This is Candor

Today’s episode features Lori Schwanbeck. Lori is a passionate advocate for creating lives of meaning and engagement in both personal and professional realms. 

In this conversation we hear about her journey from marketing, to psychology and mindfulness, how we can start to recapture our attention so we can live fully, bringing compassion and gratitude practices into the workplace, and the potential benefits of wider adoption of nature-based mindfulness.

Lori Schwanbeck’s Bio:

With a background in marketing, positive psychology, and mindfulness practice, Lori brings a unique set of skills and expertise to working with individuals and organizations. She has taught thousands of people in diverse global settings and is known for her ability to foster connection with warmth, humor and authenticity, while inspiring the best in others.

She is a senior faculty member at Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI), an organization born at Google, where she mentors and trains teachers, and designs and facilitates both in-person and virtual mindfulness based emotional intelligence programs. Lori is currently involved in a 2-year project in Bhutan working in partnership with the Gross National Happiness initiative bringing SIYLI’s program to all levels of the Bhutanese government.

Lori is also a curriculum contributor and facilitator at: LinkedIn, Purpose Blue, Wisdom Labs, Mindfulness Rx and the Mindfulness Training Institute. Lori is a faculty member leading nature-based mindfulness retreats at Esalen Institute, Modern Elder Academy, and Canyon Ranch.

Lori holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Saskatchewan, and a MA in psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. She is a certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher, trained by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach through the Greater Good Science Center.

📍 California, USA

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🎙️ Hosted by Megan Doepker

📝 Show notes: https://www.thisiscandor.com/podcast/lori-schwanbeck

💡 Feedback?  Email megan@thisiscandor.com

On today’s episode I’m joined by Zécca Lehn. He’s the General Partner of Responsibly Ventures, backing U.S. PreSeed startups in both Social and Sustainable Tech. Zécca shares how his upbringing in an off grid house on San Juan island laid the early foundations for caring about sustainability and how he achieved a 20 year goal to be investing in sustainable companies.  His diverse portfolio of investments has a strong track record and you’ll hear about his process and what is perhaps an unexpected superpower!

Zécca J. Lehn’s Bio:

Zécca J. Lehn is the General Partner of Responsibly Ventures, based in California, backing U.S. PreSeed startups in both Social and Sustainable Tech—using multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a guidepost per investment.

Over the past 15+ years, he has worked as an Environmental Economist, Data Scientist, Non-Profit Board Member, and Co-Founder. He grew up in an off-the-grid Japanese-style home, on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest. Through his world travels and living in Scandinavia during his early 20’s, he discovered a deep love for people, planet, and diverse cultures.

For the past years, he has produced the podcast posi2ive, on Venture Scale Positive Impacts. He also leads regular community events – for posi2ive’s current base of around 5k+ members across platforms.

He holds a degree in Environmental Economics from Western Washington University, and a Certified Specialization in Data Science from Johns Hopkins University. Additionally, he’s certified under the UN Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). He often speaks on pitch panels, podcasts, and publishes articles on the PreSeed VC Impact arena.

📍 California, USA

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🎙️ Hosted by Megan Doepker

📝 Show notes: https://www.thisiscandor.com/podcast/zecca-lehn

💡 Feedback?  Email megan@thisiscandor.com

On today’s episode, I’m joined by Laura Budzyna. She’s the Associate Director for Innovation Practice at MIT D-Lab. We chat about MIT D-LABs unique design mindset approach to development, different impact measurement strategies, and how you can make data more fun. 

Laura Budzyna’s Bio:

Laura Budzyna is a global development practitioner and evaluator committed to participatory, flexible, and learning-focused measurement for the social impact sector. Specializing in the evaluation of innovative pilot programs, she works hand-in-hand with impact professionals to design measurement strategies that can adapt to evolving projects with emergent outcomes.

Laura is the Associate Director for Innovation Practice and the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Manager at MIT D-Lab, which works with people around the world to develop and advance collaborative approaches and practical solutions to global poverty challenges. Laura leads the visioning and development of MIT D-Lab’s impact measurement strategy, has implemented evaluations on 20+ D-Lab inclusive innovation programs, and advises partner organizations on their impact measurement strategies.

