Category: Five Minutes With…

5-Minutes With Maya Siegel, A NationSwell Fellow Focused on Making Consent Education Accessible for Gen Z

Posted on by NationSwell Team

With the support of the American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, Cerberus, and ServiceNow, NationSwell is uplifting a second cohort of young leaders through skills-building workshops, mentorship, and access to an expanded network and resources. Over the course of 10 months, the NationSwell Fellows team works with these impressive leaders to co-design programming, develop and refine individual incubator projects, and make curated connections. 

This group of young social impact innovators is highly accomplished and working through intersectional strategies. As social impact innovators, they work on a variety of social issues including mental health access and awareness, climate justice, LGBTQIA+ rights, youth unhousedness, data for good, and Indigenous rights. In this series, NationSwell will be highlighting each outstanding fellow, showcasing their passions and endeavors, and giving you insight on how to support them.

In this installment, we talk with Maya Siegel, who is highly passionate about climate justice and opportunities for young people, and currently works as the platforms manager for Feminist, the largest women-owned social media platform for women, girls, and gender-expansive people. She is the co-founder of Stories of Consent, an organization dedicated to making consent education more accessible and available for young people. 

Trigger warning: this story includes experiences with sexual violence

NationSwell: Tell us about your journey to social impact and what inspired you to start Stories of Consent. What was the moment you knew you wanted to devote your professional life to what you’re doing now?

Maya Siegel: My journey into this space was sparked by my love for community service, which led me to volunteer for organizations with missions spanning from gun violence prevention and environmental justice to menstrual equity and beyond. Through these experiences, I gained an understanding of the interconnectedness of social issues and developed skills that were valuable to the workforce. 

There was no singular moment where I decided to make this my career. I just kept pursuing my passions and eventually had the skills and experience to be paid for the work I was doing.

My motivation to start Stories of Consent stemmed from experiencing sexual violence before consent. The first time I was with a partner who demonstrated consent (which was nearly a decade after my first encounter with sexual violence) changed my life, and inspired the desire to shift the narrative of survivorship from one of trauma to one of  joy. In 2023, Emily Bach and I co-founded Stories of Consent (SOC) with the idea of sharing only stories of affirmative consent, in contrast to survivor testimonials.  

NationSwell: What are some of the ways this fellowship has been able to support your work? What have you gotten out of it, and has anything surprised you along the way?

Maya Siegel: This fellowship has given my cofounder and I the time to intentionally think about SOC’s impact and future. We are incredibly grateful to the NationSwell team and mentors, who not only encourage the SOC team to dream big but lend their time, resources, and experience to our cause. 

NationSwell: What’s the focus of your work right now? And what’s next for you?

Maya Siegel: Presently and for the foreseeable future, we are focused on amplifying stories of affirmative consent from all 50 states on our website and in middle and high schools around the county via the Certified Peer Educator Training. We hope these stories will contextualize consent for young people and contribute to our collective global health and safety.

NationSwell: How can NationSwell’s ecosystem of social impact leaders and partners help you with your short term and/or long term goals? 

Maya Siegel: Currently, SOC is looking to engage students on college campuses through collaborations with student-run organizations and student advocacy centers. If you are part of either, we’d love to work with you! Additionally, we are always open to amplification and funding opportunities. 

Thank you so much to NationSwell for this fellowship opportunity and for actively supporting our mission to make consent education accessible and relatable.

To learn more about the NationSwell Fellows program, visit our fellowship hub.

5-Minutes With Ericka Kamanou-Tenta, A NationSwell Fellow Building a Pan-African Movement to Tackle The Detrimental Effects of Neocolonialism

Posted on by NationSwell Team

With the support of the American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, Cerberus, and ServiceNow, NationSwell is uplifting a second cohort of young leaders through skills-building workshops, mentorship, and access to an expanded network and resources. Over the course of 10 months, the NationSwell Fellows team works with these impressive leaders to co-design programming, develop and refine individual incubator projects, and make curated connections. 

This group of young social impact innovators is highly accomplished and working through intersectional strategies. As social impact innovators, they work on a variety of social issues including mental health access and awareness, climate justice, LGBTQIA+ rights, youth unhousedness, data for good, and Indigenous rights. In this series, NationSwell will be highlighting each outstanding fellow, showcasing their passions and endeavors, and giving you insight on how to support them.

To kickoff this series, we talk with Ericka Kamanou-Tenta, graduate of NYU who was nominated for a 2021-2022 NYU Global Engagement Symposium for her work in Ghana in which she co-founded a venture aimed at developing changemakers in impoverished communities through an entrepreneurship program. Her work is focused on advocating for a Pan-African movement and decolonization, to fight against the harms of racism and neocolonialism.

NationSwell: Tell us about your journey to social impact and social entrepreneurial work. What was the moment you knew you wanted to devote your professional life to what you’re doing now? 

Ericka Kamanou-Tenta: Coming from Cameroon, I’ve always been passionate about African Development. I pursued a minor in Social entrepreneurship at NYU where I learned about the importance of solving social challenges through sustainable and economically viable business ventures. Since then, I committed myself to helping tackle the poverty issues in my home country and other African countries through Social Entrepreneurship. I spent a semester in Accra, Ghana where a classmate and I built an entrepreneurship program and taught a group of young adults from one of poorest communities, Chorkor. We worked to not just teach them the skills to be entrepreneurs, but helped develop the mindset to see themselves as change-makers. Running this program showed me the potential of social entrepreneurship in decolonizing minds and business models, and the role this can play in advancing and uplifting local communities across Africa, specifically for the people in those communities. 

NationSwell: What are some of the ways this fellowship has been able to support your work? What have you gotten out of it, and has anything surprised you along the way? 

Ericka Kamanou-Tenta: First of all, the virtual setting has allowed me to connect with a diverse group of fellows from all corners of the United States. It’s enriching and exciting to get to be in a space with other young people working on different social issues. I’ve also learned so much from the workshops, specifically the one on succeeding as a young leader in social impact and the one on building narrative, storytelling, and pitching yourself and your theory of change. I’ve gained practical insights that I continue to apply like identifying my audience and the beneficiary group. 

