of child abuse, he was shuffled through the foster care system, then finally settled in a family in a working-class California town, only to become a child of divorce. At 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Airforce, and went on to earn his BA from Yale and become a Gates Scholar at Cambridge.  His debut book, Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class (Gallery Books, 2024), delves into his unstable childhood and the ways in which elite Americans misunderstand the nature and challenges of class differences. In this conversation, Rob digs into his book and its implications, discussing the nature and history of American poverty, the prominence of "luxury beliefs," a term he coined to describe counter-productive beliefs on sex and politics meant to showcase affluence, and why his message has been so poorly received in elite circles, including a discussion of why and how it was excluded from the New York Times best-seller list. Along the way, he delves into pop culture, gives reading recommendations, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Robert Kim Henderson, a recently-minted psychology PhD from Cambridge and prominent essayist, had a troubled childhood. A victim of child abuse, he was shuffled through the foster care system, then finally settled in a family in a working-class California town, only to become a child of divorce. At 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Airforce, and went on to earn his BA from Yale and become a Gates Scholar at Cambridge.  His debut book, Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class (Gallery Books, 2024), delves into his unstable childhood and the ways in which elite Americans misunderstand the nature and challenges of class differences. In this conversation, Rob digs into his book and its implications, discussing the nature and history of American poverty, the prominence of "luxury beliefs," a term he coined to describe counter-productive beliefs on sex and politics meant to showcase affluence, and why his message has been so poorly received in elite circles, including a discussion of why and how it was excluded from the New York Times best-seller list. Along the way, he delves into pop culture, gives reading recommendations, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

Robert Kim Henderson, a recently-minted psychology PhD from Cambridge and prominent essayist, had a troubled childhood. A victim of child abuse, he was shuffled through the foster care system, then finally settled in a family in a working-class California town, only to become a child of divorce. At 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Airforce, and went on to earn his BA from Yale and become a Gates Scholar at Cambridge.  His debut book, Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class (Gallery Books, 2024), delves into his unstable childhood and the ways in which elite Americans misunderstand the nature and challenges of class differences. In this conversation, Rob digs into his book and its implications, discussing the nature and history of American poverty, the prominence of "luxury beliefs," a term he coined to describe counter-productive beliefs on sex and politics meant to showcase affluence, and why his message has been so poorly received in elite circles, including a discussion of why and how it was excluded from the New York Times best-seller list. Along the way, he delves into pop culture, gives reading recommendations, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Robert Kim Henderson, a recently-minted psychology PhD from Cambridge and prominent essayist, had a troubled childhood. A victim of child abuse, he was shuffled through the foster care system, then finally settled in a family in a working-class California town, only to become a child of divorce. At 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Airforce, and went on to earn his BA from Yale and become a Gates Scholar at Cambridge.  His debut book, Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class (Gallery Books, 2024), delves into his unstable childhood and the ways in which elite Americans misunderstand the nature and challenges of class differences. In this conversation, Rob digs into his book and its implications, discussing the nature and history of American poverty, the prominence of "luxury beliefs," a term he coined to describe counter-productive beliefs on sex and politics meant to showcase affluence, and why his message has been so poorly received in elite circles, including a discussion of why and how it was excluded from the New York Times best-seller list. Along the way, he delves into pop culture, gives reading recommendations, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/politics-and-polemics

Robert Kim Henderson, a recently-minted psychology PhD from Cambridge and prominent essayist, had a troubled childhood. A victim of child abuse, he was shuffled through the foster care system, then finally settled in a family in a working-class California town, only to become a child of divorce. At 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Airforce, and went on to earn his BA from Yale and become a Gates Scholar at Cambridge.  His debut book, Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class (Gallery Books, 2024), delves into his unstable childhood and the ways in which elite Americans misunderstand the nature and challenges of class differences. In this conversation, Rob digs into his book and its implications, discussing the nature and history of American poverty, the prominence of "luxury beliefs," a term he coined to describe counter-productive beliefs on sex and politics meant to showcase affluence, and why his message has been so poorly received in elite circles, including a discussion of why and how it was excluded from the New York Times best-seller list. Along the way, he delves into pop culture, gives reading recommendations, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day

For the 24th episode of "Reading the Art World," host Megan Fox Kelly speaks with Natasha Degen, author of "Merchants of Style: Art and Fashion After Warhol," which was published by Reaktion Books in London just last year."Merchants of Style" explores the accelerating convergence of art and fashion, looking at the interplay of artists and designers – and the role of institutions, both public and commercial – that has brought about this marriage of aesthetic industries. Natasha Degen argues that one figure more than any other anticipated this moment: Andy Warhol. Beginning with an overview of art and fashion's deeply entwined histories before picking up where Warhol left off, "Merchants of Style" tells the story of art's emboldened forays into commerce and fashion's growing embrace of art. Natasha Degen is actively engaged in the current thinking at the intersection of art, culture, and commerce. A highly regarded curator, critic and author, Natasha is Professor and Chair of Art Market Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. She earned an AB from Princeton University and an MPhil and PhD from University of Cambridge where she studied as a Gates Scholar. She edited "The Market,” (MIT Press, 2013), an interdisciplinary anthology tracing the art market's interaction with contemporary practice, and she has contributed to publications including The New Yorker, The Financial Times, The New York Times, Art Forum and Frieze. "Reading the Art World" is a live interview and podcast series with leading art world authors hosted by art advisor Megan Fox Kelly. The conversations explore timely subjects in the world of art, design, architecture, artists and the art market, and are an opportunity to engage further with the minds behind these insightful new publications. Megan Fox Kelly is an art advisor and past President of the Association of Professional Art Advisors who works with collectors, estates and foundations.For more information, visit meganfoxkelly.com, hear our past interviews, and subscribe at the bottom of our Of Interest page for new posts.Follow us on Instagram: @meganfoxkellyPurchase "Masters of Style: Art and Fashion After Warhol" at Reaktion Press. Music composed by Bob Golden

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. — 1 Corinthians 13:11 Corey grew up a few blocks from Roseland Christian Ministries. His dad went to prison when Corey was a boy, but Corey and his father would often write letters and talk on the phone. Corey did well in grade school, avoided gangs and trouble, and his mother, aunts, and grandmother raised him. His broader community, schools, and churches all proudly claim investing in his life. When Corey was a senior in high school, he became a Gates Scholar and was awarded a full scholarship to Morehouse College. After graduating from Morehouse, he earned a master's degree. He worked for the Chicago Public Schools, and now he works with a foundation serving at-risk youth around the world. Corey also serves on the board of directors of Roseland Christian Ministries. One of the great joys of being part of a Christian community is being able to see young people grow into their gifts. There is great joy in watching boys and girls become men and women of character and integrity. Many young people who grew up in Roseland have come back and used their gifts by working in the women and children's shelter, youth programs, and church ministries. Who are the children you have watched growing up to serve their communities and families? Who are the young people you can encourage today and lift up by name? Lord, thank you for all who have grown up to care for your communities in faith. Amen.

Have you ever come up against rules, procedures, or obstacles that make it incredibly difficult to create change? This week's guest shares some brilliant examples of organisations that have successfully overcome these challenges.Sue Stockdale interviews Paolo Savaget, Associate Professor at Oxford University, about his work in transforming unjust systems through workarounds and entrepreneurship. He shares inspiring examples of organisations in Zambia and the Netherlands that have successfully created change despite rules and obstacles. Paolo's work centres around finding loopholes and roundabouts within existing systems. He explains how piggybacking on other organisations or aspects of the system can help spread ideas and messages more widely.Paulo Savaget, author of The Four Workarounds, is an associate professor at Oxford University's Engineering Sciences Department and the Saïd Business School. He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge as a Gates Scholar and has a background working as a lecturer, consultant, entrepreneur, and researcher finding innovative solutions for a more inclusive world. As a consultant, he worked on projects for large companies, non-profits, government agencies in Latin America, and the OECD. He currently resides in Oxford, UK. Connect with Paulo Savaget at Oxford University : Website : LinkedInTime Stamps[00:00:37] Transforming unjust systems through workarounds.[00:03:58] Potential in overlooked places.[00:08:05] Hackers and their approach.[00:11:52] Life-saving medicines in remote areas.[00:17:12] Loopholes in rules.[00:19:00] Applying Dutch legislation in Poland.[00:23:08] Workarounds and empowerment.[00:26:48] Learning from others and serendipity.Key Quotes"I started seeing more potentiality in places that people only see scarcity.""I know very little about computer hackers, but they seem to make change so quickly and resourcefully in very complex computer systems."“After studying many cases around the world, addressing different kinds of sustainability problems, I identified the four workarounds that are very unconventional.""Most of my research ideas didn't come out of time that I spent just thinking. It's actually from others.""Complicated solutions are not very good in complex situations - simple solutions are good in complex situations".This series is kindly supported by Squadcast by Descript –the remote recording platform which empowers podcasters by capturing high-quality audio and video conversations. Find out more at squadcast.fm Connect with Access to Inspiration: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn Sign up for our newsletter | Read our Impact Report

Join your favorite amigos as we are thrilled to welcome Imani Mitchell as our special guest for this episode. He takes us on a fascinating journey through his remarkable education, highlighting his accomplishments as a Gates Scholar and his talents as a rapper, better known as Izzy. Delve into Imani's passions, his career trajectory, and the way he dedicates himself to his community. He shares invaluable lessons and offers advice for those aspiring to pursue a similar path in education and the world of entertainment. Imani also sheds light on the complexities of being biracial and Afro-Indigenous. Make sure to follow the Brown Sound on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/brownsoundpodcastMake sure to download Izzy's single "Range." on all streaming platforms.For more information on Imani follow him on instagram https://www.instagram.com/mani_blazeThis podcast is locally produced on the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho.

