The New Story Is with Dave Ursillo

Henry David Thoreau famously called the morning a time "...when I am awake and there is a dawn in me." In the 1840s, he implored his readers to "...learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake," not only physically but spiritually. Over 150 years later and as we all struggle with distractions from technologies that impede our precious attention spans, what can we learn about valuing personal space,...

Supposedly, 81% of Americans — around 228 million people! — think they have a book in them, and, that they should write one. Clearly, books are revered in American society. But what does it take to become one of the few people who actually do it? Nikki Groom is a brand strategist, the host of the Movement Makers podcast, and the author of A Power of Your Own: How to Awaken Your Potential, Experime...

For everyday activists and socially-conscious advocates of change, storytelling offers a gateway for helping to bring people together and possibly change hearts and minds. And yet, questions arise: When is or isn't a story our own to tell? Joseph C. Ewoodzie Jr. is the Vann Associate Professor of Racial Justice at Davidson College and the author of Getting Something to Eat in Jackson: Race, Class,...

Checklists are ubiquitous in our busy, overwhelmed lives. But what if checklists helped us to prioritize more than obligations, like joys, pleasures, and self-care? Alexandra Franzen is a Hawaii-based best-selling author of 6 books, a writing teacher, an entrepreneur, and the co-founder of Get It Done , a woman-owned company that helps clients create beautiful books in all genres. She joins u...

In our most listened-to episode of 2022, author Kat Vellos ( KatVellos.com ) told us she is tired of hearing people on social media tell this one story: "I'm out of f**ks to give!" While the declaration started out as good-humored—a way to jest and say, "I'm just so over it!"—today, she says, the story behind the saying now reeks of toxic individuality. In a world that needs more caring—and, in wh...

For some time, lifestyle design was commodified by social media influencers for its envy-stirring appeal. But can lifestyle design actually help us get back into healthy and healing relationships to ourselves? Gemma Stone is a registered psychologist, neuroscientist, executive coach, speaker, and author based in Calgary, Canada. Gemma bridges lifestyle design concepts and practices into her clinic...

The New Story Is is a podcast from Dave Ursillo ( DaveUrsillo.com ) and The New Story Company ( TheNewStory.is ) that explores the shared stories, perceptions, and ideas that have come to shape the world today, as we know it—including some of the most daunting social issues of our time. Along the way, we speak to talented guests to help us better understand the collective stories and shared narrat...

Tea has been bringing people together for hundreds of years, but could its role in facilitating connection and celebrating culture may be more important than ever in today’s siloed, socially-distanced world? Amber Jackson is a food scientist, entrepreneur, and the Owner and Chief Operating Officer of The Black Leaf Tea and Culture Shop , an online loose-leaf tea company that uses its platform to c...

The tables are turned on host, Dave Ursillo , as he is interviewed by fellow podcaster, former radio DJ, longtime friend, and creative entrepreneur Greg Berg of the Life on Purpose , in a special 10-year retrospective that marked the anniversary of their first interview, so long ago. In this interview, Dave is asked to relitigate his personal and professional journeys across 10 years, reflect on t...

Why do we need new stories, anyway? Aren't there enough stories being told these days? Hasn't every story been told before? And, if so, why should we each feel motivated to tell, share, or explore our own? In this solo podcast, your host Dave Ursillo hits pause on the last 7 months of interviewing amazing guests to share his own story with you, our dear listeners. Dave opens up to share how he stu...

Dr. Han Ren is calling for more accessible, culturally-affirming care in mental health—and to decolonize the white-centered, racist, marginalizing expectations of clients in therapeutic settings. As a licensed clinical psychologist, educator, and mental health influencer, Dr. Ren specializes in liberation-oriented, anti-oppressive, and culturally-informed therapy. Her advocacy and education on dec...

Marta Tellado says that consumer rights are civil rights, and it's time for us all to start acting like it. The president and CEO of Consumer Reports —an 85+ year consumer advocacy organization with over 6 million members today—since 2014, Marta's new book comes out swinging against the exploitation of tech's so-called Big Four (Amazon, Google, Apple, and Facebook), a government that refuses to ta...

