Inspiring People: Stories of Innovation and Service

The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Non-Profit
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Positive stories of remarkable individuals and organizations making a difference in the world. From entrepreneurs and activists to educators and healthcare professionals, we showcase people who are bringing about positive change in their communities, locally, globally, and digitally. Produced by the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Host: Rushton Hurley Podcast Producer: Elton Sherwin For more information visit our website: rotary.cool or https://www.siliconvalleyrotary.com/

  1. 2d ago

    161. Creating Impact Through Technology and Everyday Ideas

    Funda Erdin shares her journey from over 25 years in corporate roles to building her own technology-driven product from the ground up. Drawing on her experience in product, program, and customer success management, she walks through how an idea rooted in personal values—wanting better transparency around health, sustainability, and everyday choices—evolved into GreenIt. Along the way, she reflects on how passion, persistence, and years of experience came together with the support of AI to turn an idea into reality, driven by a genuine desire to help people make more informed choices. Funda also explores the growing role of AI as a powerful enabler, especially for individuals and small businesses who want to build, experiment, and bring ideas to life without traditional barriers. This talk is about more than one app—it’s about rethinking what’s possible, using technology to create impact, and taking the first step toward building something meaningful. Funda Erdin, is the founder of GreenIt, a platform she created to help people make more informed everyday decisions, both for their health and for the environment. After more than 25 years in corporate roles across product management, program management, and customer success, she decided to build something of her own. Throughout her career, she worked closely with developers, turning ideas and business needs into real products, and that experience became the foundation for what she’s building today. GreenIt started from something very personal: wanting not just healthier options, but also to support companies whose environmental values she could trust, and to better understand what happens to products after we’re done with them. Using her product background and the help of AI, she brought that idea to life. Today, she’s on a mission to use technology to connect people, create real impact, and help small businesses grow and succeed by giving them a stronger technological foundation. To learn more, go to: https://www.greenit.app https://anka-technologies.com

    161. Creating Impact Through Technology and Everyday Ideas

  2. Jul 20

    160. Seacology: Protecting Island Habitats and Cultures

    Seacology may be one of the most successful and innovative nonprofits you've never heard of. For over three decades, Seacology has been successfully saving island cultures and communities across the world. By focusing on Seacology's "win-win" model, our speaker, Max Rojas-Domke, will highlight how community-identified needs can be turned into multi-generational conservation wins, fostering long-term wins for communities who need them now. As Individual Giving Manager, Max is eagerly one of the first people you'll typically meet on Seacology's staff. With a background in education and consulting, Max delights in highlighting Seacology's win-win approach to island conservation. Joining Seacology a little under three years ago, Max focuses on connecting Seacology's supporters to the impact they've facilitated. So when he's not meeting with donors or facilitating conversations, you can find him enjoying the beaches we all love. To learn more, go to: https://www.seacology.org/ (Seacology main page) https://www.seacology.org/projects/ (interactable map of all Seacology projects) https://www.seacology.org/projects/ (travel with Seacology to see our impact firsthand) https://www.seacology.org/donate/ (donate to support Seacology)

    160. Seacology: Protecting Island Habitats and Cultures

  3. Jul 13

    159. HANWASH Delivers Water in Haiti

    HANWASH and partners are working with and supporting local stakeholders to deliver safe, affordable, and sustainable water and sanitation to everyone in Haiti. Our speaker, Fritz Pierre-Louis, is a dedicated Rotarian with over a decade of service, notably as Past President of the Rotary Club of Leogane from 2017 to 2018. Currently, he chairs the steering committee for HANWASH in District 7020, where he has been instrumental in enhancing water, sanitation, and hygiene initiatives since 2020. He is a past Assistant Governor, and his enthusiasm for Rotary's possibilities is evident through his participation in numerous District Conferences and Rotary International Conventions. Born in Leogane, Haiti, and educated in Connecticut, Fritz is an electro-mechanical engineer who returned to Haiti to foster development and create job opportunities, founding several companies that have generated over 2,300 jobs. After the 2010 earthquake, he served as Haiti Country Director for Waves for Water, providing potable water access to over 250,000 families in 11 countries. A proud Paul Harris Fellow and fluent in four languages, Fritz leverages his skills to connect with diverse communities and drive impactful initiatives. To learn more, go to: https://www.hanwash.org/

