Art of Power

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‘I Was Dimming My Light’: Common On Music, Love And Change From Within Sep 23, 2021

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Common is an actor, writer, and hip hop artist who’s won a Grammy, an Emmy and an Oscar, putting him a Tony award away from a rare EGOT. As he explains on Art of Power, Common is not just a man of contradictions, but a man able to hold contradictions — the dark and the light, hate and love. That’s key to his worldview and his inordinate success. You may have seen him on screen, in Selma, John Wick 2 or dozens of other films. He’s also got a new album out, A Beautiful Revolution Part 2. He talks with host Aarti Shahani about his activism against juvenile incarceration, why he was able to forgive his father for kidnapping his mom and him at gunpoint, how it felt to lose Grammys, and how acting class helped him find peace in failed relationships.

Want To Change Careers? A 7 Step Guide With Peloton’s Robin Arzón Sep 16, 2021

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Nearly one third of American workers under age 40 are thinking about changing careers, according to a Washington Post poll. I was one of them. I pivoted from grassroots organizer in prisons to NPR’s Silicon Valley correspondent. I then pivoted again, to podcast host/owner and book author. As a woman who devours career change stories, I can safely say: Robin Arzón has one of the very best. Arzón is the head instructor at Peloton. An ultramarathoner and a fitness guru with fans across the world, she didn’t even consider herself an athlete just a few years ago. She was a corporate lawyer. On Art of Power, Arzón explains why she left a very lucrative career — one she enjoyed — to chase something undefined. She wanted more. She traces her journey back to a horrific moment when, at age 20, she was held at gunpoint. I break down her path (and mine and many others) into seven simple steps. Well, simple to say, but maybe not so simple to follow. Arzón and I also discuss how her workouts have changed since giving birth to her first child.

Do Black People Wear Belts? Kemp Powers On Creativity And Tackling Stereotypes At Pixar Sep 09, 2021

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When Kemp Powers seized the world’s attention in 2020 with two blockbuster movies — 'One Night In Miami,' which he wrote, and 'Soul,' which he co-wrote and co-directed — he was 47 years old. His envious achievements are the culmination of an un-envious journey, a hard slog filled with tragedy and self-doubt. A recovering journalist, Kemp and Art of Power host Aarti Shahani talk about how the newsroom almost killed his creativity and how he salvaged it one snowy night when he nearly died. Powers became the first Black director in the history of Pixar, an American cultural institution that is … very white. In the process of writing and directing Soul, Pixar's first feature film with a Black lead character, Powers found himself on the forefront of changing the company culture. He had to educate his white colleagues who believed things like “all black people hate cats” and “black people don’t wear belts.” He says his work at Pixar has taught him the importance of “managing up.”

The Director Who Breaks Silence Sep 02, 2021

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Yaël Farber grew up in South Africa during Apartheid, an era when the country’s white minority government racially segregated and brutalized Black South Africans. Farber, a white woman, said the cognitive dissonance she experienced “turned into a clarity and a rage.” Today, she’s one of the world’s more respected stage directors and playwrights. She’s responsible for a number of acclaimed revivals (including Hamlet and The Crucible) as well as original plays documenting oppression during the Apartheid era. She also wrote and directed a shattering production called Nirbhaya, based on the true story of a violent gang rape in India in 2012. Farber tells Art of Power host Aarti Shahani about why she chose theater as a way to shine light on injustice. An empath and a truth-teller, Farber understands something a lot of us want to understand: how to get people to care. A warning: this episode contains an explicit description of rape and is not suitable for younger listeners.

Defund The Police? The Data Scientist Behind Police Reform Aug 26, 2021

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For decades, the country has witnessed police shootings of Black people and grappled with a question: Are police racist? Are police departments racist? Dr. Phillip Atiba Goff and his team are finding answers using cold, hard data, and using it to reform the idea of what a police department is. Goff is a psychologist, a data scientist and the co-founder and CEO of the Center for Policing Equity. As a professor at Yale University, he’s also the rare academic who loves his job — and sees it having a dramatic impact on the world. On Art of Power, Goff tells host Aarti Shahani what defunding the police means to him, about his pioneering work in the field of implicit bias — including his regrets — and how he upended an entire police department in a city in New York. Also, he shares how an initially-offensive encounter with a Denver police officer led to a dynamic partnership.

Leigh Bardugo, Author Of ‘Shadow And Bone’ Aug 19, 2021

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Leigh Bardugo is among the most celebrated young adult novelists of our time. She’s the author of - among many novels - 'Shadow and Bone,' a fantasy series with over 2.5 million books sold. It’s now a Netflix hit that became the most streamed show in the U.S. earlier this year, according to Neilson. But getting to that promised land was not easy. On Art of Power, Bardugo tells host Aarti Shahani about her many ups and downs: an absent father, an awkward adolescence, the loss of her editor at a pivotal moment, and an abusive relationship with a man that threatened to extinguish her career before it began.

She Got The First American City To Pass A Reparations Bill Aug 11, 2021

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Evanston, Illinois is the first city in the United States to fund a reparations program for black residents with local tax dollars. That’s thanks to Robin Rue Simmons. She was a graduate of Evanston Township High School, just a one-term city council member, and a local official with a plan: keep it simple, keep it focused, and offer no apologies. She tells Aarti Shahani how reparations came to be, the obstacles the program had to overcome, and why the story didn’t make national news “until we made international news.”

Fred Swaniker Wants To Educate 3 Million Africans To Lead Aug 05, 2021

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Fred Swaniker is CEO of the African Leadership Group. He's been named one of the world’s most influential people by Time Magazine. And the entrepreneur from Ghana has the ambitious goal of educating 3 million young people over 50 years. On Art of Power, Swaniker tells Aarti Shahani about his journey from child refugee to McKinsey management consultant to educator-activist, building schools across the continent of Africa, where almost 60% of the population is under 25. He also explains how he knows when an idea is worth pursuing. Most passions, he argues, are not worth your time.

Randi Weingarten Reps 1.7 Million Workers Jul 29, 2021

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Randi Weingarten is the first openly gay president of a labor union in America. The president of the American Federation of Teachers, Weingarten represents 1.7 million teachers, healthcare workers and support staff across the country. Decades into organizing teachers, she represents more people than some governors do. An intensely private person, she talks with Art of Power host Aarti Shahani about when she chooses to let her personal life come into the public eye. They revisit her coming out story, as well as her experience as a survivor of sexual assault. And Weingarten explains how she’s won over billionaires and politicians (like Michael Bloomberg) by always coming back to the table.

Justin Baldoni On Being 'Man Enough,' Porn And A Traumatic First Time Jul 22, 2021

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Justin Baldoni is best known for his role as Rafael, the bad boy heartthrob from the TV series ‘Jane The Virgin.’ In the real world, Baldoni is on a very public mission to “undefine” a version of masculinity he says is hurting men “far more than it’s helping us.” He’s doing it by telling deeply personal stories — about losing his virginity (it was without his consent, he says), about his battle with addiction to pornography, and about the insecurities he faced while working with actor Gina Rodriguez. “The more I talk about myself, the more I teach, the more I share this stuff, the more I become also self-aware and recognize things in the moment,” Baldoni told Art of Power host Aarti Shahani. “It's liberating.”

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