Electric Ladies Podcast (Joan Michelson)

“Women make up 80% or more of the garment industry workers. Women garment workers make meager wages and work excessive working hours, 14 to 16 hours a day…Fashion is ranked as the second most polluting business in the world by the UN, 7% of the landfill is garments. The garment industry emits 8 to 10% of global CO2 and 500,000 tons of micro plastics are dumped into oceans each year.” Joan Michelson at UN Climate Week SDG Media Zone

The fashion industry faces the twin problems of being an environmental disaster, and treating their majority female workforce very, very badly, even dangerously badly in many places. The good news is that some creative, determined, resourceful women are working on both challenges at once.

You’ll meet a few of them in this episode of Electric Ladies Podcast. It’s a live recording of Joan’s recent conversations with a few of these creative women who are creating and teaching sustainable fashion, while helping the women in their communities. It’s an event at the United Nations for Climate Week at the SDG Media Zone  sponsored by the PVBLIC Foundation and the Fashion Impact Fund.

You’ll hear about:

• How women in New York, Africa and India are finding ways to help other women learn, manufacture and sell sustainable fashion;
• Where they are securing the funding for their small businesses and nonprofits.
• How you can buy sustainable fashion and support the women working there.
• Plus, insightful career advice:

“I think one thing that we can talk about is buying less, right? Part of the problem is there's this like rampant over production. And so, if we buy fewer things, but nicer things and take care of them for longer, that would definitely I think help women. I think buying in general, from women owned businesses, buying locally, like community based. Those are ways that people can be more sustainable. And again, thinking about how to extend the life of your garments.” Ngozi Okaro on Joan’s UN Climate Week panel

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here.

You'll also like (some of these were recorded under our previous name, Green Connections Radio):

• Kerry Bannigan, Managing Director, PVBLIC Foundation, Co-Founder of UN Fashion and Lifestyle Network, Founder Conscious Fashion Campaign
• “Performing Our Femininity” – Joan’s talk at Parlay House DC on Sustainable Fashion
• How Fashion’s Marketing Machine can promote sustainability, Joan’s Forbes article
• Laura Jones, Celebrity stylist and Founder of Frontlash magazine, on sustainable fashion trends.
• Amina Razvi, CEO, Sustainable Apparel Coalition (was VP of Membership when this was recorded)
• 7 Career Tips For Women In Sustainable Fashion, Joan’s Forbes article

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Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability – featuring mostly women. Green Connections Radio helps you “live green, work green, earn green.” Great career advice too!

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Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with women innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Electric Ladies Podcast listeners requested that we air a collection of career advice from our various guests, and we heard you. Here’s our second collage of advice from five amazing women from different fields.  

The last question in each of our Electric Ladies Podcast episodes is asking for career advice, especially for midcareer women who want to make a difference.  Listeners reached out to us and asked us to publish an episode now and then that is only that advice, so we are doing just that.

This week, you’ll hear career advice from:

·       Erika Wollam-Nichols, President of famous music venue, The Bluebird Café in Nashville, TN

·       Genevieve Cullen, President of the Electric Drive Transportation Association

·       Trisa Thompson, former Chief Sustainability Officer of Dell Technologies

·       Kristen Siemen, Chief Sustainability Officer of General Motors

·       Karen Alonardo, former VP of ESG at Navex software (founder of ESG software company acquired by Navex)

Here’s a hint:

“I do think what's really valuable is to own your expertise. Know what you're good at and absolutely highlight it, monetize it, but don't be afraid to keep adding to it. Don't get stuck in a silo.…Just like, oh, this is where the industry is going and I should get smart about this. So, you have to always keep learning, adding to your skill set, particularly as it like reinforces the thing that you love.”

Genevieve Cullen on Electric Ladies podcast

 Read Joan’s Forbes articles here.

You’ll also want to listen to (some of these are under the name Green Connections Radio):

·       Erica Wollam-Nichols

·       Genevieve Cullen

·       Trisa Thompson

·       Kristen Siemen

·       Karen Alonardo

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“Scenario planning…is really about trying to think, what could the future look like? And, how can we adapt and prepare for whatever the future might hold? You do that by identifying what are the underlying drivers? What’s going to shape the future one way or the other?” 

Nardia Haigh on Green Connections Radio

The only thing certain is uncertainty – in our careers, our businesses, in preparing your community for the impact of climate change, or in our personal lives. So, how do we possibly prepare?

Dr. Nardia Haigh suggests using scenario planning, a methodology she described in seven steps to Green Connections Radio host Joan Michelson in this enlightening interview, that we can apply to any decisions, as she did in  her new book, Scenario Planning for Climate Change. She helps her students at the University of Massachusetts Boston apply it to their career decisions too.

You’ll hear – and want to take notes!:

• What the seven steps are and how to apply them to anything.
• Examples of scenario planning in real situations and different time horizons.
• How it helps you identify the factors you might otherwise miss in other decision-making processes.
• How to focus on what will matter most, no matter what happens.
• Insightful career advice too!

“Think about the recipients of your work….think about the impact your work is having on the families (for example), rather than just the task at hand.” Nardia Haigh on Green Connections Radio

Read Joan’s Forbes blog on Nardia’s planning system too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Rawlings Miller of WSP on developing a climate resilience plan for your community or business.

• Kathy Baughman McLeod of the new Atlantic Council Resilience Center, on climate resilience preparation.
• Katie Krimitsos, Biz Women Rock, on year-end business planning
  
  
• Rita Trehan, former head of HR at Honeywell, AES Energy Global, on career planning.

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“(T)here’s an enormous opportunity to talk about sustainability and environmentalism in a way that captures the imagination of an everyday consumer or an everyday fashion lover and find a way to make it exciting and interesting and accessible.“ Laura Jones on Green Connections Radio

Celebrity stylist Laura Jones found herself overwhelmed when she realized the field she had dedicated her career to was damaging the environment big time: fashion.  Then, she resolved to do something about it.

Listen to Laura describe her journey from celebrity stylist to sustainability advocate in this heartfelt interview with Joan Michelson on Green Connections Radio podcast. 

 Laura talks about:

·       How she got from stylist to sustainability advocate·       What the biggest issues are in addressing sustainability in fashion.·       How to “dress your values” and why it’s easier than you think.·       Why retailers and designers don’t talk about their sustainability efforts.·       Plus, unique career advice that reflects lessons from her own evolution.

“Ask a lot of questions, more than you think is acceptable. And, you should ask those questions of yourself…of your family….of everyone that you know or that knows someone in the field you want to go into.” Laura Jones on Green Connections Radio

Read my Forbes blogs about her magazine here and on her career advice here too..

You’ll also want to listen to:

Eileen Mockus CEO of Coyuchi, eco-bedding and linens company.Jessica Schreiber, CEO of Fabscrap, on how fabric “scraps” can be used.Karla Macgruder, CEO of Fabrikology, on how recycled and sustainable fabrics are made in the first place.Amina Razvi, VP of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition on how fabrics are made, recycled and reused.Thank you for subscribing to Green Connections on iTunes or iHeartRadio and leaving us a review!

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Happy International Women’s Day!  We’ve taken the proverbial three steps forward and two steps back recently, when it comes to women’s advancement.

Women have made great strides in the private sector, including being CEO of four top Fortune 500 STEM-related companies: Ginny Rometty at IBM, Mary Barra at General Motors, Marillyn Hewson at Lockheed Martin, and Ursula Burns at Xerox.

Yet, most women are still stuck in middle management quicksand and looking for answers on how to advance their careers. It’s about managing our choices big and small, and managing moments, time and priorities.

To help us wrestle these issues – especially for International Women’s Day! – is Ashley Milne-Tyte whose voice may sound familiar when you listen to Green Connections Radio host Joan Michelson’s fascinating and witty interview with her. Ashley is an established broadcast journalist who has been reporting for “Marketplace” and the BBC and others for years. Ashley recently launched her own podcast “about women, the workplace and success,” aptly called, “The Broad Experience.”

You’ll hear Joan and Ashley discuss:

• What “success” really means, especially for women.
• Managing expectations.
• What to trade-off, such as living in an expensive city to be close to opportunities.
• How women generally make decisions.
• Tips for making choices.

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“We asked the Forest Stewardship Council to go on the ground and do the whole certification process, just like they do for paper…Then they're following that rubber throughout the chain of custody all the way through to the factory here in Georgia….and we have just produced the first FSC certified tire.” Maureen Kline on Electric Ladies Podcast

The transportation sector is transforming, from GM’s announcement that they are eliminating gas engines by 2030, to Ford’s announcement this week about going all EV, to the massive legislation moving through Congress now to rebuild our transportation infrastructure.

All those vehicles still need tires, though, and rubber is still an environmental challenge. How to balance safety with environmental protection? Pirelli Tires thinks they have found a solution – and these new tires are “smart” as well as sustainable. How?

Listen to Maureen Kline, head of sustainability for Pirelli Tires explain it to host Joan Michelson on Electric Ladies podcast.  

You’ll hear:

• How Pirelli is using outside sources like the Forest Stewardship Council to help them make sustainable tires in a credible and responsible way.
• What “smart tires” are, how they work, and how they keep passengers safer than “normal” tires do.
• How Maureen got Pirelli to include an option in the company’s 401K plan options to invest according to ESG criteria.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“I think what's really important is to gain knowledge of sustainability and weave it into every career… Use all possible, learning opportunities, whether it's online courses, listening to your podcast, reading, and just get your overall sustainability education in order. And then you can really start diving into how to make what you do, more sustainability focused.”

Maureen Kline on Electric Ladies podcast

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Jennifer Gerbi, Deputy Director and Acting Director, ARPA-E, Dept. of Energy
• Anne Kelly, Ceres, on the role of the business community in the clean energy transition
• Lisa Jacobson, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, on the impact of covid on energy and transitioning to a clean energy economy
• Margaret Lewis, New Flyer electric buses

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“We're ceding ground to China, which has become everyone's favorite punching bag. Whether Democrat or Republican, both sides are beating up on China. Meanwhile, China is saying, ‘Okay, we'll make all your solar panels, electric and autonomous vehicles,’ because they see the financial opportunities. It's past time for the U.S. and our politicians to step out of their corners and come together – this is the greatest crisis we will ever face.”

Chelsea Henderson on Electric Ladies Podcast

Political polarization may have stifled discussions on the climate, but Mother Nature doesn’t ask what party you’re in before wiping out your community with a hurricane, tornado or wildfire. In addition, 80% of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding has gone to Republican districts – which also happen to have some of the highest potential for economic development through clean energy. At least 18 House Republicans even urged Speaker Mike Johnson not to cut clean energy tax credits in their districts because of the economic growth spurred by these investments.

What does the conservative answer to climate change look like? Listen to Chelsea Henderson, Director of Editorial Content at RepublicEn, a non-profit organization that provides a safe space for conservatives to have open discussions about climate change and related solutions. She also has extensive experience on Capitol Hill working for Republican senators, as well as the National Wildlife Federation and The Nature Conservancy, and wrote the extraordinary best-selling book “Glacial: The inside story of climate politics.” 

You’ll hear about:

• Bridging the partisan divide on climate policy.
• The economic opportunities and benefits of investing in clean energy and climate resilience in Republican-led states.
• The longstanding history of GOP presidents and candidates who have championed climate action – and the need for courageous lawmakers who do so today.
• How climate-related disasters and personal experiences spur engagement on climate issues, regardless of political affiliation.
• The role of effective messaging and messengers in engaging the conservative community on climate change.
• Plus, valuable career advice, especially for considering a career pivot.

"Playing into your interests and strengths is important. It’s become a bit of a cliché to say, ‘Do what you love, and everything will fall into place,’ because it’s not that easy. I try not to say no to opportunities. Instead, I try to say yes more and engage with other women, because women are incredible at supporting one another. Leaning into that support system – hearing about the pitfalls, the challenges, what was hard, what was easy – is invaluable.

“For me, writing Glacial was a turning point. I’ve always loved writing, and that’s how I transitioned from being a lobbyist to more of a messenger. I thought, ‘I know a lot about climate change, and I’m a good writer. How can I build a career around that?’ That mindset helped shape my path.”

Chelsea Henderson on Electric Ladies Podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here.

You’ll also like:

• Dr. Stephanie Hare, researcher, broadcaster and author, on harnessing AI for climate action.
• Jennifer Hough, on connecting through curiosity to build bridges across the divide and find constructive solutions.
• Daniella Ortega, Director of “Carbon: An Unauthorized Biography”, on how to communicate climate messages in stories.
• Jill Tidman from The Redford Center on how we can talk about the climate while ensuring a balanced narrative.
• Michelle Wyman, the National Council for Science and the Environment, about how to talk about science with lawmakers. (recorded under Green Connections Radio)
• Erin McLaughlin, Senior Economist, The Conference Board, about her new report on buildings, climate change and carbon emissions.

More from Electric Ladies Podcast!

Join us at The Earth Day Women’s Summit on April 22, 2025, in Dallas, Texas! Register today with the code “EDWS” for a special rate. 

Elevate your career with expert coaching and ESG advisory with Electric Ladies Podcast. Unlock new opportunities, gain confidence, and achieve your career goals with the right guidance.

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Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability – featuring mostly women. Green Connections Radio helps you “live green, work green, earn green.”

Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability – featuring mostly women. Green Connections Radio helps you “live green, work green, earn green.”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The march that we have seen in businesses taking on climate commitments has been one of those forcing functions to bring the data related to buildings front and center (because buildings account for 40% of greenhouse gas emissions) ….There is a whole heck of a lot of inefficiency to cut out of those buildings. And so, as we think of the enormity of the climate challenge, buildings are that rare space that actually taking action cash flows is accretive to your bottom line because you're cutting out a whole lot of waste that otherwise there's just a burden on your bottom line.”  Katie McGinty on Electric Ladies Podcast

Buildings are 40% of greenhouse gas emissions, so they are paramount to addressing the climate challenge. But how? It’s complicated. Buildings are complex ecosystems with tons of regulations to meet because of how central they are to our well-being and safety.

Listen to Katie McGinty, Chief Sustainability Officer of Johnson Controls in this fascinating conversation with Electric Ladies podcast host Joan Michelson.  Johnson Controls has played a central role managing our workplace environments for over 140 years.

You’ll hear:

• The impact of covid on buildings and how that has affected carbon management programs.
• How buildings are managed and equipped to improve their performance and reduce costs, including by integrating various systems that were previously isolated.
• How the centrality of the workplace in retaining top talent has affected building infrastructures as much as climate commitments have.
• The impact of the Infrastructure Investment Act and Inflation Reduction Act
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“At the end of the day, what matters is relationships. And if you have a choice to produce a good, even if not immaculate PowerPoint or presentation, whatever it is…take a risk of walking it around to a couple of people and say, ‘I'd really love your feedback on this.’ Take the time and maybe get out of your comfort zone to build those relationships. The other thing (is)… amplify… Make it a point of saying, ‘Sue just said X, Sue, I actually thought that was pretty interesting. Could you say a few more words about that?’… I think we can help our colleagues come into the game if we reinforce the foot they have put forward and we open the door for them to be able to express themselves more fully.” Katie McGinty on Electric Ladies podcast

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Lauren Salz, CEO of Sealed, on how heat pumps reduce energy costs and emissions of buildings.
• Pamela Conrad, CEO of Climate Positive Designs, landscape architect and professor at Harvard
• Sarah Golden, VP of Energy at Greenbiz, on geothermal energy as clean, renewable power.
• Heather Boushey, Member of the National Council of Economic Advisors in the White House and Chief Economist of the Invest in America Cabinet
• Elizabeth Thompson, VP of the U.S. Green Building Council on whether “green” buildings are safe. (Note: This was recorded under the previous name of the show, Green Connections Radio.)

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“On the supply side, we work with project developers who are standing up projects all around the world. Um, anything ranging from nature-based solutions to some of the more, uh, sort of frontier engineered technologies that you might have heard of, like direct air capture…and list their inventory on our platform to sell the carbon credits that they're generating through those projects. And then on the demand side, we work with corporations to enable the purchase of vetted carbon credits via our platform.” Lucy Hargreaves on Electric Ladies Podcast

Managing carbon in the air is job one to keep the planet from heating over 1.5 degrees. There are many ways to do that, and the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report and many others, found that to do so, we need to both stop adding carbon emissions to the air and extract carbon from the air. This requires massive innovation and risk. One company thinks they can help expedite the process by creating a kind of “Airbnb for carbon credits.” Huh?

Listen to Lucy Hargreaves, head of Climate Policy at Patch, to find out about it in this enlightening interview on Electric Ladies Podcast with host Joan Michelson.

