the Alt-Normal: Recent Episodes
Resonance™
Welcome to the Alt-Normal, a show that centers diversity as the absolutely critical force for rebuilding this post-pandemic world that’s ever more sustainable, inclusive and equitable. Diversity needs a rebrand that goes deep at the core of who we are in the integration of our rich complexity. Let’s be real. We are in a crisis of consciousness — realizing the only way to change things out there is to change things first “in here.” The power structures and institutions can only take us so far. To see a world that’s diverse and inclusive for all requires us to change from the inside out, shifting into actionable models of “power with one another” versus “power over one another.” Now more than ever, we need a new story for humanity that leans into the diversity of who we are and our emerging zones of genius — to live more truthfully in how we relate to ourselves, the community and Planet. Let’s pick up the forgotten pieces of ourselves to rebrand our story of humanity from one of separation to one of integration. Integration of the mind with the body, scientific with the spiritual, strategy with emergence, and the individual with the collective.
Everyone has a part to play, so let’s rise, shift and support this alt-normal in the making.
In episode 36 of the Alt-Normal, we ask the hard and important questions at the intersection of sustainability and advertising with Helen Brain, a Strategy Director at MediaCom UK with 16 years of experience solving business challenges within media, digital, social & content across a diverse set of verticals -- including retail, tech, government, luxury, fast moving consumer goods and utilities. She sits as Joint Head of MediCom’s Social Chang Hub, supporting clients in creating positive social change and a sustainable future. Additionally, she represents MediaCom in GroupMs’ Mission Zero team and the IPAs Climate Charter alliance, both of which aim to support the industry in transitioning to a zero carbon future.
To make sustainability sustainable (and not just another fleeting trend that’s lost all meaning much like ‘brand purpose’), brands need to start asking the right questions to have the greatest possible impact. After all, sustainability is a scientific field that is now entering the world of marketing, and the level of collaboration that takes place with experts and thought leaders will shape a brand’s sustainability success. It comes down to three questions:
What does your audience care about within sustainability?
What are you doing that’s credible to be talked about publicly?
Where is the ownable opportunity within the sustainability convo for your brand?
On this episode, we unpack what today’s post-pandemic brands (what Purpose Disruptors calls “systemic amplifiers”) can consider when building out a sustainability strategy:
• Sustainability is about how your product or service is helping your audience (especially those who are most affected by climate change and historically underrepresented)
• Consumers want to live a low carbon footprint, but they can’t always act upon it. Why? It’s too expensive.
• Greenwashing isn’t intentional for the most part. When there’s a gap in sustainability know-how, brands need to recruit experts who can support them in collaborating towards a solution. Collaboration is advertising’s greatest currency for a sustainable future.
• Reducing carbon emissions has to coincide with making a profit. Both have to happen for sustainability to impact people and planet
• To drive behavior change, we need to frame climate change as an opportunity (vs. responsibility)
• Look to these brands who are doing it right: IKEA, Ben and Jerry’s, Unilever, Patagonia and Sky.
Follow Helen on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenbrain/
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
In episode 35 of the Alt-Normal, we explore the essence of “what it means to live in a female body” from the perspective of branded content, authentic storytelling and feminism with Megan Lierley, the managing editor of Blood & Milk -- a women’s health and lifestyle website created by Cora. The mission of Blood and Milk is to consider and expose the physical, physiological, emotional, spiritual, psychological, social, political, cultural and economic forces that influence the way women exist in their bodies while striving for wellness. She is also a freelance writer and editor with work published in The Lily, The Good Trade, and Women's Wear Daily, among others. She writes a weekly current events and culture digest.
Since 2017, the women’s liberation movement has exploded on the scene with diverse expressions of feminism taking many new forms on the collective and individual level. Brands like Cora have also been instrumental in driving the women’s health conversation forward with both women in the US and abroad, by partnering with NGOs in developing countries like Kenya and India to provide organic tampons and pads to millions of underrepresented girls who on the whole lack access and education. Conversations and curiosities have deepened on all sides -- period poverty has drawn more awareness as a timely issue to reverse (underrepresented girls stay home 25% of the month because of their period, which ultimately affects their future livelihood and the GDP of their home countries) and Western women at home are openly speaking out about their most vulnerable experiences (imagine an article titled “What you need to know about postpartum masturbation” drawing hundreds of thousands of curious female visitors each month).
With a content writing background and a deeply curious feminist lens, Megan helps us deepen into the following questions.
• As a conscious brand, how can you do impactful storytelling justice? Think centering authentic listening and learning over the potentially harmful effects of rushed, performative and exploitative leanings of white saviorism.
• As an empowered women curious to deepen her connection to self, what does it mean to own your authentic expression of what it means to be a feminist and fully inhabit the female body?
Subscribe to Megan’s newsletter at meganlierley.com/newsletter.
Blood & Milk: https://bloodandmilk.com
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
In episode 34 of the Alt-Normal, we explore the far reaches of stakeholder capitalism with Piril, a Sustainability Manager at Allianz, one of the world’s largest asset managers. Her passion for social + environmental impact and women’s empowerment started early on having grown up in the developing country of Turkey. Through her leadership since 2014, Allianz Turkey became the first insurance company in the country to commit to the UN Global Compact, sign the Women Empowerment Principles, report under the Global Reporting Initiative and kick off nationwide CSR campaigns in schools.
While stakeholder capitalism (where ALL stakeholders within a business are considered, not just shareholders) isn’t new, it’s taken decades for this concept to find mainstream acceptance and take a seat at the table. That said, a massive gap exists between intent and impact where business objectives exist separately from ESG and CSR (corporate social responsibility) programs of giving back. If sustainability is no longer a ‘nice to have’ but rather a ‘must have’ by consumer demand, how can corporations make sustainability the most SUSTAINABLE practice?
In a post-pandemic moment where companies are grappling with how to put their best foot forward, Piril lays out the basic tenets of the Materiality Exercise to help bridge business strategy, stakeholder interests, SDG goals, systems mapping and consumer feedback to spot the most mutually-beneficial opportunities for creating shared value and ultimately, more benefit and resources for all -- especially those who have been historically underrepresented and in the case of Allianz, historically uninsured.
With palpable optimism and passion for the power of stakeholder capitalism, Piril moves us to envision the future of scaling shared value in the corporate world. Our conversation ranged in topics including:
• Her love for corporations was solidified after taking a yearlong sabbatical to run a B&B with her mom (“I hated every moment away from corporate white collar life”)
• The evolution of ESG, CSR and stakeholder capitalism since the 1970s
• How to start a company’s sustainability journey towards shared value with the Materiality Exercise
• Biggest barrier to operationalizing stakeholder capitalism and closing the intent-impact gap
• The future of sustainability practices in corporations
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
Note: All views shared on the show represent those of our guest and not the company she represents.
In episode 33 of theAltNormal, we get to the root of ayahuasca (plant medicine) with Melissa Stangl, co-founder of Soltara Healing Center -- a Shipibo-led ayahuasca center in Costa Rica with a focus on integration. After years of corporate and working in scientific labs as a Cancer Research Biologist, she officially moved down to live and work in the Amazon jungle. With a background combining engineering, science and management, her mission is to help advance the plant medicine and psychedelic movements and bridge the Western world with indigenous and holistic health.
This conversation went deeply personal on both sides. While having a life-changing experience with Ayahuasca isn’t news, the underlying root cannot be emphasized enough. Disease does not just magically appear out of thin air. Our emotional traumas live in the body and spiritual disconnection affects mental health. When we HEAL the emotional roots of our physical problems (ie: anger towards a parent underlying a chronic illness - true story), the chances are...those physical ailments will also heal in time. The power of psychedelics in the right ceremonial setting (and respecting the indigenous roots of the medicine) reveals the undeniable connection between unresolved trauma and disease. When we lean into our innate capacity for healing, possibilities multiply.
Without a doubt, the mainstreaming of plant medicine can be world-changing in a post-pandemic (overly-medicated and overly-intellectualized) moment. And it doesn’t have to be a game of “allopathic medicine vs. traditional medicine.” With mental health on the rise, what could be possible if we supported people to cultivate resilience in their bodies with ayahuasca as one powerful modality, of many?
Other highlights of this episode include:
• The journey from cancer research biology to the jungle to start an ayahuasca center
• What makes Shipibo-led ayahuasca different than other approaches to plant medicine
• The BREAKTHROUGH healing story of how a woman diagnosed with Lupus (autoimmune disease) completely healed her symptoms on ayahuasca
• Why “integration” is often an overlooked (yet crucial) piece to the plant medicine puzzle
• Preserving indigenous wisdom tradition with the rise of ayahuasca commercialism and tourism (how to run a conscious plant medicine business)
• The importance of expanding access to the less financially privileged underrepresented BIPOC who may benefit from plant medicine the most
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
In episode 32, we reimagine what’s possible when we bridge psychedelics, healing and our most underrepresented communities of color in this reimaginatively rich conversation with Nicholas Powers. Nicholas is a poet, journalist and Associate Professor who has authored several books, including “The Ground Below Zero: 9/11 to Burning Man,” and has written for the Village Voice, Huff Post, Business Insider, and Chacruna among many others.
With the voice of a poet, mind of an academic, spirit of a healer and resiliency of a Black American man, Nicholas weaves a story about the “real America” that rarely gets told. If the ‘dual pandemic’ of COVID-19 and racial injustice has taught us anything, it’s that America is anything but its idealized version of freedom and justice for all. To move past the endless “isms” that continue to plague our country requires a sober reckoning not just in the mind, but more importantly in the body -- where intergenerational traumas and internalized racism are experienced and held if they’re not properly released.
In this conversation, we center psychedelics as one possible solution. While this story isn’t new, psychedelics can become yet another form of colonialism if we don’t address the elephant in the room -- what if we broke through the deeply stigmatized War on Drugs and gave communities of color access to psychedelics in a set and setting that helped them burn through their trauma chains? A “chemical exodus” (also the name of his upcoming book) is underway!
