In this Ready Living Podcast episode, Kimberly Haley-Coleman, founder and Executive Director of Globe Aware, reveals how short-term international volunteer vacations can transform communities and reshape the way people see the world and their place in it.

She talks about the importance of “soft power,” the quiet influence of relationships formed through dignity, trust, and shared labor, and why these can counter fear and dehumanization in ways policy alone cannot.

Active in over twenty-five counties, Globe Aware’s service experiences are centered around local leadership and helping in ways most beneficial to the people living there, with volunteers working alongside communities as equals.

By participating in daily life with local community members, the volunteers themselves often undergo transformations that shift assumptions which they then share with others back home.

In addition to her work at Globe Aware, Kimberly is a Southern Methodist University Guest Lecturer, recipient of the Texas Business Hall of Fame Award and long-time Hall of Fame member, Chairman of the Executive Board for the International Volunteer Programs Association, and actively engaged with organizations like the Building Bridges Coalition and United Nations ESOC Consultative Status Committee. She holds a BA from Emory University, an MA in Art History, and an MBA in International Business.

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In this Ready Living Podcast episode, microplastics researcher and science communicator Dana Zhaxylykova talks about the prevalence and dangers of microplastics in our everyday lives. She explains how they move through water, air, soil, and food systems, are embedded in products people might never suspect, and are now found virtually everywhere on Earth.

She bridges the gap between cutting-edge science and everyday life through her Instagram account, where she translates complex research into accessible insights that offer practical, realistic steps people can take to reduce plastic exposure in their own personal environments.

She also shares findings from her co-authored peer-reviewed research published in Marine Pollution Bulletin.

Dana is the co-founder of Microplastic Free, a free app that helps people identify microplastics in common products, discover safer alternatives, and advocate for systemic change through petitions and policy awareness.

Her work has been featured on the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, and PBS, and in Elle.

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In this Ready Living Podcast episode, Viktorya Vilk, PEN America’s Director for Digital Safety and Free Expression, describes the authoritarian playbook being deployed to hollow out democratic institutions.

She reveals how attacks on the media and journalism are intertwined with assaults on higher education, cultural institutions, libraries, and other entities using tactics designed to silence others, erode trust in truth, and pressure them to obey in advance.

She makes a resounding case for why press freedom matters. Independent journalism, especially local reporting, is essential for keeping government and corporations accountable. Defending journalism is a concrete necessity for informed, resilient communities.

She also delves into one of the most pervasive threats facing writers, journalists, scholars, and activists today: online abuse. She breaks down what digital intimidation, coordinated harassment, doxing, and swatting look like, explaining that online attacks are often fueled by organized networks, bots, and even foreign actors, with platforms’ policy rollbacks making these dangers worse. However, she also offers practical guidance on what individuals can do to protect themselves and how to survive an online attack, including doxxing.

Viktorya’s commitment to this work is deeply personal. Her family fled the Soviet Union when Ukraine was still under its control, escaping an authoritarian regime that brutally suppressed free expression. She witnessed how writers and artists risked their lives to tell the truth. That history informs her work at PEN America.

This episode reminds listeners that press freedom is a shared responsibility, and that the right to speak and express oneself freely are inseparable from protecting democracy itself.

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Christy Hunter didn’t follow a traditional blueprint for entrepreneurship. What began as a deep love for photography, fashion, and storytelling grew into a brand now enjoyed by thousands of travelers each year.

In this Ready Living Podcast episode, the CEO and founder of Photowalk Nashville and co-founder of Photowalk Your Travel reveals how she turned a single camera into a business rooted in connection, experience, and fun, all without massive resources or investors.

Her lifelong fascination with beauty, bold color, and history shapes not just her photography, but the entire identity of her brand. From the way she sees people to the way she designs experiences, her approach illustrates how a clear aesthetic and point of view can become a powerful business asset.

Along the way, she learned the importance of intention, in her case combining creative instincts with the right structural framework to create a business that supports both meaningful work and a life she genuinely enjoys.

Christy’s entrepreneurial journey is a reminder of what’s possible when keeping an eye out for opportunity and when success isn’t defined by “hustle culture” but by building a business that fuels the life you want to live.