You’ll hear:

• What carbon credits are and how they work.
• The kinds of projects that Patch is discovering doing this innovation work and leveraging carbon credits to help fund it.
• How to tell when carbon credits are a strategy by a company trying to avoid reducing their emissions.
• How to talk climate science and policy to lawmakers so they understand it and act on it.
• Plus, insightful career advice such as….:

“The first thing I think is just like, be really clear on what your goals are. Really think about why are you doing what you're doing, what motivates you? Um, and, and just get some clarity around that…(and) be extremely opportunistic and don't be afraid to take risks….(M)ost of my opportunities that I've had have came from me putting my hand up, taking a chance, doing something that feels scary and terrifying, but that is aligned to my core goal and mission of working on climate and sustainability.”

Lucy Hargreaves on Electric Ladies podcast

You’ll also want to listen to: (some might be recorded under our previous name, Green Connections Radio)

·       Pamela Conrad, Landscape architect, on using the exterior built environment to reduce carbon emissions.

·       Kristina Wyatt, SVP of Persefoni and former leader of the SEC task force developing the climate risk disclosure rules that will be finalized shortly.

·       Natalie Jaresko, former Finance Minister of Ukraine, on the hidden power of ESG

·       Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”

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“These women have had networks and support structures and other kinds of community support that helped them get there in spite of an uphill battle….For men, the narrative is that they made it on their own. We downplay the role that mentorship played in (men's) making their way into a leadership role.” Heather Metcalf on Green Connections Radio

“Research has repeatedly demonstrated that diverse teams, especially in leadership, outperform homogenous teams in innovation, research quality, decision-making, and complex thinking and bolster their organization’s financial success,” according to the new research from the Association of Women in Science (AWIS). Yet, the statistics on women in leadership are pathetic, especially in STEM (e.g., only 6.6% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women).

Listen to Heather Metcalf, Chief Research officer of AWIS on their new research on practical tips for organizations to have more women in STEM leadership in this engaging conversation with Green Connections Radio host Joan Michelson   

You’ll hear:

·      What we can learn from women who made it to the top.

·      Usable suggestions for your organization to diminish the obstacles to women in leadership.

·      How to align your professional development programs to help women advance.

·      How broadening which organizations you partner with matters – and drives innovation.

·      Career advice and, so much more!

·      “Remember what your goals are, what your values are, what you are hoping to achieve,” she insisted, “and to let those guide you to where you need to be. Each person is the one who is the best judge of what they can handle, and what it is they really want to feel satisfied in their careers.” Heather Metcalf on Green Connections Radio

You’ll also want to listen to:

·      Kristin Haffert, Mine The Gap diversity training firm, on new research on why women leave jobs before they are promoted.

·      Laura Liswood, Diversity & Inclusion expert, Secretary General of the Council of Women World Leaders

·      Mary Lee Gannon, CEO of a multimillion dollar healthcare foundation and executive coach, on maximizing a multigenerational workforce.

·      Rainia Washington, VP, Global head of Diversity and Inclusion at Lockheed on innovating with purpose.

·      Go for the Outliers, Read Joan’s Forbes blog on hiring people who don’t “fit in.”

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“What I think is really interesting is how do we get PPPs out there, public private partnerships, where we bring in also the investment community from the beginning, so that we can truly shift the capital where it needs to go in order to reduce our impact.” That’s from Sandrine Dixson, Co-President of the Club of Rome.” Sandrine Dixson on Electric Ladies Podcast

Covid demonstrated how to get things done for all of us a lot faster: create partnerships. Co-opetition between competitors. Partnering with nations. Pooling resources, whether transporting patients to hospitals with space for them, or funding allocated for one thing moved to pandemic mitigation. We need to do the same thing, argues Sandrine Dixson, Co-President of the Club of Rome, a European-based influential organization of global leaders, including former heads of state, CEOs of major multinationals and leading foundations, and top scientists.

Listen to Sandrine explain the new model of public-private partnerships we need to tackle climate change and birth the net-zero economy to Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson in this fascinating conversation. Sandrine has deep experience seeing these partnerships at work, including in her work as Director of the Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group and the EU office of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.

You’ll hear about:

• Why Sandrine thinks unusual partnerships are critical to get us to a net zero economy.
• What the United Nations can and should do to seize this moment when truly all the world’s nations need to come together to save our shared planet.
• The unique role women play at this moment.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“Women need to have more confidence in what they can deliver and to take those risks and to go for those jobs, even though they may not have 100% of the criteria that's necessary because what happens most of the time, women over-deliver, and…work with women, work with men, continue to develop our own capacities.” Sandrine Dixson on the Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s related Forbes articles here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Gillian Tett, Financial Times, from COP26, about what the new financial alliance means for a net zero economy.
• Kristen Sullivan, Deloitte Sustainability & Supply Chain practice, on companies “doing” ESG, and the supply chain.
• Lisa Jacobson, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, on the impact of covid on energy and transitioning to a clean energy economy
• Anne Kelly, VP of Government Relations at nonprofit Ceres, which helps businesses and policy come together for the planet and people, as well as the economy
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”

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“There's a few reasons why a building owner might want to electrify their building and get heat pumps. One is that it is a better experience for the people who are living in those units. It's really, really quiet. it's healthier, it's safer…and then secondly, there should be less maintenance cost over time. Just having one system that's really efficient.” Lauren Salz on Electric Ladies Podcast

Heat pumps are suddenly getting a spotlight. Between big financial incentives for them in the new U.S. Inflation Reduction Act's climate provisions, Germany's ramp up of these pumps to help manage the cold winter as Germany stops using Russian oil and gas, and even Consumer Reports doing a "heat pumps buying guide," you might wonder what heat pumps are and how they can help mitigate climate change.

Enter Lauren Salz, Co-Founder and CEO of Sealed, an innovative heat pump company that helps homeowners reduce their energy bills. Listen to Lauren explain how these work and more in this engaging conversation with host Joan Michelson on Electric Ladies Podcast.

You’ll hear:

• How heat pumps work, including how they reduce energy bills.
• What financial incentives are out there to reduce the cost of installing heat pumps in your home or apartment building or commercial building.
• How Sealed works to help homeowners and property managers find the right heat and air conditioning systems for their budget and buildings (HVACs), including questions to ask.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“Career women who are looking to progress in their career (should) really be raising your hand for opportunities and letting people know at work that here's where you want to be heading and you're looking for help and advice on how to get there.…Because…sometimes people can kind of get stuck a little bit in middle management, and the way to progress is to let people know that you are ambitious and you want to keep on progressing in your career and you want to know specifically how you can go and do that.”

Lauren Salz on Electric Ladies podcast

You’ll also want to listen to: (some might be recorded under our previous name, Green Connections Radio)

• Jennifer Gerbi, Ph.D., Deputy Director and Acting Director, ARPA-E of the U.S. Dept. of Energy (Advanced Projects Research Agency, for Energy), on innovating energy solutions

• Halla Hrund Logadottir, Head of Iceland’s National Energy Authority, on how that country achieved 85% renewable energy.
• Meredyth Crichton, head of the Dominion Energy Innovation Center at Clemson University, on wind power.
• Rasha Hasaneen, head of Innovation at what is now Trane Technologies, formerly Ingersoll Rand, on innovation HVAC systems and related products
• Katie Pavlovsky, head of Energy, Resources and Industrials at Deloitte

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“It’s our responsibility when we take the stage to understand that we’re going to affect people, we’re going to make change….And if you pull back in any way, you are missing that opportunity to…change that one life.”  Tricia Brouk on Green Connections Radio

As President-Elect Joe Biden prepares to give his inaugural address after being sworn is as the 46th President of the United States, let’s listen again to one of the most renowned speaking coaches on how to give a great speech. It’s a skill that is crucial to career success today, whether you have to do it virtually or when events and conventions are resumed in-person.

Listen to Tricia Brouk, former long-time producer of TEDxLincolnCenter in New York City, on how to connect with your audience and move people in a positive way, in this remarkable interview with Green Connections Radio host Joan Michelson.

You'll hear:

• How to take the stage with confidence.
• How to build trust with your audience.
• How to identify what to talk about, including in pitching a TEDx Talk.
• Why practice, practice and more practice matters.
• Why you need to vet the organizers as much as they vet you.
• Great career advice, especially for creative people… and much more!

Read my Forbes blog on my interview with Tricia and my own public speaking tips too.

You'll want to check out these interviews too:

• Jennifer Wisdom, psychologist, author and speaker, on managing office politics.
• Mary Lee Gannon, CEO & Executive Coach, on building an executive career and executive presence.
• Jennifer Palmieri, former Communications Director for President Obama and Hillary Clinton, on women in leadership
• Joann Lublin, WSJ Management News Editor on success tips from top women CEOs
• Joan’s Forbes blog of speaker tips from Emceeing a corporate gala at Lincoln Center recently.

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Famous Music Venue Goes Sustainable - Erika Wollam-Nichols, The Bluebird Café

“We have staff members who are very, very conscious of sustainability. One of our servers does our recycling…and we've had to really step into how can we find space for those kind of things, even composting…because obviously we have food waste, but our kitchen is not much bigger than the bathroom here.…I would also add that we…. found a local partner here in town (for the merchandise) who prints in town and buys local and buys national product so that we're able to feel like we're building community… with all of that too.”

Erika Wollam-Nichols on Electric Ladies Podcast

As you venture out for live performances, including music, you might notice which ones are practicing sustainability, like the renowned Bluebird Café in Nashville, Tennessee. It’s a woman-founded and women-led venue that has launched a who’s-who of country music stars from Taylor Swift to Garth Brooks and beyond.

Listen to Bluebird Café president Erika Wollam-Nichols explain how they do sustainability – and the history of the club – in this live interview at the Bluebird on Electric Ladies Podcast with host Joan Michelson.

You’ll hear:

• How Erika brought her Massachusetts-born passion for sustainability to this landmark in Nashville.
• How they have solved a range of challenges in going green in such a small and historic venue.
• Who has played there over the years and why it’s such a special place for songwriters.
• Plus, insightful career advice.

And much more!

“What I think about in those situations is listening and paying attention….When I came in here and, and just spent time looking around and talking to the staff and just seeing where are the holes, where are the opportunities?....I want to keep a positive attitude and be solution-based as opposed to victim-based….We were closed for 16 months for the pandemic…But that was like, okay. So what's our opportunity with the pandemic? And, and we found some, and we changed some of our operations that we would not have had an easy time changing.”

Erika Wollam-Nichols on Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here.

You’ll also want to listen to (some of these are under the name Green Connections Radio):

• Sandra Bargman & Chantal Bilodeau, The Climate Cabaret: on inspiring action through storytelling
• Ann Friedman, CEO/Founder of Planet Word Museum, on transforming an historic building sustainably with purpose.
• Deborah Rutter, President of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, on building a new arts facility sustainably and on managing creative people
• Tracy Edwards, Captain of Maiden and co-executive producer of the documentary “Maiden” about her historic voyage as the first all-female crew in the Whitbread Round the World Race.

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“What's interesting about the ESG data, when you start to collect just the greenhouse gas, it's all surveys, it's all subjective information that you're collecting on a monthly basis. So, I think… the more questions you ask and the more data you're asking for and get to retrieve, and then collect, I think, starts to mold… your decision making ability."

Bridget Hughes on Electric Ladies Podcast

 If you think you aren’t affected by the massive economic shift towards ESG – environment, social and governance – then think again.  Whether you’re a small business doing business with large companies, or want to, OR a large company subject to SEC regulations, OR a leader in either of those, or an investor, you’ll need to have your ESG tracking and reporting systems in place. How?

Listen to Bridget Hughes of Donnelley Financial Solutions in this fascinating interview with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson.

You’ll hear:

• How what industry you’re in matters.
• Their five points strategy for starting on the ESG journey
• How to make sense of the different ESG-related standards
• Plus, insightful career advice.

And much more!

“I think you want to go into something where, um, you you'll always be able to serve a purpose… I think women really need to be aware that things are going to happen in life and you should be prepared to be able to support yourself….But also do what you enjoy to do. Don't stay in a job because you think you have to stay in a job, but just make sure that you are leaving yourself options and doing what you like to do but still making a difference.“ Bridget Hughes on Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here.

You’ll also want to listen to (some of these are under the name Green Connections Radio):

• Joan Michelson on Eisner Amper’s “Fast Forward” podcast about “Why ESG Matters.
• Janet Gail Besser, Smart Electric Power Alliance, on their 5-point plan to get to net zero in any industry
• Kristen Sullivan, Deloitte Sustainability Practice lead, on the transformation and ESG
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”

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Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability – featuring mostly women. Green Connections Radio helps you “live green, work green, earn green.”

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Did you know the U.S. Dept. of Defense is the largest energy consumer on the planet -- and the Army is the largest one in the federal government?

The Army’s Net Zero Initiative’s goal is to reduce its total energy and water use to “net zero,” and to reduce waste in landfills to net zero too. So how do this-- and how well is it working?

Listen to this fascinating and engaging discussion with the person in charge of it: The Honorable Katherine Hammack, Assistant Secretary for Energy, Installations and Environment.

What can we learn?

• Which strategy has already reduced water usage by 23%?
• What about DOD budget cuts?
• How does it affect national security and performance?
• Opportunities for the private sector?

To put this in perspective, think about this: The U.S. Army spent $4.8 billion on energy total in 2012, and runs the equivalent of 152 small cities.

This episode is also available in video on electricladies.com and on YouTube.

Thank you for subscribing to Electric Ladies on Apple Podcasts, and reviewing and rating us as well.

Questions? Comments? Follow us at @joanmichelson or on our Facebook page.

Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability – featuring mostly women. Green Connections Radio helps you “live green, work green, earn green.”

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Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability – featuring mostly women. Green Connections Radio helps you “live green, work green, earn green.”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 “The Covid-19 pandemic has created the biggest shock to the global energy system since at least World War II…Renewables are the only energy source that will grow in 2020.”

David Turk, International Energy Agency Testifying on Capitol Hill June 2020

We could not get through this pandemic – or run our national or global economies – without energy. Literally. Energy kept hospitals taking care of patients, kept essential services like grocery stores and pharmacies open, kept first responders equipped to respond and transport patients to medical care and communities.  Yet, the energy sector is reeling under the weight of this pandemic, with travel at a complete standstill and offices and businesses shuttered.

Yet, clean energy is a bright spot, even though it’s also lost 600,000 jobs in this crisis. Listen to this fascinating discussion with Lisa Jacobson, president of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) on Green Connections Radio podcast on how a silver lining in this crisis may be the critical clean energy innovation coming out of it.

You’ll hear:

• How clean energy is a bright spot in this crisis, even as it takes a hit economically.
• Why this pandemic-economic crisis is driving much-needed clean energy innovation and infrastructure.
• Creative, bipartisan legislation that could ramp up these changes and help us keep the clean air and water we’ve seen during this pandemic.
• Steps you can take in your own world today – including voting for candidates across government in every election, including the presidency, who support clean energy and the environment.
• Plus, important career advice from a woman proving that you can make a difference and do well at the same time…. and more.

“Go for it! Do your research on organizations, share your passion and be persistent. (Renewable energies) are the growth sectors.”

Lisa Jacobson on Green Connections Radio podcast

Read my article on these issues in Forbes here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Katie Mehnert, CEO of Pink Petro, organization of women in energy.
• Lynn Abramson, Clean Energy Business Network (a division of BCSE) on small business and energy needs and policy.
• Rachel Gutter, President of the International Well Building Institute, on questions to ask before you go back into your workplace.
• Michelle Wyman, Executive Director of National Council of Science and the Environment on how to talk to policymakers about science to keep science in policy decisions.

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“For anything to happen on a grand scale, we need to have culture supported… Artists are good at planting these seeds, putting the stories out there and for anybody. The key is repetition. So, if you encounter a certain story, certain type of story in the music you listen to, in the articles that you read, in the billboard that you see or the murals that you see when you walk down the street at some point, it creates a frame that you can start to live in and the changes become something that is natural.” Chantal Bilodeai on Electric Ladies Podcast

How do we reach the “unconverted” – those who do not yet take the threat of climate change seriously? Maybe culture has some answers, because stories, music, art…culture…touches us in ways nothing else does. This is a critical and timely conversation many of us communications leaders had at the Sun Valley Forum recently too.

How do we leverage them to help us talk about the weather differently, as I wrote in Forbes recently? Listen to Sandra Bargman and Chantal Bilodeau, who created, produced and performed the “Earth Intention: A Climate Cabaret,” on Electric Ladies Podcast in this reply of this powerful and inspiring conversation with host Joan Michelson.  

You’ll hear:

• Why culture is vital to massive social, political and economic change.
• How music and the arts move people through “hope.”
• How to communicate climate messages in stories without being preachy or awkward
• About using the arts to reach people who may not naturally “get” the climate message, or who may be overwhelmed.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“It's never too late to pivot. I think people who are mid-career, women particularly, we always feel like, ‘oh, my time was then,’ (but) it is never too late to pivot…And the other thing that reflects my career is, don't feel as though you have to pick one lane. You can pick more than one lane and both of those lanes or more can be successful.”

