Category: What’s Possible

Hope in Action at NationSwell Summit 2024

Posted on by NationSwell Team

On November 20 and 21, NationSwell convened changemakers, innovators, and thought leaders in New York City for our Summit 2024. This year’s theme was Hope in Action — a nod to both the radical optimism this moment requires and the intentionality needed to create a more equitable and prosperous world.

Throughout the event, we heard from some of the nation’s leading social impact, sustainability, and philanthropic leaders on the innovative solutions and game-changing partnerships they’re pioneering. Below are a few of the moments that left us feeling hopeful and inspired to be standing shoulder to shoulder with this community of changemakers for all the work still to come:

Fireside Chat with Julián Castro

“We have an opportunity in this moment to model what we want the world to look like and to do that as leaders in our own organizations; to recommit ourselves to that vision and to breathe more energy into the values that we want to prevail.” – Julián Castro, CEO of the Latino Community Foundation and former United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

Impact Spotlight by Maria Kim

“What I’ve learned through my work and my life over the years is that lived experience is not what you’ve done or what’s been done with you; it’s sometimes this catalyst that makes you most beautifully, gloriously, affirmatively who you are.  So in a way, my lived experience is more aptly described as my lived expertise.” – Maria Kim, President and CEO, REDF

“I know we can do this if we put our back into it. And if we do it, we end up shifting from a generational transfer of poverty to a generational transfer of joy.” – Maria Kim, President and CEO, REDF

NationSwell founder and CEO Greg Behrman

Impact Spotlight by Scott Pulsipher

“To me, Hope in Action is about changing one life for the better and doing that hundreds of thousands of times, if not millions of times.  And it’s incredible to actually imagine a different world in which we rethink education, we imagine how it can actually operate. Not just for the good of the few, but for the good of the many.” – Scott Pulsipher, President, Western Governors University

“The U.S. higher education system is, in fact, failing those that it was designed to serve.”  – Scott Pulsipher, President, Western Governors University

NationSwell’s Books of the Year panel, moderated by Alesha Washington and featuring Nicholas Kristof and Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

NationSwell’s Books of the Year

“Hope is a muscle.” – Nicholas Kristof, Journalist, The New York Times

“Find the way to connect the dots to your work. I offer a simple diagram: what are you good at, what needs doing, and what brings you joy? The joy part is what keeps you going and will welcome other people into the work. Pick one and roll up your sleeves and see how far we can get.” – Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Co-founder, Urban Ocean Lab

Impact Spotlight by Vilas Dhar

“Leadership in this moment is no longer about just individual courage; it’s no longer about many conversations that happen across society, but a world where we make decisions together.” – Vilas Dhar, President, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation

“We can be architects, we can build blueprints for tools and technologies in the future that incorporate our morals, our values, our norms, our beliefs, and the voices of the people around us.” – Vilas Dhar, President, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation

Impact Spotlight by Aly Richards

“[Affordable and accessible childcare] is a market failure – it is a broken business model. Early educators can’t afford to make less, parents can’t afford to pay more. The sooner we can understand that we need help from local, state, and federal, the sooner we can fix it.” – Aly Richards, CEO, Let’s Grow Kids

The Stonewall Chorale Chamber Choir

The Case for Care: The Business Imperative of Investing in Care

“In many ways, motherhood is the unfinished business of gender equality.” – Reshma Saujani, Founder and CEO, Moms First; Founder, Girls Who Code

“You can make a very strong business case for [child care], to do the right thing to help your people.” – Stephan Dolling, AVP, Global Benefits and Well-Being, Merck

“Let’s talk about the challenges more. Talk to me, or talk to your employers, about the caregiving challenges that we’re all experiencing.” – Lindsay Jurist-Rosner, Founder and CEO of Wellthy

Creative Forces for Social Change: The Power of Art in Action

“There’s a war on the storytelling of our authentic selves and truth and history.” – Renée Elise Goldsberry, Tony- and Grammy Award-Winning Actress and Singer

“I put all my hope in art. For one, art never cared who was in power.”  – Rahsaan Thomas, Documentary Filmmaker, Podcaster, and Producer

