BETTER with Mark Brand

Host Mark Brand has a conversation with entrepreneur, social innovator, and activist, James Anderson. *DISCLAIMER* This episode will touch on suicide; please find some resources below if you are struggling. After overcoming a childhood riddled with great challenges, James’ story is one filled with hope and redemption. James graduated from UCLA with double honors while simultaneously helping to cre...

Anthony Demby has worn many entertainment-industry hats for more than two decades. From managing the careers of artists such as Childish Gambino and John Legend to advising global brands, his journey has been diverse and expansive. In 2010, Demby combined his recording label, artist management knowledge, and cultural curiosity to found Humbleriot , a New York-based intentional idea shop that utili...

“Hawaii” Mike is a branding maestro and founder of Chef for HigherTM , a pioneering culinary and culture brand leading the exciting new era of Cannabis legalization. Chef for HigherTM specializes in creating exemplary Cannabis-infused sweet & savory foods and hosting popular tastemaker dining events, and check out the New York line which just launched HERE . For over 25 years, Hawaii’s been on...

Host Mark Brand welcomes Harold O'Neal to Better for a conversation about embracing conflict and creative storytelling through impact by turning inside. Don't miss a little performance on his keyboard at the end of the episode! Harold O'Neal is a musician and social entrepreneur, known for his work as a producer, pianist, composer, public speaker, and storyteller. He is widely recognized for his a...

Holley M. Kholi-Murchison is an artist and cultural geographer exploring work as a portal to self and communal actualization. They study the human condition, desire, and potential within and outside of evolving definitions of work and workplace. From their research, they tell love stories, make artifacts and resources, and design and program spaces that open pathways for creators to nurture their...

BETTER is back for season two with Mark Brand. Today, he welcomes friend and fellow DJ Kirk St. Cyr, better known by his stage name as 4 Korners. He’s the official DJ for the Toronto Raptors and an international musician – he’s played the top nightclubs in more than 20 countries across the world while collecting awards and accolades, AND an NBA championship ring! Find out more about 4Korners and l...

Tara McGuire is a mother, a steep advocate for change in the fight against overdoses, a former broadcaster, and a powerfully potent writer. Her book “Holden After and Before," gives us an honest insight into her grief, carried from the loss of her son, Holden to the opioid crisis, which Tara points out is better viewed as what it truly is: an overdose crisis. "He died because he made a mistake tha...

Rick Doblin is a a psychedelic-assisted psychotherapist and the visionary behind MAPS—the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), a non-profit dedicated to “delivering global healing through psychedelic research.”  His research proves how psychedelics heal trauma.  Rick started studying the power of psychedelics as medicine just one year before the US government scheduled an emerge...

Rachel Sumekh was in college when she noticed the problem: her peers are hungry. Then she spotted the solution and moved instantly into action. No flinching here. (You can see why we’re friends.)  It didn’t take long for the administration to see her impact before they tried to shut it down. While they moved to block progress, the Obama White House named her organization a “Champion for Change.” W...

Eamonn Store is IN boardrooms changing the hearts, minds, and actions of some of the world's biggest companies. He’s the former CEO of The Guardian and current Founder & CEO of FairShare —an impact consultancy driven by the belief that “making a contribution to the World is no longer just a ' nice to have .'” I call him a board whisper because he has the critical ability to get people in power...

Brother Ernie Paniccioli is a legendary hip hop & culture historian, humanitarian, and self-taught photographer who has been ‘documenting the culture since the start.'  My first meeting with Brother Ernie was in Vancouver where he said the feeling of being seen—truly seen and known—was more alive because Indigenous people are "everywhere." Unlike in Brooklyn where he grew up eight blocks away...

Zach Sciacca, aka DJ Z-Trip is a conduit for the power of music AND the love of music. He has a history of working alongside the world’s greatest artists including Chuck D & Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Busta Rhymes, Biz Markie and the list of legends goes on (check the list of WORKS below*) His work showcases the connectivity that music brings us across lifetimes, friendships, memories…  Music is...

Jennifer Crawford is a gender creative queer who I could happily gush about for the entirety of this episode.  We first met cooking for an organization called Sistering in Toronto, which does critical work with women and trans people who are predominantly street entrenched and fleeing violence. You’ll hear that story upfront. (I promise, it’s a warm one.) Jennifer is also the first queer winner of...

