Care More Be Better: A Podcast For Sustainable Social Impact and Regeneration

Chris Kilham — the Medicine Hunter, author of fifteen books, and a man the New York Times once called "part David Attenborough, part Indiana Jones" — returns to Care More Be Better for a third time to go deep into the vine. With 65 shamans and twelve years of ceremony across the Amazon behind him, Chris and host Corinna Bellizzi explore the line between authentic plant medicine and cultural appropriation, the shared visions that gave ayahuasca its old name Telepathine, the three enduring camps of psychedelic culture, and where to actually find a trustworthy ceremony.

Important Note

Ayahuasca contains DMT, a Schedule I substance in the United States. This episode discusses plant medicine in an educational and harm-reduction context. Always consult a qualified medical professional before pursuing any plant medicine experience, and research the legal status in your location through resources such as ICEERS.
Resources

Chris Kilham on LinkedIn

Medicine Hunter — medicinehunter.com

Medicine Hunter on Instagram

Medicine Hunter on Facebook

Medicine Hunter on YouTube

The Ayahuasca Test Pilots Handbook

Wizard of the Upper Amazon — F. Bruce Lamb

Cosmic Sister — Zoe Helene

ICEERS

Stop the War Within — Gerard Powell, Rythmia (Previous Episode)

On Building Sustainable Communities — Chris Kilham (Previous Episode)

The Way of Coffee — Chris Kilham (Previous Episode)

Support the show: caremorebebetter.com/support
Cause partner: Prescott College — prescott.edu

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In honor of Juneteenth, we're sharing something special: the opening chapter of Reimagining Democracy for a Good Life, the podcast hosted by legendary equity advocate Angela Glover Blackwell, founder in residence of PolicyLink. In "Democracy Dreaming," Angela takes us to Los Angeles, a city she didn't expect to become a hopeful case study in multiracial democracy, and shows us why it might be exactly that. Featuring voices from LA Mayor Karen Bass, economist Manuel Pastor, Community Coalition CEO Alberto Retana, young housing organizer Tiffany Benitez, advocate Denise Fairchild, and the poetry of Chinaka Hodge, this episode reframes democracy not as something we have, but as something we practice. Angela's second season is coming soon, and we're thrilled to share that we'll be sitting down with Angela herself in early July, with that conversation releasing later next month. Got a question you'd love us to ask her? Send it to [email protected].

Chapter Markers (relative timestamps, mapped from the original episode)

3:09 — Why Angela's spent half a century in this work

4:07 — Memory of the municipal opera, and being shielded from hate

4:53 — Newsreel montage: January 6th, book bans, voting rights battles

5:26 — Reframing the conversation: realizing democracy's potential, not just naming its threats

6:07 — Why multiracial democracy means everybody, including white people

6:21 — Chinaka Hodge's poem, "All Power to the People"

6:56 — Welcome to Reimagining Democracy for a Good Life

7:26 — Why Los Angeles: the election of Mayor Karen Bass

8:17 — What draws Angela to Bass's leadership style

8:56 — Defining "human flourishing"

9:17 — The decades of organizing behind one election

9:46 — LA's origins: Indigenous land, Mexican founders, Asian Pacific Islander neighborhoods, the Great Migration

11:21 — The brutality beneath the diversity: stolen land, segregation, racial violence

11:41 — A history of protest: Watts 1965, East LA walkouts 1968, the 1992 uprising

12:38 — Manuel Pastor on the lessons organizers drew from 1992

13:41 — How modern LA's multiracial coalition-building emerged

14:16 — Alberto Retana on unity, struggle, and naming the real opposition

15:20 — What actually makes LA's leadership unique

16:12 — The reality check: LA's poverty, homelessness, and housing crisis

17:10 — Tiffany Benitez's story: displacement in Boyle Heights

19:10 — Tiffany on organizing as the answer to insecurity

20:04 — Denise Fairchild on what it means to flourish

21:16 — Interconnectedness: democracy, people, and planet

21:42 — Chinaka Hodge's poem, on what we're owed and what we want

22:33 — The Constitution's contradiction, and its capacity to grow

23:23 — The bigger question: can any democracy ever fully serve a diverse population?

