Better Good with Scott M. Curran

There are at least 1.4 billion people on this planet with no connection to the financial system, and no way to turn a good idea into a livelihood. Not because they lack talent, drive, or ambition, but because the system simply wasn't built to include them. This massive divide between talent and opportunity is what today's guest is building a bridge across.

On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Vishal Ghotge, CEO of Kiva, for a conversation about financial inclusion, microfinance, and what happens when you bet on people the traditional banking system ignores. Kiva has delivered nearly $2.5 billion in loans to over 5 million entrepreneurs in 80 countries, often just $25 at a time,  with a 96% repayment rate. Vishal explains how the platform connects everyday lenders with women entrepreneurs, refugees, small business owners in the US, and communities on the front lines of climate change. He traces his own path from Mumbai to Silicon Valley to leading one of the most innovative organizations in global development, and makes a powerful case that talent is universal but opportunity is not. And that closing that gap is one of the most important investments any of us can make. This episode explores themes of financial inclusion, women's empowerment, and refugee entrepreneurship.

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

Guest: Vishal Ghotge

Host: Scott M. Curran

Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji

Production by Echo Studios

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

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• 00:00:00 Introduction
• 00:04:22 Early Memories of Doing Good
• 00:06:16 Growing Up with Inequality in Mumbai
• 00:08:32 From Mumbai to Microsoft
• 00:10:49 Groupon and Helping the Little Guy
• 00:15:31 PayScale, Remitly, and Finding Personal Connection
• 00:18:49 The Kiva Model and Financial Inclusion
• 00:27:29 The Power of Transparency and Connection
• 00:32:02 Four Strategic Verticals: Refugees, Women, Climate, and US
• 00:44:30 Stories of Dignity and Transformation
• 00:48:08 Hope in Humanity and Career Advice
• 00:55:59 Take Action and What's Next at Kiva

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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

Most people think power always looks the same—loud, demanding, aggressive, and increasingly in your face. But actually, not always. Penny Abeywardena has spent her life mastering another kind of power: soft power. Something we can all use to help change the world if we become more familiar with it, and better at using it in our lives and in our work.

On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Penny Abeywardena—former Commissioner for International Affairs for New York City, Clinton Foundation leader, and founder of Soft Power Strategies—for a conversation about influence, leadership, and how to create change when you don't have the title, the budget, or the permission to demand it. Penny traces her path from surviving domestic violence as a child in Los Angeles to becoming effectively the Secretary of State for the most diplomatically complex city in the world. She explains how she built a coalition of 350 local governments around the sustainable development goals when Washington walked away from the climate table, and how she secured half a million pieces of PPE directly from the UN's own stockpile when New York was told it was on its own during COVID. She makes the case that in a moment when too many people are choosing to check out, soft power is more urgent than ever. This episode explores themes of soft power, leadership, diplomacy, women's empowerment, and vulnerability.

Guest: Penny Abeywardena

Host: Scott M. Curran

Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji

Production by Echo Studios

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

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• 00:00:00 Introduction
• 00:05:26 Early Memories of Doing Good
• 00:07:35 From Human Rights Watch to Finding Her Path
• 00:10:00 Building Skills Behind the Scenes
• 00:12:43 Joining the Clinton Global Initiative
• 00:14:44 Becoming NYC Commissioner for International Affairs
• 00:19:20 Reimagining Diplomacy in New York City
• 00:22:18 The Voluntary Local Review and Climate Leadership
• 00:25:41 COVID Crisis and the Power of Relationships
• 00:29:53 Launching Soft Power Strategies
• 00:37:01 Storytelling and Vulnerability as Strategy
• 00:44:13 Practical Soft Power for Everyone

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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

What if a bottle of salad dressing could change the world? In 1982, Paul Newman—movie star, race car driver, and American icon—bottled a homemade salad dressing with a friend, put his face on the label, and made one simple decision: every cent of profit would go to charity. Forever. Newman's Own has now generated more than 600 million dollars for charitable causes—and the "Newman's Own exception," an act of Congress that followed, made it possible for other foundations to fully own mission-driven businesses that give their profits away.

