Superpowers for Good: Empowering Changemakers for Social Impact via Regulated Investment Crowdfunding from the SuperCrowd.

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Devin: What do you see as your superpower?

Jade: My biggest superpower is that I see big people. I see people about 10 to 100 times larger than they see themselves. I believe that I have a special ability to help them see that for themselves and finally leap and do the big thing that they feel called to do.

“I believe that purpose is our greatest superpower,” says author and concert pianist Jade Simmons. “One of the things that I've been lamenting is that we've given the idea of big purpose or meaningful purpose or important purpose over to the superheroes. We begin to see ourselves as the extras.”

Inspired by the reaction of audiences to her spoken message about finding purpose, she felt compelled to expand her ideas in a book, Purpose the Remix.

“It can be hard sometimes to see these historical figures like Nelson Mandela or Mother Teresa and think, well, if I'm not doing that kind of work, then whatever else I'm doing is smaller.”

Jade defines your purpose as people's reaction to you when you show up fully, revealing who you are. 

She says:

The goal of the book was first to help us believe that we have purpose. The most important thing we can do is figure out, look back and see what the effect is we've always been having, and then decide into the future to be more intentional about delivering that effect on purpose.

Finally, I say in the book, we've got to learn to protect that purpose once we uncover it because it is designed not only to fuel us, but I believe it's also designed to unleash others. Operating in purpose has dual importance. Uncovering it will unleash many of the solutions that we still find ourselves looking for in this world.

Jade is walking her talk. She leverages her superpower–seeing big people–to perform her work, helping others find and realize their full potential through purpose.

AI Episode Summary

* Devin Thorpe introduces Jade Simmons, CEO of Jade Media Global and the author of Purpose The Remix, during the "Superpowers for Good" show.

* Simmons talks about how her idea of purpose being the effect on others, rather than the task itself, garnered a strong reaction from people and inspired her to write a book on the concept.

* She believes that purpose is our greatest superpower and laments that people often see themselves as lesser in comparison to historical figures who have made significant impacts.

* Simmons aims to encourage people to embrace their purpose and the effect they have on others, which can lead to powerful change.

* She discusses her use of music, particularly the piano, as a powerful tool to inspire and unleash audiences.

* Simmons explains that she discovered her purpose through a period of difficulty in her early career as a pianist, which led her to incorporate storytelling and engagement with the audience into her performances.

* She took purpose-based risks by infusing different genres of music into her concerts and breaking the traditional format, which differentiated her and led to her being known as classical music's number-one maverick.

* Simmons shares that her purpose is to activate people into being bigger and bolder versions of themselves, and she sees big potential in others, helping them see it for themselves.

* She talks about her experience running for president in 2020 and how she had to constantly remind herself of her qualifications and vision despite being new to the world of politics.

* Simmons offers tips for uncovering and embracing purpose, including looking back at behavior patterns, being intentional, and pressing through challenges and obligations. She encourages saying yes to purpose and no to things that don't align with it.

* She invites viewers to visit her website, jadesimmons.com, to learn more about her work, including her book, her shows, and her consulting services. Additionally, purposetheremix.com offers resources for uncovering purpose.

How to Develop Seeing Big People As a Superpower

Seeing other people and their potential has helped Jade see her own power. 

In 2020, I probably did the wildest thing I've ever done, if you're looking from the outside, which is that I actually ran for president of the United States. To make it worse, as an independent candidate, I didn't join up with either party. I'd been courted by both parties in the past for political opportunities, but for reasons that we don't have time to get into, I felt led to do that in 2020.

The biggest challenge was not in bolstering my own belief that I had vision to offer and capability to offer. It was suddenly having to translate the fact that I'd never been in the world of politics to this world of leadership. 

Suddenly, I was in a position to have to prove myself where even the unicorn status that had established me in other industries was presenting as a detriment in this one. I remember constantly having to remind myself of why I was doing it, what the vision was behind it, and I had to constantly reassess what winning would mean. 

The challenge of that is when we dare to put ourselves out there, when we take those big risks to offer ourselves up for the leadership that we crave, we're putting ourselves in the spotlight. 

You can definitely face fraud factor, and you can start to discount all the value of the things that you've done before that point. I was constantly having to remind myself of why I was qualified to lead. And I think when you're in leadership, you don't think you're going to have to prove that again. And I had to prove it on a very major level.

The most rewarding thing was to find out that when you were listening to people, and they were telling you what they wanted in their leaders. If you listen carefully, you could hear yourself in their answer. And that was the most wonderful validation possible.

Jade offers some advice for seeing yourself the way she sees you. “When you're finally putting yourself out there, remember why you're doing it and why the life you have led up to this point qualifies you for the brave move that you're making.”

She offers a few tactical tips, too:

* I don't believe purpose was designed to be a struggle. I do believe it gets to be an exciting investigation.

* Talk to people who know and love you. Ask them what it is they've come to expect from you.

* Once you've uncovered that you've been having an effect, let's decide now to have it on purpose.

By following Jade’s example and advice, you can learn to see others–and yourself–at your full potential. With practice, you can make it a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world.

Guest Profile

Jade Simmons (she/her):

Founder & CEO, Jade Media Global

About Jade Media Global: Electrifying, transformative experiences are the essence of the Jade Media Global brand.

From speaking on world stages, performing cutting-edge concerts to content creation and so much more, we strive for “impactful disruption” to keep individuals and organizations buzzing long past our interaction. We are a purpose-centered, transformation-obsessed organization that values the growth of its employees and its audiences alike.

Website:

https://jadesimmons.com/

Twitter Handle: https://twitter.com/jadesimmons

Company Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/JadeMedia

Other URL: https://jadesimmons.com/purpose-book/

Biographical Information: Jade Simmons is an internationally acclaimed creator of mind-blowing, transformational experiences and one-of-a-kind, inspirational adventures designed to activate audiences into becoming the biggest, boldest version of themselves. The world-class concert artist has been called a “musical force of nature” with an “uncanny ability to connect with the sounds of today.” Jade is the CEO of Jade Media Global, which is a revo…

Remember, you can watch the Superpowers for Good show on e360tv. To watch the episode, download the #e360tv channel app to your streaming device–Roku, AppleTV or AmazonFireTV–or your mobile device. You can even watch it on the web.

When you purchase an item after clicking a link here, we may earn a commission. It’s an easy way to support our work.

Devin: What do you see as your superpower?

Nell: I love this question and framing. I consider my superpower to be connecting dots.

Author Nell Derick Debevoise wrote Going First to share the lessons learned over ten years of leading a social enterprise, Inspiring Capital, that she ultimately shuttered. Having found a path forward to continue her mission of creating a better world, she wants other changemakers to benefit.

She notes that the work we do can be difficult on us: 

The purpose-driven among us, the changemakers out there, are the hardest on ourselves. We see the problems in our world so vividly. They hurt us, right? Whether that's around climate or social issues and human rights or racism or a very specific local issue in our communities, or the way that our employees are treated, whatever that thing is really sits in our hearts and is heavy.

She wants to help change agents find a sense of accomplishment in their progress.

My point with the book and with the work is to help people take a breath, take stock of everything they're doing and just recognize all the ways that we do already have impact through our work, but also our lives holistically. That's what the spheres of impact do. That's what this playbook is, a kind of guided journal for people to work through on their own or in a group, at their workplace or in their community, take credit for what they're already doing that has impact.

