NationSwell was honored yesterday with five Anthem Awards for its transformative work in advancing social impact. The 4th Annual Anthem Awards was the most competitive season yet with more than 2,300 entries submitted from 34 countries worldwide. Anthem Winners are selected by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.
The Awards recognized NationSwell’s Case for Childcarefor Diversity, Equity & Inclusion with Gold in Digital & Innovative Experiences and Silver in Partnership or Collaboration; Place-Based Impactfor Humanitarian Action and Services with Silver in Research Projects or Publications and Bronze in Digital & Innovative Experiences; and Civics Inc. in Human & Civil Rights with Bronze in Research Projects or Publications. These honors are a testament to NationSwell’s dedication to strategic partnerships and community-based action to address society’s most pressing challenges.
“We’re honored to be recognized by the Anthem Awards, and we’re incredibly proud of the work behind each of these projects,” said Greg Behrman, CEO and Founder of NationSwell. “The Case for Childcare, Place-Based Impact, and Civics Inc. exemplify our collaborative approach, bringing together leaders from diverse fields to drive scalable impact. This recognition fuels our mission to provide essential support to impact leaders across sectors, and we’re deeply grateful to our partners who make this work possible.”
NationSwell will celebrate its five Anthem Awards at this year’s annual NationSwell Summit on Thursday, November 21. There, over 250 leaders across corporations, nonprofits, foundations, philanthropies, and government will convene to share insights, recognize achievements, and inspire collective action under the theme, “Hope in Action.”
The Anthem Awards highlight the mission-driven work of individuals, organizations, and companies that drive impactful change globally. NationSwell’s recognition by the Anthem Awards reinforces its position as a trailblazer in the social impact sector. The company remains committed to engaging new partners, expanding the reach of these impact initiatives, and setting new standards for meaningful, community-driven change.
Awarded Projects
The Case for Childcare Collaborative formed in 2022 to explore the business case for supporting childcare. In February 2024 a comprehensive website was launched to showcase data, success stories, and policy recommendations, underscoring an equitable childcare system’s critical role in supporting families, communities, and the economy. The Collaborative expanded its work this year to explore childcare-for-all benefits centered on frontline, gig, and hourly workers. Childcare solutions will also be featured at the upcoming NationSwell Summit with a panel discussion presented by Pivotal Ventures.
Place-Based Impact is a Collaborative focused on place-based approaches to community development. Through insights and case studies featured on the funder’s guide website, the Collaborative provides practical guidance and real stories of impact in action to inspire more funding that is community-led, place-specific and long term. Forging a new standard in collaborative impact, the work continues to build a leading community of practice around place-based philanthropy.
Civics Inc. was released in May 2024 to empower organizations in supporting civic engagement through insights, tools, and shared knowledge from our community of practice. By advancing civic education and participation, Civics Inc. provides a strategic framework to help employers customize their efforts to contribute to a democratic society.
Mental health is a growing societal concern which leaders across sectors are increasingly recognizing. In honor of World Mental Health Day, we spoke with Jazmine and Jorge, two of the NationSwell Fellows taking part in our pilot Accelerator Program, about their work breaking down barriers to mental health awareness and practice in BIPOC communities. They’re producing and refining a digital content series and resource project which specifically focuses on the dynamics between parents/caregivers and their children, specifically in showing and recognizing help-seeking and help-giving behaviors. This work comes at a pivotal time on the heels of an advisory by the Surgeon General on the mental health and well-being of parents and caregivers.
NationSwell: Tell us about your work and why it’s important?
We’ve developed an unscripted video series on intergenerational mental health conversations between BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) youth and their caregivers with Dr. Monica Band, a trauma-informed licensed mental health therapist, along with a digital resource on mental health myths and best practices around having nurturing discussions around mental health. We know, first hand, these types of conversations can be touchy in our communities.
These will all be available in several languages which is really important to us because we want to ensure that the populations that we’re serving can really use this. According to a 2020 ACS survey, 25% of US households speak a language other than English. We really want to make sure that this is usable for the folks and communities that we’re looking to highlight and center within the work.
One of the big myths that we’re working to demystify is that mental health is a “white people thing”. Due to a lack of understanding, a lot of older folks within BIPOC communities don’t consider it urgent enough to prioritize, take care of, or even begin to learn about how to have conversations around it. This makes being open and vulnerable with one another difficult which is important when establishing strong connections rooted in trust.
The inspiration for the video series stems from our personal experiences having conversations with parents and the difficulty in having to translate our mental health struggles. Currently in our communities, it’s often the responsibility of youth to be the ones starting and carrying these conversations. We really want to provide a blueprint to make it less intimidating for both parties. We hope to encourage people to have important conversations with their loved ones so they can be there for each other and build really strong systems of support and care.
We really aim to help bridge the generational gaps between caregivers and their children to nurture and foster compassion and increase understanding that mental health is a part of the human experience. While it can be difficult to be vulnerable, it doesn’t necessarily always have to be complicated. You don’t need to be an expert to ask people if they’re okay. You don’t need to have a degree to have a conversation about mental health and just show people that you care.
NS: What are the unique barriers faced by communities of color when it comes to mental health?
There are a lot of barriers faced by marginalized groups, specifically people of color, when it comes to mental health. Our project aims to tackle three specific barriers.
First, is the stereotypes in BIPOC communities that exist around mental health, including that mental health struggles are a sign of weakness, that it reflects poorly on the family, and that it’s just airing out a family’s dirty laundry. A report on mental health seeking barriers in U.S. teen populations found teens from ethnic minority backgrounds 49% of Black teens feared being seeing as week or not mentally strong compared to 42% of non-black teens; for Hispanic/Latinx teens reported feeling unsafe, unsupported, and afraid of retaliation as barriers to help-seeking; 47% of Asian teens reported their problems were not serious enough to talk to others about, compared to 42% of the general population. These beliefs encourage isolation and a lack of support from within BIPOC communities.
