They're baaaaack! On this episode of The Human Challenge, an Amazon Music x ACAST "Indie Podcast Amplifier 2023", Leanna Carriere and Timm Döbert are back to talk about their recent cycling trip across Canada to support the 30x30 initiative, a United Nations goal of protecting 30% of land and water by 2030.

You might remember them (how could you forget this dynamic duo, Canada's First Woman Decathlete and a Global Change Ecologist?) from previous episodes where they spoke about their Wings of Survival expedition to support restoration efforts of the Pacific Americas Flyway. The Cross-Canada trek served as a warm-up to their Wings of Survival trip next year.

In this casual conversation, Leanna and Timm share the conservation sites they visited across the country, the animals they came across, and how they prepared for the 30 days trek. Being plant-based athletes, they also highlight their partnership with University of Alberta to research the effects of a plant-based diet on a long-term extreme expedition.

Be welcome to support them directly at their GoFundMe here.

Be invited to stay in touch with Vanessa on Instagram @vanessaferlaino or vanessaferlaino.com

Watch this full episode on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/@vanessaferlaino/featured

The Human Challenge is hosted and produced by Vanessa Ferlaino. Watch the full episode on her Youtube channel here. Don't forget to subscribe!

The Human Challenge is an award-winning podcast, recognized by Amazon Music and ACAST as an "Indie Podcast Amplifier".

Guess what? We're on Rogers TV! Check us out there!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With over 2.11 million people incarcerated as of 2018, almost 600,000 people per year reenter society from incarceration with little re-integration support, leading to over 66% of formerly incarcerated people rearrested within three years of reentry.

Kylie Hwang saw this firsthand while working at a background check company, and noticed that most solutions focused on supporting formerly incarcerated individuals with employment, but ignored those who turned to entrepreneurship due to labour market discrimination. Intrigued, Kylie pursued her Doctoral Studies.

Now, an Assistant Professor at Kellogg School of Business, she recently co-published "Entrepreneurship as a Response to Labor Market Discrimination for Formerly Incarcerated People" in the American Journal of Sociology and documented a few outcomes:

1. Formerly incarcerated individuals, particularly formerly incarcerated Black individuals, are more likely to become entrepreneurs compared to similar individuals who have never been incarcerated because of diminished employment opportunities.
2. Entrepreneurship for formerly incarcerated individuals reducing the income gap and recidivism ("re-offending") rates.
3. Entrepreneurship is an alternative way for formerly incarcerated lowers the likelihood of returning to prison, due to lack of employment opportunities.
4. Black individuals who have been incarcerated face the highest employment barriers due to discrimination, and as a result seek entrepreneurship.
5. Formerly incarcerated Black individuals reap the greatest advantages from entrepreneurship.

Kylie's research offers a look at how entrepreneurship can be a great option given labour market discrimination limiting formerly incarcerated individuals, and most importantly, how impact investors, researchers, and policymakers can help.

Tune into this episode of The Human Challenge, an Amazon Music x ACAST "Indie Podcast Amplifier 2023" to learn more about Kylie's journey, the implications, and how we can support -- and what she is looking at next!

Be invited to stay in touch with Vanessa on Instagram @vanessaferlaino or vanessaferlaino.com

Be welcome to learn more about Kylie Hwang at https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/directory/hwang_kylie.aspx

Watch this full episode on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/@vanessaferlaino/featured

The Human Challenge is hosted and produced by Vanessa Ferlaino. Watch the full episode on her Youtube channel here. Don't forget to subscribe!

The Human Challenge is an award-winning podcast, recognized by Amazon Music and ACAST as an "Indie Podcast Amplifier".

Guess what? We're on Rogers TV! Check us out there!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It took 6 years for Petra Molnar to write "The Walls Have Eyes", a book showcasing the use of technology in immigration and migrant affairs. As a lawyer and anthropology specializing in human rights, the book documents both research and true stories of people on the move that she herself has supported in their own journeys to freedom.

Petra joins Vanessa on The Human Challenge, an Amazon Music x ACAST "Indie Podcast Amplifier 2023" to talk about the use of technology

• along US-Mexico and in Greece to facilitate pushback operations;
• in refugee camps used as digital prisons (Kenya);
• that is tested in the Occupied Palestinian territories.

She also discusses how all of this has created the "border industrial complex", largely driven by both the private and public sector, and certain resistance strategies, including hope, in a society that continues to push more technology as an only solution. One such strategy includes her work founding The Migration Technology Monitor.

Ultimately, she invites us to ask ourselves questions around the use of technology, who gets a seat at the table in deciding what technology to use and how, and how we can co-create technologies with people on the move.

The biggest human challenge to Petra?

Dehumanization.

"We all hold such complexity with the way we move through the world," she says, "we need to hold that same complexity for people on the move."

Be invited to stay in touch with Vanessa on Instagram @vanessaferlaino or vanessaferlaino.com; and Petra Molnar on Twitter @_PMolnar or https://www.petramolnar.com/ or https://www.migrationtechmonitor.com/

Watch this full episode on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/@vanessaferlaino/featured

The Human Challenge is hosted and produced by Vanessa Ferlaino. Watch the full episode on her Youtube channel here. Don't forget to subscribe!