“There’s a lot of misunderstandings going on in our country right now, so we need art more than ever to translate the truth.” – Rahsaan Thomas, Documentary Filmmaker, Podcaster, and Producer

“I think my greatest resource as an artist is my most authentic self.” –  Renée Elise Goldsberry, Tony- and Grammy Award-Winning Actress and Singer

Impact Spotlight by Dr. Carmen Rojas and Tara Raghuveer

“Our country faces an unprecedented housing crisis. Not only are more than 3 million people homeless, housing insecure, or living in shelters, but rents have gone up more than 30% since 2020. This is in a context in which we have 16 million vacant homes in the United States. So this means that we have made a choice not to house our brothers and sisters, our cousins, people that we might fall in love with, slow dance with, sing karaoke with – it’s a decision that our political leaders have made.” – Dr. Carmen Rojas, President and CEO, Marguerite Casey Foundation 

“The rent is the biggest bill in most working people’s budgets. When people need to cut back on living expenses, making cuts to housing is not an option – the alternative is homelessness. The rent is too damn high.” – Tara Raghuveer, Founding Director of Kansas City Tenants

“Derek is one of the tenants who will strike another month. He said, ‘My rent is my power. And I will use my power with my neighbors until we win what we’re owed.’” – Tara Raghuveer, Founding Director of Kansas City Tenants

Impact Spotlight by Jay Bailey

“You want to talk about innovation? Show me someone more innovative than a single mother with two kids making $17,000 a year. She problem-solves, she makes sure there are gifts under the Christmas tree – send her to business school and she’ll run circles around everybody.” – Jay Bailey, President and CEO, Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE)

“Hope in action is black prosperity through ownership.” – Jay Bailey, President and CEO, Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE)

The Augment and Involve panel, featuring Molly Kinder, Nicole Johnson, and Carri Twigg

Augment and Involve: Empowering Workers in an AI-driven World

“We look at the AI development and economy that’s happening as an opportunity space. How can we ensure – unlike the internet – that there’s intentionality to the workforce that’s behind this technology?” – Nicole Johnson, Global Director of Social Impact & Inclusion, Cadence Design Systems

“Tech is all of us – each of us has the ability to engage and change for the tech future we want.” – Michele Jawando, Senior Vice President, Omidyar Network

“The human spirit is indomitable, and art is a fundamental part of that. We will figure out how to fulfill the promise of increasing representation, increasing stories using AI, and we will see more people fight for the art that gives their lives texture.” – Carri Twigg, Founding Partner, Culture House Media

“What gives me hope is that when workers are at the heart of our design of this technology and the decisions around deployment, this is not only good for society and workers, but there’s a lot of evidence that it’s good for employers, too. Workers are assets. They’re experts. They often know their space the best. AI is not something that’s top-down.” – Molly Kinder, David M. Rubenstein Fellow, The Brookings Institution

“Just as we celebrate innovation and we’re awed by it, it creates opportunities for creation and destruction. We need innovation in our policies, badly – we’re at an intersection of technology where it impacts workers, and there’s a role for the government in all of this.” – Ambassador Katherine Tai, United States Trade Representative

Impact Spotlight by Dreama Gentry

“The hope I’m holding – the hope that I’d ask you to join me in – is hope that this great nation can be a place where all of our children and young people are supported and have a choice-filled life.” – Dreama Gentry, President and CEO, Partners for Rural Impact

“We know what will create upward mobility from cradle to career – we just need to invest in that, and we can’t do this work alone.” – Dreama Gentry, President and CEO, Partners for Rural Impact

A fireside chat with Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy

Impact Spotlight with Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy

“When your friend is in a crisis, showing up doesn’t mean coming up with a ten-point plan to solve all problems. The truth is, people derive tremendous comfort from knowing that they’re not alone.” – Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy

Impact Next: An interview with Kyndryl’s Pam Hacker

Posted on by NationSwell Team

At a moment of growing inequality and division, who is advancing the vanguard of economic and social progress to bolster our most vulnerable communities? Whose work is fostering the inclusive growth that ensures every individual thrives? Who will set the ambitious standards that mobilize whole industries, challenging their peers to reach new altitudes of social impact? 

