Host Marie Gettel-Gilmartin of Fertile Ground Communications scouts out and helps people share their stories of grit, resilience, and fertile ground. I interview immigrants, people from marginalized communities, cancer survivors, and others who have overcome hardships in their lives and emerged on the other side stronger and fiercer.
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The Companies That Care podcast highlights business leaders who are making a difference in the world. Hosted by Marie Gettel-Gilmartin, founder of Fertile Ground Communications and host of the Finding Fertile Ground podcast. I have a passion for companies that care and give back to their communities. The first three episodes of Companies That Care, launched on Earth Day 2021, focus on sustainable fashion, food, and corporate philanthropy.
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Dr. Ronnie Taylor: From ex-Mormon felon to Oregon’s first Black male occupational therapist!
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Dr. Ronnie Taylor was born to extremely young parents who divorced after a few years of marriage. His mom converted to Mormonism and moved the family to Salt Lake City to start a new life. Unfortunately, the missionary who converted and recruited her failed to tell the church Ronnie’s family was Black. They weren’t exactly welcomed with open arms. …
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Melissa Jenkins Mangili: Neuropsychologist reinvented as a model
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Dr. Melissa Jenkins Mangili is a neuropsychologist and medical school faculty member who has reinvented herself as a fashion and fitness model. Her life began with grit and resilience. She and her three siblings were was raised in poverty in rural Maine by a single quadriplegic mother. “The nice thing about being from a small town is that everybody…
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Issam Kaisse, Nielsen: Filling a need for Arab employees by starting a new affinity group
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Issam Kaisse is a first-generation immigrant to the United States from Morocco, and he speaks five languages. Since he’d grown up living all over the world, he thought he would adapt to life here easily. “I quickly realized when I came to the U.S. that it was different being an Arab immigrant. It was difficult to adapt at first…I could not relate t…
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Vernita Bowe: Transforming grief and COVID into a zest for life
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Vernita L. Bowe is a survivor. As a smaller-than-average child, she experienced bullying in school. When she grew up she married the wrong man and wasn’t able to get out of that marriage for 24 years, three kids later. Parenting has been about huge loves and losses for Vernita. Her middle son landed in prison, and four years ago her oldest son Byro…
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Claire Randall, Grand Central Bakery: Bakers serious about making an impact
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Claire Randall is CEO of Grand Central Bakery, a B-Corp certified artisan bakery in Oregon and Washington with a community-centered mission and sustainable business practices. Claire’s been working at Grand Central for 29 years. “My friend Piper Davis and her brother were opening the Portland branch...There was really nothing like it in Portland at…
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Nicole Lee: Playing taps, coming out, a wild RV trip across country, and job discrimination!
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Happy Pride! What better month to launch this fun episode and celebrate a wonderful queer story. Growing up in Germany, when Nicole moved to the U.S. as a teen she never felt like she fit in. Then she joined the military during Desert Storm, and she ended up playing Taps for 600 funerals of her colleagues. That nearly broke her. She married a man b…
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Joel Makower, GreenBiz: Helping business move the needle on the world's most pressing social and environmental challenges
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You can watch the video of this interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdv1Tijyl9o “None of us knows as much as all of us. There is combined wisdom and insights and knowledge when we bring people together.” --Joel Makower, founder of GreenBiz Joel Makower is chairman and co-founder of GreenBiz Group, a media and events company focusing at …
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Cheryl Parks: From Shyest Girl in the Room to Sales Coach Extraordinaire!