There isn’t a strong foundation or clear examples on how to support people with mental health needs, particularly young people. This can discourage BIPOC youth from seeking mental help and further encourages parents and caregivers to deprioritize their own mental health.
Second, is the cultural and language barriers. When folks do begin to seek services, there’s a shortage of culturally competent and sensitive care. Culture is a big piece of people’s identity so finding care that takes this into consideration is very important in people feeling safe, protected, and incentivized to continue care.
Finally, we aim to address historical trauma between BIPOC communities and the healthcare system, which has a history of fostering mistrust – according to a recent survey, 69% of people from ethnic minority groups self-reported distrusting healthcare providers. The healthcare system in the US was not created with Black and Brown people’s wellness in mind. So the policies, funding, research, representation in media, etc., are void of Black and Brown voices to center our wants and needs.
NS: What are the benefits for BIPOC parents in embracing mental health awareness and practice?
Parents working on normalizing and increasing their awareness of mental health and how to practice caring for others within the community strengthens their interpersonal relationships. Through these unscripted conversations, we’re trying to demonstrate how these discussions can look in real time, modeling what help seeking behavior looks like, and what giving support looks like.
There is a lot of cultural messaging that encourages children to talk to their parents about what’s going on in their lives, and for parents to ask their children about what they’re going through. But there is a lack of knowledge on how to actually put this into practice, whether it’s conversation starters, supportive behaviors, or ways to affirm a loved one. Our videos will model empathetic conversations between parents and their children. We’re hoping they will act as a guide on what healthy conversations, that strengthen connections and deepen bonds, can look like.
NS: What do BIPOC kids want from their parents when it comes to understanding mental health?
You don’t need to be an expert to show people you care about their mental health. BIPOC parents want to say the right thing and that can make them fearful to approach these types of discussions. Children are not always looking for their parents to fix anything or offer solutions. Instead of assuming what your kids want, ask them what they need and how they want to be supported and center them in those conversations. We want to feel like we’re being seen and understood –
Ways you can do this are through active listening, asking questions, allowing them to lead the conversation, and trusting and believing what your child is telling you without questioning them. If your child comes to you with something they’re struggling with, assure them that you’re going to be there for them. You don’t need to come with plan A, B or C, just show support in a way that makes them feel heard.
NS: What do you hope your work will accomplish long-term?
Our hope is that by beginning these conversations, we are ultimately promoting a future where mental health discussions are normalized across generations, breaking generational cycles of trauma and suffering in silence.
We want our series and guide to make people feel hopeful and inspired to build stronger relationships and connections with people in their communities.
NS: How can people get involved?
Please share our story and work with folks you think this could be helpful for and more broadly with your networks. The more people are aware of what we’re doing, the more we can spread our message and ensure these resources reach the people who need them.
If people or organizations are able to provide funds or even resources on how to access funds – we are always looking for grants we can apply for.
We’re currently expanding our team right now, slowly but surely. So, if you’re interested in getting involved in a more hands-on way, connect with us on through LinkedIn: Jorge Alvarez, Jazmine Alcon
NationSwell is proud to announce our pilot NationSwell Fellows Accelerator Program, sponsored by Jon & Wendy Stahl. The Accelerator provides young leaders the strategic support, connections and leadership development needed to turn their interventions into sustainable and meaningful interventions, so they have the foundations they need to continue building on their work long after they complete the program. The four key areas the program will focus on are: building and refining a theory of change, building organizational structure and presence, stakeholder engagement and storytelling. We are honored to announce the fellows who will be joining our first ever accelerator program. Meet our fellows!
ALEX ANG | Mental Health Mailboxes
ALEX ANG (SHE/HER)
Alex Ang is a content creator and mental health advocate living in Saint Paul, MN. Through her work, she is dedicated to increasing access to mental health resources and developing storytelling around cultural competency, anxiety awareness and workplace mental health. She currently sits on the NAMI StigmaFree Advisory Board for Workplace Mental Health, and is the host of a mental health podcast, a is for anxious.
Her accelerator project, Mental Health Mailboxes, is a community-based campaign aimed at increasing access to free mental health resources and acts as a catalyst for mental health awareness, using the power of collective aid and resource exchange to curate a source of mental health stories and resources. The idea is a simple one: Place a Mental Health Mailbox in your community and watch as community-members populate its shelves with an abundance of resources, suited to each community’s culture and location.
JORGE ALVAREZ + JAZMINE ALCON | Bridging The Generational Gap
JORGE ALVAREZ (HE/HIM)
Jorge Alvarez is a first-gen Latin Social Impact Strategist, Mental Health Advocate, & Creator who has taken his mental health advocacy from lecture halls on his college campus, to millions online, and even to The White House. After being recognized by MTV as 1 of 30 participants to be part of the inaugural Mental Health Youth Action Forum at The White House where he spoke alongside Selena Gomez, the U.S. First Lady, and the U.S. Surgeon General, Jorge went on to consult companies and nonprofits alike on campaign messaging, program development, and BIPOC/youth engagement strategies. Most recently, he advised MTV and Active Minds, a youth mental health nonprofit, on their national mental health campaign called A.S.K.– the stop, drop, & roll for young people to emotionally support their friends! Online, he uses his love for storytelling to spark dialogue for collective reflection, unlearning limiting beliefs, and breaking cycles leading to his community of +130,000 across social platforms. While he loves creating, Jorge works directly with communities by speaking at venues, universities, and institutions across the U.S. to empower and educate young people and allies about mental health, social media, advocacy, and more.
JAZMINE ALCON (SHE/HER)
Jazmine brings over 7 years of experience in the mental health advocacy space and is dedicated to transforming the mental health narrative to be more culturally relevant, engaging, and accessible. Her work has been rooted in empowering BIPOC communities, which she has executed through health equity, community, and marketing initiatives in the non-profit and corporate sectors. Jazmine is an Ilocana immigrant who believes that storytelling is fundamental in creating systemic and collective change in how we address youth mental health. Jazmine holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Health with a minor in Health and Society. She is also the co-founder of AAPI Mental Health, a digital platform dedicated to redefining the mental health conversation in the Asian and Pacific Islander community. In her free time, Jazmine likes to create art, hang out with her friends and cat, and be outdoors!
