Jon Feinman– Using Weight Training to Reduce Youth & Gun Violence in the United States

May 14, 2017 by Amra Naidoo in Podcast

I had a really great interview with Jon Feinman, who is the Executive Director and CEO of Innercity Weightlifting, a non-profit based in Boston. They own and operate a few gyms around the city and work with young people who have been identified as a high risk for violence. Their programs focus on social inclusion and reducing youth violence by working with these guys (mainly guys) in the gym. They connect these young people with new networks and opportunities, including meaningful career tracks in and beyond personal training. According to them, they use the gym to replace segregation and isolation with economic mobility and social inclusion, disrupting the system that leads to urban street violence.

This interview was recorded while Jon was in one of the gyms so you’ll probably hear a few weights and grunts in the background, don’t mind them, it’s all part of creating the atmosphere! I absolutely love the work that Jon and Innercity Weightlifting are doing. They are completely flipping the typical non-profit model on its head with the way that they are running their programs but not only are they changing the lives of the students they are working with, they are changing the lives of the clients who choose to train at the gym with the students. Jon mentions in this episode that most of the clients that come to the gym have never met someone who has been in jail before. Making this introduction and fostering a connection promotes social inclusion not just for the students, but for the clients too. Excited for you to listen to this episode!

Anne-Marie Bakker – Planting Trees for Peace & Security

March 08, 2017 by Amra Naidoo in Podcast

In this episode I chat with Anne-Marie Bakker, VP Operations & Partnerships at Fostering Education & Environment for Development (FEED) in The Philippines. In this episode we chat about environmental conservation in the Philippines and how it’s being used to create economic opportunites andpromote peace in unstable areas. If you’re looking for an environmental warrior, look no further than Anne-Marie - she takes us in to the life of a grassroots activist and will be showing us what her work is like. Enjoy!

Christine Amour-Levar – Using Adventure, Sport & Travel to End Violence Against Women

February 19, 2017 by Amra Naidoo in Podcast

I am super excited to introduce you to Christine. She is someone who I really admire because of her personal and professional accomplishments. You’ll hear me say it a few times in this episode, but I honestly don’t know how she has the time to do everything that she does. Having said that, I think when you’ve found that sweet spot in your life where you can use the skills that you’re good at while you work at something that you’re passionate about, the time you spend on work, doesn’t seem like work at all. Christine co-founded Women on a Mission - a social enterprise that combines travel, sport and adventure with her passion to end violence against women. Now I’m not talking about leisurely travel here, some of their recent missions have included one to Iran in November 2016 where they trekked 200km of dessert. They also recently went to Jordan for rock climbing, Siberia to live with the nomadic Nenets reindeer herders and even up to Everest Base Camp in 2012. These trips are not for the faint-hearted. We’ll chat about how they do these trips, prepare for them and how these trips contribute to the fight to end violence against women. Let’s get in to the show!

Esther Nai – Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability at Salesforce

January 22, 2017 by Amra Naidoo in Podcast

I promise I've got a great episode for you today. I'm sure a lot of the listeners out there have heard about Salesforce and probably even use it. But I'm pretty sure your imagination would be quite limited in terms of the type of social impact initiatives that they work on that are in line with their business. Well today you're in for a treat. I interviewed Esther Nai, who heads up corporate responsibility and sustainability programmes across Asia for Salesforce about exactly that. I'm quite familiar with their work in creating social impact so I'm excited to share this with you too. We chat about their 1-1-1 model, some case studies on impact that they've created, how they measure impact and most interesting to me, how Salesforce aligns the social impact with their business model. Enjoy!

Clair Deevy - Facebook & Corporate Responsibility: Women in Business, Tech For Good, Social Impact

November 29, 2016 by Amra Naidoo in Podcast

This is an episode that I have been wanting to do for a while. Everyone knows Facebook, but not many people would be aware about the work that Facebook is doing in the community to create social impact. In this episode, I interview Clair Deevy who is the head of Economic Growth Initiatives for Asia Pacific at Facebook. Clair is someone who really inspires me, and in this episode, we talk about some of the initiatives that she is looking after. One of the programs we talk a lot about is She Means Business - an initiative to support female entrepreneurs. Another one you may have heard of is Safety Check which has been used around the world for natural disasters and human tragedies. Clair is a seasoned professional in terms of executing high impact initiatives that not only create positive social impact in the community, but also are in line with business objectives. Something that is increasingly becoming more important as businesses take on a bigger role in creating impact in their communities and supply chains. We speak about the work that she is doing now, how she got to where she is, and her thoughts on how others can get started. If you are working in any type of business or multinational organisation, I highly recommend this episode as an example of things to consider when thinking about business and social impact. Enjoy!

David Nosibor - Social Innovation in Mazars

September 12, 2016 by Amra Naidoo in Podcast

In this episode of the Doing Good Podcast, I’m interviewing David Nosibor. David is the Innovation Evangelist at Mazars, a global audit and accounting firm. David describes himself an intrapreneur, that is, someone within an organisation that is entrepreneurial and is making change from within. We find out what he does to promote innovation within a company that is typically seen as traditional and how he has incorporated social impact as part of his work. We touch on how Mazars, as an auditing company thinks about corporate social responsibility. How involved should a multinational corporation be in social good, social impact and sustainability. Do corporations have a responsibility to social impact? David and Mazars think so. Among the topics we discuss, one that I find most interesting is on Mazars award-winning human rights audit and consultancy service for businesses. They are the only audit and accounting firm to offer this service and are ongoing advocates for businesses to demonstrate respect for human rights. David is a very familiar face to me. We met about two years ago when Mazars was launching a social entrepreneurship competition called Mazars For Good. We actually then got close over a shared appreciation for soca music from Trinidad and Tobago which we discovered over a Twitter exchange! David is a lot of fun to chat to in this interview so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.