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This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Cheryl Parks, sales and mindset coach. Cheryl works with my business coach, Liz J. Simpson, and has provided me invaluable advice and confidence boosts as I reboot my business. Cheryl and I immediately connected, and I was especially lucky to meet her in person in early March, since the B…
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Michele Heyward: A hurricane and engineering camp made her an engineer
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Michele Heyward is a civil engineer who built the U.S. power grid. Now she's a tech startup founder building the future of work at PositiveHire. Michele grew up in rural South Carolina in a three-bedroom house full of kids. She had four siblings. She describes herself as the weird kid, really good at math. Encouraged to pursue science and engineeri…
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Elisa Engel, Citizen Architects: Africa and Sustainable Architecture
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“We work predominantly on community-based projects where we're much more interested in some ways in what a building does…rather than how the building looks…how can this building help this organization deliver better services? How can it bring people together? How can it free up space? How can a space enable teachers to teach in a different way?” --…
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Gresham Harkless, Jr.: From childhood newspaper to founding two companies and becoming a media expert
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When Gresh was a kid, his military dad worked overseas for a year and this English major/entrepreneur started a family newspaper to keep his whole family up to date on what was going on. His first business was born! This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Gresham Harkless, Jr., founder of CEO Blog Nation and Blue 16 Media, and …
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Kim Malek, Salt & Straw Ice Cream: Building community through handcrafted ice cream
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You can also watch this interview by video on YouTube! Kim Malek is CEO and visionary behind Salt & Straw and cofounder with her cousin Tyler. We talked about how she has created an amazing, people-driven company with community at its core. She teamed up with her cousin Tyler to start Salt & Straw, which has become known for small-batch, chef-drive…
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Chantal Cox: Creating a life she loves after stress, alopecia, and an abusive marriage
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This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Chantal Cox, a special educator, author, speaker, and Transformation NeuroCoach™. Chantal lives in Wichita, Kansas, now but she grew up all over the world. Her birth dad is Mexican, but her mom remarried when she was three years old. Her adopted dad was in the army, so the family moved ev…
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Tal Zlotnitsky and Tonya Coppin-Fox, Our.Love: A new app empowering people to love more and love better
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Watch on Youtube Imagine how much better the world would be with just 1% more love. That’s what the co-founders of Our.Love envision for the world. More and better love, delivered in a FUN way! Who wouldn’t want to take advantage of that opportunity? The Companies that Care podcast highlights business leaders who are making a difference in the worl…
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Devin Tomiak: Helping kids learn how to be resilient after experiencing a personal tragedy
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This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Devin Tomiak, founder of The Biggies Cards. After losing her youngest brother Grant to suicide 7 years ago, Devin Tomiak became driven to understand resilience--in particular, how to build resilience in kids. As a mom of two young boys, her preoccupation had a unique urgency. She created …
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Kim Sundy of Kellogg Company: Living proof you can get paid to change the world
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The Companies that Care podcast highlights companies and business leaders who are making a difference in the world, like Kim Sundy, senior director of sustainability at the Kellogg Company. Driven by the legacy of its founder, W.K. Kellogg, the Kellogg Company is the world’s leading producer of cereal and snacks. But did you know Kellogg’s vision i…
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Mahlena-Rae Johnson: Finding her fertile ground as a Black expat creative in Canada
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This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Mahlena-Rae Johnson. Mahlena was born in Arkansas but grew up on the island of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Mahlena is a speaker, comedian, author, and communication expert for introverts. After graduating from the School of Film and Television at Loyola Marymount University, ea…
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Jon Roesser, Weavers Way Co-op: Growing the cooperative community in Philadelphia
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The Companies that Care podcast highlights companies and business leaders who are making a difference in the world, like Jon Roesser, general manager of Weavers Way Cooperative Association. Founded in the early 1970s, Weavers Way is a consumer-owned food co-op in Philadelphia with three stores, two farms, a non-profit, and community newspaper. They…
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Barbie Liss: Healing through restorative justice and reclaiming her wise woman archetype
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This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interviewed Barbie Liss from Toronto, Canada. Barbie is an anti anti-aging coach who guides women as they heal their wounds and shed shame around aging. Barbie found her own fertile ground through a traumatic incident. Her daughter was raped at age 21. Barbie had to work through her own secondary t…
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Julie Allen: Using her battle with eating disorders to inspire others and dismantle diet culture
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This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, it was a joy to interview Julie Allen again. I had the honor of interviewing Julie earlier this year for my Companies That Care podcast. During this interview, Julie shared her 15-year battle with eating disorders. She was in and out of treatment during her entire teenage years and into her early 20s…
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Aaliyah Nitoto, Free Range Flower Winery: Protecting the planet and giving back to her community by making wine with flowers
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The Companies that Care podcast highlights companies and business leaders who are making a difference in the world, like Aaliyah Nitoto, the visionary founder of Free Range Flower Winery, an award-winning, winemaker-owned and -operated boutique winery in Oakland, California. Aaliya handcrafts premium wine in small batches from locally sourced, orga…
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Mike Ganino: A NICU baby in Mexico during a pandemic = grit and resilience
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This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Mike Ganino, a storytelling and communication expert, podcaster, and public speaking coach. He’s also husband to Phil and dad to Viviana, who was born at 29 weeks gestation in Mexico during the first stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. I loved hearing Mike’s life story, starting with growing…
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Veronica Arreola, Educator and Policy Activist: Working to diversify the STEM field and help Latinx students thrive
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The Companies that Care podcast highlights companies and business leaders who are making a difference in the world, like Veronica Arreola, a professional feminist, mom, and writer who has been working to diversify the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) field for over 20 years. She has a particular passion for working with Latinx/Lati…
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Nura Elmagbari: Muslim-American feminist, supporting refugees and living out her faith
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This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Nura Elmagbari, a Muslim-American mom, wife, scientist, educator, nonprofit leader, activist, and community leader. I met Nura several years ago through my church, Spirit of Grace. Nura was our guest preacher for Mother’s Day, spoke on an interfaith women’s panel, brought her teen daughte…
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Heather R. Younger, Employee Fanatix: The Employee Whisperer who teaches leaders how to care
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The Companies that Care podcast highlights companies and business leaders who are making a difference in the world, like Heather R. Younger, a best-selling author, international speaker, consultant, adjunct organizational leadership professor, and facilitator. Born to a white, Jewish mom and a Black dad, Heather was deliberately excluded from her m…
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Paula Dunn: Once bullied for her cleft lip, now helping teens become resilient
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This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Paula Dunn, who was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. Paula is my first Australian guest, and my first with a cleft lip and palate like me. On her first day of school, Paula was bullied by her classmates and when she told the teacher, she was called a tattletale. The bullying st…
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Ross Ching, Mama’s and Hapa’s: Destroying the notion that ecofriendly has to be expensive
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The Companies that Care podcast highlights companies and business leaders who are making a difference in the world, like Ross Ching, founder of Mama & Hapa’s Zero Waste Shop in Portland, Oregon. Ross moved to Portland with his family in 2019 after working as a TV commercial director. He was inspired to start a zero waste shop after watching the new…
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Lily Shaw: Calling Sandra Bullock! Lily’s in the house!