The Human Challenge is an award-winning podcast, recognized by Amazon Music and ACAST as an "Indie Podcast Amplifier".

Guess what? We're on Rogers TV! Check us out there!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of The Human Challenge, Leah Rampy, award-winning author of "Earth & Soul: Reconnecting Amid Climate Chaos", talks about the story of separation and "otherness" we have a society have been living in a predominant Western culture.

To her, the biggest human challenge is that "being human is not about being separate... being human is about being part of that incredibly family tree... we are a leaf on it, but we are not the tree." Leah offers wise words about attention and intention to invite us to be more human to ourselves navigating a separated society.

"Earth & Soul: Reconnecting Amid Climate Chaos" was awarded 2024 Next Generation Indie Book Awards & 2024 National Indie Excellence Awards. Get yours now here!

Pls be invited to stay in touch with Vanessa on Instagram @vanessaferlaino or vanessaferlaino.com

Watch this full episode on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/@vanessaferlaino/featured

The Human Challenge is hosted and produced by Vanessa Ferlaino. Watch the full episode on her Youtube channel here. Don't forget to subscribe!

The Human Challenge is an award-winning podcast, recognized by Amazon Music and ACAST as an "Indie Podcast Amplifier".

Guess what? We're on Rogers TV! Check us out there!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jessica Gonzalez is one of the most prominent entrepreneurs in New Jersey. Jessica was EY Entrepreneur of the year award runner up 2019 + 2021, 50 Best Women in Business NJ, Women, Minority, & Small Business Enterprise Certified, NGLCC® LGBTBE® Certified, and has been published over 100 times in Forbes, Huffington Post, and INC. Magazine.

Jessica is the CEO of Happen Ventures, a latina-owned social enterprise that supports organizations in adopting "reuse" principles by finding expired or damaged goods/products a new home with people in-need through local community and non-profit partnerships.

• Did you know that "reuse" is actually more affordable economically?
• Did you know that "reuse" can be adopted at the municipality level?
• Did you know that it is easier to have greater impact adopting "reuse" principles?

Weaving in her experiences of being a latina businesswoman, she shares wisdom for those of us navigating this journey, too.

"No one knows less or more than you, " she says. "We're all human."

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Be invited to stay in touch with Vanessa on Instagram @vanessaferlaino , LinkedIn or vanessaferlaino.com

Connect with Jessica on LinkedIn at and happenventures.com

Watch this full episode on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/@vanessaferlaino/featured

The Human Challenge is hosted and produced by Vanessa Ferlaino. Watch the full episode on her Youtube channel here. Don't forget to subscribe!

The Human Challenge is an award-winning podcast, recognized by Amazon Music and ACAST as an "Indie Podcast Amplifier".

Guess what? We're on Rogers TV! Check us out there!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are two main narratives we are told about welcoming immigrants into our countries: that they harm society by taking jobs or that it is our "moral responsibility" to support immigrants. But are these truly representative of the value immigrants offer our society?

Is there a third narrative that tells us otherwise?

Zeke Hernandez, Professor at Wharton School of Business and author of "The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers", joins Vanessa on The Human Challenge to share more about this third narrative, the data behind it, and his own personal story about immigrating into the USA.

"The Truth About Immigration" is available now where all books are sold. Check it out on Amazon here.

Be invited to stay in touch with Vanessa on Instagram @vanessaferlaino or vanessaferlaino.com

Watch this full episode on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/@vanessaferlaino/featured

The Human Challenge is hosted and produced by Vanessa Ferlaino. Watch the full episode on her Youtube channel here. Don't forget to subscribe!

The Human Challenge is an award-winning podcast, recognized by Amazon Music and ACAST as an "Indie Podcast Amplifier".

Guess what? We're on Rogers TV! Check us out there!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you ever felt so passionate about a cause that it made you swim the English channel?

Well, Poppy Mason-Watts, Chief Growth and Impact Officer of WaterBear, has!

What is WaterBear? It is more than a streaming platform; it is a community! WaterBear is the home of captivating films and thought-provoking series that empower you to lead a meaningful life. You can watch this powerful social good content for free (always!) and without ads.

Poppy joins The Human Challenge, an Amazon Music x ACAST "Indie Podcast Amplifier" and shares all about WaterBear's impact in diversity, film, media, and technology from both their content and business operations; their first time at Sundance.

Poppy also gets personal, divulging the challenges of being a woman in tech, media, and impact; the project that inspired her to swim the English channel to bring awareness to refugees; and some of her other favourite female protagonist

She is most excited about the upcoming series from United Nations Women called “Unsilenced” - a docu-series (3x20') about gender based violence that will be exclusively released on WaterBear!

