The Caring Economy with Toby Usnik

Hosted by Toby Usnik

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204

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Oct 2026

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About the show

Looking for purpose-driven career or business advice? Want to match your personal brand with a values-aligned organization? The Caring Economy is your destination. Join us weekly for insightful discussions with influential leaders sharing how they balance purpose, profit, and legacy in today's challenging business landscape. Topics range from corporate social responsibility to brand stewardship and beyond. Discover how to transform your career or business through caring principles. Engage with us on LinkedIn (Toby Usnik) and Twitter (@Tusnik) using #TheCaringEconomy.

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60 recent

October 26, 2026Episode 336 min

The Ocean Is Not Too Big to Fix: Hope May Be Our Most Powerful Climate Tool With Gaelin Rosenwaks

What does it take to turn a lifelong curiosity into a career dedicated to protecting our planet? In this episode of The Caring Economy , host Toby Usnik welcomes Galen Rosenwaks, marine scientist, explorer, photographer, filmmaker, and founder of Global Ocean Exploration, for an inspiring conversation about ocean conservation, environmental storytelling, and the power of purpose-driven leadership. From exploring the Arctic and Antarctic to documenting the remarkable lives of sperm whales in Dominica, Galen has spent her career connecting people to the natural world through science, photography, and film. She shares how a childhood encounter with a stranded sperm whale named Feisty sparked her fascination with marine life and eventually inspired her book, Sperm Whales: The Gentle Goliaths of the Ocean . Together, Toby and Galen explore the challenges of navigating a traditionally male-dominated scientific field, the importance of inspiring younger generations, and why environmental advocacy must move beyond fear and alarming headlines to foster curiosity, hope, and meaningful action. They also discuss the intersection of corporate social responsibility and conservation, examining how businesses, communities, and individuals can work together to create lasting environmental impact. At a time when conversations around climate change and biodiversity feel increasingly urgent, Galen offers a powerful reminder that meaningful progress begins with curiosity, education, and the willingness to act, even when the outcome is uncertain. Through her extraordinary experiences and unwavering commitment to the ocean, Galen challenges us to reconsider our relationship with the natural world and recognize the role we each play in protecting it for future generations. Listen in for a thoughtful conversation about resilience, scientific discovery, environmental responsibility, and why the ocean, despite its challenges, is not too big to fix.

September 21, 2026Episode 135 min

The Research We Can’t Afford to Stop: A Conversation With Kyle Clifford

In this episode of The Caring Economy , Toby Usnik speaks with Kyle Clifford, CEO of amfAR, about HIV research, philanthropy, leadership, and the changing funding landscape for medical science. Kyle is the first amfAR CEO to be openly living with HIV, bringing a deeply personal perspective to an organization whose research has helped shape the global response to the disease. He reflects on his career across business development, fundraising, City Harvest, The Ireland Funds, and amfAR, and talks about what it takes to keep long-term research moving when funding is uncertain. The conversation also covers private philanthropy, early-stage science, AI-enabled HIV research, and why backing ambitious work today can lead to breakthroughs far beyond HIV. A thoughtful conversation about science, purpose, and what it means to lead an organization whose mission is also part of your own life story.

July 13, 202642 min

Jamie Alcroft, Organ Donation, and the Part of the Healthcare Conversation That Still Depends on Public Trust

In this episode of The Caring Economy , I speak with comedian, writer, and organ donation advocate Jamie Alcroft about the life that led him from comedy stages to transplant advocacy. Known for his years as part of the comedy duo Mack and Jamie, Jamie reflects on his career in entertainment, his experience living with severe heart failure, and the heart and liver transplant that changed the course of his life. The conversation focuses on the realities of organ donation in the United States, the myths that still keep many people from registering, and why public trust remains such an important part of the issue. Jamie also shares the story behind LAFF4LIFE, his program with Improv and Levity Live comedy clubs that offers free admission to registered organ donors as a way to raise awareness and encourage more people to say yes. It’s a conversation about survival, public education, and what it means to use your own story to make a difficult subject easier for others to talk about.

May 12, 2026Episode 135 min

Why Hazel Ann Felder Is Paying Attention to the Messy Middle

In this episode of The Caring Economy , Toby Usnik sits down with Hazel Ann Felder, a Gen Z storyteller and strategist whose work bridges fashion, business, and social impact. Hazel shares how being adopted from China and growing up across the U.S., Singapore, and the U.K. shaped her sense of identity, leadership, and belonging. The conversation explores her podcast Clearly Becoming , her perspective on career transitions and personal evolution, what frontline retail and brand work taught her about human behavior, and why Gen Z is approaching ambition, work-life balance, and AI differently from the generations before them. Hazel also reflects on networking, mentorship, and what it means to build a career while still figuring yourself out.

