Interviews with 48 Changemakers: 4th Anniversary of the Big Vision Podcast

With all the depressing stories on the news, you'd never know that there are all kinds of amazing people out there who not only have big visions for a better world, but are making their big visions real, but there are!

Below are links to conversations with 48 big visionaries who I've interviewed for the Big Vision Podcast over the last four years. Please note that because the interviews take place over four years, some people's work and lives may have changed. They may have new job titles, be working somewhere else, and in some cases, have new names! The way they are titled below is how they were listed at the time of the interview.

I hope their stories inspire you to make your big vision for a better world real. You can subscribe to the show on the Big Vision Podcast website, or via iTunes. If you have suggestions for people for me to interview for future shows, please email me at britt AT brittbravo DOT com, or leave a comment below.

2010

Rebecca Kousky, Founder, Nest
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2009

Jennifer Lee, Owner, Artizen Coaching
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Bryant Terry, Eco-chef, Food Justice Activist, Author, Vegan Soul Kitchen
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Seane Corn, Co-Founder, Off the Mat, Into the World
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Zainab Salbi, Founder and CEO, Women for Women International
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Kjerstin Erickson, Founder and Executive Director, FORGE
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David Cohn, Founder, Spot.us
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Jose Corona, Executive Director, Inner City Advisors
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Lisa Witter, Co-author, The She Spot
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Kimberly Wilson, Founder, Tranquil Space Foundation, author, Tranquilista
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Patricia Loya, Executive Director, La Cocina
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2008

Christina Arnold, Founder, Prevent Human Trafficking
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Cristi Hegranes, Executive Director and Founder, Press Institute for Women
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Kavita Ramdas, President and CEO of the Global Fund for Women
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Anisha Desai, Executive Director, Women of Color Resource Center
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Janessa Goldbeck, Director of Membership, Genocide Intervention Network
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Ari Derfel, Co-owner of Back to Earth Catering talks about his year of saving trash.
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Martin Fisher, Co-founder and CEO, KickStart
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Marisa Handler, author, Loyal to the Sky: Notes from an Activist
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Cami Walker, Founder, 29-Day Giving Challenge
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Marianne Manilov, National Team Leader, The Engage Network
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Favianna Rodriguez, Political Digital Artist and Printmaker. Co-Editor, Reproduce and Revolt!
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2007

Reem Rahim, Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Numi Tea
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Jodie van Horn, Campaigner for Rainforest Action Network's Freedom From Oil campaign, and the Coordinator for Plug-In Bay Area
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Priya Haji, CEO and Co-founder of World of Good.
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Paul Rice, founding President & CEO, TransFair USA
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Van Jones, co-founder and President, Ella Baker Center
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Chris Messina of Citizen Agency and Ivan Storck of SustainableMarketing.com and SustainableWebsites.com talk about how to start a green coworking space based on their experience with Citizen Space in San Francisco, CA.
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Elizabeth Pomada Co-Founder, Writing for Change Conference
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Marsha Wallace, Founder of Dining for Women
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Shalini Kantayya, filmmaker, A Drop of Life.
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Paola Gianturco, photojournalist, author of Women Who Light the Dark
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Andre Carothers, Co-founder and Executive Director, Rockwood Leadership Program
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2006

Alli Chagi-Starr, Co-Founder, Art in Action / Art & Media Director, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights’ Reclaim the Future Program
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Eric Fenster & Ari Derfel, Co-owners, Back to Earth
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Brahm Ahmadi, Executive Director, People's Grocery
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Mei-ying Ho, Co-Director of SOUL
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Abby Rosenheck, Founder and Executive Director, Urban Sprouts
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Ilyse Hogue, Global Finance Campaign Director, Rainforest Action Network
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Steve Williams, Co-founder and Executive Director of POWER (People Organized to Win Employment Rights)
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Anna Lappé, co-author of Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen and co-founder of the Small Planet Fund.
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Nola Brantley, Parenting and Youth Enrichment Director, and the Coordinator of the Sexually Abused and Commercially Exploited Youth Program at the George P. Scotland Youth Program in West Oakland
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Lisa Russ, Associate Director, Movement Strategy Center
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Jonah Sachs, Principal of Free Range Studios
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Jessica Jackley Flannery, Co-Founder and Board Member of Kiva.org
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Ingrid Severson, Lead Organizer of the Rooftop Resources Project, a project of Bay Localize
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Melinda Kramer, Founder & Director, Women's Global Green Action Network
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Kevin Danaher, Co-founder of Global Exchange and Executive Director of the Global Citizen Center
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If you enjoy the Big Vision Podcast interviews, you might also enjoy the Idealist.org Podcasts, Social Innovation Conversations, The AshokaTECH Podcast, and the Social Good Podcast.