Sue Bethanis hosts award-winning researcher Paulo Savaget. Paulo is an associate professor at Oxford University's Engineering Sciences Department and the Saïd Business School. His primary fields of expertise are entrepreneurship, sustainable development, systems change, and innovation management.The emphasis of his work is on transforming unjust systems through entrepreneurship. He formerly served as Postdoctoral Researcher at the Skoll Centre and as an Assistant Professor at Durham University. Outside academia, he worked as an entrepreneur and as a consultant to large companies, non-profits, and government agencies in Latin America, and the OECD. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge as a Gates Scholar.Paulo is the author of the new book, The Four Workarounds: Strategies from the World's Scrappiest Organizations for Tackling Complex Problems, a smart guide that offers a behind-the-scenes look at groups around the world that have mastered the art of subverting the status quo.Sue and Paulo discuss: how ‘workarounds' can help solve systemic problems how to achieve massive wins with minimal resources how the business world can learn from the innovative wit and practical ingenuity of scrappy organizations

Paulo Savaget reveals unconventional tactics to solve just about any problem. — YOU'LL LEARN — 1) The four workarounds–and how to use them. 2) How to maximize incentives to start change. 3) Why you shouldn't let limited resources stop you. Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep853 for clickable versions of the links below. — ABOUT PAULO — Paulo Savaget is associate professor at Oxford University's Engineering Sciences Department and the Saïd Business School. He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge as a Gates Scholar and has a background working as a lecturer, consultant, entrepreneur, and researcher finding innovative solutions for a more inclusive world. As a consultant, he worked on projects for large companies, non-profits, government agencies in Latin America, and the OECD. He currently resides in Oxford. • Book: The Four Workarounds: Strategies from the World's Scrappiest Organizations for Tackling Complex Problems • Website: Oxford Said Business School — RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW — • Book: Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado-Perez • Book: Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We constantly encounter complex problems at home, in our places of work, and in society at large. Even if we had all the time and money in the world, sometimes no good solution can be found. So, what should we do, especially when we can't wait? The answer: a workaround. For ages, global corporations have been lecturing small organizations and not-for-profits on how to get things done. As it turns out, it should have been the other way around. Small, scrappy businesses, startups, and even individuals have loads to teach us about moving through adversity and thinking creatively. So in today's SPARKED Hot Take episode, we're welcoming expert guide, Paulo Savaget, to share his perspective on what he calls, The Four Workarounds, and how some of the most valuable lessons about problem-solving can be learned from the scrappiest groups. Jonathan & Paulo discuss: What Paulo defines as a workaround What are the ‘The Four Workarounds' What can we learn from scrappy start ups Why we need to be courageous and experimental SPARKED HOT TAKE WITH: Paulo Savaget | Website | LinkedIn Paulo is associate professor at University of Oxford's Department of Engineering Science and Saïd Business School. He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge as a Gates Scholar and has a background working as a researcher, consultant, and entrepreneur, finding innovative solutions for a more inclusive world. He currently resides in Oxford. AND HOSTED BY: Jonathan Fields Jonathan is a dad, husband, award-winning author, multi-time founder, executive producer and host of the Good Life Project podcast, and co-host of SPARKED, too! He's also the creator of an unusual tool that's helped more than 650,000 people discover what kind of work makes them come alive - the Sparketype® Assessment, and author of the bestselling book, SPARKED. How to submit your question for the SPARKED Braintrust: Wisdom-seeker submissions More on Sparketypes at: Discover You Sparketype | The Book | The Website Read more on the Sparked Newsletter on LinkedIn. Connect with Jonathan Fields on LinkedIn. Presented by LinkedIn.

Dr. David Mou is the Chief Executive Officer of Cerebral, a leading tele-mental health company committed to improving access to high quality care. In addition to his leadership at Cerebral, David is on faculty at Harvard Medical School and serves as the Director of the Innovations Council for Massachusetts General Hospital's Psychiatry Department. Previously, David was President, Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Valera Health, a tele-mental health service that was able to reduce hospitalizations for patients with serious mental illness. David has been named 'Top 10 under 35 for Healthcare' by LinkedIn, as well as '40 under 40' for healthcare innovation by MedTech Boston. David is a Soros Fellow, a Gates Scholar, a Horatio Alger National Scholar, and a member of World Economic Forum Global Shapers and the Academy of Achievement. He graduated from Harvard College with a degree in neurobiology, and earned his MD MBA from Harvard Medical School and Harvard Business School. His writings have appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine and Stat.If you are a Physician, Founder or Investor in digital health then head to beyondmedicinegroup.com to join the community!

For nearly two decades, the United States devoted more than $2 billion towards democracy promotion in the Middle East with seemingly little impact. To understand the limited impact of this aid and the decision of authoritarian regimes to allow democracy programs whose ultimate aim is to challenge the power of such regimes, Marketing Democracy: The Political Economy of Democracy Aid in the Middle East (Cambridge UP, 2022) examines the construction and practice of democracy aid in Washington DC and in Egypt and Morocco, two of the highest recipients of US democracy aid in the region. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, novel new data on the professional histories of democracy promoters, archival research and recently declassified government documents, Erin A. Snider focuses on the voices and practices of those engaged in democracy work over the last three decades to offer a new framework for understanding the political economy of democracy aid. Her research shows how democracy aid can work to strengthen rather than challenge authoritarian regimes. Marketing Democracy fundamentally challenges scholars to rethink how we study democracy aid and how the ideas of democracy that underlie democracy programs come to reflect the views of donors and recipient regimes rather than indigenous demand. Erin A. Snider is an assistant professor of international affairs at Texas A&M University's Bush School of Government and Public Service. She was a Carnegie Fellow with the New America Foundation, a Fulbright Fellow in Egypt, and a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University's Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance. Her research focuses on the political economy of development in the Middle East, democratization, and foreign aid. Her research has been published in International Studies Quarterly, PS: Political Science and Politics, and Middle East Policy, among other outlets. She holds a PhD in politics from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Gates Scholar. Lamis Abdelaaty is an associate professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. She is the author of Discrimination and Delegation: Explaining State Responses to Refugees (Oxford University Press, 2021). Email her comments at labdelaa@syr.edu or tweet to @LAbdelaaty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

For nearly two decades, the United States devoted more than $2 billion towards democracy promotion in the Middle East with seemingly little impact. To understand the limited impact of this aid and the decision of authoritarian regimes to allow democracy programs whose ultimate aim is to challenge the power of such regimes, Marketing Democracy: The Political Economy of Democracy Aid in the Middle East (Cambridge UP, 2022) examines the construction and practice of democracy aid in Washington DC and in Egypt and Morocco, two of the highest recipients of US democracy aid in the region. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, novel new data on the professional histories of democracy promoters, archival research and recently declassified government documents, Erin A. Snider focuses on the voices and practices of those engaged in democracy work over the last three decades to offer a new framework for understanding the political economy of democracy aid. Her research shows how democracy aid can work to strengthen rather than challenge authoritarian regimes. Marketing Democracy fundamentally challenges scholars to rethink how we study democracy aid and how the ideas of democracy that underlie democracy programs come to reflect the views of donors and recipient regimes rather than indigenous demand. Erin A. Snider is an assistant professor of international affairs at Texas A&M University's Bush School of Government and Public Service. She was a Carnegie Fellow with the New America Foundation, a Fulbright Fellow in Egypt, and a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University's Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance. Her research focuses on the political economy of development in the Middle East, democratization, and foreign aid. Her research has been published in International Studies Quarterly, PS: Political Science and Politics, and Middle East Policy, among other outlets. She holds a PhD in politics from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Gates Scholar. Lamis Abdelaaty is an associate professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. She is the author of Discrimination and Delegation: Explaining State Responses to Refugees (Oxford University Press, 2021). Email her comments at labdelaa@syr.edu or tweet to @LAbdelaaty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

For nearly two decades, the United States devoted more than $2 billion towards democracy promotion in the Middle East with seemingly little impact. To understand the limited impact of this aid and the decision of authoritarian regimes to allow democracy programs whose ultimate aim is to challenge the power of such regimes, Marketing Democracy: The Political Economy of Democracy Aid in the Middle East (Cambridge UP, 2022) examines the construction and practice of democracy aid in Washington DC and in Egypt and Morocco, two of the highest recipients of US democracy aid in the region. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, novel new data on the professional histories of democracy promoters, archival research and recently declassified government documents, Erin A. Snider focuses on the voices and practices of those engaged in democracy work over the last three decades to offer a new framework for understanding the political economy of democracy aid. Her research shows how democracy aid can work to strengthen rather than challenge authoritarian regimes. Marketing Democracy fundamentally challenges scholars to rethink how we study democracy aid and how the ideas of democracy that underlie democracy programs come to reflect the views of donors and recipient regimes rather than indigenous demand. Erin A. Snider is an assistant professor of international affairs at Texas A&M University's Bush School of Government and Public Service. She was a Carnegie Fellow with the New America Foundation, a Fulbright Fellow in Egypt, and a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University's Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance. Her research focuses on the political economy of development in the Middle East, democratization, and foreign aid. Her research has been published in International Studies Quarterly, PS: Political Science and Politics, and Middle East Policy, among other outlets. She holds a PhD in politics from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Gates Scholar. Lamis Abdelaaty is an associate professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. She is the author of Discrimination and Delegation: Explaining State Responses to Refugees (Oxford University Press, 2021). Email her comments at labdelaa@syr.edu or tweet to @LAbdelaaty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

For nearly two decades, the United States devoted more than $2 billion towards democracy promotion in the Middle East with seemingly little impact. To understand the limited impact of this aid and the decision of authoritarian regimes to allow democracy programs whose ultimate aim is to challenge the power of such regimes, Marketing Democracy: The Political Economy of Democracy Aid in the Middle East (Cambridge UP, 2022) examines the construction and practice of democracy aid in Washington DC and in Egypt and Morocco, two of the highest recipients of US democracy aid in the region. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, novel new data on the professional histories of democracy promoters, archival research and recently declassified government documents, Erin A. Snider focuses on the voices and practices of those engaged in democracy work over the last three decades to offer a new framework for understanding the political economy of democracy aid. Her research shows how democracy aid can work to strengthen rather than challenge authoritarian regimes. Marketing Democracy fundamentally challenges scholars to rethink how we study democracy aid and how the ideas of democracy that underlie democracy programs come to reflect the views of donors and recipient regimes rather than indigenous demand. Erin A. Snider is an assistant professor of international affairs at Texas A&M University's Bush School of Government and Public Service. She was a Carnegie Fellow with the New America Foundation, a Fulbright Fellow in Egypt, and a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University's Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance. Her research focuses on the political economy of development in the Middle East, democratization, and foreign aid. Her research has been published in International Studies Quarterly, PS: Political Science and Politics, and Middle East Policy, among other outlets. She holds a PhD in politics from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Gates Scholar. Lamis Abdelaaty is an associate professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. She is the author of Discrimination and Delegation: Explaining State Responses to Refugees (Oxford University Press, 2021). Email her comments at labdelaa@syr.edu or tweet to @LAbdelaaty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/world-affairs

For nearly two decades, the United States devoted more than $2 billion towards democracy promotion in the Middle East with seemingly little impact. To understand the limited impact of this aid and the decision of authoritarian regimes to allow democracy programs whose ultimate aim is to challenge the power of such regimes, Marketing Democracy: The Political Economy of Democracy Aid in the Middle East (Cambridge UP, 2022) examines the construction and practice of democracy aid in Washington DC and in Egypt and Morocco, two of the highest recipients of US democracy aid in the region. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, novel new data on the professional histories of democracy promoters, archival research and recently declassified government documents, Erin A. Snider focuses on the voices and practices of those engaged in democracy work over the last three decades to offer a new framework for understanding the political economy of democracy aid. Her research shows how democracy aid can work to strengthen rather than challenge authoritarian regimes. Marketing Democracy fundamentally challenges scholars to rethink how we study democracy aid and how the ideas of democracy that underlie democracy programs come to reflect the views of donors and recipient regimes rather than indigenous demand. Erin A. Snider is an assistant professor of international affairs at Texas A&M University's Bush School of Government and Public Service. She was a Carnegie Fellow with the New America Foundation, a Fulbright Fellow in Egypt, and a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University's Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance. Her research focuses on the political economy of development in the Middle East, democratization, and foreign aid. Her research has been published in International Studies Quarterly, PS: Political Science and Politics, and Middle East Policy, among other outlets. She holds a PhD in politics from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Gates Scholar. Lamis Abdelaaty is an associate professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. She is the author of Discrimination and Delegation: Explaining State Responses to Refugees (Oxford University Press, 2021). Email her comments at labdelaa@syr.edu or tweet to @LAbdelaaty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

For nearly two decades, the United States devoted more than $2 billion towards democracy promotion in the Middle East with seemingly little impact. To understand the limited impact of this aid and the decision of authoritarian regimes to allow democracy programs whose ultimate aim is to challenge the power of such regimes, Marketing Democracy: The Political Economy of Democracy Aid in the Middle East (Cambridge UP, 2022) examines the construction and practice of democracy aid in Washington DC and in Egypt and Morocco, two of the highest recipients of US democracy aid in the region. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, novel new data on the professional histories of democracy promoters, archival research and recently declassified government documents, Erin A. Snider focuses on the voices and practices of those engaged in democracy work over the last three decades to offer a new framework for understanding the political economy of democracy aid. Her research shows how democracy aid can work to strengthen rather than challenge authoritarian regimes. Marketing Democracy fundamentally challenges scholars to rethink how we study democracy aid and how the ideas of democracy that underlie democracy programs come to reflect the views of donors and recipient regimes rather than indigenous demand. Erin A. Snider is an assistant professor of international affairs at Texas A&M University's Bush School of Government and Public Service. She was a Carnegie Fellow with the New America Foundation, a Fulbright Fellow in Egypt, and a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University's Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance. Her research focuses on the political economy of development in the Middle East, democratization, and foreign aid. Her research has been published in International Studies Quarterly, PS: Political Science and Politics, and Middle East Policy, among other outlets. She holds a PhD in politics from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Gates Scholar. Lamis Abdelaaty is an associate professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. She is the author of Discrimination and Delegation: Explaining State Responses to Refugees (Oxford University Press, 2021). Email her comments at labdelaa@syr.edu or tweet to @LAbdelaaty.