I think the most valuable part of the program has been the connections facilitated by the NationSwell team. I’ve connected with Adam Schrager from The American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, and further refined my theory of change and how to effectively talk about it. I connected with Morgan Dixon from GirlTrek, who I’ve looked up to as someone who has successfully built a movement. I am so excited to get the chance to talk with her and I’m eager to discover the doors it will open. I’m also thrilled about my mentor, Baffour Osei, who immediately understood the intentions and purpose behind my project. He and I also share the same passion of helping young adults in Ghana believe that they can do difficult things.  

NationSwell: What’s the focus of your work right now? And what’s next for you? 

Ericka Kamanou-Tenta: Right now, for the incubator project phase of this fellowship, I am focused on refining my theory of change and the audience I want to speak to. My goal is to develop a campaign that will influence key stakeholders to address neocolonial economic and educational structures impacting underserved African communities – the overarching goal is to raise awareness and initiate meaningful conversations. I’m working through what the messaging is and who the specific stakeholders are, but I know I want to use a captivating video as my medium. My long-term goal is that this inspires a Pan-African movement that benefits local African communities who need it most.  

As a recent graduate, I am also currently looking for career opportunities in Social Entrepreneurship. My ultimate goal is to work in impact investing  and I know I need to build up my experience so I am applying for work in program management with nonprofit organizations and social impact initiatives. I’m currently interning with  2Scale, an incubator program within the Non-profit IFDC, for inclusive and sustainable agribusiness in Africa.. I’m working on action-research for the program, focusing on partnership theories of change and scaling activities. I’m also helping design and implement the Monitoring & Evaluation framework across West and East African countries.  

NationSwell: How can NationSwell’s ecosystem of social impact leaders and partners help you with your short term and/or long term goals? 

Ericka Kamanou-Tenta: NationSwell’s ecosystem of social impact leaders and partners can help me with my short term and long term goals by connecting me with purpose-oriented professionals with work opportunities in my field of interest. They can also help further my work through engagement, in order to help advance initiatives related to an entrepreneurial focused Pan-African movement.  I’m also happy to be a resource to the ecosystem by helping current and future fellows narrate their personal stories in social impact, and understand their why.  

To learn more about the NationSwell Fellows program, visit our fellowship hub.

Five Minutes With Taj Eldridge, Managing Director of Climate Innovation at Jobs for the Future

Posted on by NationSwell Team

The NationSwell Council is made up of social impact-oriented leaders and changemakers who are committed to pioneering solutions in order to better their communities — and the world around them. In NationSwell’s latest series, “5 Minutes With…,” we sit down with members of our community whose exemplary leadership deserves a deeper dive. Here’s what Taj Eldridge, Managing Director of Climate Innovation at Jobs for the Future, had to share with us on green jobs, meeting the demand for a skilled workforce, and the power of dissenting thought:

NationSwell: What does the future of nature-inspired innovation look like, and what can we do to ensure that that future is as equitable and inclusive as possible?

Taj Eldridge, JFF: The future of climate tech looks like America. Here’s what I mean by that: Historically, we’ve thought of the idea of tech as something affiliated with Silicon Valley—Sand Hill Road and the Bay Area. Climate tech will be more about the entire country, with a local-to-global approach of providing tailored solutions to help our planet and, more importantly, every person living on it. This very idea of geographic diversity, along with programs like ‘Climate Resilient Employees for a Sustainable Tomorrow’(CREST) that we at JFF are managing, will ensure that this re-imagination of climate tech is both inclusive and equitable. 

NationSwell: How does the work you’re driving today help to build that future?

Taj Eldridge, JFF: CREST is a 5-year, $25 million project of the Ares Charitable Foundation led in partnership with JFFLabs at Jobs for the Future and the World Resources Institute. This work aims to close the gap between the demand for a skilled workforce for green jobs and the number of people prepared for these opportunities. It focuses on ensuring that people without traditional credentials and varied geographical representation are a priority in green job creation and training for this generation and the next. We recently released Growing Quality Green Jobs as part of CREST, which shares why a just transition requires removing limitations around how we define jobs and skills needed to build a climate-resilient workforce.

NationSwell: What inspires or motivates you — personally and professionally — to do this work?

Taj Eldridge, JFF: My motivation around this work comes from this idea I always mention on how climate change impacts us in three ways: the call for justice, personal wealth, and public health. 

The call for justice, for me, calls attention to the fact that communities that public and private institutions have underserved bear the brunt of the climate impact. But these communities are rarely involved in creating the solutions.   

The personal wealth aspect means that a large amount of funding is going towards this issue via climate tech and other career pathways; thus, green wealth is being accumulated. This capital accumulation has the opportunity to be more just and equitable. 

Lastly, what motivates me is how my own health was impacted by environmental factors growing up caused by climate change. While I was lucky to have a kidney transplant, there are still many others suffering from diseases and ailments caused by climate change. These three lenses motivate me to fulfill this purposeful work around climate change. 

NationSwell: What are some promising signs from the impact you’re driving?

Taj Eldridge, JFF: Through our work with CREST, we see technologies and solutions for the green economy developing outside the Bay Area, and growing in middle America, the South, and other regions directly affected by climate change. We are also expanding the definition of a green job, and developing research that indicates we can make every job of the future a green job in response to social and market opportunities.  

More generally, some of the promising signs include the excitement and willingness of others who want to partner to battle this disease our planet faces. I often mention the phrase “many hands make light work, ” a proverb about collaboration. I am hopeful about the collaborative possibilities raised by new technologies, new partners, and the younger generation’s moving forward regardless of the political and corporate winds. 

NationSwell: Finally, what are some of the challenges you’re facing? How can NationSwell’s social impact community of practice help you with those challenges?

