Better Good with Scott M. Curran

What if the story of Walt Disney didn't begin with Mickey Mouse, Disneyland, or Hollywood—but inside a small house on Chicago's West Side?

Before Walt Disney became one of the most influential creative visionaries in history, he was a child growing up in a home designed by his mother, Flora Disney, and built by his father, Elias Disney. More than a century later, that same house is being restored and transformed into a place dedicated to inspiring imagination, creativity, and innovation in future generations.

Dina Benadon is the Co-Founder of Walt Disney Birthplace and CEO of Super 78, an award-winning creative studio developing immersive attractions and entertainment experiences for theme parks around the world.

On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran sits down with Dina to explore the remarkable story behind the restoration of Walt Disney's childhood home, the family influences that helped shape his imagination, and how preserving an important piece of Disney history can inspire future generations.

Dina shares how she and her team discovered the historic home in Chicago's Hermosa neighborhood, purchased the property, and began the challenging process of restoring it to its original appearance. Along the way, they uncovered fascinating details about Walt's earliest years, including the creative influence of his mother, the entrepreneurial spirit of his father, and the environment that helped nurture his imagination.

They discuss how Walt Disney Birthplace has evolved beyond historic preservation into a nonprofit organization focused on childhood creativity, education, innovation, and community engagement.

Dina also takes listeners behind the scenes of Super 78, where her team creates immersive entertainment experiences and groundbreaking theme park attractions. From interactive animated characters to flying theater experiences, she explains how technology, storytelling, and imagination can come together to transport audiences into entirely new worlds.

Scott and Dina explore the enduring influence of Walt Disney, the origins of Disneyland, the creative philosophy behind Disney Imagineering, and why Walt's willingness to take risks, embrace failure, and pursue seemingly impossible ideas remains relevant today.

They also revisit memorable moments from Walt Disney Birthplace, including community celebrations, events with Disney legend Dick Van Dyke, collaborations with D23, and efforts to introduce children to the power of imagination through creative educational experiences.

Beyond Disney history, Dina shares the personal experiences that shaped her belief in helping others, including her grandmother's extraordinary acts of compassion while surviving World War II.

Together, Scott and Dina examine a bigger question: How can we preserve the imagination and curiosity of childhood—and use those qualities to create a better future?

This is a conversation about Walt Disney, Disney history, creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, historic preservation, childhood education, philanthropy, and the power of believing that extraordinary things are possible.

Guest: Dina Benadon, Co-Founder of Walt Disney Birthplace & CEO of Super 78

Host: Scott M. Curran

Better Good is a podcast series where you'll meet the visionaries and doers tackling the toughest challenges of our time. With moving stories and practical takeaways, Scott M. Curran brings listeners into the art and science of doing good through conversations with the social-impact leaders reshaping how we change the world.

Whether you lead a global workforce, run a fast-growing nonprofit, or are simply driven to make a difference, Better Good offers the ideas, inspiration, and tools to leave the world better than you found it.

The world's biggest problems won't wait. Neither should you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if businesses could do more than generate profits—and actually build doing good into the way they operate?

Alex Amouyel is the President and CEO of Newman's Own Foundation, the philanthropic organization continuing the legacy of legendary actor and philanthropist Paul Newman. Built on the belief that business can be a powerful force for good, Newman's Own directs 100% of its profits and royalties to charitable purposes. Since 1982, more than $600 million has been contributed to organizations working to improve lives and strengthen communities.

On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran sits down with Alex to explore how businesses can create meaningful, lasting social impact, what separates authentic corporate responsibility from greenwashing, and why the way a company is structured can determine whether its mission survives for generations.

Alex explains the unique business model behind Newman's Own, where a foundation owns the food company and its profits support charitable grants benefiting children facing adversity. She discusses how this structure helps preserve Paul Newman's philanthropic vision and why building purpose into a company's ownership and governance can create lasting change.

Alex and Scott also examine other purpose-driven businesses, including Patagonia and Rolex, and how foundations, trusts, and alternative ownership models can help organizations maintain their missions beyond the lifetimes of their founders.

They explore the challenges of greenwashing and purpose washing, how consumers can distinguish meaningful social impact from marketing, and why transparency, fair wages, responsible supply chains, and measurable results matter when evaluating a company's commitment to doing good.

