The Social Change Diaries

In our final episode for season 6 of the Social Change Diaries Podcast, Communications Strategist and Wakeman Agency CEO, Vanessa Wakeman sits in the interviewee chair, sharing her latest insights. Joined by Camaro West, Executive Director of Peace is Loud, a nonprofit that uses the power of storytelling to advance gender justice, Vanessa dives into how nonprofits can surface narratives to prompt transformative social change. Together, they explore why it is essential to ask the question of who should be telling the story. Touching on funding dynamics, narrative resilience, and the needs present in our changing media and information ecosystem, this conversation is sure to get you thinking strategically about communications for your nonprofit in the new year and beyond. See more information about this episode on our website.

In our most recent episode, Vanessa dives into how to bring narratives to life, with our guest Anat Shenker-Osorio, Principal and Founder of ASO Communications. Their conversation examines how social change communicators can approach language, specifically when it is contested, and how to increase impact for meaningful and transformative change on social issues. See this episode on our website.

In this episode of our newly launched Social Change Diaries Podcast, we dive into the question of how social change can use storytelling to change culture through narratives. The discussion features Bridgit Antoinette Evans, CEO of Pop Culture Collaborative, in conversation with Vanessa Wakeman, and explores the power of storytelling to tackle deeply held beliefs, language as a medium of cultural production, and navigating narrative oceans. Read more about this episode and the guest on our website. ↗

Our first episode features the conversation between Vanessa and Dr. Safiya U. Noble, author of Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism, as she shares the impact of algorithmic injustice and how it shapes storytelling.

In this episode, Global Press Founder, Cristi Hegranes, shines a powerful light on solutions to institutional, ingrained problems that underly today's news media. She outlines key differences between action driven reporting and its more informative, impactful alternative: consequence driven reporting. Learn why trained local journalists, equipped to provide precise narratives that accurately inform listeners, represent a pathway to truly educating people in a non biased way, about important global issues.

We kick off our 5th season with Rohit Talwar, the CEO of Fast Future, a UK based research and insights business that specializes in the fields of futures and foresight. In this dialogue, Rohit and Vanessa discuss the implications of the groundbreaking events that have occurred in the first half of 2020. In Rohit's words: "This has been quite a good rehearsal for how we prepare better for the future. Whether it's climate change, collapse of financial markets, radical breakthroughs in science and technology- we should now be more open to those things and more willing to think the unthinkable...Hopefully we broaden our lens, and start moving from talking about people being in positions of power to owning the fact that they're in positions of responsibility, walking the corridors of responsibility, and their real job is to exercise that responsibility to create a fairer, more inclusive, and more sustainable world for all."

Today's episode was recorded live at the 2019 Hispanics in Philanthropy conference in Washington D.C. In this dialogue, VICE Media's, Paola Ramos, shares unusual insights that elevate our conversations this season about celebrity and influencers. She asserts that the true influencers making an impact are everyday people. This perspective helps us consider where the opportunity is for nonprofits to create the essential emotional connection with their audience, one by one, in order to propel change. How can organizations tell their stories in a way that highlights how much power there is in the individual. What would that outcome look like?

When considering how to leverage celebrity voices to impact social causes, it's important to understand the landscape and culture of for profit companies and how best to approach them about the artists they represent. This episode features a key leader in today's music industry, Jacqueline Saturn, President of Caroline Music Distribution. Jacqueline shares insights that shed light on how nonprofits can open dialogues with companies for partnerships with artists who are passionate about speaking out on behalf of specific causes.

Vanessa thought it would be fitting to launch the new season on Celebrity and Influence, with Ingrid Newkirk, the President and Founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Long before she was doing work in the social change sector, Vanessa marveled at how influential PETA was and how effective their communications and marketing were. Over the years, PETA's influence has grown substantially. In this dialogue, Ms. Newkirk sheds light on the ways in which PETA has managed to stay true to its founding principles, while also evolving and becoming increasingly relevant in the midst of a dramatically a changing cultural landscape.

We kick off 2019 with a quick sit down with Jeremy Heimans, Co-Founder & CEO of Purpose and author of New Power: How Power Works in Our Hyperconnected World--and How to Make It Work for You. We get his take on new power and it's potential as a catalyst for social movements. During the conversation, Jeremy cites examples of how new power is being leveraged in the world around us and it's powerful impact on creating change.

With the urgency and focus of a woman on a mission to save the planet, Elizabeth Yeampierre leads UPROSE with a fierce commitment to a "leaderful" leadership model, that distributes power to all. With an emphasis on intergenerational and intersectional leadership, Elizabeth has rewritten the rules of power and placed it in the hands of the most marginalized groups. In this interview, Elizabeth talks about her experiences as a leader and how her organization is shaping conversations and actions in the climate justice fight.

In this time of heightened social activism, Stosh Cotler sees tremendous opportunity and need for Bend the Arc, the National leading Jewish voice dedicated to mobilizing Jewish Americans to advocate for the nation's most vulnerable. In this episode, Stosh talks about impactful leadership, current day Jewish identity and social movements.

They say what gets measured gets done. A conversation with Sean Thomas-Breitfeld of the Building Movement Project shines a spotlight on the racial leadership gap in the nonprofit sector, as well as some specific measurable actions that can create much needed change in the leadership ranks. In the interview, Sean not only shares the cold, hard facts, he also takes us through his experience of presenting the data and the prevailing opinions of various audiences. This episode is a must listen for anyone that works within the eco-system of social change today.