Be welcome to review the trailer about Unsilenced here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNLvecL6vVk

Learn more about Waterbear here: https://www.waterbear.com/

Be invited to stay in touch with Vanessa on Instagram @vanessaferlaino or vanessaferlaino.com and Poppy at https://www.linkedin.com/in/poppy-mason-watts-b7753219/

Watch this full episode on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/@vanessaferlaino/featured

The Human Challenge is hosted and produced by Vanessa Ferlaino. Watch the full episode on her Youtube channel here. Don't forget to subscribe!

The Human Challenge is an award-winning podcast, recognized by Amazon Music and ACAST as an "Indie Podcast Amplifier".

Guess what? We're on Rogers TV! Check us out there!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of The Human Challenge, an Amazon Music x ACAST "Indie Podcast Amplifier" 2023, Vanessa speaks with producer, author, activist, Frank Barat; Yara Jamal, co-founder of Free Palestine Halifax; and Paula Sahyoun, founder of the Palestine Impact Collective to learn about how we can move toward collective liberation.

Touching on their own endeavours to support the Palestinian cause, they also discuss the lack of accountability of the media, human rights vs political agenda, how fear has played a huge role in suppressing the voices of Gaza, and most importantly, how it is shifting -- and how YOU can be part of that shift!

We live in a very important moment; Gaza serves as a litmus test for the rest of the world. "Palestinians were kicked out of Israel... they held onto their key," Frank reminds us. "It's a key through our activism and love and everything else this world could be... when you realize you have this key, it changes everything."

Be invited to stay in touch with Vanessa on Instagram @vanessaferlaino or vanessaferlaino.com; Frank on Instagram @4frankbarat; Yara Jamal on Instagram @yarajamal._ or @freepalestinehalifax; or Paula Sahyoun at palestineimpactcollective.org

Watch this full episode on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/@vanessaferlaino

The Human Challenge is hosted and produced by Vanessa Ferlaino. Watch the full episode on her Youtube channel here. Don't forget to subscribe!

The Human Challenge is an award-winning podcast, recognized by Amazon Music and ACAST as an "Indie Podcast Amplifier".

Guess what? We're on Rogers TV! Check us out there!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After witnessing her son's challenges with reading, Canadian Olympian-turned-entrepreneur, Julia Rivard, started Shoelace Learning to create engaging applications to improve reading.

Julia shares about her upbringing from Northern Ontario, her journey to the Australian Olympics, and how she approached her "athlete retirement" as an opportunity to reinvent herself -- which led to Shoelace Learning. Julia is particularly passionate about inclusive learning in schools for educators and students; she shares Shoelace's JEDI content review process to maintain their commitment to DEI in education.

Recorded during International Women's Month, Julia and Vanessa get incredibly vulnerable around the challenges of being a woman, the role of shame in society, and how they believe there is a shift in society toward a more matriarchal society.

The Human Challenge is an Amazon Music x ACAST "Indie Podcast Amplifier" 2023.

Be invited to stay in touch with Vanessa on Instagram @vanessaferlaino or vanessaferlaino.com.

Learn more about Shoelace Learning here.

Watch this full episode on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/@vanessaferlaino/featured

The Human Challenge is hosted and produced by Vanessa Ferlaino. Watch the full episode on her Youtube channel here. Don't forget to subscribe!

The Human Challenge is an award-winning podcast, recognized by Amazon Music and ACAST as an "Indie Podcast Amplifier".

Guess what? We're on Rogers TV! Check us out there!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nicole White, founder of Moontime Connections, joined Vanessa on "The Human Challenge", an Amazon Music x ACAST "Indie Podcast Amplifier 2023" to talk about period inequities in the remote communities. Moontime Connections, along with their partner True North Aid, collects and distributes period products for women in remote communities across Canada.

Nicole also talks about their new research, completed in partnership with the Department of Psychology at the University of Saskatchewan, a first-of-its-kind study offers vital and much-needed insights into menstrual-related needs in remote northern communities as well as the experiences of Indigenous menstruators. Moon Time Connections (MTC), with the help of USask and Dr. Karen Lawson (PhD, Professor and Head) and Adriana Cashwell (Masters student researcher) of the Department of Psychology and Health Studies, surveyed menstruators 15 years old and over in remote northern communities across the country to collect data on the experiences of menstruators in the north, and generate a better understanding of the unique challenges faced by these communities.

Key among the findings is the glaring stat that 74% of Indigenous respondents living in remote communities and 55% of Indigenous respondents living in non-remote communities “often” or “sometimes” have issues accessing menstrual products. Read the report here.

Moontime Connections is the first charity partner of "The BeHuman Collective: a mindfulness circle", a donation-based mindfulness program led by Vanessa Ferlaino, part of The Being Human Foundation.

Be invited to stay in touch with Vanessa on Instagram @vanessaferlaino or vanessaferlaino.com

Watch this full episode on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/@vanessaferlaino/featured

w grace

The Human Challenge is hosted and produced by Vanessa Ferlaino. Watch the full episode on her Youtube channel here. Don't forget to subscribe!

The Human Challenge is an award-winning podcast, recognized by Amazon Music and ACAST as an "Indie Podcast Amplifier".

Guess what? We're on Rogers TV! Check us out there!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.