Flying the Coop

"When you take infinite growth off the table, this entire world of possibilities opens up." — Ramsey Nassar, EMMA Technology Cooperative We make this show to learn things, ask good questions, and let really cool people shine (and maybe occasionally get a little clever ourselves). This conversation did something different: it reminded us that what we're building isn't just a business model. It can...

"If they teach you how to build a business, you stop buying their stuff. That's not what they want." — Jessica Lackey A lot of business advice is a slot machine dressed up as a strategy. Jessica Lackey's book Leaving the Casino lays it out cold: the entrepreneurial industrial complex isn't, in fact, designed to help you build a sustainable business. It's designed to keep you spending money on the...

"Collective care feels like an exhale — like finally being able to breathe at work." – Nilou Khonsari Most organizations that say they value collective care don't actually build for it. They write values statements, flatten a few org chart lines, and hope the culture follows. (spoiler: it doesn't.) Nilou Khonsari spent ten years co-building Pangaea Legal Services, a nationally recognized immigrant...

"If you want to take the time to really understand every human being you're working with — that takes more time. And time is money. And that's inherently anti-capitalistic." — Meg Rye Hiring is a power system. Most people on both sides of it (candidates and companies alike) have just accepted that as a fact of life. Meg Rye hasn't. Meg is the founder of Good Maven, a design recruitment and career...

“We’ve been sold such a narrow idea of what a business can be — like you either coach or sell a course. But there are so many ways to build something rich and beautiful, something that’s actually yours. A business can give you so much more than just money — it can give you community, relationships, growth, and experiences.” - Tarzan Kay What would work look like if designed it around real humans,...

“Supply chains are made of people, not just products or paperwork.” – Sara Otto Supply chains touch almost everything we buy — clothes, home goods, gifts, art — yet most of us never really see how they work, or who they rely on. In this episode of Flying the Coop , we’re joined by Sara Otto , Chief Supply Chain Officer at Nest , a nonprofit working globally to make artisan supply chains more equit...

“Human rights aren’t things that happen over there . They show up in everyday business decisions.” – Chloe Poynton Chloe Poynton is the co-founder of  Article One Advisors , a global consultancy that works with companies to put people and human rights at the center of business, from supply chains and product design to emerging technology and AI governance. They have partnered with organizations ra...

"Every business could be a social enterprise if they wanted it badly enough." – Lauren Edwards Lauren Edwards has spent her career helping businesses stop treating "doing good" as an afterthought, and start building it into the core of how they operate. As Executive Director of SeaChange and owner of NextStep Business Consulting, Lauren works with entrepreneurs, nonprofits, and corporations to pro...

“Capitalism is all about squeezing every last bit of value you can… and what we are trying to do is explore a model that allows us to exist within a capitalist hellscape, but takes care of us as a fundamental driving mechanism instead.” - Janel Torkington In this end-of-year episode of Flying the Coop , we’re looking back on what it’s actually been like building Strange Birds (and the podcast!) in...

“What’s the ROI of creativity? That's like asking, what’s the ROI of electricity?” - Noah Scalin Noah Scalin is a multidisciplinary artist, author, and co-founder of Another Limited Rebellion, where he helps individuals and organizations unlock their creative capacity through practice, play, and a wildly approachable philosophy: that creativity is a universal human skill you can train. We talk abo...

“If you’re forgetting the basic fundamentals of how we can be here together, that’s not optimization — it’s an illusion.” - Elijah Zimmerman Elijah Zimmerman is an interfaith minister, nonprofit leader, and PhD in communication whose work lives right at the intersection of compassion, transformation, and leadership. As executive director of the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion , he helps people...

“Collaborative ownership and collaborative governance is a vessel to make our mission happen.” - Brandon Reid Brandon Reid and Andrew Jacob are longtime friends turned co-founders of Heirloom, a platform for collaborative ownership that helps builders find their team, share equity, and actually get passion projects off the ground. We talk about why the future of work should feel more like weaving...

In two weeks, on 26 November, we’re going to delist our podcast  Flying the Coop  from Spotify. ​ It'll still be available on just about every other podcast platform, plus  streaming on our own website . If you’re one of the 20% of Flying the Coop listeners who prefer to listen on Spotify, we are truly sorry for the inconvenience. We’ll continue distributing the podcast everywhere else:  Apple Pod...

“The way that my brain didn’t fit was also the reason for my success.” - Nancy Disbrow Nancy Disbrow is the sharp and deeply empathetic brain behind Neuro-osity, where she helps high-achieving professionals (especially those with ADHD or dyslexia) stop forcing themselves into broken systems and instead build ones that actually work for their minds. We talk about what it means to put the right brai...

“The goal is to reach mutual understanding and agreement, not to win.” - Janel Torkington Oh hey, a mini-episode on how we do business differently at Strange Birds! This decision-making framework works magic because: It invites you to rep the viewpoint of the other person It transforms the conflict from you vs me to us vs the problem It clarifies the difference between a principled objection and a...

“The cooperative model is healing the way we interact and relate to each other… and it allows us to practice law in a healing way.” – Jacqueline Radebaugh     From corporate tax law to co-ops, Jacqueline has been on quite a journey as a lawyer. Now she’s the best dang coop lawyer around (spoiler alert: she’s ours).   Jacqueline is a managing partner at Jason Weiner, a firm that provides legal and...

“People work better when they believe in what they are working for.” - Alfred Garcia Alfred is a member of Jamgo, a developer co-op based in Barcelona that has been around for nearly 15 years. On top of that, he lives in a housing co-op. We spoke with him about how a co-op’s structure should be just enough to flex around the complexity of the people within it. In a co-op, you are an active decisio...

“Purpose without profit is a dream. Profit without purpose is meaningless.” - Haley Boehning Every time we have a call with Haley, we always think “wow, we should have recorded that.” Well, lucky you! We finally recorded a conversation. Haley was the perfect first interview for Flying the Coop. She is an expert at purpose. In this episode, we cover juicy questions like: What even is purpose, beyon...

“Truth is multifaceted and always shifting. So let’s talk to lots of people and find out lots of stories.” - Janel Torkington It made sense to kick off our podcast in conversation with each other. What the heck are we doing? Why should anyone listen? Who are we????? In this episode, we share our origin story, fail at Avril Lavigne lyrics, and dig into why we care so dang much about cooperatives. M...

Flying the Coop will debut on 4 September, 2025!  We share great convos with with founders, co-op creators, legal advocates, and the best kind of business geeks about evolving business models, shared ownership, long-term trust, and the tradeoffs that come with building something more honest, longer-lasting, and real-deal human.   If this sounds like your jam, sign up for our podcast newsletter to...