Together, Jorge and Jazmine are working on a project titled, and it’s a campaign consisting of a non-scripted interview-style video web series featuring difficult yet sincere intergenerational dialogue between BIPOC parents or guardians and their children (ages 18-26). Given the impact of cultural, ethnic, and racial nuance, each episode will spotlight how vulnerable and intimate conversations between parents and children of color can lead to a place of understanding. This campaign will not only invoke emotion and demonstrate that having intimate and vulnerable conversations between different generations is possible and why it’s important to do so, but it will also inspire others to have these same conversations. Ultimately, our goal is to use digital content to drive traffic toward culturally relevant resources with actionable next steps with viewers to continue the conversation.
ERICKA KAMANOU-TENTA | Agents of Change
ERICKA KAMANOU-TENTA (SHE/HER)
Ericka Kamanou-Tenta is an American-Cameroonian purpose-driven Social Entrepreneur who firmly believes in the transformative potential of decolonization to drive positive change and foster community development. She is a recent graduate of NYU where she studied Global Public Health with a minor in Social Entrepreneurship, and a current MPH Candidate at Yale University. Her fervor for African development has led her to start building a Pan-African movement, dedicated to nurturing leadership within Africa and its Diaspora through entrepreneurship.
Her project focuses on developing an entrepreneurial training ground or program that empowers African and Black young adults to see themselves as agents of change and overcome the mental limitations caused by centuries of colonialism.
To learn more about the NationSwell Fellows Accelerator and how to get involved, please reach out to Minna Son (Director of Programs & Strategy, NationSwell Studio).
Ever since I left the law firm where I started my career, many of my friends and family have struggled to understand exactly what I do for a living. My kids are convinced “talking to people and writing emails” is the sum of my job. In reality, post law, I spent ten years at a global branding agency, and I now proudly hold the lengthy title of Chief Strategy Officer & Managing Director of Studio at NationSwell. The through line to my winding path has been my ability to give people useful advice to help them achieve their goals.
And that in essence is what I mean when I say I’m a strategist — specifically, an impact strategist, since I now have the honor of working with leaders on the cutting edge of driving social and environmental impact, through my role at NationSwell.
For those that don’t know, NationSwell is an executive membership community and consultancy serving change-makers who are advancing solutions to meet the world’s most urgent challenges and opportunities — including addressing economic inequality, racial and social justice, climate resilience, workforce development innovation, health equity, and much more. In short, we serve the people in every sector who are trying to make the world better for all of us.
The consultancy offer at NationSwell runs through our Studio — an award-winning team of analysts, advisors, designers, event planners and program managers working in partnership with organizations to help them achieve their specific goals: from defining the impact strategy that guides their non profit partnerships, grant-making and employee engagement, to running Collaboratives of diverse partners to take collective action for change, to engaging audiences and driving support for solutions through creative storytelling.
Perhaps it’s helpful to break down what that work looks like in practice.
Rather than run through all the things we can do, it’s more interesting to focus on what makes us distinctive. At NationSwell Studio we go beyond standard consulting to be our partners’hands-on champion for impact: blending strategic rigor and creative ambition with unabashed humanity and thoughtful understanding of the issues we’re tackling. We inspire our partners to explore new perspectives on the work and make it possible for them to reach new goals. And we measure our impact not just through effective outcomes, but also through the innovative, equitable processes we use to get those results.
Let me give you a few examples:
The NationSwell Studio sits at the heart of an impact ecosystem of members working on intersecting issues, including leaders from and working directly with impacted communities. It can seem easier to come up with solutions that work for institutions first, and assume individual needs. In contrast, we ensure community expertise and original insights inform our strategic work, and we use connections, facilitated events and — where possible — co-working with those communities, to make sure that beneficiaries have a seat at the table to shape how businesses and philanthropies direct funding and support.
For example, we worked with American Family Insuranceto create a blueprint for how they and other companies could act as authentic partners in progress to young climate advocates. As well as conducting an extensive ‘empathy tour’ of interviews, we included several young advocates on our team, planning and facilitating a series of workshops with other climate activists. This collaboration was essential to ensure that those sessions felt sensitive to the participants’ wellbeing and state of mind, were trusted and generative forums for discussion, and that the recommendations on investments, partnerships and capacity-building that followed were co-created by the very people they were intended to serve.
While we see common patterns in what our partners need, and constantly leverage the bank of proprietary insights created by our in-house Insights Team, we also like to be in a state of constant listening at NationSwell: absorbing what our community of members are raising in 1:1 meetings and discussions at our 150+ annual events. This allows us to keep our partners on the cutting edge of change by proactively innovating to meet community needs.
For example, as social, environmental and health multi-crises hit a peak in 2020, it was clear that these challenges could not be solved in silos. So, we drew on our combination of skills across the organization to launch NationSwell Collaboratives — a platform that brings diverse leaders together to drive action together around shared goals. Collaboration isn’t easy, and many feel they lack the capacity to make it work. Our award-winning approach allows partners to bridge gaps and work with ease together, share inspiration and research, and co-create industry-building content and experiences. This year, our Case for Childcare Collaborative launched a microsite that makes the business case to accelerate caregiving support within companies.
Dipping in and out of industries is standard for communications agencies; but in the impact space you cannot afford to skim over the surface of an issue. Our Studio holds a unique position, sitting within a wider membership community of experts from all sectors, and acting as an engine of deep issue area expertise that we are constantly building alongside our community partners.
For example, NationSwell is working with American Pride Rises — an organization dedicated to upholding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and to fighting back against the anti-American attacks on DEI. We have been collaborating their team to create events and materials that reach key audiences across many different platforms. This work is informed by our ongoing NationSwell events and research dedicated to DEI, including NationSwell’s recent report focused on ‘Making Corporate DEI More Durable’.
