“One of the big differences between Canada and the United States on climate policy spending broadly is that unlike the United States, Canada has a national carbon pricing system. So, we have a carbon pricing system that sets a national minimum standard. There's a retail price for retail fuels, including gasoline for cars. And there's also an industrial price that applies directly to industry. In some provinces, Quebec has its own cap and trade system that's actually linked with California’s, and that is a system that meets Canada's minimum standard for carbon pricing.” Claire Seaborn on Electric Ladies Podcast

Canada has been ahead of the U.S. on some climate and energy policies, including having a price on carbon, which many U.S. politicians have resisted for years. What can we learn from Canada’s experience? A lot.

Listen to Claire Seaborn, who until a few months ago was the Chief of Staff to Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, explain Canada’s energy and climate policies and what the U.S. – and other countries – can learn from their experience, in this fascinating discussion with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson. She also shares insightful career advice.

You’ll hear about:

• What exactly Canadian energy and climate policies are and how they are working.
• How Canada developed its carbon pricing policies and how difference provinces are implementing them.
• The critical role of minerals in the energy transition and climate solutions, and how to manage this complex geopolitical issue.
• Plus, insightful career advice, such as…

“For anyone, women especially who are interested in the energy and climate space, I would say that you shouldn't feel that you need to choose between the public sector, the private sector, and the nonprofit sector…. If you want to, and I've done it, you can just bounce between them. And that seems to be increasingly more acceptable and it's also really, really useful…. I've been able to continue to build my expertise in the energy and climate space, but from multiple different perspectives.…So my advice would be to just not feel that you need to pick one of those lanes and, and to take the risk to bounce between those different segments of our economy.” Claire Seaborn on Electric Ladies Podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here.

You'll also like:

• Anna Siefken, Deputy Director, Federal Energy Management Program, Dept. of Energy, on how the federal government reduces the energy use and carbon footprint of its 350,000 buildings.
• Rachel McCleery, Senior Advisor, Treasury Dept. Inflation Reduction Act Program, on how to leverage the IRA to save money reducing a building or business’s energy use and carbon footprint.
• Vanessa Chan, Ph.D., Chief Commercialization Officer of the Department of Energy and Director of the Office of Technology Transitions, on the Inflation Reduction Act and the transition to clean energy.
• Julia Souder, CEO, Long Duration Energy Storage Council, on how to leverage storage to transition to and manage a clean energy economy
• Lisa Jacobson of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy & Tara Narayanan, of Bloomberg NEF on their new Energy Factbook 2024, including the Inflation Reduction Act opportunities.
• Inna Braverman, CEO & Founder, Eco Wave Power, on how they are bringing wave power to scale – and her powerful personal story.

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“Much of our infrastructure isn't built to withstand certain kinds of flooding or certain levels of heat. And yet, as the climate changes, so many of the things… that we did know in a world with a stable climate, those are now being upended. And all of that affects costs fundamentally… So, we need to transition to net zero…The three pieces of (federal) legislation are all about investing in America and making sure that from the innovation to commercialization pipeline, we are helping those goods get to market at scale, at prices consumers can afford.” Heather Boushey on Electric Ladies Podcast

New research finds that 52% of voters in this 2024 election want "historic investments in 21st century sustainable infrastructure projects," according to Data For Progress, presented at the Democratic National Convention this week.  The Biden-Harris administration has made historic investments already and homeowners, communities and businesses can seize them to increase their resilience to climate change and reduce their energy costs. How?

Listen to Heather Boushey, Member of the White House Council of Economic Advisors and Chief Economist of the Invest in America Cabinet, in this exclusive and rare interview by Joan Michelson on Electric Ladies Podcast explain how we can economically do this transition and how this federal funding reduces our risks and costs to do, while also expediting this transition to help avert even far worse effects of climate change. (This episode aired originally in September 2023.)

You’ll hear:

• How climate change affects the economy, and key sectors specifically.
• Resources in the Inflation Reduction  Act, Infrastructure Investment Act & CHIPS & Science Act to help homeowners, businesses and investors make these changes at reduced risks and lower costs.
• Where the opportunities – and jobs – are in this transition, including for women.
• The impact on women specifically and resources available
• Plus, insightful career advice, such as…

“For me, the key to my career was being clear on what my mission is….I feel so enormously fortunate that I found a president to be able to work for who shares that goal….So I think the lesson in that is either be the leader that you want to believe in, or find that leader and attach yourself to them and see what amazing things you can do together. But, for me, it's been about being clear on what it is that I wanted to achieve.” Heather Boushey on Electric Ladies Podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here too.

You’ll also like (some may have been recorded under our previous name, Green Connections Radio):

• Erin McLaughlin, The Conference Board on new economic research on buildings, energy and climate and the federal and state incentives
• Anna Siefken, Deputy Director, Federal Energy Management Program, Dept. of Energy, on how the federal government reduces the energy use and carbon footprint of its 350,000 buildings.
• Rachel McCleery, Senior Advisor, Treasury Dept. Inflation Reduction Act Program, on how to leverage the IRA to save money reducing a building or business’s energy use and carbon footprint.
• Rachel Frazin, Environment & Energy Reporter at The Hill, on Project 2025 and climate change.
• Anne Kelly, VP of Government Relations, Ceres, on business supporting the Inflation Reduction Act

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“The economic information on clean energy is amazing…We're decades deep in it now, where you're seeing the cost competitiveness of renewable technologies on an unsubsidized basis…We can do this. We can grow the economy and we can use more clean energy.”

Lisa Jacobson on Electric Ladies Podcast

The facts in the new Sustainable Energy 2024 Factbook, by the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and Bloomberg New Energy Finance, show that the transition to a clean energy economy is well underway, and resilient, despite “headwinds” like covid, high interest rates, supply chain issues and political pressures. How?

Listen to Lisa Jacobson, President of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and Tara Narayanan, Lead Analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, explain where we are in this transition in this fascinating discussion with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson. 

You’ll hear about:

• Where we’re at in the energy transition and what the trends are
• The impact of the new trifecta of federal legislation – the Inflation Reduction Act, the Infrastructure Investment Act and the CHIPS and Science Act.
• The energy mix we need, including renewables, to power our complex economy
• Dispelling myths about the energy transition and energy sources
• Plus, insightful career advice, such as…

“Think about your career as a business…Try to always have a mindset of kind of what I want first…What organizations do I want to work with? Where, what kind of responsibilities do I want to have? And maybe I do it through a traditional employer employee relationship, or maybe I just branch out on my own and just do it right? And I feel like women should feel empowered to do that and to be that kind of proactive thinking. And don't be afraid.”

Lisa Jacobson on Electric Ladies Podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes article about this new report here and more of her articles here too.

You'll also like:

• Inna Braverman, Founder/CEO of Eco Wave Power, on how wave power works and her powerful personal story that reflects today’s geopolitical dynamics.
• Melissa Lott, Ph.D., Director of Research at the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, and the lead scientists in the PBS/NOVA documentary “Chasing Carbon Zero.”
• Vanessa Chan, Ph.D., Chief Commercialization Officer of the Department of Energy and Director of the Office of Technology Transitions, on the Inflation Reduction Act and the transition to clean energy.
• Halla Hrund Logadottir, Director-General, Iceland’s National Energy Authority, on how the country has become 85% renewable energy.
• Sarah Golden, VP of Energy, Greenbiz, on geothermal, how it works and why it’s growing exponentially

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“Today there's about 87,000 wind turbines installed onshore and they are generating, 122,000 megawats of power. So, and as you said, that's about 10 to 12% of the total use in the U.S. …A 1.5 megawat turbine is one of the more common ones in the United States, and that will give you enough energy for about 350 homes in the United States. So then if you take that and scale it up to a 10 megawat, that's going to be about 3000..about 10 times as many homes.”

Meredyth Crichton on Electric Ladies Podcast

 As we move into spring, we also move into hurricane season in many parts of the country, and that means potential loss of power from those hurricanes again. What can we do about that, especially as hurricanes become more frequent and severe as a result of climate change?

You’ll hear:

• How the electric grid works – and about a grid simulator.
• How wind turbines work and how much power they really deliver.
• What developments are in process for storage to help the economy transition to clean power.
• Plus, insightful career advice.

And much more!

“I purposely went and tried to build my support structure, which was a group of mostly women that were in a similar area for their career. Now this was while I was working in industry. So I relied very heavily on a group of about five to eight women, where we would talk regularly at least once a month. And we would support each other, whether that meant we would support each other in a meeting to make sure that our voice was heard…. I would have some that were higher than me in the organization, and when a career opportunity comes open, we would purposely think of each other and say, ‘is there someone from this group that I could mention that might be a good fit for this job?’"

Meredyth Crichton on Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here.

You’ll also want to listen to (some of these are under the name Green Connections Radio):

• Jennifer Gerbi, Ph.D., Deputy Director and Acting Director, ARPA-E, the innovation arm of the Department of Energy 
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”
• Kathryn Pavlovsky, Deloitte Energy, Resources & Industrials, on the energy transformation and ESG
• Kristen Sullivan, Deloitte Sustainability & Supply Chain practice, on companies “doing” ESG, and the supply chain.
• Roberta Rincon, Society of Women Engineers, Director of Research, on the status and careers of women in various types of engineering roles.

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Boma Brown-West on Electric Ladies Podcast

More and more consumers are demanding sustainable consumer products, from packaging to ingredients to the manufacturing process, including cosmetics. More and more companies are issuing corporate responsibility reports, and many have sustainable supplier agreements. Yet, all of this is still voluntary, so the data cannot be independently verified or compared properly, and companies can still hide the bad and the ugly. So, how can we tell what’s really in these products and how can we hold them accountable?  

Listen to Boma Brown-West, head of Consumer Health at EDF+ Business, part of the famed Environmental Defense Fund, who is working with companies who genuinely want to reduce the carbon footprint of their supply chain in this enlightening interview with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson. (Electric Ladies was formerly known as Green Connections Radio.)

You’ll hear:

• What companies are really doing in their manufacturing processes.
• Why cosmetics for women of color can be especially toxic.
• How the EDF is working with the FDA, Consumer Products Safety Commission, and other government agencies to hold companies accountable for reducing the impact of their products and packaging.
• What us consumers can do to use our purchasing power to inspire or even force companies to take more responsibility for doing the right thing.
• Plus, insightful career advice.

And much more!

“, I would say that especially for mid-career women to go back to those key questions around what is the future that you want to see? And what role or roles, plural, do you think that you can play in it?...I think especially in this space, there are a number of places that we can and make a difference. It could be inside a company, it could be in an advocacy organization, it could be working on policy. There are many different ways to go about it.“

Boma Brown-West on Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here.

You’ll also want to listen to (some of these are under the name Green Connections Radio):

• Kate Gaertner, Triple Win Advisory on Sustainable Business Processes
• Lara Ramdin, Chief Innovation Officer, Dole Sunshine Company
• Cindi Bigelow, CEO, Bigelow Tea, on converting a 75-year old tea company to combat climate change
• Haley Lowry, Dow Chemical’s Sustainability Director on reducing the carbon footprint of food packaging.

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You'll hear:

• What these companies are doing to reduce their shipping footprints.
• What alternative fuels work in airplanes today and what's coming soon.
• How you can make choices that reduce shipping energy use and emissions.
• What these companies need from regulators to reduce their emissions.