For nearly two decades, the United States devoted more than $2 billion towards democracy promotion in the Middle East with seemingly little impact. To understand the limited impact of this aid and the decision of authoritarian regimes to allow democracy programs whose ultimate aim is to challenge the power of such regimes, Marketing Democracy: The Political Economy of Democracy Aid in the Middle East (Cambridge UP, 2022) examines the construction and practice of democracy aid in Washington DC and in Egypt and Morocco, two of the highest recipients of US democracy aid in the region. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, novel new data on the professional histories of democracy promoters, archival research and recently declassified government documents, Erin A. Snider focuses on the voices and practices of those engaged in democracy work over the last three decades to offer a new framework for understanding the political economy of democracy aid. Her research shows how democracy aid can work to strengthen rather than challenge authoritarian regimes. Marketing Democracy fundamentally challenges scholars to rethink how we study democracy aid and how the ideas of democracy that underlie democracy programs come to reflect the views of donors and recipient regimes rather than indigenous demand. Erin A. Snider is an assistant professor of international affairs at Texas A&M University's Bush School of Government and Public Service. She was a Carnegie Fellow with the New America Foundation, a Fulbright Fellow in Egypt, and a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University's Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance. Her research focuses on the political economy of development in the Middle East, democratization, and foreign aid. Her research has been published in International Studies Quarterly, PS: Political Science and Politics, and Middle East Policy, among other outlets. She holds a PhD in politics from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Gates Scholar. Lamis Abdelaaty is an associate professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. She is the author of Discrimination and Delegation: Explaining State Responses to Refugees (Oxford University Press, 2021). Email her comments at labdelaa@syr.edu or tweet to @LAbdelaaty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For nearly two decades, the United States devoted more than $2 billion towards democracy promotion in the Middle East with seemingly little impact. To understand the limited impact of this aid and the decision of authoritarian regimes to allow democracy programs whose ultimate aim is to challenge the power of such regimes, Marketing Democracy: The Political Economy of Democracy Aid in the Middle East (Cambridge UP, 2022) examines the construction and practice of democracy aid in Washington DC and in Egypt and Morocco, two of the highest recipients of US democracy aid in the region. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, novel new data on the professional histories of democracy promoters, archival research and recently declassified government documents, Erin A. Snider focuses on the voices and practices of those engaged in democracy work over the last three decades to offer a new framework for understanding the political economy of democracy aid. Her research shows how democracy aid can work to strengthen rather than challenge authoritarian regimes. Marketing Democracy fundamentally challenges scholars to rethink how we study democracy aid and how the ideas of democracy that underlie democracy programs come to reflect the views of donors and recipient regimes rather than indigenous demand. Erin A. Snider is an assistant professor of international affairs at Texas A&M University's Bush School of Government and Public Service. She was a Carnegie Fellow with the New America Foundation, a Fulbright Fellow in Egypt, and a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University's Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance. Her research focuses on the political economy of development in the Middle East, democratization, and foreign aid. Her research has been published in International Studies Quarterly, PS: Political Science and Politics, and Middle East Policy, among other outlets. She holds a PhD in politics from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Gates Scholar. Lamis Abdelaaty is an associate professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. She is the author of Discrimination and Delegation: Explaining State Responses to Refugees (Oxford University Press, 2021). Email her comments at labdelaa@syr.edu or tweet to @LAbdelaaty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For nearly two decades, the United States devoted more than $2 billion towards democracy promotion in the Middle East with seemingly little impact. To understand the limited impact of this aid and the decision of authoritarian regimes to allow democracy programs whose ultimate aim is to challenge the power of such regimes, Marketing Democracy: The Political Economy of Democracy Aid in the Middle East (Cambridge UP, 2022) examines the construction and practice of democracy aid in Washington DC and in Egypt and Morocco, two of the highest recipients of US democracy aid in the region. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, novel new data on the professional histories of democracy promoters, archival research and recently declassified government documents, Erin A. Snider focuses on the voices and practices of those engaged in democracy work over the last three decades to offer a new framework for understanding the political economy of democracy aid. Her research shows how democracy aid can work to strengthen rather than challenge authoritarian regimes. Marketing Democracy fundamentally challenges scholars to rethink how we study democracy aid and how the ideas of democracy that underlie democracy programs come to reflect the views of donors and recipient regimes rather than indigenous demand. Erin A. Snider is an assistant professor of international affairs at Texas A&M University's Bush School of Government and Public Service. She was a Carnegie Fellow with the New America Foundation, a Fulbright Fellow in Egypt, and a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University's Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance. Her research focuses on the political economy of development in the Middle East, democratization, and foreign aid. Her research has been published in International Studies Quarterly, PS: Political Science and Politics, and Middle East Policy, among other outlets. She holds a PhD in politics from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Gates Scholar. Lamis Abdelaaty is an associate professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. She is the author of Discrimination and Delegation: Explaining State Responses to Refugees (Oxford University Press, 2021). Email her comments at labdelaa@syr.edu or tweet to @LAbdelaaty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amy Jones Satrom is Head of Operations at Nuro, where she oversees on-road operations, software quality and mapping operations, and operations product. She leads teams across the US, most notably in Houston, TX, Scottsdale, AZ, Los Angeles, and Mountain View, CA. Prior to joining Nuro, Amy led operations at 23andMe where she was responsible for overseeing supply chain, lab operations, logistics, and operating systems. Previously, she held various leadership roles at Amazon, across both operations and the company's retail businesses. Amy started her career as a nuclear engineer in the US Navy. Amy received her Master of Philosophy in Engineering for Sustainable Development from the University of Cambridge where she was a Gates Scholar and her B.S. in Oceanography from the United States Naval Academy. Thank you to infoedge LLC for sponsoring this episode.

Episode Guest: Dr. Terrance Bridges aka Rev. Terrance BridgesEpisode Notes: In this episode, we talk about Dr. Bridges's educational journey which took him from being labeled as a remedial learner to become a Gates Scholar with several doctoral degrees. We talk about mentoring, community programs, mission trips, and community impact. Dr. Bridges is a published author, ordained minister, accomplished musician, and college professor. Episode Links: https://www.terrancebridges.com/https://www.instagram.com/iamterrancebridges/Support the show

Practicing good hand hygiene is an essential part of infection control. However, studies have found that there are millions of school days missed a year due to illnesses that could be prevented. In this week's episode of Clean Talk Podcast, Ibraheem Alinur, CEO of City Health Tech, will be joining us live to reveal City Health Tech's innovative solution for improving hand hygiene and the health of our communities. Tune in to hear about a range of topics including: • Background and mission of City Health Tech • The studies and data that led to the creation of OPAL • City Health Tech's focus on hand hygiene, hand hygiene research, and improving hand hygiene across a range of industries• What the OPAL device is and how does it works• The difficulty of starting a company during the pandemic • The dynamics of fundraising  • Meeting with Shark Tank's Mark Cuban • The future of OPALIbraheem Alinur is a Venture Fellow at DeepWork and Venture Partner at WeFunder. He is also the founder and CEO of City Health Tech, a smart city startup with a focus on data-driven population hygiene and disease prevention.  His previous experiences include research in nanotechnology, development of the strategy for a $300M organization focusing on digital manufacturing and city solutions and serving as a project consultant for the Chicago Principals and Admin Association. He currently serves on the Board of Advisors for Northwestern's Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Ibraheem graduated with his Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering from Northwestern University in 2020. He is a Gates Scholar, a member of the Obama Foundation CLC, and was named 25 under 25 by both Culture Media and Chicago Inno.Don't miss out!Be a Member of Our Community: https://cleantalk.onlineFind Out More Information: https://cleantalk.tvLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sealshiledFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/SealShieldTwitter: https://twitter.com/SealShieldInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/sealshield/

Tyler Goodspeed is the Kleinheinz Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. From 2020 to 2021 he served as Acting Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, having been appointed by the President as a Member of the Council in 2019. In that role he advised the Administration's economic response to the coronavirus pandemic, as well as subsequent economic recovery packages. He resigned from the Council on 7th January 2021, having previously served as Chief Economist for Macroeconomic Policy and Senior Economist for tax, public finance, and macroeconomics, playing an instrumental role in designing the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.Before joining the Council, Dr. Goodspeed was on the Faculty of Economics at the University of Oxford and was a lecturer in economics at King's College London. He has published extensively on financial regulation, banking, and monetary economics, with particular attention to the role of access to credit in mitigating the effects of adverse aggregate shocks in historical contexts, especially exogenous environmental shocks. His research has appeared in three full-length monographs from academic presses, as well as numerous articles in peer-reviewed and edited journals. He received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from Harvard University; and he received his M.Phil from the University of Cambridge, where he was a Gates Scholar. He is currently a member of the American Economic Association and Economic History Association and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, and was previously a member of the Economic History Society and Royal Economic Society.

Dr. Tyler Goodspeed is the Kleinheinz Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. From 2020-21 he was Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Executive Office of the President, having previously served as Member, Chief Economist for Macroeconomic Policy, and Senior Economist for public finance and macroeconomics. Before joining the Council, he was a Junior Fellow in Economics at the University of Oxford, and Lecturer in Economics at King's College London. His primary research and teaching fields are economic history and monetary economics, with secondary interests in macroeconomics and political economy. Prior to earning his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2014, he received his A.B. from Harvard, summa cum laude, in 2008, and from 2008-2009 was a Gates Scholar at the University of Cambridge. Goodspeed's second book, Legislating Instability, examines the effects of unlimited liability and regulatory capture on financial stability in “free banking” Scotland. He also has a recent book, Famine and Finance, on the market for small loans during the Great Famine of Ireland, as well as companion articles in the Journal of Development Economics and World Bank Economic Review. Tyler's current research focuses on British and North American economic history, with particular attention to informal banking and the political economy of financial regulation, as well as long-run economic development. Previously, in his first book, Rethinking the Keynesian Revolution, he analyzed the debates between John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek, considering the relevance of those debates to contemporary monetary economics. He is also an avid distance runner.