Sandra Bargman on Electric Ladies podcast

Read my articles in Forbes about how we talk about the weather, and about developing a new narrative for the climate effort.

You’ll also want to listen to (some may have been recorded under our previous name, Green Connections Radio):

• Deborah Rutter, President, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts – on managing creative people.
• Ann Friedman, Creator and CEO, Planet Word Museum – on her new museum about the magic of language
• Tracy Edwards, Executive Producer of the documentary “Maiden” about her experience developing and Captaining the first all-female crew to run the Whitbread Round the World Yachting Race.
• Dayna Reggero, Executive Producer of The Climate Listening Project, short films about community climate activists around the U.S.
• Kerry Bannigan, CEO of Fashion Impact Fund and Conscious Fashion Campaign – including reaching women in rural areas across the fashion industry supply chain

·       Sandrine Dixson, Co-president of the Club of Rome (global leaders) – on the need for a new economic model that puts people and planet ahead of profit.

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“I'm very concerned about what's happening to the planet, but I also see the private sector really stepping up…the Biden administration is doing a great deal, especially having just come from COP26. And I interface with people every day who are in the business world doing this work and in big ways and small ways. And now that we have the convergence of the SEC developing reporting criteria to measure climate risk and provide standardized transparency, holding people accountable.”

Joan Michelson on Matt Schlegel’s Leadership Show

The United Nations International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released today paints a dire picture of where the planet is headed if we do not take action, and fast, to avert climate catastrophe from a warming planet.  In the face of that news, it’s important to evaluate the state of the climate change movement today.

Listen to Electric Ladies Podcast host Joan Michelson on Matt Schlegel’s Leadership show give her assessment of what the private sector is doing to help address and mitigate climate change.

You’ll hear:

• What the private sector is investing to mitigate and reduce the effects of climate change.
• What ESG is and why it matters.
• How ESG is a business strategy today, not just an investment strategy.
• Plus, insightful career advice, like how you can help save the planet in your current role, even if it’s not directly and environmental role.

And much more!

“You probably can do something in your job, or through your company, that will help you give a voice to that desire to make a difference. If they don't have a green club or a sustainability club, you can start one, or get more involved in recycling, get more involved in volunteer work…or go do your go research on what the firm is doing,…and say.… I'd like to be doing more in this space to be making more of a difference. And the worst that happens is they say no and nothing.’

Joan Michelson on Matt Schlegel’s Show

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here.

You’ll also want to listen to (some of these are under the name Green Connections Radio):

• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”
• Kristen Sullivan, Deloitte Sustainability & Supply Chain practice, on companies “doing” ESG, and the supply chain.
• Keefe Harrison, The Recycling Partnership, on making recycling more effective and reliable, one community at a time.
• Gillian Tett, Financial Times, from COP26, about what the new financial alliance means for a net zero economy.

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“Wind and solar are crushing fossil fuels,” according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance on April 6, 2016. How is this happening? Transformative innovation.

One of the transformational leaders is Jennifer Baird, CEO of Accio Energy who Green Connections host Joan Michelson spoke with in this fascinating interview from the ARPA-E Innovation Summit.  Their innovative, blade-free wind technology was awarded $4.5 million by ARPA-E in November 2015. And, it’s less expensive. Listen and be inspired to think differently as Joan talks with Baird about it – and about leading transformation.

Thanks for subscribing to Green Connections on iTunes and for leaving us a review.

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Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability – featuring mostly women. Green Connections Radio helps you “live green, work green, earn green.”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability – featuring mostly women. Green Connections Radio helps you “live green, work green, earn green.” 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Corporate America has a very important role to play in this transition. They have the resources, they have the talent, and they are being nudged by their customers, their employees, even their suppliers, their investors, and obviously regulators to do this work. They know it's the right thing to do…Just as a quick thing to think about is it used to be that the people who were in sustainability were kind of on the sidelines…Now their talent is being tapped into the C-suite because it's like, wait a minute, we don't have a choice. We have to do this. And now we have the regulators and we have the SEC. And so that talent is actually has a more center stage.” Joan Michelson on “Doing Sustainability” podcast

How do we “do” sustainability? What role does the Corporate sector play in this fight against global warming? Where do the resources and strategies to do it come from?

Listen to Electric Ladies Podcast host Joan Michelson as a guest on “Doing Sustainability” with host Gary Baker, a branding expert also focused on the sustainability space. It was fun for Joan to be interviewed for a change, so have a listen and let us know what you think.

You’ll hear:

• Integrating sustainability into business strategy
• How to embrace the demand for transparency and accountability to build trust with the markets
• The magic of partnerships, internal ones and external ones
• Figuring out how your business can leverage the ESG economy to achieve its own goals.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“When I'm doing coaching with people for their own careers, it's about what parts of you do you want to give a voice to? And a company is the same thing. In branding it's a personality, right? And so it's what do you want to put forward first? …And what parts of that portfolio of what you do are most relevant today? What's the intersection between what you do well, where the marketplace is and the message you really want to get across? And it's in that Venn diagram is where the magic is.” Joan Michelson on “Doing Sustainability”

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Katie McGinty, Chief Sustainability Officer of Johnson Controls on the vital role of buildings in combatting climate change.
• Evelyne Saelens, ESG Advisory Lead at UL Solutions on “mobilize, measure and manage” ESG initiatives and outcomes.
• Mary Morrissey, famed author and coach, on the power of “Brave Thinking” and what it really is.
• Heather Grady, Vice President of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, on leveraging philanthropy to drive results.
• Heather Boushey, Member of the National Council of Economic Advisors in the White House and Chief Economist of the Invest in America Cabinet

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Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with women innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability.

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Listen to then-Time magazine correspondent Jay Newton-Small on her fascinating best-selling book, "Broad Influence: How Women Are Changing the Way America Works," in this exclusive interview on Electric Ladies Podcast (recorded under the previous show name, Green Connections Radio). 

She talks about women in leadership, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and many other high-powered women who she interviewed for this book.

Thanks for listening to Electric Ladies Podcast and please subscribe to listen to all 370+ episodes with amazing women!

Geothermal Energy 101 – Sarah Golden, Greenbiz VP of Energy

“Geothermal very broadly put, is just the collection of energy from the heat that comes from the earth's core. And so it's, it's tapped into by just going to underground reservoirs and capturing some of that heat. There's a couple of broad categories I'd like to split geothermal into from the outset, and that's geothermal for electricity generation versus geothermal for direct heat applications. And so primarily with geothermal and electricity generation, it is done through drilling into the earth's crust and tapping into either dry steam… or flash steam…and using that to turn a turbine to generate electricity. The other form in direct applications is usually just tapping into the ground to do some sort of heat pump where it's primarily used for heating buildings or heating water.” Sarah Golden on Electric Ladies Podcast

The new trifecta of federal legislation – the Inflation Reduction Act, the Infrastructure Investment Act and the CHIPS and Science Act – include a range of funding for alternative energy sources, one of which is geothermal. But most people don’t know what geothermal is, so today we’ll find out.

Listen to Sarah Golden, VP of Energy at Greenbiz – who traveled with Joan to Iceland last year in part to explore their geothermal energy – in this fascinating discussion with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson. 

You’ll hear about:

• How geothermal works.
• How geothermal energy gets to the grid to provide electricity.
• How Iceland became a country run on 85% renewable energy, in part by using geothermal energy.
• How the by-products from geothermal energy companies in Iceland are being used by other companies in a truly circular economy.
• Plus, insightful career advice, such as…

“What's top of mind for me right now is, around recognizing the finite nature of what you are able to do and the way the sort of obsession that our jobs have and the way our economy is set up for productivity and churning things out…….So what I'm working on right now, and I would encourage other people to do, is to respect our finite nature, not buy into the never ending cycle of hustle culture and be thoughtful about where you really want to spend your time and design your work and personal life to make space for that without trying to please everyone else.” Sarah Golden on Electric Ladies Podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here too.

You'll also like:

• “Begga” Olafsdottir, CEO of ONPower, geothermal plant & second largest energy company in Iceland, which captures CO2 also.
  
• Halla Hrund Logadottir, Director-General, Iceland’s National Energy Authority, on how the country has become 85% renewable energy.
• Birta Kristin Helgadottir, Director of Green By Iceland, on their unique business parks that are each circular economies.
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”
• Kathryn Pavlovsky, Deloitte Energy, Resources & Industrials, on the energy transformation and ESG
• Jennifer Gerbi, Ph.D., Deputy Director and Acting Director, ARPA-E, the innovation arm of the Department of Energy

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Every new presidential administration brings a transition to new priorities - this time, it's a radical shift into uncertainty.

Clean energy and climate-related spending is being cut across the board in the new president's budget. But Congress has yet to finalize it and advocates for clean energy and climate issues are flexing their muscles. What to do?

Listen to master of government contracting, Kelly Carnes, CEO of business strategy firm TechVision21 -- and former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Technology Policy -- explain how, when and what to advocate for today. This is Part 1 of a two-part interview, and includes:

• How uncertainty creates opportunities.
• Identifying and reaching the "real" decision makers.
• Reading the tea leaves on where funding opportunities might be.
• How to seize - or create - those funding opportunities before the budget is final.
• Why this particular budget could have a more profound economic impact on the U.S. over time than most any in recent history.

To learn more about Kelly Carnes, TechVision21 and Green Connections Radio, go to www.greenconnectionsradio.com.

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“Your risk fingerprint is… a combination of genetic,… your innate personality… It also interacts with other things, your experiences….And lots of social influences, whether it's within your organization or your country, your culture, your peer group, within your family, and all of those things come together. And they pretty much tell you what it is that you care about, what you value, what you're ready to risk losing or not.” Michele Wucker on Electric Ladies Podcast

As Congress debates President Biden’s infrastructure bills to get them into law, the fundamental question at the core of each Member’s decisions and votes is their definition of what is risky and what is not. Michele Wucker, author of the new best-selling book, "You Are What You Risk: The New Science & Art of Navigating an Uncertain World,” explains how each of us develops a unique “risk fingerprint” and “risk ecosystem” that drive all our choices, consciously or unconsciously.

Listen to this fascinating interview with Michele Wucker on Electric Ladies, with host Joan Michelson – and learn how to identify your own risk fingerprint and ecosystem and how to make it work for you.  (Electric Ladies was formerly known as Green Connections Radio.)

You’ll hear:

• What exactly a risk fingerprint is and how to find yours, and those of the people in your life.
• How families, peer groups, organizations, and even countries each have risk profiles and how to use this tool to understand them better.
• How men and women see risk differently – and what impact that has in the workplace and families.
• How risk is a tool of negotiation and innovation, and the differences in it between executives in large companies versus entrepreneurs.
• Plus, insightful career advice for using the risk fingerprint tools in your career….

And much more!

“Understand what your risk fingerprint is, and the most important things about who you are. That, in turn, leads to the path forward that you're going to chart through often very, very uncertain times, and will help you to make the choices that you need. That that risk fingerprint is like your north star and your anchor.” Michele Wucker on Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles on this here and watch here for her article on risk and infrastructure policy.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Michele Wucker, on her book “The Gray Rhino” about the warnings we miss in front of our eyes.
• Katharine Hayhoe, Ph.D., Climate Scientist, Time “100 Pioneer,” and University of Texas Professor
• Anne Kelly, Ceres Government Relations, on business and infrastructure policy
• Jennifer Gerbi, Deputy Director and Acting Director of ARPA-E, the innovation arm of the Dept. of Energy
• Michelle Wyman, Executive Director of National Council of Science and the Environment on how to talk to policymakers about science to keep science in policy decisions.

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“If you're sitting on a board, you're a member of the executive leadership team…You need to make sure you're stepping back and understanding geopolitical risk, social, cultural risk, legal, regulatory, risk, activism. What are the activists looking at?... Who are the key stakeholders that you need to be aware of so that you can make sure that you are tracking those risk areas and, and their relevance to your company and how you need to be responding to those…You want to be proactive. “ 

Tara Giunta on Electric Ladies Podcast

You might have heard about the Securities and Exchange Commission’s final climate risk disclosure rules. All that destruction you see in the news from hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, floods and droughts has real financial implications – that’s why investors have been demanding the SEC require better reporting on climate risk. What do they really mean?

Listen to Tara Giunta, Global Co-Chair of ESG & Sustainable Finance Practice at mega law firm Paul Hastings to find out, in simple English, in this fascinating discussion with Electric Ladies Podcast host Joan Michelson. They also share insightful career advice.

You’ll hear about:

• What exactly do the SEC climate risk disclosure rules require companies to disclose?
• What companies nationally are affected by the new California climate risk disclosure laws?
• What impact will the legal challenges really have on the SEC rules and California laws?
• How should senior management teams and boards of directors prepare and respond to them?
• Plus, insightful career advice, such as…

“You need to be looking 360 in terms of industry, what's developing, what's coming down the pike from a technology standpoint, from a risk standpoint. You should be educating yourself constantly and stretching yourself to go into a new area. Don't just be content to sit and do the same thing….Push yourself to do something a little different, stretch…because that broadens you as a professional, first of all. It's just so much more interesting than doing the same thing every day. But, it also makes you a better professional… because you are seeing things that the other people who are just doing the same old, same old, aren't necessarily seeing.” Tara Giunta on Electric Ladies Podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here.

You'll also like these episodes: (some may be recorded under our previous name, Green Connections Radio)

• Kristen Sullivan, Deloitte Audit Partner leading their Sustainability Practice, on the SEC climate risk disclosure rules.
• Kristina Wyatt, who led the SEC Task Force developing its climate risk disclosure rules, now Chief Sustainability Officer and Deputy General Counsel at Persefoni software firm.
• Jean Case, Co-Founder of the Case Foundation and Chair of the board of the National Geographic Society, on impact investing and SEC climate risk disclosure rules.
• Julie Gorte, SVP of Impax Asset Management and veteran ESG investment advisor, on the SEC climate rules.

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Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with women innovators and leaders in STEM, energy, clean tech and sustainability – and driving diversity that works.

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“How do we deal with dilemmas? How do we think unthinkable? You know, the climate, ESG, human rights issues, diversity, equity, inclusion, supply chain issues, cyber security, integrity of data, incentive plans, all of those, the future of good corporate governance, transparency, anti-corruption. All of those different issues that have been there for a long, long time, but been kind of like voluntary more and less, and suddenly they are really coming at the top of the agenda for the board of directors.” Helle Jorgenson on Electric Ladies Podcast

When there’s a scandal or a huge failure at a big company or a famous one – like the collapse of FTX Crypto Exchange – you hear questions like, “where was the board of directors?”  So, what is the role of the Board and how are environment, social and governance issues, including climate, diversity and covid, changing who is on them and why?  

Listen to Helle Jorgenson, CEO and Founder of Competent Boards training programs for board members, and people who want to sit on boards, in this episode of Electric Ladies podcast in this valuable conversation with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson. They specialize in training on ESG issues, and, full disclosure, Joan is also now on their ESG faculty.

You’ll hear:

• What boards of directors actually do – and don’t do
• How covid, climate and the resurgence of social justice movements are transforming boards, from who sits on them to what they do.
• How, when and why boards focus on ESG issues.
• How much they serve customers vs. serving investors.
• How to prepare to be a successful board member.
• Plus, insightful career advice.

And much more!

“If you look five years out, 10 years out, what is it that you want to look back at and say, Yes, I was part of this, or, or I did this…There's a ton of roles and…if you look at these 17 biggest pain points in the world (the 17 sustainable development goals)…and saying, Okay, where is it that I can make a difference? …I want to educate myself in this, so I can go out and help organizations, perhaps even the organization that you are working in right now.”

Helle Jorgenson on Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here.

You’ll also want to listen to (some of these are under the name Green Connections Radio):

• Kristina Wyatt, SVP of Persefoni and former leader of the SEC task force developing the climate risk disclosure rules that will be finalized shortly.
• Karen Alonardo, formerly of NAVEX and Founder of CSRWare, on ESG reporting systems
• Bridget Hughes, Donnelly Financial Solutions, on ESG software and what to look for.
• Natalie Jaresko, former Finance Minister of Ukraine, on the hidden power of ESG
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”

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Follow us on Twitter @joanmichelson   and @electricgalspod

“There are networks that power the modern economy. They can be financial networks…social networks, energy networks, transportation networks…You have to be connected up into these networks in order to realize your full potential.” 

Shamina Singh on Green Connections Radio

But 1.7 billion people are not connected to these networks, and most of them are women, according to Shamina Singh, President of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth.  Listen to this engaging and inspiring interview with Green Connections Radio host Joan Michelson about leveraging and partnering with NGO’s and nonprofits to address this “poverty of access.”

