In this episode, Hemma visits with Roxanne Bras Petraeus, entrepreneur super mom, U.S. Army veteran, McKinsey alum, and CEO co-founder of Ethena.

Tune in to hear about Roxanne’s remarkable journey from serving in the US Army and at consulting giant McKinsey to tech entrepreneur designing a product to reimagine the future of culture building at work. Roxanne’s willingness to ask audacious questions and do hard things well has opened doors and brought down walls. She gives a masterclass in discovering works when it comes to culture building at work, particularly for female entrepreneurs finding their voice and for those looking to advance technology solutions to enhance the employee experience.

Highlights:

• Roxanne’s experience as a woman in the US Army

• Highs and Lows of being a female tech entrepreneur

• The magic of a stumble and what we can learn

Timestamps:

1:06 - Introducing Roxanne

3:19 - Why did Roxanne start Athena?

13:33 - How do we have impactful, quality training?

18:47 - Why leaders need to set the tone

29:38 - Athena's culture survey and hotline

39:36 - Roxanne's advice for female founders

Resources:

www.ethena.com

Biography

‍Roxanne Petraeus is the CEO and Co-Founder of Ethena, a compliance training platform startup with intuitive and powerful admin tools that make required training easy, engaging, and effective.

Roxanne previously consulted for McKinsey, and before that, she was an officer in the US Army. She found that no matter the setting, whether consulting or in the military, there remained an opportunity to make compliance training better. She started Ethena in 2019 with Co-Founder Anne Solmssen.

Ethena enjoys incredibly positive word of mouth within the HR community and is trusted by thousands of companies like Figma, Notion, Noom, Pinterest, and Carta to provide actionable training. The employees love it: Ethena has a 93% positive rating and over 2M positive reviews. Roxanne is a natural leader, and her eagerness to question and reinvent old paradigms is at the heart of Ethena’s ascendance.

In this episode, Hemma visits with June Benjamin, a  peace warrior, attorney, former entrepreneur in residence at the Stanford Peace Innovation Institute, and founder of Peace IQ, a technology company leveraging the power of AI to offer strategic insights, predictive analytics, and conflict resolution tools, creating pathways to enduring peace.

As Peace IQ’s Chief Visionary Officer, June coined the term "peace intelligence," a multifaceted approach that integrates AI, wisdom from ancient traditions, and peace data to train AI in providing insights and resolving conflicts.

Is peace a grand scheme for global cooperation, a means to resolve conflicts or a journey of self-discovery? Tune in to find out and be inspired by June’s incredible journey from refugee to peace warrior.

Highlights:

• The Role of Peace Intelligence in Everyday conflict-resolution

• June’s remarkable impact in her local community and beyond

• How solving for peace is the most important challenge of our time and well within reach

Timestamps

2:47 - Introducing June Benjamin

5:38 - Defining peace

13:07 - June's background, and how that led her to seek peace

21:13 - Finding purpose in pain

28:24 - Collective peace building

42:41 - The role of spiritual stories in fostering peace

51:40 - How we can apply these lessons in corporate cultures

Resources:

https://www.peaceiq.com/

Founding Peace Newsletter

June Benjamin - LinkedIn

Biography

As a peace innovator and international attorney, June founded Peace IQ to upskill leaders and their teams to resolve conflict and build sustainable cooperation. As the founder of Peace IQ, June coined the term "peace intelligence," a multifaceted approach that integrates AI, peace data, and insights from wisdom traditions. Peace intelligence leverages the power of AI to offer strategic insights, predictive analytics, and conflict resolution tools, creating pathways to enduring peace.

June’s experience as a former refugee from the Liberian Civil War and Baha'i refugee from Iran, inspired June to pursue a J.D and M.A. in Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University where she received the Dean's award for Professional Responsibility. She then served as a visiting scholar at the Baha'i Chair for World Peace alongside her work as a human rights attorney.

She now combines her experience at the forefront of AI governance to innovate technology that helps clients turn the small daily decisions that add up to conflict to add up to peace. June partners with the Peace Innovation Institute as the Entrepreneur-In-Residence where she helped to launched the Peacebase network to foster relationships between thought leaders, industry experts, start-ups, and peace technologists to identify exciting new business opportunities in peace innovation.

In this episode, Hemma visits with Rani Hong, an Indian-American social entrepreneur, visionary, and CEO of Freedom Seal. Rani is herself a survivor of child trafficking and is using her unique perspective and firsthand understanding of child slavery to help survivors and save victims. Rani is one of the world’s leading voices in the fight against modern-day slavery, and she has worked tirelessly on behalf of people at risk of exploitation – protecting and empowering vulnerable groups and educating businesses and consumers about modern-day slavery.

