Maybe you’ve seen today’s guest, Arian Moayed, on HBO’s Emmy-Award winning show, Succession, where he played Stewy. Or, in movies where h worked with legends like Bill Murray, Spike Lee. Or, on stage, where he was nominated for a TONY. Or, you might’ve caught his groundbreaking thriller, The Accidental Wolf (http://theaccidentalwolf.com/), which he wrote and directed, starring Kelli O’Hara, Laurie Metcalf, Denis O’Hare, and a cast of 36 Tony nominations. Stumbling into a love of acting, Moayed began to pursue it as a career early in life. He was met, as most actors are, with an unending parade of "you can't do that's." But, to him that just meant, make it happen on your own. "Do" your way through it. And, so he did. Which has been an enduring theme in his life.Arian's family fled Iran when he was just a little kid, taking a years-long journey that split the family between different countries, and eventually landed them just outside Chicago, where they set about building a new life in a radically different world. Acting became a fast passion and he began to develop a genuine love for theater and set about crafting a career. But along the way, he also realized that acting, for him, was also a pathway to writing, advocacy, and education. He became an award-winning writer/director and co-founded the theater/film production and arts education venture, Waterwell (http://www.waterwell.org/), where his heart is most boldly on display in the guiding the growth of teachers and 6-12th graders in New York City’s free theater training program, and exploring not just performance, but citizenship, service, equality, advocacy, justice, and what it means to be human. We all need more of that these days.We're so excited to share this Best Of conversation with you today.You can find Arian Moayed at:Website : http://waterwell.org/personnel/arian-moayed/Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/arianmoayed/-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In February 2006, Sir Ken Robinson (http://sirkenrobinson.com/) stepped onto the TED stage and delivered the most viewed talk in the history of TED, entitled Do Schools Kill Creativity. Viewed by than 66 million people, Sir Ken called on us to re-examine how we learn, and to encourage every kid, every person to seek out the myriad unique ways intelligence shows up in every one of our lives, then honor and build around it. To reimagine and even revolutionize the way we see each person’s gift, their brilliance, and create opportunities that nurture it, even if that means blowing up the rigid systems that serve some, but also utterly demoralize and sometimes even demonize others. He reminds us to ask not "how intelligent are you?" but rather, "how are you intelligent?"He devoted his adult life to creating and stoking the fires of a global creativity and education revolution. I had the amazing gift of sitting down with him in the studio a number of years back to not only explore his ideas, but also his personal story. Growing up in post World War II Liverpool, a fiercely-active kid who loved soccer and hope to one day play professionally (though, of course, he called it football), his dreams were cut short when he got polio at the age of four, forever changing the course of his life, leaving him with physical disabilities, and exposing him to the profound injustice that awaits so many kids labeled as “different.” His experience as a kid, in no small part, became the source fuel for his unrelenting devotion to recognizing, celebrating and supporting how each child, each person needs to come into themselves in their own unique way. I was profoundly moved not only by his work, but by his lens on life, family, creativity and service, and the story he told in the way he lived his life.You may notice I’ve been speaking about him in the past tense. Sir Ken Robinson passed away on Friday, August 21st at the age of 70 after a short battle with cancer. So, we wanted to share this “Best Of” conversation from our 2015 archives in honor of his life and his extraordinary will to make a difference, both a tribute and a provocation to explore how we all show up in the world, and commit to making meaning.You can find more about Sir Ken Robinson at:Website : http://sirkenrobinson.com/Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/sirkenrobinson/-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Donna Carpenter met Burton founder, Jake Burton Carpenter in a Southern Vermont bar on New Year’s Eve 1981. Within a year they married and became partners in business and life, working side-by-side dipping snowboards in polyurethane and answering the customer service line that rang in the bedroom. Donna quickly became a driving force, working with Jake to build Burton into the world’s leading snowboard company and also making Burton a brand of choice and employer of choice for women. In 2010, Donna stepped up to the role of President and eventually became Burton’s first female CEO.Over the last decade, Jake began to experience a series of health challenges, and in November 2019, he lost his life to a recurrence of cancer. His last words to Donna, as she shares later in our conversation, speaks so much to the way they live