You'll hear:

·       Why “access” to these networks make all the difference.·       What “data philanthropy” is and how to leverage data for good.·       How to innovate for the daily challenges of people who are not like you.·       Creative solutions, from “pay as you go” clean electric power, to finding “a proxy for credit score,” to fintech powering sustainable cities.·       How to build successful partnerships.·       The environmental, health and economic costs of cash.·       Career tips and more! “ You’ve got to have representative views at the table, otherwise you’re missing something. How do you have true innovation if you’re missing something?”

Shamina Singh on Green Connections Radio

Read my Forbes blog about this here too.

You'll want to check out these interviews too:

You'll want to check out these interviews too:

Sarah Cho, Director of Research and SurveyMonkey on measuring inclusion.

Rainia Washington, VP, Global Diversity, Lockheed Martin, on “innovating with purpose.”

Charlotte Burrows, Commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, on when and how to file and claim, and how to find out your options.

Ellen Stofan, Director of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum (first woman), on innovating a legacy institution.

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As the new administration seeks to cut all climate and clean energy, we thought it was a good time to re-air our interview with Rebecca R. Rubin, Founder/CEO of Marstel Day, the environmental consulting firm that's been helping the U.S. government clean up their act for over 15 years. The U.S. government agencies really are reducing their carbon footprint. Find out how.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“We look at how long sharing storage can really fill in the gaps when you don't have wind and solar 24 /7. ….(There are) four families of long sharing storage.….different ways you can store for multiple hours, days, and seasons. This diversity is really important, because whether you're an island nation, and you maybe have floating solar or offshore wind and you want to bring it in and hold it for when you (need it), every week you want to repurpose it for your ports or your infrastructure, your urban centers.” Julia Souder on Electric Ladies Podcast

The waves of extreme heat, wildfires, hurricanes and tornadoes remind us daily of the need to make sure we can power our lives, communities and economy over long durations – and with energy that is net zero carbon emissions so that we reduce global warming. Renewables are great, but how do we store it for when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow – or when hydropower plants run dry?

Enter long duration energy storage. Listen to Julia Souder, CEO of the Long Duration Energy Storage Energy Council, explain how it works and where it comes from, and shares insightful career advice, in this fascinating discussion with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson. 

You’ll hear about:

• What exactly long duration energy storage is and how the four types of it work.
• When long duration energy storage can be tapped and what parts of our economy and communities it can serve, giving us peace of mind.
• How long duration energy storage can service disaster areas, rural communities and remote areas.
• Plus, insightful career advice, such as…

“I would offer three things of advice. One would be, start looking at boards, even like a local community board, a nonprofit. Just start getting your name out there because you want to build your experience. It doesn't have to be anything big… My next second point is, it doesn't hurt to ask, and I have to remind myself to do this too. You can ask questions. It's not just curiosity, but there's just a joint learning there…. And the last point I'd say is, when you're negotiating your review processes or your next promotion, or even a new job, ask for a coach, an executive coach. I think that's really important. Having executive coaches are phenomenal.” Julia Souder on Electric Ladies Podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here.

You'll also like:

• Anna Siefken, Deputy Director, Federal Energy Management Program, Dept. of Energy, on how the federal government reduces the energy use and carbon footprint of its 350,000 buildings.
• Rachel McCleery, Senior Advisor, Treasury Dept. Inflation Reduction Act Program, on how to leverage the IRA to save money reducing a building or business’s energy use and carbon footprint.
• Vanessa Chan, Ph.D., Chief Commercialization Officer of the Department of Energy and Director of the Office of Technology Transitions, on the Inflation Reduction Act and the transition to clean energy.
• Lisa Jacobson of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy & Tara Narayanan, of Bloomberg NEF on their new Energy Factbook 2024, including the Inflation Reduction Act opportunities.
• Inna Braverman, CEO & Founder, Eco Wave Power, on how they are bringing wave power to scale – and her powerful personal story.

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“The companies that have really made a commitment to creating change, they look at the ways promotions are decided, because often it’s very ad hoc….and consciously or unconsciously, the managers, who are primarily men, just don’t see the characteristics (in women) that they believe you need in order to advance.” 

Telle Whitney on Green Connections Radio

Pursuing a career in STEM requires investing many years in education and dedication, so why do women leave these fields so often? How can we attract, retain and promote more women in STEM into leadership instead?  

Listen to Telle Whitney, diversity expert, former long-time CEO of the Anita Borg Institute and founder of the famed Grace Hopper Conference – that attracts over 18,000 attendees and serves over 750,00 women technologists – in this insightful interview with Green Connections Radio host Joan Michelson. She provides valuable career advice too.

You'll hear:

• Why women tend to leave STEM fields today.
• How she fell into computer science after studying theatre.
• How companies advance women in STEM into leadership roles.
• The gifts of teams with more women, diversity.
• Specific career advice, especially for women in STEM… and much more!

Read my Forbes blogs on my interview with Telle too.

You'll want to check out these interviews too:

• Jennifer Wisdom, psychologist, author and speaker, on managing office politics.
• Mary Lee Gannon, CEO & Executive Coach, on building an executive career and executive presence.
• Jennifer Palmieri, former Communications Director for President Obama and Hillary Clinton, on women in leadership
• Joann Lublin, WSJ Management News Editor on success tips from top women CEOs
• Joan’s Forbes blog of speaker tips from Emceeing a corporate gala at Lincoln Center recently.

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“There are those individual actions that we can take. But if I can work with my community or work inside of my company, or if I can work inside of my house of worship and we can build some community and some action that way, it will have a much bigger impact than anything that I can do as an individual… The communities that they're already a part of, whether they're residential, like in their neighborhoods, or it's the nonprofits that they're a part of, or the places where they have other kinds of communities like religious communities, and start conversations there. What could we do as a community? What could we do as an organization?” Laur Hesse Fisher on Electric Ladies Podcast

There are steps each of us can take individually to help avert climate change, but if we can leverage the larger entities we are a part of, then we can have a much larger impact. How?

Listen to Laur Hesse Fisher of MIT’s Environmental Solutions Initiative and TIL Climate podcast, in discussion with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson, explain ways you can leverage the places you already go and people you currently encounter to reach people who might not get the climate message elsewhere. 

You’ll hear about:

• Why reaching people outside the climate-tuned bubble is critical.
• How important the Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure Investment Act & CHIPS and Science Act are to addressing the climate crisis and in an equitable way.
• How we can leverage the relationships we already have, the local media, and local events to make a bigger difference than we can make on our own.
• Why voting is so crucial this year – and not for the reasons you might have heard
• Plus, insightful career advice, such as…

“My advice would be, as you're thinking about where you want to go, talk to people about that. So you might not know where you want to go, in which case I recommend informational interviews. Those are great for learning about other people's career paths, what it took for them to get there, what did they learn along the way? I mean, people are really open to having a half an hour conversation.”

Laur Hesse Fisher on Electric Ladies Podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here too.

You'll also like:

• Rachel McCleery, Treasury Dept. Senior Advisor, Inflation Reduction Act Program, on how to benefit from the IRA, including where to find out what it covers
• Vanessa Chan, Ph.D., Chief Commercialization Officer of the Department of Energy and Director of the Office of Technology Transitions, on the Inflation Reduction Act and the transition to clean energy.
• Jill Tidman, Executive Director of The Redford Center, environmental storytelling through media, film, series and documentaries.
• Polly Trottenberg, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation, on the transportation revolution taking place.
• Judith Pryor, Vice Chair & First Vice President, Export Import Bank of the U.S., on leveraging exporting and trade for energy, climate and sustainability, as well as economic development.

• Subscribe to our newsletter to receive our podcasts, blog, events and special coaching offers..

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Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability – featuring mostly women. Green Connections Radio helps you “live green, work green, earn green.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability – featuring mostly women. Green Connections Radio helps you “live green, work green, earn green.”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Electric Ladies Podcast listeners requested that we air a collection of career advice from our various guests and here it is!  In fact, we're making it a new continuing part of our series.

The last question in each of our Electric Ladies Podcast episodes is asking for career advice, especially for midcareer women who want to make a difference.  Listeners reached out to us and asked us to publish an episode now and then that is only that advice, so that's what we're doing.

Starting today, we will now air a collage of career advice from about five (5) of our guests once a month.

This week, you’ll hear career advice from:

·       Natalie Jaresko, former finance minister of Ukraine

·       Kerry Bannigan, Founder of the Fashion Impact Fund and head of the Conscious Fashion Campaign

·       Lisa Brown, Ph.D., Region Marketing Manager, SouthEast, Volkswagen of America

·       Julie Lenzer, Chief Innovation Officer, in this episode from the University of Maryland

·       Kristina Wyatt, Deputy General Counsel and in this episode, SVP of Global Regulatory Climate Disclosure (now Chief Sustainability Officer) at Persefoni

For example, this from Kristina Wyatt:

“What's happening now is that as this focus on climate….on diversity equity, and inclusion, all of these things are making their way up to the board. They're making their way to the C-suite, they're becoming central investor issues. They're financial issues…. What we need to have is these women who are sitting over in the CSOs office to make sure that they've got the chops on the financial piece, right? So, if you need to take courses, learn about how to read financial statements, get very familiar with your company’s financials, understand balance sheets, understand income statements, understand cash flow statements and how they work so that you can really speak the financial talk and understand how your sustainability issues integrate with your financial issues.” Kristina Wyatt on Electric Ladies podcast

 Read Joan’s Forbes articles here.

You’ll also want to listen to (some of these are under the name Green Connections Radio):

·       Joan Michelson on Eisner Amper’s “Fast Forward” podcast about “Why ESG Matters.

·       Bridget Hughes, Donnelly Financial Solutions, on ESG software and what to look for.

·       Natalie Jaresko, former Finance Minister of Ukraine, on the hidden power of ESG

·       Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”

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Love urban living but fed up with traffic?

So were Amber Wason and her co-founder Jeff Stefanis.

Instead of just complaining, they got to work and developed a cool new electric bike, launched a campaign to fund it on Kickstarter and then....

cleverly made a deal with Kevin Cole to sell their bikes in his stores.

How?

Listen to Amber's story in her eye-opening conversation with Green Connections Radio host Joan Michelson from the Clean Tech Open Southeast Regional Innovation Summit.

You'll learn how:

• They came up with the idea.
• To do a successful Kickstarter campaign.
• To persuade a major retailer to carry your new product when you're just starting out.
• To stand out in this emerging industry

What was the most compelling thing you heard Amber or Joan say in this interview? Post it to us on Twitter @joanmichelson or on our Facebook page – like the page while you’re there – and post it in a review when you subscribe on iTunes or iHeartRadio, TuneIn or Stitcher.

Thanks for subscribing! Sign up for our newsletter and receive these and other green innovation and career tips automatically, at http://www.greenconnectionsradio.com.

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“It’s a network gap…Every board has its own ecosystem.” Jocelyn Mangan on Green Connections Radio podcast

Women still make up only 26.1% of corporate boards, despite clear evidence that companies with more women on the board perform better on all metrics, including financially. So, if you want to figure out how to grab one of those coveted seats, it’s important to get prepared, network, especially with men and make it known.

Listen to this fascinating interview with Jocelyn Mangan to find out:

• How to prepare yourself to be a great board member (and pass your interviews)
• What it takes be a valuable board member.
• How to connect with men who can help you with your board-related goals.
• What makes a biography for a board different than a regular biography.
• Plus…Important career advice

 “Be guided by people and purpose…(find people who are) inspiring you, making you better…and listen to your gut, not the news or other people’s input” when it comes to career decisions.

Jocelyn Mangan on Green Connections Radio podcast

You may also like:

• Maggi Reiss, President, IDS Publishing, on our new survey about what motivates women to be leaders, achievers.
• Corinne Post, Co-author of new study on the life-or-death difference of women on boards of medical products companies – literally.
• Angela Duckworth, Author of “Grit” on how passion and perseverance are more valuable than talent, whose TED Talk has been viewed over 21 million times.
• Jill Wine-Banks, Former Watergate Prosecutor, General Counsel of U.S. Army, Author, “The Watergate Girl”
• Barbara Whye, Intel VP of human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer

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“We've worked with partners like AcelorMittal… and oil and gas refineries. Emissions that would've been destined for the atmosphere are piped into our bioreactor and our magnificent microbes turn that gas into ethanol. When we pull out that ethanol, we can send it a lot of different places. You can go to On, Adidas, Athleta and buy products made by these mighty microbes from steel mill emissions. We actually flew a Virgin Atlantic flight from Orlando to London with 50 percent of the fuel in that plane made from our ethanol.”

Zara Summers on Electric Ladies Podcast 

Addressing the climate crisis involves confronting some enormous challenges, from decarbonizing aviation to reducing fashion’s carbon footprint. Fortunately, technology and innovation provide an opportunity to make significant strides forward. Meet LanzaTech, a company turning carbon dioxide into the raw materials and energy we need for our lives.

Listen to Zara Summers, Chief Science Officer at LanzaTech, as she explains how the company is harnessing the power of nature's oldest metabolism, the mighty microbe. This innovation is turning greenhouse gases into everyday materials like shoes and clothing, sustainable aviation fuel for our jets, and even fish feed!

You’ll hear about:

• How LanzaTech transforms captured industrial emissions into valuable materials and fuels.
• The global brands working with LanzaTech (and how you can spot fabrics made from recycled emissions).
• How the technology is driving a circular economy in fashion and textiles.
• The uses of LanzaTech's protein-rich biomass in food and feed.
• Plus, advice on making a career transition.

“Just jump in. Because even if it crashes and burns, it's experience and you learn no matter up and down inside it. But if you keep doing the same thing you've always done, you're robbing yourself of those opportunities. Even small risks – putting your hand up for a project where you might know 20 percent of what it takes to do it. Gosh, isn't that the best way to motivate yourself to learn something new?” 

Zara Summers on Electric Ladies Podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here.

You'll also like:

• Autumn Hustins, Finance Director at Hitachi Zosen Inova (HZI), a waste-to-energy plant converting agricultural and food waste into electricity.
• Björk Kristjánsdóttir, COO/CFO of Carbon Recycling International, on turning CO2 into valuable products.
• Doreen Harris, President and CEO of NYSERDA, a state program deploying innovative climate solutions.
• UN Climate Week discussion on how some creative women are making sustainable fashion a reality, moderated by Joan Michelson.
• Kerry Bannigan, Managing Director of PVBLIC Foundation, on sustainability and social responsibility on the runway.

More from Electric Ladies Podcast!

 Elevate your career with expert coaching and ESG advisory with Electric Ladies Podcast. Unlock new opportunities, gain confidence, and achieve your career goals with the right guidance.

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive our podcasts, articles, events and career advice – and special coaching offers.

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Don’t forget to follow us on our socials

Twitter: @joanmichelson

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How Ford Built The F-150 EV - Linda Zhang, Ford F-150 EV Chief Engineer

“We talked to all customers. So we talked to truck customers, because part of it is, this is such a big population of customers that we want to evolve into an electric…We also talked to customers who weren't truck owners, but may have wanted to be and didn't go there for whatever reason that might be. And those would be pain points that then we'd have to try address right. And actually what came out of this is, really the building blocks for how we came up on this truck.” Linda Zhang at MOVE 2022

Converting the best-selling truck in America into an electric vehicle is a huge risk. The Ford F-150 has a macho image, which is not the typical EV buyer, to put it gently. So the massive success of the F-150 Lightning really shows the evolution of the electric vehicle and of the market for them.

How did they do it? Listen to this fascinating interview with the woman who literally made it happen, Linda Zhang, Chief Engineer of the F-150 Lightning. It was conducted at a huge conference known as MOVE 2022, Reimagining Mobility, in front of an audience of hundreds of people, re-airing here on Electric Ladies Podcast.

You’ll hear:

• How Linda and her team at Ford started the design process and decisions they made
• What new innovations they put in this truck, besides converting it to an EV, that were gamechangers
• Who is buying this truck, unexpectedly so, and what it tells us about the future of electric vehicles.
• How they are managing the supply chain issues while reducing their carbon footprint.

Here’s insightful career advice from Linda’s colleague Suzy Deering, Chief Marketing Officer of Ford ….

““Number one, go learn something from scratch and get really, really get dirty. Like get in there and understand from a scrappy standpoint. You're going to fail and you're going to learn things and then some things are going to work, some things aren't….if you're not uncomfortable, then you're not growing. And if you're not growing, you're not learning. If you're not learning, you're not per, you're not progressing….and Don't chase the title.”

