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Can activism build bridges instead of walls? At a time when half the country sees the other half as immoral, undemocratic, and dangerous — and vice versa -- is real civil discourse even possible? Michelle Sobel and Morgan Lasher say yes — and they're proving it. As leaders at Unify America, they're on a mission to reduce political polarization and rebuild civic trust nationwide. In this episode, we dig into two of their boldest tools for change: Civic Gym programs that train students to engage in deep and meaningful dialogue across differences and find common ground on tough topics, and Democracy Leagues that build lasting local institutions for a less polarized, more functional democracy. The takeaway? Dialogue isn't just possible — it's a skill we can practice. And activism isn't only found on the front lines of protest. It lives in the everyday choices we make to use our own influence, connect across difference, and hold our shared humanity dear. 🔗 Learn more: unifyamerica.org

Gabriela Estrada is a Chicago-based entrepreneur, graphic designer and author. After working as a teacher for 5 years, Gabriela authored 2 autobiographical books and shortly after receiving her 200hr RYT certification, opened The Groove Chicago, a community yoga and art studio that centers all women of color in Avondale. Born and raised in Humboldt Park, Gabriela knows the power of community and giving back and is thrilled to help her community reach their highest potential through curated programming that fits their collective needs.

Chris Haigh is the Founder and Lead Consultant of True Change Associates, where they partner with organizations to build more equitable, inclusive, and socially just workplaces. With more than two decades of experience across higher education, nonprofit, and corporate sectors, Chris specializes in leadership development, organizational change, and team building. They have served in leadership and faculty roles at institutions including Brown University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Merrimack College, and the Federal Executive Institute, and have presented nationally at SXSW, the Racial Justice Institute at Creating Change, and the White Privilege Conference. Chris holds a master's degree in Social Justice Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and currently lives in Portugal with their wife, Vanessa. In this episode of Culture Stew, Chris shares their personal journey of activism throughout their life-- from coming out in a small town to their journey of redefining the notion of family. Listen to this powerful conversation and leave feeling inspired to make a difference within your own sphere of influence.

In this episode of Culture Stew,  we bring you the remarkable Emmy Award-winning journalist and author, Dion Lim. Dion has been known for nearly two decades as a TV news anchor and reporter, most recently with ABC News in San Francisco and the Bay Area. Dion made history as the first Asian American woman to anchor weekday evening newscasts at television stations in multiple major markets, including Kansas City, Charlotte, and Tampa Bay. Her reporting on racism and violence targeting Asian Americans has been featured on Good Morning America, 20/20, Nightline, and ABC News Live. Her work and advocacy have also been highlighted by PBS, NPR, New York Magazine, USA Today, and numerous other outlets.   Dion is also the author of the brilliant book, "AMPLIFY! My Fight For Asian America" (Third State Books). Through deeply personal anecdotes about her own life as a Chinese American, and her groundbreaking work as a journalist bringing forth the experiences of Asians during a time of heightened fear and hate, she provides the very first book to tackle one of the biggest political and social controversies of this century from the perspective of the AAPI community.   In our interview, Dion shared her experience reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially on anti-Asian violence and how it transformed her work into something more personal and impactful. She shares some of the stories that most defined the #StopAsianHate movement, including the killing of Vicha Ratanapakdee, and how these stories forced the country to confront a much bigger and harder truth about who was being targeted and why. Dion also shares her views on the difference between activism and what she calls "activation," explaining why calling attention to undeniable racism isn't advocacy but journalism with urgency and moral clarity. Through her insights, you'll discover how storytelling, and amplifying the voices of those whose stories are often marginalized, can be a tool of empowerment, resilience, and community mobilization.      Connect with Dion at  DionLim.com Follow @DionLimTV on social media:  Facebook | Instagram | TikTok

Lilly Ghahremani is a recovering attorney who now "uses her powers for good!" as the co-founder and literary agent for adult and children's books at Full Circle Literary. She represents a wide range of authors and illustrators, thinking strategically about building lasting careers that are both productive and satisfying in a rapidly-changing publishing landscape. As literary agent, she's spent over two decades advocating for marginalized voices and transforming the publishing landscape. In this episode of the Culture Stew, Lilly reveals how the industry's biases and censorship, both overt and subtle, silence diverse stories and what we can all do to reclaim them. From supporting diverse authors to engaging in meaningful conversations Lilly and Maria explore how activism can be woven into daily life, making it accessible and impactful for everyone.

