Good / True / & Beautiful | with Ashton Gustafson

In 2005, Shawn Askinosie left a successful career as a criminal defense lawyer to start a bean to bar chocolate factory and never looked back.Askinosie Chocolate is a small batch, award-winning chocolate factory located in Springfield, Missouri, sourcing 100% of their beans directly from farmers. The only chocolate maker working directly with cocoa farmers on four continents, Shawn travels to regions of Ecuador, the Philippines and Tanzania to source cocoa beans for his chocolate. This allows the chocolate to be traced to the source and labeled authentic single origin. It also enables Askinosie Chocolate to profit share with the farmers, giving them a “Stake In the Outcome,” a principle he learned from author/entrepreneur Jack Stack.Recently named by Forbes "One of the 25 Best Small Companies in America", Askinosie Chocolate has also been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, on Bloomberg, MSNBCand numerous other national and international media outlets.The Askinosie Chocolate mission is to serve their farmers, their neighborhood, their customers and each other, sharing the Askinosie Chocolate experience by leaving the world a better place than they found it. The company is currently sustainably feeding over 1,600 students per day in Tanzania and the Philippines, without any donations. Founded at the forefront of the American craft chocolate revolution and regarded by many as a vanguard in the industry, Askinosie Chocolate sets the standard: they are one of the few chocolate makers in the world who press their own cocoa butter (to make their chocolate truly single origin) and the only American craft chocolate maker to produce a natural cocoa powder; they were the first American craft chocolate makers to create white chocolate, as well as a chocolate hazelnut spread (says The New York Times: “one spoonful of Askinosie’s Chocolate Hazelnut Spread and all memory of Nutella is gone”).Shawn was named by O, The Oprah Magazine "One of 15 Guys Who Are Saving the World." They said, "Why we're fans: The philanthropically-minded chocolate entrepreneur aims to get students thinking about business ethics in a way that could have ripple effects for generations." For his efforts in "Advancing food standards... by creating social, economic, and environmental impact", Shawn was awarded Top Business Leader of the Year in 2013 by the Specialty Food Association. Shawn has been awarded honorary doctorates from University of Missouri-Columbia and Missouri State University. In 2015, Askinosie Chocolate was awarded a complimentary membership to the Clinton Global Initiative for the company’s social efforts around the world. Seth Godin, entrepreneur and author, recently praised the company's model: "[Shawn] has built a practice of creating a worthwhile luxury good that directly benefits people. Not sort of. Not a little. But directly.”Askinosie Chocolate has received 3 Good Food Awards, considered to be the Oscars of food; 6 silver awards from the Specialty Food Association; and 7 International Chocolate Awards, including the Gold World Award for the Dark Chocolate + Licorice bar. The small team at Askinosie works directly with all of their retailers and sells their chocolate into specialty food stores, luxury boutiques, and high-end grocery chains throughout the US in nearly all fifty states and across the globe.Shawn's book, recently released, co-written with his daughter Lawren, published by Penguin titled "Meaningful Work: The Quest To Do Great Business, Find Your Calling, and Feed Your Soul" is an Amazon #1 New Release. Read Seth Godin's review of the book here. He is a Family Brother at Assumption Abbey, a Trappist monastery near Ava, Missouri and the co-founder of Lost & Found, a grief center serving children and families in Southwest Missouri.

A discussion with epidemiologist Emily R. Smith, PhD.For more information go to https://www.facebook.com/friendlyneighborepidemiologist

Now Is the Way: An Unconventional Approach to Modern Mindfulness by Cory Allen

Justin Rosolino: Idiot, Sojourning Soul // Available February 29, 2020.

Morgan Harper Nichols is a writer, artist, and musician who makes her work around people and their stories.Morgan spent the first few years of her adult life as a college admission counselor, and then, as a full-time touring singer-songwriter and musician. It was on the road that she cultivated her curiosity and passion for the written word and art, and slowly began to share her art with others online.In 2017, Morgan started a project where she invites people to submit their stories to her website. From there, she creates art inspired by what they send her, and then, sends them the art, for free. Nearly everything Morgan creates and shares today is from this project, and she always keeps the names and stories anonymous. The fruit of this project is shared daily around social media, in publications, on murals, and more.As an artist, Morgan has been commissioned by and collaborated with publications and brands including Adobe, LiveNation, Aerie, Coach, Esquire Singapore, and more. She has been featured on social platforms for publications such as Teen Vogue, Refinery 29, Hello Giggles, and SoulPancake. As a writer, her debut book ‘Storyteller’ is a #1 Amazon Bestseller in Inspirational Poetry. Morgan is now a full time writer, artist, and musician, and travels to speak, teach, and perform. She is on the board of directors at TWLOHA (To Write Love on Her Arms).Morgan is originally from Atlanta, Ga. and she and her husband Patrick currently reside just a little south of Los Angeles in Orange County, Ca.

Seth Haines has experienced the grace that comes from a God who lives in mystery, who works through both joy and pain. Seth’s first book Coming Clean: A Story of Faith received a Christianity Today Award of Merit in the publication’s 2016 book awards. Seth’s poetry and prose has been featured in various publications, including In Touch Magazine, Fathom Magazine, Tweetspeak Poetry, and at SethHaines.com. He makes his home in the Ozarks with his wife, Amber Haines, and their four sons. His next book, The Book of Awakening, will be released January 7, 2020.Twitter: @sethhaines Instagram: @sethhaines