Discover how the best do good—and how you can too.
Scott M. Curran sits down with the innovators reimagining how the world does good—bringing you conversations you won’t hear anywhere else: candid stories, proven strategies, and actionable insights listeners can use in their lives, careers, and missions.
Dive inside the playbook of the world’s top social impact leaders—so anyone can learn to do more good, better.
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Warwick Sabin: What Democracy Loses When Local Journalism Dies
Season 1 · Episode 17
Wednesday, September 2, 2026 • Duration 01:01:50
In the 20th century, local newspapers ran on 30 to 40 percent profit margins, and journalism was a thriving industry. But the internet dismantled that model in less than a generation. Advertising migrated to Google and Facebook, and classified ads moved to Craigslist. In parallel, subscriptions collapsed. Profits dissolved; so did newsrooms. Now roughly 50 million Americans have limited or no access to credible local news. This is most acute in the rural South.
On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Warwick Sabin, president and CEO of Deep South Today (https://www.deepsouthtoday.org/), for a conversation about why the collapse of local journalism is one of the most overlooked threats to American democracy—and what a new nonprofit model is doing to rebuild it in the communities that need it most. Warwick explains how Deep South Today united several Southern newsrooms into a single organization, and one publication even won a Pulitzer Prize. He makes the case that nonprofit journalism is like nonprofit healthcare: Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic don't sacrifice quality by removing the profit motive, and neither does Deep South Today. He also reflects on his career and what it means to show up for civic life at a moment when local institutions and democratic accountability are both under pressure. This episode explores themes of local journalism, press freedom, civic infrastructure, nonprofit media, democracy, and what it means to build institutions that serve the public good rather than the bottom line.
Guest: Warwick Sabin
Host: Scott M. Curran
Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji
Production by Echo Studios
Check out our Podcast: https://www.linktr.ee/scottmcurran
Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:51 Early Memories of Doing Good
00:08:27 Meeting the President and Moving to Arkansas
00:12:41 Southern Hospitality and Finding Home
00:16:20 Leadership Lessons from College
00:33:01 Why the South and Why Local Journalism Matter
00:34:43 The Collapse of Local News and Its Consequences
00:38:30 Building Nonprofit News for the Deep South
00:45:29 Investigative Journalism That Saves Lives
00:54:39 The Future: Scaling Local News Across the South
Better Good is a podcast series where you'll meet the visionaries and doers tackling the toughest challenges of our time. With moving stories and practical takeaways, Scott M. Curran brings listeners into the art and science of doing good — through conversations with the social-impact leaders reshaping how we change the world. Whether you lead a global workforce, run a fast-growing nonprofit, or are simply driven to make a difference, this show offers the ideas, inspiration, and tools to leave the world better than you found it. The world's biggest problems won't wait. Neither should you.
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Discover shows related to Better Good with Scott M. Curran, based on actual content similarities. Explore podcasts with similar topics, themes, and formats, backed by real data.
Nirvan Mullick: The Man Behind the Caine’s Arcade Viral Video
Season 1 · Episode 16
Wednesday, August 19, 2026 • Duration 01:04:47
In 2012, a filmmaker named Nirvan Mullick drove to a used auto parts store in East Los Angeles to buy a replacement door handle for his car. Inside, a nine-year-old boy named Caine Monroy had spent months building an elaborate cardboard arcade out of his father's spare boxes, complete with prize tickets, a custom staff shirt, and a fun pass that got you 500 turns for two dollars. Nirvan was Caine's first and only customer that summer. It also happened to be the last day of summer. None of what followed—a short film, a flash mob, millions of viral views, the hundreds of thousands of dollars raised for Caine's education, the global movement for children’s creativity—happened without one person recognizing a perfect moment in the making.
On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Nirvan Mullick, documentary filmmaker and creator of Caine's Arcade, for a conversation about what it means to notice what everyone else drives past—and what can happen when you do. Nirvan walks through the full story of Caine’s Arcade, and also shares the two-word concept of “perfect moments,” which can change how we think about time, attention, and the possibilities hiding inside everyday moments. Nirvan offers an inside look at two documentaries he's been working on for years: one about Rick Doblin and the decades-long effort to take MDMA through the FDA, and another about Lawn Chair Larry, a Vietnam vet who, in 1982, strapped 42 helium balloons to a Sears lawn chair and flew 16,000 feet above Los Angeles to live out a dream. This episode explores themes of creativity, attention, imagination, social entrepreneurship, and how the best things we do often begin with a single unremarkable moment of showing up.