You'll also like:

• Neha Palmer, CEO, TeraWatt Infrastructure, on charging electric trucks and buses.
• Maureen Kline, Pirelli Tires, Sustainability head
• Katie Sloan, Southern California Edison, eMobility
• Jackie Birdsall, Toyota, Senior Engineer, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles

• Margaret Lewis, New Flyer electric buses

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“I think what's really interesting and intriguing to me is the collaboration from the DOT and the DOE. there certainly is an overlap when you think about electrification, it's a transportation question, but it's also an energy question and both of those things have to be really coordinated to have success here…. They have to be developed in tandem and coordinated is something that really hasn't been, on their radar before.” Neha Palmer on Electric Ladies Podcast

As the new infrastructure bill’s investments roll out across the country, one key area that will be front and center is electric vehicle charging, which is right at the intersection of the Department of Energy and the Department of Transportation. And it’s not just passenger cars. It’s also fleet vehicles and trucks. Those medium and heavy duty trucks that transport the goods we buy to stores near us, and even the delivery trucks that bring it to our doorsteps, or even city buses.  These vehicles have unique needs because they run nearly or literally 24/7. How will this work?

Listen to Neha Palmer, CEO and cofounder of TeraWatt Infrastructure explain it to host Joan Michelson on Electric Ladies podcast.  

You’ll hear:

• What kind of infrastructure we need to keep electric fleet vehicles moving stuff to us.
• How the DOE & DOT can and should coordinate every step of the way.
• Where the power comes from to power these trucks and the tricky process to get it to them wherever they are when they need it.
• How they feed energy back to the grid, as well as take power from it.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“I think that people should feel comfortable being scared….You’ve got to leave before you're ready to leave. Embrace challenge and go before you’re a hundred percent feel confident about that next step. It will allow I think, an acceleration of your career, but also your ability to make impact.” Neha Palmer on Electric Ladies podcast

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Maureen Kline, Pirelli Tires, Sustainability head
• Katie Sloan, Southern California Edison, eMobility
• Jackie Birdsall, Toyota, Senior Engineer, Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles

• Margaret Lewis, New Flyer electric buses

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“To me it's an exciting industry, the auto industry, so I wondered ‘why aren’t more women, particularly young women interested in the automotive industry?’…So this is why I conducted a quantitative-qualitative correlational study looking at relationships between all these things the experts say you should do…. I wanted to know, ‘is that really true?’ … And if it IS accurate, then why don’t we have more women at least in middle management?”

Lisa Brown on Electric Ladies Podcast

Electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, hydrogen vehicles. Ride-sharing. The automotive sector is being transformed. Car companies are even calling themselves “mobility” companies now. Yet, they are still largely dominated by men, and white men at that. They say they have diversity programs, and career planning and mentorship programs and other strategies to support women’s advancement in the industry. And yet…the numbers don’t change. Why?

Listen to Lisa Brown, Ph.D. explain her findings in her ground-breaking new quantitative and qualitative research on this issue in this enlightening interview by Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson. (Electric Ladies was formerly known as Green Connections Radio.)

You’ll hear:

• What she studied and why she chose it.
• Whether she found that diversity programs actually work – and why or why not.
• What she discovered about career planning programs in corporates and where they succeed and fail.
• What you should ask for to get what you need from these programs
• Plus, insightful career advice for your own career, no matter what sector you’re in.

And much more!

“Have a plan. I think sometimes, we have ideas, but we don’t take the time to plan….Get out of your comfort zone. If you’re an introvert, take that step to get to know folks. If you’re an extrovert, sometimes take that time to be quiet and to listen, to be that fly on the wall. And I would also say, invest in yourself. A lot of times, self-care is something that we don’t do. But invest in yourself, take the time, whether it’s just a self-help book, or taking a course to improve certain skill sets…. And last, but not least. Offer yourself some grace. Don’t be so hard on yourself.“

Lisa Brown on Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here.

You’ll also want to listen to:

Bonnie Gwin, Vice Chair, Heidrick & Struggles, on the new type of CEO companies are hiring.

Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”

Roberta Rincon, Society of Women Engineers, Director of Research, on the status and careers of women in various types of engineering roles.

Barbara Whye, Chief Diversity Officer of Apple, and former VP of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer of Intel.

Telle Whitney, Former CEO of Anita Borg Institute for Women and Cofounder of the Grace Hopper Conference

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“I think the biggest issue is there are no quote unquote ‘incentives’ at the national level to require companies of any size, whether they're private or public to do this hard work, right. And corporate sustainability really is hard work, especially when you're talking about reducing carbon emissions within their supply chains……. (Europe has mandatory ESG reporting, but not the U.S.)  So, it's only those companies that really believe in it, leaders who really care and understand that it can build resiliency, that it can also provide long-term longevity to their business models, if they embrace sustainability.”

Kate Gaertner, on Electric Ladies Podcast

How will they do it and what impact will doing so have on company operations, suppliers, employees, and profits as they have to pivot to meet what’s called ESG criteria (or environment, social and governance)?

Listen to Kate Gaertner, CEO of Triple Win Advisory, a sustainability consulting firm, explain it all in conversation with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson in this important and engaging interview.

You’ll hear about:

• How companies can assess their ESG status and develop a plan to improve it
• What’s really at stake in this transition and transparency – challenges and risks – and opportunities.
• The need for government incentives to nudge companies to be more aggressive.
• How to engage employees in the effort, and leverage “purpose” authentically
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“What kind of impact do you want to have, in your life and your family's life and your community, and of course, on the planet. Everyone says, well, ‘what are the career options in sustainability and corporate sustainability?’ They're endless because every industry, every sector, every company is going to have to embrace this and soon… Figure out where you want to play, and specifically where that focus is going to be in sustainability and just start to it, because there's so much need, and there's not enough people yet that are dipping their toe into sustainability.” Kate Gaertner on the Electric Ladies podcast

 Read Joan’s Forbes article with insights from this interview here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Kathryn Pavlovsky, Deloitte Energy, Resources & Industrials, on the energy transformation and ESG
• Kristen Sullivan, Deloitte Sustainability & Supply Chain practice, on companies “doing” ESG, and the supply chain.

• Cindi Bigelow, CEO, Bigelow Tea, on converting a 75-year old tea company to combat climate change.
• Anne Kelly, VP of Government Relations at nonprofit Ceres, which helps businesses and policy come together for the planet and people, as well as the economy

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As the new year begins, listen to this recording of one of the most remarkable panels at the recent United Nations climate conference  known as COP26, with some of the world's top CEOs.

The heads of Volvo, Rocky Mountain Institute, Club of Rome (group of heads of state, CEOs), and "the" top venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, along with the former CEO of the UN Sustainable Energy for All programme, share their thoughts on leveraging solving the climate crisis into an economic opportunity for all.

Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson recorded this session (starting a bit after the session began) in person and asks an important question at the end of the panel discussion which prompted another vibrant 20-minute discussion. So, this one is a bit longer than most of our episodes, but well worth it.

Read Joan’s related Forbes articles here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Sandrine Dixson, Co-President, The Club of Rome, from COP26, about the need for transformational public-private partnerships to get to net zero.
• Gillian Tett, Financial Times, from COP26, about what the new financial alliance means for a net zero economy.
• Twila Moon, Ph.D, climate and glacier scientist at University of Colorado at Boulder, National Institute of Snow and Ice Data, from COP26
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”

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We need “a whole economy transition,” the announcement at COP26 of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero stated, where “every company, bank, insurer and investor will have to adjust their business models, develop credible plans for the transition and implement them.” Gillian Tett of the Financial Times said on my Electric Ladies podcast at COP26 that, “what they've done is say we've got 450 institutions from around the world that have 130 trillion (dollars) worth of assets. All of whom are going to commit to try and decarbonize the world's economy and to get supposedly to net zero by 2050.” Joan Michelson in Forbes

You’ve heard about the big United Nations climate conference last month. But what impact did it have? What might it mean for your workplace, or your city, town or community?

Listen to Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson summarize COP26 on the last day of it from Glasgow, in her appearance on GreenTV. She was interviewed by GreenTV Managing Editor and long-time climate reporter Betsy Rosenberg.

You’ll hear about:

• The big announcements at COP26 that matter.
• What the Financial Alliance is and why it could make a big difference.
• What it was like to be there, on the ground, at COP26.
• Where Joan spoke at COP26 and what she told the audience.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

Showing up is critical to business and career success. Just being at COP26, in person, meeting people, even wearing a mask, was powerful, enriching and engaging. I definitely met people I don’t know how else I would have been able to meet – many of whom I’m following up with afterwards.

Electric Ladies podcast host Joan Michelson

Read Joan’s related Forbes articles here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Sandrine Dixson, Co-President, The Club of Rome, from COP26, about the need for transformational public-private partnerships to get to net zero.
• Gillian Tett, Financial Times, from COP26, about what the new financial alliance means for a net zero economy.
• Twila Moon, Ph.D, climate and glacier scientist at University of Colorado at Boulder, National Institute of Snow and Ice Data, from COP26
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”

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“If you're solving a problem in the world, if your business addresses climate change, for example, guess what?...So, anyone who's passionate about climate change would be a great potential investor for you. So (investors) are really all over the place. Mostly, it just takes a mindset shift.”

Jenny Kassan on Electric Ladies Podcast

As the year comes to an end, you may be thinking you would like to raise money for your small business from investors, but you’re feeling overwhelmed or put off by what you’ve heard about the process.  Well, listen to Jenny Kassan, CEO & Founder of her own firm, where she helps entrepreneurs – especially women and entrepreneurs in mission-focused businesses – find investors in “normal” people. How?

Listen to Jenny explain these trends and findings in this fascinating interview with Electric Ladies podcast host Joan Michelson.

You’ll learn (and want to take notes) about:

• Why you might need a “mindset shift” to be able to see the investors in your circle or network.
• How mission-focused businesses, like those combating climate change in some way, are more attractive to more “normal” investors today than ever before.
• How covid affected the ability of more people who don’t call themselves an “investor” to invest in small businesses.
• How to create a term sheet of what you’re going to offer that is customized to you, your business, and your desire for a win-win-win agreement – that’s good for the planet too.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“Don't be afraid to go ahead and start your own business if it is something that you're passionate about, but do learn that skill of raising money. I think that's the biggest problem that happens when women do start their own businesses, that they started on a shoestring…A lot of businesses do need some upfront money to invest in things, to make sure it's a healthy, successful business before you can really start to be profitable. So… be realistic about what it takes and learn that skill of raising money for your business.“ Jenny Kassan on the Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s related Forbes articles here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”
• Shelly Porges, Billion Dollar Fund for Women & Beyond the Billion, on raising money for women entrepreneurs.
• Heather Long, Leading economics reporter at The Washington Post, on the pandemic economy’s impact on women.
• Colleen Biggs, CEO/Founder of LeadUp for Women, and former top corporate executive.
• Kathleen McQuiggan, Artemis Advisors, on how women invest and successful ESG investing
• Angela Duckworth, Author of “Grit” on how passion and perseverance are more valuable than talent, whose TED Talk has been viewed over 21 million times.

