Ep. 72 — She went from a childhood filled with fears to becoming a fearless stunt performer and wilderness adventurer / Alice Ford, stunt actor and producer/host of “Alice’s Adventures.”

Alice Ford has had a long and evolving relationship with fear. An all-star gymnast, athlete, track and field runner, and diver, Ford’s life path came to a dead-end one day after she gave up her prestigious athletic scholarship from the University of Vermont and moved to the University of Arizona, to escape the cold. But instead, she wound up getting a whole lot of heat from some members of a drug cartel (tied to her then-boyfriend, who was dealing drugs) who ransacked her home one day but left her and her dog unharmed. It took that incident and several other wake-ups call to get her life on track and get back in touch with her athleticism and gymnastics roots to build a successful career in the world of stunt acting and get back in touch with her love of nature.

Today, Ford is one of the industry’s most up-and-coming female leads, working with directors such as Michael Bey in action-packed movies including “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” and Star Wars, suffering numerous injuries and concussions in the course of her work, which was one factor along with her love of nature, in building a parallel career track as a wildlife adventurer.

Ford is producing and starring in a television series, “Alice Ford’s: World Heritage Adventures.” And she also stars in her own YouTube channel called “Alice Ford Adventures,” where she hosts travel videos from her many hikes and climbs around the globe, bringing her full circle in her evolving relationship with both fear and nature.

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If you liked this episode, do check out these other episodes:

Ep. 68. He survived a near-fatal shooting by ex-wife-hired-hitman / Garrett Warren, Stunt Actor/Director

Ep. 69. A battered cop proves her mettle during the Jan. 6th riots / Officer Caroline Edwards, USCP

Ep. 67. He built a successful startup while battling bipolar disorder / Andy Dunn, Author, “Burn Rate”

Ep. 65. Mexican gangsters faked avocado purchase to launder ransom payment / Patrick Struebi, Fairtrasa

Ep. 63. Held hostage by drug lord reveals the best and worst of humanity / Francisco Santos Calderón

Ep. 61. Heroism, activism, reconciliation with nature / Jerry White, Nobel laureate, landmine survivor

On March 7, 2022, The front page of the New York Times ran a graphic photograph that summed up the tragic cost of Russia’s war on innocent Ukrainian civilians. It was a photograph of a mother, her two children, and a church volunteer crumpled to the ground. They were the victims of a Russian mortar attack on civilians as they attempted to flee over the Irpin River to Kyiv. The photo, which was was taken by the Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario, sent shock-waves throughout the world.

Capturing that image also put Lynsey Addario in grave danger, something that she has confronted many times over during her more than two-decade career as one of the most accomplished war-photographers in the world.

Addario has had boots on the ground in Ukraine since the begining of the Russian invasion. And, as we near the one year anniversary of the war, she describes the toll of the conflict on Ukrainian civilians and reflects on the personal cost of covering conflict.

Ukraine is just one of the war zones that Addario has traveled in and out of, on assignment for The New York Times, National Geographic, and other publications for more than two decades.

In 2015, American Photo Magazine named Addario as one of the five most influential photographers of the past 25 years, saying she changed the way we saw the world’s conflicts.

I spoke with Addario when she made a brief stop in Washington DC on November 3rd to receive the prestigious Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation.

This is my third conversation with the fearless Addario. To hear her personal story of how she became a photojournalist, how she covers major conflicts, how she survived a violent kidnapping in Libya, and why she does the work she does, do check out my previous interview with Addario on my leadership podcast, When It Mattered, Episode 35. It’s an incredible story. And do listen to Addario’s previous appearance on Techtopia, Episode 18, as she reflects on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and the aftermath of the chaotic pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

Check out this 🎙️Youtube Democracy Playlist!

