ALF's The Dialogue Podcast

In this episode of The Dialogue Podcast, we hear from ALF Senior Fellow and Chief Growth Officer at Launch Your First, Tony Lam, of Class XLII. Tony tells the story of his family's arrival in the US after the fall of Saigon, talks about his experience bridging his life as an entrepreneur, and shares his drive to bring change and opportunity to the autistic community with the launch of Andy's Cafe....

In this episode of The Dialogue Podcast, we're revisiting our interview with American Leadership Forum Senior Fellow Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, of Class XVI. Suzanne St. John-Crane, ALF Silicon Valley CEO and The Dialogue Podcast Executive Producer, sat down with Phaedra in 2019 to discuss the leadership roles that catapulted her to the work of creating a more just, equitable, and inclusive world. Pha...

In this episode of The Dialogue Podcast, we're revisiting the incredibly inspirational story of Silicon Valley tech pioneer and American Leadership Forum Senior Fellow from Class III, Ken Coleman. Ken is the recipient of numerous honors, including The Ohio State University Distinguished Service Award and the National Alliance of Black School Educators Living Legend Award. In 1999, Ken was named on...

In this episode of The Dialogue Podcast, we're featuring American Leadership Forum Senior Fellow Cynthia Bright. Cynthia is a member of Class XLIII and serves as the Deputy General Counsel and Global Head of Litigation Ethics and Compliance at HP Inc. Cynthia shares the story of what led her to accept the invitation to the fellows program, and how the experience evolved her view of her own leaders...

In this episode of the dialogue podcast, we're featuring ALF Senior Fellow Usha Srinivasan of Class XLII. Usha shares a reading of her contribution to Making Waves—AAPI Voices, a project of ALF Silicon Valley's AAPI Caucus. Through this project, the group hopes to share the experiences of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders with the ALF network and broader community. Usha Srinivasan is the Found...

In this episode of The Dialogue Podcast, ALF Silicon Valley CEO Suzanne St. John-Crane sits down with author, activist, and faith leader Rev. Ben McBride for a one-on-one, in-depth conversation about his new book, Troubling the Water: The Urgent Work of Radical Belonging, the division that seems to permeate every sector of society, and the work of widening the circle of inclusion and belonging. Be...

For Senior Fellow Vandana Kumar (Class XXXIX), storytelling is integral to life. From the stories told to her by her maternal grandmother about protecting their property under the British Raj to her mother’s telling of the non-violent resistance formed in her grandfather’s house, inspiration came early. With the confidence and valuable life lessons sparked by these two women, Vandana came to the U...

In this episode of ALF's The Dialogue Podcast, host and ALF Silicon Valley CEO Suzanne St. John-Crane is joined by Carin Taylor and Eureka Daye. Carin and Eureka are members of Class XLII, the current Fellows Program class, now in the final months of their yearlong Fellows Program journey. Carin and Eureka discuss their experience going into the Fellows Program, reflecting on their fears, apprehen...

Our guest in this episode of The Dialogue is author, entrepreneur, public servant, retired executive, and ALF Class XVIII Senior Fellow, Eddie García. Eddie's new book, Summer in the Waiting Room: Faith, Hope, Love, tells the incredible story of his journey to overcome his fear of failure, his drive to succeed, and the sudden heart attack that left him clinging to life in the ICU. Eddie joins ALF...

On June 24, 2022, ALF Senior Fellows and Fellows from our national network joined together to learn and share about our roles and opportunities to think and act in new ways to make and keep our communities safe. This ALF National event featured local and national leaders in law enforcement and civil rights from California, North Carolina, Texas, and Washington. The panel was moderated by ALF Silic...

In this episode, we are joined by Senior Fellow Jessica Paz-Cedillos (ALF Class XLI) and Vanessa Shieh, Co-Executive Directors at the School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in East San José. During the pandemic, the Mexican Heritage Plaza became a community hub for essential resources and information, feeding over 50,000 residents, testing 15,000 individuals, and vaccinating 25,0...

In this episode, we're bringing you another Senior Fellows Spotlight where we offer a glimpse into the personal and professional journeys of some of the most remarkable leaders in the ALF network. Listen as we hear from veteran business leader and ALF Senior Fellow Linda C. Lawrence (Class XIII) about her work in the early days of global technology firms like Netscape and Apple. She offers us insi...

