Diverse Joy

We invite guest Mark Hayward, a highly accomplished international performer with multiple world titles and world records, to talk about bias and inclusion in circus and variety arts. (Spoiler alert: It might sound oddly specific, but the stuff we talk about is entirely generalizable). For this episode, Mark’s joy is the sense of community he gets from spending time with fellow jugglers, performing artists, and circus folks. A...

Will and Amber are dressed as pirates for “Arrgust,” which is International Pirate Month. While Amber sports a more traditional pirate outfit, Will’s takes inspiration from Star Wars and includes a Kowakian monkey-lizard puppet that he wears on his shoulder. While sharing their joys for the month, Amber discusses her collection of Loungefly bags and mini backpacks (a vast collection that includes many that have be...

We start this July episode discussing joy, including: Will’s is a trip he took with Roman and friends to Skywalker Ranch! Amber’s is “dopamine dressing,” in which you dress to bring yourself, and others, joy - usually through mixing patterns and colors (it’s kind of maximalist). This episode’s discussion topic is Avoiding Demotivational Traps — there are many ways people try to face problem...

It’s June, which means it is Pride Month, so we invited a special guest–drag queen Cynthia Mooseknuckle, a Madison legend–to talk drag and the LGBTQ+ community! For “What’s bringing us joy?” Cynthia’s is hot beverages in the morning, to help awaken the senses! Amber’s is attending Vogue Balls in Portland. And for Will, it‘s his recent trend of discovering new (and old) music alb...

For this late-spring episode, Amber and Will dressed up to express their love of the Netflix series Bridgerton.  Will’s shares that his joy is his recent ADHD diagnosis (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). While Amber’s joy is her job as a full-time pediatric clinical psychologist and the lives she can impact through that work, which includes doing ADHD testing and being able to tell people, “yes, that...

In this episode, we invite special guest Jack Pepple, a member of the Santee Sioux Tribe, to share some of his experiences and perspectives related to his Native American heritage. 

Jack’s joy is that April is National Poetry Month, and he shares with us a delightful, uplifting, spiritual poem by Joy Harjo called, “For Calling the Spirit Back from Wandering the Earth in Its Human Feet“. Joy Harjo is an award...

Amber and Will are dressed up as Daisy and Donald Duck for Disney Bounding month!  Will’s joy this month is his new routine of charging his phone in his kitchen at night, which has significantly transformed his sleep and his mental health all day long by not having his phone in the bedroom with him at night. Amber’s joy is the book “Romanticize Your Life,” which gives her daily recommendations to make h...

This episode, we invite special guest Xizhou Xie (pronounced “She-Joe She-uh”), an artist, statistician, and Chinese-American immigrant. Xizhou’s joy this episode is her wonderful cats, Shadow and Kit-Kat! Amber’s joy is a local BIPOC community group, and Will’s joy is his and producer Eric Roman’s annual “Soup-er Bowl” party.  For the main discussion topic on belonging, Xizhou s...

It’s our New Year’s episode (happy 2026 everybody)! For this mid-winter episode, Will shares the joy of going to the Lake Geneva Winterfest America’s Snow Sculpting Invitational™ and the delightful sights of artfully crafted snow sculptures there, and Amber’s joy is discovering new-to-her music and musicians like Doechii, Panic Shack, and Olivia Dean! The discussion topic is Learning About Bias in Kids, incl...

Will and Amber’s joys this holiday season relate to holiday traditions: Amber’s recalls how her mom would give her and her brother gift every day of the month leading up to Christmas as kids, and then segueing that into gifting board games as adults, and getting to spend time together playing them; and Will talks the current tradition of he and Eric Roman getting Lego Star Wars Advent Calendars from past guest (and frie...

In excitement for the release of the movie Wicked: For Good later this month, Amber and Will are dressed as Elfie and Guy-linda from Wicked! Will’s joy this month is Heels and Wheels, a disability-inclusive dance group in Madison, Wisconsin. Amber’s joy is the power of Wicked The Musical and especially the movie starring Cynthia Erivo, which brings a new depth of feeling to the character of Elphaba as portrayed by a Bla...

For this Halloween episode, Will is dressed as Dracula and Amber is the Bride of Frankenstein! This is the first episode of season 3, and Amber’s joy is all the great reactions the podcast has received, including “Diverse Joy” being officially ranked in the top 5% of all podcasts globally! Will’s joy is that his book, "Overcoming Bias Habits", is now available for preorder! (Details below.) This episode&rsqu...

Will and Amber are dressed up as Dorothy and Sophia from “The Golden Girls”, in honor of this month being the 40th anniversary of that groundbreaking television show. Amber shares her joy about a formal tea dining experience she had with friends (where they dressed “Bridgerton”-esque to make it extra special), and Will’s joy is his universally adored dog, Ezra, a silvery gray Westiepoo! Their discussio...

Will’s joy this month is the annual Woof’s Boat Cruise in the lakes around Madison, and Amber's is a lovely, heartwarming gift from her former students! The cohosts start off discussing the benefits that diversity brings to organizations. Teams with more diversity tend to have more creative, transformative solutions to problems, and some reports say that corporations with more diversity actually make more money. They al...

Amber's geeky joy this month is the creativity of insurance commercials, and Will’s joy is visiting the American Players Theater for Shakespeare productions. July is BIPOC Mental Health Awareness month, so the cohosts discuss bias and its effects on mental health. We talk about various ways that bias can cause mental health issues, whether that bias comes from outside influences or from within oneself. We also discuss coping ...

The cohosts and returning guest Nicki Vander Meulen are dressed up in rainbows and sparkles in honor of LGBTQ+ Pride Month! Nicki’s joy is a bracelet with a neurodiversity symbol for Autistic people, and Will’s joy is a rainbow necklace and a pin he got when our Inequity Agents of Change nonprofit was admitted to Wisconsin’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce. Amber’s joy is her work with The Rainbow Connection at Cam...

To celebrate Star Wars Day ("May the Fourth be with you!)", Will and Amber dress in their favorite colors (pink and green) as "Star Wars" characters, and share "Star Wars" related joys. Amber's joy is attending one of Disneyland's After Dark Nites for "Star Wars" last year - with her mom, Will, and producer Eric Roman. Will's joy is the fun "Star Wars"-inspired details producer Eric Roman has added to their house. Before they get i...

Will, Amber, and returning guest Sandy Eichel are dressed up in purple and green to celebrate Spring! Sandy shares their joy about early spring flowers, Amber continues that thread sharing her joy about the flower farms and tulip festival in Oregon, and Will’s joy is using butterfly pea flower tea to make color-changing cocktails! 
Sandy leads off the discussion about how to find joy in discovering you have room to grow. The ...

March is Disneybound* month, something Amber enjoys every year, so for this month’s episode, we got dressed up as Chip (Will) and Dale (Amber) from Disney’s Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers! What’s bringing us joy this time? Will shares about how much joy cosplay brings to him, and getting to inhabit a character who’s someone other than himself - even if it’s a villain. And Amber talks about the joy ...