Big Vision Podcast

Favianna Rodriguez is a political digital artist and printmaker based in Oakland, California.    She is the co-founder of the EastSide Arts Alliance (ESAA) and Visual Element, programs dedicated to training emerging artists. She is also the co-founder and president of Tumis, a bilingual design studio serving social justice organizations.  Utne Reader named Favianna one of their 2008, “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World,” and she recently received a Sisters of Fire Award from the Women of Color Resource Center.  For more information about Favianna and her work, go to favianna.com.You can read a transcript of this interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

Marianne Manilov is the National Team Leader of The Engage Network, a nonprofit social venture that promotes widespread civic engagement.  At the moment, The Engage Network includes three "sectors": What's Your Tree?, inspired by Julia Butterfly Hill's tree-sit, Off the Mat Into the World, founded by yoga teacher Seane Corn, and Green for All founded by Van Jones.  You can find out more about the Engage Network at www.engagenet.org.A transcript of this interview is available on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.Photo: The Engage Network Founders: Marianne Manilov, Ina Pockrass and Alissa Hauser.

Cami Walker is the founder of the 29 Day Giving Challenge, a global giving movement where participants give away one thing away each day for 29 days.  You can read a transcript of this interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.Cami is writing a book about the 29-Day Giving Challenge.  She is looking for personal stories about the healing power of giving from people who have completed the Challenge.  The deadline to submit your story is November 29, 2008.    

Activist, journalist and singer, Marisa Handler,  is the author of the memoir Loyal to the Sky: Notes from an Activist, which received the 2008 Nautilus Book Award for worldchanging books.  For more information about Marisa's work and her book go to marisahandler.com.  A transcript of this interview is available on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

Martin Fisher is the Co-founder and CEO of KickStart. KickStart is a non-profit organization that develops and markets new technologies in Africa.  These low- cost technologies are bought by local entrepreneurs and used to establish highly profitable new small businesses.  The organization has received numerous awards for its work including Fast Company’s Social Capitalist Award, Schwab’s Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs for 2003, and TIME Europe's European Hero award.  Fisher recently received the $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability.A big thanks to Houria Iderkou who made it possible for me to interview Martin Fisher.  Check out her KickStart Cause on Facebook.A transcript of this interview is will be available on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

Ari Derfel talks about what he learned after saving his trash for one year.  You can read more about his experiment on his blog, Save Your Trash at http://saveyourtrash.typepad.com.Ari is the co-founder of Back to Earth Catering and Outdoor Adventures.  Long time Big Vision Podcast listeners may have heard an interview with Ari and his co-founder, Eric Fenster, in 2006.A transcript of this interview is will be available on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

Janessa Goldbeck is the Director of Membership at the Genocide Intervention Network, a nonprofit organization that provides individuals and communities with the tools to prevent and stop genocide. As a college student, Janessa served as the first National Outreach Coordinator for STAND, helping to build what started as a group of students at a few schools nationwide into an international clearinghouse organization for student anti-genocide activism.  In just two years, Janessa served a pivotal role in expanding STAND to more than 850 schools worldwide and merging the organization with the Genocide Intervention Network. Since graduation, she has produced several short films on the student anti-genocide movement, and appeared at numerous conferences, forums and trainings on behalf of STAND and the Genocide Intervention Network. Her work now focuses on building a constituency of conscience among all age groups. Janessa is a graduate of Northwestern University and holds a degree in Magazine Journali

Anisha Desai is the Executive Director of the Women of Color Resource Center. Founded in 1990, the Women of Color Resource Center is headquartered in the Bay Area and promotes the political, economic, social and cultural well being of women and girls of color in the United States. Desai came to the Women of Color Resource Center from a Deputy Director role at United for a Fair Economy in Boston, where she had oversight over a national economic justice program. She has co-authored publications on fair taxation, housing and the racial wealth divide.   You can read a transcript of this interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

This month's interview is with Kavita Ramdas, the President and CEO of the Global Fund for Women.  The Global Fund for Women is an international network of women and men committed to a world of equality and social justice. They advocate for and defend women's human rights by making grants to support women's groups around the world.  Ramdas has been the recipient of many awards including Fast Company's 2007 Social Capitalist Award, and the League of Women Voters’ Women Who Could Be President Award.You can read a transcript of this interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

Cristi Hegranes is the Founder of The Press Institute for Women in the Developing World.  "The Press Institute for Women in the Developing World is an international nonprofit organization and citizen journalism initiative. The Institute was founded on the belief that journalism is an empowering tool that can bring voice, strength and light to issues that are hidden and people who are oppressed."Women's eNews named her one of the 21 Leaders of the 21st Century for 2008, and she was also awarded the annual Ida B. Wells prize for Bravery in Journalism.You can read an edited transcript of this interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

Christina Arnold is the Founder of Prevent Human Trafficking. Prevent Human Trafficking is a Washington DC-based nonprofit working to build a bridge between South East Asia and the United States to prevent human trafficking. Prevent Human Trafficking empowers individuals, organizations and governments to tackle the root causes of human trafficking through direct support and technical assistance. You can read a transcript of this interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good. 

