Big Vision Podcast

Priya Haji is the CEO and Co-founder of World of Good. World of Good creates opportunities for hundreds of artisan cooperatives around the world to share their best work by serving as a bridge to the U.S. retail market Priya Haji built the concept for World of Good while completing her MBA at UC Berkeley. She has led the company from inception to its current stage with a focus on using the engine of enterprise to create social impact. She also serves as the Board Chair for the World of Good: Development Organization, the 501(c)3 non-profit sister organization of World of Good, Inc. She was recognized in 1998 as one of America's 10 Most Outstanding Young Leaders (Brick Award) by the Do Something Foundation, MTV and Mademoiselle Magazine. You can read a transcript of this interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do  Good.

Jodie Van Horn is an organizer for the Freedom from Oil campaign with Rainforest Action Network, a coalition that is working to free America of its oil addiction. Jodie also coordinates Plug-in Bay Area, an initiative aimed at promoting the commercialization of plug-in hybrid vehicles to demonstrate that a demand exists for ultra fuel efficient transportation alternatives.You can read a transcript of this interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.Bio taken from the Green Festival

Reem Rahim is the Co-founder and Vice President of Marketing of the Oakland-based green business Numi Tea.  She is also the creator of the beautiful cover art on the tea's boxes. In the Fall of 1999, brother and sister Ahmed and Reem had a vision to revive the "serenity, creativity, and comfort that is inspired by the simple art of tea."  Now they are the #9 brand in the natural food industry out of about 225 tea companies.  Reem talks about how the company balances the triple bottom line of profits, people and planet.A transcript of this interview is available on my blog Have Fun * Do Good.

Kevin Danaher is the co-founder of the nonprofit, Global Exchange.   In addition to its Reality Tours and Fair Trade stores, Global Exchange co-sponsors the Green Festivals with Co-op America.  Kevin talks about The Global Citizen Center.  The Center will be a large, mixed-use building in downtown San Francisco that will serve as a hub for ecologically and socially responsible enterprise, education, and economic development.A transcript of this interview is available on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

Melinda Kramer is the co-founder of Women's Global Green Action Network(WGGAN).  WGGAN cultivates global partnerships of grassroots women environmental leaders by providing access to communication tools, support services and networking capabilities.  Working with organizations like Pacific Environment, the PIRGs, the Sierra Club, CARE Kenya, and the St. Louis Lead Prevention Coalition, Melinda has been involved in multi-stakeholderwork, coalition-building, campaign-organizing, legal assistance and capacity building.A transcript of this interview is available on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

Ingrid Severson is the Lead Organizer of the Rooftop Resources Project, a project of Bay Localize. The Rooftop Resources project is researching the applicability and benefits of green roofs, rainwater catchment and solar power in in the Bay Area.Ingrid gained experience in the environmental field at San Francisco State University, New College of California, and an intensive permaculture design course. She has worked with Sonoma County Conservation Action, the Sierra Club Bay Chapter, and a video production group that promotes environmental awareness and education. A transcript of the interview is available on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

Jessica Jackley Flannery is the co-founder and a board member of Kiva, a nonprofit that is using the Internet to connect people through loans to alleviate global poverty.  Jessica has worked in rural Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda with the Village Enterprise Fund and Project Baobab on impact evaluation and program development. Earlier, Jessica spent three years in the Stanford Business School's Center for Social Innovation and Public Management Program, where she helped launch the inaugural Global Philanthropy Forum. Jessica is currently pursuing an MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.A transcript of the interview is available on my blog Have Fun * Do Good.You can watch a documentary about Kiva on FRONTLINE World on Tuesday, October 31,2006, or on the FRONTLINE World web site via streaming video a few days after the broadcast.You can view a brief preview of the October 31st show on Google video.Full disclosure: I'm friends with the Editor for FRONTLINE World, David Ritsher.

Jonah Sachs is the Principal of Free Range Studios, an advertising and marketing firm with offices in Washington DC and Berkeley, CA that specializes in nonprofits and socially responsible businesses.  His company created the award-winning film, The Meatrix, about factory farms, and the hilarious film, Store Wars, about the importance of organic farming.You can read a transcript of this interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

Lisa Russ is the Associate Director of the Movement Strategy Center.   The Movement Strategy Center is a nonprofit organization that is committed to advancing the next generation of leaders for a sustainable progressive movement.  Lisa talks about the joys and challenges of being a mom in the movement.You can read a transcript of this interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

Nola Brantley is the Parenting and Youth Enrichment Director, and the Coordinator of the Sexually Abused and Commercially Exploited Youth  Program at the George P. Scotlan Youth Program in West Oakland.According to Nola, not only is the sexual exploitation of minors increasing, "the young ladies are getting more savvy because some of them, who went in at 14, are now 16 or 17.  They're recruiting 12 or 13 year olds. . . . We have girls that come from out of state to prostitute in Oakland who are under 18 and I've asked them, 'Well, how did you end up in Oakland?' They say, 'Don't you know that everywhere else, coming to Oakland to do your thing is a big thing?'"One of the many aspects of Nola's job is to be an advocate for young girls who are arrested for prostitution and she is often called upon to use her expertise in the field of sexually exploited minors to train clinicians and case managers in Oakland and the surrounding counties.You can read a transcript of this interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

If you've been listening to the last seven shows, they were all recorded between February and June 2006 and originally hosted on Gcast.  Now I'm done with the transfer of old interviews and we're on to the new!I'm thrilled to have had an opportunity to interview Anna Lappe, the co-author of Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen with Bryant Terry, and co-author of Hope's Edge with her mother Frances Moore Lappe.  Anna is also a co-founder, with her mother, of the Small Planet Fund, and a founding principal of the Small Planet Institute, based in Cambridge Massachusetts.You can read a transcript of this interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

Steve Williams is the Executive Director and co-founder of POWER: People Organized to Win Employment Rights on the Big Vision Podcast. Steve also happens to be engaged to Mei-ying Ho (:You can read a transcript of this  podcast on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

When I interviewed Ilyse Hogue back in June, she was still the Global Finance Campaign Director for the Rainforest Action Network, but now she is the Campaigns Director for MoveOn.org. You can read a transcript of this interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

Abby Rosenheck (actually, she is Abby Jaramillo now) is the founder and Executive Director of Urban Sprouts, a school gardening program in San Francisco.You can read a transcript of this interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

Mei-ying Ho is the co-Director of SOUL (The School of Unity and Liberation) a youth activist training program.You can read a transcript of this interview at my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

Brahm Ahmadi is the Executive Director of People's Grocery, an awesome food justice nonprofit in Oakland.You can read a transcript of this interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

Back in April I interviewed Eric Fenster and Ari Derfel, the founders of Back to Earth, an organic catering and outdoor adventure company.  You can read a transcript of their interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.

Welcome Big Vision Podcast listeners new and old.  I am transferring my interviews over from Gcast, where I started posting the Big Vision podcast in February of 2006.  My first interview was with Alli Chagi-Starr.  Alli is the Art and Media Director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights' Reclaim the Future Program. Alli is also the co-founder of Art and Revolution, and founder of Art in Action, Dancers without Borders, and the Radical Performance Fest. In addition to being an artist, performer and dancer, Alli is also a writer, whose most recent piece can be found in the Code Pink anthology, Stop the Next War Now.You can read a transcript of this interview on my blog, Have Fun * Do Good.