Yarrow Kraner is the founder of HATCH —a global network of innovators and co-conspirators actively doing the work to create a more beautiful, sustainable, and just world (people who Yarrow refers to as “real-life superheroes”). HATCH'S mission is to accelerate solutions to global challenges. The how: by fueling extraordinary humans. The why: to HATCH a better world.  Yarrow is a creative alchemist...

Loren Cardeli is a food sovereignty activist confronting the unjust power in our global food systems—systems that are crippling the well-being of people who grow our food. He asks us to look at the frameworks of our minds and says "To learn, we must unlearn." He is the Founder and President of A Growing Culture —an activist collective and nonprofit you must catch on IG (Run. Don’t walk) I’ll wait…...

Samantha Ramirez-Herrera is a radical creator and a trailblazer in every sense of the word. Born in Mexico with a legacy lived, made, and growing in the US, she has become “ her ancestor’s wildest dreams ”—something I heard her describe from stage in the mountains of Montana.
 Sam is who I go to—as my North Star—to track the narratives being created in media that support the movements that support...

Rhett Butler is an award-winning journalist whose reporting is actively saving rainforests. I met him at a climate conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, and immediately felt pulled to the sense of hope and action that exists in his work as the founder and CEO of Mongabay—a non-profit Conservation & Environmental Science news platform that has been raising human awareness of both wild lands and wild...

Chef Joshna Maharaj is​​ a chef and activist using social gastronomy to rebuild our food system. She fights for our right to healthy, scratch-made, delicious food anywhere institutional food is provided. This includes community food centers, hospitals, schools, prisons, etc. Her work has proven what’s possible when we commit to revolutionizing our institutionalized food systems. In this conversati...

Nirvan Mullick is a filmmaker, storyteller, and the big-hearted founder of Imagination Foundation, a nonprofit born out of the success of one of Nirvan’s viral films, “Caine’s Arcade.” (If you haven't seen it, it’s the first link in the bio.) He also founded Interconnected—an LA-based creative agency that tells stories for impact. The Venn diagram for his trajectory in life is “I see you. I want y...

Chef Charles Michel is a gastronomer, profound educator, and innovator whose work has the power to change our understanding of food systems—globally and at home. His activism offers us the opportunity to create a very powerful, and very needed, revolution spanning food education, community activism, connection to planet, and much much more. He says, "Food is nature. Food is us. Food is the future....

Sarah Eagle Heart is an Emmy-Award Winning Social Justice Storyteller and—in all seriousness—a true Social Justice Warrior. She’s the co-CEO of Return to the Heart Foundation, which, if we pause right there to experience the name alone, we feel the power, the empowerment, the justice, the heart, the truth. As the co-CEO of Return to the Heart Foundation, Sarah works tirelessly to enable and empowe...

“To navigate complexity, you need people who not only believe in the same change you do, but bring experience so deep and unique, it fast forwards your ability to see clearly,” I wrote this note about my brother, Little Shawn, after finding an intrinsic connection within myself that equally matches who he walks with inside himself.  That deeper relationship we carry within our being creates room f...

Dr. Sylvia Earle is a world-renowned oceanographer, marine biologist, and National Geographic Explorer in Residence affectionately known by her fellow scientists, and peers alike, as “Her Deepness.”  She has logged more than 7,000 hours underwater.  What struck me most when I first met Sylvia was her ability to deeply touch my spirit when we talked about the oceans.  In this episode, you’ll hear u...

"We only have one home to live in: our body," says today's guest, Jovanka Ciares who carries over a decade of personal wisdom as an integrative herbalist and nutrition expert with the life mission of "helping people reclaim natural states of wellness through practices of our lineage, our ancestry, and our birthright." I instantly graviated to her work because it highlights how we can take our powe...

Today, I have the distinct pleasure and honor of hosting GRAMMY award-winning artist, Julian Alexander whose work has been a cornerstone of hip hop and rap for three decades. He’s the creator behind iconic logos & album artwork that you undoubtedly recognize (artists including Jennifer Lopez, 50 Cent, Eminem, Destiny’s Child, the iconic Mile Davis, and more). He’s the founder of Slang Inc ., a...