Episodes

Program host Chris Meek is honored to have the audience join him for a lively discussion with Jessica Cording, a registered dietitian, health coach and author with a passion for helping people simplify their wellness routines by building sustainable, healthy habits. Through her writing, consulting, public speaking and counseling, she works with individuals, corporations, and the media to help make drama-free healthy living approachable and enjoyable. She is the author of “The Little Book of Game...

This week’s guest on Next Steps Forward is Rob Morris, CEO and co-founder of Love146, an international human rights organization working to end child trafficking and exploitation. Before co-founding Love146, Rob worked with Mercy Ships International where he directed training schools at the International Operations Center. He has lectured and taught in more than 20 countries on issues of justice, compassion, and human rights. He has been featured in the Huffington Post, the CNN Freedom Project, ...

Ben Elmore is the CEO, Founder and Managing Partner of Intevity, a boutique digital consultancy that develops solutions and technology to drive growth, transform business and make a real impact on people’s lives. He joins program host Chris Meek this week to discuss servant leadership and how to build a work culture that really cares for its people. It is Ben’s working thesis that most people are rarely celebrated, appreciated, cared for or experience excellence, that is why companies that creat...

On this edition of Next Steps Forward, program host Chris Meek speaks with Aaron Stark, a TEDx speaker, author and advocate, who shares his story of growing up in painful and abusive conditions which very nearly led him to an atrocity as he planned a deadly shooting spree on his Denver, Colorado high school until simple acts of kindness changed his life forever. His TED Talk, “I Was Almost A School Shooter,” has more than 14.4 million views. He shares his mission to let people know that no matte...

Brittany Dunn, a national leader working to eradicate human trafficking in the United States and COO and Co-Founder of Safe House Project, joins program host Chris Meek in this edition of Next Steps Forward. Prior to the Safe House Project, Brittany spent 10 years in international business development at CareerBuilder.com. Brittany earned a B.A. in Economics and English from Wellesley College. She graduated top of her class with an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management. She is a membe...

On this edition of Next Steps Forward, Amanda Zwanziger joins program host Chris Meek! Amanda is the best-selling author of “The Paralyzed Movement” and is a successful speaker, life coach and professional focused on helping others chase their dreams and change their lives. Amanda spends half her days running her own consulting business, RightHand, LLC, and the other half as what she has coined, a “Ministrypreneur.” In both endeavors, Amanda’s passion is helping people discover how to find happi...

Susan McPherson is a serial connector, angel investor, corporate responsibility expert and founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a communications consultancy focused on the intersection of brands and social impact. The author of “The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, Do Method for Building Meaningful Relationships,” Susan joins Chris Meek in this edition of Next Steps Forward to share her secrets for building meaningful business relationships that stand the test of time. Susan believes...

Matthew Bocchi is a survivor of devastating loss, emotional and psychological trauma, and sexual assault after his father, John, lost his life during the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Matt then began speaking in front of high school audiences throughout the greater New York City area about his experiences. On this edition of Next Steps Forward, he joins program host Chris Meek to deliver his message of hope and perseverance. The awestruck reception that Matt has received led him to wri...

On this noteworthy installment of Next Steps Forward, program host Chris Meek is honored to be joined by Staff Sergeant Bryce Cherryholmes and double-amputee and Purple Heart Recipient Saul Martinez. SSgt Cherryholmes served faithfully for eight years in the United States Marine Corps. During his first deployment, Cherryholmes incurred an initial back injury that became much worse over time. Due to the back injury and subsequent surgery, he received a full medical retirement and was Retired from...

On this edition of Next Steps Forward, program host Chris Meek speaks with General George Casey and Dr. Joel Kupersmith, authors of “Supporting Veterans After 50 Years of the All-Volunteer Force and 20 Years of War: Ideas Moving Forward.” The goal of their book and their wider work is to begin the important discussion regarding how best to treat and serve the veterans of the all-volunteer military which will have existed in the United States for 50 years next year. Dr. Kupersmith, the current di...

On the first anniversary of the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, program host Chris Meek speaks with Lyla Kohistany, an inclusion strategist and cultural intelligence advisor, on her thoughts about what the U.S. got right and what it got wrong about the withdrawal. Lyla began her career in 2001 as a U.S. Navy Surface Warfare Officer stationed in Japan. Born in Kabul and a refugee of the Soviet conflict, the attacks on 9/11 prompted her to transfer into the Intelligence community where...

On this edition of Next Steps Forward, National Basketball Association (NBA) great Ray Scott joins program host Chris Meek. Scott was a six-foot-nine-inch forward and center who played his college basketball at the University of Portland before he was number-four overall pick in the 1961 NBA draft, chosen by the Detroit Pistons. Ray Scott had an 11-year career in the NBA and American Basketball Association with the Pistons, Baltimore Bullets, and Virginia Squires. He went on to become an NBA coa...

