Super Girl Surf Festival is the world's largest women's sports and music festival. This Labor Day (Sept. 5-7, 2026), the free festival is coming to the iconic and expansive Virginia Beach, VA shoreline for the first time. Kayla Durden, a former professional surfer (she still tackles serious waves around the world), now Manager of the World Surf League's Championship Tour, is once more teaming up with Rick Bratman, a self-professed "girl dad" and seasoned live events impresario (ASA Entertainment), for the latest edition of the Super Girl Surf Festival, with this year serving as the festival's 20th anniversary. Previous editions took place in Jacksonville, FL and Oceanside, CA, the historic flagship home of the event since 2007. (The festival's next edition takes place in Jacksonville Beach, FL from November 7 to November 8, 2026.)

On this episode of the Good Standing podcast, Kayla discusses her journey, from catching waves at 5-years-old on Cocoa Beach, FL, going pro at 12, to now mentoring female surfers of all ages around the world while functioning as one of the sport's premiere ambassadors. Rick, a veteran guru of live action sports events, went to bat decades ago for his daughter who was navigating the double standards and politics of high school sports. He has since parlayed and extended that enthusiasm and advocacy to millions of young girls and female professionals around the world. Super Girl Festival will host surfing competitions overseen by the World Surf League and feature more than 150 professional surfers, including in a World Surf League QS4000 event, the highest-level women’s surfing competition in North America. Beach volleyball, soccer, lacrosse, and flag football will feature tournament-style competitions with youth divisions, while competitive cheer and dance will take the stage as showcases. Mentorship opportunities extend across the wider experience, along with food vendors, panel discussions, and so much more. Live music is also a staple of the event, with several free, live performances scheduled (Switchfoot, Lupe Fiasco, Hello Sister, Gym Class Heroes and an extended roster of local and major artists). In a world filled with a lot of talk, Kayla Durden and Rick Bratman share a love of action, all infused with a major impact through-line. Much like the team at Good Standing, they also know how to have fun in the process.

Super Girl Surf Festival is the world's largest women's sports and music festival. This Labor Day (Sept. 5-7, 2026), the free festival is coming to the iconic and expansive Virginia Beach, VA shoreline for the first time. Kayla Durden, a former professional surfer (she still tackles serious waves around the world), now Manager of the World Surf League's Championship Tour, is once more teaming up with Rick Bratman, a self-professed "girl dad" and seasoned live events impresario (ASA Entertainment), for the latest edition of the Super Girl Surf Festival, with this year serving as the festival's 20th anniversary. Previous editions took place in Jacksonville, FL and Oceanside, CA, the historic flagship home of the event since 2007. (The festival's next edition takes place in Jacksonville Beach, FL from November 7 to November 8, 2026.)

On this episode of the Good Standing podcast, Kayla discusses her journey, from catching waves at 5-years-old on Cocoa Beach, FL, going pro at 12, to now mentoring female surfers of all ages around the world while functioning as one of the sport's premiere ambassadors. Rick, a veteran guru of live action sports events, went to bat decades ago for his daughter who was navigating the double standards and politics of high school sports, and has since parlayed and extended that enthusiasm and advocacy to millions of young girls and female professionals around the world. Super Girl Festival will host surfing competitions overseen by the World Surf League and feature more than 150 professional surfers, including in a World Surf League QS4000 event, the highest-level women’s surfing competition in North America. Beach volleyball, soccer, lacrosse, and flag football will feature tournament-style competitions with youth divisions, while competitive cheer and dance will take the stage as showcases. Mentorship opportunities extend across the wider experience. Live music is also a staple of the event, with several free, live performances scheduled (Switchfoot, Lupe Fiasco, Hello Sister, Gym Class Heroes and many more). In a world filled with a lot of talk, Kayla Durden and Rick Bratman share a love of action, all with a major impact through-line. Much like the team at Good Standing, they also know how to have fun in the process.

