I Want to Change the World

Normally on the podcast, listeners hear me interviewingpeople. But in Episode 29, the tables have turned! I had the honor of being interviewed by Christy McGillivray, Executive Director of Voters Not Politicians (VNP), a Michigan-based nonpartisan advocacy organization. Even though in our conversation Christy was the one askingquestions to learn from me, I definitely felt like a student!  While I’...

In Episode 28, I am excited to share my interview with Michael Gast. Mike has spent 20+ years organizing wealthy people like himself to invest not only their dollars but really their whole selves into creating an economy and social contract that works for everyone.   Through the writing and conversations that he puts out into the world as director of a multimedia project called “Organize the Rich”...

As I’ve contemplated my next career move since returninghome from Ghana, I’ve had to contend with competing thought bubbles floating in my head: “Sign me up to support the revolution!” “Sign me up for financial security!” “Sign me up to drive radical, progressive change in our society!” “Sign me up for the middle class living I thought lie aheadof me once I got this master’s degree!” How do I make...

“We are going to change the world. We will win. It's just not going to happen tomorrow. I may not happen the day after tomorrow — but we will win.” In Episode 26, it is my pleasure to share my interview with Amber Hamilton, President and CEO of the Memphis Music Initiative/ Philanthropy Disruptor/ Freedom Fighter.   The words that she shared with me were soul food. I’m talking greens, hot water co...

A LOT has happened since I last started exploring the question“How do we cope with being human?” in my last episode. Chaos and craziness have been unfolding in my country, theUnited States – from the antics of the Trump administration to natural disasters in multiple parts of the country. To say nothing of what’s going on in the broader world (e.g., war in Congo and Sudan, the rightward- political...

Before we’re “do-gooders” who want to change the world, we’re human beings. To be a human being means that we have to cope with our own anxieties, insecurities, and disappointments, no matter what’s going on in the world outside of our heads. To be a human being means that we live in a world that we didn't choose and that we have to cope with what author/coach Bina Patel calls “The F*ckery”: all t...

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In episode 23, I welcome you back to the classroom to explore questions which led me to take myself back to "Do Gooder School" in the first place: "Do I want to go back into the nonprofit/social impact space for the next step in my career post-sabbatical?" “Do I need to be a professional do gooder to feel like I'm making an impact in the world?” "If I decide to go back...

I don't feel like I've already been in Ghana for nine months, but I have! In just three months, it'll be time for me to go home and start my 9 to 5 life again. Last month, I even officially started my job search. I polished my LinkedIn profile, updated my resume. As I mentioned in the last episode, being in the space where I could choose to shift away from doing the kind of work I was...

Is it just me or does the world kind of seem like a flaming dumpster fire right now? The list of issues and worthy causes include things in the headlines today like the humanitarian crisis in Gaza to ongoing issues poverty, climate change, homelessness, the loneliness epidemic, and on and on. How do we choose which cause to pour our limited time and energy into? How do we decide whether to serve a...

Let me start by confessing that I was originally set on calling this episode “Laying Down the ‘White Man’s Burden’”. After all my interview guest, Dave Coles, is a white British man who, as a young, idealistic volunteer, ventured from his home in the UK to make a difference in Africa. Inspired by a steady diet of colonialism-inspired media narratives and the lyrics of a popular Christmas song by B...

Six months into my sabbatical year in Ghana, I've met new people, seen new sights, and had LOTS of new experiences, like getting malaria, going to a leprosarium (as in, a place where doctors treat leprosy) to see a dermatologist, and swimming in the ocean, etc. I've approached many of these new encounters with preconceived ideas about what they must be like. Yet, over these months I've...

"Every time I look around, I see something that can be done. And it just really excites me that Ghana is so ripe for not only business, but investments, collaboration with with local people." - Kindra Parker, Entrepreneur and Founder/President of MentorHer Ghana. Episode 18 features my fourth interview in the series "I Want to Change the World...So I Moved to Africa?!". My gues...

