Anna Jepson is an art director, writer, designer, photographer, recipe developer and all-around multi-hyphenate. She’s spent the last decade building a career in the food, beauty, and retail industries, but has found her creative home in fashion. She started her own blog about her adventures in cooking, community, and savoring the slow moments called The Féministe – whose mission is to spur us on towards unity, understanding and acceptance through recipes and authentic conversations. She has...

Lauren speaks with health coach, plant-based chef, architect, digital designer, and new mama, Sanza Monleon, on what it means to build a world for future generations. Sanza is also the founder of the digital magazine the-eosia.com, and creator of The eosia Lifestyle, a digital magazine that helps busy women to improve their health and wellbeing while taking care of the planet.

In this episode, Lauren speaks with writer Elizabeth Moore about how she pursued her dreams, dwells in what she has created, and her creative process of listening and dictating. Elizabeth is a graduate of Mississippi College and the Columbia Publishing Course at Oxford University. Prior to her time at Oxford, she worked as a writing consultant, content manager, and virtual assistant to authors. She now works for Penguin Random House as a Publishing Associate for Vintage & Anchor Books....

A mid-season check-in with our co-hosts Lauren Franco and Noelle Boyd where we talk about where we are as individuals and an organization.

A believer in turning dreams into realities, and a lover of all things good - Zipporah is a native of Northern Virginia and a recent graduate of Hampton University with a B.S. in Business Management. With her coexisting passions of being her own boss, uplifting women and girls, and sharing her passionate love for Christ, in 2018, Zipporah founded the nonprofit organization of Everyday Esther - an organization dedicated to the core pillars of education, service and sisterhood, and building...

In this episode, Ha-Young and Noelle chat with Dr. Mary Cazabón about the ways in which language, verbal or otherwise, forms the way we see ourselves in our communities and in the world. Dr. Mary Cazabón, Ed.D. is the Assistant Director of the Brockton School Community Engagement Project in Lesley University and a former professor of University of Massachusetts Boston of Applied Linguistics. She was also the former Director for Bilingual/ESL programs at Cambridge Public Schools for K-12...

Kat Harris is the host of The Refined Collective Podcast, author of Sexless in the City, and Founder of the online publication The Refined Woman. She has also been a full-time photographer for over a decade with her work featured in: The New York Times, WWD, Vanity Fair, GQ, Forbes, People, Who What Wear, US Weekly, Glamour UK and more. In everything she does, her goal is to create a safe space to have honest and layered conversations around faith, sexuality, relationships, culture, identity,...

A passionate advocate with a demonstrated history of working in the fields of Human Rights, Gender Equity, and Immigration Law, Haddy Gassama is currently the National Director of Policy and Advocacy at UndocuBlack Network - a multigenerational network of currently and formerly undocumented Black people that fosters community, facilitates access to resources, and contributes to transforming the realities of those in the black community in order to thrive and lead fulfilling lives. Becoming...

Nathalie is a co-founder of Hearth Display and product builder passionate about design and technology. She’s led product design for B2C fintech and two-sided marketplace products and led design for global construction teams. Nathalie holds her Master’s in Architecture and Design and is an expert in design thinking, UI/UX, product strategy, and project management. As a first generation immigrant, Nathalie understands the desire to belong and the importance of building a solid foundation from...

Ale Siekmeier is a life coach, relational health expert, and founder of multiple businesses, including Between A+B, a relationship coaching business that she runs with her husband, Ben as well as her most recent endeavor, The Nett, a boutique match-making business based out of New York City. Ale is also a teacher, leading a course throughout the year called the Healthy Soul course, and she travels to speak, teach, and coach throughout the country.  But for Ale, much of her current endeavors...

On our last episode in our series on Be Well, Lauren and Morgan chat with Dr. Nancy Jernigan about how to manage interpersonal expectation, and the importance of maintaining personal mental health in order to foster healthy leadership and relationships. Nancy is a recognized ministry leader and teacher, passionate about developing and multiplying leaders. She holds multiple degrees and certifications - from her Master of Arts in Ministry to her PhD in pastoral ministry with an emphasis in...

This week, Carin and Noelle chat with Farah and Amelia, about health and solidarity in the Asian-American community. Farah and Amelia are co-directors of Ingrained NY, a video portraiture series dedicated to amplifying intersectional, diverse, and often overlooked voices and stories of New York’s Asian diaspora. Amelia is a freelance documentary filmmaker and producer who has worked on projects like Netflix’s Amend: The Fight for America and Quibi’s Nightgowns with Sasha Velour. A...

Noelle joins Lauren in this episode to chat with Elom Fiawoo about building and sustaining relationships and the importance that community serves in each of our lives. A native-born Ghanaian, Elom moved to the UK at the age of 12 and lived there for 13 years before returning back to Accra, the capital city of Ghana and her place of origin. Today, she has founded and runs a women’s-focused, faith-led community that is mostly based in Accra, named Heart to Heart, which exists to encourage...

