I have spent a long time assuming that if you do good work, people eventually notice. KJ Blattenbauer took that assumption apart in about ten minutes. She has spent nearly three decades as a publicist, watching brilliant, capable people stay invisible while people with half their expertise become the name everyone recommends. She has a term for the space in between. She calls it the Recognition Gap, and once she named it for me, I could not stop seeing it everywhere.

KJ’s argument is not about hustle or self-promotion, and it is not about becoming someone louder than you actually are. It is about permission. In nearly three decades of building Hearsay PR, she has watched founders, executives, and experts hold themselves back waiting for one more credential, one more year of experience, one more sign that they are finally ready to say what they know out loud. Her point is blunt. The opportunities we want almost never go to the most qualified person in the room. They go to the person willing to be seen.

That is where the line that stopped me came in.

Quote of the episode

“Decide the one thing you want to be known for. Never stray from that one thing.”

KJ Blattenbauer, founder, Hearsay PR

It sounds simple until you try to live it. Most of us want to be known for everything we are capable of, which is exactly how we end up known for nothing in particular. KJ’s whole practice exists to help people find that one thing and say it consistently enough that it starts traveling into rooms they have not walked into yet.

KJ Blattenbauer is the founder of Hearsay PR and the author of How to Be a Media Darling. For nearly three decades she has helped entrepreneurs, executives, and authors close the distance between being excellent at what they do and being known for it, landing clients coverage in Forbes, Fast Company, Inc., and Business Insider along the way. Her next book, Pitchworthy, publishes soon.

What you’ll learn

• The opportunities you want rarely go to the most qualified person in the room. They go to the person willing to be seen.

• Waiting for one more credential or one more year of experience is often just a polite way of staying invisible.

• Decide the one thing you want to be known for, and stop straying from it every time a new idea feels exciting.

• Visibility is not the same as self-promotion. It is getting an idea that matters in front of the people who need to hear it.

• You do not have to be the loudest person in the room. You have to stop assuming that what you know is not valuable enough to share.

Listen and Watch

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/closing-the-recognition-gap-with-kj-blattenbauer/id1813992945?i=1000774719177

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/16y6lU1HksPxEX5TTVcImM

YouTube: https://youtu.be/-SAta7g-dC4?si=gLx10D4vFpIYOS9A

Chapters

Timestamps were not available from the source material for this one. Flagging rather than guessing, pull from the episode’s Show Notes doc if one exists before publishing.

Connect with KJ Blattenbauer

Website: https://www.hearsaypr.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kjblattenbauer

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kjblattenbauer

If you have ever caught yourself waiting for permission to say the thing you already know, this is your nudge. Go listen, and then go decide the one thing you want to be known for.

Molly

I want to tell you about a conversation that genuinely rattled something loose for me. Metin Pekin came on the show this week and said something I have been trying to articulate for years, and he said it in about thirty seconds flat. The system doesn’t look broken. That’s the whole point.

Metin Pekin is a serial entrepreneur who spent decades building companies and watching how money and power move together. Somewhere in there, a pattern became impossible to ignore. Wars happened under both parties. Austerity happened under both parties. Surveillance expanded under both parties. And the people trying to make real change kept getting pushed out by the people who controlled who could even run in the first place.

His Gold award-winning debut, Breaking Democracy’s Chains, is his answer to that pattern. And his answer is not left or right. It is structural. He argues that political parties have placed themselves between citizens and genuine representation, filtering candidates, writing policy through outside think tanks, and whipping representatives to vote the party line instead of the public interest. He calls what comes next a No-Party Democracy, and he has thought through exactly how it would work.

We also got into the money. How dark money captures both parties. How media became part of the power structure. And what 45 percent of Americans identifying as independent actually means for where this is all going. It is a lot. But Metin is not a doom merchant. He ends with something concrete, and I think you need to hear it.

What you’ll learn

• Political parties filter who can run before voters ever see a ballot, which means the illusion of democratic choice is built into the system before a single vote is cast.

• The two major parties converge on the policies that most affect ordinary people, including war, austerity, and surveillance, regardless of which side wins.

• The Founding Fathers, including John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, explicitly warned against political factions, and Metin argues the No-Party Democracy is the natural next step in democratic evolution, not a radical idea.

• Forty-five percent of American adults identify as independent, which is larger than either major party, and Metin says that number is the beginning of the end for the party monopoly if people use it.

• Voting still matters, but Metin argues we should use it to undermine the party system, not to legitimize it.

Quote of the episode

“We are participating in a ritual called voting that are legitimizing the current party system. Voting is the biggest and most powerful tool that we have, but we should use it to undermine the party system, not legitimize this broken system that does not work for the wider people.”

Metin Pekin

Listen to the full episode here

Go listen to this one. It will change how you think about the next time you walk into a voting booth.

Thank you for spending time with me every week. These conversations are why I started this show, and you showing up is why I keep making it. Until next time, be excellent to each other.

Molly

Connect with Metin Pekin

• Book: Breaking Democracy’s Chains, available wherever books are sold

• Website: https://www.metinpekin.com

• X: https://x.com/MPekinAuthor

• LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/metin-pekin-66a47948

Kelly Mooney sat across from me and told me she is operating on low-grade rage every single day. And then she told me she is not giving up. That combination right there is why I wanted to put a microphone in front of her.

Kelly Mooney spent nearly 25 years at one company, grew it 15 times over, became the first ever Chief Experience Officer at IBM iX, and then walked away from all of it to help women stop waiting for permission. She founded Equipt Women, launched 100 Days for Women to offer free coaching globally, and wrote the book she always wished she had. And she did all of it because she kept meeting women who had been in the same job for seven years, heads down, waiting for a promotion that was never coming.

In this conversation we got into the lunch where her friend looked at her and said Kelly, why not you, and how she raced back to the office and raised her hand for a role she did not think she was ready for. We talked about why she banned the word should from her entire book and what to say instead. We got into DEI, what is actually happening inside companies right now, and why Kelly thinks the business case for diverse leadership is too strong to disappear no matter what the acronym says. This one hit home for me. I think it will for you too.

What you’ll learn

• Women’s career advancement stalls not from lack of talent but from waiting to be chosen. Self advocacy is the skill that changes everything.

• Every time you say I should, ask yourself whose expectation you are actually carrying. Usually it is not yours.

• The workplace is not a meritocracy. Study the dynamics, build relationships across the organization, and learn to speak in the language of business outcomes.

• DEI programs are under attack but the business case for diverse leadership is too strong to walk away from. Many companies dropped the acronym and kept the programs.

• When more women hold positions of power, the laws change, the programs survive, and the math changes for everyone.

Quote of the episode

“I think sometimes we need somebody else to hold up that mirror to see our own potential. And then once you see it, it’s unstoppable.”

Kelly Mooney, founder, Equipt Women

Listen to the full episode here

Go listen to this one. Send it to a woman you know who has been waiting for someone to tell her she is ready.

