Your Mark On The World

Brian Meece, co-creator of WingaDoos, likes to say that WingaDoos is “Sesame Street for healthy money habit." Research shows that our relationship to money is established long before we have to start making financial decisions for ourselves. By the time we’re about eight years old, our concept of money is pretty fixed. This means that teaching high schoolers good money habits can be difficult. WingaDoos is built around the model that teaching good money habits must start when children are in pre-school and get serious in the early grades of elementary school. Of course, to teach concepts to children that young, a fun and entertaining model is required. Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Click the following link to learn my insider secrets to media publicity for social impact: http://bit.ly/75offmedia.

As a girl, while living in Jamaica, Davinia James once faced an extraordinary experience on her way home from school with her brother. Held at gunpoint, her brother faced the young gunman and yelled for his sister to run. Frozen by fear, she didn’t move even as the gunman held his gun to her brother’s chest. “Run,” he screamed. And she did. Frantic, she screamed as she entered her home, “He’s dead! He’s dead!” Her mother “went into superwoman mode.” Following her mother, they ran back to find her brother still with the barrel of a gun in his chest. Their mother pulled the gun away from his chest and placed it on hers, saying, “If you want him, you’re going to have to go through me.” The gunman, shamed or afraid of the consequences of killing a woman, walked away. This experience fixed in Davinia’s mind the importance of education to lift women, girls and communities out of the dual traps of poverty and violence. She founded Pennies4Girls to fund education for girls. That's why she is called a global

Damon West started using drugs by age 12 and before his 30th birthday was sentenced to 65 years in prison. After serving seven years, he emerged from prison completely changed. The key lesson he learned in prison was that you can change your environment. Now, as a motivational speaker, he teaches others how to do the same. Interview with Damon West, the of Damon West, LLC. The following is the pre-interview with Damon West. Be sure to watch the recorded interview above. How are you personally affected by overcoming adversity? I am an addict and convicted felon, living a life in long-term recovery. I had to become the coffee bean to be where I am today. What is your take on Positively changing your environment around you, like the coffee bean? Each of us has the power to change the environment around us. Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Click the following link to learn my insider secrets to media publicity for social impact: http://bit.ly/75offmedia.

Increasingly, we recognize that mental health is like physical health. It must be regularly assessed and treated. Still, we in the west often asssume that it is a problem only in the most developed countries. In fact, not surprisingly, mental health issues plague every country from rich to poor without regard to income. Sachin Chaudhry, an Ashoka Fellow, has developed an app using AI to help regularly assess mental health. The app can even be used to help people maintain a healthier mental outlook. Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Click the following link to learn my insider secrets to media publicity for social impact: http://bit.ly/75offmedia.

In the past 48 hours, there have been two major earthquakes in Southern California with an epicenter near the town of Ridgecrest. The quakes hit on July 4 and 5th, with the largest and most recent reaching a 7.1 on the Richter scale. In part due to the remote location, no deaths have been attributed to the quakes, but property damage across the region will ultimately be substantial. Kate Stillwell, CEO of Jumpstart Insurance, a novel insurance company that provides coverage that pays out quickly following a quake, joined me for a conversation about the quake and the insurance her company provides. Here in Salt Lake City, where I’m based, I felt the quake in my high-rise condominium and videotaped the lamps swinging as the wave rolled through our community—providing evidence of the power of the most recent quake. You can see a bit of that video with the video of the interview in the player at the top of the article. Note that I was a bit “discombobulated” by the quake, which is evident in the video. I can on

“Biomimicry is the practice of solving problems by learn asking the question, ‘What would nature do?” says Boston Impact Initiative Fund founder and President Deborah Frieze. Her answer to that question has her flipping conventional investing wisdom on its head to close the racial wealth divide in Boston. While she hopes the fund will serve as a model for other communities, she notes that the wealth divide in Boston is on par with Atlanta for the worst in the country. “The median net worth for a white family in Boston is $247,000, which is way above the national. The median net worth for a black family in Boston is $8. It's not $8,000 it's not $800 it's $8.” Even in the context of impact investing generally, she says, “We’re heading in the wrong direction where the wealth divide continues to get larger.” Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2xpEuvN. Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Click the following link to learn my insider secr

