All About Change

Life isn’t fair. Perhaps that is why we love sports. In sports, the aspiration at least, is to even the playing field. But that endeavor in and of itself, poses many challenges. What does the inclusion of transgender athletes mean for sports? For ESPN’s Katie Barnes, a journalist who covers the intersection of gender and athletics, the answers here are never simple. 

Katie joins Jay to discuss the gender politics of sports at all levels of performance, as they break down in their new book, Fair Play: How Sports Shapes The Gender Debates. This conversation distills the complex and often-sensitive questions around transgender competitors, many of whom are kids who simply want to enjoy the sport they love.  

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Always having a love for the sea, Emily Penn took a journey from Shanghai to Melbourne, Australia that would change her life, as she saw first-hand the extent of pollution in the world’s oceans.

Since then, she has organized the largest ever community-led waste cleanup operation, completed a trip around the world solely using biofuel, and created various avenues for people—from ordinary citizens to filmmakers—to discover and document the damage microplastics have done to our oceans. Emily also runs eXXpedition, a series of sailing voyages where crew members—all women—focus on researching the connection between pollution and female health. 

Emily joins Jay to share her insights into ocean advocacy, what lessons we can learn from the past, and how governments, companies, and communities can reimagine the way we create and consume products.

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While certain areas of Haiti remain picturesque, it’s hard to find a place within the beleaguered island nation untouched by the trifecta of violence, pollution, and corruption. 

Serving as executive director of the Fondation pour la Protection de la Biodiversité Marine, or FoProBiM, Jean Wiener is considered by many to be Haiti’s foremost environmentalist, and the expert in all matters concerning the Haitian coast. 

But Activism is not something that happens in a vacuum. Jean’s decades-long efforts to clean, restore, and preserve the fragile ecosystem, is a constant balancing act between the country’s environmental issues and the basic survival needs of its impoverished population. How do you convince a fisherman struggling to put food on his family’s table that it's within his own best interest to engage in sustainable practices?  

This important conversation between Jay and Jean deals head on with some of those challenges - challenges that are both unique to Haiti but hold relevance for any kind of activism and advocacy.

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Saengduean “Lek” Chailert was born and raised in Thailand, a place where Asian elephants are commonplace. After her secondary education, Lek started working in tourism, where she saw elephants endure horrific treatment—in circuses, riding parks, and other attractions most visitors to the country think of as benign. 

It was then that Lek started rescuing elephants, many of them injured and elderly, and relocating them to what is now Elephant Nature Park. The sanctuary is now home to more than 100 Asian elephants rescued from captivity, and Lek has been recognized all over the world for her tireless work.

Lek talks to Jay about the rampant exploitation of these animals within Thailand’s tourism industry, and how social media has helped in bringing animal abuse to the world’s attention.

Photo Credit: Save Elephant Foundation

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Genesis Butler is an environmental and animal rights activist. Inspired by her great uncle, civil rights leader Cesar Chavez, Genesis became one of the youngest people to ever give a TEDx talk, as she shared her perspective on the environmental impacts of animal agriculture.

Genesis went vegan at the age of 6, and has earned numerous awards and accolades for her activism. She founded Genesis For Animals, a non-profit supporting animal sanctuaries, and she is currently leading the organization Youth Climate Save, the first youth-led environmental organization that focuses on the effects of animal agriculture on climate change.

Genesis sits down with Jay to talk about how she became involved in animal activism, and how she shares that passion with her family, her community, and the world.

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Noa Tishby is an actress, author, producer, and activist. 

Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Noa Tishby was born to a Zionist family that was involved in the establishment of Israel. Raised in a secular family in Israel she wasn’t really exposed to Anti-semitism, but that changed as she got older. 

But when you moved to America she encountered a lot of misinformation about Israel and anti-semitism. Inspired, Tishby decided to take action. She became an advocate and founded the first Israel-focused online advocacy and rapid response organization, Act For Israel, becoming a powerful voice for Israel and the Middle East.

After years of advocating for Israel, both publicly and privately. She decided to put her understanding and experience to pen in her first book: Israel: a Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth.  

In this conversation with Jay, she talks about how dangerous misinformation and bias produce antisemitism and how both Jewish and non-Jewish people can fight antisemitism.

Please find a transcription of this episode: https://allaboutchangepodcast.com/podcast-episode/noa-tishby

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Evon Benson-Idahosa is a Nigerian native, a leading expert, a thought leader on the subject of modern-day slavery in sub-Saharan Africa, and a founder of the Pathfinders Justice Initiative (PJI).