Mars College is an annual, off-grid, pop-up college built literally from the ground up every winter in the California desert. Located in Bombay Beach on a dry lake bed hugging the beautiful but beleaguered Salton Sea, Mars College brings together an evolving community of scientists, artists, coders, writers, futurists, builders, mathematicians, philosophers and more to push the boundaries of their respective fields, and in some instances, create entirely new ones. In the early Spring of 2025, Good Standing co-hosts Ashley & Kurt, attended the wedding of this episode's guests, Gene Kogan and Vanessa Rosa, which took place within and across several makeshift structures that comprise Mars College. Founded in 2020 by Gene Kogan and a media-shy Burning Man veteran who goes solely by "Freeman," the pop-up enclave breaks down before temperatures sky-rocket and air conditions become hostile, only to be erected once more the following winter. Gene Kogan is an artist and a programmer interested in generative systems, computer science, and software for creativity and self-expression. He is a collaborator within numerous open-source software projects, and gives workshops and lectures on topics at the intersection of code and art. In many ways, discussions of AI, now firmly in the mainstream, have only now begun to catch up with the efforts of Kogan, whose most ambitious project is Abraham, an autonomous generative "artist" tasked with creating a new work every day for 13 years. Vanessa Rosa is a Brazilian visual artist and art historian. She creates projects that mix public art, community activities, technological experiments and historical research, though in many ways, her work, which frequently includes or utilizes AI, is firmly grounded in analogue painting. Both Kogan and Rosa are at the forefront of Artificial Intelligence as it relates to creative expression, often collaborating with each other. They understand the complexities, conflicts, and implications inherent in the technology, are fascinated by the tech itself, but perhaps they are most interested in the technology's ability to push notions of intelligence itself forward. Though optimistic, they aren't glib. "Against the backdrop of impending societal collapse," the Mars College website states, "we are studying what we call 'off-grid AI engineering,' the art of being a human in an AI-dominated world."

From growing up with a traveling anthropologist father and a mother devoted to performing arts and special education, Dan J. Gordon has naturally developed a passion for performing arts education. In 2014, he created Gordon Education Initiatives for the Performing Arts to produce educational media for kids with a focus on varying cultural expressions. This nonprofit now has numerous film programs which include, Take the Stage, a bilingual (English/Spanish) educational series on PBS LearningMedia for elementary grades, with its first episode airing on PBS in Houston in 2015. This interactive digital series is free and used widely by educators across the country to teach curriculum through the arts. It was stewarded by Carol-Lynn Parente, a highly-accomplished producer, winning 15 Emmy awards for her work as Executive Producer of Sesame Street and Hero Elementary. Dan's nonprofit also provides 10-week workshops, run by professional creators, bringing the magic of filmmaking to schools and camps where students take part in filming and acting in their original screenplays. On this episode of Good Standing, we dive into Gordon's filmmaking workshops for teenagers in the juvenile justice system, which serve as an intervention strategy, and operate both in Houston, TX and New York City, where Dan splits his time. The initiative found that teenagers who participate discover a positive creative outlet to express themselves and find their voice. At 18 years old, Dan founded The Back Porch Players Theatre Company with a group of friends from the performing arts high school. The company got its start performing on the back porch of Dan's family’s home but after a few summers, the company grew to perform in Houston’s premier theatre venues including Stages Repertory, Main Street Theater and Houston Ballet’s Center for Dance. The Back Porch company produced a number of productions which included Brighton Beach Memoirs, Waiting for Lefty, Moonchildren, Balm In Gilead, Jewtopia, God & Death, In the Blood, Election Day, and Tea and Sympathy. They worked with outstanding directors such as David Rainey, Ann C. James, Robert Ellerman and Jo Alessandro Marks, and received Houston Press Theatre Awards and acclaim from local and regional newspaper publications. Dan’s film, Kaavya, has been selected for numerous international film festivals in 2022. It aired on PBS stations in Texas 2023, and was distributed across the United States to PBS stations in 2024. He is currently working on a documentary featuring Palestinian and Israeli youth.

