In today's episode Soledad O'Brien interviews Resa and Adaira about their new book MicroSkills: Small Action, Big Impact published this week.

MicroSkills  is a business self-help book, and we focus on educating the ready for college, ready for work community, and early career professionals with specific, actionable, strategies of the workplace. We share our successes, failures, doubts, observations to help keep the book engaging and personal. We also share very detailed critical actions to gain the MicroSkills. We try to make no assumptions about our readers as we realize that not everyone is starting in the same place. Our book covers topics, such as how to be a polished communicator, how to navigate conflict, how to build subject matter expertise, how to learn your workplace culture, and more.

Adaira Landry, MD, MEd, is an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School who studied and trained at University of California, Berkeley; University of California, Los Angeles; New York University; and Harvard with almost a decade of experience mentoring students and early-career professionals. She is an entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and award winning mentor. She co-founded Writing in Color, a nonprofit that teaches the craft of writing.  Resa E Lewiss MD is a professor of emergency medicine, TEDMED speaker, TimesUp Healthcare founder. She studied at Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, the NIH Howard Hughes Research Scholars Program, Harvard Emergency Medicine, and Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Roosevelt. She is an award winning educator, mentor, and point-of-care ultrasound specialist. When I ‘m not here, she hosts the Visible Voices Podcast, amplifying content in the healthcare, equity, and current trends spaces.

In today's eposide, I speak with the President of Gallaudet University, Roberta “Bobbi“ Cordano. It is a fantastic conversation covering the topics of Bobbi,  of Gallaudet- "the educational, political, social, and economic engine of the deaf and signing community on a national and global scale for more than 150 years," of advocacy for the deaf community, and of sign language equity, and healthcare design.

Prior to Gallaudet, Cordano was vice president of programs for the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation in St. Paul, Minnesota; held leadership roles in the healthcare industry, with Allina Health, the Park Nicollet Institute, and Park Nicollet Health Services; was an educational administrator at the University of Minnesota; and was an assistant attorney general for the State of Minnesota. She also founded two charter schools for deaf and hard of hearing children in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. She is a 1987 graduate of Beloit College and received her Juris Doctor degree in 1990 at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and an honorary doctorate from Beloit College in 2018. She is the Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area and a Board of Trustee for Mount Holyoke College. Cordano is a child of deaf parents, both proud alumni of Gallaudet University, and is fluent in American Sign Language and English. She and her spouse have two adult children.

HBR article: Is Your Organization Inclusive of Deaf Employees? by Roberta CordanoToday's episode is proudly sponsored by Dr. Maria O'Rourke and Emergency Medicine & Critical Care Institute – your beacon of excellence in Point of Care Ultrasound Education.

Thank you Att Amy Reiss and Christine West for your assistance.

In today's episode I speak with a witty and sharp duo: Cara Natterson and Vanessa Kroll Bennett. We talk about puberty and parenting. They are the award winning authors of This Is So Awkward: Modern Puberty Explained and the podcast hosts of The Puberty Podcast.

Cara Natterson MD is a pediatrician, consultant, and NYTimes bestselling author. She's also the co-founder and CEO of Order of Magnitude a company dedicated to flipping puberty positive.

Vanessa Kroll Bennett is a puberty expert, writer and entrepreneur who helps adults navigate uncertainty while supporting the kids they love. President of Content at Order of Magnitude, the leading brand dedicated to flipping puberty positive.

In today's episode I speak with Jamie Schler, an award-winning writer specializing in food and culture.

Her stories are inspired by a multi-cultural family and 30 years living between France and Italy immersed in the culture.  We talk about cooking, food, chocolate, and how she does her research for newsletter writing and cookbooks!

Jamie writes the IACP award-winning food blog Life's a Feast which was named in the Top 100 Food Blogs by both The Institute for the Psychology of Eating and Inspired Magazine; her work has been published in Fine Cooking, The Washington Post, The Kitchn, France Magazine, The Art of Eating, Modern Farmer, Paste Magazine, Leite's Culinaria, deliberateLIFE, among others. She has written for Huffington Post Food since the page's creation in 2010; and she has been featured on Saveur.com, South Carolina Living, RDV des Arts Culinaires, in Elle Magazine France, Living France, and France magazine. She was a finalist for a Saveur Magazine Best Blog Award in the category Best Writing.

In todays episode I speak with Jo Saul-Sehy creator and co-host of the Stacking Benjamins podcast and co-author of the personal finance book Stacked: Your Super-Serious Guide To Modern Money Management.

The Stacking Benjamins Show was called the “Best Personal Finance Podcast” by Kiplinger. Lifehacker listed the show as one of the top 10 of 2021. Joe and the SB team have won five Plutus Awards and the Academy of Podcasters “Best Business Podcast” award (beating well-known shows like The Tim Ferriss Show, How I Built This, and Gimlet’s StartUp).