Suzy Deering on Electric Ladies podcast

You’ll also want to listen to: (some might be recorded under our previous name, Green Connections Radio)

• Suzy Deering, Chief Marketing Officer of Ford – on bringing change to a legacy industry as an outsider.
• Genevieve Cullen, President, Electric Drive Transportation Assn. – on financial benefits for buying EVs in the new legislation, and EVs coming to market soon
• Telva McGruder, Chief Diversity Officer of General Motors – on pivoting that 100+ year old company from gas-powered cars to electric cars
• Kristen Siemen, Chief Sustainability Officer of General Motors
• Neha Palmer, Founder/CEO of TeraWatt Infrastructure on charging for EV trucks
• Jackie Birdsall, Toyota, Senior Engineer, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles

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Reach us on Twitter @joanmichelson

What do the Fortune 50 Most Powerful Women do that has advanced their careers to the very top?

What can we all learn from them?

Listen to this fascinating discussion with executive coach Eleanor Beaton who was trained by the Oprah coach Dr. Martha Beck. Eleanor and Green Connections host Joan Michelson break down the careers of these amazing women to find what the rest of us can learn from their success.

Here are a few tidbits:

• How to work with gender bias – and “stereotype threat” so they help you, and don’t exhaust you. (Your exhaustion may not be due to long hours after all!) – at about 9 minutes in
• How to “show up at that table and be aware that (you) have to manage your reputation” but do not “allow that…to derail you from showing up authentically…or from dealing with the issues” at hand.
• Patterns and habits in top performers to pay attention to. – at about 20 minutes in
• What to ask your manager/boss. – at about 23 minutes
• Nuances of mentorships and sponsorships that work – at about 40 minutes
• What makes women’s initiatives successful?

And a real gem of an insight at the end from Ms. Eleanor…so listen through to the end.

Thanks for listening and subscribing to Green Connections Radio. Please leave us a review and rate us while you're here, on iTunes or iHeartRadio, and "like" us on Facebook too.

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“For me, the key to my career was being clear on what my mission is….I feel so enormously fortunate that I found a president to be able to work for who shares that goal….So I think the lesson in that is either be the leader that you want to believe in, or find that leader and attach yourself to them and see what amazing things you can do together. But, for me, it's been about being clear on what it is that I wanted to achieve.” Heather Boushey on Electric Ladies Podcast

In 2023 we’ve had dozens of extraordinary women at the top of their game on Electric Ladies Podcast (like all 400+ of our episodes!). From C-level corporate executives to top government officials, entrepreneurs, artists, journalists and scientists, they are all paving their own way – and new paths for women – to build a career by making a difference and making money. In each episode, I ask them for career advice for midcareer women who want to do the same. In this series, listeners requested we air episodes with just their advice.

In this episode in the series, listen to career gems from five extraordinary women from government, the arts, science and business, using their unique talents to drive a clean, green economy in which women have economic parity (the Electric Ladies Podcast mission).

This episode brings you advice from:

·       Heather Boushey, Ph.D., Member of the White House Council of Economic Advisors and Chief Economist of the Invest in America Cabinet at the White House

·       Daniella Ortega, award-winning documentary filmmaker and codirector, writer, and coproducer of “Carbon: The Unauthorized Biography” and Development and Investment Manager – Documentary at Screen Australia

·       Melissa Lott, Ph.D., Director of Research at the Center on Global Energy Policy, at Columbia University and the lead scientist on the ground-breaking PBS documentary “Chasing Carbon Zero.”

·       Jean Case, CEO Of the Case Foundation and former SVP of AOL, and ground-breaking philanthropist and investor focused on purpose-focused, diverse entities

·       Jill Tidman, Executive Director of The Redford Center (founded by actor/filmmaker Robert Redford and his late son James Redford), advancing environmental solutions through storytelling.

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here too – which also include career advice, as well as ways to stay abreast of the clean, green economy.

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Thanks for subscribing on Apple Podcasts or iHeartRadio and leaving us a review!

Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability – featuring mostly women. Green Connections Radio helps you “live green, work green, earn green.”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability – featuring mostly women. Green Connections Radio helps you “live green, work green, earn green.”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I think one of the most important starting points, whether it be on social or environmental, is back to the measurement, setting a goal and making progress every single day towards that goal with actions….Even if that goal seems unattainable, challenging, unsure of what the steps are between X and Y. I think the fact that we put stakes in the ground and work towards them drives the behavior that we want to see.”

Denise Naguib on Electric Ladies Podcast

As more of us start to travel more, including planning summer vacations, think about the environmental impact of where you’ll stay. Most hotels these days have sustainable practices and goals, but how do these massive properties really control their carbon footprint and water use, for example, and their waste?

Listen to Denise Naguib, VP of Global Sustainability at Marriott in this wide-ranging conversation with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson at a live net zero event in Washington, DC. (Electric Ladies was formerly known as Green Connections Radio.)

You’ll hear:

• How Marriott sets and achieves their sustainability goals
• How the executives incentivize their teams to follow through on the company’s sustainability goals.
• How Marriott is supporting Ukrainian refugees who escaped the war by going to Europe.
• Plus, insightful career advice.

And much more!

“You can make a difference in any role that you are in. I think that is a really important thing to say. It is not about being part of the sustainability or social impact team that only then you can make a difference. Every single role in a company has the opportunity to make meaningful change, whether you are in finance or legal or operations or whatever it is, public relations. I think identifying how you can make that based on the skills that you bring forward, based on the opportunities that you can get involved in things I think is really invaluable.” Denise Naguib on Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here.

You’ll also want to listen to (some of these are under the name Green Connections Radio):

• Janet Gail Besser, Smart Electric Power Alliance, on their 5-point plan to get to net zero in any industry
• Kristen Sullivan, Deloitte Sustainability Practice lead, on the transformation and ESG
• Jennifer Gerbi, Ph.D., Deputy Director and Acting Director, ARPA-E, the innovation arm of the Department of Energy 
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”
• Roberta Rincon, Society of Women Engineers, Director of Research, on the status and careers of women in various types of engineering roles.

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“It’s all about the potential.” Anna Brady-Estevez, Ph.D., Maybe you have a great idea or new app you developed that you're itching to bring to life. Maybe you have a friend who does… Or, maybe you’re an entrepreneur who is running out of funds and fears not being able to continue. If this rings a bell, listen up. This podcast provides vital information about a federal grant program you can apply for. There’s no guarantee you’ll be approved, but you certainly won’t get it if you do not apply. It’s called the Small Business Innovation Research – or SBIR – grants (or STTRs). About half a dozen federal agencies offer them, all with different criteria. The SBIR program we’re talking about today is from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and has an open agenda, focused on the potential of the technology to make a big positive societal impact if it succeeds. So, grab your laptop or pen and paper – however you take notes – and listen to Anna Brady-Estevez of the National Science Foundation’s SBIR program tell Green Connections Radio host Joan Michelson what you need to know to apply: What the NSF SBIR funds. What “societal impact” and potential for commercialization mean for the NSF SBIR program. Examples of energy technologies they have funded – though all technologies can apply. How teams can drive innovative thinking that enhances the potential for success. Why communication skills matter – as an entrepreneur, an employee, an executive, or in any role. To learn more about Anna Brady-Estevez and the NSF SBIR program, and about Green Connections Radio, go to www.greenconnectionsradio.com. Thanks for subscribing on iTunes or iHeartRadio and leaving us a review! Also, ask to join our Private Facebook Group and share your insights! Join our mailing list to stay up to date on the top podcasts! Email us: info@greenconnectionsradio.com or reach us on Twitter @joanmichelson       

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“Big companies need people to stay inside and change the culture from the inside, because that’s where a lot of the market power sits,” Rasha Hasaneen on Green Connections Radio

 As record heats spread across the U.S. (and the globe), air conditioning systems and the power systems they depend upon are getting a workout.  These HVAC systems – heating, cooling and ventilation – “account for approximately 50 percent of energy consumption in the average home" and about 39% of energy use in commercial buildings in the U.S., and they last for 10-15 years,  By the time you read this, there's another new technology, and there's a pressing demand for more eco-conscious systems.

So, how do you juggle these competing demands and keep your talented team engaged?  Listen to master juggler and innovator Rasha Hasaneen, VP of Product Management Excellence and Innovation at Ingersoll Rand, who does this every day.

You'll hear:

·       How to anticipate needs customers will have in 3-5 years.·       How to balance performance and sustainability.·       How to sell new, "crazy" ideas internally and to customers.·       How to grow your career as an intrapreneur - an innovator in a large organization.·       Many more great insights for intrapreneurs and careers!

Read my Forbes blogs about her too here and here.

 You'll also want to listen to:

  Maria Blasé, President, Fluid Management, Materials and Power Tools, Ingersoll Rand, on innovating air conditioning and transportation.     

Beth Colleton, Former Chief Sustainability Officer, NBCUniversal and the NFL, on purpose-driven innovation.     

Laura Nereng, leading innovator at 3M, on founding and building break-through innovation in a large, legacy company.   

 Alfia Ilecheva & Maria Potoroczyn, Cofounders of Women in Innovation, on strategic innovation and how women do it differently. 

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“Who's my customer, who's my partner?...Make sure you're aligning with their ESG programs…Think of ESG as part of your operational DNA. Right. Just keep it as part of how you run your business and just make it more of an integrated component versus kind of the separate thing.”

Karen Alonardo on Electric Ladies Podcast

If you’re confused about how to capture environment, social and governance (ESG) data, and weighing different software systems, you’re not alone. It’s a burgeoning industry as investors, companies and consumers – and regulators, including the SEC – demand more disclosure.

For a good download on the nuts and bolts of ESG systems, listen to Karen Alonardo, VP of ESG at NAVEX at the time of this interview with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson. Karen joined NAVEX when the company she founded and built, CSRware was acquired by NAVEX in 2020.

You’ll hear:

• What ESG systems can – and can’t – measure and track.
• What accountants – or anyone verifying the ESG data – need to know to ensure the numbers are correct in the reports
• How to choose among the different ESG-related standards.
• Plus, insightful career advice.

And much more!

"(D)ifferent people are motivated by different things…. I had to take what I was good at, like what I already understood, and then I emerged it with something that I learned, something new…So maybe take a class or two in kind of the feel good areas that you like and see if something pops, you know, see if something aligns with your background, what you've done in the past, cuz you don't want to negate the fact that you've got 15 years’ experience….So leverage your background….and make sure you can financially support yourself.“

Karen Alonardo on Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here.

You’ll also want to listen to (some of these are under the name Green Connections Radio):

• Bridget Hughes, Donnelly Financial Systems on maximizing ESG Software
• Suzanne DiBianca, Salesforce, Chief Impact Officer, on ESG Tracking
• Kristina Wyatt, Persefoni SVP, former lead on SEC’s climate risk disclosure rules development team
• Joan Michelson on Eisner Amper’s “Fast Forward” podcast about “Why ESG Matters.
• Kristen Sullivan, Deloitte Sustainability Practice lead, on the transformation and ESG

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Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability – featuring mostly women. Green Connections Radio helps you “live green, work green, earn green.” 

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Dell Computers is one of the Fortune 500 leaders in integrating sustainability across the company. How? Why did the company go private (rather than stay a publicly-traded company)?

How do you change behavior to achieve their ambitious goals?

Listen to GCR host Joan Michelson’s short conversation with Dell’s Chief Responsibility Officer, Trisa Thompson, to find out.

This segment is also available on video on www.greenconnectionsradio.com. It was recorded when Joan anchored the livestream of the Greenbiz Verge San Francisco conference, called “Sidebar,” with Mo Al-Shawaf of Sustainability (an organization in Washington, DC).

Thanks for subscribing to Green Connections on iTunes and for leaving us a review.

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“People have competing interests…(so) move beyond lazy labeling…a reporter’s job is to provide context…undergirded by data and statistics….Be a little fearless.” The Dakota Access Pipeline fight, hurricanes, droughts, earthquakes… the BP Oil Spill, the potential cuts to the EPA budget and rollback of the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts…Journalists rush to cover these stories as they break in the moment, but what’s missing? Listen to Green Connections Radio host Joan Michelson’s insightful conversation with renowned journalist Soledad O’Brien, formerly of CNN and MSNBC and now Founder and CEO of Starfish Media Group, an award-winning production company, and host of “Matter of Fact” syndicated on network television via Hearst TV. You’ll hear Soledad talk about: What reporters are missing in covering environmental/energy stories – and most stories. How to explain why “it” matters – and not just to you, but to other people. The importance of storytelling and creating empathy. Why people share news on Facebook How to make career decisions, in any career! To learn more about Soledad O’Brien and “Matter of Fact,” and Green Connections Radio, go to www.greenconnectionsradio.com. Thanks for subscribing on iTunes or iHeartRadio - for upcoming enlightening podcasts - and for leaving us a review! Also, join our Facebook Page  and share your insights! Email us: info@greenconnectionsradio.com or reach us on Twitter @joanmichelson  

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“It’s going to happen, It’s not so much a matter of ‘if’ it’s going to happen, but ‘when.’ But we need a strategic roadmap and a policy framework….EVs are one of the most complex systems, just because it cuts across multiple stakeholders.” Bonnie Datta on Green Connections Radio There's a lot of buzz around electric vehicles (EVs), but adoption is still slow. Why? Bonnie Datta, Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs and Market Development for the Americas and Southeast Asia at Siemens, told Green Connections Radio host Joan Michelson that much of the blame lies in the lap of regulators and utilities.  Listen to this fascinating interview for why and how your vote and voice matter.

You'll  hear:Why Minnesota is the model for EVs, surprisingly.Why regulators are the obstacle and how they can be more innovative.How automakers can transform how they market EVs.How everyone in the EV ecosystem has a role to play, including us drivers.And….great career tips from how she turned upheaval into success (Note: humility required.) 

“There are transferable skills….Just because you have not spent 30 years in energy, does not make you less smart about it… You are learning every day, and every day you are bringing your own insights to say, ‘maybe you can do this thing slightly differently.’…Having a diversity of skills sets and ideas and creativity and experience from other areas, and passion…it makes such a difference.” Bonnie Datta on Green Connections Radio

 You’ll also want to listen to:

Anna Schneider, SVP of Industry and Government Affairs at Volkswagen of America.Mary Powell, CEO of Green Mountain Power utility and a major innovator in the sector.Kimberly McGrath, of Maxwell Technologies on innovative energy storage technologies.Betsy McCorkle, of North Carolina’s Sustainable Energy Assn. on the legislative side of EVs, clean energy.Lisa Laughner, CEO/Founder of Go Electric microgrids on how microgrids play a critical role daily.

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Email us: on Twitter @joanmichelson

Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability – featuring mostly women. Green Connections Radio helps you “live green, work green, earn green.”

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“Trust in the corporation today is higher than in your own government. That really gives them this moment and the trust factor that they should not squander because the majority of Americans do believe in climate change and do want something done about. And so, I think there are some real opportunities …. And this is for boards of directors…If it's a basic functioning of the company…the board of directions will be held liable for failure to mitigate climate change damage.” Trisa Thompson on Electric Ladies Podcast

A recent study by Edelman found that trust in companies is higher than trust in government, despite the flurry of people leaving their jobs for greener pastures.  Trisa Thompson, former longtime Chief Sustainability Officer of Dell Technologies, says this represents a window of opportunity that companies should seize to make a difference, grow, and recruit and retain the best talent, including women.

Listen to Trisa Thompson explain why in this engaging interview on Electric Ladies Podcast with host Joan Michelson.

You’ll hear:

• What’s creating this window of opportunity for companies to mitigate climate change and grow.
• Why boards of directors are vulnerable and need to step up, as part of their fiduciary responsibilities.
• What she would do if she was still a Chief Sustainability Officer today – including who she would partner with.
• How to persuade executives and others who are not on board with sustainable practices.
• Plus, insightful career advice.

And much more!

“You have a job, whatever it is, you could be in marketing, you could be a supply chain engineer. Where do you see low hanging fruit, whether it's in your job description or not, that can make a difference in your company? And how do you go get that done?... , I would say let's all grab the moment with this Inflation Reduction Act and let's go see what change we can make happen by 2030!” Trisa Thompson on Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here.

You’ll also want to listen to (some of these are under the name Green Connections Radio):

• Kristen Siemen, Chief Sustainability Officer, General Motors – on how they are pivoting to be more sustainable.
• Bridget Hughes, Donnelly Financial Solutions, on ESG software and what to look for.
• Kristina Wyatt, Former head of the SEC Climate Risk Disclosure Rules Task force, now at Persefoni
• Suzanne DiBianca, SVP, Corporate Relations, Salesforce on ESG tracking software
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”

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Follow us on Twitter @joanmichelson   and @electricgalspod

Can you see it? You probably can’t tell from watching the latest movie or TV show, but behind the scenes, some film and TV productions are actively reducing their carbon footprint. It's an inherently wasteful industry. So, how do they do it?

Listen to Green Connections Radio Host Joan Michelson's conversation with film and TV producers John Corser and Kathy Jarvis, talk about how they “green” their productions – and how the casts and crews react.

How can these very wasteful industries generate less waste? Listen here to find out and some surprising strategies -- and their surprising results.

