Who Do You Love?

Who Do You Love?
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In a time when independence is glorified, but interdependence is what sustains us, Who Do You Love? invites us to reimagine freedom through relationship. It’s a space to explore how freedom, resilience, equity, sustainability, and power are all shaped by how we show up for each other. "Who do you love?" isn’t just a question — it’s a community organizing principle. The more we expand our circle of who we love, the more we expand our circle of who we’re willing to act on behalf of. Through intimate conversations, host Whitney Buchmann explores how love — in its most collective sense — can shape the systems, relationships, and choices that define our shared future. Whitney is a social innovation strategist, facilitator, and social entrepreneur. She brings stories from the field, lessons from practitioners, and moments from her own life as a nomad and community weaver — all to ask one question: Who do you love? And how might that answer change the world we build together?

  1. 2d ago

    17: Presence is Power - with Jodi Grinwald

    What if the most powerful thing you can do in a room is to actually be in it? In this episode, Whitney sits down with Jodi Hope Grinwald, a leadership and connection strategist, host of the Today Is the Day Changemakers podcast, and author of Today Is the Day. LIVE IT!, a book that brought together 31 voices from California to Uganda. Jodi makes the case that connection isn’t a soft skill. It’s a skill that determines who gets funded, hired, and heard. They talk about how networks can be on-ramps or moats, why it took Jodi six years to get one funder to attend an event (and what happened once she did), and what shifts when leaders stop closing the deal and start listening. Jodi also shares her CONNECT method, which starts with being consciously present, and how she has seen it change a classroom of formerly incarcerated adults and the leaders she coaches. She talks about co-founding the Applaud Our Kids Foundation, which expands access to the performing arts for children whose families face financial need, and about the choice to open a door for someone who once kept her out. Her challenge for listeners: you may hold power through access or credibility, so who in your network could you connect this week? Links to Engage with the Episode Connect with Jodi Grinwald LinkedIn: Jodi Grinwald Instagram: @todayisthedayliveitFacebook: Today is the Day, Live ItWebsite: todayisthedayliveit.comListen to her podcast: Today Is the Day ChangemakersRead her book: Today Is the Day. LIVE IT! Edge of Comfort to Center of Impact Connect with organizations or leaders we mentioned Zzak G. Applaud Our Kids Foundation - the nonprofit Jodi co-founded with her sister, which funds performing arts lessons at studios near children’s homesInstagram: @applaudourkidsFacebook: facebook.com/applaudourkidsFurther reading on ideas we raised Why the American Dream is more attainable in some cities than others (NPR) - the Raj Chetty research on how friendships across class lines predict upward mobility, related to the on-ramps vs. moats conversationSocial Capital Atlas - the county-level dataset behind that researchThe Battle Between Your Present and Future Self - Whitey references Daniel Goldstein’s Ted Talk about how we make decisions every day that have good or bad consequences for our future selves.

  2. Oct 26

    16: Loving Our Future Selves - with Catherine Campos

    What does resilience look like when it’s something we place on ourselves rather than something we share? Whitney sits down with Catherine Campos, an expert convener, AmeriCorps alum, and proud eldest daughter, to unpack the pressure to have it all together and the quiet cost of never asking for help. Catherine shares how losing her job during COVID led her to knock on the doors of her alumni communities, and how a friend’s reminder that she was allowed to take a break, and to talk about it, changed her path. Along the way, they explore why grit isn’t about suffering in silence, and why showing up for community sometimes means being uncomfortable, vulnerable, and a little inconvenienced. From there, the conversation widens to resilience at scale. Catherine, who now works in the hospitality industry, talks about what it takes to bring people together when you can’t control the weather, the visas, or the supply chain, and how hotels and event planners show up with empathy in hard moments. Then comes her answer to the show’s signature question: who do you love that you haven’t met yet? Her answer, her future self, opens up a conversation about inherent worth, the generations of women who came before, and the nieces who might grow up free of the old expectations. Catherine’s challenge to listeners is simple: show up for 20 minutes, even when you don’t feel like it. Whitney closes with her own question: where could you show up this week, even when it’s inconvenient, to strengthen the relationships that make you resilient? Links to engage with this week’s episodeConnect with Catherine: Catherine Campos on LinkedInConnect with organizations or leaders we mentioned: American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) — the hotel industry trade association where Catherine now works in the events spaceAspen Institute Socrates Program — the leadership dialogue program where Catherine worked on convenings and Socratic seminars.Festival of the Diaspora — the international convening for Afro-Latino and Black American leaders where you and Catherine met. University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service — the nation’s first Master of Public Service program, based in Little Rock, where Catherine earned her degreeAmeriCorps — the national service program Catherine is an alum of.Engage with ideas we raised: How the hospitality industry plays a vital role in relief efforts when disaster strikes — the source for the point that hotels are already physically there with large, fortified buildings during disastersSupporting Communities Through the Storm: Hurricane Milton — the source for hotels serving as refuge for evacuees and first responders, including distress rates for residentsHotels boost disaster readiness as BHTA urges full preparedness — the source for the Barbados workshop finding that over 90% of hotels have disaster management plans