Cross-posted from BlogHer.com.

A Daily Have Fun Do Good Practice: Move, Reflect, Play, Connect

When I turned 40, six months ago, I wanted to do something special to celebrate, and honestly, to prepare. For the 40 days leading up to my birthday I created a 4-part daily practice of moving, reflecting, playing and connecting.

I thought I'd share it with you in case you'd like to try it. You could do it for any number of days (I picked 40 because I was turning 40), and during any time of transition: birthday, anniversary, moving, new job, end of a job or relationship, start of a new relationship, engagement, marriage, pregnancy, birth, a change in your parenting role, etc.

For the 40 days leading up to my birthday, I picked one thing to do each day that engaged my body, mind, heart and soul: moving, reflecting, playing and connecting.

Moving: I spend a lot of time sitting at the computer each day, which is unhealthy on so many levels, so I made a commitment to move in some way every day. My movement usually took the form of either yoga, walking, a dance fitness class taught by my friend Heather, or a ShimmyPop! class at a local belly dance fitness studio, Hipline.

Reflecting: I'm a big journal writer, so this was an easy one for me. Still, if I have early morning meetings, or deadlines to meet, I'll skip my journal time, which is never a good thing for my well-being. Inspired by The Artist's Way's Morning Pages, I committed to free-writing three pages in my journal each day.

Playing: This was actually the hardest thing for me to do. Do something purely for the fun of it? No larger purpose? No connection to my lengthy to-do list? It was also the most rejuvenating. Inspired by a Speaking of Faith interview with Stuart Brown, the author of Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul, I committed to playing every day, which took many forms. I crafted, baked, watched funny TV shows, spent time with the hubs, saw friends, went to the movies, and danced. Many times my playtime also integrated with my movement and connection time.

Connecting: To me, the essence of "doing good" is making and honoring real connections. When we realize that we are all connected, how can we be cruel to other people, animals and the natural world? You can make connections in so many ways like: talking on the phone, sending a letter or email, spending time with someone, organizing a community gathering, volunteering, playing with your pet, being in nature, saying a prayer, and being a good listener.

Because I love getting and receiving letters, I committed to writing one letter each day to tell someone how they had made a positive impact on my life. Some of the people I'd known for years, and some I'd met recently. They were friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances.

I tried to let the recipients of the letters evolve organically. A couple of times I had dreams about people who I hadn't heard from in a long time, so I wrote to them. In both cases, the people wrote back and told me about challenges they were going through that I don't think I would have known about if I hadn't written them a letter. I also began painting my own cards and postcards, which integrated with my play time.

Connecting was the richest part of my 4-part practice, but ultimately, all of the parts began to flow into each other. When I recorded in my journal how I had moved, reflected, played and connected each day, my actions often fit into more than one category.

By the end of my 40 days I felt energized. Ready for the big day. Most importantly, I felt more connected to myself, and to the people who had made me who I was after 40 years.

I am going to start another 40 days of Daily Have Fun Do Good Practice starting on my half birthday, February 19th, and ending on March 30th. If you decide to try it to honor a time of transition you are experiencing, let me know how it goes.

I'd also love to hear about your daily practices.

Photo of Crimson Velveteen Cupcakes with Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting taken by me. These are probably the most delicious cupcakes I've ever made, and I've made a lot. The recipe is from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero. Making cupcakes definitely falls in the Play category, and if you share them, into the Connect category too!

A Free Worksheet for Your Big Vision Goals for 2010

The more I learn about how people achieve their big visions, the more I believe in not only the importance of setting goals, but writing them down and sharing them.

I have several groups and individuals who I share my big vision goals with on a regular basis. Each month, or so we check in about our successes and challenges, offer resources and support, and set new goals for our next meeting.

To help me take full advantage of all of these wonderful support systems, I decided to hone my goals down to 3 Big Vision Goals for 2010, 3 Big Vision Goals for each season, and 3 Big Vision Goals for each lunar cycle (New Moon to New Moon).

I was typing them up in a Word document, until my husband created this bee-yoo-tee-full worksheet for me, which I also want to share with you. If I'm using Dropbox correctly (fingers crossed), you should be able to download Your Big Vision February-March-Winter 2010 worksheet by clicking on the link.

The best way to use the worksheet is to have your 3 Big Vision Goals for 2010 flow from your 3 Big Vision Winter Goals (December 20-March 20), and to have your 3 Big Vision February/March Goals (New Moon February 13-March 15) flow from your 3 Big Vision Winter Goals (December 20-March 20).

