What Grows?

Nadia Kist runs Blood:Water from Nairobi, partnering withcommunity-based organizations across Africa to end health disparities tied to HIV/AIDS and the water crisis. She's also Egyptian-American, a classically trained singer of German and Latin arias, and a photographer. So she pays close attention. We get into the part of the funder-doer conversation thatnobody quite says out loud: that the archi...

After 15 years teaching fundraisers communication skills, she watched someone look up from a training session and say, "I wish you worked for us because you've got the words." That moment broke something open: She realized people weren't missing technique, they were missing access to their own capacity when fear took over. We talk about the donor who wouldn't give until one f...

The social impact sector is in the middle of a massive "What now?" moment. With USAID funding being gutted and long-standing international development structures shifting, many talented people I know are suddenly facing an identity crisis. You’ve spent decades building deep expertise, but as the institutional floor moves beneath you, you’re left wondering how to package that value on your own term...

How are funding decisions actually made? Ineza shares what makes entrepreneurs fundraising-ready, why you need to study your audience as rigorously as your solution, and how your subconscious intelligence guides you toward the right moment to speak up.  We also discuss her journey from working with African startups to building Funders of African Descent (FoAD), why she believes in working within s...

Karen Runde received a vision of a water filter during meditation, and two months later, saw that design on a business plan that landed on her desk. After a decade supporting social entrepreneurs through the Miller Center for Global Impact, Karen followed the nudge to step into the arena herself, launching CoShun , a sustainable water initiative now serving students across two schools in Kenya. It...

Sophie Otiende believes the most radical thing her parents did was raise children they chose to have, with intention and love. That foundation—being fully accepted at home—shaped everything: her approach to activism, her refusal to be married to ideas, her conviction that healing happens through community, not institutions. In this conversation, Sophie unpacks what it means to teach from lived exp...

When Doreen Kessy sat in her living room during a season of intense prayer, she heard God clearly: "Help other women feel as rested as you do now." The entire concept of Eden Retreat downloaded to her brain in minutes: Retreats across Africa where burned-out professionals could find the kind of rest that actually refuels instead of just pausing the exhaustion. After nine years building U...

Birth doula and lactation consultant Yasmin has supported families across the globe for over 18 years, and she's learned to see everything through the lens of birth. In this intimate conversation, Yasmin explains why it's necessary to simply trust your own body. Yasmin can be found at the Milk Doula Collective .

Learning designer and award-winning writer Megan Tennant shares how she navigates multiple callings while raising her first child. We explore the tension between true self versus false self in career decisions, the challenge of maintaining creative purpose alongside financial necessity, and what it means to parent with vulnerability instead of perfection.

Alyssa and I explore how trusting your gut becomes a survival skill when you're constantly translating between cultures, why many of her adult friendships have turned out to be with fellow neurodivergent people, and what it means to become the therapist you wish you'd had. From teaching her children that creativity can be joyful without becoming their worth, to studying decolonial approaches to th...

This conversation includes mention of sexual abuse, violence, and addiction. Please listen in a way that honors your own well-being. You are invited to pause, to breathe, or to step away when needed. Susan Pohl has lived several lifetimes—from witnessing snake handlers in her Southern Baptist childhood to working at Apple in its early days, earning her doctorate in ministry, and serving as a chapl...

For Sylvia , a solo trip to Florida and a 14,000-foot skydive became the catalyst for one of the biggest decisions of her life: walking away from medical school after years of preparation. Sylvia and I talk about living "a vibrant life," one defined by the courage to curate the things you love and present them to the world. We explore her journey from aspiring doctor to published writer, the weigh...

Rob Alhadeff’s journey is about choosing complexity over comfort; from anthropology student to British Army reservist, London finance professional, and now impact entrepreneur. He recounts the rain-soaked debut under a tree in Uganda that nearly lost his team—and the football match that won them back. At Jackfruit Network, his infectious joy, and commitment to using privilege for good, show that s...

Bunmi Otegbade helps people see the narratives they're living in, and more importantly, discover they have the power to change them. We discuss how AI might force us into collaborative competition, why doubt is healthy, and how a foreigner can walk into rural America and get people to question what they think they know. From his work with Impact Brain—a framework that uses AI to help social im...

Sarah Agopian-Khalifé can transform a room full of strangers into collaborators who don't want the conversation to end. As an experience designer, community strategist, and facilitator, Sarah understands that how we connect is just as important as what we're trying to accomplish together. In this conversation, we discuss how to create psychological safety from scratch, the dance between st...

Kwasi Adi-Dako has watched what happens when you put young people from 23 different African countries in the same classroom and deliberately design challenges that push them to their edges. Through his lens as an educator, father, and speculative fiction writer, we explore how play becomes the foundation for learning how to navigate conflict, build empathy, and grow courage.  We also discuss the t...

Bonnie Murthy made the decision to shut down her successful vegan footwear company at its height; a choice that speaks to the play between identity, success, and authentic living. In this conversation, we explore the addictive nature of entrepreneurship, why marketing feels so uncomfortable for most of us, and how AI might actually force us to become more human.  Bonnie's journey from "business fi...

What does it mean to owe it to yourself to get to the other side? Social worker and mother of twins Keisha takes us on a journey from fast-paced London to a gentler-paced Tanzania, where she learned to question her relationship with busyness and the "shoulds" that kept her moving. We discuss intergenerational trauma, post-traumatic slave syndrome, and how patterns pass down through famil...

What happens when your roommate slips a note in your jacket pocket that says "your passion is people"? For Sarah Pritzl , it sparked a journey from corporate training to becoming what she calls "a midwife of ideas." In this warm, wandering conversation, Sarah and I explore how ideas find their humans, the link between financial freedom and dream-chasing, and the art of knowing when to let an idea...

If you've ever felt stuck between who you're supposed to be and who you actually are, this one's for you. Hannah Reuter doesn't sugarcoat life, and that's exactly what makes this conversation so refreshing. A former policy director turned educator, Hannah opens up about the realities of burnout, the courage it takes to leave a "perfect" job when your body says no, and why we need more honest conve...

Dianne Doherty, a Western Massachusetts legend, sat down with me to share how curiosity became her compass through decades of community transformation.  Her suggestion that marketing is really just being "a little bit nosy" had me laughing, but it's also the key to understanding how she's spent decades asking the right questions and connecting the right people.  The conversation...

Why are we so obsessed with making things that stick around forever? My sister Nancy drops this perfect metaphor about her students making intricate flower art on a windy day - beautiful creations that disappeared almost instantly. At first, she couldn't understand the point. Then she watched the kids absolutely lose themselves in the joy of creating, and it hit her: maybe the process IS the p...

Carolyn Kandusi is a bridge-builder between government, social innovators, and philanthropists. She’s figured out how to navigate complex systems by being genuinely curious about people. In our conversation, she reflects on how genuine human connection becomes a pathway to trust, and how she holds space for both motherhood and the ambition to transform systems across Africa.

Doris Chela Muigei breaks down why getting to “no” as a recruiter is often more valuable than rushing to “yes,” and how radical acceptance helps clients tell her what she needs to hear. She also shares stories about the way hiring decisions often have less to do with résumés and more to do with a company’s very specific quirks. (If someone says “culture fit” it means, they’re not ready to tell the...

Ann de Passos shares how understanding our biology can reshape the way we build trust, navigate work, and even rethink marketing and resource mobilization. How does slowing down actually speed things up? Ann says: “Organizations spend so much energy on politicking and frustration instead of solving actual problems. If we were more nervous system first, conversations would be clearer, decisions fas...