Thanks for being here, mis amigos. Keep fighting the good fight and be excellent to each other.

Connect with Kelly Mooney

• Website: https://www.equiptwomen.com

• Book: https://www.equiptwomen.com/book

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pkmooney

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/equiptwomen

• 100 Days for Women: https://www.equiptwomen.com/100days

Molly

I keep thinking about something Gary Lucks said early in our conversation. He told me that most people spend four or more hours a week worrying about what is happening in this country. Four hours. And his ask, his very reasonable, very doable ask, is that you take three of those hours and do something with them instead. Not donate. Not post. Not sign a petition and feel like you checked a box. Actually do something. I have been sitting with that ever since we recorded, because it is both the most obvious thing I have ever heard and somehow the thing I needed someone to say out loud.

Gary has been doing this work since before most of us were paying attention. He was behind the scenes on environmental policy for decades, then John Kerry lost in 2004 and something shifted. He did not spiral. He started a group. That group helped flip seats. Then he did it again. Then came 2016, and he founded what became one of the first Indivisible legacy chapters in the country, now 1,200 members strong. During the pandemic, his group raised $450,000 in three months through virtual Zoom fundraisers. Not galas. Not marathons. One-hour Zoom calls where the average host walked away having raised $10,000.

What got me in this conversation was the specificity. Gary is not here to inspire you and send you home. He wrote a book, We Are the Power, that lists 80 vetted organizations, organized by category, available nationwide. He talks about skill-matching: lawyers doing legal vote protection, teachers mobilizing students to register voters, tech workers helping campaigns that are drowning without media and digital support. He spent four weekends knocking on doors in Nevada and Tucson in 2024. He is not asking you to do anything he has not already done himself.

What you’ll learn

• Most people spend four or more hours a week worrying about politics. Gary’s ask is to redirect three of those hours into a written commitment to act.

• Indivisible has 2,500 plus chapters nationwide. Plug in your zip code at indivisible.org and find yours, or start one with five people.

• Virtual Zoom fundraisers work. One hour. Average host raises $10,000. Gary’s chapter raised $450,000 in three months during the pandemic.

• Skill-matching matters. You do not have to knock on doors if that is not your thing. Lawyers, teachers, musicians, and tech workers all have a specific lane.

• Swing state weekends are not glamorous, but Gary says the alternative, not going, is not just unglamorous. It is dangerous.

• Reaching people who have been misled by disinformation is possible. Gary points to Rich Logis and the work of leaving MAGA as proof that people can and do change.

Quote of the episode

“The way I navigate is I just have to turn anxiety into action. That is the only way I assuage my concern.”

Gary Lucks

Listen to the full episode here

Gary has been doing this work for 40 years. He is not burned out. He is not cynical. He is not waiting for someone else to fix it. If you are in the exhausted camp, I get it. But I also think Gary would say: start with three hours. Just three. What would you do with them?

Molly

Connect with Gary Lucks

• Website: https://garylucks.com

• Book, We Are the Power: https://www.wearethepowerbook.com

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/garylucksauthor

• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/glucks.bsky.social

Howard Polskin reads 15 right-wing headlines every single morning. On purpose. And what he’s found after almost a decade of doing it might genuinely change how you think about the media divide.

I’ll be honest, I went into this conversation expecting to feel validated. What I got instead was a little humbling, in the best possible way. Howard Polskin is a veteran journalist who spent decades at CNN and Sony before launching The Righting in September 2017, the world’s only newsletter dedicated to analyzing right-wing media for mainstream and progressive audiences. He started it the morning after the 2016 election because he realized he was missing half the picture. Charlottesville pushed him to go public. He has not stopped since.

What makes Howard so compelling is that he is not performing outrage and he is not trying to convert anyone. He calls balls and strikes on the data, even when the data helps Alex Jones. He has readers on the right. He has a friend at the Heritage Foundation. And when I asked him how he deals with people he fundamentally disagrees with, he said he stopped arguing years ago. Now he just asks if they want to have a cup of coffee.

That line stayed with me. This episode is about what it actually looks like to read across the divide, and why it might be one of the most useful civic acts any of us can do right now.

What you’ll learn

• Howard launched The Righting the morning after the 2016 election because he realized he was missing half the picture being pushed to the American public.

• The newsletter curates 15 right-wing headlines daily and takes two minutes to read, making it one of the most accessible tools for understanding the other side.

• He reports the data regardless of where it leads, including Infowars growth numbers that Alex Jones later used to boast on social media.

• He stopped trying to convince anyone on the right years ago and now focuses on listening and finding common ground through genuine conversation.

• Both Howard and I agree that the fractured media environment, where people only seek out sources that confirm what they already believe, is one of the most damaging forces in civic life today.

Quote of the episode

“I thought I was smart, I thought I was well informed, but I was missing half the picture that was being pushed out to the American public.”

Howard Polskin, founder, The Righting

Listen to the full episode here

Go listen to this one. It is worth your full attention.

Thanks for being here, mis amigos. Keep reading, keep asking questions, and keep showing up. That is how we do this.

Connect with Howard Polskin

• Newsletter and free daily signup: https://therighting.com/subscribe/

• X: https://x.com/TheRighting

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_righting/

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@therighting

Thank you for your support, please share if you find the content valuable.

Then he got tired. Tired of watching his students’ families skip the doctor because they couldn’t cover the bill. Tired of watching rural hospitals close one by one. Tired of watching politicians show up at church every Sunday and turn around and vote against those same people on Monday. He’s not running on ambition, he’s running on exhaustion, and honestly that’s the most relatable platform I’ve heard in a long time.

The rural hospital stuff is not hypothetical and it is not a talking point. Seventy percent of Oklahoma’s rural hospitals are operating at a loss. Women are driving two hours, sometimes out of state, just to see an OB-GYN. Not for anything dramatic, they just want to see a doctor and there isn’t one. When Erik talks about healthcare deserts and maternity deserts and grocery deserts, he’s describing his own backyard. And here’s the part that got me. When people have to drive two hours to see a doctor, they don’t go. They stay home and they tough it out and some of them die because going to the hospital stopped being a real option. These are real problems. The kind nobody in power seems to want to talk about.

He won’t take a dime of PAC or corporate money, and he means it. His campaign manager is his best friend who works for free because she actually believes in this. He’s funding the whole thing on fives and tens and twenties from people whose stories sound just like his. A candidate who’s bought can’t be trusted to fight. Plenty of people say that into a microphone. Erik is the rare one actually living it.

The Cherokee Nation delegate is the part I didn’t see coming, and the part I respected most. Erik’s entire district is reservation land. The Cherokee Nation has a 190-year-old treaty right to a delegate in Congress, a seat they’ve patiently waited almost two centuries to fill. He’ll champion it. Their current representative can’t be bothered to learn their history, let alone fight for it. Most candidates won’t touch this. Erik brought it up himself.

