Let's Give A Damn

Shannon Sedgwick Davis is my friend, an incredible activist, and a remarkable lawyer. Shannon is the CEO of Bridgeway Foundation—a philanthropic organization dedicated to stopping mass atrocities around the world. The Bridgeway Foundation is part of Bridgeway Capital—a company that has committed to giving away half of their profits to help solve some of the biggest problems facing our world today....

Hank and his beautiful family live in Los Angeles. He is the GM of Artist Management at RocNation. And a few years ago, he founded AdoptTogether—a non-profit, crowdfunding platform that bridges the gap between families who want to adopt and the children who need loving homes. Over the past few years, they have helped 4K families raise $17M dollars to adopt children from over 60 countries.  Follow...

You probably know June Diane Raphael from shows like Veep, New Girl, and Parks and Rec or from movies like Long Shot or The High Note. But what you may not know about her is that she co-founded an incredible organization called The Jane Club! TJC is committed to "taking care of the woman who takes care of everything else.” They started as a physical space in Los Angeles but when they pandemic hit,...

Chloé Valdary couldn’t find any antiracism training that didn’t ultimately spread more bigotry and hatred so she started The Theory of Enchantment—an innovative framework for compassionate antiracism that combines social emotional learning (SEL), character development, and interpersonal growth as tools for leadership development in the boardroom and beyond. In just a few short years, Chloé has tau...

Yes, the Matthew McConaughey is on the podcast this week. How does one introduce Matthew McConaughey? What’s that, you say? Don’t even try? Cool, I won’t. I will say this—he is charming, smart, and incredibly wise. Matthew recently wrote a book based on 36 years of journaling. In it, he shares incredible stories, tons of wisdom, and he helps us learn the art of catching Greenlights. Remember, no m...

I’ve admired Gretchen for years! It was an absolute honor to speak with her on the podcast this week. In 2016, Gretchen boldly spoke up about abuse she had suffered at the hands of one of the biggest media tycoons in the world. And the rest is history! Now, most of you already know who Gretchen is. For the few of you who may not know her story and her work, here are a few highlights from her websi...

Priti Krishtel is an incredible human! She’s a a committed campaigner for justice, a community organizer, and a relentless advocate for patients. For the past 20 years, she Priti has worked to tirelessly to make sure more people can have access to affordable, life-saving medicine. Please read her full bio here. She has done and is doing so many incredible things. Also, watch her incredible TED tal...

Ann Lee is the Chief Executive Officer of CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort)—Sean Penn’s disaster relief charity. Among many great things she had accomplished in this role, she has led high-level partnership with organizations like The World Bank, the United Nations, the Sean Parker Foundation, the Supreme Committee of Qatar, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, Salesforce, World Central Kitche...

Yes, that Elizabeth Marvel is on the show today. I’m honored she took some time to be with me and with us. Elizabeth is a force to be reckoned with! She has acted in some incredible movies (True Grit, Lincoln) and TV shows (Homeland, House of Cards, Fargo). Her career has been amazing so far. How has she done it? By finding strategic ways to give a damn and by removing herself from the toxic socia...

Eddie Glaude Jr. is amazing! And he has a remarkable bio. It’s so remarkable that I’ll just link to it instead of trying to summarize it for you here. I hadn’t heard of Eddie until 2 months ago when my Priest brought him up during one of our conversations. I left our conversation and immediately bought his latest book Begin Again: James Baldwin's America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own. Holy sh...

Michael Wear is a friend and fellow damn-giver. He believes politics is a forum for loving your neighbor. And that's exactly why he joins us on the show today — to help us be hopeful, to share that hope, and to love out neighbor well. From Michael’s website: Michael Wear is a leading strategist, speaker and practitioner at the intersection of faith, politics and public life. He has advised a presi...

Sarah Mardini is a Syrian refugee. In 2015, she left Syria with her sister, Yusra, to seek a better life in Europe. A couple of years later, Sarah was arrested on several false charges. What was the real reason they arrested her? For helping refugees at Moria Refugee Camp on the island of Lesvos in Greece. If charged, she could face 25 years in prison. Sarah gives so many damns! During our chat, w...

