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Inspiring People: Stories of Innovation and Service

Inspiring People: Stories of Innovation and Service

Written by: The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley
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Positive stories of remarkable individuals and organizations making a difference in the world. From entrepreneurs and activists to educators and healthcare professionals, we showcase people who are bringing about positive change in their communities, locally, globally, and digitally. Produced by the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Host: Rushton Hurley Podcast Producer: Elton Sherwin For more information visit our website: rotary.cool or https://www.siliconvalleyrotary.com/The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Economics Management Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • 151. Move the Farm, Not the Food
    May 18 2026

    Get ready to get your hands dirty.


    Area 2 Farms isn't just about farming; it's a hyper-local, soil-centric, and tech-savvy agricultural model pioneering the future of food by growing delicious, fresh, organic produce right inside urban centers. They've figured out how to make your salad greens more connected to your community. Prepare to learn how they're cultivating both crops and community, one surprisingly complex root vegetable at a time.


    Oren Falkowitz is a farmer and the CEO of Area 2 Farms. Oren began his career at the National Security Agency (NSA), where he held senior positions, and served at United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM). Previously he was the founder and CEO of sqrrl (acquired by Amazon) and Area 1 Security (acquired by Cloudflare).


    Oren holds numerous patents, has written a comic book, is known to have worn bow-ties on Thursdays, and is an avid completer of the New Times Crossword.


    To learn more, go to:

    https://www.area2farms.com/


    Learn What it Take to Be a Farmer: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbby5CSqEZfCW6MI8f8u1HA

    Follow Oren: https://x.com/orenfalkowitz

    Follow the Farmers: https://www.instagram.com/area2farms


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    31 mins
  • 150. Impacting a Billion People on a Small Budget
    May 11 2026

    Traditional models of charity are unsustainable. Prof Jack Sim is a Master of the Leverage Model of Social Innovation, and he will explain how to use small budgets to create massively scalable impact sustainably.


    Professor Jack Sim, a.k.a. ""Mr Toilet,"" took up a neglected global sanitation crisis and mobilized the world's governments to solve this problem.


    Over the last 25 years, he created a movement that brought proper sanitation to 2.5 billion people, created the UN World Toilet Day (19th November) unanimously adopted by 193 countries at the UN General Assembly in 2013, cleaned up all of China's public toilets, and successfully lobbied the Brazilian Senate to pass a privatization bill that attracted US $44B investments into Brazilian sewage treatment plants.

    To learn more, go to:

    https://www.worldtoilet.org


    To take a look at Sim's book, The Gumption of Mr Toilet, go to:

    https://www.penguin.sg/book/the-gumption-of-mr-toilet/



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    31 mins
  • 149. The Slave Trader in My Family Tree
    May 4 2026

    A few years ago, Steve Baughman Jensen discovered that his third-great-grandfather wasn't just a slave owner — he was a slave trader who "invested his surplus earnings in negroes." He also helped lead a paramilitary organization that sought to preserve and expand slavery.


    This is an ancestor Steve's beloved grandmother had celebrated. One whose framed poem hung in Steve's den.


    Steve has now written a book about confronting him — and other ancestors who passed down to me the false story that white people are better than everyone else.


    Steve confronts his ancestors because stories build identities and drive systems, and his family’s story helped build systems that still harm people today. The conversations demonstrate how imagination can make these hard truths more personal, and therefore more real. At the same time, these visits with dead family members offer healing. They help Steve recognize the spots in his own thoughts and behavior where he's inherited not only genetics, but also a toxic story. They help metabolize grief and shame into responsibility.


    Steve spent 23 years as a trial lawyer, seeking justice on behalf of individuals who became sick from toxic exposures. Mental health issues brought that chapter of his story to a close 10 years ago.


    Today, Steve is a writer, a racial justice advocate, and a proud husband, father, and grandfather. He believes in the power of stories to shape and transform us.


    To learn more about Steve's work, go to:

    https://healingwhitehistory.substack.com/

    https://www.youtube.com/@healingwhitehistory

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    34 mins
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