Taj Eldridge, JFF: Some of the challenges for me are that, at times, the language used doesn’t match the intended actions. For example, I often hear the phrase “BIPOC,” but it seems the Indigenous community is left out of the national conversation about how we might utilize some of the solutions they have used for centuries. Similarly, we use this language to describe the “climate-friendly just transition” of going towards a climate-friendly future in the United States and Europe, but we fail to think about other nations, like the Congolese, who toil in mines to collect the very minerals needed to power our batteries. This presents a huge challenge for people to not only trust this transition but also actively participate in it.  

I think the NationSwell community can provide the resource that is just as needed and important as capital—human ingenuity and dissenting thought. We need the ingenuity to constantly think of solutions, as we are in the adolescence phase of our pathways towards a climate-friendly future. We also need the dissenters—to test our assumptions and challenge us to use that same ingenuity to find alternative pathways where ALL will have a just transition.  

Taj Eldridge is the Managing Director of Climate Innovation at Jobs for the Future, a national nonprofit that drives transformation of the U.S. education and workforce systems to achieve equitable economic advancement for all. If you’re interested in learning more, please get in touch.

Five Minutes With Jonathan Stott, Executive Director at EcoRise

Posted on by NationSwell Team

The NationSwell Council is made up of social impact-oriented leaders and changemakers who are committed to pioneering solutions in order to better their communities — and the world around them. In NationSwell’s latest series, “Five Minutes With…,” we sit down with members of our community whose exemplary leadership deserves a deeper dive. Here’s what Jonathan Stott, Executive Director at EcoRise, had to share with us on biomimicry, youth leadership on climate, and community-based environmental alliances:

NationSwell: What does the future of nature-inspired innovation look like, and what can we do to ensure that that future is as equitable and inclusive as possible?

Jonathan Stott, EcoRise: There are so many different ways to answer this one, but for today, I’ll focus on organizational culture. Nature-inspired innovation invites all of us to critically examine our workplace cultures and consider how we might look to nature to reimagine what a healthy and inclusive organization can look like. It’s taking principles of biomimicry, for example, to reimagine decision-making as at the periphery of an organization, where decisions are informed by the stakeholders/customers/users/etc, rather than having centralized control and command structures, which concentrate power in ways that inhibit innovation and contribute to inequity.

NationSwell: How does the work you’re driving today help to build that future?

Jonathan Stott, EcoRise: We’re doing a lot of work at EcoRise to put this concept into practice, with one example being our new partnership screening process. Historically, like many non-profits, we didn’t have a tool or process to truly vet potential partners and evaluate the degree to which they are aligned with our organizational values, like equity. After many conversations with board and team, we created a rubric to guide us through this review and a new working group that uses the rubric to review — and, importantly, make decisions — on partnerships. As a result of this work, we’re being super intentional about who we work with and, in some cases, where we need to respectfully decline funding. I’m looking forward to sharing our rubric and approach with other non-profits in the months ahead.

NationSwell: What inspires or motivates you — personally and professionally — to do this work?

Jonathan Stott, EcoRise: At EcoRise, we engage K-12 youth as climate justice and sustainability leaders through a variety of educational programs. I’ve had the opportunity to see our students in action this spring in communities across the country. Recently, I was in San Antonio for our Youth Council for Climate Initiatives showcase, where students shared their policy proposals and projects to advance climate and resiliency goals in the region. One student group examined how the city could streamline its website and better target support services as part of the residential weatherization assistance program to reduce San Antonio’s climate footprint and promote housing equity. All of the student groups were amazing — I could have sworn I was listening to a team of consultants or graduate students. I left feeling hopeful and inspired — and eager to do more to support youth leadership on climate.

NationSwell: What are some promising signs from the impact you’re driving?

Jonathan Stott, EcoRise: We face an existential threat with climate change, and so it’s easy for me to go negative. But there are so many promising signs in the work we’re doing at EcoRise with the support of our partners. One project I’m particularly excited about is our systems change efforts, whereby EcoRise is working with local, regional, and national partners to advance the environmental education movement through large-scale data collection and visualizations. This project is called Gen:Thrive, and is publicly available here: https://www.genthrive.org/

NationSwell: Finally, what are some of the challenges you’re facing? How can NationSwell’s social impact community of practice help you with those challenges?

Jonathan Stott, EcoRise: We’re not a huge non-profit, but we’re not tiny either. As a result of being somewhere in the middle, there are times when we need support in specific areas we are working in, where we don’t have the internal expertise (e.g. technical support for our GIS mapping work, human resources and legal expertise). We’re also seeking board members who can play the role of Community Connectors and Champions, helping advance our impact and build program alliances with community based non-profits in key regions including New York, Washington D.C, and Atlanta.

Jonathan Stott is the Executive Director at EcoRise, a nonprofit working to mobilize a new generation of leaders to design healthy, just, and thriving communities for all by elevating youth voices and advancing student-led solutions to real-world challenges. If you’re interested in learning more, please get in touch.

Five Minutes With Safiyah Zaidi, NationSwell Fellow and Youth Activist for Gender Justice

Posted on Syd Goin and Anthony Smith

With support from the American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, NationSwell Fellowships provide the network, support, and knowledge to help young leaders level up their environmental and social impact. Over the course of ten months, NationSwell Fellows will work to refine an individual social impact project, connect with established leaders in their field, build upon their expertise of environmental and social issues, and co-design the program in its inaugural year.  

In this series, NationSwell is profiling the incredible and inspiring recipients of this fellowship. ​​Each of these young leaders stood out for their immense passion in their environmental and social issue areas of focus, demonstration of leadership in the field, and focus on the importance of intersectionality. As social impact trailblazers, they work on a range of issue areas including climate justice, healthcare access, disability rights in the workplace, racial justice, & more. 

In this installment, we’re interviewing NationSwell Fellow Safiyah Zaidi, a young leader who understands that the best way to reach people is through honest storytelling that invites connection, understanding, and empathy. With her time in the NationSwell Fellows program, Zaidi is developing and producing a podcast centered around stories of abuse within the Muslim community, to amplify and expand the work of Facing Abuse in Community Environments (FACE), which focuses on providing resources and support for protecting vulnerable members of the Muslim community and holding abusers accountable. Here’s what she’s learned, and what she’s teaching us.

NationSwell: Tell us about your personal and professional journey to this work.

