39 episodes

Cultivate The Soul explores the intersection of philanthropy, contemplative practices, self-reflection and spirituality. Hosts Gretchen Ki Steidle and Melissa Durda are joined by leaders in philanthropy who discuss how they are bringing inner work to outer action and the impact this creates for charities, foundations, and other nonprofits. Presented by Synergos, a global organization helping solve complex issues around the world by advancing bridging leadership, which builds trust and collective action.

Synergos Cultivate the Soul: Stories of Purpose-Driven Philanthropy MouthMedia Network

    • Business

Cultivate The Soul explores the intersection of philanthropy, contemplative practices, self-reflection and spirituality. Hosts Gretchen Ki Steidle and Melissa Durda are joined by leaders in philanthropy who discuss how they are bringing inner work to outer action and the impact this creates for charities, foundations, and other nonprofits. Presented by Synergos, a global organization helping solve complex issues around the world by advancing bridging leadership, which builds trust and collective action.

    Ecosystem Philanthropy with Cristiane Sultani, Founder, BEJA Institute.

    Ecosystem Philanthropy with Cristiane Sultani, Founder, BEJA Institute.

    Listen to learn how Cristiane is working at a systems level to strengthen the philanthropic sector in Brazil as she builds strong partnerships with grantees based on trust and deep listening.

    Cristiane has a Law Degree from Mackenzie University, a Masters in Banking Law from IBMEC-SP, with specializations in Private Bank from IBMEC-SP and Corporate Law from Getúlio Vargas Foundation, she also completed the Impact Investing Program at the CSP - University of Zurich. She has practiced Law for the São Paulo Stock Exchange, at BBA Creditanstalt Bank and at the Consenso Family Office, and has worked as Wealth Planning and Legal Superintendent at the Private Bank, Capital Markets and Corporate departments of Itaú Unibanco Bank. Furthermore, she was a partner at the banking department of Law Firm Veirano Advogados, has been the COO of Pedro Alberto Fischer Single Family Office, and founded BEJA Institute in 2021.
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    • 21 min
    Accessing the Self with Dr. Richard Schwartz.

    Accessing the Self with Dr. Richard Schwartz.

    Richard Schwartz began his career as a systemic family therapist and an academic. Grounded in systems thinking, Dr. Schwartz developed Internal Family Systems (IFS) in response to clients’ descriptions of various parts within themselves. He focused on the relationships among these parts and noticed that there were systemic patterns to the way they were organized across clients. He also found that when the clients’ parts felt safe and were allowed to relax, the clients would experience spontaneously the qualities of confidence, openness, and compassion that Dr. Schwartz came to call the Self. He found that when in that state of Self, clients would know how to heal their parts.

    A featured speaker for national professional organizations, Dr. Schwartz has published many books and over fifty articles about IFS.
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    • 22 min
    Shifting Health, Wellness and Consciousness with Victor Koo, Chair, Tianren Culture

    Shifting Health, Wellness and Consciousness with Victor Koo, Chair, Tianren Culture

    Victor is a social service worker and impact investor. He co-founded Tianren Culture, a next-generation social platform that serves as a catalyst and enabler of social innovation with the mission to foster positive global values and lifestyles. Tianren Culture's core philosophy is “One with Nature” and its strategic focus is to promote "One Wisdom, One Health" by encouraging and enabling contemplative practices and healthy lifestyles, especially those with roots in cultures and philosophies which believe that the health and wellness of human beings are interconnected with the health of the broader environment and ecosystem. Based in Hong Kong, Tianren Culture works with foundations, NGOs and business partners to put in place social service initiatives to help improve physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health and wellness. On the physical side, the One Health initiative has focused on food system transformation, promoting flexitarian diets, natural, non-factory farmed foods and innovation based on plant-based, fermentation and cell-based technologies. On the mental/emotional side, One Wisdom encourages and enables contemplative practices such as breathwork and meditation through communication and support of research and education. He is also a board director of Good Food Fund and on the advisory board of Global Wellness Institute.
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    • 26 min
    Creating Transformative Communities with Rodney McKenzie, Jr., Vice President of Ally Development, Fetzer Institute

    Creating Transformative Communities with Rodney McKenzie, Jr., Vice President of Ally Development, Fetzer Institute

    Listen to hear Rodney speak about the role that he plays to support Love, with a capital “L” in today’s world. How, at Fetzer, they are creating space and communities to explore how one can demonstrate love in one’s philanthropy.

