Name and Fame, with Andrea Learned

Andrea Learned

Most of what you see online right now is naming and shaming. Andrea Learned is doing the opposite. Name & Fame is a podcast about the leaders, places, and projects building a genuinely better future — and about what actually fuels them. Spoiler: it's usually joy. Andrea has spent years as a climate influence strategist watching a specific kind of person: the mid-career professional who has quietly lost track of their own values and their own energy, who is sitting on more potential influence than they realize, and who just needs to see someone doing the thing before they believe it's possible. That's what this show is for. Half interviews with remarkable people you probably haven't heard of yet — mayors, organizers, founders, candidates — and half solo episodes where Andrea shares what she's seeing that the noise is drowning out. If you believe that countering the culture is more powerful than complaining about it, and that visible, values-aligned leadership is the most subversive move available right now — this one's for you. Andrea Learned. Climate influence catalyst. Hype woman. Your permission slip.

Episodes

  1. Transformation Through Storytelling: Denise Baden Makes Sustainability Joyful

    18h ago

    Transformation Through Storytelling: Denise Baden Makes Sustainability Joyful

    Denise Baden is all about transformation through storytelling. She's a business professor and thought leader in sustainability communications who *refuses* to accept doom culture. Her joy lies in creating, convening, and celebrating green storytellers. Key Themes 1. Storytelling Moves People from Head to Heart Denise has been reading hundreds of reflections from business leaders at sustainable leadership events. When she asks them what sustainability means as a human being (not corporate jargon), something shifts. They sit under a tree for 30 minutes. When they come back and tell their stories, they're crying because they have no words. An intellectual exercise becomes emotional.  2. The Jigsaw to Save the World — It All Connects Denise realizes it's not technical barriers stopping us. It's systemic — wealth concentration, corporate capture of politics, profit maximization instead of sufficiency. So she's mapping these as a jigsaw puzzle. The corner pieces lock us in. The middle is the flourishing future we all want. Once you see how it connects, you understand what needs to shift. 3. Joy Is Everywhere When You Learn to See Denise started wildlife gardening and everything changed. The world went from black and white to technicolor. The robins have a soap opera. The magpie's fed up with the cat. She sits on her deck watching a bee in a pollinator-friendly plant and thinks "Go, little bee. I helped give you that."  Denise believes that if more people felt the joy in these small choices — eating less meat, driving less, planting pollinator plants, everything would shift. For our "Name and Fame It Forward" segment, she shouts out:  Caroline Lucas Former Green Party Member of Parliament. She stays calm when everyone else is posturing. Years ago she said: "We need positive stories because this should be an easy sell." LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-lucas-981955335/ Steve Willis  Steve is a chemical engineer who had an idea: bring together climate experts with real writers. He and Denise co-created No More Fairy Tales: Stories to Save the Planet. Now he's partnering on Fairhaven, a novel about Malaysia surviving sea level rise with audacious climate solutions. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-willis-kl/ Connect with Denise Green Stories: https://www.greenstories.org.uk/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denise-baden-3742793/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/dabaden.bsky.social and https://bsky.app/profile/habitatpress.bsky.social  Climate Assembly UK: https://www.climateassembly.uk/ Follow #jigsawtosavetheworld and #climatecharacters Follow Andrea https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrealearned/  https://bsky.app/profile/andrealearned.bsky.social  https://andrealearned.com/  Name & Fame was created, and is hosted and produced, by Andrea Learned. Edited by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola. Theme music by Adam Captured. Art by Nancy Bolan. Listen, learn, find joy, and please share!

    43 min
  2. SPECIAL | CA Primary Updates & Re-listen, Janelle Kellman

    May 25

    SPECIAL | CA Primary Updates & Re-listen, Janelle Kellman

    Days before California's primary, Andrea circled back to Janelle Kellman (candidate for Lieutenant Governor) via voice memo to see what's been coming up most in her recent campaign conversations. Here are the three key topics: Janelle makes the point that California doesn't lack ambition, values, or money, but it lacks implementation. While every candidate may bring up affordability, housing, climate, and education, the state needs someone who has actually done the work.  Janelle wants to help California understand climate risk before it becomes a crisis, and turn that understanding into real action. Voters on the campaign trail have told her they are experiencing it as higher insurance bills, higher utility bills, wildfire risk, flood risk, and housing pressure.  Janelle believes that community college is California's most powerful and underused tool. Free community college isn't about giving something away, but about investing in the workforce the state desperately needs in nurses, electricians, firefighters, building trades, early childhood educators, and clean energy workers.  Note: This Q&A leads into the full interview originally released in March 2026. For those show notes, see Andrea's newsletter: https://www.andrealearned.com/on-finding-amazing-podcast-guests-janelle-kellman-show-notes/ Links: https://www.janellekellman.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/janelle-kellman-esq-86021a4/   Follow Andrea between episodes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrealearned/ https://bsky.app/profile/andrealearned.bsky.social https://andrealearned.com/ Name & Fame was created, and is hosted and produced, by Andrea Learned. Edited by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola. Theme music by Adam Captured. Art by Nancy Bolan.