Nell achieves success using her superpower, connecting dots.

AI Episode Summary

* Devin Thorpe welcomes guest Nell Derek Debevoise to the show

* Debevoise has been working in the impact space for many years

* She has recently written a book called Going First: Find the Courage to Lead Purposefully and Inspire Action

* The book is a guided journal that helps individuals recognize the impact they already have and find ways to increase it

* Debevoise believes that purpose-driven individuals are often too hard on themselves and need to take a breath and appreciate their current impact

* Her superpower is connecting dots, gathering diverse ideas and people, and finding connections between them

* Debevoise shares the challenging experience of shutting down her company after ten years

* She emphasizes the importance of mindfulness in developing the skill of connecting dots

* To connect with Debevoise and learn more about her work, visit her LinkedIn page or the website of her company, 3D Performance Group

* Debevoise is hosting two events in November; one focused on one-on-one coaching and equine-assisted learning and the other on group work and energy tools for collaboration and performance improvement

How to Develop Connecting Dots As a Superpower

Nell explains how she uses her dot-connecting superpower in three ways:

* Collecting and gathering ideas

* Recalling them spontaneously

* Seeing potential connections and acting on them

Nell shared the story of the end of her business and how she emerged from that experience, leveraging her ability to connect dots:

Covid, of course, made us all look harder in the mirror and think about what we were doing. It changed some of the business dynamics. That December 2020, I said, “This isn't vibing, and I have to change. My superpower is my superpower. My purpose is my purpose. I am still who I am, and I will continue doing that. But it has to be in a different form. And so I'm going to close down the company.”

It meant saying, telling some investors that they were not ever going to get their money back. Not a total surprise because they had been getting quarterly updates since they wrote checks five-ish years earlier. Um, and it meant me shutting down my baby or my identity. It was really hard. It was very difficult. 

The way that my superpower emerged was to build what was next and to, first of all, just envision what was next. I was able to have this big repository of ideas and people that I have gathered over the years and to see connections between some of them. 

I didn't leap immediately from one lily pad to the next, but I understood there could and would be some connections there. I was able to see that my impact was going to be much greater if I wasn't bogged down by things that are not my superpower, like managing teams and managing projects.

So, I shut down the company, and two years later, it has revolved, revealing all these fabulous things and this portfolio that I'm so much more aligned with the superpower in.

Nell says the key to learning to make connections is a mindfulness practice. She did Transcendental Meditation training. She suggests things as simple as cooking or rubbing a dog's belly can provide similar benefits.

By following Nell’s example and advice, you can learn to make connections. With practice, this could become a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world. 

Guest Profile

Nell Derick Debevoise (she/her):

Coach, Facilitator, Advisor, and Inspiring Cowgirl, 3D Performance

About 3D Performance: We coach high-performing, impact-seeking leaders to co-create a world in which work is healthy, fair, and inspiring. Our approach is simple: we guide leaders to be the people their dogs (or grandkids) think they are! We are 3D Performance, because we work in the Me, We, and World dimensions, engaging with individual leaders; teams, organizations, and communities; and in the broader lens of social change.3D was founded in 2022, in recognition and celebration of the threshold moment that we are living through: - innovation and destruction;- opportunity and injustice;- progress and regress;- growth and contraction;- despair and joy...And this enables the paradigm shifts we need, but to achieve that transformation, we each need rest, care, guidance, allies, and new tools. Those ingredients of transformation are the resources that 3D endeavors to create and offer. They come in free, public, and private varieties, all with the common vision of work as a dignified, fulfilling, and essential part of our lives.Specifically, our work takes the form of one-on-one coaching, group facilitation, speaking and advisory engagements, and immersive retreats.

Website:

https://3dperformancegroup.com/

Book: https://3dperformancegroup.com/goingfirst/

Biographical Information: I'm Nell, founder of 3D Performance and, also known as the Inspiring Cowgirl.

I see a world in which work is a source of dignity and fulfillment for all of us.Toward that end, my purpose is to lovingly wrangle people, ideas, and horses to make work fairer, healthier, and more inspiring. To achieve that purpose, I coach, guide, facilitate, think, and write about leadership.I have been intentional and lucky to have honed my craft of purposeful leadership with people on four continents, across sectors, industries, ages, races, genders, and backgrounds. I studied leadership, adult learning, organizational behavior, innovation, and intercultural dialog at Harvard, Cambridge, Universita di Roma, and Columbia and London Business Schools. Now, I also study horse and dog culture, as well as horseback riding, cooking, travel, relationships, and golf in more casual settings.I am a catalyst of learning, growth, and joy. For myself and others. I metabolize knowledge, experiences, and reflection to co-create new thoughts, feelings, insights, and ways of being, doing, and leading.My 3D approach is complex, inclusive, and integrative, underpinned by a deep faith in people’s goodness and the possibility of a brighter future. Finally, I thrive when laughing and bringing laughter to others, thanks to, not in spite of, the difficulty, heartbreak, and tragedy that are also always present.

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/nellderickdebevoise/

Instagram Handle: @nelldd

Remember, you can watch the Superpowers for Good show on e360tv. To watch the episode, download the #e360tv channel app to your streaming device–Roku, AppleTV or AmazonFireTV–or your mobile device. You can even watch it on the web.

Devin: What do you see as your superpower?

Tamra: My superpower is giving grace.

Tamra Ryan and her team at the Women’s Bean Project, a nonprofit social enterprise in Denver, daily accomplish tasks many of us fear are impossible–helping women recovering from addiction, incarceration or homelessness return to full, productive and happy lives.

The Women’s Bean Project hires women in these challenging circumstances to work and train for even better jobs. “A typical woman we hire hasn't had a job longer than a year in her lifetime,” Tamra says. “The average age is about 38. So by the time they come to the Beam project, they have long histories of addiction and incarceration, often homelessness.”

The nonprofit employs the women to make bean soup–and about 50 other food products they sell locally and online nationally.

She provides some additional context for understanding the work: 

No one ever has one barrier to employment. Barriers happen in clusters, and they're interwoven and complicated. So, there are challenges with maintaining sobriety. There are health issues that have come up because of years of substance misuse. There are communication challenges. There's a history of domestic violence.

Think about all of those things in the context of how they get in the way of employment and employment being the key to breaking out of poverty and staying out of prison. We approach it from that standpoint of working with each woman, meeting her where she is and helping her overcome her barriers to employment.

To illustrate the power of the work, Tamra shares a story of a young woman:

One woman stands out to me. She was just 21. That's our minimum age to hire at. Her background was that at 13, her mom introduced her to cocaine and later threw her out of the house because she perceived that she was competition for boyfriends.

So, at roughly 13, she was on the streets. She didn't finish school. She was too young to get a job. So, she spent the next five years involved with a lot of bad people, doing a lot of bad things. 

Maybe the best thing that could have happened to her is that at 18, she was arrested because then she got into the justice system; that helped her get stable and get sober. 

By the time she was 21 when her pastor referred her to us, she was ready to start her life and to watch her go from not having had the opportunity to develop her identity as a teen, which is when we typically do, to becoming–deciding who she wanted to be and what kind of mom she wanted to be. 

Today, she's in her 30s, and she is she has a daughter. 