Lastly, the impact sector can get very jargony, very quickly. There is an abundance of annual reports and white papers offering windows into smart initiatives that others have undertaken. However, impact professionals can fall into the trap of talking only to themselves, and losing out on the opportunity to inspire wider circles — like their employees and consumers — to get behind a cause or solution. At NationSwell Studio, we push ourselves to find inventive ways to engage audiences with complex issues, through smart, emotionally resonant storytelling — starting always by establishing a clear understanding of our audience and what we want them to think, feel and do.
For example, we helped the The Greater Good Science Centerbring to life their playbook on bridging differences, creating a series of social videos that explain different techniques in unexpected ways, that were picked up by national media given their relevance to current divides in America. In collaboration with Johnson & Johnson, we created a personal video series shining a light on stories of the community health workers who are often overlooked by traditional health narratives — including Native American communities, rural communities, and formerly incarcerated people. Plus, in the spirit of turning the white paper on its head, we create interactive, multi-format digital experiences to move the sector forward: like the Place-Based Impact in Practice Collaborative digital resource for funders that recently launched, offering one-of-a-kind peer guidance and case studies to drive more equitable philanthropic approaches.
I hope this has given you (and my kids) a useful insight into the work we do at NationSwell Studio. If you are a leader with a mission and a problem to solve, get in touch — we’d love to be your champion.
Our award-winning Studio develops clear strategies, compelling stories, and illuminating Collaboratives that move influential audiences to action while driving impact. Learn more.
The NationSwell Fellows program is dedicated to transforming the future by empowering youth leaders to thrive as changemakers. Started in 2022, the Fellows program harnesses NationSwell’s robust ecosystem to help the next generation of young leaders get closer to their personal and professional aspirations while simultaneously building equitable pipelines into the social impact field.
This past year, NationSwell was thrilled to host the second cohort of its Fellows program, sponsored by Cerberus, Service Now, and American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact. Each year, the program empowers young impact leaders to build and sharpen their skills, grow their network, and develop a project that meaningfully contributes to their social or environmental focus area.
To cap an incredible eight months of work, this year’s group of innovators gathered at Steelcase’s Manhattan offices on June 14th to present the projects they have been incubating through the program. A few fellows also pitched their incubator projects for further development in our pilot accelerator program, which kicks off this summer. Pitched projects were judged by a panel of four NationSwell Community members: Aaron Miller, Kim Koeman, Titilayao Golden, and Darriel Sanders. Fellows were judged on impact, relevance, feasibility, viability, innovation, and scalability.
Thanks to support from Jon & Wendy Stahl, fellows accepted into the three spots in the accelerator program will receive dedicated 1:1 support for their projects, as well as access to NationSwell’s unique ecosystem of impact leaders to build their social capital.
Below is a brief recap of the projects that were showcased:
Concept: The Asian Americans with Disabilities Initiative was designed to provide the next generation of disabled Asian American leaders with accessible resources so that they can combat anti-Asian racism and ableism in their own communities. AADI relies on three core pillars to meet its goal of linking disabled people of color to the professional and cultural support necessary to navigate their dual marginalized identities: research, advocacy, and communities.
Goals:
Forge community partnerships in order to evaluate strengths and weaknesses and increase operational efficiency
Focus on grassroots expansion in order to increase widespread understanding of disability in global communities
Distribute disability-oriented medical technologies to those in need
Capitalize on expertise in intersectional identities in order to support technologies that improve transportation accessibility and provide new tools for advocating on behalf of disabled individuals.
Concept: The widespread adoption of AI technology in hiring processes — which includes candidate sourcing, resume screening, assessment, and engagement — poses a significant risk of bias and discrimination. New, customizable assessment tools can help to identify the barriers hindering organizations from adopting fair and equitable practices in AI-driven hiring, isolate challenges, and forge new opportunities to increase equity.
Goals
Interview organizations to help determine needs and shape resources
Focus on challenges unique to organizations with limited resources (e.g. small nonprofits)
Curate vetted resources and tools
Create automated assessment tool to guide organizations
Concept: Mental Health Mailboxes aims to improve access to mental health resources through the deployment of mailboxes. Inspired by “little free libraries,” these mailboxes will initially be stocked with mental health resources like pamphlets, stress balls, and affirmation cards, with the ultimate goal of having communities contribute additional resources as they see fit. Through co-location, this intervention is able to address the unique needs of varying communities while addressing barriers to access.
Goals:
Draw on the power of collective aid with the goal of incorporating storytelling into mental health awareness
Reduce stigma around mental health
Increase accessibility in communities and foster local connection and awareness
Concept: A Pan-African movement and awareness campaign that will tackle the detrimental effects of neocolonialism in educational structures that impacts underserved African communities. Through a dedicated curriculum, digital platform, and storytelling, this program partners with social institutions embedded in communities to help build entrepreneurial ecosystems in Africa.
Goals:
Foster a stronger sense of identity among young adults in Africa
Increase awareness around the importance of access to the education and resources that will enable young Africans to start successful business ventures
Concept: In the United States, only 12 states currently teach comprehensive consent education, and the vast majority of young adults enter college without learning about consent. Stories of Consent uses a community-based model to make consent education more accessible, actionable, and relatable to young people. The initiative is continuing to expand into college campuses, aiming to address legislative hurdles facing many states in the South. With the ultimate goal of hosting in-person education events across every red state in America, they are continuing to amplify stories of affirmative consent from all 50 states online while also providing Certified Peer Educator Training for middle and high schools students across the country.
Goals:
Bridge the knowledge gap by offering accessible, actionable, and relatable consent education in schools across America.
Expand in-person events in red states over the next 1-3 years by partnering with student advocates on college campuses to host Stories of Consent exhibits
Concept: TRUST is a mutual aid network that brings community organizers and scholar-activists together around the world to unite on the way that research is conducted and disseminated and ultimately reduce scientific bias. With a focus on intergenerational trauma, this initiative looks to better support AAPI communities by finding models to integrate scholar-activism into established research institutions.
