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Advice from Changemakers - Part 2

At the end of (nearly) every changemaker interview, I ask the same question: “If you could travel back in time and give your teenage self a piece of advice, what would that be? Is that the same advice you’d give me now?” The answers have been both inspiring and instructive. Below are some of the responses from my most recent interview subjects. (You can read responses from earlier posts in Advice from Changemakers - Part 1 . Katharine  Mieszkowski - Investigative Journalist I would tell you (and my younger self) that a career trajectory is very rarely a straight line. Even very successful people often meander professionally. In a long career, at least some setbacks are all but inevitable. I know extremely accomplished people who have been abruptly fired or laid off from their dream jobs. No matter how hard you work or how talented you are, you can’t insulate yourself completely from some bad times, even if they’re just a function of the overall state of the economy. That being said, I
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Fighting for Fair Wages & Sustainability in Fashion: Remake’s Ayesha Barenblat

Do you ever wonder about where your clothes came from? Were the women who stitched them paid a living wage? What was the environmental impact of the manufacturing and shipping process? Will your clothes fill up landfills or pollute the ocean? If you are a fashion lover who cares about the environment and believes workers should be paid fairly, you need to know about Remake . Founded by Ayesha Barenblat, Remake is a movement to hold fashion brands and policymakers accountable when it comes to both sustainability and human rights.  Ayesha Barenblat is an educator, activist, and social entrepreneur. She has worked across the public, private, and society sectors; Prior to founding Remake, Ayesha led brand engagement at Better Work, a World Bank and United Nations partnership working to ensure safe and fair working conditions in garment factories around the globe. Ayesha previously served as head of consumer products at BSR, advising brands such as H&M, Levi Strauss & Co., Marks and

Stress Among High School High-Achievers: Filmmaker Debbie Lum on "Try Harder!"

Everybody in the San Francisco Bay Area knows about Lowell High School. Founded in 1856 and the alma mater of Broadway star Carol Channing, scientist Dian Fossey, and Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Lowell is among California’s highest-ranked public high schools. Up until 2020, eighth graders seeking admission to this academic magnet school needed near-perfect grades and high scores on either the California-administered standardized test or the Lowell entrance exam. When I was admitted to Lowell as an eighth grader, I was ecstatic. It felt like a major achievement. In the end, however, I chose to attend a very different kind of school. My boarding school is just as selective as Lowell (the acceptance rate is in the single digits) but it has less than 250 students — tiny compared to Lowell, which has nearly 3,000. The demographics are different, too. While my school is predominantly white and wealthy (I’m part of a small cohort of Latino students on scholarship), Lowell is 59% As

Aleta Margolis: Unleashing the Power of Inspired Teaching

I can personally attest to the difference individual teachers can make when they are seeking to inspire students instead of treating them as empty vessels into which they can pour academic standards. I’m grateful that even when I attended large, under-funded public schools, I still had individual teachers (shout out to Sr. Sierra, Sra. Ortiz, and Mr. Glasser, to name a few) who used their creativity to spark curiosity, inspiration, and learning. They more than made up for those who were teaching by rote. Changemaker Aleta Margolis, founder and executive director of the Center for Inspired Teaching, has dedicated her life to helping teachers refine their craft as "instigators of thought.” Her goal? To ensure that all students have access to “inspired” teaching in their classrooms. Since its founding in 1995, the Center for Inspired Teaching has worked with more than 15,000 teachers to build their practice in engagement-based teaching. In 2011, Aleta launched the Inspired Teaching D

Journalist Katharine Mieszkowski: Exposing Problems, Holding People Accountable, and Inspiring Change

Katharine Mieszkowski is a Yale-educated investigative journalist whose work has earned her a myriad of awards. Most recently, she was part of the Center for Investigative Reporting’s Reveal podcast team that received accolades for American Rehab, a serialized investigation that exposed how thousands of desperate people were exploited for their labor when they sought out treatment for addiction. That podcast has won top prizes from the Edward R. Murrow and Investigative Reporters and Editors awards in addition to the 2021 Gerald Loeb Award for audio, which recognizes the most distinguished business and financial journalism. American Rehab, done in collaboration with PRX, was also named one of 2020’s top podcasts by The New Yorker, and The Atlantic.  When and why did you decide to become a journalist? Have you always thought of yourself as an investigative reporter? When I graduated from college, I really wanted to be a writer. I found I loved journalism, because I enjoyed meeting peopl