Leading with Purpose, Identity, and Impact

What does it really mean to lead—not just in title, but in responsibility?

In this episode of Moving Forward: Conversations on Culture, Identity, Healing and Hope, Linda Anderson sits down with Dr. Cynthia Rapaido, an educator and leader whose career spans more than three decades across K–12 and higher education.

From classroom teacher to assistant principal, principal, coach, and university faculty member, Cynthia has dedicated her life to supporting both students—and the educators who serve them.

Her work is grounded in a deep commitment to inclusive, supportive school environments where both students and staff can thrive. With a Doctorate in Education focused on International and Multicultural Education, Cynthia’s leadership is shaped by a clear understanding of how identity, culture, and experience influence the way we lead.

In this conversation, Cynthia shares insights from her doctoral research on Filipino American educational leaders in Northern California—offering a powerful lens into the intersection of identity and leadership, and what it means to lead across cultures with intention and awareness.

She also draws from her extensive experience as a school leader—17 years as an assistant principal and 5 years as a principal—to speak honestly about the emotional complexity of leadership, the pressures that often go unseen, and the importance of balancing accountability with compassion.

Now, as a mentor, coach, and author of Step Up Your School Leadership Game: The New Administrators’ Guide, Cynthia continues to support emerging leaders as they navigate the transition into leadership with both confidence and clarity.

Together, Linda and Cynthia explore what it looks like to:

• Lead with multicultural competency in daily practice

• Build school cultures where both students and staff feel a true sense of belonging

• Support the development of students’ academic identity

• Navigate the emotional realities of school leadership

• Shift from managing responsibilities to truly leading people

At its core, this conversation is about leadership that is human, reflective, and grounded in purpose.

Because the most meaningful leadership doesn’t always show up in titles or recognition—it shows up in the lives we impact along the way.

And in the end, leadership is not just about the roles we hold—but the lives we shape and the courage to keep moving forward.

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Music by Maksym_Dudchyk from Pixabay

Podcast produced by Ury Gonzalez

One Hand in the Dirt, One Hand on the Map

A conversation on being rooted, reaching forward, and continuing to explore.

Some stories are loud and obvious. Others are steady, thoughtful, and quietly lived.

This episode of Moving Forward is about the kind of life that grows through attention — the kind that unfolds over time through patience, observation, and care.

In this conversation, Linda Anderson sits down with Kevin Gorman, a longtime healthcare and environmental professional who recently retired from Novartis after a career spanning multiple disciplines. But this conversation isn’t about titles or milestones. It’s about perspective.

Linda and Kevin share a history that goes back to high school, where Kevin was known not only for his athletic ability — competing in track and basketball — but for the steady kindness that defined how he showed up for others. Decades later, that same quiet presence remains.

Kevin now writes a reflective Substack titled Rooted, Reaching, and Exploring, where he often begins with something practical — tending a garden, observing the natural world — and opens into deeper reflections about stewardship, responsibility, and the practice of paying attention.

Together, Linda and Kevin explore:

• What it means to stay rooted in the values that shape a life

• How curiosity and reflection allow us to keep reaching forward

• Why a spirit of exploration doesn’t end with retirement

• The lessons nature teaches us about patience, stewardship, and resilience

• How quieter lives often carry wisdom worth sharing

Through stories of gardening, endurance running, fatherhood, and life transitions, Kevin reflects on the ways attention and care shape the way we move through the world.

At its heart, this conversation reminds us that moving forward doesn’t always mean moving faster.

Sometimes it means slowing down enough to notice what matters.

Sometimes it means tending what is already growing.

And sometimes it simply means continuing to explore.

A reflection from this conversation“When you plant something, you’re acting on belief in a future you can’t fully see yet.”

About Kevin GormanKevin Gorman recently retired from Novartis after a long career spanning environmental and healthcare disciplines. In this new chapter, he writes the Substack Rooted, Reaching, and Exploring, where he reflects on gardening, stewardship, curiosity, and the practice of living thoughtfully.

Connect with KevinSubstack: Rooted, Reaching, and Exploring

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Music by Maksym_Dudchyk from Pixabay

Podcast produced by Ury Gonzalez

Voice, Heritage, and Returning to Story

In this episode of Moving Forward, Linda Anderson speaks with Jamie Okh, a civil rights leader, strategic communications expert, former federal investigator with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Founder and Creative Director of Stories by Jamie.

Jamie spent more than a decade investigating systemic discrimination in housing and lending, working to enforce civil rights protections and help institutions change practices that caused harm to families and communities. During the 2018–2019 federal government shutdown, she also became a national spokesperson for federal employees and their families, helping the public understand the human impact behind policy decisions.

In this conversation, Jamie reflects on the experiences that shaped her voice — including the influence of her Russian heritage and the storytelling traditions passed down by her grandmother. She shares how those early roots in storytelling eventually resurfaced after years of public service and leadership.

Now the mother of two young boys, Jamie speaks about the ways motherhood has deepened her understanding of justice, responsibility, and the stories we pass to the next generation.