Recorded live during our Jan. 13 event featuring Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell, ALF Senior Fellow (Class VIII) and author of Her Honor: My Life on the Bench… What Works, What’s Broken, and How to Change It.

Recorded live during our October 19, 2021 event: A Conversation with Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation. ALF Senior Fellows, Fellows, and guests heard from Darren Walker in dialogue with ALF CEO Suzanne St. John-Crane. The two discussed reparations and what we, as leaders in our community, can do to repair and heal our communities and democracy. ALF Board Chair and Senior Fellow Jon H...

ALF Silicon Valley CEO and host of The Dialogue Podcast, Suzanne St. John-Crane, is joined in this episode by Senior Fellows Jayne Battey (Class XXIV) and Mark Bahaus (Class XX) to discuss what we can all do in the face of a changing climate. Jayne and Mark each give insights into their personal and professional conservation and climate action journeys and discuss how others can help reduce the fo...

Extraordinary people. Transformative year. It's a phrase we often use here at ALF to describe the Fellows Program, and it's a description that takes on added meaning for ALF Class XXXIX. When Toni Vanwinkle, Senior Director of Digital Workplace Experience at Adobe, and Miguel Marquez, Chief Operating Officer for the County of Santa Clara, accepted the invitation to participate in Class XXXIX, they...

Recorded live during our June 11 event, Why Equality Is The Future of Work: Preparing For The Post Pandemic Workplace, the ALF network joined author Michelle King and host Jon Hicks to discuss being a leader for gender equality and equity in the workplace. Participants also gained insights into moving from goal to action to create more equitable policies, practices, and cultures that support our p...

In celebration of Pride Month, we've turned The Dialogue podcast microphone over to three Senior Fellows who join us to discuss a brief history of the LGBTQ+ community in Santa Clara County. Our guest host for this special episode is Dr. Amor Santiago (Class XV), Vice President of Development and Community Affairs at Project Open Hand. Joining Amor is Terry Christensen (Class XIV), Professor Emeri...

In this episode, we continue with our Senior Fellows Spotlight series, where we offer a glimpse into the personal and professional journeys of some of the most remarkable Senior Fellows in the ALF network. In today's show, we're pleased to feature a truly inspiring individual, San José Fire Chief Robert Sapien of ALF Class XXV. Robert talks to us about early memories of growing up near King and St...

Recorded live during our April 22nd event, Stop AAPI Hate: A Conversation with Dr. Russell Jeung. Featuring Dr. Russell Jeung, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate and Chair, Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. Listen to Dr. Jeung and members of ALF's AAPI Caucus discuss the experiences of the AAPI community in this time of resurging anti-Asian violence and what we can do to stand un...

Recorded live during our March 24th event, Revolutionary Love in a Time of Rage with Valarie Kaur. Featuring Valarie Kaur, founder of the Revolutionary Love Project and author of See No Stranger, a Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love. Moderated by LaDoris Cordell (ALF Class VIII), Retired Superior Court Judge and author of the forthcoming memoir, Her Honor: A Judge’s Candid Look At Our Lega...

Dog Whistle Politics, Racism, and the Housing Crisis: recorded live during our February 24th virtual event featuring Ian Haney López, Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at U.C. Berkeley and author of Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class. Ian Haney López joined our network to discuss how dog-whistle politics contribute to...

With this episode, we're launching the first in an ongoing series of podcasts where we offer a glimpse into the personal and professional journeys of some of our most remarkable Senior Fellows. We're calling it Senior Fellow Spotlight. We begin this new "spotlight" series with Silicon Valley pioneer Ken Coleman of ALF Class III. Ken talks about his early life in a small town in southern Illinois,...

In this special episode, CEO Suzanne St. John-Crane is joined by ALF Lead Facilitator Laura Weaver for the first time on the podcast. We learn about Laura's very own leadership journey, including her work in the education field and the story of how she spent time working in the Ecuadorian rainforest. Laura is an author, non-profit director, leadership consultant, and group facilitator with twenty-...

Recorded during ALF's We The People with Eric Ward event on December 3, 2020. Eric K. Ward, Civil Rights Leader and Executive Director, Western States Center in conversation with Muhammed Chaudry (XXVI), Managing Partner, MAC Capital Partners, and ALF-SV Board Member. Eric K. Ward is a national expert on the relationship between hate violence and preserving democratic institutions, governance, and...