The conversation also examines the Purpose Pledge, a framework encouraging businesses to go beyond minimum standards and incorporate responsible practices into their operations, leadership, and long-term strategies.

Alex and Scott discuss why companies must still create products people love, remain competitive, and build financially sustainable businesses while pursuing a greater purpose.

They also explore a bigger question: What if the future of business isn't simply about how much money companies make, but how they use their success to benefit the world?

This is a conversation about entrepreneurship, philanthropy, corporate responsibility, leadership, ethical business practices, sustainability, social impact, and building organizations designed to make a lasting difference.

Guest: Alex Amouyel, President & CEO of Newman's Own Foundation

Host: Scott M. Curran

Better Good is a podcast series where you'll meet the visionaries and doers tackling the toughest challenges of our time. With moving stories and practical takeaways, Scott M. Curran brings listeners into the art and science of doing good through conversations with the social-impact leaders reshaping how we change the world.

Whether you lead a global workforce, run a fast-growing nonprofit, or are simply driven to make a difference, Better Good offers the ideas, inspiration, and tools to leave the world better than you found it.

The world's biggest problems won't wait. Neither should you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when a new generation decides it’s time to stop waiting for change—and starts running for office themselves?

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What happens when one of America’s most recognizable radio personalities steps away from the microphone and into the cockpit to save animals?

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In the 20th century, local newspapers ran on 30 to 40 percent profit margins, and journalism was a thriving industry. But the internet dismantled that model in less than a generation. Advertising migrated to Google and Facebook, and classified ads moved to Craigslist. In parallel, subscriptions collapsed. Profits dissolved; so did newsrooms. Now roughly 50 million Americans have limited or no access to credible local news. This is most acute in the rural South.

On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Warwick Sabin, president and CEO of Deep South Today (https://www.deepsouthtoday.org/), for a conversation about why the collapse of local journalism is one of the most overlooked threats to American democracy—and what a new nonprofit model is doing to rebuild it in the communities that need it most. Warwick explains how Deep South Today united several Southern newsrooms into a single organization, and one publication even won a Pulitzer Prize. He makes the case that nonprofit journalism is like nonprofit healthcare: Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic don't sacrifice quality by removing the profit motive, and neither does Deep South Today. He also reflects on his career and what it means to show up for civic life at a moment when local institutions and democratic accountability are both under pressure. This episode explores themes of local journalism, press freedom, civic infrastructure, nonprofit media, democracy, and what it means to build institutions that serve the public good rather than the bottom line.

Guest: Warwick Sabin

Host: Scott M. Curran

Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji

Production by Echo Studios

Check out our Podcast: https://www.linktr.ee/scottmcurran

• 00:00:00 Introduction
• 00:01:51 Early Memories of Doing Good
• 00:08:27 Meeting the President and Moving to Arkansas
• 00:12:41 Southern Hospitality and Finding Home
• 00:16:20 Leadership Lessons from College
• 00:33:01 Why the South and Why Local Journalism Matter
• 00:34:43 The Collapse of Local News and Its Consequences
• 00:38:30 Building Nonprofit News for the Deep South
• 00:45:29 Investigative Journalism That Saves Lives
• 00:54:39 The Future: Scaling Local News Across the South

Better Good is a podcast series where you'll meet the visionaries and doers tackling the toughest challenges of our time. With moving stories and practical takeaways, Scott M. Curran brings listeners into the art and science of doing good — through conversations with the social-impact leaders reshaping how we change the world. Whether you lead a global workforce, run a fast-growing nonprofit, or are simply driven to make a difference, this show offers the ideas, inspiration, and tools to leave the world better than you found it. The world's biggest problems won't wait. Neither should you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2012, a filmmaker named Nirvan Mullick drove to a used auto parts store in East Los Angeles to buy a replacement door handle for his car. Inside, a nine-year-old boy named Caine Monroy had spent months building an elaborate cardboard arcade out of his father's spare boxes, complete with prize tickets, a custom staff shirt, and a fun pass that got you 500 turns for two dollars. Nirvan was Caine's first and only customer that summer. It also happened to be the last day of summer. None of what followed—a short film, a flash mob, millions of viral views, the hundreds of thousands of dollars raised for Caine's education, the global movement for children’s creativity—happened without one person recognizing a perfect moment in the making.