Laura holds an MPA in Development Practice from Columbia University’s School for International and Public Affairs and a BA in International Studies from Middlebury College. She is the author of The Metrics Café, a framework that aims to bridge the divide between funders’ and grantees’ impact management needs.

📍Boston, MA USA

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🎙️ Hosted by Megan Doepker

📝 Show notes: https://www.thisiscandor.com/podcast/laura-budzyna

💡 Feedback? Suggestions for a guest or topic? Email megan@thisiscandor.com

On today’s episode I’m joined by Jana Amin. Jana is a 17-year-old Egyptian-American advocate for changing the narrative around Muslim Women and gender parity.

In this episode Jana discusses:

• Hosting 17 speakers, ranging from Suzanne Ehlers, CEO of the Malala Fund to Nibras Khudaida, Refugee and Human Rights Activist, on her 17th birthday to bring awareness to the millions of girls that are estimated to have dropped out of school and will not return because of the pandemic. 
• How she organized this birthday event in only a couple of weeks!
• Overcoming obstacles in archival research to curate an exhibit at the American University in Cairo titled “Princess Fawzia and the Duality of Egyptian Women”.
• The importance of youth voices and how we can better support them. 

Jana Amin’s Bio:
Jana Amin is a 17-year-old Egyptian-American advocate for changing the narrative around Muslim Women and gender parity. An avid speaker, Jana has given a TedX-Youth talk about her work and spoken at the United Nations General Assembly. She works closely with The Collateral Repair Project, an NGO based in Jordan to support refugee women and girls. Recently, she hosted a virtual event, #17for17: Advocating for Girls' Education. Her research focuses on the media representation of Muslim women; she curated an exhibit at the American University in Cairo titled “Princess Fawzia and the Duality of Egyptian Women”. She is currently interning at the Harvard Kennedy School. Jana is a member of the Youth Activism Project and one of the founders and podcasters on UnTextbooked. Recently, she was selected as one of Arab-America's 20 Under 20 and one of The Conversationa-LIST's 2020 Education honorees.

📍Boston, MA USA

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🎙️ Hosted by Megan Doepker

📝 Show notes: https://www.thisiscandor.com/podcast/jana-amin

💡 Feedback? Suggestions for a guest or topic? Email megan@thisiscandor.com

On today’s episode I’m joined by Curtis Smith. Curtis is the founder of Moment of Mindfulness where he empowers corporate and educational communities to activate their best intentions through culturally responsive and evidence-based mindfulness tools.

In this episode Curtis discusses:

• Co-founding a school and leading the character development curriculum.
• How he expanded mindfulness programs to 1000’s of scholars in 33 NYC public schools and design workshops for Barack Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Alliance.
• Mindfulness exercises he uses with scholars and corporate clients.
• How affirmations and language have impacted both his and his scholar’s lives.

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🎙️ Hosted by Megan Doepker

📝 Show notes: https://www.thisiscandor.com/podcast/curtis-smith

💡 Feedback? Suggestions for a guest or topic? Email megan@thisiscandor.com

On today’s episode I’m joined by Paolo Gallo. He’s the author of “The Compass & The Radar: the art of building a rewarding career while remaining true to yourself” and the founder of Compass Consulting. Previously he served as Chief HR Officer at the World Economic Forum and Chief Learning Officer at the World Bank. 

In the conversation, Paolo discusses some of the essential tools for a successful career, helpful exercises that he uses as a career coach,  leadership traits needed to tackle the issues our world faces, and more.

📍Italy

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🎙️ Hosted by Megan Doepker

📝 Show notes: https://www.thisiscandor.com/podcast/paolo-gallo

💡 Feedback? Suggestions for a guest or topic? Email megan@thisiscandor.com

On today’s episode, I’m joined by Dr. Raghu Appasani. Raghu is a psychiatrist, Neuroscientist, Mental Health Advocate, and the founder & CEO of The MINDS Foundation, a mental health nonprofit focused on bridging the gap between western and eastern practices to create a wholesome society.

