inspiring Archives - Don't Stop Us Now

AI for Human Flourishing – Nathalie Nahai

January 5, 2025January 6, 2025
by Claire

Our guest this week is an expert in psychology, persuasive technology, and human behaviour. Nathalie Nahai is also an author, international keynote speaker and artist.

Nathalie has thought deeply about the impact of AI on humans and what she has to share with us in this episode is really thought provoking.

In this episode we cover what it will mean to be human in the coming years as AI evolves around us. We talk about what happens if businesses just default to using AI to cut costs and roles, and explore how to create AI that has values truly ‘baked in’ to support humanity.

Nathalie also shares an inspiring call to pursue the answer to perhaps the most important question for today: how do we create businesses that harness technology and support the flourishing of life? And she shares a diverse range of AI resources to listen to or read (see links below).

This is Nathalie’s second appearance on the show and an obvious choice for us given her global perspectives on humans and their relationship with tech. (It’s been six years since we last spoke to her on the podcast after meeting at SXSW in Austin. You can find that episode here.)

Nathalie’s humane perspective and questions are so important in the world right now.

Enjoy this new episode with the deep thinking and inspiring Nathalie Nahai.

Useful links

Nathalie’s AI resources page

Nathalie Nahai Art

Nathalie’s podcast

Joanna Kavanna (author she mentions)

Sanger Institute (for Genomics)

MIT AI Basics

Harvard free machine learning course

Your Undivided Attention (podcast)

Gary Marcus

Timnit Gebru

Interview

Purpose Powered Pioneer – Annie Crawford

October 10, 2024October 10, 2024
by Claire

Few people can say they’ve founded a non-profit that raises millions while creating a community that helps supporters achieve extraordinary physical challenges. Annie Crawford is one of those rare individuals.

As the founder of CanToo, a high-profile Australian charity running for nearly two decades, Annie has revolutionised fundraising for cancer research. CanToo organises physical challenges like ocean swims and half marathons, where participants receive months of professional coaching in exchange for fundraising commitments.

As a result, more than 20,000 people to date have achieved impressive physical challenges, and more than AUD$33 million has been raised to fund cancer research.

Aside from CanToo, Annie’s had some fascinating career experience including helping to build a very successful Biotech startup in San Francisco.

In this episode you’ll hear how:

How a Kombi van trip around Europe with her parents and 6 siblings impacted Annie’s world view (can you imagine 9 people in a Kombi van?!)
How Annie places values at the heart of what she does and how she built CanToo
Her ingredients for building a sustainable and successful organisation, and
How Annie learnt to overcome an almost paralysing fear of public speaking

Annie is a very down to earth and modest person and you can tell that her life and priorities have been shaped by family tragedy. With CanToo she’s built an incredible and fitting legacy.

Enjoy this episode with the inspiring and values-driven Annie Crawford.

Useful Links

CanToo website – check out their latest physical challenges

Interview

Compassion + Contribution – Dr Lineo Thahane

November 17, 2023November 17, 2023
by Claire

If you’re anything like us and fed up with all the bleak news, then this week’s episode may be just what you need; a guaranteed dose of positivity, progress and inspiration!

We’re joined by the humble and impressive Dr Lineo Thahane. Lineo is a paediatrician and is Executive Director of a major medical clinic in the Kingdom of Lesotho called the Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation Lesotho.

Lesotho, a tiny country in southern Africa, is ranked number two in terms of the countries with the highest proportion of its adult population living with HIV in the world. Nearly one in 4 adults is HIV positive and many children are too.

Lineo was born and raised in the US but her parents were both from Lesotho and so Lineo spent summer holidays back in Lesotho with her extended family. There, she was able to experience what it was like to live in her parents’ country of birth and, as she grew older, she felt a deep sense of unfairness at the differences in the standard of living in the US versus that of Lesotho.

As you will hear, this convinced Lineo to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a doctor so that she could return to Lesotho and help make a difference to the quality of healthcare the average person could receive there.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How nearly 10% of Lesotho’s children are orphans
How Lineo stays positive despite the sometimes confronting experiences and challenges she has faced treating sick babies and children
Why she continues to work in Lesotho when she could be living comfortably in the US,
And what Lineo has learnt about the challenges of transitioning from being a specialist doctor to becoming a leader of a large organisation with nearly 800 employees.

This is a fascinating, moving and uplifting conversation. Don’t miss this episode with the compassionate and dedicated Dr Lineo Thahane.

Useful Links:

Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation website

Texas Children’s Global Health – Lesotho

World AIDS Day 2023

Interview

Yes She Can! – Sarah Jenkins

February 14, 2023February 14, 2023
by Claire

Our guest this week is one of the most positive, resilient and talented people we know.

