#15: Brandon Deroche: How Social Movements Form and Grow

Welcome back to The Trip Report Podcast, a production of Beckley Waves, a Psychedelic Venture Studio.

Today, I am speaking with Brandon Deroche, founder of the PORTAL—the Partnership of Responsible Trippers Advocating Legalization. 

PORTAL is a project from Propeller, the social impact and advocacy organization Brandon started more than 15 years ago to drive awareness and action for social movements. 

I was intrigued when I first learned about Propeller–and their methodology for advocacy and advancing causes.

Propeller collaborates with big-name artists and musicians to leverage their platforms to raise awareness and inspire action.

With PORTAL, Brandon and his team are taking this approach to advancing the psychedelic cause.

I wanted to speak with Brandon because I love a good acronym, and PORTAL may be the best I’ve ever heard—and because I wanted to learn more about how social movements form and grow.

In this episode, we discuss:

* Brandon’s experience working with some of the biggest celebrities in the world, like Justin Bieber, Lizzo, and Brian Cranston

* His experience working with the spiritual teacher Ram Dass

* The cultural adoption and destigmatization of psychedelics through artists with massive audiences—like Dua Lipa, Post Malone, and Zach Bryan

* Leveraging these voices for psychedelic education, harm reduction, and best practices

* The eventual political polarization of social movements

* And much more

And now, I bring you my conversation with Brand Deroche.

Listen to the episode on Substack, Spotify, Google or Apple.

Credits:

* Hosted by Zach Haigney 

* Produced by Zach Haigney, Erin Greenhouse, and Katelin Jabbari

* Find us at thetripreport.com

* Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube

* Theme music by MANCHO Sounds, Mixed and Mastered by Rollin Weary

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thetripreport.com