Listen. Learn. Grow.
Listen. Learn. Grow.
Season Two is here, and oh, I can't wait to share all the places I go!
This season, I'm taking the pod across the pond to Northern Ireland, a place where common ground felt almost impossible just a few decades ago during the 30-year conflict known as "the Troubles."
Special guests will guide us through the history and introduce us to the music that helped end the Troubles.
I'll also take you on a journey to a sacred place called Corrymeela on Northern Ireland's coast. This peace and reconciliation retreat is known for bringing people together, and it has hosted high-profile peacemakers, including the Dalai Lama.
Tune in on Spotify or Apple Podcasts!
Grounded on Purpose Season Two
Check out our latest episodes on Spotify or Apple podcasts (linked below). Our video podcasts are also available on Spotify and YouTube.
Grounded on Purpose Season One
Our plot begins here.
Find your roots.
Dig in.
Get Grounded.
The Wonders of Walking
with Professor Bonnie Smith Whitehouse
We are ending Season One with author and professor Bonnie Smith Whitehouse. This interview is sure to inspire and help you get back on your feet.
Bonnie explains how rituals like walking and finding time to capture your creativity can work wonders for the seasons we’re in. We also dive deep into her new book “Seasons of Wonder,” which comes out in the fall of 2022.
Episode 7
Psychologist and Vanderbilt University Associate Professor Lisa Fazio's ground-breaking research on how our brains work when we encounter misinformation and disinformation is vital for us all to hear. As a social media researcher, what draws me most to Lisa’s work is the data she uncovers and the fairly simple solutions we can all practice to combat misinformation and disinformation online. In our latest episode, Lisa breaks down the truth behind "fake news," why we fall for fallacies, and how we can find common ground to stop the spread of misinformation online.
Episode 6
True or False? A deep dive into misinformation
with psychologist Lisa Fazio
Dr. Darren Linvill is a professor at Clemson University and is also an author, researcher, and expert on social media disinformation and political discourse. He joins our first video podcast to explain the latest Russian disinformation campaigns and how they have grown since he began hunting online Russian trolls in 2017. He also gives tips on how we can all stop the spread of misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda online.
Episode 5
Social Media Disinformation
with Dr. Darren Linvill
Improving your Health and Wellness
with Professor Marnie VandenNoven
We are just over a month into the new year, and this means you may be one of the 80% who have already broken New Year’s resolutions. I’m here to tell you, it’s all going to be okay. And you don’t just have to take it from me – I have an amazing health and wellness expert who is going to break it all down and tell us why it’s okay if you abandon those lofty New Year’s goals.
I first met today’s guest when I started teaching as a full-time professor. I was at an orientation, and a woman named Marnie Vanden Noven started talking to a room full of new professors about why it’s important to incorporate wellness into our everyday routines. I found myself nodding while she talked, and I thought, I hope I get to work with this amazing woman even though we are on the opposite sides of campus.
Well, if you’ve listened to this podcast at all, you know I’m one of those weird introverts who somehow musters the courage to speak out when someone way cooler than me crosses my path. I’ve served on several committees with Marnie, but when I was researching her background, I realized there was so much more I didn’t know about her.
Marnie received her doctorate degree in integrative neuromuscular physiology, exercise physiology and exercise science and has worked professionally as a physical therapist and athletic trainer. She also travels the globe as a professor, and has some incredible stories to share with us today about health and wellness from around the world. Marnie joins this special episode from across the pond in Belfast, Ireland, and she also tackles listener's health and wellness questions.
Episode 3
“Her Country”
with Author Marissa R. Moss
Country Music through the Lens of Maren Morris, Mickey Guyton, and Kacey Musgraves
Award-winning journalist and author, Marissa R. Moss. Marissa sits down with us to talk about her new book “Her Country: How the Women of Country Music Became the Success They Were Never Supposed to Be.”
Marissa tells the “inside story of the last twenty years of country music through the lens of Maren Morris, Mickey Guyton, and Kacey Musgraves―their peers and inspirations, their paths to stardom, and their battles against a deeply embedded boys’ club, as well as their efforts to transform the genre into a more inclusive place for all.”
You can pre-order the book through the link below:https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250793591/hercountry
In addition to her book, I also talk to Marissa about her breakthrough story in Rolling Stone Country on the culture of sexual harassment in the world of country radio, which opened people’s eyes to the problems plaguing country music and added a new dimension to the #TimesUp and #MeToo movements. We also discuss Taylor Swift and her similar battles with the industry.
This conversation with Marissa also inspired me to reflect on my own experiences of being a woman in the media and entertainment business. To put it lightly, it hasn’t been easy. As I explain in this episode, I’ve had to battle many good ol’ boys clubs the past two decades, and I’m thankful my dad and big brother raised a strong-willed woman and told me I could be anything I wanted to be. I also married a man who believes the same.
I feel it’s important to note I had some pretty amazing good guys who were anti-good ol’ boys club and served as my mentors in the beginning of my career and where I currently work today. But that hasn’t always been the case.As I raise two girls and look at my mom, sister and niece, I can’t help but think about those who tried – and still try – to tear me down. And how as women, we still have a ways to go.
Country music has a famous motto: “Three chords and the truth.”
It’s important to speak our truths and listen to these conversations with an open mind. By doing so, I believe we all can be the change our future generations need (sisters, daughters, nieces and friends all included).I hope you enjoy this eye-opening and honest conversation with Marissa Moss.
As always, thank you for listening!
Episode 2
Lessons from Maya Angelou
with Professor Amy Hodges-Hamilton
Episode 4
Amy Hodges Hamilton and I share a mutual love for Dr. Maya Angelou. I came to know Dr. Angelou’s work best while working with Oprah, and later, I interviewed Dr. Angelou while working with Anderson Cooper. I was so inspired by Dr. Angelou that I named my daughter Maya.
Amy first got to know Dr. Angelou through her own daughter during a scary time in her life. When Amy’s daughter Grace was just 2 years old, she battled high-risk pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a diagnosis that most toddlers couldn’t repeat out loud, let alone understand. Dr. Angelou inspired Amy throughout this incredibly hard time and even traveled to the university where Amy works to speak to the students and community. During that speech, Dr. Angelou spoke about God putting a rainbow in the sky as a symbol of the possibility of seeing hope.
Years later, Dr. Angelou brought up rainbows again on a TV special with Oprah that I was working on. During that special, Dr. Angelou said, “Be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud.”
This quote sits proudly in my daughter’s room over a bright and beautiful rainbow. It makes me smile every day.
I hope this special episode exploring the wit and wisdom of Dr. Maya Angelou makes you smile, brings hope, and inspires you to find the rainbows through the clouds.
Episode 1
How to Live “A Good Life”
with Professor Mary Ellen Pethel
What makes a good life? Some think it’s wisdom. Others put more value on wealth. Somewhere on the list is also happiness and health. So how can we achieve this quest for “a good life” if we all define it so differently?
Professor Mary Ellen Pethel teaches a class called “A Good Life” at Belmont University in Nashville and sits down with us for a mini-master class to help answer this age-old question.
Mary Ellen is an author, historian, digital humanist, academic entrepreneur, and creator of the historical walking tour app Nashville Sites. She is also one of the smartest, kindest, and most purposeful people I have ever met.
Join us as we tackle the $64,000 question of what makes “A Good Life.”