their lives, the relationship they had, the community they built, and the lives they created together. Earlier this year, Donna stepped out of the role of CEO to become Chair of the Burton Board of Directors, focus on advocating for the sport of snowboarding, being a strong climate activist, speaking up on behalf of sustainability efforts as well as advocating for more diversity on the mountain, in business, and in boardrooms.You can find Donna Carpenter at:Website : https://www.burton.com/us/en/homeInstagram : https://www.instagram.com/donnacarpenter/-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dave Evans is a Lecturer in the Product Design Program at Stanford, Management Consultant, and co-founder of iconic gaming company, Electronic Arts. Having participated in forming the corporate cultures at Apple and EA, Dave decided his best work was in helping organizations build creative environments where people could do great work and love doing it. And, maybe, along the way, answer the question, "what should I do with my life?" Helping people get traction on that question finally took Dave to Cal and Stanford and continues to be his life’s work. Bill Burnett is Executive Director of the Design Program at Stanford. He got his BS and MS in Product Design at Stanford and has worked on a wide variety of projects ranging from award-winning Apple PowerBooks to the original Hasbro Star Wars action figures. Together, they wrote New York Times bestselling book, Designing Your Life, and the follow-up, Designing Your Work Life (https://amzn.to/3hflUvz), train coaches and run workshops for individuals and organizations.You can find Bill Burnett & Dave Evans at:Website : https://designingyour.life/Twitter : https://twitter.com/DYourLife-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a kid, Arlan Hamilton loved music and eventually found her way into the world of live concerts, working as a tour manager. Along the way, she also published a magazine and wrote the popular Your Daily Lesbian Moment blog, that drew a large, devoted community, before pivoting into the world of venture capital where, with no connections, degree or experience, she built a fund from the ground up, while homeless.Hamilton is the Founder and Managing Partner of Backstage Capital, a venture capital fund dedicated to minimizing funding disparities in tech by investing in high-potential founders who are People of Color, women, and/or LGBT. Started from scratch in 2015, Backstage has now raised more than $10 million and invested in more than 130 startup companies led by underestimated founders. In 2018 Arlan co-founded Backstage Studio which launched four accelerator programs for underestimated founders in Detroit, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and London. Arlan was featured on the cover of Fast Company magazine in October 2018 as the first Black woman non-celebrity to do so, and her new book "It's About Damn Time" shares powerful moments and insights from her incredible story. Her book, It’s About Damn Time (https://amzn.to/2WmeXk3), takes you behind the scenes of the many moments along her journey.You can find Arlan Hamilton at:Website : https://www.itsaboutdamntime.com/Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/arlanwashere/-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The incoming Academic Director and core faculty member at the Spirituality Mind Body Institute (SMBI), Teachers College, Columbia University, Dan Tomasulo holds a Ph.D. in psychology, MFA in writing, and a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. He authors the daily column, Ask the Therapist, as well as the Learned Hopefulness blog for PsychCentral.com, and developed the Dare to be Happy experiential workshops for Kripalu. His award-winning memoir, American Snake Pit tells of the first experimental group home releasing inmates from America’s most notorious asylum, Willowbrook. His most recent book, Learned Hopefulness, The Power of Positivity To Overcome Depression (https://amzn.to/2WuXKFc), is needed now more than ever. Even more amazing, before heading into the world of psychology and writing, Dan started his career in comedy and was hailed by the legendary Improv as one of four top comics alongside people like Robin Williams and Andy Kaufman.You can find Dr. Dan Tomasulo at:Website : https://www.dantomasulo.com/Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/drdantomasulo/-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Marta Zaraska is a Polish-Canadian science journalist who has written everywhere from the Washington Post, and Scientific American to New Scientist, the Atlantic, Discover, and more. Her articles and books have been turned into TV programs in the US, Spain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia, Bulgaria, Germany and Poland, and reprinted around the globe from Oman and Dubai to Australia and Singapore. She’s visited over 80 countries around the world and lived in six of them, reported from Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Nicaragua, India, Togo, Cameroon, and many other places and currently lives in a tiny French village with her husband and daughter. Marta’s new book, Growing Young: How