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Show Notes: Bonnie Gwin, Heidrick & Struggles

Twice As Many Women Appointed CEO In 2021 - Bonnie Gwin, Heidrick & Struggles

“Diversity matters. Building diverse boards, building diverse suites, ensuring you have diversity. And I mean, in the broadest sense, it's not just gender, it's every aspect. It's life experience, it's geographic it's age. I mean, there's a wide range of things that go into diversity. I think diversity matters and companies realize that very clearly.”

Bonnie Gwin on Electric Ladies Podcast

All the shifts in 2020-2021 – from covid to climate change to social pressures – caused “a lot of turnover in the CEO suite” this year, as Heidrick & Struggles Vice Chair Bonnie Gwin explained to host Joan Michelson on Electric Ladies podcast. It’s caused a greater focus on “resilience, empathy, agility, ability to articulate, communicate, inspire people, keep people moving forward in very difficult times. All those are skills that a lot of CEOs have had in the past, but they've really moved to the forefront.” And that seems to have caused a spike in women appointed as CEO in the first half of 2021, according to a new Heidrick report.

Listen to Bonnie Gwin explain these trends and findings in this fascinating interview.

You’ll hear about:

• Why empathy and resilience and communication are no longer considered “soft skills” but are prerequisites for the C-suite
• Where these women – and all the new CEOs are coming from and how they’re being recruited.
• Why this matters at all.
• What we can all learn from these trends for our own careers.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

Build a foundation of skills and, and get sponsors, not just mentors but people who will advocate for you, and make sure that you rotate through different roles. Career advice from Bonnie Gwin on the Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s related Forbes articles here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”
• Barbara Whye, Chief Diversity Officer of Apple, and former VP of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer of Intel.
• Roberta Rincon, Society of Women Engineers, Director of Research, on the status and careers of women in various types of engineering roles.
• Telle Whitney, Former CEO of Anita Borg Institute for Women and Cofounder of the Grace Hopper Conference
• Angela Duckworth, Author of “Grit” on how passion and perseverance are more valuable than talent, whose TED Talk has been viewed over 21 million times.

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"I went for wave energy just because I saw a field that has huge demand, that has huge potential for positive impact on the world, and that nobody's succeeding in. So, that kind of was for me, I don't know, maybe a feeling of destiny here. I got a second chance in life and maybe I can make something for the first time in the world, so maybe my second chance will be kind of, you know, worthwhile.” 

Inna Braverman on Electric Ladies Podcast

Harnessing wave power has been a challenge for smart engineers and innovators for years, and now a Ukrainian-born, Israeli woman has found a way that is surprisingly simple. It’s early yet, but her technology seems promising and is and earning accolades.

Listen to Inna Braverman, Founder/CEO of Eco Wave Power, explain her innovative wave energy technology in this fascinating discussion with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson. She also shares her poignant personal story that resonates with today’s geopolitical tensions, as well as with our energy transition.

You’ll hear about:

• How wave energy works, and what makes her system unique.
• How she got a “second chance” at life – and how her life has come full circle.
• The five challenges that have stumped other wave energy innovators and how Eco Wave overcomes them.
• Plus, insightful career advice, such as…

“I think that she has to kind of have two factors. One is passion and two is persistence. Because if you're truly passionate about something, if you really feel that you have this amazing opportunity to change the world, then you would also persist. Because you won't give up your dream that easily. And, you know, being in wave energy, I always say that passion is the greatest renewable energy source, even stronger than the power of the waves.”

Inna Braverman on Electric Ladies Podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles here too.

You'll also like:

• Halla Hrund Logadottir, Director-General, Iceland’s National Energy Authority, on how the country has become 85% renewable energy. (now leading the race for President of Iceland)
• Melissa Lott, Ph.D., Director of Research at the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, and the lead scientists in the PBS/NOVA documentary “Chasing Carbon Zero.”
• Vanessa Chan, Ph.D., Chief Commercialization Officer of the Department of Energy and Director of the Office of Technology Transitions, on the Inflation Reduction Act and the transition to clean energy.
• Janet Gail Besser, of Smart Power Alliance, on their 5-point plan to get the U.S. energy system to net zero.
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”

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Because 40% “of greenhouse gas emissions come from the built environment,…one has to take an integrated look at the built environment to look at how people live, work, and play. But also integration in the sense of understanding how transportation systems fit into that, how urban design affects the efficiency of how people live, how communications networks play, and then ultimately supply chains because people need things.”

Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson on Electric Ladies Podcast

The new infrastructure funding and Build Back Better plan moving through the Senate provide funding to address various aspects of buildings, transportation, broadband and more, to upgrade our communities, while also reducing their carbon footprints. But Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, President of the revered Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute says we need to look at them as an integrated system.  (She’s also the first black woman to earn a PhD from MIT.)

Listen to Dr. Jackson explain how this new concept of place can serve us so much better in this fascinating interview with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson.

You’ll hear about:

• How that built ecosystem works
• Why the integration is critical for both the community as an ecosystem and for the planet
• How their new Institute of Energy, the Built Environment and Smart Systems will affect our daily lives.
• Why they believe an interdisciplinary approach is critical, including design
• What impact covid had on their Institute.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“I think one has to start with the idea of not letting others put a lid on you….Be who you are…. You have to be who you are because that centers you, and that can be the source of your confidence to take a risk in order to move into something different…. (And) think about, ‘what do I want to accomplish in the next three months against the larger picture?’” But you also have to compete and to compete, takes confidence.”

Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson on the Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s related Forbes articles here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Elizabeth Thompson, Vice President, U.S. Green Building Council on safety of green buildings.
• Wendy Vittori, Health Products Development Corporation, on their database of criteria on building materials.
• Olivia Martin, USAFacts.org, on the State of the Earth in 2021, using various sources of government data.
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”

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“For the entire development of modern civilization, Greenland and Antarctica have been holding vast amounts of water as frozen ice and helping us to maintain very steady sea levels around our coast. And that's allowed us to build infrastructure, build mega cities, right on the coast where many of our world's mega cities sit. Now….we're raising our air temperatures …and that's adding more water to our oceans, which is arriving at shores around the world… disrupting the infrastructure we built…(and) caus(ing) health and other problems.”

Dr. Twila Moon on Electric Ladies Podcast

We hear about melting ice caps as a symbol of global warming. What do they mean? What does the ice caps mean? What does the fact that they're melting mean? And what does it mean for our cities, towns and communities?

Listen to Dr. Twila Moon, a climate scientist from and the University of Colorado at Boulder’s National Snow and Ice Data Center who specializes in the ice caps - a cryosphere scientist – in this fascinating interview with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson where she helps us understand what those melting ice caps mean for us.

You’ll hear about:

• Why glaciers matter
• How glaciers melting directly affects our daily lives.
• Why small changes in air temperature directly affect our infrastructure, food and water supplies.
• What we can do in our daily conversations to help people understand the impact of climate change.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“So first recognizing that you're in a continually evolving space of influence and the dreams that you, that position that you were applying for three years ago, take the time now to consider…(that) you might've already grown out of that dream and already be able to take on bigger responsibilities or bigger roles. And the second thing is learning how to say no saying no is saying yes to the things already on your plate.” Twila Moon on the Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s related Forbes articles here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Sandrine Dixson, Co-President, The Club of Rome, from COP26, about the need for transformational public-private partnerships to get to net zero.
• Gillian Tett, Financial Times, from COP26, about what the new financial alliance means for a net zero economy.
• Olivia Martin, USAFacts.org, on the State of the Earth in 2021, using various sources of government data.
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”

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”Think about food design as a system. We are innovating at the product end, but we’re also trying to innovate ….to get food that would be otherwise be wasted back into the food supply chain…(including through) canned (and frozen) fruit and vegetables, which are really good accessible nutrition,” especially in the face of climate change. Dr. Lara Ramdin on Electric Ladies Podcast

As we commemorate Thanksgiving in the U.S., and do so on the heels of the huge UN climate conference COP26 when businesses and governments pledged “urgent action and investment” to shift to sustainable farming, we need to talk about how to feed the 2.37 billion people across the world who are food insecure.

Listen to Dr. Lara Ramdin, Chief Innovation Officer of Dole Sunshine Foods in this enlightening and inspiring interview with Electric Ladies podcast host Joan Michelson about how they are finding creative ways to do so.

You’ll hear:

• What a circular food supply looks like, from farm to table to plant to table.
• How surprisingly nutritious canned, frozen and dried fruits and vegetables are – especially for people living in “food deserts” where fresh fruits and vegetables are scarce.
• How packaged fruits and vegetables help combat climate change, and reduce food loss from it.
• How design thinking is reinventing their process of developing new and more nutritious fruit and vegetable products, and more sustainable packaging for them that also retains the food’s nutrition.
• Great career advice, especially for women in mid-career.

“Look for things outside of your comfort zone…And, I think that, especially in mid-career and above, what becomes more important is…that whoever it is that you report to…understands what it is that you bring to the organization and what your strengths are and allows you to be authentic to yourself…and is also able to give you feedback and allow you to grow.” Dr. Lara Ramdin on Electric Ladies Podcast

Read Joan’s related Forbes articles here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”
• Gabrielle Rubenstein, Managing Partner and Founder, Manna Tree Partners, investors in food companies making our food supply more transparent and healthier.
• Robin Currey, Professor of Sustainable Food Systems at Prescott College.
• Jackie Roberts, AppHarvest, on their massive sustainable indoor farm
• Cindi Bigelow, CEO, Bigelow Tea, on converting a 75-year old tea company to combat climate change.
• Haley Lowry, Dow Chemical’s Sustainability Director on reducing the carbon footprint of food packaging.

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“We struggle to keep the plastics that we have in the economy and reuse them...because we are in a linear economy where all the way upstream, there are lots of subsidies on a national and international level to subsidize the extraction of oil and gas, which are the base materials…to produce the plastics….We also have the wrong economic incentives in place…. all the way downstream to not necessarily do the right thing for the environment or for our continued material use.” Emily Tipaldo on Electric Ladies Podcast

This week we commemorate America Recycles Day, so we thought it was fitting to share Electric Ladies podcast host Joan Michelson’s powerful interview with Emily Tipaldo of the U.S. Plastics Pact, about the frustrations of building a circular economy to keep plastics out of the landfill.

The issues Emily raises go way beyond recycling to the incentives in place nationally as well as locally to do the non-environmental thing. What does that mean? Listen to Emily.... 

You’ll hear about:

• The incentives in place to keep plastics in landfills.
• How we need to change incentives for oil and gas companies, since the base materials for plastic comes from petroleum.
• How a circular economy for plastics really works – and how to get there.
• What manufacturers and retailers can do to help keep plastics out of landfills.
• Great career advice, especially for women.

