'From Isolation to Community' with Shaka Senghor

'Joy Is the Strategy' with Brad Newsham

Overview Brad Newsham is a travel writer and self-taught organizer who has spent 20 years staging human banner events on Ocean Beach, where thousands of people lie in the sand to spell out a political message, photographed from above, with music instead of speeches and dancing instead of marching. No staff. No permission required. Just people creating something beautiful together. This conversation is proof of concept for what People in Common is trying to do: inspire people to joyful collective action.  Action Opportunities * Attend — RSVP at mobilize.us/indivisiblesf/event/953531 * Create your own banner — Templates, tips, and instructions at humanbanner-sf.com/backyard-banner * Donate to Human Banner-SF — Venmo @Brad-Newsham (code 8294) or PO Box 31006, San Francisco, CA 94131 * Browse 20 years of banners — humanbanner-sf.com/our-history-of-banners. Then share it with someone who says protests don't work. Key Takeaways You Can Do This Brad Newsham has no nonprofit status, no institutional backing, no paid staff. He is a travel writer who in 2006 was sitting at a kitchen table with his daughter, saw Google Earth for the first time, and was literally lifted out of his chair by a vision: big letters on Ocean Beach, the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, a thousand people lying in the sand. He spent 10 weeks working out the logistics, paid the first $3,500 out of his savings, and 20 years later has staged 37 banners with as many as 7,000 people each time. The lesson is that you could be Brad. When a union board voted down a proposal he believed in, Brad vowed that if he ever cared that much about something again, he would design it so he didn't need anyone's permission. Now he inspires thousands, no permission required.  Joy Is the Strategy Brad designed events he would personally want to attend, with art, music, costumes, and families welcome. The result: people don't want to leave. 20 years on, participants keep aerial postcards from early events on their walls. "This is so much fun. People don't want to go home. The music is basically a demand from our participants now." The Wilderness Years Are Real Brad received a death threat that kept him off the beach for six months. Two banners during the Biden years got zero media coverage. He went three and a half years without a single event and believed the chapter was over. Then his co-organizer Travis texted him one word: "Beachable?" 14 banners later, 9,000 are on his email list. Lesson: it is okay to pause. The Model Is Replicable by Design A San Diego organizer saw a photo of a 2017 RESIST! banner, cold-emailed Brad, and got grid instructions in return. 500 people showed up in San Diego. Santa Cruz organized their own after April 2026. Walnut Creek. Washington D.C. His ‘Backyard Banner’ concept brings the model down to 10 people in a backyard with a selfie stick. Brad actively helps people start their own wherever they are - this could be you! * You need: 10 people, a flat surface, a way to photograph from above * You do not need: a beach, 1,000 people, a permit, a budget, or anyone's permission "Given this country we all love, who gets an excused absence?... I feel so much better being engaged than I did in the brief times that I've sat on the sidelines and just wished this would all go away." What It Feels Like Connectivity is the point. Standing in a letter with strangers, passing a message down the line, waiting for a drone, laughing while lying flat on cold sand. Brad walked hand in hand with a man dressed as Mr. Rogers through a crowd of 5,000 people. He describes standing on the seawall watching 40 or 50 volunteers running the event without him needing to direct any of it, and feeling something he didn't have words for. That is the thing collective action can do. "I swear I heard this 50 times from other people before I let these words come out of my mouth: people have called us the face of the resistance."

