EPISODES
EPISODES
Guest– Alison Jones Webb
Alison Jones Webb has spent her career studying and working in the public health sector. Several years ago, a combination of the opioid crisis and a realization that her own extended family had battled various substance use disorders, she decided to turn her attention here and began deeper work into addiction and recovery. One outgrowth of these efforts is her book, Recovery Allies: How to Support Addiction Recovery and Build Recovery-Friendly Communities. On this Blue Sky episode, Alison shares surprising and encouraging insights into addiction recovery –which she says is the norm, not the exception –and explains the vital role we can all play by being allies to people battling this difficult disease.
Guest– Bert Jacobs, Co-founder of Life is Good
In this episode, Bert describes how he and his brother grew from a challenging upbringing to create Life is Good, the original positive outlook brand. He explains why he believes that optimism is a superpower and suggests that in all of history, there’s never been a successful pessimist.
Guest– Chris Anderson
Chris Anderson was inspired by the growth of TED once they expanded from being simply a conference company to adding the concept of offering their talks free to the world over the internet. He’s now calling on us all to “reclaim the internet” and use it as a force for spreading less hate and division and more kindness and generosity. His new book, Infectious Generosity lays out clearly the reasons why generosity is good for the world –as well as for us as individuals –then details a plan by which this movement can spread virally. Chris’s views on these subjects are aligned perfectly with the work of The Optimism institute and he shares them with great enthusiasm in this uplifting and inspiring episode of Blue Sky.
Guest– Dr. Kenneth (Ken) Harris
Dr. Kenneth (Ken) Harris is an experienced practitioner of holistic medicine and author of the book, Synchronicity. In this Blue Sky conversation, Ken describes the subtle but important difference he sees between coincidence and synchronicity and tells why he thinks it’s important for all of us to connect actively with others, leaving ourselves open to the mysterious and positive connections that can be made between people. As someone who was once clinically dead following a heart attack and had an “out of body” experience, Ken describes his appreciation for life and how fleeting our time here is. His enthusiasm and positivity are infectious and the ideas and anecdotes he shares here are thought-provoking and uplifting.
Guest– Ilze Thielmann
When Ilze Thielmann learned of the steady stream of refugees and asylum seekers entering New York City, she felt compelled to get involved and help. This led her to connect with, volunteer for, and ultimately take over leadership of an organization called Team TLC. Here, Ilze and her colleagues greet asylum seekers –many of whom have been sent to New York from the state of Texas –and help them find food, clothing, and shelter. The organization has grown to now have more than 1,400 names on its active roster of volunteers and they have assisted more than 60,000 asylum seekers as they arrived at New York’s Port Authority. Over time, the organization expanded to include “The Little Shop of Kindness,” designed to be a store loaded with clothing and accessories offered free of charge to immigrant customers. And today, Team TLC is also offering legal and other professional services to their consituents. The story that Ilze tells in this Blue Sky conversation is fascinating and her optimistic outlook and desire to serve others is an inspiration.
Guest– Jonathan Conyers
The life of Jonathan Conyers is full of junctures where it appears he’s not going to make it. Both of his parents battled addiction to crack cocaine, yet somehow managed to instill in their son a desire to be educated and advance in the world. As he grows, Jonathan is surrounded by teachers and mentors who take special interest in him and encourage him to reach high, including “Dico,” his transgender debate coach, whose support ultimately alters the trajectory
of his life –and Jonathan changes Dico’s in return. In this Blue Sky conversation,Jonathan details some of the highlights of his remarkable memoir, his reasons for writing it, and what continues to motivate him today.
Guest– KM DiColandrea
KM DiColandrea says he works with young people because he can’t imagine doing anything else. In high school, he developed a love for speech and debate which has led toa passion for teaching and coaching young people to develop these skills. We first met KM DiColandrea, aka “DiCo,” in our Blue Sky episode with Jonathan Conyers. There, we heard of him helping turn around Jonathan’s life at Frederick Douglass High School. With Jonathan’s help, DiCo went on to co-found the Brooklyn Debate League in 2019 and is currently developing speech and debate opportunities for kids throughout greater New York and across the country. In this episode he describes why he thinks speech and debate programs are so good for developing young people and how he hopes that someday they will be included in schools’ core curriculum.
