Podcasts about support let

Former Massachusetts Governor, Deval Patrick, is a major foodie. But you might not know that if you simply focused on his remarkable biography. Raised on the South Side of Chicago in tough circumstances, scholarship to a New England boarding school, graduate of Harvard and Harvard Law School, a senior member of the US Justice department, and a high-level corporate career – all before becoming the Bay State's first African-American governor. Twice. And just last year, a run for the US Presidency. If there's a testament to how talking about food is the great leveler, the great ice breaker, our conversation with Deval Patrick is it!Image courtesy of Deval Patrick.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let's Talk About Food by becoming a member!Let's Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Sara Baer-Sinnott is the President of Oldways, a nonprofit focused on improving public health through cultural food traditions and lifestyles. If you think you haven't heard of Oldways, you are wrong. Oldways' tentacles touch almost everything you think about food today. It was the organization that brought the Mediterranean Diet to the forefront, the champion of whole grains in food products – and the creator and convener of a wide swath of the “culinary community” inviting huge bands of chefs, writers, retailers and food producers from all over the world to gather together to revere and preserve the value and joy of artisanal food – in short…the Oldways.Culinary folks from today's episode:Rick BaylessMadhur JaffreyNancy Harmon JenkinsCorby KummerTim LangElisabeth LuardMarion NestleMaricel PresillaJeffrey SteingartenFaith WillingerPaula WolfertNaomi DuguidSusan LoomisMelissa ClarkIhsan and Valerie GurdalAnya von BremzenBobby FlayGordon HamersleyJessica B. HarrisJoan NathanFred PlotkinMartha Rose ShulmanLynne Rossetto KasperLorna SassMolly StevensNora PouillonBarry EstabrookRux MartinAnnie CoppsPhoto courtesy of Oldways.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let's Talk About Food by becoming a member!Let's Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

One of the great pleasures of collecting people's stories is that they often surprise you. You discover a gem just by asking a question, like how did you get come to food? Today, we talk to Megan Fales. Megan runs a perfect General Store called Anchor & Sail in the center of the seacoast village where I live. When I met her, she seemed lovely, and her food was impeccable. But I had no inkling that she came to our hamlet via a career at Martha Stewart and Comedy Central. Chalk it up to, "you just never know."Image courtesy of Anchor & Sail General Store.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let's Talk About Food by becoming a member!Let's Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.If you count on HRN content, become a monthly sustaining donor at heritageradionetwork.org/donate.

Erin French is the owner and chef of The Lost Kitchen, a 40-seat restaurant in Freedom, Maine, that was recently named one TIME Magazine's World's Greatest Places and one of "12 Restaurants Worth Traveling Across the World to Experience" by Bloomberg. Her love of Maine and her palpable pleasure in sharing its delicious heritage with curious dinner guests and new friends alike, has garnered attention in outlets such as The New York Times (her piece was one of the ten most read articles in the food section the year it was published), Martha Stewart Living, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and Food & Wine. In addition to too many wows to list, Erin has just published her memoir, Finding Freedom. I interviewed her at a webinar sponsored by Women Who Empower, a network of strong, creative, and innovative women and men launched by Northeastern University a decade ago. The aim of Women Who Empower is to bring together and inspire future generations through events, scholarships, learning, and entrepreneurship opportunities, to overcome disparities and biases, connect, and lead change in their communities and beyond.Let's have a listen.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let's Talk About Food by becoming a member!Let's Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Dr. Peter Lurie is the head of Center For Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), arguably the most important defender of food safety and justice in the US. Lurie is the grandson of a South African female butcher and a South African egg seller. How did that form him as a warrior for social justice?Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let's Talk About Food by becoming a member!Let's Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

All the way from Orlando, Florida: David Almeida & Matthew Arter re-watch another episode of “The Facts Of Life” — so you don't have to.Connect with / Support Let's Face The Facts!Website • Facebook • Instagram • TwitterPayPal • Venmo • CashApp • PatreonWatch Next Week's Episode:S7 E04 “Teacher Teacher” 9/28/85Watch at DailyMotion.comDon't forget to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, and REVIEW!

Connect with / Support Let’s Face The Facts!Website • Facebook • Instagram • TwitterPayPal • Venmo • CashApp • PatreonWatch Next Week’s Episode:S7 E03 “Grand Opening” 9/28/85Watch at DailyMotion.comDon’t forget to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, and REVIEW!

Connect with / Support Let’s Face The Facts!Website • Facebook • Instagram • TwitterPayPal • Venmo • CashApp • PatreonTranscript of This Week’s Episode:Subtitles Like ScriptsWatch Next Week’s Episode:S7 E02 “Into The Frying Pan” 9/21/85Watch at DailyMotion.comDon’t forget to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, and REVIEW!

Kathleen Finlay, the President of Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming, in New York’s Hudson Valley has been a leader in the regenerative agriculture movement for most of her career. Now, as the president of Glynwood she is in a position to connect food and farming changemakers from all across the country and the world. Living – and loving it! – on a beautiful little farm in the Hudson Valley, it’s fair to say that Kat has become a national figure in the world of progressive agricultural nonprofits. A personal aside, it was Kat who first got me into the world of recording people’s first-person food stories. We recorded at festivals, at farms, and even at the American Museum of Natural History in New York! It was a blast! That’s where I learned that truly, everyone has a food story.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Today we talk to David Waters, the CEO of Community Servings. Launched during the AIDS crisis, Community Servings has made and delivered over 9 million medically tailored meals to homebound people with severe and chronic illnesses. Waters, a true visionary, has been the navigator and the pilot for its growth. At 10, he was serving canapes at his mother's dinner parties. Now he feeds millions. Photo courtesy of @communityservingsHeritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Connect with / Support Let’s Face The Facts!Website • Facebook • Instagram • TwitterPayPal • Venmo • CashApp • PatreonTranscript of This Week’s Episode:Subtitles Like ScriptsWatch Next Week’s Episode:S7 E01 “Out Of The Fire…” 9/14/85*SEASON PREMIERE!*Watch at DailyMotion.comDon’t forget to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, and REVIEW!

Connect with / Support Let’s Face The Facts!Website • Facebook • Instagram • TwitterPayPal • Venmo • CashApp • PatreonTranscript of This Week’s Episode:Subtitles Like ScriptsWatch Next Week’s Episode:S6 E26 “The Interview Show” 5/15/85*SEASON FINALE!*Watch at DailyMotion.comDon’t forget to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, and REVIEW!

Today we talk to chef Andy Husbands. Husbands now operates The Smoke Shop, a Boston-based emerging chain of BBQ restaurants. He’s a six-time cookbook author and–– importantly–– a Pitmaster. The co-founder of internationally recognized BBQ team which competed for 20 years and became the first non-Southern team to win the World Champions of BBQ Title at the Jack Daniels World Championship in Tennessee.I’ve been privileged to watch Andy morph from being a sort of enfant terrible to becoming an incredible force in in the Boston culinary scene. Andy is a person of immense management talents, as well as food talents. He could have gone in a million different directions. How did it become food?Photo Courtesy of Smoke ShopHeritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let's Talk About Food by becoming a member!Let's Talk About Food is powered by Simplecast.

Connect with / Support Let’s Face The Facts!Website • Facebook • Instagram • TwitterPayPal • Venmo • CashApp • PatreonTranscript of This Week’s Episode:Subtitles Like ScriptsWatch Next Week’s Episode:S6 E25 “Bus Stop” 5/8/85Watch at DailyMotion.comDon’t forget to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, and REVIEW!

Connect with / Support Let’s Face The Facts!Website • Facebook • Instagram • TwitterPayPal • Venmo • CashApp • PatreonTranscript of This Week’s Episode:Subtitles Like ScriptsWatch Next Week’s Episode:S6 E24 “It’s Lonely At The Top” 3/27/85Watch at DailyMotion.comDon’t forget to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, and REVIEW!

Connect with / Support Let’s Face The Facts!Website • Facebook • Instagram • TwitterPayPal • Venmo • CashApp • PatreonTranscript of This Week’s Episode:Subtitles Like ScriptsWatch Next Week’s Episode:S6 E23 “Sisters” 3/20/85Watch at DailyMotion.comDon’t forget to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, and REVIEW!

Connect with / Support Let’s Face The Facts!Website • Facebook • Instagram • TwitterPayPal • Venmo • CashApp • PatreonTranscript of This Week’s Episode:Subtitles Like ScriptsWatch Next Week’s Episode:S6 E22 “The Last Drive-In” 3/13/85Watch at DailyMotion.comDon’t forget to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, and REVIEW!

Connect with / Support Let’s Face The Facts!Website • Facebook • Instagram • TwitterPayPal • Venmo • CashApp • PatreonTranscript of This Week’s Episode:Subtitles Like ScriptsWatch Next Week’s Episode:S6 E21 “Man In The Attic” 2/27/85Watch at DailyMotion.comDon’t forget to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, and REVIEW!

Connect with / Support Let’s Face The Facts!Website • Facebook • Instagram • TwitterPayPal • Venmo • CashApp • PatreonTranscript of This Week’s Episode:Subtitles Like ScriptsWatch Next Week’s Episode:S6 E20 “Gone With The Wind (Part 2)” 2/20/85Watch at DailyMotion.comDon’t forget to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, and REVIEW!

Connect with / Support Let’s Face The Facts!Website • Facebook • Instagram • TwitterPayPal • Venmo • CashApp • PatreonTranscript of This Week’s Episode:Subtitles Like ScriptsWatch Next Week’s Episode:S6 E19 “Gone With The Wind (Part 1)” 2/13/85Watch at DailyMotion.comDon’t forget to SUBSCRIBE, RATE, and REVIEW!

Dan Michaud "Ron, Jade Valley and the Power of Place" When his soon-to-be stepfather Ron rolled into teenage Dan’s mother’s house in an orange Fiat convertible. They began a thirty-year conversation. Dan’s tribute to “Ron who gave me Shakespeare, Miles Davis, and winter picnics” (plus a killer recipe for Beef Stroganoff).Alvin Crawford "The Luckiest Guy"Family dinners are not always happy moments. Our storyteller, Alvin Crawford, with his father remembers his dinners with his father as stressful rituals, more of an inquisition than a time to come together around food. Alvin, now a non-profit executive, recounts how he survived those meals and grew to understand, if not accept, his father’s intensity. And, ultimately, to learn how to enjoy meals with his own young family. Photos Courtesy of BJ VersoyHeritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Episode 10 Merry Christmas! To help make the yuletide gay, we read a couple short stories from the book "Stocking Stuffers." Hold on to your pearls, and please enjoy! Support Let's Have A Kiki - With MovieBitches by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/kiki-with-moviebitches

Every good Rom-Com starts with a “Meet Cute” story. And what could be cuter than a first date story that revolves around food? In this episode we share two: a cheese-infused one from Sarah and Chris Blackburn, who met, married and are now the publishers and editor of Edible Boston; and one from Dena and Noah Kowaloff. This one features an unlikely star: broccoli. Let’s have a listen.Photo Courtesy of Bethany VersoyHeritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast. 

