Amplify Voices

Welcome to Amplify Voices: Conversations from the Heart, a new podcast hosted by Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll and Chief Content Officer of Amplify Voices, Audrey Cavenecia. Each episode is a heartfelt conversation between Pete, Audrey and a special guest about leadership, caring, inclusivity and celebrating our shared humanity. There are meaningful, vulnerable exchanges that bring out the raw and real parts of each guest, their struggles as well as their strengths, and the strategies they use to navigate the world.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is a celebrated astrophysicist, planetary scientist, author, and science communicator. He’s been the director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City since 1996. He’s the author of 16 books and dozens of essays about the universe and all it contains -- most recently, “Cosmic Queries: StarTalk’s Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We’re Going.” He’s hosted a number of TV shows over the years about the facts and mysteries of the cosmos. And since 2009, he’s also been the host of the radio show and podcast StarTalk, which brings together science, pop culture, and comedy. His mission is truly to educate people, not just by giving out information, but by empowering them to seek out knowledge for themselves. The sheer joy he gets from this work – that alone is awe-inspiring.

Abby Wambach is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, FIFA World Cup champion, retired soccer player, coach, author, and longtime advocate for equity and inclusion. Glennon Doyle is a best-selling author, activist, speaker, and podcast host. She has written three books, most recently, Untamed, a memoir about falling in love at first sight with soccer legend Abby Wambach and reinventing her life -- by moving out of an unhappy marriage and into into a new, fulfilling blended family, where Abby is a loving co-parent of her three kids. And together they advocate, most of all, for everyone, but particularly women, to shed societal expectations, feel all their feelings, and be exactly who they want to be. We’re so excited for you to hear this conversation with Glennon Doyle and Abby Wambach!

Van Jones is a TV host, author, attorney, and change maker known for his bridge-building approach to politics ... and his tireless fight for social justice. He’s the host of The Van Jones Show and The Redemption Project on CNN, as well as a frequent CNN political contributor. He’s been fighting for criminal and environmental justice for more than a quarter century. He’s launched or helped launch a huge number of nonprofits and initiatives, including Color of Change, Green for All, Dream Corps, Rebuild the Dream, REFORM Alliance, and the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. He’s also the co-founder of Magic Labs Media, the production company behind “The Messy Truth,” a web series about the divides exposed by the 2016 presidential election. And Jones is the author of three bestselling books, including, most recently, Beyond the Messy Truth: How We Came Apart, How We Come Together, a deep dive on how the country can learn and heal from 2016. Over the past year, he has helped put a major spotlight on the need to reform American policing; helped pass legislation to transform probation and parole laws in California, Louisiana, and Michigan; and won an Emmy Award for “The Messy Truth VR Experience.” And the list goes on. We are so excited for you to hear this conversation with Van Jones!

Greg Cunningham is Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at U.S. Bank. He’s the first Black leader to serve on the company’s management committee and a dedicated advocate for equity and inclusion; he envisions a world where diversity officers will no longer be necessary. In the meantime, he brings his whole self to the job, and has helped dramatically increase U.S. Bank’s investments in opportunities for all -- both within the company and in communities of color across the country. In early 2021, the company announced U.S. Bank Access Commitment, a large-scale effort to help shrink the racial wealth gap through targeted investments in, for example, Black entrepreneurs and micro businesses owned by women of color. Greg also serves on the Board of Directors of the United Negro College Fund, a nonprofit organization that provides scholarships to over 10,000 students a year and supports historically Black Colleges and Universities. He is a member of the CNBC Workforce Executive Council and speaks often and eloquently about what inclusion really means, offering his expertise to a wide range of media outlets and organizations. “We win when we all win,” he says. We’re so excited for you to hear this conversation with Greg Cunningham!

