Willing to Wander Meghan Takahashi

CAN WE REWRITE THE STORY OF OUR EVOLUTION?

In this episode, I'm joined with Dr. Sam Sternberg, a lead CRISPR expert and the head of his own lab at Columbia University, where he and his team just made a major breakthrough discovery in the hot topic gene editing technology.

Talk about CRISPR seems to be everywhere now, but in this episode, Sam and I dive deeper into the nitty gritty of what CRISPR even is and its wide variety of uses today and the possibilities of its uses in the near future. We also discuss the important ethical questions at hand with the gene editing technology that gives us the power to possibly alter other species' evolution as well as our own human race's...

Keep listening to hear from Sam himself about where he thinks the fast growing field is headed and a detailed description of the details of the technology from a scientist himself!

Watch Sam's Ted Talk about CRISPR and its possibilities- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSL3k9ezGoA.

Check out Sam's website -www.shsternberg.com- to see his scholarly articles.

Also, I highly recommend this video by WIRED, where CRISPR is explained in 5 different difficulty levels- the first being to a child. Watch here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sweN8d4_MUg

And please don't forget to subscribe, rate and review if you've been enjoying the show thus far!

This episode is a little different than the rest. I'm joined with not just one guest but a multitude of very special ones- the students who demonstrated the power of their voice at yesterday's (March 15) Youth Climate Strike in New York City.

The strike happened all around the world, where students walked out of schools in protest of the inaction of policymakers in regards to tackling the climate crisis. It started with Greta Thunberg, a now 17 year old Swedish girl, who sat on the steps of the Swedish Parliament's building every day for two weeks straight in lieu of going to school. To her, this was her way of teaching the adults something- that the youth want change and that they will make it known.

At the march, I spoke to students ranging from nine to eighteen years old, as well as some adults. What was most striking was the simple candor of these children who have mobilized in such an inspiring way to give voice to the climate and environmental justice issues that they are concerned about. Listen to the full episode to hear a wide range of students speak their minds as well as some of the actions that they are already taking in their communities!

Check out www.willingtowander.com to find additional pictures from the strike (taken by my friend Sophie) as well as links to climate action organizations that were also involved at the strike.

As always, if you enjoyed the episode, please subscribe and review down below! Thanks for listening and stay tuned for more!

Welcome back to another episode of Willing to Wander! In this episode, I'm super excited to be joined with Wen-Jay Ying, the founder of Local Roots NYC. Local Roots is an alternative CSA model, that provides city dwellers with fresh produce from farms all within a 2 hour drive from the city. You buy into a season's worth of produce and pick it up weekly from a convenient market location near you (mostly coffee shops and bars!).

Wen-Jay saw a need to modernize the traditional CSA model, while making it fun and more community based, with monthly cooking events! Listen to hear more about how Wen-Jay turned her discouragement from losing her job into motivation to change the food system, from the ground up.

Check out www.localrootsnyc.com to learn more about the membership options as well as to receive your first week trial if you live in NYC!
Also follow them on Instagram @localrootsnyc to get food inspiration- even if you aren't in the city.

And check out my website: www.willingtowander.com for photos and additional links everything Local Roots!

Thanks again for listening and stay tuned for more episodes soon!

Hi guys- I'm back after a little break backpacking in Japan and ready to bring more inspiring stories to you this new year!

In this episode, I'm very excited to be joined by David Chait, the CEO and Founder of Travefy. After jumping at the chance to work as a senior policy advisor for the US Small Business Administration during the Obama Administration, David returned to Columbia's Business School feeling more inspired than ever to create something of his own. It was there at school that David and his founding team began to build Travefy- an online platform that utilizes advanced technology to effortlessly streamline the trip planning process for travel professionals as well as everyday people looking to coordinate group trips.

Since Travefy's final alpha product release in 2016, it has been featured in the NY Times, Forbes, Fast Company and the likes. Today, Travefy is currently powering over 2 MILLION customer itineraries, and after talking to David, there seems to be no slowing down.

Keep listening to listen to David describe how keeping his eyes open allowed him to be ready to seize opportunities that came his way to ultimately prepare him to build Travefy!

Please hit the subscribe button (top right!) and rate and review the podcast if you've been enjoying it so far! New episode in 2 weeks, so be sure to subscribe to stay up to date.

Start planning a trip with Travefy HERE: https://travefy.com/plan#/trip/2037502/days/day/10161335
Download Travefy on the iTunes App Store - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/our-itinerary-viewer/id1078267467?mt=8

Check out www.willingtowander.com to find more about David, Travefy, and more!

This episode is a little different than the rest. Instead of sharing the story of an inspiring individual, I realized that it was time that I properly introduced myself to you guys and to share with you my inspirations and motivations for the podcast. I also share upcoming plans for the podcast (hint: minisodes).

Listen to this episode if you're curious about who I am and where the podcast is going!

Also, I've launched a Patreon campaign - www.patreon.com/willingtowander - where you can help support the podcast with as little as ONE DOLLAR PER MONTH. With your help, I can grow Willing to Wander to new heights and continue to share individuals' inspiring stories to help others broaden their horizons.

Check out www.willingtowander.com to learn more.

In this episode, I'm joined with Alfonso Cobo, the founder and CEO of Unfold and also one of Forbes' newly named 30 under 30. Originally from a small town in Spain, Alfonso struggled in its traditional education system and dropped out after only two months in university. However, he didn't let this deter him from what he knew to be his passion for design and from his dream of becoming an architect, so he continued on to university again in London, where he was at the top of his class.

This commitment to his passion and eye for design ultimately led him to create Unfold, an app that allows its users to creatively cultivate and streamline their content with clean templates to then share via Instagram stories. Only a little over a year old, Unfold now has over 30 million users and is looking to expand past Instagram, to other avenues of story-telling.

Listen to Alfonso himself share his journey from overcoming his initial sense of failing after dropping out of university in Spain to ultimately creating an extremely influential platform through Unfold to drive social awareness and change by staying true to his passions for design and creative content.

Check out www.willingtowander.com to see pictures of Alfonso's journey as well as additional links about him. And please subscribe, rate and review the podcast if you've been enjoying it so far!