Eunice is the first student from her school to get into the Ivy League and she has set the bar high as a Harvard admit on full scholarship.Alongside her Harvard admission, Eunice is a Coke Scholar, Gates Scholar and Jack Kent Cooke Scholar.Eunice shares her journalism related extracurriculars, why she felt bitter about the application process and gives her advice for students aiming for top colleges.Are you aiming for top schools like Harvard and want the support of Crimson experts? Request a free consultation with an Academic Advisor near you to get started.Learn more about Eunice's journey to Harvard in this downloadable bookletCheck out this EPIC blog about getting into Ivy League schools.Don't forget about the Comments Section series! Send your comments in text or audio form to me at my email address or on Twitter. This could be your thoughts on previous episodes, shoutouts to the guests you loved hearing from or any questions you have.

For this week's episode, we are delighted to welcome Alina Utrata, a Ph.D. candidate in Politics and International Studies and a 2020 Gates Scholar at the University of Cambridge, whose research focuses on the influence of technology on state and corporate power. She joins our host Muna Gasim and producer Sam Baron to discuss how Big Tech companies are impeding and restricting our human rights in the digital space, and what type of change is necessary to begin tackling this threat. Their conversation touches on the enormous amounts of power companies such as Facebook can wield on the global stage, and how poor data security can endanger and cost lives. ADDENDUM: Toward the beginning of the episode, Alina misspoke and says that “in Myanmar, Facebook is the military”, this should be “in Myanmar, Facebook is the internet.”

Happy Black History Month! We're thrilled to invite Iyinoluwa Aboyeji to sit in the genius chair for our first episode of Black Genius, season 2. Aboyeji's interview opens the Harambeans 10×10 series through which we'd be highlighting the stories of 10 Harambeans building Africa's future through visionary, market-creating, global enterprises. Aboyeji says: "personal success cannot insulate from the failures of your society. I don't see entrepreneurship as a way to personally enrich myself but as a tool for social change. It must be done not just for profit or personal interest but most importantly as a service in the public interest." The first Black Genius to be featured in the Harambe series, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, made history when the startup he co-founded, Andela, received a $24 Million investment from Mark Zuckerberg & Priscilla Chan’s CZI fund for African Engineers. Zuckerberg’s surprise visit to Lagos in 2016 sent shockwaves across the African tech community, and awakened those unaware of the exploding African tech economy. The Andela-CZI partnership spurned a new era in African entrepreneurship catalyzing billions of dollars in investment interest in African startups, with investments surpassing $1 billion in both 2019 and 2020. Aboyeji has since gone on to found two more startups–Flutterwave and Future Africa–and invested in many impact-focused enterprises. Future Africa returned $3.7M to investors at the end of 2020, experiencing explosive growth across their portfolio in the midst of the pandemic. Aboyeji regularly writes and speaks on the urgency of inclusive African development, and the need for African elites to do more for the plight of the common man. Black Genius is hosted by Lolade Siyonbola, Founder of NOIR Labs, noirpress and NOIR FEST. Lolade is a Gates Scholar and Harambean pursuing a PhD in Sociology at Cambridge University *** Black Geniuses are changing the world, from policy to culture to tech to art. Are you a Black Genius? Send us your story at editor@noirpress.org Join the noirpress movement on Youtube, IG, Twitter and Facebook to see how we are normalizing the Glory of Blackness. For our newsletter curating the best in Black news and films, join our mailing list at noirpress.org.

The Harambe 10×10 series continues with Lolade Siyonbola interviewing Seni Sulyman, owner and managing partner at Rincon, a firm partnering with CEOs and executives to build world-class businesses and high performance teams through a focus on strategy, people, culture, operations and executions. Sulyman inspired the Harambeans 10×10 series with his prescient writings on the breaking point to which Nigeria was heading, just prior to the EndSARS movement. Before Rincon, Seni was a Vice President of global operations at Andela, where he "contributed tremendously to lighting the spark for an entire generation of technologists", growing the company 400% and earning it the status best place to work in Nigeria and Africa. Seni joined Andela two years after completing his MBA at Harvard, having previously built a new business jet airline in Nigeria for Bristow Group in a record 12 months. His prior career spans across roles at Bain & Company in Chicago where he helped a CPG company identify half a billion dollars in cost savings, and Hewlett-Packard in Silicon Valley, where he developed strategies to grow the billion-dollar technology services division. Black Genius is hosted by Lolade Siyonbola, Founder of NOIR Labs, noirpress and NOIR FEST. Lolade is a Gates Scholar and Harambean pursuing a PhD in Sociology at Cambridge University *** Black Geniuses are changing the world, from policy to culture to tech to art. Are you a Black Genius? Send us your story at editor@noirpress.org Join the noirpress movement on Youtube, IG, Twitter and Facebook to see how we are normalizing the Glory of Blackness. For our newsletter curating the best in Black news and films, join our mailing list at noirpress.org.

On this episode of Black Genius, we're visited by Christian Epps, Founder & CEO of Lights, Camera, Diaspora (LCD!), a Los Angeles social based enterprise bridging the gap between Africa and African-Diaspora entertainment Industries. LCD! has secured African talent for projects such as Beyonce's Black is King and Netflix's Queen Sono on both of which Christian was the Chief Lightening Designer. He's also worked on Lovecraft Country(HBO), Slyvie's Love(Amazon) and the award-winning Selma, featuring David Oyelewo and Oprah Winfrey (lenses by director of photography Bradford Young) and many others. Black Genius is hosted by Lolade Siyonbola, Founder of NOIR Labs, noirpress and NOIR FEST. Lolade is a Gates Scholar and Harambean pursuing a PhD in Sociology at Cambridge University *** Black Geniuses are changing the world, from policy to culture to tech to art. Are you a Black Genius? Send us your story at editor@noirpress.org Join the noirpress movement on Youtube, IG, Twitter and Facebook to see how we are normalizing the Glory of Blackness. For our newsletter curating the best in Black news and films, join our mailing list at noirpress.org.

Today we’re joined by Jon Wang, a medical student at UCSF, and former Gates Scholar and AI researcher at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In our conversation with Jon, we explore a few of the different ways he’s attacking various public health issues, including improving the electronic health records system through automating clinical order sets, and exploring how the lack of literature and AI talent in the non-profit and healthcare spaces, and bad data have further marginalized undersupported communities. We also discuss his work at the Gates Foundation, which included understanding how AI can be helpful in lower-resource and lower-income countries, and building digital infrastructure, and much more. The complete show notes for this episode can be found at twimlai.com/go/426.  

Lanre Aina is Co-founder of Content Garage, a Lagos-based video production company that has developed digital commercials for Samsung, MTN, Google, Facebook, Nestle, Wikipedia, Access Bank and Diageo - helping these businesses actualize new ways of engaging with their customers through compelling digital storytelling. Before Content Garage, Lanre led Brand Activations at Google, supporting large brands in Nigerian and Kenyan markets to develop integrated experiential marketing. In his earlier days at Google, he launched and grew YouTube’s content partnerships in Nigeria, supporting the online publisher community. Today, he is focusing his attention on sports-media, using his experience at Google and Content Garage to build an African-focused sports entertainment venture, ATHLST. Lanre is also passionate about social enterprise. He served as a founding member of Harambeans - an African entrepreneur alliance founded by Okendo Lewis-Gayle. In his spare time, he volunteers his skills supporting peer mentorship and youth-focused career advisory programs in Lagos. He is a graduate of Computer Engineering, with an advanced degree in Telecoms Systems Management from Northeastern University, Boston. Lanre is happily married to his best friend, Tele, and they live in Lagos with their two sons, Akinolu and Tamilore. Black Genius is hosted by Lolade Siyonbola, Founder of NOIR Labs, noirpress and NOIR FEST. Lolade is a Gates Scholar and Harambean pursuing a PhD in Sociology at Cambridge University *** Black Geniuses are changing the world, from policy to culture to tech to art. Are you a Black Genius? Send us your story at editor@noirpress.org Join the noirpress movement on Youtube, IG, Twitter and Facebook to see how we are normalizing the Glory of Blackness. For our newsletter curating the best in Black news and films, join our mailing list at noirpress.org.

David Potter is the co-founder and CEO of Curu. Curu’s mission is to flip the entire credit system upside down and help the people that need credit the most reach their goals. Curu helps lenders expand their total available market, reduce their customer acquisition costs and fund more loans by building their applicant’s eligibility. David Potter, a Bill Gates Scholar, and Abb Kapoor were randomly assigned freshman year roommates at the University of Maryland. When they applied for off-campus housing their sophomore year, they were rejected from every student apartment complex around the University because they didn't have established credit. This is what started the passion that became Curu’s mission of building a more inclusive credit system and eliminating rejection from credit-based decisions. Curu enables lenders to approve of more applicants. With its “Approval Dashboard”, lenders can service more of their applicants by helping them become a more qualified account holder. Curu has helped hundreds of applicants get approved for financial products and reach their financial goals. Whether it’s using Curu’s automated system or working directly with one of Curu’s certified credit consultants, the company has been successful in helping underrepresented consumers become more financially free. Connect with David Potter Curu Facebook Instagram Twitter LinkedIn Some of the Topics Covered by David Potter in this Episode What is Curu How and why David and his co-founder Abb Kapoor started Curu Automating Curu's services Creating an app and the resulting quick growth Early customer acquisition Being a first-time founder David's experience and advice for using accelerators Curu's $3M seed round Curu's pre-accelerator fundraising Building the Curu team and scaling How COVID has affected Curu The biggest challenges David has faced building and growing Curu Being a POC in the FinTech startup world Diversity and inclusion in hiring The big mission and vision for Curu David's book recommendations How David recharges away from work Links from the Episode Ycombinator Techstars FIS The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson The One Thing by Gary Keller The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz The Mastery of Love by Don Miguel Ruiz

Our guest this week is Eric Cervini, an award-winning historian of LGBTQ+ politics and culture. A former Gates Scholar at the University of Cambridge, where he received his Ph.D., he is an authority on 1960s gay activism. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Harvard Gender and Sexuality Caucus, and on the Board of Advisors of the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C., a nonprofit dedicated to preserving gay American history. Cervini's new book, The Deviant's War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America, is a history of the fight for gay rights that began a generation before Stonewall. In our conversation, Cervini tells the story of World War Two veteran Frank Kameny, whose security clearance was rejected because he was gay and who became an important figure in the American gay rights movement; what the absence of some gay activists from the public narrative says about who we remember and why; and how the United States should honor its LGBTQ+ heroes. Music & Produced by Tre Hester.

