Good Standing

Suhail Arastu is the Director of Advancement for the San Antonio-based nonprofit, Musical Bridges Around the World (MBAW), which promotes global arts and cultural understanding by providing free, world-class musical performances and educational programs to the public. It focuses on serving underserved youth, senior citizens, and military personnel, while expanding horizons, awareness, and empathy for all involved. Arastu attended U...

Dwayne R. Norris is the Co-founder & COO of Soulful Synergy, a New York-based, minority-owned workforce development and consulting agency focused on creating economic opportunity, social equity, and environmental sustainability. They specialize in training for clean energy and construction jobs, providing workforce planning, and supporting MWBEs (a certification for businesses that are at least 51% owned, operated, and controll...

In 2003, Scott Neeson resigned from his role as President of 20th Century Fox International where he oversaw the worldwide release of blockbusters like Titanic, the Star Wars prequels, the original live-action X-men films, Braveheart and more, in order to help change the lives of impoverished children and their families working for less than a dollar a day on an unforgiving landfill in Steung Meanchey, one of the poorest areas in C...

Ashley Zelinskie is an artist into "space stuff." Behind an accessible, childlike joy for astronomy and the infinite wonders of planetary science and all things astro, is a deep desire to engage with hard science through the playful prism of artistic exploration and humble proximity intervention. Her works span a variety of media, from sculpture, canvas and print works, to digital art, VR, and holograms. Each artwork is c...

Not many natural-born networking gurus go as hard as Gary Su, while somehow remaining so consistently sweet. Breaking onto the scene as the formative manager and "confidant" of the multi-award-winning musical prodigy Jon Batiste (The Late Show with Steven Colbert), Su (Gary-get it?), has since organically amassed a huge network of contacts, which DK Kim, an experienced marketing and sales professional, has since leveraged...

Charlie Fisher is a European researcher, architect, and founder working at the intersection of community land trusts, regenerative land use, and decentralized governance. He co-founded Transition by Design, a cooperative architecture practice in Oxford, and spent over a decade building affordable housing infrastructure through the Oxfordshire Community Land Trust and the Collaborative Housing Hub. He's been a member of Dark Mat...

Patricia Lizarraga is the founder and Chief Investment Officer of the Hypatia Women CEO Index & ETF (ticker: WCEO),  impact investing in American public companies with women CEOs under the thesis that women leaders tend to outperform their male counterparts at the highest executive level. Yet, only 10% of CEOs at Fortune 500 companies are currently women. On this episode of the Good Standing podcast, we discuss exactly why the ...

Haym Gross, District Chairman of NYC2030, an organization focused on clean energy initiatives and boasting partners in multiple cities across America, returns to the Good Standing podcast with David Klatt, CEO of Logical Buildings (smart building & energy tech) and its mobile application GridRewards, which provides monetary compensation directly to New York City and Westchester County residents (Con Edison customers) for reduci...

For over 30 years, JazzReach, the national, Brooklyn-based nonprofit, founded by composer and drummer Hans Schuman, has brought the magic of high-level live jazz to over one million students across 42 states. Schuman, our featured guest on the latest episode of Good Standing, launched the organization after selling his late grandmother's Steinway piano for much-needed seed money. Since 1994, JazzReach has been helping audiences...

The "bad boy" winner of Project Runway season 3, Jeffrey Sebelia, is now the seasoned good guy Design Director of Urbane & Gallant, a new Los Angeles-based menswear line brought forth by CEO, Founder, and entrepreneurial activist, Andrew Park. The stylish gents recently joined the Good Standing podcast to discuss how their new fashion line firmly rebukes notions of "greenwashing," going several steps further...

Earlier this year (2025) saw ChaShaMa's last-ever annual fundraising gala. For three decades, this wild and storied event, often taking place in repurposed New York City commercial real estate and featuring dozens of diverse artists and performers, raised funds for creatives at all stages of their careers to help place them in studio, retail, and exhibition spaces, more often than not, completely free of charge. On this episode of ...

Darin Carter is a computer scientist, cyber security specialist, and advocate for how innovative technologies can catalyze impact. He leads Community Engagement at Coinbase, and works closely with Stand With Crypto, an advocacy effort led by Coinbase that has successfully passed significant legislation to make the crypto industry safer and more trusted. Darin helped create campaigns that use new technologies to solve difficult real...

Gregory Thornbury, Executive Director of Silver Art Projects, an art residency program located in the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, joins Silver Art Senior Fellow, artist Jared Owens on the Good Standing Podcast. The pair discuss what it takes to sustain a successful, yearly art residency program, a special component within Silver Art dedicated exclusively to "Justice-Impacted" artists, and generally what it mean...

Alan Browde is an activist and social innovator who is tackling the inequality gap in South Africa by focusing on food security. He is the Founder and former CEO of South Africa Harvest, which is the second largest food rescue operation in South Africa.  SA Harvest has built an impressive logistics operation that rescues edible, nutritious food that otherwise would have gone to waste and delivers it to organizations who distribute ...

Gary Bagley is an expert in volunteerism and running impactful organizations. His story exemplifies how to build a meaningful, successful life that is both personally fulfilling and genuinely helpful to others. Gary's journey in giving back starts from a young age as a Boy Scout to becoming a volunteer partner to HIV/AIDS patients in New York City in the late '80s, early '90s. After earning his masters, he eventually found himself ...

Reggie Watts is a musician, comedian, actor, improvisor, host, band leader, philosopher, beatboxer, and activist. You might know him from his run on The Late Late Show with James Corden and from numerous collaborations with some of the world's greatest comedians and performers. You may also appreciate his presence on social media where he speaks his mind openly and passionately. On The Good Standing Podcast, Reggie goes deeper into...

Jalen James Acosta is a Dominican-American creative force — filmmaker, musician, producer, motivational speaker and investor — known for building bridges between culture and commerce. From helping an esports Dominican phenom reclaim Street Fighter world titles in Japan and Saudi Arabia, to rebuilding the most storied basketball franchise in Paris after collapse, Jalen is drawn to underdogs, visionaries, and the spark before the spo...

Marissa Feinberg is a social impact entrepreneur who uses her business and organizational prowess to build movements for positive change. Today she is the Founder of Psychedelics for Climate Action (PSYCA), a pioneering nonprofit exploring how psychedelic experiences can catalyze concrete and effective climate action. In 2008 she founded Green Spaces, a co-working space for sustainability and impact, as these terms themselves were ...

Tiffiney Davis is a civic entrepreneur and community leader who created an afterschool arts and culture curriculum to fill the gaps within our public education systems.  She is the Executive Director and co-founder of Red Hook Art Project, an organization that offers free programming for kids at all stages of their learning journey. Her model helps students feel safe, seen, and heard, which allows them to foster their unique, creat...