THE IDEALISTS.

In this week’s all-new episode of THE IDEALISTS., host and entrepreneur, Melissa Kiguwa speaks to Martha Beck, a PhD Harvard-trained sociologist, entrepreneur, and Oprah's life coach. Her most recent book, The Way of Integrity, was an instant New York Times Best Seller and in it, using the hero's journey within Dante's Inferno, Martha challenges us to envision a life of complete joy... unencumbered by self-limiting beliefs and cultural programming.

In this episode, Martha delves deep into how we all can achieve integrity, which she defines as absolute and total alignment of one's mind, body, and soul.

Highlights:

- Martha starts the conversation by recounting while working on her PhD at Harvard, she became pregnant with her son who she learned would be born with down syndrome. Despite being told by her advisors and professors that an abortion would protect her career, Martha absconded from their advice.

- She began to question what makes a life worth living and came to her own answer— that the search and capacity for joy through the liberation of the human mind is the reason for living.

- Martha then shares why she believes the full realization of one’s gifts leads to enlightenment.

- Lastly, Martha discusses her audacious vision for the world— to end suffering for all through the transformation of consciousness.

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through. 

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
On Instagram: @theidealistspodcast_
On Twitter: @theidealistspod
Help us grow! Leave a review of the show on Apple or Spotify
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Welcome back to break*through!

break*through is THE IDEALISTS. newest venture where we matchmake visionary women with world-class Executive Coaches.

Today, you get a peek into this process by listening in on Alisa’s session.

In 2015, in the middle of living her best life, 45-year-old, New York-based branding executive and former Armani & Calvin Klein model, Alisa woke up in the hospital after having shattered her face and jaw during an epileptic seizure in the grocery store on the upper west side of Manhattan. Unable to speak, fired from her job, and now permanently disfigured, Alisa found herself trapped in a narrative loop of grief and anxiety she could have never anticipated—one that’s still deeply impacting how she comports herself in interviews and meetings.

Alisa is working with a career coach who helps professional women navigate and remove barriers in their careers so that they can show up as themselves and move forward and upward.

This week, we dive deep into the issue of the “stuck” narrative—something we all grapple with at some point or another in our lives, but for our guest today and her coach—the traumatic narrative has been on repeat for so long—she’s called on the much-needed services of an Executive Coach to help her finally disrupt and transform it.

This break*through session is sponsored by Ideas Collide.

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through. 

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
On Instagram: @theidealistspodcast_
On Twitter: @theidealistspod
Help us grow! Leave a review of the show on Apple or Spotify
Order a copy of the*journal

In this week’s all-new episode of THE IDEALISTS., host and entrepreneur, Melissa Kiguwa speaks to Madeline Fraser, 3x serial entrepreneur who in 2021 Business Insider named one of the Top Women Entrepreneurs Under 30 to Watch. Today, Madeline is the founder and CEO of Gemist, a digital platform that allows consumers to customize and try on their jewelry before purchasing it. Gemist has been called the Warby Parker of the jewelry industry and has raised $4M with De Beers Group Ventures as one of its main funders. De Beers Groups portfolio of brands include De Beers Jewellers and Forevermark. In this authentically heartfelt episode, Madeline shares her contemplations on becoming a mother while running a startup.

Highlights:

- Madeline starts the conversation by recounting her mother’s 17 year fight with cancer and how seeing her mother fundraise for cancer research encouraged her to be audacious.

- Madeline then shares the first time she stepped into audacity by taking a job in India at the age of 18 and later in life, her experiences in therapy and doing the inner work.

- Madeline candidly shares her internal conflict with becoming a mother and with modern day ideas about motherhood.  

- Lastly, Madeline discusses her audacious vision for the world— that women can step into their power through entrepreneurship.

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through. 

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
On Instagram: @theidealistspodcast_
On Twitter: @theidealistspod
Help us grow! Leave a review of the show on Apple or Spotify
Order a copy of the*journal

In this week’s all-new episode of THE IDEALISTS., host and entrepreneur, Melissa Kiguwa speaks to Jessica Buchanan, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six.

