SoftPower/FulStories

When Derek Lowstuter joined the Peace Corps, he found the transition from Colorado to Ethiopia very easy... at least as far as the altitude went. Everything else? Way different. Becoming part of a community there came loaded with lessons. By learning to accept help, or reach beyond community, he strengthened his own place within it. 'SoftPower/FulStories' uses first-person stories to explo...

Lisa Cazacu may have waited a long time to follow her Peace Corps dream, but once she started, there was zero hesitation. She jumped right into life in Romania. She was a regular at the nearby outdoor market, weaving her way through the towering mountains of cabbage, and only occasionally carrying a big bunch of bananas. 'SoftPower/FulStories' uses first-person stories to explore why U.S....

Karl Stoltz continues to bring people together, after nearly four decades as a public diplomacy expert. As Co-President of the Public Diplomacy Council of America, he pays close attention to the many soft power tools the United States uses to win hearts and minds (which used to be a priority). As a diplomat, starting with the U.S. Information Agency, he deployed these tools, not least in Moscow, w...

There's no doubt that Jason Carter is following in some big footsteps. His great-grandmother, for instance, joined the Peace Corps at age 66 and believed passionately in the importance of service. Or his grandfather, who wasn't content with merely being the President of the United States--he too built a decades-long legacy of service after he left the Oval Office. But there's also no d...

"When you learn, teach. When you get, give." - Maya Angelou Growing up in a Haitian-American family in Queens, NY, Jennifer Erie hoped the Peace Corps might send her to West Africa to learn more about her ancestors' origins. Instead, she ended up in South Africa, the first of many places — along with her time at USAID — where she found countless new people to champion, collaborate wi...

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.” – Mother Teresa  A routine trip to northern Thailand changed the course of Peace Corps volunteer Paul Strasburg’s life, even if he didn’t know it at the time. A simple request to help build a school became a successful challenge that, years later, would bloom into an NGO now called Thousand Currents,...

"Do not get lost in a sea of despair." - John Lewis During her 18 years with USAID--mostly in Africa--Keisha Effiom worked in environments that most people will never fully understand, but was always deeply committed to the mission. And then it was gone. Not gradually. Not on her terms. Just gone. Yet, when USAID was immediately halted, the teams around the world were still in place. And...

"A ship in harbor is safe. But that's not what ships are for." - John A. Shedd When George Clooney decides to embark on a humanitarian mission to the frontlines of a deadly war in Sudan, it would normally take months of meticulous coordination to keep an A-list celebrity safe in a conflict zone. Matt Brown--our storyteller this week--had three days. Which is crazy. Thankfully, as a r...

"People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel." - Maya Angelou Growing up, Maria Brewer knew what it felt like to be othered, to be treated as an outsider. The memories of those feelings never left, and she spent her diplomatic career--which included two ambassadorships--looking for inclusivity and ways to get to &...

(This episode originally aired on January 23, 2026.) In case you missed it: Hamse Warfa is the CEO of World Savvy, a non-profit organization that equips educators and students with the skills, perspectives, and global awareness needed to thrive in an interconnected world and drive positive change. In 2022, he became the first Somali-American presidential appointee in U.S. history, as a Senior Advi...

"People generally see what they look for and hear what they listen for." - Harper Lee Joe Lurie, the Executive Director Emeritus of the University of California, Berkeley's International House, has a story, a proverb, or an eyewitness account for seemingly every occasion. Here's one from Ukraine: "You don't really see the world if you only look through your own window.&q...

(This episode originally aired on October 31, 2025.) In case you missed it: Rev. Jen Butler served as CEO of Faith in Public Life from 2005 to 2022. Highlights of her work as CEO include mobilizing a multi-state faith strategy to secure passage of the Affordable Care Act and defeating Republican efforts in 2017 to gut the bill. Faith in Democracy recently launched a new initiative titled “Leadersh...

The key to good diplomacy, according to Elizabeth Kennedy Trudeau, is showing up. And, as a very good diplomat, she always showed up. To places beautiful and places troubled. Places dangerous and places divided. Places important to the United States. The other key to good diplomacy is how you show up. And that leads us to this week's episode... SoftPower/FulStories uses first-person stories to...