Goals:
Utilize community-based and critical participatory methods to address racialized and gendered disparities in the research community
Reduce barriers to entry for underserved and underrepresented communities, with a particular focus on Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women and fems
Concept: There are a multitude of unique barriers facing BIPOC communities in gaining access to mental health resources, including stigma around seeking support, cultural barriers and representation, and deep generational divides. This campaign aims to create an intergenerational model for youth mental health crisis interventions through representation by showcasing clinically-backed strategies that foster a supportive environment between guardians and their children.
Goals:
Create a video guide for parents that models healthy, intersectional, authentic, and vulnerable dialogue on mental health.
Learn more about and help to shine a light on what mental health looked like for parents’ generations — including when they felt helped and validated and when they felt abandoned — with an emphasis on the BIPOC experience.
Create an awareness campaign for parents and guardians to learn more about how they can help their children through mental health challenges in a compassionate way that honors their own experiences.
We at NationSwell are so proud of the intersectional, community-focused projects this year’s cohort of Fellows pioneered, and are excited to already be planning programming that will support a third cohort of young changemakers eager to make their mark on the world. If you’d like to learn more about how you can sponsor the incredible work that our Fellows do, feel free to reach out to Minna Son ([email protected]) and Maddy Allison ([email protected]).
In the first quarter of the year, the NationSwell Council embarked on a journey across America as part of a Salon series dedicated to exploring Leadership and Mental Health.
The series brought us face-to-face with transformative leaders from diverse sectors, sparking discussions that were as rich as they were enlightening. Our dialogue delved into three critical areas: the unique mental health challenges faced by those in leadership; the significant role leaders play in nurturing the well-being of their teams; and the cutting-edge strategies that have successfully cultivated workplace environments of health and positivity.
The leaders we met shared their experiences with remarkable openness, courage, and sincerity, leaving us inspired. In the following sections, we’re excited to present a curated collection of profound quotes, essential resources, and the most compelling insights we’ve distilled from these conversations.
Key Insights:
The Conversation is the Solution: Opening up about mental health isn’t just therapeutic for leaders; it also breaks down feelings of isolation by sharing the common struggles many face. It highlights the importance of creating spaces where leaders can gather to speak openly and honestly. These discussions are crucial — they not only offer varied strategies for navigating challenges but also build a shared understanding of well-being and resilience.
We care deeply about each other: Across the board, a resounding theme emerged: there’s a profound mutual concern for mental health among staff and leaders alike. This mutual care extends beyond professional boundaries, touching the lives of families and peers, nurturing a culture of empathy, understanding, and collective well-being. The depth of this care underscores the human aspect of organizational life, revealing a widespread ethos of compassion and concern that transcends conventional leader-staff dynamics.
Universal Nature of Leadership Challenges: Even though leadership challenges might seem specific to each person’s situation or industry, we’ve seen a remarkable similarity in the issues leaders face nationwide. Recognizing these commonalities underscores the value of cross-sector dialogue. It encourages a collaborative approach to addressing these challenges, highlighting how much we can learn from connecting with peers across different fields.
Less cynical, and more optimistic: We found an undercurrent of optimism among leaders and their teams across America, grounded in their real-life experiences and challenges. This wasn’t blind optimism but a resilience and belief in the potential for positive change. Leaders are not only addressing current well-being but are also committed to fostering healthier, supportive environments long-term. This collective optimism, driven by practical actions and open dialogue, underscores a more hopeful and robust societal fabric than commonly portrayed, highlighting the dedication of individuals working towards meaningful change.
What leaders who attended are saying:
Elyssa Dole
I had not realized how heads down I had become before attending the mental health and leadership salon. Jason Craige Harris shared a fact and framework that really resonated with me. First he mentioned that most EDs are hired for their project management skills — getting things done — rather than their leadership skills. He also talked about a framework for company culture where you see your team on a spectrum from empathy to accountability, noting that too much of either side is not ideal. Our culture on The Conversationalist team has always been rooted in intersectional feminist values, but as I set strategy for 2024, I realized I had become more focused on outcomes and needed to remind myself about the purpose of our company to ensure that writers and artists — as well as our team — are people before workers, and human beings before agents of productivity.
Dr. Isaiah Pickens
Mental health in the workplace is inextricably linked with how we define success. The more rigid definition of success we have, the more pressure we put on ourselves to achieve in a particular way —sometimes in ways that are unrealistic. When we begin to expand our definition of success, more options are available for us to achieve. This alone begins to reduce the pressure and rejuvenate our mental health by making it easier for us to close the gap between who we are and who we want to be.
Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay
In December 2023, my beloved father died the night before I was scheduled to undergo surgery for a total hip replacement. The eight weeks of disability leave, which was meant to focus on physical recovery, turned into a hellish journey of building up my physical strength and endurance while picking up the pieces of my broken heart. Now that I’m back to work, I am aware that I am mentally fragile. To get a handle on that fragility, I am committing to grant myself space and compassion. I’ve always extended those things to those in grief around me, but I never gave them to myself when other family members died. In 2024, I’m committed to my mental health. I will grant myself permission to slow down; not immediately respond to demands of my time and attention when possible; and ask for alone time. These acts will let me get myself together in the moments grief blindsides me. Once I get myself together, I will continue to lead.
Anonymous
As a leader, I am committed to incorporating movement through my daily routines, as I have recently dived into the long-term health effects of sedentary jobs through the introduction of the seat and laptop into society. I welcome walking calls with colleagues when possible and am employing phone-free walks 2-3 times a week to alleviate mental stress and mitigate information overload. This health-inspired shift helps to hone in on our own personhood and relationships, creating a thriving wellbeing community around us and the people we work with.
Ali Borowsky
This year I’m going to focus on the power of the little things to enhance the wellbeing of those I lead and serve. I’ve been starting to think of those small acts of kindness almost like a love language and trying to show up in those little ways more consistently. I also need to practice what I preach and start putting my own emphasis on those seemingly small moments of self-care — knowing the monumental effects they can truly have.