Dr. Eric Cervini is an award-winning historian of LGBTQ+ politics and culture. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College and received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Cambridge, where he was a Gates Scholar. As an authority on 1960s gay activism, Cervini serves on the Board of Directors of the Harvard Gender and […]

  ACEC welcomes David Zipper onto the show to discuss the future of infrastructure funding in a post COVID economy and the future of Mobility as a Service (MOS).  David Zipper is a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Taubman Center for State and Local Government, where he examines the interplay between urban policy and new mobility technologies. David’s perspective on urban development is rooted in his experience working within city hall as well as being a venture capitalist, policy researcher, and startup advocate. He has consulted with numerous startups and public officials about regulatory strategy. David’s articles about urban innovation have been published in The Atlantic, WIRED, Slate, and Car and Driver. His 2018 article in Fast Company was the first to apply the the “walled garden” framework to urban mobility. David has spoken at events including the Consumer Electronics Show, SXSW, and the FIA Conference. He focuses on topics including Mobility-as-a-Service, the uses of transportation data, the future of micromobility, and linkages between public transit, city regulations, and private shared vehicles.From 2013 to 2017 David was the Managing Director for Smart Cities and Mobility at 1776, a global entrepreneurial hub with over 1,300 member startups. At 1776 David connected hundreds of entrepreneurs to urban leaders eager to deploy their solutions, and he closed millions of dollars in partnerships with cities and corporations worldwide. He continues to be a Partner in the 1776 Seed Fund.David previously served as the Director of Business Development and Strategy under two mayors in Washington DC, where his responsibilities included attracting businesses to the city, promoting entrepreneurship, and overseeing economic development strategy. David led support to Washington’s first startup incubators and guided the city's response to the emergence of ride hail services. Before moving to Washington David served as Executive Director of NYC Business Solutions in New York City under Mayor Bloomberg. David holds an MBA with Highest Honors from Harvard Business School, an M.Phil in Land Economy (Urban Planning) from Cambridge University, and a BA with High Honors from Swarthmore College. He has been selected as a Truman Scholar, a Gates Scholar, and a Baker Scholar. Transcript: Host:Welcome to another edition of Engineering Influence, a podcast by the American Council of Engineering Companies. I am pleased today to welcome David zipper onto the program. David is a visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Taubman Center for State and Local Government where he examines the interplay between urban policy and new mobility technologies. David's perspective on urban development is rooted in his experience working within city hall, as well as being a venture capitalist, a policy researcher, and a startup advocate. He has consulted with numerous startups and public officials about regulatory strategy. David is a published article appearing in Wired, The Atlantic, Slate, and Car and Driver. He's spoken to groups such as the consumer electronics show South by Southwest, and focuses on topics such as mobility as a service and micro mobility and the linkages between public transit city regulations and private shared vehicles. David was also one of the panelists on the ACEC Research Institute's most recent round table discussion on the future of engineering focused on the future of funding in a post COVID-19 environment. And David welcome onto the show. Really great to have you. David Zipper :Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be with you. Host:So that was an interesting panel. I listened to it a couple of times and I would imagine, I guess it's safe to say there was a universal agreement that the recovery is going to be gradual at best. After COVID-19 with your perspective from working in city hall and having that local political experience, how do you see this playing out where really the rubber meets the road? You know, you're talking about metropolitan transit agencies, you're talking about, you know, people get trying to get to and from work. How do you think COVID-19 is going to impact cities? David Zipper :That's a big question. And there's lots of different ways to answer it. And frankly, the answers are going to be different based on the, the nature of a transit agency versus a county government or a city government. But I can certainly maybe I can offer some, some overall thoughts up front and we can go into whatever detail that you like. But but yeah, in the short term you've seen transit agencies and local governments and state governments really just scrambling to keep the lights on as it were. Adjusting transit routes. Sometimes bringing up capital projects to do, to go faster because there's fewer people on the roads and there's fewer people flying at airports. So you can do airport expansions all faster. There's fewer trains running. So you might be able to more easily do capital projects. David Zipper:But that's really like a, a sort of a short term band-aid because the money's running out fast. We're already just, just today, actually, as we're recording this, there's been news about a $20 billion plus budget gap over the next couple of years in New York City's MTA, that's going to have to get closed. And the biggest transit agencies are feeling the pain first because they are really using their farebox revenue. The fairs that we all pay when we take transit they've used what they, that they collected yesterday to pay today's operating expenses. And in the big cities, that's a big chunk of their revenue, transit revenue. Transit ridership has fallen through the floor because people are uncomfortable on transit, even though it's the data suggests it's relatively safe, as long as people wear masks, but you've already seen, for example, in San Francisco, Muni, the transit service, there is consolidated routes really in a huge way, Caltrain in the Bay area, its future is up in the air there's discussion of whether to do a new tax to save it. David Zipper :And the transit agencies are going to feel the pain a little bit later because most of their revenue comes from state and federal governments that, you know, their budget is already allocated for this year, before the coronavirus hit. But there'll be a rolling impact there. And then for, for, for states and cities to, to you know, state the obvious they can't print money, they have to meet their, their - they have to make their budgets align so they can have a deficit. So what that means is that you're seeing some projects postponed, you're seeing layoffs and the Cares Act at the federal level. It gave a bit of a lifeline a few months ago when the coronavirus first hit there's discussion. Like again, as we're recording this there's discussions on Capitol Hill about a new federal investment program, it's unclear if that's going to have money for states, cities, deities, and for transit agencies, if it doesn't, I expect we're going to see pretty intense contractions and layoffs and pull back on capital projects and all of those levels. Host:It's been in my experience, you know, formerly on Capitol Hill and, and, and, and just watching this from time to time with all the surface bills that kind of come on, you always have that partisan divide when it comes down to the usual argument is that, you know, Republicans want to have the move towards devolution, but it was always that argument that, okay, we're going to Republicans would fight against Democrats who wanted to have bike trails or greenways or things of that nature, rails to trails, things like that. And then the Republicans were always going to fight against transit because they just wanted to make sure that that highway trust fund was kind of boxed in for roads. Host:Given the fact that we're in this new environment now, we're, it seems the federal government is more willing to provide aid, to deal with, to soften the blow for COVID-19. Do you think that any of those old entrenched arguments might shift, just because of the willingness to put money on the table to actually create assistance programs, do you think this might be an opportunity to break the paradigm and potentially have that money going to, you know, state and local transit agencies more freely? David Zipper :I wish I could say yes. I can't because there's a, I think unfortunately the you know, we used to say decades ago that transportation is a nonpartisan issue is simply not true anymore. The, the there's a professor at UC Santa Barbara named Clayton Nall. He wrote a book called the Road to Inequality. And in which he writes about how in the last 50 years transportation funding and particular transit funding has become remarkably partisan. David Zipper :Even to the point that if you live in a Democratic area, like say the Bay area or the New York area, even if you never take transit, you're more likely to vote in favor of referendums, referenda in favor of transit than, than any those who who'd be elsewhere, that doesn't apply in other parts of the country. So transit has become a democratic issue, which to me is unfortunate because frankly, the more people who are riding transit, the less congested roads are including those roads that are being used by some exerbs and suburbanites who are more likely to be Republican. So I would love to, to hear to, for your hypothesis to be held, to be the whole true. But from everything I've seen, like, for example, with the Cares Act you know, Schumer and the Senate and its allies had to hold out longer to be able to get a few billion dollars more for transit, it seems like it was done despite Republican opposition, as opposed to a sort of like heralding, a new breakthrough, which I wish it would on a nonpartisan bias. Host:That's something that was kind of brought up a little bit on the panel, but it wasn't really delve deep really more, more than just a couple of questions and just comments on it. But the push pull between of course, the large metropolitan areas in, on the coasts and your larger cities in the interior, but then you have those swaths of, let's say, you know, like I said, exurban or rural areas, how do you think the funding's going to be effected for projects in those smaller cities or, or areas between the two coasts? David Zipper :Well, a lot of it, right, it's going to depend on, on one, what happened to the budgets of state DOTs, and that's what, that's what those small cities and rural areas are really relying on. And this is a point that was made by Jeff Davis on the, on the panel. David Zipper :You know, even if there is stimulus money from the federal government is provided with a very generous match for highway projects for small towns. And for rural areas would say, I don't know, four to one federal match or whatever it is. There's still a one in five, 1 dollar of every five has to be put up by the local and state governments that at a time when income taxes are collapsing and tax revenue from hotels and restaurants, it's just drying up. It's not clear the extent to which States and local governments can even meet very modest matches. So if I were an official at a, in a small city or small town or a rural county, that's what I would really be worried about is to say, look, if I get a generous program with a low match, can I even meet that? I may just be grants. Yeah. Host:And that, that kind of goes into the segway to the idea of the integrated mobility or the mobility as a, and where the private sector might be able to in some way, step in. I mean, it's the few - Consumer Technology Association and CES. I've been out to a couple of their shows and seen kind of the idea of, you know, mobility as a service. The idea that you know, you might be able to have - deleverage maybe transit. And so in some way where you can actually then have vehicles, which are not so much owned, but private shared vehicles or some kind of autonomous systems, some, some cities are starting to try to get pilot programs on the road already for autonomous buses and things of that nature, which are private public partnerships. That's all nascent a little, you know, it's not fully developed. Where do you think the opportunity is for some of these technology companies that are, that are focused on mobility, and that's a big change. I mean, just the change between transportation to the concept of mobility is not so much what you own or what you have, but how do you get from point a to point B? Host:Do you think It's an opportunity for the private sector kind of enter and, and treat this as a, as a business opportunity? David Zipper :Maybe, maybe I wrote an article in Slate two months ago that noted how truly unusual this moment is, and that you know, ordinarily, there's a lot of research that shows it takes a lot to get you or me or anybody to change how they travel. We're creatures of habit when it comes to commuting, right? We have a given route we take to get to go to work or to the grocery store, to the gym or to the school. And if we're biking or if we're taking a bus, or if we're driving, we're probably going to stick to that. It takes a lot to get us to change. Just inviting you to change or me to change is probably not going to do much. David Zipper :It's really hard. What does get people to change and individual change is if you have a shock, like a like you have a new child born, and your habits have you have to move around, or let's change, maybe you change where you live, you move where you get a new job. That's an individual shock though, or a household shock. What we're undergoing now because of COVID is a society wide shock where everybody is rethinking how they travel, because they may not be going to work anymore at all. And they, if they took public transit, they may not be comfortable doing that. Now they may not be comfortable at being in ride hail the way they used to. There's lots of trips, millions of trips up for grabs in terms of how, what the new mode might be. And frankly, this is sort of a rationale for the cities to quickly put up bike lanes and, and new infrastructure that it can, can encourage people to not default to driving, which can feel like the safest route. David Zipper :It's just not sustainable at scale for cities. So the question becomes to get to your point of like, what's the role of the private sector in this? I would say that there is potentially a role for private sector actors, whether it's operators like scooter companies to step in and be able to provide, for example, a lower priced options for the short term, or maybe monthly rentals, which companies like Spin and I believe Lime have moved toward providing now as sort of a product that fits the market right now to encourage people who are not going to be, who might otherwise default to driving, to take another mode. That's more environmentally friendly, it takes up less space. And then you get into mobility as a service, which for those who aren't familiar, I would assume that everyone knows about MOS. Maybe I should define it really quick, because I don't know if all of our listeners are engaged in that. I Know some of the larger players in the engineering space are, but... David Zipper :Yeah, it's still a new field. It's a lot of people are excited about it and transportation planning and policy and technology, but it's still in its early days. The idea behind mobility as a service is to say that if we can sort of take all of these various options to get around a city for those who don't drive and knit all those options together. So you've got transit in there and scooters and ride hail and car share and bike share, and whatever else, put them all on one platform that MOS platform, it lets people choose how to get from point a to point B on all of those collective options and purchase their ticket, or a ticket that's a combination of modes on that platform. You can actually take away some of the friction, the annoyance factor of having to jump between apps and figure out which is the best service to get you from point A to point B. David Zipper :This is a need, MOS advocates claim, that really didn't exist 20 years ago when we had a very sort of fixed number for decades, really of a number of ways to get around town. You walk, bike, taxi, drive transit, but now we've got these other new modes and MOS can make a little bit simpler to navigate. So, and there's a bunch of companies that provide this now, like City Mapper and transit and so forth. And so on Google Maps, you could argue as a MOS provider in some ways. So the, the role of MOS in this particular moment that we're in is potentially a powerful one because lots of people are again, figuring out how to travel because they're breaking their old habits about how to get from point A to point B and MOS platforms can inform those decisions. David Zipper :And perhaps if the government gets involved, especially could nudge some of those decisions to be, to be resulting in a trip that's other than driving and potentially other than transit, cause people are just uneasy with it right now, for reasons that are in a lot of ways. Understandable. So is this a moment for MOS? Maybe? I would argue that these platforms are really reliant on the underlying quality and comfort of the services that they knit together. So you need to be able to provide comfortable biking and scooter lanes in a city to make people consider those options. You need to be able to provide reliable transit, to get people, to consider that which is, you know, sometimes a problem in American cities. But I do think this is a moment where MOS could be an interesting area of exploration Host:Or at least an area a time where federal policymakers can start looking at this and integrating it into, you know, long-term, you know, policy that, cause I know that, you know, Uber for example, was, was very active on the Hill talking about their fully integrated model where it's, you know, it was the combination when, you know, Uber taxi was kind of first coming out and they were talking about, we'll take an Uber to they're there, I guess, hanger or whatever they're going to consider, you know, get on an Uber taxi that will fly you to the next facility where you can go and take an Uber for your final destination. And you know, that kind of a kind of integrated, you know, closed loop system. David Zipper :Yeah, I mean, that's a little that's going to suit Uber's needs. I'm not sure cities are going to be that excited about everybody jumping into helicopters. Host:Exactly. David Zipper :I think that the high speed rail argument of saying, okay, you can take a high speed rail route to, let's say Washington DC to New York, but after you get off the train, then what? David Zipper :Correct. Host:It's how do you, how do you connect a route and how do you connect that high speed rail line termination to all the different options you can get to get to your final destination without having to get a car or, or, or reliant on one form of transportation over another. David Zipper :Yeah, I think the idea is if you're choosing between driving, flying or taking the train wouldn't it be nice if you could basically with one tap, be able to purchase your train ticket and know that there will be a, just for example, a Lyft car waiting for you because that, that car was summoned knowing that your train is running seven minutes late and it's pulling up just two minutes after the train gets into the station and you're, you've got a seamless sort of transfer from the train to ride hail onto your destination. That's the idea behind MOS, that's an inner city vision of MOS. Usually to be honest, MOS advocates are thinking more about travel within the city. So maybe the argument there would be, you know, I want to go to the place in Fairfax County, I'm in DC and to get to Fairfax County, Virginia, I need to do a combination of transit to ride hail or transit to scooter. David Zipper :And I can in one fell swoop purchase, determine my route, purchase the ticket and know that I'll have a seamless transfer when I get, when I pop out of the Metro station in Fairfax. Host:And then again, you know, a lot of this has been on the tech side because of developing the technology to allow that seamless integration of different mobility solutions. But on the engineering side, the people who are designing the infrastructure to actually enable this to happen. And that's really, you know, our core constituency from an engineer's perspective. What do you think the top, what do you think maybe a few of the, the main things that they should be looking at, or they should be paying attention to? If, they see opportunity to, you know, design the infrastructure to support systems like this. David Zipper :Yeah, I'll mention a couple of things. You know, one is the, again, the topic I wrote about a month ago I feel like there's a lot of people live in cities who suddenly have a new appreciation for their sidewalks, you know, as we're all stuck at home, trying to get exercise, to avoid going stir crazy. You realize that a lot of our urban neighborhoods have terrible sidewalks and some don't have any at all, especially in the South and the West. And I I think we've got, there's a good chance and I frankly, am hopeful that there is going to be a window of opportunity to consider sidewalk products - and sidewalk infrastructure is real infrastructure. It's less expensive than building a tunnel, but for those of your the engineers that are members of the organization that are trying to think of how can I really tap into what public leaders are thinking about now, if you can incorporate high quality wide, well lit, accessible sidewalks into your proposals for renovating a given district or into a new project. David Zipper :I think that this is a time when that's going to be thought of a little bit more directly and more constructively. I think that that also these new bike lanes and, and that are being developed, I don't see them going away. I frankly think that's also opened the door to considerations of some new technologies that will also have infrastructure needs. And I'll give one example that I'm really interested in, which is, which is parcel delivery. There's an argument that the coronavirus is a great catalyst or an accelerator of trends that are already underway. I think everybody knows that people are buying more stuff online than we used to. Now it's even more stuff than we did a few months ago. And there's been moments of sort of bullishness for sidewalk drones. I personally think that's going to take a while. David Zipper :Partly because our sidewalks think like we were talking about earlier, but the other option is is something I am actually kind of bullish on, which is e-cargo bikes, or electric cargo bikes, which for those of the audience who've been to Europe, they're widespread in Germany and other European countries. And they could be, they can utilize the existing infrastructure in cities. And most of it, at least the city of Boston is, but not an RFI today. July 21st, I think is today's date to basically invite suggestions from the private sector about what sort of infrastructure upgrades might be necessary in terms of depots to collect parcels and various neighborhoods as distribution nodes, things like that. And I, this is an area where I'm bullish in cities for the next five years. I think cities are gonna recognize that they can reduce congestion, improve neighborhood quality of life and, and utilization of existing infrastructure. David Zipper :If they shift some of these UPS, DHL, USPS trucks that they take up space and double park and can be pollutants instead utilize E cargo bikes, Europeans can do it. And I think we can too. And a lot of our cities. Host:Those are really two good points. He and I, and I, it's always kind of sad when I see a drone and Fairfax or one of the, you know, robot parcel delivery or package delivery drones get caught up on a stump or something on the, on the sidewalk and Fairfax city. It's kind of sad. David Zipper :But it happened. There was a viral video and Friendship Heights, one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Washington over the weekend where you see the sidewalk drone got stuck because the sidewalk got too narrow. And I myself tweeted about him saying, because the guy who saw I was like, Oh, this I helped a little guy. David Zipper:It's kind of cute. I'm like this, isn't cute. If it's a person in a wheelchair, like we've really blown it with our urban sidewalks. And this should be a moment when we should be really investing in them. That's a very good point. Host:Well, David, I do appreciate you coming on the show. There's a lot to talk about here. I'd love to have you back on the show so we can talk about really these mobility issues when it comes to, you know, the interconnection of technology and mobility, how it all kind of ties together. You know, it's something that we'd like to explore a little bit more. Because I think our members are always looking for what, you know, what is the next thing what's going to be the next area that we might be able to invest in. And I think that, that these issues are going to be top of mind. Host:And yeah, and I do appreciate your time. And you mentioned that article. I mean, what else do you have coming out? Where should people be looking for the the article that you're writing now? David Zipper :Yeah, I'm actually, I've got a couple articles coming out in the next week or two. I write a lot about new forms of urban mobility and new technologies, and also about sort of the interplay between local policy, especially around transportation and automobiles and transit. So, so those who are in, if you're interested, you can always reach me on Twitter. I post all my articles there people can send me DMs. If they've got a question it's easy, it's a zipper, just my name at David Zipper. And then for my articles I actually have a website where I put them together. Cause I do write across a number of platforms and that's just as easy again www.davidzipper.com and you can find all the articles there. And I even have a little newsletter. I put out once a month with the stuff I've been writing and thinking about in these topics, because especially in the current environment, so much is changing so quickly. So I appreciate the opportunity to come join you and talk about some of these changes. Host:It was great to have you on and again, follow David and David's zipper and look out for his upcoming pieces. And we'd love to have you back on. So David have a great rest of the week stay as cool as possible when this heat wave and stay healthy. David Zipper:I'll go for a socially distance bike ride. Host:There you go. There you go. David Zipper :Thanks a lot. It's great to be here. Host:And you've been listening to Engineering Influence brought to you by ACEC. 

