This week, Jennifer and Kati sit down with Joel Makower, chairman and

Joel shares why we're living with higher highs and lower lows than ever

Joel also offers his advice for integrating head and heart through

Have a question for us? Email us today at [email protected]!

Learn more about Engaging ESG at bit.ly/EngagingESGpod.

Show Links

Learn more about Joel Makower

Visit Trellis

Watch: Joel Makower: Poetry in Motion

Listen: Smartless

Listen: So Many Steves: Afternoons with Steve

Our theme music is "Lost in Translation" by Wendy Marcini and

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Climate and sustainability strategist Marina Psaros joins

Marina shares her journey from NOAA scientist to Head of Sustainability at Unity Technologies, and how that experience revealed a massive untapped opportunity. With 3 billion people playing games worldwide,

We also explore Marina's beautiful book, The Atlas of Disappearing Places, and why she chose to frame fossil fuel dependence as an addiction rather than an individual moral failing. Learn how this shift from blame to systemic thinking opens up more honest, actionable conversations about climate.

Have a question for us? Email us today at [email protected]!

Learn more about Engaging ESG at ⁠bit.ly/EngagingESGpod.⁠

Our theme music is "Lost in Translation" by Wendy Marcini and Elvin Vangard.

Show Links

Learn more about Marina Psaros at marinapsaros.com.

Read: The Atlas of

Read: Social strategies to

Listen: Earthworks podcast

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Michael Neuwirth has built what he calls a "portfolio career" — and after hearing his story, you'll want one too.

The communications veteran spent 20+ years at Danone, served as the first Chief Communications Officer for the American Sustainable Business Council, and now angel invests in 14 sustainability-focused startups (from period equity solutions to upcycled food platforms).

In this wide-ranging conversation, Michael reveals why authentic storytelling is the fabric that holds early-stage companies together, how sustainability communications evolved from charity golf outings and "chairman projects" to strategic business imperatives, and why comms professionals must expect — and not ask for — a seat at the decision-making table.

Have a question for us?

Email us today at [email protected]!

Learn more about Engaging ESG at ⁠bit.ly/EngagingESGpod.⁠

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Learn more about Michael Neuwirth

Watch: Pluribus

Listen: Desperately Seeking the 80s

Our theme music is "Lost in Translation" by Wendy Marcini and Elvin Vangard.

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Engaging ESG returns for season 4 on January 7th.

Engaging ESG is a bimonthly series exploring the evolving landscape of ESG communications. Join Jennifer Owens, former external content strategy lead for Meta Sustainability, and Kati Kallins, former head of sustainability engagement at Meta, as they address the pitfalls and opportunities hidden in your ESG comms plan and provide practical answers you and your team can use today.

Learn more about Engaging ESG at ⁠bit.ly/EngagingESGpod.⁠

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Fresh from their first in-person meeting since launching Engaging ESG, Jennifer and Kati share candid reflections on New York Climate Week.

From experiencing Conservation International's immersive VR storytelling at Adobe's event at the LinkedIn offices to hearing powerful testimonies about carbon markets from Georgia landowners, they explore the week's standout moments. The conversation covers the shift from innovation-focused moonshots to practical implementation, the inspiring emphasis on collaboration across every session, and the heartening international presence despite political uncertainty.

Between subway adventures and a Jack-and-Rose moment at the Empire State Building, they reflect on how the sustainability community is maturing — moving beyond press releases to embedded business practices and building resilience for the long term.

Show Link: From the Ground Up:Voices of the Carbon Market

Have a question for us? Email us today at [email protected]!

Learn more about Engaging ESG at bit.ly/EngagingESGpod.

Our theme music is "Lost in Translation" by Wendy Marcini and Elvin Vangard.

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Dr. Victoria Hurth joins Jennifer and Kati for our season finale to explore how purpose-driven governance can transform business decision-making for sustainability.

As co-designer of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership's course on sustainable marketing and a leader in the development of ISO 37011, Victoria explains why our current economic systems systematically undermine the well-being they claim to create.