Safiyah Zaidi: One of the best pieces of advice I have ever received was when I asked a mentor how they decided what to do with their career. I was told that one way of deciding that is to reflect upon a Japanese concept called ikigai, which, simply put, counsels you to consider what you love, what the world needs, what you can be paid for, and what you’re good at. So to borrow that framework, from a very young age, I discovered that I am someone who finds purpose in empowering others.

I am deeply passionate about gender equity with a specific focus on the empowerment and holistic wellbeing of women and girls. Through various research and fellowship experiences, I have developed subject matter expertise in maternal healthcare in the South and advocacy for survivors of abuse. I hope to continue exploring this issue area and further refine my ability to craft responsible and responsive policy.

Specifically, I find incredible fulfillment in lifting up women and girls and helping them dismantle systems that try to limit their capabilities and opportunity. I believe that this is an urgent need of the world, whether that’s gender equity in healthcare, justice systems, the workforce, or education. As an undergraduate, I sought out opportunities to intern and research social impact, and along the way, discovered that what I’m good at is analysis and storytelling.

I worked as a journalist for Al Jazeera English and reported on a story looking at access to reproductive healthcare for women in detention. I then had the incredible opportunity to participate in an intensive research fellowship focusing on healthcare equity in the South, resulting in the publication of a formal policy analysis. These experiences showed me how to mobilize resources and people in order to come together for a common goal. And after graduating, I discovered that there are career paths that combine business chops and mission-oriented client work.

I currently work as a federal contractor, advising agencies on issues ranging from equity in federal spending to ethics in program administration. This experience has shown me that there are professional paths that are sustainable, meaningful, and equip you with versatile skill sets that can be channeled towards social impact.

NationSwell: What are some of the ways this fellowship has been able to support your work? What have you gotten out of it, and has anything surprised you along the way?

Zaidi: As a NationSwell fellow, I have supplemented my work in federal contracting by learning from the best practices of leaders committed to advance social change. The exposure alone has been invaluable – I have had the opportunity to sit in on collaborative design sessions and observe the day to day work of standing up programs and creating inclusive, smart policy. I’ve loved watching the ideation process in its entirety, going from a set of principles and goals and translating them into measurable steps.

I’ve also been able to use the NationSwell network to connect with advocates dedicated to promoting gender equity, and learn about the landscape of resources and personnel available. Throughout the course of this fellowship, I’ve been struck by the ESG subject matter expertise of NationSwell staff and partners, and how much I have left to learn. Identifying areas of growth is a critical step on the path of professional development, and I’m excited to continue moving forward with NationSwells’ help.

NationSwell: What’s the focus of your work right now? And what’s next for you?

Zaidi: Currently, I am working on an op-ed piece that looks at the relationship between gender and health outcomes. This article is in its beginning stages, but I hope to soon use it as a springboard to delve into other issues. With the support of NationSwell, I am also developing a long term project in the form of a podcast series that explores gender-based violence and abuse. After this fellowship, I plan to apply to law school to become a more skilled, indispensable advocate in this space.

NationSwell: How can NationSwell’s ecosystem of social impact leaders and partners help you with your short term and/or long term goals?

Zaidi: Most immediately, I am refining my ideas for my op-ed piece for publication with NationSwell. If anyone knows of any relevant resources, articles, or people to speak to, I would appreciate those connections.

The next major step in my professional development is applying to law school, and I would appreciate any advice, mentorship, or support NationSwell has on this process! I am always eager to learn from the academic and professional experiences of those who have walked this path before me.

More generally, if anyone is currently active in this space, I would deeply appreciate career advice, getting a sense of the legal landscape, and any career opportunities you feel I should be aware of.

To learn more about the NationSwell Fellows program, visit our fellowship hub.

Five Minutes With Sarah Miller, NationSwell Fellow and Youth Climate Activist

Posted on Syd Goin and Anthony Smith

With support from the American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, NationSwell Fellowships provide the network, support, and knowledge to help young leaders level up their environmental and social impact. Over the course of ten months, NationSwell Fellows will work to refine an individual social impact project, connect with established leaders in their field, build upon their expertise of environmental and social issues, and co-design the program in its inaugural year.  

In this series, NationSwell is profiling the incredible and inspiring recipients of this fellowship. ​​Each of these young leaders stood out for their immense passion in their environmental and social issue areas of focus, demonstration of leadership in the field, and focus on the importance of intersectionality. As social impact trailblazers, they work on a range of issue areas including climate justice, healthcare access, disability rights in the workplace, racial justice, and more. 

In this installment, we’re interviewing Sarah Miller, a youth climate activist whose work focuses on climate community preparedness, building resilience, investing in placemaking, and empowering and uplifting our most vulnerable neighbors.

NationSwell: Tell us about your journey to social impact and sustainability work. What was the moment you knew you wanted to devote your professional life to what you’re doing now?

Sarah Miller: My work and passion lie at the intersections of community and personal resilience, inclusive placemaking, and climate preparedness. I seek to continually explore how our communities, people, and planet can better prepare for impending climate, economic and social related challenges, while also seeking to empower and uplift our most vulnerable neighbors. Throughout this process of life, growing and learning, I have come to understand a circularity, common themes, universal truths about that which I’m passionate about, that which motivates me in my personal and professional life. 

My work focuses on ensuring personal and community preparedness for the climate crisis, and its impacts on people, communities, and the planet. Growing up, I spent lots of time outdoors with loved ones, who taught and showed me the great beauty in the natural world, but also the strong need and desire to protect natural and sacred spaces for all people. The climate crisis disproportionately impacts marginalized communities, and communities living in or near poverty – making justice, and equity crucial components of this important work, so that those who contribute the least, don’t end up bearing a heavier weight or load. 

Through my work, I’ve learned that belonging is an inherent, necessary, and vital component of livable, vibrant, and equitable communities. Communities have been built on centuries of systemic oppression, leading to unequal health, community, and personal outcomes. Investing in — and being intentional about — placemaking and addressing centuries long disadvantages built into our communities is how our cities and communities can be made more livable, safe, healthy, and equitable for all people within their geographies. 