Together, Linda and Jamie explore:

• What heritage and family stories teach us about identity and resilience

• Lessons learned from years investigating discrimination and advocating for fairness

• The importance of credibility and communication during times of crisis

• How motherhood influences leadership and perspective

• Why returning to storytelling became a meaningful next chapter

As Jamie reflects during the conversation:

“Moving forward doesn’t always mean becoming someone new — sometimes it means returning to the voice that was always yours.”

Jamie’s journey is a reminder that moving forward doesn’t always mean leaving parts of ourselves behind. Sometimes it means reconnecting with the voice and passions that were there from the very beginning.

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Music by Maksym_Dudchyk from Pixabay

Podcast produced by Ury Gonzalez

The Foundation Beneath Me

Some episodes ask questions about leadership, purpose, and resilience. This one begins at the source.

In this deeply personal 25th episode of Moving Forward, Linda Anderson sits down with someone whose quiet influence shaped everything that followed — her father, Robert K. Unrath, Jr.

Robert stepped into adulthood early. He became a father at 18. By his early twenties he was raising three children and had already purchased his first home.

Years later, when his children were 11, 9, and 6, he built the house they would continue to grow up in — a symbol not of arrival, but of commitment.

Throughout those early years, Robert worked relentlessly, sometimes holding two jobs, carrying responsibilities most young adults never face. What his children saw wasn’t the pressure — it was the consistency. The discipline. The refusal to quit.

In this conversation, Linda reflects on the foundation beneath her own life and work ethic — and the example that shaped it.

Together they explore:

• What it meant to become a father at 18 and carry responsibility so early

• The reality of working multiple jobs while raising a young family

• Buying a first home at 22 and later building the house his children would grow up in

• Why investing in education for his children became a lifelong priority

• Growing up in Brooklyn while his own father served in the military

• Career growth from sales to management, entrepreneurship, and consulting

• The mentors and relationships that helped shape his leadership

• The difficult but meaningful evolution within their family when Linda married Curtis

• How love, growth, and understanding can change over time

• Seeing work ethic reflected across generations — children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren

At its heart, this episode is about something deeper than achievement.

It is about hope with intention — the kind of hope that doesn’t simply wish for a better future but works, sacrifices, and persists to build it.

It is also a reminder that the foundations of our lives are often laid quietly by the people who came before us.

As Linda reflects in this conversation:

“Moving forward isn’t about having everything figured out. It’s about deciding not to quit.”

This episode honors the kind of leadership that rarely seeks recognition — but shapes generations.

Before there was a podcast about moving forward, there was a father who showed me what it looked like.

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Music by Maksym_Dudchyk from Pixabay

Podcast produced by Ury Gonzalez

Reimagining Wellness: From Product to Belonging

With Jordan Carroll

What if wellness isn’t something you buy — but something you experience through connection, identity, and community?

In this episode of Moving Forward, I sit down with wellness strategist and founder Jordan Carroll to explore what it really takes to build brands — and lives — rooted in meaning rather than metrics.

Jordan works with founders navigating uncertainty, growth, and rapid change. He challenges the dominant idea that a great product is enough. Instead, he believes trust, belonging, and human connection are what truly create lasting impact.

In our conversation, we explore:

• When wellness shifts from personal interest to personal mission

• Why leaders struggle with clarity in the middle of building

• What actually creates loyalty in today’s wellness space

• The tension between AI innovation and human connection

• When a brand becomes a community

• The power of founder-led authenticity

• One small shift you can make if you’re feeling stuck

At a time when technology is accelerating and attention is fragmented, people are craving something deeply human.

If you’re building something — or rebuilding yourself — this conversation will invite you to slow down and ask:

What kind of space am I creating… and who am I becoming inside it?

Press play if you’re ready to move forward toward wellness that feels human.Follow us on:

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Music by Maksym_Dudchyk from Pixabay

Podcast produced by Ury Gonzalez

Designing Technology That Serves People

What happens when technology is designed not as an end goal, but as a way to reduce barriers and improve everyday life?

In this episode of Moving Forward: Conversations on Culture, Identity, Healing, and Hope, host Linda Anderson sits down with Brian Anderson, a leader working at the intersection of emerging technology, storytelling, and large-scale systems change.

Brian has spent more than two decades helping organizations turn innovation into real-world outcomes—bridging physical and digital spaces so systems become more inclusive, intuitive, and human-centered. He is currently leading a $150 million digital customer experience transformation at Metro, contributing to five consecutive quarters of over 90% customer satisfaction and recognition as American Public Transportation Association Agency of the Year.

But this conversation isn’t about technology alone. It’s about empathy, patience, and leadership—and what it takes to hold vision, execution, and values together when the stakes are high.

Drawing on experiences ranging from childhood curiosity with technology to leading complex, high-impact initiatives, Brian reflects on how innovation can unintentionally create barriers—and how inclusive design can reshape not just user experience, but organizational mindset.