Ashley Brown is the Executive Director of Peace of Mind, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. that is on a mission to equip kids with the mindfulness tools they need to manage big emotions, build healthy relationships, and become — in their words — peacemakers. For over a decade, Ashley has championed educational equity and student success across diverse school communities. Whether she's designing curriculum, leading professional development for educators, or facilitating workshops directly with students, her focus has always been the same: creating learning environments where every child can thrive. What Ashley and her team at Peace of Mind do is more than teaching breathing exercises and yoga poses. It's mindfulness woven together with brain science, conflict resolution, and social justice — giving kids not only the tools to regulate themselves, but the courage and agency to stand up for what's right in their communities. Today we're talking about what it really looks like to teach peace, why this work is more urgent than ever, and how one small D.C. nonprofit is quietly building a global movement — one classroom at a time.

Allison Matulli, Ed.D., J.D., M.Ed. is an author, law professor, childhood educator, and Free Speech advocate and Fellow for the First Amendment at the Freedom Forum. Dr. Matulli has dedicated her career to helping communities and their children understand the law, with specific attention to the First Amendment. Combining her legal training and education background, she is also the founder of The Little Lawyers, which empowers communities and children to learn the law. Dr. Matulli recently completed her Ed.D. with a doctorate thesis on Free Speech and Digital Citizenship. She is also a Global Fulbright Scholar focusing on how children experience freedom of speech in various countries worldwide, both online and offline. She is a lecturer at Howard University and serves as a criminal justice adjunct professor at  Florida International University and affiliate faculty at the  Maurice A. Ferré Institute for Civic Leadership.  Her book, Your Freedom, Your Power: A Kid's Guide to the First Amendment (Hachette/Running Press Kids) has garnered broad interest from educators and free speech advocates and was named a  Junior Library Guild Selection and included in the Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Books of 2023. She is the author of three forthcoming picture books. We Are Free (RISE x PRH) invites the youngest readers to understand how the First Amendment affects their lives and the world around them.  Matulli was named one of Miami's Most Prominent Black Women in Business and Industry by Legacy magazine, among other accolades.

Veryl Pow is a movement lawyer at the Sustainable Economies Law Center who practices at the intersection between solidarity economics, housing decommodification, and land liberation. An activist first, Veryl's politics developed from his grassroots organizing experiences in resistance movements that spanned Third World solidarity to abolitionist campaigns; and has since expanded to prefigurative worldmaking movements that attempt to transform social and economic relations from profit accumulation, extraction, and atomization to care, cooperation, and mutual aid in the here and now.    The Sustainable Economies Law Center is a worker self-directed nonprofit that is one such experiment in worldmaking because of its non-hierarchical structure and democratization of decision-making and labor. You can learn more about the work of the Law Center through their 2026 Project Gallery. In the month of May 2026, the Law Center is running their annual, community-gathering Grassroots Fundraising Campaign. The theme this year is #AllHandsOnDeck, as we need as many hands to build strong ties in local communities to meet this moment of curated chaos in our federal government.

What is the role academics play in institutions, especially in the classroom, when it comes to supporting students' critical thinking around social issues? As we struggle with questions around free speech and what can or cannot be taught on campuses, how do educators navigate these issues, not necessarily from an administrative perspective, but from a student-focused one?  Dr. Todd Beer is an Associate Professor and Chair of Sociology and Anthropology at Lake Forest College in Illinois, where his research spans globalization, social movements, environmental sociology, and climate justice.  Dr. Devin M. Moran is a faculty member at Austin Peay State University's College of Education in Tennessee, teaching classroom management, instructional design, and the foundations of education. Dr. Moran is a sought-after speaker, researcher, and facilitator known for helping institutions build more inclusive, equitable, and effective learning environments.