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In this Ready Living Podcast episode, sustainability and technology leader Tom Raftery pulls back the curtain on the myth that renewable energy isn't powerful enough to fuel the world’s future.

He exposes the forces behind this engineered narrative, why it persists, and calls for accountability on part of fossil fuel companies, their financial enablers, and the public relations firms that have spent decades manufacturing doubt about climate science.

He explains how terms like “clean coal” and “renewable natural gas” were deliberately created to sanitize harmful emissions, while the concept of “personal carbon footprint” was invented to shift responsibility away from major emitters.

And although individuals’ choices matter, he argues that they pale in comparison to the need for structural change, public-sector leadership, and accountability on part of the wealthiest 1% whose emissions surpass those of millions.

He also talks about the geopolitical and economic forces shaping the future of energy, highlighting the explosive global growth of renewables, particularly China’s extraordinary clean-tech industrialization, which contrasts with the United States’ recent retreat from climate leadership.

Rich in data and sharply drawn analogies, he explains what the real numbers reveal about clean power’s increasing rise and why the economic case for renewable energy has never been stronger. 

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In this Ready Living Podcast episode, writer Melissa Rodway recounts how she immersed herself in wild, unpredictable, and often hilarious adventures during her four months traveling through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and China at age 35. The weekly emails sent from internet cafés to friends and family back home formed the basis of her new book The People You Meet: Luxury, Leeches, Love, and Lao-Lao With a Host of Interest.

She shares how she survived a 3-day jungle trek in Laos with leeches climbing onto her pants and shirt, participated in Thailand’s Songkran Festival (“the craziest water fight you could ever imagine”), and learned the hard way that hydrofoils can cause mass seasickness in passengers.

She also explores what it means to travel responsibly when visiting other countries and communities.

She notes that travel is a privilege, not a right, urges people to observe with sensitivity and respect, approach every interaction with curiosity rather than entitlement, and engage in ways that honor the humanity of the communities they visit.

She highlights how travel is a powerful teacher, exposing us to different ways and rhythms of life, and how unexpected challenges can clarify our relationships to material things, comfort, and control. She reflects on the deep happiness and generosity she has witnessed in places with fewer material resources.  

Her experience hiking in the Dolomites with travelers in their seventies and backpacking with older explorers who embraced life with the spirit of twenty-year-olds taught her that adventuring belongs to people of all ages, especially with technology makes exploring safer and easier than ever.

Packed with practical advice, Melissa reminds us that travel isn’t just about the places you go, it’s about the people you meet, the limits you push, and the parts of yourself you uncover far from home.

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In this Ready Living Podcast episode, board-certified music therapist Dr. Jennifer Sokira offers an insider’s look into music therapy’s ability to transform lives.

Renowned internationally for her trauma-informed expertise and work with the Sandy Hook community, she has devoted her career to helping support people through life’s biggest and most complex challenges.

She explains how music reaches parts of us that words alone cannot, activating regions of the brain that impact memories, connection, and emotional regulation, and reveals how it’s been part of human wellbeing and cultural identity for thousands of years.

She shares how music therapy is a clinical discipline grounded in a triadic relationship between the client, the therapist, and the music itself, which, in expertly-trained hands, becomes a catalyst for deep emotional growth. She adds insights from real-world examples ranging from neonatal intensive care units to school settings, private practice, and trauma recovery programs, highlighting music therapy’s extraordinary breadth.

She emphasizes that every human is inherently musical through their heartbeat, breath, rhythm, and the natural melody in everyday communication, helping break down the misconception that music therapy is only for musically-talented individuals. She also suggests self-care strategies such as mindful playlist creation and tuning in to how music affects one’s emotional state. 

As a clinician, educator, and leader in the field, as well as owner and CEO of Connecticut Music Therapy Services and founder of EnlightenCE, she stresses the importance of trauma-informed care, the responsibility practitioners carry in helping their clients navigate anxiety, painful memories, or grief, and the profound honor of walking beside clients during some of the most important moments of their lives.

She is deeply committed to advancing the profession, training future clinicians, and ensuring that communities, whether recovering from trauma or simply seeking support, have access to qualified, compassionate music therapists.

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Drawing from his debut book The Seven Rules of Trust, Internet entrepreneur and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales delves into why trust is essential to a well-functioning society.