“You are your own best advocate and you can't wait to be recognized. You can't wait because you know, you you've demonstrated you can do all of these things. If you want something, you really have to go for it and not be shy about it.” Emily Tipaldo, U.S. Plastics Pact on Electric Ladies Podcast

Read Joan’s related Forbes articles here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Keefe Harrison, Founder and CEO of The Recycling Partnership, on improving local recycling programs.
• Connie Stacey, Founder and CEO of Growing Greener Innovations: The remarkable new energy storage technology that also reduces the use of oil and gas products. 
• Jennifer Gerbi, Ph.D., Deputy Director and Acting Director, ARPA-E, the innovation arm of the Department of Energy 
• Lisa Jacobson, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, on the impact of covid on energy and transitioning to a clean energy economy
• Anne Kelly, VP of Government Relations at nonprofit Ceres, which helps businesses and policy come together for the planet and people, as well as the economy
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”

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Reach us on Twitter @joanmichelson

“What I think is really interesting is how do we get PPPs out there, public private partnerships, where we bring in also the investment community from the beginning, so that we can truly shift the capital where it needs to go in order to reduce our impact.” That’s from Sandrine Dixson, Co-President of the Club of Rome.” Sandrine Dixson on Electric Ladies Podcast

Covid demonstrated how to get things done for all of us a lot faster: create partnerships. Co-opetition between competitors. Partnering with nations. Pooling resources, whether transporting patients to hospitals with space for them, or funding allocated for one thing moved to pandemic mitigation. We need to do the same thing, argues Sandrine Dixson, Co-President of the Club of Rome, a European-based influential organization of global leaders, including former heads of state, CEOs of major multinationals and leading foundations, and top scientists.

Listen to Sandrine explain the new model of public-private partnerships we need to tackle climate change and birth the net-zero economy to Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson in this fascinating conversation. Sandrine has deep experience seeing these partnerships at work, including in her work as Director of the Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group and the EU office of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.

You’ll hear about:

• Why Sandrine thinks unusual partnerships are critical to get us to a net zero economy.
• What the United Nations can and should do to seize this moment when truly all the world’s nations need to come together to save our shared planet.
• The unique role women play at this moment.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“Women need to have more confidence in what they can deliver and to take those risks and to go for those jobs, even though they may not have 100% of the criteria that's necessary because what happens most of the time, women over-deliver, and…work with women, work with men, continue to develop our own capacities.” Sandrine Dixson on the Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s related Forbes articles here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Gillian Tett, Financial Times, from COP26, about what the new financial alliance means for a net zero economy.
• Kristen Sullivan, Deloitte Sustainability & Supply Chain practice, on companies “doing” ESG, and the supply chain.
• Lisa Jacobson, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, on the impact of covid on energy and transitioning to a clean energy economy
• Anne Kelly, VP of Government Relations at nonprofit Ceres, which helps businesses and policy come together for the planet and people, as well as the economy
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”

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Reach us on Twitter @joanmichelson

“The GFANZ is potentially very interesting, because what they've done is say, we've got 450 institutions from around the world that have 130 trillion (dollars) worth of assets, all of whom are going to commit to try and decarbonize the world's economy and to get supposedly to net zero by 2050.” Gillian Tett on Electric Ladies Podcast

The thing about addressing climate change is that it requires every aspect of the economy to pivot to net zero. That’s the challenge the big UN climate conference known as COP26 is tackling head on this week. To do so, we need to “follow the money.” Enter the Global Financial Alliance for Net Zero, or GFANZ. What is and will it matter?

Listen to Gillian Tett, Editor-at-Large of the Financial Times and its former U.S. Managing Editor, explain the new Global Financial Alliance for Net Zero and why it matters, to Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson in this enlightening and witty conversation. Gillian has been one of the pillars of the financial community for many years and written books on it.   

You’ll hear about:

• Why Gillian thinks GFANZ could be a pivotal tool to get us to a net zero economy.
• What role the International Sustainability Standards Board will play in potentially bringing consistency to the various sustainability standards to hold companies accountable.
• Why net zero and GFANZ brings accountants out from their “dull boring conference rooms” to the core of the fight to save the planet.
• Why women are key – and what the UN’s new role should be.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“Be tenacious. Don't give up. Recognize the wisdom of what Sheryl Sandberg once said to me, which is that life isn't a career ladder. It's a jungle gym. You can go up, 'round, sideways, spin around the backs, and you have to think more creatively and flexibly.” Gillian Tett on the Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s related Forbes articles here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Kristen Sullivan, Deloitte Sustainability & Supply Chain practice, on companies “doing” ESG, and the supply chain.
• Kathryn Pavlovsky, Deloitte Energy, Resources & Industrials, on the energy transformation and ESG
• Lisa Jacobson, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, on the impact of covid on energy and transitioning to a clean energy economy
• Anne Kelly, VP of Government Relations at nonprofit Ceres, which helps businesses and policy come together for the planet and people, as well as the economy
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive our podcasts, blog, events and special coaching offers..

Thanks for subscribing on Apple Podcasts or iHeartRadio and leaving us a review!

Reach us on Twitter @joanmichelson

“We felt like we needed a solution, and that solution had to be a public-private connection. We needed companies who were creating the products to be at the forefront of creating the solution and we needed to to bring together the 9,000 local governments who run recycling programs and build a system solution that is also hyper local..”

Keefe Harrison on Electric Ladies Podcast

What is it? Listen to Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson’s informative and enlightening conversation with Keefe Harrison, Founder and CEO of The Recycling Partnership; a non profit crafting innovative recycling programs around the country. 

You’ll hear about:

• Our current recycling system and how its failing us
• The economic, health and environmental impact 
• Moving from a linear solution to a circular system 

Read Joan’s related Forbes articles here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Connie Stacey, Founder and CEO of Growing Greener Innovations: The remarkable new energy storage technology 
• Jennifer Gerbi, Ph.D., Deputy Director and Acting Director, ARPA-E, the innovation arm of the Department of Energy 
• Lisa Jacobson, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, on the impact of covid on energy and transitioning to a clean energy economy
• Anne Kelly, VP of Government Relations at nonprofit Ceres, which helps businesses and policy come together for the planet and people, as well as the economy
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”

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“Energy storage kind of cuts across multiple sectors…vehicles, that’s a big one…and quite frankly, to move ahead with a lot of the smart cities initiatives, we have to look at centralizing storage in order to maintain the current grid, because the grid can’t handle increased load…So storage really runs the gambit in touching our lives in many, many different ways.”

Connie Stacey on Electric Ladies Podcast

We can’t transition to clean energy without addressing energy storage. It’s the hub into which all energy sources must connect. But most storage options only work with one type of input, wind, solar or hydropower, for example. Today, as we prepare for the big UN Climate Conference known as COP26 in a few days, when the world will be focused on how we transition to a clean energy economy, here’s a novel storage option that’s unique because it can store any kind of energy.

What is it? Listen to Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson’s truly fascinating conversation with Connie Stacey, Founder and CEO of Growing Greener Innovations based in Canada, about Connie’s remarkable new energy storage technology.  

You’ll hear about:

• How Connie applied her computer science skills to developing a new type of portable clean energy generator.
• How Connie’s generator can serve multiple purposes, from construction sites and movie sets, to charging vehicles and powering the smart grid.
• What makes this generator intelligent.
• How this Canadian won an award from the U.S. Department of Defense,
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“Too often people have a great idea but don’t realize that maybe it’s too expensive for somebody to buy… You have to be sure without any doubt that you have a customer. And the second is, you can’t quit….I’ve watched so many of the other entrepreneurs around me kind of fall off, because at some point it got hard and believe me it gets hard, and they quit and I didn’t it.” Connie Stacey on the Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s related Forbes articles here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Jennifer Gerbi, Ph.D., Deputy Director and Acting Director, ARPA-E, the innovation arm of the Department of Energy 
• Lisa Jacobson, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, on the impact of covid on energy and transitioning to a clean energy economy
• Anne Kelly, VP of Government Relations at nonprofit Ceres, which helps businesses and policy come together for the planet and people, as well as the economy
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive our podcasts, blog, events and special coaching offers..

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Reach us on Twitter @joanmichelson

“We did see that the industry accelerated its energy transition and many of the companies, during the height of the pandemic, were announcing their zero goals… and announced production cuts going forward over the next decade through automation and looking for opportunities to do this, and the pandemic was certainly an accelerator.” Katie Pavolvsky, Deloitte Energy on Electric Ladies Podcast

Energy consumption and prices plummeted during the pandemic, which was a wake-up call to the oil and gas sector. With the big UN Climate Conference known as COP26 coming up in days, the huge spotlight on ESG investing and strategies (for Environment, Social and Governance), plus President Biden’s infrastructure bills with lots of provisions affecting the energy sector moving through Congress, Joan wanted to talk to an expert in the oil and gas sector about how the sector is coping and pivoting.

So, what are the energy companies doing in response?

Listen to Katie Pavlovsky, head of Deloitte’s Energy, Resources and Industrial Services break it down with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson in this insightful and engaging interview.   

You’ll hear about:

• What ESG looks like for the oil and gas companies, one decision at a time.
• How the pandemic was a dry-run of what a transition to a clean energy economy will look and feel like, especially for the oil and gas sector that saw their bottom lines fall through the floor.
• Why the ESG focus is also improving efficiencies, which creates new types of jobs for the sector and, therefore, opens the door to more diverse talent.
• How the combination of hybrid work and the drive toward greater transparency are highlighting the reputational as well as financial risks of not adapting fast enough to this changing energy ecosystem.  
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“Even within energy and on the topics of environmental, social, and governance, what is the role that women can play in particular, in moving forward that agenda and driving earlier results just based on the networks that they have with each other?” Katie Pavolvsky on the Electric Ladies podcast

 Read Joan’s related Forbes articles here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Jennifer Gerbi, Ph.D., Deputy Director and Acting Director, ARPA-E, the innovation arm of the Department of Energy 
• Lisa Jacobson, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, on the impact of covid on energy and transitioning to a clean energy economy
• Anne Kelly, VP of Government Relations at nonprofit Ceres, which helps businesses and policy come together for the planet and people, as well as the economy
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive our podcasts, blog, events and special coaching offers..

Thanks for subscribing on Apple Podcasts or iHeartRadio and leaving us a review!

Reach us on Twitter @joanmichelson

“Companies are really recognizing that this concept of greenwashing, and these bold ambitious assertions that they can’t back up, that’s no longer, that’s not transparency. That is risk, and that exposing an organization to very concrete reputational and other risks….I think it’s all about transparency driving trust, but it has to be credible, it has to be authentic and it has to be meaningful.”

Kristen Sullivan, Deloitte Sustainability Compliance on Electric Ladies Podcast

A new report from the Journal Nature Climate Change reports that 85% of the world’s population is negatively affected by climate change. With that report and the big UN Climate Conference known as COP26 coming up in days – and President Biden’s infrastructure bills moving through Congress – we have been focusing on risk and the changing role of companies in society. 

So, what do companies really think about their role today and how to report on it, called ESG reporting for environment, social and governance?

Listen to Kristen Sullivan, head of Deloitte’s Sustainability and Supply Chain Social Compliance Services talk about it with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson in this important and engaging interview. The management consulting firms have a unique perspective on this, because they analyze trends and advise companies across industries.   

