the NUANCE // a community health podcast.

In this conversation, we speak with Chenoa Scippio who is Santa Clara Pueblo and Navajo (Naschitti), and a proud daughter, granddaughter, and sister. She holds bachelors degrees in Population Health and Native American Studies from The University of New Mexico. Chenoa has years of formative experience in community organizing through working with non-profit organizations and student groups while at UNM. Her passions stem from promoting cultural preservation, social justice, and sustainability initiatives in tribal communities.Chenoa is an Environmental Justice Project Coordinator at Tewa Women United. Outside of work, Chenoa loves to spend time with the land through hiking, farming, or dreaming of ways to become an even better advocate for precious homelands.https://tewawomenunited.org

In this podcast, our guest is Rachel Donald, who investigates why the world is in crisis—and what to do about it. Her independent journalism work reaches 30,000 subscribers in 184 countries. She leads Planet: Critical and Planet:Coordinate, two media projects offering podcasts, newsletters and films documenting stories from the frontline of the crisis. Rachel speaks internationally and her work has been featured in The Guardian, Al Jazeera, Mongabay, The Intercept, Byline Times and the New Republic.Links to Rachel's work: https://www.planetcritical.comhttps://www.planetcoordinate.com

Today's guest is Professor Heba Gowayed (click here for pronunciation) who is a writer and associate professor of sociology at CUNY Hunter College and Graduate Center, and a current Carnegie Fellow (2025-2027). She will have an opportunity to introduce herself, but to briefly summarize her work: she research and writings center the lives of people who migrate across borders and the unequal and often violent institutions they face. Her award-winning book Refuge, published with Princeton University Press, takes readers into the lives of displaced Syrians who sought refuge in the United States, Canada, and Germany. Their experiences reveal that these destination countries are not saviors; they can deny newcomers’ potential by failing to recognize their abilities and invest in the tools they need to prosper.She is currently working on her second book, The Cost of Borders, and would love to feature her again because there are so many topics we didn’t have the chance to explore. She has also been published in academic journals as well as public outlets including The Guardian and Slate and she has been featured in podcasts including Code Switch. Learn more about Professor Heba Gowayed here: https://www.hebagowayed.com

Osprey Orielle Lake is the Founder and Executive Director of Women’s Earth & Climate Action Network, International (WECAN). She works nationally and internationally with grassroots, Indigenous and business leaders, policy-makers and scientists to promote climate justice, resilient communities, and a just transition to a clean energy future. Osprey is Co-chair of International Advocacy for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and the visionary behind the International Women's Earth and Climate Summit, which brought together 100 women leaders from around the world to draft and implement a Women's Climate Action Agenda. She teaches international climate trainings and directs WECAN’s advocacy work in areas such as Women for Forests, Rights of Nature and UN Forums. She has served on the board of the Praxis Peace Institute and on the Steering Committee for The UN Women’s Major Group for the Rio+20 Earth Summit. Awards include the National Women’s History Project Honoree, Taking The Lead To Save Our Planet, and the Woman Of The Year Outstanding Achievement Award from the California Federation Of Business And Professional Women.  Osprey is the author of the award-winning book, “Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature" and the book "The Story is in Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis". https://newsociety.com/book/the-story-is-in-our-bones/?srsltid=AfmBOoon6gZaClI4_g4CxxWBbls97lKVsPtxMyAZVEqcDsuR99UwIqC2https://www.wecaninternational.org

Today's guest is Shavanna Spratt, who is the owner of Da Hood Talks Entertainment and also Da Hood Doula, LLC as a Certified Full spectrum Doula and Birth Advocate. The show she launched December 12, 2020 addresses many topics that educate, inspire and represent the community that she has been a part of for years.Shavanna has spent the majority of her early years living in the county of Saint Louis and has been a resident of Ferguson, MO since 2012.Da Hood Talks Podcast is quickly gaining momentum and has been featured in the Saint Louis American. Shavanna uses her voice through the podcast to engage the community, educate the community, and be a constant resource to the community.Shavanna also recognizes the importance of dismantling racial disparities; she has a passion for empowering others, advancing racial equity, and an advocate for promoting community voices first.

