Losing her mom to cancer reminded Bree that life is fleeting. Working as a consultant, she also saw how many people are miserable in their jobs. Connecting these dots, she decided to help people find more joy and meaning in their work and rather than count the days to the weekend, turn things around and actually look forward to getting to work, perhaps even embrace a “TGIM” mentality. In her book, Today Was Fun: A Book About Work (Seriously) she gives numerous examples of way we can find more joy from our work and our colleagues and encourages employers that creating a fun-filled workplace can improve an organization’s performance and bottom line.

Erin Cain didn’t grow up around horses but eventually was exposed to them and the remarkable abilities they have to facilitate healing for a wide range of individuals. A series of life events caused her to move from her native northeast to the Colorado Rockies and today, she’s the co-founder, owner, and operator ofGrace Reins Equine Therapy. In this episode she describes the personal hardships she’s overcome and the work she now does rescuing and “gentling” wild mustangs, then working with these animals to provide therapy to the diverse group of individuals who come to Grace Reins for healing.

Meghan Riordan Jarvis was a practicing psychotherapist when she found herself devastated by the loss of her two parents.She suddenly saw she was no different from those she helped, but she still needed outside support to recover. In this BlueSky episode, she describes how this realization led her to become an expert about grief and an advocated for all of us to learn about this important and challenging part of life.

Tricia Rose Burt had done everything right, according to the way she was raised. She went to a“good school,” had a “good job” and all seemed to be going great on the surface. But inside, she was miserable and decided to make a change. She left her career in public relations, took classes at art school, and began to explore her own creativity in a way that, as she describes it,“filled her cup.”She’s never been happier, and in this Blue Sky conversation, she’ll explain how listeners might want choose to tap into their “inner artist” as well.

As a personal trainer and wellness coach, Stacey Garcia was doing everything right. She ate well, exercised, and took great care of herself. That’s why her cancer diagnosis came as an extra shock, and in this episode, she explains how she dealt with this news and found strength and resilience as she battled her disease. Now in recovery Stacey helps guide others through similar challenges both in her daily work as well as her podcast Never Miss a Monday.

Nicole Stott had a remarkable career with NASA, logging more than 100 days in outer space. Her time on the International Space Station drives her appreciation for the importance of cooperation across cultures and national boundaries. On this Blue Sky episode, she describes lessons learned from her time as an astronaut, and the inspiring work she does today through the Space For Art Foundation, and her optimistic and solutions-oriented approach to life.

Marcy Syms has led a remarkable life, full of triumphs and tragedies. Through a discussion of her new book,Leading WithRespect: Adventures of an Off-Price Fashion Pioneer host Bill Burke and Marcy cover subjects ranging from Marcy’s upbringing, to overcoming bigotry and bullying in high school, to running her father’s company and keeping it on track through the loss of two of her siblings.

Mike Goodwin grew up with a difficult and volatile father. As a child, he decided that one way he could help his mom would be to help make her laugh. He soon realized he had a talent for humor but it wasn’t until after time in the US Army and a career in higher education that Mike made comedy his career. Host Bill Burke and Mike Goodwin share a lot of laughs and life lessons in this fun episode of Blue Sky.

In this Blue Sky conversation, Kristine Michie describes her patch to a career marked by sparking joy in people and organizations to facilitate positive and impactful change. Earlier this year, she hosted Bill Burke on her PlayFull podcast and with this episode, the tables are turned and the result is a fun, inspiring conversation on the power of fun, joy, and optimism.

Niren Chaudhary has led a remarkable life while overcoming intense personal tragedies. He describes his success in running global business as stemming from a foundational belief in putting his employees first and leading them with love, gratitude, and respect.

Heidi Johnson was in a great spot in life.She had a great family, good job, all she could reasonably ask for. But when her mother was killed in a shocking accident, that all changed. After suffering from intense grief, Heidi’s life changed when she was asked to start a new initiative at her local children’s hospital. This led her to create and lead her own non-profit and to a life today of service and also shining a light on other non-profit leaders, through both a book and hosting her podcast, Charity Matters.

As a West Point graduate who had completed his required service, Tom Deierlein was well into a successful career in digital advertising when he was called up once again to serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom. There, while working to help struggling Iraqi families meet their basic needs, a sniper’s bullet would change his life’s trajectory. In this Blue Sky conversation, Tom shares his remarkable life story, on that is marked by inspiring grit, resilience, service, and optimism.

Many years ago, Jodie Jackson found herself in a deep depression. As she worked to identify the causes her deteriorating mental health, she realized it had a lot to do with her excessive and indiscriminate consumption of news and information. In the years since, she’s become a recognized expert on media literacy and a passionate advocate for understanding and managing our intake of news to protect our mental health.

Nichole Argo describes the work she’s doing to bring communities together by assembling people with different viewpoints around one table to discuss their challenges and formulate solutions. After great success in her hometown,she’s now pursuing similar models across the country, and she’s optimistic that combining a growing desire for belonging with proven methods for building community will yield positive results.

Over the course of his remarkable career, Harry Smith interviewed six US presidents and numerous celebrities including Julia Roberts, Cher, and Madonna. But on this Blue Sky episode Harry shares that his favorite people to cover were the ones we’ve likely never heard of, the everyday heroes that he describes as the glue of our society. Harry shares some of the wisdom he’s earned and now shares with students in the college class he’s teaching at his alma mater.

Mary McManus has never had it easy. As a kindergartner, she was a victim of polio just a short time before the vaccine was introduced. She also faced trauma in her home life but somehow managed to persevere and overcome these and still more obstacles throughout her life. Today, Mary is an inspiring author, poet, motivational speaker, and finisher of the Boston Marathon.

Political division in the United States is an issue often cited as contributing to the pessimistic outlook so many of us have. Blue Sky guest Lindsey Cormack believes that our government will only improve if we begin to understand it better and get involved ourselves. As a college professor, when she found that many of her students were remarkably ignorant about how our government works, she decided to do something about it. The result is her latest book, which challenges parents to fill the void left by elementary and high schools that no longer teach these subjects in the classroom.

Sam Pressler has a strong track record of bringing people together and working to rebuild the civic infrastructure of the United States. In addition to being a researcher and writer, he is also the founder of the Armed Services Art Partnership and Connective Tissue, a collection of projects designed to help people understand how they might go about creating connections in their own towns and civic organizations.

In this very special “feed swap” edition, Blue Sky Alum Erica Halverson interviews award-winning Jonathan Groff and his inspirational elementary school music teacher, Linda Tough on the “Arts Educators Save the World” podcast.

Martin Gutmann is an expert on the history of business and has written extensively about styles of past leaders. In this episode, he shares his thoughts on everything from today’s political climate, to whether he thinks Ernest Shackleton is overrated (spoiler alert –he does), to the underrated excellence of less well-known figures in history.