Sidewalk Talk

Dr. Stan Steindl brings a fresh take to compassion in this week’s Sidewalk Talk conversation. Stan’s a clinical psychologist with over 20 years experience as a therapist, trainer and researcher, and he’s also an adjunct associate professor at the School of Psychology at the University of Queensland, Australia. Last year, Stan published his first book: The Gifts of Compassion. Stan and Traci explor...

Traci and Kristina share a deep and rich conversation, in which Traci asks the kind of big questions Kristina thrives on. Questions like… what is the psyche, and what is the soul? what's the point of Greek mythology and how can it be meaningful? You’ll leave this episode with a renewed sense of wonder, and a deeper understanding of how archetypes can help us access wisdom and creative energy beyon...

Aziph Mustapha is a weirdo. As the head of culture transformation and employee engagement at Malaysian telecommunications giant, Celcom, Aziph has built a career on disrupting social norms. But being weird isn’t just good business, for Aziph it’s the only authentic way to live.  On this episode of The Sidewalk Talk podcast, Traci gets to talk with—and really, make space for—Aziph as the two discus...

Restless in the often too structured world of academia, Anna Katharina Schaffner carved her own path as a professor, researcher, writer, coach, and modern thinker. In her forthcoming book, The Art of Self-Improvement: Ten Timeless Truths, Anna sets out to shift the way we think about self-help and how to better ourselves by taking cues from our ancestors’ ways of thinking and living that still rem...

David Pearl is a true Renaissance man. A self-title “experience engineer,” David has done it all—from writing books and starting a nonprofit to advocating for social change and even working as an opera star. Our current reality may seem anything but magical, that’s far from the truth in David’s eyes.  On this episode of The Sidewalk Talk podcast, Traci gets the chance to sit down with one of her n...

Author and professor Dr. Tania Israel wants to make perspective-taking sexy again. Her book, Beyond Your Bubble, is all about reaching beyond our differences to find where even the most vehemently opposed, politically and otherwise, can find common ground. On this episode of The Sidewalk Talk podcast, Traci talks with Tania about why conversations about political differences are so challenging rig...

Antoinette Weibel thinks trust rocks! As a researcher and professor at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, Antoinette has devoted much of her life to the study of trust, specifically in the workplace. Traci cold-called Antoinette, and what resulted is a multifaceted and fascinating conversation on trust, vulnerability, and why trust has eroded in society and at work over the past 25 years...

Joe Keohane has been meeting strangers for decades. As an accomplished journalist and editor, Joe has made a career out of listening to people he doesn’t know and engaging with their stories. But as the world reemerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, loneliness is on the rise, and strangers feel more strange than maybe ever before. Is there still something to be gained from expanding our social circle...

Stuart Chittenden is a highly interesting character. A lawyer by trade, he moved to Omaha, Nebraska from England after marrying his wife and grew fascinated by the inherent power of conversation. That fascination led him to start Squish Talks—the organization he has leveraged to unlock human potential in all areas of society simply through conversation.  On this episode of The Sidewalk Talk podcas...

Psychoanalysis has long been thought of as outdated, misogynistic, and even racist—a type of therapy for the rich and privileged. In fact, Dr. Fernando Castrillon thought as much himself when he first encountered psychoanalysis, but has since changed his mind, and is working to change the minds of others through his work and words on the subject.  On this episode of The Sidewalk Talk podcast, Trac...

Michael McKnight is an educator at heart. Although he no longer teaches in the New Jersey classroom where he got his start and now has a handful of accolades and additional titles to his name, Michael is still as passionate now as he was four decades ago about connecting with students in ways that empower them to learn, not just stuff their heads with more information.  On this episode of The Side...

Dr. Kristin Moody started out her career as a teacher passionate about deeply connecting with her students. That connection, and her subsequent interest in the study of empathy, propelled Kristin into a career in just that—launching Empathy at Work and spending her time studying the science behind empathy and how we connect to one another.  On this episode of The Sidewalk Talk podcast, Traci talks...

