This interview was first recorded in February 2020. The world was a very different place then from the one we face in June 2020, at the time of its release. First coronavirus, then worldwide peaceful protests in response to the murder of George Floyd by an on-duty cop, have caused seismic global convulsions that are still reverberating. Because none of that had happened yet, it wasn't directly addressed in this conversation. Solving #MeToo stands with the Black Lives Matter protesters. Not only that, it is a fundamental part of our mission to seek out solutions to workplace sexual harassment a ..read more

Joan has been a fixture in the Chicago media landscape for more than 35 years. She first came to Chicago in 1981 as a 27-year-old reporter and weekend anchor at WGN-Channel 9, then became a Monday-Friday anchor star at both the local ABC and NBC affiliates. Since leaving NBC 5 in 1999, Esposito formed J2 Strategic Communications, a media training firm. She is now back to her roots in radio. In Feb 2020 she took over as host of WCPT AM 820's afternoon talk show, after the legendary Ben Joravsky stepped down from that slot.  Joan was the victim of false accusations back in the 90s ..read more

Jennie Willoughby became a symbol of forgiveness and compassion in early 2018 when she wrote a blog post that became a viral sensation - and sparked the global hashtag #AndSoIStayed - detailing the abuse she suffered at the hands of her ex-husband, a top aide to President Donald Trump. Jennie is now a writer, speaker and singer whose message encourages us all to strive for empathy, connection and self-compassion.  The reason I wanted to talk to Jennie is that the work that she's doing is so in alignment with this podcast, and the movement behind the podcast: Stop the abuse. Foster healing ..read more

Alicia Garza is a civil rights activist and author with a lot of irons in the fire: she co-founded Black Lives Matter in 2013  she works with the National Domestic Workers Alliance  she co-founded Supermajority in 2019 she's founded the Black Futures Lab  her book, How to Turn a Hashtag into a Movement, will be out in 2020  We went deep fast in this conversation! We talked about transforming anger into love; we went deep into the topic of redemption; and Alicia presenced for us the idea that black communities are a part of the antidote to the poison that is spreading thro ..read more

In this episode Julia interviews Daniel Epstein, a lawyer and former candidate for the Illinois Supreme Court.  Daniel and Julia discussed a number of the shortcomings of our current criminal justice system - especially in Illinois, but also around the country - as well as specific recommendations for reforming them. They discussed everything from cash bail to the widespread use of private arbitration courts and NDA's.  As the conversation turned to a discussion of how to implement transformative justice inside of American workplaces, Daniel had a number of interesting recommendation ..read more

Christian Picciolini is an award winning television producer, peace advocate, and a former violent extremist. After leaving the Neo Nazi skinhead movement that he helped to create in Chicago in the 1980s and 90s, he began the painstaking process of making amends and rebuilding his life. In 2016 he won an Emmy award for producing an anti hate advertising campaign aimed at helping people disengage from extremism. Julia wanted to talk to Christian about redemption and forgiveness: As someone who has himself done bad things, what makes him now worthy of being loved? And what about the men he works ..read more

"I had to stop being sexist against myself before I could really impact the behavioral sexism I was seeing in the environment." -- That's from this week's guest, attorney turned conflict resolution coach, Meredith Holley.  Meredith is an attorney in Oregon who was working in 2013 at a law firm representing victims of sexual harassment. Yet at her law firm, one of her male bosses was sexually harassing HER. She said she found it to be an extremely humiliating problem to have; and yet she ultimately found a way to not just get the harassment to stop, but to continue working successfully at ..read more

In our mission to Solve #MeToo, we must be on the lookout for people who are deeply personally empowered - and Karine Jean-Pierre is one of these people. I knew it from the way she leapt up to protect Senator Kamala Harris when, onstage in the summer of 2019, a protester charged the stage at the MoveOn.org Big Ideas forum. And both her power and her heart were on display the night we met, when I broke into tears in a very public way on her book tour.  We talked about heart, and courage, and the importance of taking action in these critical times we're all living through.  To pick up ..read more

Julia's guest on today's podcast is Ai-Jen Poo. She's an award winning organizer, social innovator, author, and a leading voice in the women's movement. She's the executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, co-director of Caring Across Generations, cofounder of Supermajority and trustee of the Ford Foundation. Ai-Jen is a nationally recognized expert on elder and family care, the future of work, gender equality, immigration, narrative change, and grassroots organizing. She is the author of the celebrated book, The Age of Dignity: Preparing for the Elder Boom in a Changing Ame ..read more