How do we move forward without losing touch with where we came from?

In this episode of What We Inherit, Priya sits down with attorney and advocate Sergio Garcia to talk about family, ambition, identity, and the experiences that shaped him.

Sergio reflects on the extraordinary work ethic he inherited from his parents and how it fueled his drive to succeed, from his childhood in South Central Los Angeles to a groundbreaking legal career. He talks about the tension between navigating new worlds and staying connected to his roots—and how the way he was raised influenced the choices he made in raising his own daughters.

What do we inherit from the land—and what are we responsible for leaving behind?

California Environmental Protection Secretary Yana Garcia grew up between Oakland and Mexico, where childhood experiences with family, farming, and changing food systems helped shape her understanding of environmental justice. She joins Priya to talk about following her father into the law, learning to trust her voice in rooms where she was often the only person who looked like her, and working to ensure that a person's race, class, or zip code doesn't determine their access to clean air, clean water, and a healthy environment.

Now a mother herself, Yana reflects on what she hopes to pass on to her children: a sense of purpose, a connection to la madre tierra—Mother Earth—and the experience of knowing what it feels like to "hold earth."

Julie Castro Abrams has spent her career asking what becomes possible when women recognize—and use—their collective power. As president of How Women Lead and How Women Invest, she leads a network of 28,000 women working to reshape leadership, investing and philanthropy.

In this episode of What We Inherit, Julie speaks with Priya about the experiences that shaped her: growing up in a family whose values she often questioned, watching her mother navigate a world that denied women financial independence, building a career and raising children at a time when working mothers were judged from every direction, and weathering the financial crisis as both a CEO and a parent.

She talks candidly about the lessons she chose to carry forward, the ones she deliberately left behind, and why she believes leadership is ultimately about using what you have to create opportunities for others.

What do we inherit from the places that shape us?

Fred Blackwell, CEO of the San Francisco Foundation, joins Priya to explore the family and community forces that shaped his life. He traces a legacy of activism, service and determination from his grandparents to his childhood in Oakland, where bike rides across dramatically different neighborhoods first sparked his curiosity about who gets to be in the room when decisions are made.

Fred also reflects on what he's chosen to leave behind, what it took to bring more of himself into his work, and what he hopes to pass on to the next generation - including his belief that the pursuit of justice is a relay race, with each generation taking the baton and passing it forward.