“America will not evolve until Black America is free.” -- NP
This conversation of masterful storytelling, history and poetry includes:
• What it’s like to live through (and witness) a dual pandemic of COVID-19 and racial injustice
• The major differences between talk therapy and psychedelic healing
• How Nicholas experienced healing in a post 9/11 world in just one night (vs. the average person in 9 years)
• How to combat the real stigma around psychedelics in communities of color given the War on Drugs
• Discerning between the importance of a psychedelic state vs. psychedelic drugs
• Defining the “Chemical Exodus” for Black America and why reclamation (of their land and identity) is at the core of this revolution
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
In episode 31, we peel back the layers of all things feminine care, social justice and period power with Mariah Mansvelt Beck, the co-founder of Yoni. The brand’s mission is to protect vaginas globally and revolutionize the fem care industry with 100% organic tampons, pads and pantyliners (with period proof underwear on the way)! With a Masters in International Development from the University of Cambridge and experience working for Doctors Without Borders alongside Yoga teaching experience, business was the last thing on her agenda, which then begs the question -- how did a social worker start a feminine hygiene company that eventually became B Corp certified?
After a cervical cancer scare, Mariah turned her life around by asking big important questions, one of which became the genesis for Yoni. What actually goes into the body, especially the most absorbent part (the vagina)? After much exploration, the answer became clear. Not only did mainstream menstrual care products lack transparent labelling, but they were heavily sprayed with pesticides. Only four companies dominated the fem care industry at that time. When you consider that the average woman wears 13,000 tampons during her lifetime, this equals 6 years of chemicals in her most intimate body part. In 2014, Yoni became one of the first brands to tackle this issue (and more), putting organic products on mainstream shelves.
So what does this mean today? The conversation has shifted in major ways, with brands like Nike and Pantone empowering women to talk openly about their menstruation, and lots more innovation on the product level (think CBD oils for cramps and biodegradable plastic tampon applicators). That said, 1 in 4 women in their menstruating years lack equal access to products or education, otherwise known as the “period poverty.” Without awareness, knowledge and more acceptance of the period conversation as the most NATURAL conversation, we risk keeping a generation of girls and women in a state of silence, disempowerment and shame. What could be possible if our next generation of girls (including those coming from our most underrepresented communities) broke through this universal taboo to reclaim their period power?
Other dynamic topics we cover:
• An inside-out look at a B Corp certified business that benefits self, community and planet
• What’s really going on with ‘Period Poverty’ and the ‘Period Tax’
• Old story versus new story of conscious consumerism in the feminine hygiene industry
• Why we need more diversity in the fem care space around product innovation and storytelling/advertising
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
In episode 30, we explore the embodied intersection of business, brand and leadership with Jee Chang, founder and Leadership Director of UME Agency, a collaborative design studio on a mission to create a more vibrant, livable future for all of us by helping brands grow from the inside-out. Her work focuses on elevating principles of feminine leadership and to move hearts and minds to greater consciousness in business whether it be through executive coaching, brand strategy & design, or teaching at Parsons – The New School.
In this dynamic conversation, we unpack the inside-out philosophy that powers UME, which can also be mapped onto the body-heart-mind connection -- where business is the body, brand is the heart (what you stand for and why you exist) and leadership is the mind (to empower teams to grow). Supporting this philosophy, we peel back the layers of feminine leadership that guide inside-out everything, from how teams function, client relationships to approaching creative and design thinking. Unlike traditional models of leadership that “power over,” feminine leadership is relational, holistic and regenerative -- inviting even more abundance, creativity, innovation, trust, possibility and collaboration by “powering with and behind.” By serving others to find their power and answers within, feminine leaders (by no means restricted to women) have the capacity to take a step back and nurture the right space for holistic growth and possibility to happen organically. By letting go of the old model of leadership relying exclusively on action and measurable linear growth, we can reimagine an emergence of feminine leadership (think future “Chief Gut Officer”) that welcomes the power of intuition and gut checking business decisions with a radically new feminine lens. How might we use our gut, or second brain, as the new metric for how we work and co-create together?
We cover this and other soulful explorations, including:
• Growing up Korean-American and how identity shaped her lens on leadership
• Why brand, business and leadership are inseparable in thinking about how organizations evolve and change
• What it takes to reimagine a brand from the inside-out
• The organic journey from Creative Director to Leadership Director in an all-women’s collaborative design studio
• Unpacking the guiding principles of Feminine Leadership and how this style can impact the most rewarding creative work and collaboration
• Somatic practices that you can use today to elevate consciousness and connection in your work space
UME Design: https://www.umedesign.co/
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
In episode 29, we tour the evolution of purpose with Carol Cone, internationally recognized “purpose queen” (by the BBC) who has dedicated 35+ years to steering the purpose movement, 250 purpose programs and more than 30 research studies with major brands like Unilever and Microsoft to name a few -- ranging from social purpose, ESG strategies and communications, cause branding, nonprofit positioning, fundraising and stakeholder engagement. Her innovation (“My Special Aflac Duck”) to have Aflac sponsor the build of a social robot and comfort pediatric cancer patients during their first 1000 days of treatments was named one of Time Magazine’s Best Inventions, Best in Show at CES and winner of 2 Cannes Lions.
Presently, the purpose conversation is at a crossroads -- as a brand, are you on the side of operationalizing purpose authentically or riding the trend at the expense of ‘purpose washing’ (intent externally without real impact internally)? With impact front and center, brands have the power to tap into the $12 trillion opportunity should they walk their talk and align with one of the UN’s seventeen SDG goals. Carol highlights a core insight of purpose -- that as a market segments, it also matures (think: how brands unite purpose across storydoing and storytelling matters even more). Helping us unpack the 4 C’s of purpose driven leadership (commitment, culture, colleagues and collaboration), she makes the case that purpose architecture touches all stakeholders and isn’t just good for business, but also people and planet. To reaffirm what we already know to be true in line with Paul Krugman’s wisdom, “every social and environmental issue is an economic opportunity in disguise.”
• Discerning between authentic purpose vs. purpose washing with brands like Avon, Audi, P&G, PNC Bank and Aflac
• The evolution of purpose from cause marketing to stakeholder capitalism
• How George’s Floyd’s murder and the subsequent BLM resurgence accelerated the purpose conversation in business
• The gold standard of purpose and how the B Corp certification fits into the picture
• Why operationalizing purpose is a present challenge for B2B companies
• How the marketing, advertising and comms industries will need to shift to do purpose right
• The brilliant impact of “My Special Aflac Duck” in connecting business + innovation + pediatric cancer patients
Carol Cone On Purpose: https://www.carolconeonpurpose.com
What will be your organization’s authentic purpose in 2021? https://www.carolconeonpurpose.com/post/what-will-be-your-organization-s-authentic-purpose-in-2021
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
In episode 28, we dive into the intersection of mental health and social justice with Carrie Zhang, founder of Asian Mental Health Project. This initiative aims to educate and empower Pan-Asian communities in making mental healthcare more accessible using content creation and community events to de-stigmatize topics of mental health and critical social issues. CNN featured her project in their roundup, “People of Color Create Their Own Mental Services Online.”
The work of Asian Mental Health Project couldn’t be more relevant than it is today, especially in the aftermath of a President who stoked public hysteria by coining COVID the “Chinese virus.” In a worldwide moment of heightened anti-Asian sentiment and hate violence with historical roots dating back to the 1800s, the numbers paint a sobering picture of how COVID has accelerated this racial injustice -- more than 2800 incidents of Anti-Asian discrimination have been reported since the pandemic began (according to NowSimplified). Thanks to Carrie’s project, the Pan-Asian community is coming together to share their lived experiences and connect with mental health experts around a range of topics -- releasing perfectionism, unpacking people pleasing as a trauma response, and understanding intergenerational trauma are just a few.
As a daughter to Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants, Carrie is no stranger to the barriers that keep the Pan-Asian community from seeking out mental healthcare (8.6% of Asians seek this out compared to 18% of the general US population). The new story around Asian mental health care is about the capacity to “tell our story without feeling like we have to be adjacent to whiteness or another group. We can be who we are without being a model minority -- caring for and understanding ourselves in the way we haven’t before.”
This and other illuminating topics, include:
• The impact of the project’s weekly wellness events “stay in, check in”
• How AMHP practices allyship with Black Lives Matter and the intersecting movement towards BIPOC liberation
• What is the model minority myth vs. new story emerging around Asian mental health
• Unpacking the Western European origins of mainstream psychotherapy to make sense of why we need alternative inclusive modalities for the Pan-Asian community
• What’s next for AMHP (show your solidarity and support by donating through the link below!)
Asian Mental Health Project: https://asianmentalhealthproject.com
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
In episode 27, we sit down with Rada Yovovich who makes the case for banning the “D” word (diversity) and instead, pushing play first on “accessibility.” Rada Yovovich co-founded a next-gen consultancy, The Darkest Horse, focused on helping teams build integrated future-of-work talent management strategies, politics and cultural practices that support a culture of diversity, equity, accessibility, and radical inclusion. She’s an experienced coach, meta-coach, mediator, trainer and facilitator based in Chicago.
Contrary to how DEI tends to trend in organizations, Rada laser focuses on the power of accessibility as the primary starting point. Diversity is merely a consequence if all the other pillars are operationalized first. In a moment when organizations are able to hire the best talent from anywhere in the world, accessibility comes down to the basics -- can talent show up to work, and feel supported in their neurodiversity by the structures and culture of their work spaces? While hiring for a diverse workforce is the right thing to do (and by default, translating to more justice for more kinds of people), Rada moves us to ask, “is it justice if diverse employees and workers are not being treated equitably?” In looking ahead, what we need is to actually move towards justice and liberation, which if considered as an add-on to DEIA, can more precisely target the points of privilege and oppression we exist in. From there, we can begin to delve into questions around who holds power within an organization, and how to implement capacities for growth (such as antiracism) within the systems that hold sway to create real change internally.