This week’s Black Genius has done something that no other entrepreneur has done since–she raised over $670 million dollars to fund a start-up: WorldSpace. That money was used to build the first-ever global digital radio platform; launch three satellites into space, including XM Radio; support the development of MP3/MP4 technologies; and, invest in a new generation of digital radio receivers. Tiffany Norwood is the Founder and CEO of Tribetan, where she teaches the human science of success, how to turn imagination into reality through entrepreneurial literacy. She led some of the first-ever digital content licensing deals, including Bloomberg News and CNN International, and was an early collaborator with the Fraunhofer Institute on their MPEG technologies. Tiffany has an MBA from Harvard and a Bachelor’s in Economics with a concentration in statistics and electrical engineering from Cornell University. Her dream is that the science of turning imagination into reality becomes as commonplace as reading, writing, and math. And then with these skills, we reimagine everything. Black Genius is hosted by Lolade Siyonbola, Founder of NOIR Labs, noirpress and NOIR FEST. Lolade is a Gates Scholar and Harambean pursuing a PhD in Sociology at Cambridge University *** Black Geniuses are changing the world, from policy to culture to tech to art. Are you a Black Genius? Send us your story at editor@noirpress.org Join the noirpress movement on Youtube, IG, Twitter and Facebook to see how we are normalizing the Glory of Blackness. For our newsletter curating the best in Black news and films, join our mailing list at noirpress.org.

This week on Black Genius, Lolade is in conversation with NOIR Labs Co-Founder, Uzomaka Obiocha. They discussed Spiritual Technology in Enterprise, growing up Nigerian, Kanye West, and all the radical things that go through their heads. Described as a “human catalyst to everything she touches,” Uzomaka Obiocha recently joined NOIR Labs as Co-Founder and Acting COO, where she is living out her passion: creating a beautiful world through business, design and fashion. Prior to NOIR Labs, Uzo spent nearly a decade as Co-Founder of Koncept Consulting Group and Non-Profit, MD as a Brand, Business, and Financial Strategist. As a Strategic Alchemist, she has supported entrepreneurs, creatives, and humanitarians in developing and growing their enterprises in ways that resonate with their spirit, harmonize with their beliefs, and fulfill their mission, vision, and purpose. Uzomaka has supported brands in entertainment, design, food, health care, fashion and non-profits, including Timothy Oulton, Girls Inc., Homestories, and PUKU Children’s Literature Foundation. She holds a BA in Finance from Georgia State University. Black Genius is hosted by Lolade Siyonbola, Founder of NOIR Labs, noirpress and NOIR FEST. Lolade is a Gates Scholar and Harambean pursuing a PhD in Sociology at Cambridge University. *** Black Geniuses are changing the world, from policy to culture to tech to art. Are you a Black Genius? Send us your story at editor@noirpress.org Join the noirpress movement on Youtube, IG, Twitter and Facebook to see how we are normalizing the Glory of Blackness. For our newsletter curating the best in Black news and films, join our mailing list at noirpress.org.