Guest: Nirvan Mullick
Host: Scott M. Curran
Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji
Production by Echo Studios
Check out our Podcast: https://linktr.ee/scottmcurran
Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction: The Boy Who Built an Arcade from Cardboard
00:03:04 Early Memories of Doing Good
00:05:18 From Filmmaker to Documentary Storyteller
00:07:08 What a Trip: Following Rick Doblin and Psychedelic Medicine
00:15:50 Larry's Launcher: The Lawn Chair Balloon Pilot
00:27:37 The Day Everything Changed: Meeting Caine
00:30:46 Organizing the Flash Mob and Creating a Perfect Moment
00:34:06 Going Viral and Starting the Imagination Foundation
00:39:20 The Global Cardboard Challenge and Lasting Impact
00:46:54 The Philosophy of Perfect Moments
00:51:21 The One Second Film: A Lifetime in 24 Frames
00:55:49 A Perfect Moment with His Father
00:57:50 It Doesn't Matter What You Start With, Only That You Start
00:59:13 Tracking Perfect Moments: A Daily Practice
01:00:19 Giving Yourself Permission to Develop Your Gifts
Better Good is a podcast series where you'll meet the visionaries and doers tackling the toughest challenges of our time. With moving stories and practical takeaways, Scott M. Curran brings listeners into the art and science of doing good—through conversations with the social-impact leaders reshaping how we change the world. Whether you lead a global workforce, run a fast-growing nonprofit, or are simply driven to make a difference, this show offers the ideas, inspiration, and tools to leave the world better than you found it. The world's biggest problems won't wait. Neither should you.
What One Solar Light Unlocks for Families in Poverty
Season 1 · Episode 15
Wednesday, August 5, 2026 • Duration 59:03
Hundreds of millions of people around the world have to rely on kerosene and disposable batteries to light their homes after dark. This carries real costs in health, safety, and money. For many families, lighting consumes up to 30 percent of the household budget, roughly the equivalent of an American mortgage payment. The alternatives are open flames that burn children, carcinogens that damage lungs, and total darkness after sunset that shuts down education, entrepreneurship, and basic security. Yet safe, reliable solar light exists. Getting it to the right families—and pairing it with the financial literacy to turn savings into economic opportunity—is the mission of Nancy Economou and Watts of Love.
On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Nancy Economou, founder and CEO of Watts of Love, for a conversation about what it means to follow a calling you have no formal credentials for, and bringing safe light to people around the world. Nancy traces her path from selling jewelry at Cartier, to nearly two decades as a stay-at-home mother of five boys, to a trip to the Philippines in 2009 that she returned from unchanged. She tells how Watts of Love evolved from three lights in a suitcase into an organization operating in more than fifty countries, with close to half a million homes lit and a growing corps of trained local leaders ready to scale the mission further. She explains how pairing a durable solar light with a financial literacy curriculum has turned a product into a pathway out of generational poverty. And she makes the case that meaningful impact rarely begins with a perfect plan. It begins with noticing something you can't un-see and acting. This episode explores themes of energy access, social entrepreneurship, financial literacy, local empowerment, and creating independence rather than dependency.
Guest: Nancy Economou
Host: Scott M. Curran
Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji
Production by Echo Studios
Check out our Podcast: ➡️ https://linktr.ee/scottmcurran
Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction
00:03:03 Early Memories of Doing Good
00:06:08 From Cartier to Stay-at-Home Mom
00:07:50 The Scale of Watts of Love Today
00:10:50 The Philippines Trip That Changed Everything
00:12:40 The Moment Watts of Love Was Born
00:14:45 The Hidden Cost of Living in Darkness
00:18:17 Designing the Perfect Solar Light
00:23:29 The Leper Colony and Universal Design
00:30:06 The First Three Lights and Ruth's Story
00:34:26 The Birth of Financial Literacy
00:40:07 The Box Becomes a Bank
00:44:33 Transformation in 60 Days
00:47:33 The Power of Local Partnership
00:50:11 Bringing Light Home: Disasters in the US
00:53:42 Lessons on Dignity, Hope, and Agency
00:56:01 Choose the Crazy Dream
Better Good is a podcast series where you'll meet the visionaries and doers tackling the toughest challenges of our time. With moving stories and practical takeaways, Scott M. Curran brings listeners into the art and science of doing good — through conversations with the social-impact leaders reshaping how we change the world. Whether you lead a global workforce, run a fast-growing nonprofit, or are simply driven to make a difference, this show offers the ideas, inspiration, and tools to leave the world better than you found it. The world's biggest problems won't wait. Neither should you.