On faith he didn’t flinch. He’s running in the buckle of the Bible Belt, talking to Bible Belt voters, and his message was simple. Stop listening to what people say and watch what they do. You can quote scripture on Sunday and vote to take food out of people’s hands on Monday, and only one of those is real. As he pointed out, Jesus never handed out the loaves and fishes with a work-requirement form attached. He didn’t make anybody notarize their hours in triplicate first. He just fed people. That used to be the whole point.

What stayed with me was his answer on what winning actually looks like. It’s not about Erik. It’s a movement, pulling the party back toward what working people actually need and holding the people in power accountable when they forget who they answer to.

We ended where these conversations keep ending lately. Cruelty has been normalized, and people have taken real pleasure in it, and that is not who we are. We can start by refusing to legislate it. Start there.

If Erik’s your guy, he’s at TerweyForCongress.com. And if he’s not, if you’re three states away and this isn’t your race, go find the candidate near you who needs you, or become the one your own community is waiting on. Half the people who told Erik they’d help him last summer can’t anymore, because they’re running for office themselves now. That’s what a movement looks like. So infect somebody with some energy. Get off the couch, get out from behind the keyboard, and go be a part of something tangible. There’s something brewing, mis amigos, and you don’t want to miss it.

Listening is the revolution.

— Molly

But it’s also the day I find myself thinking hardest about what service actually means. And lately I keep landing on three guys I’ve had on the show three veterans who took the same oath, came home, looked around at the mess we’re in, and decided that oath didn’t expire when they took off the uniform.

Different branches. Different parties. Same refusal to look away.

Here’s the thing that got me, and it came out of my conversation with Jeff Pixley. When you swear in, you promise to “support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” And Jeff pointed out that the oath ends with the words “so help me God” not “until further notice.”

That line has been living in my bones ever since. So help me God, not until further notice. Yeesh. That’s the whole thing right there.

So in honor of the day, and in honor of these three who didn’t forget what they signed up for, let me introduce you or reintroduce you.

Jeff Pixley — retired Air Force Colonel, F-16 combat pilot

Jeff spent more than 30 years in the Air Force. Combat missions in Operation Southern Watch and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Commanded all of basic military training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland with 60,000-plus new airmen through his command. Helped shape Space Force basic training. The real deal, not a guy cosplaying as a patriot.

And here’s what he did. He was teaching cadets about the Constitution and the oath of office. Then one morning he read that the President had fired the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the head of the Navy, and the military lawyers. And Jeff realized he couldn’t keep looking those cadets in the eye and teaching them about the oath while staying quiet himself.

So he left the Air Force a year early. That decision costs him about $300 a month in retirement pay for the rest of his life. He gave up real money, real security, because integrity meant something. Now he’s running for Congress in Oklahoma’s 4th District.

Listen to Jeff’s episode →

Brian McGinnis — Marine veteran, Iraq 2003

Brian walked into Marine Corps boot camp days after high school. Deployed during the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003 as a light armored vehicle crewman. Four honorable years. Boxed on the All-Marine team, because apparently one form of discipline wasn’t enough.

Then he came home, became a firefighter in Raleigh, and spent years running toward emergencies while raising four kids. The man does not talk about service. He just keeps living it, in every uniform he’s ever worn.

And when the weight of watching things get worse turned into something he couldn’t sit still with anymore, he turned that into action, a Senate run in North Carolina, not a single dollar of corporate or PAC money. You might remember him from the headlines this past March: forcibly removed from a Senate hearing while protesting, walked away with a broken arm and zero regrets. When donations poured in afterward, he and his wife paused the GoFundMe the moment they felt they had enough and pointed people to the campaign instead. That’s the integrity I’m talking about.

Listen to Brian’s episode →

Mark Davis — Air Force veteran, running as a regular guy

Mark’s an Air Force veteran, a former corporate operations exec at Menards, and a small business owner in Parrish, Florida, running for Florida’s 16th as a No Party Affiliate. He’s pledged to forgo his congressional salary and healthcare if he’s elected because he wants to prove he’s not in it for that.

But the part of our conversation that stayed with me was Mark on veterans’ mental health. There’s still this devastating, deeply embedded stigma around asking for help to the point where a pilot can fear losing a career just for admitting they need support. We talk so much about honoring service, and then we build a culture that punishes the very people who try to take care of themselves. Mark says it plainly, and I appreciated that he didn’t sand it down into something more comfortable.

Listen to Mark’s episode →

What stays with me

Three men. Air Force, Marines, Air Force. A Democrat, a Green, and a No Party Affiliate. People who would probably disagree with each other about plenty.

And every one of them came to the same place: the oath you take at 17 or 18 or 22 doesn’t come with terms and conditions. It doesn’t expire. It doesn’t have a “until further notice” clause buried at the bottom.

They served. They came home. And when it would have been so much easier to stay quiet and enjoy the rocking chair, they decided service wasn’t over.

So today, I’m holding space for the ones who didn’t make it back that’s what this day is for. And I’m also grateful, deeply, for the ones who came home and still won’t sit down.

If you’ve got a minute this weekend, listen to one of these conversations. And then maybe share it with somebody who needs the reminder that there are still people willing to sacrifice for the rest of us.

Listening is the revolution.

— Molly

I went to Paris for an international women’s conference on Iranian democracy. The room was full of former heads of state, prime ministers, ministers, and senior diplomats. And then there was me, Irish, DC-raised, running a media company out of Costa Rica, with a lifelong chip on my shoulder about inequality. They invited me anyway. I took the seat.

What I came back with I’ve been trying to put into words ever since. And then yesterday, Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, sat down for an interview with the Washington Times and said everything I’d been trying to say, only sharper, and with decades of receipts behind it.

Watch it if you have twenty minutes. If you don’t, here’s what matters, and here’s what I learned in that room.

The regime is weaker than it looks

The headline take on Iran is that the regime is stronger than ever. Rajavi says the opposite, that it’s at its weakest point in 48 years, and her evidence is the executions themselves. In her telling, a regime that’s secure doesn’t need to publicly hang its young people. It does that out of fear. She points to political prisoners executed in recent weeks, MEK members and uprising participants, with family members arrested for trying to retrieve the bodies. None of that is the behavior of strength. That’s a regime trying to terrify a generation it can’t control.

I believe her, because every single person I talked to in Paris said a version of the same thing, in their own words. So let me introduce you to them, because they’re the reason I understand any of this.

The people who taught me this

Start with Zahra Amanpour. She was born in Tehran during the 1979 revolution, and her father was killed in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners. She’s the one who first explained the third option to me, the idea that the choice isn’t war or appeasement, that there’s a way to support Iranians freeing themselves. What floored me about Zahra was that she refuses to make her father’s murder about her own grief. She turns it outward, every time.