Angelica Marcela Frias
This year, I’m focusing on boosting my team’s and my well-being, inspired by the Salon’s insights. Current plans include outdoor activities, including meetings and volunteer days, to promote health and community engagement. Additionally, I’ll block out time for quiet reflection, emphasizing mental wellness. These steps aim to cultivate a supportive, vibrant work environment that values well being alongside productivity.
Tina Atherall
Recognizing that wellbeing is a deeply personal and diverse concept, I am dedicated to reinvigorating my practice of an individualized approach towards enhancing the welfare of those I lead and serve. Significant impacts stem from the smallest acts of kindness and attention. Meaningful conversations, showing genuine interest and curiosity about their lives, and acknowledging their unique needs and aspirations is what counts. It’s about making a difference one person at a time — valuing quality interactions over quantity and understanding that sometimes, the most minor gesture can light up someone’s day.
On a personal front, I am committed to fostering my own wellbeing by allowing myself to be on the receiving end of support and care. It’s easy to fall into believing that leadership revolves around giving, but true growth and balance also involve embracing the benefit and strength found in receiving. This year, I aim to cultivate a culture of mutual support.
Vanessa Bishop
For many reasons mental health struggles are becoming an increasing threat to the wellbeing of both our staff and the students we serve, so this conversation was extremely important and also was only able to scratch the surface of what we can do as leaders — not only for those we support, but for ourselves. One of my biggest takeaways from the discussion was the power of discussing these challenges with anyone who will listen in order to connect and share resources. Another was the connection of burnout to mental health and the amazing suggestion to regularly review and reflect on what both you and your staff are doing, asking questions such as, “What am I/we doing that if we stopped doing it, no one will notice?”
Susan Mason
As the campaign manager for a congressional campaign, I’ve been organizing meet and greets with constituents. One lesson learned from the salon I attended is the importance of selecting ADA-compliant and accessible venues. I’m prioritizing intentionality beforehand rather than realizing the need for changes afterward. Thank you for the invitation — I consistently gain valuable insights from NationSwell events that I can apply in both my personal and professional life.
Pamela Nathenson
My biggest takeaway from the event, besides wishing to have such an event weekly, is the responsibility of leaders to build the team’s ability to understand each other. When we start the leadership journey, especially for a cause, we may be familiar with the subject matter, but we don’t realize at the outset (or necessarily have every tool ready for) the responsibility we hold for our team’s journeys. We need to be thinking about our teams often, and specifically about where they are on their journeys.
Michael Pope
The event was a powerful reminder of the essential need for empathetic leadership. It reinforced my belief that creating an office environment where every staff member feels seen, acknowledged, and valued is, quite literally, the role of leadership. The discussions highlighted the importance of tangible support systems that allow individuals to embrace and share their unique perspectives and experiences. As leaders, we must challenge ourselves and our teams to foster inclusivity and to see staff as whole people. The takeaway for me was clear: leadership is about empowering others to bring their whole selves to our shared mission, thereby enriching and expanding our collective impact.
NationSwell is thrilled to launch the second year of its fellowship, NationSwell Fellows, sponsored by Cerberus, Service Now, and American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact. The NS Fellows program empowers young impact leaders to build and sharpen their skills, grow their network, and develop a project that meaningfully contributes to their social or environmental focus area.
This year’s young leaders are not only incredibly passionate about their work, but they are remarkably intentional about intersectionality, and have already made outstanding strides in their areas of focus. NationSwell is honored to announce the thirteen leaders who were chosen to be this year’s Fellows: Jorge Alvarez, Alex Ang, Srinithya Gillipelli, Maddox Guerilla, Charles Hua, Ericka Kamanou-Tenta, Jennifer Lee, Katherine Owojori, Nitya Ravriprakash, Maya Salameh, Maya Siegel, Elizabeth Swanson-Andi, Guiying (Angel) Zhong. This extraordinary group of innovators focus their work on a wide variety of impact issues including mental health access & awareness, climate justice, tech and data for good, disability rights, racial justice, LGBTQIA+ rights, and more. We are eager to see what these groundbreakers are going to accomplish over the course of the Fellowship! Meet this year’s Fellows:
JORGE ALVAREZ
Mental Health Activist, Social Impact Strategist, & Creator
As a social impact strategist, Jorge takes a community-centered and intersectional approach to his work around youth mental health, ensuring solutions are culturally sensitive and acknowledge the ways in which mental health is connected to other social and health issues.
ALEX ANG
Content creator & mental health advocate
Her work focuses on making mental health awareness more accessible, particularly for BIPOC youth, through storytelling. She creates social media content that’s culturally inclusive and digestible, hosts her own podcast, “a is for anxious”, and sits on the youth advisory board of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) where she helps create programming and advises on youth mental health initiatives.
NITHYA GILLIPELLI
Health equity advocate & medical student
Nithya is a medical student who is dedicated to understanding interventions that can be used to improve healthcare access and equity in resource-limited settings. She has years of experience working under experts on research within this realm, leading global health student groups, and studying language as a barrier to healthcare. She hopes to focus on mixed-methods studies and implementation science to address health equity on a global scale.
MADDOX GUERILLA
Visionary & advocate for trans & queer youth mental health & youth homelessness
A firm believer in protopia or the idea that we create the future we want a little at a time everyday, Maddox does just this through his work which has driven change for you experiencing homelessness in NYC. Currently, as a Senior Consultant for Point Source Youth, Maddox connects communities with Direct Cash Pilots.
CHARLES HUA
Nationally recognized clean energy & environmental justice advocate
As a recent graduate of Harvard College, his work in sustainability spans back to high school where he organized a campaign that successfully petitioned his school district to become the largest district in the U.S. (at that time) to commit 100% to renewable energy. Since then, he has become a published thought leader on climate and energy issues and serves on the Board of Directors for several environmental nonprofits. For his work in climate and environmental justice, he has been selected by the White House as a 2018 U.S. Presidential Scholar, by the Aspen Institute as a Future Climate Leader, by GreenBiz as an Emerging Leader, and as an Energy News Network 40 Under 40 honoree.
