Mindful Consuming

Episode 20: John Goods | John Goods is a chemist and inventor who is interested in the ways humans interact with energy and materials and how the unseen chemical world around us influences our experience.  He is currently the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Ravel , a startup that is working to make synthetic textile recycling a commercial reality. John talks with Ruth about his initial...

Episode 19: Kristen Albrecht | Kristen Albrecht’s most recent venture was running Nube, a local sustainable apparel business.  Nube partnered with artists to help create their designs, focusing on recycled materials and being fully US-made.  She recently graduated from Presidio Graduate School with an MBA in sustainable solutions and is now starting a new role heading up sustainability and operati...

Episode 18: Jude O'Reilley | Jude O'Reilley is the CEO of VolunteerMatch , a non-profit platform matching inspired people with inspiring causes.  He has a lifetime of experience as a volunteer and more than 25 years of experience in technology, leadership and entrepreneurship in the private sector and in the world of social change.  A seasoned organizational leader in social innovation,...

Episode 17: Pele Bennett | Pele Bennett has dedicated over a decade to philanthropic endeavors and fostering positive change in underserved communities, particularly among Pacific Islander and Indigenous peoples. With a strong commitment to breaking systemic barriers, Pele has recently embarked on a transformative journey, focusing on fostering systems thinking and empowering marginalized communit...

Episode 16: Dave Ferris | Dave Ferris is an academic in philosophy, a restless dabbler, and a native of Vashon Island who has recently returned after a couple decades bouncing around the east coast from school to school and project to project.  As an undergraduate in Social Studies at Harvard he threw himself into activism with the Harvard Fair Trade Initiative, then worked with a radical politica...

Episode 15: Curiosity & Consumption feat. Martellus Bennett, Mich Stevenson & Kristen Albrecht | Curiosity & Consumption is the second panel discussion hosted by Michael and Ruth at the Seattle Design Festival.   In this conversation Martellus Bennett, Mich Stevenson, and Kristen Albrecht share about the many ways curiosity guides them on their respective paths.  Martellus explores the...

Episode 14: CLT, The Present & Potential feat. Susan Jones, Rico Quirindongo & Ethan Martin | CLT, The Present & Potential is the first panel discussion that Ruth and Michael hosted during the Seattle Design Festival.  Featured guests were Susan Jones, Rico Quirindongo, and Ethan Martin and the conversation includes insight into each of their design journeys.  The panel discusses the w...

Episode 13: April Pride |  An entrepreneur and a visionary as well as an advocate for women who make unorthodox choices, April Pride is making her mark for good in the cannabis world.  Her first cannabis brand, Van der Pop, published 2017’s Women & Weed survey — the industry’s first comprehensive report on the thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and behaviors of 1,500 North American women.  The succe...

Episode 12: Becca Stevens | Becca Stevens is a speaker, justice entrepreneur, author, priest, and founder and President of Thistle Farms.  Starting in 1997 with a single home for survivors of trafficking and addiction, Thistle Farms is now a global movement for women’s freedom. Today the Nashville flagship includes a residential program that serves as a national model for women’s recovery, and thr...

Episode 11: Sister Love feat. Molly Van Nostrand | Most of my few podcasts start with a pretty standard bio so you can get to know my guest. This one is different. This is my sister. While she’s owned a frame shop and a printing store and worked for many large and small companies, her relevant bio here is kicking my ass growing up!  Yes, the big sister… smarter, taller, prettier, funnier… until th...

Episode 10: Matt Dillon | Matt Dillon is a farmer, timber framer, chef and former restaurant owner living with his family and working on a small island in the Puget Sound southwest of Seattle, WA.  He opened his first restaurant, Sitka & Spruce in 2006, and followed it with The Corson Building, Bar Ferdinand, Bar Sajor, The London Plane and Copal.  Matt has been nominated multiple times by the...

Episode 9: Seth Grizzle | Seth Grizzle is an architect turned furniture and lighting designer and conceptual artist. His award-winning conceptual design studio, graypants , creates products, architecture, and custom installations, among other things, working in various mediums as well as discarded/reclaimed materials.  Founded in 2008, graypants operates teams in Seattle and Amsterdam, solving pro...

Episode 8: Crystal C. Hall | Crystal C. Hall is an associate professor of public policy and governance and adjunct associate professor of psychology at the University of Washington.  Her research pursues the integration of psychology into the design and implementation of social policy.  She has collaborated with government agencies at the local, state, and federal level —including having served on...

Episode 7: Dominic Muren | Dominic Muren is founder and principal of The Humblefactory, a design laboratory in Seattle, Washington which develops tools and technologies that increase the capabilities of Makers around the world.  Since his early career founding the popular industrial design blog IDFuel.com, and writing for Treehugger.com — dubbed “The Green CNN” — Dominic has been exploring the opp...

Episode 6: Joe Whinney | Joe Whinney, the Founder and former CEO of Theo Chocolate (North America’s first organic and fair-trade chocolate maker), joins this episode to share his story and how his passion for building ethical business began.  A sailboat journey through Central America after dropping out of high school led him to volunteering in southern Belize, where he focused on preserving uniqu...

Episode 5: Michael Bennett | Seahawks legend, social activist, and aspiring architecture graduate Michael Bennett (@mosesbread72) graciously takes time out of his busy finals week for this episode. Overflowing with a passionate pursuit of living a life of purpose, he shares about his family heritage of storytelling, asking questions, and challenging society. “It’s about being designers and archite...

Episode 4: C.J. Emmons & Jeff Miller |  Los Angeles musician friends @cj_emmons and @jeffmillerla visit Vashon for an island getaway to connect and chat about their evolving views of consumption.  They share about their struggles with breaking out of old habits and discuss the role that guilt has played when making decisions.  Many topics are explored in the session, from single use plastics a...

Episode 3: Leslie Mackie |   Leslie Mackie, founder of @macrinabakery , joins to talk about her entrepreneurial journey over the last 30 years.  She shares how her values for supporting local were formed early in her life and how these principles have guided her through each chapter of her career.  Leslie provides insight into her priority for sourcing quality ingredients, candidly talks about str...

Episode 2: Music Consumption feat. Lauren McShane & Dave Dederer | For this episode, Lauren McShane (Portland Cello Project) and Dave Dederer (Presidents of the United States of America) — musicians from different backgrounds and eras — join to discuss their thoughts on modern music consumption.  Ruth begins the conversation with Lauren, who candidly shares about how the current landscape seem...

Episode 1 with Margo Tantau  | Ruth starts her new podcast series by sitting down to chat with her friend and fellow Vashon Island resident Margo Tantau ( @mtantau ) of Tantau Studio and the lovely @windowsillchats podcast.  They talk about their shared appreciation for the island’s culture of reuse and recycling, as well as the joys of having access to local foods via roadside farmstands.  As con...

Episode 0:  Introduction to Mindful Consuming | In this introductory episode Ruth provides some background context to her journey as a mindful consumer, what led her to start this new podcast project, and shares some of her hopes and intentions for the conversations she will be hosting. Visit: mindfulconsuming.com @mindful.consuming