We dig into thought leadership across a wide-ranging spectrum, including:
• The origins of “the darkest horse” archetype and how they’ll lead the future of work
• Discerning between the D-E-I-A-J as leaders reimagine work culture, develop greater fluency in change management and open up paths for antiracism
• The case for making accessibility the starting point, which has the potential to open up greater capacities for growth and change
• Intrapreneurship vs. entrepreneurship and how to embrace the former as a skillset and state of being for innovation within an existing system
• As a call to action for the modern day changemaker, how can you create a big vision for the future and simultaneously hold a deep unconditional appreciation for what is true right now?
Rada Yovovich: https://radayovovich.com
Darkest Horse: https://www.thedarkesthorse.com
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
In episode 26, we drop into deeper layers of ease, enoughness and somatics with Julie Ann Otis, an intuitive healer and artist committed to an experience of ease for every body. Through Samana Consulting, she offers civic engagement art, courses, and one-on-one sessions for leaders all over the world in universities, non-profits, lobbying organizations and social justice spaces to change the landscape of what is possible in healing, pleasure and innovation. After 10+ years in nonprofit management, Julie Ann now dedicates her life’s work to supporting her clients embody what they know is already possible -- her modalities range from focusing-oriented therapies, creative visualization, meditation, neurobiology, somatic feedback, and Metta meditation practices. She has published two poetry collections -- elastic union and Sermons of the Real.
In a culture that perpetuates separateness and gives rise to systems of oppression we know all too well, Julie Ann bridges East and West (or in other duality, materialist and spiritual) to language a much needed reimagining of our times -- the importance of taking up space in our birthright states of being, with as much pleasure, joy and ease as possible. After grappling with her own existential crisis and subsequent healing journey in Bali, Julie Ann emerged with a new window into the world that very acutely discerns “accomplishment-oriented” healing with the possibility of healing outside a consumerist Western lens steeped in grind culture, fixing a thing, and over-efforting. For her, spiritual breakthrough comes from travelling into the body to resensitive ourselves to the wholeness of our being, on the levels of physiological, energetic, emotional and intuitive. Like a tour guide into the inner unseen landscape, Julie Ann shines a curious light on all of ourselves with a touch of poet, artist, healer and social justice activist. In the dance between inner and outer worlds, she asks of us, “How do we make peace as captivating as conflict?”
In this soul-alivening conversation, we peek under the hood around:
• The legacy of Amanda Gorman during the Presidential Inauguration and her gift of embodied presence as a cultural leader of our times
• The journey from a hardcore materialist to an intuitive healer, artist and pleasure activist (and the role Bali played in this life-changing sojourn)
• How to embrace somatic-intuitive intelligence in the body, and the power of this energy
• Knowing the felt difference between over-efforting and enoughness (especially if you find yourself hopping from one healing to the next)
• Reimagining culture if love and power were to take up the same space
• Reflecting on the ever-abundant question, “where can we do less?”
Julie Ann Otis: https://www.julieannotis.com
Sermons of the Real: https://www.julieannotis.com/sermonsofthereal
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
Black History Month BONUS release drop! We remastered three episodes with prominent black expat leaders of the Bali community, centering on the intersectionality of consciousness, spirituality, activism and plant medicine. On this episode, we fearlessly bridge the worlds of spirituality and activism with the one and only, Nadine McNeil of Universal Empress. Her mission as a yoga teacher, speaker, wisdom mentor and humanitarian is to ignite infinite possibility in people around the world and share yoga with diverse underserved communities. She is the founder of the BadAsana Series ©: Yoga with Weights and long-time teacher at the Yoga Barn, the largest yoga and wellness facility in South East Asia. Prior to her deep dive into yoga in 2008, Nadine travelled the world in service of the UN, UNICEF, Global Volunteer Network and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for nearly two decades. These and other experiences rooted Nadine’s continued devotion to activism. Additionally, her globally expanding Women’s Circles are rooted in her mantra: when one of us suffers we all suffer. Yet when one of us heals, we all heal.
This conversation was igniting on all levels, bridging the medicine of activism and spirituality into one potent conversation. Contrary to the perception that Yoga is all love, light and OM, Nadine shines a light on what’s typically overlooked — that for real change (and real movements) to happen, we must access our anger and injustice, the “most potent emotional frequencies in Dharma.” By reaching for the lessons within our fire and rage, we can then ignite transformation in the direction of justice, move beyond the “danger of the single story,” and collectively challenge what Reverend Kyodo Williams calls the “impoverished imaginations” of our times.
With the Old World crumbling, humanity needs a new story that includes all voices and identities -- leaning gracefully into the complexity of who we are, not simply what’s perceived as “normal” or comfortable to face this existential crisis. Inspired by the work of Kyodo Williams, author of “Radical Dharma,” we cover wide ranging topics that centers spirituality as a force for activism, helping us show up in the world in our true Dharma and extraordinary differences.
We travel landscapes far and wide, including:
• As a woman who is “Jamaican by birth, Universal by outlook,” how Nadine claims her identity as one that was significantly shaped by a lifetime after leaving Jamaica at age 16.
• What is actually dangerous about “the single story” and how she brings this concept alive in her own engagement with diversity.
• After spending 22 years with the UN in emergency response and humanitarian stints, what broke the camel's back and inspired her on the path of Yoga.
• What role can (and should) Yoga play in current COVID times of systems collapse, racial injustice explosion, and the collective sentiment of rage and violence worldwide.
• Unpacking the “Democratization of Yoga,” what she describes as the removal of the illusion of elitism attached to the practice in modern times.
• In response to Kyodo Williams’ TEDx talk where she famously declares, “I don’t want your love, I want your justice for the people of different ethnicities, cultures and countries,” what Nadine feels is the role of love in a time of violence (and whether Yoga requires that we love everyone).
• How we can compassionately and gracefully transform violence into something of value for ourselves and community.
• How to navigate the scarcity mindset as a person on the spiritual path who shows up in contribution, yet not always manifesting their highest financial abundance.
• How Nadine transformed dwindling interest in online Yoga (on both sides) during COVID-times into abundance and “keen intuitive and observation skills to discern how [she] could best serve others.”
• How culture needs to shift right now to break through our impoverished imaginations and hold more space for difference and diversity.
Follow Nadine at https://www.universalempress.com
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
Black History Month BONUS release drop! We remastered three episodes with prominent black expat leaders of the Bali community, centering on the intersectionality of consciousness, spirituality, activism and plant medicine. On this episode, we get deep with Melvin Hart, a Neuromuscular Therapist, Shamanic Medicine Practitioner, Intuitive Coach, Healer and Spiritual Nomad who has worked with hundreds of people from around the world and participated in 100+ plant medicine ceremonies, helping his clients integrate their experiences into everyday life through his platform, the Evolutionists.
As an Indian-Black man raised Hindu in New York, he has never checked any conventional boxes. In fact, at age 18, he found himself unjustly locked behind bars for the next 8 years (“his grandfather was a senator; his family grew up in law enforcement. So I kind of got the wrong end of the deal.” - NYPost). According to the ACLU, 1 out of 3 Black boys born today can expect to go to prison in his lifetime, as compared to 1 out of every 6 Latino boys and 1 out of 17 white boys. While his formative years were influenced by an institutionally racist criminal justice system and years of “seeing the worst side of humanity,” he prevailed against all the odds to come out not simply alive, but incredibly resilient, in service, and powerful beyond measure.
• In this poignant conversation, we travel all the lifetimes Mel lived and wisdom collected along the way, covering a wide ranging conversation that includes:
• What it was like to be indicted unjustly at the ripe age of 18 and actually experiencing “the worst side of humanity”
• His transition from prison to the real world, and how he picked himself up by his bootstraps despite the staggering reality that former inmates face each year (650,000 men and women nationwide in the US return from prison to their communities, and face nearly 50,000 federal, state, and local legal restrictions that make it difficult to reintegrate back into society)
• While he evolved a successful career merely 5 years following prison, Mel gave it all up to heed his greater calling for ayahuasca in the jungles of Peru — what he saw and how it changed the game forever
• How plant medicine is not the silver bullet, but rather the amplifier of who you already are and who you want to be
• The kind of world he envisions as a Shamanic Practitioner and his reaction to George Floyd’s wrongful murder and the traumas confronting humanity today -- “you can ignore reality, but you can’t ignore the consequences of you ignoring reality”
• Mel’s personal spiritual practice that combines his diverse background, accountability structures, and multidisciplinary approach to healing
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
Black History Month BONUS release drop! We remastered three episodes with prominent black expat leaders of the Bali community, centering on the intersectionality of consciousness, spirituality, activism and plant medicine. On this episode, we sit down with the legendary Swaady Martin, one of Africa’s most recognized young leaders, influencers and tastemakers. She’s a multi-awarded serial entrepreneur most notably of YSWARA (a socially-conscious gourmet tea company contributing to the reversal of the African commodity trap) and a changemaker-activist who has founded Tounche Global Consciousness Summit (events that have brought consciousness transformation to 2000 diverse individuals worldwide), a Racial Reconciliation Circle in honor of James Patterson (her father and former Black Panther Party Leader of Brooklyn), and THE LOVINGKINDNESS BOMA (a collection of children’s books to cultivate greater love, kindness and compassion within the family). Formerly a GE executive of 10 years, she pursued her own hero’s journey that has evolved over continents and projects at the intersection of inner growth activism, conscious entrepreneurialism, and her great love for Africa. Among her many honorable accolades, she’s been named on Oprah Winfrey’s “O Power List” for Africa in 2014.