    42 min
  3. Dropping the Armor: Helene Cornell on Accessible Leadership In CleanTech

    May 21

    Dropping the Armor: Helene Cornell on Accessible Leadership In CleanTech

    Helene Cornell didn't come up through academia, nepotism, or a Google scholarship. She simply made her way into climate tech rooms by being the most accessible person there.  Andrea and Helene talk about how she uses humor (she studied improv!) to make the usually heavy climate conversations lighter, how she learned to connect with speaking audience members, and why she calls herself a nerd whisperer (hint: it's about being able to translate complex hardware to software-focused investors).  Along the way, Helene praises the many accelerators and incubators that changed her life, including the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) and Women in Clean Tech and Sustainability. Programs like these gave her mentors for everything from data rooms to pitch decks to VC connections - and that network of purpose-driven people is what made the difference. For our "Name and Fame It Forward" segment, Helene shouts out Laurie McGinley of Via Lucent, crediting her coaching for her newfound ability to tackle imposter syndrome and many other things. Listen, learn, find joy, and please share! Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helene-cornell/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauriemcginley/ https://www.womenincleantechsustainability.org/ https://laincubator.org/ Follow Andrea between episodes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrealearned/ https://bsky.app/profile/andrealearned.bsky.social https://andrealearned.com/ Name & Fame was created, and is hosted and produced, by Andrea Learned. Edited by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola. Theme music by Adam Captured. Art by Nancy Bolan.

    29 min
  4. SPECIAL | GreenIO Podcast Interview, On Shifting Social Norms In Sustainability Leadership

    May 5

    SPECIAL | GreenIO Podcast Interview, On Shifting Social Norms In Sustainability Leadership

    Andrea recently had a rich conversation with Gaël Duez, the host of GreenIO Podcast, so we are sharing that episode here. No matter your role or sector, listen in to learn how to understand and use *your* leadership influence.  *** You don't have to be a CEO to have a lot of influence. In fact, you can effect much more change that you might realise… On today's episode of Green IO, Gaël is joined by Andrea Learned, a renown communications strategist who's using her skills to revolutionise the conversation around sustainability. Andrea's specialty is climate leadership - but that doesn't mean her insights are exclusive to the C-Suite. As she explains it, all of us have the power to impact our professional work-spaces and communities. And it starts with employing the hidden power of being seen actually living your values.  During this conversation, Gaël and Andrea cover: ▪️Overcoming societal fragmentation ▪️Joy as an act of resistance ▪️Effective micro-influencing ▪️Shifting leadership norms ▪️Resetting our goals And much, much more. Follow GreenIO here: https://podcast.greenio.tech/

    1h 1m
  5. SOLO | Plant the Seed: On Veganism, Quiet Influence, and Friends Who Change Everything

    Apr 23

    SOLO | Plant the Seed: On Veganism, Quiet Influence, and Friends Who Change Everything

    Some of Andrea's most inspiring conversations happen outside the co-op in the cold rain. This solo episode started with a new friend, a shared love of veganism, and a plot to put plant-based kids' cookbooks in little free libraries around the neighborhood. From there she gets into something she's been sitting with for a while: why the food-climate connection still isn't landing the way it should, even in her deep sustainability and climate-focused networks. Andrea also shares about what quiet, joy-based influence actually looks like when it works. So, if you've been quietly vegan or plant-based for a while, this one's for you - and please consider getting less quiet (!) Andrea's 2023 conversation with KEXP DJ, John Richards, from her Living Change: A Quest for Climate Leadership: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGuJtuE940g  Our World In Data has the science on animal agriculture and landuse: https://ourworldindata.org/land-use  Cameron Kit, documentary filmmaker: https://www.cameronkit.co/  Andrea's Climate Influence newsletter: https://andrea-learned-climate-influence.ghost.io/ b Name & Fame is created, hosted, and produced by Andrea Learned. Edited by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola. Theme music by Adam Captured. Art by Nancy Bolan.

    10 min
  6. From the Ground Up: Heidi Adams and the Streetlight Built for Now

    Apr 9

    From the Ground Up: Heidi Adams and the Streetlight Built for Now

    Heidi Adams sees what most people walk past. She spent 25 years as a production designer in film and TV — building worlds from scratch and solving the unsolvable, all in an industry where failure simply isn't an option. But that's the backstory. What she is, at her core, is a design thinker who tears problems down to first principles and builds them back up for what's needed in this time. The streetlight she has reimagined as CEO of BaseStudio — climate-resilient, wifi-enabled, EV-charging, grid-independent, self-financing in two to three years — came from that mind. And so did her approach to the communities the LA fires hit hardest. Heidi doesn't just show up with a product. She pulls people together around solutions — hers, and everyone else's, doing the work of hardening landscapes, neighborhoods and cities for what comes next. Andrea dials in on Heidi's community-centering as leadership, and why it's the part of the innovation story that usually goes untold. This is a conversation about what happens when you trust your instincts, follow the doors that open, and refuse to let the scope of the problem talk you out of showing up. https://basestud.io/  @baseStudio_io linkedin.com/in/heidi-adams-base-studio https://basestud.io/pilot.html (Archive of ReGrow Altadena program) linkedin.com/in/estelle-reyes-laci laincubator.org (Los Angeles CleanTech Incubator)  https://climateresolve.org/resilience-hubs/ Follow Andrea between episodes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrealearned/  https://bsky.app/profile/andrealearned.bsky.social https://andrea-learned-climate-influence.ghost.io/ Name & Fame was created, and is hosted and produced, by Andrea Learned. Edited by Syd Gladu and Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola. Theme music by Adam Captured. Art by Nancy Bolan.