Think about the fact that her daughter will never know a time when [her mom’s] not employed. Not only does she, this woman, have a full-time job, but she also volunteers at a women's prison near her home and does pastoral counseling for the women who are in this prison. 

When I think about when we get to a point where we are stable enough to begin to pay it forward or to help someone else, that's a testament to having accomplished a lot.

The program's success proves that troubled women society may be tempted to write off as lost souls are worth a hill of beans–and much more. Their lives have all the potential of anyone else and all the value of any of us.

In this inspiring work, Tamra daily employs her superpower, giving grace.

AI Episode Summary

* Tamra Ryan is the CEO of the Women's Bean Project in Denver, which employs women in difficult circumstances through a nonprofit social enterprise.

* The Women's Bean Project hires women experiencing chronic unemployment and teaches them the skills needed to move to mainstream employment.

* The women work in food manufacturing, producing a variety of food items distributed across the US.

* The purpose of the Women's Bean Project is to help women overcome barriers to employment.

* Women spend 70% of their paid time working in the business and 30% of their paid time in classes focused on personal development.

* The Women's Bean Project works with other organizations to provide additional support, such as housing, legal services, and counseling.

* The women in the program typically have histories of addiction, incarceration, and homelessness.

* The Women's Bean Project aims to address the whole person and help women become great employees who can then find jobs in the community.

* The program has had many success stories, with women blossoming into confident individuals who can support themselves and their families.

* By changing a woman's life, the Women's Bean Project also has a positive impact on her family and the community as a whole.

How to Develop Giving Grace As a Superpower

Tamra shares how she uses her superpower, giving grace, to serve the women employed at the Women’s Bean Project:

The person I'm interacting with is coming from a place, and maybe they're doing the best that they can, and maybe it's not a great interaction, but I need to give them the grace to be where they are at that time. 

I think very often, especially today, so many of our interactions between people entirely lack grace–just understanding that people bring different perspectives to every interaction with one another–there is not a lot of grace-giving that's happening.

Tamra shared another inspiring story to help us see the impact of grace:

I think of a woman named Joy who came to us after spending time in federal prison because of the level of drug dealing that she was doing. She came to us; she had gotten custody of her kids back. She had four kids ranging in age from 8 to 18 when she started working for us. 

During the time that she was working for us, at the time, our wage was $8 an hour. When she went back for her redetermination for her food stamps, which were helping her support her kids, she was receiving $150 a month–and figuring out how to make that work with just 150 bucks–and they cut her to $5 a month because her $8 an hour job was too much.

She came in to work and said, “I just have to quit because this isn't worth it. I don't even know why I don't just go back to dealing drugs because I never had to worry about this problem. I didn't have to report my income.”

It was a dark time for her. She stopped coming to work for a few days. We started working with her. We wouldn't let her go. We persisted. What could have happened with any other employer is to just let her quit. What we decided was that, in the long run, that wouldn't be the best thing for her or her family–allowing her to quit. 

Instead, we helped her get access to food resources. She was pretty close to graduating. 

I think the ultimate punch in the face to fate was that she went on to work for a food distributor, making $18 an hour, so she no longer even needed access to food stamps. She graduated our program because we wouldn't let her quit. And then she ended up having this sweet revenge on the universe by getting such a great job.

Tamra also shares some advice for giving grace:

Check yourself and realize that your perspective is just one perspective. I often joke that there are three sides to every story: his, hers, and the truth. Starting from that standpoint of understanding that just because it's your opinion and it may be a well-founded opinion or perspective, it's not the only perspective. 

Being open to the idea that someone else's perspective is just as valid as your own and being willing to listen to it and try to understand [is key]. It's easy for us to apply our paradigms. I think back to when I first started at the Bean Project, with the biases and prejudices that I had that I didn't even know I had. 

I remember thinking that people who were chronically unemployed didn't want to work or that people who went to prison had just made bad choices. It was their fault. It took meeting women and recognizing that, except for the fact that I happen to be born a mi…

Remember, you can watch the Superpowers for Good show on e360tv. To watch the episode, download the #e360tv channel app to your streaming device–Roku, AppleTV or AmazonFireTV–or your mobile device. You can even watch it on the web.

Devin: What do you see as your superpower?

Cyrus: If I had to talk about my superpower, I would say that empathy is my superpower.

Quantibly CEO and co-founder Cyrus Z. Kazi is enabling a vital step forward in impact with improved tools for measuring it. I am honored to serve on his advisory board.

Born in Bangladesh, he says, “I have seen firsthand what poverty and hunger look like. That helped shape the way I see the world.” He says it prompted him to ask, “Is there anything I can do?” He has devoted his career to making a difference.

Quantibly provides tools that seamlessly integrate with existing processes for tracking impact-related activities, allowing more precise calculations of inputs and outcomes. The team built the software around an almost universally accepted framework:

There is one framework that almost every organization kind of agrees on, and that is called the theory of change. The theory of change process essentially tracks your resources, looks at the problem, sets certain assumptions, tracks activities and benchmarks, and sees the immediate mid-term and long-term outcomes of the work.

With that framework underpinning the Quantibly platform, it is being adopted by a wide range of users, from large corporations to smaller nonprofits.

AI Episode Summary

Quantifiable strives to standardize impact reporting for organizations to demonstrate and improve their social impact. Cyrus Kazi's superpower is empathy.

* The Superpowers for Good Show is hosting Cyrus Kazi, the CEO and founder of Quantibly, a company that focuses on impact data gathering for nonprofits, social enterprises, and corporate social responsibility departments.

* Quantibly is the first platform to collect and report impact data, standardizing the process and making it presentable for stakeholders to see the real impact of their investments.

* The platform incorporates an impact framework that tracks resources, benchmarks, and outcomes to provide a holistic view of an organization's impact.

* Cyrus has been working with nonprofits, NGOs, governments, and philanthropies for 25 years, leading him to develop Quantibly as a solution for the lack of standardized and verifiable impact data in the sector.

* The Quantibly platform simplifies data entry and allows organizations to track outcomes over time, even if the data is collected years later.

* The platform also helps foundations and philanthropies monitor the impact of their investments in real time, enabling them to intervene and support grantees as needed.

* Quantibly can connect with other data formats, making it easy for organizations to import existing data and avoid double work.

* Empathy is Kazi's superpower, which drives his work and motivates him to create value and make a positive impact.

* Kazi believes that looking at the world through a value creation lens, rather than a transactional one, enhances empathy and leads to meaningful actions.

* Kazi's personal and professional experiences in child welfare influenced his work on Quantibly, as he aimed to use data to protect children from abuse and neglect. 

How to Develop Empathy As a Superpower

To understand the value of empathy, Cyrus explains:

We don't live in isolation. Right? So for many, many years, I think either through some philosophical evolution that I had, I started to realize that whatever I am going to do, I can't determine the end result. But as long as my empathy is there, my intentions are there; at least if I can do one good thing for my fellow human beings, I think that will make an impact. So it's a it's a thought process.

He helped me see empathy through a more pragmatic lens I’d never considered before. His view of it is that of a visionary CEO. “I don't necessarily think that I look at the world like I used to when I was much younger–from a transactional point of view. I look at it as a value creation point of view. I think that that helps me.”

Seeing empathy as a tool for value creation in business akin to strategy is a profound insight for a social entrepreneur.

By following Cyrus’s example and advice, you can make empathy a practical skill in your portfolio. With practice, you could make it a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world.

