AwareNow™: The Official Podcast for Causes

I’ve never been to Kabul, But I have seen it on maps. I’ve heard about it in the news The place of Afghanistan’s collapse.   I hadn’t heard about the bombing, The Taliban placing 3 bombs in 2 schools. But then I saw the photos and heard the story, The Taliban not playing by anyone’s rules.   I saw the photo of a Hazara girl, Hurt in every way. A sight you can’t unsee, A pain that never g...

With all that is going on in this world, I figured I’d take this opportunity to do something a little different with this month’s entry. Many years ago, I wrote a short song that I felt was very powerful, and still feel it’s powerful. I can remember sitting inside of my room at the Olympic Training Center as the words flooded my mind. The beauty of creating songs is that when you have something go...

Lovingly dedicated to those who keep ascending without a net, despite the occasional pang of fear or doubt, unshackled by the weight of others’ opinions and expectations. This original story is found in 'The Waves Edition' of AwareNow Magazine: www.awarenowmagazine.com   Written & Narrated by: Burt Kempner Music by: Sol Rising Produced by: Awareness Ties

“Young man…” Angel felt a tapping on his shoulder as he was trying to navigate the foot traffic of over 4,000 high schoolers trying to get to their classes. Every morning, Angel had the same routine - wait in line, pass the metal detectors, and fight the crowds to be on time for first period. He looked over. It wasn’t his assigned school counselor but he recognized the person. Another school couns...

Keith Boykin is a TV and film producer, national political commentator, New York Times best-selling author, and a former White House aide to President Bill Clinton. His latest book is Race Against Time: The Politics of a Darkening America. Fearlessly rejecting respectability politics, Keith embraces all parts of his identity and empowers others to do the same.   This exclusive interview is fo...

Release The Genie Fact: A Genie Never Wears a Watch. It Decides What Time It Is. “Life is a wave of consciousness in the ocean of time.” -Debasish Mridha I love this quote; it is such a powerful illustration of our brief role whilst we are here in this life. The big question is: what are you doing with this gift of consciousness? For me, the phrase “making waves” means an introduction of some exte...

What do you get when you mix experts in biology, chemistry and machine learning? With Anagenex, you get a fully integrated team working as one to find new medicines. Nicolas Tilmans launched Anagenex to accelerate drug discovery by combining DNA encoded libraries and machine learning to rapidly explore chemical space.     This exclusive interview is found in 'The Waves Edition' of AwareN...

In the short film, ‘Give It To Me’, a dark subject is given a comedic spin. The film shows the reality of trauma and the lengths we will go to finally feel peace in a body that doesn’t quite feel like ours anymore. As the writer and lead actor of ‘Give It To Me’, Olivia Cade is hoping to help sexual trauma survivors heal with a film that boldly and bravely explores the issue in a different way. &n...

A career of cross country commuting isn’t for every nurse, but it is for this one. An eternal explorer, Michaela Shouldis is a travel nurse, with a beautiful smile and beautiful ink to go with it. Specializing in labor and delivery, she accepts assignments in hospitals across the country bringing care and compassion to the new lives she welcomes to the world.   This exclusive interview is fou...

It was a father/son road trip down the coast to Baja and then over to mainland Mexico. This was the trip that set the course for the life of Jon Rose. This was the trip that served as a blueprint for building a lifestyle of travel and adventure. Passion met purpose when Jon began constructing his future in service to a cause - the water crisis. Instead of only catching waves as a surfer, he began...

With authenticity and integrity, Caly Bevier is the embodiment of unconditional love. An advocate for acceptance, as opposed to judgment, she leads by example, reflecting the light she sees in others. Her own journey of identity and preference she openly shares with confidence, in hopes of inspiring self-love and self-worth in others. As a recording artist, her music is a labor of love fueled by e...

Rhymes with ‘lost’, Yoste is the moniker of singer, songwriter and producer Kurt Sines. With his music, he tries to answer his own questions while commenting on what he sees around him to produce songs that are cathartic and aligned with the moment. He moves others while standing still with music that stirs thoughts with relatable themes and relevant topics. Easy to love, his music is hard to forg...