It’s now been 4 months since I moved to Ghana for a sabbatical of sorts. But, to be honest, up until a few days ago when my work contract with the organization that I had been working for in the States ended, I’d spent a lot of my time being physically in Ghana but mentally thousands of miles away. I’d often be on my computer during the day doing my contract work (alongside personal projects) or,...

At the end of episode 16, "Black. American. In Africa.", I said that I'd be sharing a bonus episode with a few more more gems that came out of my interview with Noelle Ojo, author of The Blaxit Effect: The African-American's Guide to Relocating to Africa and US Foreign Service Officer. This snippet, which was just too good for me not to repurpose, is about how reading fiction fro...

“I think sometimes it's just as a society, they try to box us in, especially in the United States, you can only be you have to be this to be black. And when you start to expand your world, especially amongst black people, then you don't buy into that as much.” – Noelle Ojo, author of The Blaxit Effect: The African-American’s Guide to Relocating to Africa (2022) and Foreign Service Officer...

Given that I've now officially been in Ghana for two whole months AND I just applied for my one year residency permit a few days ago, it seems like a good time to pause and reflect on what my major takeaways from my time here have been, so far. What reflections come up for you as you listened to mine? As always, I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to drop me a line on IG @missjanaiashley or v...

“For me, I the way I view the bakery is really important. I view it as like a tool, or a step, which the people use. I picture the bakery as being like one rung on a ladder for them. Whereas I think a savior mentality is more of like, I personally am the ladder. And I think if you keep in mind that your what you're doing is just kind of one step for them, it kind of it both relieves the pressu...

“I have no concept of privilege shame. It’s that I’m blessed. I recognize that I am blessed, and I am blessed for a purpose. And that purpose is to be a blessing to other people. So, my life, if I think about it, is framed by this. [When] I go to Ghana, and I see the poverty around me in my village, I ask myself, “How can I be a blessing in this?” - Eunice Cox, Owner of The Beach House, Ankwanda I...

When people ask me why I wanted to move to Ghana, I usually say that I was going there to rest ( in spite of the weighty to do list and the stack of books that I've brought along with me! ). I would say I was going there to feel the same lightness and serenity that I'd felt on past trips here to visit my friend, walking along the beach, looking out at the ocean. I was going to be transform...

I made it to Ghana! I woke up this morning (March 7, 2023) amazed and in awe to find myself here. In this episode, I share some reflections on the journey that's led me here. I invite you to think about an idea that's been knocking at the door to your heart asking you to partner with it so it can, in the words of Elizabeth Gilbert in Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear , "be escorted out of the...

Inner transformation work is outer transformation work. Personal development is professional development. Those statements are as true whether you spend your days making widgets or organizing political initiatives around climate change. I started off my career wanting to change the world, but showing up in my work and in my life often paralyzed by perfectionism and anxiety. And I learned through p...

The theme of this season of my life must be "chasing dreams". I'm podcasting. I'm training to be a coach. I'm preparing to leave the organization I love and where I've spent my career, to date, to rest for a while and then dive into building my business. And in less than a month, I'm heading to Ghana to stay for at least 3 months, but perhaps much longer. All of this is amazing to me. For years I...

For many of my 35 years, I built up the skills and practices of eating my feelings, stuffing down my feelings, lashing out my feelings, scrolling or swiping my feelings, escaping my feelings with my imagination, or busying away my feelings. The idea of feeling my feelings is a relatively new skill that I’ve been learning and practicing over the past year or so. Honestly, I think learning to feel h...

Hello from San Juan! This episode may feel like a wild, unpredictable ride! I'm in Puerto Rico for Rachel Rodgers' "ROI: the Millionaire’s Summit" and it's inspired me with quite a few thoughts about my thoughts about being here! In this episode, I talk about how learning to question my thoughts has played a critical role in helping me continuously unpack the internal obstacles that keep me from g...