Relate w/ Patrick McAndrew

Have you ever wondered what it is like behind-the-scenes at Walt Disney World? For episode 111 of Relate, we are joined by Disney Show Producer, Ray Fournier. In this episode, Ray discusses his career path and what led him to Disney. We talk about the importance of leadership and great storytelling when working for a company. Ray shares why the arts are so important and also shares his favorite part about working at Disney.

Please find out more information about Ray and his work by visiting https://www.linkedin.com/in/ray-fournier-64821b9/

Ray Fournier has been a leader in the entertainment live event industry for nearly 35 years. He has 20 years of Disney production experience as Stage Manager, Production Manager, and currently as Show Producer for the Creative Entertainment department with The Disney Event Group at Walt Disney World in Orlando. Ray is active in the performing arts community and is currently the President of the Board of Directors for The Garden Theatre, a non-profit performing arts center in downtown Winter Garden, Florida. Ray's current project is co-host of the podcast The Rise, a focus on the arts and culture community of Central Florida. Ray is also a vocalist and is working on the launch of his Big Band, The Big Band Ray.

Renée Cummings, Founder of Urban AI and AI ethicist and strategist, joins us for episode 110 of Relate. Renée shares her career and background in criminology and psychology and how that lead into her profession working in artificial intelligence. She believes in the importance of taking a social justice approach to design AI, so as to implement diversity, equity, and inclusion. Renée discusses how data is power, how the public should be included in the design of AI, how we can use AI to improve urban communities, and how AI can empower us.

Please learn more about Renée and the amazing work she is up to by visiting https://www.linkedin.com/in/ren%C3%A9ecummings/ or contacting her directly at [email protected].

Renée Cummings is a criminologist and criminal psychologist as well as a respected AI ethicist and AI strategist. She’s also a community scholar, at Columbia University, in New York and the CEO & founder of Urban AI. Advocating for more diverse, equitable and inclusive AI, she’s on the frontline of ethical AI, generating real time responses to many of the unintentional consequences of AI. The east coast lead for Women in AI Ethics, Renée also specializes in AI for social good, justice-oriented AI design, social justice in AI policy and governance and using AI to save lives. She’s committed to using AI to empower and transform communities; helping governments and organizations navigate the AI landscape and develop future AI leaders.

Oluwatosin Olabode, the Founder of and Creative Lead of Doing Healthy Africa, joins us in episode 109 of Relate. Oluwatosin talks to us about the difference between personal identity and digital identity and why we must cultivate a deep sense of personal identity before establishing a digital identity. We discuss why technology should not replace human interaction, why we must be deliberate on social media, and why we must build our own mission. Oluwatosin is a pioneer of digital wellness in Africa and reminds us to be true to who you are and how to accept what we already have.

Please visit https://doinghealthyafrica.com/index.html to learn more about the amazing work Oluwatosin is doing.

Oluwatosin lives as a wealth of positive energies. He is a 2 time TEDx speaker, Founder, and Creative Lead of Doing Healthy Africa; a digital wellness consultancy and advocacy platform dedicated to helping young people build the stamina needed to thrive within the digital world. He strongly believes we all need to understand our "personal" identities before transferring them into our "digital" identities; as they help us to better navigate the digital world and build more balanced offline/online relationships. His a Nigerian with a vision to raise young people that will impact the world and does this by helping them discover and utilize the positive energies within them towards living a transformative life. He’s also the Founder and CEO, Strengthening Society Today Foundation- a nonprofit providing intervention in the areas of Suicide Prevention, Guidance, and Counseling, and Youth Character Development- This platform birthed his digital wellness advocacies.

Bryony Cole, founder of the Future of Sex and the world's leading authority on sextech, joins us in episode 108 of Relate! In this episode, we talk about the intersection of technology and sexuality and how the rapid advancement of technology is having a greater impact on our intimate relationships. We debate whether technology is enhancing or taking away from intimacy. Bryony also discusses how talking about sexuality is very taboo in society and that, in fact, sexuality goes beyond the physical, being mental and emotional as well. She shares that, while technology continues to progress, it is crucially important that we remember what makes us human.

To learn more about Bryony and all of her work, please visit https://www.futureofsex.org/ and https://www.bryonycole.co/, or follow her on Instagram @bryonycole and @futureofsex.

As the world’s leading authority on sextech, Bryony Cole is fascinated by the way technology permeates every corner of our lives, even the most intimate ones. Since launching the top-rated podcast Future of Sex, Bryony has been on stages across the world forecasting trends in the sextech industry for governments, tech titans and entertainment companies. Her incredible body of research, global sextech hackathons and annual Future of Sex report are considered the pinnacle of industry insights and innovation. She is also part of the New York-based Women of Sextech, a fast growing community of entrepreneurs, developers and thought leaders. Bryony has been featured on Netflix, Viceland Technopia, Wired, TechCrunch, The New York Times, Playboy, Mashable, Motherboard, ABC, Financial Review, Forbes and other global media. Mashable praised the Bryony’s sextech hackathons saying that they are critical in these tenuous times of inequality: “Encouraging women-led innovation in sex tech is critical at a time when it's such a challenge for female entrepreneurs to secure funding in a still-stigmatized industry. These women work to create better opportunities for themselves and their peers, the aim is also to encourage women-led tech in the industry's overlooked areas: education, pleasure and, improved communication.”

Joan Blades, co-founder of Living Room Conversations, joins us in episode 107 of Relate. In this episode, we discuss the importance of approaching conversations with intention and why we must listen deeply to one another. There is a great danger in division and a great opportunity in connection. Joan also encourages us to care about people with different opinions, as this will allow us to develop a better worldview.