In 2024, Impact Next — a new editorial flagship series from NationSwell — will spotlight the standard-bearing corporate social responsibility and impact leaders, entrepreneurs, experts, and philanthropists whose catalytic work has the potential to shape the landscape of progress amid urgent need for social and economic action.

For this installment, NationSwell interviewed Pam Hacker, Vice President of Social Impact at Kyndryl.

AiLun Ku, Senior Strategic Advisor, NationSwell: What brought you to this field? Was there a moment in your life that galvanized your commitment to driving bold action on social and economic progress?

Pam Hacker, Vice President of Social Impact at Kyndryl: I think I was born to do good in the world. I remember volunteering at the local hospital as a kid, and teaching theater to kids with special needs — I always had this passion for giving back. 

I was lucky enough to land in the PR department at Sesame Street’s nonprofit, Sesame Workshop, and I knew right away that I had found my people (and my Muppets). Slowly but surely, I found myself leading our outreach efforts — everything from creating resources for how to talk to kids about an incarcerated parent to eating healthy on a budget. Throughout it all, the essence of the work was about giving back to under-resourced communities. 

From there I was able to make a very organic transition to HBO, where I used my skills as a communicator and a storyteller to help build out their social impact work. I loved that era, and I loved creating resources and PSAs to help communities — everything from how to get access and talk about the vaccine, to Black Lives Matter, to Stop Asian Hate, and more.

Just as I was starting to ask myself what was next, a recruiter found me on LinkedIn and told me about Kyndryl. Over a year in, it has been the most incredible experience for me. I’m learning more about the space and how we can use tech for good, and how we can better allow our 80,000 employees to take time off to volunteer in the communities where we live and operate. 

Ku, NationSwell: How are you making sense of the current trends we’re seeing in social impact? What are you concerned about, what are you optimistic about, and what should we be paying more attention to?

Hacker, Kyndryl: Honestly, I’m a huge optimist — I always see hope in any scenario, in any community, in any issue we’re tackling, in any theme. If there’s one thing that still ails me, it’s the fact that diversity, equity, and inclusion is still something that we have to even have these conversations around, that there is still so much work to be done in terms of ensuring that all people have a seat at the table.

Ku, NationSwell: Looking back at the scope of your career, how have your thinking, your strategies, leadership style, or philosophies evolved? What are some attributes or approaches that make you an effective leader in this space?

Hacker, Kyndryl: I’m continuing to grow as a leader. At Kyndryl, being a global organization, this is the biggest team that I’ve led. But even when I’ve had small teams, I am a people centric leader.The work is as important, I should say, but I go back to the people. I care deeply about the next generation of humans and I care deeply about people having the opportunity to grow at a company and stay on their journey. Nothing makes me happier than mentoring people inside and outside of my team. I lead with my heart. 

Ku, NationSwell: Is there any particular initiative at Kyndryl you want to highlight that really kind of brings into focus your unique brand of leadership and what’s coming ahead in the work that you’re doing?

Hacker, Kyndryl: The beauty of a global company is that there’s so much happening on the ground that sometimes it’s hard to keep up. We are just in our first year of foundation grants, and we’ve given 11 of those grants out in seven different countries. We’re about to meet with our board and talk about the next round, so to be part of building something because the company is so young, that is something I’m grateful to be able to do.

I really see and feel the pride in working at Kyndryl: Employees wear our colors, they wear the logo — there’s a sense of pride, and it’s so exciting to have the platform to show that pride and to help build it. We’re building the culture, we’re transforming as we’re here, and you truly see them care about the people. 

Ku, NationSwell: It’s clear that you bring a very values-centered approach to leadership. How do some of those values show up — what’s the North Star of your leadership?

Hacker, Kyndryl:  Honestly, it’s people. When you have great people on your team, you end up doing great work together, and I got really lucky with the team I’ve gotten to work with. Kyndryl attracts really great people in general — smart, high performers, creative, strategic individuals. I don’t think I’ve ever worked harder in my life, and yet I simultaneously feel myself stretching and learning and growing almost every day because the work is so inspiring.

Ku, NationSwell: What does winning in social impact look like to you?

Hacker, Kyndryl: I think the more lives we could impact and change, that’s winning, right? And there’s small wins, right? For every student that walks into our office who’s never been in an office before, that’s a win for me. For being able to train almost 50,000 women in India around cybersecurity, that’s a win. And on a larger scale, being so young as a company, there’s so much opportunity to grow, to impact more. 