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👂Contact Chitra & Link to Podcast Platforms

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When It Mattered:

🎙️70. A protector of U.S. nukes evaluates Putin’s nuclear threats / Maj Gen Robert Wheeler, USAF (ret)

🎙️ Ep. 60. Putin laid his cards on the table years before the Ukraine invasion / Gen. James Jones, USMC

🎙️ Ep. 66. Distinguished diplomat reclaims her narrative / Marie Yovanovitch, “Lessons from the Edge”

Techtopia:

🎙️ Ep. 29. How drones, crypto, and satellites are changing the future of war / Thomas Frey & Trent Fowler

🎙️ Ep. 26. Technology is rewiring Ukraine’s narrative / Alex Deane & Bryan Cunningham

Do check out these related articles in SWAAY

✍️  A “Genuine Badass”: How Marie Yovanovitch Reclaimed Her Narrative and Reputation

✍️  The Incredible, Indomitable Super-Survivors of Ukraine

✍️  Refugees in the Shadows: A Viral Insights Column on War, Displacement, and Super-Survivors

Thanks for Listening! 

Ep. 71 —  A failed apprentice farmer turns into a renowned futurist / Thomas Frey, Founder and Executive Director, DaVinci Institute & Co-host, Futurati Podcast.

Born on a grain farm in South Dakota, Thomas Frey was an unlikely candidate to become a world-renowned futurist and public speaker. But then one day, when he was four years old, Frey’s parents received a big mysterious box that would change his life forever.

His mom put him on a tractor at age 11 to distract him from the television but Frey would prove to be, in his own words, a “terrible farmer”—because his mind was always elsewhere. In fact, it was in the future. And that’s where it has stayed ever since.

I was delighted to have a deep conversation with Thomas Frey on the future of the world. He’s currently the founder and Executive Director of the DaVinci Institute & Co-host of the Futurati Podcast, with Trent Fowler. 

Over the past decade, Frey has built an enormous following around the world based on his ability to develop accurate visions of the future and describe the opportunities ahead. Before launching the DaVinci Institute, Frey spent 15 years at IBM as an engineer and designer where he received over 270 awards, more than any other IBM engineer. And if that isn’t proof that he’s no slacker, Frey also is a past member of the Triple Nine Society (the High I.Q. society for those over the 99.9th percentile).

If you liked this episode, check out these other episodes:

🎙️Techtopia:

29. How drones, crypto, and satellites are changing the face of war / Thomas Frey & Trent Fowler

28. How Artificial Intelligence is transforming the craft of writing / Iman Oubou, “The Glass Ledge”

27. North Korean hacks complicate USG’s crypto-security efforts / Carole House, NSC, The White House

26. Technology is rewiring Ukraine’s narrative / Alex Deane & Bryan Cunningham

24. What does IRS Criminal Investigation do? / James Robnett, Deputy Chief, IRS (CI)

21. Can machines replace humans? / Courtney Bowman, Palantir Technologies

12. Grandson remembers a “Flying Saucer Pilgrimage” / Bryan Cunningham, UC, Irvine

13. Astrophysicist searches for aliens / Adam Frank, University of Rochester

🎙️When It Mattered:

67. He built a successful startup while battling bipolar disorder / Andy Dunn, Author, “Burn Rate”

62. Machines are the new patrons of artists / Agnieszka Pilat, Conceptual artist

55. Great-granddaughter of a SciFi pioneer spots a UFO / Alex Dietrich, US Navy

38. Father’s gift and brother’s illness led him to crypto / Joey Krug, Pantera Capital, Augur.

30. Acting class led her to build social robots / Heather Knight, Oregon State University.

28. Dermatologist breaks mold in medicine, sports, Silicon Valley / Dr. Michelle Longmire, Medable

21. Disenchanted doctor finds secret inspiration in heroin addict / Dr. Andrew Lees, Neurologist

6. Martial arts contest gives polymath life lesson / Dr. Shawna Pandya, Citizen-Scientist Astronaut

Ep. No. 70 — He built a career path at the age of eight to become a U.S. Air Force combat pilot and safe-keeper of U.S. nuclear weapons / Maj Gen Robert Wheeler, USAF (ret), CEO, Strategic Consulting Unlimited. 