Then there’s Zolal Habibi, who serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee of the NCRI and lost her own father, a writer and dissident, to the regime in 1988. Her first conversation with me is the one that finally made Iran make sense, the massacre, the resistance, the structure of the NCRI, all of it. There’s a detail from that summer of 1988 I can’t shake: the prisoners were offered their lives if they’d recant. The resistance documents some 30,000 who chose the gallows instead. (Independent groups put the number lower; no one disputes that thousands were killed.) When I caught Zolal again during the internet blackout, she gave me the verified facts from inside a near-total communications shutdown. That’s the most urgent episode of the series.

Professor Donna Hughes has been showing up to this fight for thirty years. She holds an endowed chair in Gender and Women’s Studies and is a leading researcher on human trafficking, and she told me about the moment that pulled her in: a man who stopped her on a London street in 1995 with a binder full of photographs of women executed in Iran. He told her about all of them before he mentioned his own wife was one of them.

Izabela Konopacka led a federation of a million European lawyers, only the fourth woman ever to hold the role, and she makes the legal case for a free Iran. She also told me about forcing a women-on-the-board change through her own profession against real opposition, and calling it simply the price you pay.

And Linda Chavez, a civil rights leader who’s backed this movement since the early 1990s, who’s no longer aligned with either American party and is at total peace with the cost of her principles. She quoted The Sopranos at me: you die in your own arms, unless you spend your life opening them wide.

Different women, different countries, different politics. Every one of them said the resistance is organized, women-led, and ready. Not a Twitter uprising. Not a vibe. A movement that’s been running for decades while most of the world wasn’t paying attention.

What Rajavi actually said, that deserves more than a scroll-past

Three things from the interview stopped me.

On the noise: she dismissed the polished alternatives, the social-media-engineered, glossy-television versions of an Iranian opposition, as having no real role or relevance. She’s talking about the former Shah’s son and the regime apologists with good lighting. The people dying in Iranian prisons are not dying for a monarchy. They’re dying for something real.

On legitimacy: she said that under conditions of repression, where free elections are impossible, the measure of legitimacy for any political force is its level of active participation and resistance. In other words, legitimacy isn’t handed down. It’s earned in the streets, in the prisons, over 45 years. That’s the bar.

And on what they actually want: her stated goal is to establish popular sovereignty and democracy. Not power. Not revenge. The plan she keeps describing is a six-month provisional government after the regime falls, then free elections, then the provisional government resigns. And the part that took me out in Paris, the part that’s the whole reason I trust this: they have said, more than once, that if they lose that free election, they’ll step down and build the future anyway. People who gave up everything, marriage, children, their own safety, would hand over power if the vote went against them. You cannot fake that.

What do we do next?

This is the part I can’t stop thinking about. These are the most useful things I took from all of it.

Learn the third option, and use it. Most people think the only choices are bomb Iran or pay it off. Both strengthen the regime, one with sympathy, one with money. The third option is supporting Iranians to free themselves, and getting out of the way. Learn it well enough to say it out loud at dinner.

Go to the source, because you’re being propagandized. The resistance is the number one target of regime smear campaigns, and there’s active disinformation, including doctored protest videos. Before you repeat a take on Iran, check who benefits. Go to the actual resistance sources, the NCRI, not the narrative handed to you.

Stand tall even when it costs you something small. I sat in a room full of women who put their careers and reputations on the line for people in another country. Meanwhile most of us won’t post something for fear of losing a client. If they can risk what they risk, you can say the true thing in the room where it’s least comfortable.

The full series

Start with my dispatch from Paris: I flew to Paris to sit in a room full of women who scare a regime. The in-the-room account that ties it all together.

Then the conversations, in order:

The third option for Iran nobody’s talking about, with Zahra Amanpour. Start here for the framework.

Iran explained: the massacre, the resistance, the third option, with Zolal Habibi. The episode that makes Iran finally make sense.

The truth about Iran’s uprising, with Zolal Habibi. Verified facts from inside the internet blackout.

30 years for a free Iran, with Professor Donna Hughes. The scholar, and the stranger with a binder who pulled her in.

The legal case for a free Iran, with Izabela Konopacka. From a woman who led a million lawyers.

Why a lifelong civil rights leader has backed Iran’s resistance for 30 years, with Linda Chavez.

Before you go

If you’ve stayed quiet on Iran because it felt too complicated, I get it. But the line is simple: peace and freedom. Against the war, and against the regime. Both can be true. Send this to one person who needs to hear it.

Listening is the revolution.
Molly

The headline was the broken arm. The story is that he stopped taking money the moment he had enough.

1. Find the candidate who acts right when no one is watching. Brian McGinnis and his wife looked at the GoFundMe blowing up after the Senate hearing went viral and said, we don’t want to be looked at that way. They paused it. Redirected people to the campaign. That’s it. That’s the whole thing.

2. Get your toe in the water. Brian said it better than I could: just find one organization that represents something you care about and start there. You’ll be waist deep before you know it. I started this podcast because I got detained by ICE at the Miami airport for asking if they were ICE and I didn’t know what else to do with that. Turns out doing something is the thing.

3. Vote like your vote belongs to you. Because it does. Brian’s whole case for the Green Party comes down to this: Democrats and Republicans don’t deserve your vote. They have to earn it. That reframe alone is worth the listen.

This one is for anyone who has been watching things get worse and feeling like there’s nothing to do about it. Which, if you’re here, is probably you. It was definitely me when I started this show.

Brian McGinnis made national headlines in March 2026 when Capitol Police broke his arm at a Senate hearing while he was protesting U.S. military action. He was there in his uniform. He walked out with a broken arm and zero regrets. That’s the way in. But the moment I couldn’t stop thinking about was quieter. After the clip went viral and the donations started pouring in, Brian and his wife sat down and said, we’re not trying to milk this. And they paused the GoFundMe. Just stopped it. Pointed people to the campaign instead. Nobody made them do that. That’s not a talking point. That’s character. And that’s the kind of person I want to put a microphone in front of.

Meet Brian McGinnis

Brian McGinnis is a Marine veteran who deployed to Iraq in 2003 as a Light Armored Vehicle Crewman, a firefighter in Raleigh, North Carolina, a father of four, and the Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate in North Carolina. He is running without a single dollar of corporate or PAC money. His perspective on war and foreign policy shifted profoundly after he married a Palestinian-American woman he met through the fire department, and that shift is what led him here.

Worth pulling out

• He paused the GoFundMe. After the Senate hearing clip went viral and donations flooded in, Brian and his wife stopped the fundraiser the moment they felt they had enough. “We’re not trying to milk this,” he said. They redirected people to the campaign. No one made them do that.

• “Democrats and Republicans don’t deserve your vote. They have to earn it. And I’m right there with them.” That’s Brian on third-party voting. Short, clean, hard to argue with.