In this dynamic conversation, we cover her life’s journey in these core explorations:
• What it was like to grow up as the daughter of a Black Panther Party Leader in Brooklyn, and how early life exposure to activism influenced her worldview later on as an “inner world activist”
• Her love for her corporate days as a former GE executive, stemming from her lifelong dream of becoming a businesswoman as early as 6 years old
• Making the transition from corporate to conscious (and serial) entrepreneur of YSWARA and how this business brought her love of African culture, values and ancestral wisdom to the forefront of business storytelling
• The impact YSWARA had on the local African communities and plantations she’s worked with, which is more relevant than ever today in what Harvard deems as “the age of corporate social justice”
• How diversity is missing from the healing + consciousness communities worldwide, and why Tounche Global Consciousness Summit emerged to meet that gap with new voices, perspectives and cultures
• The critical work of running a weekly James Patterson Racial Reconciliation Circle (named in honor of her father’s role as Black Panther Party Leader) in light of George Floyd’s murder and the explosion of racial injustice worldwide
• The inspirations and intentions behind writing a collection of children’s books that places diverse girls at the forefront of storytelling
• Her love letter to Bali and how this oasis of beauty and biodiversity has supported her during these COVID crisis times
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
In episode 25, we go bold with the legendary Cindy Gallop to explore new aspirational models for human sexuality, body positivity and social justice in the sextech industry. While her background spans 30 years in brand-building, marketing and advertising (having started up BBH in New York and named Advertising Woman of the Year), she founded social sextech platform Make Love Not Porn to promote good sexual behavior and good sexual values, which she launched at TED 2009. Her other software IfWeRantheWorld is now taught as a Harvard Business School case study to enable brands to implement the business model of the future -- Shared Values + Shared Action = Shared Profit.
As the world’s first ever human-curated and crowdsourced social sex video sharing platform, Make Love Not Porn (MLNP) celebrates not just the most private part of our lives (sex), but essentially -- everything. Real world everything to do with body parts, intimacy and relationship dynamics in the bedroom. Nothing feels more powerfully supportive to body positivity than real humans watching other real humans (Make Love Not Porn-stars) have sex. According to Cindy, “people want us before even knowing we exist.” In this pandemic alone, website traffic has nearly tripled, while the last 9 years has seen 100% organic growth. MLNP has seen positive universal acceptance and been recommended to couples by sex therapists. In an age where the average age of a child coming across hard core porn is 6-8 years old, parents have also weighed in with the significance of how this platform could help socialize and normalize sex for their children to develop healthy, happy and loving sexual relationships. All that to say, MLNP has the potential to completely reimagine the landscape of human sexuality with “education through demonstration.”
As a champion of diversity, gender equality and social justice in white male-dominated tech and advertising industries, Cindy embodies that it is completely possible to live a very different life and still be extraordinarily happy. In fact, the lockdown is the perfect opportunity to re-actualize everything, since all bets (of what’s considered status quo) are off.
In this dynamic conversation, we cover:
• The journey from advertising legend to sex tech founder of Make Love Not Porn
• The emotionally moving impact MLNP has had on human sexuality, relationships, intimacy and love
• How Make Love Not Porn-stars model aspirational culture and the importance of creating a “how-to” platform for real world sex
• The 3 biggest barriers to becoming the next Facebook for social sex
• The hurdles female-founded sex tech startups face (compared to male-founded startups in the same category)
• What sex tech is and why we haven’t even begun to see the enormous potential for this trillion dollar category
• Cindy’s favorite female-founded sex tech startups (plus the rich diversity present)
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
In episode 24, we imagine the new story of humanity, progress, and cultural leadership with Emily Viola, a Cultural Strategist and Head of Planning (North America) at Futerra, a B-corp certified change agency that joins the magic of creativity and the logic of strategy to make sustainability so desirable, it becomes the new normal. She combines over 20 years of consumer insights and brand planning with the study of market dynamics and future technologies, specializing in Gen Z, Millenial and Multicultural audiences.
While sustainability is here to stay, the scope of how we think about this word has expanded massively, thanks to the rising fluency of Gen Z and Millenials. What began as silo-ed discourse around environmental stewardship, risk mitigation and reporting about pollution and bad practices has transformed into a mindset and collection of practices to consider the longevity of our species -- from the air we breathe to the water we drink, all the way to how businesses benefit all stakeholders and address social and environmental justice. Thus, the scope of sustainability must evolve to imagine a better future, in order to change the world.
All that to say, traditional cause marketing campaigns, greenwashing and glossy mission statements can only take brands so far. Through original research, Emily and the Futerra team affirmed the inevitable -- that today’s Gen Z and Millennial populations have a higher aptitude and fluency for sustainability (“only 41% of consumers felt products were providing the right amount of info on sustainability, while 86% of corporate experts thought consumers were satisfied”).They expect brands to be truthful over perfect and demand greater sustainable proof at the product level. How will brands today avoid becoming future dinosaurs and lead the movement from the inside out?
In this incredibly imaginative and culturally rich conversation, we explore:
• Why it’s critical to integrate logic and magic to create a new story for humanity
• Why “honesty” is the new “transparency” and what Gen Z and Millenials expects from truthful brands today
• How to think about building a sustainability strategy for brands that want to do better
• How to become a cultural leader in 2021 (think: intentional energy)
• The importance of dialectical thinking to reimagine the nature of progress
• The power of “perspicacity” and moving from “ism” to “ish” to catalyze innovation
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
On episode 23, we explore the exciting intersectionality of business, adaptive leadership and new ways of being with Mansi Jain, a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach and Transformational Facilitator with over a decade of experience coaching leaders, teams, and organizations across industries and geographies. She integrates modern research and ancient wisdom around psychological, spiritual, and systems development, while also drawing on her background in consulting with McKinsey & Company, leading a large-scale organizational transformation from the ground up and teaching through Wharton's Leadership Program at the University of Pennsylvania. At her core, Mansi is guided by a purpose to co-create a world where we continually choose love over fear.
Amidst headlines in Forbes, Harvard Business Review and Time Inc. pointing to more feminine models of leadership surfacing in 2021 around authenticity and emotional agility, there’s much to unpack about the shape of leadership to come in our world’s most influential organizations. Having worked with leaders to explore their capacity for holding deeper states of vulnerability and presence, Mansi shines a light on what is possible when leaders reimagine the fundamental nature of “leadership.” The old story was around providing answers while the new story centers on creating space for the answers to be born. For her, it’s about the skillful ability to bring together the right people, courageously admit that you don’t know, and encourage your team to play in the mess -- even going so far as to create conflict where it’s needed to ultimately deepen into a clear path forward. This then begs the question, what would it take for leaders to show up as their full self and encourage their teams to embody the same?
In this spiritually rich conversation, we cultivate curiosity around:
• Examining leadership at the interplay of reactivity vs. creativity and fear-based vs. love-based
• What it means to cultivate leadership at the intersectionality of complexity theory, adaptive leadership and wisdom traditions.
• The power of dropping into nature in her transition from a multinational firm like McKinsey to an independent consulting practice
• What love would look like at the organizational level (against the backdrop of “Women are Better Leaders During a Crisis” - Harvard Business Review)
• The reimagining of courageous conscious leadership in a moment that’s filled with uncertainty and despair
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
On episode 22, we drop into the body and rediscover authenticity with Rick Smith, an Authentic Relating (AR) Expert with a background in classroom teaching and education consulting. Over the past twenty years, he’s spoken to over 100,000 people in fifteen countries on five continents. His best-selling book Conscious Classroom Management has now sold over a quarter million copies, and continues to touch the lives of teachers and their students.
This conversation is an experiential taste of authenticity (and how to integrate this into modern day leadership), much like a mindful yoga flow for communication. In this dynamic conversation, we unpack the true meaning of Awakened Leadership and how it all begins with learning how to lead yourself. We explore the power of listening, presencing and adopting the mantra “I don’t know” to cultivate this potential. Not to mention, so much of where we begin starts by fundamentally relaxing the nervous system in a new way. From here, everything else becomes possible.
While AR began as a movement in San Francisco in the late 90s, it has grown worldwide to 14 different countries and is catching fire not just in New Age-y communities, but in spaces we’d probably expect least -- businesses, the corporate sector and conflict transformation. According to Rick, this has everything to do with “people discovering themselves and creating tools to carry it forward.”
Key topics we cover include:
• Why Authentic Relating is so much more than “The Club Where You Bare Your Soul To Strangers,” as featured in The Atlantic
• How leaders can balance vulnerability and authentic power at the same time, especially when imposter syndrome kicks in
• The key qualities of stepping into awakened leadership, including “shifting from performance into presence” and “inner apology to inner authority”
• The importance of presencing and calming the nervous system to tap into power (and practices to support this)
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
On episode 21, we dive deep with social entrepreneur Arthur Woods to explore all things diversity, equity and inclusion and how this triad comes to life operationally in today’s organizations. Arthur works at the intersection of equity, inclusion and technology and was named as Forbes 30 Under 30 and 40 Under 40 by BEQ. He is the author of Hiring for Diversity, a three-times TEDx speaker and has advised leading brands from Disney, Sonos and MetLife to the Smithsonian (with a background at Google). Most recently, he is the Co-Founder of Mathison, a talent marketplace helping employers recruit and retain professionals from underrepresented communities globally.
While evidence from McKinsey shows a strong and consistent case for diversity and profitability, the question still remains -- how do today’s leaders operationalize DEI and move from intent to impact? It’s not enough to simply hire for diversity or build solutions at the organizational level. The truth is, to build inclusive systems and culture where everyone feels empowered to be themselves and show up fully, leaders must rise to the occasion and commit to both a mindset and behavior change. When leaders change, everything changes -- everything from redesigning the hiring process to be more equitable to enabling members of our most underrepresented communities to discern which organizations they choose to work for (and from there, holding their leaders accountable to act on their inclusive promise).
