Everyday Ambassador

To mark the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing, the St. Paul Civic Symphony traveled to Nagasaki for a powerful joint concert with their sister orchestra. Host Annelise Riles speaks with conductor Jeff Stirling and composer Steve Heitzeg about Green Hope After Black Rain—a new symphony that honors survivors, confronts injustice, and plants seeds of peace through music.

When a 1970s cultural exchange between St. Paul and its Sister City, Nagasaki, sparked the idea for a Japanese garden, no one could have predicted the decades-long journey that would follow. In this episode, Bill Pasek shares how he and the original designer, Mr. Masami Matsuda, worked across languages, cultures, and continents to restore the garden's true vision—with the help of passionate volunteers and a community united by peac...

This week on Everyday Ambassador, I had the honor of speaking with Tomihisa Taue, the former mayor of Nagasaki, as the city prepares to mark the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombing. Mayor Taue served from 2007 to 2023 and has spent his life bridging the memory of devastation with the work of building peace—locally and globally.

In our conversation, Mayor Taue reflected on the events of August 9, 1945, and the lasting impact on Na...

Journalist and NewsGuard Executive Editor Jim Warren joins Everyday Ambassador to explain how misinformation spreads online—and what’s being done to stop it. From fake health cures to AI-generated propaganda, Jim shares what NewsGuard’s team of reporters has uncovered across thousands of websites, podcasts, and social media posts. He also discusses the challenges of media literacy and what schools, journalists, and citizens can do ...

This week on Everyday Ambassador, I spoke with Zsofia Banuta, co-founder of Unhack Democracy, a grassroots organization working to protect democratic institutions across Central and Eastern Europe. Don’t miss our live follow-up event on May 8th on Substack with Zsofia and her co-founder Elliot Goat, where they’ll answer your questions and share more about their work.

Annelise Riles speaks with Austin Bryan, an anthropologist and soon-to-be professor of global health, about his ten years of research with LGBTQ+ communities and healthcare workers in Uganda. Bryan offers a behind-the-scenes look at how international HIV funding has shaped not only access to care but also the emergence of activist networks in a country facing severe anti-LGBTQ+ laws. Their conversation explores the human cost of de...

Annelise Riles speaks with Dr. Bilqis Alatishe-Muhammad, a Nigerian physician and public health advocate working to improve maternal health and champion gender equity across Nigeria. From treating vulnerable communities to challenging cultural norms and policy gaps, Dr. Bilqis shares her deeply personal and powerful mission to bring healthcare to those who are often forgotten. Her story is a reminder that small acts of care can dri...

When we think of a traditional path to global influence, few would imagine starting out on tour with the Grateful Dead. But Stephen Greene, co-founder and CEO of RockCorps, has built a trailblazing career doing just that—blending the power of music, the passion of young people, and a bold new approach to social change.

In the latest episode of Everyday Ambassador, host Annelise Riles reconnects with her high school classmate for a c...

What do you do when you see human rights violations—but you don’t have the power to stop them?

That’s the challenge many of us face today. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, furious, or hopeless. But what if there were a way to channel that frustration into real impact?

This week, we’re heading to Europe to see how one European Union diplomat handles the treatment of migrants at its borders—and what we can learn from him.

Meet the Human R...

In this episode, Annelise Riles speaks with Felecia Maxfield-Barrett, CEO of Utah Global Diplomacy, about how global diplomacy is taking root far beyond embassies and government offices—right in communities like Utah. From her upbringing in American Fork to her leadership in international exchange programs, Felecia shares how shared humanity and storytelling can build bridges across cultures and borders.

To learn more about Utah Glo...