Guest– Sara Guillermo
Sara Guillermo’s family immigrated to the United States when she was a small child. She grew up with an appreciation for this country and a desire to serve that expressed itself as early as the 1stgrade, when she ran to be her “classroom organizer.” From there, she has held several leadership positions and now serves as the CEO of IGNITE, an organization dedicated to train girls and young women with the skills they need to understand how their government works and arm them with the skills they need to actively participate, up to and including running for office. At a time when so many of us are disillusioned with government and politics, the enthusiasm that Sara brings to her work, and the impressive results that IGNITE has had, is sure to inspire.
Guest– Anh Vu Sawyer
The family of Anh Vu Sawyer were among the small number of South Vietnamese who successfully fled Saigon in the final days and hours of the Vietnam War. After describing this harrowing ordeal, Anh explains how these events inspired her to lead a life of inspiring service and social entrepreneurship here in the United States.
Guest– John Wood
In the late 1990’s, John Wood was living a great life. As a senior executive at Microsoft, his job took him to exotic places and he was experiencing an ideal post-MBA experience. His life would forever change on a getaway vacation in Nepal, when he had an experience that led him to quit his job and become a social entrepreneur. Since then, John Wood has created two successful non-profits and has written several books, including Leaving Microsoft to Change the World.” In this Blue Sky episode, John explains the business discipline and drive that he brings to his work, which he says he simply could not do if he weren’t an optimist.
Guest– David Bornstein
David Bornstein has a long history in journalism and founded the Solutions Journalism Network out of his belief that the hard work that people all over the world do to solve tough problems is history’s most under-reported story. His organization trains journalists around the country on how to pursue and write stories not just about our problems, but also on the encouraging solutions emerging to solve them. David’s vision is both logical and inspiring, and his efforts are paying off with a growing network of journalists and outlets embracing his philosophy and practice.
Guest– Matt Ridley
Matt Ridley’s seminal book, The Rational Optimist, has inspired many since its publication in 2010 and greatly influenced the creation of The Optimism Institute. In this far-ranging discussion, Matt will describe an early education that he said was steeped in pessimism but how later in life he found that much of what he’d been taught was simply not true. This led him to set on a nearly evangelical quest to spread the word that interaction and trade between people and nations, including the free exchange of ideas, will continue to set us on an inexorable path towards increasing prosperity.
Guest– Tracey Gates
Fueled by the memory of her late father, who always asked simply for “a few kind words,” for his birthday or Christmas gift, life and wellness coach Tracey Gates set off on a mission. She decided to send a hand-written note of appreciation to one person, every day, for a year. 365 notes later, Tracey found that this practice left her feeling so much better about herself - and also had such a profound impact on so many of her recipients - that she decided to write about the experience in her new book, “The Power of a Few Kind Words.” In this Blue Sky conversation, Tracey explains how she did it, tells stories of the joy that her outreach created, and encourages us all to take time out, whenever the mood strikes, to offer someone else a few kind words.
Guest– Ritah Kabanyoro
Ritah Kabanyoro knows what it’s like to go to bed hungry. Growing up in a household of 20 people, she was used to receiving just one meal a day, until fainting spells alerted others to the malnutrition she was suffering. After being placed in a private school –and improving her diet, she thrived and today leads Uganda’s chapter of Action Against Hunger. Ritah’s home country is the largest recipient of refugees in all of Africa. They come primarily for Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and when they arrive in Uganda, they are welcomed with relief programs up to and including the gift of land and instruction of farming techniques. The Ugandan government, working with agencies like Ritah’s is striving to help these refugees become self-sufficient, contributing members of their society. Ritah Kabanyoro’s work is inspiring and her optimistic take on the future of her country is infectious.