In today's episode, I speak with Markita Morris-Louis, the CEO of Compass Working Capital. Markita holds deep expertise in equity and asset building, housing, and healthcare. A proud native of North Philadelphia, raised in subsidized housing, Markita holds degrees from Brown University, New York University School of Law, and studied at the University of Natal in Durban, Republic of South Africa.

Compass Working Capital, is a national nonprofit engaging in policy advocacy, direct service, and capacity building to end asset poverty for families with low-incomes and to narrow the racial and gender wealth gaps. Markita's leadership focuses on centering equity in every aspect of Compass’ work, leveraging asset building as a pathway out of poverty, and amplifying the voices of those Compass serves to shift narratives about communities experiencing poverty and financial challenge.

In today's episode, I speak with Susannah R Fox about her newly released book Rebel Health: A Field Guide to the Patient-Led Revolution in Medical Care.  Susannah takes an important look at communities, which make the difference when the medical field ignores their concerns. The read is an exquisite example of  health design thinking and storytelling. 

From 2015-2017, Susannah served as the Chief Technology Officer of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). As CTO,  she created opportunities for entrepreneurship and innovation across the Department’s 27 divisions and 80,000+ employees, helping HHS harness the power of data and technology to improve the health and welfare of the nation.

Prior to joining the Obama Administration, she served as the Entrepreneur in Residence at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, helping to encourage employees to experiment and catalyze new ways to think about challenges. From 2000-14, she was an Associate Director of the Internet Project at the the Pew Research Center, where she directed the health and technology portfolio.

In today's episode I speak with Amy Diehl PhD. We talk about how to create more equitable workplaces. She is an award-winning information technology leader and gender bias expert. We focus on the book with co-author Leanne M. Dzubinski, PhD   GLASS WALLS: Shattering the Six Gender Bias Barriers Still Holding Women Back at Work.

Amy's passion is helping organizations become gender-equitable and giving women tools to understand workplace gender bias and to succeed at work. While a biased workplace may tell a woman that she’s not good enough, that the problems she encounters are her fault, and that she should limit her aspirations, it’s not true. Women are enough and should not take the problems they encounter personally. It’s the workplace culture that must change, not the women

In today's episode, I speak with RI representative and 1st Congressional Districtman Gabe Amo. The conversation marks a reflective time as it is his first 100 days.

According to the Brookings Institute … [Franklin D] Roosevelt’s rhetoric and mastery of the new medium of radio were not what made him the president who is remembered for the first 100 days. It was the breathtaking scope of bold and new actions, both legislative and regulatory, that set the bar so high. Ever since, presidents have been evaluated for their performance in the first 100 days

Gabriel Felix Kofi Amo is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Rhode Island's 1st congressional district. He grew up in Pawtucket RI, is a graduate of Wheaton College where he became both a Marshall Scholar, and a Truman scholar. Before running for Congress, Amo worked in the Biden administration as the deputy director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. He has also worked in the Obama administration, on several Democratic political campaigns, and in Rhode Island governor Gina Raimondo's administration.

In today's episode I spoke with the Honorable Valerie Jarrett, CEO and board of directors member of the Barack Obama Foundation. We discuss her life, her leadership, and her 2019 memoire "Finding my Voice: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward."

She is a Senior Distinguished Fellow at The University of Chicago Law School. She serves as Board Chairman of Civic Nation. Jarrett also serves on the boards of Walgreens Boot Alliance, Inc., Ralph Lauren Corporation, Sweetgreen, Inc., Ariel Investments, The University of Chicago, Sesame Street Workshop and The Economic Club of Chicago. Jarrett also serves on the Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women Advisory Board, the Bank of America Enterprise Executive Development Council, and the Microsoft Advisory Council. Ms. Jarrett was the Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama from 2009-2017, making her the longest serving senior advisor to a president in history. She oversaw the Offices of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs and Chaired the White House Council on Women and Girls. 

Ms. Jarrett has a background in both the public and private sectors. She served as the Chief Executive Officer of The Habitat Company in Chicago, the Commissioner of Planning and Development for the city of Chicago, Deputy Chief of Staff for Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and she practiced law for ten years in the private and public sector. She also previously served as the director of numerous corporate and not-for-profit boards including leadership roles as Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Stock Exchange, Chairman of the University of Chicago Medical Center Board of Trustees, Vice Chairman of the University of Chicago Board of Trustees, Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and Chair of Chicago Transit Board. 

Ms. Jarrett has also received numerous awards and honorary degrees, including TIME’s “100 Most Influential People” Award. Jarrett received her B.A. from Stanford University in 1978 and her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1981.