(This episode originally aired on November 21, 2025.) In case you missed it: July 18th, 2026 marks Nelson Mandela’s 108th birthday and International Nelson Mandela Day. Aaron Williams headed USAID in South Africa, where he worked directly with Nelson Mandela and his administration as the country underwent democratic transformation. Williams served as the Peace Corps Director from 2009 to 2012. He...

Sit back and enjoy this SP/FS collaboration with the Museum of the Peace Corps Experience, where we recreate a Peace Corps story slam, originally performed at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in 2025. Featured storytellers: Will Dreyer, Katie Hamann, Jody Olsen, Jim Rupert, Corey Quinlan Taylor, Ursula Wright, and BJ Whetstine--and featuring Museum Director Zack Klim (with a huge assist...

Forget the idea of going "full circle," I feel like the life and career of Baktash Ahadi is doing laps. As an Afghan refugee, finding his way in the United States, the massive reverberations from 9/11 hit Baktash from all sides, and started him on a journey of service and empathy that led him to the Peace Corps, back to Afghanistan as a civilian interpretor with U.S. special operations, an instruc...

(This episode originally aired on September 12, 2025.) In case you missed it: Betsy Small grew up aware of both her privileged place in the world and her family's rapid rise from poverty and persecution. Both left a mark, resulting in decades of empathy and action--at home and in some of the most vulnerable places in the world. Following the release of Betsy’s podcast episode, her book, 'B...

Dateline: 1 July 2026 July 1, 2025, marked the inglorious (and highly dubious) end of USAID. To mark its passing, we asked Sara Sullivan, a USAID alumna who has been speaking out from the very beginning of the end, to "The Average American," to deliver a eulogy on behalf of the agency. As usual, she did not mince words. SoftPower/FulStories uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. e...

On February 3, 2025, Elon Musk posted this on X: "We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper. Could gone [ sic ] to some great parties. Did that instead." It's safe to say that no one needed Musk's savage imagery. It's also worth pointing out that by now--a year later--the barely-trained, Musk-led forces at the Trump Administration's Department of Government...

"Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable." – Banksy Laura Migliorino is an artist and long-time art instructor based in Minneapolis. She has--from the beginning of her long career in art--believed in the power of memory. Now, as Minnesota thaws out and moves forward after a long, devastating winter, she is already focused on remembering. And when you see that small p...

"Anything worth doing is worth overdoing." - Tina Martin Picture the cheerfulness--and tendency to break into song--of 'The Sound of Music's' Maria or Mary Poppins. Transplant her to Tonga, one of the most isolated island nations in the world. Electricity? No need. Running water? No need. Surround her by adoring children. Is it a Peace Corps adventure five decades removed or...

Note: This is the second of a two-part episode. We strongly recommend you start with Part 1. John Limbert was among 66 Americans taken hostage in the U.S. Embassy in November 1979, and among 52 who were held 444 days--an historical event that riveted America and the world. Episode 1 took us to the eve of the Iranian revolution. Here, Limbert shares his account of his time as a hostage and some wel...

"For lust of knowing what should not be known, We make the golden journey to Samarkand." - James Elroy Flecker Throughout his life, Ambassador John Limbert kept returning to Iran. As a student, as a Peace Corps volunteer, as a husband. He could not seem to stay away. But then, as a U.S. diplomat in Tehran — for a harrowing 444 days — he could not leave. This episode takes us to the verge...

As a young American girl living in Colombia, with little understanding of what it meant to be from the United States, Andrea Cristancho had a firsthand brush with grassroots U.S. soft power — and it may have changed her life. One thing is certain: When, years later, the roles were reversed, and she was the American helping to implement development programs overseas, the impact was every bit as pro...

As a young Peace Corps volunteer in Romania, Sean Cotter saw the reverence given to poets and philosophers and suspected he had found his people. But in the beginning, he couldn't even understand a child's spoken words. Flash forward to the present, where Sean, as the world's preeminent translator of Romanian literature into English, now helps shine a light on a place — and a people —...