Into the Mix

Welcome to Into The Mix, a Ben & Jerry’s podcast about joy and justice. 

This season, we’re swirling up inspiring stories from progressive heroes. People who didn’t set out to be activists, but found themselves stepping up for something bigger than themselves. 

You'd think challenging the publishing industry would take the combined efforts of writers, publishers, and activists. Instead, one ten-year-old (now twenty one) sparked the conversation. Marley Dias was ten when she looked at the books being assigned in her school and noticed that girls who looked like her were almost nowhere to be found. She didn't wait for someone else to fix it. She launched #1000BlackGirlBooks — a campaign to collect and distribute books featuring Black girls as the main character — and what started as a three-month project became an international movement that put diverse books into the hands of children around the world. Now a Harvard graduate with her own books out, Marley has grown her work from fighting for representation to transforming the systems that prevented it in the first place.

Marley joins Ashley C. Ford on Into the Mix, a Ben & Jerry's podcast to talk about representation, resistance, and what it looks like to rewrite the rules from the inside.

Want to get involved?

Pledge to fight for your First Amendment rights with Ben & Jerry’s and the ACLU.

Follow Marley Dias and learn more about the #1000BlackGirlBooks

Order Marley's new book “I Am The Dream Come True” 

Support the Grassroots Community Foundation in rebuilding the Saint James Parish Library in Jamaica

Music provided by Shearaton Carter: Slow Season, Epidemic Sound. Custom Music by: Rondell Patterson.

Welcome to Into The Mix, a Ben & Jerry’s podcast about joy and justice. 

This season, we’re swirling up inspiring stories from progressive heroes. People who didn’t set out to be activists, but found themselves stepping up for something bigger than themselves. 

When you think of sustainability and social justice, you might not think of a Vermont soccer team leading the charge. With the professional sports industry generating roughly 350 million tons of carbon every year, most pro teams don’t even put sustainability on the bench. But what if sports could be fun and score big for sustainability and social justice? Not as a tagline or a charitable add-on but structurally: in how it runs, how it travels, what it does with its waste, its relationship with the community it plays for, and what it asks of the people who wear its jersey. Vermont Green Football Club became an answer to those questions.

Patrick Infurna, co-founder of the 2025 championship-winning Vermont FC joins Ashley C. Ford on Into the Mix, a Ben & Jerry's podcast about joy and justice to talk about environmental justice, compassionate masculinity, social justice and what it looks like to build true community.

Want to support the work of Vermont Green FC? You can follow them here. 

Support the Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund.

And check out Vermont Green FC’s partnership with Vermont Works for Women.

Music provided by Shearaton Carter: Slow Season, Epidemic Sound. Custom Music by: Rondell Patterson.

A new season of Into The Mix, a Ben & Jerry’s podcast about joy and justice, is back! Hosted by Ashley C. Ford, we’re bringing you inspiring stories from unexpected heroes. People who didn’t set out to be activists, but found themselves stepping up for something bigger than themselves. Like a singer/songwriter whose music headlines protests; an award-winning journalist whose story of being undocumented is changing how journalists discuss immigration; a WNBA champion who is using her influence to fight cannabis injustice and so much more. Tune in weekly to experience  these amazing stories of courage, creativity, joy and justice.

Antonio and other business owners in Florida sued the state after the Stop WOKE Act was signed, and won. What does that mean for the future of the act, and for business owners in the state?

In our final episode of the season, we’re taking a deep dive into the fraught conversation of D.E.I., the “war on woke,” and what it really takes to dismantle white supremacy. 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is on a mission to curb conversations about race, diversity, and inequity of all shades. He’s banned books, trainings, and classes. He’s introduced laws and attacked businesses of all sizes. 

But why? What is the motivation behind the so-called “War on Woke” and where do we go from here?

According to Antonio McBroom, a day without dessert is a disaster. So it makes sense that he’s now an ice cream entrepreneur, slinging scoops of Ben & Jerry’s up and down the Florida coast. 

At the core of Antonio’s business model is leadership training and mentorship for all of his scoop shop managers. So when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis introduced the Stop WOKE act in 2021, he had two options: immediately halt training on diversity, equity and bias, or face potential legal action from the state. 

In the final mini-series of this season, we’re heading to Florida to learn how the Stop WOKE act has censored businesses, chilled critical conversations about equity, and spurred business owners like Antonio to fight back.

We'll be back in November with our final mini-series of this season which delves into Florida's War on Woke and the ongoing fight to protect diversity, equity and inclusion programs. In the meantime, listen to some of our past episodes of Into the Mix. To learn more about how to support communities in Florida impacted by hurricane Milton, visit HERE.

Ms. Livvy’s heroic efforts to protect voting rights have come at a cost. Her health has suffered, and she’s tired. But she knows there’s more work to do, especially with the November election on the very near horizon.

In our final episode from Georgia, we’re diving into why your vote matters, why it’s a fundamental right, and the key ingredient to sustaining the fight for voting rights: joy.

Learn more at benjerry.com/vote and get involved with Black Voters Matter here.

Ms. Livvy has watched as Georgia has become ground zero for voter suppression efforts. Laws that wipe people from the polls are popping up left and right, all claiming to curb so-called voter fraud… even though studies have shown over and over again that rates of voter fraud are between 0.0003 percent and 0.0025 percent.

Here’s what is a real issue: voter suppression. And as we get ready to cast our votes in November, the best way to make sure our election is representative of the country is to ensure that everyone who’s eligible can vote. Here’s how you can help. 

Learn more at benjerry.com/vote and get involved with Black Voters Matter here.

Voters in Coffee County, Georgia have another name for this place: Crooked Coffee, where elections officials have waged war on voters of color for decades. 

So residents weren't shocked when their tiny community made national headlines following the January 6th attack on the Capitol, after members of the GOP there allegedly allowed Trump associates to copy software and other sensitive digital elections materials in the days following the 2020 election. It was the latest chapter in the long story of so-called voter fraud in this small, majority-Black county – and Olivia Coley Pearson is tired. 

Ms. Livvy, as she’s known in the community, is the descendant of a local voting rights hero, and she’s committed her life to furthering her mother’s legacy of fighting back against intimidation and suppression of voters of color, even as those attacks grow more personal. We’re headed to Georgia to meet Ms. Livvy in action, and to learn how she fought back against bogus voter fraud charges. 

Learn more at benjerry.com/vote and get involved with Black Voters Matter here.