In this episode, Raghu discusses the importance of mental hygiene, breaks mental health stigmas, and shares his vision for a world where anyone, anywhere can access the mental health resources they need whilst being supported by a society full of empathy, compassion, and love.

Dr. Raghu Appasani’s Bio:

Dr. Raghu Kiran Appasani is a Psychiatrist, Neuroscientist, Mental Health Advocate, and Social Entrepreneur focused on bridging the gap between western and eastern practices to create a wholesome society. His vision is to create a world in which anyone, anywhere can access the mental health resources they need whilst being supported by a society full of empathy, compassion, and love. He is the Founder & CEO of The MINDS Foundation, a mental health nonprofit, for which he has been recognized as a One Young World Delegate Ambassador, StartingBloc Fellow, Nexus Global Delegate, EchoingGreen, MassChallenge, and Kellogg Innovation Network Delegate. Through his extensive scientific research, he has published over 35 peer-reviewed articles and edited six books. He has given over 50 talks on mental health, entrepreneurship, global health, and consciousness in parallel with authorship for ThriveGlobal, The Better India, and The Huffington Post. He has been recognized by CNN, Vogue, Rollingstone Magazine, Boston Globe, and many others. His commitment to wellness has led to the develop of initiatives focused on reliance and empathy in physicians, resulting in him receiving the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award from the Gold Humanism Honor Society. He serves on a number of boards and advisory councils in the health and wellbeing space. Raghu received his Bachelor of Arts in Neuroscience & Behaviour/Science in Society with a focus in Philosophy from Wesleyan University and his MD from The University of Massachusetts Medical School.

📍Los Angeles, CA USA

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🎙️ Hosted by Megan Doepker

📝 Show notes: https://www.thisiscandor.com/podcast/dr-raghu-appasani

💡 Feedback? Suggestions for a guest or topic? Email megan@megandoepker.com

On today’s episode I’m joined by Carolina García Jayaram, the founding executive director of The Elevate Prize Foundation. The mission of the foundation is to amplify the impact of innovators, activists and problem-solvers. In its first year, the global entrepreneurship competition powered by MIT SOLVE had nearly 1300 applicants from 119 countries. There are 10 winners who receive funding and embark on a 2-year program. In addition, they’re building a powerful platform to mobilize communities, catalyze positive change, and awaken the hero in all of us. This conversation was recorded at the end of September, shortly before the 10 winners were selected. 

In our conversation we talk about:

• Carolina’s background leading arts and culture organizations
• What makes The Elevate Prize Foundation different  (like why they're industry agnostic and award some of the prize money directly to the entrepreneur, in addition to their organization).
• The pain points felt by social entrepreneurs and how they plan to help.  
  
  

Guest Bio:
Carolina García Jayaram is the founding executive director of The Elevate Prize Foundation and she has more than two decades of experience in leading national institutions and initiatives dedicated to enriching and shaping social-impact, philanthropic and cultural communities across the United States.  She most recently served as CEO & President of the National Young Arts Foundation and, prior to that, as President & CEO of United States Artists, where she helped manage $25M in unrestricted awards to this country’s most accomplished artists and spearheaded a $20M operating endowment campaign.  Carolina was also Executive Director of the Chicago Artists Coalition (CAC). While there, she was a member of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Cultural Advisory Council and was named “Chicagoan of the Year in the Arts” by the Chicago Tribune.  Her philanthropic work extends to serving on the Advisory Council for Ruth’s List Florida (which aims to elect progressive women to public office in Florida) and on the Latin American and Latinx Committee for the Perez Art Museum.  Carolina received her JD (with honors) from the University of Miami School of Law, where she is now an Adjunct Professor as well as a member of the Advisory Committee for the Law School’s Art + Sports Law LLM program. She has also studied not-for-profit management at Harvard Business School.  In 2019, she delivered the commencement speech at Broward College and received an honorary degree for her commitment to community service and leadership. 