Guest– Kevin Adler
Kevin Adler grew up with a beloved uncle, Mark, who never forgot to send him a Hallmark card on his birthday. Overtime, Kevin learned that his uncle was unhoused and suffering from schizophrenia. When Mark died at the age of 50, Kevin decided that working to solve the crisis of homelessness would be his life’s work. The experience of having a close relative in this predicament made him realize that “everybody is somebody’s somebody,” and deserving of our compassion. He founded Miracle Messages, a nonprofit working to tell the stories of individuals who are unhoused,in hopes of connecting and reuniting them with estranged friends and family. To date, they have facilitated more than 800 people and have created a phone buddy system where volunteers communicate weekly with their assigned partner, building relationships where none existed before. Kevin Adler tells this story in his new book, When We Walk By, and shares many of these stories on this episode, while also describing his optimistic views on how basic income and affordable housing programs.
Guest– Dr. Howard Koh
Dr. Howard Koh’s story is inspiring. His immigrant parents raised him to be grateful for and contribute to their adopted country. And he has certainly made his contributions, serving first as a practicing oncologist, then moving into the field of public health. After treating too many patients who were dying from cancers caused by tobacco use, Howard Koh turned his attention to tobacco cessation, and his determined efforts there resulted in great success. After serving in Massachusetts state government, Dr. Koh was named as Assistant Secretary for Health for HHS in the Obama administration, and in that role found himself in the middle of that White House’s efforts to overhaul the US healthcare system, as well as other ambitious initiatives. Today, Howard teaches and researches at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and is turning much of his considerable talent, energy, and optimistic mindset towards impacting another vexing challenge in our society, homelessness. In this episode, he discusses this work, as well as his research and writing on the role of spirituality in our well-being and his passion for music and baseball.
Guest– Dr. Adam Mastroianni
Adam Mastroianni says he likes to “study how people perceive and misperceive their social worlds, from the person sitting across the table to the whole country buzzing around them.” In this Blue Sky conversation, Dr. Mastroianni describes research he and a colleague conducted that demonstrates that human beings falsely assume that the world used to be better, and that we continue to decline in terms of moral standards and civil behavior. This cognitive “bug” he has detected can lead us to develop a more pessimistic view of the world and also leaves us more susceptible to believe in the message of autocrats who promise to take us back to a time when the world –and people –were somehow better than they are today. Adam’s insights are fascinating, as are the techniques he uses in his research, and he explains his findings and observations with great wit and wisdom.
Guest– LaTosha Brown
LaTosha Brown has been described by many as a “force of nature,” and from the first seconds of this Blue Sky episode, you will understand why. Raised in Selma, Alabama she grew up surrounded by family members who were at the center of the civil rights movement in the United States. Being close to grandparents who spent much of their adult lives unable to vote led her to appreciate this franchise and their example continues to inspire her “get out the vote” work today. LaTosha describes being raised by strong women and not experiencing overt sexism until she ran for office in Alabama, but instead of letting this get her down, she channeled these experiences into the creation of the Southern Black Girls & Women’s Consortium. LaTosha Brown also happens to be a talented singer and performer, and she shares this gift with us here as well.
Guest– Anita Nowak
Dr. Anita Nowak has made the study of empathy her life’s work and in this Blue Sky conversation she provides her definition of the term and gives numerous examples of the value of empathy in both our personal and work lives. As someone who teaches, consults, podcasts, and writes about this subject, Anita brings discusses empathy with persuasive passion and just might change the way you think about how you’d like to move through the world and what ripples you’d like to create as you go.She also makes the case that living with empathy will actually improve your own quality of life at the same time you’re improving the wellbeing of those around you.
Guest– Margo Walsh
Margo Walsh is an entrepreneur who created MaineWorks a certified B-Corp that helps people with substance use disorder and/or criminal records find employment in the construction sector. Her company finds and screens potential employees and through the non-profit she founded with her sister, sets them up for success by making sure that their basic needs for getting back to work are met (e.g., proper clothing, boots, transportation, etc.).
MaineWorks has expanded to other states in New England and provides a model for other companies in other parts of the country to emulate. Her work has been widely recognized and earned several awards and in this episode she’ll describe how she attended a State of the Union address as a senator’s guest!