'From Isolation to Community' with Shaka Senghor

Key Takeaways The Isolation Trap We're stuck. Millions of us share the same concerns. We even agree on most goals. But isolation prevents action. Shaka Senghor understands isolation better than most. Nineteen years in prison. Seven and a half in solitary confinement. During the pandemic, successful investors and professional athletes called him for help navigating their own isolation. His insight: we all carry hidden prisons. Grief. Anger. Shame. Trauma. Self-doubt. These invisible barriers hold us back more than any external circumstance. When we recognize this shared truth, it changes how we treat ourselves and each other. This is what People in Common addresses: the isolation that keeps people stuck despite shared goals. Community creates possibility. Shaka's work shows what happens when we move from individual concern to collective action. Freedom Is an Inside Job "I was incarcerated before I ever was arrested and I was free long before they let me out of prison. Freedom really is an inside job." This is the foundation of everything Shaka teaches - and why it matters right now when so many of us feel stuck. After his second parole denial following 18 years behind bars, he faced a choice: surrender to despair or transform from within. He chose hope. Through daily practices of journaling, meditation, and creative expression, Shaka discovered that "the most important is the conversation I have with myself." Internal dialogue shapes everything. Hidden Prisons We All Carry - And Practices That Free Us The practices that sustained Shaka through solitary confinement work for everyone. When people say they're too busy for the work that would end suffering, Shaka pushes back: "Intention creates the time." He journals whether for 10 minutes or an hour. The practice matters more than the duration. He says the unhealed part of us causes harm "until people are courageous enough to say, I'm going to break the cycle." Respect and Curiosity Bridge Everything Whether he's talking to Oprah Winfrey or Joe Rogan, Shaka approaches every conversation with respect and curiosity. Not because he agrees but because he'll have a conversation with anyone, as long as it's not "performative...I would rather us be completely disagreeable and authentic. That's an interesting conversation." This practice of genuine curiosity bridges supposedly unbridgeable divides. His work on criminal justice reform with both parties proves it: "When you start getting into how do we save kids dying from opioids and fentanyl, how do we allocate taxes well, how do we make sure people are being taken care of in our community? Those conversations without a doubt are always the same. We really want the same thing. We just don't know how to get there." The Literary Lounge: Individual Liberation Made Real On February 3rd, 2026, the Shaka Senghor Literary Lounge opened at Michigan Central Station in Detroit. His actual handwriting covers the walls - journals from prison, his first piece of fiction written on Michigan Department of Corrections paper. Books helped set Shaka free. Now he's built infrastructure where 1,000+ young people annually discover that same freedom. Individual liberation leads to collective transformation.‍‍‍ Action Opportunities * Read "How to Be Free" and subscribe to the "Hidden Prisons" newsletter at shakasenghor.com * Watch "Why Your Worst Deeds Don't Define You" (TED Talk with 1.8M views) * Visit and support the Shaka Senghor Literary Lounge * Practice the work that frees you and others: journal, have "the most important conversation" with yourself, approach difference with respect and curiosity, recognize the hidden prisons others carry and let it change how you treat them * Join People in Common's listener-matching system to connect with others ready to act locally (email podcast@jamaadams.com or reply "MATCH" to any episode post)

'Start Something Local' with Jama

Action Opportunities * Start something local this week: You don't need a budget, a board, a brand. Just one or two people who know good people, a room with good coffee, and the discipline to show up. Jama's playbook is available -- email her at innovators@jamaadams.com to request it. * Try the problem-solving format: Gather five to ten people you trust across different industries. Give one person with a real problem 45 minutes of the group's focus. Watch what happens. The framework is simple, the trust, curiosity, and a little bit of structure is key. * Share this episode with someone who's overwhelmed: Know someone who cares deeply but feels overwhelmed by the stakes or the scale? This episode is for them. * Connect with Jama: Follow her work at jamaadams.com or on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/jamaadams. If something in this episode sparks an idea for your own corner of the world, please share. * Follow People in Common: New episodes drop every other Tuesday through November. Each one is a different answer to the same question: What can WE do? Follow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube. Key Takeaways ‍This episode is a little different. Jama's friend and Innovators community member Jon Bonanno turns the microphone around and interviews her -- and they end up going somewhere unexpected. Two years ago, Jama co-founded a monthly gathering in her hometown: entrepreneurs, builders, and community leaders, once a month, helping each other work through real problems. No budget. No pitch. Just a tight structure, a room full of generous people, and one rule: bring something you haven't figured out yet. One meeting became a community of 44. Twenty-two gatherings. Ten structured problem-solving sessions that changed real businesses, careers, and civic projects. A restaurant owner raised non-dilutive capital weeks before opening day using an idea the group generated in 45 minutes. A founder navigating a complex merger said a single session was "one of the most impactful things that shaped my trajectory as a leader." A group on the other side of the country adopted the model using Jama's documents, and held a successful first session without ever having seen it in person. The conversation covers how the community started, the "Help Me Solve This" framework, and what 25 years of coalition-building at the highest levels (Giving Pledge, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, the launch of a national Responsible AI Framework) taught Jama about what actually moves people. The answer keeps coming back to the same thing: values, trust, and showing up for each other. Near the end, Jama says something she keeps coming back to. When enormous stakes make any effort feel inadequate, the antidote is not doing more. It is doing something local. That is where it all begins. And it is replicable anywhere -- including your town, this week, with people you already know.

