There's No Wrong Way to Be Authentic - Live Interviews

 EPISODE 102

Alex Cullimore: Hello, Cristina.                

Cristina Amigoni: Hi, how are you?

Alex Cullimore: I'm doing good doing good. We have a very unique podcast episode to share with everybody. Today we were able to do a bit of a live podcast in the middle of a local TEDx events. And so we got to interview a lot of people and ask them about their passions and what authenticity means to them.

Cristina Amigoni: Yeah, it was super fun. It was definitely a great way to meet people differently from the typical networking event where you just walk around and exchange business cards. And then after the four second chit chat, you move on. And we got, you know, we got a few more minutes than the four second chit chat and we got to kind of dig deeper and get to know people a little bit better. And they shared great stories.

Alex Cullimore: Yeah, awesome stories in very compacted five minute segments, and a few of them even want to be their own full episode guests. So you'll probably hear some of these voices again in the next few months. We're looking forward to sharing that.

Cristina Amigoni: Yeah, enjoy it.

Alex Cullimore: Welcome to uncover the human where every conversation revolves around enhancing all the connections in our lives,

Cristina Amigoni: whether that's with our families, co workers, or even ourselves,

Alex Cullimore: when we can be our authentic selves. magic happens.

Cristina Amigoni: This is Cristina Amigoni.

Alex Cullimore: This is Alex cullimore.

Both: Let’s dive in. 

“Authenticity means freedom.”

“Authenticity means going with your gut.”

“Authenticity is bringing 100% of yourself not just the parts you think people want to see, but all of you.”

“Being authentic means that you have integrity to yourself.”

“It's the way our intuition is whispering something deep-rooted and true.”

“Authenticity is when you truly know yourself. You remember and connect to who you were before others told you who you should be.”

“It's transparency, relatability. No frills. No makeup. Just being.”

Rick Harrigan: Hey guys. 

Cristina Amigoni: Hi, Rick. 

Rick Harrigan: It's good to be back. 

Cristina Amigoni: I know. Welcome back. 

Alex Cullimore: Rick, long-time friend of the podcast has been on before. Welcome back.

Rick Harrigan: It's great to be here. Thanks for having me on. And well done navigating those technical difficulties there. 

Cristina Amigoni: Yeah, which keep haunting us. 

Rick Harrigan: Handled with aplomb.

Alex Cullimore: We're going to make each interview unique just by the audio trail that we have. 

Rick Harrigan: Right on. Well, you guys are crushing it. Thanks again for having me on. 

Alex Cullimore: That's very kind of you to say. Yeah. Let's go into some questions for you, if you don't mind.

Rick Harrigan: Absolutely. 

Alex Cullimore: First of all, what's something you're passionate about? 

Rick Harrigan: I am passionate – well, I'm passionate about purpose. That is my main causes with my coaching company. But I was honestly just speaking to someone over here about travel. And travel is something I'm extremely passionate about. That provides little added purpose to what I do to get to travel and experience other cultures. And see the sights is something that I find immense purpose and passion from. It's like I get to work in the purpose realm and then reward myself with something that brings immense purpose to my heart. Yeah. 

Alex Cullimore: So, your purpose is purpose.

Rick Harrigan: Yes. My purpose is purpose. And one of the things I like to say about purpose is a lot of people think purpose is one thing. It's got to be a big thing. I'm a believer in a purpose portfolio, so to speak, where we have many things that bring us purpose. And anything that brings us meaning, joy and fulfillment, we can put it right in our purpose portfolio. And that also, it's good to have a varied portfolio. Because if for some reason one thing you can no longer do or is no longer there, you got many other things left in the portfolio that can keep you feeling purposeful and passionate moving forward. 

Cristina Amigoni: How does your purpose portfolio help you be authentic? 

Rick Harrigan: How does it help me? Oh, my gosh. In every way. Really, it is our authenticity that seeds that portfolio. Anything that we do that comes from the heart, that comes from the soul that makes us feel authentic is really just another stock or, or bond, if you will, in our purpose portfolio. It is my authenticity. It is my unique blend, or Rick Harrigan stew, if you will, of authenticity. 

Cristina Amigoni: You've got stew of purposes. 

Alex Cullimore: A stew of purposes. 