The Rockwood Leadership Program specializes in delivering the best practices and methodologies in leadership development to the non-profit community.  Andre Carothers is the Rockwood Leadership Program's Executive Director and  Co-founder. Since 2000, Rockwood has trained more than 1500 leaders from thousands of organizations in the US and Canada through a variety of programs designed to increase the collaborative capacity of the non-profit advocacy sector. Andre served on the staff and Board of Directors of Greenpeace USA, and currently serves on the boards of the International Rivers Network and the Rainforest Action Network. You can read a transcript of the interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

For the past twelve years, Paola Gianturco has worked as a photojournalist, documenting women’s lives in forty countries. Her new book, Women Who Light the Dark (September 2007) is her fourth published by powerHouse Books. In 2006, Gianturco co-authored with David Hill, ¡Viva Colores! A Salute to the Indomitable People of Guatemala, a bilingual book met with critical acclaim. Her previous book, Celebrating Women (powerHouse Books, October 2004) was the subject of the first exhibit ever curated by the International Museum of Women, San Francisco. Paola is also the co-author/photographer with Toby Tuttle of the best-seller, In Her Hands: Craftswomen Changing the World (powerHouse Books, paperback, 2004; Monacelli Press, hardcover, 2000). This was Gianturco’s first book, inspired by the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing.All of Gianturco's books are philanthropic projects, for which she donates her royalties to carefully-selected nonprofit organizations t

Shalini Kantayya is a filmmaker, educator, and activist who uses film/video as a tool to educate, inspire, and empower audiences. Shalini believes in making films that spark positive social change. The mission of her production company, 7th Empire Media, is to bring a professional voice to the unheard through media. Shalini finished in the top 10 out of 12,000 filmmakers on FOX’s ON THE LOT, a reality show by Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett, in search of Hollywood’s next great director. You can see a trailer from her film, A Drop of Life, at www.adropoflife.tv.You can read a transcript of this interview on Have Fun * Do Good.

Marsha Wallace is the founder of Dining for Women.  Dining for Women's mission is to empower women and children living in extreme poverty by funding programs that foster good health, education, and economic self-sufficiency and to cultivate educational giving circles inspiring individuals to make a difference through the power of collective giving.You can read a transcript of this interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

Elizabeth Pomada is a literary agent who co-founded the Writing for Change Conference and the San Francisco Writers Conference with her husband, Michael Larsen.  Together, they started Michael Larsen - Elizabeth Pomada Literary Agents in 1972.She talks about the Writing for Change Conference and tips for writers who want to write for change.You can read a transcript of this interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

Chris Messina of Citizen Agency and Ivan Storck of SustainableMarketing.com and SustainableWebsites.com talk about how to start a green coworking space based on their experience with Citizen Space in San Francisco, CA.For more info about coworking go to coworking.info or wiki.coworking.infoYou can read a transcript of this interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

In this episode, rather than hearing an interview with one individual, I wanted to share a recording from a panel I organized for the Stanford Women's Leadership Conference in April called, Solutionary Women: How Can I Create Social Change?  I asked four of the women who I had previously interviewed for the Big Vision Podcast to share what brought them to their work, and their advice to the graduate and undergraduate women who attended the conference.You'll hear from Alli Chagi-Starr who is the Co-Founder of Art in Action, and the Art and Media Director of Reclaim the Future for the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Ilyse Hogue, the Campaign Director of MoveOn.org, Melinda Kramer, the Founder and Director of Women's Earth Alliance, and Reem Rahim, the Co-Founder and Vice President of Marketing for Numi Tea.You can read a transcript of this panel on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

Van Jones is working to combine solutions to America's two biggest problems: social inequality and environmental destruction.In 1996, Van founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. Named for an unsung civil rights heroine, the Center promotes alternatives to violence and incarceration. As an advocate for the toughest urban constituencies and causes, Van has won many honors. These include the 1998 Reebok International Human Rights Award, the international Ashoka Fellowship, selection as a World Economic Forum "Young Global Leader," and the Rockefeller Foundation "Next Generation Leadership" Fellowship.Van is also a national environmental leader, having served on the boards of the National Apollo Alliance, Social Ventures Network, Rainforest Action Network, Bioneers and Julia Butterfly Hill's Circle of Life organization.Van's dual roles have given him a unique perspective on the country's problems and its potential solutions. He is calling for green economic development for urban America. The City of Oakla

Paul Rice is the founding President & CEO of TransFair USA, the only Fair Trade certification organization in the U.S. today. Since launching the Fair Trade Certified label eight years ago, TransFair has established Fair Trade as the fastest growing segment of the $19 billion coffee industry.  TransFair is rapidly expanding Fair Trade certification into tea, chocolate, rice, sugar, bananas and other fresh fruits. Previously, Paul worked for 11 years as a rural development specialist in the Segovias region of Nicaragua, where he founded and led an organic coffee export cooperative called PRODECOOP.  In 2000 he received the international Ashoka Fellowship for his pioneering work as a social entrepreneur in the Fair Trade movement. Paul was also honored by the Klaus Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship as one of the world's top 40 Social Entrepreneurs in 2002.  More recently, Paul spoke on Fair Trade at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2004 and 2005.You can read a transcrip