Kristen Howerton is amazing! From her website: Kristen Howerton is a licensed marriage and family therapist and the mother of four children within four years via birth and adoption. She is the founder of the blog Rage Against the Minivan where, in the midst of writing about the raw emotions and experience of motherhood, she has become a fierce advocate for social justice.  It was an absolute joy t...

Phil Vischer is an animator, puppeteer, writer, voice actor, entrepreneur, and podcast host who created the computer-animated cartoon series VeggieTales – one of the most successful cartoons of all-time. After the horrific public lynching of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Phil put together and released a 17-minute video called Race In America. In it, he outlines the history of racism in our country...

Alex Vitale is my guest on the podcast this week! What a pleasure. From his website: Alex is Professor of Sociology and Coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College and a Visiting Professor at London Southbank University. He has spent the last 30 years writing about policing and consults both police departments and human rights organizations internationally. Prof. Vit...

Mark Charles, a dual citizen of the United States and the Navajo Nation, is running as an Independent Candidate for President of the United States to build a nation where We The People truly means All The People. Mark’s 100-day plan includes striking the racist, sexist and white supremacist language from the Constitution, truly abolishing slavery, and adding the words “Value Life” to the constitut...

Rob Scheer is my friend and the founder of Comfort Cases. They exist to "inspire communities to bring dignity and hope youth in foster care.” Every single day, Rob and his team aim to love and care for the 440k children in foster care. Over the past several years, they have given out over 100,000 cases to children who will hopefully never have to use a trash bag for their belongings ever again.  R...

Reality Winner shared the truth about the Russians hacking in our 2016 Presidential election. Instead of praising her and calling her a hero, the powers that be put her in prison. She has been behind bars since 2017. Reality’s mother, Billie, joins me on the show today to talk about key parts of Reality’s upbringing, how and why she joined the Air Force, how and why she acted heroically by releasi...

Matthew Kincaid is an educator and activist who has been leading anti-racism workshops for over fourteen years.  Kincaid is the founder, CEO, and Chief Consulting Officer for Overcoming Racism an organization that works to develop culturally responsive schools and practitioners. Overcoming Racism works with schools and organizations providing intensive race and equity training, consulting and prov...

In this episode, Nick shares some thoughts about the two civil rights heroes we lost this past week and he gives us some challenges for the days ahead.  C.T. Vivian was born July 30 1924 in Boonville, Missouri and died on July 17 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was 95 years old. John Robert Lewis was born February 21 1940 in Tory, Alabama and died on July 17 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was 80 years...

Jelani Memory is a black entrepreneur, thinker, learner, and an incredibly curious human. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife and six kids. He co-founded Circle, a product that helps parents monitor and limit online time, site visits, and app usage. We've used it in our home and it’s fantastic. A couple of years ago, they partnered with Disney to get it into many more homes so now it’s cal...

This week, we’re doing a highlights episode! These are some of the moments that have stuck out to me from the amazing conversations I get to have each week. This time around, you’ll get to hear from Josh Radnor, Justin Jones, Lisa Sharon Harper, Joel Stein, Yusra Mardini, and Mike McHargue. If you’d like to listen to the full conversations, click on the link(s) below: Josh Radnor Justin Jones Lisa...

Yusra Mardini is a Syrian Refugee. In 2015, she and her sister left their home to head toward safety. A few minutes into the trip, the engine on their boat stopped working. She and her sister tread water for 3 1/2 hours which led to everyone’s lives being saved. Eventually, she arrived in Germany and began training for the 2016 Olympics. She competed at the 2016 Olympics in Rio on the very first R...

Charles belongs to the Choctaw tribe and his wife belongs to the Blackfoot tribe. 21 years ago, they started a non-profit organization called The Red Road. The Red Road exists to empower and share hope with Native American communities all over the country. He travels with his wife, Siouxsan, and their 7 children to do this incredible work.  A couple of years ago, Charles and his wife came up with...

My guest today is Tori Williams Douglass. She is from Portland, Oregon. Tori is an anti-racist educator, the founder of White Homework, a writer, a content creator, and so much more. In our chat, we talk about growing up in a progressive but not so progressive city, living on stolen land, systemic racism, the global pandemic, police brutality, spirituality (or the lack thereof), what she would rig...