On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Nirvan Mullick, documentary filmmaker and creator of Caine's Arcade, for a conversation about what it means to notice what everyone else drives past—and what can happen when you do. Nirvan walks through the full story of Caine’s Arcade, and also shares the two-word concept of “perfect moments,” which can change how we think about time, attention, and the possibilities hiding inside everyday moments. Nirvan offers an inside look at two documentaries he's been working on for years: one about Rick Doblin and the decades-long effort to take MDMA through the FDA, and another about Lawn Chair Larry, a Vietnam vet who, in 1982, strapped 42 helium balloons to a Sears lawn chair and flew 16,000 feet above Los Angeles to live out a dream. This episode explores themes of creativity, attention, imagination, social entrepreneurship, and how the best things we do often begin with a single unremarkable moment of showing up.

Guest: Nirvan Mullick

Host: Scott M. Curran

Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji

Production by Echo Studios

Check out our Podcast: https://linktr.ee/scottmcurran

• 00:00:00 Introduction: The Boy Who Built an Arcade from Cardboard
• 00:03:04 Early Memories of Doing Good
• 00:05:18 From Filmmaker to Documentary Storyteller
• 00:07:08 What a Trip: Following Rick Doblin and Psychedelic Medicine
• 00:15:50 Larry's Launcher: The Lawn Chair Balloon Pilot
• 00:27:37 The Day Everything Changed: Meeting Caine
• 00:30:46 Organizing the Flash Mob and Creating a Perfect Moment
• 00:34:06 Going Viral and Starting the Imagination Foundation
• 00:39:20 The Global Cardboard Challenge and Lasting Impact
• 00:46:54 The Philosophy of Perfect Moments
• 00:51:21 The One Second Film: A Lifetime in 24 Frames
• 00:55:49 A Perfect Moment with His Father
• 00:57:50 It Doesn't Matter What You Start With, Only That You Start
• 00:59:13 Tracking Perfect Moments: A Daily Practice
• 01:00:19 Giving Yourself Permission to Develop Your Gifts

Better Good is a podcast series where you'll meet the visionaries and doers tackling the toughest challenges of our time. With moving stories and practical takeaways, Scott M. Curran brings listeners into the art and science of doing good—through conversations with the social-impact leaders reshaping how we change the world. Whether you lead a global workforce, run a fast-growing nonprofit, or are simply driven to make a difference, this show offers the ideas, inspiration, and tools to leave the world better than you found it. The world's biggest problems won't wait. Neither should you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hundreds of millions of people around the world have to rely on kerosene and disposable batteries to light their homes after dark. This carries real costs in health, safety, and money. For many families, lighting consumes up to 30 percent of the household budget, roughly the equivalent of an American mortgage payment. The alternatives are open flames that burn children, carcinogens that damage lungs, and total darkness after sunset that shuts down education, entrepreneurship, and basic security. Yet safe, reliable solar light exists. Getting it to the right families—and pairing it with the financial literacy to turn savings into economic opportunity—is the mission of Nancy Economou and Watts of Love.

On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Nancy Economou, founder and CEO of Watts of Love, for a conversation about what it means to follow a calling you have no formal credentials for, and bringing safe light to people around the world. Nancy traces her path from selling jewellery at Cartier, to nearly two decades as a stay-at-home mother of five boys, to a trip to the Philippines in 2009 that she returned from unchanged. She tells how Watts of Love evolved from three lights in a suitcase into an organization operating in more than fifty countries, with close to half a million homes lit and a growing corps of trained local leaders ready to scale the mission further. She explains how pairing a durable solar light with a financial literacy curriculum has turned a product into a pathway out of generational poverty. And she makes the case that meaningful impact rarely begins with a perfect plan. It begins with noticing something you can't un-see and acting. This episode explores themes of energy access, social entrepreneurship, financial literacy, local empowerment, and creating independence rather than dependency.