The Hidden Key to Solving the World’s Global Water Crisis.
Season 1 · Episode 14
Wednesday, July 22, 2026 • Duration 51:58
Every morning, more than 2 billion people start their day without access to safe water. For many, that means hours of walking, waiting, and carrying—before the rest of the day can begin. The disease, poverty, and lost education that follow are all preventable. The world has the technology. Infrastructure often already exists nearby. What's missing, for hundreds of millions of families, is the few hundred dollars it costs to connect to it. That's the problem Vedika Bhandarkar has spent years solving, and what Matt Damon’s organization water.org has built around it may be the most underreported development success story of our time.
On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Vedika Bhandarkar, President and COO of water.org, for a conversation about the most scalable solution to the global water crisis that most people have never heard of. Vedika traces her path from more than two decades in investment banking to leading the financial strategy behind water.org's WaterCredit model, which pairs every dollar of philanthropy with $20 of lending by local financial institutions. That model has now reached more than 85 million people across the world, with a 98% loan repayment rate that challenges every assumption about who is and isn't "bankable." She explains how water access is the key that unlocks every other development goal—from education and health to gender equality and economic mobility—and makes the case that the water crisis, unlike so many global challenges, is not only solvable but already being solved. This episode explores themes of global development, microfinance, financial inclusion, systems-level change, and what it looks like to redeploy your career skills toward one of the world's most urgent problems.
Guest: Vedika Bhandarkar
Host: Scott M. Curran
Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji
Production by Echo Studios
Check out our Podcast: ➡️LINK TREE LINK
Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:32 Early Memories of Doing Good
00:05:08 Understanding the Global Water Crisis
00:07:54 The Hidden Cost of Water Scarcity
00:10:29 Zipporah's Story: Water as a Catalyst for Change
00:16:43 Why Traditional Approaches Don't Scale
00:20:51 The Power of Microfinance and Water Credit
00:31:49 Water's Connection to Every Global Challenge
00:35:27 Scaling the Solution: Infrastructure and Investment
00:44:06 Call to Action: Government, Business, and Philanthropy
00:46:18 Get Blue Movement and Individual Action
00:48:08 The Vision: A World Where Water Scarcity is Unimaginable
Better Good is a podcast series where you'll meet the visionaries and doers tackling the toughest challenges of our time. With moving stories and practical takeaways, Scott M. Curran brings listeners into the art and science of doing good — through conversations with the social-impact leaders reshaping how we change the world. Whether you lead a global workforce, run a fast-growing nonprofit, or are simply driven to make a difference, this show offers the ideas, inspiration, and tools to leave the world better than you found it. The world's biggest problems won't wait. Neither should you.
The $500 Million Bet on America's Future | Dr. Carmen Rojas
Season 1 · Episode 13
Wednesday, July 8, 2026 • Duration 01:00:49
Every foundation in America operates on a two-way bargain with the public that rarely gets named out loud: accept significant tax advantages, and deploy those resources in service of the public good. Most foundations show you one side of that equation—the grantmaking—and keep the other side, the endowment, largely invisible. Dr. Carmen Rojas thinks that needs to change.
On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Dr. Carmen Rojas, president and CEO of the Marguerite Casey Foundation, for a conversation about what foundations owe the public, why MCF made the decision to expand its grantmaking from roughly $30 million to $130 million in a single year, and what it actually looks like to lead a major institution with courage when the stakes are high. Carmen traces her path from growing up in a Nicaraguan immigrant household in San Francisco to studying democratic fragility at UC Berkeley, building the Workers Lab to support low-wage worker organizing, and now leading one of the country's most consequential foundations. She explains why she believes philanthropy's greatest risk right now is caution, why she treats MCF as a financial institution first, and why she calls on foundations, nonprofits, and everyday people alike to find their own form of courage in action, not just words. This episode explores themes of philanthropic accountability, democratic values, economic justice, and power-building in communities historically excluded from it.