ERICKA KAMANOU-TENTA
Social Entrepreneur & Pan-African Advocate
Ericka is determined to create a Pan-African movement to help African young adults, on the continent and in the Diaspora, see themselves as leaders and change-makers through entrepreneurship. As a graduating Senior at NYU, she is also the Co-Founder of the early-stage venture IVG Ghana which has a mission to decolonize minds and business models in Black communities.
JENNIFER LEE
Founder & disability rights activist
An incoming Juris Doctor candidate at Harvard Law and founder and executive director of the Asian Americans with Disabilities Initiative (AADI), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit amplifying the voices of disabled Asian Americans nationwide, Jennifer is on a mission to center the disabled experience in order to forge change.
KATHERINE OWOJORI
Anti-racist educator & community organizer
Katherine works to interrogate, challenge, and dismantle harmful systems and narratives that impact BIPOC communities. With a focus on anti-racist education, civil rights, intersectional movement building and more, she hopes to implement institutional change in policy, media, education and beyond.
NITYA RAVRIPRAKASH
Data Scientist for equitable opportunities
She is passionate about using data ethically to combat disparities, and currently works as a data science manager and her research focuses around how some AI models actually promote more equitable outcomes in hiring and credit lending for marginalized communities.
MAYA SALAMEH
Arab American mental health advocate & data analyst
Maya Salameh works at the intersection of data analysis and social impact at VIVA Social Impact, where she leads data strategy for public agencies working to improve underserved Californians’ access to care services. She is particularly interested in Arab American mental health, and hopes to use the Fellowship to develop a project focused on queer Arab Americans’ experiences with mental health care.
MAYA SIEGEL
Advocate for people & the planet
Maya’s work centers storytelling and aims to build a more sustainable equitable future. She is the Social Editor at Feminist, the largest (6M+ followers on Instagram) women-owned media platform for women, girls, and gender-expansive people and the co-founder of Stories of Consent, an organization devoted to community-based consent education that shares stories of affirmative consent.
ELIZABETH SWANSON-ANDI
Storyteller & Indigenous rights & climate justice advocate
She utilizes storytelling through social media and filmmaking to inspire hope in her community and drive changes that will protect her forest home and the planet as a whole. Elizabeth is of the Napu Kichwa People (Venecia Derecha community member) from the Ecuadorian Amazon, who are on the front lines of fighting food and water insecurity, land invasions/loss, deforestation, cultural loss, climate disaster, and contamination of rivers. Through experience within Indigenous territories in the Amazon, a vast international perspective, and intersectional lens she addresses socio-environmental challenges and builds solutions serving as President of Iyarina Center for Learning, Impact Storyteller at If Not Us Then Who?, and co-founder of the Youth Collective in Defense of the Amazon Rainforest.
GUIYING (ANGEL) ZHONG
Mental health equity scholar-activist
Angel is focused on decreasing racial and gender disparities in mental health access and care-seeking. Much of Angel’s research focuses on how intergenerational trauma affects the AAPI community when it comes to reaching out for mental health services, and she is currently a Research Analyst at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Health Disparities Research.
For the past two years, organizations have been forced to navigate a series of social, financial, and political pressures that no one could have seen coming. As the dust begins to settle, it’s become increasingly obvious where organizations have made great strides towards achieving more equitable cultures and organizational outlooks — and where they still have room to grow.
As we continue to steer towards that more equitable and egalitarian future, join us for a conversation on what your fellow leaders are doing to build a culture of equity and belonging — one that prioritizes DEIB initiatives, mindful hiring practices, and workforce satisfaction and retention rates.
In a NationSwell virtual roundtable, leaders connected to discuss some of the challenges they’re still facing, while surfacing opportunities we’re eyeing to help us advance corporate cultures that pave the way towards progress, equality, and greater social impact overall.
Here are some of the key takeaways:
Wrap arms around the ways that work has fundamentally changed in the pandemic era. Workers and leaders alike share a heightened awareness of organizational shortcomings; and while all leaders have blind spots, there is new urgency around stakeholders’ expectations that you will work to address them. But even as we work to address them, they way we all work is changing: hybrid work means new technology, and new technology means new opportunities alongside new challenges. As internal stakeholders may feel even further from the rooms where big decisions are made, building a culture rooted in transparency becomes paramount to organizational success.
To build an equitable and inclusive organizational culture, align around what you mean when you use the word “transparency.” Workers want leadership that is clear and consistent, but just as there is a danger in sharing too little information, there is a danger in sharing too much. This often necessitates being explicit about what you will share, and what you won’t — especially in difficult moments. As an example, share the criteria around why you might terminate an employment instead of sharing the specifics around why one person’s employment was terminated.
A thriving culture often aligns around norms and expectations for when to have a meeting. In a hybrid work environment, meeting bloat can feel like the enemy of productivity. At the same time, those meetings were often designed to enable productivity, efficiency, and innovation. It’s helpful to align around what meetings ought to be used for, and what the norms are for being in one another’s presence: think about friendly ways to reinforce that attendees shouldn’t be working on anything else, and that they should focus to the best of their ability on the information that is being shared.
Culture is communication. Build performance management systems that can evaluate based on outcomes but also behavior and collaboration. Reward people who hit goals, but also support positive behaviors that improve culture (and hold those accountable who damage culture). Consider using a work style assessment tool, such as DISC, to help employees understand one another better.
Once a year, the most cutting-edge and committed leaders in ESG, social impact, philanthropy and other select fields gather at the NationSwell Summit to foster invaluable cross-sector connections, to hear about the most exciting and promising ideas and initiatives, to reflect and revitalize, and to glean actionable insights, practices and collaboration opportunities to propel their leadership forward.
NationSwell held its Summit on Thursday in New York; the theme for 2023 was “Better + Bolder.”
Here are the better and bolder quotes and moments throughout the day that will be on our minds, in our hearts, and close to the core of our personal and professional practices of impact.