Friendship, Optimism and Kindness Can Help You Live to 100 (https://amzn.to/2WkQdZs) is a research-driven case for why optimism, kindness, and strong social networks will keep us living longer than any fitness tracker or superfood. This is a conversation we need now more than ever.You can find Marta Zaraska at:Website : https://www.zaraska.com/Twitter : https://twitter.com/mzaraska-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Al Roker is a co-anchor of NBC’s Today, an Emmy-award winning journalist, and a New York Times bestselling author. He has been at NBC for 40 years and he's the celebrated host of the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. He is also a host on SiriusXM's Off the Rails and the owner of production company Al Roker Entertainment, Inc. He recently starred in Broadway's Waitress.What many people don’t know, though, is that Al is also an award-winning television producer and CEO of Al Roker Entertainment, Inc. For the past 26 years, his company has produced TV programs and digital content for network, cable, digital, and streaming channels including The Weather Channel, Science Channel, Nat Geo, Food Network, Discovery, TLC, NBC, CBS, among others, as well as commercials, and branded entertainment for a wide array of sponsors and non-profits. The recent ARE production, Side by Side, celebrated the frontline workers in NYC. Al Roker Entertainment helps brands forge deeper connections by producing social good content through traditional storytelling, docu-dramas, first-person narratives, and reality TV-inspired feel-good themes. And, Al is also a writer, his latest book, You Look So Much Better in Person, (https://amzn.to/3jcF9HI) is part memoir and advice-guide for crafting a rewarding career.You can find Al Roker at:Website : https://alrokerentertainment.com/al-roker/Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/alroker/-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a physician with specialties in addiction medicine and psychiatry who has spent her career focusing on stigma reduction and health equity, Nzinga Harrison is uniquely positioned to help people navigate the stress of current events including from opioid crisis and COVID to racial violence and systemic injustice and move from thinking to action with the goal of improving health and society. Dr. Harrison is the Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder of Eleanor Health, an innovative company who provides comprehensive outpatient care for individuals experiencing opioid and other substance use disorders. She also holds adjunct faculty appointments at the Morehouse School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry, is Co-Founder of Physicians for Criminal Justice Reform, Inc. and Campaign Psychiatrist for Let’s Get Mentally Fit, a public education and stigma-reduction campaign. As host of the In Recovery weekly podcast by Lemonada Media, she engages a large audience on all things addiction including drug addiction, but also other addictions, for example food, sex, gambling.You can find Dr. Harrison at:Website : https://www.eleanorhealth.com/In Recovery Podcast : https://www.lemonadamedia.com/show/in-recovery/-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This conversation is different, it’s actually two conversations recorded four-months apart. Be sure to keep listening after our guest, Nicholas Palmquist, answers what is usually my final question. The dialogue after is powerful.Palmquist is a dancer, teacher, and choreographer who has toured the world, performed and choreographed for stage, TV, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show, The Tonys, and feature films. Finding his way to NYC, Nicholas focused more on choreography and began teaching packed classes at the iconic Steps on Broadway studios. There, he'd eventually bring cameras into the studio to share the experience with a global community on Instagram, and introduce a sponsorship/patronage model that allowed people from all over the world to sponsor dancers who struggled to afford his class.Then, the pandemic hit. Everything shut down, including Nicholas' work. A few weeks in, he found himself, like so many others, awakening to the realities of racial injustice, violence, privilege, and protests. This led to a profoundly personal period of re-examination, along with a commitment to bring himself, his heart, mind, teaching, and sense of service and equality to the world in a very different way. I asked him to convene for a follow-up conversation, which we taped just last week and edited into this episode, so we could tell the fuller story of his evolution. You can find Nicholas Palmquist at: Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/napalmquist/-------------Have you discovered your Sparketype yet? Take the Sparketype Assessment™ now. IT’S FREE (https://sparketype.com/) and takes about 7-minutes to complete. At a minimum, it’ll open your eyes in a big way. It also just might change your life.If you enjoyed the show, please share it with a friend. Thank you to our super cool brand partners. If you like the show, please support them - they help make the podcast possible. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.