Cultivating and maintaining personal longevity and fortitude in social impact work is necessary for movement building and forward progress. Social impact and climate work can bear substantial emotional and spiritual weight for those engaging in the work. Self-care, mindfulness, and strengthening personal toolkits for dealing with the substantial weight and burden — that ultimately leads to burnout — from engaging in this meaningful work, is necessary for personal resilience. 

NationSwell: What are some of the ways this fellowship has been able to support your work? What have you gotten out of it, and has anything surprised you along the way?

Miller: Identifying and cultivating my deepest passions has taken some time. It takes experience, trial and error, and adventure and spontaneity to discover and rediscover what aligns with one’s soul, inner fire, and dharma — or universal truth — inherent to one’s soul. Growing up, I spent a lot of time outside, camping, hiking, in national parks, and grew incredibly passionate about ensuring sustainability of our natural resources and places for future generations to come.

During my time at Indiana University, I explored community development, sustainable food systems, inclusive placemaking and climate action topics extensively, loving the universality of how interconnected these topics truly are. Post-graduation, I had the opportunity to explore climate workforce development and climate action across the State of Indiana, and wanted to intentionally explore why climate change adaptation and resilience weren’t being talked about in tandem with poverty alleviation and social impact work across the state.

This has led me to explore both poverty alleviation, social impact and climate adaptation work in my current position at a regional Indiana United Way — coordinating various programs geared towards supporting the network of human services organizations that our United Way serves. Here, I launched and direct a green and sustainability affinity group for the organization that works to tackle community challenges like poverty alleviation and climate adaptation more holistically – engaging with local stakeholders and organizations for “Lunch and Learns”, and fostering awareness for our team of our environmental and social impact at work and in our communities. 

For the last 6 years, I have also developed a passion for yoga. Over the years, it has been a wonderful and intentional way to reduce stress, feelings of burnout and anxiety associated with the heaviness of this field, and also cultivate my personal voice and power. My relationship to my practice over the last three years has really cultivated my deep desire and passion for mindfulness, stress relief and burnout reduction practices not only for myself, but for others in this field who might be prone to burnout or compassion fatigue. Currently enrolled in a 200-hour yoga teacher training, I am excited to take the skills in stress relief, mindfulness, and connection between mind, body, and breath on the yoga mat, to the world of social impact and climate action, helping others in these spaces to build personal fortitude and longevity in this work.

I am incredibly passionate about how these truths intersect and weave through communities. I am excited to continue to explore how the intersections of these ideas can create the futures and realities that we want for ourselves, communities, and the planet.

NationSwell: What’s the focus of your work right now? And what’s next for you?

Miller: Through the support of this fellowship, I have been able to: launch and develop specific and tangential strategy for a “Green Team” at my organization. Connecting with the NationSwell ecosystem of social impact leaders and partners has led to overwhelming support in helping me navigate developing a group like this, navigate cultivating team member engagement with the group and the initiatives, help develop strategy for our Lunch and Learn series, and help build upon the sustained momentum and energy we are gaining here. 

Through the NationSwell ecosystem, I have also had tremendous support and feedback for a sustainability recommendation for my organization, in which industry experts gave me best practices suggestions from lived experience and expertise. 

I am in the middle of writing an opinion piece, where I am excited to share my thoughts on the power of youth voice and leadership, organizational culture and belongness, and the need for social impact work to be dynamic and intersectional. I am also engaging in a 90-day writing challenge through the Fellowship, which has helped me to rediscover my own creativity, inner voice and passion for the work I am engaging in.

The cohort full of strong and passionate youth womxn leaders has also been such a joy and honor to be a part of. These womxn are doing extraordinary things, affecting positive change on the world, and it has been so meaningful and impactful to feel the support and work alongside these people.

The NationSwell Fellowship has been so impactful for helping me to finalize and rediscover my short and long-term goals. Developing effective communication around the climate crisis, it’s impacts on marginalized communities, and the need for mindfulness and stress reduction in this field, is something that I have grow so passionate about, and with support of the NationSwell Fellowship program, I have been able to dive into these topics, and further sharpen my own unique voice in these spaces. I have always wanted to publish an opinion piece, and I am so thrilled that I have the opportunity through this program. 

NationSwell: How can NationSwell’s ecosystem of social impact leaders and partners help you with your short term and long term goals?

My goal for this fellowship was to develop my own personal toolkit for talking about, understanding, and acting on climate adaptation and poverty alleviation work within a Midwestern city context. I have successfully developed a toolkit and have even started actual strategy development and implementation of the things I have been learning throughout this Fellowship. My work with the Green/Sustainability affinity group at my organization, and being able to bring together lots of organizations in the Greater Indianapolis area to talk about our varying work, our missions, and how we all are ultimately trying to make Indiana a more livable, equitable, and sustainable place has been so impactful to see.

The overwhelmingly positive response from my colleagues about the work I am fostering and engaging in also shows me that people in the Midwest are dying for more intersectionality of topics. We want to talk about community challenges in tandem, and break down siloes around these community challenges. 

With my yoga studies over the next couple months, I really hope to continue to find meaningful ways to bring stress reduction, eco-anxiety, compassion fatigue into these conversations. We need continued and sustained efforts from those in social impact and climate work, which requires true rootedness, and grounding in the world around them, and in themselves. Yoga, meditation, and mindfulness can be one part of the personal resilience toolkit, to help those working in these spaces. I also hope to continue to build out my written and verbal communications, so I can reach larger audiences of folx working on these issues in communities around the Midwest.

To learn more about the NationSwell Fellows program, visit our fellowship hub.

Five Minutes With Thea Gay, a NationSwell Fellow Building Resources for Youth Climate Activists

Posted on Syd Goin and Anthony Smith

With support from the American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, NationSwell Fellowships provide the network, support, and knowledge to help young leaders level up their environmental and social impact. Over the course of ten months, NationSwell Fellows will work to refine an individual social impact project, connect with established leaders in their field, build upon their expertise of environmental and social issues, and co-design the program in its inaugural year.  