Together, Linda and Brian explore:

• Why technology should serve people—not the other way around
  

• How early experiences shape values around innovation and empathy
  

• Why wayfinding and accessibility matter deeply, especially for people with disabilities
  

• How inclusive design influences culture, trust, and decision-making
  

• Using AI to reduce decision fatigue without replacing human judgment
  

• Where organizations are getting AI wrong—and what leaders need to slow down and reconsider
  

• Why storytelling is essential for leading large-scale transformation
  

• What it takes to build alignment and trust across silos and complex systems
  

• How patience, persistence, and partnership sustain change over time
  

Brian also shares what gives him hope as technology continues to evolve—and what moving forward means to him in this current season of leadership and life.

This episode is an invitation to pause and reflect on how technology shows up in our own work and lives—and to ask whether it is truly reducing friction, increasing access, and honoring the people it is meant to serve.

If this conversation resonated with you, please subscribe, rate, and share Moving Forward. Your listening and reflection help these conversations reach others who are navigating change with care and intention.

As you consider the systems you shape—organizations, teams, tools, or communities—where might you move beyond innovation for its own sake and begin designing more intentionally for humanity?

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Music by Maksym_Dudchyk from Pixabay

Podcast produced by Ury Gonzalez

Building a Future of Belonging—In Education and in Life

What does it truly mean to design spaces where everyone belongs—not just in theory, but in practice?

In this episode of Moving Forward: Conversations on Culture, Identity, Healing, and Hope, host Linda Anderson sits down with Loc Nguyen—educator, entrepreneur, author, and storyteller whose work centers on human potential and inclusive pathways, particularly for students with intellectual disabilities.

Loc’s journey spans military service, technology, nonprofit leadership, higher education, and the university classroom. Across every chapter of his life, one throughline remains clear: a deep commitment to challenging convention and reimagining what’s possible when we lead with humanity.

He is the author of The Miles We Chase, a powerful blend of memoir, narrative, and policy that explores family, hope, reciprocity, and our shared responsibility to build systems rooted in belonging. In this conversation, Loc reflects on how personal story shapes public systems—and how writing the book transformed his own understanding of what belonging really requires.

Together, Linda and Loc explore:

• The difference between access and true belonging—and where institutions often miss the mark
  

• What human flourishing looks like in classrooms grounded in connection and vulnerability
  

• Why stories are essential tools for systems change, and what happens when leadership ignores them
  

• The assumptions we hold about intelligence, success, and productivity—and why they need reimagining
  

• How educators and leaders can take meaningful steps toward inclusion, even when the work feels overwhelming
  

Loc also shares what gives him hope when the work feels heavy—and what “moving forward” means to him in this current chapter of life and leadership.

This episode is an invitation to slow down, listen deeply, and consider how belonging is not a soft ideal, but a responsibility, a design choice, and a daily practice.

Recommended Reading: The Miles We Chase: Building a Future of Belonging in Education and Life by Dr. Loc Nguyen

If this conversation resonated with you, please subscribe, rate, and share Moving Forward. Your listening and reflecting help these stories reach others who are also searching for healing, hope, and a way forward.

As you think about the spaces you shape—classrooms, teams, families, or communities—where might you move beyond access and begin intentionally designing for true belonging?

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LinkedIn: @Linda Anderson

Music by Maksym_Dudchyk from Pixabay

Podcast produced by Ury Gonzalez

Some conversations come full circle.

In this episode of Moving Forward, Linda Anderson is joined by Dr. Kathleen Richardson—a lifelong friend, former college roommate, and now a globally respected scientist and educator. Linda and Kathy first met as students at Alfred University, sharing space, late-night conversations, and a formative season of becoming. Decades later, they reunite to reflect on how culture, curiosity, and purpose have shaped their paths.

Today, Kathy is a Pegasus Professor at the University of Central Florida, a leader in optics and materials science, a mentor to generations of scientists, and the 2025 recipient of the International Congress on Glass President’s Award, honoring a lifetime of contribution to the international glass community. Beyond the accolades, Kathy’s story is one of stewardship, resilience, and hope.

In this thoughtful and deeply human conversation, Linda and Kathy explore:

• How early environments and relationships shape who we become
  

• The cultures of science—and what healthy, purpose-driven scientific spaces look like
  

• Identity, voice, and navigating life as a woman in STEM
  

• Failure, uncertainty, and how challenge can be both productive and healing
  

• Mentorship, curiosity, and sustaining hope across demanding seasons
  

• Trusting curiosity as a guide toward meaningful contribution—whether or not you see yourself as a “scientist”
  

This episode is an invitation to reflect on your own journey: the cultures that shaped you, the setbacks that refined you, and the curiosity still calling you forward.

✨ Whether you work in science, education, leadership—or simply live with curiosity and purpose—this conversation offers insight, encouragement, and hope.

If this episode resonated with you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who believes in the power of learning, connection, and stewardship.

Thank you for listening—and for taking time to reflect on your own journey.

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Music by Maksym_Dudchyk from Pixabay

Podcast produced by Ury Gonzalez