Angela Duckworth is a scholar, psychologist, and author best known for the groundbreaking book, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, which digs into what really helps people succeed. She’s a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and faculty co-director of both the Penn-Wharton Behavior Change for Good Initiative and Wharton People Analytics. A former math and science teacher in low-income schools, she’s also the founder and CEO of Characterlab, a nonprofit that advances scientific insights to help kids thrive. She’s the co-host, with Stephen Dubner, of the podcast No Stupid Questions…. and her TED Talk is one of the most popular TED Talks of all time. Also, she’s a friend of Pete’s! We are so excited for you to listen to this conversation with Angela Duckworth!

Rachel Maddow is a television news host, author, and political commentator best known for her MSNBC primetime program, “The Rachel Maddow Show.” Within weeks of its debut in 2008, she’d more than doubled MSNBC’s audience for her time slot. After Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, her viewership doubled again, and then tripled. In early 2021, she was the most-watched host in cable news in the United States. A Stanford and Oxford-educated Rhodes scholar, she’s also the author of three bestselling books, most recently “Blowout,” a deep dive on politics, corruption, and the oil and gas industry. She’s the winner of several Emmys, and even a Grammy for the audiobook version of Blowout. She’s a trailblazer, a fearless intellectual, and a dogged journalist -- someone who literally says to her critics, “Bring it.” We are so excited for you to hear this conversation with Rachel Maddow!

Jamie Hodari is CEO and co-founder of Industrious, a workspace company that reimagines the modern office by meeting people where they are. With over a hundred locations across the country, Industrious strives to create flexible, community-oriented spaces that allow people to focus, collaborate, and be their authentic selves. It has the highest satisfaction score in the co-working space industry and is growing fast -- in fact, in 2020, it made Inc. magazine’s list of 500 fastest-growing companies. Jamie studied at Columbia, Harvard, and Yale, and has worked in a variety of industries; he’s been a journalist at the Times of India, a project finance lawyer, a hedge fund analyst, and an entrepreneur who co-founded Kepler, an organization that brings accessible, internationally-recognized higher education to the neediest parts of the world. His approach to leadership and entrepreneurship is grounded in listening to his clients, employees, and community; he creates an environment that gives others respect and autonomy while encouraging experimentation and creativity. Industrious’ Seattle location is where we do our work here at Amplify Voices, and we love it! We’re so excited for you to hear this conversation with Jamie Hodari!

Anna Malaika Tubbs is an author, advocate, consultant and educator whose groundbreaking new book, "The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation," shows just what intersectionality really means. A longtime activist supporting the rights of women of color, she has a bachelor’s degree in Medical Anthropology from Stanford University and a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge in Multidisciplinary Gender Studies. She’s now a PhD candidate at Cambridge in Sociology. She grew up in half a dozen countries around the world, and brings those diverse perspectives to her writing, her research, and her advocacy, which began in earnest at Stanford, where she was President of the Black Student Union. She’s also spent several years teaching high school students at Aspire Langston Hughes Academy in Stockton, California, and works as a diversity, equity, and inclusion consultant for both individuals and organizations.

Resmaa Menakem is a healer, author, master coach, and trauma specialist. He helps people, communities, and organizations heal from and build resilience around historical and racialized trauma through body-centered psychology. He is the best-selling author of several books, including “My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies,” a deep exploration of how trauma (and especially the trauma of white supremacy) affects us all. In addition to his work as a writer and therapist, he focuses his expertise on coaching other leaders to learn this embodied approach, including police chiefs, nonprofit executives, CEOs, athletic directors and managers, government leaders and many more. “While we see anger and violence in the streets of our country, the real battlefield is inside our bodies,” he says. “If we are to survive as a country, it is inside our bodies where this conflict needs to be resolved.”