In this episode we’ll hear from the President of the Greater Boston Food Bank, Catherine D’Amato and from Northeastern University’s Dining Director, Maureen Timmons.Most of us are inspired to cook meals for those we love. And then, there are those who choose to feed the many. They are a different breed. Gracious, committed and generous. Why do they do it? To us, they are exceptional heroes, especially in this time when food insecurity is soaring, and supply struggles to keep up with crushing demand. We cannot allow hunger cannot be the new normal. For information on how to help, visit www.gbfb.orgHeritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

This episode features food writer and columnist, Mike Floreak –– and me, your host, Louisa Kasdon. We’ll each share a story about what happens when you love food. And your mother or mother-in-law could care less.Mike Floreak on his mother-in-law, Mary:“Food was just one of the things Mary found disappointing. Like the people she met at Walmart. And my wife’s haircuts.”Louisa Kasdon on her mother, Muriel Kasdon: 
“We used to tell people not to eat anything at my mother’s house. Not the cottage cheese with the blue scooped out. Not the tomato paste left over from the Depression…If she could have fed us Special K and frozen potpies from her favorite Jewish butcher every night, that would have been fine with her.” Photos by BJ VersoyHeritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

This episode features our friends, chef Jasper White & chef and author, Annie Copps. They’ll each share a cranky yet funny story about food and friendship––and sealing the deal over a wonderful meal. Jasper White - How A Cranky Diner Became My Best FriendChef Jasper White is credited nationally with reviving and re-inventing the regional traditions of New England Cooking. He spent much of his childhood on a farm near the Jersey Shore and credits his love of good food to his Italian grandmother. In 1983 Jasper's Restaurant opened on Boston’s historic waterfront. Both Chef and restaurant received numerous awards and were featured extensively in national and local media. In 1990, Jasper was given the James Beard Award for Best Chef, Northeast. Jasper took time to spend with his three young children, as well as write two cookbooks: Lobster at Home (Scribner 1998) and Fifty Chowders (Scribner 2000). His first book, Jasper White's Cooking from New England, had been published in 1989.  All three books received various awards and critical acclaim. In 2000, Jasper White surprised people. He opened Jasper White's Summer Shack, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Where Jasper's Restaurant had been quietly elegant and formal, Summer Shack is a loud, energetic clam shack.  – a Mecca for seafood lovers. After more than 45 years in the hospitality and seafood business, Jasper has recently hung up his apron and retired. He now lives most of the year in Cape Cod with his wife, Kathleen, and dog, Buster. Annie Copps - Singles Awareness Day"Valentine’s Day can be a real clunker for a single person. Twenty years ago I made the mistake of going out for Sunday brunch the morning after Valentine’s Day. You’ve heard of a marijuana haze? This was a post-coital haze. Everyone else in the restaurant had just rolled out of bed with their partner. That’s when I decided to start Singles Awareness Day."Annie is a chef, cook author, writer, cooking teacher and TV and radio personality. In addition to cooking at many restaurants, she has been the food editor of Boston Magazine and Yankee Magazine. To learn more about the irrepressible Annie Copps, visit www.intellibelly.netHeritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

This episode two of our favorite chefs, Lydia Shire and Will Gilson. Each will share a story of how far a chef will go for love -- or a recipe. Lydia Shire - How much do I want this recipe?Lydia Shire is simply one of the country’s leading chefs. Named to every high honor in the culinary world, including becoming the first female executive chef at a Four Season’s Hotel. Lydia began cooking in Boston at 21, as a young divorced mother with three small children. Her story of her drive, ingenuity and skill is inspirational, allowing her to rise to become one of the first female Executive Chef at a Four Seasons hotel, and launching numerous restaurants in her hometown, Boston including Scampo where she shares the executive chef honors with her son. For more about Lydia Shire, visit www.scampoboston.comWill Gilson - If this olive-skinned man who smelled like a pack of Marlboro cigarettes told me I needed this rice dish in my life, imagine if I could bring it back to the United States and use it to charm women?Chef Will Gilson is one of Boston’s most energetic and talented chefs. Will is a two-time James Beard semi-finalist and Puritan & Company was listed on Bon Appetit’s “50 Best Restaurants” shortly after it opened in late 2012.His flagship restaurant, Puritan & Company, is expanding from one to three additional locations in Cambridge over the next year in a new and connected neighborhood at the intersection of Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston. Café Beatrice, an all-day café; Geppetto, a full-service Italian restaurant slated to open in 2021; and The Lexington, a cocktail bar and restaurant with a rooftop terrace. For more about Will, take a gander at his website, https://www.puritancambridge.comPhoto Courtesy of BjversoyHeritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Let’s Talk About Food by becoming a member!Let’s Talk About Food is Powered by Simplecast.

Today Bex talks about Sleepy Hollow and Shayne for a change has some input on Bex's topic (thanks And That's Why We Drink!). And That's Why We Drink episode 188. Support Let's Make This Weird here. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lets-make-this-weird01/support

