Ellie 2.0 Radio

This week’s featured idealist is Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia, the outdoor clothing and adventure store. Early on, Yvon made his mark as an idealist by devoting one percent of Patagonia’s revenue to protecting the environment and fighting climate change. In 2022, Yvon, by then a billionaire, donated his entire company’s stock to a trust and a specially-created nonprofit that will ensure that Patagonia will never be sold and that it’s mission around climate change will continue. The Big Interview is with Sierra Grady, an advocate for understanding and protecting those who are neurodiverse. In the C-Block, I talk about speaking in far southeastern MN and moving the needle!

We start with our historical featured idealist, the founder of St. Mary’s Academy in New Orleans: Mother Josephine Charles battled racism and misogyny in the mid-19th century to create a religious school for girls of color. Nearly 160 years later, St. Mary’s had 100% graduation and college admission rates—unheard of in education! The Big Interview is a reprise of my interview with Kelly Johnson, who curates a website that documents efforts to push back against book bans. In my C-Block I talk about how companies are rushing to shut down their DEI departments, and how following the disastrous Supreme Court affirmative action ruling, colleges and universities are admitting far less freshman of color. Horrible!

With the DNC convention over, our featured idealist is Adam Kinzinger,   the former Illinois congressman who denounced Trump way back in 2016, and later served on the bipartisan January 6th Committee. Kinzinger isn’t afraid to speak truth to power and was a speaker at the convention, exhorting Republicans to understand that “Democrats also love our country!” The Big Interview is with Nicki Hangsleben, the executive director of Queer Space Collective, which matches LGBTQ+ youth with LGBTQ+ mentors, ala Big Brothers/Sisters. In my C-Block, I talk about some touching audience feedback from a recent workshop that I conducted.

This week is an Ellie talking head show. We highlight our featured idealist, Lawrence O’Donnell from MSNBC. Plus we talk about legislation around birth certificates for transgender people, JK Rowling’s anti-trans social media posts, how charitable giving in America might change and more.

This week’s featured idealist is retired federal circuit judge J. Michael Luttig, who began as a conservative but found his way to idealism in combatting Donald Trump’s attempts to subvert democracy. It was Luttig and a conservative scholar, Jon Yoo, who told VP Mike Pence that the Constitution didn’t permit him to decertify electors. Thankfully, Pence took that advice! The Big Interview is with Ann Joseph Douglas, the Director of Education for Children’s Theater Company, who talks about the incredible outreach CTC is doing in schools. (Note, I am a CTC board member.) In my C-Block, I share about how my top-down leadership style doesn’t mesh with the consensus leadership model of most Gen Xers. Ugh.

It’s another Ellie’s Talking Head show! Our featured idealist is the comedian, Trevor Noah, who set up the Trevor Noah Foundation to promote literacy a in his native South Africa. From there, I talk about Jessica Norton, a Broward County FL school district employee who was disciplined for letting her 16-year-old transgender daughter participate on the junior volley ball team in violation of a FL law that bans transgender high school athletes. I then share about long-lost love letters between two gay WWII soldiers, and then pivot to yet another nonprofit being sued for working to help minority business owners. Lastly, I talk about how my Gray Area Thinking© workshop helped someone reconnect with an estranged relative.

My, how the political landscape changed from the last show! That means this week’s featured idealist is none other than President Joe Biden for deciding to relinquish his presidential bid in favor of the country’s greater good. I’m positive that President Joe will go down as one of the greatest presidents of all time! The Big Interview is with Katie White, who I originally interviewed in Sept. 2022. She came back to talk about her jewelry business and what, as a childless Millennial, she’s feeling about how MAGA extremists claim that such voters shouldn’t count. Ugh. In my C-Block, I talk about progress on my second book, Being Ellen, which will be out this time next year!

It’s an Ellie’s Talking Head show, and we start with the actor, George Clooney, who is also an activist working against genocide and atrocities across the world and who is involved in awarding the Aurora Prize that recognizes individuals for their humanitarian work. Clooney is also a huge supporter of the Democratic party and recently penned a New York Times opinion piece calling for President Joe to step aside in this year’s presidential election—both an idealistic and brave act. After that, I talk about President Joe’s horrible debate performance and the need for a new, younger candidate. During the show, I also briefly interviewed Connor, a recent high school graduate, who was shadowing me for the day—I asked for his current take on America. Lastly, in the C-Block I share about taking a road trip across this beautiful country of ours and about recently speaking in Crookston, MN.

With the 80th anniversary of D-Day this week, I thought it fitting to have the acclaimed actor and “late historian” Tom Hanks of Saving Private Ryan as our featured idealist of the week. Some of his movies, particularly Philadelphia, are incredibly idealistic. The Big Interview is with Gloria Perez, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Women’s Foundation of MN, who talks about that organization’s work to protect women, girls and gender expansive humans. In the C-Block, I talk about a recent speaking trip to Chicago and the joy of watching students graduate from an alternative high school for which I am a school board director.