SoftPower/FulStories
Episodes
#34 - Katherine Ntihmoah
10 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Raised in a Ghanian-American family, Katherine Ntihmoah's parents instilled within her the idea that her only limits would be self-imposed. She to...
#33 - John Berry
03 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
"No human is more human than another human" -General Romeo Dallaire.John Berry's long overseas career, spanning the Peace Corps, USAID, and the United...
PS4 - Ka Vang (Powerful Stories #4)
30 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." - James BaldwinKa Vang was born in Laos and rai...
#32 - Paul Barker (Iran)
27 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Less than 24 hours after he graduated from college, Paul Barker was on a plane, en route to Iran, where he would spend the next five years as a Peace ...
#31 - John Dinkelman
20 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
John Dinkelman--or "Dink" as he is known to countless current and former U.S. Foreign Service Officers--is something of a legend. He spent n...
PS3 - Chief Rondo
16 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
As a child, growing up in South Minneapolis, Medaria Arradondo--or, "Rondo"-- was aware that the adults in his neighborhood were watching. T...
#30 - Claire St. Amant
13 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Claire St. Amant left her beloved Texas to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine, halfway across the world. When she was finished, she was ready...
#29 - Ambassador Kate Byrnes
06 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Even though her classmates may have recognized her as a future ambassador before she did herself, Kate Byrnes' swift ascent from the U.S. Informat...
PS2 - "Jane" from Minneapolis (PowerfulStories #2)
02 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In the face of ICE's sweeping detention and deportation push, Minnesotans are responding not with panic or illegal action, but with a steady, deep...
#28 - Marian Rivman
27 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Everybody assumed that Marian Rivman would grow out of her high school fascination with the Peace Corps. She did not. But her early experiences in the...
#27 - Mark Ward (Part 2)
23 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
(Note: This is the second of a two-part episode. We strongly recommend you start with Part 1.)Mark Ward is a committed humanitarian who led teams to p...
#27 - Mark Ward (Part 1)
20 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Ward is a committed humanitarian who led teams to provide critical help after natural or man-made disasters. He saved lives and restored hope to ...
#26 - Christine Herbert
13 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
From the time of her childhood, Christine Herbert seemed destined to follow those Saturday morning TV commercials proclaiming "the toughest job you'll...
PS1 - Feeling Minnesota (PowerfulStories #1)
09 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
PLEASE LEND YOUR EARS: This inaugural episode of 'Powerful Stories" (PS1) features a chorus of Minnesotavoices—frontline witnesses, support...
#25 - Cy Kuckenbaker
06 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Cy Kuckenbaker is an award-winning American filmmaker, video artist, and arts professor. He is also something of an expert on Lithuania and its tortur...
#24 - Chris Thomas
30 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Chris Thomas remembers well where he came from and how he got to where he is. As a young Peace Corps volunteer in rural Sierra Leone, he quickly under...
#23 - Hamse Warfa
23 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Hamse Warfa's remarkable life has taken him from war-torn Somalia to currently-torn Minnesota. A small list of his stops between these two locatio...
SP/FS Presents: Global Development Interrupted (featuring Christopher Wurst)
19 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
SP/FS is proud to share the new episode of Global Development Interrupted, a podcast and Substack page we follow enthusiastically. You may remember th...
#22 - Alonzo Wind
16 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
He left the U.S. as Allan J. Wind, but by the time his Peace Corps stint in Ecuador ended, he had been rechristened as "Dr. Alonzo" - which ...
#21 - Jody Olsen
09 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Jody Olsen called her Peace Corps memoir 'A Million Miles' - and while the distance from her traditional Mormon upbringing in Utah and a rural...
SP/FS BONUS: Happy 2026 (from the Class of '25)
30 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Let's face it, 2025, things could have gone a whole lot better. But it was the birth year for SP/FS, and on this special bonus episode, virtually the ...
#20 - Ambassador Lewis Lucke
26 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As a young boy, dreaming of becoming an archeologist, Lewis Lucke wanted to visit the Holy Lands to see if the Bible stories he'd read were true. ...
SP/FS BONUS: Holidays with Aunt Deb
22 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Another holiday meal means more time at the table with Aunt Deb (who was kind enough to share her own fruitcake recipe--drenched in attitude and bourb...
#19 - Mark D. Walker
19 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
He calls his enterprise "Million Mile Walker," which is both a pun (his name, after all, is Mark Walker) and a description of a decades-long...
#18 - Leah Petit
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As a Peace Corps volunteer and then as a public health specialist, including with USAID, Leah Petit has seen firsthand the impact of global health pro...
