Empathetic Presence

We Survive Through Connection with Toya Northington

I've been trying to have this conversation for over a year. Toya Northington was the very first person I wanted on this podcast. We set a date. The morning we were supposed to record, she texted me that she'd been laid off from her DEI role, one of the first waves of a pattern we've all now watched unfold across this country. We rescheduled. And I'm so glad we did, because the conversation we had this March is the one we were meant to have. Toya is an artist, social worker, and founder of Frameworks for Growth, a creative wellness practice that uses art-based experiences to help people process what they've been carrying silently, before they can even put it into words. She's also a longtime client and one of the people I admire most in this work. In this episode, we talk about what it means to build your identity around a title, and what happens when that title disappears. We talk about DE&I professionals being the advocates taken away first, about isolation feeding anxiety, about creativity as a tool for coming back to yourself, not for creating something pretty, but for your own transformation. In this conversation we talk about: * What it means to rebuild your identity after a layoff * Creativity as excavation, not performance * The connection between speaking anxiety and the inability to hear your own inner voice * Why isolation makes anxiety worse, and community is the antidote * How grassroots movements have always been the thing that saves us * Why social work is the future of work About Toya Northington, MSSW: Toya Northington is an artist, social worker, and founder of Frameworks for Growth, a creative wellness practice built on the belief that creativity can help us understand our lives in ways words alone often can't. She works with people navigating seasons of change, caregiving, grief, burnout, or starting over, offering art-based experiences for reflection, expression, and reconnection. Guided by both clinical insight and lived experience, she creates space for people to process what they've been carrying silently before they can fully put it into words, strengthening their inner voice and supporting them in moving forward with clarity and intention. Her work has been featured on NPR, PBS, and Burnaway, and supported by the Kentucky Foundation for Women. Find Toya at frameworks4growth.com [https://www.frameworks4growth.com/] or on Instagram @toyaNorth.

Building a Care Society with Angelina Drake

In this moment when healthcare access feels increasingly precarious, Angelina Drake reminds us that care work is political work, and that our voices matter. A former home care worker who spent a decade working on care justice issues through long-term care policy and advocacy for nursing home and home care workers, Angelina now serves as Chief Development Officer at Protect Our Care, a healthcare policy organization working to lower healthcare costs, increase coverage, and improve health equity in the U.S. We talk about why care work is systematically undervalued, how the current political moment threatens healthcare access for millions, and what it means to build political will in your own community. Angelina shares how becoming a parent radicalized her understanding of care, why talking to each other is our most powerful tool, and how empathy can fuel—not drain—our advocacy work. Angelina Drake is a former home care worker who spent a decade working on care justice issues through long-term care policy and advocacy for nursing home and home care workers. In recent years, she focused on direct levers of political change supporting voter engagement, campaign, and other civic action research at the Analyst Institute. Angelina now serves as Chief Development Officer at Protect Our Care, a health care policy and narrative change organization that works to lower health care costs, increase health coverage, and improve health equity in the U.S. I spoke with Angelina about building the political will to improve care at a perilous moment for both health care and civic engagement. Learn more about Angelina’s work at protectourcare.org [http://protectourcare.org/]

Healing Through Ancestral Wisdom with Ssanyu Birigwa

Welcome back to Empathetic Presence. Today I'm sitting down with my dear friend Ssanyu Birigwa [https://www.ssanyubirigwa.com/], a Columbia-trained narrative medicine clinician and 80th generation indigenous bone healer whose practice bridges ancestral wisdom with embodied presence. In this conversation, Ssanyu shares how deep listening creates reciprocity between ourselves and others, why taking off our masks is both necessary and sometimes unsafe, and how connecting with ancestral knowledge can help us slow down in this fast world. We explore the intersection of narrative medicine and indigenous healing practices, discuss why qualitative research matters as much as quantitative data, and examine how high-achieving individuals can access the tools within themselves to heal and accelerate beyond their wildest dreams. In This Episode: * How Narrative Medicine teaches clinicians and leaders to be truly present with others * The practice of unmasking and why safety must come first * What it means to be a bone healer and how this lineage guides Ssanyu's work * Why our evolution doesn't require more input—it requires wisdom about when to engage and when to simply be * How to leverage resources collectively so more of us can feel safe taking off the mask * The power of sharing lived stories as an antidote to institutional silencing Ssanyu was born with healing hands—the proud descendant of Ugandan bone healers dating back more than 80 generations. Growing up between Newton, Massachusetts and East Africa, she witnessed the precision of Western medicine alongside the wisdom of ancestral healing practices that had sustained her lineage for centuries. After a health crisis left her partially paralyzed and the death of her uncle and surrogate father, she began asking the questions that would shape her life’s work: How do we listen to our bodies to understand the truth of our emotions? How do we heal physical pain by accessing the stories trapped within us? How do we bridge clinical rigor with ancestral knowing? This inquiry led her to Columbia University’s Narrative Medicine program, where she earned her master’s degree and received the 2016-2017 Narrative Medicine Fellowship. She now serves as Adjunct Professor at Columbia and lectures at Columbia Irving Medical Center on the intersection of spirituality and health. As Co-founder & CEO of Narrative Bridge, Ssanyu brings narrative medicine training to organizations seeking to integrate deep listening and embodied wisdom into leadership. She created the Pause3™ Method framework rooted in her lineage of bone healing and narrative medicine and leads the Resonance Lab, an annual practicum for leaders integrating these modalities into their own work. She has lectured and taught at institutions including the Sorbonne, Johns Hopkins, Kripalu, NYU, and led programs for the Soros Foundation in Uganda and Rwanda. She also maintains a private practice for leaders. This work is one of refinement, excavating what lives beneath burnout, disconnection, and inherited patterns to restore embodied presence and ancestral coherence. Through The Sunday Pause, her weekly newsletter, she shares contemplations on narrative medicine, ancestral healing, and what the bones already know. In Luganda, her father’s tongue, her name means “happiness, joy”—the energy she brings to this work and to the people she serves. www.ssanyubirigwa.com [http://www.ssanyubirigwa.com/] Substack: @ssanyubirigwa & @resonancelab