  3. Oct 19

    15: Let's Walk the Bridge - with Kenny Andejeski

    Kenny Andejeski — founder of why[here]matters, a board member of his local PBS station, and someone who once drove 50,000 miles across rural America just to listen — joins Whitney to talk resilience, and he starts by pushing back on the premise. Mutual aid isn’t a recent workaround for failing systems, he argues — for many communities, from rural Appalachia to the free Black communities of the antebellum South, relying on each other has always been the norm, not the exception born of crisis. Kenny brings that same lesson home, from a stretch of serious illness where he leaned on a partner for the basics, to his twenties spent couch-surfing and trading social capital for a place to sleep. Along the way, they sit with his local PBS station’s own story: losing half its budget overnight, then finding its way to a surplus by doubling down on serving its community rather than waiting on a national system to come back. The conversation widens from there — into the politics of resentment that festers when a well-funded coastal institution asks for donations while a station down the road just lost 90% of its, into the segregation we don’t talk about (the kind where we simply stop sharing space, information, or disagreement with people unlike us), and into what Kenny calls the hardest, most necessary love: for the stranger, the other, the person you haven’t met yet. They land somewhere unexpectedly hopeful — not with a campaign or a five-point plan, but with a bridge. A real one, in downtown Chattanooga, where people cried the day it reopened. Sometimes showing up, walking alongside someone, and trusting they won’t push you off is the whole first step. Links to engage with this episode: Connect with Kenny Andejeski LinkedIn - where Kenny shares his perspective most regularly, as he describes it, “professionally.”Communitales - Kenny’s Substack publication capturing stories, experiences, and lessons from his years of community-building work on the road.Instagram: @andajetski - for the more personal side Kenny references in the episode, including his reflections on subcultures, festivals, and belonging.why[here]matters - the social enterprise and multimedia storytelling project Kenny founded.Connect with organizations we mentioned WTCI PBS - the community-licensed public television station in Chattanooga where Kenny serves on the board.Further reading on ideas we raised NPR: One year ago Congress killed the CPB - a retrospective on the Rescissions Act of 2025, which eliminated federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and how stations across the country have adapted a year later.Nonprofit History Crash Course: The Free African Society of Philadelphia - background on the 1787 Philadelphia mutual aid organization Kenny references when he traces mutual aid back through free Black communities in the antebellum era; similar societies, like Charleston’s Brown Fellowship Society, formed throughout the same period.The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019) - the film Kenny references for its bus-scene exchange about loving a place enough to be allowed to hate it, which anchors his answer to “who do you love.”

  4. Oct 12

    14: Home Space, Coalition Space - with Megan Black Johnson & Keith Johnson, Jr.

    Megan Black Johnson and Keith Johnson, Jr. are the first duo on Who Do You Love? Megan is a trainer, facilitator, and organizer who helps coalitions hold together across race, religion, and politics. Keith is an Episcopal priest in Baltimore, where they are raising their young daughter. Megan brings a framework from civil rights leader Bernice Johnson Reagon: we all need a home space, where we can be fully ourselves among our own people, and we all have to leave it for coalition space, where the work is riskier and the common good gets protected. Their marriage is where they learned the first half. Their neighborhood, their church, and their work are where they practice the second. The conversation starts on a mountain in rural Tennessee, where the two made a pact: “We are all we got.” From there it widens to a toddler who roams free at church because a whole congregation is watching, a birthday invitation written with their Orthodox Jewish neighbors in mind, and Megan’s challenge to Christian communities to “mind our wake” and stay at the table when coalition work gets uncomfortable. They close by naming who freedom still leaves out: children, and the adults raising them. Whitney leaves listeners with this: Where is your home space, and what would it ask of you to step out of it and stay at the table? Links to engage with the episode: Connect with Megan and Keith Megan and Keith keep a low profile online. To reach them, contact Whitney and she’ll pass your note along.Connect with organizations or leaders we mentioned Bernice Johnson Reagon - civil rights activist, scholar, and founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock, whose “home space and coalition space” framework anchors this episode; this is the Smithsonian’s tribute to her life and work.Sweet Honey in the Rock - the a cappella ensemble Reagon founded in 1973.Howard Thurman, Meditations of the Heart - the collection that includes “How Good to Center Down!”, the phrase Keith names when describing Thurman’s influence.Toni Morrison - an author Keith named as someone he loves, but has never met. Beloved is a popular book recommendation by Morrison.James Baldwin - an author Keith loves but has never met. The Fire Next Time is a popular book recommendation by Baldwin.Further reading on ideas we raised Washington Monthly: “It’s Time to Leave Home” - an accessible introduction to Reagon’s speech “Coalition Politics: Turning the Century,” with key passages; the full text is published in Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology, edited by Barbara Smith.Chalkbeat: Nikole Hannah-Jones’ essay on school integration sparks a reckoning - coverage of the New York Times Magazine essay Megan references about Hannah-Jones sending her daughter to a segregated public school, and the debate that followed.DOJ Asks Appeals Court to Allow Churches to Endorse Political Candidates - the Johnson Amendment news Whitney raises when asking about faith in public life.