In this series, NationSwell is profiling the incredible and inspiring recipients of this fellowship. ​​Each of these young leaders stood out for their immense passion in their environmental and social issue areas of focus, demonstration of leadership in the field, and focus on the importance of intersectionality. As social impact trailblazers, they work on a range of issue areas including climate justice, healthcare access, disability rights in the workplace, racial justice, & more. 

To begin this series, we’re interviewing Thea Gay, a recent college graduate from Florida, whose work is bridging the gap between climate justice and the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion. NationSwell interviewed Gay on the digital zine she’s creating as a resource for other social and climate justice activists to help them do this work authentically and sustainably, to encourage them to interrogate their work, and to build the tenacity they will need to stay in the fight for climate change.

NationSwell: Tell us about your journey to social impact and sustainability work. What was the moment you knew you wanted to devote your professional life to what you’re doing now?

Thea Gay: Since I was a teen, I’ve always been intrigued by work that’s centered around communities and the earth. It was in my sociology and history classes in high school that made me realize I wanted to devote my professional life to what I’m doing now: fighting for social justice and climate justice. These classes forced me to reckon with the idea that as a queer Black woman, society dramatically shapes how I and people like me navigate the world.

While I knew this to be true based on my experiences, these classes gave me the knowledge of why and how social structures/constructs work against minorities. I began to wonder how people of other identities were also shaped by society. I started noticing a trend: marginalized communities were disproportionately impacted by social injustices. While I have disadvantages, I also have many privileges that I can leverage to create a kinder world that is just and equitable. This is something I intend to do for the rest of my life.

NationSwell: What are some of the ways this fellowship has been able to support your work? What have you gotten out of it, and has anything surprised you along the way?

Gay: The NationSwell community has truly been a resource hub of wonderful opportunities, educational assets, and comprehensive support. I am currently at an early point in my professional career where I am beginning to carve out my path. Being able to connect with a community of young social impact influencers like myself, social impact leaders with extensive expertise, and even being mentored by one has been incredible. I relish this experience for giving me a chance to grow my creative mind and push me to think about the possibilities and impact that I could have. I am so grateful to be a part of NationSwell’s inaugural fellowship.

NationSwell: What’s the focus of your work right now? And what’s next for you?

Gay: In my day job as a Program Associate at the Lawmaker Network, I help facilitate high-level programming for Lawmakers and assess nationwide lawmaker impact to help our nation move towards racial, environmental, and social justice. I have a passion for finding creative solutions and developing resources and events focused on DEI, intersectionality, and greater.representation of marginalized communities. I would love to do more work centered around community and human-centered impact and design.

NationSwell: How can NationSwell’s ecosystem of social impact leaders and partners help you with your short term and/or long term goals? Give us one to three examples.

Gay: In the long term, I would love for the NationSwell community to stay connected with me and get in touch with any professional or personal opportunities that speak to the work I am interested in. Recommendations and referrals go a long way and would be greatly appreciated. Please tap me in as well if there is anything that I can do to give back to NationSwell for all that they have done for me. Whether that’s helping the next class of fellows or speaking at an event I am honored to be a part of this community.

In the short term, I’m looking for support on my impact incubator project, and I hope members of your community will share it so it can reach as many people as possible. This project means so much to me and I really hope that it will mean something to those who read it too.

To learn more about the NationSwell Fellows program, visit our fellowship hub.

Five Minutes With Meredith Davis, Government Account Partner at BetterUp

Posted on by NationSwell Team

The NationSwell Council is made up of social impact-oriented leaders and changemakers. In Nationswell’s latest series, “Five Minutes With…,” we sit down with members of our community whose exemplary leadership deserves a deeper dive. Here’s what Meredith Davis, Government Account Partner at BetterUp, had to share with us:

NationSwell: What does an equitable, human-centered future of work look like?

Meredith Davis: It could incorporate many factors, and  one of the most important is whole person performance grounded in well-being. We will still face change and uncertainty, but a workplace that creates agency and connection to a larger purpose will enable people to perform. My focus is on the Government workplace, where I work to bring the mindsets and behaviors that enhance personal flourishing to everyone, from frontline employees to senior executives.

NationSwell: How does the work you’re driving today help to build that future?

Meredith Davis: I think it’s important to eat your own cookie dough. At BetterUp, personal well-being and company citizenship are reinforced through policy and leadership practice. As a fun example, we’re frequently reminded to take breaks to rest and recharge.  We’re encouraged to decline meetings we won’t add unique value to, prioritizing instead “deep work” like writing a learning memo to contribute a unique observation. We iteratively and intentionally improve our culture with a twice-yearly internal Canvass, Caucus, and leadership Commits process. And in case we need the reminder that our well-being and life experience matter, all of our all-hands meetings start with a mindful minute, meditation, or presence practice. As workplace  guru Dr. Adam Grant recently referenced, exit interviews are too late to find out why people are leaving.

NationSwell: What inspires or motivates you — personally and professionally — to do this work?

Meredith Davis: I’m motivated by the idea that accomplishing government agency missions doesn’t conflict with the well-being of their employees — in fact, employee well-being is crucial to mission success. The choice isn’t me or the mission. I’m seeing the shift to an “and” mentality – that when we focus on our own well-being and the well-being of our staff, we end up accomplishing higher quality, more sustainable work. 

In a macro sense, as humans, we are finding our unique value based on our judgment and creativity  in the world of AI-augmented and robotic-assisted work, something that the speed of technological advancement demands. Futuristic thinking inspires me – no one knows the upward bound of human potential.

Many people might relate to my personal journey to valuing well-being. In my short time in the military, I burnt myself out completely. I developed mechanical habits that created an unnecessary sense of over-urgency for every task — I was “always on.” For example, I developed a self-critical inner monologue, intentionally de-identified with clear pain or injury, and cut off sleep. I saw pressure biofeedback loops as “discipline.” There are times when we need those gears, especially in a job of service to a mission greater than any one person. I’m grateful to know I have them in case I need to “break glass in case of emergency.” However, through working with my coach and reading research on human performance, I now practice skills of self-compassion to create helpful inner monologue, sensory connectedness to reduce stress levels, and intentional rest and recovery to improve mental agility, creativity and sharp decision-making. These habits produce a more useful default mode and have made me a more valuable, more productive (and happier!) employee and leader.