• “I needed to move my depression into action. I am paying attention. I’m just not sitting in my depression anymore.” This is the line I keep coming back to. It’s why I started this podcast. It’s why he’s running for Senate. It’s the whole thing.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and on-air bio
00:46 Why Brian is running for Senate
01:25 Growing up in Illinois and joining the Marines
02:23 How foreign policy views changed after Iraq
04:24 Meeting his Palestinian-American wife and the shift in perspective
05:34 Transition from military to firefighting
07:58 Decision to run and why the Green Party
09:51 Turning depression into political action
11:35 The Senate hearing, the broken arm, and zero regrets
14:02 The GoFundMe pause and a moment of integrity
15:47 The biggest issues facing North Carolina
18:08 The two-party duopoly and the case for third-party voting
22:09 Staying inspired when things keep getting worse
25:21 How listeners can get involved
30:36 Closing thoughts

Connect with Brian McGinnis

Website: brianmcginnis.org
Instagram: instagram.com/brianmcginnisnc
Twitter/X: x.com/brianmcginnisnc
Threads: threads.net/@brianmcginnisnc

Before you go… If this one hit, send it to one person who needs to hear it.

Listening is the revolution.
Molly

Jeff Pixley did that to me.

He’s a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel. An F-16 combat pilot. A guy with 30+ years of service who has literally spent his life in the arena. And now he’s running for Congress in Oklahoma’s 4th Congressional District because, in his words, the oath he took as a kid still means something. That part hit me hard. Low key, I got chills.

Jeff left the military a year early. That decision cost him about $300 a month in retirement pay for the rest of his life. Let that sink in. He gave up real money, real security, real comfort, because after the president fired the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the head of the Navy, and the military lawyers, he saw a flashing red warning sign. He was teaching cadets about the Constitution and the oath of office at the time, and he told me he couldn’t look them in the eye anymore if he stayed.

“I promised I would support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign or domestic. That oath ends with the words ‘so help me God’ — not ‘until further notice.’”

Share

Exactly. Damn right.

And then he said this, which I’m going to carry around in my bones for a while:

“Firing the lawyers signaled to me that illegal orders might be coming. And being part of something I feared would not be in line with my values — that was something I couldn’t live with.”

That is not a man making a cute little political statement for the cameras. That is a person telling you he made a costly decision because he still believes service means something. Because integrity means something. Because some lines are real.

Jeff is not running because he got bored in retirement. He’s running because Tom Cole has been in Congress for 20 years, chairs the House Appropriations Committee, and Jeff believes our federal representatives have abdicated their responsibility to uphold the Constitution. And he’s not wrong to say this isn’t just an Oklahoma problem.

“Tom Cole sits atop the House Appropriations Committee. Every day he’s in Congress, no matter where you live in this country, you are adversely affected by his inaction or his actions.”

Read that again. No matter where you live.

We talked about the stuff people actually live under: Oklahoma’s minimum wage still stuck at $7.25 an hour since 2009, housing costs, insurance costs, tariffs hammering farmers and ranchers, the way social media throttles grassroots candidates, and how corporate money keeps warping the whole damn system. Jeff takes no corporate money. No PAC money. None. Which, honestly, should not be radical, but here we are.

He also said something about the bigger problem that I think gets to the heart of all of it:

“If we don’t fix the constitutional imbalance, we can’t fix affordability — because right now we have what amounts to a patronage economy.”

That’s the kind of sentence that makes you want to stand on a table and yell in a diner somewhere.

Subscribe now

We talked about Citizens United. We talked about the DCCC treating so-called “unwinnable” races like they’re already dead, which Jeff called out as the self-fulfilling prophecy it is. We talked about Oklahoma’s medical marijuana vote and the governor trying to unwind the will of the people. We talked about the deep insult of pretending folks in red districts don’t deserve a real choice. Spoiler: they do.

And Jeff? He actually gives me hope. Not because he’s polished. Not because he’s some perfect political product. But because he’s the real deal. He commanded all of Air Force Basic Military Training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, overseeing more than 60,000 new airmen. He helped shape Space Force basic training. He served as an Air Force One Advance Agent. He flew combat missions in Operation Southern Watch and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He earned a master’s degree from the Eisenhower School at National Defense University. He lives in Norman with his wife Andrea. This is not a lightweight candidate trying to cosplay as a patriot. This is a man who has already lived the hard part.

So if you care about democracy, if you care about the balance of power in the House, if you care about what happens when decent people decide they’re done watching the system rot from the sidelines, you should listen to this one.

Then share it. Especially with somebody in Oklahoma. Especially with somebody who thinks politics is over for them. Especially with somebody who needs to hear that there are still people willing to sacrifice for the rest of us.

You can support Jeff at jeffpixleyforcongress.com. Follow him on Instagram and Threads at @pixley4congress, and find Jeff Pixley for Congress on TikTok and Facebook. If you can donate directly on his website, do that — that’s the cleanest way to make sure your money actually reaches his campaign. And if you can’t donate, no shame. Share the episode. Word of mouth still matters. A lot.

And if you’re not already listening to What Do We Do Next?, come on in. It’s a show for the moments when people are either stepping up or disappearing. We’re talking to candidates, advocates, and leaders who are doing the damn thing when it would be easier not to.

Support the show by joining the Substack. Every dollar goes toward paid advertising that gets these conversations in front of more people — in places like Forbes, BusinessWeek, and Sports Illustrated.

Subscribe now

Till next time, don’t forget who you are out there. Integrity matters.

A lot of political guests can feel polished to the point of distance, but Mark felt direct in a way that was almost startling. He was willing to be specific, which I always appreciate, and he kept bringing the conversation back to actual people and actual consequences instead of talking in slogans. I found myself thinking about our interview long after we wrapped, which is usually the sign that somebody said something real. Conversations like this matter because they remind us that democracy is still being shaped by people willing to show up and say something real. I also related to what he said about not wanting to lose his relationship with his parents, because my own father is not speaking to me right now, and that kind of ache makes those moments feel even more human.

In this episode

• Why Mark jumped in after Trump’s second term began

• Why he chose to run as a No Party Affiliate instead of a Democrat

• His Menards corporate background and what he saw inside boardrooms

• Calling Trump’s tactics what he believes they are

• The Canada/tourism economy angle and how tariffs hit Florida

• Veterans’ mental health and mandatory care after deployment

• The stigma around seeking help in the military, including pilots who fear losing their jobs

• Waste in the defense budget

• Accountability, single-payer healthcare, and lower prices

• His pledge to forgo his congressional salary and healthcare

• How to donate, and why small donations matter so much

What stayed with me

The part that really stayed with me was Mark talking about mental health in the military. There is still this devastating, deeply embedded stigma around asking for help, and that has to change. My father served, and growing up with a veteran shaped how I see these issues; it means that when Mark talks about the fear of asking for help, it is not abstract to me. The fact that a pilot can worry about losing a career for admitting they need support is not just backwards, it is dangerous. We talk so much about honoring service, but then we create a culture that punishes the very people who try to take care of themselves.