Dominic Ramos-Ruiz is the founder of Citizenry, a civic discovery and matchmaking platform that uses Artificial Intelligence to connect people with aligned impact organizations in order to help them find focused and meaningful ways to get involved in their communities. Previously, Dominic led U.S. operations for The Conduit, the global community for social impact leaders and investors, where he built cross-sector networks across capital, culture, and social change. Earlier, at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, he worked at the intersection of finance, social entrepreneurship, and community development. As Co-Chair of the New York Fed President’s Advisory Council, he convened senior business and civic leaders to inform monetary policy and advance market-based solutions in low-income communities. Trained as an urban planner, Dominic has built his career inside the systems that shape cities, with experience spanning public agencies, real estate development, sustainability, impact investing, and civic institutions. His work has included partnerships with the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and Enterprise Community Partners, focused on more equitable, resilient, and connected urban growth. He serves on the boards of the Design Trust for Public Space and the American LGBTQ+ Museum, and holds leadership roles with MoMA’s Contemporary Arts Council and The Public Theater. He is also a longtime member of the Urban Land Institute and most recently served on the advisory board of ULI New York. On this episode of Good Standing, Ramos-Ruiz dives further into the minutia of AI as an effective impact tool, how community service opportunities can and should court the online dating crowd, and why civic engagement deserves the same attention and creativity as the arts & culture space.

Jacob Roundtree is a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Economy and Society within the SNF Agora Institute, an academic and public forum at Johns Hopkins University (JHU). The program is fully integrated into the university and operates as a multi-disciplinary center where JHU faculty, students, and researchers study and work to strengthen global democracy and civic engagement. A political theorist by training, now writing on political epistemology, enlightened democratic constitutionalism, and modern intellectual history, Roundtree is currently building the Civic Discourse Network, which seeks to unite similar university extension centers across America in one continuous dialogue and shared civic mission. Jacob received his PhD in political theory from Harvard in 2023, and a BA in philosophy, politics, and economics from Colby College in 2010.  His dissertation is a critical genealogy of the social theories of Hegel and Marx that raises the question of whether freedom is possible in the modern world given the complexity of capitalism and the modern nation-state. Roundtree is especially concerned with the contemporary problems of public ignorance, ideology, propaganda, elite dogmatism, and political polarization. He views these phenomena as the great obstacles to achieving a rational democratic society. Roundtree’s pedagogical approach is designed to help students and citizens combat the epistemic pathologies of present–day politics. He has deployed this approach in a range of courses dealing with the politics of truth, Marxism, German Idealism, Conservatism, race and politics, and the politics of technology. His current book project, "Crisis and Redemption-The Theory of American Democracy," diagnoses the essential source of our problems today as stemming from our collective subordination to oligarchic systems of power and proposes enlightened democratic constitutionalism as a new framework for ordering society that can lead us out of the morass in which we presently find ourselves.

Jason Finder is the Founder of Good Food Works, the food social enterprise incubator launched out of The Doe Fund, a leading New York City non-profit organization model for solving homelessness and criminal recidivism, perhaps best known for their "Ready, Willing & Able" program. Finder's past work in the community includes serving on Bushwick Food Cooperative’s Board of Directors for six years, with three of them as President. His latest venture is "Salad Days," which brings delicious, nutritious, high-quality, affordable salads (GFW's head chef managed Eleven Madison Park's food truck operation) to low-income communities. The simple, seasonal, affordably-priced, Michelin-worthy salads, are largely subsidized by selling at market price to corporate offices and private clients across the New York City area. Salad Days was incubated in Good Food Works after considerable boots-on-the-ground canvassing in communities across the five boroughs, many of them in so-called "food deserts," to determine their specific wants and needs. On this episode of Good Standing, we discuss breaking through stereotypes and presumptions to instead connect at a deeper human level. In an increasingly uncertain economy, good food, but perhaps more importantly, real access to it, will undoubtedly serve as a core foundational component to the healthy future of the United States. Whether you're a staunch MAHA disciple or lining up for Mayor Mamdani's city-run grocery stores, everybody wants and deserves to eat well and feel good.

