Podcast

This episode features a conversation with Katie Michel, owner of Planthouse Gallery in New York City and a member of Victory Garden Collective, a group of women artists using their craft to exercise their patriotic duty. While the group started in 2016 to support Hillary Clinton in anticipation of her victory, it morphed into an act of political resistance under Trump, and their work is now found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum and Yale's Beinecke Library, among others. Just as victory gardens in WWII provided sustenance and nurturing, so has the Victory Garden Collective in providing sustenance to…

This episode features a conversation with Lisa Guide, co-founder of the Women Effect Action Fund, a group dedicated to achieving economic equality for women in our country. Lisa and her colleagues have spent the last four years focused on turning out the caregiver vote, and thanks to them, women came out in force to vote in this past election, motivated by care economy issues. These are working moms, who have silently struggled for decades to fulfill their historical caregiver roles while also holding down jobs, often as the primary wage earners in their homes. Lisa and Nancy talk about why…

This episode features a conversation with Aditi Juneja of Protect Democracy, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting efforts to undermine our right to free, fair, and fully informed self-government. In other words, while you spent the last four years calling your senator and phone banking, the superheroes at Protect Democracy have been doing nothing less than preventing our country from sliding into authoritarianism. Nancy and Aditi talk about the work the group did to protect the guardrails of democracy, what accountability should look like, and what changes we need in our government going forward to win back the faith…

Welcome to Season 2 of the New Faces of Democracy podcast, hosted by Nancy Bynum. In this season, Nancy will look back at the gains we have made in protecting our democracy, the healing and rebuilding that needs to take place, and an optimistic look ahead at the opportunities for real progress under the Biden administration. Join Nancy for inspiring conversations with people at the grassroots and the grasstops who are making this all happen, political newcomers and policy leaders alike, all of whom share a common goal of bringing us closer to a more perfect union and the America that…

This episode features a conversation with Martha Shockey of the grassroots political action group, Indivisible Georgia. A soft-spoken powerhouse, Martha talks about all the hard work that groups like hers put into Biden’s win in the state and what they are doing for the two Senate runoffs on January 5. Martha and Nancy discuss the tremendous hurdles created by Republican’s voter suppression tactics executed with surgical precision; how she and others are working to rebuild the Democratic infrastructure in a state that national Democrats had written off; and why it’s important for all of us to do what we can…

On this episode, Nancy welcomes Catherine Vaughan back to New Faces of Democracy. Catherine is Co-Executive Director of the Democratic political action group, Swing Left, and she was one of the first people Nancy profiled at New Faces of Democracy in 2018. Catherine and Nancy do an election debrief and discuss lessons learned this year. Catherine talks about all the progress we have made over the last four years and the work that remains, making democracy a habit, and reasons to be hopeful. She also tells us the most impactful ways we can help in the upcoming Georgia Senate runoff, no matter…

Nancy follows up on her conversation about sheriffs with Max Rose on Episode 13 of the podcast to explore what happened in the sheriff elections last month.

This episode features a conversation with data and analytics expert and political polling thought leader Mike Berland. Mike is the founder & CEO of research, data, and analytics firm Decode M and is an expert on how people think and behave as voters and decision-makers. Mike has appeared extensively on national television to speak about elections, candidates, and business issues. He has served as a strategic advisor to politicians like Michael Bloomberg and Hillary Clinton, and MSNBC has called him a “genius pollster.” Mike also recently authored the book “Maximum Momentum.” Mike and I talk about how polls should really…

This week features a guest episode from Democracy Works, a podcast dedicated to answering the question “What Does it Mean to Live in a Democracy?". Each week, the podcast examines a different aspect of democratic life, like voting, criminal justice or the free press. Produced by The McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State, Democracy Works showcases some of the finest academic minds studying these issues today. Like New Faces of Democracy, Democracy Works is focused on the role each of us can play in building and sustaining a healthy democracy. This episode features a fascinating discussion with Robert Lieberman, professor…

This episode features a conversation with Marcia Greenberger, a true pioneer of women’s rights law through her work at the National Women’s Law Center in Washington DC. Marcia and Nancy speak about the early days of women’s rights law, the legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsberg and the path ahead for advancing women’s equality under the law. In the wake of Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s death, Marcia tells us what tools we still have at our disposal to keep up the fight and gives us hope for the future.