If you’re looking for some light and inspiration, this is the episode for you. Anna recently had the chance to have a conversation with Dr. Roxie Hentz, the founder and CEO of CEOs of Tomorrow, a nonprofit organization that offers social entrepreneurship workshops and courses to young innovators and problem solvers inspired to shape their world. 

Visit CEOsofTomorrow.com for information about the organization as well as Dr. Hentz' book "It’s my Business: Inspiring Students’ Ideas for a Better Community."  

Rita Mae Reese is an award-winning poet and author whose work has received a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer's Award, a Stegner fellowship, and a "Discovery"/The Nation prize. If that was not enough, Reese is also the Literary Arts Director at Arts + Literature Laboratory, a community-driven contemporary non-profit arts organization supporting the visual, literary, music and performing arts based in Madison, Wisconsin. 

Visit ritamaereese.com and artlitlab.org for more info. 

Anna was able to speak with Amie Hoag, assistant director of communications and annual giving at the Goodman Community Center in Madison. If you are not already familiar with Goodman, it is a local nonprofit that offers a huge amount of support, services, and programming that is available to people in the Madison community.

Visit goodmancenter.org for more info and you can follow them on Twitter at @GoodmanCenterWI

Anna had the chance to speak with Dane County Circuit Court Judge Everett Mitchell. Judge Mitchell’s previous roles include assistant district attorney in Dane County and director of community relations at UW Madison. As he serves on the bench today, Judge Mitchell is also lead pastor at Christ The Solid Rock Baptist Church.  

Facebook @ Christ The Solid Rock Baptist Church

In this episode, we focus on this moment of opportunity for change. Anna has two conversations with Wisconsin community leaders about organizing, teamwork, and what comes next in creating social equity and racial justice in our society.  

First, Anna speaks with Dwight D. Williamson, Jr., an organizer with Black Lives Matter in Milwaukee. Then, Angela Lang, Executive Director of BLOC (Black Leaders Organizing for Communities) joins Anna for a wide-ranging dialogue.

Visit www.blocbybloc.org for more information.

We are living in a very frightening and unusual time. For that reason I was so glad to have the chance to talk with our guest in this episode who has a calm and reassuring presence as well as much wisdom to share. Kelly Hora owns and operates Bluestem Acupuncture in Madison.In this episode, we have a wide-ranging conversation about how she stumbled into her profession and her practical tips for getting through this strange moment.

For more about Bluestem Acupuncture: madison-acupuncture.com 

Connecting through art is essential now more than almost any other time. Our guest in this episode is Jonathan Solari, the CEO of Madison Ballet. Jonathan is leading an organization that’s doing everything possible to serve the needs of our community with what they do best; creating beauty in life through performance. Anna first met Jonathan a couple of years ago through the new leader’s council fellowship program, which they completed in the summer of 2018. He is a great example of thoughtful leadership and we hope you learn a lot from his approach. 

To learn more about classes and other ways to support Madison Ballet, visit madisonballet.org.

It was not long ago -- although it feels like forever! -- that the coronavirus caught us all by surprise, shifting our lives in a new direction. Many of us are struggling to find meaningful ways to use our time in quarantine. In this bonus episode, we had the opportunity to talk with a man at the center of a new Facebook group called Dane County Neighbors Helping Neighbors, which demonstrates the best of our community. 

This is the decade to deliver on sustainability, that is what all of the experts are saying. In this episode, we learn what it means for the local community in Dane County Wisconsin.  Claire Oleksiak is Executive Director of Sustain Dane, a nonprofit organization that serves Madison and the rest of Dane County by inspiring, connecting and supporting individuals and larger groups to reach sustainable solutions. Just before social distancing became our way of life, we caught up with her at their office to talk about a wide range of topics that have a huge impact on the future of the community. 

To learn more about Sustain Dane, visit Sustaindane.org 

Back in late February, before all of our lives changed due to a global pandemic, I had the distinct pleasure of talking to Tehmina Islam. She is a Madison based Certified Professional Midwife with a strong passion for consent centered care. We recorded the following conversation, which touched on many things including her unique style of treating pregnant people, their bodies, and their babies. You can find out more about Tehmina and her services at accessmidwiferywi.org.