And then there was the moment when he compared Trump’s tactics to historical fascism. I want to be careful with language like that, because it matters, but I also appreciated that Mark did not soften it into something more palatable. He was clear about what he sees and clear about why he believes we should say it plainly. I find that refreshing, honestly. We get so used to politicians sanding down everything until it is safe and unrecognizable, and I am tired of that.

About Mark

Mark Davis is running for Florida’s 16th District as a No Party Affiliate. He’s an Air Force veteran, a former corporate operations executive at Menards, and a small business owner in Parrish, Florida. He lives there with his wife Sarah and their two children, and in less than a year, he has built more than 200,000 organic followers. His campaign has grown entirely without corporate money, and he refuses corporate PAC money. He has also pledged to forgo his congressional salary and healthcare if elected.

Support Mark

If you want to learn more, volunteer, or donate, go to markdavisforcongress.com. Even small recurring donations can make a real difference.

That part matters to me because campaigns like this are built one person at a time, not by giant checks and glossy consultants. If you believe we need more candidates who will say what they mean and keep their promises, this is exactly the kind of race worth supporting. Small donations really do add up here, and they help keep a genuinely grassroots campaign moving. And if you want more conversations like this, Subscribe on Substack. Sharing this episode helps more than you know.

Sadie grew up in rural Indiana as a self-described cynical non-voter. A college conversation about a local utility company sparked her interest in climate, which led her to policy, then politics, then the Sunrise Movement — and eventually to packing up her life and moving to Florida to organize on the ground for DDP. She rose from Field Director to Executive Director of the Florida Chapter, and now serves as National Organizing Director as DDP expands across the country in 2025.

In this episode, Molly and Sadie break down:

• What the Digital Democracy Project actually is (and how it works, step by step)

• How voters get verified and cast advisory votes on 100+ pieces of pending federal legislation

• Why verification matters — and why legislators can’t dismiss the data

• Real bills on the platform right now: impeachment resolutions, the Save America Act, war powers, government surveillance, and more

• How DDP generates scorecards comparing how legislators voted vs. how their constituents wanted them to vote

• What it looks like when this scales — and why power in numbers is the whole point

“It doesn’t require any permission from our government. We don’t have to wait for some law to be passed or for the next election. We can do this right now.”

“We’ve embraced technology in every way except for the ways that impact our life the most. You can get a car or a pizza to show up without saying a word — but you can’t have your voice be heard. And they take your taxes real electronically.”

Take Action Today:

Go to digitaldemocracyproject.org → Watch the explainer video → Click the Vote tab → Enroll in the Voatz app → Get verified in ~2 minutes → Start voting on real legislation.

Not registered? You can still browse every bill on the site — no account needed.

Connect with Sadie & DDP:

• 🌐 digitaldemocracyproject.org

• 📧 sadie.holzmeyer@digitaldemocracyproject.org

• 📱 @digital_democracy_project (Instagram, Threads)

• 🐦 @DigitalDemoProj (X)

• 🦋 @digitaldemoproject.bsky.social

• ▶️ @digitaldemocracyproject (YouTube)

Enjoying the show? Become a paid Substack member — every dollar goes toward paid advertising to get this podcast in front of more people.

We talked about James Wilson, gerrymandering, approval voting, data integrity, the Super PAC loophole, and why the process for picking our representatives should probably be a lot better than the process for picking the next American Idol. If you’ve ever looked at Congress and thought, “Surely we can do better than this,” this episode is for you.

What We Cover in This Episode

We start with Tom’s COVID-era promise and the unexpected path that led to the founding of America’s Main Street Party. From there, we dig into James Wilson — the Founding Father most people have never heard of, but probably should have — and his vision of a “free and equal” fountain of democracy. That idea becomes the backbone of Tom’s whole approach.

Then we get into the mechanics: how the multi-round nominating contest works, why uncontested and gerrymandered districts are the smartest place to begin, and how the system uses tools like endorsement rounds, approval voting, and ranked choice voting to create a real contest instead of a backroom coronation. We also talk through the Super PAC loophole Tom is using for good, not evil, and why candidates might actually choose this path over the usual party machine.

And because no conversation about modern democracy is complete without a little existential dread, we also talk about data integrity, virtual polling locations, and the very important distinction between a nominating system and an election system. The bigger vision here is a coalition-driven Congress — and maybe even a healthier political culture by 2032.

Connect with Tom & America’s Main Street Party

• Website: mainstreetparty.org

• Research & hilosophy: WilsonsFountain.us

• Petition: change.org (search America’s Main Street Party)

• Donate, volunteer, or become a district organizer: mainstreetparty.org

📣 Enjoyed this episode?

Share it with someone who’s tired of partisan gridlock and ready for something smarter. If this conversation lit a fire in you, I’d love for you to like, subscribe, and leave a review — it really does help more people find the show. And as always: be excellent to each other.

Chad is the founder of IVC Media, a partner at Peace & Shea LLP, and the legal advisor behind the Independent Voter Project. He’s taken election reform cases all the way to the Supreme Court. And in this episode, he breaks down exactly how the system is rigged — and what we can actually do about it.

Key Takeaways

• Closed primaries are the root of the problem. In states with closed primaries and gerrymandered districts, a candidate can win with as little as 3% of the electorate. That’s not democracy — that’s a controlled outcome.

• Independent voters aren’t wishy-washy — they’re the majority. Nearly 50% of Americans now identify as independent. That’s not indecision. That’s a rejection of being told that every position you hold must fit inside one of two boxes.

• Political parties are private organizations — but they control public elections. The legal core of Chad’s work: if primaries are publicly funded and integral to our elections, can the state legally exclude voters who choose not to join a private party? He’s asked the Supreme Court three times.

• The system benefits from your disengagement. When you tune out, the pool of voters shrinks — and it becomes even easier for well-funded, well-organized factions to control outcomes with a tiny slice of the electorate.

• Competition is the antidote to money in politics. Chad’s counterintuitive argument: you don’t just need to get money out of politics — you need to make every dollar less effective by forcing candidates to compete for a broader, less predictable electorate.

• What’s next: a Top Four Primary for California. The Independent Voter Project is preparing to introduce a top-four nonpartisan primary for California — modeled on Alaska’s system — that would advance four candidates to the general election regardless of party affiliation.