Guest: Dr. Carmen Rojas
Host: Scott M. Curran
Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji
Production by Echo Studios
Check out our Podcast: https://www.linktr.ee/scottmcurran
Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:22 Early Memories of Doing Good
00:05:43 The Systems That Made Success Possible
00:09:22 What MCF Does and Why It Matters
00:11:46 From Venezuela to Philanthropy
00:18:34 The Workers Lab and Individual Shame
00:25:25 Understanding Philanthropy's Two-Way Gift
00:32:46 Making Government Work for People
00:36:28 Meeting the Moment with Courage
00:42:05 Courage is Not the Absence of Fear
00:45:47 Messages to Philanthropy, Nonprofits, and Everyone
00:52:26 Books for This Moment
00:56:27 A Vision of Love, Curiosity, and Learning
Better Good is a podcast series where you'll meet the visionaries and doers tackling the toughest challenges of our time. With moving stories and practical takeaways, Scott M. Curran brings listeners into the art and science of doing good — through conversations with the social-impact leaders reshaping how we change the world. Whether you lead a global workforce, run a fast-growing nonprofit, or are simply driven to make a difference, this show offers the ideas, inspiration, and tools to leave the world better than you found it. The world's biggest problems won't wait. Neither should you.
Kevin Maguire on Modern Fatherhood and the Evolution of Men
Season 1 · Episode 12
Wednesday, June 24, 2026 • Duration 01:07:11
On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) sits down with Kevin Maguire, author of The New Fatherhood (https://www.newfatherhood.com/book/), for a special Father's Day conversation about what it really means to lead a family today.
For thousands of years, fatherhood came with a clear job description: protect, provide, preside. But today's dads are expected to do all of that and more (as they should!): be present, emotionally available, vulnerable, and an equal partner at home. The old rules are fading. The new rules are still being written. But most men didn’t have anyone who prepared them for this.
Kevin didn't arrive at this topic as a researcher. He arrived as a father of two confronting the questions millions of men ask quietly: Who am I beyond my job? What kind of father do I want to be? How do I show up for the people I love in a world that keeps changing? His search for answers became a newsletter, then an online community, and now a book and movement that's becoming a go-to guide for modern dads navigating parenting, striving for work-life balance, and building emotional resilience without a map.
This conversation is for any—or anyone helping to raise the next generation—looking for clarity, community, and a path forward in modern fatherhood.
You can pre-order Scott’s forthcoming book, Better Good, here: https://www.bettergoodbook.com/
Guest: Kevin Maguire
Host: Scott M. Curran
Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji
Production by Echo Studios
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Check out our Podcast: ➡️ https://www.linktr.ee/scottmcurran
-
Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction
00:04:44 Early Memories of Fatherhood
00:07:01 The Three Ps: Traditional Anchors of Fatherhood
00:10:38 Old Rules vs New Rules
00:17:37 From Google to Fatherhood
00:21:25 You Are Not Your Job
00:24:01 Paternal Postpartum Depression
00:28:27 Vulnerability as Strength
00:32:52 Scarcity vs Abundance Fatherhood
00:43:28 The Last Time Meditation
00:52:06 Building the New Fatherhood Community
00:57:12 The Polarized Future of Fatherhood
01:00:31 The Future: Communities of Care
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Better Good is a podcast series where you’ll meet the visionaries and doers tackling the toughest challenges of our time. With moving stories and practical takeaways, Scott M. Curran brings listeners into the art and science of doing good—through conversations with the social-impact leaders reshaping how we change the world. Whether you lead a global workforce, run a fast-growing nonprofit, or are simply driven to make a difference, this show offers the ideas, inspiration, and tools to leave the world better than you found it. The world's biggest problems won’t wait. Neither should you.
President & CEO of the US Soccer Foundation Ed Foster-Simeon on Why Soccer is More than Just a Game
Season 1 · Episode 11
Wednesday, June 10, 2026 • Duration 01:05:50
About 4 billion people will tune in for this year’s World Cup, which is being held on American soil for the first time in over 30 years. But soccer is more than a globally unifying sport. It's a shared language, a lifetime of learning, and something kids, families, and entire communities can rally around almost instantly. You don't need much to start: a ball, a bit of space, a few people willing to play. What you do need is access, a place, some structure, and someone who cares enough to show up consistently.
On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Ed Foster-Simeon, President and CEO of the U.S. Soccer Foundation for a conversation about youth sports, community development, and how soccer is opening doors for kids in under-resourced communities across the country. Ed explains how the Foundation is hitting 1,000 mini pitches installed nationwide this year, and training 100,000 coaches through its Yes Coach initiative to become mentors who teach life skills alongside soccer skills. He traces his own path from journalism at USA Today to leading one of the most impactful youth development organizations in the country, and makes the case that coaches are among the most underutilized resources in America—and that what happens after the final whistle of the World Cup matters more than the tournament itself. This episode explores themes of youth development, community access, coaching and and mentorship.
