#42 - Andrea Cristancho

#42 - Andrea Cristancho

As a young American girl living in Colombia, with little understanding of what it meant to be from the United States, Andrea Cristancho had a firsthand brush with grassroots U.S. soft power — and it may have changed her life. One thing is certain: When, years later, the roles were reversed, and she was the American helping to implement development programs overseas, the impact was every bit as profound. In 2025, she was among a group of 10 individuals who received the William R. Rivkin Award for Constructive Dissent from the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA). 'SoftPower/FulStories' uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the world matters. Through conversations with diplomats, aid workers, Peace Corps volunteers, authors and artists, influencers, businesspeople, and more, SP/FS highlights how soft power and foreign aid and assistance strengthen America's security, prosperity, and global standing. But forget politics, policy, or punditry; this is all about the stories.

#41 - Sean Cotter

As a young Peace Corps volunteer in Romania, Sean Cotter saw the reverence given to poets and philosophers and suspected he had found his people. But in the beginning, he couldn't even understand a child's spoken words. Flash forward to the present, where Sean, as the world's preeminent translator of Romanian literature into English, now helps shine a light on a place — and a people — he has loved for a very long time. 'SoftPower/FulStories' uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the world matters. Through conversations with diplomats, aid workers, Peace Corps volunteers, authors and artists, influencers, businesspeople, and more, SP/FS highlights how soft power and foreign aid and assistance strengthen America's security, prosperity, and global standing. But forget politics, policy, or punditry; this is all about the stories.

PS6 - Kao Kalia Yang's Home on the Page (Powerful Stories #6)

"I am interested in what it takes to be the happy endings that our elders have been waiting for." --Kao Kalia Yang Award-winning author Kao Kalia Yang's voice has always been there, even though it wasn't always obvious. But even when she held it in, even when others couldn't hear it, it was there. And before she became a singular speaker (and soft, powerful storyteller), that voice found its home on the page. From her childhood in a refugee camp, to finding her way in the United States, to becoming the most decorated Hmong American writer, to life as a person of color in Minnesota, Kalia's stories are unforgettable. "Powerful Stories" is the Minnesota offshoot of SoftPower/FulStories, which uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the world matters. Through conversations with diplomats, aid workers, Peace Corps volunteers, authors and artists, influencers, businesspeople, and more, SP/FS highlights how soft power and foreign aid and assistance strengthen America's security, prosperity, and global standing. Episode artwork inspired by SEO KIM, from her cover of Kao Kalia Yang's "Home on the Page."

#40 - Paul E. White (Part 2)

Note: This is the second of a two-part episode. We strongly recommend you start with Part 1. Paul E. White's stories cannot be contained in a single episode. In fact, this is the second of a two-part episode in which neither progresses past his very first assignment, in Laos in the 1960s. From there, he went on to become a legend in the USAID ranks--and it's easy to see why. In this episode, we meet Paul as a newly minted USAID refugee relief and rehabilitation officer, continuing to do development work with the Hmong in the middle of a hot war zone.

#40 - Paul E. White (Part 1)

Paul E. White's stories cannot be contained in a single episode. In fact, this is the first of a two-part episode in which neither progresses past his very first assignment, in Laos in the 1960s. From there, he went on to become a legend in the USAID ranks--and it's easy to see why. In this episode, we meet Paul as a brand new International Voluntary Services teacher doing development work in the middle of a hot war zone. SoftPower/FulStories uses first-person stories to explore why U.S. engagement in the world matters. Through conversations with diplomats, aid workers, Peace Corps volunteers, authors and artists, influencers, businesspeople, and more, SP/FS highlights how soft power and foreign aid and assistance strengthen America's security, prosperity, and global standing.