Advertise on podcast: Conversations with Chanda

What if empathy isn’t a trait you’re born with, but a skill you can practice? Michael Tennant, founder of Curiosity Lab, joins Chanda to talk about loss, leadership, and staying curious. After years in corporate advertising, Michael left to build work that matched his values. Along the way, he developed the Five Phases of Empathy, a way to move from feeling to action. We talk about loss as a portal, why empathy gets tired, and how to tell real culture from checking a box. Michael also shares Actually Curious, the card game he created to help people get into harder conversations. Learn more at curiositylab.io. Follow Michael @michaeltenantnyc. Find us:https://conversationswithchanda.com/IG @chandasbaker & @conversationswithchanda Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation: spmcf.org

Antonio Tijerino of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation returned to Minnesota for a PBS screening of the Hispanic Heritage Awards broadcast, after bringing the awards to Orchestra Hall to honor the people of Minnesota. In this conversation, Antonio and I talk about what it means to lead with impatience, authenticity and what he calls an “irrational confidence.” We talk about community, taking risks for the people we serve, holding onto our values even when we disagree, and what young people need from us right now. And we reflect on what it means to find triumph even in the midst of tragedy. Learn More & Connect:Hispanic Heritage Foundation: https://hispanicheritage.org/ Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation: https://spmcf.org/ Conversations with Chanda: https://conversationswithchanda.com/ Instagram: @chandasbaker & @conversationswithchanda

This is a conversation about the kind of leadership that doesn't show up in a job description — trusting your own voice, holding the people you love accountable, and finding the grace to keep showing up as yourself. Chanda and Adren Wilson have known each other for over a decade, and it shows. Adren Wilson is Vice President, Youth Opportunity Programs and Executive Director of the My Brother's Keeper Alliance at the Obama Foundation, working with boys and young men of color in more than 200 communities across the country. Before that, he led Public Allies as its national CEO — a role he almost turned down, and the reason he and Chanda first met. In this conversation, Adren and Chanda talk about what real accountability looks like between people who trust each other, what it costs to be "first" in a role no one who looks like you has held before, and the systems that ask young people to carry blame that was never theirs to carry. Adren traces it all back to a childhood in rural Louisiana — and to the mother whose faith and resilience still shape how he leads today. Find us:https://conversationswithchanda.com/IG @chandasbaker & @conversationswithchanda

Ganesha Martin is the Bureau Chief of Constitutional Policing at the Minneapolis Police Department — one of the first civilians to hold an executive rank in MPD — and a nationally recognized police reform leader who served as Deputy Mayor of Public Safety in Baltimore and helped guide that city through its federal consent decree. She joins Chanda to talk about how she got into this work, what Minneapolis's settlement agreement and consent decree actually require, what Community Violence Intervention looks like when it's done right, and why "trust" needs a clearer definition. Find us:https://conversationswithchanda.com/IG @chandasbaker & @conversationswithchanda

Katherine Hayes spent 25 years as portfolio manager for her family's investment partnership — managing wealth she didn't earn, inside a system built to protect it. In this conversation with Chanda Smith Baker, she opens up about "money morality": the guilt that can come with inherited wealth, the silence families keep around money, and why she walked away from the industry she once worked inside. Katherine and Chanda talk through hoarding vs. stewardship, why "stockpiling for a rainy day" doesn't hold up when it's already raining, and how she now works directly with other inheritors to help them find their own way through it. Find us:https://conversationswithchanda.com/IG @chandasbaker & @conversationswithchanda

Dr. Marcheta Evans is the 12th president of St. Catherine University — and the institution's first African American president — after nearly 30 years in higher education leadership, including as Chancellor and President of Bloomfield College of Montclair State University. In this conversation, she and Chanda talk about what it means to be "the first," why finding your community matters, and how she's led through profound personal loss. Dr. Evans shares the story of an unexpected mentor who helped her finish her doctorate, how she's learned to stay authentically herself while navigating very different rooms, and what she believes today's students — and today's universities — actually need. Find us:https://conversationswithchanda.com/https://spmcf.org/IG @chandasbaker, @conversationswithchanda, @spmfoundation

Recorded live for the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation's launch of the Power of Possible Giving Circle, Hali Lee — author of The Big We — joins Chanda Smith Baker to talk collective giving, "Big Phil," and why relationships are infrastructure. Find us:https://conversationswithchanda.com/IG @chandasbaker & @conversationswithchanda https://spmcf.org/

Marlene Johnson was Minnesota's first woman lieutenant governor, a founder of NAWBO, and a leader who believes the only time you can't move forward is when you stop listening. In this conversation, she shares what it really means to be the first—and why that responsibility is ultimately about creating opportunities for others. Drawing from her new memoir, Rise to the Challenge, Marlene reflects on a lifetime of leadership across public service, business, and international education. Together, she and Chanda Smith Baker explore mentorship, courage, intuition, the importance of quiet reflection, and why some of the most meaningful leadership happens when no one is watching. This conversation is a reminder that leadership isn't defined by a title—it's defined by how we show up for others.  Find us:https://conversationswithchanda.com/IG @chandasbaker & @conversationswithchanda

