Built for This: Janelle Kellman's Case for a Different Kind of California Leader

Janelle Kellman has been training for this moment her whole life — she just didn't know it.

She's an environmental lawyer, ultra marathoner, former mayor of Sausalito, and candidate for Lieutenant Governor of California — AND she's one of the most genuinely joyful people I've talked to in years. In this conversation, she traces the through-line from flooding streets in Sausalito to the state commissions that could shape California's coastline for generations. She talks about ikigai — finding the intersection of passion, purpose, and what the world needs — not as a concept she read about, but as something she lived her way into, on trails and in city council meetings, long before she knew she was running for anything.

If you're in California, I want you to know her name. If you're not, watch what she does — the leaders who win in that state tend to inspire the ones who come after them everywhere else.

Think of one person in your world who is doing the hard work quietly, with joy and with values. Tell them you see it. Send them this episode. That's how the norm shifts.

Links to Janelle's campaign and her nonprofit, the Center for Sea Rise Solutions, are below. Find her, follow her, support her.

Name & Fame is created, hosted, and produced by Andrea Learned. Edited by Syd Gladu and Kristie Taiwo-Makanjoula. Theme music by Adam Captured. Art by Nancy Bolan.

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Links:

• janellekellman.com

• searisesolutions.org

• ballotpedia.org/Janelle_Kellman

• linkedin.com/in/janelle-kellman-esq-she-her-86021a4