Donnetta Johnson lost her son Jonah to depression in 2009. Her experience was as life-changing as it was heartbreaking. She founded the My Son, Your Daughter, The Jonah Johnson Youth Scholarship Fund to raise money to help parents prevent the needless deaths that depression causes. Johnson says she thought she knew about depression and thought she and her family could “work through” the issues with her son. Now she knows different and is working to help other parents better understand the risks of depression and the need to treat it with a full family effort--in addition to help from medical professionals. Johnson successfully raised $3,000 on CaringCrowd.org, to help prevent more suicides. CaringCrowd is operated by Johnson & Johnson, which typically matches individual donations of up to $250, effectively reducing the effort required to raise money. Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Click the following link to learn my insider secrets to media publicity for social im

Pia Wilson-Body, president of Intel Foundation says the Intel Foundation is working to make STEM education more accessible to disadvantaged students, especially young women. “A zip code doesn’t determine brilliance but it does determine access,” she says. The Intel Foundation, under her leadership, is working to break down barriers and create a bridge to equity. She hopes to create not just consumers but creators. One example is a program called “She Will Connect,” specifically focusing on encouraging more female students to pursue STEM education. Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Click the following link to learn my insider secrets to media publicity for social impact: http://bit.ly/75offmedia.

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2RFxWCH. Due to improved treatments, the number of annual HIV infections in the U.S. declined steadily for years until about 2013, but the latest statistics at HIV.gov show no improvement since. About 39,000 people annually are infected. One of the leading players in the fight to eradicate AIDS has been the M·A·C AIDS Fund, which recently rebranded as the M·A·C Viva Glam Fund, redoubling its efforts to fight AIDS by focusing more on LGBTQ equality. Over the past 25 years, the fund has raised and spent over $500 million. All the money comes from the sale of Viva Glam lipstick products where 100% of proceeds go directly to the fund to fight HIV/AIDS. Nancy Mahon, Estée Lauder’s senior vice president of global corporate citizenship and global executive director for the M·A·C Viva Glam Fund, explains the strategy shift—the theory of change—that motivated the rebrandi

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2YlyK29. When I asked Josh Silver, co-founder and director of RepresentUs, to tell us what is wrong with politics in America, he responded with a question of his own. “Devin, what’s not wrong with the government?” He cites a Princeton paper that concludes, in Silver’s words, “the average American has a statistically insignificant effect on public policy. Laws written supposedly for the benefit of the American people, in reality, are written by and for special interests and lobbyists.” “America’s political crisis has reached a breaking point. Our laws are no longer determined by civil discourse, evidence-based policymaking, or the will of the people,” he says. It may not sound like it, but Silver is an optimist. He thinks we can fix what is wrong with the system. “All is not lost,” he says, noting that a movement began to take hold four years ago. Click the fol

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. CaringCrowd, sponsored by Johnson & Johnson is a, sponsor of the Your Mark on the World Center. Robyn Shumer discovered the power of storytelling in her own life when she began to share her experience dealing with an eating disorder. She began with a TEDx talk but couldn’t stop telling her story. She organized What’s Your Story USA, an organization built around helping people to tell their stories. Dillan DiGiovanni is a two-time TEDx speaker who has participated in the events. Click the following link to learn my insider secrets to media publicity for social impact: http://bit.ly/75offmedia.

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2KrWJcj. What Sweden is doing about the refugee crisis is impressive. This country of about 10 million has received more refugees in recent years than any other rich country. Still, refugees face a difficult time running the bureaucratic immigration policy gantlet and integrating fully. Jean Pierre Candiotti, 33, an immigrant from Peru, leads the Refugees Transition Lab in the UNECSO-protected seaport town of Karlskrona with a population of about 36,000 people. Much of his effort focuses on helping refugees and other immigrants learn to become entrepreneurs. Most of the refugees he helps are from Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria and Kuwait. “They come to find their dream life, to find a better life, to find peace,” Candiotti said in an interview we conducted in his office in Karlskrona during my visit. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: htt

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Tori Lyon, the CEO of the Jericho Project, which operates supportive housing units for 2,500 for formerly homeless individuals in New York City, joined me for a discussion about her work. She asserts simply that “Supportive housing is the solution to homelessness.” She explains how operating supportive housing is less expensive than having people live on the streets, where they are frequent flyers in shelters, emergency rooms and jail cells--all of which are expensive to operate. Tory is passionate about finding ways to help even the most challenging residents. She explained how she worked with four different agencies to convince a man living in the woods on Staten Island with five pets to move--with all the animals--into one of the Jericho Project’s housing units. It has been a challenging 18 months. The animals are now gone and he remains housed. Click the following link to learn my insider secrets to media publicity for social impa

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. When Charlotte Hughes Huntley, an epidemiologist, began to write and produce a podcast about her experiences finding her way in a challenging career field, she quickly developed a following. Today, she is as respected as a career guide as she as an epidemiologist. Click the following link to learn my insider secrets to media publicity for social impact: http://bit.ly/75offmedia.