“The challenges we are working on are difficult, multi-layered and urgent. There is no time to waste, and none of us will be at our best if we’re doing it alone. At a moment that needs our best, how might we stretch further in the direction of the impact we seek?” — Greg Behrman, NationSwell CEO + Founder
“My call to action is a call to arms: Commit to justice as a matter of faith simply because it is the right thing to do.” — Darrick Hamilton, economist, Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy, and the founding director of the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School.
“On every single barometer we know what works — yet, it’s not being done.It’s not that people don’t know how to manage their money, it’s that people don’t have money to manage. One’s income is not correlated to one’s intelligence. Your kids & their kids deserve just as much as my kids.” — former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs, special advisor on economic mobility to California Governor Gavin Newsom.
“Broad-based employee ownership and engagement, while difficult to execute, is wildly promising — it can lead to a radical increase in economic mobility, financial fluency, workforce stability and productivity.” — Pete Stavros, co-head of Global Private Equity, KKR; Founder and Chairman, Ownership Works
“Regarding social media, it’s important to remember that 80% of tweets come from 10% of users. And that 10% tends to be much more extreme than the average American. We naturally interpret these frequent, loud voices as being mainstream but if you look at surveys of what matters most to Americans across political lines, you actually find broad agreement. So let’s take the time to talk to each other, particularly folks you wouldn’t normally talk to, because that’s the only way we’re going to understand each other and make progress.” — Pete Stavros,
“We’re in a burning building. We all have to get out. I might hit the ground before you, but you are right behind me. It’s not about being an ally because it affects you too… that’s why the term ‘allyship’ doesn’t quite capture it. You’re not doing this to help me. Your own life is at stake. Injustice makes everyone sick. If your proverbial boot is on my neck, your humanity is at stake too.” — Ruha Benjamin, author of “Viral Justice,” Princeton Professor of African-American Studies, NationSwell Book of the Year Award recipient.
“Be better and bolder by investing in the microscopic. People may not see it, but they will feel it.” — Ruha Benjamin
“Better and Bolder means not limiting ourselves in any way possible. It means constantly innovating, exploring, and creating new radical solutions by incorporating diverse perspectives. In this moment, we have to take that first step into the unknown. We have to ask ourselves “What would a world without a climate crisis look like?” And then we also have to consider these three questions: what does that mean to me? what does that mean for those most impacted by the crisis? And how can we make that future a reality?” — Thea Gay, NationSwell Fellow, youth climate activist
“Social impact at scale rarely happens overnight. Years of everyday decisions made by organizational leaders operating incrementally and independently reach a certain threshold — and can get stuck, often due to lack of capacity and broader insight. Our Collaboratives take the baton at that point of impasse, help identify shared opportunities and create the space for collective action to break through.” — Amy Lee, Chief Strategy Officer, NationSwell
“Refugees aren’t looking for a handout. These are the people fighting to stay alive, fighting for the futures of their families… these are the people you want working at your organizations.” — Hamdi Ulukaya, CEO + Founder, Chobani; Founder, the Tent Partnership for Refugees
“We all remember where we were when we heard something, watched something, or experienced something that changed our lives. The arts — and the extraordinary artists behind them — are the beating heart of our culture. They make us better, and they make us bolder. The catalytic inspiration and perspective they provide are essential for any leader.” — Anjali Ramasunder, NationSwell Vice President of Programming and Events
In the days to come, we will share more insights, reflections, photographs, and video from the NationSwell Summit. For more information, visit our digital hub.
The pandemic ushered in a wave of fresh challenges for companies and leaders, but it also served as a much-needed pause for leaders to reflect, retool, and reset. Now, nearly three years on, we’ve inherited a radically transformed workplace environment — and we’re tasked with implementing some of the carefully considered changes that will better serve our teams and help us to create the workplace of the future.
In a conversation hosted by the NationSwell Council community on Wednesday, we came together to parse exactly what leaders are doing to address DEIB goals, team attrition rates, competing needs amid a newly hybrid working world, and more.
Here are some of the key learnings from the event.
We often think of how we create value for customers — now it’s time to start thinking about how we create value for our teams. New, remote work challenges have prompted a slew of new questions about how to keep teams engaged and how much “in-person” time is actually needed. Some leaders who are used to thinking about how to create value that makes customers want to show up are now flipping that question on its head, asking what they can do to incentivize team members to work from the office. Creating a hybrid schedule where employees are only expected to come into the office on certain days of the week — and then offering special perks, like free lunches and special affinity group meetings on those days — can be a helpful system for making team members feel like their time in the office is valuable and worth it.
Building out effective listening engines will be critical to accurately assessing employees’ needs. With so much shared wisdom on how to respond to team members’ post-pandemic needs flying around, it can be tempting to impulsively deploy some of those solutions and policies, especially given that the underlying assumption is that they will make employees’ lives easier. But as one member pointed out, not every team member’s needs look the same — and it’s important to build out an infrastructure for feedback that ensures that you’re capturing your specific team’s needs as accurately as possible.
Pay as much attention to why people are staying as you do to why they’re leaving. When it comes to high turnover rates, the intuitive response is to get to the bottom of why people are leaving and what can be done to mitigate the departures. But it’s equally important to figure out why people are staying — and which policies are actually working — so that you can be sure-footed in creating an environment that people genuinely want to be in, and not just one that they’re not ready to leave.
If you value DEIB, put a premium on mental health. Team members’ mental health and well-being naturally dovetails with DEIB concerns: conversations about compensation, job security, hybrid work schedules, pipelines for advancement, and more are inherently stressful, and play a huge role in employees’ livelihoods and psychological safety both inside and outside the workplace. Investing in wraparound support structures can help to ensure team members’ happiness and well-being in the long run, and can set your organization up to more sustainably foster a workplace that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive.
Work with team members to build hybrid schedules that suit their lives and needs. Rather than mandating that employees be in the office at certain times on certain days, create flexible mechanisms by which team members can choose to work from home when needed, as long as they let team members know well in advance.
The NationSwell Council community brings together a diverse, curated community of bold individuals and organizations leading the way in social, economic, and environmental problem-solving. Learn more about the Council here.