You’ll hear about:

• The need companies have to define the attributes of ESG that drive performance “in a data-driven way” so they can “evaluate long term value”?
• The critical role of transparency, primarily to build trust, and how and why companies can struggle with it.
• The impact of the rapid increased prioritizing of ESG from a “nice to have” to “must have,” especially over the past couple of years due to the confluence of covid, George Floyd, and climate change.
• How companies now have a broader definition of what drives risk including “financial risk, operational risk, reputational risk” and how they can systematically integrate those factors to find seize opportunities.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“And I think that especially through a broader, sort of ESG-purpose lens, that establishing a competency in a business context (is important in your career), whether that’s marketing or finance or supply chain or operations, whatever it is, and layering on a differentiated perspective – whether it’s climate risk, whether it’s societal consideration – to really be able to deliver on that traditional competence but at such a higher level, and through that value-enhancing lens.” Kristen Sullivan on the Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s related Forbes articles here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Anne Kelly, VP of Government Relations at nonprofit Ceres, which helps businesses and policy come together for the planet and people, as well as the economy
• Michele Wucker, thought leaders and author of “You Are What You Risk: The New Art & Science to Navigating an Uncertain World.”
• Lisa Jacobson, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, on the impact of covid on energy and transitioning to a clean energy economy
• Kathleen McQuiggan, 30-year wealth management expert specializing in ESG investing, especially for women.
• Olivia Martin, USAFacts data scientist, on their State of the Earth 2021 report.

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Reach us on Twitter @joanmichelson

Financial Support For Exporting, Trade – Judith Pryor, Export Import Bank of U.S.

“We help anyone in the United States who wants to sell their good or service overseas through short, medium, and long-term financing tools for international buyers. It's usually medium term and long term. We provide foreign buyers with the ability to purchase U.S. goods and services. So we're debt financiers to buyers of American goods and services. On the flip side of that, and more often with small businesses than not, we provide export credit insurance, which is short term, 30, 60, 90 days to ensure payment of goods received.” Judith Pryor on Electric Ladies Podcast

One of the most important lessons from the pandemic economy is that we can collaborate across borders and industries, even with competitors, when it’s for mutual benefit. Addressing climate change takes that kind of collaboration too. These deals are risky and complicated, but there’s a small government agency that most businesses and entrepreneurs don’t know is there to help structure and secure the deal, reducing the risk.

It’s called the Export Import Bank of the U.S. (EXIM Bank). Listen to this fascinating interview with Vice Chair and First Vice President of the EXIM Bank, Judith Pryor, on Electric Ladies Podcast with host Joan Michelson (live at the EXIM Bank office).

You’ll hear:

• How the EXIM Bank works, deals it can help with and how it can secure financing across borders.
• How EXIM Bank helps bring electricity to rural areas, and helps U.S. manufacturers secure their supply chains.
• How EXIM Bank earns billions of dollars in revenue on its deals that goes toward paying down the national debt.
• Particular support EXIM Bank provides for women- and minority-owned businesses doing trade deals.
• How economic security and international trade support national security.
• Plus, insightful career advice

“I have a couple of quotes that I have written on my blackboard that I use often when I'm speaking publicly. And one of them is, ‘whatever you are, be a good one.’ That was Abraham Lincoln said that. So it's, if this is what you've chosen to do, be good at it. Do give your best, give your all.…You're going to have bad days, but try to make them good days ….I have a fortune cookie phrase that ca literally came out of a cookie that I have taped my monitor upstairs that says, listen to yourself more often. I think as a woman, yes, we tend to question ourselves more.”

Judith Pryor on Electric Ladies podcast

You’ll also want to listen to: (some might be recorded under our previous name, Green Connections Radio)

• Kristen Sullivan, Deloitte Audit Partner & Head of the firm’s Sustainability practice, on the final SEC climate rules
• Polly Trottenberg, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation, on the transportation revolution taking place.
• Celinda Lake, Founder/CEO of Lake Research Partners, on women voters, climate and the 2024 election.
• Suzy Deering, (then) Chief Marketing Officer, Ford – on bringing change to a legacy industry as an outsider.
• Isabelle Grosmaitre, Founder/CEO of Goodness & Co. climate resilience and ESG consulting firm.

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Follow us on Twitter @joanmichelson

“Your risk fingerprint is… a combination of genetic,… your innate personality… It also interacts with other things, your experiences….And lots of social influences, whether it's within your organization or your country, your culture, your peer group, within your family, and all of those things come together. And they pretty much tell you what it is that you care about, what you value, what you're ready to risk losing or not.” Michele Wucker on Electric Ladies Podcast

As Congress debates President Biden’s infrastructure bills to get them into law, the fundamental question at the core of each Member’s decisions and votes is their definition of what is risky and what is not. Michele Wucker, author of the new best-selling book, "You Are What You Risk: The New Science & Art of Navigating an Uncertain World,” explains how each of us develops a unique “risk fingerprint” and “risk ecosystem” that drive all our choices, consciously or unconsciously.

Listen to this fascinating interview with Michele Wucker on Electric Ladies, with host Joan Michelson – and learn how to identify your own risk fingerprint and ecosystem and how to make it work for you.  (Electric Ladies was formerly known as Green Connections Radio.)

You’ll hear:

• What exactly a risk fingerprint is and how to find yours, and those of the people in your life.
• How families, peer groups, organizations, and even countries each have risk profiles and how to use this tool to understand them better.
• How men and women see risk differently – and what impact that has in the workplace and families.
• How risk is a tool of negotiation and innovation, and the differences in it between executives in large companies versus entrepreneurs.
• Plus, insightful career advice for using the risk fingerprint tools in your career….

And much more!

“Understand what your risk fingerprint is, and the most important things about who you are. That, in turn, leads to the path forward that you're going to chart through often very, very uncertain times, and will help you to make the choices that you need. That that risk fingerprint is like your north star and your anchor.” Michele Wucker on Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles on this here and watch here for her article on risk and infrastructure policy.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Michele Wucker, on her book “The Gray Rhino” about the warnings we miss in front of our eyes.
• Katharine Hayhoe, Ph.D., Climate Scientist, Time “100 Pioneer,” and University of Texas Professor
• Anne Kelly, Ceres Government Relations, on business and infrastructure policy
• Jennifer Gerbi, Deputy Director and Acting Director of ARPA-E, the innovation arm of the Dept. of Energy
• Michelle Wyman, Executive Director of National Council of Science and the Environment on how to talk to policymakers about science to keep science in policy decisions.

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“We asked the Forest Stewardship Council to go on the ground and do the whole certification process, just like they do for paper…Then they're following that rubber throughout the chain of custody all the way through to the factory here in Georgia….and we have just produced the first FSC certified tire.” Maureen Kline on Electric Ladies Podcast

The transportation sector is transforming, from GM’s announcement that they are eliminating gas engines by 2030, to Ford’s announcement this week about going all EV, to the massive legislation moving through Congress now to rebuild our transportation infrastructure.

All those vehicles still need tires, though, and rubber is still an environmental challenge. How to balance safety with environmental protection? Pirelli Tires thinks they have found a solution – and these new tires are “smart” as well as sustainable. How?

Listen to Maureen Kline, head of sustainability for Pirelli Tires explain it to host Joan Michelson on Electric Ladies podcast.  

You’ll hear:

• How Pirelli is using outside sources like the Forest Stewardship Council to help them make sustainable tires in a credible and responsible way.
• What “smart tires” are, how they work, and how they keep passengers safer than “normal” tires do.
• How Maureen got Pirelli to include an option in the company’s 401K plan options to invest according to ESG criteria.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“I think what's really important is to gain knowledge of sustainability and weave it into every career… Use all possible, learning opportunities, whether it's online courses, listening to your podcast, reading, and just get your overall sustainability education in order. And then you can really start diving into how to make what you do, more sustainability focused.”

Maureen Kline on Electric Ladies podcast

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Jennifer Gerbi, Deputy Director and Acting Director, ARPA-E, Dept. of Energy
• Anne Kelly, Ceres, on the role of the business community in the clean energy transition
• Lisa Jacobson, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, on the impact of covid on energy and transitioning to a clean energy economy
• Margaret Lewis, New Flyer electric buses

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“SolaREIT works with a lot of community solar developers. When a landowner wants to tie up their land or farm their land for solar for a community project, we can come in and be the land financing solution.” Laura Pagliarulo on Electric Ladies Podcast

As more communities want solar, and don’t have access to their own solar panels, such as in apartments or condos, they are looking for more creative solutions. The Energy Department is trying to create new solutions.

SolaREIT thinks they have developed one such solution. It’s a real estate investment trust (REIT) that leverages land under one owner to provide financing for solar power to other people. Confused? Curious?

Listen to Laura Pagliarulo, CEO of SolaREIT, explain how it works to host Joan Michelson on Electric Ladies podcast.  

You’ll hear:

• How SolaREIT leverages farm land or other land, to help speed up the transition to clean energy, and provide an income to the property owner at the same time.
• How exactly it works – no matter how small the land parcel is – and where there’s flexibility.
• How SolaREIT provides community solar to communities looking for it – and the cost.
• Examples of stories of landowners doing this now
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“Your network is critical, because those are the people who know you and support you and can open doors on a regular basis… and you gotta be willing to take risks… I have learned more about myself in the (SolaREIT) startup process than I ever have working at any other company and in defined roles.”  Laura Pagliarulo on Electric Ladies podcast

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Jennifer Gerbi, Deputy Director and Acting Director, ARPA-E, Dept. of Energy
• Anne Kelly, Ceres, on the role of the business community in the clean energy transition
• Lisa Jacobson, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, on the impact of covid on energy and transitioning to a clean energy economy
• Rachel Kyte, CEO, UN’s Sustainable Energy for All program

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Short trailer for the Electric Ladies podcast. 

“There's this amazing thing that we think should happen, which is right now physically impossible. That's fine. Let's talk about that. Let's dig down to the technical gap that needs to be filled to enable that new disruptive pathway to start.”

Jennifer Gerbi, ARPA-E on Electric Ladies Podcast

To truly address climate change, we need to pivot to a zero-carbon economy, and that means finding ways to fuel our energy-dependent lifestyle on energy sources that do not emit any pollutants. But since 77% of our energy still comes from fossil fuels, that’s a very tall order. It requires a lot of innovative thinking, a lot of trial and error, a lot of technical risk, and a lot of money to try new ways of generating power.

Enter ARPA-E, the Advanced Research Program Agency for Energy, which is the innovation arm of the Department of Energy, akin to the renowned DARPA agency in the Department of Defense.

How is ARPA-E reinventing our energy supply? Listen to Jennifer Gerbi, Ph.D., Deputy Director and Acting Director of ARPA-E explain it in this fascinating conversation with Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson.  

You’ll hear:

• How they are finding and funding technologies that are “right now physically impossible” and helping to make them possible, even real.
• Their mission, processes and unique structure, especially for a government agency, and how being comfortable with ambiguity is crucial to their success.
• How they have managed to attract billions of dollars more in private capital to their projects than the agency invested in them.
• How they deal with the requisite risks, trials and errors of high-stakes, capital-intensive innovation that’s transforming the very foundation of what makes our economy function.
• Plus, insightful career advice ….

“You can't fear changing things around and it is terrifying leaving a job and finding another job…. So even if you things aren't going well, just learn from it, use it as this is your school. Okay. Now this is your school about how not to be a boss, or this is your school about how to get people to work together.”

Jennifer Gerbi, ARPA-E on the Electric Ladies podcast

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Anne Kelly, Ceres, on the role of the business community in the clean energy transition
• Lisa Jacobson, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, on the impact of covid on energy and transitioning to a clean energy economy
• Rachel Kyte, CEO, UN’s Sustainable Energy for All program
• Kate Sloan, Southern California Edison eMobility, on how to get 7 million electric vehicles on the road by 2030

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“This is very much a jobs plan….It deals with four interwoven challenges…The first is the post-pandemic reality, the second is the economic downturn, the third is the climate crisis, and the fourth is inequality and racial equity… The general theme is that the road to economic recovery is through climate action..”

