Connected Conversations

Most leaders say they're building a community. Most of them are building an audience. In this episode of Connected Conversations, recorded in Denver, Elena Petrova sits down with Sam Swindler of Sword and Spark, and James Pelz of Stack to draw the line that almost everyone blurs. An audience is people you talk at. A network is people you trade with. A community is people who show up for each o...

She was eight years old, handed back a test covered in corrections, and told that her dyslexia was her reason to be better than everyone else, because she would have to work harder for it. She didn't have the words for why that felt wrong until years later. In this clip from Connected Conversations, Camilla Halford, founder of Artega and co-founder of The Homing Call, traces a line from that c...

What if loneliness isn't something you feel, but something that was built? In this episode of Connected Conversations, Elena Petrova sits down with Camilla Halford, founder of Artega and co-founder of The Homing Call, who makes the case that isolation is a design outcome. It is built into our housing, our payment systems, and the shape of our working week. And because it was designed, it can b...

What if belonging isn't only something you feel when you walk into a room, but something you help build for the people who walk in after you? In this episode of Connected Conversations, Elena Petrova sits down with Claudia Menendez, an equity and inclusion officer for the City of Fort Collins, whose work comes down to a single thing: making people feel understood, in their own language, in the...

When Yik Yak matched thousands of students for a three-week experiment, the team expected almost everyone to want romance. What people actually reached for says something about all of us. In this clip from Connected Conversations, Kyle Venn, CEO of Yik Yak, walks Elena Petrova through a friendship-and-dating matching feature the team ran across a platform of about two million students. The part pe...

When no one knows your name, do you tell the truth, or do you show your worst? In this episode of Connected Conversations, Elena Petrova sits down with Kyle Venn, CEO of Yik Yak, for a serious look at what an anonymous-by-design platform can teach the rest of us about belonging, trust, and the cost of being seen. This is not a founder profile. It is an honest conversation that includes the platfor...

Lisa Mae Brunson was born hard of hearing. For years, she says, it was just a fact of her life, until she started building for her community and saw how many rooms that call themselves accessible aren't. In this clip from Connected Conversations, Lisa tells Elena Petrova what changed when a colleague who is a CODA, a child of deaf adults, opened her eyes to the barriers Deaf and hard-of-hearin...

What if the most inclusive team you could build starts with one reframe: the human first, the role second? Lisa Mae Brunson has spent a decade building Wonder Women Tech, the conferences, hackathons, and STEAM programs for the people the tech industry left out, as someone who knew exactly what being left out felt like. She and Elena get into how belonging actually gets designed, why so much "...

Ten languages moved freely through the house Sheriff Issaka grew up in. Then he came to the US and watched the people he loved most be unable to say a word to each other. In this episode, Elena Petrova sits down with Sheriff Issaka, Founder and Head of Research at the African Languages Lab, who turned that gap into his life's work: building the tools to bring African languages into the technol...

The story continues. And it gets stranger. In 1978, Rick Smolan was twenty-eight years old andphotographing an eleven-year-old girl in Korea when her grandmother made an impossible request. Part 1 of this conversation told you what she asked. Part 2 tells you what happened next — including a night in a burning Seoul hotel that neither of them was supposed to survive, and a promise Rick made to God...

Rick Smolan has spent more than four decades telling stories that connect people across cultures, generations, and technologies. In this mini episode of Connected Conversations, Rick explains how storytelling has evolved beyond the printed page. From photographing Robyn Davidson's legendary journey across the Australian Outback to creating smartphone-enabled books that instantly unlock TED Tal...

Rick Smolan was twenty-eight years old, photographing for Time magazine, when a dying grandmother in a Korean village asked him to take her eleven-year-old granddaughter to America. He said yes — and that yes set the shape of everything that came next. In Part 1 of this conversation, Rick Smolan shares the remarkable story behind Natasha's adoption, the chance encounter that made it possible,...

