Explore every episode of the podcast Good Work

This week's guest is Lynn Ward, Chief of Staff for Long Beach’s First District Councilmember.  With areas of expertise that encompass public policy, community engagement and campaigns, crisis communications, as well as overseeing large projects, teams, and operations, Ward is the perfect person to speak with about what local government work really entails.  She and Dr. Amy Cabrera Rasmussen cover how meaningful work can be when we do it in the places we know best—our neighborhoods, communities, and cities.  While no day is the same in this field, Ward shares a glimpse of her duties, which can include everything from administrative work—scheduling, briefings, agendas-- to interacting with city leads to take care of constituent casework like dealing with potholes and trash-- as well as community engagement in every setting imaginable.  Listening to Ward explain the complexities of local government and the role of staff members is eye-opening and inspiring, including how local legislative leaders and their staff are making a difference on timely policy issues such as protecting tenants amidst ongoing gentrification, getting measures in place to mitigate pollution from goods movement, and more.  Along the way, Ward shares her path into local government and how showing up consistently can help folks to find their way into their own unique professional path.  The two also discuss that while work-life balance is always a challenge, it is something one can see progress in as they build their career.  This is a conversation for anyone who wants to better understand how government works or who wants to imagine their own start or pivot into such a role.

Support the show

The Good Work Podcast is part of The Good Work Project.  

To keep up with the pod and the project, follow Dr. Amy Cabrera Rasmussen on Linked In or Instagram.  

You also can sign up for the weekly Good Work Newsletter.

Episodes can be found here or on your favorite podcast platform.  Don't forget to follow the podcast, and if you like what you hear, give us a review!

If you would like to suggest yourself or someone else to be a guest on the podcast, please fill out the form here. 

Thanks for listening!

This is a special episode of the Good Work podcast!  Dr. Amy Cabrera Rasmussen hosts a joint meetup with Sam Bennett and her newsletter Bright Ideas for You from Sam.  

Bennett is an author, keynote speaker, consultant, and creativity/productivity specialist.  The two discuss her most recent award-winning book The 15-Minute Method, working through the many ways that this simple and meaningful practice can help students in college-- both in the classroom and beyond.  

In particular, they discuss how spending 15 minutes every day on something that matters can reduce overwhelm and help folks to make steady progress on what they care about most. They also discuss the utility of the method for breaking big projects into manageable daily steps as well as for mastering repetitive fundamentals, overcoming perfectionism and anxiety, and building a baseline of preparation.  They cover everything from term papers to performance rehearsals, and even how to venture into new social settings on campus.  And of course, Bennett shares her well-earned wisdom with her trademark humor and clever storytelling. 

As the new academic year begins, this is an episode you may want to share with the college students in your life.  But we hope you don't mind us saying that you may also want to listen for yourself-- because who doesn't need to set aside time for restoration (journaling, walking, meditation) as well as for tasks and skill-building? 

Download the one-pager full of 15-Minute Activities for College Students inspired by the book here:  https://canva.link/1fea8o4hxxbzhpq

Support the show

The Good Work Podcast is part of The Good Work Project.  

To keep up with the pod and the project, follow Dr. Amy Cabrera Rasmussen on Linked In or Instagram.  

You also can sign up for the weekly Good Work Newsletter.

Episodes can be found here or on your favorite podcast platform.  Don't forget to follow the podcast, and if you like what you hear, give us a review!

If you would like to suggest yourself or someone else to be a guest on the podcast, please fill out the form here. 

Thanks for listening!

Dr. Amy Cabrera Rasmussen is joined this week by Georgie Miller, a London-based ADHD and mindset coach, neurodiversity consultant, and former employment lawyer. 

Georgie describes splitting her work between coaching individuals and training organizations, and highlights how using tools like “workplace passports” can help to clarify preferred communication styles, support productivity, and enable sustainable performance.  And importantly, these ideas don't just improve work for those who are neurodivergent, they help support all kinds of workers in today's post-COVID workplace.  