📍Miami, FL USA

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🎙️ Hosted by Megan Doepker

📝 Show notes: https://www.thisiscandor.com/podcast/carolina-garcia-jayaram

💡 Feedback? Suggestions for a guest or topic? Email megan@megandoepker.com

On today’s episode I’m joined by Gregg Trienish, the Founder and Executive director of Adventure Scientists. Since their founding in 2011, Adventure Scientists has sent thousands of volunteer adventurers on missions to collect data from remote, difficult-to-access locations for scientists and conservation partners. 

Gregg's passion for scientific discovery, exploration, and adventuring with purpose is evident. Sixteen years ago he thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail and in 2008 National Geographic named him an Adventurer of the Year when he completed a 7,800-mile trek along the spine of the Andes Mountain Range. He’s also an Ashoka Fellow and this year he was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, to name just a couple accolades out of the many he’s received.

Gregg talks about:

• Asking himself, “What would I do if money didn’t matter” while hiking the Appalachian Trail sixteen years ago and his path to starting Adventure Scientists.
• The impact of Adventure Scientists, like helping put an end to illegal timber poaching, collecting scat samples to aid in the battle against antibiotic-resistant superbugs, and building one of the largest global microplastic pollution datasets.
• Why the environmental movement has a marketing problem. 
• The different ways you can contribute to the environmental movement.
  
  

Gregg Treinish’s Bio:

Gregg founded Adventure Scientists in 2011 with a strong passion for both scientific discovery and exploration. National Geographic named Gregg an Adventurer of the Year in 2008 when he and a friend completed a 7,800-mile trek along the spine of the Andes Mountain Range. He was included on the Christian Science Monitor's 30 under 30 list in 2012, and the following year became a National Geographic Emerging Explorer for his work with Adventure Scientists. In 2013, he was named a Backpacker Magazine "hero", in 2015, a Draper Richards Kaplan Entrepreneur and one of Men's Journal's "50 Most Adventurous Men." In 2017, he was named an Ashoka Fellow and in 2018 one of the Grist 50 "Fixers."  Gregg was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2020. Gregg holds a biology degree from Montana State University and a sociology degree from CU-Boulder. He thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2004.  

📍Bozeman, MT USA

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🎙️ Hosted by Megan Doepker

📝 Show notes: www.thisiscandor.com/podcast/gregg-treinish

💡 Feedback? Suggestions for a guest or topic? Email megan@megandoepker.com. 

On today's episode, I'm joined by Trish Costello. She's the founder and CEO of Portfolia, which offers a radically different investing process designed for women and other emerging investors. They're building a movement to collectively invest in diverse founders solving problems that were often previously ignored, like in women's health, active aging, and financial justice. 

Trish talks about:

• Why Portfolia is full sail ahead investing in world-changing startups and raising funds even amidst the pandemic and economic downturn.
• Launching the first fund dedicated to women's health (and how traditional VC had been too uncomfortable to talk about vaginas) and the first fund led by all women of color. 
• How Portfolia is connecting with diverse founders, even as we go remote. 
• Why the regulations of what qualifies someone as an accredited investor should be updated, and how you can gain experience even if you're not accredited.
• The importance of women harnessing the power of their wealth. 
  
  

📍Bay Area, CA USA

Recorded August 11, 2020

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🎙️ Hosted by Megan Doepker

📝 Show notes: https://www.thisiscandor.com/podcast/trish-costello

💡 Feedback? Suggestions for a guest or topic? Email megan@megandoepker.com. 

Many of the guests on This is Candor question the status quo. This is certainly true of today’s guest, Paul Jarvis. 

Paul is a designer, writer, and serial entrepreneur. He’s the author of Company of One which explores why bigger isn’t always better in business. He’s also the co-founder of a privacy web analytics product called Fathom and shares his ideas around work and business in a weekly newsletter, the Sunday Dispatch.

Much of the conversation with Paul is centered around entrepreneurship as a company of one or small business. Paul touches on how to think about deciding what is enough in your own life, how every business, big and small, is a lifestyle business, and how to thrive at working remotely.

For context, this episode was recorded on June 22nd.

