Episode 34: Ted Opderbeck: Empathy into Action

Have you ever had a teacher who completely changed the way you see the world? Today, we’re shining a spotlight on one of those incredible educators—Ted Opderbeck! With 30 years of award-winning teaching under his belt, Ted has dedicated his career to putting empathy and global awareness at the heart of every lesson. 

Roberta talks to Ted about how he’s taking his passion even further in his new role with TEEEM (The Empathy Equality Entrepreneurship Mission). He’s here to share his journey, his inspiring work, and his thoughts on “refirement” (not retirement!)—a fresh approach to purpose and impact in life’s next chapter.

Don’t miss this chance to be inspired by Ted’s story and learn how small acts of empathy can ripple out into big change.

Things we talked about in this episode:

Ted Opderbeck

TEEEM (The Empathy Equality Entrepreneurship Mission

Social Entrepreneurship in the Classroom

50 Inspiring Ideas of Social Entrepreneurship

Refirement

Episode Credits: 

• Our thanks to Ted Opderbeck for joining us in the studio today. You can learn more about Ted and his work at teeem.org/ (that’s teeem).
• A Bend in the Road is written, hosted, and produced by Roberta Panjwani and created by Roberta Panjwani and Diane Sims
• Our Assistant Producers for this episode are Melissa Egan and Elias Rosner. 
• Editing by Elias Rosner and Roberta Panjwani. 
• Our Technical Directors and Audio Engineers are Matt Giannotti and Elias Rosner.
• Original theme Music is written and performed by Diane Sims
• Our Digital Media producer is Melissa Egan. 
• Logo and Website created by Parker Gaidimas