Speaking from personal experience, Arthur embodies his own call to action -- to empower not just leaders, but also job seekers to demand the inclusivity they wish to see in the workforce.
In this episode, we cover wide ranging topics:
• What “forced innovation” looked like in 2020 and the potential it has to integrate with inclusive leadership
• Unpacking the triad of diversity, equity and inclusion and which one currently presents the greatest challenge
• The vision (and business model) of Mathison to diversify hiring through the Equality Hiring Index and reinvest profits in our most underrepresented communities
• What a healthy DEI culture looks like, and why real change starts at the level of leadership
• A call to action for leaders and job seekers in 2021
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
On episode 20, we go deep with Charley Wininger to unpack the layers of MDMA as a powerful gateway medicine to a new paradigm. Charley Wininger is a psychotherapist in private practice who just published his book “Listening to Ecstasy,” a personal narrative and guide to the safe, responsible use of MDMA for personal healing and social transformation. Licensed as a Psychoanalyst and Mental Health Counselor, he specializes in relationships and communication skills, and has been treating couples and individuals in his Manhattan and Brooklyn offices for over 30 years. He has often been featured inThe New York Times and Newsday as “The Love Doctor”, and has appeared several times on TV and recently featured on Forbes for his book.
In this post-pandemic world that has only exacerbated the #1 mental health issue of loneliness in our country, the story of MDMA (“chemical of connection”) is a highly relevant one. As a psychotherapist who grew up as a hippie and student radical during the countercultural movement, Charley has spent the last 50 years experimenting with psychedelics (and the last 20 with MDMA), which has informed his own approach to his psychotherapy practice. What might it feel like to drop into deeper states of empathy and compassion to dissolve the defenses and embody more of you who truly are? While simple, the potential of this question and exploration of it is profound (with or without psychedelics), given all the “isms” that plague our culture, be it racism, sexism, homophobia and all other systemic prejudices that go unseen and unexamined in society. Integration of our psychedelic experiences is the key to true transformation.
In this episode, we cover wide ranging topics:
• The experience of “coming out of the chemical closet” as a lifelong integration practice
• How to safely and responsibly use MDMA for personal and societal healing (and why integration is the key here)
• What an MDMA “roll” typically looks like with Charley and his community, with “set and setting” all consciously considered
• What does listening to ecstasy mean in 2021 times and its capacity to heal our world’s most pressing and seemingly impossible problems like systemic racism and violence
• The long term therapeutic benefits MDMA could have on veterans and victims of PTSD after just 2-3 sessions and supportive therapy
• As an instrumental member of the MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) community for the last 20 years, what kind of world he envisions for the psychedelic space
Check out Charley’s new book “Listening to Ecstasy” here: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Listening-to-Ecstasy/Charles-Wininger/9781644111161
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
On episode 19, we welcome the sage wisdom of Beth Weinstein, a spiritual business coach helping current and aspiring entrepreneurs, coaches, spiritual leaders and healers align with their purpose and grow their business so they can help more people, create consistent income, and have an online business working from anywhere on earth! She is also the founder of the “Psychedelics, Sacred Medicines, Purpose and Business” annual summit, where she hosted Rick Doblin and Paul Stamets to name a few legendary pioneers in the field.
“When you experience certain powerful psychedelic experiences, all of a sudden you see for example, ‘That’s what life would be like if I lived from my heart. That’s what it could be like.’”
The old story of working so hard to make a good living and life is simply falling away. In its place, we examine the new story of doing what you love and living abundantly from it, with tools like psychedelics, Burning Man and Vipassana (though there are infinite more) to help us come back into alignment and find our true path forward to create this New Earth. Her own experience of “coming out of the psychedelic closet” is one example of how each individual story creates the change we all want to see.
Other consciousness-expanding topics we cover include:
• Why it’s not enough to just be spiritual, but to integrate activism into our spiritual practice for growing an abundant heart-centered business
• The importance of “coming out of the psychedelic closet” to fully integrate our transformational experiences
• What the embodiment of sacred medicine, purpose and business looks like
• Reexamining the need for a “certification” to start a psychedelics integration coaching business
• The new story of embracing both spirituality and abundance in 2021
• Envisioning the spiritual business space in 10 years
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
On episode 18, we dial deep into the power of pleasure with Aimee Batuski, a Pleasure and Intimacy Expert committed to helping women live turned-on, connected, satisfying lives. She is the co-founder of Desire on Fire, a retreat company based in California. Through her virtual and in-person work leading workshops and retreats all over the world, she’s taught hundreds of women how to create wild, confident intimacy, hot sex, and fulfilling relationships.
Pleasure goes beyond just the juiciness of sexuality, kink and orgasm (though those are very much welcome and explored). Rather, it expands into how we show up in the world in our full capacity to feel ALL the feels of our “divine energy.” The simplest pleasure of presence can become the creative catalyst for everything else we dance with in life. For starters, we can begin to honestly assess all the ways in which we distract, numb out and disconnect to our bodies (drinking, eating, buying, overanalyzing…) and move more fully into feeling ourselves exactly as we are, even if that means being more honestly with the other polarity of pleasure -- pain. Coming into the balance with the inner feminine is an invitation to stretch that muscle of pleasure.
“What in this moment would have this be 10% more pleasurable for you?” This reflective question and many more pleasure practices come through in this liberating conversation. Other topics we cover include:
• What’s missing in cultural discourse about healthy sexuality in the aftermath of #metoo
• What does the goddess archetype actually mean (and yes, it’s for anyone to claim, including your 100 year old grandma)
• Pleasure is a “nutrient and medicine” and arguably just as important as our basic physiological needs
• How to navigate pain and pleasure simultaneously, and find the pleasure beyond the pain
• The difference between erotic and sexual power on the pleasure path
• The forgotten, neglected or shadow parts of women that are most craving to be seen
• Pleasure practices to play with in the time of COVID
• Envisioning the culture of pleasure in 10 years
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
On episode 17, we enter all things quantum physics and quantum creation with Intuitive Guide and Mentor, Alex Malorodov. Through unlocking people’s understanding and embodiment of quantum reality and intuitive abilities, Alex opens his clients to experience a life of deep meaning and freedom. Alex bridges the business and spiritual world, having earned his MBA from Columbia and spending years in the venture capital space.
While the discovery of quantum physics dates back to the early 1900s, its mainstream curiosity has taken off recently thanks to the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza, helping people all around the world heal chronic illnesses and transform their lives in unprecedented ways. As a quantum creator, Alex brings this practice down to earth in a highly practical way (given his engineering background) and cuts right through the noise. Since the universe works vibrationally, all we have to do is to commit to embodying the vibrational identity of the person we wish to become. Nothing is impossible or off the table here. Helping us discern between “embodiment” and “visualization,” he says the practice comes down to creating a full sensorial experience to feel our way into our manifestations, rather than simply thinking our way to them. The old story is to default to the question, “why is this happening to me?” Instead, to crack the code of “reality architecture” and create something new, we have to ask a different question. Infinite possibility and power await us on the other side!
In this multi-dimensional conversation, we go wide and deep across the following:
• His “spiritual coming out moment” from the world of venture capital to quantum creator and intuitive guide
• Translating the language of quantum creation, and demystifying concepts like “timeline shifting” and “wizard codes”
• How to start the quantum journey and importance of designing experiments to get comfortable and expand outside our comfort zone
• How his engineering studies at Johns Hopkins overlaps with his capacity to engineer his reality (“code yourself for discomfort” to deepen your spirituality)
• How to make the impossible possible in everyday life (not just when meditating under a tree or drinking medicine in the jungle)
• Exploring the line between quantum creating and unrealistically shooting for the impossible
• How does surrender factor into the quantum lifestyle
• Envisioning “Quantum Advisors” in the government and business innovation space (and what culture might look like in 10 years)
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
On episode 16, we immerse our curiosity in all things relationship, love and conflict navigation with best-selling author Eri Kardos, also one of the most highly-referred relationship coaches globally, working with clients across 6 continents ranging from top tech executives to Hollywood celebrities to World-Champion athletes. She is known for her passion in helping powerful people create even more powerful relationships. She authored the best-selling book, Relationship Agreements: A Simple and Effective Guide for Strengthening Communication, Reducing Conflict, and Increasing Intimacy to Design Your Ideal Relationship. Before embarking on this path, Eri was a former leadership development professional atAmazon.com where she discovered that for her to have the greatest organizational impact (and feel most alive), she wanted to focus on relationships. Thus began her path.
With loneliness being the #1 public health crisis ahead of obesity in the US, there is clearly opportunity for a new relationship story to come through. While the old world model of relationship has been distorted in duty, obligations and the “should’s,” the new emerging story points to ever expansive choice and possibility. Possibility for consciously meeting our core wounds and inner toddlers with greater curiosity, intentionality, vulnerability, juiciness and relationship agreements that live and breathe alongside our own evolution. No right or wrong here.
In this incredibly invigorating and juicy conversation (with much homage paid to our mutual relationship hero, Esther Perel), we arrive at some powerful takeaways, including:
• What is really going on behind closed relationship doors during lockdown
• From corporate leadership development to whole person coaching, how she made the big leap to radically redesign her life, traveling abroad full-time with her husband and 2 kids
• What is the basis of a relationship agreement and who it’s for
• How to navigate the living breathing relationship agreement during a global lockdown
• How to know when a relationship is worth fighting for and when to call it quits
• How to expand our definition of “kink” and the power of play in a relationship, including N.I.C.E dates
• If you’re single, how you can prepare yourself for entering a conscious relationship (if you so choose)
• Her ingenious idea to roll out “Love on Lockdown,” for couples all around the world to consciously show up for the growth of their relationship
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
On episode 15, we kick off Season 2 with Jaymin Patel, the founder of Paragons of Possibility — a movement to show the world what IS possible in living a more honest, loving, fulfilled, sustainable, ancestrally-healed, non-trauma-creating way of life. In addition to being a (TEDx) speaker who has delivered 500+ paid talks and being an author of 8 books, Jaymin is a highly sought-after, heart-driven, no-fluff, intuitive coach who has been hired by powerful leaders in the spiritual & transformational communities as well as top leaders of corporations around the world like Kraft, Unilever, and Citibank. He has also pioneered #DADWEEK, an initiative to work with fathers/father figures in deep containers to shift the hallmark of parenting from the old narrative of discipline to a new generation focused on connection and fully expressed authenticity.