How do you know whether an AI solution is actually useful — or just good marketing? In this mini episode of Connected Conversations, Elena Petrova sits down with Muhammad Atif, President and CTO of PureLogics, to unpack one of the biggest questions leaders are facing right now:When should you move fast with AI, and when should you slow down? Drawing from decades of experience across social media,...

Most organizations are racing to deploy AI. Far fewer are asking what responsible governance should look like before they do. In this episode of Connected Conversations, Elena Petrova sits down with Muhammad Atif, President and CTO of PureLogics, for a conversation about healthcare AI, HIPAA, and the engineering decisions leaders are quietly making at the intersection of speed and responsibility....

What happens when every business starts using the same AI tools? According to Masha Sharma, VP of Merchant Experience at Groupon, we are entering a world where marketing risks becoming predictable, repetitive, and forgettable. If everyone uses the same prompts, the same tools, and the same systems— Do all brands start sounding the same? In this mini episode of Connected Conversations , Elena Petro...

"In eighteen months, most small-business owners won't be talking to their customers. They'll be talking to their agents." Masha Sharma leads merchant experience at Groupon — over a million small businesses, many of them immigrant-owned. In this conversation, we get into what changes when 60% of work is built by AI, why every campaign is starting to sound the same, and what Masha...

AI, Inclusion, Digital Learning, and Why Human Connection Still Matters with Bryan Chicas In this episode of Connected Conversations, Elena Petrova sits down with Bryan Chicas, Program Engagement Specialist at ISTE+ASCD, where he works with educators and leaders to design professional learning in technology, digital citizenship, and instructional innovation. Bryan’s argument is simple and uncomfor...

Most people think visibility builds a business. It doesn’t. Connection does.   In this episode of Connected Conversations , Naowshaba Ferdous breaks down what it really takes to build a brand that people trust, remember, and buy from in today’s crowded digital world. Because the truth is: You can have the best aesthetics, the best strategy, and still not convert. Why? Because your content isn’t ab...

Jordana Cole explains how to navigate uncertainty, AI anxiety, and change—by focusing on what you can actually control.

You’re not as logical as you think. And that might be your biggest advantage as a leader. In this episode of Connected Conversations , hosted by Elena Petrova (Founder & CEO of Ad Astra, Inc. and AdAstraConnect), we sit down with Jordana Cole , President of Ignited LLC and leadership coach, to explore what truly drives communication, decision-making, and leadership in today’s fast-changing wor...

You don’t have to experience trauma directly to be affected by it. In this mini episode of Connected Conversations, Brooke Bralove breaks down the critical difference between burnout and vicarious trauma—and why so many people in helping roles are silently struggling. From emotional overload to the need for community and self-care, this conversation is a must-watch for anyone who supports others.

When your brain goes into survival mode, communication breaks down. In this episode of Connected Conversations , hosted by Elena Petrova (Founder & CEO of Ad Astra, Inc. and AdAstraConnect), we sit down with Brooke Bralove , Licensed Clinical Social Worker, psychotherapist, and AASECT Certified Sex Therapist, to explore how trauma, stress, and vicarious trauma affect the way we think, feel, an...

Language access isn’t a service. It’s a human right. In this episode of Connected Conversations, Elena Petrova, Founder and CEO of Ad Astra Inc. and AdAstraConnect, sits down with Marilyn Lovo, Language Access Director at Ayuda, to explore the real-world consequences of language barriers and why getting it wrong can change lives forever. From legal settings to victim services, a single translation...

AI isn’t the threat. Complacency is. In this episode of Connected Conversations , Elena Petrova speaks with Sree Sreenivasan — digital communications expert, former Chief Digital Officer of NYC, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Columbia University- about the future of work, storytelling, misinformation, and the global AI race. Sree has taught generative AI workshops in 11 countries and 18 citie...

“At the center of healing is autonomy." In this mini episode, Jessica Muñoz connects trauma-informed communication to systemic power structures, and explains why survivor leadership, representation, and autonomy are essential in anti-trafficking work. From practical communication choices to deeper institutional patterns, this conversation challenges who holds power, and who gets to define pro...