This week on Black Genius, join us for a conversation about liberation through mental health with Counseling Psychologist, Dr. Michelle Nyangereka. An unapologetic people watcher, Dr. Michelle Nyangereka is a storytelling psychologist. Having previously worked in Diversity for the BBC and later in radio and television research, Michelle is now a filmmaker and Counseling Psychologist. Since researching the intergenerational transmission of trauma in Ugandans for her doctoral thesis, Michelle has developed a personal and professional interest in the ongoing trauma of racism for Black people - in particular, the embodiment of intergenerational trauma and the importance of taking an Afro-centric approach to therapy for Black people. As the world starts to awaken to, and dismantle white supremacy, Michelle’s commitment to helping Black people complete intergenerational cycles and find their soul’s purpose is more relevant than ever. Black Genius is hosted by Lolade Siyonbola, Founder of NOIR Labs, noirpress and NOIR FEST. Lolade is a Gates Scholar and Harambean pursuing a PhD in Sociology at Cambridge University. *** Black Geniuses are changing the world, from policy to culture to tech to art. Are you a Black Genius? Send us your story at editor@noirpress.org Join the noirpress movement on Youtube, IG, Twitter and Facebook to see how we are normalizing the Glory of Blackness. For our newsletter curating the best in Black news and films, join our mailing list at noirpress.org.

Will McInerney is a Gates Scholar and PhD Candidate at the Cambridge Faculty of Education. His research focuses on gender equality, masculinity and men's violence against women. Will is also an award-winning and highly talented poet, who has been using poetry as a vehicle for transformation in violence-prevention programs working with young men. In this episode, he shares his insights from years of experience as a peace practitioner and as a researcher, as he looks for new ways to engage men in working towards gender equality. He also brought along some of his own spoken word poetry to perform for us! I ask Will all kinds of questions, like: Why are men generally more violent than women, and is it true that 'boys will be boys', or can this be changed? Why do some men feel alienated from feminism, and how can we move from 'patriarchal' or toxic masculinity towards more healthy, peaceful conceptions of masculinity? Is violence against women a 'women's issue' only, or does it involve men too? Will powerfully makes the case for poetry, arts and community-based approaches to build trust, create space for vulnerability and to radically redefine what it means to be strong, courageous and brave, whilst also (in the words of bell hooks) being 'disloyal to patriarchy'. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/quaranchats/message

This week on Black Genius, we'll have Oluwaseye Olusa in the Genus Chair! Oluwaseye is a Hip Hop and Afrobeats visual documentarian and celebrity photographer, who has captured some of the most important moments in Black cultural production over the last 20 years. While working on set with Hype Williams, Def Jam and others on some of the most iconic music videos in Hip Hop history, he found a love for photography that enabled him to capture the power, essence and beauty of Black subjects in the music industry and creative world. He’s photographed Jay Z, Common, Yvonne Orji, Jidenna and every last one of your faves; as well as shot visual campaigns for Nike, Adidas, and And One. Through his consistent documentation of African Diaspora events, artists and cultural producers over the last 20 years, he’s amassed the most notable intersectional collection of Black entertainment photography. Black Genius is hosted by Lolade Siyonbola, Founder of NOIR Labs, noirpress and NOIR FEST. Lolade is a Gates Scholar and Harambean pursuing a PhD in Sociology at Cambridge University. *** Black Geniuses are changing the world, from policy to culture to tech to art. Are you a Black Genius? Send us your story at editor@noirpress.org Join the noirpress movement on IG, Twitter and Facebook to see how we are normalizing the Glory of Blackness. For our newsletter curating the best in Black news and films, join our mailing list at noirpress.org.

In the 11th episode of Climate History, co-hosts Dagomar Degroot and Emma Moesswilde interview Victoria Herrmann, president and managing director of the Arctic Institute and one of Apolitical's top 100 influencers on climate policy. Dr. Herrmann's scholarship has focused on media representations of the Arctic and its peoples. Yet while completing her PhD as a Gates Scholar in the Scott Polar Institute at Cambridge University, Herrmann launched several projects aimed at building adaptation to climate change in coastal communities. Her focus has been to connect scholars with stakeholders on the ground, turning abstract knowledge into tangible action. In this interview, we discuss how climate change scholarship can (and perhaps should) inform concrete action, and how action can enrich scholarship. We consider how graduate students can find their public voice, weigh the importance of storytelling for encouraging climate change action, and contemplate sources of hope in a rapidly warming world.

100 Years of Covering Conflict: What’s Changed, What Hasn’t & What Should A World Solidarity Forum & Beyond Brussels 
 event at the Press Club of Brussels. 2018 marks a rise of journalists deaths and a century of modern reporting of conflict and war & . From debates on ethics and responsibility, to the impact of changing technology, and the role of propaganda and disinformation… plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose. SPEAKERS: Renate Schröder, Director of the European Federations of Journalists, representing over 320,000 journalists in 44 countries. EFJ defends the right to freedom of expression while also advocating for the social and professional rights of European Journalists. Alice Musabende, Gates Scholar in Politics & International Studies at Cambridge University. Former Canadian journalist and survivor of the 1994 Rwanda genocide against the Tutsis. She was one of the first women to graduate the Rwandan School of Journalism. Jesse Rosenfeld, freelance journalist based in the Middle East who’s covered the sectarian war in Iraq, the Israel/Palestine conflict, the Arab Spring and more for The Daily Beast, The Nation and Al Jazeera English. His work in the region is the subject of the documentary Freelancer on the Front Lines. Dr. Bojan Savic, lecturer at the University of Kent’s Brussels School of International Studies. He’s a passionate and engaging expert on the construction of narratives around conflict and development, bringing in his extension fieldwork in Afghanistan and American/European perspective to the table. CHAIR: Allie Elwell, founder of the Beyond Brussels podcast while studying International Political Economy at the University of Kent. A former journalists at CBC News covering Canadian and international politics, she is currently the Senior Publicist on Netflix’s critically acclaimed series The Crown. ORGANISED BY: The World Solidarity Forum is a Brussels-based platform for organisations dedicated to promote action on human rights and highlight relevant current situations across the world. We are also delighted to have partnered with Beyond Brussels, an award-winning podcast at the University of Kent. INTRO BY: Beyond Brussel's Niki Papadogiannakis and Leon Downs. Editing by Niki.  Original Artwork by Daniel Patrick Medina

Religious music can be a source of comfort and release, but also a remembrance of sadness and loss. In Sense and Sadness: Syriac Chant in Aleppo (Oxford University Press, 2018), Tala Jarjour analyzes the Syriac chant sung in Aramaic used by the small Christian Suriyani community in Aleppo, Syria. The Suriyani are part of the Syrian Orthodox Church of the Antioch. Taking a multi-pronged approach, Jarjour undertakes a rigorous musical analysis of the Passion liturgy, while at the same time explaining the place of this music in the spiritual and emotional lives of the Suriyani people. She explores the music’s role in their community identity which she calls Suryaniness. Throughout its long history, the Syriac Church has always been in a marginal position and has endured many instances of discrimination and persecution. The community came to Aleppo after being forced to flee Turkey during World War One. Hanging over the book is the knowledge that since Jarjour conducted her field work the Suriyani have once more been scattered, this time because of the Syrian Civil War which has decimated the region. What began as an ethnography, has also become a testament to a religious tradition and community which has been altered forever by violence. Tala Jarjour’s current academic research revolves around music and religion, with a cultural focus on contexts in which the Middle East in general and Syria in particular are relevant. Recent and ongoing projects address multiple religious traditions, and deal with emotion, aesthetics, survival, power, issues of identity, displacement and integration. She wrote her PhD at the University of Cambridge, as a Gates Scholar. Her research was supported by grants and fellowships from the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the United Kingdom, the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and the American Association of University Women. She writes in cultural media in English and in Arabic, and is on the editorial board of the Yale Journal of Music and Religion. Kristen M. Turner, Ph.D. is a lecturer at North Carolina State University in the music department. Her work centers on American musical culture at the turn of the twentieth century and has been published in several journals and essay collections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Religious music can be a source of comfort and release, but also a remembrance of sadness and loss. In Sense and Sadness: Syriac Chant in Aleppo (Oxford University Press, 2018), Tala Jarjour analyzes the Syriac chant sung in Aramaic used by the small Christian Suriyani community in Aleppo, Syria. The Suriyani are part of the Syrian Orthodox Church of the Antioch. Taking a multi-pronged approach, Jarjour undertakes a rigorous musical analysis of the Passion liturgy, while at the same time explaining the place of this music in the spiritual and emotional lives of the Suriyani people. She explores the music’s role in their community identity which she calls Suryaniness. Throughout its long history, the Syriac Church has always been in a marginal position and has endured many instances of discrimination and persecution. The community came to Aleppo after being forced to flee Turkey during World War One. Hanging over the book is the knowledge that since Jarjour conducted her field work the Suriyani have once more been scattered, this time because of the Syrian Civil War which has decimated the region. What began as an ethnography, has also become a testament to a religious tradition and community which has been altered forever by violence. Tala Jarjour’s current academic research revolves around music and religion, with a cultural focus on contexts in which the Middle East in general and Syria in particular are relevant. Recent and ongoing projects address multiple religious traditions, and deal with emotion, aesthetics, survival, power, issues of identity, displacement and integration. She wrote her PhD at the University of Cambridge, as a Gates Scholar. Her research was supported by grants and fellowships from the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the United Kingdom, the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and the American Association of University Women. She writes in cultural media in English and in Arabic, and is on the editorial board of the Yale Journal of Music and Religion. Kristen M. Turner, Ph.D. is a lecturer at North Carolina State University in the music department. Her work centers on American musical culture at the turn of the twentieth century and has been published in several journals and essay collections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Religious music can be a source of comfort and release, but also a remembrance of sadness and loss. In Sense and Sadness: Syriac Chant in Aleppo (Oxford University Press, 2018), Tala Jarjour analyzes the Syriac chant sung in Aramaic used by the small Christian Suriyani community in Aleppo, Syria. The Suriyani are part of the Syrian Orthodox Church of the Antioch. Taking a multi-pronged approach, Jarjour undertakes a rigorous musical analysis of the Passion liturgy, while at the same time explaining the place of this music in the spiritual and emotional lives of the Suriyani people. She explores the music's role in their community identity which she calls Suryaniness. Throughout its long history, the Syriac Church has always been in a marginal position and has endured many instances of discrimination and persecution. The community came to Aleppo after being forced to flee Turkey during World War One. Hanging over the book is the knowledge that since Jarjour conducted her field work the Suriyani have once more been scattered, this time because of the Syrian Civil War which has decimated the region. What began as an ethnography, has also become a testament to a religious tradition and community which has been altered forever by violence. Tala Jarjour's current academic research revolves around music and religion, with a cultural focus on contexts in which the Middle East in general and Syria in particular are relevant. Recent and ongoing projects address multiple religious traditions, and deal with emotion, aesthetics, survival, power, issues of identity, displacement and integration. She wrote her PhD at the University of Cambridge, as a Gates Scholar. Her research was supported by grants and fellowships from the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the United Kingdom, the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and the American Association of University Women. She writes in cultural media in English and in Arabic, and is on the editorial board of the Yale Journal of Music and Religion. Kristen M. Turner, Ph.D. is a lecturer at North Carolina State University in the music department. Her work centers on American musical culture at the turn of the twentieth century and has been published in several journals and essay collections.