The two discuss how identity, authenticity, and joy are key in making choices to pivot or go off the beaten path in one's career.  Georgie has learned much of this first-hand as she has experienced her share of twists and turns, including an adult ADHD diagnosis, intense COVID-era legal work that resulted in burnout, and dealing with breast cancer in her early thirties.  Georgie also explains how cancer treatment reshaped her approach to health, nervous system flexibility, and integrating accessible breathwork into daily work routines.

This is an eye opening and inspiring conversation that helps us to understand what good work really can be when one brings their full self to it.

For more on Georgie Miller, go to:  https://neurodiversityinthecity.com/

Support the show

The Good Work Podcast is part of The Good Work Project.  

To keep up with the pod and the project, follow Dr. Amy Cabrera Rasmussen on Linked In or Instagram.  

You also can sign up for the weekly Good Work Newsletter.

Episodes can be found here or on your favorite podcast platform.  Don't forget to follow the podcast, and if you like what you hear, give us a review!

If you would like to suggest yourself or someone else to be a guest on the podcast, please fill out the form here. 

Thanks for listening!

This week, Dr. Amy Cabrera Rasmussen sits down with Eduardo Cisneros, who currently serves as the Deputy Mayor for Intergovernmental Affairs for the City of Los Angeles.  

Cisneros has a remarkable career path, with time at The White House, the United States Department of Labor and United States Department of Health and Human Services; as well as in campaigns, at a local community health center and at SEIU, a major national labor organization.  Each of these experiences prepared him for some fascinating and impactful work on some of the most salient policy issues of our time, including COVID-19, healthcare, the environment, and immigration.

The conversation also traces his path from some formative moments growing up in Huntington Park as the son of Mexican immigrants and coming of age at the same time as a toxic site known as “La Montaña” took shape in that same neighborhood.  The two follow this thread through to his current role back in his hometown helping Los Angeles to navigate the intricate and complex context that is modern-day local, state, and national government.

The episode carries lessons for those seeking to become public servants, as well as inspiration for those seeking to excavate their own origin stories.

Support the show

The Good Work Podcast is part of The Good Work Project.  

To keep up with the pod and the project, follow Dr. Amy Cabrera Rasmussen on Linked In or Instagram.  

You also can sign up for the weekly Good Work Newsletter.

Episodes can be found here or on your favorite podcast platform.  Don't forget to follow the podcast, and if you like what you hear, give us a review!

If you would like to suggest yourself or someone else to be a guest on the podcast, please fill out the form here. 

Thanks for listening!

This week’s guest is Dr. Tara Cousineau, a clinical psychologist, meditation teacher, coach, and author of The Perfectionist's Dilemma and The Kindness Cure. 

Dr. Amy Cabrera Rasmussen and Dr. Cousineau trace her career to an early  childhood incident with a teacher and a guidance counselor, and discuss how these lessons came full circle and have in some ways continued to inspire her writing and counseling efforts.

Dr. Cousineau describes feeling like an outsider in graduate training while pursuing mindfulness and mind-body approaches. 

She also explains research showing rising perfectionism and links high standards without self-care to burnout, compassion fatigue, and stress-related symptoms.  

Practices she uses herself include emphasizing consistent “deposits” into the nervous system through non-negotiables, habit stacking, micro-breaks between sessions, and time outdoors. 

Whether she is discussing neuroplasticity, the importance of mentoring, recounting early lessons from a teen hardware-store job, or emphasizing self-compassion as a key skill, there is much to learn from Dr. Cousineau in this Good Work episode. 

Dr. Cousineau has a range of resources available for those interested in learning more, including her “Rewire Your Inner Critic” course, The Peaceful Perfectionist newsletter on Substack, her aforementioned books, and many free tools.  Get more info at www.taracousineau.com.  

Support the show

The Good Work Podcast is part of The Good Work Project.  

To keep up with the pod and the project, follow Dr. Amy Cabrera Rasmussen on Linked In or Instagram.  

You also can sign up for the weekly Good Work Newsletter.

Episodes can be found here or on your favorite podcast platform.  Don't forget to follow the podcast, and if you like what you hear, give us a review!

If you would like to suggest yourself or someone else to be a guest on the podcast, please fill out the form here. 