Anne Kelly, Ceres.org on Electric Ladies Podcast

Hurricane Ida was a different kind of wake-up call, because it showed the increased severity of extreme weather events in the age of climate change, and how even big cities like New York and inland areas are vulnerable. In short, it emphasized the need to shore up our infrastructure from coast to coast.

Listen to Electric Ladies host Joan Michelson’s enlightening interview with Anne Kelly, VP of Government Relations at the nonprofit Ceres and Director of their Business for Innovative Climate Policy, explain how the infrastructure bills moving through Congress today are critical – and the much-needed jobs they will create.  

You’ll hear:

• What specifically the infrastructure bills fund upgrades to and what the Clean Electricity Standard is.
• What jobs would be created and the skills that would be required for them.
• What “sustainable infrastructure” is and how it will protect communities from the ravages of climate change – including maintaining power in a storm.
• Why businesses support these bills to maintain and grow, and create more jobs – and the SEC’s ESG momentum.
• Plus, insightful career advice that may surprise you….

“Be careful about what you’re good at. So, if you’re not happy with what you’re doing, you really do have to take a risk and be willing to step out of your current role and try something new, and test yourself. And you can do that in your own position, you can dabble in another area….and then see if that’s a place you want to go.”

Anne Kelly, Ceres on the Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s related Forbes articles here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Olivia Martin, USAFacts data scientist, on their State of the Earth 2021 report.
• Gloria Reuben, Waterkeeper Alliance & Actress, on holding industry accountable for their water pollution.
• Kate Sloan, Southern California Edison eMobility, on how to get 7 million electric vehicles on the road by 2030
• Lisa Jacobson, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, on the impact of covid on energy and transitioning to a clean energy economy

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Earth’s Data Speaks - Olivia Martin, USAFacts.org

“Really use the information…We hope that it helps you develop opinions… (that help you) vote, contact your representatives…We really hope that this report among others will empower…people and as voters to, to use the data, to hold their government accountable.”

Olivia Martin, USAFacts on Electric Ladies Podcast

What is the Earth saying this year? We see lots of reports from various sources, but the ones that government officials and business leaders tend to rely on are from government sources, whether those sources are local, state or federal. What does the information say about the State of Earth in 2021 and where does that data come from?

Listen to this fascinating interview with data scientist Olivia Martin of USAFacts on Electric Ladies, the podcast formerly known as Green Connections Radio, with host Joan Michelson.  USAFacts is a nonprofit founded by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to collect and analyze data from all government sources, no matter how granular they need to get. And, they make sense of it for the rest of us, translating what the Earth’s data is telling us, so we can use it.

You’ll hear:

• How USAFacts.org collects this information and keeps it up to date.
• How they analyze and organize it, and find sources to fill in the gaps, so we can use it.
• What Earth is saying in 2021 – and the loud alarms about climate change we need to heed.
• How you can use this data – to vote, contact your representatives and hold government accountable.
• Plus, insightful career advice from an old soul in a young lady…. and more.

“Whenever you're a woman in a field that is typically not dominated by women, which is very true in the data space …I think having confidence in yourself and having confidence in the research you've done and your own preparation is important.”

Olivia Martin on Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes articles on this here and here on the data.

You’ll also want to listen to (some of these are under the name Green Connections Radio):

• Olivia Martin, USAFacts: on their 2020 State of the Earth report.
• Katharine Hayhoe, Ph.D., Climate Scientist, Time “100 Pioneer,” and University of Texas Professor
• Kathleen Rogers, President, Earth Day Network on citizen scientists collecting climate data.
• Heather Long, Economics Reporter, the Washington Post, on how women suffer in this economic crisis.
• Michelle Wyman, Executive Director of National Council of Science and the Environment on how to talk to policymakers about science to keep science in policy decisions.

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"#MeToo as an idea isn’t new....(W)omen journalists (have been) shedding light on the obstacles, indignities, and violence women face in the workplace....(since) the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when a significant cohort of women entered the newspaper industry." Lori Harrison-Kahan in an OpEd on CNN.com

August 18th is the 101st anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which ratified women’s right to vote. What most people do not know, is that the fight for women’s voting rights was also the beginning of what we now call the #MeToo movement.  As we see yet another powerful white man fall from the power of the #MeToo movement, listen here to this untold part of the story.

Listen to professor Lori Harrison-Kahan of Boston College explain how these brave women started speaking out against harassment in the early 1900’s – and about a prominent (and rare) female journalist of the era who used her platform to keep the movement in the headlines. That journalist is Miriam Michelson, who also happens to be GCR host Joan Michelson’s great-great aunt. (Lori wrote a best-selling book about her, "The Superwoman and Other Writings of Miriam Michelson, which Joan wrote the foreword to.)

You'll hear: 

• How women journalists in the 1890s-1900's addressed the #MeToo movement of their day.
• How Miriam used her platform for social causes she cared about, especially women's rights.
• Lessons for women today.
• Great stories from Miriam's best-selling fiction, which made her a "celebrity" of her day.
  
  

Click here to watch a video of Joan and Lori’s sold-out event at the Newseum about it, and to find more articles and podcasts about it, including Professor Marcia Chatelain of Georgetown University on Black women suffragists.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Joan's ground-breaking event at The Newseum commemorating the centennial of women's right to vote, and the role of women journalists (in the Suffrage Movement),
• Brooke Kroeger, Author of “The Suffragents” on the male supporters of women’s vote (Is Joe Biden a “Suffragent” for choosing Senator Kamala Harris as his VP)
• Marcia Chatelain, Professor of American History and African American History at Georgetown University, on Black women suffragists.
• Jennifer Palmieri, Former Communications Director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and President Obama, and author of “Dear Madam President.”

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Reach us on Twitter @joanmichelson

“For healthcare grade disinfection, the EPA has certain requirements….that you test against, and those lab reports, we showed 100% kill in one minute, which is actually really impressive, because most toxic products they use in hospitals for disinfectants take 10 minutes, have to be reapplied multiple times to stay wet for 10 minutes, and only have a 95% kill rate and still be approved by the EPA for healthcare grade disinfection.”  

Rayne Guest on Green Connections Radio podcast

As we return to work and school, what can we do to feel safe from covid-19, including the new variants? There are no 100% guarantees, but the EPA has said that the disinfectant we’re talking about today is 100% effective against covid, and it’s fast and environmentally-friendly. There are no plastic jugs either, and no toxins going into the water supply.

Listen to this fascinating interview with the woman behind this new disinfectant, Rayne Guest, CEO and Founder of R-Water by Green Connections Radio host Joan Michelson and find out how it works, how it’s tested and how it compares to others out there, even in use in hospitals. (This episode is a replay as we prepare for the launch of our new name and website, coming very soon!)  

You’ll hear:

• How their disinfectant works and why it’s 100% effective, according to the EPA.
• Why hospitals prefer to use it, keeping their staffs safer and reducing ancillary infections.
• Why it’s actually a device that makes the disinfectant in your own place, vs. being shipped in.
• Her entrepreneurial journey and the power of paying attention and networking.
• Plus career advice especially for women with an entrepreneurial bent…. and more.

“People should really take this time while they have more time to explore what really makes them tick. Because passionate people in the world make it turn and we need more of them out there…Do good by doing good, positive impact all the way around, socially, economically, environmentally, we need as many of you out there as we can get.”

Rayne Guest on Green Connections Radio podcast

Read my Forbes blog about it too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Rachel Gutter, President, International WELL-Building Institute, on standards for building safety

• Olivia Martin, data analyst, USAFacts.org on making sense of government data, including on COVID-19 and on the environment.

• Kay Gebhardt, Senior Scientist, Seventh Generation, on the science of developing environmentally sound and effective cleaning products.

• Tina Kirby, Insurance Innovators, on getting the business interruption insurance coverage you deserve in a crisis like this.

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“Any product that is used to construct the building, finish the building, or furnish the building is comprehended within our standard,” Wendy Vittori on Green Connections Radio

The green building sector is booming, and expected to grow to $433 billion by 2024, in efforts to combat climate change, since buildings comprise 40% of U.S. carbon emissions.  But, as we wait for answers to what exactly caused the Champlain Towers in Surfside, Florida to collapse, we must ask: how do we know these materials are safe?

To find out, listen to Wendy Vittori, Executive Director of the Health Products Declaration Collaborative, which developed the Open Standard being used to publicly disclose what is actually in all building materials, in a consistent, reliable and transparent way.

You'll learn:

• How they developed the Open Standard, and who decides
• What exactly the Open Standard tells us, and what it does not., and why
• How widely it's used by the construction industry.
• How and how often it's updated
• Plus, powerful career advice from this former Fortune 100 c-suite tech executive.

"Be honest with yourself… All of us have our strengths and weaknesses, and those weaknesses are just opportunities to be better. That's all they are. And instead of sort of living with that, address it.”

Wendy Vittori on Green Connections Radio podcast

Read Joan's Forbes article about how their standard might keep us safe, and her ones with the powerful career advice from Wendy here and here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Elizabeth Thompson, US Green Building Council, on how innovative green building products are tested.
• Maria Blasé, President of Ingersoll Rand’s Buildings and Trucks Division on reducing their climate impact
• Laura Busse Dolan, Owner of Applied Imagination, building miniature buildings from plants, botanicals.
• Jessyca Henderson, American Institute of Architects, on the International Green Building Code

And read Joan’s other Forbes articles on the safety of green buildings in the face of Surfside here and here.

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“Regulation can really be a catalyst for transformation, for business transformation, because this is so much more than a disclosure and compliance exercise. “When you think about the mechanisms, the infrastructure, the data that will emerge from instituting more discipline and rigor around these disclosure objectives, (it) is absolutely critical to surface more timely where risk disruption can emerge. They give insight into choices that can be made.” Kristen Sullivan on Electric Ladies Podcast

The SEC released its final climate risk disclosure rules after a two year process of collecting thousands of public comments, hearing from investors and conducting analysis. These rules have the potential to be transformative because they require companies to disclose verified data about the climate impact on their bottom line, and on how their company affects climate change risk as well. What does it mean?

Listen to Kristen Sullivan, Deloitte Audit Partner, who leads the firm’s sustainability practice, and Electric Ladies Podcast host Joan Michelson as they decipher these new rules – and the opportunities they reveal.

You’ll hear:

• What the SEC is asking companies to disclose verified data on, and why.
• How companies could benefit from identifying this data and seeing its impact on their business.
• Where this climate disclosure data might reveal opportunities that could be transformative for them.
• How to prepare, when to start (now), and how to structure your preparation.
• Plus, insightful career advice

“Whether you're a marketing leader, whether you're a talent leader, a human resources leader, supply chain, finance, investor relations, legal, pick your favorite area of the business, really introducing a climate lens to what you do in your day job and really becoming a champion across your part of the organization. It opens up windows. We participate in meetings with clients all the time where parts of the organization come together that have never really had an opportunity or a remit to collaborate in certain areas. And so I think there's just a tremendous opportunity to bring sort of a tested set of skills, education, activities …to really become a change maker within your organization, a champion within your organization to drive this integration.”