Guest Profile

Cyrus Z. Kazi (he/him):

CEO/Co-Founder, Quantibly

About Quantibly: Quantibly is the first platform to operationalize impact data collection, analysis, and reporting for the nonprofit, NGO, CSR, philanthropy sector.

Website: Quantibly.com

Twitter Handle: @quantibly

Company Facebook Page: facebook.com/quantibly

Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/quantibly  

Biographical Information: Since the late 90s, Cyrus has been working with tech companies to drive social impact.

He has extensive experience in EdTech, GovTech, HealthTech, and other areas. Hereceived his Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Economics from the Purchase College, SUNY, andholds a Master’s in Public Administration (MPA) in Public Policy & Evaluation from MarxeSchool of Public & International Affairs, as well as an Executive MBA) from ZicklinBusiness School, CUNY.

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/cyruskazi

Superpowers for Good is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Remember, you can watch the Superpowers for Good show on e360tv. To watch the episode, download the #e360tv channel app to your streaming device–Roku, AppleTV or AmazonFireTV–or your mobile device. You can even watch it on the web.

Devin: What is your superpower?

Emmanuel: My superpower is very, very simple. I said yes to that inner voice, to that inner calling, that I should go back and help my fellow friends.

You won’t believe this story. Keep reading anyway!

Emmanuel Trinity, founder and CEO of era92 Creative, was living on the streets of the slums of Kampala as a teenager when a caring Christian woman asked what she could give him to enable him to get off the streets. He asked for a computer. Remarkably, she gave him one.

He used it to teach himself to do graphic design and quickly became adept enough to get work. Six years later, he got a position with Coca-Cola in Kampala. Working for one of the world’s largest companies with an extraordinary commitment to protecting and enhancing its brand was an opportunity he didn’t want to leave.

After just six months, he quit the job to find a way to help others like him find a path out of poverty as he had.

He shares the story of launching the company with the first employee:

The first one that I worked with was Megan. The way I met Megan is a very, very interesting story. This is when I had quit my job at Coca-Cola after six months, and everyone called me crazy. I went back to the slums.

It was a Friday. There was a crusade at the church, and we had this overnight. This girl came to me. She was on the verge of selling her body. She had given up on life because her dad, who was taking care of six siblings, fell off a building and broke his spinal cord. Now, this girl was stuck with a bedridden, sick dad and also had to find food for the other five siblings.

What happened to her in the community where she grew up? You know, lots of poverty, no hope. Everyone told her the only quick way to get $1 or $2 a day was to sell her body to provide for her family. This girl came to me to ask for advice. 

I told her, “You're in church. As Christians, we don't believe in that. I won't allow you to do that. But what we're going to do, please join me in this program I'm starting. I'm starting with three people. If you bring two other people, I'd love to work with you. I'd love to pay you for one or two months. If you get these things, I'll be able to get you a job.”

I was just guessing; this was a guesswork. I hadn't really figured out this model.

Megan accepted, and she brought two other friends. I brought one other friend of mine, and we started the class.

Surprisingly, after four months with my guidance, this girl was able to design a website on her own. She was able to design a website in Drupal and WordPress, and I was like, “This is it.” Megan became my first employee.

Today, era92 Creative employs 1,800 young people like Megan, plucked from poverty and given an opportunity to gain valuable skills and then put to work using them.

Era92 Creative works primarily with US companies, typically on $2,000 monthly contracts, effectively providing them with an outsourced graphic design team.

In this work, Emmanuel uses his superpower, an ability to say yes to his inner voice.

AI Episode Summary

* Emmanuel Trinity is the founder of era92 Creative, a social enterprise providing affordable graphic design services.

* The company employs young people from slums in Uganda, giving them training in design and web development.

* Era92 Creative serves clients in the United States, particularly small and medium-sized businesses and non-profits.

* The company offers a suite of web development and design services at a flat rate price.

* Emmanuel's inspiration came from his personal experience of being rescued from the streets and a desire to address youth unemployment in his community.

* Through era92 Creative, Emmanuel has created 1,800 skilled jobs for young people.

* The work of era92 Creative has transformed the lives of many individuals, including Megan, who went from being on the verge of selling her body to leading a department of designers.

* Emmanuel's superpower is his ability to say yes to opportunities and act on his inner voice.

* He believes that everyone has the potential to make positive changes in their communities and should act upon their inner calling.

* Anyone interested in working with era92 Creative can visit their website (era92creative.com) to learn more about services and engagement options.

How to Develop Acting on Your Inner Voice As a Superpower

Emmanuel explained his willingness and ability to say yes to his inner voice, driven by his Christian faith:

One of the things that hinders us is the failure to jump off the cliff. Many times, if you don't have the wings to fly, then what are you going to be depending on? 

For me, in my case, I had God in my life, and I know that he's the one who rescued me from the streets. He's the one who rescued me from the danger that I've grown up with. Personally, I do not have anything that can back that up. I knew that all my story was covered by Jesus in my life. 

When that happened, I tell you, he brought me from the slums–he's given me this inner voice. One of the verses I stick with in the Bible is 1 Peter 4:10, “That as each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's very grace.”

So, I knew that I had already received a lot of gifts from God. For me to fly off the cliff with no wings, I knew that I had God in my life even if I lost this job that was paying me a lot of money.

Emmanuel offers advice to everyone:

Whoever is listening in and by any chance in their communities, in their families, in their workspace, they have felt that there is something that they are not comfortable with and they would wish to change it. That's their superpower; that's their calling.

The only thing they need to do is to act upon it and make it a reality. If you're watching this, I know there was a time in your life when you felt there was something that has to be changing in your community. You're the one to champion that change in that community. 

Following Emmanuel’s example and advice can strengthen your ability to follow your inner voice that tells you to take action for good. With practice, you can make this a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world.

Guest Profile

Emmanuel Trinity (he/him):

Chief Job Creator, era92 Creative

About era92 Creative: era92 Global is a social enterprise agency that trains and connects the Top 1% of African creative Talent to Global companies.

Website:

www.era92creative.com

Twitter Handle: @era92media

Company Facebook Page:

Other URL: causeartist.com/slums-of-uganda-innovative-tech-ceo/

Biographical Information: Emmanuel Trinity is a serial social entrepreneur from Kampala, Uganda, with a passion for upskilling the next generation of digital talent in preparation for jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities in Africa.

He’s the founder of era92 Creative- a Subscription Creative Services Social Enterprise powering the Next Generation of Digital Talent Across Africa.

Trinity is also the co-founder of era92 Group, a group of social enterprises on a mission to reverse engineer poverty and create prosperity for Africans through businesses & microfinance.

Trinity has created 1,500 jobs for youth from the slums of Uganda and is on a mission to create 10,000 jobs for young people across Africa.

Twitter Handle: @trinityheavenz

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/nsabaanye-emmanuel/

Instagram Handle: @emmanuel_trinity_

Superpowers for Good is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Remember, you can watch the Superpowers for Good show on e360tv. To watch the episode, download the #e360tv channel app to your streaming device–Roku, AppleTV or AmazonFireTV–or your mobile device. You can even watch it on the web.

Devin: What do you see as your superpower?

Melanie: I believe we can make things happen if we want to. And I believe also in people. I think we are inherently good.

