Co.Cast - Creating the Future Together: Recent Episodes
Andrea Orsag & Jennifer Pfister
A podcast to share the amazing stories full of compassion, insights, ideas and hope from all over the world. The current COVID-19 situation will be over and we are curious to explore how different people deal with it and what future do they foresee. Run by Jennifer Pfister and Andrea Orsag. Join us on our journey!
Evelyn Mora is a Finn living in Paris. A creative visionary changing the fashion industry and beyond. She is an entrepreneur and consultant, the Founder of Digital Village and Helsinki Fashion Week. Currently working as a consultant on brand strategy, communication, and sustainable product development and you can explore more about her at evelynmora.com
Evelyn has been working with companies such as Tesla, VTT Technical Research Institute, Vogue, European Space Agency, and Fashion For Good. She lectures at top industry events and Universities. Featured in Forbes, Vogue, Bloomberg, CQ, BBC, The Guardian and the list goes on. In April 2021 her Digital Village platform will be launched and she is also finalizing her novel "The Troublemaker" about the fashion industry and the challenges within the supply chain.
Evelyn talked to Andrea Orsag about her fashion journey, relaunching Helsinki Fashion Week and getting it on the map of fashion events as the most sustainable and the very first fully digital one. She also shared why she believes digital tools will make our lives better, revealed teasers about the new platform and also shared her personal advice on how to create a sustainable, timeless wardrobe.
Her vision expands beyond fashion and is applicable in many other industries, fashion being a tool reflecting our lifestyles and how we live generally. We got very inspired. Tune in and join us!
This episode is a bit different because instead of talking to an external guest, Andrea is talking to the fellow Co.Caster Jennifer Pfister.
Jenni just finalized her bachelor's degree from Leiden University in The Netherlands with a focus on Governance, Economics and Development. She got a scholarship to attend Berkeley University in California last year, diving through topics around Business and Sociology. She is a perfect representative of Gen Z - keen to make a positive impact in the world. She is actively pursuing this through her social enterprise Impactify, driven by the mission to encourage, educate and equip everyone who is/wants to be a changemaker. She won the ActionAccelerator pitch contest by Enactus World Cup 2019 in Silicon Valley. She also pitched her startup idea at the Google HQ, got selected to join UC Berkeley's StEP program (incubator), and won a SkyDeck Fellowship at the first AccelerateHer startup weekend. She is a proud One Young World ambassador.
In 2020 Jenni was selected as Germany's G(irls)20 Delegate. Since 2010, the G(irls)20 Global Summit has served as a platform for young women to influence the G20. Jenni works on formulating policy recommendations focusing on technology that addresses female empowerment in the digital age. Besides diving into the stories for the Co.Cast Podcast, she recently started her own YouTube channel.
In this podcast Jenni reflects on her year 2020, COVID-19 changing her Berkley stay, why social entrepreneurship matters to her, what helped her in personal development and what is ahead of her in 2021. So many adventures await! Get inspired and tune in now :)
Having engaged at the intersection of social, environmental and economic issues for 20+ years, Alice Schmidt is a passionate advisor, advocate, speaker and writer on global health and sustainability. Her clients include a wide range of public and private institutions, from United Nations agencies, the European Commission and the World Bank to large corporates in the pharma, food and mining industries as well as various NGOs.
Alice has worked with 60 of the world’s best organisations in 30 countries on four continents. This has made her an expert at distilling the essence of complex societal, environmental and economic challenges and identifying high-impact solutions and triple win scenarios that cut across sectors, topics and geographies, and ultimately improve people’s health, happiness and wellbeing. With two Master’s degrees and experience with a great variety of institutions and cultures, she never loses sight of the bigger picture.
In addition to advising the European Commission on Global Health and directing her own consulting firm AS Consulting, Alice is an MIT Climate Ambassador and Chair of the Board of Endeva e.V., a not-for-profit focusing on inclusive innovation and social business. Besides other engagements, she has been teaching courses for BA and MBA students from around the globe on Sustainable Business and Management for the Future.
“Protecting the environment means protecting our health, happiness and wellbeing . It helps us save money too.”
In this episode Alice talked to Andrea about the link between climate change and our health, the eco-services our planet provides and how climate action can pay for itself. She also shared with us her thoughts on long term thinking and embracing nature during the COVID-19 pandemic to improve our mental health. Tune in to enjoy the whole conversation.
Catalina Catana comes from Moldova and she lived in different European countries including The Netherlands, UK and Germany. Currently she lives and works in Hanoi, Vietnam. She is leading the accelerator program at ThinkZone Ventures and helping entrepreneurs apply Design Thinking principles and mindset to building their ventures. Drawing from the fields of social innovation, purpose economy, sustainability, philosophy and change leadership, she aims to equip young people with the mindset, tools, and knowledge to become agents of positive change.