On this week’s edition of Next Steps Forward, special guest Heather C. Fischer joins program host Chris Meek to discuss human trafficking, human rights and democracy. Heather became involved in combating human trafficking as a volunteer at a small Connecticut nonprofit. She became the first-ever White House special advisor assigned to combat human trafficking and is now the senior advisor for human rights crimes at Thomson Reuters Special Services. Her experience includes working at the U.S. Dep...

Regular listeners and viewers of Next Steps Forward know that the program is focused on personal empowerment, commitment to our own well-being and the motivation to achieve more than we ever thought possible. This installment’s guest, Ayman Mukerji Househam, covers all three of those topics in the course of the show’s 52 minutes. Ayman’s professional career is the story of a fascinating journey. She went from a successful career on Wall Street to the world of science where, today, she is a clini...

Lynda Gratton is one of the foremost global thought-leaders on the future of work and has been named by “Business Thinkers 50” as one of the top fifteen business thinkers. A professor of Management Practice at London Business School and author of Redesigning Work, a book on how to transform your business, Professor Gratton joins program host Chris Meek to draw on her thirty years of research into the technological, demographic, cultural and societal trends to speak to those that are shaping work...

Dr. Ellen Beckjord, the Vice President of Population Health and Clinical Optimization at UPMC Health Plan and host of the Health Plan’s podcast, Good Health, Better World, speaks with Chris Meek about a myriad of issues within the mental health space on this installment of Next Steps Forward. Dr. Beckjord addresses the common notion that mental health issues can be addressed quickly, a belief often promoted by the relative conveniences that many individuals experience in their daily lives. In ad...

Fans of NBC’s hit show “The Apprentice” will recognize this week’s Next Steps Forward guest, season three runner-up Tana Goertz. Also remembered for appearing on “Reality Stars Fear Factor,” Tana is an entrepreneur, an inspirational speaker, a life coach, business consultant, author, devoted wife, mother of two, and so much more. But as listeners will learn, things weren’t always easy for her on the road to success. Over the course of the hour, Tana will discuss the many positive aspects of her ...

Yvette Benavidez Garcia is the author of Tango Mike Mike: The Story of Master Sergeant Roy P. Benavidez which focuses on her father, Medal of Honor Recipient Roy P. Benavidez. She joins program host Chris Meek to share the true story of her father’s heroism and service to our nation during the Vietnam War and the events which lead him to receive the Medal of Honor. While on tour during the war, Army Master Sergeant Benavidez was severely injured by a land mine and was told that he would never re...

On this edition of Next Steps Forward, Chris Meek speaks with Michaela Rubinfeld and CSM Andraus L. Williams, both recipients of the SoldierScholar academic scholarship provided by the national veteran-focused nonprofit SoldierStrong, co-founded and chaired by Meek, to fill in gaps left by the G.I. bill for veterans continuing their education. Michaela Rubinfeld, an All-Source Analyst in the United States Air Force Reserves, is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Foreign Service at Georget...

Beverly Gooden, author of Surviving: Why We Stay and How We Leave Abusive Relationships and creator of the viral social media movement #WhyIStayed, joins program host Chris Meek in this edition of Next Steps Forward. Listed as one of the top social change hashtags of 2014 by Forbes and named one of the “top 10 hashtags that started a conversation” by Time magazine, Ms. Gooden will discuss what prompted her to start the hashtag, the immediate reaction to the movement and how the greater dialogue ...

As an acclaimed author and veteran teacher of writing, Marita Golden provides guidance to aspiring authors on how to tell their own stories and encourages them to dig deep on their journeys as writers. The author of nineteen works of fiction and nonfiction alike, Ms. Golden digs deep during this hour of Next Steps Forward to share her stories and experiences in her own words that have informed her writing. Focusing primarily on the experiences of Black Americans, she breaks down the myth that en...

On this hour of Next Steps Forward, program host Chris Meek is honored to speak with M. David Rudd, Distinguished University Professor of Psychology, Director of the Rudd Institute for Veteran and Military Suicide Prevention, and former president of the University of Memphis (2013-2022). Dr. Rudd will focus in-depth on the work carried out by the institute to improve the overall wellbeing of active duty military members and veterans, as well as the steps our society can take to prevent suicide, ...

Dr. Robin Scholefield has provided counseling to individual student athletes, groups, teams, as well as conjoint sessions for student athletes and coaches/teammates for the past 24 years at the University of Southern California. She joins Next Steps Forward program host Chris Meek to speak about her myriad roles, including Director of Culture, Wellbeing & Sport Psychology for USC Athletics; Associate Director, Counseling & Mental Health; Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the KECK Scho...

Chris Meek is honored to have Gita Barry, executive vice president and general manager of immersive healthcare at Penumbra, Inc., join him on this edition of Next Steps Forward. Through more than 25 years in the medical device industry and her current role at the global healthcare company focused on immersive healthcare technology to help aid physical rehabilitation, Gita brings a wealth of knowledge and experienced perspective to her role as a woman in leadership. She will speak extensively abo...