Cory Booker is a U.S. Senator from New Jersey, a former Democratic Presidential candidate, a former mayor of Newark, an attorney, and a lifelong fighter for civil rights. He began his political career in 1998 when he was elected to the Municipal Council of Newark, after launching a nonprofit organization to provide legal help to low-income families and tenants. In 2006, he was elected mayor of Newark, where he served until 2013, when he moved on to the U.S. Senate. Cory is the first Black U.S. Senator from New Jersey and has been consistently advocating for racial and economic justice since, proposing and passing legislation to reform the criminal justice system, end mass incarceration, reduce wealth inequality, combat climate change, and promote equitable access to healthy food and affordable health care. And Cory has made compassion the cornerstone of all of this work. In 2016, he published a book called "United: Thoughts on Finding Common Ground and Advancing the Common Good." When he was a Democratic candidate in the 2020 presidential race, he campaigned on love: “We are at our best when we give the ultimate sacrifice of putting other people, putting the country, putting our communities ahead of ourselves,” he said. “If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.”

Adia Barnes is the award-winning head coach of the women’s basketball team at the University of Arizona and a former professional basketball player. In college, she played for the University of Arizona Wildcats, where she now coaches; she then went on to play seven seasons in the WNBA, for the Houston Comets, Seattle Storm, Minnesota Lynx, and Sacramento Monarchs. She began her coaching career as assistant coach for the University of Washington Huskies and returned to the Wildcats as head coach in 2016. In 2021, she brought her team to the NCAA Championships, the first time ever for the school. Adia has long advocated for equal rights for women and women of color in basketball and beyond. She brings a lot of heart, love, and joy to the court, and is known for really listening to and empowering her team; she sees her role as a mentor above all else and makes no apologies for always being herself. “My job is to help other women,” she says. “And I’ve been doing it every day.”

Dr. Harry Edwards is a renowned sociologist and civil rights activist best known for his focus on the vital connections between race, society, and professional sports. Known as a “giant of sports activism,” and “the father of sports sociology,” Harry has spent the past half-century advocating for the rights of Black athletes and the need for Black leadership in sports, from the NFL to the Olympics. In 1967, he was a co-founder and lead organizer of the Olympic Project for Human Rights, a movement designed to expose how America used Black athletes to lie to the world (and to itself) about institutional racism. From 1970 until 2000, he taught sociology at the University of California at Berkeley, where he is now Professor Emeritus; and since the 1980s, he’s worked as a consultant for individual teams and as well as entire leagues in professional sports, helping them to bring more diversity into their leadership, their players, and their thinking. He is the author of four books, including The Revolt of the Black Athlete and The Struggle That Must Be: An Autobiography, and countless essays and articles about sports, race, and sociology. To this day, his fight for justice endures. We are so excited for you to hear this conversation with Harry Edwards!

Alicia Garza is a civil rights activist, writer, political strategist, and organizer; she’s principal at Black Futures Lab, an organization that builds independent political power for Black communities; she’s Special Projects Director at National Domestic Workers Alliance, an organization that seeks equity for a profession made up primarily of immigrant women and women of color; and she’s a co-creator of #Black Lives Matter, a global justice movement that truly needs no introduction. She’s the author of the new memoir, The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart, which includes lessons from her many years of bringing people together to create change. And she hosts the weekly podcast Lady Don’t Take No. We are so excited for you to hear this conversation with Alicia Garza!

Resmaa Menakem, healer, author, master coach, and trauma specialist, is hosting a new podcast series that mixes humor with serious trending topics. It is a series of thought-provoking discussions with thought leaders in race and culture, artists, athletes, comedians on how our history has played a role in the current state of our world.Guerrilla Muse’s goal is to uncover, rediscover, and heal by helping listeners develop grit and thick skin. Listeners will learn to apply critical thinking to controversial topics and challenge themselves to consider new possibilities after arming themselves with true education.