When Robert Wheeler was just 8 years old, his mother took him to the Chicago Air Show. It changed his life. From that moment on, Wheeler became obsessed with an unwavering goal: To become a U.S. fighter pilot. 

Wheeler more than fulfilled his dream. During his 32-year career in the U.S. Air Force, he served as a combat pilot in the B-52 and B-2, earning more than 5,000 flight hours and seven operational commands, including Wing Commands in the two largest bomber wings in the Air Force. 

Wheeler also served as the Deputy Director for Nuclear Operations, U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. As such, he served as the principal adviser to the commander on issues pertaining to strategic deterrence and nuclear operations. He served as the command’s principal flag officer responsible for management and oversight of the nuclear enterprise. He retired in March 2016.

Major General Wheeler’s decorated career in the military culminated in his role as DOD Deputy Chief Information Officer for Information Infrastructure and Command, Control, Communications/Computers (C4), at the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon. 

In these critical roles, Wheeler obtained a wealth of knowledge about the ways of Vladimir Putin and has some key insights into the trajectory of the Russian President’s invasion of Ukraine and Ukraine’s surge of wins in the ground game in recent weeks. And he offers sobering insights into Putin’s threats to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine if pushed too far against the wall. 

Thanks for Listening.

👍 Please Subscribe and give a Thumbs Up!  

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👂Contact Chitra & Link to Podcast Platforms 

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When It Mattered:

🎙️ Ep. 60. Putin laid his cards on the table years before the Ukraine invasion / Gen. James Jones, USMC

🎙️ Ep. 66. Distinguished diplomat reclaims her narrative / Marie Yovanovitch, “Lessons from the Edge”

Techtopia:

🎙️ Ep. 29. How drones, crypto, and satellites are changing the future of war / Thomas Frey & Trent Fowler

🎙️ Ep. 26. Technology is rewiring Ukraine’s narrative / Alex Deane & Bryan Cunningham

Do check out these related articles in SWAAY

✍️  The Incredible, Indomitable Super-Survivors of Ukraine

✍️  A “Genuine Badass”: How Marie Yovanovitch Reclaimed Her Narrative and Reputation

✍️  Refugees in the Shadows: A Viral Insights Column on War, Displacement, and Super-Survivors

Ep. No. 69  —  A battered, bloodied, police officer proves her mettle during the January 6th insurrection on the U.S. Capitol / Officer Caroline Edwards, U.S. Capitol Police (USCP).

Officer Caroline Edwards of the U.S. Capitol Police’s First Responder Unit reported for duty on January 6, 2021, along with her colleagues, with little warning from her supervisors about the clear and present danger of extreme violence and the potential use of firearms from the angry pro-Trump mob descending on the Capitol that morning.

Officer Edwards is believed to be the first law enforcement officer injured by the rioters as she attempted to protect the west front of the Capitol.

But despite being knocked unconscious, suffering from a concussion, and getting bear-sprayed and pepper-sprayed, Edwards recovered enough to rush to the aid of her fellow officers who were in grave danger from the violent crowd.

This June, Officer Edwards testified about her ordeal before the Select Committee investigating the January 6th attacks.

In this dramatic interview, Edwards describes what happened on January 6th and her long and painful recovery from her injuries and trauma. And she reveals how she always wanted to be a police officer but held back for years from fulfilling her dream because she thought she wasn’t physically up to the job. She certainly proved her mettle and learned just how tough she is on the day of the riots.

I’m so grateful to Officer Edwards for sharing her incredible story of courage and resilience and those of her fellow officers. They rushed to her aid on January 6th, and she, in turn, reciprocated in full measure to help save them, despite her severe injuries, when they were overrun by the violent mob intent on overturning the results of the 2020 presidential elections at the behest of outgoing-President Donald Trump.

If you would like to donate to the U.S.Capitol Police Memorial Fund, please click here.

