Spark

As the pace of change continues to accelerate, we are both in a state of extraordinary challenges and opportunities. Kellee talks with Rita Gunther McGrath, a leading expert on innovation and growth during times of uncertainty. She will share her insights on how to identify, anticipate and harness the power of inflection points. 

Rita Gunther McGrath is a best-selling author and a longtime professor at Columbia Business School. She is widely recognized as a premier expert on leading innovation and growth during times of uncertainty. Rita has received the #1 achievement award for strategy from the prestigious Thinkers50 and has been consistently named one of the world’s Top 10 management thinkers in its bi-annual ranking. As a consultant to CEOs, her work has had a lasting impact on the strategy and growth programs of Fortune 500 companies worldwide. Rita is the author of the best-selling The End of Competitive Advantage (Harvard Business Review Press, 2013). Her new book is Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019). She has written three other books, including Discovery Driven Growth, cited by Clayton Christensen as creating one of the most important management ideas ever developed. She is a highly sought-after speaker at exclusive corporate events around the globe, such as the Global Peter Drucker Forum. She received her Ph.D. from the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania) and has degrees with honors from Barnard College and the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs. Her expertise is covered in leading media outlets including Harvard Business Review, Financial Times and Wall Street Journal. 

As our personal information including our address and everything that we do becomes more and more accessible over the Internet, how should we be thinking about privacy and protecting ourselves. Kellee  talks with Arjun Bhatnagar, CEO of Cloaked about how our data is being accessed as well as how we should consider protecting our personal information in the digital world.

Arjun Bhatnagar is the CEO of Cloaked -- a consumer-first privacy startup dedicated to bringing humanity back to the internet. Recently, Arjun, along with his brother Abhijay Bhatnagar, raised $25-million in series A funds to catapult Cloaked to the forefront of consumer trust. Arjun has experienced a lifelong love of technology, people, and innovation.

Over the course of his career, he has successfully started two companies, taught coding at MIT, designed a prosthetic arm for a three-year-old, worked as the 22-year-old partner at a venture firm, and founded a non-profit dedicated to bringing education to underserved communities. In 2016, Arjun and his brother Abhijay sold their first startup – Hey! HeadsUp, and shifted their focus to the world of consumer trust. Arjun has been featured in TechCrunch, Fast Company, Forbes, CNBC and more. He understands more than 15 coding languages, and is dedicated to making the world a better place through people-centric innovation.

Growing up in a digital world involves new challenges tied to protecting your children’s privacy, self-esteem and exposure to the darker side of the Internet. Kellee talks with Diana Graber, co-founder of Cyberwise, on how to help you, to help your children build a healthy relationship with technology.

Diana Graber is the founder of Cyber Civics and co-founder of CyberWise. She is also the author of "Raising Human in a Digital World: Helping Kids Build a Healthy Relationship with Technology." (HarperCollins Leadership, '19). An expert on digital literacy, Graber writes, presents, and is interviewed about  technology's impact upon human behavior. Her no-nonsense approach comes from being an educator, media producer, academic, and most of all, a mom.

She developed (and still teaches) Cyber Civics, the popular middle school digital literacy program currently being taught in schools in 48 US states and internationally. She's served as Adjunct Faculty, teaching Media Psychology to graduate students. Her paper, New Media Literacies: A Developmental Approach, was published in the Journal of Media Literacy Education (JMLE). 

Graber has a B.A. in Communication Studies from UCLA and an M.A. in Media Psychology and Social Change from Fielding Graduate University. She was a finalist for the NAMLE Research Emerging Scholar Award in 2011. Her Cyber Civics program has been recognized as an "Innovation in Education" finalist by Project Tomorrow and the O.C. Tech Alliance. She was honored with the "2017 Media Literacy Teacher" Award from the National Association of Media Literacy Education (NAMLE). Her expertise has been featured in leading media outlets including New York Times and Psychology Today. 

With the rise of AI-robots, in taking over repetitive tasks and even more activities in the future, there is a now an empath robot, with evolving emotional intelligence. It is seen as a viable solution, in supporting the world’s aging population. Her name is Sophia. She is the world’s first robot citizen and the first robot, Innovation Ambassador for the United Nations Development Program. She is used for research, as part of the Loving AI project, which seeks to understand how robots can adapt to users’ needs, through intra and interpersonal development.

Kellee talks with Ben Goertzel, who was the Chief Scientist of Hanson Robotics, the company that created Sophia. He is now the founder and CEO of SingularityNET, a project combining artificial intelligence and blockchain to democratize access to artificial intelligence. 