Religious music can be a source of comfort and release, but also a remembrance of sadness and loss. In Sense and Sadness: Syriac Chant in Aleppo (Oxford University Press, 2018), Tala Jarjour analyzes the Syriac chant sung in Aramaic used by the small Christian Suriyani community in Aleppo, Syria. The Suriyani are part of the Syrian Orthodox Church of the Antioch. Taking a multi-pronged approach, Jarjour undertakes a rigorous musical analysis of the Passion liturgy, while at the same time explaining the place of this music in the spiritual and emotional lives of the Suriyani people. She explores the music’s role in their community identity which she calls Suryaniness. Throughout its long history, the Syriac Church has always been in a marginal position and has endured many instances of discrimination and persecution. The community came to Aleppo after being forced to flee Turkey during World War One. Hanging over the book is the knowledge that since Jarjour conducted her field work the Suriyani have once more been scattered, this time because of the Syrian Civil War which has decimated the region. What began as an ethnography, has also become a testament to a religious tradition and community which has been altered forever by violence. Tala Jarjour’s current academic research revolves around music and religion, with a cultural focus on contexts in which the Middle East in general and Syria in particular are relevant. Recent and ongoing projects address multiple religious traditions, and deal with emotion, aesthetics, survival, power, issues of identity, displacement and integration. She wrote her PhD at the University of Cambridge, as a Gates Scholar. Her research was supported by grants and fellowships from the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the United Kingdom, the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and the American Association of University Women. She writes in cultural media in English and in Arabic, and is on the editorial board of the Yale Journal of Music and Religion. Kristen M. Turner, Ph.D. is a lecturer at North Carolina State University in the music department. Her work centers on American musical culture at the turn of the twentieth century and has been published in several journals and essay collections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Religious music can be a source of comfort and release, but also a remembrance of sadness and loss. In Sense and Sadness: Syriac Chant in Aleppo (Oxford University Press, 2018), Tala Jarjour analyzes the Syriac chant sung in Aramaic used by the small Christian Suriyani community in Aleppo, Syria. The Suriyani are part of the Syrian Orthodox Church of the Antioch. Taking a multi-pronged approach, Jarjour undertakes a rigorous musical analysis of the Passion liturgy, while at the same time explaining the place of this music in the spiritual and emotional lives of the Suriyani people. She explores the music’s role in their community identity which she calls Suryaniness. Throughout its long history, the Syriac Church has always been in a marginal position and has endured many instances of discrimination and persecution. The community came to Aleppo after being forced to flee Turkey during World War One. Hanging over the book is the knowledge that since Jarjour conducted her field work the Suriyani have once more been scattered, this time because of the Syrian Civil War which has decimated the region. What began as an ethnography, has also become a testament to a religious tradition and community which has been altered forever by violence. Tala Jarjour’s current academic research revolves around music and religion, with a cultural focus on contexts in which the Middle East in general and Syria in particular are relevant. Recent and ongoing projects address multiple religious traditions, and deal with emotion, aesthetics, survival, power, issues of identity, displacement and integration. She wrote her PhD at the University of Cambridge, as a Gates Scholar. Her research was supported by grants and fellowships from the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the United Kingdom, the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and the American Association of University Women. She writes in cultural media in English and in Arabic, and is on the editorial board of the Yale Journal of Music and Religion. Kristen M. Turner, Ph.D. is a lecturer at North Carolina State University in the music department. Her work centers on American musical culture at the turn of the twentieth century and has been published in several journals and essay collections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Religious music can be a source of comfort and release, but also a remembrance of sadness and loss. In Sense and Sadness: Syriac Chant in Aleppo (Oxford University Press, 2018), Tala Jarjour analyzes the Syriac chant sung in Aramaic used by the small Christian Suriyani community in Aleppo, Syria. The Suriyani are part of the Syrian Orthodox Church of the Antioch. Taking a multi-pronged approach, Jarjour undertakes a rigorous musical analysis of the Passion liturgy, while at the same time explaining the place of this music in the spiritual and emotional lives of the Suriyani people. She explores the music’s role in their community identity which she calls Suryaniness. Throughout its long history, the Syriac Church has always been in a marginal position and has endured many instances of discrimination and persecution. The community came to Aleppo after being forced to flee Turkey during World War One. Hanging over the book is the knowledge that since Jarjour conducted her field work the Suriyani have once more been scattered, this time because of the Syrian Civil War which has decimated the region. What began as an ethnography, has also become a testament to a religious tradition and community which has been altered forever by violence. Tala Jarjour’s current academic research revolves around music and religion, with a cultural focus on contexts in which the Middle East in general and Syria in particular are relevant. Recent and ongoing projects address multiple religious traditions, and deal with emotion, aesthetics, survival, power, issues of identity, displacement and integration. She wrote her PhD at the University of Cambridge, as a Gates Scholar. Her research was supported by grants and fellowships from the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the United Kingdom, the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and the American Association of University Women. She writes in cultural media in English and in Arabic, and is on the editorial board of the Yale Journal of Music and Religion. Kristen M. Turner, Ph.D. is a lecturer at North Carolina State University in the music department. Her work centers on American musical culture at the turn of the twentieth century and has been published in several journals and essay collections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Religious music can be a source of comfort and release, but also a remembrance of sadness and loss. In Sense and Sadness: Syriac Chant in Aleppo (Oxford University Press, 2018), Tala Jarjour analyzes the Syriac chant sung in Aramaic used by the small Christian Suriyani community in Aleppo, Syria. The Suriyani are part of the Syrian Orthodox Church of the Antioch. Taking a multi-pronged approach, Jarjour undertakes a rigorous musical analysis of the Passion liturgy, while at the same time explaining the place of this music in the spiritual and emotional lives of the Suriyani people. She explores the music’s role in their community identity which she calls Suryaniness. Throughout its long history, the Syriac Church has always been in a marginal position and has endured many instances of discrimination and persecution. The community came to Aleppo after being forced to flee Turkey during World War One. Hanging over the book is the knowledge that since Jarjour conducted her field work the Suriyani have once more been scattered, this time because of the Syrian Civil War which has decimated the region. What began as an ethnography, has also become a testament to a religious tradition and community which has been altered forever by violence. Tala Jarjour’s current academic research revolves around music and religion, with a cultural focus on contexts in which the Middle East in general and Syria in particular are relevant. Recent and ongoing projects address multiple religious traditions, and deal with emotion, aesthetics, survival, power, issues of identity, displacement and integration. She wrote her PhD at the University of Cambridge, as a Gates Scholar. Her research was supported by grants and fellowships from the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the United Kingdom, the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and the American Association of University Women. She writes in cultural media in English and in Arabic, and is on the editorial board of the Yale Journal of Music and Religion. Kristen M. Turner, Ph.D. is a lecturer at North Carolina State University in the music department. Her work centers on American musical culture at the turn of the twentieth century and has been published in several journals and essay collections. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On July 22 a lone gunman opened fire on pedestrians and crowded restaurants on Danforth Avenue in the Greektown District of Toronto. He killed two and wounded ten others before turning the gun on himself. Three months earlier, just a subway ride away, a man drove a rental van onto busy sidewalks, killing ten and injuring 16. What is driving people, particularly young men, to throw away their lives and those of others? Were these incidents of terrorism or just mad acts of violence? What's the difference? Ben heads to Toronto to speak with Joseph McQuade, a terrorism expert at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, to get to the bottom of these urgent questions.  About the Guest Joseph McQuade is a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Asian Institute’s Centre for South Asian Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge as a Gates Scholar, with a dissertation that examined the origins of terrorism in colonial South Asia in international perspective. This research is currently being revised into a book manuscript, tentatively titled Anti-colonial nationalism and the birth of ‘terrorism’ in colonial India, 1857-1947. His postdoctoral research at the University of Toronto will interrogate the role of terrorism and insurgency in defining national identity in postcolonial India and Burma (Myanmar). His broader research and teaching interests include critical genealogies of ‘terrorism’ as a political and legal category, the global history of political violence, and the relationship between insurgency and nation-states. Learn more about Joseph.

The George Washington University’s Marc Lynch, director of the Project on Middle East Political Science, speaks with Raphaël Lefèvre, a Gates Scholar and PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge, as well as a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center. He is the author of Ashes of Hama: The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria (Oxford University Press, 2013) and co-author of State and Islam in Baathist Syria: Confrontation or Co-Optation? (Lynne Rienner, 2012). Lynch and Lefèvre discuss the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, the Syrian Civil War, and Lebanon.

The George Washington University’s Marc Lynch, director of the Project on Middle East Political Science, speaks with Raphaël Lefèvre, a Gates Scholar and PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge, as well as a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center. He is the author of Ashes of Hama: The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria (Oxford University Press, 2013) and co-author of State and Islam in Baathist Syria: Confrontation or Co-Optation? (Lynne Rienner, 2012). Lynch and Lefèvre discuss the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, the Syrian Civil War, and Lebanon.

We ve all heard stories of the hard working immigrant who finds success however you define it through their own hard work and determination, but do you wonder if it ever truly happens It has in 22 year old Ngoc Pham s case When the Ngoc came to the United States, she was eight and had spent all but three years of her life in a refugee camp. Her father, despite limited English language proficiency supported the family as an auto mechanic, and her mother worked in a factory. Now Ngoc is at Tulane studying under a full scholarship from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that will carry her through to a PhD. Ngoc joins us to talk about her big plans for a career in Public Health, the role Confucian Buddhist values play in her life, and she even gives us a little appreciation of K pop, this week on VietNOLA.

This week Libby Purves is joined by Mary Wilson, Larry Lamb, Siza Mtimbiri and Arthur Jeffes. Mary Wilson is the singer and a founding member of sixties group The Supremes. On the legendary Motown record label, they were able to cross racial boundaries to become one of the most successful musical acts of all time - the only group to have five consecutive number one hits. She's now an author, motivational speaker, and an international spokeswoman for the 'Humpty Dumpty Institute', a humanitarian organisation in which she speaks against landmines. She is currently touring the UK. Actor Larry Lamb is probably best known for his roles in two of the UK's best-loved television series as the villain Archie Mitchell in 'Eastenders' and as loveable dad Mick in 'Gavin and Stacey'. In his memoir, 'Mummy's Boy' he looks back at his own difficult relationship with his father, and how that in turn shaped his own close relationship with his son, George. 'Mummy's Boy' is published by Hodder. Siza Mtimbiri was brought up in one of the poorest parts of Zimbabwe, one of seven siblings. His family was devastated by HIV/AIDS. Today he is a PhD student at Cambridge University and a Gates Scholar. He has founded a charity called 'Hope Academy and Medical Center' that will bring education and health care to communities in rural Zimbabwe. Arthur Jeffes' father Simon founded the Penguin Cafe Orchestra in the seventies but died in 1997 of a brain tumour. At that point the group stopped playing completely but after a series of reunion concerts at the Union Chapel in 2007, to mark ten years since his death, Arthur decided to get a group of musicians together to play the music of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, plus his own, new compositions. This month they release their first album, 'A Matter of Life' and in March the label re-released two Penguin Cafe Orchestra albums - 'Union Cafe' and 'Concert Program'.