Lead The Change

In this episode, Bard MBA candidate Ana Caka interviews Zainab James, founder of Vaz House Café, a jazz-inspired Caribbean specialty coffee shop launching in Manchester, Connecticut. Zainab traces the café's origins to making morning coffee for her grandfather in Jamaica and her family's roots in the island's hospitality industry, sharing how heritage and community shaped the concept. She speaks candidly about the realities of early-stage entrepreneurship, including her observation that founders are often over-educated and underfunded, and reflects on direct-trade sourcing, sustainability, and building a brand that gives back to its local community.

In this episode, Bard MBA student Seamus Heady interviews Kristy Drutman, founder of Brown Girl Green and Green Jobs Board, about using creative storytelling to make climate work feel human, joyful, and actionable. Kristy explains why leaning into joy and community helps sustain activism and prevent burnout, and how creators are becoming trusted intermediaries between insular institutions and wider audiences. She makes the case for bridging digital organizing with in-person "third spaces," from climate drag shows to her Green Jobs Pavilion Summit, and encourages aspiring storytellers to stay persistent and treat their work as a growing portfolio rather than chasing virality.

In this episode, Bard MBA student Eric Sargent interviews John Edel, founder and director of Bubbly Dynamics, about transforming derelict Chicago industrial buildings into closed-loop ecosystems for small businesses. John shares the story behind The Plant, a former meatpacking facility now home to 25 food producers, brewers, urban farmers, and manufacturers who share resources, waste streams, and community. He discusses industrial symbiosis, adaptive reuse, and slow money financing, and explains how Bubbly Dynamics proves that responsible, community-centered industrial redevelopment can be financially viable.

In this episode, Bard MBA student Jake Rosenzweig-Stein interviews Bill Fotsch, business consultant and researcher, about economic engagement and its role in building more equitable, resilient businesses. Bill introduces his five-pillar framework, grounded in 30 years of research, and explains how treating employees as true partners drives double the profit growth of traditional management approaches. The conversation covers how economic engagement supports ESOP conversions, succession planning, and local economic resilience.

In this episode, Melanie Rua of Bloomberg Intelligence sits down with Randall Strickland, a sustainable investment advisor to philanthropic organizations, and Jesse Gerstin, faculty at the Bard MBA in Sustainability and community finance practitioner at the nonprofit Inclusiv.  Together, they untangle the differences between ESG, sustainable finance and impact investing; and discuss how the field is evolving amid political backlash and shifting narratives. Despite the headlines, they argue that the underlying work of aligning finance with environmental and social outcomes continues—often under different names.  The conversation covers public and private markets, the long-term opportunity in clean energy, and the financial fluency today's sustainability leaders need to drive meaningful change across every sector. This episode captures the energy of Bard's 'Inside Sustainability Live' series, where real-world practitioners and academics come together to build community and share strategies for advancing sustainability work in challenging times. Bard’s Graduate Programs in Sustainability cultivate leaders who break through existing systems, innovating solutions to critical social, environmental and economic challenges. 2023 marked the 20th anniversary of the first graduating class from M.S. in Environmental Policy degree at Bard CEP and the 10th graduating class from the Bard MBA in Sustainability program. The 2024 graduating MS EP, MS CSP, MEd and MBA classes brought the Bard GPS alumni community to over 500!   MEET THE SPEAKERS Randy Strickland Randy is a Director at Westfuller Advisors and faculty at the Bard MBA in Sustainability, where he focuses on sustainable and impact investing. At Westfuller, he partners with philanthropic organizations and family offices to develop and manage mission-driven investment portfolios, supporting sourcing and due diligence across asset classes to build ESG and impact portfolios. Previously, he held leadership roles at Pathstone Family Office, Cornerstone Capital Group, City National Bank of New Jersey (now Industrial Bank), ImpactAssets, Principal Global Investors, and Commonfund. Randy is a member of the Impact & Sustainable Finance Faculty Consortium, a Fellow of Trinity Church Wall Street’s Allocator Collective, and was named to the 2025 Who’s Who in Impact Investing by the Impact Finance Center and the Denver Business Journal. Jesse Gerstin Jesse is Vice President of the Center for Resiliency and Clean Power at Inclusiv and faculty at the Bard MBA in Sustainability, working at the intersection of impact investing and renewable energy. He previously led sustainability at SimpliPhi Power, expanding energy storage solutions and improving energy access for underserved communities globally. Earlier in his career, he led the Clinton Climate Initiative’s work accelerating utility-scale renewable energy in island nations, strengthening climate resilience, and supporting sustainable economic development for Native American nations. He has also worked with an impact investor in Indonesia and at Echoing Green in New York City supporting social entrepreneurs. Melanie Rua Melanie is a Senior Associate at Bloomberg Intelligence, where she leads ESG research focused on nature-related risks such as water scarcity, biodiversity loss, and deforestation, and how these issues shape corporate performance and capital allocation. Her work uses geospatial data, predictive modeling, and materiality frameworks to analyze environmental risks and opportunities across sectors including energy, chemicals, and packaged food. In addition to her research, Melanie manages a team of associate analysts and regularly shares her insights through industry panels, guest lectures, and Bloomberg Intelligence’s ESG Currents podcast. She holds an MBA in Sustainability from Bard College and the CFA Institute Certificate in Sustainable Investing.