Thanks so much for listening!

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If you liked this episode please, check out these other great episodes!

🎙️When It Mattered:

Ep. 56. Retired cop learns his job has just begun / Thomas Manger, USCP

Ep. 66. Distinguished diplomat reclaims her narrative / Marie Yovanovitch, “Lessons from the Edge”

🎙️Techtopia:

Ep. 1. Technology is fueling conspiracy theories / Joseph Coohill, Professor Buzzkill

Ep. 2. How should the USG fight domestic terrorism and radicalization? / Anne Speckhard, ICSVE

Ep. 5. Women and the alt-right/white nationalist movement / Seyward Darby, Author, Sisters in Hate

Ep. 8. Countering QAnon, human trafficking, and disinformation-extremism / Anjana Rajan, Polaris

Ep. 9. Journalism, fake news, and the disinformation era / Marcus Brauchli, North Base Media Media

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Russia’s war on Ukraine has turned a lot of assumptions about the fundamental nature and trajectory of how wars are fought, on its head.

For one thing, Ukraine’s strong defense has upended conventional wisdom about big powers being able to violate at will the sovereignty of little powers.

Technology, in particular, drones, has also leveled the playing field in unique ways.

The emergence of cryptocurrency, both as a means to fund the war and the relief efforts, raises all kinds of interesting questions about the ability to enforce sanctions and bypass the traditional financing of wars with alternate means.

I had a great discussion about these and other topics with Thomas Frey, and Trent Fowler, who have been giving a lot of thought to the future of war.

Frey is the founder and Executive Director of the DaVinci Institute and co-host of the Futurati Podcast. Over the past decade, he has built an enormous following around the world based on his ability to develop accurate visions of the future and describe the opportunities ahead.

Trent Fowler is a machine learning engineer, keynote speaker, and co-host of the Futurati Podcast.

Please like, rate, review, and subscribe to my new YouTube channel!

https://www.youtube.com/c/ChitraRagavan

If you liked this episode, please check out these other episodes!

🎙️Breakfast with Putin 

🎙️Distinguished diplomat reclaims her narrative

🎙️Heroism, activism, reconciliation with nature

🎙️What does IRS Criminal Investigation Do?

🎙️Are NFTs overhyped?

🎙️Father’s gift and brother’s illness led him to crypto 

🎙️What’s driving the bitcoin mania?

Ep. 68 — He survived a near-fatal shooting by a hitman hired by his ex-wife to become one of Hollywood’s top stuntmen / Garrett Warren, Stunt Actor/Director.

On May 20, 2000, Hollywood stuntman Garrett Warren was hanging out at his home in Westlake Village, California with his mom when the doorbell rang insistently.

When Warren opened the door, he found himself facing the barrel of a gun. What happened next was not a stunt scene with fake bullets. Warren was shot four times, including in his right eye, and left to die on his front porch.

The gunman fled the scene but not before he shot at Warren’s mother twice, missing narrowly, after she came to the door to see what all the commotion was about.

Warren miraculously survived the attack but lost his right eye. His ex-wife, Claudio Haro, former wife of actor Joe Pesci, plead not guilty but was implicated in the attempted murder plot and sentenced to 12 years and four months in prision.

Since then, Warren has gone on to become an immensely successful stunt performer, stunt double, fight coordinator, and unit director in major movies including Avatar, Mission Impossible III, the X-Men movies,  Logan, IronMan 2, Agents of SHIELD, and Spider-Man 2, to name just a few.

He has taught martial arts and fight choreography to such celebrities as Jessica Alba, Jada Pinkett Smith, John Travolta, and Dwayne Johnson, a.k.a., “The Rock,” and is a personal trainer to many stars.

I learned a wealth of information about the world of stunt choreography through my fascinating conversation with Garrett Warren and I know you will too!

