Good Life Project || Inspiration | Motivation | Happiness | Meaning | Success

My guest today is former, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, mayor of San Antonio, Texas and presidential candidate, Julián Castro. Today’s conversation is personal. Growing up in San Antonio, his love of the city, example of his grandmother’s devotion to family and hard work and his mom’s commitment to social justice and activism instilled a deep reverence for public service. He’d eventually head to college and then law school with his twin brother, Joaquin, before returning to San Antonio to immerse himself in the pursuit of making the city he loved the best, most equitable and inclusive place possible. He eventually became the youngest mayor of a Top 50 American city at the time, before rising up in the world of politics, But, for him, it wasn’t about politics, it was about service, about honoring the examples of his mom and nana to help others. Much if this story is shared in Secretary Castro’s memoir, An Unlikely Journey: Waking Up from My American Dream. He currently hosts Lemonada Media's

My guest on today’s Best Of conversation, Cleo Wade, is a community builder, artist, activist, and the author of the books, Heart Talk: Poetic Wisdom for a Better Life (https://amzn.to/2Ltivce) and Where to Begin: A small about book your power to create big change in our crazy world. She has been called the poet of her generation by Time Magazine and one of the 100 most creative people in business by Fast Company. Cleo sits on the board of The Lower East Side Girls Club, the National Black Theatre in Harlem, the Women’s Prison Association. Her art ranges from short, hand-written posts to collaborations with major brands and large-scale public art installations, including a 25-foot love poem in the skyline of the New Orleans French Quarter titled “Respect.”In today’s conversation, we explore her younger years, growing up as a biracial kid in the famed New Orleans French Quarter with two fiercely-creative parents influenced, how Hurricane Katrina changed everything, what led her to New York for many years, how

In 2010, folk-singer and songwriter Zoe Boekbinder (http://zoeboekbinder.com/) visited New Folsom Prison for the first time. What they thought would be one interesting day turned into a decade-long collaborative project. Boekbinder visited the prison often over the next five years; performing and teaching music workshops quickly turned into the beginnings of collaborations with writers and musicians who were incarcerated within New Folsom's walls. Boekbinder collaborated on the first of these songs with Alex Batriz, and following that, was approached by many more writers about collaborations. This was the seed for the Prison Music Project and the culminating album, Long Time Gone, produced by Ani DiFranco. Out now on Righteous Babe Records, the album features work by nine incarcerated (and formerly incarcerated) writers.The profits of Long Time Gone (https://amzn.to/31Y5phb) sales will benefit communities impacted by mass incarceration and the funds will be administered by the So

Question - how do you talk to friends, family, colleagues, and acquaintances about things that matter - hard things - in a way that leads to each person being seen, heard, acknowledged, and treated with dignity? How do you get to a resolution, and sidestep the hurt, the wounding, the rage, and reactivity? How do you have conversations, in work and life, that lead to genuine understanding and change, and leave you feeling respected and at-peace, even when you still disagree? That's where we're going in today's conversation with Alexandra Jamieson & Bob Gower, partners in business and life and co-authors of Radical Alignment: How to Have Game-Changing Conversations That Will Transform Your Business and Your Life (https://getradicalalignment.com/book). Alexandra Jamieson is the bestselling author of five books, and co-creator / co-star of the Oscar-nominated documentary Super Size Me. She is a highly-sought-after success mentor and motivational guide for thousands and has made it her mission to emp

Andrea Gibson is one of the most stirring and influential spoken word artists of our time. Best known for their live performances, in which they regularly sell out large capacity rock clubs and concert halls, Gibson has changed the landscape of what it means to attend a “poetry show” altogether. Gibson’s poems center around LGBTQ issues, gender, feminism, and mental health, as well as gun reform and the dismantling of oppressive social systems. Their live shows, in which they are often accompanied by musicians, have become these loving and supportive ecosystems for audiences to feel seen, heard, and held through Gibson’s art.Gibson is the author of six books, including Lord of the Butterflies (https://amzn.to/33CzaGc), which won the Independent Publisher’s Award in 2019 as well as a Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist. Take Me With You, an illustrated collection of Gibson’s most memorable quotes, was also a Goodreads Finalist. In 2019, they co-authored their first-ever non-fiction book, How Poetry Can Change You