He argues that the erosion of trust, spanning government, media, technology, and industry, has become a national crisis that’s destabilized personal and public life alike. Fueled by partisanship, sensationalism, and algorithms, we’re mired in an environment where division is rewarded and nuance often punished.

He says trust must be deliberately built, actively defended, and lived every day — and offers a roadmap for making that happen.

He invites everyone to start where they are and model civility in public life and online spaces, reward honesty even when it’s inconvenient, seek out perspectives that challenge their own, and demand accountability from leaders, the media, and platforms that shape public discourse.

Highlighting the human side of trust, he reminds us that people are born to connect, and that civility is not a sign of weakness but of strength. He reflects on Wikipedia’s core principle of ‘assume good faith,’ a simple idea that invites people to see the best in others instead of assuming the worst. 

He also underscores that trust creates long-term benefits for companies and institutions. Those that choose fairness and transparency, even when it costs them in the short term, build reputations that endure.

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In this Ready Living Podcast interview, award-winning problem solver and change agent Art Chang examines one of the most important questions of our time: How can we save democracy and strengthen the moral and civic foundations of our country before it’s too late?

Born in Atlanta, Georgia to Korean War refugee parents during Jim Crow, his early years were marked by isolation, racism, and domestic violence. He transformed those experiences into purposeful action, working towards pursuing a more just and equitable world.

Arguing that democracy isn’t self-sustaining and instead requires participation, accountability, and an unwavering belief in our shared humanity, he is an outspoken advocate for reimagining political, social, and educational systems so they serve all Americans.

He points out how America’s diversity should be one of its greatest strengths, but that fear of difference, the language of “othering,” and the dehumanization of entire groups of people is dividing communities and corroding society.

A former managing director at JPMorganChase and a 2021 candidate for New York City mayor, he has continually sought to repair what’s broken in our institutions. His leadership reflects not just policy expertise, but also deep moral clarity and a belief that the strength of democracy lies in the dignity and participation of every person. 

As an institutional entrepreneur using technology to transform broken systems, he founded a dozen tech startups, co-created NYC Votes, an initiative of the NYC Campaign Finance Board, and built Casebook, the nation’s first web-based child welfare system.

He argues that democracy can’t survive polite neutrality, and that preserving it requires taking necessary action. In a time of democratic peril, he challenges listeners to confront the myths that divide us and to imagine an America that lives up to its promise.

Art is a lecturer at Columbia University, Board Chair of the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families, and holds a BA in Women’s Studies from Yale University and an MBA in Finance from New York University. 

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In this Ready Living Podcast episode, sociology professor Corey Moss-Pech, PhD, dismantles one of higher education’s most enduring myths: that only ‘practical’ majors lead to worthwhile jobs.

He shares details from his new book Major Trade-Offs: The Surprising Truths about College Majors and Entry-Level Jobs, where he followed 91 students across business, engineering, English, and communications from their senior year to their first year in the workforce.

He reveals that while engineering and business majors tend to land middle-class jobs more directly, those jobs often involve routine clerical tasks that leave graduates frustrated and unfulfilled. Meanwhile, liberal arts students, despite having a harder entry into the job market and lower starting salaries, are more likely to apply the very skills they learned in college and report greater job satisfaction.

He also shares how class background and gender shape the college-to-career journey. Competitive-entry programs like business and engineering tend to reflect students with stronger academic preparation and family resources, while open-entry majors like English and communications draw a broader range of students, some of whom face starkly different opportunities after graduation. More privileged students can hold out for the ‘right job’ or accept lower-paid but meaningful roles, while working-class students often need to accept the first job that pays the bills, whether or not it matches their aspirations.

One of his most important findings is the pivotal role internships play in securing full-time post-graduate employment. Through well-funded university programs and employer partnerships, business and engineering majors benefit from what he calls ‘career conveyor belt internships’ that create seamless pipelines from classroom to full-time work. In contrast, liberal arts students often end up in internships that are disconnected from hiring networks. He points out that it’s these structural supports, and not students’ actual skills or drive, that explain the post-grad job divide.

Corey challenges the conventional wisdom about which degrees lead to success. By highlighting both the hidden advantages and overlooked strengths across fields of study, he makes a compelling case for rethinking how we define the value of particular majors in today’s workforce.

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