In this episode, Bard MBA faculty member and Lead the Change host Renay Loper sits down with colleague and fellow Bard MBA instructor Ayana Fernandes Pilgrim, founder and CEO of the Talent Cornerstone, for a candid conversation about the seismic shifts reshaping the future of work. Drawing on decades of experience leading global talent initiatives, Ayana examines the dangerous intersection of declining DEI commitments and the rapid rise of AI in hiring. She introduces the concept of "divine dualism" to describe AI's simultaneous promise and peril, makes the case for why soft skills are actually the essential skills of the new economy, and offers practical guidance for employees and job seekers on how to shift from an employee consciousness to an ownership mindset and lead themselves well in an era of relentless change.

In this episode, Bard MBA director Eban Goodstein interviews Alejandro Juárez Crawford and Miriam Plavin-Masterman, co-authors of One Size Fits None, about how VC-driven scale and corporate cost-cutting have created unresponsive systems that squeeze consumers and workers alike. They share stories of grassroots innovators using platforms like Rebel Base to solve local problems—from disability employment in the Philippines to vegan leather made from jackfruit peels in Bangladesh—and discuss alternative funding models that keep capital and decision-making in communities. Their message: structured opportunities to experiment can awaken entrepreneurial capabilities everywhere, because "there's no Hollywood hero riding in to save us.

In this episode, Bard MBA student Sarah Bergman interviews Carrie Ellen Phillips, Partner at BPCM and sustainability policy advocate, and Erin Beatty, founder of Rentrayage, about the evolving landscape of sustainable fashion. They discuss how global disruptions are revealing which companies are truly committed to change, the promise of European textile circularity legislation, and why upcycling and dead stock sourcing are becoming easier to scale. Together, they make the case that sustainable fashion is becoming an inevitability, driven by falling costs and a younger generation demanding better.

In this episode recorded live at Bard College's Brooklyn campus, Bard MBA faculty member Dr. Michael Shuman interviews Karla Pinzón, manager of curriculum development at Solar One. Karla discusses her vision for sustainability in New York City through the lens of "local power by local people," emphasizing the importance of investing in local workforce development programs to train New Yorkers in the energy transition. She shares insights on navigating New York's Climate Mobilization Act, creative financing strategies for building retrofits, and developing HVAC and decarbonization curriculum for NYC public schools. The conversation explores how local investment, community empowerment, and career technical education can drive equitable sustainability outcomes while building economic self-determination in urban environments.

In this live episode recorded during Climate Week NYC 2025, Bard MBA professor Renay Loper hosts a conversation with Alec Turnbull, co-founder of Climate Tech Cities and the Climate Film Festival, and Lauren Kiel, Global Head of Community Innovation at Bloomberg Media. The panel tackles communicating climate action in a polarized environment, discussing why talking about 'value instead of values' resonates with business leaders and why 89% of people care about climate despite the stigma around discussing it. They explore the shift from headlines to action, the power of personal stories over macro messaging, and why record-breaking Climate Week attendance suggests real momentum continues. The conversation emphasizes that incremental progress matters, long-term planning persists despite political headwinds, and the most important climate action we can take is simply talking about it.