For example, here is how it would work for one of my 3 Big Vision Goals for 2010:

My 3 Big Vision Goals for 2010

1. Sell The Have Fun Do Good Guide book proposal, or complete e-book.
2.
3.

My 3 Big Vision Winter Goals (December 21-March 20)

1. Complete outline of book/e-book.
2.
3.

My 3 Big Vision February/March Goals (New Moon February 13-New Moon March 15)

1. Take 15 minutes each workday to work on book/e-book outline.
2.
3.

Remember, the best goals can be measured. For example, how would you know if you'd achieved "Have more work/life balance." On the other hand, you would know if you had achieved, "Leave the office at 5 PM everyday."

Good goals make you excited! For example, if one of your goals is, "Exercise three times a week," but you hate exercising, you aren't going to achieve your goal. On the other hand, if you love to hang out with friends, why not make your goal, "Go for a walk with a friend three times a week."

As far as I know, there isn't a way for me to track with Dropbox if you've downloaded the worksheet so if you do, and you like it, let me know in the comments, or email me at britt AT brittbravo DOT com. If enough people are interested, I'll post a new one on the next New Moon, which will also be close to the first day of Spring.

Add a Little Do-Goodness to Your Valentine's Day

On Sunday, February 14th, thousands of people will exchange cards, go out to dinner, eat chocolates, buy flowers, and give gifts for Valentine's Day. If you're celebrating, why not add a little do-goodness to your Valentine's Day?

Cards

Make your own! I just finished reading Good Mail Day about making postal art, and am totally inspired to get more creative with my cards and letters. For inspiration, check out Good Mail Day's Flickr photo stream of people's creative correspondence creations.

Dinner Dates

If possible, support a restaurant that serves local and/or organic food, or better yet, make a date to cook together. Do a search on localharvest.org to see if there is a farmers' market near you where you can go shopping.

One of my favorite cookbooks at the moment is The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone. I've made her Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups three times in the past couple weeks (photo left), and each time they've been freakalicious.

Chocolate

It is getting easier and easier to find Fair Trade chocolate. In her post, Choosing a Chocolate for Change on Change.org's Sustainable Food blog, Nicole Makris links to a list of Sustainable Fair Trade and Certified Organic Chocolate on Sustainable Table.

Flowers

In their post, Be My Valentine: Flowers for the Eco Warrior, the Eco Women have links to three places where you can buy Fair Trade and organic flowers. You could also give a pot and flower seeds like Diane MacEachern suggests in her post, Six Ways to Green Your Valentine's Day on Big Green Purse.

Gifts

One of the best gifts you can give is the gift of time together, but there are also lots of places to purchase lovely gifts made by artists and artisans. On another blog I write for, the Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship blog, I've compiled a list of Ten Places to Buy Gifts That Support Women Artisans, and a List of Organizations Supporting Haitian Artists and Artisans.

Love

Finally, Valentine's Day can feel lonely for a lot of people. If you know someone who might be feeling blue on Valentine's Day, give them a call, or send them a card. Do a little something to let them know they are loved.

For more ideas, check out these related blog posts

• Countdown to Valentine's Day: Send a Valentine for Good on Joanne's Nonprofit Blog
• 14 Charitable Ways to Celebrate Valentine's Day on the Case Foundation Blog
• Top Ten Valentine's Day Gifts That Give Back on the HuffPost Impact
• 10 Green Ways to Have Fun on Valentine’s Day in Los Angeles on Green LA Girl
  
• Valentines That Give Back by me last year.

Cross-posted from BlogHer.com.

Please Keep Your Ideas for The Have Fun Do Good Guide Coming

I want to thank all of the have fun do gooders who responded to my request for Feedback on the Have Fun Do Good Guide last month.

I'd love to hear more of your ideas in the comments, or if you feel shy, email me at britt AT brittbravo DOT com.

Below are some of the things you said you would like to see in the HFDG Guide:

Ways to have fun and do good for:

• Families
• People who have financial constraints
• People who have time restraints
• People with physical disabilities, or who are homebound
• People who want to take it to a deeper level
  

Ideas that are:

• Relevant
• Innovative
• Applicable to everyday life
  
• Drawn from developing countries
  

Information about:

• Why do good?
• Why have fun?
  
• Other people having fun and doing good
• Additional resources (i.e. books, websites)

Thanks again for all of your ideas! Keep 'em coming.

How to Start, or Join a Social Action Book Club

This week two fellow BlogHer Contributing Editors (Virgina DeBolt and Elana Centor), and BlogHer co-Founder (Elisa Camahort Page), and me had a virtual book club call to discuss Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Half the Sky, which discusses sex trafficking, forced prostitution and gender-based violence is a tough read, and we all agreed that discussing it together really helped to process the information.

We've decided to read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer together next. If you'd like to join us, email me at britt AT brittbravo DOT com, leave a comment on this post, or comment in the BlogHer book group.

