The Change Maker

This week on the Change Maker: Cameron Atlas. Cameron is a musician and speaker who blends the two to provide insights on high performance, leadership, creativity, and innovation. In their conversation Cameron and Deke talk about the things that keep us apart and how inspiration can strike you when you least expect it, like at 2AM. You can find more information about Cameron Atlas at: https://came...

This week on the Change Maker: Gloria Squitiro. Gloria is an author and wife to former Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser (she calls him Funk). Gloria talks with us about how local politics is a dirtier battlefield than you might think, and how upsetting the status quo can lead to losing an election. You can find more information about Gloria and her books at: https://gloriasquitiro.com To find mor...

This week on the Change Maker: Layla Zaidane. Layla is the CEO and President of the Millennial Action Project. Layla works with over 1600 millennial and get z elected officials to help bridge the divide. We deep dive into the challenges faced by younger lawmakers currently serving or looking to serve their communities. You can find more information on the Millennial Action Project at: https://www....

This week on the Change Maker: Ariana Pekary. Ariana is formerly an award-winning journalist, current Yoga instructor, and future podcast host. She has worked in the media for years and brings an insider perspective on how the news works and how it creates division in its viewers. She’s also the future host of her own podcast and founding member of Starts With Us and organizes with the hopes of in...

This week on the Change Maker: Ariana Pekary. Ariana is formerly an award-winning journalist, current Yoga instructor, and future podcast host. She has worked in the media for years and brings an insider perspective on how the news works and how it creates division in its viewers. She’s also the future host of her own podcast and founding member of Starts With Us and organizes with the hopes of in...

This week on the Change Maker: Jackie Ferguson. Jackie is the Co-Founder of The Diversity Movement, a consulting firm that helps educate businesses, schools, and other organizations on how to manage and integrate diversity. She talks about how the world can benefit from learning how to overcome our differences and how not overcoming those differences are harming overall business and society. To le...

This week on The Change Maker: Aida Murad. Aida is known for her unique approach to painting in which she only paints with her fingers. Aida shares with us her inspiring journey to being an artist after being diagnosed with severe rheumatoid arthritis when she was 20 years old and semi paralyzed for four and a half years. We delve into her creative process and how she has adapted her painting tech...

This week on the Change Maker: Joshua Freedman. Joshua is the CEO of Six Seconds, a company dedicated to helping businesses and organizations increase their emotional intelligence to perform better. He tells us just how important it is to engage in empathy and understand one another so that we can continue to create an environment of compassion and tolerance. To learn more about Joshua and Six Sec...

This week on the Change Maker: Aidan McCullen. Aidan is a speaker at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, host of the Innovation Show Podcast, and author of the book “Undisruptable”. Our conversation is all about how we can use empathy to overcome our resistance to change, how people don’t see their privilege, and how even the worst things in life have a potential for greatness. To learn more about...

This week on the Change Maker: Aidan McCullen. Aidan is a speaker at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, host of the Innovation Show Podcast, and author of the book “Undisruptable”. Our conversation is all about how we can use empathy to overcome our resistance to change, how people don’t see their privilege, and how even the worst things in life have a potential for greatness.  To learn more abou...

Today on The Change Maker: Heather Parady once again. Heather is a former mental health specialist turned online entrepreneur and podcast host. Heather talks keeping true to the purpose that you have in life, and how inclusion and creativity are key to building bridges in society. Heather is an online entrepreneur and podcast host of "The Heather Parady Show” She also offers online coaching and co...

This week on the Change Maker: Clint Bryant. Clint is the former Athletic Director for August University and coach for the men’s basketball team. We have a great conversation about his life on college campuses, how divided this country seems, his new charitable organization, and how important it is to pass on the mantle of leadership to the young people of today. You can listen to Clint’s new Podc...

This week on the Change Maker we welcome back: Lou Diamond. Lou is a mentor and consultant at the head of his business - Thrive Loud, which is a consulting firm that helps bring together people and ideas to create maximum success! He is also the host of the Thrive Loud podcast and the Authors that Thrive Podcast. As our first repeat guest, we catch up with Lou about his new book, the importance of...