Quotes Worth Sharing

“We’re simply asking the courts a question on behalf of individual voters: if primaries are an integral stage of the election process, can you exclude me from that process — that we fund — because I chose not to join a private association?” — Chad Peace

“The Republican and Democratic parties are like mom and dad saying, ‘kids, you can have whatever you want for dinner — as long as it’s from Burger King or McDonald’s.’” — Chad Peace

“They’ve devised a system that is literally designed not to represent you.” — Chad Peace

“Don’t get upset with the folks in the system — focus on the system you’re trying to change.” — Chad Peace

“When we don’t vote, when we don’t get involved — not only are we not putting our voice in, but we’re strengthening the opposition.” — Molly Ruland

“The system is like a gym membership where they actually want the people who sign up and never show up. You’re paying $29 a month and getting nothing — and they’re getting richer.” — Molly Ruland

Resources & Links

• 🌐 Independent Voter News: ivn.us

• 🌐 Independent Voter Project: independentvoterproject.org

• 🌐 IVC Media: ivcmedia.com

• 📱 Follow Chad: @chadpeace | @ivn

• 📱 Follow Molly: @mollyruland | @heartcastmedia

• 📬 Subscribe to this Substack for new episodes every week

🎧 Support the Show

What Do We Do Next? just hit 38,000 downloads — thank you! Every dollar from Substack memberships goes directly toward paid advertising to grow the show and get these conversations in front of more people.

https://substack.com/@whatdowedonext

Liuba’s path into politics began with organizing and ended with a run for Congress in 2018, after she saw firsthand how deeply the system disadvantages women running for office. What followed was not just a campaign, but a broader movement: Vote Mama, built to challenge the structural barriers that keep moms out of office and make political life less possible for working parents. The episode traces how campaign childcare funding became a live issue, why that ruling mattered, and how it helped open doors in states across the country.

That bigger story is really about representation — and power. When more moms run, more families get seen, and more policy starts to reflect real life. The conversation also gets practical, from Moms Night Out gatherings to the push to take back the House, with clear ways listeners can support women running for office right now.

What We Cover

• How Liuba went from organizing an Indivisible group to running for Congress with two babies at home

• Why the political system was built before women had the right to vote — and why that still matters

• The historic campaign childcare funding ruling and how it became law in 40 states

• How Vote Mama is helping moms in politics build real paths to power

• Why Moms Night Out events are becoming a powerful tool for civic engagement

• What listeners can do right now to help take back the House

Pull Quotes

“You’re already more qualified than most people in office. If you can read, if you can talk to members of your own community, and if you care — you can run for office.”

— Liuba Grechen Shirley

“Other countries have social safety nets. The US has women.”

— Jessica Clarko, cited by Liuba Grechen Shirley

“We are only a few months away from the most consequential election of our lifetimes. This is not a test.”

— Liuba Grechen Shirley

About Vote Mama

Vote Mama is a movement and ecosystem built to make politics more accessible for moms. Vote Mama PAC elects Democratic moms up and down the ballot, Vote Mama Foundation leads research on mothers in politics, and Vote Mama Lobby pushes legislative advocacy for moms in office and on the trail. Together, they’re working to make it easier for women running for office to lead without having to choose between public service and caregiving.

Take Action

1. Host a Moms Night Out — go to votemamapac.org or comment “ready” on @votemamalobby on Instagram to get the toolkit. A $17,500 match is active the week before Mother’s Day.

1. Donate to the Mama Fund — every dollar goes directly to endorsed mom candidates running right now.

1. Support endorsed moms — find Vote Mama-endorsed candidates and back them with your vote, time, or donation.

1. Follow @votemamalobby on Instagram for updates, candidate spotlights, and ways to plug in.

Connect

Website: votemamapac.org · votemamafoundation.org
Instagram: @votemamalobby · @liubagrechenshirley
LinkedIn: Vote Mama Lobby · Vote Mama Foundation
Substack: Liuba Grechen Shirley on Substack

#VoteMama #MomsInPolitics #WomenInPolitics #WhatDoWeDoNext #MollyRuland #LiubaGrechenShirley #MomsNightOut #SaveDemocracy #WomenRunning #CivicEngagement

This conversation goes deep — on brain science, imposter syndrome, joy as resistance, trauma titration, and why the most political thing you can do right now might be to pet a dog and call a friend.

In This Episode

• Why 1992’s “Year of the Woman” never became the flood of women leaders Sarah expected — and what she did about it

• The neuroscience of why women don’t run for office (hint: it’s not ambition, it’s resiliency zones)

• DemocraShe’s signature tools: the Inner Critic vs. the Inner Best Friend, grounding, savoring the good

• Why high school is the last time girls and boys believe equally in their ability to lead — and why that’s the exact moment to intervene

• How to use “growth steps” to take action without flooding your nervous system

• Joy as strategy, not luxury — why feeling happy is an act of resistance

• Trauma titration: how to stay engaged without burning out

• DemocraShe’s explosive growth: 24 girls in 2022 → 915 in 2025, with 7x more applicants than spots

• How to support DemocraShe: donate, mentor, refer a high school girl, or connect them with foundations

“You should feel no shame for feeling flooded and exhausted. That is exactly how the human body was designed to respond to trauma. However, lovely humans have spent time researching the best tools to help brains overcome adversity — and even thrive.”

— Sarah Jakle

“Women deserve to be happy while they lead. It is not an either/or.”

— Sarah Jakle

Brain Hacks You Can Use Today

1. Meet Your Inner Best Friend — Before a big moment, ask: “What would my inner best friend say?” (Not your inner critic — she’s not as helpful as she thinks she is.)

2. Ground Yourself — Physical contact with a surface pulls you from your amygdala back to your prefrontal cortex. Try it right now.

3. Savor the Good — Consciously noticing joy rewires your brain to find more of it. It’s not toxic positivity — it’s neuroscience.

4. Take a Growth Step — Not the safe step. Not the overwhelm step. The one that’s just slightly outside your comfort zone, in line with your values.

5. Titrate Into Hard Things — Touch something difficult, then return to something neutral or positive. That’s how you stay in the fight long-term.

About Sarah Jakle

Sarah Jakle is the Founder & Executive Director of DemocraShe. She’s a Yale graduate (Phi Beta Kappa), holds a Master’s in Social Work from USC and a Master’s in Public Policy from UCLA. She’s served as Get Out The Vote Director for CA NOW, National Outreach Director for Field Team 6, and is a Movement Builder Fellow with How Women Lead and an Obama Organizing for Action Fellow.

How to Support DemocraShe

• 💸 $25/month sponsors a girl through a 10-week program

• 💸 $50/month sponsors a peer leader

• 💸 $100/month sponsors a girl through the full program ($1,200 total)

• 🙋 Mentor a high school girl directly through the program

• 📣 Refer a high school girl who needs to meet her Inner Best Friend

• 🌐 Free self-directed program available at Democrashe.org — share it!

• 🤝 Know a foundation? Reach out to Sarah directly through the website

Links

• 🌐 Website: Democrashe.org

• 💼 LinkedIn: Sarah Jakle

• 🎙️ Subscribe & share this episode with a high school girl in your life

Wouldn’t it be amazing to have these tools at 15 instead of 50? Yeah. We think so too. Share this one. It matters.