Raised by parents who were called to serve their faith, Evon became a successful English barrister, American lawyer, and partner in a New York defense law firm. Despite her success, one day she woke up wondering, "What have I done with my life?" Her passion and compassion were calling out to her. That Monday, she left her job to become a full-time advocate.

Moved by the plight of Nigerian women all over the world, Evon decided to address gender-based violence and the sexual exploitation of women. She founded Pathfinders Justice Initiative (PJI), a leading international impact organization dedicated to the prevention of sex slavery, sexual violence, the liberation of enslaved women and girls, and the eradication of its root causes.

PJI has worked with governments, law enforcement, and communities to rescue and rehabilitate victims of human trafficking. They have also worked to raise awareness of the issue and to change the laws that enable human trafficking. Evon's work has had a profound impact on the lives of countless women and girls. 

In this conversation with Jay, her journey to becoming an activist against modern-day slavery, and the power of one person to make a difference.

Please find a transcription of this episode: https://allaboutchangepodcast.com/podcast-episode/evon-benson-idahosa

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Dr. Benjamin Gilmer is a family physician, professor, and advocate who focuses on bringing attention to the social injustice of mass incarceration, scarcity of mental health care, and global and rural health disparities.

A former neurobiologist turned rural family doctor, Benjamin Gilmer is a family physician, professor, and advocate who focuses on bringing attention to the social injustice of mass incarceration, scarcity of mental health care, and global and rural health disparities.

Fresh out of medical residency, Dr. Benjamin Gilmer joined a rural clinic only to find that its previous doctor, Dr. Vince Gilmer, murdered his own father. The deeper Benjamin looked into Vince’s case the more he became convinced something was amiss and Vince’s mental and physical health. Benjamin started to research Vince’s cases and even worked with Sara Koenig of “Serial” to get to the bottom of the mystery, which inspired This American Life’s “Dr. Gilmer and Mr. Hyde.” Through the show,  they discovered the myriad of conditions that led Vincent toward these terrible circumstances. Moved, touched, and inspired, Benjamin went on to continue fighting for Vincent’s clemency until Dr. Vincent Gilmer’s release. 

His recent book, The Other Dr. Gilmer, and an upcoming feature film project continue Benjamin’s mission to highlight and transform the atrocity of mass incarceration of people with mental illness

Please find a transcription of this episode here.

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Kristin Henning is a Professor of Law at Georgetown University and the Director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic. She has been representing children accused of crimes for over 25 years. 

Kristin Henning has been representing children accused of crime for more than 25 years, and in all that time she only represented 4 white kids. The many thousands of kids she represented have all been Black and Latinx. She spent her life trying to ensure that children whose families did not have the means to defend them against a criminal justice system steeped in bias had someone to speak up for them.

In her book, The Rage of Innocence, Kris weaves together powerful narratives and persuasive data. She explores the criminalization of normal adolescence and makes a compelling case that racial disparities in the juvenile and criminal legal systems are rooted in America’s unfounded, and sometimes intentionally manufactured, fears of youth of color.

In this conversation with Jay, she weaves together powerful narratives and persuasive data to expose the criminalization of normal adolescent behavior and discriminatory incarceration of American youth of color. 

Please find a transcription of this episode: https://allaboutchangepodcast.com/podcast-episode/kris-henning

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Olivier Bernier is an award-winning director and documentary filmmaker who lives and breathes to tell stories that explore the human condition.

When Olivier and his wife Hilda’s son was born with down syndrome they were entirely unprepared. Inspired, Olivier Bernier decided to document his family experience so he applied and won grant money to make a film about inclusive education. However, his family’s experiences with Emilio’s journey took the film in a slightly different direction. Forget Me Not became a documentary film that shares a family’s fight to have their son with Down syndrome included in the country’s most segregated school system in the country, the New York City public school system. 

Forget Me Not offers a rare look at what a truly inclusive education can look like and how it can lead to a more inclusive society so that everyone has the opportunity to achieve their full potential. The production crew also included several young people with disabilities, as seen in the closing credits of the film.

In this conversation with Jay, he talks about his journey as a father advocating for his child’s inclusive education in one of the most segregated school districts in the US - New York City. Please find a transcription of this episode: https://allaboutchangepodcast.com/podcast-episode/olivier-bernier

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