In many circles, Angela Duckworth’s name has become synonymous with the word grit, this elusive trait that fuels the sustained action-taking in the face of relentless adversity that leads to big achievements. Her book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance was a No. 1 New York Times bestseller, and Duckworth is founder and C.E.O. of Character Lab, a nonprofit that uses psychological science to help children thrive. She is also the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, faculty co-director of the Penn-Wharton Behavior Change for Good Initiative, and faculty co-director of Wharton People Analytics. A 2013 MacArthur Fellow, Angela has advised the White House, the World Bank, NBA and NFL teams, and Fortune 500 C.E.O.’s, and her TED talk is among the most-viewed of all time. And, she now also co-hosts the new podcast 'No Stupid Questions' with Stephen Dubner of Freakonomics.You can find Angela Duckworth at:Website : https://angeladuckworth.com/No St

Ashley C. Ford lives in Brooklyn by way of Indiana, and she has a lot of jobs. She’s currently writing her memoir, Somebody's Daughter (https://amzn.to/36dFO7M), hosts The Chronicles of Now podcast, and is the former host of seasons one & three of Mastercard’s Fortune Favors The Bold, as well as PROFILE by BuzzFeed News, and Brooklyn-based news & culture TV show, 112BK. Ford has written or guest-edited for The Guardian, ELLE, BuzzFeed, OUT, Slate, New York Magazine, Allure, Marie Claire, The New York Times and tons of other places. She's taught creative nonfiction writing at The New School and Catapult.Co, and had her work listed among Longform & Longread's Best of. While working as an executive for Matter Studios, Ashley developed a web series and documentaries. She was also the host of the first season of Audible.Com's literary interview series, Authorized. was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in Media, Brooklyn Magazine's Brooklyn 100, and Variety’s New Power of New York (2019). Simpl

The Most Reverend Michael Curry is the first African American individual to serve as Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church, Chief Pastor, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Chair of the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church.Born in Chicago, in the 50s, with a father who was an Episcopal priest, his mom died at a young age and he, along with his sister, was raised by his father and his grandmother. Early in life, he was introduced to social activism through his father’s leadership and his own dedication to righting a broken world. Eventually ordained himself in 1978, Bishop Curry grew increasingly active on issues of social justice, reconciliation, immigration, and marriage equality, often taking positions that were counter to broader tradition, and never shying away from opportunities to invite people to challenge convention in the name of creating a more inclusive community that welcomed all with love and dignity.In May of 2018, Bishop Curry delivered a moving sermon on the redempt

As a kid, all David Fajgenbaum could think about was football. It consumed his life, being the quarterback on a top college team was his singular mission. And, he accomplished that, landing a spot on Georgetown’s team. But, fate would soon step in, when the loss of his mom to aggressive brain cancer would change his focus and inspire a new devotion, to help find a cure and support families moving through loss. But his dance with illness was just beginning. In the blink of an eye, Fajgenbaum went from being a beast-like college quarterback to receiving his last rites while in medical school and nearly dying four more times battling a rare disease, with no known cure, that ravaged his body with a cytokine storm that essentially set his immune system up to attack every other system in his body. To try to save his own life, and realizing nobody was coming to save him but him, David spearheaded an innovative approach to researching his own cure, launching the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network (CDCN) and

Elizabeth Lesser wants to set the record straight. The one that started all the way back with Adam and Eve. The origin story that positioned man as firstborn and favored and women as second-born and scorned. The mythology that seems to exist in nearly every faith, tradition, culture and history about the “place” of women in relationships, family, society, business, power and the world. Lesser decided it was time to do some myth-busting, some reconciliation and some reimagining about what this world, on every level, might look like if truth found its way into the narrative and power were more evenly distributed.As the co-founder of the iconic Omega Institute, recognized internationally for its workshops and conferences in wellness, spirituality, creativity, social change and women’s leadership, Elizabeth has been gathering people from all walks of life to explore the intersection between gender, power, equity and impact for more than 40 years. She has presented at TED, was named to Oprah’s Super Soul 100, and