Are others following suit? For more on this, listen to Joan's interview with Debbie Levin from the Environmental Media Association, which awards and trains the industry on these strategies.

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“I learned that we are all capable of so much more than we think we are, until we push ourselves. We all have these reserves that I don’t think we use anymore…Keep looking for those parts of yourself that you have ignored.” Tracy Edwards on Green Connections Radio

Are you going boating this summer? Listen to this fascinating interview with Tracy Edwards on her adventure captaining the first all-female crew in the world's most dangerous round-the-world boat race - the Whitbread 'Round the World Yachting Race - with very, very limited experience at the ripe age of 24 years old. And. She. Won the two most dangerous legs of the six-leg race.

Her story is the subject of the recent extraordinary documentary,  “Maiden” with original footage from the actual race.

You'll hear:

• How she built and captained the first all-female Whitbread race crew - and how they won
• What her internal voice was like during the journey and how she managed it to lead and thrive.
• How they turned disadvantage into advantages
• What we can learn from her transformation from novice to history-making winner
• Lots of great career advice and inspiration!

Read Joan's Forbes blog about it too.

“Open yourself up to the universe and you will always find the right people in the right place at the right time… Look around you and you will see the people you will need to meet.” Tracy Edwards on Green Connections Radio

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Ellie O'Brien, Earth Angel: Reducing the movie and television industry's carbon footprint.
• Ashley Bell, actress, on her new documentary about saving Asian elephants and how it transformed her into an activist.
• Heather Metcalf of Assn. of Women in Science on transforming culture to increase women in leadership.
• Ingrid Daubechies of Duke University, MacArthur “genius” award winner, and master innovative thinker.

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“Men are presumed to be capable and to have done their homework…questioned about potential… Women…(hear) challenging questions , like ‘Why are you qualified?’…(Yet), women-owned businesses return on average 63% higher rates of return than male-only founded teams.” 

Shelly Porges on Green Connections Radio podcast

Studies show that women often leave their full-time jobs to start a business, especially if their job is uncomfortable, inflexible and they feel stagnated.  Studies also show women-owned business have, on average, higher rates of return. Yet, women entrepreneurs receive only a fraction of what male-founded companies do. To address this issue, Joan spoke with a master.

Listen to Shelly Porges, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of the Billion Dollar Fund for Women and Beyond the Billion - and serial entrepreneur - tell Green Connections Radio podcast host Joan Michelson what women entrepreneurs can expect to face meeting with investors and how to find funding.

You'll hear (take notes!):

• Why Porges says “the biggest challenge for women entrepreneurs is thinking big.”
• Studies that show women-owned businesses have higher returns on investment
• How women can deal with challenging questions from potential investors.
• What to look for in an investor – and it’s not just money.
• Insightful career advice too … and much more!

Read my Forbes blogs on my interview with Shelly too.              

“Make sure that your own financial basis is in a good place…(and) take advantage of opportunities that are presented to you…be open…Don’t let what you can do now stop you” (from other ways to use what you know and can do).

Shelly Porges on Green Connections Radio podcast

You may also like:

• April Richards, EPA on SBIR grants for eco-conscious start-ups, entrepreneurs
• Ellen Williams, Former Administrator of ARPA-E on funding for innovative energy start-ups
• Christina Martini, Veteran intellectual property lawyer on protecting your IP, even from your day job.
• Janet Crawford, Leadership consultant, on neuroscience and building a team

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"Build relationships and trust...and don't generalize programs across communities. Listen and localize." Gabriela Gonzales on Green Connections Radio podcast

With the number of women in science, technology, engineering and math stubbornly stuck at about 25%, tech companies need to be proactive to ensure they have a 21st century workforce.

Listen to Intel Foundation's Deputy Director Gabriela Gonzales explain how Intel is investing in diverse communities to attract middle school girls to STEM careers. Gaby will also talk about her extraordinary career, from engineer to now going for her PhD while working an intense full-time job.

You'll hear:

• Which social impact initiatives Intel is investing in and why
• Why Intel is investing in women in developing countries
• The strategies Intel is using to attract girls 10-12 years old to STEM careers.
• Reaching underserved communities with the STEM career message.
• Inspiring career advice - and why she's getting a PhD at this point in her career."There's an engineer in all of us...We are solving problems every day...Do a deep dive into your self-analysis...introspection and fill your knowledge gaps." Gabriela Gonzales on Green Connections Radio podcast

You may also like:

• Suzanne Fallender, Intel Director of Corporate Responsibility
• Barbara Whye, Intel Chief Diversity Officer & Vice President of Human Resources
• Maggi Reiss, President, IDS Publishing, on our new survey about what motivates women to be leaders, achievers.
• Coco Brown, Founder/CEO of Athena Alliance, on extraordinary women leaders
• Colleen Brown, Founder/CEO of Lead Up for Women, on finding opportunities in crisis.

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“The vision for electrification is based on the maturing of the technology. Getting it to a price point, a performance point, and a consumer acceptance point, where this actually can serve all of these consumer needs and we can make it affordable and it works…. This is what being a transportation provider looks like… Also, in just a growing access to public (charging) infrastructure where people, rural and urban, whether they need it or not, want to be able to see infrastructure to know that if I had to (charge my car), I could.” Genevieve Cullen on Electric Ladies Podcast

Electric vehicles are on a roll. Sales are booming, doubling every month almost. Automakers offer about 70 models now, have dozens more coming, and committed to going only-electric by 2035. And, we have the massive rollout of charging stations from the massive new federal legislation.  And these vehicles are cool. About 76% of buyers of the new the all-electric version of the iconic Ford F-150 truck are new to EVs, and tax credits are now usable at the time of purchase.  

For a master class in where we are exactly in electric vehicles, listen to this fascinating interview with the master of EVs, Genevieve Cullen, President of the Electric Drive Transportation Assn., the EV trade group, on Electric Ladies Podcast with host Joan Michelson. Genevieve has been in the EV business for decades.  (Editor's Note: This was recorded live at an event, so the audio is a bit less clear than usual. Thanks for understanding.)

You’ll hear:

• How automakers are making vehicles for all needs and budgets now – with more to come.
• What’s really in the new federal legislation, whether you’re a manufacturer, a dealer, a consumer, or in the automotive supply chain or battery business.
• Where the infrastructure is today, and where it’s rolling out, and when.
• How the automotive supply chain is reducing its carbon footprint and being more transparent.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“I do think what's really valuable is to own your expertise. Know what you're good at and absolutely highlight it, monetize it, but don't be afraid to keep adding to it. Don't get stuck in a silo.…Just like, oh, this is where the industry is going and I should get smart about this. So, you have to always keep learning, adding to your skill set, particularly as it like reinforces the thing that you love.”

Genevieve Cullen on Electric Ladies podcast

You’ll also want to listen to: (some might be recorded under our previous name, Green Connections Radio)

• Telva McGruder, Chief Diversity Officer of General Motors – on pivoting that 100+ year old company from gas-powered cars to electric cars
• Kristen Siemen, Chief Sustainability Officer of General Motors
• Suzy Deering, Chief Marketing Officer of Ford – on bringing change to a legacy industry as an outsider.
• Neha Palmer, Founder/CEO of TeraWatt Infrastructure on charging for EV trucks
• Jackie Birdsall, Toyota, Senior Engineer, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles

• Margaret Lewis, New Flyer electric buses

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Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability – featuring mostly women. Green Connections Radio helps you “live green, work green, earn green.”

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As we embark on an uncertain energy and climate future with a new U.S. president who denies climate change and embraces fossil fuels, it’s important to keep focused on the risks – and the opportunities – of the energy portfolio and climate change.

Whether you support the fossil fuel industry or think it should be wiped from the earth, you’ll learn something new – or think about things anew – by listening to this interview.

Listen to master physicist Amory Lovins, cofounder and Chief Scientist of the renowned Rocky Mountain Institute, who has been an energy advisor to major firms and governments in 65+ countries for 40+ years. He’s even a member of the U.S. National Petroleum Council and was named one of the “world’s 100 most influential people” by Time magazine, as well as one of the 100 top global thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine. He’s authored author of 31 books, including, Reinventing Fire, and 600 papers, and, well…I could go on but you get the point.

You’ll definitely want to take notes!

To learn more about Amory Lovins and Green Connections Radio, go to www.greenconnectionsradio.com.

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"You have to give up a little bit of control in that (creative) process....it is an iterative process and allowing people to be as creative and crazy as you possibly could imagine and then noticing when there was really a fantastic moment that we all had to say, 'Ah-ha! that's it, let's go there.'"

Deborah Rutter on Green Connections Radio

As we cope with complete upheaval in our lives and work due to the coronavirus pandemic, it’s time to step back, take a breath, and find creative ways forward.  But how?

Some of us are naturally creative, others of us are managers and leaders, needing to elicit and nurture creative ideas from our teams.  But how? Listen to this enlightening and inspiring conversation between Green Connections Radio host Joan Michelson and a master at doing this: Deborah Rutter, President of The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for The Performing Arts, the nation’s premier arts center.

You

You'll hear:

• How Rutter successfully elicits and nurtures creative people, helping them bring forth their best ideas and solutions.
• About Rutter’s secret weapon to managing for creativity: “listening for understanding, compassion and beyond…”
• Why patience, “waiting and letting an idea simmer” without controlling the process is so important – even in a world driven by instant feedback… and how it birthed their “Sound health” initiative with a renowned musical star.
• Why ROI – return on impact – with a focus on fulfilling your mission is a better metric than a focus on dollars.
• And great career advice too!

Read my Forbes blog about my interview with Deborah too.            

“My special talent is, I work hard…I talk about this with my daughter all the time…I’m persistent and I work really hard. If you keep working hard, if you think about other people probably more than you think about yourself, you will have opportunities. ”

Deborah Rutter on Green Connections Radio podcast

You may also like:

• Courtney Bickert, comedienne and consultant who uses comedy to drive innovative ideas with various industries.
• Ingrid Daubechies, “Genius” awardee, Duke University professor, whose work you probably use every day.
• Angela Duckworth, Author of “Grit: The power of passion and perseverance,” TED Talk superstar, and Univ. of Pennsylvania professor
• Angela Dutton, “Genius” awardee, and sea-level rise “detective.”
• Hire the Outliers: What Else We Can Learn From Megan Rapinoe”: my Forbes blog on hiring for creativity and innovation.

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“I think now, business models will have to somehow rely more on collaboration rather than competition, So, I think, and maybe, naively hope, (this) will be the future of business models…We've harnessed geothermal power for ages, and then we decided we needed to… harness the effluent stream, the excess material that comes from, for example, the geothermal resource. And from that we are developing aquaculture, agriculture, the future of food, cosmetics and, spa life. So, enhancing the quality of life tremendously.” Birta Kristin Helgadottir on Electric Ladies Podcast

On Joan's recent whirlwind tour of some of Iceland’s unique technologies and business models that help its economy run on 85% renewable energy, one of the things that fascinated her was their unique collaborative business parks that share resources in clever ways, creating miniature circular economies on each property. This seems like another way Iceland could be a pilot project for the rest of us on how to run a country on 100% renewable energy.

What are these unique business parks? Listen to Electric Ladies Podcast host Joan Michelson’s fascinating conversation with Birta Kristin Helgadottir, the Director of Green By Iceland, their public-private partnership driving their initiative to be a 100% renewable economy, conducted live in Reykjavik.

You'll hear:

• How these business parks in Iceland share products and byproducts among the tenants, creating a circular economy in each park.
• Examples of two of these unique parks and how they choose which businesses can be housed there.
• Lessons we can all learn from these creative business models.
• Why women play an important role in driving the innovations in Iceland's renewable energy economy.
• Plus, great career advice....

"Always follow your gut. You want to advance that's one thing. You want to make money, that can be a totally different thing… So you have passion… go with a gut feeling and go with your instincts, because sometimes you just go with what you think society would think is right….(And,) the traditional path towards a great career and a perfect life that there is an ideology about that, but you need to shape your own ideology. " Birta Kristin Helgadottir on Electric Ladies Podcast

You'll also like:

• Halla Hrund Logadottir, Director-General, Iceland’s National Energy Authority, on how the country has become 85% renewable energy.
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”
• Kathryn Pavlovsky, Deloitte Energy, Resources & Industrials, on the energy transformation and ESG
• Sandrine Dixson, Co-president of the Club of Rome (global leaders) and Ambassador to the Climate
• Jennifer Gerbi, Ph.D., Deputy Director and Acting Director, ARPA-E, the innovation arm of the Department of Energy

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“We did see that the industry accelerated its energy transition and many of the companies, during the height of the pandemic, were announcing their zero goals… and announced production cuts going forward over the next decade through automation and looking for opportunities to do this, and the pandemic was certainly an accelerator.” Katie Pavolvsky, Deloitte Energy on Electric Ladies Podcast

Energy consumption and prices plummeted during the pandemic, which was a wake-up call to the oil and gas sector. With the big UN Climate Conference known as COP26 coming up in days, the huge spotlight on ESG investing and strategies (for Environment, Social and Governance), plus President Biden’s infrastructure bills with lots of provisions affecting the energy sector moving through Congress, Joan wanted to talk to an expert in the oil and gas sector about how the sector is coping and pivoting.

So, what are the energy companies doing in response?

Listen to Katie Pavlovsky, head of Deloitte’s Energy, Resources and Industrial Services break it down with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson in this insightful and engaging interview.   

You’ll hear about:

• What ESG looks like for the oil and gas companies, one decision at a time.
• How the pandemic was a dry-run of what a transition to a clean energy economy will look and feel like, especially for the oil and gas sector that saw their bottom lines fall through the floor.
• Why the ESG focus is also improving efficiencies, which creates new types of jobs for the sector and, therefore, opens the door to more diverse talent.
• How the combination of hybrid work and the drive toward greater transparency are highlighting the reputational as well as financial risks of not adapting fast enough to this changing energy ecosystem.  
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“Even within energy and on the topics of environmental, social, and governance, what is the role that women can play in particular, in moving forward that agenda and driving earlier results just based on the networks that they have with each other?” Katie Pavolvsky on the Electric Ladies podcast

 Read Joan’s related Forbes articles here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Jennifer Gerbi, Ph.D., Deputy Director and Acting Director, ARPA-E, the innovation arm of the Department of Energy 
• Lisa Jacobson, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, on the impact of covid on energy and transitioning to a clean energy economy
• Anne Kelly, VP of Government Relations at nonprofit Ceres, which helps businesses and policy come together for the planet and people, as well as the economy
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”

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“Decades and generations of fighting for equality and against discrimination can be almost erased by one line of code.” Miriam Vogel on Green Connections Radio

Listen closely the next time you get directions on your smartphone or order Alexa to do something. Did you notice that the voices of personal digital assistants like GPS systems, Siri and Alexa are female? Why is that? Especially when the sophisticated problem-solving technologies like IBM Watson and Microsoft's Einstein are named after men. That's what a recent UN study found. But does that mean AI is biased against women?

 Joan sat down with Miriam Vogel, the inaugural Executive Director of the new nonprofit Equal-AI to find out why they think it is and what they plan to do about it.

 Listen to this at times frustrating discussion to learn:

·       Why this issue is vital to our economy.

·       Why AI systems tend to be biased in favor of white males.

·       What companies can do to gender-neutralize and race-neutralize their AI-dependent tools.

·       New research to find out more.

·       Plus, what Vogel's crooked career journey teaches us about how to build the career we want.

“The tech space seems foreign to many people who grew up with the art history, history, English backgrounds and the liberal arts and sciences, we don’t feel as connected to the tech space. But it’s all the more important that people with that diverse background bring that in, bring that curiosity, the big picture thinking, the historical context, into the technology space….”

Miriam Vogel on Green Connections Radio

Read my Forbes blogs about her here and here.

 You'll also want to listen to:

     Maria Freire, CEO of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), on creative business models for innovation.     Ellen Williams, Former Director of ARPA-E, the prestigious innovation arm of the Dept. of Energy, on energy innovation.     Alfia Ilecheva & Maria Potoroczyn, Cofounders of Women in Innovation, on strategic innovation and how women do it differently.     Ellen Stofan, Head of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, former Chief Scientist for NASA, on driving innovation. 

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“It’s time (for women) to pick our heads up and look around the executive realm and really think broadly about how big our impact can be…Don’t underestimate your value.”

Coco Brown on Green Connections Radio podcast

The economy is in the midst of a massive global shift when the old ways of doing business are giving way to new paradigms – in every sense from managing supply chains to marketing to employee relations, to financial reporting – to a focus more on sustainable business aligned with ESG factors (environment, social and governance). As a result, leadership is changing and it’s becoming more and more apparent every day that the way women tend to lead is more effective and drives stronger performance across all those metrics.

