Humans of Purpose

Humans of Purpose
  • 4.4 (7)
  • Management
  • Updated Weekly

Humans of Purpose is the modern salon - conversations with the leaders, thinkers, and builders shaping what comes next. We're living through a period of genuine reckoning: with how business operates, what leadership demands, and what it actually costs to build something that matters. The people navigating that with honesty and intelligence are not always the loudest voices in the room. This podcast finds them. Each episode is a real conversation - unhurried, substantive, and honest about difficulty. We talk with purpose-driven founders, impact leaders, and original thinkers about work, story, power, and what it means to lead with integrity in a world that is changing faster than the language we have to describe it. Hosted by Mel Greblo, founder of Humans of Purpose, a proud BCorp. For more information about Humans of Purpose, including a sneak peak into the impact we’re making in the world. Visit https://humansofpurpose.com/

  1. 4d ago

    433 Sarah Rosenberg - The Fight for Basic Dignity in the Justice System

    The justice system was not built to protect victim-survivors of sexual violence, and Sarah Rosenberg is forcing the country to confront that fact. Sarah is the founder of With You We Can, an online-first resource and advocacy platform supporting victim-survivors of sexual violence. What began as her own search for answers, while living with an autoimmune disease and later surviving sexual and domestic violence, grew into a national guide and a campaign for legislative reform. In this episode, Sarah unpacks why Australia still treats victims as witnesses rather than parties to a crime, why cross-examination can be so dehumanising, and why her fight for victims' access to free legal representation is about dignity, not just process. She talks through what a three-year criminal trial taught her about the system, what "postcode justice" looks like in the current pilot programs, and why progress on the Australian Law Reform Commission's 64 recommendations has been so slow. This episode discusses sexual violence and domestic violence, including the criminal trial process. We have approached it with sensitivity and care, and we would ask that you do the same. Listen when you feel ready. Support is available. 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732 · Lifeline 13 11 14.

  2. Aug 17

    432 Mona Mahamed - How One Woman Built a Village for 500 Families Without Funding

    What if the answer to loneliness, burnout, and community collapse is as simple as building a village? Mona Mahamed reveals how a handful of homemade acts of care grew into a life-changing social enterprise that now feeds, clothes, supports, and employs people across Bankstown and beyond. From a Facebook group and a ute full of donated goods to a registered charity, a community supermarket, counselling, mediation, and a thriving sewing program, Mona shares the scrappy, deeply human story behind CSS Village. She explains how her own journey across Australia and Egypt shaped her identity, why she returned to community work after personal trauma and depression, and how her faith, resilience, and “nourish, nurture, empower” philosophy became the backbone of a movement. Essential listening if you care about community building, social enterprise or simply what it takes to turn pain into purpose. If you’ve ever felt alone, this conversation will leave you with one clear message: join a village, or build your own.

  3. Aug 3

    431 Matt Formston: Setting High Standards Builds Unbreakable Trust

    Matt Formston lost 95 percent of his sight to macular dystrophy at age five, growing up on Sydney's Northern Beaches. He didn't slow down. He's now a Paralympian, a four time world surfing champion, and the first blind surfer to ride Nazaré - a wave that has broken sighted professionals at the height of their careers. In this conversation, Matt breaks down the framework he's built trust on his entire life: standards, consistency and time. Not as a motivational idea, but as a practical formula - one he now uses to coach leaders and teams on culture, accountability and psychological safety. This episode is about more than sport. It's about what it actually takes to become someone others can rely on - in a boardroom, on a wave, or in a team you're trying to lead.

  4. Jul 20

    430 Sherele Moody: Naming the Loss, Refusing to Look Away

    Some stories change the shape of a life. This one changed the shape of a movement. As we release this episode, four women and girls were killed in four days in Australia. Thirty-seven women and seventeen children have been killed since January 1st this year. That number is likely higher. Undercounting is part of the story Sherele Moody has spent a decade trying to fix. And whenever you are listening to this, the number will have changed again. That is exactly why this conversation exists. Because we believe that the stories a culture tells about itself determine what it can and cannot see. And we will keep telling them until the number is zero. Sherele Moody is a journalist, founder of Australian Femicide Watch and the Red Heart Movement. She grew up in a home marked by domestic violence. As a teenager, she learned her stepfather had murdered a nine year old girl, her cousin's daughter, Stacy Ann Tracy. From that came two of the most significant tools this country has for tracking and confronting violence against women. In this episode, Sherele talks about what it means to carry resilience you never wanted, why ending femicide is not women's work to do, the small activisms that actually make a difference, and what it took to turn personal tragedy into a national movement. This episode discusses domestic violence, child safety, and loss. We have approached it with sensitivity and care, and we would ask that you do the same. Listen when you feel ready. Support is available. Lifeline 13 11 14 · 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732.