Cathy ten Broeke, Assistant Commissioner and Executive Director of the Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness, has spent more than 30 years working to end homelessness — long enough to know it isn't a problem any one person, agency, or shelter solves alone. She started at 24, working overnight shifts at a Minneapolis shelter, certain she had nothing to offer a conversation about policy. Someone told her otherwise. Thirty years later, she leads the Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness — and she's built her work on a simple conviction: the people closest to a problem are the ones who know how to fix it. In this episode, Alphonso Wenker sits down with Cathy to talk about what changes when systems are designed with and by people who have lived through homelessness — and why the difference between staying housed and falling through the cracks is so often a question of who is there to catch you. It's a conversation about home, belonging, and the kind of community that makes sure no one faces homelessness on their own. Find us:https://conversationswithchanda.com/IG @chandasbaker & @conversationswithchanda

Recorded live at the Stewardverse Business Forum on Earth Day, Chanda sits down with Bill George — author of Authentic Leadership and True North, former CEO of Medtronic, and longtime Harvard Business School professor — for a conversation that becomes, in her words, a master class. Bill tells the story of an executive who confessed on the verge of retirement: "Bill, without a title, I'm nothing." That moment becomes the thread. Chanda and Bill move through what gets shaped in a crucible, why so many business leaders went silent during the ICE raids while 50,000 community members showed up downtown, and the test Bill says every leader should be running on themselves: when your granddaughter asks what you did to make the world better, what will you say? A conversation about courage, community, and staying true to yourself when the pressure is to be someone else. Hosted by Stewardverse Strategies. Learn more at stewardverse.com. Find us:https://conversationswithchanda.com/IG @chandasbaker & @conversationswithchanda

Ramsey County Commissioner Mai Chong Xiong grew up as a first-generation Hmong American, navigating government systems for her parents as a child. Now she sits on the county board — shaping housing policy, stewarding public dollars, and governing for all 78,000 people in her district. In this conversation with the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation Senior Vice President Alfonso Wenker, Commissioner Xiong talks about what called her into leadership, how she thinks about power, and why she believes Minnesota's strength has always been its people showing up for each other. Find us:https://spmcf.org/https://conversationswithchanda.com/IG @chandasbaker & @conversationswithchanda

In this episode, Chanda is joined by Dr. Patricia Virella, an Assistant Professor of Urban Educational Leadership at Montclair State University, to explore the role of belief in education, leadership, and identity. Patricia shares her journey from being underestimated in school to becoming a principal and professor, and how those experiences shaped her approach to advocating for students and families. Together, they discuss what it means to navigate systems that don’t always see you—and how parents and leaders can respond with clarity and intention.  The conversation expands into leadership, where Patricia reframes hope as a strategy—not a feeling—rooted in agency and action. They also reflect on burnout, navigating white spaces, and the importance of creating environments where people feel seen, safe, and supported. Find us:https://conversationswithchanda.com/IG @chandasbaker & @conversationswithchanda https://patriciavirella.com/

In this conversation, Senior Vice President of Impact Alfonso Wenker of the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation sits down with Marcus Owens, Director of the Office of Financial Empowerment for the City of Saint Paul. Marcus shares how financial empowerment is about more than money—it’s about dignity, access, and creating real pathways for people to move forward. From leadership to systems change, this conversation explores what it means to build wealth in a way that includes everyone. Find us:https://conversationswithchanda.com/IG @chandasbaker & @conversationswithchanda https://spmcf.org/IG @spmfoundation

In this episode, Chanda Smith Baker sits down with Henry Jiménez, CEO of Propel Nonprofits and a longtime nonprofit leader in Minnesota, for a conversation about what it really takes to support organizations doing the work closest to community. Drawing from decades of leadership, Henry reflects on the growing demands nonprofits face, from reporting requirements to short-term funding cycles, and how those systems can unintentionally slow down impact. Together, Chanda and Henry explore what a more trust-based approach to philanthropy could look like, and how stronger partnerships between foundations and nonprofit leaders can create lasting change in our communities. https://propelnonprofits.org/ Find us:https://conversationswithchanda.com/https://spmcf.org/IG @chandasbaker & @conversationswithchanda

In this episode of Conversations with Chanda, Senior Vice President of Impact Alfonso Wenker interviews Jamie Verbrugge, President & CEO of Catholic Charities Twin Cities, about nonprofit leadership, housing stability, and leading with dignity in complex times. Catholic Charities Twin Cities is one of the largest social service providers in Minnesota, serving people experiencing homelessness through permanent supportive housing, emergency shelter, family services, and aging and disability support. Jamie shares how his background in municipal leadership prepared him to guide a 150-year-old faith-based nonprofit rooted in Catholic social teaching and community impact. This conversation explores radical welcome, moral clarity in leadership, and how institutions can build trust by serving without condition. They discuss homelessness in the Twin Cities, housing access, stewardship leadership, trauma-informed care, and what it means to “do things with people” rather than for them. Learn more about Catholic Charities Twin Cities at www.cctwincities.org. Find us:https://conversationswithchanda.com/IG @chandasbaker & @conversationswithchanda