#17 - Denise Deneaux
05 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It makes sense that one of Denise Deneaux's early literary heroes was a woman who traveled the world with utter fearlessness. Because later, as a ...
#16 - Peter Hessler
28 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Peter Hessler knew from an early age that he wanted to be a writer. He was also vividly aware that he needed something to write about. It turned out t...
SP/FS BONUS: Thanksgiving with Aunt Deb
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Join us at the Thanksgiving table when Aunt Deb brings both her green jello mold (the celery is a must) and, of course, her dubious questions. Over fo...
#15 - Aaron Williams
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As a young man, Aaron Williams challenged the norms of his peers by aspiring to broaden his horizons as a Peace Corps volunteer. It was something they...
#14 - MaryAnn Shank
14 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
MaryAnn Shank is a writer and former teacher who, despite growing up surrounded by the birth of Silicon Valley, found her deepest inspiration among th...
SP/FS BONUS: The Art of Giving a Dam (Skip Waskin)
10 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is less a bonus episode than it is a bookend. (We recommend you start with Episode #13.) Last time around, Skip Waskin barely survived his first-...
# 13 - Skip Waskin
07 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Skip Waskin's long career at USAID involved leading some of the Agency's largest and most important missions, including Russia and Afghanistan...
SP/FS BONUS: "This. Is. The. Voice. Of. America." (Steve Herman)
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Steve Herman had a notion — already as a child, discovering the magical "SW" button on his grandmother's radio — that broadcasting s...
#12 - Reverend Jennifer Butler
31 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Reverend Jennifer Butler sensed as a young person that she might need to leave her community and her known world in order to find herself. She did. An...
#11 - Michael Varga
24 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nothing has come easy for Michael Varga. In the Peace Corps, he had the toughest assignment in an already difficult country. As a diplomat, he faced h...
SP/FS BONUS: Soft Powerful (Under-Told) Stories (Fred de Sam Lazaro)
20 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Journalist Fred de Sam Lazaro created the Undertold Stories Project more than three decades ago, bringing stories from some of the most remote parts o...
#10 - Ben East
17 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ben East is a writer. His work shows him to be an astute student of soft power. There is a clear through line running between his time as a Peace Corp...
#9 - Flo Reed
10 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Flo Reed believes--no, she knows--that when people work together, they can overcome challenges and create significant change. Her work in Central Amer...
SP/FS BONUS: Catastrophic Diplomacy (Dr. Julia Irwin)
06 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Julia Irwin is the leading scholar writing about the history and impact of US disaster relief. In this fascinating conversation, she shares some e...
#8 - Warren Acuncius
03 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Warren Acuncius has seen a lot. His work for USAID as a disaster relief specialist took him all over the world. He saw the aftermath of cataclysmic tr...
#7 - Alexa West
26 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Before Alexa West became the quintessential Solo Girl traveler, inspiring a new generation of women to confidently explore the world on their own, she...
SP/FS BONUS: Merullo's Island
22 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this short companion piece to novelist Roland Merullo's regular SP/FS episode, he discusses his deeply unique--and even more deeply remote--Peace C...
#6 - Roland Merullo
19 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the waning years of the Soviet Union, the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) mounted massive exhibitions about American culture throughout the USSR--wi...
#5 - Betsy Small
12 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Betsy Small grew up aware of both her privileged place in the world and her family's rapid rise from poverty and persecution. Both left a mark, result...
SP/FS Bonus: The Art of Diplomacy
08 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this short companion piece to Ambassador Pamela White's regular SP/FS episode, she discusses the art of diplomacy, using her time with The Gamb...
#4 - Ambassador Pamela White
05 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Pamela White has given more than four decades of her life, serving the United States all over the world. As a Peace Corps volunteer, with USAID, and e...
#3 - Glenn Blumhorst
05 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Glenn Blumhorst is a global citizen who has lived, worked, and travelled in more than 70 countries. Starting as a Peace Corps volunteer in a tiny Guat...
#2 - Elizabeth Gore
05 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Elizabeth Gore, founder of the hugely successful fintech company Hello Alice, has spent her life breaking down barriers and helping others to help the...
#1 - Carl Henn
30 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Author Carl Henn likes to claim that he has spent two centuries in Africa. And while it may have only felt like 200 years, his actual decades of life-...
SP/FS Introductory trailer
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
SoftPower/FulStories is a storytelling podcast that highlights human connections around the world, featuring a diverse array of accomplished storytell...
SP/FS opening
08 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
SoftPower/FulStories launches on September 5, 2025.