    159. HANWASH Delivers Water in Haiti

  4. Jul 6

    158. Advancing a Disability-Forward Housing Future

    The Kelsey is a Bay Area-based nonprofit with a national impact, working at the intersection of housing and disability. The Kelsey both builds and advocates for accessible, affordable, and inclusive housing—what they call "disability-forward" housing. You will get an overview of The Kelsey's work, sharing how The Kelsey came to be, why this work matters, its current projects and impact, and how to get involved. Micaela Connery is the Co-Founder and CEO of The Kelsey, a national nonprofit pioneering disability-forward housing solutions that are affordable, accessible, and inclusive. She launched this work alongside her cousin and co-founder, Kelsey, a passionate advocate for access and inclusion who lived with multiple disabilities. Their shared vision continues to shape the organization’s mission and impact. Since founding The Kelsey in 2018, Micaela has led the organization to develop over 200 disability-forward homes, unlock nearly $190 million for inclusive housing, and scale its influence to reach thousands of advocates and homes nationwide. As a Fellow at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, she published leading national research on housing and disability, laying the groundwork for The Kelsey’s model. Her commitment to inclusion began early—as the founder of Unified Theater, which she launched at age 15 and scaled to schools across the country. Micaela is recognized as an Ashoka Fellow, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation Entrepreneur, Mitchell Scholar, and Harvard Social Innovation and Change Initiative Fellow. A graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School, the University College Dublin Smurfit School, and the University of Virginia, she is a leading voice on inclusive design, housing innovation, and community-based living. Through The Kelsey, she is advancing a bold vision: communities where people of all abilities and incomes live side by side—with dignity, equity, and belonging. To learn more, go to: The Kelsey's website: https://thekelsey.org/ Top 12 Moments from The Kelsey's work in 2025: https://thekelsey.org/eoy-recap-top-12-moments-of-2025/ Voices from the Community (hear directly from The Kelsey's residents): https://thekelsey.org/voices-from-the-community/

    158. Advancing a Disability-Forward Housing Future

  5. Jun 29

    157. Making Solar Work for Every Home

    Meghan Wood, co-founder of Raya Power, explains how solar power, despite its substantial promise, is still out of reach for many families. In the U.S., even small plug-in solar systems can trigger complex utility rules, shutting out renters and middle-income households. In Puerto Rico, residents face some of the highest electricity rates in the country and hundreds of power outages each year. And in parts of California, high energy costs and an unstable grid leave families vulnerable to blackouts. Raya Power addresses these challenges with a compact, plug-and-play solar-battery system that can be installed in a backyard in just a couple of hours. It powers critical appliances during storms, helps reduce monthly energy bills, and works for households that can't install traditional rooftop solar. Meghan shares how this approach could democratize access to clean, resilient energy, making it as normal and essential as wifi, while giving communities a reliable solution when the grid fails. Meghan Wood founded Raya Power to help fill a huge market often ignored by residential solar companies: working class families who rent an apartment and might want to add "balcony solar." Wood aims to address that market by turning home solar into a product or appliance -- modular, plug-and-play, no permits required, and installed in a few hours. Raya Power has raised over $1.2 million and launched three pilots from New York City to Puerto Rico with more on the way. To learn more, go to: https://rayapower.com/ https://www.instagram.com/rayapower_official/

