Capacity Building with the Acosta Institute

Dr. Angel Acosta
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Welcome to Capacity Building with the Acosta Institute, where we explore, define, and dream out loud about capacity building as an act of world building. In each episode, we explore insights, strategies, and transformative practices that empower individuals and organizations to create resilient, healing-centered environments. Join us to discover how capacity building can equip your team and community to thrive in the face of today’s challenges—and to co-create the impactful future you envision.

  1. 4d ago

    S2 EP7: Trauma, Harm, and Society: Healing Solutions for a Unified Future with Tracey Lenhardt, Lori Glazebrook, and Lisette Torres-Gerald

    In this episode, Acosta Institute Fellows Tracey Danielle Lenhardt, Lori Glazebrook, and Lisette Torres explore how trauma, systemic harm, captivity culture, and institutional violence shape bodies, identities, and communities. Drawing from their respective frameworks — Lori’s Raised in Captivity and Liberation Wheel, Tracey’s SPEAK™ methodology and “Return to Sender” approach, and Lisette’s research on STEM trauma and contemplative crit collage — they offer healing-centered pathways for reclaiming agency, mending identity, and disrupting systems that ask people to shrink, overextend, or absorb harm. This conversation invites listeners to imagine a more unified future rooted in collective care, nervous system liberation, embodied truth-telling, and the conditions we need to collectively thrive. Lori Glazebrook: Lori’s  work goes beyond mapping and naming captivity-culture. She created the Liberation Wheel that maps the conditions we need to collectively thrive—as a somatic practitioner she helps people deconstruct the nervous system patterns that keep the cycle going—the functional freeze, the burnout, the self-doubt—she helps people access their inner-agency and authority, so they have the capacity to live a full life. You can find the Raised in Captivity framework and find out how to work with Lori at rewildingthenervoussystem.com and follow her weekly Substack, Reflections From the Roots to learn more. Tracey Danielle Lenhardt: Tracey Danielle Lenhardt, J.D., is an attorney and independent scholar who created the SPEAK™ methodology, redefining healing through identity reclamation and “Return to Sender.” She is the founder of Strategic Pathways, providing tools for navigating education, finances, and systems after harm—including real-time nervous system regulation. Explore her work: traceylenhardt.substack.com Lisette Torres: You can explore Lisette’s research on STEM trauma and the CCC methodology by following TERC (T-E-R-C), a non-profit STEM education research organization, and by connecting with her on LinkedIn. To follow the work of the Acosta Institute visit: Our website LinkedIn Instagram

    50 min

  2. 4d ago

    S2 EP6: Healing-Centered Leadership & Inner Work with Aubrey Valencia, Crissy Mombela, and Tami Farber

    In this episode of Capacity Building with the Acosta Institute, Acosta Institute Fellows Aubrey Valencia, Crissy Mombela, and Tami Farber explore the inner work required to practice healing-centered leadership with integrity. Drawing from their own personal healing journeys, they reflect on how trauma, identity, belonging, spiritual depletion, and systems of harm shape the way leaders show up in schools, nonprofits, helping professions, and human-centered workplaces. Together, they ask what it means to lead without sacrificing oneself, to distinguish service from servitude, and to create spaces where people can bring their full humanity rather than perform professionalism at the expense of their well-being. The conversation names healing as an ongoing spiral rather than a destination, and reminds us that unhealed trauma can be transferred into the very communities leaders are trying to serve. At its heart, this episode is an invitation to practice accountability, self-awareness, grace, community care, and right relationship as essential foundations for transforming leadership from the inside out. To follow the work of the Acosta Institute visit: Our website LinkedIn Instagram

    1h 5m

  3. 4d ago

    S2 EP5: Coalition Building & Social Futures with Dorit Cypis & Michael Doyle

    In this episode of Capacity Building with the Acosta Institute, Acosta Institute Fellows Dorit Cypis and Michael Doyle explore what it takes to build generative coalitions across difference. Drawing from Dorit’s work as a visual artist, educator, and conflict mediator, and Michael’s background in human rights, nonprofit strategy, communications, and healing practice, the conversation moves through questions of identity, trust, vulnerability, safety, discomfort, and community-building. Together, they reflect on how difference is often feared, flattened, or siloed, and how deeper listening can create the conditions for more honest and transformative relationships. The episode invites listeners to consider the inner work required for outer work: noticing our own reactions, honoring what we feel in the body, asking better questions, and learning how to distinguish discomfort from true lack of safety. At its heart, this conversation is about developing the capacity to stay present with difference long enough for something more generative to emerge: cooperation, coalition, mutual respect, and a shared movement toward a common vision. To follow the work of the Acosta Institute visit: Our website LinkedIn Instagram