Dr. Ben Goertzel is a cross-disciplinary scientist, entrepreneur and author. He leads the SingularityNET Foundation, the OpenCog Foundation, and the AGI Society which runs the annual Artificial General Intelligence conference. Dr. Goertzel also chairs the futurist nonprofit Humanity+, and serves as Chief Scientist of AI firms Singularity Studio, Rejuve, SingularityDAO and Xccelerando Media, all parts of the SingularityNET ecosystem.  

As Chief Scientist of robotics firm Hanson Robotics, he led the software team behind the Sophia robot; as Chief AI Scientist of Awakening Health he leads the team crafting the mind behind Sophia’s little sister Grace.

Dr. Goertzel’s research work encompasses multiple areas including artificial general intelligence, natural language processing, cognitive science, machine learning, computational finance, bioinformatics, virtual worlds, gaming, parapsychology, theoretical physics and more.  He has published 25+ scientific books, ~150 technical papers, and numerous journalistic articles, and given talks at a vast number of events of all sorts around the globe.

Before entering the software industry Dr. Goertzel obtained his PhD in mathematics from Temple University in 1989, and served as a university faculty in several departments of mathematics, computer science and cognitive science, in the US, Australia and New Zealand.

With the world appearing to be topsy-curvy these days, are there still predictable trends and do they really matter? If there are clear trends, what are they and where are we heading? Kellee talks with Daniel Levine, a leading trend expert on the state of the world and the trends that will define the direction of our near future.

Daniel Levine is one of the world's best-known trends experts. He is the director of the Avant-Guide Institute, a New York-based consultancy that helps some of the world's largest companies, brands and investors profit from trends. Daniel is a frequent guest on TV and radio and was named "the ultimate guru of cool" by CNN. He leads a global team of trend-spotters who track the latest ideas and experiences around the globe and his corporate partners include some of the world's most notable names, from General Motors, American Express and Microsoft, to Christian Dior and South African Tourism. At REALTOR IGNITE, Daniel will help us prepare for tomorrow’s world and be more relevant, innovative and profitable. He is the publisher of WikiTrend.org.

Everyone in the digital age is a public figure. Your credibility is also determined by how you are treated by others online. How do you protect yourself or even young bloggers and users of social media online from negative interactions, reputation damage and abuse?

Kellee talks with Dr. Michelle Ferrier, founder of TrollBusters.com, a just-in-time rescue service for female writers and journalists experiencing online harassment as well as cyber awareness for the younger generation who are growing up online. She is a digital content architect with 30 years experience in media entrepreneurship and new media technologies. Dr. Ferrier is an associate professor in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University and was named one of the top 20 journalism innovation educators for 2018.

Dr. Ferrier is an award-winning columnist and author. She is featured in the Committee to Protect Journalists 2016 edition of Attacks on the Press, where she wrote “Progression of Hate,” a chapter that tells her own story of hate mail attacks and the birth of TrollBusters.com as a solution to new forms of harassment. Dr. Ferrier has presented before the United Nations on World Press Freedom Day, as a keynote speaker at the Online News Association and as a panelist at the News Impact Summit hosted by the European Journalism Centre on the growing dangers for women journalists online. 

With the scare resource of water now a global issue, energy crisis and microfibers from our clothing making their way into our food chain, what can be done about these challenges? Oxwash has created an innovative washing and drying technology model, based on the design for recycling resources in space, to address challenges associated with garment cleaning that is both water- and energy- intensive. In addition, Oxwash’s model solves both the release of microfibers and toxic detergents down into the drainage system and on to our water sources. 

Kellee talks with Kyle Grant, CEO of Oxwash about how its technology and laundering model are changing how clothing can be cleaned with minimal impact to the environment. Kyle Grant is an ex-NASA scientist and synthetic biologist, who is focused on combatting climate change starting with an unusual location: your laundry. 

Oxwash offers eco-friendly laundry-cleaning services for individuals and corporations. Its environmentally-focused technology is making laundry-cleaning sustainable for the planet. The global “green cleaning” market projected to reach $11.6 billion by 2029 (source: Yahoo Finance). Oxwash has been featured in leading publications including Forbes and Tech Crunch. The company is ventured-backed by Biz Stone (Twitter co-founder), Indeed founder Paul Forster, Holly Branson, Access VC, Pentland Group, Ascension Ventures, Vala Capital, Truesight Ventures, 8 Dimension Ventures, System Capital Management and Khimji Ramdas LLC.

Now that we are coming out of the pandemic, dating in person is back on again. What is trending on the dating scene and what to do about online “swiping” burnout? Kellee talks with Samantha Garcia, Bumble's Marketing Director for the Americas. She will share how to have both a better online (or app-driven) and off-line dating experience. 

