Shows
Modern IdealistEP 31: Embracing Otherness to effect change with Dennis Yao YuIn this captivating installment, we sat down for a chat with Dennis Yao Yu, a true champion for diversity and a fervent advocate for highlighting minorities, with a particular focus on the AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) community. Dennis shares a wealth of insights drawn from his experiences in the heart of big tech and corporate life in Silicon Valley and the West Coast.
Dennis delves into the critical importance of cultivating robust professional networks, especially for Asian American and Pacific Islander professionals who, according to a recent study by Coqual, face unique challenges in career advancement (being least likely” to...
2023-09-0753 minModern IdealistEP 30: Data-driven Social Impact and Realities of Development Work with Tony SenanayakeWelcome back to another episode of Modern Idealist, a podcast for career driven professionals striving to make an impact in today’s fast paced society. I’m Valerie Leung. And we’ve brought on a very smart and data-driven friend of Modern Idealist today, Tony Senanayake, is a Chief Strategy Officer at Fortify Health, a non-profit that provides micronutrient-rich wheat flour to combat iron-deficiency anemia. He's passionate about development economics, public policy, and using data and evidence to amplify impact for people on the ground. He talks to us about data driven development and how he has been working with d...
2023-08-1745 minModern IdealistEP 29: Crossing Borders: Work, Relationships, and Dating: Norway EditionCrossing Borders: Work, Relationships, and Dating: Norway Edition.
Welcome back to another exciting episode, where we delve into the raw and honest experiences of individuals living and working abroad. In this episode, we'll explore the international life in Norway, focusing on navigating relationships, work, and dating, and providing personal tips and insights on how to thrive abroad, particularly in Norway and the Nordic region. Join us as we uncover the joys and challenges of building a life as foreigners.
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2023-07-2050 minModern IdealistESG to GSE for Greater ImpactRethinking Sustainable Finance with Rodolphe Bocquet
In this thought-provoking episode, we sit down with Rodolphe Bocquet, a distinguished sustainable investment and policy expert, to delve into the world of sustainable finance. Rodolphe brings a vast array of knowledge and experience in ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and sustainable investments, making this conversation a must-listen for anyone interested in the intersection of finance and sustainability.
Our discussion begins by introducing Rodolphe and exploring his extensive background in the field. We learn about his diverse expertise and the factors that fueled his passion for sustainable finance. From...
2023-07-0541 minModern IdealistEP 27: Unveiling Industrial Sustainability and Aluminum Challenges, Opportunities, and Fair Trade with Bjørn Kjetil MauritzenValerie meets up with Bjørn Kjetil Mauritzen from Hydro, a Norwegian aluminum and renewable energy company. It is also one of the world’s largest aluminum company. We discuss the hot topics of industrial sustainability, holistic value chain approaches and innovations applied in the heavy industries towards sustainability. Aluminum production is deeply complex as it has heavy carbon emissions, it is extractive of raw material, and could create toxic chemicals in production that results in polluting local waters. On the other hand, it is known to be the greener metal compared to the other metals as it is larg...
2023-06-1346 minModern IdealistEP 26: Calling Out Our Own HypocrisyMeryn and Valerie reunite on air after a brief hiatus caused by Meryn's loss of voice due to illness. While Valerie has been traversing the states, from New York to North Carolina, Meryn has been holding it down in Oslo, Norway. Join us as we catch up on our respective journeys and dive deep into discussions surrounding work-life setups and the complexities of privilege and materialism. We contemplate the privileges we enjoy and the material setups they possess, including the finer things in life, financial stability, luxury, wealth, careers, salaries, and overall well-being. Honesty being the core principle of our...
2023-05-2443 minModern IdealistEP 25: Corporate Activism, Climate Anxiety and the Expansion of Human Consciousness with Verel RodriguesIn this episode of the Modern Idealist Podcast, we sit down with Verel Rodrigues, a climate activist, engineer and environmental campaigner to hear his perspectives on corporate activism.
We discuss the need for social momentum vs technology because, as Verel rightly says, while the technology is already available, we're still missing the political will to affect change.
Verel discusses how can climate-conscious companies build momentum and that we needn't look further than the oil and gas industry for strategies they've used to gain political favour.
For Verel, campaigning with Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion was a way for him to...
2023-05-0559 minModern IdealistEP 24: Interlinkages of Sustainability, Linkedin Posers, and 30's Single Life DilemmasBack with some life updates and sustainability and social responsibility rants. Valerie talks about the complexity and interlinkages of sustainability and social challenges and pushes companies to do more. Both are fed up with Linkedin Posers, and ideaprenuers. Warning to our male audience, we go straight into the dilemmas of a single woman in her 30's, and Meryn challenges the existing social construct.