23:39 — Why LA, and why this matters beyond LA

24:43 — Preview of next chapter: "There's No I in Leader"

25:17 — Credits and closing reflection on voting

Resources & Links

Follow Reimagining Democracy for a Good Life: wherever you listen to podcasts
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reimagining-democracy-for-a-good-life/id1742644681

Radical Imagination Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/radicalimagination.us/

Learn more about PolicyLink: https://www.policylink.org/

Have a question for our upcoming interview with Angela Glover Blackwell? Email [email protected]

Protest Interview with Annie Leonard and Andre Carothers: https://caremorebebetter.com/if-we-lose-the-right-to-protest-we-lose-everything-with-annie-leonard-andre-carothers/

BUILD A GREENER FUTURE: Together, we planted 36,044 trees in 2025 through our partnership with ForestPlanet https://forestplanet.org/
CAUSE PARTNER: Support Prescott College https://prescott.edu/ — visit https://caremorebebetter.com/support/ for details.

Follow Care More Be Better:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/caremorebebetter

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@caremorebebetter

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caremorebebetter

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareMoreBeBetter

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-more-be-better

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In 2007, Kenton Lee watched a girl in Kenya walk to church in shoes so small she had cut open the front to let her toes stick out — and wrote an idea in his journal that would take six years and every shoe company's rejection before it became real. The Shoe That Grows, an adjustable sandal that expands five sizes and lasts for years, is now worn by more than 500,000 children across 100 countries. Kenton and his longtime friend and CEO Andrew Kroes join Care More Be Better to share what it takes to build something genuinely useful — the feedback loops, the business model tensions, the manufactured-in-Kenya milestone, and the question that closes the episode: what is your because?

01:41 - How Because International Came To Be

13:00 - The Shoe That Grows Works

27:43 - The Future Of Because International

35:09 - Because International’s Business Model For Their Big Audacious Goal

44:32 - Unlocking Continuous Improvement Through Feedback Loops

51:39 - Responding To The Call To Make A Real Difference

Resources

Because International — becauseinternational.org

Kenton Lee on LinkedIn

Andrew Kroes on LinkedIn

@becauseinternational on Instagram

Because International on Facebook

Because International on YouTube

Because International on Pinterest

BUILD A GREENER FUTURE with CARE MORE BE BETTER Together, we planted 36,044 trees in 2025 through our partnership with ForestPlanet https://forestplanet.org/. We screamed past our goal of planting 20,000 trees thanks to subscribers like you!
CAUSE PARTNER: If you value open dialogue, sustainability, and social equity, I invite you to support our new cause partner — Prescott College https://prescott.edu/. To learn more about this effort and to support the show, visit: https://caremorebebetter.com/support/

Follow us on social media:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/caremorebebetter

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@caremorebebetter

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caremorebebetter

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareMoreBeBetter

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-more-be-better

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In this special re-release of Episode #2, Corinna Bellizzi revisits an early conversation with social change strategist Genevieve Smith that feels remarkably relevant today.

Show Notes:
What if the choices we make every day, from the words we use to the conversations we avoid, are shaping the world more than we realize?

Originally recorded during a period of heightened social and political tension, this discussion explores how our values show up in our actions, why "nothing is neutral," and how we can engage in difficult conversations without sacrificing either accountability or compassion.

Genevieve shares practical insights for navigating disagreements around race, gender, faith, politics, and social change while remaining connected to our shared humanity. Together, Corinna and Genevieve examine the challenges of values alignment, both in our personal lives and within organizations, and discuss how humor, curiosity, and self-awareness can help us build bridges across difference.

As public discourse grows increasingly polarized, this conversation offers a timely reminder that meaningful change often begins with our willingness to listen, learn, and stay engaged.

In This Episode: 

What Genevieve means by being a "professional bummer"

Why difficult conversations are necessary for meaningful social change

How compassion differs from endorsement

The concept that "nothing is neutral" and how it applies to everyday life

Finding common ground across political, social, and cultural differences

Why accountability should not be confused with punishment

The role of humor in lowering defenses and opening minds

How organizations can align business practices with stated values

The importance of defining what values like integrity, inclusion, and equity actually mean

Practical ways to engage more thoughtfully with people who see the world differently

Key Takeaways: Every action—and every inaction—communicates values. Whether we're making decisions as individuals, leaders, consumers, or organizations, our choices have consequences that extend beyond ourselves.

Genevieve argues that meaningful progress requires both courage and humility: the courage to engage difficult topics and the humility to recognize that we all have more to learn. By approaching disagreements with curiosity instead of a desire to win, we create opportunities for understanding, accountability, and growth.

This episode is an invitation to examine how our values show up in our daily lives and to consider how we might contribute to a more equitable, compassionate, and sustainable future.