Author Melanie van de Velde, Ph.D.,  has spent her career helping big businesses do business better, especially in terms of social impact. She shares insights to double or even quintuple results in her book Leak Like a Genius, due out in January. She is also the CEO of Big Tree Global.

She notes that a lot of noble, high-impact nonprofit work focuses on fixing problems created directly or indirectly by business. She likens it to mopping up the water from an overflowing tub while the faucet is still running–it is neverending.

She suggests instead that implementing structural changes in business to eliminate the problems caused and instead become part of the solution. This is how to shut off the flow of water and simultaneously help to mop it up.

She offers a critical observation and an example to make the point:

When secondhand donations ramped up in Africa, for example, over 50% of people in the local textile industries lost their jobs as a consequence. It can disrupt local economies, but it can also create adverse psychological impacts such as depression, despair, lack of self-esteem and things like that. 

So, if you compare it to a whole different example called soleRebels, it's Africa's fastest-growing footwear brand, founded by an Ethiopian businesswoman called Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu. She rightly asks, “If you give a child a pair of shoes and it grows out of it, or it wears out, then what does it have? But if you give the parents a job, the whole family will always have shoes.”

That's exactly what she does. She has opened manufacturing facilities in Ethiopia areas that need economic generation development. She pays their staff over three times the industry average wage. So, it's a much more structural solution.

If you think about poverty, if you think about inequality, essentially, if we want to tackle the root cause, it takes two things. The first being empowering people to contribute their talents, their skills to make a living. 

The second part is what I call just payments. That doesn't mean paying everyone the same. For market incentives to work, it's good to recognize different contributing factors such as taking more effort, more risk, bringing more talent, more skill and working harder, but paying people just prices, reflecting the contributions that are made. 

If we do that, and that is essentially a real role of business, we would tackle poverty, rising inequality, and social exclusion at its root.

Her example makes clear that business not only can be an essential part of the solution to poverty, but it must be!

Throughout her career, Melanie has employed her superpower, believing that we can make change and that people are inherently good.

AI Episode Summary

* The guest on the show is Melanie van de Velde, CEO and founder of Big Tree Global and author of Lead Like a Genius.

* Melanie's background is in business, but she has always been passionate about addressing poverty in the world.

* She ran an impact enterprise in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, which taught her about the challenges of balancing commercial sense and making a difference.

* Melanie spent years researching projects and companies that make a difference and wanted to share everything she learned, leading to her book, Lead Like a Genius.

* Businesses have a role to play in solving the world's problems by addressing the root causes rather than dealing with symptoms.

* Examples include the TOMS buy one give one model, which alleviates poverty-related issues but doesn't fix the root cause, and SoleRebels, an African footwear brand that provides jobs and addresses poverty structurally.

* Business models that have a strong commercial sense while pursuing an impact mission are more successful in driving change.

* An example is the Brigade Bar and Bistro in London, which provides an excellent dining experience while training and empowering apprentices facing homelessness or mental health challenges.

* Melanie's superpower is her belief in the inherent goodness of people and their ability to make a positive impact on the world.

* To learn more about Melanie and her work, her book Lead Like a Genius is available on Lulu.com and Amazon, and she can be reached on LinkedIn or through the website Big Tree Global.

How to Develop Belief in Change and the Goodness of People As a Superpower

Melanie’s beliefs empower her work. She cuts quickly to the point, saying, “I think if I didn't believe that we could make things different and that people are inherently good, I don't think I would have even pursued this path or stayed on this path because it's not definitely not been the easiest one.”

Melanie offers a few tips for increasing your faith in humanity.

Her first tip is to consider the news cautiously and include choices like Superpowers for Good in your news inputs.

Second, she suggests focusing on inspiring examples of good people. Though seldom covered in the news, they are all around us and easy to find.

Third, she encourages people to infuse their organizations with these examples, including the insights in her book and from her consulting and other work. She adds that your business will benefit just by getting a portion of the organization on board to start.

By following Melanie’s example and advice, you can increase your belief in the goodness of humanity and our collective ability to change things. In time, you may make this a superpower that empowers you to do more good in the world. 

Guest Profile

Melanie van de Velde (she/her): Founder & Author, Big Tree Global Ltd

About Big Tree Global Ltd: Author of LEAD LIKE A GENIUS: How to Outgrow the Competition & Transform Our World (to be published January ‘24); Supporting business leaders and MBA students to create a 200-400% better impact return in tackling our key global issues, as well as improved business growth, productivity and brand value. Services offered: Board sessions, Workshops/ Impact Labs, Masterclasses, Immersive Impact Trips.

Website: www.bigtreeglobal.net

Biographical Information: The 9-year-old Melanie van de Velde was asked what problem she would like to solve when she grew up. She answered that she wanted to help people who were living in poverty. At the time, she had yet to see severe deprivation first-hand. But in the years since, she’s traveled extensively. The suffering she’s witnessed has only strengthened her ambition in childhood.Dr Van de Velde was awarded the Adam Smith Prize for PhD Excellence at the University of Glasgow. Nominated for the prize by the Research Director at the Centre for Social Innovation at Cambridge University, her thesis was the source of many insights in this book.Her other academic achievements include an MBA with Distinction at the Adam Smith Business School and an MSc in Industrial Engineering.With an unusually diverse CV, Dr. Van de Velde has managed Asia Pacific markets at a multi-billion dollar tech company. She’s worked in senior management at IT start-ups. And she’s run a fashion business to empower young women without an education in a Nairobi slum.With Big Tree Global Ltd, she helps business leaders with the tools and insights to create effective impact strategies that lead to business growth and genuinely transform our world for the better. Raised in a small town in the Netherlands, she now lives with her partner and children in Scotland’s largest city.

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/melanie-van-de-velde-phd-mba-msc-1777b311/

Instagram Handle: @melanie.vandevelde.btg

Superpowers for Good is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Remember, you can watch the Superpowers for Good show on e360tv. To watch the episode, download the #e360tv channel app to your streaming device–Roku, AppleTV or AmazonFireTV–or your mobile device. You can even watch it on the web.

Devin: What do you see as your superpower?

Bertrhude: My superpower is found within the context of people around me. It's found within the people that I surround myself. One of the highlights for me as a leader, as a changemaker, is being able to see not only can I, Dr. Gertrude Albert, have an impact on Haiti, but turning around and seeing that those around me are having an impact and those around me are reaching new levels.

Dr. Bertrhude Albert, CEO of P4H Global, bristles just a bit when I mention that Haiti is a challenging place. “Working in Haiti is the most challenging yet most rewarding part of my life because I get to be working in a context where Haiti is the first free Black republic in the world.”

“Haiti is the first nation to be established in Latin America and the Caribbean,” she continues. “Haiti is the nation–the only nation–to be formed because of a successful slave revolt.”

“I'm working within a context that is so powerful, that is so inspiring–the Haitian people of today are deeply connected to their glorious past,” she says. “So I get to be working in this context, being working with the people that are so proud of who they are and where they come from.”

She acknowledges a bit reluctantly that the challenges are real:

Yet, at the same time, I'm working in a context where economically, my people–because I was born in Haiti, born in Cap-Haitien–my people are struggling. Haiti has the title, which I don't like to flaunt. I think that there's more to Haiti than the economic poverty. But Haiti does have this title of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. That's because of the economic challenges that my people face. The average Haitian, research shows, lives off of $2 to $3 a day.