You can pre-order Scott’s forthcoming book, Better Good, here: https://www.bettergoodbook.com/
Guest: Ed-Foster-Simeon
Host: Scott M. Curran
Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji
Production by Echo Studios
Check out our Podcast: ➡️ https://www.linktr.ee/scottmcurran/
Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction
00:04:28 Early Memories of Doing Good
00:10:01 From Journalism to Soccer
00:14:41 Taking the Leap to US Soccer Foundation
00:16:33 Redefining the Mission
00:25:22 Safe Places to Play
00:30:02 Soccer as a Vehicle for Youth Development
00:36:05 The Power of Coaches as Mentors
00:41:51 Just Ball and Community Ownership
00:50:37 Transformation Stories and Community Impact
00:54:11 Avoiding Parachuting In
00:58:18 The Future Vision
01:01:31 How You Can Help
Better Good is a podcast series where you’ll meet the visionaries and doers tackling the toughest challenges of our time. With moving stories and practical takeaways, Scott M. Curran brings listeners into the art and science of doing good—through conversations with the social-impact leaders reshaping how we change the world. Whether you lead a global workforce, run a fast-growing nonprofit, or are simply driven to make a difference, this show offers the ideas, inspiration, and tools to leave the world better than you found it. The world's biggest problems won’t wait. Neither should you.
The Leader Who Inspired Sean Penn | Ann Lee on Better Good with Scott Curran
Season 1 · Episode 10
Wednesday, May 27, 2026 • Duration 01:02:53
Disasters happen. Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, pandemics. There's little we can do about them. But what happens after the headlines fade and after the cameras leave is something we do have control over. The hardest part of a disaster isn't always the disaster itself. It's the weeks, months, and years of recovery and rebuilding that make the biggest difference. And most of the help, it turns out, doesn't help in all the ways it should.
On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Ann Lee, co-founder and CEO of CORE, for a conversation about disaster recovery, humanitarian response, and what it actually takes to rebuild communities the right way. CORE began in the rubble of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, when Ann met co-founder Sean Penn and built a new model for crisis response rooted in local leadership, demand-driven relief, and long-term commitment. Ann traces her path from surviving domestic violence as a child in Los Angeles, to witnessing 9/11 in New York, to clearing rubble in Port-au-Prince with heavy equipment days after the earthquake. She explains how CORE scaled from a single displacement camp in Haiti to operating on five continents—responding to hurricanes, the war in Ukraine, COVID-19, and the 2025 Los Angeles fires—and why the organizations that parachute in with outside solutions often do more harm than good. This episode explores themes of disaster recovery, community-first development, humanitarian leadership, and climate resilience.
You can pre-order Scott’s forthcoming book, Better Good, here: https://www.bettergoodbook.com/
Guest: Ann Lee
Host: Scott M. Curran
Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji
Production by Echo Studios
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Check out our Podcast: ➡️ https://www.linktr.ee/scottmcurran
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Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction
00:03:09 Early Memories of Doing Good
00:07:49 From 9/11 to Foreign Service Dreams
00:10:25 Living in Haiti Before the Earthquake
00:12:22 The Haiti Earthquake and Early Response
00:19:17 Meeting Sean Penn and Founding Core
00:29:31 The Core Model and Relief to Recovery
00:34:13 COVID-19 and Scaling Health Response
00:45:22 Community-First Approach and Local Empowerment
00:53:49 The Future of Humanitarian Work
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Better Good is a podcast series where you’ll meet the visionaries and doers tackling the toughest challenges of our time. With moving stories and practical takeaways, Scott M. Curran brings listeners into the art and science of doing good—through conversations with the social-impact leaders reshaping how we change the world. Whether you lead a global workforce, run a fast-growing nonprofit, or are simply driven to make a difference, this show offers the ideas, inspiration, and tools to leave the world better than you found it. The world's biggest problems won’t wait. Neither should you.
Kiva CEO Vishal Ghotge on Closing the Opportunity Gap
Season 1 · Episode 9
Wednesday, May 13, 2026 • Duration 59:56
There are at least 1.4 billion people on this planet with no connection to the financial system, and no way to turn a good idea into a livelihood. Not because they lack talent, drive, or ambition, but because the system simply wasn't built to include them. This massive divide between talent and opportunity is what today's guest is building a bridge across.