    42 min

  4. 4d ago

    S2 EP4: AI, Purpose, and the Future of Leadership with H.L. Ray, and Rachel Jean Davis

    In this episode of Capacity Building with the Acosta Institute, Acosta Institute Fellows Celeste Barretto Milligan, H.L. Ray, and Rachel Jean Davis explore the future of leadership in a time of artificial intelligence, accelerating technology, and deep social change. Drawing from their experiences in education, technology, mental health, organizational transformation, Indigenous knowledge, and healing-centered practice, the fellows ask what it means to lead in a way that remains grounded in people. Rather than treating AI as something to either fear or blindly embrace, they invite an “eyes wide open” approach: one that recognizes the possibilities of emerging tools while staying honest about extraction, environmental impact, bias, isolation, and the loss of human connection. Together, they reflect on why the future of leadership will require critical thinking, communication, creativity, inner work, community, and the courage to reclaim space for what makes us most human. At its heart, this conversation is a reminder that even as technology evolves, leadership must remain rooted in relationship, responsibility, imagination, and collective care. To follow the work of the Acosta Institute visit: Our website LinkedIn Instagram To follow the work of the Acosta Institute visit: Our website LinkedIn Instagram

    1h 2m

  5. Jan 28

    S2 EP3: Freedom Dreaming: Fellows on Healing, Community, and the Worlds We’re Building

    In this third episode of Season Two of Capacity Building, Dr. Angel Acosta is joined by fellows, Ei Ei Samai, Shaina Glass, Darnese Y. Daniels, and Christian von Tippelskirch, from the second cohort of the Acosta Institute Fellowship for a collective reflection on how community, coaching, and shared inquiry shape both personal and professional transformation. Through metaphors of gardens, portals, poetry, and safe harbors, fellows speak candidly about healing, freedom, belonging, and the worlds they are trying to bring into being. Together, they explore what capacity building looks like when it is rooted not in hustle or extraction, but in mindfulness, heartfulness, and our shared humanity. To follow the work of the Acosta Institute visit: Our website LinkedIn Instagram

    34 min

  6. Jan 28

    S2 EP2: Fellowship as Incubator: Stories of Healing, Belonging, and Becoming

    In this second episode of Season Two of Capacity Building, Dr. Angel Acosta introduces explores the impact of the Acosta Institute Fellowship. Through intimate reflections from fellows, Linda Noble, Oswaldo Montoya and Wanjiku  Kiarie, the episode explores how a six-month community incubator can become a lifeline, a mirror, and a site of deep transformation. From grief and resilience to belonging, consciousness, and collective imagination, these stories reveal what capacity building looks like when it is rooted in healing, honesty, and shared humanity. To follow the work of the Acosta Institute visit: Our website LinkedIn Instagram

    27 min

  7. Jan 28

    S2 EP 1: A Time of Transformation

    In this opening episode of Season Two of Capacity Building, Dr. Angel Acosta welcomes listeners into a new chapter of the work at the Acosta Institute. Against a backdrop of global disruption and rapid transformation, Dr. Acosta reflects on how healing-centered education, business, and technology have become key focus areas. He shares the evolution of the Institute’s work over the past decade and offers a preview of what’s to come this season: community-centered dialogues, featuring the voices from the Acosta institute Fellowship and guest appearances from luminaries in the field.  To follow the work of the Acosta Institute visit: Our website LinkedIn Instagram

    6 min

  8. 08/13/2025

    Episode 12: Navigating Uncertainty and Climate Realities with Maggie Jackson

    This engaging conversation with Maggie Jackson explores the significance of embracing uncertainty in our lives. Maggie highlights how developing the ability to navigate uncertainty can enhance our mental flexibility and foster personal growth. Key themes include the practice of pausing to process new perspectives, the role of daydreaming in relieving stress, and the impact of stepping out of comfort zones. Dr. Angel Acosta complements the dialogue by discussing how these ideas connect with building resilience and adopting a more open, curious approach to life. Their discussion provides actionable strategies to help individuals lean into uncertainty, encouraging a deeper understanding of its value in personal and collective transformation. To follow the work of the Acosta Institute visit: Our website LinkedIn Instagram

    35 min
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About

Welcome to Capacity Building with the Acosta Institute, where we explore, define, and dream out loud about capacity building as an act of world building. In each episode, we explore insights, strategies, and transformative practices that empower individuals and organizations to create resilient, healing-centered environments. Join us to discover how capacity building can equip your team and community to thrive in the face of today’s challenges—and to co-create the impactful future you envision.

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