The Audacity Tapes™

What happens when kindness stops being performative and starts becoming dangerous? In this episode of The Audacity Tapes, I sit down with Kind Cotton co-founder Kaitlin Johnstone for a conversation about moral courage, public conviction, and the growing cultural backlash against inclusion, equity, and human dignity. Before launching Kind Cotton, Kaitlin spent eight years as a kindergarten teacher...

What happens when the fight over reproductive freedom becomes a fight over women's place in society? My guest, Erin Matson, has spent more than two decades confronting that question. As the co-founder, president, and CEO of Reproaction, she's witnessed how political movements build power, how women's rights become bargaining chips, and how battles that appear to be about one issue are often connec...

Before the headlines, before the Taliban, before decades of war, there was another Afghanistan. In this extraordinary conversation, two generations of Afghan women come together to tell the story of what has been lost, what has endured, and why the struggle for human dignity in Afghanistan is ultimately a test of our shared humanity. Dr. Sima Samar—physician, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, former Vice...

What happens when a lie looks indistinguishable from the truth—and the truth itself can be dismissed as a lie? We're entering dangerous territory where artificial intelligence, disinformation, and the deliberate manipulation of evidence are changing far more than what we see online. They're changing how we understand reality, whom we believe, and whether those in power can be held accountable. But...

When did caring about another human being become a political statement? In this episode, I examine what happens when empathy becomes tangled up with political allegiance—when expressing concern for Palestinians, Israelis, immigrants, women in Afghanistan, or people suffering halfway around the world is immediately interpreted as taking a side. But caring about human suffering is not the same as en...

What does it actually mean to have moral conviction? It’s easy to know what we believe when those beliefs remain safely inside of us. But something changes when we give them a voice, put our name next to them, and say: This is where I stand. In this solo episode, I explore what I've learned from doing exactly that. Over the past several months, I've been writing publicly about moments in the Unite...

What does it take to turn private grief into national change? In this deeply human and unflinching conversation, I sit down with Kristen Christy — a national leader in suicide prevention, military spouse, and the originator of what became the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Kristen’s story is layered with both love and loss: a life-altering stroke as a teenager, the strength of community in mil...

Do we truly see one another — or do we reduce each other to labels? In this powerful conversation, Gabrielle Claiborne — author, TEDx speaker, leadership strategist, and advocate — shares what it means to live authentically as a trans woman in a world where identity is debated in headlines and policy rooms. This episode explores dignity, courage, visibility, and the cost of silence — and what beco...

What happens when a government begins to see its universities not as places of learning, but as threats? Mayda Hocevar watched that transformation happen in Venezuela. She began her career as a professor of law and legal philosophy at the University of Los Andes, never imagining that one day she would find herself fighting to defend the institution that had shaped her life. But as Venezuela’s demo...

What happens when the thing that once kept you safe begins costing you something deeper? Dr. Lubna Omar learned early that survival sometimes meant knowing what not to say. Growing up Palestinian in Syria under the Assad regime, silence wasn't simply caution. It was something you learned, absorbed, and carried with you. But what happens when those instincts follow you across borders? When the dang...

What if one of our most fundamental assumptions about land is wrong? For centuries, land in the United States has been tied to wealth, power, race, and who gets to belong. But for farmer, food justice activist, and author Leah Penniman, the very idea that land is something we can own demands a deeper examination. In this episode, Leah and I explore the systems and histories embedded in our relatio...

Five years after the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, the world risks becoming accustomed to what should never be acceptable. Professor Karima Bennoune and women rights defender in Afghanistan Zarqa Yaftali discuss the newly launched International Declaration on Gender Apartheid and Its Destructive Consequences, why naming gender apartheid matters, and how the Declaration can become a too...

Episode Description What if one of the most fundamental assumptions about our economy is wrong? For more than 25 years, Saru Jayaraman has challenged the systems that determine who gets paid, who holds power, and whose work is valued. At the center of that fight is a staggering reality: the federal tipped minimum wage remains just $2.13 an hour, unchanged since 1991. But this conversation goes far...