On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Vishal Ghotge, CEO of Kiva, for a conversation about financial inclusion, microfinance, and what happens when you bet on people the traditional banking system ignores. Kiva has delivered nearly $2.5 billion in loans to over 5 million entrepreneurs in 80 countries, often just $25 at a time, with a 96% repayment rate. Vishal explains how the platform connects everyday lenders with women entrepreneurs, refugees, small business owners in the US, and communities on the front lines of climate change. He traces his own path from Mumbai to Silicon Valley to leading one of the most innovative organizations in global development, and makes a powerful case that talent is universal but opportunity is not. And that closing that gap is one of the most important investments any of us can make. This episode explores themes of financial inclusion, women's empowerment, and refugee entrepreneurship.
You can pre-order Scott’s forthcoming book, Better Good, here: https://www.bettergoodbook.com/
Guest: Vishal Ghotge
Host: Scott M. Curran
Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji
Production by Echo Studios
Check out our Podcast: ➡️ https://www.linktr.ee/scottmcurran
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Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction
00:04:22 Early Memories of Doing Good
00:06:16 Growing Up with Inequality in Mumbai
00:08:32 From Mumbai to Microsoft
00:10:49 Groupon and Helping the Little Guy
00:15:31 PayScale, Remitly, and Finding Personal Connection
00:18:49 The Kiva Model and Financial Inclusion
00:27:29 The Power of Transparency and Connection
00:32:02 Four Strategic Verticals: Refugees, Women, Climate, and US
00:44:30 Stories of Dignity and Transformation
00:48:08 Hope in Humanity and Career Advice
00:55:59 Take Action and What's Next at Kiva
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Better Good is a podcast series where you’ll meet the visionaries and doers tackling the toughest challenges of our time. With moving stories and practical takeaways, Scott M. Curran brings listeners into the art and science of doing good—through conversations with the social-impact leaders reshaping how we change the world. Whether you lead a global workforce, run a fast-growing nonprofit, or are simply driven to make a difference, this show offers the ideas, inspiration, and tools to leave the world better than you found it. The world's biggest problems won’t wait. Neither should you.
Penny Abeywardena on What Real Power Looks Like
Season 1 · Episode 8
Wednesday, April 29, 2026 • Duration 49:11
Most people think power always looks the same—loud, demanding, aggressive, and increasingly in your face. But actually, not always. Penny Abeywardena has spent her life mastering another kind of power: soft power. Something we can all use to help change the world if we become more familiar with it, and better at using it in our lives and in our work.
On this episode of BETTER GOOD, Scott M. Curran (https://www.scottmcurran.com/) is joined by Penny Abeywardena—former Commissioner for International Affairs for New York City, Clinton Foundation leader, and founder of Soft Power Strategies—for a conversation about influence, leadership, and how to create change when you don't have the title, the budget, or the permission to demand it. Penny traces her path from surviving domestic violence as a child in Los Angeles to becoming effectively the Secretary of State for the most diplomatically complex city in the world. She explains how she built a coalition of 350 local governments around the sustainable development goals when Washington walked away from the climate table, and how she secured half a million pieces of PPE directly from the UN's own stockpile when New York was told it was on its own during COVID. She makes the case that in a moment when too many people are choosing to check out, soft power is more urgent than ever. This episode explores themes of soft power, leadership, diplomacy, women's empowerment, and vulnerability.
Guest: Penny Abeywardena
Host: Scott M. Curran
Executive Producers: Aaron Shulman & Kieron Banerji
Production by Echo Studios
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Check out our Podcast: ➡️ https://linktr.ee/scottmcurran
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Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction
00:05:26 Early Memories of Doing Good
00:07:35 From Human Rights Watch to Finding Her Path
00:10:00 Building Skills Behind the Scenes
00:12:43 Joining the Clinton Global Initiative
00:14:44 Becoming NYC Commissioner for International Affairs
00:19:20 Reimagining Diplomacy in New York City
00:22:18 The Voluntary Local Review and Climate Leadership
00:25:41 COVID Crisis and the Power of Relationships
00:29:53 Launching Soft Power Strategies
00:37:01 Storytelling and Vulnerability as Strategy
00:44:13 Practical Soft Power for Everyone
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Better Good is a podcast series where you’ll meet the visionaries and doers tackling the toughest challenges of our time. With moving stories and practical takeaways, Scott M. Curran brings listeners into the art and science of doing good—through conversations with the social-impact leaders reshaping how we change the world. Whether you lead a global workforce, run a fast-growing nonprofit, or are simply driven to make a difference, this show offers the ideas, inspiration, and tools to leave the world better than you found it. The world's biggest problems won’t wait. Neither should you.