One of the manifestations of the challenges in Haiti is the ranks of teachers. “In Haiti, 80 percent of teachers, eight out of ten, are not qualified to be teaching, according to USAID, 80 percent!” Bertrhude says. “The vast majority of teachers haven't been trained, haven't gone through teacher school, and that directly impacts the students because in Haiti, 60 percent of students, six out of ten, are dropping out before they finish elementary school.”

P4H Global has been recognized internationally for its work partly because research guides the organization to act strategically at the root of the problem. Bertrhude explains:

Research shows that the indicator that has the greatest impact on the success of a student–it's not the socioeconomic status of the student, it's not the background of the student, it's not where the student comes from–the greatest impact on a student will be the teacher, how the teacher is able to meet the student where they are and is able to support and accompany the student on their journey to success.

So, as a nonprofit, our tagline is “We are training teachers to transform Haiti.” We believe that as we train teachers, they're going to better accompany the students. As we invest in the teachers, we're investing in the students.

Bertrhude’s superpower, empowering other people, is catalyzing this award-winning work. I’ll share insights about her superpower following the AI Episode Summary.

AI Episode Summary

* Dr. Bertrhude Albert is the founder of P4H Global, an organization that trains teachers in Haiti.

* Haiti is facing challenges in terms of social injustice and economic poverty.

* An estimated 80% of teachers in Haiti are not qualified, leading to a high dropout rate of students.

* P4H focuses on training teachers to empower students and change the trajectory of Haiti.

* The organization has over 50 full-time staff members and works in all ten departments of Haiti.

* P4H has trained over 9,000 teachers and has been recognized globally for its impact.

* The program starts with a diagnostic to understand the needs of schools and teachers.

* Training sessions are dynamic and include practical strategies that can be used immediately.

* P4H provides distance coaching and in-classroom visits to support teachers' professional development.

* Dr. Albert's superpower is building a strong team and empowering others to reach their full potential.

How to Develop Empowering Others As a Superpower

Berthrude shared an anecdote to illustrate her superpower of empowering others. As you can tell from watching the interview, she is a charismatic and engaging speaker. As a trainer, she earned a reputation for being the best in the organization.

She recognized, however, that for the organization to extend beyond her personal capabilities, she needed to develop even better trainers. First, she identified Laurent and trained him. After a time, she and others agreed that he was, in fact, a better trainer.

Then, she helped Laurent identify a high-potential trainer who could surpass even Laurent’s greatness. Enter Wisnow. With training and mentoring from Laurent, Wisnow set a new high-water mark for training at P4H Global.

Bertrhude says that listening and communicating effectively are keys to empowering others. After recognizing their potential, she helped them to feel heard and seen and then mentored them on a personal level, enabling them to reach their full potential.

By following Bertrhude’s example and advice, you can make empowering others a leadership skill you employ. With practice, you could make it a superpower you can add to your portfolio, enabling you to do more good in the world.

Guest Profile

Dr. Bertrhude Albert (she/her):

CEO and Co-Founder, P4H Global

About P4H Global: P4H Global is a nonprofit committed to transforming Haiti through quality education. We train teachers across Haiti because we believe that education is not only a basic human right, but it is a prerequisite to seeing Haitians reach their fullest potential. We are a team of 50 world changers who are giving their lives to see change in Haiti. 

Website: P4HGlobal.Org

Twitter Handle: @p4hglobal 

Company Facebook Page: Facebook.com/P4HGlobal

Biographical Information: Dr. Bertrhude Albert is a proud Haitian-American. At the age of 8, she immigrated to the United States from Haiti with her family. Ten years after immigrating, Dr. Albert began her journey to becoming a University of Florida triple Gator. In 2012, Dr. Albert received her BA in English; in 2014, she received her MA in Latin American Studies; and in 2016, she completed her PhD in Agricultural Education and Communication. Throughout her academic journey, Bertrhude received several awards, such as UF’s Hall of Fame, UF’s Teaching Assistant of the Year, the International Outreach Award, and more. Her greatest honor, however, was co-founding P4H Global.Dr. Albert currently serves as the CEO of P4H Global, which has grown to be the largest teacher-training nonprofit in Haiti. In 2022, P4H was awarded the international UNESCO-Hamdan Prize for excellence in teacher development. Dr. Albert is committed to seeing Haiti rise through quality education. 

Twitter Handle: @bertrhude

Personal Facebook Profile: Facebook.com/Bertrhude 

Linkedin: LinkedIn.com/bertrhude

Instagram Handle: @Bertrhude

Superpowers for Good is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I’m not a financial advisor; nothing I write in Superpowers for Good should be considered investment advice. You should seek appropriate counsel before making investment decisions.

Remember, you can watch the Superpowers for Good show on e360tv. To watch the episode, download the #e360tv channel app to your streaming device–Roku, AppleTV or AmazonFireTV–or your mobile device. You can even watch it on the web.

Devin: What do you see as your superpower?

Angela: I have the ability to create healing spaces for both investors and my colleagues here at Revalue and elsewhere around the industry.

In a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, called Ypsilanti, Angela Barbash, the CEO of Revalue, a registered investment advisory firm, is quietly helping hundreds of investors take the journey from Wall Street to Main Street–with their money. A decade in business now, the waiting list to join her client is as long as her current roster of clients.

Angela describes the practice this way:

Some people come to us, and they're excited about taking it all out of Wall Street, and they are trying to figure out how to do that effectively and efficiently. Some people come to us, and it's the first time they've ever heard that they can do this.

We are their gateway into this whole world. We can take them by the hand and take them step by step through the process of what this even looks like and how it is like or unlike other investments that they may have experienced in the past.

I think what's particularly unique about the work that we do is not only are we helping them learn and grow as investors and figure out what that path looks like, but we wrap the whole thing in financial planning work, giving them the confidence to take those actions so that they know how this piece relates to other goals that they have.

A critical part of her success is Angela’s ability to create healing spaces for her clients and colleagues.

Learn more about her superpower below the AI Episode Summary.

AI Episode Summary

* Angela Barbash is the founder and CEO of Revalue, a registered investment advisory firm that focuses on helping investors of all income levels invest in crowdfunding and local investment strategies.

* Revalue works to educate investors and guide them through the process of divesting from Wall Street and investing in Main Street.

* They provide education through an intro to community investing course that helps investors understand the terminology and concepts involved in local investing.

* Revalue also offers financial planning and personal guidance to help investors determine how much they can invest and how to diversify their investments.

* They categorize community investments into community equity, real estate, CDFI notes, community fixed income, and personal loans.

* Revalue primarily focuses on community funds but also allows clients to submit research requests for investments in their local area.

* Angela's superpowers are creating healing spaces for investors and colleagues and being willing to go out on a limb and lead change in the industry.

* She creates healing spaces by being vulnerable, sharing her own story, and allowing clients to express their pain and experiences.

* Angela emphasizes that creating a healing space starts with having empathy for ourselves and engaging in practices that promote self-healing and self-reflection.

* To learn more about Revalue and connect with Angela, visit the Revalue Investing website. They are not active on social media.

How to Develop Creation of Healing Spaces As a Superpower

Angela shared with us how she sees her ability to create healing spaces has allowed her to accomplish her work:

It is not uncommon for me to experience and, therefore, other people on our team here at Revalue to experience this because they've learned from my work or learned the ways that I've done things. It's not uncommon for us to experience an initial meeting with a potential client. 