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🎙️ Hosted by Megan Doepker

📝 Show notes: https://www.thisiscandor.com/podcast/paul-jarvis

💡 Feedback? Suggestions for a guest or topic? Email megan@megandoepker.com. 

On today’s episode I’m joined by Patrick Walker. Patrick is a co-founder of Uptime app, a next-generation learning app that feeds curious minds with curated videos from the world’s leading experts. We talk about his background in education, journalism, and social media, Uptime app’s launch on Earth day, and why the word “care” is planted at the heart of everything Uptime app does.

Guest Bio:

After 20 years building and launching some of the world’s most innovative digital video services, Patrick committed himself to the future of learning as the Co-Founder of Uptime, a curated video app that’s dedicated to inspiring people everywhere to keep learning, growing and contributing to a better world. Patrick has led content partnerships as Director of Media Partnerships at Facebook and  Instagram, launched YouTube across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and created award-winning TV for NHK and the BBC. Throughout his career, he’s focused on the power of  emerging technologies to reach new audiences with meaningful content. This drive to innovate led Patrick to become founding investor and CCO of Europe’s largest multi-channel network, Base79, and CEO of Rightster, a leading content and audience development partner of YouTube and Facebook.  Patrick holds a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Southern California and an M.Ed in  Administration, Planning and Social Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.  

📍 London, UK

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🎙️ Hosted by Megan Doepker

📝 Show notes: https://www.thisiscandor.com/podcast/patrick-walker

💡 Feedback? Suggestions for a guest or topic? Email megan@megandoepker.com. 

On today’s episode I’m joined by Anne Marie Brook. Anne-Marie is the Co-founder of the Human Right Measurement Initiative, or HRMI.

HRMI is the first organization to track the human rights performance of countries. We recorded this conversation a few weeks ago and bringing awareness to HRMI is more relevant than ever with the movement for racial justice. HRMI’s data shows how the U.S. ranks poorly on human rights measures like safety from the state and extrajudicial killing. In addition, African American people were identified by experts they surveyed as being particularly vulnerable to abuses of every one of the rights HRMI measured. Because we recorded this episode a few weeks ago, the conversation is focused on the pandemic, however, I encourage you to check out HRMI online after the conversation. Their data is crucial infrastructure for creating much needed systems change.


Guest Bio:

📍 Wellington, NZ

Anne-Marie Brook is a Co-founder of the Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI). She is a former economist with a passion for helping to bring about systemic change. Prior to making the jump into human rights, Anne-Marie worked as a senior economist for the OECD and the New Zealand public sector. She is an Edmund Hillary Fellow and has degrees in Psychology and Economics from the University of Otago and an MPA in Economics from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, which she attended on a Fulbright Scholarship.

🎙️ Hosted by Megan Doepker

📝 Show notes: www.megandoepker.com/this-is-candor/anne-marie-brook

💡 Feedback? Suggestions for a guest or topic? Email megan@megandoepker.com

This week there will not be a regular episode of This is Candor. Instead, I’m participating in #PodcastBlackout to amplify black voices. Please refer to the following links to learn about and support the movement for racial justice. 

Donate:

• Black Lives Matter
• The Bail Project
• National Bail Fund Network
• NAACP Legal Defense Fund
• ACLU

Learn and take action:

• Read How To Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi.
• Watch13th.
• Take the Implicit Association Test, a tool from Harvard University to assess your own implicit biases.
• Vote for anti-racist policies and candidates in local, state, and national elections.
• Listen to a collection of black voices during the Civil Right's Movement. 

This is just a starting point. Keep on listening, learning, and supporting. 

On today’s episode I’m joined by Samantha Stein, a technologist, writer, and artist. Samantha was named a World Economic Forum Media Leader for the years she spent predicting the consequences of emerging technologies and is currently focused on mental health and the digital subconscious. Her art is produced under the name WOMBKIND and explores the intersection of technology, consciousness, consumerism, and compassion. She’s also the Chief Strategy Officer at QEDIT, a start up focused on ensuring that our data keeps us safe, sovereign, and enlightened. 

Samantha and I talk about art as the highest form of hope, the commentary of her art on the sacredness of life, the importance of imagination to create a better future, and much more. 