We are proud to release this episode on International Human Rights Day this year. The UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948. Human Rights Day honors the individuals and organizations, like Rani and Freedom Seal, that work to protect and advocate for human rights. The theme for Human Rights Day 2024 is "Our rights, our future, right now." This year’s slogan is "All Human Beings Are Born Free and Equal in Dignity and Rights."

Highlights:

• Rani’s journey from child abduction to social entrepreneur

• The role of data and technology in the fight to tackle modern slavery and human trafficking

• Modeling ethical decision-making: from parenting to corporate leadership

• A call to action for those who want to make a difference in this space

Timestamps:

1:05 - Introducing Rani Hong

2:57 - Rani's work as CEO of Freedom Seal Global

6:44 - How Rani's past drives her work today

10:36 - How do we begin to tackle such an enormous problem?

15:40 - What can corporations do to fight human trafficking?

19:37 - What is the Freedom Seal Global Certification?

24:38 - What Rani is most proud of

Resources:

The Freedom Seal - A Risk Management Company

Biography

Rani Hong is an Indian-American social entrepreneur, visionary, and CEO of Freedom Seal.

Rani is also a survivor of child trafficking and is using her unique perspective and firsthand understanding of child slavery to help survivors and save victims. She is one of the world’s leading voices in the fight against modern-day slavery.

In 2006, Rani started her philanthropic work and founded the Tronie Foundation, a non-profit global organization focused on driving awareness of child slavery, with her husband Trong Hong, also a survivor of child trafficking.

Since 1999, Rani has advised many governments and has been at the forefront of an international effort to protect women and girls. Her most recent focus has been to eradicate the use of slave labor in all aspects of business.

Rani’s tireless efforts include several speeches before the UN General Assembly and meetings with various world leaders, including presidents.

In 2011, Rani was appointed by the UN as a special advisor to the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking, helping to establish the Sustainable Development Goal 8, and establishing the first-ever World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.

Rani has appeared in numerous broadcast and media interviews, including The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, BBC, Euro News, and other international media.

On November 6th, 2017, Rani joined the Press Office of the Holy See to ask for concrete action against human trafficking. Over 25 journalists helped carry her message worldwide and speak for those without a voice. In 2018, Rani was named Women of the Year in her home country of India.

As a social entrepreneur, Rani created the Freedom Seal, a certification for companies fighting against Human Slavery by committing to mitigate Financial Crime & Modern Slavery. The Freedom Seal symbolizes a future marketplace where forced labor has been reduced. It represents a dream come true for the estimated 40.3 million people, primarily children and women, still trapped in slavery.

Today, Rani dedicates her time and energy to efforts that lead toward a greater global understanding of human trafficking and continues to speak for those without a voice and for those who are imprisoned, enslaved, silenced, and unable to tell their own stories.

Rani’s ability to overcome trauma, loss, and grief has inspired leaders from all over the world to join the global movement against human trafficking.

Rani lives in Olympia, Washington USA, with her husband and children.

In this week’s episode of Unless: The Podcast, Hemma visits with Lieutenant General R. Scott Dingle, an inspiring leader and public servant who served as the 45th Surgeon General of the United States Army and as Commanding General in the United States Army Medical Command. Together, they discuss Lt. General Dingle’s approach to strategic and compassionate leadership during some of the nation’s most trying times.

Tune in to hear how Lt. General Dingle’s legacy of leadership, readiness, and adaptation remains ingrained within the cultures of the teams he has led and how he is a powerful source of inspiration for servant leaders across varying industries and backgrounds.

Highlights:

• Leading the country’s pandemic response and ensuring the health of a nation

• The role of perseverance and ‘keeping your bearing’ as a leader

• Lt General Dingle’s advice for influencing moral leadership (6 Ps)

Timestamps:

1:25 - Introducing R. Scott Dingle

5:24 - Lt. General Dingle's path to the military

13:13 - Finding your leadership

25:51 - The relationship between compassionate leadership and productivity

33:10 - Leaning on your inner inspiriation, encouragement, and drive

43:08 - Lessons learned from facing some of the world's biggest challenges

50:53- What's next for Lt. General Dingle?

55:17 - Ethical and moral leadership in corporations

Biography

Raymond “Scott” Dingle is the U.S. Army’s 45 th Surgeon General. He retired on 1 March 2024 as the Surgeon General and the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Medical Command in Washington, D.C. He served for over 35 years to include two combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. He commanded at every level from company to Corps and led an Army Medicine Team that consisted of over 120,000 Soldiers, civilians, and contractors. He previously served as the Deputy Surgeon General and Deputy Commanding General (support) in the U.S. Army Medical Command in Falls Church, VA and San Antonio, TX.