  5. Jul 15

    427 Adongwot Manyoul: Why Inclusion Was Never a Checkbox & on the End of Performative DEI

    South Sudanese Australian founder and cultural intelligence consultant Adongwot Manyoul shares how her childhood experiences of racism and exclusion shaped her mission to transform education, workplaces, and communities. In this conversation, she breaks down why DEI often fails as a checkbox exercise, how cultural intelligence creates real change, and what it takes to move from awareness to action. A powerful episode about justice, resilience, and building a more inclusive Australia.

  6. Jul 6

    429 Joel Pearson: The Real Cost of Cheap Intelligence

    AI isn't just another tool. It's intelligence becoming cheap, instant, and impossible to switch off from, and neurofuturist Joel Pearson thinks most of us haven't reckoned with what that actually means. In this episode, Mel sits down with Joel to unpack what happens to our brains, our work, and our relationships when thinking hard stops being necessary. They talk about the tension between innovation and staying human, why "just another tool" is the wrong way to think about AI, and what leaders and individuals alike need to understand before the ground shifts further underneath them. If you've felt caught between excitement and unease about where this is all heading, this conversation will give you language for it.

  7. Jun 29

    428 Henry Shukman: Embracing the Whole Ox — How Suffering, Zen, and Radical Openness Can Transform Your Life

    My guest this week is Henry Shukman — poet, novelist, authorised Zen master in the Sanbo Zen lineage, and co-founder of The Way meditation app. His work has moved through boardrooms, retreat centres, and living rooms across the world, helping people find what lies on the other side of their suffering. Henry's path here was anything but direct. A spontaneous awakening experience at nineteen, years of chronic illness, childhood trauma, and family rupture became not obstacles to his spiritual life — but doorways into it. His memoir, One Blade of Grass, recounts that journey with unflinching honesty, and was named a Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year. His poetry has appeared in the New Yorker and the London Review of Books. But what we really wanted to talk to Henry about in this conversation is something simpler and harder than any of that. What does it mean to stay genuinely open in a world that seems to be doing everything it can to close us down?

  8. Jun 15

    426 Jan Owen: The Hidden Power of Informal Systems in Social Impact and Community Resilience

    In this episode, Jan Owen reflects on her journey - from setting up illegal drop-in centres in Brisbane to pioneering Australia's first lived experience advocacy organisations. She unpacks how philanthropy evolved from government funding to innovative impact investing, revealing surprising shifts in funding models that continue to influence social change. You'll discover why informal community networks are as vital today as ever, and how the modern reliance on formal systems can sometimes undermine the profound power of grassroots care. Jan is an esteemed social innovator with decades of experience in impact advocacy, policy reform, and community-led movements. Her pioneering work with Create Foundation and her leadership in shaping Australia's social impact landscape make her insights invaluable for navigating today’s complex challenges. Perfect for social impact leaders, educators, policymakers, and anyone committed to making a difference, this episode will inspire you to see systemic change as a collective journey, grounded in community, trust, and the unstoppable power of human adaptability.

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About

Humans of Purpose is the modern salon - conversations with the leaders, thinkers, and builders shaping what comes next. We're living through a period of genuine reckoning: with how business operates, what leadership demands, and what it actually costs to build something that matters. The people navigating that with honesty and intelligence are not always the loudest voices in the room. This podcast finds them. Each episode is a real conversation - unhurried, substantive, and honest about difficulty. We talk with purpose-driven founders, impact leaders, and original thinkers about work, story, power, and what it means to lead with integrity in a world that is changing faster than the language we have to describe it. Hosted by Mel Greblo, founder of Humans of Purpose, a proud BCorp. For more information about Humans of Purpose, including a sneak peak into the impact we’re making in the world. Visit https://humansofpurpose.com/

Information

  • Creator
    Humans of Purpose
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    300
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Banksia Impact Pty Ltd
  • Show Website
    Humans of Purpose

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