Chit-Chatting and Questioning the World Ariella Rukhlin

Have you ever achieved a Guinness World Record? Well this month's guest, Jeremiah Harris, holds the Guinness World Record for the largest Venus Fly Trap and has one of the most extensive collections of carnivorous plants in the U.S! In the newest podcast series named "an environmental voyage," Ari converses with Jeremiah on his journey to becoming such a plant professional, and they play a Wheel of Fortune game. Can Jeremiah guess the plant Ari is thinking of? Hint: it's in the episode's title!

In this month's episode, Ari brings back one of the most listened-to episodes (drumroll please) ... "How Plants See the World." Since it was so highly listened-to, she starts off a new season by introducing a new series called "an environmental voyage!" In this episode, she converses with Aubree Keurajian, a botanist and yard restoration consultant who was educated as an ecologist. They discuss Aubree's day-to-day work, all things plant life, including invasive species that threaten their way of life and plant identification, as well as arbitrary facts surrounding botany in a trivia game! What is an arrowwood viburnum? Ari puts Aubree's knowledge to the test. Listen to get a glimpse of some leafy legends!

In celebration of Ari's book release of "A Curious Book on Curious Minds," she converses with Amy Zaslansky: the founder of Book Fairies. The Book Fairies is an organization that sources and redistributes books to under-resourced communities on Long Island, New York City and internationally to provide equitable opportunities for children to learn, grow, and thrive. All money made from the selling of Ari's book will go directly to the "Save the Children" foundation in order to reach children who are missing out most on learning and education. The Book Fairies organization, too, works to increase literacy rates by collecting books from those who have an excess and redistributing them to those who are in-need. Ari and Amy converse about the significance of education inequality in the modern day and play a game to find out how much Amy has memorized surrounding the results of high literacy!

Ari converses with George and Lizbeth, two crucial members of the Be The Match organization: a community of donors, volunteers, health care professionals and researchers who deliver cures by helping patients get the life-saving marrow transplants they need! George shares his moving story surrounding how Be The Match saved his life, while Lizbeth discusses her role in being part of the recruitment team at Be The Match, which encompasses her signing up potential donors to save lives. Be The Match is a global company on a mission to allow stories like George's to exist; it will be extremely difficult to not feel a deep call to action at the end of this episode! Are you in?

Are you interested in advocacy? How about spreading your message across the world? In another advocacy-themed episode, Angel Cheng and Ari converse about advocacy work in countries all over the world! (These episodes serve as a hint to the release of an upcoming project). From founding the Xin Young Foundation to being a committee member of the Taiwan National Ministry of Education, as well as volunteering in a Ukrainian refugee camp, writing letters to the Czech republic and working on poverty alleviation in Africa, Angel is an inspiration to all. Ari and Angel discuss Angel's various projects, as well as advice for those interested in advocacy work.

Are you an aspiring surgeon? Do you want to be in the military? How about an author? Maybe all 3!? Well today you have the chance of listening to Thomas Kelso, a current orthopedic surgeon who has served in the navy and is the author of 3 successful books! Ari and Tom converse about his unique journey in detail, including his time in the navy taking care of 600 men on ships. Listen in to better understand the world of medicine through an intriguing perspective!