As the brand grows, we’re part of that brand growth. Social impact is embedded into the DNA of the company. It’s not something that is an afterthought. It’s really built from the ground up.

Ku, NationSwell: Could you recommend any insightful resources – maybe a book, report, podcast, or article that has significantly influenced your thinking?

Hacker, Kyndryl:  My relationships in the impact space are my best resources. Whether it’s other colleagues, friends, a mentor — impact leaders want each other to succeed. My peers in this space are my go-to, and it’s so comforting to know that I have experts or advisors that I could call about any issue throughout the years, no matter where I’ve been in my career.

Ku, NationSwell: Do you have any words of wisdom to share with those working in the social impact space?

Hacker, Kyndryl: For newcomers to the work, I say often that if you are at a company that you’re happy at, start a social impact team there. One of my old bosses at Sesame Street always used to say, “change is good,” and that’s been true for me — it was good for me to leave Sesame and go to HBO, and it was even better for me to leave HBO and come to Kyndryl. So I’d say the same to a more seasoned professional, or anyone experiencing a moment of uncertainty, that I would to anyone just starting out: Change is good.

Expert Insights and Resources for Caregivers in Honor of National Caregivers Day

Posted on by NationSwell Team

balanced with our roles as intergenerational caregivers. Both these roles have become incredibly strained in the challenges of COVID and racial injustice. 
Caregiving is a complex web that brings together cultural beliefs about our roles at home, our views of our responsibility in families and our own balance and boundaries on how we can stay whole while managing work and life.
We also know that family caregiving is often silent, viewed as just part of what we do as family, with many of us not even identifying as “caregivers”.
That said, the data show us that many women, especially women of color, and millennials are now filling a gap in the care system while also struggling to stay at work. Without care at home, and services to help navigate the complexities of care, it would be impossible for work and life to come into balance.
As we work toward reimagining a future of work, while also reimagining our healthcare system, we know we can more equitably support caregivers and their families, and enable them to thrive.  But first, we need to acknowledge what we are seeing, what can be improved, and how we can get to resources quickly. 
In honor of National Caregivers Day, together with our NationSwell network, we have assembled valuable insights, quotes and matching resources to help dissect the many challenges and facets of caregiving
Insight #1: Better awareness is needed in the workplace so that we can all understand caregiving as a universal experience that we will likely all face as we get older.
“Caregiving– once one of the most personal and private matters in family life – is a growing public issue. The costs of caregiving impact individual workers, employers and society as a whole,” Jean C. Accius, Senior Vice President AARP Global Thought Leadership, said. “When it becomes stressful to juggle caregiving activities with work and other family responsibilities, or if work requirements come into conflict with caregiving tasks, some employed caregivers make changes in their work life, including leaving the labor force altogether, resulting in loss income at the individual level, loss productivity that impact the bottom line for employers and we all suffer due to the loss of opportunities for economic growth. As the nation faces unprecedented economic challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic, it is a critical time to consider support for working family caregivers as part of a larger strategy for economic recovery and growth.” 
Resources:

Insight #2: Whether you are a new caregiver or supporting a loved one through a later stage challenge, trusted tools can help caregivers navigate the system to get the support that they need.
“There are so many resources for different groups, people just don’t know where to access them or need a ‘coach’ to find the right resources,” Jenn Wolff, a community organizer, said. “That’s why I’m currently working on a new virtual space to share resources for people with disabilities and would like to have several others trained to be Community Health Workers so folks can talk with someone they relate to” 
Resources: 
Caregiver Action Network
AARP Caregiving Resource Center
Caring Across Generations
Cake
Daughters in the Workplace
Insight #3: Caregivers need to remember the importance of caring for themselves in addition to their loved ones, and they should recruit help in their ongoing effort.
“Self-care is not something to put off or see as a luxury, it is an essential part of survival.” Elissa Yancey, author and co-founder of A Picture’s Worth, said. “Believing, truly believing, that you are worth taking care of is, in itself, a revelation for many caregivers. Especially those of us who define ourselves, consciously or not, by our value to others. Without a grounding in self-worth, your caregiver duties can become an excuse for self-pity and resentment, neither of which are deserving of your precious time.”
Resources: 
Atul Gawande article Letting Go
Grab Happy: The Serendipitous and Surprising Sides of Caregiving
Insight #4: Caregiving and balancing work requires a support system for the family caregiver and the person in need. Employer benefits are key; but home health agencies and community-based organizations who bring care home are often missed as part of our system. We need them when caring for our loved ones. 
“Getting out of homes right now is tough for any of us, but it’s even harder for the folks that we care for,” Paurvi Bhatt, President of Medtronic Foundation and NationSwell Council member, said.
Resource: 
Home Instead 
Wellthy
Insight #5: Embrace hospice care.
“End of life is a part of life that we don’t talk enough about.. and it’s easy to forget about hospice care as a critical part of our healthcare system,” Adam Dole, Managing Director of Not Impossible Labs, said. “When my father-in-law recently passed away, I had a really positive experience with hospice — it was a night and day difference for me, in terms of what the end-of-life experience can mean when it’s done right, proactively with dignity and thoughtfulness, versus left to chance.” 
Resources: 
Hospice Foundation of America
Find Hospice Care Options Near Me
What Are Palliative Care and Hospice Care?
Insight #6: We need to have end-of-life conversations with our loved ones (and for ourselves) when they are theoretical, rather than pressing. 
“Planning ahead helps caregivers so much,” Dr. Lori Choi, a vascular surgeon and founder of I’ll Have What She’s Having it, said. “It relieves so much of the guilt and pressure, and lets us respect our loved ones’ wishes.”
Resource:
Starting the Conversation
Insight #7: Many people do not even know that they are caregivers. How do we define “caregiver” today, and how do we change the image of caregivers to be a more accurate representation?
“I do believe people need to know this work is so noble, so compassionate – perhaps the most important role we’ll ever have,” Zach Weismann, founder of MAG Impact Collective, said. 
Resources: 
End Well
Millennials: The Emerging Generation of Family Caregivers
Recalibrating for Caregivers: Recognizing the Public Health Challenge
Caregiving Doesn’t Care, But You Can

Paurvi Bhatt is President of Medtronic Foundation. Zach Weisman is co-founder and CEO of MAG Impact Collective. This article was written in cooperation with members of the NationSwell Council.

NationSwell Celebrates 5 Years of Nicole Navratil

Posted on by Anthony Smith

Thursday marks the five year work anniversary of Nicole Navratil, NationSwell’s Chief Operating Officer. Today, we celebrate her indelible, transformative impact on every aspect of the work we do here.