Thanks for listening!

Dr. Amy Cabrera Rasmussen has as her guest today Shanice Webb, a learning experience designer, facilitator, community builder, and founder of Transcend Thought, who bridges ambition and wellbeing through sustainable, aligned success. 

Webb shares her early entrepreneurial instincts, first formal job as a teen, and how Stanford’s Life Design Lab helped prepare her for full-time entrepreneurship. 

She explains learning experience design as a practice of creating play-based, hands-on environments that support curiosity and varied learning styles.

We get a glimpse of this form of good work via an example of Webb's facilitation of a design-thinking workshop for Stanford’s Center for Just Environmental Futures, including a puzzle activity that made clear the need for collaboration on complex problems like climate justice. 

The two reflect on imposter syndrome, creating safe spaces, saying no for sustainability's sake, and suggest ways to utilize active engagement and the ikigai framework.  Webb also shares the adult "play dates” she designed as part of her work in the Bay Area.

Support the show

The Good Work Podcast is part of The Good Work Project.  

To keep up with the pod and the project, follow Dr. Amy Cabrera Rasmussen on Linked In or Instagram.  

You also can sign up for the weekly Good Work Newsletter.

Episodes can be found here or on your favorite podcast platform.  Don't forget to follow the podcast, and if you like what you hear, give us a review!

If you would like to suggest yourself or someone else to be a guest on the podcast, please fill out the form here. 

Thanks for listening!

Dr. Amy Cabrera Rasmussen chats with Amanda Mendoza, currently senior research and campaign coordinator at the Private Equity Stakeholder Project (PESP), a nonprofit watchdog examining private equity’s impacts across climate and energy, workers and jobs, housing, healthcare, and detention and surveillance. 

Mendoza explains private equity in clear terms: as multi-trillion-dollar investment firms funded largely by institutional investors like public pension funds and focused on extracting profit over a handful of years. 

The two go on to examine her unique dual research-and-campaign role, including leading the Private Equity Climate Risks Consortium to build public-facing data and scorecards on private equity ownership of fossil fuel assets, information not readily disclosed. 

Mendoza shares her nontraditional path from community college and political science through an internship-turned-research-analyst job, a COVID layoff, and climate justice work inspired by Standing Rock. 

We also learn about how the efforts by Mendoza and her colleagues to unionize PESP are helping to reduce burnout and improve work conditions.

Throughout, the two discuss building community, leveraging the support of one's professors, and how doing internships can be an important pathway toward one's good work career.

Support the show

The Good Work Podcast is part of The Good Work Project.  

To keep up with the pod and the project, follow Dr. Amy Cabrera Rasmussen on Linked In or Instagram.  

You also can sign up for the weekly Good Work Newsletter.

Episodes can be found here or on your favorite podcast platform.  Don't forget to follow the podcast, and if you like what you hear, give us a review!

If you would like to suggest yourself or someone else to be a guest on the podcast, please fill out the form here. 

Thanks for listening!

Dr. Amy Cabrera Rasmussen introduces The Good Work Podcast, a show offering insights, how-tos, and inspiration for doing meaningful work in ways that are sustainable and supportive of well-being. Aimed at students, early-career professionals, and experienced purpose-driven workers who may feel stretched thin, disillusioned, or tired, the podcast explores how not fitting in can become leverage for asking better questions, seeing what others miss, and finding a way forward. Each week features interviews and stories from people doing good work locally and globally, along with researchers, thinkers, and leaders redefining what good work is amid rapid changes in the world of work. The show emphasizes support, community, practical examples, and actionable guidance, and invites listeners to follow on major platforms.

Support the show

The Good Work Podcast is part of The Good Work Project.  

To keep up with the pod and the project, follow Dr. Amy Cabrera Rasmussen on Linked In or Instagram.  

You also can sign up for the weekly Good Work Newsletter.

Episodes can be found here or on your favorite podcast platform.  Don't forget to follow the podcast, and if you like what you hear, give us a review!

If you would like to suggest yourself or someone else to be a guest on the podcast, please fill out the form here. 

Thanks for listening!