Rick Harrigan: Yes. A purpose stew, yeah. 

Cristina Amigoni: Awesome. Well, thank you, Rick. 

Rick Harrigan: Absolutely. 

Cristina Amigoni: We'll definitely have to have you back for topboys.com.

Rick Harrigan: Oh, my gosh. Top boys forever. Thank you so much.

Alex Cullimore: Welcome to Uncover the Human where every conversation revolves around enhancing all the connections in our lives. 

Cristina Amigoni: Whether that's with our families, co-workers or even ourselves. 

Alex Cullimore: When we can be our authentic selves, magic happens.

Cristina Amigoni: This is Cristina Amigoni. 

Alex Cullimore: And this is Alex Cullimore. Let’s dive in.

Cristina Amigoni: Let’s dive in. 

“Authenticity means freedom.”

“Authenticity means going with your gut.”

“Authenticity is bringing 100% of yourself not just the parts you think people want to see, but all of you.”

“Being authentic means that you have integrity to yourself.”

“It's the way our intuition is whispering something deep-rooted and true.”

“Authenticity is when you truly know yourself. You remember and connect to who you were before others told you who you should be.”

“It's transparency, relatability. No frills. No makeup. Just being.”

Alex Cullimore: Hey, how's it going, Ethan? 

Ethan Wranpler: It's good. It's good to see you guys, as always. 

Alex Cullimore: Good to see you. Well, welcome to Uncover the Human. We're so glad you're on here. 

Ethan Wranpler: Absolutely. I'm happy to be here. 

Alex Cullimore: We just have a couple questions for you. Starting off, what's something you're passionate about? 

Ethan Wranpler: Climate change. 

Alex Cullimore: Climate change. No hesitation. All right. What does that mean? What does it mean to be passionate about climate change? 

Ethan Wranpler: Okay. Let me specify. I'm passionate about climate change solutions. 

Alex Cullimore: You're not passionate about the issue itself becoming bigger?

Ethan Wranpler: No, no, no. 

Cristina Amigoni: Not the climate changing all the time? 

Ethan Wranpler: Yeah, yeah. I'm passionate about doing whatever we can to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy and how we can get to 100% renewable energy as quickly as possible. 

Alex Cullimore: I love that. That's great. 

Cristina Amigoni: That is something important to be passionate about.

Ethan Wranpler: Yeah, I'm passionate about it because I feel like it's – especially the clean energy piece, that's one of the biggest pieces of the puzzle. There're so many things need to happen for us to get to a truly sustainable future. But I think that's the one that would have the biggest impact and also one where I can use my skills to help with the problem and help with the solutions. 

Alex Cullimore: That's awesome.

Cristina Amigoni: Yes, that is awesome. How does your passion help you manifest your authenticity? 

Alex Cullimore: As we go from zero to 100 dollar question here.

Cristina Amigoni: It’s a pop-up podcast.

Ethan Wranpler: I feel like – one, curious to hear your thoughts, Alex, too. But I feel like authenticity is probably one of my bigger strengths. And so, because I'm passionate about it, it's just so much easier for me to talk about that versus any other topic because I care about it and I get so engaged at – People tell me, "Oh, your eyes light up," or whatever. The authenticity is a really – it is a really big piece of it. And I've had a variety of jobs in this space. I'm still trying to find the niche or like where I can have the biggest impact where I feel the most fulfilled. But one of my jobs was doing grassroots organizing. And so, the authenticity piece was really important for that. Getting people engaged. Getting people to care as I'm recruiting, and recruiting volunteers and getting people to care about the campaigns we would work on. 

Alex Cullimore: That's awesome. 

Cristina Amigoni: That is awesome.

Alex Cullimore: Contagious passion. 

Cristina Amigoni: Your eyes do light up. 

Alex Cullimore: Yeah. We're going to have to say that on the recording. For everybody listening, the eyes are lit. 

Cristina Amigoni: You just have to imagine them because you can't see them.

Alex Cullimore: Well, thank you so much for joining us, Ethan. 

Ethan Wranpler: Absolutely. 

Alex Cullimore: So glad to have you on.

Ethan Wranpler: It's an honor to be here. So, yeah. 

Cristina Amigoni: Thank you. 

Alex Cullimore: Well, Eleanor, thank you so much for joining us. And welcome to Uncover the Human. 