The book details how Jessica was kidnapped at gunpoint on October 25, 2011, while she was on a normal field assignment in Somalia as a humanitarian aid worker, and held for 93 days by a group of land pirates who demanded $45M ransom. On former President Barack Obama's orders, Jessica was freed by the same elite Navy SEAL Team that tracked down and killed Osama Bin Laden.

Jessica’s story is deeply touching, and her reflections on resilience are awe-inspiring.

Highlights:

- Jessica starts the conversation by describing why resilience is a choice. She delves into the alternatives of coping with adversity— either meeting oneself “in the proverbial desert” or cycling through self-destructive patterns.

- Jessica then shares what brought her to Somalia and her work with armed violence reduction.

- Jessica recounts the story of her kidnapping and the deep, powerful insights she gleaned during her time in captivity.

- Lastly, Jessica discusses her audacious vision for the world— that we all recognize the opportunities life provides so we can better connect with ourselves and each other.

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through. 

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
On Instagram: @theidealistspodcast_
On Twitter: @theidealistspod
Help us grow! Leave a review of the show on Apple or Spotify
Order a copy of the*journal

In this week’s all-new episode of THE IDEALISTS., host and entrepreneur, Melissa Kiguwa speaks to Erica Keswin, a workplace strategist who has worked for the past twenty years with some of the most iconic brands in the world as a consultant, speaker, author, and professional dot-connector. Her second book, Rituals Roadmap: The Human Way to Transform Everyday Routines Into Workplace Magic made the Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly and USA Today best seller lists and her work and insights can be seen in Harvard Business Review, NY Post, Forbes, Huffington Post, O Magazine, Entrepreneur, Business Insider, Mogul, Conscious Company, Quartz, and Fast Company.

Highlights:

- Erica leads the conversation by describing how her parent’s divorce during her childhood led her to pursue a career of connecting people to each other.

- Erica then shares her thesis: that when we connect with one another and bring our human to work, we see an increase in wellness, health, and performance.

- Erica and Melissa discuss innovative ways progressive companies are supporting employees in “bringing their human to work.”

- Lastly, Erica discusses her audacious vision for the world— that as technologically advanced as our world will continue to become, that her work helps people remember the value of relationships.

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through. 

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
On Instagram: @theidealistspodcast_
On Twitter: @theidealistspod
Help us grow! Leave a review of the show on Apple or Spotify
Order a copy of the*journal

In this week’s all-new episode of THE IDEALISTS., host and entrepreneur, Melissa Kiguwa speaks to Andrea Bowers who The New York Times calls one of America’s foremost political artists. For more than 30 years, Andrea has built an international reputation as a chronicler of contemporary history, documenting activism as it unfolds and collecting research on the front lines of protest. Her practice contends with issues such as immigration rights, workers’ rights, climate justice, and women’s rights, illustrating the shared pursuit of justice that connects them.

Highlights:

- Andrea leads the conversation by describing her childhood growing up in a depressed, small town in Ohio and how the environment cultivated a contrarian politic in her.

- Andrea and Melissa discuss how women across political lines can "speak" to each other— from capitalist feminists to radical feminist activists.

- Next, Andrea tracks her work archiving activists around the world and how she conceptualizes the source material of these activists.

- Andrea then describes how she reckons with radical patience vis a vis progress in her art— that sometimes those fighting for justice will not see the fruits of their labor in their lifetime.

- Lastly, Andrea discusses her own subjectivity and how that impacts whether she puts herself in the art she creates.

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through. 

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
On Instagram: @theidealistspodcast_
On Twitter: @theidealistspod
Help us grow! Leave a review of the show on Apple or Spotify
Order a copy of the*journal

Hi friends! Melissa Kiguwa popping in to tell you about something I’ve been cooking up. Over the last few months, I’ve been writing a beautifully stunning self-reflection journal just for our listeners. It’s the first physical product coming out of break*through, our sister venture focused on community, connection, and coaching.