Bumble is an online platform for those seeking connections for dates, friendships or business mentors. It is designed to empower women to initiate the conversation on its heterosexual dating platform. 

As Bumble’s Marketing Director for the Americas, Samantha oversees regional integrated marketing strategy and team for the women-first relationship app, responsible for driving user acquisition growth and brand positioning through a combination of digital, brand and field marketing programs key to the company’s international expansion plans in LatAm. Since joining Bumble in April 2021, Samantha has expanded her responsibilities in the company, adding the U.S. and Canada markets to her current charter, now as [ad interim] North America Integrated Marketing Leader. 

Prior to Bumble, Samantha had a successful career at Uber where she held various senior marketing roles, helping launch Uber Eats in more than 40 cities across Mexico and Latin America as well as serving as regional marketing leader for their ride-sharing business, delivering some of Uber’s award-winning consumer marketing campaigns. She holds a bachelor degree in international marketing and management from Universidad de Monterrey (Mexico) and a certificate in international business from UET in France, and in 2022 was named one of 30 Promesas (rising executives) by Expansión. 

Samantha was one of the early Bumble users in Mexico, where she met her partner of four years. They married in 2021.

Change is constant and it is speeding up even faster now. One indication is the number of people pivoting in their lives. This requires us to be able to adapt with agility. Most importantly, unleash our creativity to fulfill our potential in our pivot. 

Kellee talks with Maria Brito, a leading expert on creativity. She will share how we can better tap into our creativity, to successfully transition in our ongoing pivots, especially in today fast-paced changing environment.

Maria Brito is an award-winning New York-based contemporary art advisor, entrepreneur, author and curator. Her bestselling book How Creativity Rules The World was published by HarperCollins Leadership in March 2022. In 2015, Brito was selected by Complex Magazine as one of the 20 Power Players in the Art World and in 2020 she was named by ARTNEWS as one of the visionaries who gets to shape the art world. 

A Harvard graduate, originally from Venezuela, her first monograph “Out There” published by Pointed Leaf Press in 2013, was the recipient of the USA Best Book Awards in both the Art and Design Categories. She has written for publications such as Huffington Post, Elle, Forbes, Artnet, Cultured Magazine, Departures, and the Gulf Coast Journal of Literature and Fine Arts from the University of Houston, Texas. For several years, Maria has taught her creativity course in companies and, in 2019, she launched Jumpstart, an online program on creativity for entrepreneurs based on years of research and observation in both the areas of business and art. 

Maria and her projects have been featured extensively in national and international publications including The New York Times Style Section, T: The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, W Magazine, ELLE Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Time Magazine, New York Magazine, The New York Observer, The Daily Beast, The Economist, Interview Magazine, VOGUE Italia, VOGUE Mexico, VOGUE  Latin America, VOGUE Brazil, VOGUE China, VOGUE.com, ELLE Décor Spain, Departures, Forbes, Blouin ArtINFO, Hamptons Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler, Architectural Digest, Modern Luxury, Refinery29, goop, Billboard, Marie Claire Australia, Marie Claire Spain, Allure, The Coveteur, House Magazine, House Beautiful, Buro 24/7, Latina, Modern Magazine, and more.

We all could use more laughter right now. Kellee talks with Dhaya Lakshminarayanan, an award-winning stand-up comedian, storyteller and writer. She shares her journey as a stand-up comedian and how we can better flex our funny bone. If you want to learn what it takes to be a stand-up comedian, this is the episode for you. 

Dhaya's debute album DHAYATRIBE debuted #2 on iTunes. She received the Liz Carpenter Political Humor Award (previously awarded to Samantha Bee, Wanda Sykes and Mark Russell) for her stand-up. Comedy Central Asia crowned her the Grand Prize Winner of “The Ultimate Comedy Challenge” filmed in Singapore. Bay Area PBS affiliate KQED named her one of the twenty “Women to Watch,” a series celebrating women artists, creatives and makers who are pushing boundaries. She has performed across Asia in Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore. She has also been invited to perform at some of the top festivals in the US including Bridgetown Comedy Festival, San Francisco Sketchfest, The Boston Comedy Festival, Limestone Comedy Festival, and Laugh Your Asheville Off. She is the sole subject of the documentary “NerdCool” which premiered at the LA Comedy Festival.

As a television host, Dhaya helmed the inaugural season of the Emmy award-winning series High School Quiz Show on PBS’s WGBH. She is a frequent comedic storyteller on NPR’s Snap Judgment. She currently serves as the host of San Francisco’s monthly Moth. Prior to her endeavors in the entertainment business, Dhaya was a venture capitalist, management consultant, and two-time MIT graduate.