Catching North Stars

Jose Marichal has spent two decades studying what social media has done to politics — not just how campaigns use it, but what it's done to the way people relate to each other and to their own sense of political identity. In this conversation, Alexis and Jose trace a line from the early Facebook groups of the Obama campaign to the concept of "ontological enclosure" — Jose's term for the algorithmic...

In this episode, I sit down with Melissa Reeve to talk about her up-coming book, Hyperadaptive: Rewiring the Enterprise to Become AI Native. We cover a lot of ground, including: how Melissa become inspired to write this book (spoiler alert - she's got a deep history with lean manufacturing, scaling agile, learning organizations and more that informs her thinking). Melissa's take is optimistic and...

In the first episode of our second season, we switch our attention to the elephant in the room - AI and other major tech incursions. I have subtitled this season, "Being Cyborgs," borrowing from Donna Haraway's important essay, "the Cyborg Manifesto," which speaks to this moment in ways I am sure Haraway did not anticipate. I sit down with journalist and block-chain innovator, Crystal Street, to d...

In this episode of Catching North Stars , I speak with Nathalie Latham , a multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker whose work bridges art, healing, and environmental advocacy. Nathalie shares how her creative path took a profound turn after a diagnosis of advanced cancer in 2009. What began as a meditative drawing practice during treatment became a powerful tool for navigating recovery, depression,...

In this episode of Catching North Stars , I sit down with Kevin Wilson , Operations Manager at Ignite Adaptive Sports —the organization where I volunteer as an adaptive ski instructor. Kevin shares what it meant to return to skiing after a life-changing car accident in high school, and how that experience now shapes the way he leads, teaches, and builds access for others. We talk candidly about ad...

In this episode of Catching North Stars, I sit down with Jenn T. Grace to discuss how she went from self-publishing her own books by trial and error to creating her own hybrid publishing company. She shares about how working brought her through some of her own personal challenges and the importance of making space for a multitude of voices. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informati...

In this episode of Catching North Starts, I sit down with Anna Kelly and talk about her career as a leader in the fight against climate change, specifically in the energy space. We'll hear talk about: how AI can save the world (I'm not going to spoil it here, but I guarantee it isn't what you are thinking); why she remains recklessly optimistic, in spite of major setbacks in the energy and environ...

In this episode of Catching North Stars, I speak with Sam Isaacson - coach, writer, and innovator in the coaching and technology space. Sam talks about his experiments with Virtual Reality and Coaching, the possibilities for democratizing coaching by using AI Chat bots, as well as the specific magic of the coaching process. He also talks about writing, play, and what is coming up next. Hosted on A...

In this episode, I speak with Mary Reynolds Thompson - author of The Way of the Wild Soul Woman: 5 Archetypes to Unleash Your Full Feminine Power (and other books) about her relationship with nature and the wild. We talk about how she became a facilitator of Journal and Poetry Therapy; her love of language and metaphor as well as the power of archetype to change the ways we see ourselves as well a...

In this episode of Catching North Stars, I sit down to talk with Dr. Linda Keyes who is not only an ER doc and a wilderness doc, but a researcher, world traveler, writer, and advocate for women in science. In our conversation we talk about how Linda linked together her personal and professional passions as a high-altitude specialist - a specialization that allowed her to be involved with local com...

Today's guest for Catching North Stars is Jill Rosenberg Jones - an inspiring leader in the financial services industry who has been called into philanthropy. As a servant-leader on Walls Street for many years, Jill has inspired many of her people to lead with empathy. She sees caring about and building the careers of her team members as the most important aspects of leadership - even in a notorio...

In this episode of Catching North Stars, Alexis speaks with Corinna Freitag about her journey from Chemist to Coach. Corinna's first career was in the industrial chemical and automotive industries where she studied in worked in a number of different countries. She discovered that she cared more about helping make other people's work lives better and became a coach. Corinna shares openly about bein...

