From Orphan to Berkeley Engineer

The Ambitious Little S#*!:

What happens when the institutions you trusted turn out to be the problem? Matt Stoller spent his twenties credentialing himself — Harvard, Congressional staffing, policy circles — and trusting that the credentialed people knew what they were doing. The Iraq War changed that. The 2008 financial crisis finished it. “I had validated myself based on all of the credentials I had accrued. But those credentials were given to me by people like that. So I was torn between this notion of — are you going to try to curry favor with people who are powerful, which is really how you get ahead as a kid? Or are you going to adhere to a sort of moral code?” What emerged from that reckoning was a decade-long dive into the anti-monopoly tradition buried in American law — and Goliath, his seminal book about how concentrated corporate power quietly reshaped democracy without most of us noticing. Today he runs BIG [https://www.thebignewsletter.com/], a newsletter with 150,000 readers, and directs research at the American Economic Liberties Project — translating antitrust law into stories about fire trucks, water coolers, vet bills, and all the other places where private equity roll-ups are making daily life more expensive and more fragile. Stoller’s career arc — from credentialed true believer to moral crisis to deep historical reckoning — is also a story about what it costs to trust institutions uncritically, and what it means to rebuild your compass from the ground up. In a moment when trust in institutions is collapsing and expertise is being weaponized on all sides, his argument for epistemic humility — grounded not in cynicism but in a genuine conviction that every person carries a touch of the divine — is its own kind of radical act. In this conversation, Matt talks with Dr. Michelle Weise and Rev. Dana Allen Walsh about: * What monopoly power actually looks like — in fire trucks, spring water, veterinary practices, and electric bills * Why curiosity is the foundation of democratic life — and why intellectual humility can be depressing * His unexpected take on the Federal Reserve as religious institution * What daily Talmud study has to do with a sense of calling Read Matt’s newsletter BIG: bignewsletter.com Listen to Organized Money: organizedmoney.fm About Matt Stoller Matt Stoller is the Director of Research at the American Economic Liberties Project and the author of Goliath: The Hundred Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy — called “one of the year’s best books on how to rethink capitalism and improve the economy” by Business Insider. A former policy advisor to the Senate Budget Committee and staffer on the Financial Services Committee during the 2008 financial crisis, Matt now runs the newsletter BIG and co-hosts the podcast Organized Money with David Dayen. His work translates the arcane machinery of monopoly power and antitrust law into stories that explain why everyday life feels increasingly expensive, fragile, and unfair. About the Podcast: A Life Worth Working A Life Worth Working is hosted by Michelle Weise [https://michelleweise.substack.com/], a writer on the future of learning and work, and Dana Allen Walsh [https://artofflourishing.substack.com/], an executive coach and pastor. Each week, they talk with guests who open up about the messiness, transformation, and wonder of their work lives — what they call the soul of work. 🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode. ⭐ Leave a review — it helps more people find the show. 📩 Email us: alifeworthworking@gmail.com Get full access to Skilling Me Softly | A Life Worth Working at michelleweise.substack.com/subscribe [https://michelleweise.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Recalibration Is Persistence

What if joy is the most radical tool for change we have? Yana Buhrer Tavanier grew up in communist Bulgaria, where speaking the wrong truth could get you declared mentally ill. After nearly a decade as an award-winning investigative journalist — and after managing to close exactly one of the fifty-plus institutions she exposed — she arrived at a hard truth: Facts alone don’t make people care. Art does. Play does. Joy does. She’s now the co-founder and Executive Director of Fine Acts, a global nonprofit creative studio working at the intersection of art, technology, science, and human rights — and the creator of “Playtivism,” a science-backed methodology that uses creative play as a tool for social change. She is also a TED Fellow. "The collaborations with artists were the things that people remembered, that drove people in, that in some cases grabbed people by the throat and really made them do something about the issue." In this conversation, Yana talks with Dr. Michelle Weise and Rev. Dana Allen Walsh about: * Growing up in a family that was punished for its convictions — including an aunt whose art and spirit were crushed by the communist psychiatric system * What Dr. Stuart Brown’s research on play revealed about burnout and change * How Fine Acts’ LABS format pairs strangers across disciplines for 48-hour creative sprints * “Controlled failure” — her concept for the deliberate leap into something you’re not ready for * Why the word she uses for her career is “recalibration,” not reinvention “Play can prevent very high levels of burnout and depression amongst activists — and it can give us the much-needed feeling that we’ve got this. So we embrace joy as the process. It’s not necessarily that the final result is going to be funny or light. It’s about feeling free, feeling unburdened, while in the process of creation.” Her concept of Playtivism isn't just a theory. It's a methodology built on neuroscience, tested through years of failure, and proven through campaigns that have actually shifted hearts. In a moment when activists are burning out and information is being weaponized, Yana's insistence on joy — not as an afterthought but as a strategy — is both countercultural and essential. Learn more about Fine Acts: fineacts.co 📬 Subscribe to A Life Worth Working 🎙️ Listen wherever you get your podcasts 📩 Email us: hello@alifeworthworking.com About Our Guest Yana Buhrer Tavanier (YAH-nah BOO-rer tah-vahn-YAY) is a TED Senior Fellow and the co-founder and Executive Director of Fine Acts, a global nonprofit creative studio for social impact. Born in communist Bulgaria, she has spent her career at the intersection of journalism, activism, art, technology, and science — developing what she calls “Playtivism”: the radical idea that joy, creativity, and imagination can be more powerful agents of change than facts or fury alone. Fine Acts works across human rights and environmental issues worldwide, producing campaigns and supporting civil society organizations in making people stop, feel, and act. About the Podcast: A Life Worth Working A Life Worth Working is hosted by Michelle Weise [https://michelleweise.substack.com/], a writer on the future of learning and work, and Dana Allen Walsh [https://artofflourishing.substack.com/], an executive coach and pastor. Each week, they talk with guests who open up about the messiness, transformation, and wonder of their work lives — what they call the soul of work. 🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode. ⭐ Leave a review — it helps more people find the show. 📩 Email us: alifeworthworking@gmail.com Get full access to Skilling Me Softly | A Life Worth Working at michelleweise.substack.com/subscribe [https://michelleweise.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