In this eye-opening conversation, we unpack what it means to become more fiscally intimate and how a conscious relationship to money can start to widen the aperture on how we form relationships to all other paragons (or models) of possibility within. Topics we cover range from:
• The hero’s journey from advising CEOS of billion dollar companies to taking the big leap to write, speak and inspire people all over the world
• What it means to be an intuitive coach drawing from a corporate background
• How to balance the dance between living from greed/ego and living in true abundance/wholeness
• When creating an ASO (Aligned Signature Offering), Jaymin’s take on the necessity of having credentials
• A sneak peek into his Transformational Sales Journey, which is his secret sauce to making money
• Why Jaymin wants to coach Kamala Harris and Jeff Bezos
• The inspiration behind #DadWeek and the impact he’s already seeing in his work with conscious dads
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
This show is hosted at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
Welcome to the Alt-Normal Season 2, a show that centers diversity as a beautiful and absolutely critical force for rebuilding this post-pandemic world that’s actually worth fighting for. In this grave crisis of systems, power and consciousness collapse, lies an opportunity for a massive paradigm shift in how we relate to ourselves, the community and Planet Earth. The matrix is coming undone.
We need a new story for humanity that includes diverse voices, leaning into the complexity of who we are and our emerging zones of genius to live more in our truth for a more sustainable, inclusive, and equitable world. If the most biodiverse ecosystems are naturally the strongest and most resilient, why can’t the same be true for the human species? This show exists to celebrate the magnificent naturally-occurring phenomenon that diversity really is —giving its complexity the rightful place it deserves in culture at large.
In the upcoming season, we take a front row seat into the fearless and bold who embody their zone of genius to impact the world in its current crumbling — changemakers, activists, bridge builders and conscious entrepreneurs creating this new evolution.
This show is produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig, Seed, Grow. Our mission is to grow resonance between brands and audiences all around the world.
We record the show at Destination Outpost, a coliving and coworking community based out in Bali.
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
On episode 14, we had the absolute privilege of speaking with Robin Lim, a Filipino-American midwife and founder of Bumi Sehat, a non-profit organization in Indonesia and the Philippines that offers a comprehensive range of allopathic and holistic medical care, covering pre and post-natal care, breastfeeding support, infant, child and family health services, nutritional education, pre-natal yoga and gentle, loving natural birth services. In 2011, she was celebrated as CNN Hero of the Year for her outstanding work in running 6 medical clinics building peace — one baby, one mother, one family at a time. Each baby's capacity to love and trust is built at birth and in the first two hours of life!
Despite the COVID spike in unwanted pregnancies (by up to 420,000 in Indonesia alone according to The Jakarta Post), Bumi Sehat’s heroic midwives are still at the frontlines fighting for a woman’s right to bring a baby into the world gently and without trauma — protecting the most natural thing a woman can do while advocating for optimal humanity, health, intelligence and consciousness at all levels of community, family and planet.
In this incredibly inspiring conversation, we cover:
• What it means to give birth in a gentle way without trauma
• Unpacking the research that shows “being born without trauma is the foundation for having an intact capacity for love and trust”
• Before Bumi Sehat came to Indonesia, how women (especially the country’s most disenfranchised and poor) navigated the pre-natal, birth experience and postpartum care
• The importance of breastfeeding and why Bumi Sehat places significant emphasis on this versus infant formula
• What we don’t typically know about a midwife, including her superheroic ability to bring babies into the world without electricity, running water, childbirth equipment or shelter (demonstrated in 2004 when Bumi responded to the earthquake that wiped out Aceh, an island in Northwest Indonesia).
• How Bumi Sehat navigates family planning to support the most vulnerable women in society economically and in health, especially during COVID times
• The gravest challenges as founder and primary fundraiser of Bumi Sehat
To keep Bumi Sehat’s clinics open during these challenging pandemic times, please consider donating to the NGO in the lead up to “Giving Tuesday” on December 1st. To learn more about this initiative, head here: https://www.globalgiving.org/donate/81399/yayasan-bumi-sehat-ds-pkr-nyuh-kuning/
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
On episode 13, we had the great treat of speaking with Dek Gunarta, a Community Leader in Bali who’s been instrumental in bringing holistic health tourism to Bali and building the local economy back up following the 1998 economic crisis and Bali bombings, bridging the Western and Balinese communities since the early 2000s. Born in an artist and environmentally conscious family (his great-grandfather was the head of The Sacred Monkey Forest restoration project in the early 70’s), he is truly a Renaissance Man involved in wide ranging projects both locally in his village (Compost House, Monkey Forest tourism, environmental and youth development) and in partnership with his wife and business partner Meg Pappenheim (think Bali Spirit, a platform for socially conscious tourism and business; Yoga Barn, one of SE Asia’s biggest yoga and wellness centers; and Bali Spirit Festival, a premier international and holistic wellness and world music destination event that contributes positively to the ecological health, cultural vibrancy, and overall vitality of Bali and greater Indonesia).
In the absence of tourism, Dek has embodied the true activism, resiliency and creative resourcefulness of what it means to be a leader showing up for the community during these incredibly challenging economic times in service of spirituality, humanity and the environment — taking the Balinese philosophy of Tri Hita Karana a rational step further (balance of self, community and planet). With all his projects and businesses combined, he’s still going strong and supporting 300 families, or 1200 people. As history’s showed time and time again, Bali has always turned crisis around into opportunity and abundance — coming back stronger each time. How? This honest and revealing conversation takes us through that journey, including:
• What it means to be a community leader in Bali today
• How Bali has evolved in the past 20 years and impacted the Balinese people with the onset of health and spirituality tourism
• The greatest challenge he’s faced during this pandemic, supporting the insurance of 300 families, or 1200 Balinese.
• Deep dive into the lesser known part of the Monkey Forest — the incredibly regenerative Compost House project
• His vision of Bali with the onset of the second wave of COVID lockdowns
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
On episode 12, we unlock the secrets to driving real change through social impact work with Shaunda Brown, a world traveler, entrepreneur, adventurer and community builder. Before beginning her world travels a year and a half ago, she worked with Sofi to build a startup into a $5 billion fin tech company to provide student loan benefits for Americans and founded Goddess Institute to empower women to connect with their divine feminine through exploring their conscious sexuality. Since then, her natural entrepreneurialism and love for Mama Bali led her to pursue many impact-driven projects including co-creating Bali Live (a virtual festival series to raise funds for Balinese livelihood who have been severely impacted by COVID-19), the End of Life Collective at Roundglass (to support end of life conversations and transform this terrain into one of deep engagement) and researching an approach with Circles to implement Universal Basic Income in Bali to create a potentially better financial system.
In just days following the success of Bali Live #2, which raised $27k for the Balinese farmers, we sat down with Shaunda to celebrate and dish out about all things community, impact and purpose driven work for the love of humans, including:
• What it was like to work at SoFi and drive the growth that enabled the startup to have significant impact on mounting student loans
• The catalyst that inspired Goddess Institute into being, and Shaunda’s personal practices for connecting to higher consciousness
• Her experience volunteering in the slums of Bangalore, and how this sparked activism to be the change
• With tourism wiped out in Bali (which historically supports 80% of the local economy), what the state of food security looks like today and how Bali Live (and its partners) has impacted those hardest hit
• With tourism spending not likely to return to pre-crisis levels until 2024 (putting as many as 120 million jobs at risk), the need for building local economy from the inside out — and potential for administering universal basic income using blockchain technology for the long-term financial health of the Balinese
• COVID represents both literally and metaphorical death, which has forced us all to confront our mortality — what we can learn about this process with more grace, ease and consciousness, and how Shaunda’s End of Life program is tackling just that
More about the show: https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
Produced by Resonance™, the creative practice of Dig | Seed | Grow
On episode 11, we welcome the lovely Sara Agah Franti in delightful conversation about all things womanhood, authenticity and service. Her big mission is to support women to discover their deepest values so they can live a fulfilling and impactful life. As a child of Baha’i refugees from Iran, she was raised with the values of service and acceptance of all. As a Registered Nurse for 10 years and having earned a Masters of Public Health, her work took her from remote fly-in camps in northern Canada, relief work in Haiti and the Philippines and finally travel nursing in California. After 10 years at the bedside, she was inspired to co-found Do It For The Love with her husband, musician Michael Franti. Together, their work is to use the power of music to inspire hope in those facing life threatening illnesses and severe challenges (having granted 2700+ wishes). With entrepreneurialism in her blood since early childhood, it was no surprise that she and Michael launched a clothing line (Stay Human) and expanded their wellness hotel (Soulshine Bali).
In these overly digital times, we speak candidly about the state of activism. Rather than approaching activism with blame and criticism for those who embraced posting the black square following George Floyd’s murder, Sara centers us back on the human and compassionate — owning the ways we can and should show up authentically, while accepting others where they’re at on their own journey of activism. Through her own life experiences, she’s been a shining example of how to transform adversity into activism and bridge the worlds of healthcare, music and social impact — all while balancing a love AND biz relationship with her other half, musician Michael Franti. She helps us see past the illusion of the superwoman and shift into more compassionate relationship with ourselves and core values.
• Building on her powerful speech at the 2019 Women’s March in Napa, what it was like for Sara to grow up as first-generation Canadian to Baha’i refugees from Iran parents who fled religious persecution in Iran decades earlier.