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2023-04-2052 minModern IdealistEP 23: Influencing Workplace Diversity with Data and Storytelling with Vikram ShettyIn this episode, we focus on content for DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) specialists and professionals, and our guest Vikram walks us through a 5-day outreach sprint that he has come up with. Vikram has an impressive background working with major international organization bodies for responsible (sustainability and social) businesses, including the UN PRI, Textile Exchange, Finance UNEP Initiative, Access to Nutrition Index, SustainAbility and many others. He shares his insights on why organizations are increasingly interested in improving their DEI practices and the opportunities he sees in using data and storytelling to help DEI professionals.
Vikram...
2023-04-0448 minModern IdealistEP 22: Can Companies Really Care? How Corporates Can Take Responsibility on DEI with Laura SmithLaura Smith is an American based in Helsinki and is an organizational researcher and founder of VALIDEI, a research agency specializing in the assessments of organizational inclusion, equity, and social responsibility.
The incoming DEI Leader at Wolt and the former Head of DEI at Bolt, Laura specializes in developing strategies and evolving organizational practices, policies, and supports to be responsible to and impactful for stakeholders across global organizations.
Laura values being practical and impactful, so in this talk, we’ll not only walk through the concepts of organizational responsibility and applied empathy, we’ll discuss real examples, actual metrics, and conc...
2023-03-1054 minModern IdealistEp 21: The Untold Story of Sustainability Consulting with Georgia Elliott-SmithWe had the pleasure of hosting our dynamic guest speaker, Georgia Elliott-Smith, Element Four's Managing Director. In this episode, we explore the hidden narrative of sustainability consulting and the importance of disruptive practices that enact meaningful and systemic change.
Georgia shares how she got into this space and sheds light on the lucrative salaries and perks offered by big business to sustainability consultants. She touches on the critical role of corporate activism in holding profit-driven corporations accountable and discusses the importance of calling out greenwashing.
We delve deeper into challenging the status quo and paving the way for a new...
2023-02-2256 minModern IdealistEP 20: Modern Idealists Take on LinkedIn’s Bold Prediction for 2023This episode is part 2 of our last episode. In the second part, we're going macro, we’re also going to give our thoughts and reflections on some of the big bold predictions for 2023. Specifically, we will be referring to a list that Linkedin published at the end of 2022 called, Big Ideas 2023, 23 bold predictions of the year ahead. This was recorded in January 2023, and there are 20 predictions on there, and we’ll take the first 5 in today’s episode.
Linkedin Article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/big-ideas-2023-23-bold-predictions-year-ahead-linkedin-news-europe/?trackingId=zWQuC9iQSSCiugVgU5ZSpw%3D%3D
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2023-02-0253 minModern IdealistEP 19: Time off, Life Updates, Relationships and Swinging Big in 2023Happy 2023! We're finally back in O-Town in Norway! After a festive and restful holiday season, we feel energized and excited to share with you some reflections from our time off, relationship updates, where we went and who we spent time with Most importantly some big-bang intentions for this upcoming year.
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2023-01-2740 minModern IdealistEP 18: Pioneering a New Vision on The Future Global WorkforceWelcome to Episode 18 on 'Reimagining the global workforce through diversity.' A couple of episodes ago, we dropped a hint about Meryn’s new venture, Umbrella, so we decided to bring in the founding team, Jyoti Sohal-David and Sabrina Zeng, to share what they’re doing, the dent they want to put in the world and how they’re tackling the challenges and opportunities when it comes to empowering a truly diverse and innovative workforce. We talk about how they got started, how they met, where the future of work should go from a human-centred perspective and how important it is to...
2022-12-1454 minModern IdealistEP 17: A World View of Hope with Daniel Roth on Centered Wellbeing, Healthy Masculinity, and Ancestral Healing in a Traumatized SocietyToday we sit down for a heartfelt and unfeigned talk with Daniel Roth, founder of JumpScale, a company that focuses on sustainably scaling companies through the lens of well-being and mental health. Daniel shares his rich experience working with founders, his work as former Director for Sustainability at Cornell University and how Somatic Movement Therapy and reconnecting with the body has become a guiding force through his life's work. Daniel is also the producer of the storytelling podcast, Heal Story where people share stories about ancestral healing. We hope you find this episode as enriching and healing as we do...