If you’re a fan of THE IDEALISTS. or break*through, you know I speak to poets, artists, nine-figure entrepreneurs, activists, scientists, farmers, venture capitalists, even mystics about what it means to live in their peak vision. From those conversations, I’ve mined the depths of their insight and with the*journal you can too.

the*journal is a self-coaching tool filled with over 300 thoughtful prompts and beautiful illustrations all designed to summon connection with the most powerful person in your life… you.

Jane one of our amazing listeners and a former guest says, “Received the*journal recently and it is so wonderfully inspiring, motivating, encouraging and kind. It is written and drawn in a way that creates a deep relaxation coupled with a zest for challenge which is an unusual and welcome feeling that I want more of!”

Thanks Jane. And thank you to everyone who has ordered already. I promise next week I’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming interviewing beautifully audacious women, but in the meantime, head on over to theidealistsjournal.co and get yourself a copy of the*journal today. The prompts facilitate deep introspection and can be answered in 5 minutes or less. Trust me, it’s one of the best gift you can give yourself this year.

Alright, see you next week!

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through. 

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
On Instagram: @theidealistspodcast_
On Twitter: @theidealistspod
Help us grow! Leave a review of the show on Apple or Spotify
Order a copy of the*journal

In this week’s all-new episode, podcast host and entrepreneur, Melissa Kiguwa speaks with social innovation leader and co-author of the book Money and Love Abby Davisson. Most recently, Abby spent nine years as president of the Gap Foundation and co-founded the organization’s employee resource group for working parents, which has been featured as a best practice for how employers can support dual-career couples. In her book, Money and Love: An Intelligent Roadmap for Life’s Biggest Decisions, co-authored with labor economist Dr. Myra Strober, the two offer a cutting-edge guide for navigating life’s most consequential and daunting decisions using research-based insights road-tested in a popular Stanford University course. 

Highlights:

- Abby leads off the conversation with how decisions about money and love are inextricably bound and that when we compartmentalize the two, we miss out on a critical opportunity to leverage the entirety of the information, along with our own  response to it, to make more meaningful, holistic life decisions.

- Next, she outlines a flexible, but sturdy, framework when grappling with some of life’s bigger decisions.

- Next, Abby relates how being married can feel like being the CEO of a very unglamorous non-profit especially when the function of caregiving is so undervalued by our society. Having love and money conversations are uncomfortable. No one is eager to talk with their new romantic partner about their massive student loan debt. It’s completely easy to put off these conversations, so she offers a helpful hack for how to get out of the day-to-day routine and make time to have meaningful engagement around the topics. 

- Lastly, Abby shares her (and her co-author’s) audacious vision for the world... for people to finally realize that money and love are profoundly intertwined, but that it's not enough to solve these issues on an individual level, and that for society to really change, we need to address them on a communal and cultural level so that in the future we all have fewer negative trade-offs that ultimately hinder our lifelong happiness.

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through. 

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
On Instagram: @theidealistspodcast_
On Twitter: @theidealistspod
Help us grow! Leave a review of the show on Apple or Spotify
Order a copy of the*journal

In this week’s all-new episode of THE IDEALISTS., podcast host and entrepreneur, Melissa Kiguwa, speaks with the prolific visual artist, author, and breakout star of Miami Art Basel, Reyna Noriega. Born and raised, in Miami, Reyna paints an intentionally ebullient experience of Black and brown women. Her work has graced covers of The New Yorker, and Science Magazine, and has been featured at Brookfield Place overlooking Freedom Tower in New York City’s financial district. Through her major partnerships with Apple, Old Navy, Madewell, Apt2b, and Wayfair, thousands of collectors showcase her art in their homes around the world. Having seen the power of introspection, self-reflection, and healing, Reyna’s artistic vision teaches us about the myriad journeys women of color take as we struggle to rise and become our most empowered authentic selves.

Highlights:

- Reyna leads off the conversation by seeing a need not only for greater representation of women of color, but also a shift in the predominant narrative from one solely of trauma to one inclusive of joy, positivity, and uplifting stories.