GUEST BIO: Genevieve Smith is an independent consultant specializing in organizational behavior, social change, values alignment, and systems transformation. She works with international NGOs, corporate leaders, mission-driven organizations, and communities to connect people, ideas, and strategies in service of more equitable systems and outcomes.

Genevieve began her career as a data analyst within a disability services organization, where she discovered that meaningful impact could not be measured without aligning data practices to mission and values. Since then, she has helped organizations design business practices, cultures, and decision-making frameworks that reflect their purpose—not the other way around.

Known affectionately as a "professional bummer," Genevieve helps individuals and organizations navigate uncomfortable but necessary conversations that lead to deeper understanding, stronger values alignment, and more effective social change.

CONNECT WITH GENEVIEVE:

Website: https://www.gv-advisory.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gvadvisorygv/

LET'S BUILD A GREENER FUTURE: Together, we planted 36,044 trees in 2025 through our partnership with ForestPlanet. We screamed past our goal of planting 20,000 trees thanks to subscribers like you!

CAUSE PARTNER: If you value open dialogue, sustainability, and social equity, I invite you to support our new cause partner — Prescott College. To learn more about this effort and to support the show, visit: https://caremorebebetter.com/support/

Follow Us on Social Media

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/caremorebebetter
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@caremorebebetter
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caremorebebetter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CareMoreBeBetter
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/care-more-be-better

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Can you truly change the world if you haven't first changed yourself? Gerard Powell was a CEO who took two companies public — and was quietly, persistently miserable. His journey from deep personal dissatisfaction and addiction to the discovery of plant medicine led to the founding of Rythmia Life Advancement Center in Costa Rica, the world's first medically licensed ayahuasca retreat. Nearly 24,000 guests later, with a 98.12% self-reported transformational success rate, Gerry joins Care More Be Better to make the case that the most powerful outward impact begins with the courageous work of inner transformation.

He and host Corinna Bellizzi explore the soul fracture that no amount of success can heal, the arms dealers and billionaires who left Rythmia wanting to give their lives to helping others, and the message the medicine gave Gerry when he went to her crying about the state of the world: stop the war within yourself and the other wars will go away.

Chapter Markers

00:47 — Gerard Powell's Journey: From Corporate Success to Founding the World's First Medically Licensed Ayahuasca Retreat

02:55 — The Soul Fracture: The Core Problem That Conventional Success Cannot Heal

04:30 — High-Performing Leaders and Rythmia's 98.12% Transformational Success Rate

06:53 — Why 90% of Guests Leave Wanting to Become a Beneficial Presence on the Planet

10:45 — The Seven-Day Program: Workshops, Plant Medicine, and Medical Oversight

13:44 — Long-Term Effectiveness: 90.22% Report Lasting Change Six Months Later

15:19 — Facing the Self: Addressing Fear and the Three-Step Program

25:45 — Safety First: Why a Medically Licensed Setting Changes Everything

28:43 — From "What Can the World Do For Me?" to "What Can I Do For the World?"

31:41 — Tangible Impact: The Stories of Arms Dealers, Billionaires, and Boxing Champions

34:59 — Stop the War Within Yourself — and the Outer Wars Will Go Away

41:16 — The Screening Process: Why 40% of Guests Need 30 Days to Prepare

43:48 — The Ceremony Setting: 60-90 People in the Colombian Tradition

45:46 — The Full Retreat: Plant Integration, Coaching, Cleansing, and Amenities

50:25 — Don't Give Up Hope: Gerry's Final Message to Anyone in Pain

53:33 — The Cost: A Week at Rythmia vs. a Week at a Resort

Important Note

Ayahuasca contains DMT, a Schedule I substance in the United States. Rythmia Life Advancement Center operates legally in Costa Rica, where it holds the world's first medical license for ayahuasca retreats. Always consult a qualified medical professional before pursuing any plant medicine program, and disclose all medications and health conditions.
Resources

Rythmia Life Advancement Center — rythmia.com

Gerard Powell personal site — gerardarmondpowell.com

Gerard Powell on LinkedIn

Rythmia on LinkedIn

@rythmia_ on Instagram

Rythmia on TikTok

Rythmia on YouTube

Rythmia on Facebook

Rythmia on Pinterest

Full Episode Blog & Transcript

Cause partner: If you value open dialogue, sustainability, and social equity, I invite you to support our new cause partner — Prescott College. To learn more about this effort and to support the show, visit: https://caremorebebetter.com/support/
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.