For many people in the disabled community, placing faith in able-bodied people is not easy. People with disabilities are often overlooked and under-served, and their needs are regularly misunderstood. Elisa Neven-Pugh, a member of the community, firmly holds that minorities are missing out on connection and support if they push the majority away. In this episode, we talk about how challenging it is to relate to those who have a lighter load to carry and how each of our interactions with those who are more able reap their own results.

You can find Elisa on Instagram @elisanp2025 and at positivelyadaptive.com.

If there’s something you want to say on the pod, reach out to [email protected] or visit https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1781191227546958800007682⁠.

Clifford Brown helped manage USAID efforts across coups, revolutions, and the falls of multiple administrations across the world. He has seen firsthand the forces that lead to a nation’s collapse and its fallout. In this episode, we discuss the link between social consensus and national stability and consider how fragile the U.S. actually is, and what can be done about it now. 

You can read more about Clifford’s eyewitness accounts and get context on USAID in his book Inside USAID: An Odyssey of Foreign Assistance. 

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Clifford Brown last served as USAID Mission Director to Guinea and Sierra Leone, as the USAID Representative to Kyrgyzstan, as Deputy Mission Director in Colombia and as Democracy Office Chief in Nicaragua.  Prior to that he was a regional legal advisor in Africa and Central America, with a birds-eye view of the thorniest management issues that arose in a host of missions.  His book Inside USAID: An Odyssey of Foreign Assistance, often critical, is a mix of policy commentary, travelogue and humorous memoir of his life and the dangers he lived through in eight different countries from 1987 through 2016. 

Order the book: 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/inside-usaid-clifford-brown/1148399558?ean=9781967458912

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=inside+usaid+clifford+brown&ref=nb_sb_noss#:~:text=Inside%20USAID%3A%20An%20Odyssey%20of%20Foreign%20Assistance

Visit cliffordHbrown.com for more and connect here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/clifford-brown-2608428/

https://cliffordbrown.substack.com

https://x.com/bliffordcrown

If there’s something you want to say on the pod, reach out to [email protected] or visit https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1781191227546958800007682⁠.

Tegan Miller founded Spectra, an all women’s choir, on the premise that choral music should be available to all voices, especially those who have not felt empowered to be vocal. The choral and classic music world — as with many high-brow art communities — is plagued with elitism and run by (typically male) dictatorial characters. Tegan runs her choir with a more loving and encouraging ethos, while still maintaining a standard of excellence.

In this episode, Rebecca and Tegan talk about how singing is the right of all people, and that with a focused mindset and certain training, anyone can be part of a chorus. We also discuss how patriarchy shows itself in the choral and classical music culture at large, even among female directors and in female dynamics. We explore what happens when women gather together to embody their voice, free of cattiness and competition, led by a director who refuses to gatekeep.

Check out the Spectra Choir, based in Savannah, GA, at www.spectrachoir.com.

If there’s something you want to say on the pod, reach out to [email protected].

Trey and Rebecca both entered college as conservative Christians, but almost 20 years apart. In 2007, Rebecca faced a wildly different political landscape and culture of Christianity than Trey experiences in 2026. And for many reasons, their outcomes were different. Rebecca walked away from the church while Trey continues on.Conservatism is a growing trend among GenZ, but universities remain largely liberal. That means that conservative young people (despite strengthening in numbers) are facing an education and environment that does not align with their values and worldview. In this episode of The Minefield, Trey explains what that's like and the impact that has or has not had on his faith.

The Minefield is an episode format that is focused on conversations with people across the aisle, politically or otherwise.If there’s something you want to say on the pod, reach out to [email protected].

Have you ever been annoyed by people who call themselves life coaches? Rebecca has often judged "self-help" practitioners and program facilitators who claim to help you level up in life. They can sometimes ego trip, or give you advice that's not suited to you, make you dependent on them, or take advantage of your money.Carmen Gerlach works as an engineer by day, but she's starting her own practice as a Relationship Systems Coach. She's a good friend of Rebecca's and despite Rebecca's typical prejudices she has successfully practiced a lot of techniques with Rebecca that have helped her life. She's not the person you think of -- presenting the answer's to life on Instagram -- and there's actually a lot of reasons for this that we dive into in this episode. We cover what all the pitfalls are and what elements make a life coach a *real* coach, and not just a persuasive person. Note: We made a slight error on the number of coaches in the International Coaching Foundation. There are 125k CoActive coaches and ICF has 50-60k.

If there’s something you want to say on the pod, reach out to [email protected].

Lyonel Laverde and Rebecca are conservative and liberal, respectively, but they agree on the need for integrity, discernment, openness, and respect when it comes to navigating politics. In this episode of The Minefield, they discuss how they each stand by their values, what it means for voters and political leaders to have integrity, and the idea of the "mushy middle". They offer an example of how to talk about politics with friends across the aisle and how to maintain constructive attitudes in the midst of immense political unrest.

The Minefield is an episode format that is focused on conversations with people across the aisle, politically or otherwise.

Many women are raised to believe that men are meant to have more power than them, and some women continue to hold onto this in various contexts, especially when it comes to voicing their opinions. For a lot of us, this has created patterns that have undermined our own power and self esteem, and sometimes caused us to end up in dangerous situations. In this episode, Rebecca and her close friend Nicole Netti talk about what they were taught, what they've experienced, the level of power they want, and how Nicole has managed to find her voice amidst the contradictions and obstacles. You can find Nicole on Tiktok at @petty_netti

Religions often ask for people to believe in what they cannot see, and many argue that science and faith are not compatible. But what if you are committed to both, and which wins out in the end if there's a conflict? In this episode, Rebecca interviews her father, an engineer, on how he came to his Christian faith, how he understands his faith through logic and science, and how he handles discrepancies and grey areas. We discuss the role of humility and the value of consulting other minds when things are not always obvious.

Comedians have been telling political jokes for centuries, but in today's landscape, political comedy threatens to limit a comic's audience or livelihood. Where do you draw the line in order to keep getting booked and how do you maintain a reputation that people will pay for?

Comedian Harrison Friedman and Rebecca talk about his political journey from Zionism to democratic socialism and his stance on comedy both politically and personally.

Single people, and especially single women, are scrutinized a lot. There’s the idea that there must be something wrong -- with you or with your ability to choose or commit to someone. And maybe there is something about you, your choices, or your relationship to commitment, involved. But it doesn’t have to be a problem. Some people like being un-partnered. It doesn’t matter if it’s something you actively chose or something you’ve chosen to embrace; a lot of people are coming to prefer living “alone” to being in a relationship that’s not optimal. In this episode Joanne Morton and Rebecca talk about some of those preferences, choices people make along the way, and the varied ways you can find company and pleasure in this life. Watch Joanne’s content on YouTube @FCWSociety and learn what it means to be a Fucking Cool Woman. Find out more at fcwsociety.com and subscribe to the FCW Society substack: fcwsociety.substack.com