- Next, she relates her passion for the accessibility afforded by digital art, but also the challenges of its legitimacy as a form. Additionally, in balancing her desire for commercial collaboration with her desire for respect as a fine artist, she is also continually grappling with her legitimacy as an artist while also being able to monetize her work to live. It's the life of a working artist.

- Building on this, she talks about the predatory nature of the art market—how one is only successful after death. Being a working, living artist, trying to make room for other artists to do the same, is very much part of her mission right now. With four shows at Miami Art Basel this year, and then curating her very first show featuring emerging Black and brown artists—she is finally realizing this mission in concrete terms.

- Lastly, Reyna shares her audacious vision for the world that even amidst the current climate of negativity on the internet, and the highly divisive nature of society, we might still hold space for more love, compassion, and grace for one another.

Resources:

1. Reyna Noriega Studios: https://www.reynanoriega.com/

2. In Bloom: A Poetic Documentary Of The Journey to Higher Self: https://a.co/d/eghN3l4

3. Reyna Noriega & Madewell: https://www.madewell.com/inspo-community-hometown-heroes-collective.html

4. Reyna Noriega & Goody at Walmart: https://www.walmart.com/browse/1085666_3316357_5638839

5. Reyna Noriega: behind the Project: https://youtu.be/ELcdko5be-o

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through. 

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
On Instagram: @theidealistspodcast_
On Twitter: @theidealistspod
Help us grow! Leave a review of the show on Apple or Spotify
Order a copy of the*journal

In this week’s all-new episode of THE IDEALISTS. podcast, host and entrepreneur Melissa Kiguwa speaks with the remarkable Dr. Jess Wade. The 33-year-old London-based physicist has become something of a phenomenon. Both an irresistible force and an immovable object, she was recently invited to Buckingham Palace to receive the prestigious British Empire Medal for her contributions to science. Ironically, she was being honored for her work honoring a whole host of other female scientists lost to history.  Since 2017, the Imperial College Fellow has written nearly 1,800 Wikipedia pages for long-ignored women,  minority scientists, and engineers. Just 19% of English Wikipedia biographies are of women. So, having one’s work on the "go-to" site for an estimated 2 billion people per month seeking information about individuals, ideas, and topics large and small, translates to more opportunities and access to grants. Ultimately, what gives Jess the most joy is seeing a scientist, whose profile she created, go on to earn a fellowship or an award. It’s truly her passion project as she professes, she's: "never not had someone to write about." There’s always someone whose work or story has gone uncredited.

Note: the podcast Melissa mentions on the show is “Underestimated” featuring the founder of IFundWomen, Karen Cahn.

Highlights:

• Jess leads off the conversation with a story about a head teacher in the UK who’d claimed only 16% of her A-level physics students were female, but that this was okay because girls didn’t like the “hard maths”—the suggestion being that girls are simply not as “able” in the subject. And then, what does it mean when society does such a terrible job—historically across generations—refusing to recognize women scientists in any sort of meaningful way?
• Next, she relates her passion for her own research as a scientist working on new nanoparticles that can impact climate change and how her side hustle of elevating women and other historically excluded groups has mushroomed into this movement of awareness with people reaching out with ideas, partnerships, conferences, and suggestions. At nearly 1800 pages, the profiles have evolved beyond a white UK scientific community to include the global south and more internationally diverse sources including, The Lancet, TED Fellows, and Next Einstein Africa.
• Building on this, the process of researching the profiles has revealed not only how many women are out there, but also how extremely closed and privileged the world of science is. In countering this, she relates several healing tales of women scientists from Dr. Gladys West whose work ultimately became the basis for the Global Positioning System (GPS) to Dr. Sumita Mitra whose work with nanoparticles for 3M Oral Care completely revolutionized dentistry.

Join the conversation about THE IDEALISTS. and break*through. 

At our website: https://www.theidealistspodcast.co/
On Instagram: @theidealistspodcast_
On Twitter: @theidealistspod
Help us grow! Leave a review of the show on Apple or Spotify
Order a copy of the*journal