This is a half-hour call where that person breaks down in tears halfway through the call. I think that this is such a stark example of the power that healing spaces can give to someone else who is just thirsty for a space where they can come in and be themselves and be acknowledged for how this whole economic system has harmed them and harmed others that they love.

So, that's an example of how–it's hard to convey–how I do that. But coming to the table with vulnerability, being willing to share my own story of economic struggle and my family's backstories of poverty and things like that, being willing to share those things and level setting with somebody right when they walk in the door is powerful and not a lot of people do that.

So that's one outcome I can point to. Often, those people then become our clients to the degree that we are now closed for new business because we have almost 200 people in our community, our client community at this point. So, we're doing measured growth to make sure that the community doesn't outgrow our ability to serve them.

It is hard to imagine a level of success in a financial planning firm that requires people to wait for access. That is a surprising level of growth potential for any industry.

Angela offers some tips for creating healing spaces. Fundamentally, she says you have to seek healing yourself so that you can be in a position to feel genuine empathy for others’ pain to help them heal, too.

By following Angela’s example and insights, you can make creating a healing space a skill. With practice, you may be able to develop a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world.

Guest Profile

Angela Barbash (she/her):

CEO, Revalue

About Revalue: Revalue is a home for people passionate about cultivating an abundance mindset in service of community resilience and future generations. We are financial navigators, connecting people to their purpose by crafting values-aligned financial plans and creative educational programming in partnership with those we serve. We are redefining wealth, for good. 

Website: revalueinvesting.com

Twitter Handle: We have opted out of social media

Biographical Information: Angela is a mom, anthropologist, entrepreneur, and an unabashed challenger of the status quo. She has dedicated 20 years in service as a values-driven investment advisor in the Metro Detroit region, including founding Revalue as a values-driven investment firm in 2013, and was one of the first to obtain the Chartered Sustainable Responsible Impact Investing Counselor (CSRIC) designation in the U.S. Angela has contributed countless hours to field building, public education, and infrastructure development to help build a more empathetic finance industry. You will often find her educating on the topics of financial resiliency, community capital, and conscious business management.

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/angelabarbash

Superpowers for Good is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I’m not a financial advisor; nothing I write in Superpowers for Good should be considered investment advice. You should seek appropriate counsel before making investment decisions.

Remember, you can watch the Superpowers for Good show on e360tv. To watch the episode, download the e360tv channel app to your streaming device–Roku, AppleTV or AmazonFireTV–or your mobile device. You can even watch it on the web.

Devin: What do you see as your superpower?

Aaron: The thing that I get from others a lot is I'm a very empathetic person. I have an ear, and I have patience. I don't mind just people sorting through their feelings or whatever it may be and frustrations and me being the ear to hear those. I am empathetic with people when I know what they are going through. So, when it comes to relationships, that's one of my superpowers.

Aaron Heimes is the CEO and co-founder of e360tv Network, Inc., the Netflix of creators. It’s the network that hosts the Superpowers for Good show. The company is raising money via Wefunder; I’m proud to note that I have participated in a small way there.

Aaron and his team have reinvented distribution for content creators like me. E360tv allows us to distribute content simultaneously across a range of devices, from the 65-inch big-screen television in the living room to a laptop, phone or other mobile device.

Aaron succinctly shared the history of e360tv:

We've been around for six years now, which in this industry–over-the-top television–makes us ancient. We grew out of a need for independent creators and storytellers to be able to get distribution for their content onto platforms beyond social media. The social media platforms are really, really tough to get traction on. We wanted to be an extension of their distribution. 

It all came together about three years ago when we launched e360tv Live. That is where we could make it, where an independent storyteller or creator can go live. But they're going live across multiple platforms, including their social media, all at the same time.

A fantastic part of the experience is that voices sometimes ignored by mainstream media are rising to the top on e360tv. Aaron says it happened “organically,” with the show host ranks growing by word of mouth.

Aaron describes the pool of show hosts:

It's intensely diverse because it's just people from around the world and different walks of life and age groups from mid-twenties all the way up to the 80s. Race, but not only just race–races from different areas of the globe, so you have different perspectives even amongst that. 

It organically happened. But there is a commonality. You'll see a common thread that goes through all of the hosts on e360tv; everyone wants to do some good. They want to put media out that has a purpose and brings value to people's lives. That is the commonality that you'll see throughout. But the diversity just happened, and we're continuing to grow that. That's important to me.

That community is now driving the crowdfunding campaign on Wefunder. Aaron learned as a founder that many investors have minimums of $1 million or more. He didn’t want to raise that much. He didn’t want to have to employ a valuation he couldn’t defend, so he’s raising a relatively small amount from the e360tv community.

To build the network, Aaron admits needing a lot of tenacity and perseverance. Still, he says, his real superpower is empathy.

AI Episode Summary

* Devin Thorpe introduces Aaron Heimes, the CEO of e360tv, the network that hosts the superpowers for good show.

* Aaron explains that e360tv was created to provide distribution for independent creators and storytellers beyond social media platforms.

* 360 TV launched e360tv Live three years ago, enabling creators to go live on multiple platforms simultaneously.

* 360 TV has a diverse group of show hosts and networks with a common thread of wanting to do good and provide value to people's lives.

* The network is currently running a crowdfunding campaign on Wefunder to raise funds for future projects and expansion.

* Aaron and his team chose crowdfunding because it made sense, given their community-based approach and specific funding needs.

* Tenacity and empathy are two superpowers that Aaron highlights, with the latter being the one he values more as a leader.

* He advises others to practice empathy by looking people in the eye, listening without an agenda, and recognizing our shared humanity.

* Aaron shares an example of using empathy to help one of the network presidents overcome challenges and become a better leader.

* To learn more about e360tv and the crowdfunding campaign, people can download the app or visit the e360tv website and Wefunder page.

How to Develop Empathy As a Superpower

To illustrate the power of empathy as a tool for building the network, Aaron shared a story about the person who runs the channel AchieveTV, where you can find my show on the e360tv network:

Julie Ann Meyer is one of the presidents on e360tv–or AchieveTV that you're on. When Julie and I started first working together, she started coming back to me saying, “I'm hitting this, I'm hitting these issues, I got issues. It feels like I'm herding cats. I feel like…,” You know, at first I chuckled because I said, “See, now you know what it feels like.” 

But at the same time, that was a specific sit down–virtual sit down–that we could have. I told her, “Look, these are the things that are going to happen. And that's okay. I know what you're going through because I've been there. It will work itself out. You're going to be able to adjust how you handle these situations in your processes from the beginning to cure these ills.”

That's one instance that resulted in a magnification of her skills. Now she's, I'd say, close to the number one president that we have on e360tv.

Aaron thoughtfully offered some advice for developing and deploying empathy:

The number one thing is to look people truly in the eye when you're speaking to them. Let your guard down. Be open. Don't have an agenda. Just allow them to talk and look them directly in that pupil of their eye. That gives you calm in the conversation and allows you to run its course.

It makes you listen. Just let them travel--let them travel the path. These are some lessons that I learned. I learned these in my leadership classes during my MBA. This is one of the things that was brought up; women leaders are recognized a lot of times as better leaders because they are more empathetic with their teams. 