Kristen Sullivan on Electric Ladies podcast

Read Joan’s Forbes article about the SEC climate risk disclosure rules and finding hidden business value here.

You’ll also want to listen to: (some might be recorded under our previous name, Green Connections Radio)

• Kristen Sullivan, Deloitte, previous appearance on ELP about ESG tracking and its value
• Kristina Wyatt, Chief Sustainability Officer and Deputy General Counsel, Persefoni, and former head of the SEC Task Force developing the proposed climate risk disclosure rules.
• Joan on “Doing Sustainability” podcast about sustainability and ESG, including the SEC rules
• Jean Case, Case Foundation, on the proposed SEC climate rules and investing
• Polly Trottenberg, Deputy Secretary of Transportation, on the transformation of the transportation sector and Infrastructure Investment Act and Inflation Reduction Act

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SOCIAL POSTS:

“I learned that we are all capable of so much more than we think we are, until we push ourselves. We all have these reserves that I don’t think we use anymore…Keep looking for those parts of yourself that you have ignored.” Tracy Edwards on Green Connections Radio

Are you going boating this summer? Listen to this fascinating interview with Tracy Edwards on her adventure captaining the first all-female crew in the world's most dangerous round-the-world boat race - the Whitbread 'Round the World Yachting Race - with very, very limited experience at the ripe age of 24 years old. And. She. Won the two most dangerous legs of the six-leg race.

Her story is the subject of the recent extraordinary documentary,  “Maiden” with original footage from the actual race.

You'll hear:

• How she built and captained the first all-female Whitbread race crew - and how they won
• What her internal voice was like during the journey and how she managed it to lead and thrive.
• How they turned disadvantage into advantages
• What we can learn from her transformation from novice to history-making winner
• Lots of great career advice and inspiration!

Read Joan's Forbes blog about it too.

“Open yourself up to the universe and you will always find the right people in the right place at the right time… Look around you and you will see the people you will need to meet.” Tracy Edwards on Green Connections Radio

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Ellie O'Brien, Earth Angel: Reducing the movie and television industry's carbon footprint.
• Ashley Bell, actress, on her new documentary about saving Asian elephants and how it transformed her into an activist.
• Heather Metcalf of Assn. of Women in Science on transforming culture to increase women in leadership.
• Ingrid Daubechies of Duke University, MacArthur “genius” award winner, and master innovative thinker.

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Reach us on Twitter @joanmichelson

Women did not have the right to vote when the U.S. was founded; that's a fact many still do not know.

With voting rights under siege again today, listen to the group of prominent women journalists and an historian talk about the women journalists behind the scenes using their stories, influence and access to help the 19th Amendment, which acknowledged women have the right to vote, ratified 101 years ago.

Panelists include: Anna Palmer, then of Politico and now Founder of Punchbowl Media, Shawna Thomas then managing editor of Vice News Tonight and now Executive Producer of CBS This Morning. and Lori Harrison-Kahan, author of “The Superwoman and Other Writings by Miriam Michelson”

This was an event GCR host Joan Michelson produced and moderated at The Newseum to commemorate the centennial of the 19th Amendment. It was recorded prior to the 2020 election.

Maybe you’ll get tips for supporting today’s voting rights battles.

You'll hear:

• Clever ways women journalists and editors used their stories and voices to drive women’s voting rights.
• The role of Joan’s great-great aunt and journalist, Miriam Michelson, in ratification of the 19th Amendment.
• Fascinating stories of women’s journalists on the front line of women’s voting rights.
• The diverse levers it took to get the Amendment across the finish line.
• Great questions from the audience!

Thank you to the Newseum for being fabulous hosts and to Politico’s Women Rule initiative for supporting us!

Watch the video replay here and read more stories about Miriam Michelson and other unsung heroes of the 19th Amendment fight.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Newseum event on Suffrage Movement,
• Lori Harrison-Kahan on the role of women journalists in the suffrage cause and how the #MeToo movement began in suffrage
• Brooke Kroeger, Author of “The Suffragents” on the male supporters of women’s vote (Is Joe Biden a “Suffragent” for choosing Senator Kamala Harris as his VP)
• Marcia Chatelain, Professor of American History, African American History, Georgetown University
• Jennifer Palmieri, Former Communications Director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and President Obama, and author of “Dear Madam President.”

Thank you for subscribing to Green Connections on Apple Podcasts or iHeartRadio and leaving us a review!

Also, join our Private Facebook Group and share your insights!

Join our mailing list to stay up to date on the top podcasts!

Reach us on Twitter @joanmichelson

Listen to Green Connections Radio host Joan Michelson interviewed by Cherice Taylor on career advice. Cherice Taylor's show is targeted to students, but the advice we share is relevant to any career levels.

One topic we talk about is how to stay focused on your own goals, in an era when we are bombarded by distractions - from social media to emails to texts to traditional media and the people in our lives.

You might also want to listen to Joan's goal-setting process as well, which is here: http://greenconnectionsradio.com/goal-setting-session-joan-michelsons-ground-breaking-process/

Please send Joan any questions about your career challenges on Twitter @joanmichelson.

We are airing episodes where GCR host Joan was interviewed while we are preparing the launch of our renamed show, so watch for the new show and brand new website coming soon! Same great women innovator interviews, under a new name.

Subscribe to Green Connections Radio and you'll automatically receive the new show.

Subscribe to our newsletter for special offers and blogs too on our website here: http://greenconnectionsradio.com/book-coaching/contact/

Thanks for listening and see you soon!

“Any concrete new mixture, whether it’s embodied carbon or flyash or any other innovation in making concrete more sustainable one way or the other in terms of the material itself, those are all tested through a rigorous standardized process.” Elizabeth Thompson, USGBC on Green Connections Radio podcast

As our hearts go out to the people in Surfside, Florida coping with the loss of their loved ones and friends in the catastrophic building collapse, this tragedy raises some hard questions that the “green” building community needs to answer. First among them is: Do sustainable building technologies and materials affect the structural integrity of their buildings? How are they tested to be sure?

Listen to architect Elizabeth Thompson, Vice President of the US Green Building Council – which developed the iconic LEED certification protocols that are gold standard for sustainable buildings – in this enlightening and engaging interview on Green Connections Radio podcast with host Joan Michelson.  Elizabeth brings her 20+ years of experience as an architect, including in sustainable buildings, and provides helpful insights.

You’ll hear:

• How new building technologies and materials are tested for durability and safety.
• How the iconic LEED certifications are developed by teams of industry experts.
• What role the local climate plays in determining the building code standards.
• The importance of holistic preventative maintenance plans and how to develop and implement them effectively.
• Plus great career advice!

“I have found it very helpful to keep following the trail of my curiosity. So, if I’m really interested in something, find a way to make the space for following that in my life. Reading books, having conversations, all of that.” Elizabeth Thompson on Green Connections Radio

What questions do YOU have for Elizabeth Thompson? Tweet them to us @joanmichelson or post them on our Facebook Page — and ask to join our private Facebook group.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Rawlings Miller of WSP on developing a climate resilience plan for your community or business.

• Kathy Baughman McLeod of the new Atlantic Council Resilience Center, on climate resilience preparation.

• Beth Gibbons, Executive Director of American Society of Adaptation Professionals (ASAP).

• Robin Currey, Prescott College, on creating a sustainable food supply.

Listen to more great interviews with innovators at www.greenconnectionsradio.com  – or on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify or other podcast networks, and subscribe.

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Sustainability is an international challenge and therefore so are the challenges to innovate to meet sustainability goals.  Women play an important role in innovating, especially for sustainable solutions, because women have always had to find "another way" to address business, policy and societal challenges.

Listen to Green Connections Radio host Joan Michelson on the "Seeking Sustainability Live" podcast from Japan, with Joy Jarman-Walsh (aka "JJ") on the ways women do so.

Send us your ideas too! @Joanmichelson

Watch for our new podcast name and website launching soon! Sign up for our newsletter to be one of the first to know and to get special coaching offers, as well as Joan's Forbes articles.

Do you enjoy your own company? Really. Do you?

Many of us have been spending a lot of time alone lately due to the pandemic (unless of course, you have kids living at home, in which case you probably wish you had more time alone).

We can see being alone as miserable and waste the time complaining and binge-ing, or we can see being alone as the gift of quiet time, as an opportunity to enjoy and appreciate our own company.  Psychotherapist Dr. Stephanie Dowrick, in her best-selling book “Intimacy and Solitude,” calls it “welcoming time with your own self as you might welcome time with a friend.” 

We can also see it as a time to tap our own Innovators DNA for new, creative ideas and solutions. Listen to this webinar Joan did for Lead Up for Women on how.

You'll hear:

• About the five components of the Innovator's DNA and why they matter
• How to use alone-time to tap your own creativity.
• Why being your own best friend matters - and is fun, and makes you a better partner, friend, boss or co-worker.
• Steps you can take today, and tomorrow, including for your career.

"We spend so much time reacting to and being distracted by other people’s ideas, agendas, stories, news and priorities...that we can lose sight of our own ideas, and of what we want. Our inboxes are full of other people’s agendas and priorities." Joan Michelson in Lead Up for Women magazine

Find Joan on Twitter @joanmichelson

Subscribe to our newsletter for more career tips, podcasts, events and special coaching offers: http://www.greenconnectionsradio.com

Goal-setting is a year-long and life-long process. No matter your age, status, or career industry, if you're human being, you have goals, things you want to accomplish in your life.

Here is a podcast of a process that I presented in a goal-setting workshop earlier this year. I cover both career and personal goals - approaching it holistically, since it's all important to your happiness and feeling of success.

Please have a listen and let me know your thoughts on Twitter @joanmichelson and if you want a coaching session to develop your own goals, click here: http://greenconnectionsradio.com/book-coaching/contact/

We are renaming the podcast and launching the new brand and website in a few weeks, so we're airing my appearances and a few great episodes from our archives in the meantime.

Thanks for listening and I look forward to working with you!

Joan Michelson

“…You have to know when to you have to know an opportunity when it's in front of you and you have to have the courage to take that opportunity…” That's a quote from GCR Host Joan Michelson on On Point Talk with Carlette Christmas.

This week we air an episode that was previously only available on our youtube page - Joan Michelson as a guest on another podcast, On Point Talk with Carlette Christmas.

Here are some key points discussed:

• Joan's career path through corporate journalism to working with Chrysler heading up the Communications and co-head the sales and marketing of their electric car division (despite not owning a car) which put her on the green economy trajectory and spurred Green Connections Radio podcast.

• Bringing awareness to the lack of women in the industry and using her outlet to increase the visibility of women.

• Helping women figure out their professional journeys as a career coach

• Career tips

• And more!

“Self-talk is huge self-talk and self-compassion. You won't always say the right thing, you won't always make the right decision, you won't always you know fill in the blank but you make the right decision and you say what you think is appropriate at that moment, but it's what we tell ourselves. If we say, ‘oh you're an idiot, you screwed that up’ then you're gonna bring yourself down, right? If you say ‘hey, you know, you put yourself out there, you gave it a shot.’ Makes all the difference in the world because when you feel good about it, it opens up possibilities and then you can see possibilities.”

