Meet The Changemakers

My guest is Dr. Alexander Grevel, a German climate activist. He is a board member of Klimaliste, a new party in Germany that advocates for climate action to achieve the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees.

Alexander holds a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Science and a PhD in Biology and he is an active supporter of the Last Generation and Scientist Rebellion - two climate protection movements that use civil disobedience to spur political negotiations on much needed climate action.

On this episode, we talk to Alexander about how Klimaliste was founded and what their goal is. We learn about Alexander's experience as a scientist who is involved in the climate protection movement and what challenges the movement is facing in Germany. 

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My guest is Şenol Ağaç, founder of Zerobottle. Şenol has been an independent consultant in the drinking water industry since 2016. While living in Paris and working internationally, Şenol was amazed to discover that in countries like France, Austria, and the Netherlands, most people drink from the tap; in Germany people stick to the mass use of bottled water. 

Through his continued work, he recognized the huge environmental impact of switching to tap water. Also the quality of water as a protected food, the convenience of immediate availability, and the extremely low cost of 0.2 Euro Cents per liter on average are unbeatable arguments for its enjoyment.

In 2022, Şenol founded the environmental movement - Zerobottle. The issue of switching from bottled to tap water has become even more critical given inflation (which also affects bottled water) and independence from Russian fossil fuels (which are also used in the production and transport of bottled water). Not to speak of the hot weather periods we’re experiencing as a result of climate change. The solution is tap water!

Şenol's vision for Germany: One day you will walk through everyday life with a refill bottle and refill everywhere instead buying water in single-use plastic bottles.

Connect with Şenol on LinkedIn and on the Zerobottle website.

Support the podcast and our featured changemakers by rating and reviewing it on Apple Podcasts or on your favorite listening app. Thanks for your support!

My guest is Manuel Kreitmeir who is a Social Entrepreneur and 'Third Culture Kid' with a background as a second-generation tea and spice farmer in Sri Lanka. He created Ohana Social Enterprise, which delivers coffee and tea from family-owned farms to purpose-driven companies, offices and coworking spaces.

He is a Facilitator and Thought Leader for Social Innovation. He worked as a Policy Advisor for the UN and European Commission for Social Entrepreneurship and Social Economy.

He co- founded the Digital Social Innovation Lab - Germany's first digital University incubator. At the Mannheim Business School, Manuel is also a Lecturer in the Master in Sustainability & Impact Management.

He leads systems change as the co-founder and director at the Center for Open Social Innovation, or COSI, in Heidelberg, Germany. Connect with Manuel on LinkedIn. 

My guest today is Ziwa Hillington, Managing Director at Green Bio Energy Ltd. - a Ugandan-based clean energy social business. 

Green Bio Energy is based in Kampala and Uganda’s leading manufacturer of eco-friendly briquettes. For 14 years, ZiwA has been working with international and national expert teams as well as marginalized communities in the social business arena and with NGOs. His work advances innovation and distribution of clean energy technologies and the social business framework, to fight poverty and climate change.

Connect with Ziwa on LinkedIn and on the Green Bio Energy website.

Fine Jennifer at carpediemgardens.co.uk or on LinkedIn. 

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My guest, Tara Diaz, is an acupuncturist and herbalist practicing in El Segundo, CA.  Her practice Tara Diaz Wellness exists to inform about health, wellness, and East Asian medicine traditions that inspire people to take action over their well-being.

Tara grew up in Venice Beach, California and credits her unique upbringing with her interest in integrative medicine.  As a teen she could be found in a health food store researching herbs in the pre-internet world or spending time with her grandmother giving her insulin shots or testing her own blood sugar and researching diabetes.

After studying psychology as an undergrad where she was first introduced to mind-body medicine, she went on to spend several years in the hospitality industry before studying Traditional Chinese Medicine in 2009.

Tara enjoys cooking, yoga, and middle eastern dance as well as spending time with her family.  She also volunteers with her children’s school PTA and the Mindful Veterans Project in her free time.

Connect with Tara Diaz Wellness on Instagram and on Facebook. 