Sometimes, people just need to get it out; they get almost a reset so they can take a deep breath and move forward. 

I'd say the number one thing is to shut up, look people in the eye and just listen.

By following Aaron’s advice and example, you can build your empathy. With time, perhaps you can make it a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world.

Guest Profile

Aaron Heimes (he/him):

CEO, e360tv Network, Inc.

About e360tv Network, Inc.: e360tv is a conduit between independent content creators, events and brands with audiences across social media platforms, web and connected TVs… all simultaneously. e360tv was founded and functions as a distributor of content for independent content creators and storytellers, events and brands, both on-demand and live.

Website: e360tv.com

Twitter Handle: @e360tv

Company Facebook Page: facebook.com/e360tv/

Other URL: wefunder.com/e360tv

Biographical Information: Aaron Heimes is a passionate and disciplined media executive who is focused on the expanding over-the-top media distribution and marketing channels. With a background in media, marketing, and project management, Aaron focuses on the creation of cross-device distribution channels that include a feature-rich viewing experience for audiences. This includes content-to-commerce, live content production and distribution, and branded content to create a value proposition that allows viewers to control their experience while unobtrusively pushing brands to the right people in the right places at the right time. Aaron is a producer of branded…

Remember, you can watch the Superpowers for Good show on e360tv. To watch the episode, download the #e360tv channel app to your streaming device–Roku, AppleTV or AmazonFireTV–or your mobile device. You can even watch it on the web.

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Devin: What do you see as your superpower, Kevin?

Kevin: I see my superpower as diversity of experience. I was born in a very small and very poor suburb of Detroit called Highland Park, and now I work–outside of Proximate– as an investment analyst for Gutter Capital. So, I have been in situations where I've had $0, and I can speak that language. Now, I'm the middleman for people to get investments of $1 million.

Devin: Ben, what is your superpower?

Ben: I think it has something to do with helping people tell their stories.

My guests today, Ben Wrobel and Kevin McClendon, are co-founders–along with Meg Massey–of the nonprofit media company Proximate.

“Proximate is a media platform that amplifies and connects movements for participatory problem-solving,” says Kevin. “We're a home for stories about creative community-driven models that shift power to people with lived experience or those proximate to the problem.”

The company grew naturally out of a book that Ben wrote with co-founder Meg called Letting Go. The book built on their experiences. Ben says, “I worked for a participatory investing nonprofit called Village Capital that shifted decision-making power away from investors and towards entrepreneurs closer to the problem.”

The team employs a solutions journalism lens, focusing on solutions when discussing societal challenges. Proximate narrows its aperture to primarily consider innovations in participatory philanthropy, investing and budgeting. The goal is to amplify the voices of those closest to and most impacted by problems.

I’m excited about their work, in part because it recognizes the fundamental value of the crowd in crowdfunding and the value of investors who deploy relatively small amounts of money but bring perspective from the front lines of problems.

Kevin highlights the uniqueness of the Proximate approach to news, “We're the only platform where you can find how a sex worker film festival and a food bank are solving for the same variables.”

Ben and Kevin each bring superpowers to the game. Ben leverages an ability to help others tell their stories, and Kevin shares his unique diversity of experience to the work.

AI Episode Summary

* Kevin McClendon and Ben Wrobel are co-founders of Proximate, a media platform that amplifies and connects movements for participatory problem-solving.

* They focus on stories about creative community-driven models that shift power to people with lived experience or those proximate to the problem.

* Their work extends beyond capital and includes areas such as climate change, medical care, citizen science, and equity in the creative economy.

* Proximate produces journalism and solutions journalism specifically, conveying information in a compelling way.

* They hire local journalists to write about solutions in communities, such as locally-led disaster response in Puerto Rico, and cover different sectors like philanthropy, government, and impact investing.

* Their goal is to be a clearinghouse for participatory problem-solving stories and create collections of stories for specific topics with the help of partner nonprofits.

* Kevin's superpower is diversity of experience, having been in situations of poverty and also working as an investment analyst for Gutter Capital.

* Ben's superpower is helping people tell their stories, finding people with big ideas and helping them communicate their work in a universal language.

* Kevin suggests breaking silos and identifying similarities as a way to increase diversity of perspective, while Ben recommends speaking out loud and recording to overcome writer's block and improve storytelling.

* To learn more about Proximate, visit their website, subscribe to their newsletters, and connect with them on social media. For Kevin, connect on LinkedIn and Instagram, and for Ben, email him or connect on LinkedIn. They are also looking for content, platform, and funding partners for collaboration.

How to Develop a Diversity of Experience As a Superpower

Kevin shared an example that illustrates his superpower:

So in writing for the participants, The Rise of Participatory ESOs, our most recent project that we've announced, because I've worked with a lot of the different industries that we covered, I had the insider look, so to speak, that I'm not writing as someone who's lived on the outside. 

I'm writing as someone who has both worked inside of these organizations and as well been a person who has been in a position to receive the results of what these organizations are attempting to accomplish.

Kevin also offered some tips for expanding your own perspective. He suggests:

* Break the silos and identify the similarities. 

* Stop creating these false barriers between groups. 

* Learn from what another person is doing. 

By following Kevin’s example and advice, you can broaden your perspectives. In time, you may be able to make this a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world.

How to Develop Storytelling As a Superpower

Ben shared an anecdote to illustrate the power of storytelling:

One of the participatory grantmaking funds that we profiled in Letting Go had been doing this work for ten years and just had a website and were well known in their small community but were not on the radar of a lot of other folks in philanthropy or beyond.

We wrote a whole chapter about them in the book. Shortly after that, their founder and CEO left. She said, “I feel like my legacy is more secure now. Our story has been told.”

I know that since then, they've been able to raise a good amount of money. I don't think that is entirely because of Letting Go.

That's what I'm hoping to accomplish with Proximate. Every time we write an article about somebody, we hope that it will be used so that they can share it and talk about themselves and the work they're doing in a way they can be proud of.

Ben offers a powerful storytelling tip:

What I've often seen when people try to write an op-ed or write an essay, write about their work, they often are intimidated by a blank screen. Say the words out loud. Describe what you're doing to someone in your life and your family, and then take that–there is some great AI recording software out there, like Otter.ai. Turn on Otter and start talking. 

This is something people used to do way back in the day. Take a recorder; speak into it. That is one of the best ways to write: speak into your computer and then figure out what you just said.

By following Ben’s example and suggestion, you can improve your storytelling. With practice, you could make it a superpower that enables you to do more good in the world.

Guest Profiles

About Proximate: Proximate is a media platform that aims to amplify and connect movements for new models of participatory problem-solving. We're a home for stories about creative, community-driven models that shift power to people with lived experience or those proximate to the problem.

Website: proximate.press/

Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/proximate-press

Company Facebook Page: facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091509354018

Kevin McClendon (he/him):

Co-Founder, Proximate

Biographical Information: Kevin is a writer and strategic professional in the early-stage investment and philanthropy ecosystems. He is driven to create a more equitable world for his son through avid support of sustainable capitalism.Kevin serves as a Co-Founder of Proximate, helping forward a mission of shifting power to those with lived experience. He is also an investment analyst for Gutter Capital, investing in software companies tackling the world's biggest problems. Kevin began his career in marketing for a diversity of industries, including entertainment, real estate, and health …