Of the 2 million nonprofit organizations operating in the United States today, many run into persistent struggles—especially with donor funding—to fulfill their noble service missions.  So, how might nonprofits today—who exist to affect positive change in our world—stay nimble, creative, and responsive to uncertain and rapidly changing times? Alison Bologna  is an award-winning journalis...

What we call "soccer" in the U.S. and Canada, the rest of the world calls football: the "beautiful game" is the world's most popular sport, with over 3.5 billion fans globally, an estimated 250 million players across 200 countries, and televised events can dwarf even the viewership of the Super Bowl—up to 4x and 5x. But football has become a microcosm of issues throughout society, from rampant cor...

Imagine, one day, you receive a mysterious email from an anonymous organization that promises to help advance your career. Is it a scam? A cult? That's what happened to USA Today and international bestselling novelist Catherine McKenzie in 2019 when she was invited to join a mysterious women's collective, which described itself as a safe haven for accomplished women professionals among seas of wor...

Dave Ursillo speaks to entrepreneur and prison reform activist Coss Marte, founder of ConBody and ConBud, which employ formerly incarcerated persons as part of a wider social mission to de-stigmatize the formerly incarcerated community, ease their integration back into society, and change the systemic inequity of the criminal justice system. Coss is also the author of ConBody: The Revolutionary Bo...

Y-Vonne Hutchinson wants us to cut the bullsh*t and talk openly and honestly about racism. That's why she wrote her new book, How to Talk to Your Boss About Race: Speaking Up Without Getting Shut Down , which equips readers with a framework to think about race at work and prepares them to have frank and effective conversations with leaders. Y-Vonne is the CEO and founder of ReadySet , one of the c...

We celebrate Pride Month and honor our LGBTQIA+ family across the world by showcasing a couple of wonderful voices from the big, broad, diverse global community who joined us on the podcast this month and shared unique stories of striving to live their truth in a world that misunderstood, typecast, and minimized them. Today, author Wade Rouse and story doula and public speaking coach Eduardo Place...

Eduardo Placer is in service to helping people tell their stories and live their truth in the world; and yet, he says, many of us confuse event-sharing with storytelling. A story doula, professional public speaking coach, and former professional performer, Eduardo is the founder of Fearless Communicators , a public speaking company that helps storytellers push past their fear of public speaking by...

Content warning: This episode briefly mentions attempted suicide. Wade Rouse was a self-described queer kid growing up feeling like an outsider in his rural, conservative, Ozarks community in 1970s Missouri—and, in his own family. Wade's new book is Magic Season: A Son's Story , a memoir that details Wade’s relationship with his hardline, old fashioned, and rather unforgiving father throughout his...

Everyone's favorite expletive features prominently in two popular, recent episodes on caring and radical rest, featuring author Kat Vellos and author Caroline Dooner. Kat's and Caroline's clever usage of the once-taboo "F- word" in their own unique ways have sparked really poignant, insightful social observations and meaningful conversations about topics like caring about outcomes (in a time that...

Caroline Dooner is tired as f*ck of the pressures of self-help, diet culture, and trying to fix her supposed imperfections. A humorist and storyteller, Caroline is the author of two books, The F*ck It Diet: Eating Should Be Easy ( Spanish version ), and Tired as F*ck: Burnout at the Hands of Diet, Self-Help, and Hustle Culture . Far from a typical "self-help" writer, Caroline blends a characterist...

Jennifer Louden ( JenniferLouden.com ) may be a best-selling author, but she is no stranger to asking herself the question, "Why bother?" She says that this common turn of phrase, which is typically used as a sort of signal to indicate that we’re giving up before we really try, is actually a real question that deserves answering. Her book, Why Bother? Discover the Desire for What’s Next , turns th...

Kat Vellos ( KatVellos.com ) is tired of hearing people on social media tell this one story: "I'm out of f**ks to give!" While the declaration started out as good-humored—a way to jest and say, "I'm just so over it!"—today, she says, the story behind the saying now reeks of toxic individuality. In a world that needs more caring—and, in which people who care about bad outcomes are doing a lot of ha...

The New Story Is is a podcast from Dave Ursillo ( DaveUrsillo.com ) and The New Story Company ( TheNewStory.is ) that seeks to better understand the collective stories and shared narratives of our time—especially those that are contributing to record high levels of dissatisfaction, dread, disillusionment and cynicism throughout society. From news headlines to trending topics on social media to eve...