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My guest is Erika Reyes, CEO at inwit, Canada’s first zero-waste takeout ordering platform. Erika is a creative marketing expert with over seven years' international experience in branding and customer behavior. She has worked on developing strategic partnerships with over 200 businesses in Mexico, UAE, the U.K. and Canada.

In 2018, she started to realize that as a Marketer, her job was to take a “product” and influence someone to purchase it. The truth is, little to no thought was spared to the environmental or social impact of the product. She made the choice to leave the Marketing industry in 2019 to research and pilot solutions to tackle single-use plastics and waste. She led the implementation of the Wisebox Pilot project, Toronto's first reusable takeout container program by deposit citywide. She was nominated for “Favourite Women Entrepreneurs” by Young Women in Business and selected a Woman4Climate Mentee by the City of Toronto in 2020.

Today, she is the CEO at inwit, Canada’s first zero-waste takeout ordering platform, a startup that believes that if each of us commit to do more, we can change the world; that individuals and corporate actions have the ability to bring about positive changes in society.

Connect with Erika on Linkedin, or visit inwit.

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My guest is Ryan J. Kemp, a regenerative and sustainable business consultant and guide, author and speaker. Since graduating cum laude in finance from Northeastern University in Boston, Ryan has worked in and traveled to over 45 countries learning from cultural elders about ways of seeing and being in the world, working on solutions to some of the world’s largest issues, writing about it through poetry and prose and speaking on various podcasts and summits.

Some of Ryan’s past work includes consulting with the Prime Minister of Cameroon, H.E. Philémon Yang, to implement rural infrastructure initiatives using non-toxic and non-degenerative materials to assist farming communities in cutting down on food spoilage, collaborating with the Minister of Energy in Myanmar working towards renewable energy independence while replanting mangrove forests on the Bay of Bengal - and living and working on intentional communities and permaculture farms throughout Hawai’i, the Caribbean, and Central America assisting movements in food security and sovereignty.

He is a member of the Sustainable Change Research Network, the International Alliance for Localization, the Doughnut Economics Research Lab, and he is a certified 200-hour Ashtanga Yoga teacher, an Ayurvedic practitioner, a published author and poet. He also is a graduate of the altMBA and has created up-leveling practices inspired from that program into his work with businesses and individuals.

Connect with Ryan on his personal website, on Pueo Consulting, or on LinkedIn. 

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He left Tesla and joined the high growth startup, Lasso Loop Recycling, where he is the Chief Operating Officer leading the company’s US launch and expansion as they release their first product. Kieran believes that anyone can be capable of anything if they put in the work and believe without limitation it is possible. His mission: to work on our planet’s greatest problems to make the future an exciting and sustainable reality.

Say hello to Kieran on Linkedin. 

This episode was recorded in June 2021. It is as current now as it was then.

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I talk to Purnima Ramakrishnan who is a heartfulness trainer, a UNCA award winning journalist and the recipient of the fellowship in Journalism by the International Reporting Project, John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

She is the Chief Strategy Officer at World Moms Network, a Forbes Top 100 Website for Women uniting women from 30+ countries and 6 continents. She finds joy in meditation and writing and writes passionately about passionately about social causes, parenting, spirituality, womanhood, and life in India. She is a practitioner and trainer of Heartfulness Meditation and the host for the award-winning chat show - GLOW (Genuine Loving Outstanding Women).

Purnima used to work as an electronics engineer and contributed to the automotive electronics industry for a decade before becoming a writer and heartfulness trainer. Say hello to Purnima on Linkedin. 

This episode was recorded in June 2021. It is as current as it was then. 

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I speak with Tara Eusebi, the founder and chief blesser of Bless - a mobile app where needs are shared, hearts are touched, help is given, lives are changed and people come together.

In 2018, Tara stepped away from a successful career in corporate America to pursue her passion for helping others. This pursuit led to the creation of Bless, a mobile application that is bringing communities together to help one another in every part of the world. Now Tara is on a mission to change the world by changing lives one need at a time, uniting humanity and impacting generations through the power of Bless! The account of her journey will inspire and encourage you to discover your passion and go after your dreams.

Say hello to Tara on Linkedin. Connect with Tara and the Bless app on Instagram.

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I speak with Mary Lant, who works for an award-winning NGO in South Africa, called Lesedi la Batho.

