Award winning adolescent medicine and children's gender support doctor, Veenod Chulani knows better than anyone the importance of communicating your heart when connecting with members of the LGBT community.

Today, Dr. Chulani sits down with Traci to talk about connecting across gender without assumption. He shares what he’s learned while advocating for LGBT and transgender populations and how we can all start to evolve into a more equitable society for all people.

Could the workplace serve as a springboard for creating lasting societal change?

Today’s guest, Dr. Susan Madsen, wrote the Handbook of Research on Gender and Leadership. She’s dedicated her career to helping women develop and make lasting impacts on their organizations and the world. Hear directly from her why confronting issues of racial and gender bias can start in the workplace and spread like wildfire throughout our greater ecosystems.

Janille Hill’s work with her organization, Street Connect is doing something similar to what we’re after here at Sidewalk Talk. Sitting down with strangers on New York City park benches, she’s on a mission to share the importance of connection and acknowledgement.

A mother, dancer, life coach and listener— Janille has dedicated all areas of her life to connecting with the core of her being. She shares with Traci what she’s learned on NYC streets about vulnerability, connection and the power of practice. As a woman of color, she shares how she maintains an open heart in the wake of draining connections. Highlighting the importance of also staying in constant connection with yourself, she shares how she stays charged and recouperates.

Yamini Naidu was an economist fully immersed in corporate life when she was introduced to the power of storytelling. Today, she's helping businesses and leaders around the globe to use business storytelling to create the kinds of heartfelt connections that produce lasting results.

Joining Traci, Yamini shares why productivity and connection are better off when they’re working hand in hand. She dives into what she's learned from corporate life about human nature and our undeniable need to engage. Yamini makes the case that without connection, people and businesses focused solely on metrics and data are putting themselves at a disadvantage.

Atiaf Alwazair is many things. Hopeless isn't one of them.

Based in Brussels, Atiaf is an activist, researcher, writer and mother using joy and memory to protect, uplift and empower the people of Yemen.

In this conversation with Traci, Atiaf opens up about the motivation behind her work and insights into the vibrant Yemen she knows. She shares her personal journey to achieving effective hopefulness and the importance of finding joy in the midst of tragedy.

Listen in for an opportunity to adjust your lens as Atiaf offers a snapshot of Yemen— sharing her love of Yemeni mint and pomegranate shafut and some of the daily traditions the world often overlooks.

Have you ever spoken to your inner child? Or just wondered what you might learn if you did? For Omar Davis— creating space for those conversations reshaped his life. A health educator and mental health advocate, Omar Davis’ work is centered around empowerment and creating meaningful conversations in communities. Today, listen in for Traci’s conversation with him on opening up to possibilities, leaning into vulnerability and reprogramming your mind. He shares his journey of developing an unshakable sense of self and constant connection with his inner child. Also, hear why he says a good old fashioned donkey cry might be just what you need.

Do we have depression all wrong? In times of decreased connection— out of necessity or not, how do we start moving in the right direction and reaching out for what we need from ourselves and each other?

Today’s guest, San Francisco based therapist, Marty Cooper shares his insights on how depression can take root and why society at large may be looking at things wrong. He shares compelling insights into human survival and the role depression might play as a security mechanism. Traci shares a recent experience with grief and gains a deeper understanding about her own needs for connection. Also, hear why the unseen impact of connecting with strangers on sidewalks matters more than you could ever know.

We are nearing three and four weeks around the world in quarantine from COVID19. As a heartfelt offer to you, we have chosen four previous podcast episodes on how to develop more resilience in this intense time.

Could heart, empowerment and conscious effectiveness be the pillars to aligning as society and making progress on the issues that matter to us most? Joan Blades, co-founder of Living Room Conversations— a divide healing organization, thinks it's a great place to start.
As the founder of political groups like Moveon.org and MomsRising, Joan knows a thing or two about bridging political divides. She also has a wealth of experience in mediation, with her background as a practicing lawyer and as the author of Family Mediation, a book on the subject of navigating divorce.