Headed by former U.S. Army Officer, Rob McQueen, the Clean Water Corps (CWC), Waves For Water’s newest division, serves as a specialized clean water task force, sharply focused on combating the global water crisis. It is operated entirely by veterans—many of them, though they have transitioned from active duty, are still keen to be out there in the world, applying their knowledge and expertise, in...

Ultramarathon runner Shan Riggs is attempting to be the first to run the 3,000-mile East Coast Greenway from Key West to Canada, alongside his partner, Joshuaine (Josh) Grant, who is transporting their supplies on a bike trailer. He is running to raise awareness and funds to support the East Coast Greenway. I joined him on his run via a video call to connect and catch up. Yes, I officially get to...

Poetry has the power to pull people together around borders and across cultures. This is the story of former female searcher/combat veteran, Lori Butierries and female Afghan activist/refugee, Crystal Bayat, who connected through poetry with a shared love for humanity in their efforts to raise awareness and promote positive change for the sisterhood in Afghanistan.   This exclusive interview...

Claudine Jaenichen is an information designer. For decades, she has worked with emergency management personnel worldwide creating evacuation maps and instructions that get people to safety, effectively. She focuses on natural disasters like tsunamis, wildfires and earthquakes. More recently, Claudine began designing family reunification maps and instructions for schools so parents and caregivers l...

Release The Genie Fact: A Genie can cook 1 minute rice in 30 seconds. If you ask someone what they think the opposite of love is, most people will say hate. I do not believe it to be so. I believe that hate is love gone in the wrong direction. Elie Wiesel said, “The true opposite of love is not hate; it is indifference.” Indifference is the complete vacuum of disinterest and disengagement. It...

When I was 25 years old, I read a book that would change the course of my life along with millions of others around the world - “A Conversation with God” by world famous and controversial author Neale Donald Walsch. His conversational book provided me with answers to life, love, and God that I didn’t even know I was looking for. The words spoken to my heart and gave me a compass to guide me throug...

Glimmer of Hope Foundation is a non-profit organization showing girls their strength and beauty through donating bald dolls and bringing hope to families battling childhood cancer. Its founder, Ali Hornung, is a 22 year old student at the University of Rhode Island who has been a passionate childhood cancer advocate since the age of 12. Inspired by her honorary ‘little sis’, Ella, who battled leuk...

Release The Genie Fact:  A Genie Does Talk About Bruno. I thought, for this month's article, we would have a game, you, the reader, and myself, to see how many of the phrases below sound familiar or you have heard someone else say before. No judgment, I am guilty of them all! This feature story is found in 'The Mental Edition' of AwareNow Magazine: www.awarenowmagazine.com   Written &amp...

A single conversation can change your life. One question asked and one answer given can alter the course of your life forever. When war first broke in the Ukraine with Russia’s advance, Iryna Bushmina had such a conversation that instantly altered her reality.   This exclusive interview is found in 'The Mental Edition' of AwareNow Magazine: www.awarenowmagazine.com   Featuring: Iryna Bus...

A book series, a newspaper, a podcast and an app designed to empower kids, A Kids Company About is creating content to spark important conversations. Built to tell stories that feature diverse voices on topics that matter to kids, A Kids Company About was founded in 2018 by Jelani Memory. His idea that started with a single book for his kids has become an entire media company for all kids (and adu...

Melena Strehlow and Noah Kohler met in Grand Rapids, MI in 2020. In addition to having a relationship together, they also have a business together. Noah and Melena are the founders of Cooking for Comfort. Each experienced their own traumas along their paths in life which have made them stronger. With this strength and life experiences, the foundation of their relationship is built on vulnerability...

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Burt Kempner moved to Philadelphia when he was four years old. He was not consulted in the matter. He knew from childhood that he wanted to be a writer. He loved playing with words and coming up with new combinations and puzzles. As an adult, his work as a scriptwriter and producer won major awards in the television and film industry. It was in 2015 that he started writ...

This album is the result of spending the last two years studying and arranging Korean folk and children’s songs. After workshopping and performing this music with several different groups and seeing a lack of representation for Korean music in jazz, Jordan VanHemert set out to produce an album entitled NOMAD.    This exclusive interview is found in 'The Mental Edition' of AwareNow Magazi...