On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Alex Amouyel (https://www.yourimpactlife.com/about), President and CEO of the Newman's Own Foundation, for a conversation about purpose-driven business, child hunger in America, and one of the most revolutionary models in philanthropy. Alex explains how a for-profit food company fully owned by a charitable foundation gives 100% of its profits away—and why Newman had to fight Congress just to make it legal. She unpacks the foundation's work on child nutrition, school meals, and indigenous food justice at a time when one in five American children live in food-insecure households. And she introduces 100% for Purpose, a movement inspired by Newman's Own and Patagonia to help the next generation of businesses put their profits toward good causes. This episode explores themes of philanthropy, corporate responsibility, and food justice.

Guest: Alex Amouyel

Host: Scott M. Curran

Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji

Production by Echo Studios

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• 00:00:00 Introduction
• 00:04:06 Early Memories of Doing Good
• 00:05:30 From BCG to Save the Children
• 00:08:02 Restructuring a Global NGO
• 00:10:15 The Clinton Global Initiative Years
• 00:12:17 MIT Solve and Opening Innovation
• 00:22:09 Paul Newman's Legacy and the Hole in the Wall Gang
• 00:26:32 Nourishing Children Who Face Adversity
• 00:28:08 The Newman's Own Exception and Tax Law
• 00:36:59 100% For Purpose Movement

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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

"Chief Impact Officer" wasn't a job twenty years ago. But a decade ago, it became one of the fastest-growing roles in business. Today, it's complicated because the idea that companies should “do good” has been dragged into the culture wars. So what does it look like when a company actually takes that responsibility seriously and builds purpose into its operations?

On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Nishant Roy, Chief Impact Officer of Chobani, for a candid conversation about purpose-driven business, corporate responsibility, and what it really means when a company says profit and purpose can coexist. Nishant traces his path from his immigrant family's roots and service in the U.S. Air Force—including deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq—through Goldman Sachs, USAID, and a fateful LinkedIn message that led him to Chobani's founder, Hamdi Ulukaya. He explains how Chobani went from an SBA loan and a shuttered factory in upstate New York to the number one yogurt brand in America, and why how a company makes its products matters as much as what's on the shelf. From cutting sugar across an entire food category, to hiring refugees in rural New York, to building a sustainable supply chain that pays farmers for imperfect fruit, Nishant makes the case that corporate impact isn't marketing—it's operations. This episode explores themes of purpose-driven leadership, career reinvention, food systems, refugee inclusion, and why the work of doing good doesn't stop just because the acronyms change.

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Guest: Nishant Roy

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
• 00:04:46 Early Memories of Doing Good
• 00:08:41 From the Air Force to Wall Street
• 00:11:57 Government Service and Global Development
• 00:13:52 The LinkedIn Message That Changed Everything
• 00:17:50 Making Career Pivots with Purpose
• 00:28:54 The Chobani Story and Food Revolution
• 00:34:10 Supply Chain Innovation for Impact
• 00:40:55 Building a Melting Pot Workforce
• 00:47:47 Proof That Profit and Purpose Go Together

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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

What does it look like when a politician actually does their job? Not the culture warring. Not cable news. Not pitting you against your neighbor to score political points. But the actual work of public service: showing up every day for all the people you serve, bridging divides instead of deepening them, and measuring success by outcomes, not optics. Almost sounds quaint, doesn't it? We're living through a moment when the question of what real civic leadership is feels harder to answer than it should. So we're going to Oklahoma City to find out.

On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Mayor David Holt of Oklahoma City (https://www.okc.gov/Government/Elected-Officials/Mayor)—who is also the 83rd President of the United States Conference of Mayors—for a refreshing conversation about public service, civic leadership, and bridging political divides in one of America's most dynamic cities. David traces his path from a service-oriented Oklahoma family to working in Washington, D.C., and back home to lead what he calls a purple city in a deep red state. He breaks down how Oklahoma City went from economic depression and post-bombing devastation to becoming America's 20th largest city—a story built on pragmatic, nonpartisan leadership and a civic model that keeps winning voter approval by margins most politicians can only dream of. He explains why the 70% of Americans in the middle can still find common ground and get things done when the system lets them, and why mayors may be the most important class of leaders in the country right now. This episode explores themes of bridging divides, nonpartisan governance, civic investment, community building, pluralism, and what it means to lead by the power of your example rather than the example of your power.