How do you speak truth from a place of love and compassion? Gift yourself the tools you need to bridge racial, economical and political gaps with today's episode, featuring John Wood of the Better Angels organization.
The biracial son of two culturally and economically opposite parents, John Wood has spent the better part of his life connecting across categories. The former Vice-Chairman of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County and nominee for congress, now works as a national leader for Better Angels- a grassroot organization uniting political parties and opposing populations around the country, founded by internationally renowned therapist, Dr. Bill Doherty.

How do we ensure the structures and institutions within our lives reflect the values that we know to be true and good? What would it look like if we were to achieve a Golden Civilization devoid of the harmful tendencies we engage in daily?
George Kinder, known well for his work in financial life planning and spiritual practice combines the two in his latest work, A Golden Civilization & The Map of Mindfulness. He dives heart first into a conversation with Traci on what it would mean to approach transactions with the same mindfulness that governs our everyday lives. Listen in to hear George’s insights on defining and achieving freedom, independence. He shares the importance of taking action in all aspects of our lives, from quiet moments of meditation to vocal political movements.

The path to navigating loss and grief, became illuminated when David Kessler and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross wrote On Grief and Grieving, giving us the five stages of grief most of us are familiar with. Today, he expands and recenters this renowned concept with the release of his new work, Finding Meaning.

David sits down with Traci and talks about his journey to the field of thanatology. He shares how the loss of his mother as a child and the sudden death of his 21-year-old son have shaped his life and the way he continues through the world. They explore how we can best support those in our lives that are experiencing grief while ensuring our own well being. Learn the impact finding meaning can have on what remains after collective loss, the end of a relationship or the loss of a loved one.

When it comes to privilege- knowing the difference between righteous and self-righteous speech can make all the difference when you’re communicating what's in your heart.
Today, I’m joined by Parker Palmer— nationally recognized educator, author and social change activist. He shares his thoughts on white privilege and how it can inhibit our connections when left unconfessed. We discuss the work of Ibram Kendi and explore what it means to be an anti-racist.

“All are welcome”— a warming phrase that is often implied, but rarely spoken aloud. In the new book A Fierce Heart, meditation and dharma teacher Spring Washam, shares her journey of sharing Buddhist philosophies of mindfulness, wisdom, loving-kindness and compassion in a radically inclusive way.

In this episode of the Sidewalk Talk podcast, Spring sits down with me to talk about the vision behind her book and the East Bay Meditation Center, a diverse spiritual hub she founded in Oakland, California. Listen in as she shares her journey to where she is today and lessons learned from her teachers including, Jack Kornfield and Alice Walker. We talk about what it means to cultivate A Fierce Heart and why seeing and being seen are essential for establishing meaningful connections.

When Adriana Marchione released, When The Fall Comes, she opened our eyes to how dance, poetry and performance could guide us through enormous grief. Today, she sits down with me to talk about the things that came first; what happened before her short film and the birth of her thriving therapy practice— her own story of recovering from addiction. The motivation and inspiration for her upcoming film, The Creative High.
Adriana helps hundreds of people through her art and therapy practice, supporting them as they heal from grief, addiction and illness. As an expressive arts therapist, she takes a creative approach to recovery. Listen in as she shares how creating can serve as a container for pain and the ways art can not only help us to heal but also teach us a whole new way of seeing and communicating with one another.

Storytelling. An oldie, but a goodie. So good in fact, that Antonio Sacre— author-in-residence at the UCLA Lab School— has used it to connect children and adults alike to their cultures, identities and possibly most importantly, to each other.
Antonio Sacre’s approach to life is one with an emphasis on creating memories and remaining present. In sharing his own personal narratives and invented stories, he has been able to preserve his family’s history while offering a unique, human relatability that’s proven itself universal.