Mary Lant is a trained fashion designer and digital marketer from South Africa, who spent several years working and traveling abroad as a costume designer for resort theatres. Through cultural immersion, she became passionate about community upliftment through promotion of artisanal craft and storytelling – leading her to get involved with a small yet powerful, award-winning NGO in South Africa, Lesedi la Batho. For the last 10 years, Lesedi la Batho has worked to improve the lives of underserved youth and vulnerable women through various upliftment programs.

When not advocating for social change, Mary is a creative, avid reader, dog mom, beach lover and wife.

Say hello to Mary on Linkedin. And support the community upliftment programs of Lesedi la Batho by visiting their website.

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I speak with Benjamin Webster who is the co-founder of Troopl, a community of working professionals endorsing great talent to companies to ensure a people-focused approach to hiring.

Benjamin’s expertise is in learning and development and unleashing individual potential with employee experience initiatives that relate directly to business objectives. With corporate experience at Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry, and recently Tesla, Benjamin is now focused on building a global community of talented individuals moving towards a more sustainable future together.

Originally from Australia, Benjamin currently lives in the Netherlands where he is pursuing his mission of changing the recruiting industry for the better. 

Say hello to Benjamin on Linkedin. And read his article that explain the mission of Troopl.

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I speak with Anne Koark, a management consultant, keynote speaker and author. She is British and has lived in Germany since 1985. Anne founded her own award-winning company in 1999. As a result of 9/11, Anne had to file for bankruptcy in 2003. After declaring insolvency on her business, she lost everything.

She wrote a book about her experience in which she advocates a culture of failure. The book was on the business bestseller list in Germany for 7 months. Anne has been challenging the definition of success ever since.

Her path continued with several surprises: She was invited to speak by the EU Commission, she received the Lady Business Award and the special prize at the Grand Prix of Medium-Sized Businesses.

Anne is a sought-after speaker at all kinds of events and is often asked to speak in companies to promote a new culture of failure where failure is intrinsic to success. In 2019, her TEDx Talk “Successful People Learn From Others’ Mistakes” was released. Anne’s talks are a human appeal to trust in one's own strengths - even when things get difficult.

Find Anne on LinkedIn and on her website.

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I speak with Michelle Natalya Moore on how to design the future of work with increased wellbeing, innovation and effectiveness using the power of attention. Michelle is the founder of MindEQuity, where she is leading knowledge workers on a Focus Better Journey. Harnessing and protecting organizational attention is the foundation for a future of work that doesn't sacrifice wellbeing.

We speak about the seven mistakes that hinder sustained value creation, including task switching and favoring data analysis over body wisdom and instinct. An environment of digital overwhelm, increased work from home, and virtual meetings means people are high on busyness on the Merry Go Round of Distraction. Many are working on the brink of burnout. People unknowingly behave as though attention is not their most valuable asset. Michelle is on a mission to change that! 

Michelle founded MindEQuity in 2014 after 20 years in Big 4 consulting. For a decade, she served as equity  partner with PricewaterhoursCoopers and Ernst & Young. She has an  MBA and is a PDMA Certified New Product Development Professional. In addition, Michelle is an advanced teacher of the MIT Presencing Institute’s Social Presencing, a set of body wisdom practices enabling  teams to harness attention for insight and innovation. She is the author of a chapter in "Presencing Theory U, Book 3: Collective Perspectives on Presencing", University of Laval. Michelle is a speaker with MacKay CEO Forums, Horasis Global Meeting and Management Leadership Forum. She has been featured across a variety of online media, podcasts and has appeared on Voice of America Business Channel.

Find Michelle at mindequity.ca as well as on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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In this episode, I speak with Kasha Sequoia Slavner, a Gen-Z, multi-award-winning documentary filmmaker who comes to the profession as a seasoned photographer, social entrepreneur and social justice advocate for over a decade.

She was 8 when she first started her social justice journey and only 16 years old when she set out across the world for 6 months to make her first feature documentary “The Sunrise Storyteller.” She completed it upon returning to high school. Since its release in 2017, it has screened at over 60 festivals and won 29 awards, including the Ron Kovic Peace Prize as well as the Eva Haller, Women Transforming Media Award. Currently, Kasha is in development with her second feature documentary “1.5 Degrees of Peace'' which is fiscally sponsored by The Redford Center.