Episode Description What does it really mean to lead with integrity? For Heather Robertson Fortner, leadership isn't measured solely by performance, profit, or position. It's measured by congruence: the alignment between what we say we value and how we choose to live, lead, and serve. As CEO of SignatureFD, Heather has challenged the traditional assumptions of business leadership by building a cul...

Episode Description What transforms an observer into an activist? For Rachel Kara Lim, it wasn't a textbook. It wasn't a classroom. It wasn't a headline. It was proximity. At just 24 years old, Rachel has become one of Canada's emerging voices in human rights, Indigenous solidarity, climate justice, and anti-colonial movements. In this conversation, she explores why lived experience changes us in...

Episode Summary What does it really take to create lasting social change? For more than three decades, Karen Sherman has worked alongside women rebuilding their lives after war, conflict, and crisis in some of the world's most challenging environments. From the former Soviet Union to Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and more, she has witnessed firsthand the extraordinary resil...

Episode Summary What if hunger isn't fundamentally a food problem? What if it's a moral one? In this powerful conversation, former Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme and former U.S. Ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture, Ambassador Ertharin Cousin challenges us to rethink one of the world's most persistent crises. This episode is not simply about feeding people. It...

Episode Description The murder of George Floyd forced millions of Americans to confront questions they had long avoided. While much of the country retreated into outrage, silence, or division, playwrights Marci Duncan and Kerry Sandell made a different choice. One Black woman. One white woman. Two longtime friends. They sat down and committed to having the conversation. What began as an honest dia...

Episode Summary What if the biggest barriers to change aren't policies or procedures, but the beliefs we carry without even realizing it? In this conversation, I sit down with race equity strategist and Harper Slade CEO Nikki Lanier for a thoughtful discussion about leadership, racial equity, and the role each of us plays in creating workplaces where people can truly thrive. Drawing from her exper...

Episode Summary Four years after the fall of Roe v. Wade, many of the consequences experts warned about are no longer theoretical, they are being lived every day. In this episode, I sit down with reproductive health advocates and public health experts Pari and Eve, two of the most recognized online voices helping women navigate an increasingly complex reproductive healthcare landscape. Together, w...

Episode Summary Before the headlines, before the Taliban, before decades of war, there was another Afghanistan. In this extraordinary conversation, two generations of Afghan women come together to tell the story of what has been lost, what has endured, and why the struggle for human dignity in Afghanistan is ultimately a test of our shared humanity. Dr. Sima Samar—physician, Nobel Peace Prize nomi...

Episode Summary When Mary Maker fled South Sudan as a child, she carried little more than memories, trauma, and the hope of survival. Today, she is a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, TEDx speaker, education activist, and co-founder of Elimisha Kakuma, a university preparation program helping refugee students access higher education around the world. In this powerful conversation, Mary shares her journey...

Episode Summary What happens when proving people wrong becomes the driving force behind your life? In this episode of The Audacity Tapes, Dr. Shai Butler shares a deeply honest conversation about survival, achievement, addiction, healing, and the lifelong journey of becoming. At 14 years old, Shai became a mother and quickly discovered that the world had already begun making assumptions about who...

Episode Summary What happens when kindness stops being performative and starts becoming dangerous? In this episode of The Audacity Tapes, I sit down with Kind Cotton co-founder Kaitlin Johnstone for a conversation about moral courage, public conviction, and the growing cultural backlash against inclusion, equity, and human dignity. Before launching Kind Cotton, Kaitlin spent eight years as a kinde...

Episode Summary Movements do not always begin with massive institutions, sweeping reforms, or people with enormous power. Sometimes they begin quietly. With one person recognizing that vulnerable people are falling through the cracks and deciding the existing system is not enough. In this episode, Sue Ludwig, founder of the National Association of Neonatal Therapists (NANT), explores how one occup...