If you liked this episode, check out these other episodes:

Ep. 65. Mexican gangsters faked avocado purchase to launder ransom payment / Patrick Struebi, Fairtrasa

Ep. 63. Held hostage by a drug lord reveals the best and worst of humanity / Francisco Cantos Calderón / Former Vice President of Colombia

Ep. 61. Heroism, activism, reconciliation with nature / Jerry White, Nobel laureate, landmine survivor

Ep. 14. Terrifying robbery and kidnapping reveals what truly matters in life / Stanley Alpert, Attorney

Ep. 67  — He built a successful startup while waging a life-threatening battle against bipolar disorder / Andy Dunn, Co-founder, Bonobos, and Author, “Burn Rate: Launching A Startup And Losing My Mind.”

Andy Dunn would never have predicted that he would wind up naked and writhing on the floor of Bellevue Hospital’s psychiatric Emergency Room in New York — in the throes of a massive bipolar episode. Nor that when he would be released from Bellevue a week later, he would be arrested on charges of assaulting his then-girlfriend -now-wife, and her mother.

That night in 2016 was a spectacular fall from grace for Andy Dunn, then the CEO and co-founder of the massively successful e-commerce-driven menswear brand, Bonobos.

It was the most consequential but not the first time that Dunn had wound up in terrible situations during his nearly-two-decade battle against bipolar disorder.  All the while, he was leading and scaling Bonobos, which he ultimately sold to Walmart.

Dunn writes about his struggle with bipolar disorder in unsparing detail in his new critically acclaimed bestseller, “Burn Rate: Launching a Startup and Losing My Mind.”

In riveting parallel narratives, Dunn uses his own relentlessly-cyclical battles against hypomania and depression, the hallmarks of bipolar disorder or manic depression as it used to be called,  to place tech startup founders under an unsparing lens as he explores the prevalence of mental illness in Silicon Valley.

And he brilliantly parses the fine line between inspired genius and megalomania which are common traits among these exponentially successful entrepreneurs.

Thanks for Listening.

If you liked this episode, do check out these other episodes from When It Mattered:

Ep. 50. Great career despite insurmountable obstacles / Leigh Steinberg, Steinberg Sports

Ep. 21. Disenchanted doctor finds secret inspiration in heroin addict / Dr. Andrew Lees, Neurologist

Ep. 37. Tumultuous childhood led to career in human behavior / Nicole Fisher, HHR Strategies

Ep. No. 66 — Fired by President Donald Trump, a distinguished diplomat helps impeach him and reclaims her narrative / Marie Yovanovitch, Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine and author, “Lessons from the Edge”.

On April 24, 2019, in the dead of night, with no explanation, Marie Yovanovitch got a call from the U.S State Department, essentially removing her immediately from her post as Ambassador to Ukraine.

A few days later, back in Washington DC — a shell-shocked Yovanovitch learned the extraordinary details of why she had been fired from her job and that the man behind it was none other than her boss, President Donald Trump.

After the shock wore off, Ambassador Yovanovitch decided to fight back. Pilloried by the right-wing media, she publicly testified in Congress under oath during Trump’s impeachment hearings, resulting in his first of two impeachments.

Yovanovitch has written a fascinating new memoir called “Lessons from the Edge,”  in which she systematically lays out the months-long attempts by Trump and his cronies to ruin her reputation and subvert democracy using a foreign power, Ukraine. And she describes how she seized back her narrative from the former president.

As Congressional hearings cast new light on Trump’s last-ditch efforts to stay in power — culminating in the January 6, 2021 riots in the US Capitol by his supporters — I’m so honored to welcome the former US Ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch.

If you liked this episode, please check out these other episodes:

When It Mattered:

60. Putin laid his cards on the table years before Ukraine invasion / Gen. James Jones, USMC 

56. Retired cop learns his job has just begun / Thomas Manger, US Capitol Police

15. Big-time political advisor returns to his small-town roots, finds urgent new cause /James Carville

Techtopia:

26. Technology is re-wiring Ukraine’s narrative / Alex Deane and Bryan Cunningham