Guest: Mayor David Holt

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
• 00:03:26 Early Memories of Doing Good
• 00:08:40 From Capitol Hill to the White House
• 00:13:25 Returning Home and Finding Purpose in City Hall
• 00:23:18 The Oklahoma City Turnaround Story
• 00:26:53 Building Consensus Through Pragmatic Leadership
• 00:28:37 The Power of Non-Partisan Elections
• 00:33:23 Leading a Purple City in a Red State
• 00:37:48 The Role of Mayors in National Politics
• 00:50:00 The Oklahoma City Bombing and Lessons on Unity
• 00:54:23 The Oklahoma City Declaration

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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

Menstrual equity. There’s a good chance you’ve never really thought about what that means. But you should. Because it affects women, men, families, workplaces, and entire economies. If talking about menstruation feels uncomfortable, good. Growth usually starts there. 

Let’s start with some simple facts:

• Half the world’s population is women.
• Every single one of us was born from a woman.
• And every one of those births began with a missed period.
  
  

Menstruation isn’t a niche issue. It’s biology. It’s economics. It’s education. It’s dignity. It’s opportunity. This week we celebrate International Women’s day, which is also an opportunity—to talk about women’s health, cultural stigmas, economic growth, and human dignity.

On this episode of Better Good, Scott M. Curran is joined by Megha Desai, the President of the Desai Foundation, for a perspective-shifting conversation about menstrual equity. She talks about her family’s attitudes toward menstruation as she was growing up, and what this taught her about the challenges women face. She explains what period poverty is, why menstrual equity is important for every society, and the impact of over-regulating women’s bodies. She traces her swerving career that took her from branding and social impact, showing how they connect. This episode explores themes of equality, women’s rights, politics, and storytelling.

Guest: Megha Desai

Host: Scott M. Curran

Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji

Production by Echo Studios

Check out our Podcast: linktr.ee/scottmcurran

• 00:00:00 Introduction
• 00:03:35 Early Memories of Doing Good
• 00:05:18 International Exposure and Perspective
• 00:07:24 From Advertising to Nonprofit Leadership
• 00:10:21 Taking Over the Desai Foundation
• 00:13:28 The Mission: Health, Livelihood, and Menstrual Equity
• 00:15:33 Why Women's Work Matters for GDP
• 00:17:06 Getting Comfortable with Periods
• 00:22:58 Menstrual Equity in America
• 00:27:45 Changing Hearts and Minds
• 00:31:51 The Vision for Menstrual Equity
• 00:35:29 Measuring Success and Building Partnerships
• 00:43:34 A Rallying Cry for Change

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

There are only two ways to run the world. Guns or lawyers. That's it. It's either the threat of force or the rule of law. Everything we call civil society, from the contracts that govern business to rights that protect our privacy and freedom itself, depend on that second path. And lawyers are the custodians of that path. Yet we too often forget this. We joke about lawyers, but they protect civil society so each of us can achieve our version of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Skye Perryman (https://www.instagram.com/skyeperryman/?hl=en), the President and CEO of Democracy Forward (https://democracyforward.org/), for an urgent conversation about how to preserve democracy. Skye traces her trajectory from her childhood in Texas, to a career in private practice, to her current role on the front lines of some of the most critical legal battles of our time. She unpacks why the rule of law must be protected, how autocratic tactics deliberately weaponize overwhelm and exhaustion, and why courage is the most valuable currency of this period in American history. Skye discusses the many legal causes Democracy Forward has taken on during the second Trump administration, and she reminds us of the power of being present in our communities and the importance of listening to the stories of other people’s experiences. And for all the lawyers out there, she explains why this is a do-or-die moment for the legal procession, and why it’s time to go back to the basics and defend the Constitution. This episode explores themes of the law, rights, democracy, purpose, autocracy, justice, community, and courage.