  5. Oct 5

    13: Resilience is a Team Sport - with Camila Tapias

    We're often told resilience means being strong enough to get back up on your own. Camila "Cami" Tapias, a disaster resilience leader, UN ARISE Global Board member, university trustee, and former Colombian national team basketball player, makes the case that the opposite is true. Drawing on her journey from the courts of Bogotá to emergency management, Cami shares why the moments she's been most resilient were the moments she leaned on others, and why the most resilient thing any of us can do is recognize we were never meant to do everything alone. Whitney and Cami explore what sports teaches us about knowing your teammates' strengths, why the time to build relationships is in "blue sky" moments before a crisis hits, and how something as simple as knowing who to call can change a community's outcome. From there, the conversation widens. Cami explains why every dollar invested in resilience can save many more in recovery, and why communities stuck in survival mode rarely get the chance to think bigger. She also explains how planning with communities, not for them, changes who gets protected. The two also take on campus safety, accountability, and the courage to speak up at our own kitchen tables. Cami closes with a reflection on love and freedom you won't want to miss: the people who love us give us both the roots and the room to become who we are. Whitney leaves us with this question: When's the last time you took stock of who's on your team, and who's still missing from it? Connect with Camila Tapias LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/camilatapiasInstagram: @camilatapias_2Watch her talk: Bouncing from Basketball to Emergency ManagementConnect with organizations or leaders we mentioned ARISE (UNDRR's Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilient Societies) - the UN alliance where Cami serves on the Global BoardFestival of the Diaspora - where Whitney and Cami connectedTribalHub / TribalNet Conference - the Dallas convening on technology for tribal governments and enterprises Cami attendedSPIN Global - Cami's previous firm, home of the Community Disaster Resilience Fund she discussedFurther reading on ideas we raised UNDRR Global Assessment Report 2025: Resilience Pays - source of the $2.3 trillion true-cost-of-disasters figureNIBS Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves - the U.S. study behind the widely cited 6-saved-per-1 figure Cami referencedFEMA Community Lifelines - the framework Cami described for stabilizing energy, water, food, health, and safety after a disasterThe Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction - the global framework ARISE supports

  6. Sep 28

    12: Soft Place to Land - with Whitney Buchmann

    When guests had to reschedule, Whitney turned the mic on herself and answered the show's own questions. She starts with the parents who gave her no curfew, only trust, and a home in Nebraska she knew she could always drive back to. That secure love made it possible to leave home at 18, live out of two suitcases, and start a business. From there she looks at who doesn't get that kind of safety net: the solopreneurs paying close to rent for basic health coverage, with no unemployment, family leave, or sick days to fall back on, and the women, especially women of color, for whom the risk of leaping is highest. Whitney also shares her own choice to leave a marriage and what she's learned walking beside friends who gave up careers to build a family, only to find that housing costs, pay gaps, and support formulas make leaving feel impossible. She pushes back on the "you made your bed" idea of personal responsibility and makes the case for a world where courage is a less courageous choice. That means being a soft place to land, being the safety net that makes the leap possible, and, with midterms six weeks out, pushing for policies that stop tying our safety to our employer. She closes with her littles and the chosen family that has set her free. Links to engage with this week’s episode: Connect with Whitney Buchmann Illustra Impact (illustraimpact.com) — Whitney's social innovation consultancySolopreneurs Circle (www.illustraimpact.com/solopreneurs) — the peer community of about 75+ solo founders and consultants in the impact space that Whitney foundedConnect with organizations or leaders we mentioned National Domestic Violence Hotline (thehotline.org) — 24/7 confidential support at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788, and the partner behind the study Whitney cites on survivors staying longer for financial reasonsVote.org — check your registration and find your polling place ahead of the midterms Whitney urges listeners to show up forFurther reading on ideas we raised "A lifeline for survivors of domestic violence is at risk amid federal funding cuts" (bostonglobe.com) — source for Whitney's point that lack of affordable housing is one of the top reasons victims stay with abusers"'He wanted to destroy me financially': The economic abuse of domestic violence survivors" (wbur.org) — On Point episode discussing the study with the National Domestic Violence Hotline where 73% of callers said they stayed longer because of financial concernsRetirement Security: Women Still Face Challenges (gao.gov) — the GAO report behind the stat that women's household income fell 41% after divorce, compared with 23% for men"Divorce Rates Tend to Rise When Women Earn More, Studies Suggest" (aol.com) — covers sociologist Pamela Smock's research showing Black and Hispanic women face the steepest income drops after divorce