This is the first episode of 2019! I can't wait to see what 2019 has in store for you and for me. Thanks for joining me on this damn journey. In this episode, I go on a rant/monologue for the first few minutes. I hope you'll find it helpful! I'd like to share two quotes from that rant: “Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.” —Marcus Aurelius “Our souls are not hungry for fame, comfort, wealth, or power. Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter.” —Rabbi Harold Kushner I also share highlight moments from the podcast this year. You'll hear from Jessica Jackley, Tunde Wey, Ted Terry, Ruthie Lindsey, Dwayne Reed, Chelsea Clinton, Sheeza Shah, and Kevin Lyman. Some of these are my favorite moments and some of them are yours. Either way, I hope you'll find them encouraging as we crush it in 2019! ________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. You can choose $1/month or $5/month. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Have an amazing year, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many thanks to our friend Chelsea Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative University for their partnership during this five-week series! Daquan Oliver is the Founder and CEO of WeThrive. WeThrive equips and empowers low-income youth to rise as entrepreneurial economic leaders. They know very well what so many of us know — if you give these kids the resources and opportunities, they will blow our freaking minds which what they are capable of accomplishing. Daquan has been selected to the Forbes 30 Under 30 List, an Echoing Green Fellow, featured in Black Enterprise, Boston Business Journal, BostInno’s 25 Under 25, he has delivered a TEDx Talk on actionable strategies to overcome structural violence, and he has been recognized by Former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton for his work! Follow Daquan on Twitter. Follow WeThrive on Instagram and Facebook. ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. You can choose $1/month or $5/month. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the next few weeks, I’ll be releasing a few podcast conversations in partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative. I attended their yearly event a few weeks ago and was able to record conversations with some of their alums. Each podcast will include a short introductory conversation I had with Chelsea Clinton. Today’s conversations is with the incredible Christine Schindler.  Christine is an engineer and an entrepreneur. She studied biomedical engineering and global health at Duke as a National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenge Scholar. As a CGIU Commitment Maker, she founded Girls Engineering Change. GEC equips young girls in elementary and middle school to solve real world engineering problems. She also founded PathSpot Technologies— a company that helps protects businesses and customers from foodborne illnesses. Something tells me this is only the beginning for Christine. I can’t wait to see what she continues to build. Follow Girls Engineering Change on Instagram. Follow Pathspot Technologies on Twitter. ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. You can choose $1/month or $5/month. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the next few weeks, I’ll be releasing a few podcast conversations in partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative. I attended their yearly event a few weeks ago and was able to record conversations with some of their alums. Each podcast will include a short introductory conversation I had with Chelsea Clinton. Today’s conversations is with the fantastic Arnav Dalmia.  5 years ago, Arnav graduated from CGIU. 4 years ago, he and his two co-founders launched their new company, Cubii. Simply put, their mission is to get people moving more. Hundreds of millions of people across the globe spent 7, 8, 9, and 10 hours per day sitting at a desk or in front of a TV. Or both! Mayo Clinic actually calls “sitting the new smoking.” So, how do they aim to end this epidemic? He and his pals invented Cubii—”a compact seated elliptical trainer that integrates exercise into your routine, turning sitting time into active time.” What’s cool about the product is that your data is stored in the system and shared with your accountability partners or office mates so you can cheer each other on or if you’re the slacker, your people can encourage you to pick up the pace. 4 years into their company, they have 100,000 active users all over the world! Super cool stuff.  Follow Arnav and Cubii on Twitter! And if you sit a lot at work or at home, buy yourself a Cubii this Christmas! ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. You can choose $1/month or $5/month. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the next few weeks, I’ll be releasing a few podcast conversations in partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative University. I attended their yearly event a few weeks ago and was able to record conversations with some of their alums. Each podcast will include a short introductory conversation I had with Chelsea Clinton. The first of these conversations is with the incredible Sara Minkara. Sara is a Lebanese-American Muslim woman who lost her sight at the age of seven. In so many ways, she has used her disability as an advantage. She spends most of her time empowering young people with disabilities “transforming stigma against disability globally.” She also speaks quite a bit. She does all of this as the founder and CEO of Empowerment Through Integration.  Super cool side note—she was named one of Forbes 30 under 30 in 2017! Follow her on Twitter. And keep up with the work ETI is doing on Twitter, also!  ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. You can choose $1/month or $5/month. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A couple of weeks ago while I was in LA, Jessica Jackley invited me into her home for a chat. I’ve been waiting to do this chat since May. We were going to do it May but she and her family embarked on a trip around the world so we decided to wait until afterwards. We finally got around to do it and she did not disappoint! Jessica’s career has been and continues to be all about financial inclusion, the sharing economy, and social justice. She’s the co-founder of Kiva, the world's first peer 2 peer micro-lending website. Kiva lets everyday people lend $25 and up to individual entrepreneurs, providing them capital to start or expand a small business. Since 2005, Kiva has facilitated over $1B in loans worldwide. She teaches at USC. She speaks all over the country. And she’s the author of CLAY WATER BRICK: Finding Inspiration from Entrepreneurs Who Do the Most with the Least. She’s married to Reza Aslan, a respected religious scholar, author, and speaker. Together, they are raising their three boys in Los Angeles. Follow Jessica on Twitter. And make sure to read her blog where she documented their journey around the world! It’s fantastic.  ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. You can choose $1/month or $5/month. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, November 6, is midterm election’s day here in America. I love our global listeners but since most of our listeners are from America, I have something to say to you. No matter who you are or where you land politically, I hope you voted. It is our right and one we must not take for granted. Having said that, let me say this—I hope you are voting for equality and justice for all people in this election. Not just equality for some people.  I bumped this podcast conversation up a few weeks because I wanted you to hear it on election day. Not because I hope to sway your vote. I am releasing it today as more of a symbolic gesture of what I want to see more of in our country and in our world in the future.  Today, you’ll get to meet Bnyad Sharef and Maggie Anderson. Bnyad is a refugee from Iraq. He’s also a Muslim. Maggie was a staunch Trump supporter and was very anti-immigrant and anti-refugee. Bnyad and Maggie’s friendship is going to blow your mind. The changes in both of their lives are amazing and they give me so much hope.  They met a few months ago when they were asked to be part of a campaign called #BeUnafraid. This campaign was created by Catholic Relief Services and my friend Jeremy Cowart. In this campaign, they asked dozens of refugees and their American neighbors to start critical conversations by sharing their stories with each other. What happened was absolutely beautiful. You can learn more about the campaign here and here.  Fair Warning: We recorded this podcast a few days ago in Maggie’s hotel room at midnight as soon as Maggie arrived in Nashville for a video shoot I helped coordinate with a huge media platform. (In a few weeks I’ll be able to share more about that.) Remembering this was recorded at midnight is a huge key to getting through this conversation. At certain points, it’s gonna sound like we are super drunk. We are not. But if you get through this conversation (please do!), you’re going to find some beautiful gems. Bnyad and Maggie are amazing humans and I can’t wait to introduce them to you.  ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. You can choose $1/month or $5/month. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ceallaigh experienced a massive amount of relational and emotional pain early in her adult life. She shares more about that in our conversation so I won’t get into it here but I wanted to point out here that one of my favorite things about life is that beautiful things are oftentimes birthed out of pain and suffering. I’ve seen this happen over and over and again in my own life. I expect many of you have as well. Out of deep pain, Print the Love was birthed.  Print the Love travels to under-resourced countries and communities and gives photographs, not takes them. I’ve traveled a ton—I’ve been to the 48 contiguous United States and I’ve lived in or spent time in over 30 other countries. I have seen my fair share of tourists or do-gooders whipping out their cameras and taking a million photos of the people they are visiting. I’ve done a fair amount of this myself, to be honest. Ceallaigh has flipped this on its head and it’s a beautiful thing. They use those Polaroid instant cameras—you know the ones that spit out the photo out immediately—and they give their only copy of that photo to the person they just took the picture of. And for many, this is the only photo they have of themselves. In every way, they are giving the gift of love, joy, self-esteem, empowerment, and so much more.  Follow the work Ceallaigh and Print The Love are doing online and on Instagram.  NOTE: My friend Nicole Devereaux is raising $40,000 in the 40 weeks leading up to her 40th birthday. Amazing idea! Her goal for this week is to raise $2,000 for Print The Love! PTL has a matching grant for $2,000 for their November 15 Give To The Max Day. Check out the campaign and consider giving a few dollars to a great cause! ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. You can choose $1/month or $5/month. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all want to change the world, right? If you’re like me, most days we can’t even figure out how to begin. Everything seems so overwhelming. Well, you’ll want to meet my guest today. I think she can help! Katie Patrick is an environmental engineer and software designer who lives in Silicon Valley. She’s freaking brilliant. In our conversation, we chat about parts of her 10-step process for saving the world. We talk value-action gap, we talk behavior mapping, we talk feedback loops, we talk about all things environmentalism, we talk about the public disclosure of data (which is fascinating by the way) and we talk about her new book—How To Save The World. This conversation got me thinking about so many amazing things and I hope it’ll do the same for you!  Follow Katie on Instagram and Twitter. And please click here for more information on how you can support her new book project on Indigogo! Let’s Give A Damn family, let’s help her get closer to her goal! We can do it! ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. You can choose $1/month or $5/month. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 “Having been raised in Mali, I’ve seen first-hand the opportunity to build equitable and authentic relationships with women farmer entrepreneurs in Africa. That’s why we founded Farafena to provide women farmers with an opportunity to share their food with the world. My dream is for Farafena to set an example of how families like yours, can engage with and get to know families like mine, our communities and our authentic African foods and culture.”    These are the words of my guest today, the brilliant Oumar Barou Togola. Oumar was born in Mali, West Africa but raised in Canada, British Columbia. As Oumar grew up into a person who valued action over talk and someone who wanted to create solutions, he launched Farafena. Farafena which means ‘Africa’ in Bambara, the national language of Mali. Farafena’s vision is simple and compelling—to share healthy, sustainably farmed food with the world, while improving the lives of women farmers and their communities in Africa. They do this by partnering with over 850 African women farmers in nine villages, to bring nutrient-dense, African-grown products to Canadian tables. They’re in hundreds of store all over Canada and hope to be in the US very soon.  Y’all, you’re going to love Oumar. I felt like I could talk with him for hours. For your sake, however, we did not talk for hours. But I know you’re going to learn from Oumar, you’re going to be inspired, and you’re going to be a better human as a result of this conversation. Follow Oumar’s work with Farafena online, on Instagram, and on Twitter.  ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. You can choose $1/month or $5/month. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About 25% of our listeners are from outside the USA. Whether you live in the USA or not, you don’t need me to tell you that America is more divided than ever. We can chat and/or argue all day about why we are more divided than ever but we are not going to focus on those things today. What we are going to focus on is how can people that believe different things and value different things come together to find common ground around food and drink? Right after the inauguration in 2017, three groups came together to launch a project called #100Days100Dinners. Shortly after, this project turned into The People’s Supper. The People’s Supper aims to repair the breach in our interpersonal relationships across political, ideological, and identity differences, leading to more civil discourse. And, they plan to do it in the most nourishing way possible – over food and drinks! As we approach the midterm elections, you can get in on the action. Last weekend, they launched Midterm 5 — a series of suppers they are going to do for the the few weeks leading up there midterm elections. They are doing 5 large suppers in cities and town all over the USA. Even if you can’t make one of those, you can host your own! I’m hosting one this week in Nashville and I’ll report back to you during next week’s podcast. Visit their Midterm 5 page on their site to get more details for hosting your supper. Don’t delay! That’s all I’m going to tell you for now because I’m going to let my guests — Micky ScottBey Jones and Margaret Ernst — tell the rest. Micky is the Director of Resilience and Healing Initiative at Faith Matters Network and Margaret is the Program Manager at Faith Matters Network. They’re amazing. You’re going to love them.  Follow Micky on Twitter and on her website. Follow The People’s Supper on Facebook and on their website.  ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. You can choose $1/month or $5/month. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You all know my guest and his work very well…whether you know it or not. Without a doubt, you’ve used the service he created many years ago. My guest today is Craig Newmark—the founder and creator of craigslist. Even though he hasn’t been in the daily business of craigslist for over 15 years, that is how he gained his fame and his wealth. What I love about Craig is how he has used his wealth. He is known everywhere as a very generous man. He has given and continue to give away much of his wealth. He does this work through Craig Newmark Philanthropies—a foundation committed to support the people who fight to protect the values that America was founded on: fairness, opportunity and respect.  He will talk more about this in our conversation but you’ll notice a pattern in his giving—he cares deeply about journalism and freedom of the press. Last year, he gave $1M to ProPublica. This year, he gave $1M to Mother Jones. Also earlier this year, he gave $20M to City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism—which has now been named the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. That’s quite the mouthful.  Follow Craig on Twitter and keep up with all the amazing work he is doing at Craig Newmark Philanthropies. ____________________________ PODCAST SPONSOR! Many thanks to our friends at Goodwell Co. for sponsoring the podcast for the next few weeks! The mission of Goodwell Co. is to create 100% natural, subscription-based, sustainable products, systems, and technologies that raise environmental awareness and empower people to make choices that help protect and preserve the planet today. Visit their website and use the code DAMN when you check out and you'll get 20% off your one-time purchase OR your subscription purchase! What are you waiting for?! ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tunde Wey, a Nigerian chef based in New Orleans, is a chef is who focuses on using food to address huge topics like racial inequality. Say what? Yup. He uses food to address systemic race issues in our country and he does a damn good job at it. With names like Saartj, 4:44, Blackness in America, and 1882, you can see immediately deduce that his pop-up restaurants are about much more than food. One of his projects even charged two different amounts depending on whether a white person or a black person was purchasing the meal. You’re going to love how Tunde processes through these issues. As we talked, I started to feel very….heavy I guess is the word. He’s addressing very hard issues. I loved the answer he provided when I told him how I was feeling.  Follow Tunde on Instagram and keep up with ever-evolving body of work on his website. ____________________________ PODCAST SPONSOR! Many thanks to our friends at Goodwell Co. for sponsoring the podcast for the next few weeks!  The mission of Goodwell Co. is to create 100% natural, subscription-based, sustainable products, systems, and technologies that raise environmental awareness and empower people to make choices that help protect and preserve the planet today. Visit their website and use the code DAMN when you check out and you'll get 20% off your one-time purchase OR your subscription purchase! What are you waiting for?! ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A few months ago, I sat down in a swanky NYC hotel lobby for a cup of coffee with my guest today. We talked for an hour or two and I knew I had to have him on my podcast. Lew Blaustein is a wonderful human with a heart of gold. If you are a sports fan, however, you’re going to want to listen closely to out conversation.  Lew spent most of his career doing all things sports—brand management, advertising, marketing, sponsorship sales, and the like. But 17 years ago on 9/11/01, everything changed for Lew. He is now a sustainability evangelist that spends all of his time consulting with many companies and leaders at the intersection of environmentalism and sports. Our world is a better place because of Lew and the work he does.  Follow Lew on Twitter and follow his GreenSports blog. He shares so much amazing content for free! ____________________________ PODCAST SPONSOR! Many thanks to our friends at Goodwell Co. for sponsoring the podcast for the next few weeks! The mission of Goodwell Co. is to create 100% natural, subscription-based, sustainable products, systems, and technologies that raise environmental awareness and empower people to make choices that help protect and preserve the planet today. Visit their website and use the code DAMN when you check out and you'll get 20% off your one-time purchase OR your subscription purchase! What are you waiting for?! ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My guest today is the weird and fantastic CJ Casciotta. CJ is my friend and a friend to so many. He is a writer and a media maker. He has spoken to communities like Lululemon, The Salvation Army, TEDx, and Charity:Water. Additionally, he has partnered with MGM Studios, The United Nations Foundation, and others like these on various types of projects.  CJ’s message is compelling to me because he says the kinds of things I’m always saying to the people around me BUT he’s saying them in his very unique way. And I like his message a lot. From a very young age, we are told to stand in line, draw in the lines, follow the rules, be this way, and do it that way. CJ has a different message that I think you’re going to find super compelling.  In addition to us being excited about having CJ on the show, if you’re listening to this on the day it releases—September 11—his book comes out today! If you’re listening to this after 9/11, shame on you for not devouring this podcast every Tuesday when it comes out. Just kidding. But seriously, his book “Get Weird: Discover the Surprising Secret to Making a Difference” is out right now! You’re also going to want to download his Weird Wins course for free on his website!  If you’re not convinced that you need his book yet, maybe Seth Godin will change your mind: “Reassuring, moving, and practical, this book will help you embrace the magic you've always had.” Follow CJ on Twitter and Instagram to keep up with his life and work.  ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ian Rosenberger was born and raised in Pittsburg. His life and career took him all over the world experiencing new things all the time and meeting the most amazing people. One of those places he began to visit frequently was Haiti. As a result of the trip he made right after the 2010 earthquake which claimed the lives of over 250,000 people, he started Thread and Team Tassy (which is now known simply as Work). Ian is a truly exceptional leader running these organizations that are changing the world in so many tangible ways. They are damn-givers through and through. Toward the end of our conversation, you’ll hear me state that this podcast would release on September 18. Obviously, it’s not September 18. We bumped this podcast up a few weeks because we wanted to give you more time to check out the Kickstarter they have going on for their new backpack made from 100% recycled canvas. The canvas was made entirely from discarded plastic bottles. I got my hands on one of these backpacks and let me tell you, it’s fantastic. Super functional. Looks great. It’s wonderful. AND we are going to be giving away one of the backpacks they are currently kickstarting! So, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram because we are going to launch the giveaway later this week. BUT only one of you will win this bag so I’d recommend you back this project on Kickstarter to ensure you get one or two or three or ten at a discounted rate. Go to abetterbackpack.com to learn more about this amazing product! Follow Ian on Twitter and follow Thread on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.  ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Teachers, I believe, are the most responsible and important members of society because their professional efforts affect the fate of the earth.” Australian physician and author, Helen Caldicott, said this and I believe it. I have the utmost respect for teachers. They are under-payed, under-appreciated, and over-worked heroes that we should all take much better care of than we currently do. Teachers, you’re amazing! Huge virtual hug to each and every one of you today.  Do you know who else believe the contents of the aforementioned Caldicott quote? Kara Bryant, my guest on the podcast today. She teaches at Village Leadership Academy in Chicago, IL. VLA is an elementary school that offers a “fresh new approach to teaching and learning that includes high lam standards, exposure to world history and geography, appreciation for cultural differences, the development of critical thinking and perspective taking skills, and socially just decision making.” In our conversation, we talk about the challenges of teaching in an urban context, the joys of teaching in an urban context, training tomorrow’s leaders, why she became a teacher in the first place, and so much more. Here’s a link to the #NoCopAcademy train takeover that Chance The Rapper retweeted.  Here is an article from Teen Vogue that featured last year’s GRC—a campaign to redistribute funding in Chicago in favor of underserved communities and schools, rather than on a new $95 million academy for cops.  Here is one (of many!) articles about VLA’s 5th grade class and their GRC. They are trying to rename Douglas Park by adding an “s” which would make the park named after Fredrick Douglass, rather than Stephen Douglas (an abolitionist vs. a slave holder). There’s also a beautiful video about this.  Amazing, right? Kara and the staff at VLA are doing incredible work. I’m so grateful for them and I’m so excited that these children get to be formed under the goals and vision of VLA.  ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I rarely watch TV but I definitely make time for Queer Eye. Season 2 came out this summer and I was first introduced to my guest today in the season 2 finale called Make Ted Great Again. The Fab 5 were tasked with helping the Mayor of Clarkston GA…well, look more the part of a Mayor. It was a deeply impactful episode as we got a peek into how diverse, accepting, and unified Clarkston, GA is.  Mayor Ted is currently serving his second term as the Mayor of Clarkston, GA. I’ll be completely honest, y’all. When I think of progressive, diverse, a place where refugees and immigrants are celebrated and accepted, my mind doesn’t immediately go to most places in the South. But this small city of 13,000 people just outside of Atlanta is trying to change the way you and I think about the South. Clarkston boasts “the most diverse square mile in America” where 50% of its residents are foreign-born having moved there from over 50 countries across 6 continents. Amazing, right? In our chat, we talk tolerance, the South, loving your neighbor, conversing with people with whom we disagree, and so much more.  Follow Ted on Twitter and check out the city’s website for more on the history of Clarkston and to see all they’re doing to continue building a beautiful, diverse city! ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Becca Heller is the co-founder of IRAP—the International Refugee Assistance Project. They organize law students and lawyers to, essentially, help refugees and displaced persons.  “IRAP serves the world’s most persecuted individuals and empowers the next generation of human rights leaders.” Do you remember just a few days after Trump became President when he issued the first version of his Muslim travel ban? While many of us were irate and didn’t know what to do to help, Becca and a few other organizations rallied thousands of lawyers in just a few hours to go to airports to assist refugees as they arrived in the US. I was glued to Twitter during those days as these lawyers tirelessly served thousands of refugees. I had no idea Becca Heller was one of the masterminds behind that incredible effort! You’re going to love Becca. She’s a firecracker in the best possible way! Her passion for making her world a better place in infectious. Follow Becca’s work on their website, on Twitter, and on Facebook. Make sure you watch her interview on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah—it’s fantastic! ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! ____________________________ NOTE: We do not own the audio of Becca Heller's interview with Trevor Noah. This audio belongs to The Daily Show's Youtube channel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ruthie Lindsey has experienced a lot of loss and pain in her life—including daily chronic pain from a threatening accident she was in several years ago. Additionally, she has learned how to find beauty and joy in the midst of pain and suffering. I’m terrible at this most of the time, to be honest. When things aren’t right in our society or in politics, I let it affect me way too much. I was eager to chat with Ruthie and learn from her. And I did learn from her! So much. I hope you will, too. Ruthie is a writer, speaker, social media influencer, and an all-around badass woman. I could have talked with her for hours! I’m going to be that you’ll feel the same way after you hear our conversation. Follow Ruthie on Instagram and check out her website.  ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Adkins raises chickens, goats, pigs in the middle of Nashville! No joke. He also grows mushrooms, many types of vegetables, and many types of plants right in the middle of Nashville. Essentially, he and his team at Trevecca University have created a food oasis in the middle of a food desert. Truly amazing! You see, Jason teaches environmental justice, urban farming, and so much more to undergrad students in Nashville, TN.  In our chat, Jason and I discuss the impact the foods we consume are having on the planet. We discuss the state of farming in America and around the world. I ask the question, “Have you screwed up the earth beyond a point of no return?” Jason gives a grim but hopeful answer. I truly enjoyed my chat with Jason. I hope you’ll listen, become a little terrified, but leave full of hope that we can and should do something about the foods we eat and how we get those foods. If you come to Trevecca University and pursue a major in Social Justice, you’ll get to sit under the leadership of Jason Adkins as he teaches classes like Urban Restoration Ecology, Environmental Justice, etc.  ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tori Samples got a degree in Harp. Yep—harp! But that is not what she’s doing today. I mean, I wouldn’t mind if she made a living being a harpist cuz I love me some harp. BUT she went on to co-found Leaf Global Fintech—Virtual Banking Beyond Borders. There are 70m refugees around the world at this moment and 100m more people on the brink of becoming refugees. Tori and her team at Leaf envision a future where all refugees are able to spend money, receive money, and save money safely and so much more. This is a beautiful vision and I’m so thrilled I got to spend a few minutes with Tori learning about her story and a little more about who refugees are, what their needs are, and we explore how Leaf plans to accomplish this rather huge task. Follow the work Tori and her team are doing on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and on their website. ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Clara Daly is a teenager from Calabasas, CA. She was recently returning from an East Coast trip with her mother, Jane, when the flight attendant asked if anyone knew sign language. You see, there was a blind and deaf man on the flight with whom the flight attendants were having a difficult time communicating. Clara’s willingness to help changed everything on that flight. Several passengers took photos and videos and before long, this story of a damn-giving teenager went viral. No, seriously, google “Clara Daly” and you’ll get pages and pages of results.  I wanted to spend a few minutes highlighting Clara’s willingness to help as an encouragement to all the young people out there. Clara is proof that there are opportunities for everyone to love and serve others on a daily basis. It’s up to us to see them and respond. “I’m too young” is not a valid excuse. ____________________________ THIS WEEK'S SPONSOR: We are wrapping up a 7-week sponsorship with our friends at Scout Books. All LGAD listeners can get 15% off an order of Scout Books by using the code GIVEADAMN during checkout at scoutbooks.com. I love Scout Books! They're amazing. Check them out. ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Every child deserves to be warmly greeted, to have their name used positively, and to be hugged, high-fived, hand-shaked, or at least smiled at by their teacher, daily. This is the bare minimum.” My guest today tweeted these words recently. I, a father of 3 children, couldn’t agree more. Dwayne Reed is a teacher in Chicago. While most teachers were preparing their beginning-of-the-school-year letter for their students, Dwayne decided to make a music video, instead. That video has been viewed over 1.5M times. Big brands and collaborated with him since then. Additionally, a few famous people also saw and loved the video. Pharrell even tweeted about it the other day! But Dwayne is more than a viral music video. As displayed in the tweet above, he loves and cares for his students so deeply. And this love and care has changed these kids! You’ll hear much more about his story and his work in our chat. Follow Dwayne on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to keep up with the great work he is doing! ____________________________ THIS WEEK'S SPONSOR: Our dear friends at Scout Books sponsored this week's podcast episode. All LGAD listeners can get 15% off an order of Scout Books by using the code GIVEADAMN during checkout at scoutbooks.com. I love Scout Books! They're amazing. Check them out. ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” — Aesop During a not-so-great season of work over 9 years ago, Ashley Reale began leaving notes of encouragement inside magazine covers, inside public restrooms, and a variety of other public spaces. Several years later and a thousand notes later, she realized she was onto something and wanted to share her vision with a larger community. Since 2014, she and hundreds of others have left 20,000 notes of encouragement and love all over the U.S. and all over the world! Learn more about Ashley’s work and vision at Love Everywhere’s website. Buy a pennant, pin, key chain, or t-shirt to support their incredible work. With each purchase, you’ll receive a few hand-numbered and hand-stamped notes for to you leave at your local coffee shop or wherever.  THIS WEEK'S SPONSOR: Our dear friends at Scout Books sponsored this week's podcast episode. All LGAD listeners can get 15% off an order of Scout Books by using the code GIVEADAMN during checkout at scoutbooks.com. I love Scout Books! They're amazing. Check them out. ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You know how when bad things happen around the world and you decide to say something about it on social media, express concern, or raise some money for that cause? Then along comes a troll that says, “If you care so much about it, why don’t you move there?” Has that ever happened to you? It happens to me quite often. Well, my guest this week did just that.  Today, you’ll get to hear my convo with Carlos Rodriguez who moved his family to Puerto Rico last week so they can more proactively help and serve the amazing, resilient Puerto Rican people as they rebuild.  We talk about his family, his faith, the “Love Thy Neighbor” t-shirt he sent me last week, Happy Sonship, The Happy Givers, and what he aims to accomplish by moving to Puerto Rico. Also, he wants you to visit. No seriously, you’ll hear more details in our chat but he clearly wants some of y’all to take him up on that offer.  Learn more about Carlos at Happy Sonship. Buy a tee, tote, or hat at The Happy Givers to support their incredible work. And make sure to pick up a copy of his book, Drop the Stones: When Love Reaches the Unlovable. THIS WEEK'S SPONSOR: Our dear friends at Scout Books sponsored this week's podcast episode. All LGAD listeners can get 15% off an order of Scout Books by using the code GIVEADAMN during checkout at scoutbooks.com. They're amazing! Check them out. ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zach served two tours in Iraq and engaged in other military assignments throughout Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. Zach has seen and done it all. Upon returning from deployments, he noticed that veterans are not served well as they try to integrate back into civilian life. He decided to do something about it. Years later, the results of his resolve to do something are Hirepurpose, HeadStrong Project, and Task&Purpose. Zach and his team(s) are doing so much good in the world! You’re going to love our conversation. Sign up for the Task&Purpose newsletter! Lots of great content. If you’re interested in hiring veterans, contact Zach’s team at Hire Purpose.  THIS WEEK'S SPONSOR: Our friends at Scout Books sponsored this week's podcast episode. All of the listeners of this show can get 15% off an order of Scout Books by using code GIVEADAMN during checkout at scoutbooks.com. They're amazing! Check them out. ____________________________ Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After witnessing little girls being sold for sex with her very two eyes, Amber decided she must do something about this horrible evil.  Amber founded Eleventh Candle Co—a social enterprise company that makes quality products and does so much good in the world. She also runs Legacy—a nonprofit working globally to redeem, restore, empower, and equip those vulnerable to human trafficking, abuse, exploitation, and addiction. She, like so many guests I bring on, has a heart of pure gold. Toward the end of our conversation, she shares some fantastic advice that I implore you to pay attention to.  One of my favorite things about Amber’s story is that she chose not only to help women in Ethiopia but she also helps women right in her own backyard—Columbus, Ohio. In our conversation, you’ll hear her thought process and the WHY behind doing work in both places.  Follow Amber’s work at Eleventh Candle Co by visiting their website and by following them on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Also, there are several ways you can help out! LASTLY, they have given LGAD listeners a generous discount! Shop in their store, use the code LGAD at checkout, and you’ll get 25% off your entire purchase! Buy amazing candles at a discount AND help free women from human trafficking? AMAZING! Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On 9/22/17, President Trump said the following to a crowd in Alabama: “"Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he's fired, he's fired.’ The next day, he tweeted, “If a player wants the privilege of making millions of dollars in the NFL, or other leagues, he or she should not be allowed to disrespect our Great American Flag (or Country) and should stand for the National Anthem. If not, YOU'RE FIRED. Find something else to do!”  The following day, hundreds of players, coaches, musicians, and fans took at knee at various football games around the country. Today, I get to share the story of one of those kneelers—Meghan Linsey. She shares about kneeling in front of tens of thousands of people, how it has affected her career, and she shares fantastic advice for how we move forward. Buckle up, this is a good one! Follow Meghan’s life and music on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Keep an eye out for her upcoming single, Freedom Fighter! Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow our host Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s podcast episode is short but not without substance. In this episode, Nick shares several ways you can give more damns and get involved: - Nick is creating a coaching experience in April for 20-25 people. Check out the details here and sign up if you think it’s something you’ll benefit from!  - On March 24, hundreds of thousands of people will take to the streets to march in the March For Our Lives. This march was birthed by students that survived the school massacre in Parkland, FL a few weeks ago. The main march will take place in Washington, D.C. but there are dozens of sibling marches taking place all over the U.S. Click here to see where your march will take place. If you’re in Nashville, join Nick and his family! - Lastly, we highlight several past guests who are doing incredible and timely work. If you’re wondering where you should give your time, energy, and money, wonder no longer! Give to incredible work being done at Preemptive Love, International Justice Mission, and Rescue:Freedom.  Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Please let me know how I can serve you better. I mean it. Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anne lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with her husband and their children. From her website: “Anne is an oral history writer interested in people, their stories and making meaningful connections. She wrote her first book The Lucky Ones (winner of the Winnipeg Public Library's On The Same Page Book Award) because of her interest in refugees’ personal stories. Anne is excited that this book has enabled her to create a philanthropic component to her volunteering. Her second book Redemption: Stories of Hope, Resilience and Life After Gangs was published by Great Plains Publications in October 2017. All author proceeds from this book are being donated to gang member rehabilitation and mentorship through GAIN (Gang Action Interagency Network). Anne has been a committed volunteer for 30 years. She began working with the refugee community in 2007 at IRCOM where she spent nine years assisting newcomers learning English. Anne is a founding board member of Humankind International a group of Somali-Canadians and their Canadian friends who built an early years school in the Dadaab Refugee camp in Kenya in 2014. Anne co-facilitates the Book Mates Bookclub at the Women's Correction Centre that she and a friend co-founded. Anne is also involved with Unicef Canada's 25th Team and The Family Resource Centre Initiative at The United Way of Winnipeg.”  Yes—Anne is a bit of a badass. She is a kind soul that has committed the majority of her life to loving and serving others! Buckle up for the ride—this is a great conversation! Follow Anne on Twitter. If you enjoyed our conversation or have a question for her, hit her up! I know she’d love to hear from you. Also, check out her website if you’d like to read more about her fascinating books. If you want to read her books (and you should because they’re fantastic!), go ask your local bookstore to order them OR you can visit her website, send her a note on the contact page, and, as she stated at the end of our chat, there may be some that she can send you if you cover shipping. Do it! Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Please let me know how I can serve you better. I mean it. Love y’all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many people would say Kevin Lyman is a legend. In fact, when I told one of my friends that he was going to be on the show, my friend texted me these words: “True legend, helped shape my youth.” I’m very sure so many young people share my friend’s sentiment!  Over the years, Kevin has started a production company and a consulting firm, he has received many awards, and he has put on some of the best damn live shows the world has ever seen. In our conversation, we spend quite a bit of time talking about the people, places, and things that made me into who he is today. We wade through lots of helpful backstory. Additionally, we talked about the last 23 years of Warped tour and what it feels like to close this chapter in his life. We discuss the many ways we has given a damn and continues to give a damn. We spend some time learning from his life and experiences. Lastly, we get a peek into what’s ahead for Kevin and his company, 4Fini. This is a good one! Follow Kevin on Twitter and Instagram. If you enjoyed our conversation or have a question for him, hit him up! I know he’d love to hear from you. Follow what’s next for Kevin by checking out 4Fini’s website. Also, check out Kevin’s foundation, Unite the United. Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Please let me know how I can serve you better. Give more damns this week than ever before.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Grace Theisen and Lauren Lancaster are Michigan natives now residing in Nashville, TN. A few years ago, they started Songs Against Slavery. SAS “empowers and inspires communities to join the fight against sex trafficking in the United States. We raise awareness and funds through benefit concerts and musician partnerships.”  Essentially, they raise money through concerts and partnerships and they use the money they raise to help fund projects that directly help free people from human trafficking.  I truly enjoyed spending time with Grace and Lauren. Their joy for life and passion for helping people come through so many times during our conversation. Additionally, we chat for a bit about some chronic health issues Grace has had to endure for the last few years. We have so much to learn from these amazing women. Follow SAS on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Check out their website for resources and for more ways to get involved! If you enjoyed our conversation or have a question for them, hit them up! I know they’d love to hear from you.  Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Please let me know how I can serve you better. Give more damns this week than ever before.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard Lee is the Director of Church Mobilization at the International Justice Mission. IJM is a global organization that protects the poor from violence in the developing world. They are unique in their approach to eradicating human trafficking and helping vulnerable people. They don’t aim to just free the slave. Their aim is to arrest and convict the slave owner—the trafficker—so they can never enslave anyone else again. They do this by partnering with governments and law enforcement all over the world. They have helped free more than 40,000 people from oppression and they’ve seen over 1300 convictions of human traffickers. Truly amazing work! Follow Richard on Twitter. If you enjoyed our conversation or have a question, let him know! I know he’d love to hear from you.  Follow IJM on Twitter and Instagram, also. Check out their website for ways to get involved! Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have an amazing week, friends! Please let me know how I can serve you better. Give more damns this week than ever before.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sheeza Shah is the Founder and CEO of UpEffect, a crowdfunding and support platform for companies dedicated to improving lives and the planet. Her company has become the go-to platform for entrepreneurs who are driven not by how much money they can make, but how many lives they can impact. UpEffect’s recent products have ranged from ethical fashion brands to solar cookstoves — from clean drinking water systems to eco-friendly carry bags. To date, UpEffect’s enterprise-solution approach and campaign-consultant model led by Sheeza has driven their 100% success rate at securing funding for their campaigns, raising over £220,000 to launch products and impact lives across ten countries. This is incredible considering Kickstarter’s success rate is 43% and Indiegogo’s success rate hovers just under 10%. Sheeza was named to Computer Weekly’s ‘Most Influential Women in Tech’, Asians in Tech’s ‘Top 100 Asian Stars in UK Tech 2017′, CauseArtist’s ’37 Social Entrepreneurs to Watch in 2017′, and DotEveryone’s ’12 top female tech founders’ by Baroness Martha Lane Fox. She’s also an Asian Women of Achievement Award nominee. Bottom line—Sheeza is a brilliant woman and entrepreneur. I can’t wait for you to hear our conversation. Super helpful stuff! Follow the work Sheeza and her team are doing on Twitter, Instagram, and on their website. Follow Sheeza on Twitter and Instagram, also. If you enjoyed our conversation or have a question, let her know! She’d love to hear from you.  Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have a wonderful week! Please let me know how I can serve you better. Give more damns this week than ever before, my friends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thomas Doochin was still in college when he decided to proactively give a damn. While doing his undergrad at UNC, Thomas and some of his closest friends started Daymaker. Daymaker exists to help cultivate the art of giving in the lives of children. They’re using this unique platform to teach children that is truly is better to give than to receive. Over 9000 children have chosen to give to other children in need through Daymaker so far.  Thomas is only 23 but he is a already a fountain of wisdom. He humbly shares so much of that wisdom and other things he is learning with us in this candid conversation. I hope you’ll enjoy our conversation. I know you’ll be challenged! Follow the work Thomas and his team are doing on Twitter, Instagram, and on their website. Follow Thomas on Twitter and Instagram, also. If you enjoyed our conversation or have a question, let Thomas know! He’d love to hear from you.  Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have a wonderful week! Please let me know how I can serve you better. Give more damns this week than ever before, my friends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cortney Gusick is an amazing human that cares so much about how people live and how they die. You won’t find a shortage of people wanting to inspire you to live well. You won’t, on the other hand, find too many conversations happening around dying well. As a result of the death of her father and the experiences she and her family went through during that tough time, Cortney decided to start Pāhiki with the purpose of promoting environmental stewardship in deathcare. She does this by creating in two ways—by helping humans re-engage physically & environmentally in the death space and by building dignified and beautiful caskets that are eco-friendly and non-toxic.  By the way, Pāhiki means “to pass quietly, go lightly, touch gently.” Beautiful! Follow the work Cortney and her team are doing on Instagram and on their website. If you liked our conversation or have a question about preparing for death well, hit her up via IG or their website! She’d love to hear from you.  Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have a wonderful week! Please let me know how I can serve you better. Give more damns this week than ever before, my friends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I met Stephen Keppel on Twitter a few months back. I knew right away that I needed to have Stephen on. I’m always intrigued to see someone making a difference within a world that is known for its red tape and bureaucracy—the corporate world. Stephen is the Vice President of Social Impact at Univision, the General Manager of Rise Up, the Executive Director of the Univision Foundation, and the Co-Founder and Chairman of EGI—the Economic Growth Initiative for Haiti.  Follow Stephen on Twitter. And clicks the links above to keep up with the work he is doing at Univision and beyond.  Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have a wonderful week! Please let me know how I can serve you better. Give more damns this week than ever before, my friends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I met Jen Lewis over a decade ago when she was teaching at a school in Honduras—the same school my father taught at. After leaving Honduras and getting another degree from John Brown, she started Purse & Clutch—a company that is about art, about connection, and about sustainability. They work directly with artisans in Guatemala & Ethiopia, providing thoughtfully designed, and ethically made handbags to help end the cycle of poverty. They aim to be a part of changing the fashion industry for good. Jen is wise, full of passion, and full of love for others. In our conversation, we cover living in dangerous places, whether Arkansas or Texas is better, motherhood, entrepreneurship, and so much more! There are so many valuable takeaways in our conversation. Let’s go! If you’d like to connect with Jen, shoot her an email at jen@purseandclutch.com. If you enjoyed our conversation, let her know! Also, follow Purse & Clutch on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Lastly, AN AMAZING OFFER FOR YOU! Through January 31, enjoy FREE SHIPPING on your P&C order by entering the code GIVEADAMN at checkout. Who doesn’t love free shipping? Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have a wonderful week! Please let me know how I can serve you better. Give more damns this week than ever before, my friends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ben’s story involves prison, it involves homelessness, and it involves Ben being getting shot at as he narrowly escaped from communist Romania. I told Ben during our convo that parts of his story remind me of The Great Escape—you know, the WWII movie with Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson. Ben is an amazing man who has fought hard to raise a money, start a church, run Vital Solutions, and so much more. This is an incredible story of bravery, resilience, perseverance, and passion. You know what? All of these things are required at some point if you’re going to give a damn.  Follow Ben on Twitter. If you enjoyed our conversation, go let him know! Also, follow the work Vital Solutions is doing. Amazing stuff! Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram,& Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have a wonderful week! Please let me know how I can serve you better. Give more damns this week than ever before, my friends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jeremy and I attended a fundraiser a few weeks ago and we got talking about our current political climate. We text all the time about it but hadn’t had the opportunity to chat in person about it in quite some time. He mentioned that no one ever asks him about that. Most people only want to know about the celebrities he has photographed or the hotel he is building. So, I asked him if he wanted to have a discussion on our podcast. He said yes! This conversation is the result of our time together.  We intentionally didn’t make this a Trump-bashing conversation. I believe we cover a range of topics responsibly and our hope is that you’ll get a sense of the important issues at hand and where we stand on said issues. Jeremy does a fantastic job summarizing what’s wrong, what’s right, and what we can do about it. Follow Jeremy on Instagram and Twitter. Also, sign up for updates regarding the hotel he’s building and why this is a big deal.  Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have a wonderful week! Please let me know how I can serve you better. Give more damns this week than ever before, my friends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is there anything Amy Jo Martin hasn’t done? She is a successful CEO, a speaker, a best-selling author, an investor, and a podcast host. I, for one, am very glad my daughters will have women like Amy Jo to look up to as they grow up and aspire for greatness. I loved chatting with Amy Jo about a number of things—about her life, her career, working with celebrities like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, hosting a successful podcast, #SpreadSerotonin, and so much more. Buckle up, this is a good one!  Follow Amy Jo on Twitter and Instagram. Read more of her extensive bio here. Also, buy her book! She sent me a copy a while back and it’s fantastic.  Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have a wonderful week! Please let me know how I can serve you better. Give more damns this week than ever before, my friends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It all started for Jeremy when he was on a leisurely trip to India. A couple abolitionists introduced him to the horrors of the red light district—women and children being sold into sex slavery. That day changed him forever. He went on to start Climb For Captives—an initiative he started which has raised over $750,000 so far! Later, he founded Rescue:Freedom International—an amazing group of humans fighting to end slavery one life at a time. And they’re doing it! To date, they’ve helped 49,138 people all over the world. They are 481 people currently receiving restorative care, and they’re working in 11 countries. Amazing work! I know you’re going to love Jeremy and the work he and RF are doing all around the world. Follow Jeremy on Twitter and Instagram. Follow Rescue:Freedom on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Also, consider becoming a financial partner! Your money will go to good use, to say the least.  Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Or you can leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts! Every little bit helps. Thanks for all your help. Have a wonderful week! Please let me know how I can serve you better. Give more damns this week than ever before, my friends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elena and I first met over FaceTime months ago. Minutes into our conversation, I knew I needed to have her on the podcast. Elena grew up as the child of humanitarian aid workers overseas so she was able to see firsthand what it looks like to give a damn. Among her many accomplishments, she has been awarded the prestigious Harry S. Truman Scholarship. That’s kind of a big deal. She is also a Rhodes Scholar finalist. Also, a big deal.  We discuss growing up all over the world, caring for refugees in war-torn countries, fighting for women’s rights, and engaging in the long, hard work of being an agent of change for important issues at the policy level. I know you’re going to love our conversation.  Follow Elena on Facebook. She’s not on social media all that much but you can google her name to find out more about her academic scholarships and her accomplishments. She’s awesome! Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Thanks for all your help. Have a wonderful week! Please let me know how I cam serve you better. Give more damns this week than ever before, my friends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Heide is a sustainable fashion model from NYC. She uses her voice and platform to champion the work Deux Mains and so many others are doing in the sustainable and ethical fashion world. Heide is good friends with Julie, the founder of Deux Mains. In this podcast chapter, I speak with both of these women about their lives, their vision for giving meaningful work to so many in the developing world, and their hopes for the future. You’re going to love these women—so much passion for life and love for people!  Follow Heide on Twitter and Instagram, follow Julie on Instagram, and follow Deux Mains on Twitter and Instagram. Also, buy your next pair of sandals, your next tote, or your next necklace from Deux Mains. Amazing products that support the livelihood of so many wonderful people! Lastly, if you want to hear more from Julie, check our her 2016 TEDx talk.  Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Thanks for all your help. Have a wonderful week! Please let me know how I cam serve you better. Give more damns this week than ever before, my friends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jamie Sivrais is an amazing person. He’s displays resilience and strength in so many ways. During the first few years of his life, he experienced a significant amount of pain and trauma from a family member. Years later, he is using all that he has gone through as a launching pad for helping, loving, and serving those who has experienced similar things in their lives.  Follow Jamie on Twitter. Follow A Voice For The Innocent on Twitter and check out their website for help, resources, and information! Lots of great stuff there. Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Thanks for all your help. Have a wonderful week! Please let me know how I cam serve you better. Give more damns this week than ever before, my friends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eryn Eddy is a social entrepreneur, speaker, art director, and the founder of So Worth Loving– a lifestyle clothing brand based in Atlanta, Georgia. Eryn and her work have been featured in publications such as CNN headline news, MSNBC, Mashable, Jezebel Magazine, Southern Living, and Atlanta Magazine. Eryn hopes to empower others to use their voice for good in whatever avenue they are serving in. In our conversation, we discuss her upbringing, how So Worth Loving started (fascinating story!), what she believes her calling is for her life, and so much more.  Follow Eryn on Twitter and Instagram. Follow So Worth Loving on Instagram and go buy a shirt (or two!) on their website.  Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Thanks for all your help. Have a wonderful week! Give more damns this week than ever before, my friends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rich has spent 29 of his 33 years of life living in the same neighborhood—Washington Heights, Manhattan. He’s a husband, father, pastor, and a neighbor. And he’s committed to seeing people thrive in every way—physically, financially, emotionally, & spiritually. He—along with his family, church family, and community—are very involved in caring for the needs of the people around them. An all-around amazing dude that gives so many damns!  Follow Rich on Twitter and Instagram. Follow Mi Casa Uptown on Instagram and check out some videos, blog posts, and other resources on their website. Also, buy Rich’s new book! You’re going to love it.  Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Thanks for all your help. Can’t wait to spend time with you all next week. Give more damns this week than ever before, my friends! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kareem Manuel grew up in Chicago. He has pastored churches, performed for thousands as a hip hop artist, started companies, and everything in between. Now? He lives in Atlanta growing the We. Society, loving his neighbors, spending time with his family, managing artists, and always dreaming up new ways to help people rally around good causes. Kareem is wildly passionate about empowering people to give a damn and to stop making excuses for not caring. After all, we are the ones we are waiting for. This is a great conversation. Lots to learn from Kareem. Let’s go! Follow Kareem on Twitter and Instagram. Follow We. on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. And support them by purchasing a dang shirt! Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Thanks for all your help. Can’t wait to spend time with you all very soon. Give more damns than ever before, my friends! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s conversation is live! Yup. We recorded this in front of a live audience in Nashville. Along with hearing from Barrett Ward, you’ll also get to hear from Miles Adcox, Ashley Real, and Alex Masters. These three humans are amazing and I can’t wait for you to hear what they have to say! Or sing, in Alex’s case:) OK, back to Barrett. It wasn’t until later in life that Barrett figured out what he wanted to do. He would say he still doesn’t quite know. But now that he (somewhat) knows, he’s running full speed ahead. He and the team at Fashionable provide meaningful work to thousands of women in the developing world while also providing those living in the Western world an opportunity to wear clothes that are sustainably and responsibly made and produced. You’re going to love Barrett, his story, and his passion for providing meaningful jobs to women all all over the world. And guess what? They’re just getting started! In our conversation, he reveals some really fantastic and important details about the future of Fashionable. Follow Fashionable on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Keep up with the work Barrett and the Fashionable team are doing by checking out their website and buying some clothes! Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Thanks for all your help. Can’t wait to spend time with you all very soon. Love y’all very much! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Miles Adcox is the CEO of Onsite. He speaks nationally on topics such as Emotional Leadership, Inspiration, Communication, Organizational health, Creative Flow, Family Systems, Trauma, and Emotional Wellness. He is also a frequent guest on Dr. Phil and he’s been featured on A&E’s Intervention.  So, what’s Onsite? “Onsite provides a safe, loving, family environment where guests can break the cycles that hold them back and rediscover themselves and their relationships.” They’ve helped so many people through very difficult times in their lives. They’ve even helped people I know personally!  Miles is a wise man who is filled with love and care for people. This was crystal clear when I met him in the studio and I know you’ll hear these things come through in our conversation. So much to learn from him!  Follow Miles on Twitter and Instagram. Keep up with the work he and the Onsite team are doing by following them on Twitter and Instagram, as well!  Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Thanks for all your help. Can’t wait to spend time with you all very soon. Love y’all very much! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Like some of you, Beth Mathews is a graphic and web designer by trade. She’s a damn good one, too! What makes Beth so special is that she has chosen to proactively use her skillset and experiences to love and serve so many people. Whether we look at The Mom Bag or Immigrant Run Eateries, she continues to kill it.  I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Beth. She exudes humility and genuine love for people. You’ll hear it in her voice, in her responses, and even in the occasional pauses. Buckle up, this is a good one! Follow Beth on Instagram. Keep up with some of the damn-giving work she’s doing by visiting Immigrant Run Eateries and The Mom Bag.  Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Thanks for all your help. Can’t wait to spend time with you all very soon. Love you guys and gals! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Cotton Richmond has been helping, loving, and serving people for quite some time. He started out working to free people from human slavery with the International Justice Mission. He then serve das the Special Litigation Counsel with the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. He went on to start the Human Trafficking Institute. If you haven’t figured out by now, John loves people and longs to see all people freed from all kinds of slavery. He’s amazing! In our conversation, he gives us so much wisdom and practical help for giving a damn. You won’t want to miss one minute of our chat.  Follow John on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Keep up with the work he’s doing by following the Human Trafficking Institute on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Thanks for all your help. Can’t wait to spend time with y’all next week. Stay tuned! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You may know Leon from his iconic yellow motor bike. Or you may know him from his Netflix show, The Kindness Diaries. Or maybe from his National Geographic show called The Amazing Adventures of a Nobody. Either way, you’re going to enjoy my conversation with a man who takes risks for a living with the hope of sharing love and kindness with as many people as possible. It’s not all fun and games, though. Leon will share a little about the struggles of being a globe trotting kindness spreader.  Leon has documented his travels for Good Morning America, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Outside, Good, Psychology Today, and The New York Times. Follow Leon on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. And if you have Netflix (and everyone of you do!), quit watching The Office reruns and watch The Kindness Diaries.  Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Thanks for all your help. Can’t wait to spend time with y’all next week. Stay tuned! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David is a powerhouse. No, seriously. His voice and passion command your attention and his fitness regimen makes most of us look undisciplined and straight-up lazy. David spent a few years playing for the Los Angeles Rams and the Seattle Seahawks. He was “Mr. Irrelevant” (the last pick) in the 2008 NFL Draft. He didn’t get discouraged by this, however. He used this opportunity to prove everyone wrong. You will hear the same passion and persistence in his voice today as he now uses his skillset, experiences, and his whole life to serve disabled military veterans through the Adaptive Training Foundation. You’ll hear more about this and so much more in this podcast conversation. Follow David on Twitter and Instagram. Follow Adaptive Training Foundation on Twitter and Instagram. Also, watch this short film to learn more about David and the incredible work he’s doing! Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets! Thanks for all your help. Can’t wait to share more stories with y’all next week. Stay tuned! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I met Clint in the back of a coffeeshop and bookstore to record our conversation (please excuse the chatter you’ll hear in the background!). Clint has impacted me deeply so it was an honor to get a few minutes of his time on a beautiful Sunday morning in D.C. Clint uses poetry, public speaking, social media, books, and many other mediums to address important issues like systemic racism, mass incarceration, gentrification, et al. Unlike many others addressing these same issues, Clint approaches these topics with firm humility. Very refreshing, indeed! I know you’ll enjoy and learn from our conversation.  Follow Clint on Twitter to keep up with what’s going on in his life. Purchase Counting Descent, his collection of poetry, immediately. This important book was the winner of the 2017 Black Caucus of the American Library Association Literary Award. What are you waiting for? Lastly, watch his TED talks here and here. You won’t regret doing so. Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets. Much love to you and yours! Can’t wait to share more stories with y’all next week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adam and I met when I recorded a podcast with his wife, Noor Tagouri. Three days after recording my podcast with her, Adam and I met at their apartment building in D.C. to record a conversation wit him! I love everything about this couple. Adam has always been entrepreneurial. His hard-working, immigrant roots led him to start Lisn Up Clothing when he was still a teenager. I love this clothing brand and I love how radically generous they are! You’ll learn more about him and Lisn Up in this fantastic conversation.  Follow Adam on Instagram. Follow LisnUp on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Also, check out their website! Buy a hat or a shirt and support their great mission! Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets. Much love to you and yours! Can’t wait to share more stories with y’all next week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alex Lewis is 23 year old social media social specialist at YoungLife. He’s so full of life and positivity! He’s also a poet and had an idea to start a simple project that has now spread all over the world—Car Window Poetry. We both happened to be in North Carolina at the same time so we grabbed an hour or so together to talk about life, poetry, turning ideas into reality, and where Car Window Poetry is headed.  Follow Alex Lewis on Twitter and Instagram. Follow Car Window Poetry on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you’d like to be involved as a CWP ambassador, click here for more info on how you can join the team and spread good news! Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets. Much love to you and yours! Can’t wait to share more stories with y’all next week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My conversation with Jeremy Courtney impacted me so deeply. Jeremy is the founder of Preemptive Love Coalition. He and his family live outside of Mosul, Iraq. You can't follow Jeremy or Preemptive Love for very long on social media before realizing that these friends are the real deal. They are not bullshitting about the work they do and the intense situations they are surrounded by each day as they pour their lives out for the precious people of Iraq, Syria, and beyond. I hope our conversation impacts you as deeply as it has impacted me. Follow Jeremy Courtney on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Follow Preemptive Love on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you’d like to be involved in the work they’re doing, consider giving a one-time or monthly donation. Your money will be put to incredible use, I can assure you. Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets. Much love to you and yours! Can’t wait to share another story with y’all next week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I recently sat down with two of the four founders of Trades of Hope, Chelsie and Elisabeth. We met up the morning after the final day of their annual conference. They had 500 women come to Nashville for three days of stories, encouragement, and empowerment. I’m still reeling from the 90 minutes I spent with them. These young women have been hustling and creating since their early teenage years. They, along with their mothers, created a company that “empowers women out of poverty around the world while creating entrepreneurial opportunities for the modern American woman by selling ethically produced fashion accessories and home decor.” All in all, Trades of Hope helps thousands of women make a full-time or a part-time income. Incredible! Learn more about Elisabeth by following her on Instagram. Learn more about Chelsie by following her on Instagram. Follow Trades of Hope online to keep up with the incredible work they’re engaged in. Maybe some of y’all will join their team as compassionate entrepreneurs! Who knows? Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets. Much love to you and yours! Can’t wait to share more stories with y’all next week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A few weeks ago, I sat down with Peter Shankman in his Midtown Manhattan office on a rainy day in NYC. Peter and I originally interacted on Twitter when he posted, “How can I help you today?” I ask that question often and love it when others do, too! I went on his website and, sure enough, the first thing I see a banner that reads, “How can I help you today?” I love this! And he truly means it. We talk about everything from the NYC Public School system, to growing up in NYC, to his work, to how he won’t stay overnight in Vegas. We spent a chunk of time talking about why he is on a mission to help people with ADHD see it as a gift and not a curse.  If this conversation seems different from most of the other stories we highlight on the podcast, you’re right! I always want to push the boundaries and highlight all different types of giving a damn.  If you want to learn more about Peter, visit his website and follow him on Twitter. Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets.   THIS WEEK’S SPONSORS   Ruby Cup: Ruby Cup is a healthier, more sustainable, cost-effective and eco-friendly alternative to pads and tampons. Ruby Cup makes a world of difference. It will transform how you manage your period and help promote menstrual health in developing countries. Visit their website to learn more about you can help make a difference in the lives of so many women around the world! Scout Books: Visit their website for 15% of any products in their store! All their products are made with 100% recyclable materials and their shop in Portland, OR runs off of renewable energy. Support these friends of ours! And make sure to find them online and thank them for their generosity and for making our podcast possible.   Much love to you and yours! Can’t wait to share more stories with y’all next week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I had the privilege of sitting down with three wonderful humans while spending just a few hours in Baltimore, MD. We met up at Baltimore’s ImpactHub location and I met with them one after the other. By the end, I was drained, encouraged, and, more than anything, had real love in my heart for these three people and the city they cared for and loved.  First, you’ll hear my conversation with David Fakunle. David has lived his entire life in Baltimore. He has a PhD in Mental Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. I love David’s energy and spirit! Baltimore is blessed to have him. Second, you’ll hear my chat with C. Harvey. She talks about her life, her struggles, and her art. She’s an amazing person who has overcome so much and continues to fight! Lastly, you’ll hear the conversation I had with Rodney Foxworth. This brother is a force to be reckoned with. He is a quiet man but his life packs a punch. Rodney co-founded ImpactHub Baltimore, he founded and is the CEO of Invested Impact, and he is involved, in so many ways, in making Baltimore a better place.  I know you’ll be encouraged by these conversations and I trust you’ll love you city, town, or neighborhood more as a result of hearing us chat.  If you want to learn more about David, you can find his TEDx talk here. If you want to keep up with C. Harvey, you can learn more about her by reading her bio or by following her Baltimore’s Gifted brand on Instagram. If you want to find out all that Rodney Foxworth is involved in, read here. If you want to keep up with all that Red Bull Amaphiko is going to encourage and help social entrepreneurs in Baltimore and in many other cities, follow them on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! And if you want to follow Nick Laparra—Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets.   THIS WEEK’S SPONSORS Ruby Cup: Ruby Cup is a healthier, more sustainable, cost-effective and eco-friendly alternative to pads and tampons. Ruby Cup makes a world of difference. It will transform how you manage your period and help promote menstrual health in developing countries. Visit their website to learn more about you can help make a difference in the lives of so many women around the world! Scout Books: Visit their website for 15% of any products in their store Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I had the privilege of sitting down with a fantastic human and writer, Jonathan Merritt. We met at his apartment in Brooklyn, NY and spoke for an hour or so over wine and a beer. We discuss everything from growing up as the son of a prominent Southern Baptist pastor and leader to how he got into writing as a career to how he uses his life and skills to give a damn by writing articles and books that move people toward action.  He currently serves as a contributing writer for The Atlantic, contributing editor for The Week, and senior columnist for Religion News Service. He has published more than 3500 articles in publications like USA Today, Buzzfeed, The Daily Beast, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. He has appeared on ABC World News, NPR, CNN, PBS, MSNBC, Fox News, CBS’ “60 Minutes” and The New York Times. He has also written three books, including Jesus is Better Than You Imagined and A Faith of Our Own: Following Jesus Beyond the Culture Wars, and has collaborated on or ghostwritten more than 40 additional books, with several titles landing on the New York Times, USA Today, or Wall Street Journal bestsellers lists.  If you want to learn more about Jonathan, check out jonathanmerritt.com. If you want to learn from him, check out writebrilliant.com and jumpstartmywriting.com.  Follow Nick Laparra on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter and Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets.   THIS WEEK’S SPONSORS Ruby Cup: Ruby Cup is a healthier, more sustainable, cost-effective and eco-friendly alternative to pads and tampons. Ruby Cup makes a world of difference. It will transform how you manage your period and help promote menstrual health in developing countries. Visit their website to learn more about you can help make a difference in the lives of so many women around the world! Scout Books: Visit their website for 15% of any products in their store! All their products are made with 100% recyc Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I had the privilege of sitting down with the incredible Noor Tagouri. We met for an hour last week at VaynerMedia in NYC. We discuss everything from growing up as a Muslim in West Virginia to her success as a storyteller to why she wears a hijab and what that empowers the women around her. And so much more! I had so much fun talking with her and I know you’ll learn a ton from a young woman who gives so many damns! Follow her on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter. Additionally, I’d encourage you to watch her TED Talk to learn about her story and her life. Follow Nick Laparra on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter and Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets. THIS WEEK’S SPONSORS Ruby Cup: Ruby Cup is a healthier, more sustainable, cost-effective and eco-friendly alternative to pads and tampons. Ruby Cup makes a world of difference. It will transform how you manage your period and help promote menstrual health in developing countries. Visit their website to learn more about you can help make a difference in the lives of so many women around the world! Scout Books: Visit their website for 15% of any products in their store! All their products are made with 100% recyclable materials and their shop in Portland, OR runs off of renewable energy. Support these friends of ours! And make sure to find them online and thank them for their generosity and for making our podcast possible. Much love to you and yours! Can’t wait to share more stories with y’all next week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, I share six of my favorite moments so far on the podcast. These are, of course, not the only favorite moments I have had. Not even close! I have loved each conversation with the incredible people with whom I’ve been able to chat. These moments, however, stuck out in my mind and I wanted to share them with you. I hope you learn from them and are inpsired to take action and give a damn TODAY! For reference, the clips I share from my conversations with Bucky Buchstaber, Rainn Wilson, Brit Gilmore, Timothy Sykes, Nickolas Gaines, and Golriz Lucina. Each person represents a different way that they’re changing the world but they all have one thing in common—they give a damn and have chosen to not be silent about things that matter. I hope you are encouraged and challenged by the moments I’ve pulled together for you! Follow me, Nick Laparra, on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter and Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing the monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets. THIS WEEK’S SPONSOR Scout Books: Go to scoutbooks.com/letsgiveadamn for 15% of any products in their store! All their products are made with 100% recyclable materials and their shop in Portland, OR runs off of renewable energy. Support these friends of ours! And make sure to find them online and thank them for their generosity and for making our podcast possible. Much love to you and yours! Can’t wait to share more stories with y’all next week! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, I have a conversation with my new friend and super human, Becca Stevens. Becca Stevens is an author, speaker, priest, social entrepreneur, founder and president of Thistle Farms. After the death of her father when she was 5, Becca experienced sexual abuse at the hands of someone close to her. As she grew older, she longed to help women who had experienced some of the things she had when she was younger. In 1997, she started Thistle Farms. Two decades later, Thistle Farms helps women through the means of free housing, medical care, therapy, and education. Additionally, the Global Market of Thistle Farms employed more than 1800 women worldwide! Becca has been featured in the New York Times, ABC World News, was recently named a 2016 CNN Hero and a White House “Champion of Change." Among other awards and recognitions, she was inducted into the Tennessee Women’s Hall of Fame. Her newest book, Love Heals, will be published by Harper Collins in September of 2017. You can preorder it now! Follow Becca on Facebook & Twitter. Also, follow Thistle Farms on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter. You’ll love keeping up with the incredible work they’re doing! Also, follow Nick Laparra (Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter) and Let’s Give A Damn (Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter) to keep up with all the LGAD happenings. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! Support Let’s Give A Damn by contributing a monthly amount of your choice on Patreon. 100% of the money you contribute will go to making more podcasts. Not a dime goes into our pockets. SPONSORS FOR THIS WEEK Scout Books: Go to scoutbooks.com/letsgiveadamn for 15% of any products in their store! All their products are made with 100% recyclable materials and their shop in Portland, OR runs off of renewable energy.  Thistle Farms: Use code giveadamn at checkout to receive free shipping on your entire order within the USA. Support the incredible work they’re doing by purchasing their amazing products! Support both of these friends of ours! Also, make sure to find them online and thank them for their generosity and for making our podcast possible. Much love to you and yours! Can’t wait to share more stories with y’all next week! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the LME Podcast! Thank you for listening. This podcast’s contents are: Intro: LOGO CONTEST! NEWS: Watch What You Say!  3:35 Country Shane’s FACT! 21:15 Q&A!  5 Questions from you!! 22:50 ABC: AudioBookClub with Coach Shane! The 7 Habits: Habit #3 34:30     Outro! 54:50   Do you wanna MASTER ENGLISH? Try Coach Shane’s lessons FOR FREE! Do you that FREE audio book so you can participate in ABC?! Support Let’s Master English—without your support, we couldn’t be here:         Thanks SO much for listening! Don’t forget to tell your friends and SHARE!!   Let’s Master English PODCAST 61 is UP and READY for YOU!! #LearnEnglish #ESL #LME #Twinglish