Listen to this fascinating interview with Coco Brown, ranked one of the top 100 women in Silicon Valley and Founder/CEO of the Athena Alliance to find out:

• What the new paradigm of leadership is and how women are uniquely suited to it.
• How to balance both your masculine and feminine capabilities to be an extraordinary leader.
• What makes the executive suite different and what you need to do differently as a result to succeed there.
• What to ask yourself if you want to explore getting on a for-profit board.
• What conscious capitalism is and why now is its time.
• Plus…Important career advice.

“Trust yourself and realize if you got this far, you can get much further. Take that other leap, especially now when the world is loosening to us (as women)…You can succeed.”

Coco Brown on Green Connections Radio podcast

You may also like:

• Maggi Reiss, President, IDS Publishing, on our new survey about what motivates women to be leaders, achievers.
• Corinne Post, Co-author of new study on the life-or-death difference of women on boards of medical products companies – literally.
• Jocelyn Mangan, Founder/CEO of Him For Her, on landing a seat on a for-profit board.
• Jill Wine-Banks, Former Watergate Prosecutor, General Counsel of U.S. Army, Author, “The Watergate Girl”
• Barbara Whye, Intel VP of human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer

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“Part of our culture, a core value, we call it disciplined innovation. So, innovation that leads to execution is our goal. It's a lot of fun to be able to spitball together different ideas…But then to kind of boil that down and say ‘what makes a great business model? What also helps real people in the real world like us? What would we want to do? How would we want to drive it? What would we want to see for our families?” Sue Ozdemir on Electric Ladies Podcast Besides being cool and fun to drive, electric vehicles are examples of how to innovate.  Six big automakers are transitioning their entire product line to EVs over the next few years, but our guest today, a former GE executive, says that big corporates can’t innovate. Why? What’s a better way?

Listen to Sue Ozdemir of Exro Technologies – which makes key EV engine parts – explain why corporates struggle to innovate and how they do it so well, in this fascinating conversation with Electric Ladies podcast host Joan Michelson.  

You’ll hear:

• How Exro’s technologies make EVs run—and better.
• Why she says corporates can’t innovate
• What “disciplined innovation” is and whether it stifles potentially magical ideas.
• How to recruit for innovation, as well as for technical skills.
• How to get hired in a new or young industry – at any age and stage.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“Generally speaking, all females, you just have to be a little bit ahead of your game all the time. You have to know a little bit more, you have to be a little bit more prepared. You have to kind of let things slide a little bit more often…And, don't apologize for the room that we own. We worked hard to be here and we own the space…We deserve to be here. And don't apologize for that.” Sue Ozdemir on Electric Ladies podcast

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Mia Bevacqua, CarParts.com – on how electric vehicles work
• Maureen Kline, Pirelli Tires, Sustainability head – on sustainable, smart tires
• Neha Palmer, CEO/Cofounder of TeraWatt Infrastructure – on building charging for EV trucks, fleets
• Katie Sloan, Southern California Edison, eMobility – on how to increase EV adoption at scale
• Jackie Birdsall, Toyota, Senior Engineer, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles – on how fuel cell vehicles work

• Margaret Lewis, New Flyer electric buses

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“When you think about what you are claiming from an insurance perspective, it’s partly property damage, but it’s largely also business interruption. So, your lack of sales, your lack of being able to produce things, your lack of being able to distribute things.” Tina Kirby on Green Connections Radio podcast

While you’re reviewing your insurance policies during this pandemic to see if it covers your business being ordered closed due to this pandemic, it’s a good time to review it for disasters of any kind, including climate change-related ones. Many business owners and homeowners found during hurricanes like Harvey and Maria that their insurance policies did not cover them as they thought they would. Because of this and since experts predict more extreme weather events, today we’re examining what insurance CAN be for how we really live, work and play.

Listen to this enlightening Green Connections Radio podcast interview with Tina Kirby, head of Insurance Innovators, who has spent about 25 years in the insurance industry, on every side of it, and is now working full time to reinvent it for the benefit of all parties involved.

You’ll hear:

• How to decipher your current insurance policy and questions to ask before you renew it again.
• Three steps for how your insurance policy could better mitigate your risks.
• What to do if your insurance company says you’re not covered for the damage you incurred.
• How to  build a movement in your community to pressure your elected officials and insurance commission to make the changes the community needs for realities on the ground today.
• Plus great career advice!

“I would begin with what your passion is…and look for links between what you do and that passion you have, or that purpose you would like to see in your company…And be curious and openminded and help out wherever you can.” Tina Kirby on Green Connections Radio

What questions do YOU have for Tina Kirby? Tweet them to us @joanmichelson or post them on our Facebook Page — and ask to join our private Facebook group.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Rawlings Miller of WSP on developing a climate resilience plan for your community or business.
• Kathy Baughman McLeod of the new Atlantic Council Resilience Center, on climate resilience preparation.
• Beth Gibbons, Executive Director of American Society of Adaptation Professionals (ASAP).
• Robin Currey, Prescott College, on creating a sustainable food supply.

Listen to more great interviews with innovators at www.greenconnectionsradio.com  – or on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify or other podcast networks.

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Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability – featuring mostly women. Green Connections Radio helps you “live green, work green, earn green.”

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With the Trump administration nearing a decision on whether to stay in the historic Paris Climate Accord, we thought it a good time to re-air our fascinating episode with the woman on the front lines of implementing that accord: Rachel Kyte, CEO of the United Nation’s Sustainable Energy for All Programme.

Kyte articulates the impetus for the Paris Climate Accord in the first place – and how it can be implemented. It’s a fine dance of diplomacy, technology, science, negotiation, creative business and financial modeling, and entrenched positions – with human survival in the balance.

This is much more than “an agreement.”

She also addresses the challenges of developing a clean energy infrastructure with 21st century technology with every country on earth – and as fast as possible, because populations are at grave risk.

You’ll hear about:

• Innovation to increase access to energy – and therefore economic well-being – across the globe.
• The art of developing new business and financial models among parties from different economic structures and values that drive results.
• What’s missing and the “next big thing.”
• Influence management, communication skills, and career advice for innovators (and women)

Thank you for subscribing to Green Connections on iTunes or iHeartRadio and leaving us a review!

To learn more about Karina Edmonds, the Department of Energy and the National Laboratories, and about Green Connections Radio, go to www.greenconnectionsradio.com.

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“Brand citizenship is a way of doing business – from a company’s core purpose; to its delivery of goods and services; to its responsibility to its employees, community, the environment and the world – that people trust, believe in and rely on…all with the aim of earning profits that are maintainable over the long term.”

 Anne Bahr Thompson on Green Connections Radio podcast

As we welcome in 2021, leaders, organizations and workplaces are preparing for a post-covid world, figuring out which new ways of doing business will remain.  As I wrote about in Forbes recently, these profound shifts are ushering in the Era of ESG – the investing term for a focus on environment, social and governance issues – when these issues are taking center stage financially as well as strategically.  

In my piece, I quoted branding expert and author Anne Bahr Thompson from my interview with her, so it’s fitting to listen anew to our interview first broadcast in the beginning of covid’s dominance this year. We talked about steps companies and leaders should take – and not take – in this unprecedented crisis.  

You’ll hear:

• How to be compassionate and a good corporate citizen at this time, from how you can help, to how you treat your employees, to ads you run (or don’t).
• The five stages of Brand Citizenship® and how to do them (trust, enrichment, contribution, etc.).
• Why planning and understanding what your relationship is with your customers are both crucial.
• What “fitness stretches for your brand” are and why they matter.
• Plus great career advice!

“We each come into the world with gifts. And, how do we apply those gifts and have them intersect with the things we’re good at and the things we’re interested in so that we can contribute.” Anne Bahr Thompson on Green Connections Radio

Read my Forbes blogs about Welcome to the Era of ESG, and about how brands can adapt or reinvent their messaging to respond to such crises.

Which brands do think are doing well and why? Tweet them to us @joanmichelson or post them on our Facebook Page — and ask to join our private Facebook group.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Anne Bahr Thompson, on her book about what Brand Citizenship is and the steps to take to brand for purpose and profit.

• Deborah Lee James, former Secretary of the Air Force, on leading in a crisis

• Jennifer “JJ” Lee, United We Mask, on making masks from recycled fabric, including for people in need

• Rachel Hutchisson, Blackbaud on building an “ecosystem of good.” (recorded pre-covid)

• Julie Fox Gorte, of PaxWorld Investments, on ESG investing, embracing environment, social and governance values (recorded pre-covd)

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With so much innovation in the energy sector, the rapid expansion of renewable energy, development of a “smart grid” and the Internet of Things technologies, the utilities have to evolve too. And, without dropping any service to anyone, ever.

So, what’s a utility to do to survive – and to thrive?

Enter Mary Powell, CEO of Green Mountain Power in Vermont, who was chosen as one of Fast Company’s most innovative people. She’s turning the business model of a utility on its head, and retains the support of her board because she’s succeeding in every way – customer service ratings in the 90%s and generating sold financial results. How?

Listen to Green Connections Radio host Joan Michelson’s fascinating conversion with Mary Poweell about:

• What being an “un-utility” means.
• How Green Mountain Power is innovating a legacy industry – and one on which we all depend.
• Being truly customer-focused
• Making money by selling less.
• Why and how she made a ground-breaking deal with Tesla.

To learn more about Mary Powell and Green Mountain Power and about Green Connections Radio, go to www.greenconnectionsradio.com.

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“When we're searching for projects to invest in and support, we're really trying to make sure that it's a story that has kind of a balanced narrative. It's not about just talking about what we can do and how we're, how we're winning. It's really making sure that we understand what's at stake and what the impacts are and who the impacts are hitting, and also seeing people in action addressing and dealing with the situation at hand. And I think that's where it’s very hard, increasingly hard.” Jill Tidman on Electric Ladies Podcast

How do we talk about the climate? The public is experiencing the effects of a warming – boiling – planet more each day with massive wildfires, massive floods and extreme heat, as well as destructive hurricanes and the like. But how do we tell the story of how those events reflect the actions we need to take to avert worse?

This is the challenge of today for those of us seeking to save humanity’s ability to live on a warming planet. As I wrote in Forbes recently, how we talk about the weather matters. Listen to Jill Tidman, Executive Director of The Redford Center (founded by actor, producer, Robert Redford and his late son James Redford) on Electric Ladies Podcast in this inspiring conversation with host Joan Michelson.  

You’ll hear:

• Why stories are vital to massive social, political and economic change.
• How The Redford Center chooses its projects to motivate action.
• How to communicate climate messages in stories without being preachy or awkward.
• How culture can reach people who are disinclined toward the climate change message.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“Any time you can find work that aligns with your, your personal values and goals, you're going to excel, you're going to feel better, you're going to be happier, you're going to have more value, you're going to succeed in the ways that I think are probably most meaningful for women. And, and then, I also think, don't be shy. I think that we have a tendency to not ask for what we need or put in an idea forward, um, or, go out on a limb. We don't need to play small. We're in the room, and if you're in the room, be in the room.”

Jill Tidman on Electric Ladies podcast

Read my articles in Forbes about how we talk about the weather, and about developing a new narrative for the climate effort.

You’ll also want to listen to (some may have been recorded under our previous name, Green Connections Radio):

• Sandra Bargman & Chantal Bilodeau, “The Climate Cabaret” – using music and storytelling to talk about the climate crisis.
• Aimee Christensen, CEO, Christensen Global & the Sun Valley Forum & Sun Valley Institute For Resilience
• Deborah Rutter, President, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts – on managing creative people.
• Ann Friedman, Creator and CEO, Planet Word Museum – on her new museum about the magic of language.
• Tracy Edwards, Executive Producer of the documentary “Maiden” about her experience developing and Captaining the first all-female crew to run the Whitbread Round the World Yachting Race.
• Dayna Reggero, Executive Producer of The Climate Listening Project, short films about community climate activists around the U.S.

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“The Covid-19 pandemic has created the biggest shock to the global energy system since at least World War II…Renewables are the only energy source that will grow in 2020.”

David Turk, International Energy Agency Testifying on Capitol Hill June 2020

A key component of President Biden’s infrastructure plan is addressing our energy needs and doing so in a way that does not continue to hurt the planet or public health.  We are acutely aware of the massive impact the pandemic had on the energy sector – with oil going literally to below zero dollars per barrel for the first time – and are also acutely aware of our economy’s dependence on energy of some kind.

So, how do we move forward to address this conundrum? Listen to this fascinating discussion with Lisa Jacobson, president of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) on Green Connections Radio podcast on how a silver lining in this crisis may be the critical clean energy innovation coming out of it, including millions of new, high-skilled jobs.

You’ll hear:

• How clean energy is a bright spot in this crisis, even as it takes a hit economically.
• Why this pandemic-economic crisis is driving much-needed clean energy innovation and infrastructure.
• Creative, bipartisan legislation that could ramp up these changes and help us keep the clean air and water we’ve seen during this pandemic.
• Steps you can take in your own world today – including voting for candidates across government in every election, including the presidency, who support clean energy and the environment.
• Plus, important career advice from a woman proving that you can make a difference and do well at the same time…. and more.

“Go for it! Do your research on organizations, share your passion and be persistent. (Renewable energies) are the growth sectors.”

Lisa Jacobson on Green Connections Radio podcast

Read my article on these issues in Forbes here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Katie Mehnert, CEO of Pink Petro, organization of women in energy.
• Lynn Abramson, Clean Energy Business Network (a division of BCSE) on small business and energy needs and policy.
• Rachel Gutter, President of the International Well Building Institute, on questions to ask before you go back into your workplace.
• Michelle Wyman, Executive Director of National Council of Science and the Environment on how to talk to policymakers about science to keep science in policy decisions.

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“What I'm hearing is, how do we go faster? How do we transform the key industries that are driving emissions now? And, that can be the solutions to our climate crisis, to our biodiversity crisis. They're really seeking what are the strategies, where should they be going strategically to shift capital, to shift their operations?...I'm seeing is a great eagerness to learn to act, uh, far ahead of the global targets by governments. So working with companies, working with, uh, local and regional and state governments, um, working with innovators to large corporates. Uh, what I'm hearing is how do we go faster and how do we do it in a way that is truly credible?”

Aimee Christensen on Electric Ladies Podcast

Climate change affects the entire economy – every sector – and therefore, any solution requires a multi-sector, multidimensional approach. But how do those work exactly in real life? What’s working?

Aimee Christensen, CEO of Christensen Global and Founder/CEO of the Sun Valley Forum, has been collaborating with top leaders across sectors in this work every day for 30 years, making the hard choices, running the numbers, identifying financial products and metrics.

Listen to Aimee on Electric Ladies Podcast help us make sense of these strategies in this enlightening interview with host Joan Michelson. 

You’ll hear:

• How to build successful public-private partnerships.
• How to align financial assets with growing a climate positive economy.
• What impact new federal funding, ESG reporting and climate disclosure rules will have.
• What corporates are doing to transition to net zero operations and why.
• Plus, insightful career advice, such as…

“Something that I've tried to do in my career that's been important has been to trust my gut and to be a truth teller….People are looking for community, so even if you think you might be the only one who's raising this issue,…you will find your people. And if you don't speak your truth, if you don't ask the hard question, you won't find the people who are looking to align with that aggressive leadership and trust your gut on that. So trust your gut, whether it's about a new job, about a direction we need to be going in, even if it feels a little bit lonely, because… You'll be proven. People will find you and want to collaborate with you.” Aimee Christensen on Electric Ladies Podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here too.

You’ll also like (some may have been recorded under our previous name, Green Connections Radio):

• Kristina Wyatt, Chief Sustainability Officer & Deputy General Counsel, Persefoni and former leader of the SEC task force developing the Climate Risk Disclosure rules.
• Sandrine Dixson-Decléve, Co-President of Club of Rome, on transitioning to a people-planet first economy.
• Kathy Baughman-McLeod, SVP and Executive Director, Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, on scaling resilience across the globe and across populations.
• Melissa Lott, Ph.D., Director of Research, Global Energy Policy, Columbia University, on how exactly to get to carbon zero
• Jean Case, CEO, the Case Foundation and Chair, National Geographic Society, on ESG and impact investing.

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“Energy storage enables us to have energy and power when and where we need it.”

The linchpin in the new energy revolution is storage – to “enable us to have energy and power when and where we need it,” as Dr. McGrath put it.  It’s a time of rapid innovation in energy and storage, though, and the systems that rely on them, such as utilities and electric vehicles, as well as the electric grid.

Listen to Green Connections Radio host Joan Michelson’s conversation with Dr. Kimberly McGrath of Maxwell Technologies take us from where storage is today to where it’s going, and how we’re going to get there, with what kinds of technologies.  Dr. McGrath has spent her entire 30-year career in the field of energy storage and is a master of it, and Joan helps us understand what these new innovations mean for our lives and businesses.