In Catching North Stars, Alexis Halkovic interviews inspiring individuals whose core values have driven their careers. In this episode, we speak with Kalia Garrido - entrepreneur and co-founder of Hike2, creator of Healthy Women Leaders, public speaker and author of "The Well Within: Unlocking Your Personal Power Through Radical Self-Care." Kalia shares her story of how she discovered a deep perso...

In this episode of Catching North Stars, I sit down with coach, researcher, professor, and author Pamela Larde, PhD - aka "The Joy Whisperer" or the "Joy Researcher" to talk about how she became a coach and built her own coach training program. We also dive into her new book, "Joyfully Single: A Revolutionary Guide to Enlightenment, Wholeness, and Change" - it's not just for single folks - explori...

In this episode of Catching North Stars, I sit down with psychologist, coach, CEO, and author Nadia Nagamootoo about her new book, "Beyond Discomfort: Why inclusive leadership is so hard (and what we can do about it)" which invites leaders to explore their own relationships to inclusion and creates meaningful ways for them to develop in this area. We also talk about her career journey into DE&...

In this episode of Catching North Stars I have a conversation with Charlie Oliver about her wide-ranging career in media and technology, starting out in film and television and moving into new media and tech as the technology - and the possibilities evolved. Charlie started Served Fresh Media in New York City in 2006, taking advantage of new media. Recognizing her ability to predict how emerging a...

In this episode of Catching North Stars, I speak with Susi Snyder - a Nobel Peace Prize winning, life-long activist working towards the elimination of nuclear weapons and greater possibilities for peace for all human beings. She shares about the path that lead to her following her passion to solve the biggest problem she could think of which she sees as a path to greater happiness. She also talks...

In this episode of Catchng North Stars, I sit down with Matija Goljar - entrepreneur and mentor to many young entrepreneurs in Slovenia and all over the world to talk about how he became an entrepreneur and the possibilities for building the social good through entrepreneurship. We also talk about Matija's reality TV show that popularized entrepreneurship in post-socialist Slovenia and the "weird...

Jazz Rasool started his career as an astrophysicist, but moved on to study neurobiology, Chinese medicine, and mind-body medicine before landing on coaching-where he brings his expansive background to bear. In February 2024, Jazz founded the  AI Coaching Alliance, with hundreds of coaches and researchers joining as members to promote adaptation to AI and its ethical, inclusive adoption in coa...

On this episode of Catching North Stars, I sit down with Ty Tashiro and talk about his journey from academia to becoming a writer. Ty is a psychologist, writer, speaker and consultant with a particular interest in the psychology of human relationships. He is the author of 2 books - The Science of Happily Ever After: What Really Matters in the Search for Enduring Love and Awkward: The Science of Wh...

In this episode of Catching North Stars, I sit down with Asher Jay - artist, designer, National Geographic Explorer and founder of Henoscene - a start-up that helps environmentally-conscious organizations build transparency into their end-to-end process. Asher discusses the philosophy of her business, how Henoscene helps companies, and what else we can do to steward our individual and the planet's...

In this episode of Catching North Stars, I sit down with Amber Case to have a deep conversation into the ways in which technology can be used to create protective identities, the use of Generative AI as a tool and the importance of Calm Tech. Amber Case is a Cyborg Anthropologist and serial entrepreneur. The recipient of many prestigious awards for her work in technology - particularly Calm Tech,...

Starting out as a fine artist, Eric Zimmerman recognized that game design makes important contributions to culture and decided to make a career out of game design.  With over 3 decades of designing games on numerous platforms, including Sissyfight 2000 and Diner Dash, Eric is also an educator and an artist. In our conversation, Eric explores the power of play and game-design thinking beyond t...

As her long career in the field has evolved, Kathy Obear, PhD, has made the shift from furthering diversity to advocating for anti-racism policies and perspectives and leading white accountability groups. Hear why as she shares her story of becoming an anti-racism educator, consultant and trainer—a journey of over 35 years and counting. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Many of the world’s most caring teachers have made a commitment to love every one of their students, regardless of racial background, but how does this work in practice?  Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, PhD, has been exploring how racial literacy facilitates personal growth for educators and other professionals to attain this goal. A professor of English Education at Teachers College Columbia University...