Girls Advocating for A Better Future
From a young age, Selin Ozunaldim questioned gender stereotypes. When she was 17, her little brother told her that she didn’t need to worry about studying because she could always get married. Hearing her brother say that made Selin realize she had to do something to change this way of thinking in her community. Now 19, Selin is the youngest representative of the United Nations’ HeForShe movement in Turkey, a global effort to engage men and boys in the fight for gender equality. She also founded the first Girl Up Club and Girls Who Code in her country.
In this episode, we explore the important role that young women and girls have historically played in fighting for change, equality and justice for all. We examine how teen advocates have come to the forefront on the global stage, the challenges they overcame to get there, and how technology has amplified their advocacy.
Featuring Selin Ozunaldim, National Gender Youth Activist for UN Women, HeForShe Advocate and Melissa Kilby, Executive Director, Girl Up at the United Nations Foundation, in conversation with Hazami Barmada, host of the Finding Humanity podcast.
[Trailer] How Women’s Excellence Shapes History
Throughout history and across cultures, inspiring women and girls continue to break records and blaze trails—shattering glass ceilings while imagining and innovating the way forward.
On season 5 of Finding Humanity podcast, we bring you powerful voices of women shaping history by overcoming innumerable challenges to achieve greatness. You’ll hear the inspirational stories of leaders in arts, entertainment, science, sports, politics, and beyond.
Help Finding Humanity Win a Webby!
UPDATE: THANKS TO YOUR HELP, WE WON!
BIG NEWS! Our podcast has just been nominated for this year’s Webby Awards! The show that you have supported since we launched in 2020, has been singled out as one of the five best podcasts in the world for Public Service and Activism.
This special interview takes you behind the scenes with two women behind the podcast, Hazami Barmada (Host and Co-Executive Producer) and Camille Laurente (Co-Executive Producer).
On this episode we unpack the ‘why’ behind the podcast and take you behind the scenes to shed light on the passion behind our storytelling.
After you listen, please consider voting! The Webby People’s Voice Award Winners are chosen by listeners like you. Take a minute to vote for Finding Humanity through this official voting link. Voting closes on April 21st. Please help us spread the word.
The Stigma of Death and Dying
Dan’s wife Brittany Maynard sought adventure up until the very end. When it became clear that the brain tumor she’d been diagnosed with would ultimately take her life, Brittany chose to end things on her own terms.
Medical aid-in-dying, commonly known in the U.S. as “death with dignity,” enables someone with a terminal illness to request a prescription for medication that will end their suffering. In the final episode of season 4, we explore end of life choices, and the social and legal systems that either allow or prevent individuals from determining how they die.
Featuring Dan Diaz, an advocate for the legalization of medical aid in dying, Kim Callinan, CEO of the organization Compassion and Choices, and Dr. Rob Jonquiere, Executive Director of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies, in conversation with Host, Hazami Barmada.
Seeing Through Colorism
Ronald fell in love with television as a child, but as a queer, black boy from a Latinx household, representation was deeply lacking. He watched as the media amplified toxic and misleading stereotypes of people of color—many of whom were cast as maids, terrorists, or drug dealers.
In this episode, we dig into colorism and how “whiteness” is often correlated with success and greater opportunity. We unpack how prejudice—or ‘pre-judgement’—occurs based on skin color, and discuss the tangible impact this has on the ability for people of color to secure safe housing, advance their careers, and experience fair and unbiased policing.
Featuring Ronald Hinton, actor, writer, and founder of Shared Soil Productions, ReNika Moore, Racial Justice Program Director at the ACLU, and Dr. Mia White, Assistant Professor at the School of Public Engagement and Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment, at The New School, in conversation with Host, Hazami Barmada.
This episode is made possible with support from Vodafone Americas Foundation. To learn more about their programs and how you can support their network of partners, visit vodafone-us.com
The Fight Against Food Insecurity
Kimi Ceridon and her sister never went without food growing up, but living paycheck-to-paycheck meant her parents constantly worried about how to pay for meals. What they did eat was often low-cost and low-quality food.
This is what experts call ‘food insecurity,’ an issue that has grown substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic to affect over 750 million people worldwide. In this episode, we dig into why so many people are unable to secure sufficient, safe, and nutritious food, and the stigma faced by those who experience food insecurity today.