Eleanor Morgan: Thank you. Thank you for having me. Yes. 

Alex Cullimore: We're going to jump right in. Just a couple questions. First off, what's something you're passionate about? 

Eleanor Morgan: Passionate about a lot of things. But probably the main things for me is STEMeducation, is women in tech leadership and human space flight as well. Yeah, I've always been passionate about space since I was little. I was interested in that. And my journey along the way took me into the Air Force. I was a pilot in the Air Force. And then transitioned out into the aerospace sector about four years ago. I work for Lockheed Martin now. And engineer my trade. Program manager there for some of our human space flight development work that we do. It's just really exciting to work on projects to help humans habitate the moon and eventually Mars. And so, yeah. And I think back to all the experiences I had when I was younger and just how much that helped me down my path and learned about these experiences that I'm really passionate about. Giving back and being involved in STEM outreach opportunities for like youth and women. Yeah.

Cristina Amigoni: Wow! That's like one of those things that like you see in TV shows and you hear that that exists. People that had been in the Air Force and got into aerospace and are working at that. And it's like it exists. 

Alex Cullimore: I feel like it’s a movie plot. 

Eleanor Morgan: I joke my friends. I'm like, "Well, I build space stations and rovers during the weekday and I hunt terrorists on the weekends. It's fine. I'm in the Air Force, too. So, yeah." Not a boring life. 

Cristina Amigoni: That is really cool. Expecially the outreach and the giving back. We definitely need more women representation in tech and STEM in general.

Alex Cullimore: And literally everything.

Cristina Amigoni: Yeah. Among many things. 

Eleanor Morgan: Yes. 

Cristina Amigoni: Our second question for you is how do you define authenticity? 

Eleanor Morgan: I think for me, authenticity is when it's really like what your interests and passions are and who you are as a person in your personal and in your private life really align with how you act and in things you do, in your professional life and in your career. And I think when those things are aligned in your passions and your values and that's how you act with everyone, I think that is authenticity for me. And I found it so ironic. I literally just today was working on end of year feedback for people. And in the two different feedbacks that I gave, I literally used the word you know authentic, authentic leaders. Because that's always been super important to me, you know? And, yeah, I think it kind of comes from the values I had instilled in me long ago in the military and all of the things. And just we can't do the things we do, these hard things, if we're not going to be compassionate leaders who are authentic and take care of our people. And that kind of goes back to my military roots. 

Cristina Amigoni: So true. We can't do the hard things that we're supposed to be doing. 

Alex Cullimore: That's a great answer. 

Eleanor Morgan: Thanks. Thank you. Yeah, thank you both. 

Cristina Amigoni: Let us know when the flight to Mars is. 

Eleanor Morgan: I know. I'm working on it. I'll be on the first flight. Yeah. 

Cristina Amigoni: Yes. 

Eleanor Morgan: Thank you. 

Alex Cullimore: Well, Jovan, thank you so much for joining us. Welcome to Uncover the Human. This is our pop-up podcast version. 

Jovan Mays: Yeah, thank you for having me. 

Alex Cullimore: The one thing we know about Jovan so far is that he has incredible poetries. Thank you so much for sharing that. And we would love to ask you just a couple questions. I'm starting with what's something you're passionate about? 

Jovan Mays: Oh, I'm passionate about a lot, and that's for sure. My motto is love what you fight for. Fight for what you love. I don't waste too much time in my life. Everything I'm doing, I'm defending. I am a teacher. I'm a wrestling coach. I'm a poet. I'm an uncle. And all of these roles that I fulfill, I really do think that I fulfill them in a way that is really full-bodied. And so, extensions off those roles are all sorts of things, right? When you're in a classroom, you're into not just your teaching, but your equity. And I teach student leadership at a really challenged middle school in North Aurora. I also teach at an experiential learning school. Right now, I'm leading a class that's called We're Building a Museum. And with my 96 freshmen, we're building our own empathy museum in our school. And so, I have a lot of autonomy in the worlds that I work in. And that's by design because I wouldn't work there if I didn't. And so, yeah, I'm also a diabetes advocate. But a lot of stuff in my life, I really believe in walking what you're talking. That's why I don't really call myself necessarily an activist. A lot of people probably call me that. But I really feel like I just put a lot of energy into the places that I really care about. 