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Charlotte Hommel was touched by the death of a friend’s child and decided to do something about the suicide epidemic in America. She used her employer’s crowdfunding site, CaringCrowd (which is open to the public) to raise money. Over two campaigns, she was successful in raising over $15,000. A longtime employee of J&J, Charlotte applies her passion for solving social problems as a volunteer, often by raising money. She is a big fan of crowdfunding and CaringCrowd especially. She offers some tips for users below. Click the following link to learn my insider secrets to media publicity for social impact: http://bit.ly/75offmedia.

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Eleonore Pauwels, a research fellow on emerging cybertechnologies at the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research, recently published a report highlighting the threats and opportunities for global policy makers. The threats should scare you. It isn’t that the machines will take over; rather, it is that people can use AI maliciously and in ways we cannot detect. For instance, people can use AI to make a CT scan convincingly appear to show a healthy person has a cancerous tumor. Imagine what could be done to your credit rating or your bank account--or to everyone’s credit rating or bank account at once. Conversely, AI can be used to improve peace and conflict resolution efforts, she says. By monitoring public radio communications in local languages using AI trained translation tools, threats can be identified and addressed earlier. Click the following link to learn my insider secrets to media publicity for social impact: htt

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Read the full Forbes article and watch the interview here: http://bit.ly/2F3EBS6, Increasingly, people want to be seen as making impact investments. Some in the socially responsible investing sphere, for instance, have started to describe their practice as a subset of a broader theme of impact investing. If there isn’t an agreed-upon definition, it is hard to measure its growth or much else about it. This makes the definition used by the nonprofit Global Impact Investing Network, almost always referred to simply as the GIIN (pronounced like the drink), important. Speaking with co-founder and CEO, Amit Bouri, I asked for his definition. (You can watch our full interview in the player at the top of this article.) “Impact investments are investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. Impact investments can be made in both emerging and

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. When I asked Bill Gates, 63, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, why polio, he began, “Polio is a terrible disease.” An hour later, speaking to a group of Rotarians in Spokane, Washington, he said, “You know, we're going to get to the end of this and Rotary will be the reason that will happen.” Before continuing, I must note I am a Rotarian who has occasionally been paid to speak at Rotary events. Even for me—perhaps especially for me—the pairing of the Gates Foundation with Rotary seems unlikely, almost akin to the well-known viral story of the elephant who befriended a dog. The Gates Foundation has nearly 40 times the assets of the Rotary Foundation’s $1.25 billion. While Rotary engages in a variety of global public health initiatives it does not have the expertise of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization or UNICEF—the three organizations that round out the five key members of the Global P

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Reginald Swift, CEO and founder of Rubix LS, is working to accelerate cures for rare diseases by utilizing new technology and increasing transparency between patients and companies. Interview with Reginald Swift, the CEO of Rubix LS. The following is the pre-interview with Reginald Swift. Be sure to watch the recorded interview above. For-profit/Nonprofit: For-profit Revenue model: Currently providing consultation services to commercial entities as well as providing innovation towards the federal government via grants and contracts. Scale: Our devices are currently in clinical trials, but our commercial entity has reached a network of 60 subject matter experts in a number of regions that have supported the industry through various capacities. Click the following link to learn my insider secrets to media publicity for social impact: http://bit.ly/75offmedia.

Never miss another interview! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin. Recently, Chris Federer led an expedition of CHOICE Humanitarian volunteers from Utah on an expedition to Bolivia. While there, the volunteers worked to add a new room and roof to a school. Following the volunteer expedition, Chris led the Bolivian staff of CHOICE through an exercise to help them develop new fundraising capacity. The goal is to enable each in-country team around the world to develop some fundraising capacity that is independent of the headquarters team in Utah. Be sure to tune in to the recorded interview with Chris to learn more about his experiences in Bolivia. Below, he shares some of his insights for facilitating meetings and planning sessions using design thinking. Click the following link to learn my insider secrets to media publicity for social impact: http://bit.ly/75offmedia.