Getting to see these mindset and behavior shifts in others who are serving such important missions in government motivates me. It’s also inspiring to know that there’s always more to learn.

NationSwell: What are some promising signs from the impact you’re driving?

NationSwell: The BetterUp platform delivers a unique capability to measure human flourishing. Quantitative outcomes in our government work have shown 15% improvement in well-being, 7% increase in leading indicators of retention, 14% increase in wartime readiness, and 15% increase in resilience. But I live for qualitative data – the human stories. I’m paraphrasing but, “This experience is priceless… I learned skills I will take with me for the rest of my life” or “I always avoided conflict, and now I have the tools to face it with confidence” are evidence of better workplace performance and a more satisfying life experience for real people.

NationSwell: What are some of the challenges you’re facing? How can NationSwell’s social impact community of practice help you with those challenges?

Meredith Davis: Although the pandemic shifted the work world dramatically toward more flexible work, we still need dialogues about the need for whole person performance and well-being. I would love to see research like Dr. Martin Seligman’s recent findings on well-being as a top predictor of job performance  integrated into workplace policy and practice. I’d ask this community to elevate and expand how we conceive of well-being as foundational to the future of work among leaders in government and its private and non-profit sector ecosystem.

NationSwell: What’s your call to action to anyone who reads this Q+A?

Meredith Davis: In our own daily workplace behavior, we can all set the example of prioritizing deep and meaningful work, reinforcing well-being boundaries, and supporting our teams to do the same. For practical ideas, check the well-being articles on the BetterUp blog. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this topic and seeing what change we can drive together!

Five Minutes With Maria Flynn, President and CEO of Jobs For the Future

Posted on by NationSwell Team

The NationSwell Council is made up of social impact-oriented leaders and changemakers who are committed to pioneering solutions in order to better their communities — and the world around them. In NationSwell’s latest series, “Five Minutes With…,” we sit down with members of our community whose exemplary leadership deserves a deeper dive. Here’s what Maria Flynn, President and CEO of Jobs For the Future (JFF), had to share with us:

NationSwell: What does an equitable, human-centered future of work look like? 

Maria Flynn: Becoming truly human-centered will require shifting our focus from the future of work to the future of workers. There will always be jobs, but skill requirements will continue to evolve. We must ensure we’re preparing people from all backgrounds to meet these rapid changes while also helping them to develop fulfilling and flexible careers. Skills-based hiring, for example, which emphasizes experience gained over degrees earned, is an important first step — in particular for Black and Latinx workers, who are disproportionately excluded from degree-requiring opportunities. We’re seeing many ways tech can help, such as providing individuals with strong career navigation support and easier access to trusted information about non-degree credentials and which ones best lead to fulfilling careers. Above all, workers need access to quality jobs throughout their lives. Decent pay and health insurance are essential, but so is a supportive workplace culture that understands people are always juggling many roles inside and outside of work and helps them take the time they need to care for themselves and their families. 

NationSwell: How does the work you’re driving today help to build that future? 

Maria Flynn: JFF is intentionally working both with traditional system players and disruptors to ensure that everyone has a quality job and the chance to advance economically. We help traditional systems modernize and transform while actively working with entrepreneurs and others, creating change from the outside. A great example is our work to prepare people who have been incarcerated to reenter the community. We work with traditional higher education providers, such as community colleges, to improve prison-based education programs while also investing in tech startups like Honest Jobs, a free online platform that helps people with criminal records find employers that are open to their applications, and advising corporations on how to make their hiring practices more equitable. 

NationSwell: What inspires or motivates you — personally and professionally — to do this work?  

Maria Flynn: When I was growing up, my dad was a working learner before there was a term for it. He worked several jobs at a time and went to school at night, so he could put my older brothers and me through college and try to make a better life for us. My father spent a large part of his career in the workforce development field, and I followed in his footsteps by joining the U.S. Department of Labor at the age of 22.

I have spent my entire career at the intersection of workforce and education—striving to build systems that promote equitable economic advancement. Our traditional education, training, and employment systems are not equipped to keep pace with accelerating shifts in technology and our economy. Political divides and risk-averse leadership too often hold us back. What keeps me motivated after 30+ years in the field is impatience for systemic change. Government can’t do it alone, and neither can the private sector or philanthropy. We need a holistic approach. 

NationSwell: What are some promising signs from the impact you’re driving? 

Maria Flynn: We saw a need four years ago to engage the private sector in transformation more directly, and we launched our corporate-facing products and services. Now we’re a galvanizing player in that space, with over 200 Fortune 500 employers engaging with each other and JFF experts to prioritize  economic advancement opportunities for their employees while maintaining a strong bottom line. To date, over 100 people have participated in JFF-led Corporate Action Collaboratives focused on topics such as supporting women in the workplace, elevating worker voice, and creating greater psychological safety at work.

Additionally, we have supported dozens of companies directly and seen them implement “Impact Employer” practices such as investing in more equitable career development; supporting regional, cross-sector partnerships to support young, Black and Latinx employees; and emphasizing skills in hiring and advancement strategies. Another promising sign is the success of JFF Ventures, which originated as the acquisition of the Employment Technology Fund, and now we have two social investment funds that help startups that are committed to equity and led by a woman, or by a man of color. And we have seen promising momentum for our new Center for Racial Economic Equity, which is focusing first on accelerating Black economic advancement by ending occupational segregation and addressing the Black-white wealth gap. 

NationSwell: What are some of the challenges you’re facing? How can NationSwell’s social impact community of practice help you with those challenges? 

Maria Flynn: Given the magnitude of the inequities that we’re trying to overcome and the systems change that’s needed, no one organization can solve these problems alone. That’s why we’re eager to partner with other organizations and harness our collective strengths. And at a time of fierce political divides, we want to rally around some of the solutions that have strong bipartisan support. A strong example is JFF’s Pathways to Prosperity, which has developed statewide networks improving college and career preparation for high school students of all backgrounds from Delaware to Texas and Tennessee. These kinds of partnerships are what we need to take the bigger swings and solve the biggest problems facing our country.  