She is the host at The Change Makers Podcast, a series of interviews with changemakers around the world that aims to raise awareness about changes needed in our behavior, in our society, and in our economy in order to preserve our planet and live more sustainably. Season 2 of this podcast has a clear focus: the SDGs. We have only one decade left to achieve the UN's SDGs and we need to speed up the process to make it happen https://open.spotify.com/show/1HskbeereXeRytVebslsjf?si=moUIscw5Tcm4fXvFQeuExQ
Catalina shared with us her story of backpacking through South-East Asia and starting a new adventure in Vietnam. She talks to us about how COVID-19 impacted the country, how does a startup ecosystem work in there and what is the everyday reality in terms of sustainability. Why she thinks COVID-19 is the time to reflect on our future and why educating generations so they can be part of the solution matters? Tune in to our 15th episode NOW
Sherielyn Gardner is an HR professional trained in the corporate world of California, with vast experiences from the competitive environment of Silicon Valley. She is a social entrepreneur passionate about supporting the local community, which became even more clear during the current COVID-19 times. Sherielyn had the virus herself. She took to Instagram to share her experience of self-isolating at home with a little son and husband, the stigma linked to the diagnosis, and told us how learning and sharing helped her better cope with it all.
She shares with us a very personal story of how her brother's illness and passing away impacted her life and helped her to realize that there is so much to be grateful for. Sherielyn decided to live her life in a purposeful way, with intention. Overcoming grief, she supports the less fortunate and turns her pain into community service. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic she has been even "paying it forward" a.k.a. "piffin it" in Portland and you can follow her activities on Instagram as @piffinpdx and her personal stories as @thebluestroller.
Sherielyn also shares with us her journey of coming to the US from the Philippines, how challenging that was for her family in times before the internet, how she got a chance to experience living in Sweden and why she and her husband chose Portland as their current home.
Despite the 9 hour difference between us, this was a conversation full of positive vibes and we hope you will feel it too. As Sherielyn puts it: We need better, not perfect. Tune in!
Steven Asei-Dantoni, also known as the Great Teacher Steve, is a French-Cameroonian innovator and disruptor in the field of education. As a lecturer in the field of innovation and management, he works closely with universities and municipalities all over the world.
As a learning experience designer, his work primarily focuses on improving educational experiences with transformative learning. It is Steve’s primary goal to make education more human and create safe spaces of connectedness. Interviewed by Jennifer Pfister, Steve shares his personal journey and experience with human-centered design in education, the role of taking ownership in students’ learning process, system change and, most importantly, the role of love.
Listen now to be inspired by Steve’s perspective on connectivity, play, exploration and how he reimagines what the learning experience of students can be like.
Based in Rotterdam, PJ is the Global Product Transformation Lead for Knorr at Unilever. A natural connector and bridge builder who is passionate about the Sustainable Development Goals, PJ also co-organizes the Action Accelerator - an annual hackathon for changemakers working on the SDGs hosted by One Young World, Enactus Alumni, and the Circle of Young Intrapreneurs.
Tune in to listen about PJ's journey of finding her purpose of connecting and empowering people for a better world, her take on mindfulness, womanhood, leading with our strengths, and her passion project the Action Accelerator.
Lucy is a Kiwi living in Amsterdam driving forward a ‘new economy narrative’ by amplifying the voices and visibility of change-makers. She is a founder of thought leadership agency The Humblebrag https://www.thehumblebrag.co/ and Co-Initiator of Creatives for Climate https://creativesforclimate.co/. The Humblebrag works with some of Europe’s best agencies, brands, artists, and sustainable fashion initiatives to use the power of ideas, opinions and creativity to challenge the status quo and create impact.
Lucy's mission is to support business leaders to take a stand on social, cultural, and environmental issues and to build a recognized, credible reputation as a purpose-driven thought leader. Over the past eight years, Lucy has built a reputation as a regular speaker and has been featured in a range of titles such as: The Huffington Post, AdWeek, The Drum, Sustainable Brands and Mumbrella.
In this episode, Lucy talked to Andrea about why she thinks brand activism is important and why helping changemakers to find their voice matters. She shared her ideas behind Creatives for Climate - an initiative to coordinate a collective response from the creative industries to mobilize action on the climate emergency. She has shared examples of creative projects she has been busy with and she is currently supporting. Way to go!
Keen to get energized and inspired? This is the conversation for you. Tune in.