As we move into our topic of relational health, our Global Leadership Director right here at [gather], Noelle Boyd, comes to share with us her love for people and her experiences navigating community and relationship-building across continents. Noelle is a recent alumna from New York University, having completed her BA in Anthropology and minor studies in Global Public Health. She currently holds the titles of Communications Coordinator at Jerusalem Peacebuilders - a nonprofit dedicated to...

​This week, we chat with sleep consultant Jess Hudson on the topics of sleep guilt and setting healthy sleeping habits that work for you. Jessica Hudson is a certified Pediatric Sleep Consultant at SleepShop with a passion for helping families create a happy & healthy home through sleep. As the mom of three children, Jessica quickly learned the importance of good sleep for the health of her babies, her own health and her marriage. They all thrive when everyone is well rested. A researcher...

At 19, Vanessa Jones was diagnosed with lymphoma. After two years of radiation and chemotherapy, Vanessa returned to school and shortly after was officially declared to be in remission. She graduated in 2018 with a degree in Public Health, of which was inspired by a newfound desire to learn more about health in light of her experience with cancer. She is now an Administrative Assistant at Stevens Early Learning Center in the DC Public school system (DCPS). In her current position at DCPS, she...

Lauren speaks with long-time friend and private chef, Rachel Snyder, about her relationship with food and personal battle with disordered eating. Rachel shares her journey of learning how to enjoy the moment and be present in relationships at the table. Rachel began her career in PR, but a few years ago, decided to take a step of faith in launching her own business as a private chef. Now, she is the owner and chef of Rachel Snyder Hospitality, and loves to host pop-up dinners all over NYC to...

Our conversation this week was with Megan Hoffman about body image, journey-oriented change, and touched upon the topics of agency, accountability, and the importance of community. Megan was a contestant on USA’s Biggest Loser, and was the at-home winner of the show's reboot season in 2020. Megan is currently a model, keynote motivational speaker, and author who primarily focuses on personal development, health & wellness, and body positivity. She has been a leader in the fitness industry...

This week, Lauren and Morgan chat with Rhiannon Bell about healing from personal and collective experiences of trauma. Rhiannon (Rhia) is the Global Director of Aftercare at A21, a global 501c3 NPO that helps fight against human trafficking. As Director of Aftercare, she oversees the aftercare of survivors of human trafficking who enter the A21 program in Greece, Bulgaria, Ukraine, South Africa, Thailand, Cambodia, and the U.S. Previously, Rhia was a clinical psychologist for 9 years at the...

This week, Lauren and Morgan sat down to chat about mindfulness and meditation with Yael Shy. Yael is the CEO of Mindfulness Consulting and an adjunct professor at New York University. Previously, Yael was Senior Director at NYU Global Spiritual Life and Of Many Institute for Multifaith Leadership. She was also the founder and director of MindfulNYU, the largest campus-wide mindfulness initiative in the United States. Yael authored an award-winning book, What Now? Meditation for Your Twenties...

We are so excited to launch season two of the podcast, Be Well, where we are talking about what it means to pursue wellness and healing in our lives. In this episode, co-hosts Lauren Franco and Morgan Barney talk all things mental health, healing, and wellness with our friend Taylor. Taylor Palmby is the Director of Communication at HeartSupport, a Non-Profit that helps people who are living with mental health struggles. Taylor is an incredibly gifted communicator and has extensive experience...

Today’s episode is with Tina Choi, a certified Mental Health Therapist and Clinical and Mental Health counselor. She obtained her Masters in Clinical and Mental Health Counseling from Wheaton College, and her work today involves specifically carrying out AAPI (or Asian American and Pacific Islander) social justice advocacy, specifically utilizing anti-racism education strategies and the empowerment of women entrepreneurs and voices in the business world. Her specialities lie in addressing the...

In today’s episode, we sit down with another one of our very own here at [gather] - Gisel Marmolejo, a leader on our Resource Development and Finance teams. She currently works for Google, and spoke to us candidly about being a young, Latina woman in the tech space, and the way in which she is passionate about creating equity in tech literacy, especially in communities of color. She is an NYU alumni, graduated from the Stern School of Business with a B.S. in Marketing and B.A. in Psychology...

In today’s episode, we sat down and chatted with another woman of action - soon to be Dr. Camisha Kibble. Having completed a BA in Psychology and a MA in Clinical Psychology, Camisha now has a Doctorate of Psychology in Clinical Psychology in progress at Wheaton College, where she is also now a faculty member in her field. She holds several awards and honors, and has trained her sights on the work of mental health advocacy, awareness and application specifically in underserved populations and...