Bryan and Shannon Miles fell in love when they were young, got married, started a family and each started building their own successful careers. But a series of unexpected experiences led them to re-evaluate what they wanted out of their lives, and the way they wanted to contribute. So they pretty much blew everything up and went out on their own, starting a new venture together with the goal of creating freedom, by building a company that helped others create freedom. Not a bad vision, right?Their passion is all about empowering small business owners and entrepreneurs to be more efficient as they achieve success in business (and in life). Having now generated more than $100M in revenue as the Co-CEO's of BELAY SOLUTIONS, a virtual staffing company, they graduated to Co-Chairs where they are stepping into a more educational role, sharing the Own Not Run philosophy that led them to build their own company. I was fascinated by their approach, since it’s always been a large part of my aspiration, too. To build s

Bruce Feiler is the author of six consecutive New York Times bestsellers, including Walking the Bible and Council of Dads, the presenter of two primetime series on PBS, and the inspiration for the COUNCIL OF DADS series on NBC. He describes himself as an experiencer and explainer. Growing up in Savannah, Georgia, for as long as he can remember, he’s loved going out into the world, creating powerful experiences, then sharing what he’s discovered, first in letters home, then eventually in books, talks, and TV. But his latest set of experiences were ones he neither sought out nor saw coming. Collectively, they dropped him to his knees, and nearly took his life. Still, fueled by a relentless curiosity, Bruce became fascinated with moments of profound transition, "lifequakes" as he calls them, where life after looks very different than life before. So he spent years traveling the country investigating this phenomenon, gathering and coding stories, and that’s led to the groundbreaking new book, Life is in the

Today is a special conversation, featuring two guests. Dr. Yusef Salaam was just fifteen years old when his life was upended after being wrongly convicted with four other boys in the “Central Park jogger” case. In 2002, after the young men spent years of their lives behind bars, their sentences were overturned. Now known as the Exonerated Five, their story has been documented in the award-winning film The Central Park Five by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon and in Ava DuVernay’s acclaimed series When They See Us. Yusef is now a poet, activist, and inspirational speaker. He is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from President Barack Obama, among other honors. Ibi Zoboi is a novelist and editor, born in Haiti, and raised in Brooklyn, she found a love of writing, and poetry and eventually pursued an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts, before launching a career in journalism and then fiction. Her novel American Street was a National Book Award finalist and a New York Times Notable Boo

Kate DiCamillo writes books for kids and young adults that also just happen to break open grownup’s hearts. Moving to Minnesota from Florida in her twenties, homesickness and a bitter winter helped inspire her to write Because of Winn-Dixie(https://amzn.to/39I3Vee), her first published novel, which became a runaway bestseller and earned her a Newbery Honor. Since then, Kate’s written for a wide range of ages, earning a devoted audience and heaps of accolades.Her #1 New York Times bestseller The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane was a deeply moving reflection o life, meaning and legacy, through the eyes of a toy china rabbit. The Tale of Despereaux, her Newbery Medal-winning novel, later inspired an animated adventure from Universal Pictures and Kate was named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for 2014–2015.She’s fiercely honest, always tells the truth, but also always leads you to a place of awakening and hope, especially in circumstances that seem destined for the opposite. And right n

Maybe you’ve seen today’s guest, Arian Moayed, on HBO’s Emmy-Award winning show, Succession, where he played Stewy. Or, in movies where h worked with legends like Bill Murray, Spike Lee. Or, on stage, where he was nominated for a TONY. Or, you might’ve caught his groundbreaking thriller, The Accidental Wolf (http://theaccidentalwolf.com/), which he wrote and directed, starring Kelli O’Hara, Laurie Metcalf, Denis O’Hare, and a cast of 36 Tony nominations. Stumbling into a love of acting, Moayed began to pursue it as a career early in life. He was met, as most actors are, with an unending parade of "you can't do that's." But, to him that just meant, make it happen on your own. "Do" your way through it. And, so he did. Which has been an enduring theme in his life.Arian's family fled Iran when he was just a little kid, taking a years-long journey that split the family between different countries, and eventually landed them just outside Chicago, where they set about building a new life in a radically different wor