Daniëlle Smissaert has always been enjoying life and finding joy in connecting people. Organizing fundraising events, supporting different charities, and even managing her our charity Stichting Enlight, all of that on top of her corporate job. Unfortunately, she got sick and after many exams and tests, she has been diagnosed with chronic heart disease. A young person with an invisible disability suddenly falling into the category "At Risk" during the current pandemic. This has however not stopped her, quite the opposite. Daniëlle is active within the Stichting VluchtelingenWerk - the Dutch refugee foundation and she also manages the social media of impact platform Coronahelpers.nl matching those in need of help and those who can help, getting a lot of energy out of being able to help other people at risk who might not have the same network as she does. Daniëlle is also planning a big charity fundraiser gala with Hartstichting foundation to raise awareness for young professionals who are chronically ill.
She continues practicing yoga and meditation, believing that the year 2020 might be one of awakening, helping us to realize that no man is an island and we need each other to be happy. “The effect you have on others is the most valuable currency there is.” In this episode Daniëlle talks to Andrea about her disease, what has changed for her after the diagnosis, and what makes her happy. She talks about her activities that keep her busy these days and also her plans, including a big gala event with the goal to raise awareness for chronic heart disease. What are her views on spirituality, the purpose of life and what are the values that will remain with us after the pandemic is gone? Tune in to find out and to get inspired with us.
Gosia Rychlik is a member of the Global Shapers Community, a network of young people driving dialogue, action and change, initiated by the World Economic Forum. After 5 years of her corporate career, working for one of the global companies operating in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, she decided to join the global not for profit organization to support their fundraising division. UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, to defend their rights, and to help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence. This year she decided to gain a new perspective and joined as a volunteer a disaster recovery program in the Bahamas, destroyed by the hurricane Dorian.
Gosia is fascinated by sustainable development, psychology, science, and new technologies. Her goal is to work at the intersection of science, technology and business, as she believes it is a way to make the world a better place to live in. She is keen to be a part of that change. And she ALREADY IS! Gosia is also a One Young World ambassador.
"My experiences so far, such as volunteering in areas impacted by disaster, taught me that we are not our emotions. We can choose how do we respond to them. I choose to search for positives and opportunities in any situation"
Andrea talked to Gosia about how her career change and recent adventure influenced her way of thinking and how these experiences helped her to gain a different perspective on what really matters. Gosia shared with us a very personal story full of insights, reflections, and why she thinks we all need to learn to deal with our emotions, recognize them, and share them to build resilience. Tune in to join us on her exciting journey!
David Brown-Dawson from California is a book author and motivational speaker on topics including resilience and mindset. He is currently obtaining his MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and has served as a civil engineer officer and air advisor in the United States Air Force for five years. Being passionate about education, he recently finished his first book “Enduring Urgency: Thinking Like a Tortoise in a Time of Hares” and in this episode, he talks to Jennifer about lessons learned and insights.
Tune in to learn more!
Kristine Vilnite from Latvia is a digital nomad and a global citizen. She is an advisor and mentor to startups and also a Head of Partnerships at the ThreeFold Foundation building a decentralized peer-to-peer internet envisioning an equal, free and fair future for all. She lived in Silicon Valley where she got a chance to get first-hand exposure to the world of tech and fell in love with all the possibilities it can provide for us.
The change Kristine wants to see in the world is humanity led back in sync with nature. Kristine strives to put her best qualities and skills at work unlocking the power of diversity, simplicity and genuinity towards complex challenges, assuring consideration of a positive net impact for our planet is a norm.
“The world has nothing to give me other than the opportunity to express everything that is already in me”
In this episode, she shares with us how she became "COVID-19 Amsterdammer", what is a ThreeFold internet and why is it needed. She also talks to us about her career in tech, why she thinks sustainability & tech are a good match, and what are her plans as the countries start opening their borders again.
Tune in to get inspired too!
Sonja Lahtinen is a business sustainability strategist, doctoral researcher, and a big nature lover. She is advising companies, cities, and other organizations in addressing sustainability so they spend less time reacting to the changes in their environment and more time creating a positive impact. Her PhD research evolves around the broad field of business sustainability. The findings offer business actors a road map to reframing their business strategies, management activities, and co-creation practices, and shows why doing so will make their businesses, and our planet, thrive.
