Wavemaker Conversations

Random Encounters: feat. Nurse Betty

Sometimes my favorite conversations are the ones I never expected to have – encounters made possible by serendipity.I didn’t expect to meet my featured guest, Nurse Betty Long – at least not on this day. But when she appeared, and we started talking, I suspected that because of the difficult work she does – doing street medicine in a mobile van – and because of the humor she brings to it, we would arrive at a place where curiosity meets hope.To follow my conversations with preeminent authors, inspiring leaders and simply fascinating people in a wide variety of fields – as well as my uplifting, surprising and even soul-satisfying random encounters, please subscribe to my Substack newsletter here.

Azar Nafisi: Reclaiming Iran's Identity

Azar Nafisi, author of the internationally acclaimed memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran, addresses the question: Where do Iranians who have stood up to their ruthless government get their courage?I reached out to Nafisi following Iran’s traditional 40-day mourning period for the thousands of people killed by the ruling clerics’ enforcers during nationwide demonstrations against the regime.It seemed incredible that on the 40th day – after seeing the regime’s use of widespread violence – Iranians would come out yet again.  I wanted to know – is there something about that 40-day tradition, that generates courage?Nafisi grew up in Iran’s capital, studied in the U.S. in the 1970s, and returned to her homeland after the revolution – for 18 years – to teach western literature to Iranian college students. Her insights on courage come from her personal experience and from a deep understanding of Iranian and Persian history and culture. We had this conversation three days before the war began. Nafisi’s insights will be highly relevant for a long time to come. 

The Olympian In You: maximizing performance under pressure - feat. Noa Kageyama

When American figure skating phenom and gold medal favorite Ilia Malinin imploded on the ice at this Winter Olympics, I wanted to discover what we could all learn — and possibly apply to our own lives — from that heartbreaking failure. So I called Noa Kageyama — a veteran performance psychologist on the faculty of the Juilliard School and Cleveland Institute of Music. Why reach out to someone who works with musicians for insights on athletic performance? Because, as you’ll learn in this conversation, the mental training needed to maximize your performance on any stage, or field, or class, or boardroom, have certain things in common — techniques that we can all benefit from when we’re aiming to do our best when it matters most.For more fascinating insights from Noa Kageyama head over to https://bulletproofmusician.com

A Librarian's Valentine - feat. Becky Hickman

Actionable intelligence for spouses, parents, teachers, and students - on Valentine's Day and every day - with Nantucket's inspiring middle school librarian Becky Hickman.

Julie Ioffe live in conversation at the Dreamland Theatre

35 years ago, Julia Ioffe and her family arrived in the U.S. as refugees from the former Soviet Union, having fled their homeland upon rumors of a planned pogrom against the Jews of Moscow. Julia was only seven. Today, Julia Ioffe — a happy American accident, as she has called her life — has become a go-to journalist for her singular insights on Vladimir Putin and Russia and her reporting on the war in Ukraine and U.S. national security policy.In this conversation with Puck News correspondent Julia Ioffe, recorded August 9, 2024 live at Nantucket’s Dreamland Theatre, we discuss: Ukraine’s surprise offensive inside Russia; Putin’s grip on power — and what it would take to loosen it; Ioffe’s deep dive into Putin’s childhood; the enduring impact of Stalin’s Great Terror on the Russian psyche; Ioffe’s reflections on Alexey Navalny; a show & tell analysis of Putin, on camera, demanding obedience from his top aides; how to curse like a Russian; and, two months before she gave birth to her first child, what Julia Ioffe will tell her son about the world he is entering.