Guest: Skye Perryman

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
• 00:03:59 Early Memories of Doing Good
• 00:06:28 From Private Practice to Public Service
• 00:07:57 Founding Democracy Forward
• 00:10:11 The Value of Law Firm Training
• 00:12:58 Democracy Forward's Mission
• 00:17:30 Normalizing the Abnormal
• 00:21:20 Courage is the New Currency
• 00:29:52 A Call to Action for Lawyers
• 00:37:05 Building a Democracy That Holds Everyone

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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

When the world’s on fire, who shows up? Nonprofits. Yet few people know exactly how deeply embedded they are in daily life. They make our communities the special places they are, from animal rescues to food banks, schools to places of worship. But how can they survive, much less thrive, especially when the world around us is so chaotic and adversarial? There is perhaps no better person to answer this question than Joan Garry (https://joangarry.com/). 

On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Nonprofit Leadership Lab (https://nonprofitleadershiplab.com/) founder Joan Garry for a candid and insightful conversation about why some organizations succeed, so many fail, and how all leaders and nonprofits can enjoy more success. Joan reconstructs her delightfully twisty career arc from working at MTV in the early 1980s to leading GLAAD in the late 1990s, to later realizing that her highest and best purpose was helping other nonprofit leaders succeed. She shares how she fell into activism by simply wanting to protect her young family from laws that weren’t inclusive of them, and how her membership-based business grew out of a decision to devote herself more fully to her family. She breaks down the common pitfalls that hold leaders from accomplishing their worthiest goals, and reveals hidden secrets to nonprofit success (hint: better board relations and better marketing!). This episode explores themes of leadership, purpose, scarcity, legacy, growth, and transformation.

Guest: Joan Garry

Host: Scott M. Curran

Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji

Production by Echo Studios

Chapters:

• 00:00:00 Introduction
• 00:01:53 Early Memories of Doing Good
• 00:05:46 From MTV to Don King
• 00:08:12 Taking the Leap to GLAAD
• 00:09:58 Turning Around a Failing Organization
• 00:13:19 Why Nonprofits Are Messy
• 00:14:54 Building the Nonprofit Leadership Lab
• 00:18:45 The Biggest Challenges Nonprofits Face
• 00:21:00 The Vision for Scaling Impact
• 00:32:51 Advice for Nonprofit Leaders and Board Members
• 00:47:40 Legacy and Making Your Mark

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

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

Imagine you’re a healthy young adult with your entire life ahead of you. Then one day, doctors tell you you’re going to die. Not someday. Now. That happened to David Fajgenbaum (https://davidfajgenbaum.com/). But he survived. And now he’s pushing the frontiers of medical research to help save others.

In the debut episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by doctor, scientist, and nonprofit founder Dr. David Fajgenbaum for a powerful and inspiring conversation about how nearly dying from Castleman disease while in med school led him to found his nonprofit, Every Cure (https://everycure.org/). David traces his mother’s positive influence on him as a child to the impact her death from cancer had on his future. He shares how the love of his family brought him back from the edge of death, and how this led to the breakthrough research he is now pioneering on the frontlines of fighting disease. He reflects on how Every Cure went from an idea with zero dollars to a nine-figure mission in just a few years, and reveals practices that other organizations can follow. With vulnerability and insight, David demonstrates how personal struggles can become a force that changes the world. This episode explores themes of family, grief, resilience, vision, teamwork, and the preciousness of life itself.

Guest: Dr. David Fajgenbaum

Host: Scott M. Curran

Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman and Kieron Banerji

Production by Echo Studios

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

Host Scott M. Curran takes listeners inside the playbook of the world’s top social impact leaders—so anyone can learn to do more good, better.

As CEO of Beyond Advisers, a consultancy advising world-leading foundations, brands, and changemakers, Scott has spent more than two decades guiding transformative initiatives tackling humanity's hardest challenges. He previously served as General Counsel of the Clinton Foundation and teaches one of the nation’s first law school courses on Social Impact Law.

On this podcast, he sits down with the innovators reimagining how the world does good—bringing you conversations you won’t hear anywhere else: candid stories, proven strategies, and actionable insights listeners can use in their lives, careers, and missions.

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