Toke Paludan Moeller was born a few years after World War II into a lineage of learners. His Danish ancestors include a cadre of individuals who spent their lives doing things from resisting the Nazis to being educated in the folk schools that came after their native country’s bankruptcy. Toke has made a name for himself within his family, starting the Art of Hosting and Interchange to help us all...

For the last century or so, we’ve been told that we—humans—are the problem, not the society in which we live. What if the opposite was actually true? Dr. Niobe Way thinks so, and she’s ready to tell you why. On this episode of The Sidewalk Talk podcast, Traci sits down for a conversation with NYU professor and founder of the Project for the Advancement of our Common Humanity (PACH), Dr. Niobe Way....

Dr. Dwight Turner has been studying and teaching on the concepts of otherness, race, and justice in psychotherapy long before they were trending topics in culture. He recently put out his first book on just that topic, in the hopes that readers will walk away with a better understanding of their own privilege and tendencies to otherize in culture today.  On this episode of The Sidewalk Talk podcas...

Meredith Bell has been helping individuals and teams communicate and connect more effectively for over 30 years. Since she began her career, a lot has changed in the ways we communicate (thanks, smartphones!), but a lot of the fundamentals—like building trust, how to encourage someone well, and practicing neutrality and curiosity—have remained the same. Even though there’s now seemingly more ways...

At some point in our lives, we’ve probably all felt like we didn’t belong. For Nicola Lipscombe, that sense of not belonging came to a head while she was working in academia and doctors discovered a cancerous tumor in her chest. Nicola knew it was time for a change, and thus began the second half of her career where belonging and heart-centeredness have taken center stage.  On this episode of The...

For many, art is a language all its own. This has never been more true for Daren Todd, a Portland-based musician turned painter who discovered painting during quarantine when he lost his bartending job. On this episode of The Sidewalk Talk podcast, Traci sits down with Daren to hear his story of gaining a following for his painting through Reddit, starting Art Larger Than Me, and his thoughts on h...

Listening well isn’t an easy skill for most of us. We like to talk, and in a culture that values productivity and solutions above all else, simply listening can often feel like we’re not being useful. Dr. Kelsey Crowe, author of There is No Good Card for This, thinks differently.  An empathy coach and founder of the nonprofit, Help Each Other Out, Kelsey knows a thing or two about listening—making...

Thomas C Knox is a connector like no other. The founder of multiple organizations all focused on fostering relationships and space for vulnerability between people, this guy is the real deal. On this episode of The Sidewalk Talk podcast, Traci sits down with Thomas, her good friend and part of the Sidewalk Talk team, to discuss how to stay connected during quarantine and relating to others even wh...

Loneliness is something that has probably plagued all of us at different points in our lives, but it’s a feeling that has been more prevalent this past year than any before with a global pandemic that sent us all into our homes. But what if that feeling of loneliness could be combatted safely, from our homes, and through the help of strangers? Enter Open Bubble’s George de la Ville Bauge.  The Fre...

Drug addiction and the loneliness and mental health struggles that often precede it are highly talked about issues facing our country right now, but that wasn’t always the case. Back in 2006, when author Alicia Cook’s cousin, Jess, died of an overdose, death from drug addiction was often swept under the rug. While it’s become much more of a frontline policy talking point in the years since, people...

The Latino community is one that has felt the devastating effects of COVID-19 firsthand. As essential workers and part of a people group that values family and work ethic above all else, the pandemic has wracked this already marginalized minority. But author and founder of EsTiempo: “It’s Time,” Frank Carbajal, is here to tell us that the Latino future is still bright for these resilient individua...

Difficult conversations are something that we’ve had to have a lot of over the past four years. But just when it feels like you can’t even listen to someone who believes differently than you anymore, in walks someone like Kern Beare to help you realize maybe we aren’t so divided after all.  On this episode of The Sidewalk Talk podcast, Traci talks with Kern, author and creator of the Difficult Con...

Our world is more diverse than ever before, which is a good thing, but we’re also growing increasingly more divided within that diversity of thought, background, belief, and life experience. How do we become bridge-builders in a world that touts our differences as reasons to hate the other? Therapist and speaker, Lambers Fisher, has a few ideas.  On this episode of The Sidewalk Talk podcast, Traci...