🌟Using Your Career For Good 🌟
Sounds Like Impact: A newsletter for audio and action - Vol. 17
Welcome to Sounds Like Impact!
Todays’s newsletter is all about doing meaningful work in your career, along with some resources you’ll definitely want to bookmark and thoughtful advice.
Heads up! This edition will look different than you’ve see before.
I have spent the past couple of months freelancing on an environmental careers podcast called Degrees, and it’s so inspiring to hear from people who decided to make change within their existing career or go in a completely different career direction to have positive impact in the world.
I am also looking for full-time work myself after being laid off…you know because in the United States you have to have a full-time job to maybe get decent healthcare. 🥴 Anyways, I know what the grind is like and I want to be a resource if I can, which is what this newsletter is about.
To that point, for some of you, your involvement might not look like a complete career change. It may just be finding ways to make positive societal impact within your existing job or outside of your day job. Either way, I hope everyone finds information that they can benefit from!
Announcements:
📈 Sounds Like Impact is now on the road to 500 subscribers! Can you help me get to 70 more subscribers by the end of August? 🙏
🏟 If you didn’t know, it’s the FIFA Women’s World Cup! I’ve mostly been catching the highlights in between working on my projects, but as a former K-12 soccer / football athlete, nothing makes me happier than seeing all of this talent on the world stage. The final game is August 20th and I’m curious to see who makes it to the end. ⚽️
In any case, I wanted to share this short film (<8 minutes) made by tennis player Naomi Osaka’s production company about a youth development program in Haiti that teaches soccer skills to young girls. An alum of the program made it to Les Grenadiers, Haiti’s team that qualified for the World Cup for the first time! Though they are no longer in the running, what an accomplishment that was!
🙌 Keeping the faith: Henrietta Lack’s living relatives won a settlement for the use of her cells! For those unaware, her cells—taken without permission during her cervical cancer treatment at Johns Hopkins University during the (legal) segregation period in US History. The HeLa cells would later be used in the polio vaccine, the world’s most common fertility treatment and even the COVID-19 vaccine! I highly recommend reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks to learn more about her story.
Read more about the settlement from The Baltimore Banner.
🎧 #AudioForAction Theme of the Week
Using Your Career for Good (and other advice)
You’ve already got the gist, so let’s get into it!
Find Your Dream Job, How to Get a Social Impact Job, with Erin Ewart
I felt this was a really great primer, and the podcast itself includes more career advice not just focused on social impact.
Entrepreneur Struggle, Building Boundaries in a Mission-Driven Business - Bridget Todd
This is a LinkedIn Presents podcast from Chris Colbert, Founder/CEO of DCP Entertainment, whom I interviewed for this newsletter. I also love Bridget Todd’s podcast work, so I had to recommend this episode.
Also, relevant to mission-driven podcasting is this recent episode [Programming Social-Justice with Juleka Lantigua, Founder/CEO of LWC Studios] featuring #SoundsLikeImpact community member (and a founding donor) Juleyka Lantigua!
P.S. All of these companies are on my list of Mission-Driven Podcast / Media Companies to follow in case career opportunities open up!
Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers, Browngirl Green’s Kristy Drutman: Taking the mystery out of finding a green job
Like I said, I am working on this show currently but I 1) wouldn’t work on it if I didn’t believe in it and 2) the advice is incredibly practical. You should make sure to check out the entire ‘Year of the Climate Job’ mini-series.
Also, last week’s guest curator Quinn Emmett just shared the following Degrees episode in the Important Not Important podcast feed this week! How to Green Any Job
The Growth League, Rule #2: Get a Sponsor, Not a Mentor
I know I wouldn’t be where I am today without the support of others, but there is a difference between a sponsor and a mentor, and the former can especially help your career. Check out this interview with DEI thought leader Mita Mallick and be sure to listen through for some advice on creating achievable goals.
Let’s Get Changed, E18 - The birthing of a movement: All-inclusive and people-powered
The interview is with Diandra Marizet Esparza, the Executive Director of Intersectional Environmentalist–an organization you should definitely be following!
🧡 And I want to give shout-outs to the following social impact career podcasts coming out of the #SoundsLikeImpact community:
#Impact: A podcast about stuff that matters - [A podcast that] empowers purpose-driven organisations and individuals to tell their stories in an intimate, authentic way that allows them to stand out by giving them a voice.
Recommended episode: REAL-LIFE EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOMS | KIDS4KIDS
Narratives of Purpose - A biweekly podcast with global changemakers that will inspire you to take action!
Recommended episode: On Unity through Youth’s Voices - A Conversation with Mamobo Ogoro
Charity Impact - [A podcast that] aims to help you increase your charity’s income and impact by sharing the experience and expertise of our guests.