2022-11-171h 02Modern IdealistEP 16: ESG vs Sustainability and Our Own Positive Impact LeversIt’s been a wild ride for us in the past couple of months so we’re bringing you a double episode special over a glass of wine or two to give you the down low on all that's ensued.
We’ve had the Diversify Nordics Summit, performed at The Annual Gala, ran events and spoke at Oslo Innovation Week on diversity, ESG and social impact. We both bought apartments, Meryn founded a new company and kicked off a collaboration with HerTech accelerator program, and Valerie spoke on a sustainability podcast which you can check out here ...Join us as we unpa...
2022-10-2151 minModern IdealistEp 15: Diversity Talks, Social Impact, and Life UpdatesIt’s been a wild ride for us in the past couple of months so we’re bringing you a double episode special over a glass of wine or two to give you the down low on all that's ensued.
We’ve had the Diversify Nordics Summit, performed at The Annual Gala, ran events and spoke at Oslo Innovation Week on diversity, ESG and social impact. We both bought apartments, Meryn founded a new company and kicked off a collaboration with HerTech accelerator program and Valerie spoke on a sustainability podcast. In this episode, we unpack some of the top...
2022-10-2126 minModern IdealistEp 14: Deep Self-Care as a Secret Weapon for Changemakers and Entrepreneurs with Bonnie CoberlyToday's episode starts with a Mindful Arrival, facilitated by our wonderful guest speaker, Bonnie Coberly. The perfect start for those who are back in the daily grind after the holiday period. If you're still feeling overwhelmed or that your break was a band-aid approach to a general feeling of being overworked, riding burnout or simply feeling uninspired, then you might get a lot out of this one. And you're definitely not alone. We discuss Bonnie's accidental journey in social entrepreneurship, born out of her own healing journey, how she overcame challenges after discovering her business profits were being stolen...
2022-09-0254 min
Modern IdealistEp 13: Aligning Personal And Organizational Values With Eivind FlifletThis week's guest Eivind Fliflet took a break from parental leave (when we recorded this episode in May 2022) to talk with us about what it's like working for the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, Norges Bank Investment Management. Owning 1.3% of the globe's listed companies, you need only take a quick look at their website to see the oil fund's market value going up by hundreds of millions of Norwegian krone before your very eyes. Eivind, who considers himself an idealistic pragmatist, heads up the Environmental Initiatives team within Corporate Governance at the fund and is responsible for weighing in...
2022-08-0344 minModern IdealistEp 12: Responsible Travelling Dilemmas In Our Modern Globalized Society - Dominate English Language, Disneysation of Towns, and Fly ShameAre you travelling this summer? Now that many countries have implemented workable solutions for tackling covid in all its variants, international travel has burst open again. It has given rise to an influx of tourism in certain countries across the globe, to the point where the airline industry has shaken under the weight of it all. So we thought it a timely occasion to take a closer look at the way we travel and its broader global impact for better and/or worse.
This episode focuses on our social responsibilities as travellers;
What does it mean for environmental sustainability when...
2022-07-2045 min
Modern IdealistEp 11: Emotions in the Workplace, Global Remote Work, and Work-Life Balance - Too Good To Be True?In this episode of MI, we take a look at some of the current trends, that some call idealistic, driving the future of work. A part of being a modern idealist is the balance between our ambition to create an impact in society whilst improving our own quality of life. Sometimes, that refers to financial security, but this time, it's about improving our quality of life.
We challenge ourselves to use the LinkedIn Daily Rundown, one of our regular sources of news, to pick our top three up for discussion.
1. Emotions in the workplace - s...
2022-06-0133 minModern IdealistEp 10: What does it take to transition from a steady job into the world of environmental impact? Our guest, Gala Anania, did just that.On today’s episode of Modern Idealist, we have a conversation with climate evangelist Gala Anania. After a successful career as a translator and interpreter, Gala took a leap into sustainability consulting, embarked on a zero-waste life, and found her own way of balancing the ever-present trade-offs between how she makes a difference in her personal life and through her work where she helps companies decarbonize.
Gala is currently working at The Carbon Trust, a global sustainability consultancy, and previously she was at myFootprint, a carbon accounting start-up bringing climate action to SMEs. She holds a Master's in...
2022-05-2048 minModern IdealistEp 9: What our listeners said about us// Revisiting the core of a modern idealistA little ‘woohoo’ for us! Perhaps it’s a little preemptive to get excited about reaching our 9th episode, but we’re doing it anyway! After almost a year of plugging away at our passion project, we’re pretty proud of what we’ve achieved so far. We have listeners from 27 different countries and we’re pumped to see how many like-minded people there are across the globe who care about this topic and want to create a positive impact and live responsibility whilst still existing in today’s modern world. We’re additionally proud of making it thus far because, fun f...