You’ll learn about:

• How energy storage works.
• The new storage technologies that are promising to simplify our systems and reduce our vulnerability.
• How utilities need to adapt to the new energy and storage paradigms and technologies.
• How to power electric vehicles so you know which ones to buy for the long-term.
• The impact of Trump’s threats to cut clean energy government funding and his support of fossil fuels.
• How business leaders can make decisions about powering their plants and operations in this flux.
• Tips for making career decisions – “placing bets” and following the money, as well as ….. (listen and find out to her other valuable tips, for any age, career stage and occupation).

You’ll understand where your electricity comes from, the importance of and innovations in storage – and what these mean for you, your business and your career – a lot better after listening to Joan and Dr. McGrath!

To learn more about Kimberly McGrath and Green Connections Radio, go to www.greenconnectionsradio.com.

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If you’ve ever been interested in growing food, or in advancing it on a campus or in your community, listen to Green Connections Radio host Joan Michelson’s interview with a master: George Mason University Greenhouse Manager Donielle “Doni” Nolan. Take notes!

Whether you want to build one, teach in one, or volunteer in one – decide if it’s right for your campus (corporate or college/university) – Doni gives great tips that will save you and your team time, money, hassle and resources and help you be successful.

You’ll learn:

• How to set up and run a greenhouse, including ideas for what to grow.
• A creative deal to sell the produce you grow to offset costs.
• What your team can learn from working there – either as paid staff or volunteers, including students.
• How greenhouses can be more energy and water efficient and use natural fertilizers (even if not certified “organic”).
• How to prepare your garden or greenhouse for the impact of climate change – and how it can help you prepare.

To learn more about Doni Nolan and the George Mason University greenhouse and gardens, and about Green Connections Radio, go to www.greenconnectionsradio.com.

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The biggest hurdle for women in tech "Is the same underpinnings of many of the other challenges we face in our society: fear and power…Computer science was…created by the women…to do the things these women were doing. And that was thought to be clerical, until all of a sudden the power of it was recognized by the men and that’s when that power shift occurred.”

Brenda Darden Wilkerson on Green Connections Radio podcast

Women in technology fields – and STEM fields more broadly – face a variety of challenges, but they also have a lot of opportunities today. They are more in demand. There are more training programs, and there are more resources available to them.

One of those resources is the famed Anita Borg Institute for Women in Technology, which is the founder of the prestigious Grace Hopper Conference attended by about 26,000 people every year. Listen to Brenda Darden Wilkerson, CEO of the Anita Borg Institute talk about these challenges and opportunities – and tell some great stories – in this truly engaging and entertaining interview with Joan Michelson on Green Connections Radio podcast.

Grab a notepad and pen, or your laptop to take notes, because you'll hear:

• Specific career insights for all of us, especially for women in tech.
• Tips for organizations seeking to recruit and retain more women in STEM.
• How we women can get in our own way – like how she nearly missed out on this job
• How she went from an educator to a CEO.
• And more career tips for working in tech at any age and stage.

And so much more!

"Be willing to be an intrapreneur… Bring your passion for what needs to be fixed, because you’re the one who sees it. Work from where you are….You can work within an organization to do amazing things.“ Brenda Darden Wikerson on Green Connections Radio podcast

Read Joan's Forbes blogs on Brenda's advice for organizations and for women too.

You’ll also like:

• Barbara Whye, new Chief Diversity Officer of Apple, formerly CDO and VP of HR at Intel.
• Telle Whitney, former CEO, Anita Borg Institute for Women in Technology, cofounder of Grace Hopper Conference
• Mary Snapp, Corporate VP of Microsoft, CEO of Microsoft Philanthropies and Diversity Leader
• Sophie Vandebroek, COO of IBM Research, former CTO of Xerox and President of their Innovation Unit

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With a new Secretary of Defense coming in, and an Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, it's important to remember the national security implications of climate change.

Listen to Joan Michelson's fascinating (and a bit frightening) interview with former Deputy Secretary of Defense, and former Senior Vice President and General Counsel and Military Advisor at CNA, a top national security think tank, Sherri Goodman on how climate relates to national security.  She personally shifted the DoD's mindset on these issues when she was in the Pentagon as the first Deputy Secretary of Environment. 

Listen to Sherri Goodman explain:How climate change is a national security issue.How wars start over water, food, natural resources.Why your area might not get what it needs in a disaster because of it.What we can do about it – and tell our Members of Congress and Mayors to do.And more!

This interview was conducted while she was at CNA, which she has since left,  It aired originally on this podcast about 2 years ago and is still relevant today, though some of the players may have changed.

You'll also like:

·       Rawlings Miller of WSP on developing a climate resilience plan for your community or business.

·       Ellen Wald, Phd, author of “Saudi, Inc.” about oil, national security and geopolitics, specifically in relation to Saudi Arabia and the U.S.

·       Kathy Baughman McLeod of the new Atlantic Council Resilience Center.

·       Karen Lightman, of Carnegie Mellon U’s Smart Cities Initiative.

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Reach us on Twitter @joanmichelson

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“Philanthropy generally, we consider, contributing private money for public good or community good. And climate philanthropy is simply, when we are making those private contributions in ways that are going to address the climate crisis that our country and that the world is facing today. I would expand that slightly by saying that one of the trends that I'm seeing is a real interlinking of climate and nature problems and climate and nature solutions.”

 Heather Grady on Electric Ladies Podcast

Philanthropy is being reinvented today, including what is now called “climate philanthropy.” It’s in part about considering the solutions nature can provide to the climate crisis, instead of just relying on new technologies.  They each have a singular purpose as well as a role in the bigger vision, and require accountability  

Listen to Heather Grady, Vice President and Practice Lead for Environment and Climate at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, explain how they are leveraging philanthropy to help avert climate catastrophes in this fascinating conversation with Electric Ladies podcast host Joan Michelson.  

You’ll hear:

• What climate philanthropy is and how it works – and how they view “risk.”
• How they are leveraging the new federal funding, including the Inflation Reduction Act.
• What they think of the oil companies, ESG (environment, social, governance) and other hot topics.
• Which areas Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors focuses on and why
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“When women are clear that they do want to make a difference, that they want a job with purpose, that's a good thing to put in your cover letter and express on your cv. There are people who haven't worked on mission-driven organizations or companies yet. But if you've spent time, say, doing a lot of volunteer work in your community, whether it's climate or children's rights or whatever it may be, make sure that you're emphasizing that when you're applying for positions. We are really looking in my organization, and I see this increasingly, people are looking for new employees who are values-aligned and values aware.”

Heather Grady on Electric Ladies podcast

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Justin Winter, Cofounder, One Earth, on “philanthro-activism”.
• Zainab Salbi, Cofounder of Daughters for Earth, one of the partners in One Earth – and Founder of Women to Women International and its former CEO
• Rosemary Atieno, Women Climate Centers International – on how they are helping women in rural Kenya grow their economies and address climate change at the same time.
• Natalie Jaresko, former finance minister of Ukraine – on the hidden power of ESG

·       Sandrine Dixson, Co-president of the Club of Rome (global leaders) – on the need for a new economic model that puts people and planet ahead of profit.

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Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability – featuring mostly women. Green Connections Radio helps you “live green, work green, earn green.” 

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“For the entire development of modern civilization, Greenland and Antarctica have been holding vast amounts of water as frozen ice and helping us to maintain very steady sea levels around our coast. And that's allowed us to build infrastructure, build mega cities, right on the coast where many of our world's mega cities sit. Now….we're raising our air temperatures …and that's adding more water to our oceans, which is arriving at shores around the world… disrupting the infrastructure we built…(and) caus(ing) health and other problems.”

Dr. Twila Moon on Electric Ladies Podcast

We hear about melting ice caps as a symbol of global warming. What do they mean? What does the ice caps mean? What does the fact that they're melting mean? And what does it mean for our cities, towns and communities?

Listen to Dr. Twila Moon, a climate scientist from and the University of Colorado at Boulder’s National Snow and Ice Data Center who specializes in the ice caps - a cryosphere scientist – in this fascinating interview with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson where she helps us understand what those melting ice caps mean for us.

You’ll hear about:

• Why glaciers matter
• How glaciers melting directly affects our daily lives.
• Why small changes in air temperature directly affect our infrastructure, food and water supplies.
• What we can do in our daily conversations to help people understand the impact of climate change.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“So first recognizing that you're in a continually evolving space of influence and the dreams that you, that position that you were applying for three years ago, take the time now to consider…(that) you might've already grown out of that dream and already be able to take on bigger responsibilities or bigger roles. And the second thing is learning how to say no saying no is saying yes to the things already on your plate.” Twila Moon on the Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s related Forbes articles here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Sandrine Dixson, Co-President, The Club of Rome, from COP26, about the need for transformational public-private partnerships to get to net zero.
• Gillian Tett, Financial Times, from COP26, about what the new financial alliance means for a net zero economy.
• Olivia Martin, USAFacts.org, on the State of the Earth in 2021, using various sources of government data.
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”

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Debbie Levin personally converted Hollywood’s television and movie productions into a greener way of doing business – and awards them when they do, as founder of the Environmental Media Awards. Awardees include Gwyneth Paltrow, 21st Century Fox, “Steve Jobs” the movie, and even “Star Wars.”

In this brief interview at an Environmental Media Association gala, Levin tells Green Connections host Joan Michelson about what it takes to get the studios on the environmental bandwagon, and which are still lagging. You can factor that into your next movie ticket choice. 

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“We'll have over 50% of our facilities producing EVs here in the U.S. by 2025. We've announced four battery plants here in the U.S., a number of supply chain agreements, again, to really get those critical minerals happening here. So, so really excited to see where this, this is going to take us.” Kristen Siemen on Electric Ladies Podcast

General Motors announced it was going all-electric by around 2035, in some ways pushing the legacy automakers to accelerate their transitions too. They also committed to reducing their carbon footprint overall aggressively, from materials, to how they power their plants, to the supply chain. How are they doing it?

Listen to Kristen Siemen, Chief Sustainability Officer at General Motors in this remarkable interview with host Joan Michelson on Electric Ladies Podcast about how General Motors is pivoting its entire manufacturing process to electric vehicles, and driving more innovation at the same time.

You’ll hear:

• How GM is bringing its 25 year history in electric vehicles to 21^st century mobility needs.
• How GM is allocating the $35 billion they committed to this transformation to EVs – in all types of vehicles, from luxury cars to Hummers.
• What it’s going to take for EVs to go mainstream.
• How the much-needed EV infrastructure gets built, including with the new federal legislation and GM’s recent charging deal.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“It's really about being transparent, you know, and being comfortable to give your opinion and, and ask for what you want to do and where you want to work or, or what type of assignment you'd like to have. And so, it all circles back to that passion. If you like what you're doing, you're going to work harder and you're going to be the person that they want on the team.” Kristen Siemen on Electric Ladies podcast

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Telva McGruder, Chief Diversity Officer of General Motors – on pivoting that 100+ year old company from gas-powered cars to electric cars
• Suzy Deering, Chief Marketing Officer at Ford Motor Company, on disrupting a 100+ automaker.
• Neha Palmer, Founder/CEO of TeraWatt Infrastructure on charging for EV trucks
• Maureen Kline, Head of Sustainability, Pirelli Tires, on smart and sustainable tires
• Jackie Birdsall, Toyota, Senior Engineer, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles

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Reach us on Twitter @joanmichelson

Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability – featuring mostly women. Green Connections Radio helps you “live green, work green, earn green.”

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Engaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability – featuring mostly women. Green Connections Radio helps you “live green, work green, earn green.”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

San Francisco has ambitious clean energy goals: Reducing their carbon footrpint by 80% by 2050 and zero waste by 2020.

How can they get there and what can the rest of us learn from their experience?

As head of San Francisco's Department of the Environment, Melanie Nutter has been on the foreffont of this effort and a leader in developing programs that drive sustainable urban solutions.

Listen to GCR host Joan Michelson's engaging interview with Melanie including about:

• Financial incentives and grant programs for community groups
• An app for reporting issues in the city that need repair
• Collaborating with other cities to find best practices
• Consumer behavior

And, she proves that you don't have to be an an engineer or a scientist to succeed in this industry!

inspiring for the rest of us...

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ngaging, enlightening and entertaining interviews with innovators and leaders in energy, clean tech and sustainability – featuring mostly women. Green Connections Radio helps you “live green, work green, earn green.”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Carbon Recycling International was founded around the idea of taking something which was waste, like CO2 and turning it into some valuable product…(Today they are) converting CO2 into sustainable methanol…(W)e have technology, which takes CO2 as a waste, and it takes hydrogen and turns it into methanol…and it is used today both like into chemicals. So, the chemical sector is a big consumer of methanol, which is a very large known product in the world today. …(and into) a sustainable fuel...playing a pretty big role in the energy transition.” Bjork Kristjansdottir on Electric Ladies Podcast

One of the creative technologies developed today to both address the climate crisis and accelerate the energy transition is carbon recycling. What is it? Essentially, it’s converting CO2 into energy or chemicals.

Listen to Bjork Kristjansdottir, COO/CFO of Carbon Recycling International in Iceland explain how it works and how it’s used in this fascinating discussion with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson. 

You’ll hear about:

• How they “recycle carbon” – from capture to converting it to how it’s used.
• How the chemicals made from carbon recycling are used.
• Why methanol is so important in the energy transition and how they make it
• How they are making sustainable aviation fuel from carbon recycling
• Plus, insightful career advice, such as…

“My advice is first, like it's around decisions. So, we need to make decisions. Postponing making decisions puts you at the risk things will just happen to you.…And remember that, when we do make those decision in our career, it is always based on the best information available at the time. Things may change, it doesn't make it a wrong decision.. (and) You don't need to learn and be the best at everything yourself. What you need to do is to learn how to listen and harvest all of the potential, all of the talent around you… get comfortable with asking the right questions.” Bjork Kristjansdottir on Electric Ladies Podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here too.

You'll also like:

• Inna Braverman, Founder/CEO of Eco Wave Power, on how wave power works and her powerful personal story that reflects today’s geopolitical dynamics.
• Lisa Jacobson (BCSE) & Tara Narayanan (BNEF), on their 2024 Energy Factbook, by the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and Bloomberg New Energy Finance
• Melissa Lott, Ph.D., Director of Research at the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, and the lead scientists in the PBS/NOVA documentary “Chasing Carbon Zero.”
• Vanessa Chan, Ph.D., Chief Commercialization Officer of the Department of Energy and Director of the Office of Technology Transitions, on the Inflation Reduction Act and the transition to clean energy.
• Paula Glover, President, The Alliance to Save Energy, focused on energy efficiency

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“Today we are talking about accelerating the clean energy transition, including government policy, lowering costs, and decarbonization...The new 2024 Energy Fact book (by BCSE & BNEF)… found that the energy transition is in full swing with ‘record breaking’ public and private sector investments in clean power and renewable energies showing cost competitiveness even without government subsidies…But the two key pieces we're going to talk about today are… the grid and storage.”

Joan Michelson on Electric Ladies Podcast

Between market forces, government incentives and funding, and public-private partnerships, the transition to a net zero economy is in full swing and resilient, despite “headwinds” like covid, high interest rates, supply chain issues and political pressures, studies show. Where are we now?

Listen to this webinar produced by ICWS and emceed/moderated by Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson, with top experts from Schneider Electric, Smart Electric Power Alliance, EcoEngineers and Long Duration Energy Storage Assn..

You’ll hear about:

• Where we are in the energy transition and why clean energy is cost competitive now
• How we need to upgrade and reinvent the grid, the hub of the system
• The importance of energy storage, including long-duration energy storage and hydrogen
• What impact the Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure Investment Act and the CHIPS and Science Act have had – and will have going forward (or not).
• Plus, here’s some insightful career advice, such as…

“Think about your career as a business…Try to always have a mindset of kind of what I want first…What organizations do I want to work with? Where, what kind of responsibilities do I want to have? And maybe I do it through a traditional employer employee relationship, or maybe I just branch out on my own and just do it right? And I feel like women should feel empowered to do that and to be that kind of proactive thinking. And don't be afraid.” Lisa Jacobson on Electric Ladies Podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes article about this new report here and more of her articles here too.

You'll also like:

• Lisa Jacobson (BCSE) & Tara Narayanan (BNEF), on their 2024 Energy Factbook, by the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and Bloomberg New Energy Finance
• Melissa Lott, Ph.D., Director of Research at the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, and the lead scientists in the PBS/NOVA documentary “Chasing Carbon Zero.”
• Vanessa Chan, Ph.D., Chief Commercialization Officer of the Department of Energy and Director of the Office of Technology Transitions, on the Inflation Reduction Act and the transition to clean energy.
• Inna Braverman, Founder/CEO of Eco Wave Power, on how wave power works and her powerful personal story that reflects today’s geopolitical dynamics.

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive our podcasts, blog, events and special coaching offers..

Thanks for subscribing on Apple Podcasts or iHeartRadio and leaving us a review!