    157. Making Solar Work for Every Home

  6. Jun 22

    156. Kakuma Refugee Camp: Empowering Youth

    Today we will hear about the Kakuma Vocational Center (KVC), and how the founder's interactions with community members in the Kakuma Refugee Camp revealed challenges faced by the population, particularly youth and young women. As one example of the socio-economic and education challenges these women face, it became clear that a holistic education option would help young women who lacked support after becoming mothers, particularly single mothers. KVC was founded to make a positive impact on the lives of youth and women in Kakuma. The KVC includes a range of services and programs to refugees in Kakuma Refugee Camp including an innovation course, a makerspace, a soap-making program, child development and learning activities, and more. The founder is Matabishi Narukako, also known as Mata. Mata is a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who fled his home country in 2012. In the DRC, he earned a diploma in Business Administration, and after seeking refuge in the Kakuma Camp, he actively participated in various international NGO training programs, including Applied Human Rights from the University of Geneva. This program allowed Mata to earn certificates related to managing non-profit organizations. While in Kakuma, Mata's passion for computer applications, coding, and IT grew significantly. In 2018, he founded the Kakuma Vocational Center (KVC), which serves as the first makerspace for youth in Kakuma, Kenya. As the Founder and CEO of KVC, he is working to drive positive and sustainable change in the community. To learn more or donate to the Kakuma Vocational Center, go to: ⁠https://reframe.network/rlo/kakuma-vocational-center Facebook page: https://m.facebook.com/kakumavcenter/

    156. Kakuma Refugee Camp: Empowering Youth

  7. Jun 15

    155. Trust Management Through Communication: Strengthening Teams and Elevating Experiences

    Effective communication is the foundation of organizational success. In this talk, Dr Sherrie Tennessee explores how internal clarity and external care shape workplace culture, team performance, and customer experience. We'll look at practical strategies to improve communication, enhance service excellence, and build high-performing environments across hospitality, business, and education sectors, focusing on how intentional communication strengthens relationships, reduces friction, and drives sustainable results. Dr. Sherrie Tennessee has an MBA, a PhD, and more than 20 years of leadership experience across top hospitality brands in the U.S. and abroad. As an educator, author, and business owner, she specializes in communication, service excellence, and organizational development. Dr. Tennessee equips teams with actionable strategies that strengthen culture, elevate performance, and create meaningful guest experiences across hospitality, business, and education sectors.

    155. Trust Management Through Communication: Strengthening Teams and Elevating Experiences

  8. Jun 8

    154. Birds and Glass: An Important Conservation Issue

    Except for habitat destruction, collisions with sheet glass and plastic in residential, commercial, and educational buildings cause the deaths of more birds than any other human-associated avian mortality factor. The toll is estimated in the billions worldwide. Conservation, ethical, and legal reasons justify preventing these unintended and unwanted fatalities that responsible human action can ideally eliminate. This compelling topic has implications for architecture, development, engineering, business and economics, law, philosophy, political science, psychology, and sociology. Our speaker, Daniel Klem, Jr., is the Sarkis Acopian Professor of Ornithology and Conservation Biology at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Among other diverse avian investigations, for 52 years (more than half a century) and continuing to the present, he studies, writes, and teaches about the threat that sheet glass and plastic pose to birds. No other scientist comprehensively has studied and published research results documenting and evaluating the means to prevent this human-associated avian mortality factor. He is motivated by available and growing evidence that bird-window collisions are an important wildlife conservation, building industry, legal, and animal welfare issue for birds and people worldwide. His continuing goal is to make the human-built environment safe for birds. His latest contributions explaining and providing solutions for the window threat to birds is a new book (2021): Solid Air, Invisible Killer: Saving Billions of Birds from Windows, and two recently published scientific peer-reviewed articles in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology: (2024) Evidence, consequences, and angle of strike of bird-window collisions that quantitatively reveals that minimally 1.28 billion to 3.46 billion birds annually are killed striking windows in the U.S. alone, billions worldwide, and (2025) Bird-window collisions: A critical review that offers the most updated comprehensive summary on the topic. To learn more about Dr Klem's work, go to: https://www.pbs.org/video/engineering-bird-friendly-glass-gl4lku/ https://www.danielklemjr.org/ https://www.muhlenberg.edu/birds-and-windows/ https://www.muhlenberg.edu/muhlenberg-now/muhlenberg-bird-glass-collision-research-featured-in-national-geographic/ To review Dr Klem's slides from this presentation, go to: https://tinyurl.com/DanKlem-Rotary26

    154. Birds and Glass: An Important Conservation Issue
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Positive stories of remarkable individuals and organizations making a difference in the world. From entrepreneurs and activists to educators and healthcare professionals, we showcase people who are bringing about positive change in their communities, locally, globally, and digitally. Produced by the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Host: Rushton Hurley Podcast Producer: Elton Sherwin For more information visit our website: rotary.cool or https://www.siliconvalleyrotary.com/

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