Cristina Amigoni: Can we put an empathy museum in every office, school, building? 

Alex Cullimore: That needs to be a core curriculum.

Cristina Amigoni: Yes, corridor, traffic lights. 

Jovan Mays: You know, it was a late idea. I had one of my co-teachers who's going to do something similar to what I was doing. And I was like, "You know, I think I got this. I just need to kind of get the right tools together and reach out to the right people." And it's been so fun watching the kids study. We had a curator in from the Denver Museum of Arts and Science on Tuesday. And just watching them actually be excited for it. It's a little bit of an esoteric concept. For them to be, "I'm game. Mr., I have some ideas on how we can –" We have a student who's writing a story of empathy about their grandmother's pupusas, right? And he's like, "Look, I think I could like actually bring my grandma in. I could also like teach people how to like fluff the dough. I could also like bring in samples for people." And it's like cool watching like them be really excited to be vulnerable, which is really rare particularly following the tightness that the pandemic kind of put on the educational world. Super proud to be in the role that I'm in. 

Alex Cullimore: That is so cool. 

Cristina Amigoni: Yeah. Really, really powerful. Very cool. 

Alex Cullimore: I love the stories of connection. And especially stories of connection that involve food. I mean, it can't get better. 

Cristina Amigoni: Yes. Yeah, even that. Yeah. Well, we have one other question for you. How do you define authenticity? You seem like you live it.

Jovan Mays: Yeah, sure, sure. And I actually judge it a lot. If you sat it on me and my girlfriend's conversations on the couch, I'm judging when people are being fake a lot. I can tell lip service. I think – I don't know. Just last night I was running a youth poetry slam for Littleton Public Schools. And I was telling the kids about some secrets that I have to perform. And one of the things I told them, I was like, "Look, I have like one of the biggest judges in my entire life on a daily basis. And it's my seven-year-old nephew, Cason." And Cason will see straight through you in a heartbeat. If you are reading bedtime story at him, he will know that you need to really turn it up and read it to him. I mean, you need to join it and then you need to lean into the identifiers of the story. I also told the students last night, one of the hardest things in the entire world to do when you read poems, especially when you're nervous it's your first time, blah-blah- blah-blah-blah, is you have to hear yourself. And I think that's where authenticity really comes from to me, is like the ability to hear yourself and be able to impact yourself. And even sometimes when I'm reading a poem, I'm reading a poem, and I can actually hear the story of my little nephew. I hear it. It impacts me. And knowing that loop allows you to be really vulnerable and authentic. And I think that's a lot of what it takes. It takes breath. It takes consistent discovery, investigation. I always say diversification, right? Authenticity is, to me, it's a recluse thing, right? Especially in our society today, it's really hard to find yourself. And so, when you can and deliver from that, the most wonderful things come out, I mean, of people when they can find that and deliver themselves. That's why I coach wrestling as well. That's why I coach that sport. Because there's not a lot of like ability to excuse on to somebody else. You have to like really be accountable. And I think, I guess, I never thought about that how accountability and authenticity have to kind of go hand-in-hand and they don't get to live in different worlds, in my own opinion of it, you know? 

Cristina Amigoni: I never thought about it either. But it's true. Accountability and authenticity do go hand-in-hand. 

Alex Cullimore: It's huge. Yeah, you couldn’t have it without it. I can’t believe, I mean, we’ve asked this question a dozen times, and that has never come up. That's wonderful.

Jovan Mays: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 

Cristina Amigoni: Well, thank you so much. 

Alex Cullimore: Thank you so much for joining us. 

Cristina Amigoni: Thank you.

Cristina Amigoni: Hi, Claudia.

Claudia Navarro: Hi. How are you? 

Cristina Amigoni: Good. How are you? Thanks for stopping by.

Claudia Navarro: Very good. Excited to be here.

Alex Cullimore: Yeah. We're so happy to have you. We just have a couple questions for you. First of all, what's something you're passionate about? 

Claudia Navarro: I'm very passionate about global citizenship. That's something that really drives my work and also my day-to-day. I'm working on some projects also related to education. That started in higher education. But now I'm extending it to I would say high school and middle school level. Trying to get that – teach kids about global citizenship and to be able to relate to other people in other countries earlier in their education and not just when they are about to graduate from college. 

