Hey Change Podcast

He picked sport over music at 15. Then music came back for him anyway.

Pauli is Harry Styles’ musical director on the Together, Together tour, the MD of SNL UK, and has been named one of the world’s best drummers by The Guardian. He’s played with Florence and the Machine, FKA twigs, Damon Albarn and Bobby Womack, and DJ’d David Beckham’s party in Miami along the way. He’s also Anne Therese’s old friend from her modeling agency days, so this one gets real fast.

Faith the size of a mustard seed. Why acting is really reacting. Balsamic vinegar on vanilla ice cream (trust him). A friend’s house by the dump that smells like trash “only when the wind blows,” which turns out to describe the whole world right now. And Miles Davis’s rule that there’s no wrong note, only what you play after it.
Pauli calls himself a Chief Happiness Officer.

He’s got a new album, Pookie, and For the Plants, a meditation and ambient music project, on the way. He leaves you with the line that got Anne Therese chills: you don’t have anything to prove. You’re enough. Just be.
Press play
Website: www.heychangepodcast.com
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heychange_podcast/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeP1VPMQbXP13C-r4re_HUg
Host: https://www.instagram.com/annetheresegennari/

Music produced by Jackson Whalan
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Less than 1% of climate media coverage talks about solutions. Jacob Simon is working to change that.

Jacob trained as a pairs figure skater and spent five years on Team USA chasing the Olympics, until a dislocated shoulder ended his career overnight. Out of that loss he found a new path. A college newsletter of positive climate headlines grew into a full-time career, and today he spends half of every day hunting for what’s going right in the world and sharing it with millions.

Anne Therese and Jacob talk about why doom and gloom freezes us instead of moving us, and how negativity bias and the algorithm keep bad news on top. They get into solarpunk, the vision of “growing a beautiful new world in the cracks of the old one.” Jacob shares the “everyday heroes” behind his new series Hope Makers, some of the 16,000 new species discovered every year, and how skating taught him that change comes in inches.

It’s a conversation about agency, fulfillment and imagining the future we actually want, because we can’t build what we can’t picture first.
Find Jacob at @JacobSimonSays on all platforms and YouTube, and sign up for his newsletter at thehopemakers.org.

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Hey Change is a space for the conversations shaping a better future — where climate, culture, systems, and human potential meet. Hosted by Anne Therese Gennari

Website: annetheresegennari.com
Instagram: @heychangepodcast
Instagram: @annetheresegennari
YouTube: @AnneThereseGennariHeyChange

Proudly produced by Good Mess Media
Website: goodmessmedia.com
Instagram: @goodmessmedia
Music: Jackson Whalan
Website: www.heychangepodcast.com
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heychange_podcast/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeP1VPMQbXP13C-r4re_HUg
Host: https://www.instagram.com/annetheresegennari/

Music produced by Jackson Whalan
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Climate Week in New York brought Dax Dasilva back to Hey Change, fresh off the release of Yanuni, the documentary following Indigenous leader Juma Xipaia's frontline fight for the Amazon, which has already drawn millions of views on YouTube.

Dax and I talk about why the film is resonating, what it means to truly listen in a world built on distraction, and how a few minutes of urban nature can reset a whole day. He also shares what it was like to spend the last two years of Jane Goodall's life alongside her, the simple joy she carried through heavy work, and why she made everyone she met feel seen.

From there, the conversation turns to hope in action: the Phoenix Species Project, the effort to recover 100 of the world's most threatened species, and why Dax believes grassroots, Indigenous-led conservation is where real change happens.

Follow Dax:
@DaxDasilva
@AgeofUnion

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About Hey Change:

Hey Change is a space for the conversations shaping a better future — where climate, culture, systems, and human potential meet. Hosted by Anne Therese Gennari

Website: annetheresegennari.com
Instagram: @heychangepodcast
Instagram: @annetheresegennari
YouTube: @AnneThereseGennariHeyChange

Proudly produced by Good Mess Media
Website: goodmessmedia.com
Instagram: @goodmessmedia
Music: Jackson Whalan
Website: www.heychangepodcast.com
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heychange_podcast/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeP1VPMQbXP13C-r4re_HUg
Host: https://www.instagram.com/annetheresegennari/

Music produced by Jackson Whalan
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Every culture is sustained by the stories it repeats. Every institution is reinforced by the stories it rewards.”
Our guest today has spent two decades at the front lines of that realization — tracking how narrative doesn't just reflect our world, but actively constructs our power, our policy, and our future.

Melissa Jun Rowley is an award-winning journalist, activist, and a true veteran of the intersection where social innovation meets tech. From the red carpets of the Grammys to the high-stakes floors of the New York Stock Exchange—and even the zero-gravity chambers of NASA—she has reported for CNN, the BBC, The Guardian, and many more. She’s taken the global stage at Davos and the UN, and received numerous awards and accolades for her incredible work bridging the gap between digital tools and human rights.

Today, we talk about the true power stories hold and how we allow them to, not just inform, but empower us. We also get into her new book, Beyond the Mic Drop: How Our Stories Shift Culture, Power, and Policy, which is a beautiful roadmap for claiming our own narratives in an age of information overload.
She’s also a friend and a vital voice in the climate space—Melissa, it is such an honor to have you here. Welcome to Hey Change.

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About Hey Change:

Hey Change is a space for the conversations shaping a better future — where climate, culture, systems, and human potential meet. Hosted by Anne Therese Gennari

Website: annetheresegennari.com
Instagram: @heychangepodcast
Instagram: @annetheresegennari
YouTube: @AnneThereseGennariHeyChange

Proudly produced by Good Mess Media
Website: goodmessmedia.com
Instagram: @goodmessmedia
Music: Jackson Whalan

Website: www.heychangepodcast.com
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heychange_podcast/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeP1VPMQbXP13C-r4re_HUg
Host: https://www.instagram.com/annetheresegennari/

Music produced by Jackson Whalan
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we're sharing one of our favorite interviews from 2025! Anne Therese's conversation with neuroscientist Norman Farb is a great summer reset to help us tap into our inner wisdoms, reawaken our senses, and become enablers of positive change. Enjoy!

What if our obsession with certainty is actually making us more stressed? And most importantly, less open to real change?

In this episode, I sit down with psychologist and researcher Norman Farb to explore how our brains prioritize the familiar, often at the cost of creativity, well-being, and resilience. We talk about the myth of multitasking, the power of mind wandering, and why slowing down might be the fastest path to clarity.

Together, we dive into what it means to be truly receptive—to ourselves, to others, and to the world we hope to change. From "retruthing" our perceptions to cultivating presence in a noisy world, Norman offers both science-backed insight and practical tools for anyone feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or simply curious about how to move forward with more joy and intention.

This one’s for anyone who wants to rethink how we relate to stress, uncertainty, and the stories we tell ourselves about what’s possible. If you care about making positive change in the world, click play and make sure to listen to the end!

Get Norman Farb's book, Better In Every Sense: https://betterineverysense.com/

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About Hey Change:

Hey Change is a space for the conversations shaping a better future — where climate, culture, systems, and human potential meet. Hosted by Anne Therese Gennari

Website: annetheresegennari.com
Instagram: @heychangepodcast
Instagram: @annetheresegennari
YouTube: @AnneThereseGennariHeyChange

Proudly produced by Good Mess Media
Website: goodmessmedia.com
Instagram: @goodmessmedia
Music: Jackson Whalan
Website: www.heychangepodcast.com
Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heychange_podcast/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeP1VPMQbXP13C-r4re_HUg
Host: https://www.instagram.com/annetheresegennari/

Music produced by Jackson Whalan
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.