Edward Poteat is a born-and-raised, New York-based affordable housing advocate, activist, and developer. He is the founder and President of Carthage Advisors (LLC), a leading creator of workforce and affordable housing across the Tri-State and New York City region, working to expand access to quality affordable housing and economic opportunity. Ed, who named his development firm after the city from which the famed general Hannibal hailed, is focused on addressing the long-standing inequities that have disproportionately impacted Black and Brown communities by leveraging the power of the private market to deliver meaningful, lasting change. A Yale graduate and author, he is also an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP), where he teaches graduate courses on affordable housing finance, development, and policy. On this episode of Good Standing, we discuss New York City's debt problems and how Mayor Mamdani could further solve New York's housing issues. General topics are addressed herein, but also, the minutia and often tricky nuance required to bridge complex conversations between what it means to have true empathy for struggling New Yorkers (systemically and/or due to contemporary market forces) and the urgent need to keep NYC from spiraling deeper into debt. From the Marcus Garvey Village project, a massive, recently developed Carthage Advisors endeavor in Harlem, to what Ed would do if afforded a blank check for affordable housing anywhere in the city, this is a brisk primer, courtesy of a real, hands-on expert, for anyone interested in housing in New York City, past, present and future.

Robin Kang is a multidisciplinary artist, weaver, and energy healer. Her work explores the intersection of ancient wisdom, ecological awareness, and technological innovation. For Kang, weaving serves as a bridge between traditional craft and computational processes, envisioning a balance between technology and organic systems. On this special episode of Good Standing, Robin joins Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez, an Indigenous Quechua weaver, spinner, natural dyer, and knitter from Chinchero in the Cusco region of Peru. Along with other Quechua weavers from Chinchero as well as international supporters, Nilda helped to establish the Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco (CTTC - Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco) in 1996 as a nonprofit organization. Since then until the present day, Callañaupa has served as director of the CTTC. She has written four books on Peruvian weaving and has coauthored a third on senior weavers of the Peruvian Andes. Last summer, (July, 2025) Nilda was tapped to consult at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on their pre-Columbian tapestry collection (Art of the Ancient Americas). Coinciding with our companion digital platform (GoodStanding.app), we are offering up authentic, organic textiles made by the Young Weavers on site in Cusco under Nilda's tutelage, in an effort to celebrate (30 years), and to support and raise awareness for CTTC in its mission to preserve its cultural practices and bolster its many special operations in the Sacred Valley. Kang, once more weaving the digital and analogue together into one unique expression, has created custom, artistic coupons for the GS activation, which will act as digital, sharable souvenirs (proof of purchase & support) and will live proudly on user profiles. New Yorkers will be able to pick up their custom textiles in person on June 18th in Manhattan. We will ship goods to those not in NYC. The word "bridge" continues to reappear in all things Good Standing. We can all be a bridge, built in good faith, to bring humanity together as a connected whole, while holding space for unique cultures and their precious, indispensable traditions. We hope you enjoy this episode, and the special sisterhood between Nilda & Robin, which grows stronger with every passing year.

Suhail Arastu is the Director of Advancement for the San Antonio-based nonprofit, Musical Bridges Around the World (MBAW), which promotes global arts and cultural understanding by providing free, world-class musical performances and educational programs to the public. It focuses on serving underserved youth, senior citizens, and military personnel, while expanding horizons, awareness, and empathy for all involved. Arastu attended UC Berkeley, where he double-majored in classics and neurobiology while competing on the university’s nationally ranked gymnastics team. Competing and training internationally exposed Suhail to cultures around the globe. After graduation, he moved to a remote fishing village in northwest Japan for a period of reflection and self-discovery. This time in Japan led to a role with a nongovernmental organization under the United Nations Economic and Social Council, based in Tokyo. His journey to Musical Bridges began in 2010 when he organized a piano recital for a visiting friend from Japan. The overwhelming response caught the attention of Musical Bridges’ founder, Anya Grokhovski, a classically trained Russian pianist, who invited him to join the board. He later became Vice Chair and eventually stepped into a staff role to help lead the organization’s growth. Over 16 years later, Arastu continues to guide the organization’s growth and impact through a wide network of relationships he’s cultivated. On this episode of the Good Standing podcast, we discuss how music-the universal language-has never been more valuable in connecting human beings during a period of increased tribalism, digital dissonance, harsh binary politics, and socio-economic uncertainty. What makes communities resilient and robust? What elements help music, art, or any creative act resonate and endure? Suhail shares his worldly wisdom, humility, and a great sense of humor on this highly informative episode.