Issue Space

About the Episode There are so many ways to engage with the major issues of this world. There's looking away and tuning out - and then there's tuning *WAY* in. For folks working, creating, and side-hustling in social impact, life is all about the latter. While it can be heavy on the mind, heart, and soul to take on this work, it's also a way to guarantee that a good chunk of one's waking hours are...

Between cuts to service agencies, slashed cause funding, and a volatile cultural and political climate, 2025 is the year of curveballs for us all. But social impact pros don't just desire to be resilient in the face of change - their jobs depend on it. And with so much learned about navigating uncertainty through various issues and crises, surely there's wisdom changemakers can take with us into t...

After the 2024 presidential election results, social impact pros knew the backdrop of their work might look very different this year - and to say that's been the case is an understatement. With stark shifts in attitudes toward civil rights, social services, and climate action on display in | America's highest office, it feels like many of the missions that power the impact sector risk succumbing t...

Between the constant crises, sky-high stakes, emotional subject matter, and collaborative complexity, burnout is a constant threat among professionals working in social change. In this episode of the Issue Space podcast, we'll hear from two social impact pros who have been pushed to their limit in this work. We'll explore what drove them to the breaking point, how they cared for themselves during...

A social impact professional’s work often involves advocating for our most personal rights. It’s only natural, then, that one might bring their own affinity to bear in these efforts. But in a time when identity politics are framed as distracting, divisive, or just else done-to-death, how valuable is it for social changemakers to approach the work they do through the lenses of their own identities?...

Anyone who’s worked in social impact knows that, just as political climate and administration shape our personal lives, so too do they affect our work, from what gets funded, to how our advocacy is framed in the zeitgeist, to everything in between. Some professionals toggle between working in politics and social impact to advance the change they’re fighting for, while others sit firmly in careers...

Every social impact pro has to find their own way. Will they focus on one issue, or work across many? Will they tie their efforts to a certain place or politician, or float across a range of movements and leaders? And, will they work to tackle change from the top-down (think: systems, media, politics) or from the bottom-up (in communities, working with the grassroots)? In this episode of the Issue...

As a phrase and as a vision, ‘Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion’ has been on a rollercoaster, from sitting front and center in the zeitgeist, to getting defunded and deprioritized. In this era, people working in DEI find their work framed through the lenses of social justice and partisan fights, while folks working in social impact have seen their focus pulled toward what was once an HR-adjacent...

As a professional in social impact, it’s our job to lean into the heavy. But while the subject matter of this sector is often grim, does the work itself have to be? In the face of hardship, lightness – from joy, to humor, to childlike imagination – can be used to cultivate everything from social resistance to personal relief. In a time when society has never seemed to need levity more, could light...

Not every organization that’s committed to positive impact says so on the front door. Brands and businesses, with their particular ways of working, engaging consumers, and focusing on the bottom line, are a unique and undeniable part of culture and the social fabric. So what’s it like to pursue positive change from this side of the sector…and is there more in common with other settings of social i...

If you work in social change, it’s inevitable — you are going to be tapped to support a community you don’t identify with personally. And that’s kind of the point. So many social impact professionals want to get this dynamic right, balancing showing up with stepping back to let people with lived experience lead. In this episode of the Issue Space podcast, we talk to three professionals whose work...

For many social change professionals, the work comes on the heels of hardship. Exposure to society’s pain points can be a driving force for professional changemakers, who might opt to use their negative lived experiences as motivation to build a better world. How do these folks turn adversity into optimism and innovation? How do they find the fire to face what’s hurt them, every day – and with pro...

Does a certain ‘kind’ of person gravitate toward careers in social change? Is a sense of shared identity among folks in changemaking roles helpful to the work being done – or limiting? What’s partisanship got to do with it? In this episode of the Issue Space podcast, we talk with a social impact career development specialist and a journalist-turned-campaigner about the identity trends in this very...

Working to make life better for humankind is both a privilege and a challenge, and no one knows this better than the folks who have made this work their day job. Issue Space is a  podcast and community for professional changemakers of every kind. Through candid conversations about the lived experience of social change work, we hold space to process life in the unique — and uniquely needed — busine...