Featuring Kimi Ceridon, a Massachusetts-based writer, Maximo Torero, Chief Economist of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, and Clancy Harrison, Founder of the Food Dignity Movement and host of The Food Dignity Podcast, in conversation with host, Hazami Barmada.
Understanding the Complex Causes of Addiction
Addiction was common in the McDaid family. So when Carol, the youngest in her upper middle class household began using, the disease quickly took root. Carol sipped her first drink at age 12, and by 16 was using IV drugs. It wasn’t until her drug use threatened her career that she decided to enter treatment.
One in every ten people in the U.S. experiences drug addiction, which is nearly the entire population of Texas. In this episode, we seek to understand the varied causes and consequences of drug abuse, and how new pharmaceuticals that came onto the market in the late-90s—prescription opioids—changed the landscape of addiction for an entire generation.
Featuring Carol McDaid, a D.C. lobbyist specializing in addiction and mental health policy, Diane Sevening, former President of the Association for Addiction Professionals and Assistant Professor at The University of South Dakota, and Marta Michelle Colon, Founder of BeGutsy, a national campaign that educates the Latinx community on the dangers of opioid use, in conversation with Hazami Barmada, Activist & Founder, Humanity Lab Foundation.
Ending Child Marriage in the U.S.
Sherry Johnson grew-up in Tampa, Florida as a member of the Pentecostal church. She was only 11-years-old when her mother married her off to a man nearly twice her age. She had already been a victim of years of sexual violence, abuse that resulted in her first pregnancy at age nine.
As many as 12 million underage girls are forced to marry each year, meaning more than 650 million women alive today were married as children. In this episode, we explore the many causes of child marriage, including gender inequality, generational tradition, poverty, and war. We expose the global nature of this issue and how the U.S.—a country without any federal laws prohibiting child marriage—continues to contribute to these statistics.
Featuring Sherry Johnson, Founder of the Svon Foundation, Princess Mabel van Oranje, Founder and Global Champion at Girls Not Brides, and Tannistha Datta, Child Protection Specialist at UNICEF, in conversation with Hazami Barmada, Activist & Founder, Humanity Lab Foundation.
This episode is made possible with support from Vodafone Americas Foundation. To learn more about their programs and how you can support their network of partners, visit vodafone-us.com
The Danger in Being Undocumented
Juan Escalante’s family immigrated to the U.S. from Venezuela when he was a child. It wasn’t until he applied to college that he learned his family had overstayed their visa.
Every year, visa overstays outnumber those who enter the U.S. illegally. These same undocumented immigrants pay $11 billion in U.S. taxes annually. Nearly 3 in 4 are considered essential workers. In this episode, we reveal the barriers undocumented immigrants face when they attempt to work within the U.S. immigration system. We look into a system ripe with malpractice and burdensome bureaucracy—which can result in a single application taking up to 40 years to process.
Featuring policy and advocacy insights from Juan Escalante, an immigration rights advocate, Angeline Chen, Senior Attorney at Clark Hill, and Rosa Velazquez, Lead Immigration Rights Advocate for Arkansas United, in conversation with Hazami Barmada, Activist & Founder, Humanity Lab Foundation.
This episode is made possible with support from Vodafone Americas Foundation. To learn more about their programs and how you can support their network of partners, visit vodafone-us.com
How We Fail Rape Survivors
Trigger Warning: This episode discusses sexual violence. Stephanie Mosley experienced sexual violence perpetrated by a schoolmate in college, then a football player at her alma mater, the University of Alabama. In spite of being blamed and called a liar, Stephanie ultimately decided to press charges — but her case was never prosecuted.
It is estimated that out of 1000 rapes, only 310 victims report the incident. Of these, only 25 are prosecuted. In this episode, we tackle weak enforcement mechanisms that fail to hold sexual violence perpetrators accountable, how victims are silenced from reporting their case, and why survivors like Stephanie don’t get the justice they deserve.
Featuring policy and advocacy insights from: Stephanie Mosley, Rape Survivor and Creator of The Antidote Conference, Jacqui Hunt, Global Lead, End Sexual Violence Campaign, at Equality Now, and Jane Manning, Director at Women’s Equal Justice Project, in conversation with Hazami Barmada, Activist & Founder, Humanity Lab Foundation.
This episode is made possible with support from Vodafone Americas Foundation. To learn more about their programs and how you can support their network of partners, visit vodafone-us.com.