Victoria also shares the three-horizon framework for understanding organizational transformation — from short-term self-interest to long-term self-interest to purpose-driven organizations optimizing for "long-term well-being for all" — and closes out our season by highlighting the abundance of positive human energy just waiting to be directed.

Have a question for us? Email us today at [email protected]!

Learn more about Engaging ESG at ⁠bit.ly/EngagingESGpod.⁠

Show links

Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman

Citizens: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us by Jon Alexander

Our theme music is "Lost in Translation" by Wendy Marcini and Elvin Vangard.

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Daphany Rose Sanchez shares her powerful journey from growing up in New York City public housing to founding Kinetic Communities Consulting, a social enterprise transforming energy equity for underserved communities.

Daphany explains why effective climate solutions must meet people where they are, addressing immediate concerns like utility bills rather than abstract climate concepts alone. She demonstrates how building genuine trust with communities leads to more effective sustainability outcomes, while offering a refreshingly human-centered approach to clean energy initiatives that challenge the tech-focused status quo.

Have a question for us? Email us today at [email protected]!

Learn more about Engaging ESG at ⁠bit.ly/EngagingESGpod.⁠

Show links

Learn more about Daphany Rose Sanchez.

Explore Kinetic Communities Consulting.

Check out Power Up NYC, New York City's first long-term energy plan.

Our theme music is "Lost in Translation" by Wendy Marcini and Elvin Vangard.

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This week, Jennifer and Kati sit down with Al Iannuzzi, Vice President of Sustainability at The Estée Lauder Companies, for a candid conversation about sustainable product evolution in today's challenging business landscape. 

Al shares his provocative perspective that "There's no such thing as a green product" and offers practical guidance on communicating sustainability improvements without greenwashing.  

Drawing from his book, "Greener Products," he also discusses how companies can balance economic pressures with growing stakeholder demands for sustainability. 

Have a question for us? Email us today at [email protected]! 

Learn more about Engaging ESG at ⁠bit.ly/EngagingESGpod.⁠

Show links 

Learn more about Al Iannuzzi. 

Greener Products: The Making and Marketing of Sustainable Brands 

The Value of Values: How Leaders Can Grow Their Businesses and Enhance Their Careers by Doing the Right Thing 

Read Suzanne Shelton at ERM Shelton

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This week, Kati and Jennifer are joined by Paull Young, GitHub's first head of sustainability, for a wide-ranging discussion about leveraging technology to accelerate climate action.  

From green software to the role of artificial intelligence in climate solutions, our conversation explores how developers and technologists can contribute to sustainability goals, the realities of AI's energy footprint, and why giving people tangible ways to take action may be the best antidote to climate despair.  

Drawing from his experiences across multiple tech platforms, Paull offers his thoughtful perspective on why he remains optimistic about technology's potential to accelerate positive environmental change. 

Have a question for us? Email us today at [email protected]! 

Learn more about Engaging ESG at ⁠bit.ly/EngagingESGpod.⁠

Learn more about Paull Young and listen to his podcast Climate Dads. 

Our theme music is "Lost in Translation" by Wendy Marcini and Elvin Vangard. 

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Professor Robert Barlow from Hult International Business School joins Jennifer + Kati to explore how business schools can effectively teach sustainability and ESG in an evolving political landscape. From building Hult's highly-ranked sustainability curriculum to his current research on Chief Sustainability Officers, Rob discusses why business education needs to develop new frameworks for measuring impact, why sustainability roles can't simply be distributed across organizations, and how today's MBA students are approaching these topics differently than previous generations. 

Have a question for us? Email us today at [email protected]! 

Learn more about Engaging ESG at ⁠bit.ly/EngagingESGpod.⁠

Learn more about Rob Barlow. 

Our theme music is "Lost in Translation" by Wendy Marcini and Elvin Vangard. 

Episode Links 

Cormac McCarthy: Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West 

The Brothers Karamazov 

Return on Sustainability Investment research at NYU 

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