NationSwell: What’s your call to action to anyone who reads this Q+A? 

Maria Flynn: First, look inward; ask how you can start building the workforce of the future by embracing some of these future-facing approaches, like skills-based hiring at your organization. Then look externally to find partners for joining forces and addressing some of the bigger problems. Reach out to us with your ideas for cross-sector collaboration. Refer innovative start-ups to our impact investing arm, JFF Ventures. Invest yourself, if you can. Follow Jobs for the Future on social media and join us at our annual summit, Horizons, where you’ll meet more than 1,000 other leaders driving equitable economic advancement for all. 

Maria Flynn is president and CEO of Jobs for the Future. Her commitment to JFF’s vision of equitable economic advancement for all and her leadership in workforce policy have made her a national authority on the future of work, the role of technology in the labor market, career pathways for learners and workers underserved by the education and workforce systems, and employer engagement. If you’re interested in learning more, please get in touch.

Five Minutes With Dr. Larry Johnson, President of Guttman Community College

Posted on by NationSwell Team

The NationSwell Council is made up of social impact-oriented leaders and changemakers who are committed to pioneering solutions in order to better their communities — and the world around them. In NationSwell’s latest series, “Five Minutes With…,” we sit down with members of our community whose exemplary leadership deserves a deeper dive. Here’s what Dr. Larry Johnson, President of CUNY’s Guttman Community College, had to share with us:

NationSwell: What does an equitable, human-centered future of work look like? 

Dr. Larry Johnson: The future of work will require a change in perspective from a nuanced 40-hour a week schedule wherein employees are glued to a cubicle or office to one of flexibility—understandably, this will vary based on the scope of one’s position. The recent environmental health crisis (COVID-19) challenged the status quo as we know it. K-12 and higher education organizations learned something that private corporations already knew—employee productivity can be maximized through remote work assignments.  

Additionally, there must be an equity lens applied to policies and practices at corporations or institutions. The next generation, and I would argue the present, are values-driven and desire to work at organizations that will allow them to show up their authentic selves and to environments that are embracing of entrepreneurial approaches to achieving organizational outcomes. Thus, the future of work is nimble and inclusive and welcoming to transformation that positions the employee at the core of the institution’s mission, values, goals, and objectives.  

NationSwell: How does the work you’re driving today help to build that future? 

Dr. Larry Johnson: Two-year colleges provide people with the skills and competencies to compete in a global marketplace. Specifically, community colleges are designed to teach students technical skills in programs such as Nursing, Cybersecurity, Transportation, Dental Hygiene, EMT, for example, or transfer to four-year colleges or universities. While community colleges differ across the United States, the mission of these institutions remain consistent—prepare students for gainful employment. Each vocation has a seminal connection to driving the future of work.  

At Guttman Community College, faculty, staff, and administrators are employing best practices around career readiness and implementing strategies that will prepare students for success. Through the Ethnographies of Work (EOW) courses, students participate in work-based learning—a first-year requirement. These experiential learning initiatives expose students to various organizations and occupations. In so doing, students are better equipped to choose a career pathway. An anchor program to the Guttman model, the EOW program has been replicated by some K-12 organizations, four-year institutions, and work-based. 

NationSwell: What inspires or motivates you — personally and professionally — to do this work?  

Dr. Larry Johnson: I am inspired when people with whom I partner and/or lead achieve their dreams. In private reflections, I consider decisions that resulted in barriers being removed that have impacted student, employees, or the institution. Additionally, the joy in witnessing students commence from the institution is the climactic moment that solidifies my purpose. 

What further motivates me about this work is the revelation that learners arrive with abstract ideas that are honed to solidify one’s purpose and future impact—and that is what is important to me. Further, and in the case of my commitment to community colleges, these moments serve as a reminder of the significance of two-year institutions in improving lives—emotionally, socially, and most importantly, financially.  

NationSwell: What are some promising signs from the impact you’re driving? 

Dr. Larry Johnson: There is a heightened interest by corporations and non-profit leaders to partner with two-year institutions to amplify the value of certificates, micro-credentials, and associate degrees. Several sectors were impacted by COVID-19. Two-year colleges are poised to develop the short-term and long-term credentials to support growth in the region. Conversations with various industry professionals reveal employers are more receptive to hiring students with credentials from community colleges. Institutions like Guttman are engaging workforce leaders to ensure that future credentials meet industry demand. 

NationSwell: What are some of the challenges you’re facing? How can NationSwell’s social impact community of practice help you with those challenges? 

Dr. Larry Johnson: College leaders, faculty, and staff are faced with many challenges that go beyond being sources of knowledge to now serving as safe-havens—providing essential resources for students who are, oftentimes, housing or food insecure. Additionally, access to mental health support is a disparity that impacts low-income and under-resourced communities and institutions may not be as resourced to provide the type of counseling a student requires.  

NationSwell is positioned to highlight this topic as a social justice and moral imperative. Convening educators from K-12 to post-secondary institutions to exchange discourse around best practices would increase awareness that may lead funders to support initiatives aimed at supporting already established programs that will allow institutions to scale programs and supporter more students.  

NationSwell: What’s your call to action to anyone who reads this Q+A? 

Dr. Larry Johnson: It is my hope that this correspondence serves as a clarion call — to business and industry leaders — to engage with community colleges around establishing mentorship and paid internship programs, to name a few. And, finally, two-year institutions should receive the same financial support and recognition in strengthening the economy as more than half of four-year graduates began at two-year institutions as revealed in the 2019 National Survey of College Graduates. 

Dr. Larry Johnson, Jr., is an equity-minded student advocate with nearly 20 years of higher education experience.  Selected by the CUNY Board of Trustees on February 1, 2021, to be the College’s second president, he assumed the presidency on July 1, 2021. If you’re interested in learning more, please get in touch.