🚨 Calls to Action
If you take away anything this week, it should be bookmarking the following resource page:
Mission-Driven Podcasts Job Corner
Marketing and Communications Director at Threshold podcast (remote-US)
Contract story editor at Making Contact (remote-US)
These weren’t advertisements, but if you are interested in advertising a social impact related job (including working on an audio show with social themes) or you own podcast service as an independent creator / freelancer (e.g. producing, editing, transcribing etc.), the flat rate is $15 in the Classifieds section of the regular weekly newsletter.
Professional Development
HEAL Fellowship due 8/29. The HEAL fellowship aims to serve youth struggling with mental health issues by supporting U.S. journalists to report on and amplify solutions.
2024 NRDC Climate Storytelling Fellowship due 11/27 - The Fellowship will grant $20,000 each to three writers to support revision of a feature screenplay or pilot that engages with climate change in a compelling way through events, actions, character, emotions, plot, and/or setting.
Resources
Nicholas Bruneau, a communications consultant, put together this list of social impact communications related podcasts. Check the post here.
Sophia Kianni put together this list of FREE Sustainability courses in this post. Anyone could, and should, take these! Remember, any job can be a green job if you make it!
Are you interested in joining a nonprofit board, but not sure what to expect? Listen to this episode from the I 501c You Podcast.
Talks / Events
Are you a creative? Do you want to learn how you can use your skills to work on addressing climate change? On August 30th Creatives for Climate & Grist are hosting a virtual event: Turn Your Job Into A Climate Career.
I spoke about social impact work here for The Anthem Awards back in June and Anthem has some other great talks you can check out. Also, don’t forget to submit your entry for the awards! I’m judging this year. Final entries due by September 15th.
📢 Words of Advice
I reached out to some folks I follow on LinkedIn who share content about social impact careers. I asked them for some advice to pass along. Here is what they had to say! Thank you Rachel, Jessica, Anne and Mandy!
Rachel Barnard, Founder of Map Society (and former nonprofit ED!*)
Working on something that is larger than oneself—especially social impact work—is incredibly energizing. It's an honor and a privilege and makes for a remarkable life. However, vicarious trauma and burnout from going above and beyond for years puts your personal health at risk. Take all the small daily things that nourish you as a person very seriously. I don't care if it's yoga or Pokémon, do what you need to fill your cup first, because once you're running on empty it's extremely hard to turn things around.
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You can follow Rachel’s newsletter at
*I used to volunteer with the nonprofit Rachel founded called Young New Yorkers, which offers art-based youth juvenile diversion programs.
Jessica Marati Radparvar, Founder of Reconsidered
DON’T WAIT FOR SOMEONE TO GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO HAVE A POSITIVE IMPACT. You don't need to wait until you have that dream job. Start right where you are! That might mean joining the green team at your office, starting a blog about your ethical consumption journey or volunteering for a local non-profit. This helps you demonstrate to prospective employers that not only do you have a sustained interest in social impact — you’ve also taken action.
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Listen to the interview with Jessica about her sustainability career journey and make sure to sign up for the Reconsidered Business newsletter!
Mandy Van Deven, Philanthropy consultant and Founder of Both/And Solutions
When vetting an organization during the interview process, ask the staff: "if you were going to try to talk me out of working here, what would you tell me?" The way they answer will give you clues about the challenges you will encounter at that organization. Do they dodge the question entirely? Do they hedge and give you a diplomatic reply? Or do they answer directly and honestly? This is the culture you will step into if you accept the role, so choose wisely.
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Connect with Mandy on LinkedIn, especially if you want to be tapped in to global impact jobs!
Anne McPherson, creator of The Living Room Exchange & VP of Communications at International Center for Research on Women
I suggest reviewing a mix of publications every morning to understand how your work fits into the broader news cycle and cultural conversation. I listen to two news podcasts, pop culture podcasts and read newsletters including Axios, Semafor and Substacks from journalists like Anne Helen Peterson nearly every day. This also gives me an understanding of which reporters and outlets are covering what types of issues and helps me think of new ideas for how to communicate issues or projects I’m working on.
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Check out the latest Living Room Exchange newsletter!
🙌 How to Support this Work
Sounds Like Impact is written and curated by Ayo Oti. Please consider several ways you can contribute to this important mission – providing a platform for social change through audio storytelling and calls to action for the change-maker that lives within all of us.
In addition to the Subscribe, Share, Like and Comment CTAs on this platform, there are other options: Donate | Tell Me About Yourself | Advertise
This work is made possible by your support, however it comes. Thanks for being part of the community and reading this far. Take care!
I like what you do and appreciate the effort you take to prepare this newsletter. I am a part time lecturer here in India (Gujarat state) and have started Pod Mirror which is website on podcasting in India. Mainly to popularise the medium here.