I asked my fellow members of the NationSwell team to share some of their favorite memories of Nicole, and what she means to NationSwell. This is what we had to say.
Greg Behrman, NationSwell CEO + Founder:  My favorite collective memory is something that I have seen time and time again over the past years from Nicole. It’s how — so often when no one is looking — she is thinking about how to help our team, or one of our team members. She cares so much about our culture, our mission and team members as human beings — and is constantly thinking about how to help us to flourish. She’s been the wind in our sails in so many ways – big and small.
Nicole has been a rock of guidance, care, and steadiness for NationSwell, and for me personally, for the past 5 years. She has been an incredible advisor, partner, friend — and companion on this great adventure!
Amy Lee, Managing Director, NationSwell Studio: My most fun memory of Nicole has to be her incredible array of textured and patterned sweaters and pants. She is the only person I know who is more of a magpie than me when it comes to clothes, and her leopard print velvet slacks are one of my all time sartorial highlights. If Nicole ever turns up to work in a quintessential New Yorker all black outfit I would fall over in shock.
Nicole is the backbone and the heart of NationSwell — basically we wouldn’t be standing up and living without her! She is the funkiest math nerd I ever met, with a capacity for both business rigor and human sensitivity that I have never seen in one human before.
Kate Dinota, Senior Director of Community + Impact: Nicole is our calm, confident, colorful leader. My favorite memory of her is when I met Marty for the first time at the Impact Hub, I learned that his first nap started at 8am and I’m pretty sure my jaw fell on the floor. Years later when I became a mom, Nicole and I definitely shared some laughs over our blissfully ignorant, well-rested, pre-children selves.
Jessica Lacombe, Director of Creative Content, NationSwell Studio: I appreciate that this is probs supposed to be funny stories, but I consistently find myself being grateful to Nicole for navigating the PPP hellscape in the wake of COVID.  Everything I know/have heard about that process is that it was a nightmare to navigate, and I’m sure I haven’t thanked her enough for it.
Nicole does not shy from a clothing pattern, and this is something I deeply, deeply respect. For me, and NationSwell.
Patricia Ureña, Community Manager: My favorite memory of Nicole was the huge hug she gave me in Denali on my first day at NationSwell. She made me feel very welcome.
Christina Montero, VP of Accounts @ NationSwell Studio: It was Halloween 2018 and it was an in-office day and given it is my favorite holiday, I was dressed to the nines in 80’s neon gear. When the elevator doors opened and I walked into the office, NO ONE was wearing a costume… except Nicole. I recall it was also 80’s ski and/or workout gear and she looked amazing. I even think she had a few outside clients/interviews that day, and she still rocked her gear.  #kindredspirits
Nicole is my mother hen. She has given me the right amount of guidance, support and encouragement over the years — as a colleague, a mother, and a friend.  This is especially true when she is donning one of her oversized cozy sweaters.
Elyssa Dole, Community Director: Nicole means strength, clarity, attention and attentiveness. My favorite memory of her is all the amazing prints she wore around the office that brightened my day.
Jeremy Hurewitz, Curation Director @ NationSwell Council: I appreciate Nicole’s rigor and attention to detail and her drive to always push NS to be better. I also love to practice my terrible Czech with her and talk about skiing!
Mikhail Relushchin, Operations Senior Associate: My favorite memory of Nicole is the burst of color that accompanied her entrance into the office every morning — what with the shawls, the leopard print, or just the lion’s mane hat-hair!
Nicole is someone who keeps her eyes on the prize, and keeps the team focused on the necessary things!
Taekia Blackwell, Director of Business Operations; Chief of Staff to the COO: Joining my first call on my first day to her in a unicorn birthday hat was pretty special. Secondly, I interviewed for this job remotely so I didn’t get a chance to meet Nicole IRL until about two weeks after I started. However, she made the whole interview process feel really comprehensive and like we were able to actually start to get to know each other— to the extent that my roommates started to joke that I already worked for NationSwell halfway through the interview process. I appreciate the time and care and effort it takes to make someone feel like part of the team even before they’ve joined.
In the short time I’ve been here, I’ve been incredibly impressed by Nicole’s ability to keep all of the plates spinning. She’s clearly foundational to the success of NationSwell and just a super smart, super caring, super efficient lady that I feel lucky to work with every day.
Allie Mahler, Strategy Director: Nicole is masterful at keeping the trains running on track and on time, always. She does so with grace, curiosity, and a sense of joy – all while holding the vision for where NationSwell is and where it can go.
Kelsey Overby, Senior Director + Head of Partnerships, NationSwell Studio: Nicole is the Queen of NationSwell, guiding all of us to excellence and brilliance.
Faustyna Hariasz, Member Partnerships Manager: I love her wild and colorful sweaters (and her jumpsuit game), and I think she is just effortlessly chic. I also love that she notices people’s haircuts and style game right back. It’s important to make people feel seen for the little, personal things and she does that so well.
On a more professional note, she is able to distill complicated, wandering ideas into very actionable and clear ways forward and we would be lost without her lighthouse/beacon ways.
Anthony Smith, VP for Published Content + Growth: I will never forget meeting Nicole at a crowded coffee shop in Chelsea. We were introduced by a mutual friend because he thought that we would get along. He was right! Talking to Nicole about journalism and audiences and what might be possible if storytelling galvanized — instead of just informed — I realized I wanted to keep talking to her and maybe even work with her. I made professional decisions accordingly, and it’s probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
Nicole is the rising tide that lifts all boats, really and truly. The people that work here are always on her mind, and she is a fearless advocate for us. Lots of leaders talk about caring for their teams, but our lives are tangibly better because of the ways she cares about us. NationSwell is the place that it is because of her, and I’ve learned so much about leading and listening just from watching her.