'Chaos to Clarity' with Tiana Epps-Johnson

"We spend the same amount on maintaining our parking facilities as we do on running elections." Elections are "the load-bearing beam of democracy and the civil rights issue of our time." Tiana Epps-Johnson, CEO of the Center for Tech and Civic Life, uses technology to prevent that beam from cracking under coordinated attacks targeting 8,000 election offices that represent the scaffolding of our democracy. ‍Action Opportunities Support CTCL's work: Donate to the Center for Tech and Civic Life at techandciviclife.org to help protect election infrastructure and support officials under threat. Volunteer as a poll worker: The single thing that most increases confidence in elections is a positive interaction with your local poll worker. Be that person. Get a front-row seat to democracy in action. Share accurate information: Combat chaos by helping people in your networks understand how elections actually work‍. Subscribe to CTCL's newsletter: Stay current with election administration stories, trainings, best practices, and updates from the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence at techandciviclife.org/our-work/election-officials/electricity Connect with Tiana: Follow her work on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/tianaej  Key Takeaways ‍1. Elections are the scaffolding holding democracy together. The 8,000 election offices nationwide operate as an interconnected web, the load-bearing beam of how we make decisions as a country. But this infrastructure runs on massive resource gaps - from $2 per voter in some jurisdictions to $60 in others - and officials increasingly under attack for doing their jobs. When the foundation cracks, everything falls. 2. Chaos itself is the weapon. Tiana draws a parallel to tactics used in the tobacco industry: when you can't win on facts, you make things so confusing that people give up and look away. Make the system overwhelming enough that people disengage entirely. The pattern is clear: 2016 cyber attacks, 2018 disinformation, 2020 pandemic exploitation, 2022 vitriol driving officials out, 2024-2025 foreign interference. Each wave designed to overwhelm, confuse, and break trust in the systems holding us together. 3. Translation work is the antidote. Tiana takes overwhelming election systems and helps people understand and engage with them - the same work this podcast tries to do with activism. CTCL publishes civic information accessed over 200 million times. Making the invisible visible, the complex actionable. Meeting people where they are with what they actually need. 4. Building networks vs. building walls. In 2022, Tiana launched the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence, an $80 million, five-year program bringing together election officials, technologists, and designers across all 50 states. Officials from red counties and blue counties work together because they share something more fundamental than politics: commitment to protecting democracy's infrastructure through peer support rather than top-down mandates. 5. Defending democracy comes at a personal cost. In 2020, CTCL distributed $350 million to help local election offices run safe elections during COVID. The attacks that followed were unprecedented. Staying focused on mission when protecting democracy makes you a target requires resilience most of us don't have. Tiana and thousands of election officials do this work every day, often without recognition, frequently under threat.

'Protecting Elections Together' with Carolina Lopez

Carolina Lopez leads the Partnership for Large Election Jurisdictions (PLEJ), a national network supporting the officials who run elections for more than 123 million Americans. When election officials face threats, natural disasters threaten polling places, or misinformation spreads, Carolina and her network are the first responders. It's all about "agility, resilience, and network." We talk about why elections matter to everything we hold dear, how PLEJ builds trust across deep political divides, and what it looks like when Republicans and Democrats work together to protect the foundation of our democracy. Carolina shares stories from her decade running elections in Miami-Dade County, explains how peer support works when officials come under attack, and offers concrete ways we can all show up for the people protecting democracy at the local level. The conversation gets real about the challenges election officials face, from armed interference to misinformation campaigns. And it also highlights an incredible network of dedicated public servants who refuse to be divided, who show up for each other across partisan lines, and who are more prepared than ever to protect our collective ability to participate in democracy. Action Opportunities Be a Prepared Voter: Ensure your voter registration is accurate. Confirm your polling location. Check your local election office website. Support Your Local Elections: Become a poll worker (there's a critical shortage) at powerthepolls.org Follow your local elections office; they're the subject-matter experts in your community When your local office is strapped for resources, show up: write a proactive op-ed, volunteer, send a letter to the board, or speak at a budget hearing Support the Work: Donate to PLEJ at taketheplej.org Follow @taketheplej on social media to stay informed For Election Officials: PLEJ-eligible election offices: Consider joining the network All election offices: Access PLEJ's nonpartisan, publicly available resources and operational forecasting tools at taketheplej.org Key Takeaways In a world where the integrity and efficiency of elections are crucial, Carolina Lopez is a beacon of hope and innovation. As the founding executive director of PLEJ, she is leading a transformative movement that connects large election jurisdictions across the United States. 1. The Birth of PLEJ: A Network for Election Officials Carolina Lopez founded PLEJ to create the first national nonprofit network for large election offices. The goal: foster collaboration and share best practices on things like "How do we get [voters] in and out the door quicker?" 2. The Village of Support: A Unique Approach Carolina describes a collaborative environment where election officials can share knowledge and resources. This collaborative approach not only enhances problem-solving but also builds a community among election officials, enabling them to navigate challenges more effectively. 3. Addressing Challenges to Elections Carolina highlights the importance of preparedness, especially in the face of threats, whether natural disasters, pandemics, or cybersecurity threats. She emphasizes the need for early detection of potential issues. "How do you communicate transparently?" 4. Continuous Improvement: Learning from Each Election "You're only as good as the last [election]." PLEJ serves as a platform for learning and sharing experiences, helping election officials adapt and grow with each election cycle. The focus on best practices ensures that every election is more efficient and voter-friendly than the last. Carolina Lopez is all about the power of collaboration and continuous improvement in elections. By fostering a support network among large election jurisdictions, PLEJ makes elections more efficient and ensures that the voices of voters are heard and respected. In an increasingly complex electoral landscape, the principles of transparency, preparedness, and community support are essential.