The Power of Words with Christina Ferguson

In this episode of Empathetic Presence, I sit down with Christina Ferguson, founder and chief storyteller at Parable [https://findyourparable.com/], to explore how words are "the primary vehicle in which we are human." Christina helps mission-driven organizations and leaders tap into their true identity—not by branding something external onto them, but by letting what's already inside come out. We dive deep into why so many of us struggle with our voices, whether written or spoken, and how we've lost the art of self-reflection in our hyper-connected world. What we explore: * Why identity work must come before mission and vision * How AI is removing the essential friction from our creative process * The difference between branding (stamping something on) and authentic expression (letting what's in come out) * How organizations can stay true to their values in challenging moments * Practical ways to develop self-knowing through reflection and spaciousness Christina shares her process of helping clients excavate their mission through questions rather than quick fixes, and why she believes "the process is the point." This conversation will resonate with anyone who wants to express themselves more authentically—whether you're leading an organization or just trying to find your own voice in a noisy world. Christina is a storyteller and meaning-maker. As the Founder and Chief Storyteller at Parable, she empowers leaders to put fresh, compelling words to who they are, where they're headed, and how they'll get there. Christina's expertise in communications, strategy, sales, and change management makes her a powerful partner for leaders and teams looking to scale more authentically. Christina has held positions in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors, including nonprofit fundraising firm Graham-Pelton, Georgetown University, and Ashoka. Christina holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Villanova University and a Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University. She is a graduate of the Leading Organizational Change program through Wharton Executive Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Learn more about Parable [http://findyourparable.com/] Connect with Christina [https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-ferguson-43566157/] Read Superbloom by Nicholas Carr [https://bookshop.org/p/books/superbloom-how-technologies-of-connection-tear-us-apart-nicholas-carr/21479362?ean=9781324064619&next=t]

Finding Hope Through Gratitude with Abigail Somma

In times of rising authoritarianism and social upheaval, how do we find hope without falling into toxic positivity? This week, I sit down with my dear friend Abigail Somma, founder of Gratitude Buddies [https://www.gratitudebuddies.com/] and mindfulness teacher, to explore gratitude as a tool for resistance and refocusing. Abbie taught me about loving-kindness meditation nearly a decade ago, and her approach to gratitude as a practice—not just a feeling—completely shifted how I understand presence and self-compassion. In this conversation, we explore: * Why gratitude becomes accessible in moments of crisis (and why it's harder during prolonged depression) * How to practice loving-kindness toward people who disagree with us * The difference between empathy and toxic positivity * How workplace gratitude has evolved from transaction to inner wellness—and what comes next * Gratitude Buddies: a platform for skill-sharing and community building beyond traditional capitalism * Why we need "compassionate wise action" instead of judgment * Using gratitude as a refocusing tool in moments of conflict Abigail Somma (Abbie) is the founder of Gratitude Buddies, a platform where people swap small joys and meaningful skills. She has coached and trained hundreds of people in mindfulness, gratitude and emotional wellbeing, and delivered workshops to international organizations, businesses, and leading universities. Previously, she worked in international policy as a speechwriter for business leaders, celebrities and multiple United Nations figureheads. Her writing has appeared in Scary Mommy, Foreign Policy, the Globe and Mail and others. She is also a poet and playwright, with degrees from Johns Hopkins University and Villanova University. Abbie lives in Vienna with her two children. Learn more at gratitudebuddies.com [http://gratitudebuddies.com/] and abigailsomma.com [http://abigailsomma.com/]. Timestamps: * 0:00 Introduction and how we met through Priya Parker * 3:00 Gratitude vs. toxic positivity * 8:00 Is gratitude innate or learned? * 11:00 Practicing loving-kindness toward difficult people * 15:00 Finding balance between empathy and effectiveness * 17:00 What is Gratitude Buddies? * 23:00 Europe vs. US: different responses to social regression * 28:00 Technology, AI, and staying human * 33:00 How to stay grounded in uncertain times