Advertise on podcast: Rotary Voices

The last 0.01% is a fragile moment in the polio eradication effort. Chris Wolff, the World Health Organization’s new director of polio eradication, says we either push to 100% or risk backsliding. It’s a mission that affects the whole world, not just the regions where polio still exists, and Wolff is optimistic that we can achieve eradication for the good of humanity. Chicago journalist Jerome McDonnell sits down with Wolff to discuss his journey to the work of polio eradication and his new role.

Salome Agbaroji is a 20-year-old Nigerian American poet and activist from Los Angeles County. She was the seventh National Youth Poet Laureate of the United States and has performed spoken word for the Golden Globes and at the White House. At the Rotary International Convention in Taipei, Agbaroji performed a spoken word poem titled “Hope.” In this episode, Rotary International staffer Hannah Shaw sits down with Agbaroji to discuss her Los Angeles roots, her work as an activist, and the inspiration for “Hope.”

Few contemporary novelists have captured the complexities of family, friendship, and the ties that bind as beautifully as Ann Patchett. Over the past three decades, she has become one of America’s most celebrated writers, earning the PEN/Faulkner Award. Patchett also owns Parnassus Books in Nashville. In this episode, Past RI President Stephanie Urchick explains Patchett's connections to Rotary before Scott Simon sits down with the author to discuss her new novel, Whistler.

In the final installment of this two-part series on membership attraction and engagement, past RI director and vice chair of the joint strategic planning committee Chris Etienne sits down with Jackie Huie, the immediate past governor of District 6360, which serves southwest and central Michigan regions. Etienne asks Huie about the role of district leadership in membership growth and “fun” as a membership strategy.

Membership attraction and engagement are crucial for Rotary’s success. In this two-part series, we’ll hear from four women in Rotary leadership positions who have successfully achieved membership growth in their U.S.-based clubs or districts. In episode one, RI Membership Growth and Engagement Specialist Taylor Evans Ghosal sits down with Julie McKinney, a club membership chair and past club president from California, and Barbara Bartle, an assistant Rotary coordinator for membership and past district governor from Nebraska.

In the final episode of this two-part series, Etelka Lehoczky learns more about Intersection to Care, a program supported by The Rotary Foundation that helps incarcerated women in Kansas rebuild their lives. In this installment, Lehoczky learns more about the trauma that human trafficking inflicts and discovers how an art class in the jail offers a way forward.

Solutions journalism, which delves beyond “bad news” to examine what people are trying to do about it, can be traced back to a 2010 column in The New York Times called “Fixes.” The column, co-written by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tina Rosenberg, investigated solutions to social problems, covering what worked and what didn’t. Chicago journalist Mark Caro sits down with Rosenberg, who co-founded the Solutions Journalism Network in 2013, to discuss how this approach can help address systemic issues, and how Rotary clubs can benefit from following its best practices.

Inside a jail in Kansas, USA, victims of human trafficking struggle to find a way forward. Rotary International editor Etelka Lehoczky meets incarcerated women who are rebuilding their lives with the help of Intersection to Care, a unique program funded by The Rotary Foundation. Along the way, she realizes her assumptions about incarceration were very different from the reality.

Malala Yousafzai, the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate, shares her journey of self-discovery in a new memoir titled Finding My Way. At just 15 years old, Yousafzai was thrust onto the public stage after the Taliban's attack on her life — a failed effort to silence the young activist. Today, she continues her work of empowering and educating girls around the world through her nonprofit, Malala Fund. The senior producer and host of Taiwan Talks, Yin Khvat, sits down with Yousafzai to discuss mental health, identity, and her activism.

July marks the beginning of a new Rotary year. Among transitioning leadership across the Rotary world, Olayinka “Yinka” Hakeem Babalola is stepping into office as the 2026-27 Rotary International president. Rotary’s General Secretary and CEO John Hewko sits down with Yinka to discuss polio eradication in Africa, Rotary membership opportunities, and his personal journey to Rotary.

Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women globally, but it’s also highly preventable. Rotarian, surgical oncologist, and author Dr. Richard Godfrey has traveled the world making cervical cancer prevention more accessible. His forthcoming book, Medical Moonshots: Winning the Cancer War, talks about his lifesaving work. Niala Boodhoo recently sat down with Dr. Godfrey to discuss his career, cervical cancer, and Rotary’s work to eliminate it.

In 1996, the Rotary Club of Stratford in Ontario took a more than 2,000-year-old Chinese tradition and turned it into a fundraising event that has raised well over $1 million for the club and its projects. Last year, Craig Thompson directed a documentary called The Ripple Effect that highlights the community impact of the Stratford Rotary Dragon Boat Festival. Chicago journalist Jerome McDonnell sits down with Craig and club president Dan Kane to discuss the festival and its history. Contact [email protected] to screen The Ripple Effect at your club!

The Rotary Club of Roswell, Georgia, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary, is growing rapidly. In this episode, Tom Gump, chair of the Rotary International Membership Growth Committee, and Jose Gonzalez, supervisor of Membership Growth & Experience in the U.S. and Canada, sit down with Trummie Lee Patrick III, the club’s president, to discuss the club’s secrets to success, membership retention, and club culture.

Dr. Marc Schulz and his co-author Dr. Robert Waldinger lead the Harvard Study of Adult Development: ongoing research into the psychosocial predictors of healthy aging that began in 1938. In 2023, Dr. Schulz and Dr. Waldinger published The Good Life: Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness. Chicago broadcast journalist Jerome McDonnell sits down with Dr. Schulz to discuss the study’s origins, its evolving methods, and the importance of social connection.

David LaMotte is a songwriter, speaker, author, and activist who has performed over 3,500 concerts and released 13 albums. LaMotte was a Rotary Peace Fellow at the University of Queensland in Australia where he studied international relations, peace, and conflict resolution. Rotary International social media and audience development manager Andy Sternberg sits down with LaMotte to discuss the intersection of art and activism. David LaMotte at the 2025 Rotary International Convention: youtu.be/EstQHD92eo0?si=sga3caJebjW6XQPZ David LaMotte’s TEDx talk: www.davidlamotte.com/tedx/ Let’s Be Neighbors: www.letsbeneighbors.org/