In this podcast episode, we speak with Dr. Jessi Gold. Jessi Gold, MD, MS is the Chief Wellness Officer of the University of Tennessee System and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.  This inaugural leadership position encompasses all five University of Tennessee campuses and includes over 62,200 students and 19,0000 faculty and staff.  In her clinical practice, she sees healthcare workers, trainees, and young adults in college. Dr. Gold is also a fierce mental health advocate and highly sought-after expert in the media on everything from burnout to celebrity self-disclosure. She has written widely for the popular press, including for The New York Times, The Atlantic, InStyle, Slate, and Self.  Her first book, HOW DO YOU FEEL? One Doctor's Search for Humanity in Medicine is a national bestseller and available now. Dr. Gold is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. and M.S in Anthropology, the Yale School of Medicine, and Stanford University Department of Psychiatry, where she served as Chief Resident.

Nina Simons is Co-founder and Chief Relationship Officer at Bioneers, and leads its Everywoman’s Leadership program. Throughout her career spanning the nonprofit, social entrepreneurship, corporate, and philanthropic sectors, Nina has worked with nearly a thousand diverse women leaders across disciplines, race, class, age and orientation to create conditions for mutual learning, trust and leadership development. She loves convening – for mutual mentorship and shedding conditioning, and to explore methods and practices for reinventing leadership, reclaiming our whole selves, connecting across difference and co-creating communities of belonging. Nina co-edited (with Anneke Campbell) Moonrise: The Power of Women Leading from the Heart, and authored Nature, Culture, and the Sacred: A Woman Listens for Leadership with an accompanying discussion guide and embodied practices, which won Nautilus awards in the categories of Women in the 21st Century and Social Change & Social Justice.She’s also a contributor to the anthology Ecological and Social Healing: Multicultural Women’s Voices. All three are being used to ignite liberatory learning in individuals, circles and classrooms. Find more about Nina hereFind more about bioneers here

Dr. Beverly L. Wright is an award-winning environmental justice scholar, advocate, author, civic leader, professor of Sociology, and the Founder and Executive Director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ), the first-ever environmental justice center in the United States. Born and raised in New Orleans, Dr. Wright has experienced and witnessed the polluting effects of Cancer Alley–an 85-mile stretch of land between Baton Rouge and New Orleans that is home to over 150 petrochemical plants and refineries– her entire life.This conversation focuses on solidarity, mutual aid, and the practice of joy. We discuss the widening racial and economic divide, the need for healing, and Dr. Wright’s powerful legacy in environmental justice and how the petrochemical industry is degrading the spirit of LouisianaFind more about Dr. Wright on the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice website: https://dscej.org/beverly-wright/

Disclaimer: The term woman is frequently used in this episode and Kanwal’s book Taking Care of You, to refer to the target audience, although the material discussed applies to anyone with a uterus, cervix, or vagina. We recognize that not all people with these body parts identify as a woman and that not all people who identify as a woman have these body partsKanwal Haq is dedicated to improving health and care for women across the world. With 17+ years of experience working in various healthcare roles and spaces, Kanwal brings dedication, creativity, and humility to keep learning and moving forward. Kanwal founded TCY Women to build better tools, resources, and systems of care to support women’s health, across the lifespan. Kanwal completed her B.S. in biology from the University of Missouri, her M.S. in medical anthropology from Boston University, and is working on her PhD in public health at UTHealth. Kanwal is the co-author of “Taking Care of You: The Empowered Woman’s Guide to Better Health (Mayo Clinic Press 2022). Kanwal’s rural midwestern roots cultivated her passion to make health education and care both accessible and appropriate for every woman.When we look at the research, a clear pattern emerges — women and gender diverse people are too often dismissed, undertreated, and left behind by our healthcare system. The 2024 KFF Women’s Health Survey found that one in three women reported being ignored or disbelieved by a healthcare provider, and data from the PNAS (2024) study showed that clinicians consistently rated women’s pain as less severe than men’s for the same symptoms. Together, these studies tell a sobering truth — gender bias is not anecdotal, it’s structural. 

We had a beautiful community gathering for Sun Day, celebrating the power of green energy while centering environmental justice in the green energy transition. Thank you to all of the community members and organizations that made it possible! We had 3 speakers at the event: Chedaya Brown, PhD student:Investigating dual-use solar initiatives and renewable energy policy and implementation through an environmental justice lensDr. Loraine Lundquist, PhD has a  PhD in physics, and teaches sustainability – economic, social, and scientific solutions at California State University, Northridge, she is the chair of the Board of Directors for LA ForwardKevin Briseno rising sophomore who is studying Physiology and Environmental Sciences. He is a member of the Youth advisory board at Youth on Root.