This week on the Change Maker: Robin Dreeke. Robin is a retired FBI agent, who is now an author, speaker, executive coach, and host of the Forged by Trust Podcast. We talk about his time in the FBI recruiting Russian spies, the current situation in Ukraine, and how trust and mutual understanding is the key to building successful relationships. To learn more about Robin or contact him visit his web...

This week on the Change Maker: Dame Stephanie Shirley. Dame Stephanie is a philanthropist and business owner in the United Kingdom. She arrived there shortly after the start of World War II as an unaccompanied child refugee. From those beginnings, she went on to create one of the first woman owned and staffed software companies in the UK to great success. She has since created several charities fo...

Today on The Change Maker: Tony McAleer. Tony is author of the book “The Cure for Hate: A Former White Supremacist’s Journey from Violent Extremism to Radical Compassion” and founder of the organization Life After Hate. We talk all about his journey from the radical far right to helping others overcome hate, how he was drawn into the movement, and how fatherhood led him into the work he is doing t...

Today on The Change Maker: Tommy Wofford. Tommy is an entrepreneur, tech innovator, and Co-founder of the Leadfast Co. a company created to train leaders and help start-ups go from dreams to reality. We discuss his humble origins in the most unlikely of places and how late nights, ramen noodles, and sleeping in his car led him to the success he has now.  To learn more about Leadfast Co. go to: htt...

Today on The Change Maker: Manu Meel. Manu is the CEO of BridgeUSA, an organization devoted to bridging the cultural and political divides in universities, colleges, and high schools. Here on the Change Maker we’ve always believed that most folks fit somewhere in the middle politically and Manu is living proof. He describes how he formed BridgeUSA and how he feels about the vast political partisan...

Today on The Change Maker: Jane Enright. Jane is an author and entrepreneur who writes about how to manage depression, anxiety, and all the curveballs thrown at you to create a better life. She talks about her journey and the strange twists and turns that led her to the super awesome life she has now. To learn more about Jane, head over to her website: https://www.janeenrightauthor.com To find mor...

This week on the Change Maker: Jennifer Jones and John Cates. Jennifer is the Executive Director and Founder of Apparo Academy, a school devoted to caring for and educating children with special needs. John is the President of Meybohm Real Estate and chairman of the board for Apparo Academy. The three of us discuss how Jennifer was inspired to found the Academy and all the help she got along the w...

Today on The Change Maker: Jay Samit. Jay is an entrepreneur, bestselling author, and serial disruptor. Jay has helped create businesses all over the world and developed ground-breaking technologies with multi-million dollar companies. He talks to us about the secrets of his success, why he wrote his first book “Disrupt You” and how that created a challenge that led to his second book “Future-Proo...

Today on The Change Maker: Vera Stewart. Vera is a Southern cooking show host, entrepreneur, and mentor in the Augusta community. She discusses the beginnings of her business, food competition appearances, and how she continues to give back to young people teaching them life skills and good manners. To learn more about Vera, head over to her website: https://www.veryvera.com/ To find more informat...

Today on The Change Maker: Will Dyer. Will is the Chief Pastor at Augusta First Baptist Church and a fantastic human being. He talks about how we can all find places to agree and disagree with each other about religion and politics and the true goals of faith. Join us for a fascinating conversation that will surprise you. You can learn more about First Baptist Church of Augusta at https://discover...

Today on The Change Maker: Tom Fishman. Tom is the CEO of Starts With Us, a movement of people dedicated to creating understanding and healing the divides in the United States. He explains his background in the tech fields and the three C’s Starts With Us is built on: Curiosity, Compassion, and Courage. You can learn more about Starts With Us at https://www.startswith.us/ To find more information...

Today on The Change Maker: Wycliffe Gordon. Wycliffe is a renowned Trombonist and bandleader of multiple groups. He tells us all about how the pandemic gave him a love of staying home, how music can be a healing force in the world, and what’s it been like as a professor at Augusta University. You can learn more about Wycliffe, his projects, and order CDs at https://wycliffegordon.com/ To find more...