• How she got into emergency and bedside nursing, and the level of humanity she touched doing this powerful work for 10 years
• Her perspective on nursing during COVID-19 times, humanizing the warrior spirits that are showing up on the frontlines in service
• Moving from “shoulds” to authenticity despite the process being “messy and lonely,” and THAT much more challenging in the face of patriarchy, capitalism and systems of oppression.
• Sara’s personal practices for shifting into greater authenticity (and not always the ones you expect!)
• Transition into marriage with Michael Franti and then motherhood, approaching big life milestones with a consciousness lens (not to mention running multiple businesses, including some with Michael)
• Her message to women out there who want to be superwoman and do it all (in Sara’s words “a strong, smart, outspoken woman can be hard to accept sometimes. I can be strong and that can be my sweetness”)
• How she co-founded her NGO, Do it for the Love, with Michael to use the power of music to inspire hope in those facing life threatening illnesses and severe challenges. And with COVID, how it’s all shifted.
• What the word ‘activism” means to Sara, and how she (and Michael) approach using their collectively powerful platforms to show up in these heightened times of racial injustice.
Follow Sarah at: https://www.saraagahfranti.com
Produced by Resonance™ https://www.digseedgrow.com/thealtnormal-podcast
On episode 10, we fearlessly bridge the worlds of spirituality and activism with the one and only, Nadine McNeil of Universal Empress. Her mission as a yoga teacher, speaker, wisdom mentor and humanitarian is to ignite infinite possibility in people around the world and share yoga with diverse underserved communities. She is the founder of the BadAsana Series ©: Yoga with Weights and long-time teacher at the Yoga Barn, the largest yoga and wellness facility in South East Asia. Prior to her deep dive into yoga in 2008, Nadine travelled the world in service of the UN, UNICEF, Global Volunteer Network and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for nearly two decades. These and other experiences rooted Nadine’s continued devotion to activism. Additionally, her globally expanding Women’s Circles are rooted in her mantra: when one of us suffers we all suffer. Yet when one of us heals, we all heal.
This conversation was igniting on all levels, bridging the medicine of activism and spirituality into one potent conversation. Contrary to the perception that Yoga is all love, light and OM, Nadine shines a light on what’s typically overlooked — that for real change (and real movements) to happen, we must access our anger and injustice, the “most potent emotional frequencies in Dharma.” By reaching for the lessons within our fire and rage, we can then ignite transformation in the direction of justice, move beyond the “danger of the single story,” and collectively challenge the “impoverished imaginations” of our times.
With the Old World crumbling, humanity needs a new story that includes all voices and identities -- leaning gracefully into the complexity of who we are, not simply what’s perceived as “normal” or comfortable to face this existential crisis. Inspired by the work of Reverend Kyodo Williams, the author of “Radical Dharma,” we cover wide ranging topics that centers spirituality as a force for activism, helping us show up in the world in our true Dharma and extraordinary differences.
We travel landscapes far and wide, including:
• As a woman who is “Jamaican by birth, Universal by outlook,” how Nadine claims her identity as one that was significantly shaped by a lifetime after leaving Jamaica at age 16.
• What is actually dangerous about “the single story” and how she brings this concept alive in her own engagement with diversity.
• After spending 22 years with the UN in emergency response and humanitarian stints, what broke the camel's back and inspired her on the path of Yoga.
• What role can (and should) Yoga play in current COVID times of systems collapse, racial injustice explosion, and the collective sentiment of rage and violence worldwide.
• Unpacking the “Democratization of Yoga,” what she describes as the removal of the illusion of elitism attached to the practice in modern times.
• In response to Kyodo Williams’ TEDx talk where she famously declares, “I don’t want your love, I want your justice for the people of different ethnicities, cultures and countries,” what Nadine feels is the role of love in a time of violence (and whether Yoga requires that we love everyone).
• How we can compassionately and gracefully transform violence into something of value for ourselves and community.
• How to navigate the scarcity mindset as a person on the spiritual path who shows up in contribution, yet not always manifesting their highest financial abundance.
• How Nadine transformed dwindling interest in online Yoga (on both sides) during COVID-times into abundance and “keen intuitive and observation skills to discern how [she] could best serve others.”
• How culture needs to shift right now to break through our impoverished imaginations and hold more space for difference and diversity.
Follow Nadine at https://www.universalempress.com
Produced by Resonance™ https://www.digseedgrow.com
On episode 9, we had the delightful pleasure to be in convo with Melanie Midegs, a Psychosomatic Therapist and Teacher of Chakra Philosophy for Business and the Modern World. Armed with the psychosomatic tool of Face Reading, she teaches people how to harmonize their inner Masculine and Feminine energies and step more boldly into their zone of genius. For the last 6 years, she’s lived in Bali while running workshops around the world from places such as Gandhi’s house in Johannesburg South Africa, Lululemon in Singapore and most recently in Fiji with Elizabeth Gilbert at a women’s empowerment retreat.
The words “chakra” and “business” are not typically strung together, so we were jazzed that Melanie found a way to bridge and bring the worlds of spirituality and Western business mindsets to companies, multi-million dollar entrepreneurs and everyone else in between. How she married Eastern and Western so organically is a topic we explore and find ourselves wonderfully curious about.
In this uplifting and visionary conversation, you can expect to journey through past, present and future of all things chakra, masculine and feminine, including:
• From working with the Australian government on a change management project to leaving bureaucracy and corporate altogether, what were Melanie’s biggest frustrations about the modern state of business
• How psychosomatic therapy meets chakra philosophy for the modern business world (and why unlike Joe Dispenza, she claims the Sanskrit word ‘chakra’ versus ‘energy’ despite the triggers it can provoke for the less spiritually inclined humans).
• Her run down of the ancient chakra system dating thousands of years back to Yoga and Tantric tradition, and how she sees the seven major energy centers corresponding to the seven major areas of any modern day business.
• Having travelled down to South Africa to teach successful business people about the methodology in Gandhi’s very own house, the impact she had on newbies to the world of chakras.
• The experience of bringing chakra philosophy training to Lululemon, and how they emerged from this unique methodology (ie: a nose has so much to do with personal identity, leadership style and how to bring product into the world)
• The magic of the Face Split Analysis, a psychosomatic tool that cuts through to what your zone of genius is, and what may be holding you back from living out your dreams and purpose -- what she’s learned after reading 600 faces!
• What this tool reveals about the masculine and feminine energies, and how to bring them into balance
• Her personal practices for balancing the masculine and feminine energies within herself (and why you’ll never listen to a love song the same ever again, in the best of ways!)
• Why global organizations need to be dismantled in order for culture to collectively shift into greater balance, reclaim the much needed feminine, and center on the long overdue formula for today: humanity + sustainability = economy
Follow Melanie at https://www.seedtosoul.com.au/
Produced by Resonance™
On episode 8, we get deep with Melvin Hart, a Neuromuscular Therapist, Shamanic Medicine Practitioner, Intuitive Coach, Healer and Spiritual Nomad who has worked with hundreds of people from around the world and participated in 100+ plant medicine ceremonies, helping his clients integrate their experiences into everyday life through his platform, the Evolutionists.
As an Indian-Black man raised Hindu in New York, he has never checked any conventional boxes. In fact, at age 18, he found himself unjustly locked behind bars for the next 8 years (“his grandfather was a senator; his family grew up in law enforcement. So I kind of got the wrong end of the deal.” - NYPost). According to the ACLU, 1 out of 3 Black boys born today can expect to go to prison in his lifetime, as compared to 1 out of every 6 Latino boys and 1 out of 17 white boys. While his formative years were influenced by an institutionally racist criminal justice system and years of “seeing the worst side of humanity,” he prevailed against all the odds to come out not simply alive, but incredibly resilient, in service, and powerful beyond measure.
In this poignant conversation, we travel all the lifetimes Mel lived and wisdom collected along the way, covering a wide ranging conversation that includes:
• What it was like to be indicted unjustly at the ripe age of 18 and actually experiencing “the worst side of humanity”
• His transition from prison to the real world, and how he picked himself up by his bootstraps despite the staggering reality that former inmates face each year (650,000 men and women nationwide in the US return from prison to their communities, and face nearly 50,000 federal, state, and local legal restrictions that make it difficult to reintegrate back into society)
• While he evolved a successful career merely 5 years following prison, Mel gave it all up to heed his greater calling for ayahuasca in the jungles of Peru — what he saw and how it changed the game forever
• How plant medicine is not the silver bullet, but rather the amplifier of who you already are and who you want to be
• The kind of world he envisions as a Shamanic Practitioner and his reaction to George Floyd’s wrongful murder and the traumas confronting humanity today -- “you can ignore reality, but you can’t ignore the consequences of you ignoring reality”
• Mel’s personal spiritual practice that combines his diverse background, accountability structures, and multidisciplinary approach to healing
On episode 7, we go deep with Bobbi Aqua, an elder with 45 years of experience in Chinese and Functional Medicine. While originally from the Hamptons of New York, she has been based in Bali the last 17 years and is best known for setting up a holistic and acupuncture clinic in Bumi Sehat,which provides free health services in response to the growing economic disparity of the underserved local communities in Bali. Arguably one of the original pioneers of foreigners who came to Bali, she arrived right before the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 hit. This natural disaster was believed to be the deadliest tsunami in history, killing more than 230,000 people across 14 countries including Bali.