From Orphan to Berkeley Engineer

Episode: A Life Worth Working | Guest: Chris Atageka | Engineer, Entrepreneur, Author of Return to Human 🎧 Watch a Brief Clip What You’ll Learn in This Episode * Why Chris slept with his US passport and then buried it in his backyard — and what that tells us about the kind of fear that doesn’t leave when the danger does * The “life raft” problem every immigrant and first-generation success story knows: when you finally get out, who do you carry with you, and what does it cost? * What survivor’s remorse actually feels like — and how it has shaped every chapter of his work since * Why he believes “just be yourself” is one of the most privileged sentences in the wellness vocabulary — and what most people get wrong about it * His new book Return to Human — and why he believes we are heading into a global crisis of purpose: “If a robot can do it better, what are humans for?” About Chris Atageka Chris Atageka is an engineer, entrepreneur, and author who was born in a small village in Uganda and orphaned around the age of seven or eight, when both of his parents likely died of AIDS. He spent eight years in survival mode before being discovered by a community member who connected him to Yes Uganda, a nonprofit founded by Kara Adams, a Hawaiian woman who moved to Uganda at age 50 to start an orphanage. A California family sponsored Chris through the program for years, eventually bringing him to the United States. Chris went on to earn two engineering degrees from UC Berkeley, graduating at the top of his class and serving as the student speaker at commencement in front of a stadium of thousands. He has built companies, given a TED Talk, returned to Uganda to give back to kids in circumstances like the one he was born into, and is now the author of several books — most recently Return to Human, a meditation on what it means to be a person in the age of the machine. About the Podcast: A Life Worth Working A Life Worth Working is hosted by Michelle Weise [https://michelleweise.substack.com/], a writer on the future of learning and work, and Dana Allen Walsh [https://artofflourishing.substack.com/], an executive coach and pastor. Each week, they talk with guests who open up about the messiness, transformation, and wonder of their work lives — what they call the soul of work. 🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode. ⭐ Leave a review — it helps more people find the show. 📩 Email us: alifeworthworking@gmail.com Get full access to Skilling Me Softly | A Life Worth Working at michelleweise.substack.com/subscribe [https://michelleweise.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

She Quit Finance, Climbed Everest, and Picked Up Her Viola.

Episode: A Life Worth Working | Guest: Rebecca Long | Everest Summiteer, Violist & Career Reinventor What You’ll Learn in This Episode The moment Rebecca realized eight years in banking wasn’t a career — it was a slow depression What she gave up when she quit: a salary, a relationship, a plan. What she gained. What it’s actually like inside the Khumbu Icefall, the most dangerous section of Everest — including the swinging ladders over crevasses in the dark The fatherly teammate who lent Rebecca his nose shield without a second thought — and didn’t make it back from the acclimatization climb Why “getting to the top is optional, but coming down is mandatory” — and what that teaches you about judgment under pressure About the Podcast: A Life Worth Working A Life Worth Working is hosted by Michelle Weise [https://michelleweise.substack.com/], a writer on the future of learning and work, and Dana Allen Walsh [https://artofflourishing.substack.com/], an executive coach and pastor. Each week, they talk with guests who open up about the messiness, transformation, and wonder of their work lives — what they call the soul of work. 🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode. ⭐ Leave a review — it helps more people find the show. 📩 Email us: alifeworthworking@gmail.com Get full access to Skilling Me Softly | A Life Worth Working at michelleweise.substack.com/subscribe [https://michelleweise.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

He’s a Pastor. He Went on a Reality Show Called “The Snake.” It Was More Complicated than It Sounds.

Episode: A Life Worth Working | Guest: Jacob Buchholz | Pastor, Deaf Culture & Reality TV Jacob Buchholz is a progressive pastor, a fluent signer in American, Romanian, and Russian sign language, the co-founder of a trans-denominational deaf church — and a cast member on The Snake, now streaming on Hulu. The show cast him because he’s from a profession that uses persuasion. He went because he wanted a nationally televised platform for a more inclusive, progressive version of Christianity. In this episode of A Life Worth Working, Jacob tells the full story: from his childhood in a deaf household where his mother led protests and ran ASL church services, to a transformative trip to Romania and Moldova that redirected his entire career, to the moment he climbed out of a shipping crate in Argentina and found out he was on a game show about manipulation. This is a genuinely surprising episode about identity, calling, courage — and what it means to hold your values in a space that wasn’t built for them. 🎧 Watch/Listen Now About Jacob Buchholz Jacob Buchholz is a senior pastor and reality television contestant currently featured on The Snake, now streaming on Hulu. He has served as a pastor in the United Church of Christ for over a decade and is currently leading a congregation in Claremont, California. About the Podcast: A Life Worth Working A Life Worth Working is hosted by Michelle Weise [https://michelleweise.substack.com/], a writer on the future of learning and work, and Dana Allen Walsh [https://artofflourishing.substack.com/], an executive coach and pastor. Each week, they talk with guests who open up about the messiness, transformation, and wonder of their work lives — what they call the soul of work. 🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode. ⭐ Leave a review — it helps more people find the show. 📩 Email us: alifeworthworking@gmail.com Skilling Me Softly | A Life Worth Working is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Skilling Me Softly | A Life Worth Working at michelleweise.substack.com/subscribe [https://michelleweise.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]