Please check out all of the amazing work Joan is doing with Living Room Conversations at https://www.livingroomconversations.org/

Joan Blades is a co-founder of LivingRoomConversations.org an open source effort to build respectful caring connections across ideological, cultural and party lines while embracing our core-shared values. When we care about each other we work to find ways to meet each other’s core needs. She is also a co-founder of MomsRising.org and MoveOn.org She is a co-author of The Custom-Fit Workplace, winner of a Nautilus book award in 2011 and The Motherhood Manifesto, which won the Ernesta Drinker Ballard Book Prize in 2007. A mediator (attorney) by training and inclination, she is a nature lover, artist and true believer in the power of citizens. We can honor the dignity of all individuals and seek understanding even as we hold differing beliefs.

Marshall Davis Jones, Founder of MindBodySpeak, joins us for this episode of Relate, where he talks with us about the power of the voice. He believes that if we change our voice, we can change our life. We talk about why having a powerful and grounded voice is essential for communicating, why we need to be thinking in verbs instead of nouns, and why we must cultivate stability and quiet to connect deeply with people. Marshall also shares his insight behind his intention with technology, how we can't be above our biology, and why we must find the fastest way to silence.

Please check out http://mindbodyspeak.com/ to learn more about Marshall's incredible work.

For years, Marshall Davis Jones relied on words alone. As a performance artist and spoken word poet, he thought having the right words was enough. But after exploring movement practices and researching the connection between sound and listening, he discovered that to change your life, you have to change your voice. MindBodySpeak is his unique approach to communication, going beyond words and conflict resolution to address the real power behind voice— combining body language and tone of voice to create BodyTone. He’s trained law enforcement, corporations, college students and martial arts instructors, and has spoken on numerous TEDx stages . With MindBodySpeak, he offers his voice to help you find the way back to yours.

Tiffany Chhuom, the owner of EthTech, joins us for episode 105 of Relate! In this episode, we talk about healthcare and why its important that it start merging more with the tech industry. We discuss the high need for the healthcare industry to change and why it must adopt new technologies, though cautiously. We discuss why we must join together leaders within the healthcare industry and Tiffany also talks with us about neuro-diversity and why this is something we should be paying close attention to.

To learn more about Tiffany's amazing work, please visit https://ethtechusa.com/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffanychhuom/.

Tiffany Chhuom, LSWAIC, SUDPT, MPH is the owner of EthTech, a healthcare consulting and training firm for the Digital Era, and Lucy in the Sky Therapy, an on-line private practice for neurodiverse adults. With almost 20 years of experience in healthcare, she holds four degrees in four disciplines from the University of Washington. Her work produced notable achievements in practice, policy, research and administration across the Public Health, Social Work, Psychology, Criminal Justice, and Child Welfare sectors. She has lead large projects across the country in behavioral and medical research while also fine tuning her craft as a trauma and addiction therapist. Mrs. Chhuom is a long-time mentor and applauded speaker, creating new opportunities to advance course offerings and continuing education on telehealth ethics and digital marketing for providers and healthcare partners.

Sarita Parikh, co-founder of jomanity, joins us for episode 104 of Relate! In this episode, we discuss how power the engine beyond tech platforms truly is. We talk about why joy, connection, insight, and humanity are so crucially important now more than ever. We also chat about the effect that positive energy can have instead of negative energy and why we must be deliberate in the way we use technology.

Please visit https://www.jomanity.com/ to learn more about the great work Sarita is doing. 

Sarita is the co-founder of jomanity, a startup focused on helping people, at scale, live every day with more joy and more humanity. She has a wake-up-at-3AM passion for advancing technology toward the common good. She has led product, technology, and engineering functions at Pearson, United Health Group, Motorola, and a handful of startups. She has a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a second major in Mathematical Economic Analysis from Rice University. Sarita is on the board of the Wedge and Linden Hills Co-Ops and the Twin Cities Ellevate Network, and also mentors underserved high school students. In her free time, you’ll find her training her children in the art of the pun, working on her daily step count, or unrolling her yoga mat.

Emmy-nominated filmmaker and creator of the Webby Awards, Tiffany Shlain, joins us in episode 103 of Relate. In this episode, we discuss the evolution of technology and how the web has changed the world. While acknowledge how amazing technology is, we also talk about why it's so important to take time for simplicity and why we must liberate ourselves from tech from time to time. Tiffany shares her practice of "tech shabbats" that she does with her family in order to foster deeper connection and peace of mind.

Learn more about the amazing work Tiffany is up to by visiting http://www.tiffanyshlain.com/ , https://www.24sixlife.com/, and @tiffanyshlain.

Tiffany Shlain is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and creator of the Webby Awards. She is the author of a newly-released book about her family’s decade long practice of doing Tech Shabbats and how to bring this practice into your life, 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day A Week. The Museum of Modern Art in New York just premiered her new live Spoken Cinema performance Dear Human, based on her book 24/6. She lectures and performs worldwide on technology and humanity. For information on her book, films, lectures and her quarterly newsletter Breakfast @ Tiffany’s at tiffanyshlain.com and follow Tiffany on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

In this episode of Relate, we chat with Marty Katz, Founder and CEO of Connectors 360 and Founder of Mindful Clarity. Marty is a marketing and branding strategist who teaches us the importance of sharing the message of our business in a clear and articulate manner. We also discuss why emotional intelligence is key, why we must build authentic relationships, and why marketing is never about you, only about the problem you solve.

To learn more about Marty's work, please check out https://connectors360.com/. You can contact Marty directly at [email protected] or call +1 212-920-4555.

An experienced branding and marketing expert, Marty has been developed brands and brand strategies for some of the world’s largest companies, across industries and for existing and new companies, products and services. He has a deep understanding of branding and how a company’s message must connect on an emotional basis to engage with target audiences to generate awareness, engagement and sales.