    30 min
  7. Music Is the Refill: How Jack Hanson Keeps Winning on Local Climate

    Mar 26

    Music Is the Refill: How Jack Hanson Keeps Winning on Local Climate

    Jack Hanson co-founded Run on Climate, an organization that gets climate champions elected to local office — and then supports them once they're there. At 24, he ran for the Burlington, Vermont City Council because the person he was managing dropped out and no one else would do it. He won. He got reelected without opposition. He helped flip four seats in two years. Then he built an organization so others could do the same. But the thing that stopped me in this conversation: Jack plays piano in a funk band in Chicago on weekends. He said music is pure bliss. Climate work, he said, is more of an obligation — something he feels compelled to do because the stakes are existential. I think that honesty is the whole key. The people who stay in hard work for the long haul without burning out almost always have something that refills them that has nothing to do with outcomes. For Jack, it's music. This episode is about local power, joy as a movement-building strategy, the ripple effect of bold policy in small cities, and what music has to do with any of it. Recorded fall 2025, and releasing now because none of it has an expiration date. Jack's "Name & Fame It Forward" pick: Sue Anderbois, Providence City Council — a full-time Nature Conservancy staffer by day, climate champion on city council by night. If this episode moved you, share it with one person who's doing the quiet, joyful work. That's how they'll know you see them, and that's the whole point of Name & Fame!    runonclimate.org linkedin.com/in/jack-hanson-b6106622b https://www.linkedin.com/in/sue-anderbois/  Follow Andrea between episodes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrealearned/  https://bsky.app/profile/andrealearned.bsky.social https://andrea-learned-climate-influence.ghost.io/ Name & Fame was created, and is hosted and produced, by Andrea Learned. Edited by Syd Gladu and Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola. Theme music by Adam Captured. Art by Nancy Bolan.

    34 min
  8. Built for This: Janelle Kellman's Case for a Different Kind of California Leader

    Mar 11

    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-Makanjuola. Theme music by Adam Captured. Art by Nancy Bolan. Follow Andrea, between episodes: Bluesky Climate Influence Newsletter Links: janellekellman.com searisesolutions.org ballotpedia.org/Janelle_Kellman linkedin.com/in/janelle-kellman-esq-she-her-86021a4

    37 min
  9. Behind the Scenes: From Living Change to Name & Fame, with Maria Paleologos

    Feb 18 ·  Bonus

    Behind the Scenes: From Living Change to Name & Fame, with Maria Paleologos

    Behind the Scenes: From Living Change to Name & Fame with Maria Paleologos | ~17 minutes Before the interviews start, a little origin story. In this pre-season conversation, I sit down with Maria Paleologos — producer of my 2023 podcast Living Change: A Quest for Climate Leadership — to talk about what's changed, what's carried over, and why I'm back with a new show built around a single stubborn belief: that joy is a strategy, not a reward. We get into what Name & Fame is really for, why I think amplifying the good is more powerful than cataloguing the bad, and what it looks like when leaders stop waiting for permission to be visible about what they care about. If you're new here, this is a good place to start. If you've been following since Living Change, welcome back — and yes, we're going further this time. Enjoy this one? Send it to someone who needs a little joy right now — and start naming and faming the leaders in your world who deserve more credit.   Created, hosted, and executive produced by Andrea Learned. Edited by Syd Gladu. Produced with Maria Paleologos.

    18 min
  • 9 Episodes

3.7
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Most of what you see online right now is naming and shaming. Andrea Learned is doing the opposite. Name & Fame is a podcast about the leaders, places, and projects building a genuinely better future — and about what actually fuels them. Spoiler: it's usually joy. Andrea has spent years as a climate influence strategist watching a specific kind of person: the mid-career professional who has quietly lost track of their own values and their own energy, who is sitting on more potential influence than they realize, and who just needs to see someone doing the thing before they believe it's possible. That's what this show is for. Half interviews with remarkable people you probably haven't heard of yet — mayors, organizers, founders, candidates — and half solo episodes where Andrea shares what she's seeing that the noise is drowning out. If you believe that countering the culture is more powerful than complaining about it, and that visible, values-aligned leadership is the most subversive move available right now — this one's for you. Andrea Learned. Climate influence catalyst. Hype woman. Your permission slip.

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