International award winning and globally acclaimed drone photographer, Sarah Jenkins is not your average drone pilot.

Once fit and healthy, Sarah has been confined to a wheelchair for more than 6 years now and, as a result of her muscular dystrophy, she’s unable to hold and use a normal camera or even the camera on an iphone.

During Covid, confined to the house and looking for something to do, Sarah and her daughter Lucy decided to try drone photography as Sarah knew that she could operate the toggles that control a drone and rest the remote control in her lap.

The rest, as they say, is history.

In this episode you’ll learn how:

Sarah stays positive despite having lost so many physical capabilities
Her attitude to learning her craft as she goes
Despite being invited to enter global awards and having other international recognition she still suffers from imposter syndrome; and
Sarah’s advice to others wanting to pursue a new creative endeavour.

Sarah also happens to be one of Greta’s oldest and best friends. Greta has watched Sarah over the years evolve from being a nurse and a mum, to also becoming a positive and inspirational creative, who just happens to be wheelchair bound.

You’ll hear a few different place names mentioned in this episode. Sarah is based in Perth in Western Australia these days, but during Covid she relocated for health reasons to the isolated coastal town of Port Douglas in far north Queensland to escape the city crowds.

Without further ado, get ready to be inspired by the positive and ‘can do ‘ talent that is Sarah Jenkins.

Useful Links

Air Bare website

Air Bare Studio Insta

Minimalism in Photography Book: teNeues Publishing, September 2022

ABC News Online: Interview; Published May 2022

Interview

Tessa Clarke – The Difference One Person Can Make

November 1, 2021November 2, 2021
by Claire

We’re excited to be bringing you an inspiring and very relevant guest this week given world leaders have been meeting at COP26 in Glasgow for vital climate talks as this episode goes to air.

Tessa Clarke is Co-founder and CEO of the international food sharing and household goods app called OLIO. Her passion for sustainability and for creating simple ways to help all of us to take simple but powerful steps to help the environment is just what we need right now!

Tessa and her Co-founder (whom she met at Stanford doing her MBA) launched OLIO in 2015 and originally focused on food waste in the home, although now you can find new homes for all kinds of other items as well.

OLIO has just successfully closed a Series B fundraising round raising $43 million dollars from top tier VC firms who have described OLIO’s 5-fold growth in the past year as phenomenal. More than 5 million OLIO users in 53 countries are now reducing not only food waste but also preventing more than 3 million household goods going to landfill as well.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How Tessa wished she’d made the time earlier in her career to stop and really reflect about what she was passionate about doing in her career
How Tessa came up with the idea for OLIO;
Her four tips for female founders raising funds;
How food waste globally results in greenhouse gas emissions that would make it the 3rd largest country in emission terms in the world.
And last but not least, Tessa shares how western householders make up for HALF of all that food waste.

So dear fellow citizen of Planet Earth, please make haste and devour this episode with the determined and passionate Tessa Clarke. Enjoy!

Useful Links

OLIO website

OLIO in the App store – Google & Apple

Dana Kanze TED Talk on the real reason female founders get less funding

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – Raising Girls

September 14, 2021September 14, 2021
by Claire

This week’s mini episode is a tribute to all parents and everything they do for their children, particularly when they raise their daughters and sons to believe that women can be CEOs, adventurers and innovators.

When we thought of all that parents do, we were reminded of our conversation with the wonderful social entrepreneur Navyn Salem who has 4 daughters. She started a social business called Edesia Nutrition aiming to end malnutrition in the world.

Edesia produces a life saving formulation called Plumpy Nut which is given to very malnourished and unwell children in developing countries. So far this mission-driven business has nourished more than 14 million children in 60 countries to date.

When we spoke to Navyn nearly 3 years ago, we asked her about how she manages the juggle of leading her business and raising 4 daughters. We also asked her about how she thinks about what she’s role modelling for her four young girls, and it’s pretty inspiring.

Enjoy this mini episode – a tribute to all parents everywhere.

Useful Links

Our full interview with Navyn

Edesia Nutrition website

Navyn on LinkedIn

Edesia on Facebook

Edesia on Instagram

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – Courage for All Things

June 16, 2021June 17, 2021
by Claire

Our mini episode this week is packed with wisdom from one of our most thoughtful guests.

Social entrepreneur, author and one of Forbes Magazine ‘100 Greatest Living Business Minds’, Jacqueline Novogratz, blew our socks off with her inspiring purpose and thoughtful wisdom when we spoke with her last year.

We particularly loved how Jacqueline spoke inspiringly about courage and creating change, and she uses the analogy of bulls and doves in a brilliant way. At the time she was releasing her latest book, Manifesto for a Moral Revolution.