In a time when elder wisdom is fading fast from culture (thanks to technology and globalization), we had the pleasure of tuning into nearly eight decades of knowledge, experience and wisdom. As a true pioneer in the field of healing, Bobbi shines a light on the importance of cultivating spirituality for long-lasting health, which is more relevant now than ever before with the second wave of COVID on the horizon. At 78, she is still sharp as a tack and we’re honored to be with her. On this episode, we cover:
• What it was like growing up as a trust fund baby and hippie during the Vietnam War
• Her pursuit of ambition in an era when a women were expected to achieve an “M.R.S. degree”
• Studying Chinese Medicine at the height of the AIDS crisis in 1989, when this 3000-year old practice had finally taken hold as a licensed form of medicine in the late 70s/early 80s
• The core differences between Chinese Medicine and Functional Medicine, and why she identifies as a “spiritual midwife” above all else
• Demystifying the “virome” and reframe our relationship to it much like what Zach Bush M.D. says, “If we shift direction quickly, we can become co-creative partners with this nature to prevent our own extinction and to bring forth the richest biodiversity and vitality that this planet has ever seen.”
• What preventative health can look like from a blended Chinese Medicine and Functional Medicine background
• The connection between our higher consciousness and immune system through the lens of psychoneuroimmunology (the science of how consciousness shapes the brain’s control of the immune system) and why this connection is so challenging for Western doctors and patients to accept
• Bobbi’s vision for a future healthcare as we navigate through a global health collapse and planetary crisis of our air, water and soil systems
On episode 6, we sit down with the legendary Swaady Martin, one of Africa’s most recognized young leaders, influencers and tastemakers. She’s a multi-awarded serial entrepreneur most notably of YSWARA (a socially-conscious gourmet tea company contributing to the reversal of the African commodity trap) and a changemaker-activist who has founded Tounche Global Consciousness Summit (events that have brought consciousness transformation to 2000 diverse individuals worldwide), a Racial Reconciliation Circle in honor of James Patterson (her father and former Black Panther Party Leader of Brooklyn), and THE LOVINGKINDNESS BOMA (a collection of children’s books to cultivate greater love, kindness and compassion within the family). Formerly a GE executive of 10 years, she pursued her own hero’s journey that has evolved over continents and projects at the intersection of inner growth activism, conscious entrepreneurialism, and her great love for Africa. Among her many honorable accolades, she’s been named on Oprah Winfrey’s “O Power List” for Africa in 2014.
In this dynamic conversation, we cover her life’s journey in these core explorations:
• What it was like to grow up as the daughter of a Black Panther Party Leader in Brooklyn, and how early life exposure to activism influenced her worldview later on as an “inner world activist”
• Her love for her corporate days as a former GE executive, stemming from her lifelong dream of becoming a businesswoman as early as 6 years old
• Making the transition from corporate to conscious (and serial) entpreprenur of YSWARA and how this business brought her love of African culture, values and ancestral wisdom to the forefront of business storytelling
• The impact YSWARA had on the local African communities and plantations she’s worked with, which is more relevant than ever today in what Harvard deems as “the age of corporate social justice”
• How diversity is missing from the healing + consciousness communities worldwide, and why Tounche Global Consciousness Summit emerged to meet that gap with new voices, perspectives and cultures
• The critical work of running a weekly James Patterson Racial Reconciliation Circle (named in honor of her father’s role as Black Panther Party Leader) in light of George Floyd’s murder and the explosion of racial injustice worldwide
• The inspirations and intentions behind writing a collection of children’s books that places diverse girls at the forefront of storytelling
• Her love letter to Bali and how this oasis of beauty and biodiversity has supported her during these COVID crisis times
We’re graced by Zeina Yazbek, a dreamer and achiever of Lebanese descent. After a decade in TV production (including MTV), talent management and business consultancy, she dreamed herself into a new life as an internationally published author, Shamanic Breathwork facilitator, Shamanic Astrology counselor, meditation teacher and founder of Dream a New World, a soon-to-be launched platform on dreams and imagination (and essentially her own life).
Having grown up in Lebanon during Civil War, Zeina’s worldview, perspective and tools for surrender help us make sense of the deeper tragedy behind the recent explosion in Beirut and overall “nuclear weapon of fear” that stems from trauma, crisis and systems collapse. Currently in Lebanon, unemployment among people under 35 runs at 37%, while two Prime Ministers have stepped down in just one year. Her work as a transformational guide led her to start a support group for Lebanese expats, to bring solidarity to children of war who still have family in Lebanon. “Trauma is the same from the outside, but the story of personal tragedy is very different.” Her work as a dreamer and achiever brings fresh and relevant insights into the unique circumstances of 2020.
Other topics we cover in this episode include:
• Her experience of growing up in Lebanon during the Civil War of 1975-1990
• Making a transition from the TV production, talent management and business consultancy world into “creatorship.”
• How to understand “dreaming” in the sleeping and waking worlds as a way to “Dream a New World” into being
• Pulling the curtain back on Breathwork to inspire everyone (including your grandma!) on tapping into this magical and much needed mind-body practice
• The importance of surrender in navigating these uncertain times & how Bali has been her personal “motherland”
On episode 4, we are honored to welcome Ibu Sari, the founder of PKP Community Center — an NGO dedicated to empowering Balinese villages, providing a safe space and thriving home to champion emotional and financial support for vulnerable women and their families. Driven by a mission to build women by building the entire community, PKP runs diverse programming and social enterprises to lift up marginalized Balinese members of society.
A staggering statistic indicates that 80% of divorced women in PKP Community Center left marriages that inflicted financial struggle, mental and physical abuse. 20% of the divorced women suffered other causes.
In this conversation, we explore Ibu Sari’s experience of being separated from her daughter for 12 years following an incredibly traumatic divorce. This is the story for most (if not all) women in Bali. It is very difficult for women to be accepted back into their communities and rebuild a life afterwards, which was the driving catalyst for her life’s work.
Other topics we explore in this deeply moving talk:
• How her traumatic experience inspired her to start PKP Community Center
• Why most Balinese are not equipped with the tools to enter a healthy, happy and sustainable marriage
• How to reconcile the traditional Balinese philosophy of Tri Hita Karana (harmony with self, community & planet) with the painful inequality resulting from divorce culture
• Her philosophy of “head” versus “neck” in looking at the role women play in relationship to men
• The significance of “LAF” (Look, Ask & Feel) and how this tool empowers women to grow into their highest potential and leadership in the community
• The program(s) within PKP that support the greatest breakthroughs for those seeking a better life and future forward
• How she believes Balinese culture will need to shift to support divorced women who have taken the courageous step of claiming their independence and happiness
• The sage wisdom she would give to her 20-year old self now
• What she is most grateful to Bali for during these COVID times
On episode 3, we’re joined by the fabulous Bandana Tewari, a lifestyle journalist, sustainability activist & TEDx speaker originally from India and now based in Bali. So real talk — how did a former editor at large of Vogue India end up on the island of Gods?
We cover this and much more in this vastly rich conversation about her transition from a world of luxury and fashion shows to an advocate for sustainability, mindful consumption and slow fashion. In a world where $460B in value is thrown away from clothes only worn between 7-10 years, the fashion industry and its consumers all can (and must) do better.
In this conversation, we explore:
• 5000 fashion shows and 13 years later, what she saw as the biggest challenge facing fashion worldwide
• Pearls of wisdom gleaned from her TEDx talk in 2019, “What Gandhi Can Teach Us About Slow Fashion,” and how these principles apply during 2020 COVID times
• Her personal philosophy and practical advice when it comes to shopping as a slow consumer in the age of COVID-19
• How to transition from a fast fashion mindset to one that is slower, less wasteful, and ultimately more mindful
• What it means to be a sustainability activist in 2020
• The role VR technology can play in fashion to inject much needed empathy in the supply chain and transform the uglier aspects of the industry
• The ways in which culture needs to shift to support a sustainable mindset in fashion and beyond, embracing authentic representation as a critical stepping stone
• How Bali has helped her do the important work of building activism within herself, the community and planet at large
Azizi Birkeland is a conscious (and serial) entrepreneur on a mission to redefine “home” in all that she does, from the inner self to the outer realms of homeschooling and building intentional community as a life-learning family. She’s the founder of Tiny Green Chef and Stone Soup Family Pop Up.
In this moment when schools have closed in 100+ countries and 1 billion students are now learning at home, the concept of “home” comes into existential question. This episode covers a wide-ranging feast of topics that include:
• Practicing sovereignty as a commitment to self-accountability vs. reaching a “happily ever after” destination
• How to claim your sovereignty as a parent through the tools of developing home in all its facets — homeschooling, home making through intentional community, and the inner development of “home”
• Why home education starts with parents doing the work of re-educating themselves first
• The difference between outsourcing your power vs. claiming sovereignty in the realm of education, nourishment, healthy debate and conscious dialogue
• The inspirations and opportunities behind Tiny Green Chef, a plant based nutritional cooking program for kids to become discerning eaters and better fuel their body, mind and spirit as future stewards of a New Earth
• The challenges and possibilities facing life-learning families who move and design new lives abroad (and how this catalyzed Stone Soup Family Pop Up, a worldschoolers social network)
• Exploration of “Old World Paradigm” vs. “New World Paradigm” in the cultivation of the sovereign or true self
• The importance of centering into the question “If the old life was so great, what was urging yourself to leave in the first place?”
• The secret to prioritizing yourself and why Bali is the greatest teacher of devotion and ritual
Originally from Java, and a resident of Bali for 10+ years, Ida Rahayu is a teacher at the internationally acclaimed Green School Bali and founder of an incredible program called Seed to Table, teaching both expat and Balinese kids critical life skills to live more harmoniously with themselves and the planet.
In this debut episode, we cover wide-ranging topics:
What makes Green School unique from other forms of schooling, as a student-driven learning center
How our source of waste and disease stems from disconnection to the foods we eat and overall lack in food education
The importance of considering the impact of our food choices on our health and planet
How the Green School served as a critical stepping stone to launching Seed to Table
How Seed to Table supports students in cultivating compassion for our Earth’s stewards and gardeners, through its four pillars: waste management, gardening, cooking and composting
Small simple to go beyond recycling for managing our world’s waste (especially in Bali where recycling doesn’t even exist)
The necessity of bringing food education into everyday schooling for kids, especially during this crisis