In February 2006, Sir Ken Robinson (http://sirkenrobinson.com/) stepped onto the TED stage and delivered the most viewed talk in the history of TED, entitled Do Schools Kill Creativity. Viewed by than 66 million people, Sir Ken called on us to re-examine how we learn, and to encourage every kid, every person to seek out the myriad unique ways intelligence shows up in every one of our lives, then honor and build around it. To reimagine and even revolutionize the way we see each person’s gift, their brilliance, and create opportunities that nurture it, even if that means blowing up the rigid systems that serve some, but also utterly demoralize and sometimes even demonize others. He reminds us to ask not "how intelligent are you?" but rather, "how are you intelligent?"He devoted his adult life to creating and stoking the fires of a global creativity and education revolution. I had the amazing gift of sitting down with him in the studio a number of years back to not only explore his ideas, but also his perso

Donna Carpenter met Burton founder, Jake Burton Carpenter in a Southern Vermont bar on New Year’s Eve 1981. Within a year they married and became partners in business and life, working side-by-side dipping snowboards in polyurethane and answering the customer service line that rang in the bedroom. Donna quickly became a driving force, working with Jake to build Burton into the world’s leading snowboard company and also making Burton a brand of choice and employer of choice for women. In 2010, Donna stepped up to the role of President and eventually became Burton’s first female CEO.Over the last decade, Jake began to experience a series of health challenges, and in November 2019, he lost his life to a recurrence of cancer. His last words to Donna, as she shares later in our conversation, speaks so much to the way they live their lives, the relationship they had, the community they built, and the lives they created together. Earlier this year, Donna stepped out of the role of CEO to become Chair of the Burton B

Dave Evans is a Lecturer in the Product Design Program at Stanford, Management Consultant, and co-founder of iconic gaming company, Electronic Arts. Having participated in forming the corporate cultures at Apple and EA, Dave decided his best work was in helping organizations build creative environments where people could do great work and love doing it. And, maybe, along the way, answer the question, "what should I do with my life?" Helping people get traction on that question finally took Dave to Cal and Stanford and continues to be his life’s work. Bill Burnett is Executive Director of the Design Program at Stanford. He got his BS and MS in Product Design at Stanford and has worked on a wide variety of projects ranging from award-winning Apple PowerBooks to the original Hasbro Star Wars action figures. Together, they wrote New York Times bestselling book, Designing Your Life, and the follow-up, Designing Your Work Life (https://amzn.to/3hflUvz), train coaches and run workshops for individuals and organizati

As a kid, Arlan Hamilton loved music and eventually found her way into the world of live concerts, working as a tour manager. Along the way, she also published a magazine and wrote the popular Your Daily Lesbian Moment blog, that drew a large, devoted community, before pivoting into the world of venture capital where, with no connections, degree or experience, she built a fund from the ground up, while homeless.Hamilton is the Founder and Managing Partner of Backstage Capital, a venture capital fund dedicated to minimizing funding disparities in tech by investing in high-potential founders who are People of Color, women, and/or LGBT. Started from scratch in 2015, Backstage has now raised more than $10 million and invested in more than 130 startup companies led by underestimated founders. In 2018 Arlan co-founded Backstage Studio which launched four accelerator programs for underestimated founders in Detroit, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and London. Arlan was featured on the cover of Fast Company magazine in Oct

The incoming Academic Director and core faculty member at the Spirituality Mind Body Institute (SMBI), Teachers College, Columbia University, Dan Tomasulo holds a Ph.D. in psychology, MFA in writing, and a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. He authors the daily column, Ask the Therapist, as well as the Learned Hopefulness blog for PsychCentral.com, and developed the Dare to be Happy experiential workshops for Kripalu. His award-winning memoir, American Snake Pit tells of the first experimental group home releasing inmates from America’s most notorious asylum, Willowbrook. His most recent book, Learned Hopefulness, The Power of Positivity To Overcome Depression (https://amzn.to/2WuXKFc), is needed now more than ever. Even more amazing, before heading into the world of psychology and writing, Dan started his career in comedy and was hailed by the legendary Improv as one of four top comics alongside people like Robin Williams and Andy Kaufman.You can find Dr. Dan Tomasulo