Jacqueline starts by stressing how important it is not to spend ages thinking about doing something but to make a start, even if it scares you.

You’ll also learn how she channels her inner bull and dove and how she overcame her fear of public speaking.

Enjoy this episode.

Useful Links

Our full interview with Jacqueline Novogratz

Acumen Website

Jacqueline’s Books:

Manifesto for a Moral Revolution – Practices to Build a Better World

The Blue Sweater

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – Why Career ‘Progression’ Doesn’t Always…

May 26, 2020May 26, 2020
by Claire

Ever felt a lot of self-imposed pressure to keep on moving up the career ladder?

That’s the key topic of this week’s Future Proof Me episode.

These mini episodes are all about sharing a ‘nugget’ of an idea, a piece of advice or a thought provoking insight to help us all navigate our way ahead in these uncertain and unusual times.

This week we revisit a conversation we had a year ago with well known Australian media entrepreneur, Mia Freedman. One of our favourite parts of our conversation with her was some great advice she shared on how to think about your next career move.

With COVID-19, we’re hearing from many of you who have lost their roles or are fearful of losing their jobs, and whilst this advice from Mia was recorded before, we think you’ll agree that what Mia has to say is particularly useful in this new context.

So if you’re curious about what connection ‘ladders’ and ‘lattices’ have in the context of your career; or what the heck ‘flearning’ means…. Listen on. We promise you’ll be the wiser for it.

Enjoy this Future Proof Me episode with Mia Freedman. . .

Interview

Jacqueline Novogratz – Revolutionary For a Better World

May 19, 2020May 20, 2020
by Claire

We have a real treat in store for you today with a truly remarkable changemaker and NY Times bestselling author as our guest.

Acumen Founder and CEO, Jacqueline Novogratz, has been named one of the 25 Smartest People of the Decade by the Daily Beast, and one of the world’s 100 Greatest Living Business Minds by Forbes, amongst numerous other honours.

Jacqueline pioneered the notion of ‘patient capital’, investing in social entrepreneurs around the world. Acumen supports them to establish sustainable businesses that serve some of the world’s poorest people.

What makes this episode a particularly fascinating one is that all this work with entrepreneurs has taught Jacqueline and her team so much about what it takes to succeed when trying to create change. And now she’s also just released a new book sharing what it takes to be a changemaker. It’s called Manifesto for a Moral Revolution (and there’s a free course too if you buy the book).

In this episode you’ll hear:

How her early attempts at social change in Africa seriously failed to impress the locals;
What she learnt about humanity when she became one of the first people to visit in jail someone she’d known well who’d gone on to become a major perpetrator in the Rwandan Genocide;
How Jacqueline sees investment as a means to solving problems rather than making profit as the primary goal; and ….
How she’s seeing women entrepreneurs successfully breaking the rules particularly now during the coronavirus crisis.

Enjoy this episode with the incredibly inspiring Jacqueline Novogratz…

Links of Interest

Acumen Website

Jacqueline’s Books:

Manifesto for a Moral Revolution – Practices to Build a Better World – her latest book. If you buy a copy you can sign up for free to her 11 week course ‘The Path of Moral Leadership’ (usually it’s US$195)

The Blue Sweater

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – How to Ponder the Future…

April 29, 2020April 29, 2020
by Claire

Welcome to our first Future Proof Me mini episode!

These episodes, will share a ‘nugget’ of an idea, advice or a thought-provoking insight to help us all thrive and adapt in future.

Our environment’s changing so fast right now, this seems more important than ever …

In these mini episodes we’ll feature the best from previous and future guests including brand new content. Plus, we’ll share ideas and great tools to try that we’ve put into action or experimented with ourselves.

This week’s ‘nugget’ comes from investment banker Lindley Edwards who we had on the show about a year ago. Her episode was very popular and you could really tell from that, that Lindley is a deep thinker.

Lindley runs a corporate advisory business called AFG Venture Group which specialises in cross-border investments and transactions, particularly between Asia & Australia. She’s also Chairperson for two startups and a Non-Executive Director of a Think Tank called AsiaLink.

We love these insights from Lindley because:

1) They seem so relevant now in these strange times of coronavirus and;

2) Lindley shares some really helpful ways to think about the future… and that’s by building on the ideas and insights from the past;

3) Plus, she talks about how to move forward and create change in new ways that will get traction and maybe even disrupt an industry.

If you’re keen to hear more from Lindley, hear our full interview here.

We hope you enjoy this first Future Proof Me episode…

Useful Links

Our full interview with Lindley Edwards on Don’t Stop Us Now!

Lindley on Linkedin

Philosophers mentioned by Lindley:

Hafiz

Book of poems by Hafiz