📍 Marin County, USA

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🎙️ Hosted by Megan Doepker

📝 Show notes: https://www.thisiscandor.com/podcast/samantha-stein

💡 Feedback? Suggestions for a guest or topic? Email megan@megandoepker.com

In today’s episode of This is Candor I’m joined by Jamie Alexander, founding Director of Drawdown Labs at Project Drawdown. “Drawdown” refers to the future point in time when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline. Project Drawdown has created a comprehensive list of the most substantive solutions to global warming to get us to Drawdown.

Jamie and I talk about her career path that led her to Project Drawdown, solutions to the climate crisis that Jamie is most excited about, and why we should have hope that we can achieve Drawdown.

Guest Bio:

Jamie Beck Alexander is a solutions-oriented corporate climate advocate, coalition builder, and founding Director of Drawdown Labs. Jamie joined the Project Drawdown team from Ceres, where she led corporate engagement on the west coast, working with companies to set ambitious emission reduction targets and leveraging their influence in support of strong climate and clean energy policies. At Ceres, she launched a public-private partnership with the City of San Francisco and Bay Area companies to identify and deploy collaborative solutions to decarbonize the transportation sector.

Previously, Jamie served as a Civil and Foreign Service Officer with US Agency for International Development (USAID), implementing projects to combat malaria and other infectious diseases, serving in Bangladesh, India and Tanzania. At USAID, she led an agency-wide effort to better integrate local solutions and voices into foreign aid programming and decision-making. She has also worked with the UN Office of the Secretary-General, the design firm IDEO, and indigenous peoples in the US, Amazon and Andes. Bringing this multidisciplinary background and solutions focus to bear, Jamie leads Drawdown Lab's work with companies to deploy climate solutions at scale.

📍 Oakland, USA

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🎙️ Hosted by Megan Doepker

📝 Show notes: https://www.thisiscandor.com/podcast/jamie-alexander

💡 Feedback? Suggestions for a guest or topic? Email megan@megandoepker.com

On today’s episode of This is Candor I’m joined by Madeline Holland. Madeline is the co-CEO of Talent Beyond Boundaries, or TBB for short. Talent Beyond Boundaries is the only organization in the world connecting refugees to international job opportunities, opening labor mobility as a complementary solution to traditional refugee resettlement. 

We talk about her journey from intern to co-CEO at TBB, how TBB is helping fill essential skills gaps amidst the pandemic, and how we can prepare for the increasing number of climate migrants and refugees. 

📍 Washington D.C., USA

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🎙️ Hosted by Megan Doepker

📝 Show notes: https://www.thisiscandor.com/podcast/madeline-holland

💡 Feedback? Suggestions for a guest or topic? Email megan@megandoepker.com

On today’s episode I’m joined by Cristina Mittermeier. Cristina has been a writer, conservationist and photographer for the past 25 years. She has an expansive life resume that includes being the co-founder of Sea Legacy, a non-profit dedicated to protecting the ocean, showcasing her photography in hundreds of publications, being named as one of the World’s top 40 Most Influential Outdoor Photographers by Outdoor Magazine and being named one of National Geographic’s 2018 Adventurers of the Year. 

We talk about how she’s continuing ocean conservation from home during the pandemic, the upcoming launch of Only One, the concept of “Enoughness”, and lessons we can learn from the COVID-19 crisis.

📍 Vancouver Island, Canada

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🎙️ Hosted by Megan Doepker

📝 Show notes: https://www.thisiscandor.com/podcast/cristina-mittermeier

💡 Feedback? Suggestions for a guest or topic? Email megan@megandoepker.com

On today’s episode, I’m joined by Vanessa Nakate. Vanessa is climate activist and the founder of the Rise Up movement. We talk about her path to climate activism and how she's empowering climate activists across Africa. 

📍 Kampala, Uganda

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🎙️ Hosted by Megan Doepker

📝 Show notes: https://www.thisiscandor.com/podcast/vanessa-nakate

💡 Feedback? Suggestions for a guest or topic? Email megan@megandoepker.com