Guest: Nancy Economou

Host: Scott M. Curran

Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji

Production by Echo Studios

Check out our Podcast: ➡️ https://linktr.ee/scottmcurran

• 00:00:00 Introduction
• 00:03:03 Early Memories of Doing Good
• 00:06:08 From Cartier to Stay-at-Home Mom
• 00:07:50 The Scale of Watts of Love Today
• 00:10:50 The Philippines Trip That Changed Everything
• 00:12:40 The Moment Watts of Love Was Born
• 00:14:45 The Hidden Cost of Living in Darkness
• 00:18:17 Designing the Perfect Solar Light
• 00:23:29 The Leper Colony and Universal Design
• 00:30:06 The First Three Lights and Ruth's Story
• 00:34:26 The Birth of Financial Literacy
• 00:40:07 The Box Becomes a Bank
• 00:44:33 Transformation in 60 Days
• 00:47:33 The Power of Local Partnership
• 00:50:11 Bringing Light Home: Disasters in the US
• 00:53:42 Lessons on Dignity, Hope, and Agency
• 00:56:01 Choose the Crazy Dream

Better Good is a podcast series where you'll meet the visionaries and doers tackling the toughest challenges of our time. With moving stories and practical takeaways, Scott M. Curran brings listeners into the art and science of doing good — through conversations with the social-impact leaders reshaping how we change the world. Whether you lead a global workforce, run a fast-growing nonprofit, or are simply driven to make a difference, this show offers the ideas, inspiration, and tools to leave the world better than you found it. The world's biggest problems won't wait. Neither should you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every morning, more than 2 billion people start their day without access to safe water. For many, that means hours of walking, waiting, and carrying—before the rest of the day can begin. The disease, poverty, and lost education that follow are all preventable. The world has the technology. Infrastructure often already exists nearby. What's missing, for hundreds of millions of families, is the few hundred dollars it costs to connect to it. That's the problem Vedika Bhandarkar has spent years solving, and what Matt Damon’s organization water.org has built around it may be the most underreported development success story of our time.

On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Vedika Bhandarkar, President and COO of water.org, for a conversation about the most scalable solution to the global water crisis that most people have never heard of. Vedika traces her path from more than two decades in investment banking to leading the financial strategy behind water.org's WaterCredit model, which pairs every dollar of philanthropy with $20 of lending by local financial institutions. That model has now reached more than 85 million people across the world, with a 98% loan repayment rate that challenges every assumption about who is and isn't "bankable." She explains how water access is the key that unlocks every other development goal—from education and health to gender equality and economic mobility—and makes the case that the water crisis, unlike so many global challenges, is not only solvable but already being solved. This episode explores themes of global development, microfinance, financial inclusion, systems-level change, and what it looks like to redeploy your career skills toward one of the world's most urgent problems.

Guest: Vedika Bhandarkar

Host: Scott M. Curran

Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji

Production by Echo Studios

• 00:00:00 Introduction
• 00:02:32 Early Memories of Doing Good
• 00:05:08 Understanding the Global Water Crisis
• 00:07:54 The Hidden Cost of Water Scarcity
• 00:10:29 Zipporah's Story: Water as a Catalyst for Change
• 00:16:43 Why Traditional Approaches Don't Scale
• 00:20:51 The Power of Microfinance and Water Credit
• 00:31:49 Water's Connection to Every Global Challenge
• 00:35:27 Scaling the Solution: Infrastructure and Investment
• 00:44:06 Call to Action: Government, Business, and Philanthropy
• 00:46:18 Get Blue Movement and Individual Action
• 00:48:08 The Vision: A World Where Water Scarcity is Unimaginable

Better Good is a podcast series where you'll meet the visionaries and doers tackling the toughest challenges of our time. With moving stories and practical takeaways, Scott M. Curran brings listeners into the art and science of doing good — through conversations with the social-impact leaders reshaping how we change the world. Whether you lead a global workforce, run a fast-growing nonprofit, or are simply driven to make a difference, this show offers the ideas, inspiration, and tools to leave the world better than you found it. The world's biggest problems won't wait. Neither should you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every foundation in America operates on a two-way bargain with the public that rarely gets named out loud: accept significant tax advantages, and deploy those resources in service of the public good. Most foundations show you one side of that equation—the grantmaking—and keep the other side, the endowment, largely invisible. Dr. Carmen Rojas thinks that needs to change. 