April 18, 202633 min

Laura Turner on Financial Security, First-Gen Students, and the Pressure Points Showing Up in 2026

In this episode of The Caring Economy , Toby Usnik sits down with Laura Turner, Vice President and Head of Community Impact at TIAA, for a conversation about financial security, first-generation student support, and what community impact looks like inside a large institution. Laura reflects on her path from an entry-level HR role to leading community impact at TIAA, and discusses the company’s work on financial literacy, retirement education, scholarships, emergency funds, and partnerships that help students stay on track to graduate. The episode also touches on parenting, special needs advocacy, mentorship, and how TIAA is thinking about AI as a tool for upskilling and reducing repetitive work.

April 4, 202637 min

What Suzanne Currie Sees in Young People That Institutions Often Miss

In this episode of The Caring Economy , Toby Usnik speaks with Suzanne Curie, CEO of the Duke of Edinburgh International Award USA, about what young people actually need in order to build confidence, direction, and a sense of responsibility in the world. Suzanne reflects on her own path from finance and philanthropy into youth development, then walks through how the Award works across volunteering, athletics, skill-building, and adventurous journeys for participants ages 14 to 24. The conversation also looks at what it takes to expand opportunity in the U.S., especially for students who may not already have access, support, or exposure, and why that matters now more than ever.

February 20, 202621 min

Darlene Goins, on Funding Decisions That Don’t Make Headlines

In this episode of The Caring Economy, Toby Usnik sits down with Darlene Goins, President of the Wells Fargo Foundation.The conversation focuses on housing affordability, access to banking, and how philanthropy operates inside a large financial institution. Darlene talks about her background in engineering and data, the realities of financial inclusion, and why stable housing plays such a central role in community outcomes.This episode stays specific and grounded, covering how programs are designed, how partnerships work, and what leadership looks like when decisions affect people far beyond the room they’re made in.

February 14, 2026Episode 1636 min

What If Cancer Survivors Were Organized as Power, Not Just Stories?Conversation with Matthew Zachary

What happens when survivorship turns into strategy? In this episode of The Caring Economy , Toby Usnik sits down with Matthew Zachary—30-year brain cancer survivor, founder of Stupid Cancer , and one of the most unfiltered voices in American healthcare. Matthew shares how a cancer diagnosis at 21 reshaped his life and led him from patient to founder, media creator, and advocate. Together, they unpack what’s broken in how the healthcare system treats survivors, where “patient-centered care” often falls short, and why oncology medical debt and nurse navigation remain urgent, unresolved issues. The conversation goes deeper into a bold idea: organizing cancer survivors and allies as a political and cultural voting bloc. Not as a slogan or moment, but as a real force capable of shaping policy, behavior, and accountability. This episode isn’t about inspiration. It’s about power, culture, and what becomes possible when lived experience stops being isolated and starts being organized.

January 28, 202630 min

Food, Care, and the Rebellion Against a Broken System with Laura Pensiero

What if food were treated as care, not convenience? In this episode of The Caring Economy , we sit down with Laura Pensiero , a registered dietitian, chef, and leading voice in the Food Is Medicine movement, to unpack how nutrition quietly shapes nearly every outcome we care about, from long-term health to workplace resilience to healthcare costs. Laura shares her journey from the Hudson Valley to professional kitchens to collaborating with physicians at Memorial Sloan Kettering , where she helped translate clinical research into practical, everyday nourishment. We explore why dietary patterns like the Mediterranean diet continue to outperform trends, what precision and personalized nutrition could unlock next, and why food remains one of the most underutilized tools in modern healthcare. At a moment when health systems are strained, burnout is widespread, and prevention is finally entering the policy conversation, this episode asks a deeper question: what would it look like to build a system that supports care before crisis? This conversation is about food, but it’s also about leadership, systems, and rethinking what we value in a caring economy.

December 12, 2025Episode 2332 min

Raising Humans, Not Expectations: Conversations with Leland “Lucky” Vittert

What does it take to build resilience when the world isn’t built for you? In this episode of The Caring Economy , host Toby Usnik sits down with veteran journalist and NewsNation anchor Leland “Lucky” Vittert to talk about his deeply personal new memoir, Born Lucky: A Dedicated Father, A Grateful Son, and My Journey with Autism . This is not a conversation about labels or diagnoses. It’s a conversation about parenting, perseverance, character, and what happens when a parent refuses to give up on a child. Lucky shares stories from his childhood growing up with autism, including bullying, isolation, and the intensive “training sessions” his father designed to help him navigate a world that wouldn’t bend for him. Together, they explore what resilience really looks like, why adversity can’t be edited out of life, and how discipline, love, and accountability shaped Lucky’s path from a misunderstood kid to a national news anchor reporting from conflict zones around the world. At a moment when conversations about neurodiversity, mental health, parenting, and polarization are front and center, this episode offers something rare: honesty without victimhood, and hope without platitudes.