Positivity Matters

Lana Ruvolo Grasser WintersAssistant Professor of Psychology, Wayne State University | Ben L. Silberstein Institute for Brain Health | Director, The Ruvvy Resilience Lab Neuroscientist Lana Ruvolo Grasser Winters directs The Ruvvy Resilience Lab at Wayne State University, where she pursues research that is "deeply responsive to the needs and wants of community members." She talks about the creative arts and movement-based interventions — dance and movement therapy, art therapy, and yoga — that she and her Wayne State colleagues brought to youth and families resettled as refugees after their mental health programming was cut, and the ripple effect that followed, which she estimates has now reached more than a thousand people across Michigan. She explains why positive experiences benefit us "of their own accord," what functional near-infrared spectroscopy can show about two brains dancing the tango, why "nothing is necessarily good or bad in neuroscience," and why a university that put well-being first would find that "when we are well, we perform our best." Lana's top VIA character strengths: Love, Fairness, Forgiveness, Leadership, Honesty. Find yours with the free VIA survey: www.viacharacter.org/character-strengths Follow Lana's work: Instagram @r2la.b · YouTube @TheRuvvyResilienceLab · The Brain Blooms Newsletter: brain-blooms-newsletter.beehiiv.com Mentioned: · Hearth Summit Detroit and The Wellbeing Project: www.hearthsummitdetroit.com · the tango fNIRS video from a University College London study, shared by Tango Amistoso: facebook.com/reel/1731375574855859 Recorded: Tuesday, October 27th, 2026

Betsy Emmons — https://journalism.unl.edu/person/betsy-emmons/ | Associate Professor of Advertising & Public Relations, University of Nebraska–Lincoln | Sports PR & Promotion | Accredited in Public Relations (APR)Betsy Emmons teaches sports media and public relations in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, after more than two decades teaching at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, and years in sports PR before that. The conversation runs from the fandom that led her into sport PR — “working in sports is so fun, and it is exactly all the joy that you think that it is” — to translating character strengths into kindness, to the one-on-one mentoring students name when they nominate her for teaching awards: “tell me what your dreams are, how can I help you?” And it lands on the journey she describes with striking honesty: an Enneagram 3’s reckoning with achievement — “achievers can be blind to the suffering around them” — and the future she has chosen: “If you’re going to move into a position of leadership, or a position of seniority or authority: always look, on the ladder, to people who were coming up, too — and lend them a hand.”Betsy’s top VIA character strengths, as she shared them: Love of Learning, Humor, Hope, Curiosity, and Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence. Try the free VIA Survey of Character Strengths yourself: www.viacharacter.orgFollow Betsy’s work through the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln: https://journalism.unl.edu/person/betsy-emmons/Recorded: Monday, October 5th, 2026

Omani Carson — www.linkedin.com/in/omanicarsonFounder and Chairman, Carson Group | Founder, Omya | Founder, Momentis Family Office | Co-founder, Dreamweaver Foundation | AuthorRecorded on his first full day as Omani, the day after a judge signed his legal name change, this conversation meets Omani Carson at what he calls “a really proud time in my life.” He tells how the name Tate-Omani, “walking into a stiff wind,” was given to him, and how about a decade ago he made the shift from a life run on fear and scarcity to one led by love and abundance. He makes the case for going with your strengths (“If you work on your weaknesses, someday you’ll have a little stronger weakness”), shares the saying he and his wife Jeanie live by (“You haven’t lived until you do something nice for someone who never expected it, who can never repay you”), and walks through the exercise he teaches in his coaching work and at Omya: write your eulogy, then plan your years backward from it. The conversation opens mid-stream, without the usual introduction, and it closes on his final phrase: “Live every day like it’s your last. And most certainly, one day, you’ll be right.”Omani also shares his own experience of psychedelic-assisted therapy and his views on it. Those views are his own, and nothing in the episode is medical advice.Omani’s mission, as he shared it at the Do More Good Movement’s 2024 conference: “I can motivate others to live a more purpose filled life.” Strengths heard in that mission, as the host’s own inference and not a test result: Woo and Developer (CliftonStrengths).Find your own strengths, free: www.viacharacter.org/character-strengthsSince this conversation: Omani joined the Do More Good Movement’s ROI of Why 2026 in Omaha on the panel “From Hustle to Whole.” Speaking at the Hustle Conference in Omaha on September 30, 2026, Jay Wilkinson described a transition under way in the movement and the bringing together of conferences, with Omani’s newer work in the plan. Jay’s talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3ubO9Ew4vc | ROI of Why 2027, April 19–21, Omaha: www.domoregood.com/roi-of-why-2027Books mentioned (published as Ron Carson): Tested in the Trenches | The Sustainable Edge | Proven in the TrenchesAlso mentioned: Secret Kindness Agents by Ferial PearsonRecorded: Wednesday, January 22nd, 2025

Millie Heckler (https://millieheckler.com): Dancer | Choreographer | Singer-Songwriter | Movement GuideMillie's mission, in her words, is to dance as much as she can and to create spaces where people can dance. She teaches hip-hop dance at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and is the founder of puSHErbody, a dance company and community initiative. Drawing on years of street dance, including dancing professionally with pioneer Rennie Harris, and her training at the Xuan Gong Fu Academy of Internal Martial Arts in Berlin, she talks about song — finding endless movement inside a structure — the dance battle as a way of pushing each other toward the best versions of ourselves, and the paradoxical truth that in order to find freedom, you need discipline.Millie's top VIA Strengths (free insight: https://www.viacharacter.org/character-strengths): Spirituality • Gratitude • Honesty • Curiosity • Social IntelligenceFollow Millie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/millieheckler/Recorded: Friday, September 18th, 2026

Darci Gamerl: Oboist | English Hornist | Composer | Arts Leader Darci is one half of Bel Canto Duo Darci’s top VIA Strengths (free insight): Honesty • Spirituality • Judgement • Curiosity • PerspectiveRecorded on August 13th, 2026 "Taking Flight: The Eighth Wonder of the World" with the Bel Canto Duo • Saturday, August 29, 2026 • 2-4pm • Sheldon Museum of Art

David Shaw made a permission slip for you! David's VIA Strengths:CreativityCuriosityLeadershipLove of LearningFairnessSelf-RegulationLoveSpiritualityHopeJudgementRecorded: August 5th, 2026

Matthew Corson-Finnerty: Building a Community of Play PeopleMatthew designs games and playgrounds and is a builder of connectedness through The Play People – a community for all who are interested in Play: • Playful Cities • Children's Advocacy • Play in the Arts • Play in Health • Play in Communities • Play in Education  • Play in Nature • Much more!Season 3, Episode 9 | Recorded: August 1, 2026

President Jeffrey Gold: Walking Alongside Others as they Build Pathways to Meaningful GoalsDr. Jeffrey Gold is the ninth president of the University of Nebraska System.Dr. Gold serves on the Clinician Well-Being Collaborative of the National Academy of Medicine with the former Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy.  President Gold's Top 10 CliftonStrengths:AchieverLearnerIdeationIndividualizationResponsibilityConnectednessArrangerBeliefStrategicDeveloperRecorded: June 23rd, 2026

Amy Smith: The Art of Playing with Our ThrownnessPorcelain is so unforgiving that potters say throwing it is like working with cream cheese. Ceramic artist Amy Smith has built a life around that material, and this conversation moves from clay to something larger: how we embrace what we're given — the temperament, the circumstances that shape us — as material to work with, and even to play with. At its center is one durable idea, that we might speak to ourselves the way we would to a good friend, and keep play close all our lives.Find Amy's work at https://amysmithporcelain.com, and learn more about the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts at https://khncenterforthearts.org.Recorded: June 25th, 2026

Annick Janson: Now (Strengths) & Next (Practical Hope) Recorded June 22, 2026, this conversation features Dr. Annick Janson — positive psychologist, social science researcher, and co-founder of the Fast Track Inclusion Trust. Drawing on her work with families of differently-abled children through programs like Pictability and Now & Next, Annick shares how parents move from feeling overwhelmed to having agency, right here and right now, with what they already have.Her VIA signature strengths come through in every minute: Perseverance (Grit), Love of Learning, Hope, Zest, and Leadership — the same strengths she helps others discover and put to work toward the goals that matter most to them.