  7. Sep 21

    11: We Are Your Village - with Mac Brazina

    Mac Brazina — mental health and performance coach, writer, and founder of Human Builder — comes to this conversation as a self-described "hyperindependent, don't need no one" human learning otherwise. Newly postpartum, she talks candidly about being handed a card that read We are your village, and what it took to let herself actually receive the support it promised instead of just providing it to everyone else. From there, the conversation moves into the mechanics of what Mac calls the "ailment of hyperindependence": the high performers, entrepreneurs, and pro athletes she coaches who believe they have to break themselves to make something succeed, and the biological cost — disrupted hormones, gut health, sleep, emotional regulation — that comes from ignoring what the body is signaling. Whitney and Mac unpack parts work, the difference between depositing into yourself and running on empty, and why the people who most need to hear "your cup has to be full first" are usually the ones who look like they have it all together. It's a conversation about power, sustainability, and the radical, uncomfortable act of letting a village hold you. LINKS TO ENGAGE WITH THE EPISODE Connect with Mac BrazinaOn Instagram: @the_human_builder Human Builder (humanbuilder.com) — Mac's coaching practice Connect with organizations or leaders we mentionedValarie Kaur (valariekaur.com) — author of See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love the book and framework Mac cites as a driving influence Disagree Better (disagreebetter.us)  — the cross-partisan initiative Whitney references when talking about groups working to find common ground across disagreementFurther reading on ideas we raisedCrucial Conversations / Crucial Accountability (cruciallearning.com) — the communication framework Whitney references being certified in, related to Mac's point about psychological safety and self-regulation in high-stakes dialogue "Toxic Success Is Burning Out High Performers In 2026" (forbes.com) — source for the ZeroBounce survey stat Whitney cites (44% giving up free time, 37% compromising values)

  8. Sep 14

    10: Culture of Interdependence - with Nadia Ali

    This week, Whitney sits down with Nadia Ali — consultant, storyteller, facilitator, and founder of Idea Labs — to explore what it actually takes for power and freedom to be real, not just theoretical. Nadia offers a reframe that anchors the whole conversation: rather than asking how we use our power and freedom, she asks what infrastructure has to exist first so people can fully live into them at all — the childcare, the parental leave, the community support that let someone show up whole instead of white-knuckling it alone. The conversation moves from the personal to the systemic and back again — from the choices Nadia makes as a mother about how much truth a child can hold, to her account of parental leave and community care in Canada, to a candid exchange about academic institutions banding together (or not) when federal funding threats hit higher ed. Along the way, Nadia draws a sharp distinction between "networks of association" and real community — the difference between knowing someone's name and actually showing up when they're sick — and talks through what it costs, and what it's worth, to stand with someone else when your own power is on the line. Whitney closes with the question she keeps coming back to: what would it look like if we stopped assuming everyone can already tap into their power and freedom, and started asking what needs to be built so they can? Links to engage with this week’s episode Connect with Nadia Ali Instagram: @idealabsinactionLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nadia-y-ali  Connect with organizations or leaders mentioned Idea Labs (idealabsinaction.com) — Nadia's consulting practice, focused on organizational culture, leadership development, and belonging PolicyLink (policylink.org/about/summits) — the organization behind the PolicyLink Summit Whitney references attending in August, themed "We Are the Founders" around America's 250th anniversary  Further reading on ideas raised The Mutual Academic Defense Compact story — background on the Big Ten faculty push for universities to defend one another against federal funding threats, and how it evolved into a joint ad campaign instead of a formal compact — the example Whitney raises with Nadia about academic institutions.

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In a time when independence is glorified, but interdependence is what sustains us, Who Do You Love? invites us to reimagine freedom through relationship. It’s a space to explore how freedom, resilience, equity, sustainability, and power are all shaped by how we show up for each other. "Who do you love?" isn’t just a question — it’s a community organizing principle. The more we expand our circle of who we love, the more we expand our circle of who we’re willing to act on behalf of. Through intimate conversations, host Whitney Buchmann explores how love — in its most collective sense — can shape the systems, relationships, and choices that define our shared future. Whitney is a social innovation strategist, facilitator, and social entrepreneur. She brings stories from the field, lessons from practitioners, and moments from her own life as a nomad and community weaver — all to ask one question: Who do you love? And how might that answer change the world we build together?

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  • Creator
    Who Do You Love?
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    18
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Who Do You Love?
  • Show Website
    Who Do You Love?