Sonja is also a passionate advocate and spokesperson on different sustainability topics and finds deep personal meaning in volunteering, mentoring, and giving speeches on sustainability. She is regularly sharing her tips on how to become sustainable on a personal level on her Instagram @soniakatariina You can read more about Sonja and her work on sonjalahtinen.fi
“We’re now entering into an era of the unknown, the unclear, and the unfolding. Being in tune with what is emerging around, we can seize immense, but not instantly obvious, opportunities to better the world”
In this episode, Sonja shares with us her personal story of moving to Switzerland and staying in Finland for the current pandemic, what is going on with her research and what are the main insights into Corporate Sustainability. Why data matter to determine where the impact really is? And what are the 3 key recommendations we can take on board to improve our sustainability impact? It might not be what you would automatically expect 😉 Tune in and find out!
This episode features Hoessein Alkisaei, the founder and chairman of Nederland Maakt Impact, lecturer in Civil Engineering at the TU Delft and One Young World Ambassador.
Hoessein has quit his job as a civil engineer to focus on Nederland Maakt Impact’s first conference in March 2020. Then came COVID-19. Learn how he managed to stay positive and optimistic despite this disruption.
“In order to go from one mountain tip to a higher one, you will always have to go through a valley - and this valley is a challenge but always rewarding”
David Zetland is a lecturer at Leiden University College The Hague, host of the Jive Talking podcast, published author and expert on water scarcity and political economy. His specialties are analyzing, discussing and improving the management of natural resources using the tools of political economy. David traveled in over 100 countries.
In this episode he discussed with us politics, challenges like water scarcity and food insecurity, the role of leadership and many more crucial topics in the times of COVID-19. How does COVID-19 affect food security? What happens when so many people in the world have no access to clean water in a health crisis like this? Should we be optimistic about the impact on climate change? Explore with us!
Karla Ticona is wearing three hats at the same time - being an engineer, coach and a triathlete. Her mission is to help people & organizations connect strategy and spirit to become the best they can be and serve the world with their talents. She believes that everything is possible with faith and joy, and her commitment is to pay it forward by supporting education, environmental protection, and women entrepreneurs.
As an Industrial Engineer Karla trained and worked in 10 countries in Latin America, North America, and Asia. Karla is also an Ontological Professional Coach with Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential from the International Coaching Federation (ICF), Points of You ® Certified Trainer, Mind-Body Eating Coach from the Institute for the Psychology of Eating and Desire Map Facilitator.
In this episode she tells us how life is impacted in Peru and how she keeps on training for marathons and triathlete competitions while being in the lockdown. She shares with us 4 tips on how to deal with emotions based on Susan David's Emotional Agility book. And she also gives us her perspective on the role of copper mining in the southern part of Peru in regards to the current COVID-19 crisis.
"Everything is possible with faith and joy"
David Furlong is a co-founder of Deedmob and Coronahelpers.nl. Together with his team he is working on disrupting the charity sector to increase its leverage on the world using technology. Deedmob.com is a social start-up that strengthens society by increasing the impact of volunteering through using the newest technology and strategic partnerships with the private and public sectors. They offer an online platform that makes it easy for people to find volunteering opportunities in their area, in addition to giving charities cutting-edge technological tools to manage their volunteers free of charge.
Online platforms play an important role in connecting volunteers to people who need help also during the current Corona crisis. Coronahelpers platform is playing exactly this role - not only in The Netherlands but also in The UK, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, with the goal to expand into even more countries soon. 3500 successful matches have been already made and more are being realized on a daily basis. With Coronahelpers the team got the attention of Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte and queen Maxima. The team is included in the latest Forbes Europe 2020 30 under 30 list.
In this episode we had the pleasure of talking to David about his views on the power of volunteering, connecting people to their community and the role of tech in this.
"Volunteering is a very powerful tool for people to connect to their community. You can start doing it without knowing anyone, meet new friends and get to know your community better"
Sara is an award-winning social entrepreneur. She is the founder of BUTA Art & Sweets which aims to increase the employment levels of women with special needs through the sale of homemade sweets. BUTA Art & Sweets is the first social business to represent Azerbaijan at the UN Level and gives women with special needs financial independence. The Social Business Youth Centre (SBYC) promotes social entrepreneurship amongst young people in Azerbaijan using non-formal education. This takes the form of free or low-priced masterclasses, training sessions, long term courses and meetings with experts. In just 8 months, with zero budget, SBYC has run 20+ programs and projects which have seen 2500+ applicants, 800+ participants and 30+ partners. Sara has been a One Young World ambassador since 2018.
In this very first Co.Cast - Creating the Future Together episode Sara will share with us her story and views on how COVID-19 can enable a positive transformation for both, individuals and businesses
Introducing Co.Cast - Creating the Future Together | A podcast showcasing the amazing stories full of compassion, insights, ideas and hope from all over the world. The current COVID-19 situation will be over and we are curious to explore how different people deal with it and what future do they foresee. Run by Jennifer Pfister and Andrea Orsag