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This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Lily Shaw, a powerhouse actress, an expert writer, and an award-winning motivational speaker who was rescued and inspired by the make-believe world of cinema at the age of 7. When Lily was just starting out, her first Hollywood agent told her, “if you only had the right look, you could be…
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Mallorie Dunn, Smart Glamour: Creating affordable, inclusive, and size-inclusive clothing for all
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The Companies that Care podcast highlights companies and business leaders who are making a difference in the world, like Mallorie Dunn, founder of Smart Glamour in New York City. Mallorie has been interested in clothing her whole life. She attended the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Pratt Institute. She found that corporate fashion was not…
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Tracey Osborne: Moving past trauma to help women reclaim their voice and inner power
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This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Tracey Osborne from Dallas, Georgia. After bouncing around in various locations during her childhood, Tracey got sexually assaulted by her live-in boyfriend the night of her senior prom. It was not her last sexual assault, and soon she found herself in and out of several domestic abuse si…
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Dr. Erica Gamble, The Wig Doctor: Helping people look and feel their best at a tough time in their lives
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The Companies that Care podcast highlights companies and business leaders who are making a difference in the world, like Dr. Erica Gamble, known as the Wig Dr. The Wig Doctor, headquartered in Marietta, GA, specializes in high-quality wigs and hair pieces for people suffering from hair loss because of chemotherapy, alopecia, and other auto-immune d…
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Daniel Sartin: Choosing sobriety and compassion after trauma, abuse, and abandonment
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Trigger warning: This episode contains some racist and adult language This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Daniel Sartin. Daniel is just a bit younger than my oldest son, but he’s survived a lifetime of trauma and difficulty. Born into the foster system, he got adopted and raised by a relative. He was raised as a Jehovah’s W…
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Taylor Loewen of Ridwell: Giving new life to household trash
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Companies that Care highlights business leaders who are making a difference in the world, like Taylor Loewen, Portland general manager of Ridwell, a sustainability startup that makes wasting less easy for its members. Ridwell picks up stuff from your front door and makes sure it gets sustainably reused or recycled. Taylor’s background is mostly in …
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David Brackett of Linguava: Providing health equity through language access
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The Companies that Care podcast highlights companies and business leaders who are making a difference in the world, like David Brackett, founder and CEO of Linguava. Linguava is a full-service language interpretation and translation company that provides health care and medical equity through language access. David shared how he first became intere…
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Lara Smith of Dad’s Garage: Making theater fun, a part of the community, and financially sustainable
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If you like what you hear or read, visit my website to find out more about my work. The Companies that Care podcast highlights companies and business leaders who are making a difference in the world, like Lara Smith, former managing director of Dad’s Garage, a theatre company in Atlanta, Georgia. Since we recorded this interview, Lara now works as …
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Terri Kozlowski: From sexual abuse and abandonment to raven warrior transcending fear
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If you like what you hear or read, visit my Fertile Ground Communications website. This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Terri Kozlowski. She is a proud Native American warrior of the Athabascan, Tlinglet Tribe and Raven Clan. When she was just 11 years old, her mother sold her for drugs and shut her out on the streets of Alb…
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Amber Taggard of the Organizer Chicks: Helping people reclaim their 17 minutes per day
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The Companies that Care podcast highlights companies and business leaders who are making a difference in the world, like Amber Taggard, founder and CEO of The Organizer Chicks and host of The Organizer Chicks podcast. The average American wastes 17 minutes each day looking for lost items. When Amber read this statistic, she decided to use her M.S. …
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Mini-episode: How my podcast guests are like octopus
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As a podcaster for justice, I stand with my sisters from the Women of Color Podcasters Community. We are podcasters united to condemn the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others at the hands of police. If you like what you hear or read or would like to see photos of Leslie, visit my Fertile Ground Communications website. T…
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Erin Shakespeare of the Macquarie Group Foundation: Employee-driven corporate philanthropy