Using her passion for visual storytelling to make the world a better place, she was selected as the recipient of the very first Kim Phuc Youth Award for Peace. Among the many other awards and projects - there are too many to name here - she became a Diana Award Holder for sustaining positive social change, in the memory of Diana, Princess of Wales.

You can find Kasha at The Global Sunrise Project. She is also on Twitter and Instagram.

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In this episode, I speak with Torsten Schreiber who is a serial social entrepreneur and the founder of Africa GreenTec. Together with his wife and co-founder, Aida, they are on a mission since 2015 to empower people in Sub-Saharan Africa to achieve more self-determination and growth through sustainable energy solutions.

Africa GreenTec has developed a holistic systems solution that makes it possible to supply entire village communities in rural regions with electricity and sustainable technologies. The intelligent system can withstand the harsh conditions in Africa’s off-grid regions – outperforming even modern European standards.

We talk about Africa GreenTec's projects and how Torsten runs his project as a social enterprise, not development aid. We also dive into the finance model and the challenges on getting funding for a company that is a proud "zebra", and not a unicorn. Hear Torsten's experience working in Sub-Saharan Africa and what inspired him to embark on this pioneering journey.

You can find more about African GreenTec by visiting their website, connect on Linkedin and check out their YouTube channel. You can also connect with Torsten Schreiber directly on LinkedIn. 

If you like this podcast, please share it and rate it. You will help increase exposure for the great work of these global changemakers. Thank you!

In this episode, I speak with Kim Willis, the founder of Heroine's Journey. 

Kim is someone deeply cognizant of the power and potential of stories, and committed to leveraging their power to do good. After 10 years working at the highest levels of government as a communications lead in 10 Downing Street, the UN and the Government Office for Science, Kim left the civil service to become a journalist and blogger. 

She spent her 30s telling stories of reconciliation from post-conflict zones and writing in places like The Guardian and The Independent, as well as setting up her own communications agency dedicated to comms for social good. Now edging towards her 40s, Kim is growing a storytelling platform and community called Heroine’s Journey, with a mission to create space for the untold stories of women. With a growing community of 1000s of women Kim wants to address the gender imbalance in our storytelling, and help more women take control of their story-making potential.

She has also recently launched a new online magazine called HiLoMusing, a haphazard assemblage of words and ideas which seeks to document and make sense of the times in which we find ourselves. She is currently fascinated by Buddhism, the Truth Wars, and Seasonal Cycles.

We talked about how the pandemic has changed Kim's perspective on her life, her work and the life of our global community. Kim tells us what prompted her to start Heroine's Journey, a women's storytelling community, and how stories can be a catalyst for change, healing and connection.

Kim shares which woman's story had a particular influence in her own life, and she explains why it is that stories can fuel a change of perspective or inspire us to take action and shift the world for the better.

Find out how we can stay hopeful given our current challenges and crisis. And hear the lesson that Kim learned from Kofi Annan, when she worked at the UN. 

I'm sure Kim will inspire you with her insights from her journey as a changemaker. And if you like what you hear, then send Kim a *heart-filled* thanks on Instagram at instagram.com/heroinesjourney_/ or instagram.com/__kimwillis/ - or connect with her on Twitter.

Tim McDonald works with organizations and individuals who are stuck get unstuck. He is a speaker and facilitates workshops. Recognizing how fear held him back, Tim has changed his relationship with fear and has used it to get unstuck and leave a toxic job, end a 17-year marriage, move to a new city, meet his life partner, and currently looks at having stage 4 metastasized colon cancer as a gift. He is the former Director of Community at  Huffington Post, founder of My Community Manager, and Director of  Communications for Social Media Club Chicago.

Find Tim at linkedin.com/in/timamcdonald/ and on Twitter at @tamcdonald. You can support Tim's healing journey by donating to his GoFundMe campaign.

I'll explain how you can submit yourself or others to become a guest on this podcast. Listen to this launch episode to get a feel of where I envision this journey to be heading. I look forward to connecting with you. Thanks for listening and for supporting my venture into the podcasting world!