    Meet Rodney

    I come from a people where community is essential and life saving. Community has saved me from loneliness, from being afraid that I wasn’t loved by God and supported me in seeing the possibility of being at a special place like Fetzer.

    Creating transformative communities has always been a pivotal part of my work. In earlier parts of my career, I co-founded the Expansion Church and acted as spiritual director, where I focused on building a deep sense of community with all who attended in their personal and collective journey of intersection of radical spirituality. As the ED of Resource Generation,an organization of 18-35 year olds with access to wealth, I worked to support young people who often felt disconnected from their peers and their families in building up a community of people they could trust and feel deep alignment with.

    In my role as VP of Ally Development, I get deep joy from the ways we are creating and building community inside and outside of Fetzer. Within Fetzer, the Ally Development team is in deep community doing deep learning together, laughing a whole lot and being daring enough to take a bold stance that philanthropy at its best is centered in Love, Spirit, and the Sacred Mystery. Beyond Fetzer, we develop transformative relationships with leaders in the philanthropic community. In Ally Development, we know that transformative relationships and community are what leads to the openness, vulnerability, and genuine care that is required to have the real conversations about what we want for our future.

    I hold a Master of Divinity from the Union Theological Seminary and I bring 20 years' experience as a leader in philanthropy and movement spaces and as a community organizer focused on political campaigns and issues of democracy and social justice. I am from Dallas, TX, and currently live in New York, NY.
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    • 26 min
    Fostering Relationships for Living Well with Scott Kriens, Co-creator, 1440 Multiversity

    Fostering Relationships for Living Well with Scott Kriens, Co-creator, 1440 Multiversity

    Scott Kriens, chairman and former CEO of Juniper Networks, has been in thetechnology industry for more than 35 years. In 1996, he co-founded JuniperNetworks, growing the company to $4 billion in global sales and more than 10,000employees in 100+ countries.

    In 2010, Scott and his wife Joanie launched 1440 Foundation, a grant makingorganization committed to the cultivation of truly real and connectedrelationships, with self and others, as a basis for living well. The work of theFoundation led Scott and Joanie to launch 1440 Multiversity, a 21st centurylearning destination in the California redwoods of Santa Cruz County.At his core, Scott is a learner and a builder, committed to finding new ways to tiethe world around us to that which is real and powerful within us – whether forthe purpose of building teams as a leader in the tech industry or simply as anadvocate for the path to living lives of true resonance. Moving beyond havingmore or suffering less, 1440 helps people and groups interested in finding theirown unique connection to meaning.

    “I think the growing call in the world today for connection, meaning, and making adifference, all indicate that there is an unmet need in many of us. The true markof 1440’s success will be that we can offer a welcoming and inspiring place toserve the loud need for quiet time, and invite each person to find their ownanswers to the questions that matter most.”
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    • 26 min
    Space for Quiet with Sudnya Shroff, Filmmaker and Storyteller

    Space for Quiet with Sudnya Shroff, Filmmaker and Storyteller

    Sudnya is an Indian American artist who has made San Francisco Bay Area her home since 1996. She has pursued her passion for storytelling through visual art, public installations, a novel publication, and now FREMONT, her first feature film.

    As a champion of the world’s displaced sisterhood, Sudnya has made it her life’s mission to tell stories - arrestingly beautiful and awe inspiring stories - that have the power to move and change our subconscious narratives of fear around those who don’t look and sound like us. Towards that end, she has built a community that trusts her and has joined forces in this endeavor of storytelling to effect a powerful and much needed social awakening.
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    • 32 min

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