General Dingle is a native of Upper Marlboro, Maryland and is a Distinguished Military Graduate of Morgan State University where he played football and ran track. His degrees include a Master of Science in Administration from Central Michigan University, a Master of Military Arts and Science from the School of Advanced Military Studies, and a Master of Science in National Security Strategy from the National War College. He and his wife, Sonja, have been married for 36 years and have four adult children and one grandson.

In this week's episode of Unless: The Podcast, Hemma visits with Koby Langley, Division Vice President at the American Red Cross, a two-tour combat Veteran, and a Bronze Star recipient for meritorious service.

Join Koby and Hemma for a timely discussion about Koby’s passionate philosophy of social bridging. This practical concept is particularly important this year when we will have seen elections globally in 64 countries, and polarizing partisan politics can do more harm than good. As representatives from all parties call for healing and peaceful collaboration across party lines, Koby’s message that “Service Unites” couldn’t be more timely.

Highlights:

• Koby’s journey as a two-tour combat veteran and the lessons he learned

• How the American Red Cross moves volunteers and resources to have impact at scale

• The importance of ethical and moral leadership in corporate organizations and institutions

Resources:

Timestamps:

2:11 - Introducing Koby

5:45 - How do you get donors to step up?

16:26 - Taking the lessons learned from disasters into daily life

24:01 - The need for moral leadership

32:50 - The moment that made Koby realize he wanted to serve others

Biography

As a Division Vice President, Koby Langley provides oversight and leadership for all nine regions that constitute the Northeast Division. The Northeast Division delivers Red Cross services with a staff of 472 employees and 22,875 volunteers located in ninety-one facilities with a revenue target of ~$90M USD. The Northeast Division supports responding to more than fifteen disasters per day in a densely populated geography identified as one of FEMA’s most risk-prone regions with a population of 43 million. The Northeast Division also supports the nation’s blood supply while facilitating expanded use of Red Cross lifesaving training courses, including CPR, AED, and First Aid as well as providing critical services to our veteran and military families.

Koby previously served as the Senior Vice President of the International Services and Service to Armed forces departments at the American Red Cross for 7 years where he led global programs with a focus on the elimination of measles and rubella, international disaster preparedness, response, and recovery operations for communities in need while overseeing the worldwide support provided to the service members, veterans and their families.

Before joining the American Red Cross, Koby served as the Director of Wounded Warrior, Veteran, and Military Family Engagement at the White House and the Senior Advisor for Wounded Warrior, Veteran, and Military Family Initiatives for AmeriCorps, leading the largest expansion of grants for veterans and military families in agency history. In 2010, Koby was appointed to the Senior Executive Service at the Department of Defense, where he worked as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary and Senior Advisor for the Office of Wounded Warrior Care and Transition Policy. Koby assumed other roles such as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Department of Veteran Affairs, and appointee to the Presidential Review Team for the Department of Veteran Affairs. Koby served as the managing member of a litigation firm and worked as a veteran organizer for the successful congressional race of the first Iraq War veteran elected to Congress from 2006 to 2008.

During his military service, Koby was appointed the first in-theater foreign claims commissioner for Iraq. He developed and published the first Foreign Claims Act standard operating procedure in Iraq and paid the first civil reconstruction claims during combat operations.

Koby conducted over one hundred Foreign Claims Act and Laws of Armed Conflict missions/convoys in Iraq and served as an operational law attorney and prosecutor for the 82nd Airborne Division. He also served as litigation counsel for the Army, where he practiced with dozens of attorneys in the Department of Justice, assisting in the successful litigation of over 150 cases. He is published in numerous national news outlets and has conducted visiting correspondent interviews for Fox News and MSNBC.

Langley is a Harvard Law School-certified federal mediator, a two-tour combat Veteran, and a Bronze Star recipient for meritorious service.

In this episode, Hemma visits with Lisa Stevens Gilford co-chair of the Women for Harris campaign, a commercial litigation partner in the law firm Sidley Austin, lifelong champion of civil rights, community builder, advocate, activist, mentor, sponsor, and so much more. Hemma and Lisa explore the power of grassroots community building, leaning in on your existing talents to drive impact, and the fact that democracy demands our participation, and our vote is our voice.

Tune in for a moving account of Lisa’s origin story and how she has leveraged her event planning and fundraising skills to steer a phenomenal grassroots movement at a pivotal time in American history.