In a media landscape shaped by algorithmic amplification, AI-generated content, and narratives that move faster than facts — credibility has become the scarcest resource in the room. Lyanne Alfaro is an award-winning journalist, a narrative advisor, and a former insider at some of the most influential institutions shaping how the world understands business, technology, and capital. Her latest venture, Project Reliable, is an independent initiative working at the intersection of narrative strategy, media posture, and ethical influence. In this conversation, Lyanne shares how we can engage in everyday activism in how we consume, question, and share media. We also discuss the importance of organizations being intentional in how they respond to crisis situations to build credibility and trust.  Find out more about Lyanne and her projects at: https://projectreliable.com/ https://www.monedamoves.com/

Dr. Leigh Ann Simmons wants to give women tools to better advocate for themselves at every stage of their health journey. As a medical practitioner and researcher, Dr. Simmons has published extensively on health disparities and is a leading scholar in promoting behavioral interventions to improve equity in health care.   Dr. Simmons is a professor at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis and co-director of the Perinatal Origins of Disparities (POD) Center at UC Davis. She is the author of an upcoming book that will help women advocate for their care and help healthcare professionals become better allies for women's health.

"At the roots of Collective Power is the idea that we can do more collectively than we can do individually." On this week's episode of the Culture Stew,  Maria interviews Kelly and Christine Wyche, co-founders of Collective Power, an organization founded with the purpose of assisting underserved communities facing the challenges of climate change, aging infrastructure, and unsustainable lifestyle practices. Together,  they explore how to imagine new infrastructures for sustainable living, scaling from book clubs to broader communities. We will get a sneak peak into their new book "Building Community with Collective Power: A Practical Tool," which outlines how you can bring this work to life in your own community. Find out more about Collective Power at https://www.ourcollectivepower.com/

How can the food we choose to eat, as well as the practices we use to source, prepare, and share our food, be a source of activism and liberation?  Karina Sanchez (she/they) is a holistic health and wellness practitioner and food justice organizer. She co-leads Veggie Mijas Chicago, supporting plant-based education, mutual aid, and community programming for Queer BIPOC communities. Karina is an herbalism apprentice with Urban Growers Collective, a yoga teacher through the Latina Sweat Project, and an energy healing apprentice at Verde Holistic Wellness Studio, where she studies Mesoamerican healing practices and facilitates trauma-informed, culturally rooted wellness offerings.  With over a decade of experience in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and community engagement, Kari brings a strategic and relational approach to systems change. In recent years, she has hosted workshops and community spaces that invite participants to begin decolonizing their relationships to food, health, and healing. Her work centers reconnecting people to their bodies, the land, plant medicine, and ancestral wisdom as pathways toward individual and collective liberation. Ways to Connect With Veggie Mijas  Follow on Instagram: National: @VeggieMijas Chicago: @VeggieMijasChicago Donate via the website to support programs, including community fridges, food access, and education. Purchase the digital cookbook, Manteniendo Nuestra Cultura, available on the Veggie Mijas website — a celebration of plant-based recipes rooted in culture and tradition. Partner or work with Veggie Mijas: they offer services and collaborations for individuals, teams, and organizations interested in plant-based education, food justice, and sustainable, equitable food systems.

In this episode, Maria sits down with Manny Hernandez and Elena Soboleva, co-founders of Scream Club™,  to explore what it looks like to create spaces where people no longer have to hold it all in.  Manny, a men's coach and breathwork practitioner, and Elena, a personal brand expert and community leader for women entrepreneurs, are aware of the impact of societal gender norms on mental health and wellbeing. Together, they share how their own lived experiences led them to build a community that challenges norms around silence, emotional suppression, and rigid gender roles, inviting people to be honest about stress, anger, grief, and joy.  In our conversation, we explore the rapid growth of Scream Club, the power of collective release, and why building authentic, human-centered communities is not just healing, but necessary in a world that constantly asks us to perform instead of feel. Scream Club is now in multiple cities across the U.S. and abroad, bringing communities together to release the stresses of their daily lives collectively as a group.

What does activism really mean? This season, we're centering the idea that justice and equity are not only pursued through protests, but also through everyday actions that shape how we show up for ourselves, our communities, and the world around us.  Whether it's teaching women how to advocate for their healthcare needs, buiding sustainable communities through homesteading, relearning ancient wisdom related to food, or collectively screaming over a body of water to promote mental wellbeing, our guests this season will demonstrate how activism takes many forms across disciplines and lived experiences. Each episode highlights how individuals and communities are redefining activism in ways that are creative, relational, and deeply human. Buckle up and tune in!