The Human Challenge

We made it! There's so much to celebrate in this 50th milestone episode of The Human Challenge! Join host, Vanessa Ferlaino, who confirms our recent announcement that we are officially on Rogers TV! Vanessa also shares insights from her new book, recaps the launch party, and tells us some new things we can expect from the podcast, including community spotlights, new themes, and solo episodes! Vanessa also reflects on her journey, the connection between healing and liberation, and bringing our inner and outer worlds together for real change."Thanks so much for staying with me! I can't wait to share with you what's in store for us this seasons!" - Vanessa FerlainoThe Human Challenge is hosted and produced by Vanessa Ferlaino. Watch the full episode on her channel. Don't forget to subscribe!The Human Challenge is an award-winning podcast, recognized by Amazon Music and ACAST as an "Indie Podcast Amplifier".Guess what? We're on Rogers TV! Check us out there!Get her new book at vanessaferlaino.com/expansionThe Human Challenge is hosted and produced by Vanessa Ferlaino. Watch the full episode on her Youtube channel here. Don't forget to subscribe!The Human Challenge is an award-winning podcast, recognized by Amazon Music and ACAST as an Indie Podcast Amplifier.Guess what? We're on Rogers TV! Check us out there! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this heartfelt episode, we hear from Chip Skowron, MD/PhD and former CEO of Prison Entrepreneurship Program, who takes us through the double life he lived since childhood and how he found peace with himself following the four years he spent in prison for insider trading. Emerging with a renewed sense of purpose, Chip shares how Vanessa's new book served as a poignant reminder of the power of community and healing that he experienced while in prison. While touching on the foreword he wrote for Vanessa's book, he also shares the soul wounds that he healed and how he learned to tune into the body's wisdom, instead of reacting or running away. Join us for an inspiring conversation about resilience, redemption, and the enduring strength of human connection.Learn more about Vanessa's book at vanessaferlaino.com/expansionThe Human Challenge is hosted and produced by Vanessa Ferlaino. Watch the full episode on her Youtube channel here. Don't forget to subscribe!The Human Challenge is an award-winning podcast, recognized by Amazon Music and ACAST as an Indie Podcast Amplifier.Guess what? We're on Rogers TV! Check us out there! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been 10 years since Emily O'Brien found herself in prison. "A lot of people think in prison that you have nothing," she says, "but if you reframe it as a place where you have everything, you can kind of create anything you want." Following that mindset, Emily created the idea for Comeback Snacks, Popcorn so good, it’s criminal, while incarcerated. In this episode of The Human Challenge, Emily shares her journey of incarceration, how she built Comeback Snacks to see 60% growth in 2024, and how she continues to find new opportunities for people with a history of incarceration. This includes the recent launch of Comeback Catalyst, an accelerator for incarcerated people to learn how to start their own business.Be welcome to learn more about Emily and Comeback Snacks here: https://comebacksnacks.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/comebacksnacks/Be welcome to learn more about Comeback Catalyst here: https://www.comebackcatalyst.ca/Be invited to stay in touch with Vanessa on Instagram @vanessaferlaino or vanessaferlaino.comWatch this full episode on Youtube at https://youtu.be/k6qB5wcHEzgThe Human Challenge is hosted and produced by Vanessa Ferlaino. Watch the full episode on her Youtube channel here. Don't forget to subscribe!The Human Challenge is an award-winning podcast, recognized by Amazon Music and ACAST as an Indie Podcast Amplifier.Guess what? We're on Rogers TV! Check us out there! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