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The Companies that Care podcast highlights companies and business leaders who are making a difference in the world, like Acting Global Head of the Macquarie Group Foundation Erin Shakespeare. Erin leads a team that directs Macquarie’s efforts on philanthropic grantmaking and employee volunteering, working closely with the company’s people around th…
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Lisa Marie Simmons: Resplendent and creative after abandonment and abuse
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Note: This episode contains a racist epithet. This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Lisa Marie Simmons. Lisa grew up in Boulder, Colorado, but now lives in Lake Garda, Italy. I contacted her when I read her post on the Huffington Post, As A Young Black Girl, I Loved My Grandfather. Then I Found Out He’d Been A KKK Member. I h…
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Naama Barnea-Goraly of Girltelligence: Creating an app to support young women
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As a podcaster for justice, I stand with my sisters from the Women of Color Podcasters Community. We are podcasters united to condemn the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others at the hands of police. This is a continuation of the systemic racism pervasive in our country since its inception and we are committed to standin…
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Leslie Batchelder: Childhood trauma and abuse made her resilient
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As a podcaster for justice, I stand with my sisters from the Women of Color Podcasters Community. We are podcasters united to condemn the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others at the hands of police. If you like what you hear or read or would like to see photos of Leslie, visit my Fertile Ground Communications website. T…
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Ousman Touray, Phioneers: Pursuing a vision of sustainable building in Africa
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The Companies that Care podcast highlights business leaders who are making a difference in the world. I have a passion for companies that care and give back to their communities, like Phioneers based in London, UK, and The Gambia. My guest, Ousman Touray, is an ecopreneur with a mission to improve the quality of life in developing parts of the glob…
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Amira Stanley: Finding her place and voice as a Black activist
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Read more about Amira and see photos on this blog post. Amira Stanley is a mindset & intention coach, end-of-life doula, and anti-racism educator and community activist. She grew up Black and gay in mostly small cities or towns, has lived with pain from hip dysplasia and lost a huge amount of weight so she could have hip replacement, supported her …
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Wendy Horng Brawer, Intune Collective: Transforming leaders and company culture
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View photos and read more here. The Companies that Care podcast highlights business leaders who are making a difference in the world. This week I interview Wendy Horng Brawer, co-founder and chief of learning and innovation for Intune Collective. Wendy is an executive coach, consultant, experience designer, somatic awareness coach, parent, and rock…
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Lisa Schroeder of Mother’s Bistro: Portland’s Jewish Mother of Mother’s!
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Read more and view photos on my website. Lisa Schroeder is executive chef and owner of Mother’s Bistro & Bar. She is a mother, grandmother, chef, restaurateur and author devoted to providing better-than-authentic renditions of traditional home-cooked dishes at her popular, award-winning restaurant. Mother’s has grown over the years from a charming …
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Lisa Schroeder: Working twice as hard as the guys, now an award-winning chef in Portland
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Read more and view photos here. Lisa Schroeder is a mother, grandmother, chef, restaurateur and author devoted to providing better-than-authentic renditions of traditional home-cooked dishes at her popular, award-winning restaurant, Mother's Bistro & Bar. Lisa is an incredibly hard worker, as all executive chefs are, and she had to work twice as ha…
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Melissa Pierce: Sharing lessons from becoming a widow and single parent in her 40s
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This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Melissa Pierce, who I met through Rock Voices Portland, a 140-voice strong rock choir led by my friends Mark and Caley Barstow. Rock Voices’ theme is “healing through song,” which Melissa and I discuss on this podcast. Melissa was faced with a huge crisis in her 40s: she lost her beloved …
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Julie Allen: Disrupting the fashion industry at Mary Rose Boutique NW
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Read more and view photos on my website. The Companies that Care podcast highlights business leaders who are making a difference in the world. I have a passion for companies that care and give back to their communities, like Mary Rose Boutique NW. Julie Allen founded Mary Rose Boutique NW and the sister Mary Rose Foundation, a 501C3 nonprofit. Juli…
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Ruth L. Schwartz: Recovering from Losses and Teaching Others How to Be Conscious Girlfriends
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Read the full blog post and view photos. This week on the Finding Fertile Ground podcast, I interview Ruth L. Schwartz, a writer, teacher, and consciousness-shifter. Ruth has published eight books and taught at six universities, and now she runs the Conscious Girlfriend Academy, the leading global program supporting lesbians and queer women to date…
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