Welcome to the LME Podcast! Thank you for listening. This podcast’s contents are: Intro: LOGO CONTEST! NEWS: Feeling Down, Look Up 4:15 Country Shane’s FACT! 20:45 Q&A!  5 Questions from you!! 22:20 ABC: AudioBookClub with Coach Shane! The 7 Habits: Habit #2 36:35     Outro! 58:35   Do you wanna MASTER ENGLISH? Try Coach Shane’s lessons FOR FREE! Do you that FREE audio book so you can participate in ABC?! Support Let’s Master English—without your support, we couldn’t be here:         Thanks SO much for listening! Don’t forget to tell your friends and SHARE!!

Welcome to the LME Podcast! Thank you for listening. This podcast’s contents are: Intro: LOGO CONTEST! NEWS: Doomsday is Nigh 5:20 Country Shane’s FACT!22:50 Q&A!  4 Questions from you!!24:15 ABC: AudioBookClub with Coach Shane! The 7 Habits: Habit #1 35:40     Outro!56:15   Do you wanna MASTER ENGLISH? Try Coach Shane’s lessons FOR FREE! Do you that FREE audio book so you can participate in ABC?! Support Let’s Master English—without your support, we couldn’t be here:         Thanks SO much for listening! Don’t forget to tell your friends and SHARE!!

Welcome to the LME Podcast! Thank you for listening. This podcast’s contents are: Intro NEWS: Boarding Pass Country Shane’s FACT! Q&A!  ABC: AudioBookClub with Coach Shane!        Outro!   Do you wanna MASTER ENGLISH? Try Coach Shane’s lessons FOR FREE! Do you that FREE audio book so you can participate in ABC?! Support Let’s Master English—without your support, we couldn’t be here:         Thanks SO much for listening! Don’t forget to tell your friends and SHARE!!   Let’s Master English PODCAST 58 is UP and READY for YOU!! #LearnEnglish #ESL #LME #Twinglish

Welcome to the LME Podcast! Thank you for listening. This podcast’s contents are: Intro NEWS: Parking Nightmare Country Shane’s FACT! Q&A!  ABC: AudioBookClub with Coach Shane!        Outro!   Do you wanna MASTER ENGLISH? Try Coach Shane’s lessons FOR FREE! Do you that FREE audio book so you can participate in ABC?! Support Let’s Master English—without your support, we couldn’t be here:         Thanks SO much for listening! Don’t forget to tell your friends and SHARE!!   Let’s Master English PODCAST 57 is UP and READY for YOU!! #LearnEnglish #ESL #LME #Twinglish