Highlights:

• The power of leaning into what you enjoy and what you are good at to drive impact

• A massive grassroots effort to participate in democracy

• What’s at stake in the upcoming US general election

Resources:

Women for Harris Walz - https://live.kamalaharris.com/women/en/home

Timestamps:

0:30 - Introducing Lisa Gilford

7:57 - How do we make pathways for women and minorities to become lawyers?

16:38 - Lisa's experience as an activist for ending apartheid and freeing Nelson Mandela

26:42 - Lisa's role in fundraising for the Harris-Walz campaign

35:43 - What's at stake in this election?

43:32 - Ethical decision making in corporate cultures

48:11 - What's next for Lisa, after the election?

Biography

Lisa Gilford is a leading complex civil litigator with a practice focused on class actions, multi-district litigation,products liability matters and large-scale commercial disputes. Lisa co-chairs Sidley’s Diversity Committee in Los Angeles. Prior to joining Sidley, Lisa was a partner with the AMLAW 50 Firms Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom and Alston & Bird, where she co-chaired the Products Liability practice.

Lisa’s numerous accolades include being named by the Los Angeles Daily Journal as one of its “Top 100 Lawyers” (2015–2020), “Top Women Lawyers” (2013–2019) and “Top Women Litigators” in California (2013–2018). The Los Angeles Business Journal named her to the “L.A. 500” (2019, 2020), as one of the city’s “Most Influential Women Attorneys” (2018–2020) and among the “Most Influential Minority Lawyers” (2019). The John M. Langston Bar Association of Los Angeles recognized Lisa as a Law Firm Partner Honoree at their 2019

Honoring Excellence in the Legal Profession awards. She was also recognized as the “Consumer Litigation Lawyer of 2018” by the Century City Bar Association and included in The Best Lawyers in America (2018–2021). In 2008, Lisa received the J. Michael Brown Award from DuPont for her personal commitment to diversity, recruiting, and mentoring in the legal profession.

Lisa is dedicated to causes advancing the status of Black women and girls and is a former President and current Emeritus Board Member of the National Association of Women Lawyers. Lisa is a former member of the Boards of the California Women’s Law Center and StepUp Women’s Network; a lifetime member of Women Lawyers of Los Angeles and Black WomenLawyers bar organizations; and counsel to the S.H.A.U.N. Foundation for Women and Girls and the Debbie Allen Dance Academy.

Lisa earned an LL.M. from Georgetown University (1995); a J.D. from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law (1993); and received a B.A. from Furman University (1990). Lisa lives in Lake Hollywood with her family, husband Andrew and children Isabel and Evan.

In this episode, Hemma visits with Jonathan Aronie, a partner and practice leader at the law firm Sheppard Mullin, and co-founder of the Active Bystander for Law Enforcement (ABLE) project with Georgetown University Law Center.

Tune in to hear about Jonathan’s tireless efforts to reimagine organisational integrity at scale in the context of law enforcement - using research-backed peer intervention techniques which have applications well beyond law enforcement.

Highlights:

• The origins of the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) Program
• Peer intervention as a teachable skill
• Proactive approaches to organizational integrity

Resources:

Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement Project

Jonathan Aronie on LinkedIn

Timestamps

1:10 - Introducing Jonathan Aronie

5:15 - What is a "pre-mortem", and why are they so important?

10:56 - Defining active bystandership

16:11 - How do we train people to be active bystanders?

21:54 - Jonathan's leukemia diagnosis

25:00 - The creation of ABLE

35:26 - Psychological inhibitors that lead to inaction

44:15 - ABLE's application in different communities

Jonathan's Biography

Jonathan Aronie is the Leader of Sheppard Mullin’s Governmental Practice, and the founding member of the firm's Organizational Integrity Group, a cross-disciplinary team of litigators, regulatory specialists, federal monitors, and ex-prosecutors with extensive experience helping organizations prevent and defend against challenges to their organizational integrity. As an outgrowth of his internal investigation practice, Jonathan was appointed in 2013 by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana as the Federal Monitor over the New Orleans Police Department. In that role, Jonathan leads a team of former police chiefs, internationally-known academics, and other professionals who collectively are responsible for reviewing, assessing, and reporting publicly on the NOPD’s compliance with a far-reaching federal Consent Decree. As a corollary to his work in New Orleans, Jonathan co-founded the Georgetown/Sheppard Mullin Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) Project, for which he serves as the pro bono chairperson of the Project’s Board of Advisors. Jonathan received his BA in1990 from Brandeis University and his JD in 1993 from Duke University School of Law.