What did you take away from this interview? Tweet it to us @joanmichelson

“Sometimes I find that the assumption that you’re making is what’s keeping you from seeing other possibilities.” That's a quote from GCR Host Joan Michelson on the All In podcast with Daniel Giordano recently

In this episode, we turn the tables on our host, Joan Michelson, and air a recent interview of her on another podcast, All In with Daniel Giordano.

Here are some of the key topics Daniel says she talks about:

• Joan’s key area of focus when it comes to clients (mid-career women in STEM-related fields) and why she chose that area.
• Coaching requires a different approach for each individual client, as people are all different and have different needs, so an “assembly line” type of structure that offers the same process to all people is very limiting.
• Joan’s idea of a “Career GPS” that looks at where clients ideally want to go with their career, but allows room for tangents and diversions, as some of the best opportunities are those you never expect.
• The importance of assessing the assumptions you have about your career and your future and what those assumptions are based on"

“(A coach) is not just something that you have when the 'proverbial' hits the fan, or when you feel out of sorts, it’s also to take you to the next level.”

“An assembly line works great for assembling cars, or clothing, or computers, but you’re a human being, and you have a different process than other people...to just have the same process for everybody, hasn’t worked for my clients and hasn’t worked for me personally. I find those very limiting.”

What did you take away from this interview? Tweet it to us @joanmichelson

Click here to set up a complimentary 20-minute coaching call.

Thank you to Daniel Giordano for including GCR Host Joan Michelson in his powerful show!

The All-In Podcast Show presents top Entrepreneurs, Innovators and World Changers willing to share their breakthrough moments and how they are changing the world. Focused on being “All-In” on the four areas of life: faith, family, finances, and health, host Daniel Giordano invites mentors who exemplify balance and a commitment to building a bold life of excellence.

https://danielgiordano.com/podcast/

“When you think about what you are claiming from an insurance perspective, it’s partly property damage, but it’s largely also business interruption. So, your lack of sales, your lack of being able to produce things, your lack of being able to distribute things.” Tina Kirby on Green Connections Radio podcast

We all have way too much experience with disasters after the past 15 months of covid – and we noticed that extreme weather events didn’t stop with covid either.  We still had massive, devastating hurricanes, tornados and wildfires.  That means we want to make sure we have good insurance to cover our homes, automobiles and businesses – and that it includes climate related damage too. Many business owners and homeowners found during hurricanes like Harvey and Maria that their insurance policies did not cover them as they thought they would, for example.

Listen to Tina Kirby, head of Insurance Innovators, translate insurance-speak for the rest of us and give us tips on how we can maximize our policies and what to ask to do so in this enlightening and engaging interview on Green Connections Radio podcast with host Joan Michelson.  Tina brings her 25+ years in the insurance industry, and is now working full time to reinvent it to benefit everyone in the 21st century economy.

You’ll hear:

• How to decipher your current insurance policy and questions to ask before you renew it again.
• Three steps for how your insurance policy could better mitigate your risks.
• What to do if your insurance company says you’re not covered for the damage you incurred.
• How to  build a movement in your community to pressure your elected officials and insurance commission to make the changes the community needs for realities on the ground today.
• Plus great career advice!

“I would begin with what your passion is…and look for links between what you do and that passion you have, or that purpose you would like to see in your company…And be curious and openminded and help out wherever you can.” Tina Kirby on Green Connections Radio

What questions do YOU have for Tina Kirby? Tweet them to us @joanmichelson or post them on our Facebook Page — and ask to join our private Facebook group.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Rawlings Miller of WSP on developing a climate resilience plan for your community or business.

• Kathy Baughman McLeod of the new Atlantic Council Resilience Center, on climate resilience preparation.

• Beth Gibbons, Executive Director of American Society of Adaptation Professionals (ASAP).

• Robin Currey, Prescott College, on creating a sustainable food supply.

Listen to more great interviews with innovators at www.greenconnectionsradio.com  – or on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Spotify or other podcast networks.

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Reach us on Twitter @joanmichelson

“We have on our website what's called the DOT Navigator. Sounds wonky, but go take a look. It is a wealth of information about all our grant programs, and you can answer a series of questions and it can help point you in the right direction. We also have a team of folks here who are dedicated to technical assistance and capacity building. So,  if you go to our website, you can find a lot of resources and, I would recommend potentially for firms, one nice thing we have is we have a division administration, federal Highways division administration office in all 50 states in the state capitals a great place, I think, to start for local guidance.” Secretary Polly Trottenberg on Electric Ladies Podcast

We are in the midst of a transportation revolution – a transformation of our transportation systems, in the U.S. and across the globe. It’s part technology, part addressing climate change because transportation is top source of CO2, and part changing mobility needs. The Inflation Reduction Act & Infrastructure Investment Act provided nearly $1 trillion toward this transportation upgrade. Where are the opportunities?

Listen to this exclusive interview with Polly Trottenberg, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation on Electric Ladies Podcast with host Joan Michelson (live at the DOT offices).

You’ll hear:

• How the transportation sector is being transformed – in large part by the smartphone.
• Where and how the US DOT is spending those hundreds of billions of dollars in new federal funding – and where you can access the opportunities.
• How to make sure your community gets its voice heard and transportation needs met.
• Where EV chargers are going in the huge buildout of them across the country.
• Plus, insightful career advice

“Women don't always know what they're good at. I think that they're not actually always encouraged to sort of realize their own value and, you know, all the talents they have…. That is, I think a socialization thing that I still see. So, I give this advice from personal experience, you know more than you think, you have incredible value. Seek out those opportunities, take some risks.”

Secretary Polly Trottenberg on Electric Ladies podcast

You’ll also want to listen to: (some might be recorded under our previous name, Green Connections Radio)

• Michele Mueller, Manager, Automated, Connected and Electrification, Michigan Dept. of Transportation
• Julie White, Deputy Secretary of the North Carolina Dept. of Transportation
• Suzy Deering, (then) Chief Marketing Officer, Ford – on bringing change to a legacy industry as an outsider.
• Genevieve Cullen, President, Electric Drive Transportation Assn. – on financial benefits for buying EVs in the new legislation, and EVs coming to market soon.
• Telva McGruder, Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, General Motors (now head of Global Manufacturing Engineering) – on the changing auto workforce and industry.
• Kristen Siemen, Chief Sustainability Officer, General Motors

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Follow us on Twitter @joanmichelson

“The Covid-19 pandemic has created the biggest shock to the global energy system since at least World War II…Renewables are the only energy source that will grow in 2020.”

David Turk, International Energy Agency Testifying on Capitol Hill June 2020

A key component of President Biden’s infrastructure plan is addressing our energy needs and doing so in a way that does not continue to hurt the planet or public health.  We are acutely aware of the massive impact the pandemic had on the energy sector – with oil going literally to below zero dollars per barrel for the first time – and are also acutely aware of our economy’s dependence on energy of some kind.

So, how do we move forward to address this conundrum? Listen to this fascinating discussion with Lisa Jacobson, president of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) on Green Connections Radio podcast on how a silver lining in this crisis may be the critical clean energy innovation coming out of it, including millions of new, high-skilled jobs.

You’ll hear:

• How clean energy is a bright spot in this crisis, even as it takes a hit economically.
• Why this pandemic-economic crisis is driving much-needed clean energy innovation and infrastructure.
• Creative, bipartisan legislation that could ramp up these changes and help us keep the clean air and water we’ve seen during this pandemic.
• Steps you can take in your own world today – including voting for candidates across government in every election, including the presidency, who support clean energy and the environment.
• Plus, important career advice from a woman proving that you can make a difference and do well at the same time…. and more.

“Go for it! Do your research on organizations, share your passion and be persistent. (Renewable energies) are the growth sectors.”

Lisa Jacobson on Green Connections Radio podcast

Read my article on these issues in Forbes here too.

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Katie Mehnert, CEO of Pink Petro, organization of women in energy.
• Lynn Abramson, Clean Energy Business Network (a division of BCSE) on small business and energy needs and policy.
• Rachel Gutter, President of the International Well Building Institute, on questions to ask before you go back into your workplace.
• Michelle Wyman, Executive Director of National Council of Science and the Environment on how to talk to policymakers about science to keep science in policy decisions.

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Reach us on Twitter @joanmichelson

"I truly, truly think that the green economy is an opportunity...When you look at greening infrastructure...truly transitioning our entire economy, you have incredible job opportunity...(including) for our business to be thinking ahead." Tracy Raczek on Green Connections Radio podcast

This Earth Day, as President Biden convenes his Summit of global leaders on climate action, listen to the woman who crafted the Paris Climate Accord,Tracy Raczek, talk about why it creates U.S. jobs - and much more - in this fascinating interview on Green Connections Radio podcast with host Joan Michelson.

Tracy was Senior Climate Advisor to the UN Secretary General when she began crafting what became the Paris agreement.

You'll hear:

• Why the UN Paris Accord can create U.S. jobs.
• What the U.S. needs to do to make the Paris Accord work.
• The critical role of transparency and disclosures.
• Why women play a critical role in the success of climate change mitigation.
• Insightful career advice

"There's always a million things you can do, so you've just got to figure out the alignment between your skills and...your big goal way up ahead." Tracy Raczek on Green Connections Radio.

You might also like:

• Rachel Kyte, former head of the UN's Sustainable Energy for All program
• Heidi Binko, Founder/CEO of Just Transition Fund, retraining coal workers for a clean energy economy
• Beth Gibbons, head of the American Society of Adaptation Professionals.
• Katie Sloan, head of eMobility of Southern California Edison

Find us @joanmichelson and on any podcast network

"Fuel cells create electricity by stripping electrons from hydrogen atoms; the hydrogen then bonds to oxygen to create water, while the electrons power the electric motor. The result is an electric vehicle that is fueled with hydrogen from a pump rather than electrons drawn from the nation's electrical power grid."

Car & Driver magazine

A key part of President Biden’s ambitious infrastructure bill is incentives to increase the adoption and use of alternative fuel vehicles. Some of those car and truck options run on hydrogen fuel cells, and they need infrastructure too.  These are what I call “the other electric vehicles,” because they run on electricity but not on batteries like your neighbor’s Tesla.

So, what are they and how do they work? Listen to Jackie Birdsall, Senior Engineer of these vehicles at Toyota, explain how they work and give great career advice, with Green Connections Radio host Joan Michelson.

You'll hear:

• How hydrogen fuel cell vehicles work
• Where the infrastructure is for hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and when refueling will be more available.
• What these EVs cost and how to get government tax incentives for buying them.
• Why hydrogen fuel cells vehicles travel more miles than battery-powered EVs, and charge faster.
• And, important career advice, including how Toyota is empowering women specifically.

“Open yourself to all kinds of opportunities and say ‘yes’ to them and it will help you find your passion and …step out of your comfort zone.”

Jackie Birdsall on Green Connections Radio podcast

You’ll also want to listen to:

• Bonnie Datta, Siemens, expert on electric vehicle regulatory issues.
• Shirley Meng, PhD., UC San Diego, electric vehicle battery research & development.
• Rachel Gutter, President of the International Well Building Institute, on questions to ask before you go back into your workplace.
• Michelle Wyman, Executive Director of National Council of Science and the Environment on how to talk to policymakers about science to keep science in policy decisions.

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive our podcasts, blog, events and special coaching offers..

Thanks for subscribing on Apple Podcasts or iHeartRadio and leaving us a review!

Reach us on Twitter @joanmichelson