Episodes

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...

The Next Steps Forward guest this week is Master Sergeant Crystal C. Romero, who retired after serving sixteen-and-a-half years in the U.S. Army National Guard. She served full-time, providing active-duty operational support, primarily in her home state of New Mexico. Today, she is an activist for veterans’ causes and has had a significant role in passing legislation related to military sexual assault and veterans’ mental health. Crystal will discuss these topics, as well as her experience with ...

Do you feel like your life is insignificant? Do you ever wonder if your life even matters? Next Steps Forward guest Dr. Cliff Robertson Jr wants you to know that your life matters and addresses these questions and more in his book “Your Life Matters: The Toolkit to Change Your World.” Through his work with veterans as the executive director of The Warrior’s Refuge in West Columbia, Texas, he is no stranger to members of the population expressing feelings of worthlessness as a result of mental he...

Program host Chris Meek sits down for a conversation on brain health with Dr. Geoff Ling and Dr. Sandra Bond Chapman on this installment of Next Steps Forward. Dr. Chapman founded the Center for Brain Health, a research institute at the University of Texas at Dallas, where she also serves as the Dee Wyly Distinguished Professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. Dr. Ling is a professor of neurology, neurosurgery and anesthesiology and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins Universi...

Jeff Gum is a U.S. Navy SEAL veteran, entrepreneur and founder of Sunga Life, a swimwear and athleisure brand focused on achieving bottom line goals of purpose and profitability, where 10% of profits go to veteran focused charities - specifically those that benefit wounded and amputee Special Operations Forces. He joins program host Chris Meek to speak to the essence of his brand and how he first fell in love with swimwear during his many travels and adventures in Brazil which ultimately inspire...

David Loud occupies a unique place in Broadway history. This week, he sits down with program host Chris Meek to discuss his distinguished body of work as a music director and vocal arranger and the three roles that he has originated as an actor. David will walk the audience through his Broadway career, which includes serving as music director for The Visit, The Scottsboro Boys, Sondheim on Sonheim, Curtains, Ragtime, A Class Act, Steel Pier and revivals of Porgy and Bess, She Loves Me, Company a...

Ruth Rathblott is a TEDx speaker, Inspirational DEI speaker and an award-winning former CEO committed to creating inclusion for all. Ruth has spent her entire career focused on providing opportunities for those who face obstacles. In this installment of Next Steps Forward, she speaks with Chris Meek about being born with a limb difference and how her experiences have propelled her to speak on issues of inclusion and diversity, the freedom of accepting your differences, and rising above life’s ch...

Katie Hafner is a journalist, author and current host of not one but two podcasts, Lost Women of Science and Our Mothers Ourselves. She speaks with program host Chris Meek about the focus of both of her podcasts. The first, Lost Women of Science, is a new narrative podcast that illuminates the lives of remarkable female scientists whose stories have been lost to history and have often been overshadowed by men. The show has focused on fascinating female scientists such as Dr. Dorothy Andersen, wh...

Every young person needs a trusted adult who they can turn to, both at home and at school. Brooklyn Raney explores this topic in-depth in her book “One Trusted Adult: How to Build Strong Connections & Healthy Boundaries with Young People” and now she is joining Chris Meek on Next Steps Forward to speak on the same topic. As Raney will explain to the audience, being a trustworthy adult does not have to be onerous. It’s about parents encouraging young children to develop connections with adults in...

How does society address wrongs inflicted in the past? Should we even dwell on the past when we don’t have the power to change it? This week on Next Steps Forward, Chris Meek welcomes Mark Milke - a public policy analyst, keynote speaker, author and columnist based in Calgary, Canada - to discuss these questions and more. Mark highlights the current pervasiveness of victimhood and its negative effect on societies, while going into detail about how past societies and individuals have a long histo...

Laura DeCook is a wellbeing specialist at a major technology company where she is passionate both inside and outside of the company about supporting the mental health of employees who are working in high-pressure corporate environments. In this installment of Next Steps Forward, Laura speaks with program host Chris Meek about how her own experience of not receiving the mental health support she needed while working at a previous major company inspired her to create a position at her current plac...