coaltown

In this episode of the We Rise Podcast, Christine sits down with Lou Ann Wallace. From Southwest Virginia, Lou Ann has spent twenty years focused on the empowerment of counties and towns to thrive environmentally, as a community, and economically.

Lou Ann started her work with a non-profit called St. Paul Tomorrow and also as a member of the St. Paul town council. She then moved into a board position with Virginia’s Soil and Water Conservation Districts. She now works with the Russell County Board of Supervisors in Virginia, overseeing District 2, and helping towns including St. Paul, Dante, Castlewood, and more.

Learn what it takes for a community to create change for itself as Lou Ann shares her methods for success and seeing individuals and towns thrive.

Links and Resources:

Heart of Appalachia Tourism Authority

Clinch River Valley Initiative

Russell County Virginia

Town of St. Paul Virginia

Virginia’s Soil and Water Conservation District

The Nature Conservancy in Virginia

Spearhead Trails

Western Front Hotel in Saint Paul Virginia

Virginia Main Street

Department of Housing and Community Development

Collective Resilience: We Rise is produced by Dialogue + Design Associates, Podcasting For Creatives, with music by Drishti Beats.

Follow Collective Resilience: We Rise on Facebook and Instagram.

Please rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast so we can continue spreading our message far and wide. Find our email list at the website: www.yeswerise.org. Thanks for listening.

In Episode 3 of the We Rise Podcast, Christine welcomes Ivy Brashear to share about her passion for using storytelling to cultivate change in a community.

Ivy has been the Appalachian Transition Director of the Mountain Association in Berea since 2013 and is a 10th generation native to central Appalachia. Starting a career in journalism, her current position incorporates storytelling, narrative change, and policy education.

Links and Resources:

Mountain Association

Nicole Breazeale

What’s Next East Kentucky

To Live Here You Have To Fight by: Jessica Wilkerson

The STAY Project at The Highlander Center

It’s Good To Be Young In The Mountains

Collective Resilience: We Rise is produced by Dialogue + Design Associates, Podcasting For Creatives, with music by Drishti Beats.

Follow Collective Resilience: We Rise on Facebook and Instagram.

Please rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast so we can continue spreading our message far and wide. Find our email list at the website: www.yeswerise.org. Thanks for listening.

Welcome to the second episode of the We Rise Podcast. Today, Tony Skrelunas of Tribe Awaken joins Christine to share words of wisdom about community, resilience, traditional Navajo ways, the importance of ancestral wisdom, and rethinking the future. 

Tony helps communities move forward while rooting into their history. Holding an MBA and a partner of Navajo Power, a utilities solar company, Tony is also a motivational speaker, inviting people to look back at their values and teachings to help overcome challenges.

In this conversation, we explore how traditional communities are transitioning their economies, morning rituals, and the importance of rekindling longevity in a modern world. Enjoy.

Links and Resources:

To learn more about Tony and the work he is doing, go to the Tribe Awaken Website

Navajo Nation Government Website

Navajo Power

Blue Zones Website

The School of Greatness: Interview with Rob Murgatroud

Collective Resilience: We Rise is produced by Dialogue + Design Associates, Podcasting For Creatives, with music by Drishti Beats.

Follow Collective Resilience: We Rise on Facebook and Instagram.

Please rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast so we can continue spreading our message far and wide. Find our email list at the website: www.yeswerise.org. Thanks for listening.

Welcome to the Collective Resilience: We Rise Podcast, which shares stories and strategies to inspire action to build resilience and community transformation. Christine Gyovai is passionate about working with communities across the nation -- working with them to take action toward resilience and transformation. She is a business owner, wife, mother, and paddle boarder bringing to light leaders and members transforming their communities.

In this first episode, Christine dives into the meaning of resilience, points of inspiration, and a sneak peak of the incredible guest speakers who will appear on upcoming episodes. We Rise will help community leaders and members learn to forge a new path towards creating resilience and true transformation. One person at a time. One community at a time. One region at a time.

Together, we rise.

Links and Resources:

We Rise Podcast Website

Clinch River Valley Initiative

Dialogue + Design Associates

Institute for Engagement and Negotiation

Marie Forleo Interviews Dr. James Gordon

Collective Resilience: We Rise is produced by Dialogue + Design Associates, Podcasting For Creatives, with music by Drishti Beats.

Follow Collective Resilience: We Rise on Facebook and Instagram.

Please rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast so we can continue spreading our message far and wide. Find our email list at the website: www.yeswerise.org. Thanks for listening.

Rob Irizarry was part of our live "Coal Town" Dialogue and Debate representing technology and artificial intelligence. In this episode, we'll recap our live event, AI, universal basic income and other shenanigans.

He spent four decades working with hardware and software technology in both public and private sector organizations building systems, processes and teams in 38 countries, including a decade spent living in Asia. Rob has invested in and coached multiple startups, as well as working to improve education at all levels to help prepare America's youth for the technology that will shape their (and our country's) future.

I Am Interchange is a humanities project and talk show style event where artists, activists & entrepreneurs with different ideas and perspectives come together to address multiple topics and provoke thoughtful dialogue. Though a good mind flush of new ideas and creativity can offer wisdom and perspective to our own process and development. By doing so, we create a level platform for history, politics, religion, philosophy, criticism, ethics, self-consciousness, reason, creativity, human values and aspirations. We’ll develop our dialogue into a podcast that will be available worldwide.

Lineup:
Lori Shaw: Colstrip United
Conrad Anker: Protect Our Winters / Athlete Team Captain, The North Face
Rob Irizarry: Disruptive Technologist / Artificial Intelligence
Brit Fontenot: City of Bozeman, director of Economic Development
Brent Mead: Montana Policy Institute
Darrin Old Coyote: FMR Chairman of the Crow Tribe
Bill Whitsitt: Mansfield Center / US & Asia Energy Exploration
Brad Van Wert: "The Solar Guy" / Harvest Solar

Topics: Land use, activism, energy, artificial intelligence, fossil fuels, climate, community, tribal lands, education and more.

Produced by: Dylan Jesse, Tyson Lunn, Susan Carstensen & Tate Chamberlin

Music: Nintendeaux & Dubuddha

Moderator: Tate Chamberlin

Photo by: Ben Johnson