Below are a few examples and resources to help you start, or join a social action book group:

1. The Kittredge W.I.S.H. Book Club is a, "small diverse group of women who seek to make a difference by bringing book clubs and nonprofits together to maximize our shared passions and limited resources." On their How to Inspire and Serve Check List they recommend that your book group:

• Create a mission statement that includes the type of organizations you want to support
• Decide if you want to contribute money, time, or another kind of support
• Research an organization you would like to "adopt"
• Contact the nonprofit you choose, and see if they have a wish list you can help fulfill.
  

2. Hannah of Word Lily, Amy of My Friend Amy, and Natasha of Maw Books Blog are hosting a Social Justice Challenge during 2010. Each month they'll focus on a different area of social injustice, encourage participants to read about the issues, and take action. In January, participants read and reviewed books about Religious Freedom. In February they will be reading and reviewing books about Water.

3. The read4change book club, hosted by SocialButterfly, is reading Wired to Care by Dev Patnaik in February. You can join the book club by following their Twitter feed, @read4change, and discuss the book on Twitter the last Wednesday of the month at 8PM ET using the #read4change hashtag.

4. As I mentioned in my October 2009 post, Turn Your Book Club Into a Social Action Club with Kristof and WuDunn's Half the Sky, Mercy Corps has partnered with the authors to create a contest for book clubs reading Half the Sky. Kristof and WuDunn will visit the book club that, "compiles the most impressive record of activism," by June 15, 2010. To register your book club, go to http://onetable.mercycorps.org/halfthesky

5. Last week the Acumen Fund announced The Blue Sweater Book Club in a Box. The Blue Sweater, Jacqueline Novogratz’s memoir about her journey to found the Acumen Fund, is coming out in paperback February 16th. As part of the release the Acumen Fund is offering a limited edition Book Club in a Box for $50 which includes:

• 5 paperback copies of the book
• 5 discussion guides
• 5 hand-designed bookmarks by Acumen Fund high school volunteers
• Access to a webinar with Jacqueline, just for book club in a box reader

6. Finally, as I mentioned in my post, How Did You Decide to Help Haiti for the Rest of 2010?, CARE has a list of recommended books on their site. They're encouraging book clubs to read one of the books, talk about CARE's work with women and girls in their discussion, and take action through the CARE website.

Are you part of a social action book club? How did you organize it? What advice do you have for people who want to organize their own social action book club?

Cross-posted from BlogHer.com.

Supporting Have Fun Do Good with TranquiliT and the Right Brain Business Plan

I'm trying out an experiment, and have added a couple digital ads to the sidebar of Have Fun Do Good for creative women entrepreneurs whose work I believe in: Jennifer Lee's Right Brain Business Plan, and Kimberly Wilson's eco-fashion company, TranquiliT. Both women, along with Lisa Sonora Beam and myself, are planning a 2010 creative women entrepreneur retreat together.

Basically, if you click on the ads and make a purchase, I get a portion of the sale, which will help support my writing Have Fun Do Good, and my producing the Big Vision Podcast.

I took Jennifer Lee's Right Brain Business Plan in-person, one-day workshop in November last year, and found it totally inspiring. I created a collaged accordion book for my vision of my business that has brought me a tremendous amount of clarity and inspiration.

This month I am taking her Right Brain Business Plan e-course so I can spend more time on the nitty gritty of expanding Big Vision Consulting. Although the Right Brain Business Plan e-course officially started February 1st, you can still register until February 8th (unless it sells out before then).

You can also purchase a copy of her Right Brain Business Plan e-book, that comes with a guided meditation, and work on your plan on your own. You can learn more about Jennifer's work by reading my January 2009 interview with her on Have Fun Do Good, or listening to it on the Big Vision Podcast.

TranquiliT is an eco-fashion line created by entrepreneur, yogini, blogger, podcaster, author, and do-gooder Kimberly Wilson. I am a big fan of Kimberly's work, and am happy to support any of her many ventures. Kimberly created TranquiliT in 2002 to offer, "chic, versatile togs for the on-the-go yogini."

All of the TranquiliT products are made of bamboo and organic cotton, and are sweatshop free and sewn in the United States. A percentage of TranquiliT's profits are donated to the Tranquil Space Foundation, and a tree is planted for every shipment that is sent out (to help offset carbon emissions).

I often wear my TranquiliT hoodie before and after my weekly ShimmyPop! class at Hipline. You can learn more about Kimberly's work by reading my November 2009 interview with her on Have Fun Do Good, or listening to it on the Big Vision Podcast.

I promise I will only write about my blog sponsors once a month, and I appreciate your support as I explore new ways to make writing Have Fun Do Good, and producing the Big Vision Podcast sustainable.