2022-05-031h 05Modern IdealistEp 8: International Women’s Day Edition w/ Guest Jyoti Sohal-David - Progression Favors Some, Not AllToday marks the 109th International Women’s Day.
During this month, we want to celebrate and highlight women from all walks of life, we will be talking about equality, the progression so far, and the work ahead to do even better to reach full inclusivity and equity. Throughout the last 200 years, we've seen the progression of gender equality and a rise of feminism, but this progress is unfortunately still too far from full gender equality. Research shows the gender gap will take an estimated 135 years to close, and in addition, the road to our goal will not be...
2022-03-0859 minModern IdealistEpisode 7: The Career Portfolio vs The Career PathFor many of us who've been on the chase of a purpose-driven job or jobs that create a positive impact on our communities and society, we are often met with the dilemmas of finding an interesting job and balancing other needs in our life such as our own financial security, self-growth, and other opportunities to better ourselves while creating impact. It is no news that we once lived in a generation where we were forced to pick sides such as working in for-profit vs non-profit sectors, but we now live in a time when we believe we can create...
2022-02-2544 minModern IdealistEpisode 6: A Call for Accountability And Action - How does that show up in Norway vs America vs Australia (Part 2)This episode is part II of the last episode, episode 5.
We continue our discussion about the millennials and gen z workforce asking for accountability and making a collective call for action. For many of us, COVID has either exacerbated or created mental health issues and stress levels that we hadn’t had or noticed before. There is a stigma around mental health problems especially in the relationship between employees and employers given it is often a place of work performance. This calls for more development of emotional intelligence and psychological flexibility amongst leaders and the work culture in...
2022-02-0837 minModern IdealistEpisode 5: Cancel Culture and a Call for Accountability at the Workplace - Does It Help? (Part 1)Over the past weeks and months, we’ve been traveling around to meet old friends around the world. Valerie has been in the US, UK, Canada, and Norway while Meryn has been in Norway and Australia. We reflect on our encounters and conversations we have with our friends of different perspectives and share the contrasting movements across countries and continents. From those encounters, we are reminded of how difficult it can be for many of our peers, who are busy building a life (as one does in their late 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s), to deal with all the emerging social a...
2022-02-0833 min
Modern IdealistEpisode 4: Finding Synergy Between Your Passion, Mission, Vocation, and Profession.Many of us dream of the perfect job. For many modern idealists, it is often a job that brings a positive impact and progression to society, it requires our talent and skills, and it rewards us with competitive pay and career growth potential. Is it too good to be true? We explore Ikigai, a Japanese concept known as the synergy between doing what you love, what the world needs, what you are good at, and what can you be paid for. This way of life encompasses "your reason of being" and the collective small sums of joy that bring...
2022-01-0351 minModern IdealistEpisode 3: Millions Reevaluate and Reconsider their Lives and Jobs During the Pandemic and The Great Resignation. Let's Talk about Hope and Finding Meaning.Valerie and Meryn have been separated by the Atlantic and travels to London, but it's not just for leisure.
Pandemic lockdowns and social restrictions have limited many people's exposure to different ways of life and cultures from themselves. Meryn and Valerie are reminded of the contracting lives they live in during COVID-19. The trip makes us reflect on our surroundings that influence our social bubble and profession. We talk about our desire to stay connected with the evolving betterment of values and discuss our visions to continue expanding our surroundings and input that make up our views a...
2022-01-0357 minModern IdealistEpisode 2: Social Impact Startup Nearly Led Us to Burnout // Hopes and Despair of the Triple Bottom LineMeryn and Valerie are both co-founders of two different social impact startups. We first connected over our passion for social innovation startups. Triple bottom-line concepts (aka businesses for people, planet, and profit) have been on the rise in recent years. They give innovative ideas beyond technology alone challenging the way we measure success in a business. This both gave us energy and sometimes despair when challenged with the additional measures of success and additional challenges to the already arduous startup journey. We talk about the energy it gave us, how we keep faith in this space in times of...
2022-01-0335 min
Modern IdealistEpisode 1: What's In The TitleWelcome to the first episode of the Modern Idealist, a podcast for career-driven professionals who are looking to make an impact. We're kicking off the podcast with an introduction of ourselves, our interpretation of a modern idealist, and a taste of our topics. Co-hosted with Meryn Willetts.
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2021-11-0331 minModern IdealistModern Idealist (Trailer)---
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2021-11-0201 min