A renaissance is upon us, and it’s moving us into a modern era with a new definition of what it means to lead and how we can work together for a common good while still maintaining an abundance of opportunity and success. We no longer blindly follow and praise robotic leadership!This era demands competent, emotionally intelligent, human leaders who wear their hearts on their sleeves and engage in social issues that not only impact their supporters, but the entire world!Unlikely is a discovery of untapped resources from around the world, engaged in a series of thoughtfully curated leadership discussions. They’re opening up and sharing a wealth of knowledge that will help us build a stronger, contemporary model of leadership. They’re our next door neighbors turned community organizers. They’re our introverted colleagues who always seem to have profound thoughts when encouraged. They’re our unexpected mentors who feel like our secret weapons. Oh, and they’re everywhere! Unlikely, unsung, and undercover heroes dropping gems and breaking down barriers all from behind the scenes are everywhere!I am the host -- Audrey Cavenecia, chief content officer and co-host (alongside Pete Carroll) of Amplify Voices: Conversations from the Heart, is hosting the new podcast series dedicated to heart leadership and the discovery of these hidden gems living among us as ordinary people. The podcast will include discussions with global experts and unexpected resources who will talk about how to apply the principles of heart leadership directly to your daily life. It is more than a conversation, it is a call to action!

Trymaine D. Lee is an award-winning journalist who has focused on racial justice and the Black American experience for most of his career. He shared a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and then moved on to report for the New York Times and the Huffington Post, always with a strong emphasis on powerful stories impacting the Black community. In 2012, he was one of the first reporters to cover the killing of Trayvon Martin and bring it to a national audience, for which he won a Sidney Hillman Foundation Award. He then joined MSNBC as a national reporter, where he covered the shooting of Michael Brown and its aftermath in Ferguson, Missouri; communities affected by poverty across the country including Flint, Michigan; and much, much more. He now also hosts the podcast “Into America,” which is a show about the Black American experience, and explores, as he says, “what it means to hold truth to power and this country to its promises.” We are so excited for you to hear this conversation with Trymaine!

Sir Mix-a-Lot is a rapper, songwriter, and record producer from Seattle, Washington, best known for his 1992 smash hit, “Baby Got Back.” He’s had two platinum records and a Grammy award, among other accolades, and he’s done a lot over the years to give back to his hometown community. This year, in particular, Mix has been a real lifesaver for Washington artists and venues struggling to survive the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s the co-chair of Keep Music Live, a fundraising effort launched in 2020 with the goal of raising $10 million for Washington’s small venues. He’s been putting so much of his own money, time, and performances into the effort -- doing what he can to keep the soul of Seattle neighborhoods afloat. At least one business owner has called him “as selfless as it gets.” We are so excited for you to hear this conversation with Sir Mix-a-Lot!

Mitch Landrieu is a politician, attorney, author, nonprofit leader and staunch advocate for racial equity. He served as the 61st mayor of New Orleans from 2010 to 2018 and as Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana from 2004 to 2010. As mayor, he helped tackle some of the toughest problems his city faced; he developed lasting criminal justice reforms, created jobs, and awarded nearly half of all city contracts to firms owned by women and people of color. In 2017, he rose to national prominence over his decision to pull down four Confederate monuments across New Orleans. The following spring, he published the best-selling memoir, In the Shadow of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History, both a personal story about his own journey around race and a call to action for white Americans, in particular, to confront the truth of America’s past. Later that year, Mitch launched E Pluribus Unum Fund, a nonprofit organization that aims to build an equitable and inclusive South through empowering leaders in racial equity, dismantling the narratives that perpetuate racism, and promoting transformative policy change. We can't heal the past we all carry, he says, “unless we set our minds to an honest reckoning with that past and a search for solutions grounded in genuine truth and justice.” We’re so excited for you to hear this conversation with Mitch Landrieu!

Possibilities Over Problems is the latest podcast from Amplify Voices and is leading the way in highlighting the unique perspectives and accomplishments of young personalities that aren’t typically amplified in the media. Sean Goode, the executive director of the transformative non-profit organization, ‘CHOOSE 180,’ facilitates intriguing discussions with these incredible young leaders from different walks of life who have used life’s many curveballs to create opportunities for themselves while sharing that wealth of opportunities with others. These heartfelt conversations center on the inspiration, ideas, and personal stories that have been a catalyst to their exceptional feats. Possibilities Over Problems aims to normalize the many challenges that young people encounter and amplify stories of those who have overcome these challenges to be change-makers in their community all while inspiring their fellow peers to dream out loud. The series exposes listeners to what success looks like in unorthodox ways.