Cristina Amigoni: Extremely important.

Alex Cullimore: Yes. What does global citizenship mean to you? Just to help identify for everyone. 

Claudia Navarro: It's a way to relate to others in a very respectful way. And that means to be able to communicate and to exchange ideas to be able to work actually with people that are not necessary from your same culture. And always respecting the different points of view. And I think that comes not only with you being able to watch like maybe an international TV show or being able to travel, but you have to go through the process of reflection. And that really is what makes you be able to communicate and to actually work with others from other cultures. That has been my personal experience as an immigrant in this country. Exactly. Exactly. And that will be shown in your work. But then it also will be shown in your community with your neighbors and whatever group that you work with or participate in. It goes beyond your work. It's actually part of your life style, too. 

Alex Cullimore: That's wonderful. 

Cristina Amigoni: Well,that's a good segue into our second question, which is how do you define authenticity? 

Claudia Navarro: Authenticity, I think, first of all, is something that you can learn to work, and if you don't feel that you are being authentic, right? For me authenticity is to be able to select what you feel is important based on your own principles and being able to not only speak about them, but actually live a life that you're basically applying that concept. If I'm being authentic in my life, it will show in everything that I do. 

Cristina Amigoni: So true. Not just speak about it, but live it. And it shows.

Claudia Navarro: Yeah. And I think that to not always do it naturally. It may be something that you have to learn. And again, going back to what I just said about global citizenship, it's something that you have to reflect about.

Alex Cullimore: That's wonderful. I love the global censorship idea of that, bringing that authenticity. Thank you so much for sharing this. 

Claudia Navarro: I appreciate it. I love that you guys liked it. Thank you.

Cristina Amigoni: Yes. 

Alex Cullimore: welcome to Uncover the Human. We'd love to ask you just a couple questions. To start with, what's something you're passionate about? 

Kathryn Jacobs: I'm actually really passionate about pottery. I go to the Boulder Pottery Studio twice a week. And it's become my new passion topic. So much so that I maybe could be a full-time ceramicist. Yeah, yeah, which is so different to what I actually do day-to-day today, yeah. 

Alex Cullimore: Well, now I have two questions. What is day-to-day, for one?

Kathryn Jacobs: Yeah, yeah. I work in a consulting company. I do a lot in the technology digital space and then business improvement type space. I spent all day at my laptop moving from there over to the – the pottery wheel is quite different. I get to exercise a bit of more of a creative side of my brain as well. 

Alex Cullimore: And same question then being what is it about pottery? What do you love about it? 

Kathryn Jacobs: It's the right balance of creativity and structure. Because the clay, you still need to keep in a symmetrical form. It needs to be centered. It needs to be symmetrical. But once you have that basic form, you can then be as creative as you want to turn it into something else. Yeah, it's the right balance for me of left-right brain.

Cristina Amigoni: That's really fascinating. Especially having found that and now wanting to – 

Kathryn Jacobs: Yeah, yeah, I just happen stance found it and then I'm like, “Oh, I was born to do this.” Yeah, yeah. 

Alex Cullimore: That leads right well into our next question. Go for it. 

Cristina Amigoni: Yes, exactly. How do you use your passion, especially newly found passion, to manifest your authenticity? 

Kathryn Jacobs: I actually feel like just – authenticity, I think about, is me being true to my core passions, my core values and what keeps me motivated, and I think working towards the truth day-to-day. I try to put that into the hobbies that I pick up. So, ceramics being one of them. I also think about it in the role that I have in consulting, I think about it in terms of the clients, and the projects and the types of things that I'm prepared to sign up to do. And the way that we converse with clients, we have a lot of client-facing stuff. And bringing my core values of what I think is truthful and honest, I bring to that day-to-day. That's kind of how it manifests, I guess.

Cristina Amigoni: Wonderful answer. 

Alex Cullimore: Yeah, that's great.

Cristina Amigoni: Yeah, great answer. 

Kathryn Jacobs: Thank you. 

Alex Cullimore: Thank you so much for joining us, Kathryn. 

Kathryn Jacobs: Oh, that was it? Okay, cool. I could have kept going, a few more questions. 