25 years after finding herself divorced, a single mom of three kids with a truck, 26 cents, and a grade education, Dr. Paulette Steeves, Cree Métis author of "The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere", walked across the stage receiving her PhD with honours. She had already been told of her legacy that would shed truth on Indigenous history by an Elder at the time of her divorce, but it was in that moment, she finally understood what it was: to rewrite the history of The Americas.Through her PhD, Dr. Steeves had the opportunity to conduct research on archaeology sites older than 10,000 years, called Pleistocene Age sites, to debunk the standard view in Archaeology that Indigenous people of The Americas had only been here for 10,000 or 11,000 years -- and that they came from Asia."It was a way that Archaeology erased Indigenous people in The Americas," Dr. Steeves says, combatting "Academic Suicide" that many others in her field faced for publishing research on sites that were older than 11,000 or 12,000 years and pushed back on that aracheological narrative.Her book, "The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere", offers extensive research debunking this narrative, bringing truth to Indigenous history and identity. The book took over 13 years to write, having to study hundreds of records and archaeological sites that date from 11,200 to 200,000 years and dive into the paleo-mammal record to study human migration patterns between the Eastern and Western hemisphere. Her extensive database and mapping across almost 360 publications provides the evidence to support people were here 11 or 12,000 years ago, challenging the dominant colonial-based 100 year old narrative that suggests Indigenous people were here for only 3,000 years. Her book has also given hope to many Indigenous people across The Americas, just as The Elder had told her many years before.In this episode, Dr. Steeves invites us to decolonize our minds, think critically, and challenge the long history of colonization, including knowledge, reminding us that much what we have been taught in the past has been based on a lot of colonial bias. Beyond that, we need to disprove that knowledge, publish on that, and help to educate people."When you pushback on any area, you push back on bias, racism, and discrimination," she says. "You help people to become informed to address that. You make the world a better place for all."Dr. Steeves book, "The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere", was published by University of Nebraska Press here: https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9781496202178/the-indigenous-paleolithic-of-the-western-hemisphere/Be welcome to learn more about Dr. Steeves' work here: https://www.tipdba.ca/Be invited to stay in touch with Vanessa on Instagram @vanessaferlaino or vanessaferlaino.comWatch this full episode on Youtube at https://youtu.be/55Qg5R16Il8The Human Challenge is hosted and produced by Vanessa Ferlaino. Watch the full episode on her Youtube channel here. Don't forget to subscribe!The Human Challenge is an award-winning podcast, recognized by Amazon Music and ACAST as an Indie Podcast Amplifier.Guess what? We're on Rogers TV! Check us out there! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Refugee is a title, given to someone who is a displaced person, but it does not change the right to [their] data", says Mathew Lubari, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Community Creativity for Development (CC4D). Mathew joined the show from Rhino Refugee Camp in Uganda. Mathew's passion for technology repair, and what is know as the "Repair Movement", a movement that increases awareness of repair of everyday items, started as a young boy watching his father tinker with repairing technology in his own home. After his own experiences, including the locking of his mobile device, and a computer repair technician who removed the hard drive disk, RAM, and the network card instead of repairing the computer, he decided to learn to do it himself and to teach other people how to repair things and make repair accessible. This includes teaching people to be ethical, while providing repair services.In 2016, he fled his home country with a zip lock of repair tools (a screwdriver, a cutter and a toothbrush) and started repairing but never knew repair protects the environment by reducing carbon emissions and landfill until 2021 when he joined the Restarters community, a global forum for repairers.The idea of bridging the gap in repair of everyday items and making repair open led to the founding of CC4D. His roles at the CC4D include helping develop the repair café and women inclusion in tech/repair culture programs. To showcase the impact of repair cafe practices, repair knowledge as self-sufficiency and professional development in displacement settings, Mathew partnered with The Maintainers to publish “THE ESSENCE OF REPAIR, CARE AND MAINTENANCE CULTURE IN DISPLACEMENT SETTINGS IN UGANDA: A Sense of Direction and Hope to Rebuild Lives”. The report aims to highlight circular economy as a means of survival, and highlights the leadership of refugee-led work within the global repair movement. Be welcome to read more here: https://themaintainers.org/essence-of-repair/Connect with Mathew and CC4D here:CC4D email: info@cc4duganda.orgCC4D Facebook: www.facebook.com/CCC4D-UgandaMathew Lubari Instagram: @mathewduksonMathew Lubari's LinkedIn: https://ug.linkedin.com/in/mathew-lubariThis episode is presented in partnership with the Migration Technology Monitor, on a mission to monitor surveillance technologies, automation, and the use of Artificial Intelligence to screen, track, and make decisions about people on the move. Learn more here: https://www.migrationtechmonitor.com/This episode is part of our "New Beginnings" segment, supported by The Being Human Foundation. Learn more here: https://vanessaferlaino.com/thebeinghumanfoundationBe invited to stay in touch with Vanessa on Instagram @vanessaferlaino or vanessaferlaino.comWatch this full episode live on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/-DiN2Oz4xNcThe Human Challenge is hosted and produced by Vanessa Ferlaino. Watch the full episode on her Youtube channel here. Don't forget to subscribe!The Human Challenge is an award-winning podcast, recognized by Amazon Music and ACAST as an Indie Podcast Amplifier.Guess what? We're on Rogers TV! Check us out there! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You might know Matt Edwards as your jack-of-all-trades actor/producer/writer and Doug Jones from one of your favourite franchises like Hocus Pocus, Hellboy 1 & 2, Star Trek, and Fantastic Four -- but get to know them in a more human light in this episode of The Human Challenge, an Amazon Music x ACAST Indie Podcast Amplifier 2023.This budding Hollywood friendship will warm your hearts as they come together in their next project, Pretty Boys, a comedy short film about a washed up Hollywood Star, his estranged son, and the disastrous road trip that just might bring them back together. While the intention is to entertain and amuse, they also touch on their own experiences with mental health, loss, and grief -- topics not often talked about amongst men.There are less than 40 hours to contribute to the film's Kickstarter!!!! Support the film here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/prettyboysfilm/pretty-boys-comedy-shortWatch the full episode on youtube https://youtu.be/DW4YNNAo-6I or listen on your favourite podcast site!Be invited to stay in touch with Vanessa on Instagram @vanessaferlaino or vanessaferlaino.com; Matt Edwards on Instagram @mattedwards and Doug Jones on Instagram @actordougjonesThe Human Challenge is hosted and produced by Vanessa Ferlaino. Watch the full episode on her Youtube channel here. Don't forget to subscribe!The Human Challenge is an award-winning podcast, recognized by Amazon Music and ACAST as an Indie Podcast Amplifier.Guess what? We're on Rogers TV! Check us out there! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our new segment, New Beginnings, supported by The Being Human Foundation, Vanessa speaks to CEO/Founder of FreeWorld, Jason Wang, a tech non-profit that trains and places people with criminal histories into the trucking industry.At the age of 15, Jason was incarcerated for a 1st degree felony (Aggravated Robbery) and given a 12-year sentence at a maximum security prison in Texas. Even though he was released early due to prison reform work he did with Texas senators and went on to obtain 2 masters degrees in four years, no one would hire him. When he started his own businesses, he faced similar issues when a lead investor pulled out of his deal last minute because of his criminal history.In this candid discussion, Jason talks about his upbringing, trauma, and poverty as a contributing factor to mass incarceration of children -- and how all of this led to the launch of FreeWorld.Now, Jason's life mission is to end mass incarceration by equipping 26 million formerly incarcerated people across the nation with the tools, education, and the jobs they need in order to live positive, productive lives.Be welcome to learn more about FreeWorld here: https://freeworld.org/Be welcome to learn more about The Being Human Foundation at vanessaferlaino.com/thebeinghumanfoundationBe invited to stay in touch with Vanessa on Instagram @vanessaferlaino or vanessaferlaino.comWatch this full episode on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/@vanessaferlaino/featuredThe Human Challenge is hosted and produced by Vanessa Ferlaino. Watch the full episode on her Youtube channel here. Don't forget to subscribe!The Human Challenge is an award-winning podcast, recognized by Amazon Music and ACAST as an Indie Podcast Amplifier.Guess what? We're on Rogers TV! Check us out there! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.