In our conversation, Anne and I dig into her stories of perseverance, the importance of community action, standing strong in the face of adversity, and how even a simple rainbow fence can become a beacon of hope. We also discuss practical ways each of us can get involved. If you’re searching for inspiration and a reminder that change truly begins with every one of us, you won’t want to miss this episode.

Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
00:47 - Family influence and early activism
04:17 - Making and sharing mini fences
08:53 - Spreading love with repurposed paint
14:18 - Standing against division and hate
17:49 - One person can make impact
21:11 - The importance of women and community
22:58 - Neighborhood disputes over painted fences
26:43 - Opposition to rainbow fences
30:06 - Discussing women challenging power
35:22 - Giving back to your community
37:06 - Running for DNC position
41:06 - Processing grief and accountability
43:49 - Brainstorming community-driven collaboration
49:15 - Offering campaign support services
49:51 - Outro

Key Takeaways
The Power of One
Service and Solidarity
Adversity to Action
Legacy of Matriarchs
Community is Our Compass
Allyship in Action
Keep Passing the Baton
Focus Forward
There is Always Hope

Quotes
“Your voice matters, your vote matters, your spirit is important, and I value you. We are not alone—there is hope out there, and action is what replenishes us.” - Anne Brodsky

“One person really can make such a huge difference in the world—all it takes is that little bit of drive to want to do that.” - Molly Ruland

Anne Brodsky:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anne.brodsky.58

Produced by Heartcast Media

Will you give us a 5 star review, if we deserve it of course?

Our conversation dives into the evolution of the resistance, the vital role women play in leadership, and how a new generation is rising up for change both inside and outside Iran. Sarvnaz Chitsaz reflects on decades of struggle against misogyny and fundamentalism, the resilience of Iranian youth, and the universal need for purpose during uncertain times. We also unpack the challenges of combating misinformation, the power of international solidarity, and the hope we find from witnessing young women step into leadership.

Join me for an episode full of candid stories, insight, and encouragement on how we can all take part in building a better world—no matter where we’re starting from.

Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
00:10 - Iranian Women’s Struggles and Activism
10:08 - “Women’s Resilience and Reflection”
11:34 - Purpose Ignites Women’s Unity
16:39 - “Politics and Shared Burdens”
18:25 - “Media, Iran, and Truth Challenges”
22:58 - “Blocked by Editorial Politics”
24:30 - Iran’s Youth Sparks Protest Wave
30:09 - “Women Empowering Women Globally”
31:49 - Outro

Key Takeaways
A Lifetime of Resistance
The Power of Purpose
Women Leading Change
Youth Awakening in Iran
Facing Hardships with Courage
The Importance of True Information
Global Solidarity and Inspiration
Real Democracy Requires Women’s Leadership

Quotes
“I would rather have something I believe in and fight for it than feel nothing. You have to find something that gives you purpose—and go out fighting.”- Molly Ruland

“It’s very important to find that thing that gives you an energy to go on. If you believe in it, then you go for it and fight for it—because this is life. You are just fighting every moment of your life.”- Sarvnaz Chitsaz

Guest:
Sarvnaz Chitsaz: Chair of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Women’s Committee

Produced by Heartcast Media

During the pandemic, Aceil Haddad brought together more than 250 volunteers to support over 120 charities at a critical time, launching campaigns like But Not Maternity that made a real difference. In our conversation, we dig into what fuels her dedication to service, why genuine political participation matters now more than ever, and the importance of women’s voices in fighting disinformation and pushing for real societal change.

We talk candidly about the lessons learned from grassroots activism, the realities of power and representation, and how each of us can discover our own way to make an impact. Whether you’re feeling overwhelmed or just wondering how you can do more, this episode is full of honest insights and practical inspiration for anyone asking: “What do we do next?”

Key Takeaways
Step Into Your Power—Everyone Has a Role to Play
Politics Isn’t Just for Politicians
Women’s Voices Matter—Don’t Step Back
Sustainable Impact Starts with Self-Care
Find Your ‘North Star’ and Own Your Journey
You Don’t Have to Be the Main Character to Make a Difference
Use Your Voice, Even When It Feels Risky

Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
00:10 - “Mobilizing Volunteers for Change”
05:37 - Navigating Politics and Authenticity
09:28 - Change Takes Time
12:52 - “Understanding Issues and Power”
14:32 - Politics and Business: Shared Lessons
19:58 - “Impact Without Being Center Stage”
21:33 - Community Service, Quiet Impact
24:58 - “Women Must Be Heard”
27:14 - “Staying Visible Matters Most”
30:48 - Finding Your North Star
35:37 - What Do We Do Next?
36:08 - Outro

Quotes
Molly Ruland:
“When you know who you are, you don’t get washed around in the stream. It’s not about being the main character—it’s about showing up for your values, speaking the truth, and supporting the people and causes that matter to you.”

Aceil Haddad:
“Everyone has a skill that’s valuable—no matter how small you think it is. Change doesn’t happen overnight, but through collective action and by having the courage to show up and use your voice, especially when the world would rather you stay silent.”

Connect with Aceil Haddad
http://www.matt-pr.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aceil/

Call To Action:
Stand for election - Centenary Action
Support and invest in women

Produced by Heartcast Media

Will you give us a 5 star review, if we deserve it of course?

We talk about unapologetic visibility, the cultural and economic power of Latinas, and why women—especially women of color—must claim their voices in leadership. Cristina also shares insights on overcoming overwhelm, setting boundaries with social media, building supportive communities, and embracing authentic self-expression.

It’s an honest and inspiring conversation filled with wisdom, practical insights, and a reminder that being visible, powerful, and joyful is the new standard.

Key Takeaways
Ancestral Roots & Identity
Latinas as Natural Leaders
Nervous System Regulation & Overwhelm
Economic Power of Latinas
Unapologetic Visibility & Branding
Redefining Professionalism

Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
00:10 - “Christina: Empowering Women Leaders”
03:57 - Latina Leadership and Visibility Journey
09:58 - Social Media Overload Solutions
12:49 - Too Much to Handle Responsibly
16:46 - Content, Fear, Money, and Influence
19:55 - Breaking Barriers, Building Wealth
22:26 - Empowering Ambitious Founders’ Growth
25:37 - “Authenticity Over Conformity”
28:01 - “Defying Stereotypes, Owning Success”
31:37 - “Empowering Women, Supporting Change”

Quotes
“Be unapologetically visible at all times. Take initiative, stay committed to yourself, and never be afraid to claim your power”- Cristina Giovanna Olivares

“This is not the time to be meek and mild. Be louder, bolder, and braver than ever before. Redefine what it means to show up in the world.”- Molly Ruland

Connect with Christina and work with her in coaching
Website:

https://www.thesocialbutterflygal.net/
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/TheSocialButterflyGal
Threads: Https://www.threads.com/thesocialbutterflygal
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-jovanna-olivarez-14081226/

Produced by Heartcast Media:

Will you give us a 5 star review, if we deserve it of course?