Alex Cullimore: All right. Well, we are joined currently with Carol and Dana. Welcome to Uncover the Human, Carol. How are you guys doing? 

Carol Hazekamp: Thank you. Good. How are you? 

Alex Cullimore: Doing great. Thank you, guys, so much for joining us. We have a couple of fun questions for you. To start off with, what's something you guys are passionate about it? And it doesn't have to be both of you. Each at a time can answer. 

Carol Hazekamp: I would say my passion evolves around gender equality. And I think a lot of that stems from I'm the baby of a large family. And I came to the world seven and a half years after they were all one and two years apart. I was always trying to establish that I was significant. 

Alex Cullimore: That’s hard. 

Cristina Amigoni: That is hard. 

Alex Cullimore: And how does that translate to gender equality? 

Carol Hazekamp: Well, I think because as a female in this family of majority male, I think I was told no so many times. Because, “No, you can't do that, you're a woman,” or you're a girl was more of the answer. Every time I was told no, it made me want to do it even that much more. 

Ever since then, I think everything that I've done centered around being different and saying you can't put these things these things in a box and say it can only be a man's job or whatnot. 

Cristina Amigoni: Yeah, I have two boys, and it's hard to break the mold of society. Even when we look at toys. And it’s like, “Oh, those are girls toys.” I’m like, “Well, are they? It doesn't have to be boys and girls toys? Just be toys and whoever enjoys playing them?” 

Carol Hazekamp: Right. And Dana's my daughter. And so, she went into engineering. And she caught me one time saying, “Oh, my daughter is a female engineer.” She goes, “You're not supposed to say female in front of that.” It made me very cognizant that I was violating my own beliefs. 

Cristina Amigoni: What about you, Dana? What are you passionate about?

Dana Hart: I'd say just people in general. I like getting to know the differences in people and everything. I travel a lot and like to kind of get more behind the scenes, per se. 

Alex Cullimore: That's what we do. That's what we love to do. 

Cristina Amigoni: Yes. Sure.

Alex Cullimore: All right. With your passions, how do you like to manifest that and help that manifest your authenticity? 

Carol Hazekamp: Passing it back to me. Well, I'm part of – in my corporation, I'm part of an oncology women's initiative group, which a lot of what we do centers around equality and promoting women in industry in a way. Each month, everyone does a different project. When it was my turn to do my project, I specifically picked that topic and did the research behind it and really enlightened me to how much more inequality there was really out there. And it was almost devastating to me to think that the ERA hasn't even passed nationally. I couldn't believe that that's the fact. It really kind of annoys me. And then, especially now, with the politics, the way it is, and it's taking away more and more women's rights. It's really aggravating me.

Alex Cullimore: Yeah.

Cristina Amigoni: Yeah. 

Alex Cullimore: Yeah, that is aggravating. 

Cristina Amigoni: Very aggravating. 

Dana Hart: More generally, I'd say, in any teams that I'm involved in, just trying to like see where people fit. When I was in undergrad, it was definitely like really ingrained in me to like figure out the strengths that each team member can bring forward and see how like you can promote that to like make a better team and whatnot. Both like formally and informally, I guess, doing that? 

Cristina Amigoni: Definitely speaking our language. 

Dana Hart: Yeah. 

Alex Cullimore: Yeah, that is our work. That is our love and our passion. 

Cristina Amigoni: Yeah. Well, thank you so much for your time. 

Alex Cullimore: Thank you, guys. Carol, Dana. It’s nice to meet you. 

Dana Hart: Yeah, thank you. It’s nice to meet you. 

Alex Cullimore: Thank you. 

Cristina Amigoni: Thank you for listening to Uncover the Human, a Siamo podcast. 

Alex Cullimore: Special thanks to our podcast operations wizard, Jake Lara; and our score creator, Rachel Sherwood. 

Cristina Amigoni: If you have enjoyed this episode, please share, review and subscribe. You can find our episodes wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Alex Cullimore: We would love to hear from you with feedback, topic ideas or questions. You can reach us at podcast wearesiamo.com, or at our website, wearesiamo.com, LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook. We Are Siamo is spelled W-E A-R-E S-I-A-M-O.

Cristina Amigoni: Until next time, listen to yourself, listen to others and always uncover the human.