On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Dr. Carmen Rojas, president and CEO of the Marguerite Casey Foundation, for a conversation about what foundations owe the public, why MCF made the decision to expand its grantmaking from roughly $30 million to $130 million in a single year, and what it actually looks like to lead a major institution with courage when the stakes are high. Carmen traces her path from growing up in a Nicaraguan immigrant household in San Francisco to studying democratic fragility at UC Berkeley, building the Workers Lab to support low-wage worker organizing, and now leading one of the country's most consequential foundations. She explains why she believes philanthropy's greatest risk right now is caution, why she treats MCF as a financial institution first, and why she calls on foundations, nonprofits, and everyday people alike to find their own form of courage in action, not just words. This episode explores themes of philanthropic accountability, democratic values, economic justice, and power-building in communities historically excluded from it.

Guest: Dr. Carmen Rojas

Host: Scott M. Curran

Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji

Production by Echo Studios

Check out our Podcast: https://www.linktr.ee/scottmcurran

• 00:00:00 Introduction
• 00:01:22 Early Memories of Doing Good
• 00:05:43 The Systems That Made Success Possible
• 00:09:22 What MCF Does and Why It Matters
• 00:11:46 From Venezuela to Philanthropy
• 00:18:34 The Workers Lab and Individual Shame
• 00:25:25 Understanding Philanthropy's Two-Way Gift
• 00:32:46 Making Government Work for People
• 00:36:28 Meeting the Moment with Courage
• 00:42:05 Courage is Not the Absence of Fear
• 00:45:47 Messages to Philanthropy, Nonprofits, and Everyone
• 00:52:26 Books for This Moment
• 00:56:27 A Vision of Love, Curiosity, and Learning

Better Good is a podcast series where you'll meet the visionaries and doers tackling the toughest challenges of our time. With moving stories and practical takeaways, Scott M. Curran brings listeners into the art and science of doing good — through conversations with the social-impact leaders reshaping how we change the world. Whether you lead a global workforce, run a fast-growing nonprofit, or are simply driven to make a difference, this show offers the ideas, inspiration, and tools to leave the world better than you found it. The world's biggest problems won't wait. Neither should you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran  (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) sits down with Kevin Maguire, author of The New Fatherhood (https://www.newfatherhood.com/book/), for a special Father's Day conversation about what it really means to lead a family today.

For thousands of years, fatherhood came with a clear job description: protect, provide, preside. But today's dads are expected to do all of that and more (as they should!): be present, emotionally available, vulnerable, and an equal partner at home. The old rules are fading. The new rules are still being written. But most men didn’t have anyone who prepared them for this.

Kevin didn't arrive at this topic as a researcher. He arrived as a father of two confronting the questions millions of men ask quietly: Who am I beyond my job? What kind of father do I want to be? How do I show up for the people I love in a world that keeps changing? His search for answers became a newsletter, then an online community, and now a book and movement that's becoming a go-to guide for modern dads navigating parenting, striving for work-life balance, and building emotional resilience without a map.

This conversation is for any—or anyone helping to raise the next generation—looking for clarity, community, and a path forward in modern fatherhood.

You can pre-order Scott’s forthcoming book, Better Good, here: https://www.bettergoodbook.com/

Guest: Kevin Maguire

Host: Scott M. Curran

Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji

Production by Echo Studios

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Check out our Podcast: ➡️ https://www.linktr.ee/scottmcurran

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• 00:00:00 Introduction
• 00:04:44 Early Memories of Fatherhood
• 00:07:01 The Three Ps: Traditional Anchors of Fatherhood
• 00:10:38 Old Rules vs New Rules
• 00:17:37 From Google to Fatherhood
• 00:21:25 You Are Not Your Job
• 00:24:01 Paternal Postpartum Depression
• 00:28:27 Vulnerability as Strength
• 00:32:52 Scarcity vs Abundance Fatherhood
• 00:43:28 The Last Time Meditation
• 00:52:06 Building the New Fatherhood Community
• 00:57:12 The Polarized Future of Fatherhood
• 01:00:31 The Future: Communities of Care

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Better Good is a podcast series where you’ll meet the visionaries and doers tackling the toughest challenges of our time. With moving stories and practical takeaways, Scott M. Curran brings listeners into the art and science of doing good—through conversations with the social-impact leaders reshaping how we change the world. Whether you lead a global workforce, run a fast-growing nonprofit, or are simply driven to make a difference, this show offers the ideas, inspiration, and tools to leave the world better than you found it. The world's biggest problems won’t wait. Neither should you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices